The Truth That Lies Beyond The Lies

An AcceleRacers Fanfiction

By: Wings of Speed

Disclaimer: As before, still in Chapter 1.

Summary: Leti and Vert talk and Admiral Graymond gets some very disturbing news.

The Truth That Lies Beyond The Lies

Chapter 7: Of Technetium and Accelium

"We'll meet back at Leti's house in an hour and a half, got that?" Trinity asked as she gazed around at her friends and teammates. They were all standing in a semi-circle around Bass Assault with Trinity in the middle, leaned back against the two tone blue car. "Once everyone's assembled we'll prepare to leave. Make sure you've got enough cash on you to fill your tanks up and get some food on the way, it's gonna be a long trip and we'll probably be making several stops along the way." She glanced at Jon, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Unfortunately, some of our cars seem to go through gas a lot quicker than others."

The red head had enough sense to blush slightly, his eyes automatically going down in embarrassment to look at the ground. It was true, for as small as the Neon was, the car ate up more gas than it should. That had given rise to the second nickname for Thunderhead: Gas Hog.

"Why Leti's house?" Vert questioned, not understanding why they would meet at the young woman's place instead of at Trinity's or Courtney's.

"Her place is closer, besides, Court and I are going to be heading to Moon's garage to pick up the needed parts for Bass Assault. Without the needed repairs I wouldn't even trust her to make the trip partially. With Moon's help it shouldn't take me long to install the new chip and the few other parts, we shouldn't be long." She smiled at Vert, "Besides, I don't think you want to watch me playing around with my car, you'll probably want to do some work on yours and Leti's got the space at her place for you to do so. Make sure that Beast is ready to roll, we don't need any delays."

Vert smirked at her, "She's ready to roll, you don't have to worry about that."

"Good, I don't want to make any pit stops for anything other than food and gas." Her eyes briefly landed on the rest of her crew, "Everyone make sure their rides are ready to roll, I really don't want any unforeseen circumstances popping up. I plan on making this trip in as short of a time as is possible, and with our cars that shouldn't be long."

Her cerulean shaded eyes focused on Vert again, "You sure that thing is gonna be able to keep up?"

His eyes turned serious, "The question is: Are you going to be able to keep up if I pass you?"

She smiled at him, "Spoken just like the Vert Wheeler I know and love." She clapped her hands together briefly, "Ok people, let's pack it up and move. Time's a wasting."

Vert watched as the Atomic Winds quickly made tracks for their cars, each knowing what to do and what was being asked of them. It seemed they knew this routine well and played it out in a well timed manner. Apparently road trips weren't something out of the ordinary for the Atomic Winds. Then again, Trinity or someone, had made mention of them going to other near by cities to find some competent racing competition. With that in mind, Vert decided that these late night road trips were something of a norm for his cousins and their crew.

"You coming?" He heard someone yell toward him. Leti's yellow Mustang was sitting in the middle of the road, directly in front of Reverb. He hesitated only a moment before he made a mad dash for his own car.

"Right behind you," he called out just as he was getting into his own car. It was only seconds later that he heard the squealing of Powerdyne's tires and saw nothing other than the yellow muscle car's receding taillights. He shifted Reverb into gear and gunned the engine, his tires squealing as well once they hit the pavement of the road.

This would definitely prove to be an interesting road trip, that was one thing that was for sure.

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Admiral Graymond paced back and forth within his office, his anger growing more and more with each passing minute, consuming him. Technetium and Accelium's drivers had yet to report in, they were a few hours over due. Perhaps it had not been the best possible solution to send those two out after the Wheeler Kid; maybe he should have sent someone else out, someone who had more experience in tracking and tailing a target.

Perhaps he should have sent Octainium instead.

He shook his head for what seemed the thousandth time within an hour. He'd have their heads once they did decide to report in, and if they were lucky, they'd be allowed to race again. That was only if he was in a good mood, but it wasn't looking very promising at the moment.

