Chapter 6.

Outrun.

A/N: There's more K/N coming up...but let me finish the car chase...I have this obsession with cars. Can you tell? And, again, no, I don't claim to own anything except the plot.

Kit wasted no time. Out of pure reflex, he smashed the gas pedal flat on the floor, making the engine hit top revs. The Lotus shifted into first, and the car leapt forward, spraying water behind its wheels as they spun, then bit and catapulted the Elise up to 60 miles an hour. The Esprit whined protest and sprang up alongside its brother, matching its speed as the FAVs behind them opened fire. A bullet hit the right taillight of the Esprit, shattering it and almost puncturing the gas tank. The car screamed defiance and accelerated, weaving to and fro to dodge the bullets. The Elise squeezed through a six-foot gap between a lightpole and a shop, but the FAV tailing it was not so lucky. It miscalculated its entry angle and, panicking, recorrecting too much. The front of the FAV rammed into the pole at 90 miles an hour. Needless to say, the result was not pretty.

The Elise and the Esprit were like two wraiths, dodging bullets, trees, and traffic as the cars shot through a busy intersection. Tires screeched as the Elise veered sharply down a narrow sidestreet, followed by the Esprit. The FAV pursuing them realized too late where they had gone, and, braking and trying to turn at the same time, let the rear slide out from under it and collide with the building corner. The Elise braked in front of a large aluminum garage door, and, turning to face the door, rammed it, punching a hole in it. The Esprit trailed behind, damage apparent even in the dim light inside the old warehouse. Kit gaped, but not at the damage done to both cars .

Row after row of shining cars were idling in the huge warehouse, ranging from the oldest Model T Ford to the newest Saleen S7 supercar. The Lotuses opened their doors, and Dairine instantly pointed to a smal dune buggy with a machine gun mounted on top. The car rolled toward her, and she grinned at Kit.

"What's this?"

kit looked at the car closely.

"Uhh...Chenowth DR-2 Desert Attack Vehicle."

Dairine grinned even more widely and nodded.

"Yup."

She turned to the Esprit.

"Is this okay?"

The Lotus smiled and shrugged its wheels.

Dairine blinked. "We'll take it."

Twenty minutes ater, Kit was pacing among the rows of cars, trying to decide.

"Hey, Nita?" he asked for the umpteenth time.

"Kit?" she responded wearily.

"What do you think? Nazca C2, VW New Beetle, or Chenowth DR2 Upgrade?"

"Kit, you want my honest opinion?"

"What?"

"I couldn't care less."

Kit sighed.

"Oh, fine. I'll tell you. A car with two seats, one that's fast."

Kit frowned. He was about to pass comment when a yellow car rolled forward, its engine purring.

He blinked curiously at the car. "Hmm. An Italdesign...Cála?"

Nita lost her temper. "Alright, Kit. It's good. Now take it."

The Cala's doors opened, and Nita pushed the protesting Kit inside.

"Shut up, Kit."

