Disclaimer: I own nothing of this! Uh…. Duh? Anyway… Ice Realm is going to be put on hold for just a little bit. Sorry about that. I just felt like I had to get done what I needed too, so Ice Realm took a back burner. Anyway this chapter deals with Markie, excuse me, Wylde's and Kurt's relationship. I let my sister read it and she thought it was sad… Oh well. I really hope you like it! Enjoy! (Oh yeah, it was a little clip from World Race in it)

AcceleRacers: Third Wheel
Chapter Five: Brothers . . . and "Rage"

Rocks flew up from Kurt and Wylde's tires as they landed from the jump out of the AcceleDrome. The tail of Wylde's car swerved back and forth forcing Wylde to slow down a bit so that he could correct his car. Kurt on the other hand continued to accelerate gaining a well spaced out lead, showing a skill much more controlled and more mature than that of Wylde's. Wylde gripped his steering wheel tightly and pressed on the accelerator petal, cutting away the gap between his car and Kurt's. With a final burst of speed, Wylde sent the nose of Power Bomb straight into the tail of Battle Spec.

Kurt looked over his shoulder for a second and shouted, "Back off Markie!" and continued to accelerate.

Wylde gritted his teeth and accelerated even more, bringing the front of his car just inches from Kurt's bumper, "The name's Wylde." He growled as they turned a sharp corner. Ahead of the two brothers was an extremely narrow canyon path, barely large enough for one car to fit, and just beyond that narrow path was open desert.

Wylde tightened his grip on his steering wheel and began to pull up next to Kurt until the two cars were side by side, traveling at the same speed towards the narrow path.

Neither Kurt nor Wylde seemed to want to give, so they continued to race towards the path, locked in a dangerous game of chicken, "Back off Kurt or you're gonna crash. That path's mine!"

Kurt glanced over at Wylde, "Once second best, always second best, you should know that by now Little Brother."

Wylde narrowed his eyes on the path and continued to match Kurt's speed.

Kurt stared in front of him, he was in the right line for making the narrow path. Yes, he thought, cheering himself on, I've got it. Kurt pressed the accelerator down, planning on zipping right pass Wylde… But wait, if I've got the right line then that means Markie… Kurt glanced over at his younger brother, and then at the solid rock wall that lay in front of him. If Wylde didn't stop he'd crash into the wall, and at the speed they were traveling, Kurt knew there was no chance of survival.

They drew closer and closer to the canyon path. Thirty yards, twenty, ten, five… one of them wasn't going to make it.

Kurt slammed on his brakes. Battle Spec began to spin wildly. It was taking everything Kurt had to just keep the car upright, but still he had to stop.

The spinning grew faster as time seemed to slow down. Kurt extended his arms, trying to ignore his throbbing head and keep his car from crashing.

Wylde, who was far too preoccupied with beating Kurt to the path didn't even realize that his brother's car was now spinning out of control. He zipped into the path and cheered himself on, "Goooo Wylde!" He pumped on fist into the air and gloated silently.

Kurt however was trying to correct his car before it crashed into the very wall that he'd prevented his younger brother from crashing into, and even despite his struggling attempts, he still had only one thought on his mind, Did Markie make it? Kurt tried to glance at the path's entrance. There was no sign of Wylde or Power Bomb. He made it.

But in the short instance Kurt had thought about his brother's safety, his own safety was jeopardized and Battle Spec's side slammed into the rock wall.

Kurt was jerked viciously sideward. He felt his neck pop, and then he heard nothing but silence. At least Markie is okay. He thought as he struggled with his safety belt.

On the other side of the canyon path, Wylde zipped out, "How'd you like that Kurt?" He glanced over his shoulder. No one was there, "Kurt?" Wylde said, his voice sounding worried, almost afraid. He slammed on his brakes and skidded sideways to a halt. He waited for Kurt to come out, but he wasn't coming.

Wylde's eyes raced around the dark canyon and then a flickering caught his eye and then he saw smoke. "Kurt!" He said and he turned his car and speed back into the path. Thoughts flooding into his memory. Thousands upon thousands of memories came rushing back to him, and most importantly, and painfully, a memory of two years ago.

Wylde, still known as Mark (or Markie as Kurt and fellow Wave Rippers like to call him), thought that he was invincible. He'd sped forward, ignoring his teammates' and fellow drivers' crisis, and took the lead. The only thing on his mind was to beat his older brother, a traitor and a spy. Wylde remembered it so clearly as if it had happened yesterday. He continued to place a serious gap between him and the others, but as he neared Kurt, he was unaware of the mines that the drones had dropped in the track.