He returned to his pacing, grumbling once in a while beneath his breath. His hands were clasped behind his back, if he didn't have them in this position then he may more than likely give into his urge to grab the nearest object and throw it as far as was possible. His superiors were growing agitated, wanting progress reports he didn't have to give. How could he give them reports when he himself didn't have a clue where Technetium and Accelium were at, let alone Vert Wheeler?

They had been keeping track of Technetium via its satellite feed, but that had quit working about three hours ago; the last time they had heard anything from either driver. Technetium's driver had said there was a malfunction in the main computer for the satellite hook up, that being the case they couldn't even override anything within the car. Couldn't even track it now. This was all too convenient in his opinion.

Technetium's driver was skilled beneath the hood, it wouldn't take much for the driver to unhook a few wires and screw up a few needed components. This all smelled of a rat, perhaps Dr. Tezla wasn't the only one who had an undercover agent amongst those he trusted. No, the Silencerz didn't have a double agent within their ranks, it wasn't possible. All those that worked for the Silencerz were hand picked, their records gone over with a fine tooth comb. They were the best the armed forces and military had to offer, it wasn't feasible for there to be a traitor amongst his agents.

Something had gone wrong with Technetium's systems, something had malfunctioned, that's all. His two drivers would report in just as soon as they had news to give; just as soon as it was possible.

A consul on his desk beeped. He walked over to it slowly, glowering at it, as if telling it that if it was going to give him bad news it would pay the ultimate price. "Graymond here, any news?"

"Yes sir, Technetium is reporting in. I'm transferring the signal to your office sir," the technician over the channel said. Within moments the technician's face was replaced with the helmeted head of Technetium's driver.

"Report," Admiral Graymond ordered, not wanting to be kept in the dark any longer than was necessary. He had others to report to as well, and they liked being kept waiting even far less than he did.

"We've lost him sir, he managed to slip by us somehow. We think he may have had help from some local street racers, but we're not sure." Technetium's driver responded, their voice muffled by the helmet.

"How in the hell did you manage to loose him!" Admiral Graymond thundered, his fist hitting the top of his desk in his anger.

There was what appeared to be a shrug from Technetium's driver. "Like I said sir, we think he may have had some help from some local street racers. We were cloaked and following him when we were blown off the road by some street cars. When we finally managed to reorient ourselves, he was no where to be seen."

"What's your location now?"

Technetium's driver glanced around, "Somewhere within Southwestern Wyoming." There was a pause, "Hold on just a moment sir, we seem to have run into some problems."

"What sort of problems?" Graymond asked, not liking things at the moment. This was not good news and his superiors most definitely would like it far less than he was at the moment.

He heard the crackle of static as Accelium's driver's voice suddenly came over the channel. "We've got Drones!"

"What!" Graymond fairly screamed. At that moment there was a loud squealing noise. His visual connection with Technetium vanished; he was on audio now only. He couldn't see what was happening, couldn't guess on what was going on. He still heard the strange squealing of tires or perhaps it was brakes, he couldn't be sure. Then there was a loud crash, the sound of metal crinkling and then the connection was dead.

"What the hell?" he breathed out. Had he just heard his two operatives crash? The Drones, he'd heard Accelium's driver mention something about the Drones. Weren't they destroyed then, like he had been led to believe? "This isn't good, not good at all," he said beneath his breath.

There was going to be hell to pay, he knew this. His superiors weren't going to like it when he informed them that two of his operatives may have been taken offline by the Drones; wouldn't like it when he informed them that they may have possibly lost two of their cars. Yes, there was definitely going to be hell to pay.

Now, the only question that remained was who could he pin it on to save his own neck? He couldn't blame Technetium and Accelium's drivers, they were now MIA. Most likely to be presumed dead, he couldn't use those two for his scapegoat, but who then?

"Major Wheeler!" He thundered as an idea popped into his head, one that might just work if he played all his cards right.

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They pulled up in front of an old farm house, a decent looking garage set off slightly behind the main house. There was a porch light on, but no lights on in the main part of the house; there was also a bright light shining outside of the garage.