The car's sound system flicked on, and rock blared out of the speakers. The Cala revved its engine alongside the Chenowth, then, with two lower revs, both vehicles smoked their tires as they accelerated for the garage door. Shooting through the gaping hole in the door, both vehicles turned left and raced back down the alley. Bullets flew behind them, coming from a small group of FAVs staked out behind the Dumpsters at the mouth of the alley. The DR-2's turret spun around, spraying rounds at the Dumpsters. There was an explosion as hot lead came into contact with something chemical. The heat rocked the narrow alley, and both vehicles floored the gas, bouncing over trash and newspapers, spraying loose gravel behind their wheels. An FAV came roaring out of the blaze, its frame and cage warped and twisted, but infinitely more dangerous. Twisted metal spikes protruded from the front of the malformed vehicle, and what was left of the gun turret was now spraying molten lead. One of the front gas cylinders gave out and left the FAV bouncing and rocking as it moved, but it kept coming. The Cala's V-10 hit maximum revs, and could go no further as the speedometer stopped at 193 mph, the tach at 7.5. Kit watched in horror as the FAV drew closer and closer, rocking madly and almost coming off the ground as its warped frame and wheels pitched it back and forth. The gun turret on the Chenowth fired round after round at the FAV, the bullets hit the ground harmlessly. The FAV was now edging up on the rear bumper of the Cala, which was straining hard to get past the 200 mark as the engine started to max itself out. The tach needle hit redline- 9.2...9.8...10.0. The Cala strained madly at the 198 mark, but to no avail. The FAV's spikes pierced the rear bumper, and the Cala screamed in outrage. Wich a sharp, violent movement, the yellow racer took a hard 180 degree U-Turn at 198 miles an hour. Kit's head whacked against the glass and he was stunned momentarily. Nita's head glanced off Kit's shoulder, and, dazed, she sat back to regain her senses. The FAV, on the other hand, was not so lucky. It was slung off the bumper by the momentum of its own chassis and now lay in a crumpled heap at the base of a thick elm tree. Kit winced. The Cala shook itself and joined the Chenowth as it sped by. Nita merely looked on with horror as she saw what was now pursuing them.

"Kit..."

He held up a hand.

"I'm not looking."

Nita didn't answer, and Kit looked.

A huge Peterbilt big rig was bearing down on the racing vehicles with a speed Kit had never dreamed a semi truck could reach.

Kit buried his face between his face, muttering, "Nita, tell me this is a dream. A really, really weird, really really bad dream."

Nita hurriedly touched a charm on her bracelet, saying the syllable that would place an advanced proton accelerator into her hands. Nothing happened. Nita's eyes widened, and she tried her next charm, a ion particle diffuser. Nothing. She swore and slammed her head down on the dashboard.

"Crap, Kit, we're doomed."

Kit was frantic.

"Why won't it work?"

"I don't know, Kit! Why're you asking me?"

"Because I know I can trust you!"

"Well, I don't know! So shut up and let me think!"

"Nita, we're in this together!"

"You think I don't know that? I'm trying to think here!"

"So think!"

"I can't, not with you going on like this!"

"Nita, you know what? You're being a real a..."

"I don't give a damn, Kit. I really don't. Now shut the hell up."

Kit's face set. He resisted the urge to shove Nita out the door of the car and furiously slammed the shifter into overdrive. The Cala whined and hit 202. Kit groaned. That's when the semi came up behind them.

Belching smoke to the immediate world, the huge Peterbilt was gaining on the Cala, diesel engine roaring and vibrating like a mechanical earthquake. Nita had tears of frustration and anger running down her face as she struggled to find the problem with the spell. Kit was desperately trying to activate the overdrive system. That left Dairine and the DR-2.

Dairine had absolutely no idea what to do. Her sister and her friend were fighting while a 3-ton semi barreled up behind them, and the Chenowth's machine gun was doing little damage to the huge truck. She ran her hand over the sparse dashboard and saw something that lifted her hopes.

It was a small red button labeled Switch.

Seeing that button somehow gave her hope. She pressed it, noting that the black box under the machine gun wasn't the motor. There was a mechanical whirring, and the machine gun disappeared, and in its place was an M-4 rocket launcher.

Dairine grinned as she saw a rocket leave the launcher and snake toward the semi, leaving a smoke trail as it went. The semi braked and tried to turn down an alley, but the rocket was too fast. The Peterbilt exploded in a huge ball of fire, the parts showering down over the Chenowth and Cala as both cars veered to avoid a Dumpster and mounted the grass. The Chenowth, being built for such terrain, bounced over the grass and dirt with ease, but the Cala, a sports car bred and born, had a hard time, but still managed to keep up. Without warning, the cars mounted a steep incline, tires spinning, and then the grass leveled out. Both vehicles soared up and into the air, wheels spinning and engines roaring. They came down hard, but not just the landing was unusual, as the vehicles bounced back up, but it was where they landed that was unusual.

A/N: Again, the Chenowth DR-2 is a REAL car. Desert Attack Vehicle. Google search if you want to learn more.