Usual warning, W.I.P. And no, I don't own any of Hotwheels… wish I did, but sadly, I don't.
Oh and towards the end I start to integrate the story with parts of Cliffside Realm, just to make it seem more realistic.
One more thing, I don't know if any of you noticed, but I made a mistake in Chapter One. I mentioned Flathead Fury, Mark Wylde's second car… Well, Flathead Fury wasn't completed until Breaking Point, so I went back and rewrote part of it to make it fit in. If you are saving this story I'd recommend going back and resaving the first chapter. Plus, you might want to read over the part where they are talking about Flathead Fury, because this chapter mention's Wylde working on FHF. Cheers and Happy Reading!
AcceleRacers: Third Wheel
Chapter Three: Midnight Meeting
Once again, Monkey shoved his head into his hands; it was going to be a long ride back.
That night while everyone slept, two people lay wide awake in their beds, hands tucked under their heads, staring up at the cold gray ceiling. Both had too much on their minds to sleep, even though their eyes were dry and begging for a good rest, but neither caved in. They were both too headstrong. They were both thinking the same thing, who was that driver? Kurt rolled onto his side and sighed.
"He was good, I'll give him that much," he mumbled to himself, "but there was something about him. Something familiar."
Meanwhile, in the Maniac's wing of the AcceleDrome, Wylde still lay on his back, now glaring at the ceiling, "That punk better be counting his stars right now. If Tezla hadn't shown up I would've pound him into the ground. No one talks to me like that and gets away with it. The next time we meet he's going down. I'll make him see what messing with Wylde gets him―" At that moment Wylde's door hissed open and Gig floated in.
"Doctor Tezla wants to see you in the conference room." Said Gig lingering for a moment and then floating back out of Wylde's room.
"Wha―" Wylde said, sitting up so suddenly that his head spun, "Why?" But since Gig was no longer there, he didn't receive an answer. He thought about just laying back down and going to sleep, but he knew it wasn't worth risking the realms to disobey Tezla, and besides, he might be able to tell him something about that punk driver. It seemed as if they knew each other somehow.
Slowly Wylde stood up and slipped his boots on and buckled his skull knee-cap on. He didn't care if it was almost four in the morning, he had to get up his appearances. He made his way down the dark halls, stumbling every now and then in the dark. Finally after what seemed like hours of struggling in the dark, Wylde found himself standing in the well-lit conference room, and to his great displeasure, a very disgruntled and tired looking Kurt met his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Wylde growled.
"The same as you most likely, waiting for Tezla. Gig got me out of bed and told me Tezla wanted to see me in the conference room." Kurt replied, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair.
"Whateva," Wylde said, taking a seat across the table from his brother.
The minutes rolled by slowly, but Doctor Tezla was yet to show up.
"This is getting ridiculous, if he wanted to see us, then where is he?" Wylde muttered, half asleep.
"I'm going to bed ―" Kurt said, standing up. But at that very moment, one of the screens in the conference room turned on suddenly. At first the only thing that could be seen or heard was static, but slowly the static subsided and a person with a shadowed face could be seen.
"Hello boys," said the person, "I'm glad you both got my messages. Sorry I was a little late, something came up suddenly, and I had to take care of it."
"Who are you?" Kurt ordered, "How'd you get the com-link for this system."
The person laughed, "Oh what short memories you both have, can't you tell from just my voice?"
"You!" Shouted Wylde grabbing either side of the screen.
"Ahh, so you do remember, that's good." The person said, "And to answer the second question, I got this link to this system from your trusty little friend. He's really a marvelous help."
"Little friend?" Kurt thought for a moment, "Are you talking about Gig?"
A laugh met his inquiry, "What if I am?"
"You little punk, you're a coward and a spy!" Wylde was now shaking the screen.
"Stop it Markie," Kurt said, 'It's not―"
"Right Kurt, you can sympathize with him, can't you?" Wylde taunted Kurt by bringing up Kurt's dark past, "As for being a coward, I'm not so sure he'd stoop low enough to abandon his brother."
Kurt's eyes lit up in rage, "You just trying to start a fight?"
"Maybe I am. Yeah, I think so. You gonna make something of it?" Wylde asked.
The person cleared their throat, "If either of you drove as well as you insult one another you might actually have a shred of hope at defeating me."
Both Wylde and Kurt fell silent at this remark.
"Ah, I seemed to have gotten your attention once more." Said the person with a slight air of supremacy in their tone of voice, "If you are both finished bickering I'd like to propose an offer."
"What kind of offer?" Kurt asked, tilting his head sideways the way he did when curious about something.
"A race. Not just any race either. I want it to be on a hidden track that few people know about." Said the person.
"So you're giving yourself the advantage?" Wylde said, "You know you can't win without one is that it?"
"Actually quite the opposite. I'm giving both of you the advantage. You see, I've never raced on this track before, but I know both of you have." From the sound of it, the person was grinning or fighting back a snide remark.
"A track that we've raced on, but you haven't?" Kurt said thinking for a moment, and then it occurred to him what the person was talking about, "Are you talking about Highway 35?"