"Home sweet home," Leti muttered as she got out of her car and walked slowly over toward Vert and Reverb. "It's not much but it works. You need to do anything to that car of yours or do you think everything should be fine for the long haul?"

"Reverb will be fine, she's well taken car of." Vert answered. He glanced up at the two story farm house then turned back to look at Leti. "We need to talk," he said, his voice growing serious.

Leti sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. "'Bout what?" she asked.

"Shirako and Trinity." He answered.

Leti closed her eyes, she could feel the beginnings of the headache returning. Lately everything seemed to focus on Trinity and Shirako. She opened her eyes back up to look at him, her eyes registering the pain she was just beginning to feel. She had a feeling by the ending of the day her headache would be wreaking havoc in full force. "I don't like it," she finally spoke up.

Vert sighed and leaned back against Reverb. "I've got to agree with you on that." He glanced around the open space, the surrounding trees a good fifty yards or more from the edges of the house and garage. "Where did the rest of the group go?"

This was a topic she could handle; it didn't set her head to pounding. "They'll go home quickly to get needed supplies, there's no telling how long we'll be gone so they'll grab some extra cloths and the like. They're be here before Trinity and Courtney show up, you don't have to worry 'bout that."

"You know Trinity will go crazy once she realizes who Shirako is?" Vert stated, dreading when that would occur.

Again her temples began to pound. "Yeah, I know. Our best bet is going to be keeping her from discovering that before we leave to come back home. What she never knows will never hurt her…or Shirako for that matter."

"Can I use your phone quick?"

"Sure. What for?" Leti asked as she pulled her small yellow phone from its holster on her hip.

"I want to call Shirako and give him a heads up, he might want to know what to expect." Vert answered.

Leti nodded her head, "I already did that. I sent him a short text telling him to expect company and keep Bassline hidden. He's probably going to think I'm nuts."

Vert stared at her, "Bassline was destroyed, remember?"

Leti stared at him for a moment, in the confusion of the recent events she had completely forgotten that he'd told her that. Now Shirako would most definitely think she was going insane. "Maybe you had better call him and explain things to him."

She opened her phone up and quickly hit one of the buttons. She waited for the automated voice to ask her who she wanted to call. "Shirako," she stated and the electronic voice responded with a simple 'Calling.'.

"Here," she said as she handed the phone to him, "I used the voice dial feature, I've got Shirako's number programmed into it."

Vert nodded his head in understanding and took the phone from her. It rang a total of two times before he heard Shirako pick it up. "What do you mean keep Bassline hidden?" he heard Shirako ask before he even found out who was actually calling him.

"It's Vert Shirako, not Leti."

"Oh."

"I've got to fill you in on some things, that might explain what Leti was talking about. You might not like them."

"I'm listening," was Shirako's response.

"You already know that Leti's in the same group as my two cousins, Trinity and Courtney," Vert started, not really sure exactly where to begin. It was a long confusing story and he wasn't exactly sure what Shirako needed to know and what he didn't.

"Got that much, doesn't explain what it has to do with Bassline."

"I'll explain in a second, there's other things you have to understand."

"Still listening," Shirako responded.

"Trinity's twin sister, my cousin, was killed in a car accident three weeks ago; both she and Trin were forced off the road by a truck. Several people saw the truck that caused the accident, including Leti. The truck was the spitting image of Bassline and Trinity's now out for revenge on the guy that owns that truck…who she just happens to think is you."

"What?"

"She doesn't actually know that you drive a truck that looks like…"Vert stopped mid-sentence, not sure exactly how to explain what he was trying to say.

Leti took the phone from him, "Hey Shirako, it's Leti."

"Hey cuz, what exactly is Vert talking about?"

"Trinity thinks that it was your truck that forced her and Serena off the road and resulted in Sere's death. She doesn't actually know that you drive a truck that looks like the one that forced them off the road, but if she finds it out she'll think it was you and try to take her revenge out on you. I know you didn't do it and Vert explained about what happened to Bassline and the fact that you didn't have the new one finished until after the time of the accident. We both know that it couldn't possibly have been you, but Trinity more than likely won't see reason, her want of revenge will blind her senses."