Kurt had warned him not to go any further, but at the time, he'd thought it was only to keep him from winning. Markie had simply turned down his communicator and cranked up the volume to his music. Moments later he noticed the mines, but it was too late, he'd entered them and the only way out was to go through them. He'd almost made it when his tire barely nicked the sensor of one of the mines. It exploded and sent Stingray, Markie's car, into air, flipping nose to bumper, before it finally crashed on the ice ledge made by the explosion. Markie had tried to driver away from the ledge, but he couldn't. His car fell over the edge and Markie had just barely enough time to send his grappling hook into the ledge, keeping his car from falling to the crater below. As the car dropped, Markie's head had been sent forward and he's slammed it into his steering wheel. The next thing he remembered was seeing Kurt backing away from this weird spider looking robot. Markie had done what at the time he thought was best and pushed his aero jets, sending his car up over the ledge and into the spider looking drone.

What happened next had struck so many emotional cords him Markie that it was almost painful.

"I though you were on their side, so why was it attacking you?" Markie had asked Kurt.

Kurt's eyes darted, "We had a difference of opinions," Kurt's voice was low, ashamed, yet full of love and care "about helping you."

Markie paused for a moment as the words of his older brother rang through his head. Here, standing before him was the brother Markie had always wanted to be like, to be loved by, telling him that he'd risked his own life just to help him. For a moment Markie wanted to embrace his brother, but instead said, "I don't need your help."

Wylde shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He didn't need to be getting emotional. He reassured himself that he wasn't going back to help Kurt, he was going back to laugh at him, "See Kurt, who's second best now?" Wylde said aloud, trying to mock Kurt's voice. But it didn't help. Wylde was still worried. No. Curious, not worried.

Time seemed to drag on as he raced back through the narrow path. The faint glow of light was becoming a raging flickering of lights, much like that of a fire. Wylde sped up, pushing his car and himself as much as possible, almost to a breaking point.

Finally after what seemed like hours Wylde zipped out of the path. He flew pass a glowing, burning light and then slammed on his breaks. The sight that met his eyes terrified him. Battle Spec was engulfed in flames. The fiery red glow of the flames danced in the night, taunting Wylde.

He jumped out of his car, his eyes searching the ground, hoping that Kurt had somehow managed to escapes the fiery prison. His eyes lingered on a rock pile that lay just feet away from the burning car. For a couple of seconds Wylde didn't realize what he was staring at, and then it moved. "Kurt!" Wylde shouted as he ran over to his brother, the intense heat of the flames burning him, though no touching his skin. Carefully he picked Kurt up and ran back over Power Bomb, laying him gently behind him as he got into the car, "Get away from the car, get away from the car." He mumbled to himself as he floored the engine and began to speed back towards the AcceleDrome. Seconds later, Battle Spec exploded.

"Where are we going?" Kurt groaned as he rubbed his head and sat up.

"You're alright!" Wylde said and then as if he were a whole new person said, "Good, so you can walk back to the AcceleDrome, I'm going into the city."

"Where's Battle Spec? Are you okay?" Kurt asked, pushing himself up. He didn't appear to be seriously injured, except for a minor burn on his arm and a rather large knot on his head.

"You crashed your car. Ha-ha!" Wylde laughed.

"Did you make it to the canyon path alright?" Kurt asked, looking worriedly at his brother, "I didn't want you to crash, so I―"

"Look Kurt, you're not my big brother anymore, I don't need your help." Wylde growled.

Kurt's eyes dropped sadly, "Take me back to the AcceleDrome. I'm going to take Drift Tech into the city."

"What do you think I am? Your taxi cab service? If you want to go back you're walking, 'cuz I'm going to the city." Wylde laughed, "This time it's my car, I make the rules."

Kurt shook his head, he knew he was in no condition to walk back to the AcceleDrome, the only thing to do was go into the city with Wylde, and hopefully nothing too bad would happen.

Wylde turned his car around quickly and drove back towards the wreckage of Battle Spec. Kurt shivered slightly as they passed by it, thinking how everything could have turned out differently. At least he and Wylde were relatively safe at the moment.

The drive into the city was quiet, neither brother seemed to want to talk for fear that if they opened their mouth the only thing that would come out would be conversation about what had just happened and neither wanted to discus it at the moment.

When they entered the city limits traffic began to get heavier, and Power Bomb's speed was reduced to a mere crawl.

"Argh!" Wylde growled, "What do they think they're doing out this late?"

"It's a big city Wylde we're not going to be the only ones out at this time of night." Kurt said.

"I know that Kurt," Wylde said in an angry tone of voice.

Suddenly it was as if the world exploded with noise. A loud, echoing bass was heard and Kurt looked around, knowing what he would find, and he found it, "It's him, that driver and his car!"

Wylde looked in the direction Kurt was and saw the same black car with blue and red flames on it, "That punk!"

As the traffic flow picked up a bit giving cars room to pass on anther the driver sped pass them, not seeming to recognize them.

"He just picked the wrong guy to pass," Wylde growled as he pressed the accelerator down catching up with the driver.

By this time, the driver seemed to have realized who was in Power Bomb and slowed down a bit so that Wylde could drive side by side.

The driver rolled a window down and signaled to Wylde to do the same. Wylde rolled the windows down and shouted, "What do you want?"

"What's up with the car?" The driver asked.

"It's my team's car." Wylde shouted back, "You got a problem with that kid?"