"Oh, you catch on quickly don't you? Better than that brute." The person nodded in Wylde's direction.
"Brute?" Wylde growled, "Ill show you―"
But Kurt cut him off, "How do you know about Highway 35?"
"The same way I found out about Nitrox 2 and this link." Replied the person, "I've also learned a great deal about some of this Tezla guy's new technology. Very interesting and complex."
Wylde looked at Kurt, "I wonder how he got all this information? Sounds like a spy."
"I simply am quicker than either of you, that's how I got this information."
"You keep talking like you're so smart, well figure this, we can't get into Highway 35 anymore." Wylde laughed.
"True, the Wheel of Power―" The person started to say.
"You know about the wheel?" Kurt jutted in.
"I've already said this once," The person sighed, "I've basically hacked you're little friend and taken all the information I need. My knowledge is on par with that of yours."
"Then why would you even suggest going into Highway 35 if you know it's sealed away?" Kurt asked, ignoring the fuming Wylde.
The angle on the other person's side changed showing a copy of the Wheel of Power, "Simple, we'll trick it into opening. Mind you, we'll only be able to access the last leg of the Track. I believe you call it 'Hotwheels City'."
"How did you get a copy of the Wheel?" Wylde shouted.
"This is starting to get annoying, look I've hacked that computer thing of Tezla's and stolen most of his technology and am using it to my advantage. Now will you race me or are you both too cowardly to face me?"
That had struck a magic cord with Wylde, "I'm no coward. Metal Maniacs ain't afraid of anything."
"That's good. Then you'll meet me at Tezla's old headquarters? Alone?" the driver asked.
"I don't need anyone else to be able to beat you." Wylde sneered.
Kurt thought about it for a moment, no doubt wondering whether or not he should accept the challenge. On the one hand he was dying for a rematch, on the other, he knew that it wasn't the smartest thing to do. For all they knew, this person could be working for Gelorum. He wouldn't have put it past her to do something this low.
"Just tell me when and I'll be there. Nothin' will stop me for going." Wylde said, glancing over at Kurt, "Nothin'"
Kurt nodded his head. He'd made up his mind. If Gelorum was behind this then Wylde would be in trouble, and Kurt wasn't about to let his brother think that'd he'd abandoned him again, "I'm in. So when do you want to race?"
"Do both of you have cars?" the person asked.
"I've got Battle Spec," Kurt answered.
"I'm almost finished with Flathead Fury, I'll have it done soon." Wylde said, once again, the fact that his car wasn't ready embarrassing him slightly.
"Good because I want to see if you drive will as much force as you speak." The person said in an almost complementing tone of voice.
"Right," Wylde shrugged back and turned to Kurt, "just stay outta my way. Got that Kurt?"
"Funny I was going to say the same thing to you, little brother." Kurt glared back.
"This is going to be fun." Said the person, "Well, I'd better let you two get back to sleep." The screen went blank.
"That was weird," Kurt said, turning to leave.
Wylde too started walking out of the conference room. As they neared the door the sound of the screen turning back on stopped them.
"One more thing, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't go talking about this to anyone. I don't want to cause a panic." Said the person.
Kurt turned back around and looked at the driver, "Alright. But I'm not doing this for you. I don't want anyone thinking anything of this and I want a chance to take you on again."
"Whateva." Was all that Wylde said.
"Much appreciated boys. I'll be in contact with you soon with the date and time of our little race. Until then, sleep well, and try and not get yourselves killed." Said the person. Once again the screen went blank and the person dissapeard.
"I'm going to bed now, before I have to waste anymore time with you." Wylde said as he walked down the hall that lead off to the Maniac's quarters.
"You've got a lot to learn, little brother," Kurt said under his breath as he turned and walked down the hall that lead to the Teku's quarters.
The next morning both Kurt and Wylde seemed have kept their word and hadn't told anyone about their meeting last night, not that anyone would have believed them even if they had told.
It was the same as it always was, the usual glares given from one person to another, the usual arguments that broke loose. There was nothing that was different. Everyone had seemed to forget the mystery driver, everyone except Kurt and Wylde. After a quick breakfast, Wylde was down in the Maniac's garage working diligently on his car.
"Man, Wylde must really want to go into the realms if he's working that hard on his car," Kurt overheard Taro saying to Tork.
"Yeah, but if his attitude doesn't change I'm not going to let him race. He's got to put winning first, instead of settling the score with his brother." Tork replied.
"I couldn't believe what happened between them. Sure they weren't super close back when I first met 'em, but to think that Kurt would abandon his own brother like that. That's really what shocked me." Taro continued.
"What happened exactly? I still don't know the full story." Tork asked.
"One of Kurt's friends said he had a sweet deal on some new parts, and he'd cut Kurt and Wylde a share if they delivered it for him." Taro said, "Well, Kurt was all up for it, but Wylde was a little more suspicious, I hear he said that it didn't feel right. Anyway, Kurt told him that it was a safe deal, but if anything did go wrong, they'd be in together. But something did go wrong―"
"And Kurt ran, leaving Wylde behind, huh?" Tork finished.