"My name's not kid. For the time being call me Rage." Said the driver.

"Rage?" Kurt shouted, "Where'd you get that name?"

"Just now thought of it. You see," Rage tapped the steering wheel, "His name is Road Rage, so I guess it just fits."

Wylde laughed, "Whateva,"

"I'll se you boys later." Rage said, and turned off the main road down a side street.

Wylde gritted his teeth, "Why that little punk!"

"Maybe he's going to that garage, let's see if we can beat him there." Kurt said to Wylde.

Wylde nodded his head and turned onto another side street and raced towards the garage. In just minutes they had arrived, but Rage's car was no where to be seen. "I thought you said he'd be here."

"I said he might, and he still might come. We took a shorter route than him." Kurt told Wylde as he got out of the car, "Come on, let's see if anyone in there can tell us anything about this Rage guy."

Wylde shrugged his shoulders and went with Kurt to the garage. To both their surprise, the garage was busy with people working on cars all over. One auto technician had loose fitting black pants, a tight white shirt, a black cap, and a black jacket tied around the waist on. From the looks of it, this person was the one in charge.

"Jack, get me a new windshield for Tyron's car, he's been complaining about that one crack in it for months and I told him I'd fix it for him." Said the person shoving a clip board into a young man's hands.

"But Alex, Tyron hasn't―" Jack started to say.

Alex got up into Jack's face, "Look, Tyron did me a favor a couple months ago that got him that nick, now get me a new shield for his car."

"But Alex, windshield like his don't come cheap." Jack said.

"Of course they don't, windshields that can turn tint on and off are expensive, but I said get him a new one, and I don't want you to bother me with stupid comments again. Got it?" Alex said, shoving Jack's right shoulder.

"I got it." Jack said as he turned and went over to a phone.

Kurt looked at Wylde, "I think we've just got our first lead."

Wylde nodded his head and walked over to Alex, whose back was still facing them, and said, "Hey man, you think you could tell us more about Tyron?"

Alex, who was much shorter than Wylde, turned around and grabbed him by his shirt, "Look punk, don't call me man or it'll be the last thing you do."

Kurt gritted his teeth and waited for Wylde to retaliate, but nothing happened, Wylde just stood their, his back now to Kurt, staring down at Alex, "You, you, you're a ―"

"A what kid?" Alex yelled, and Kurt now knew why Wylde hadn't retaliated, he'd been caught of guard by what Alex really was.

"A girl." Wylde said in an awed voice.

"Yeah, the last time I check I was," Alex looked around Wylde's shoulder at Kurt, and Kurt realized another reason Wylde has been shocked. She wasn't the dirty kind of girl that was sometimes found in garages. In fact, she was down right cute. She had light gray blue eyes and soft lips, "and who is that?"

Kurt too was caught of guard and just managed to mumble, "Kurt,"

"Well Kurt do you want to know about Tyron as well?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Kurt replied.

Alex looked at Wylde, "Why do you boys want to know about Tyron?" She eyed him suspiciously, you got something with him?"

"Yeah we do," Wylde growled, "he owes us a race. You call him up right now and tell him Wylde wants to race him."

Alex laughed, "So Wylde, you think that Tyron owes you a race? Do you even know what he drives?"

Kurt spoke up, "Yeah, a black car with blue and red flames called Road Rage,"

At the sound of Road Rage the entire garage fell silent and Kurt could feel all eyes on him.

"You think Tyron is the driver of Road Rage?" Alex asked.

"Isn't he?" Kurt asked, "I mean the windows and all are like the new parts you're getting for him."

Alex shook her head," Yeah, Tyron is a truck driver with very sensitive eyes to sunlight. I get him this type of windshield so that he can turn it on during the day and off during the night. You see he hauls me cars for free every now and then so this is the least I can do."

Kurt and Wylde both looked a little embarrassed, "Oh," they replied.

"Don't feel so bad, everyone around here knows about Road Rage and his driver. They say that guy is like a demon of the highway." Alex said, wiping her hands off on a rag, "Come on we can talk more in my office, if I start rumor talking out there no work will get done tonight."

Kurt and Wylde looked at each other and then followed Alex into a dark room with blinds over the windows. She flipped on the light and motioned for Kurt and Wylde to sit in two chairs opposite a desk, "Care for anything to drink?"

"I'll have a Coke," Kurt said.

"Yeah, a Dr. Pepper," Wylde said.

Alex walked over to a refrigerator and pulled out a Coke and two Dr. Peppers, and gave one to them and kept one Dr. Pepper for herself. She sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the desk and put her feet up on the desk's top. She opened her drink and took a long sip and then eyes Kurt and Wylde, "So, what do you want to know about Road Rage and its driver?"

Okay? So how did you like this chapter? Sorry about the ending ' I know you all probably want to find out more about Road Rage and "Rage", but you'll just have to wait for the next chapter!v !Anyway, as always, I love to get comments and reviews, they really are appreciated! Well, I hope to see you all at future chapters! Later!