"Yeah, seems as if someone had tipped the cops off that some stolen parts were being transported that night, and guess who was caught with them?" Taro said.
"Wylde."
Taro nodded.
"Man, that's rough." Tork said, a hint of compassion in his usually cold, careless voice.
Kurt clenched his fists but didn't say anything, if that's what they wanted to think then so be it, let them think that he was the bad guy, that he'd run off and left his brother to fend for himself. He didn't care what they thought, and there was no reason to argue with them. It'd get him no where, except maybe into a fight, and that didn't sound like a good idea at the moment. So he just walked silently by Taro and Tork, and went straight into the Teku garage and started tuning up Battle Spec for the realms or the race with that driver, whichever came first.
Kurt turned his music up loudly so as to try and drown out Taro and Tork's voices echoing through his head. But it didn't work as well as he'd hoped. He kept hearing their voices, talking about how Kurt had abandoned his brother, about how Markie was left to deal with Kurt's mess up. So Kurt turned up his music to an even higher level and gritted his teeth while he adjusted his steering wheel.
"Yo Kurt, what's eatin' you man?" Nolo shouted over Kurt's loud music.
Kurt looked at Nolo and shook his head, "Nothing, just fix'n up Battle Spec." Kurt lied.
"Bro, look, I know you, and I know when somethin' is bugging you." Nolo said leaning against Battle Spec.
"It's nothing really Nolo, I'm fine." Kurt repeated.
"Right, if you say so," Nolo shrugged, he knew something was on Kurt's mind, but if Kurt didn't want to talk about it he was cool with it.
"Hey Nolo," Kurt called as Nolo began to walk away.
"Yeah man?" Nolo asked, turning around to look at Kurt.
Kurt turned down his music and looked at Nolo for a moment before saying, "It wasn't my fault that Markie got sent to prison, right?"
"Of course it's not, Kurt. You've got to stop blaming yourself for your brother's every mistake. He's not a kid, he needs to learn to deal with his problems like a man." Nolo replied with a shrug, "I don't you before, he's not worth it."
Kurt nodded and sighed, "Right,"
"Hey Nolo," Lani called from over in the lockers, "could you come here and help for a moment?"
Nolo smiled at Kurt, "I gotta go man, but remember, you're a Teku."
Kurt grinned back at Nolo. He wasn't quite sure what he meant by 'You're a Teku,' but he knew that Nolo obviously wanted to go and help Lani. It seemed that Nolo seemed to be rather fond of her, and Kurt didn't blame him, she was a rather attractive woman who did enjoy cars. Kurt laughed, then again, maybe he was over analyzing things. "Later bro," Kurt said and waved Nolo off.
Nolo hurried over to the lockers, "Yeah Lani, what's up?"
Lani smiled, "Could you help me carry these boxes up to the control room?"
Nolo bent over and picked up some of the boxes, "Alright, where too?"
Lani laughed, "The control room,"
Nolo grinned, "Yeah, right," He really did need to pay more attention to what she was saying.
Lani shook her head, "Come on we've ―"
Suddenly the Realm Alarm started to sound and Nolo looked over his shoulder at the Wheel of Power. Its rings had started move and he caught himself wondering which realm would open next.
Doctor Tezla's voice came over the intercom, "The following drivers will enter the realm, "Tork Maddox, Taro Kitano, Mitch McClurg, Shirako Takamoto, Karma Eiss, Kurt Wylde."
Lani sighed, "Great, for a moment I thought he was going to take away my helper."
Nolo laughed, "Me too."
As Nolo and Lani began to walk up the steps that led to the control room, Nolo looked out at the drivers as they drove onto the AcceleDrome's track. Then his gaze wandered into the Metal Maniac's garage. He saw Wylde working on his new car. It was almost finished it seemed, but it didn't have a paint job yet.
"Hey Lani what color do you think Wylde's new car is going to be?" Nolo asked Lani as they entered the control room.
"If I know Markie, it's going to be some color that stands out like red or black." Lani guessed, "Hey Gig, where is Doctor Tezla?"
Gig turned towards Lani, "Doctor Tezla is in the Lab."
"Alright, do you know what kind of realm this is?" Lani asked as she set her boxes down, sat in a chair and linked up so that she could communicate with the drivers.
"It is a Cliffside Realm." Gig replied, "The drivers should switch to Grip Treads."
"Can everyone hear me? You need to switch to Grip Treads. This is a Cliffside Realm." Lani told the drivers as they entered the realm.
A few minutes into the realm Shirako's voice came over the communicator, "Got a problem here." He said in a distressed voice.
I just wanna say thanks to everyone who is reading this! And to everyone who commented a really BIG thanks! I'm hoping to have the next chapter out soon! (Oh and I decided to wait a little while on the second story, I really got into this one, so it can wait!) And just to let you know, I'm going to tying in the Cliffside and Ice Realm into the next chapter. If you don't know, those are the Micro-Episodes… Cheers! And as always, I appreciate the comments!