Shirako remained quiet for a few seconds, processing everything he had been told. "I'm following so far, but where does the whole expect company come in?"

Leti sighed, "Vert's not coming home alone, Trinity's decided that the whole gang's gonna come with him. Soon enough you're going to come face to face with Trinity and I want to make certain that she's never going to suspect that you're the one she thinks she's looking for. As long as she never finds out about Bassline, everything will be fine. She can have her little reunion with Vert and once she's got that and seeing what sort of team he belongs to out of her system, we can head home and she'll never be the wiser."

"Gotchya," Shirako said, finally understanding, if not completely, what was going on. He had the gist of what was going on and that's all that mattered at the moment, he could get more sufficient answers later, when Vert made it back.

Vert took the phone from Leti, "Just make sure that everyone understands that Bassline's not to be mentioned. We don't need Trinity to discover anything she's not suppose to."

Well, there's Chapter 7, a little on the hurried side but I want to start to get things rolling. Things will most definitely start heating up from here on in as Trinity and Shirako come face to face for the first time, the question is: Will Leti and Vert manage to keep Trinity from discovering the truth? The answer is of course no. Someone or something is going to slip and then all hell is going to break loose. That's a while in coming though so no one has to worry about Trinity trying to spill Shirako's blood anytime soon.

Now, be kind and review.

And now onto the shout outs, even though there wasn't very many this time but it was also such a short period in between updates as well…

MoonRavenX: grins I would have to say that you are probably correct in saying that Shirako is innocent and it was actually a Silencerz that caused the accident. But then that would be admitting too much so I'll just not have to agree or deny that at the moment, lol. As for the comment about things heating up between the three teams: most definitely. Hope this update was soon enough for you!

Dark672: glad you still think it's good, keep reviewing!

Dragoneian: I'm glad you think it's getting better as it goes along, I've had my doubts a few times but all the positive reviews helps out a lot. Your welcome for the compliment on your name and I hope you still think that this story is good. I'm having lots of fun writing it.

KTezla: Bet you're probably thinking this chapter was even faster than the previous. It's not my best work but it suffices in the long run, I think it's basically another filler chapter to get the story going where I want it to go. My seven year old son was actually the one who got me into watching AcceleRacers, he started collecting the cars and I decided I wanted to see what the whole deal was and started researching in on the 'net and that's when it piqued my interest. I think I've watched the movies more than he has and I'm not sure if I buy the toys for him to play with or me, lol. You can keep Vert and I'll keep Shirako, sound good to you? Could you ask the administrator for me? I'd love to be able to take over Shirako's character! I could even introduce Trinity into the whole mix, though I'm not sure how well liked she'll be since she has a death wish out for Shirako, at least for now. And yes, I can guess who you are, lol. Kara Tezla I believe. In all honesty, Shirako and Trinity will get a long just fine once she settles her differences with him and discovers who really killed Serena. She definitely is a girl who would take someone out if she felt they had wronged her, it's a good thing it won't really come to that where it concerns Shirako. Is there possibly a way I could get in touch with you? E-mail addy or something so I could toss some of my ideas your way, I want someone's opinion on some of the things I want to occur, but I want to know what someone else thinks.

KawaiiYamato: Of course I like them! They're wonderful. I do have to agree that we are all addicted to something, though I wouldn't know if I would call my chapters' wonderful, lol. I'm a humble Fanfiction writer, imagine that! Yes, I would have to agree that the previous chapter's title was a bit misleading, fortunately Shirako and Trinity have not yet met, but that is very soon coming. I'll go along with the idea of editing, if I think the chapter needs work, I'll send it to you, if not then I'll just post it. This chapter didn't matter much since it's basically just a filler so it really didn't need the proof reading. As for updating soon, hope this was soon enough so now I'll be expecting a chapter or two from you, from any of your stories.

Again, please, everyone review! The story gets updated so much quicker with all the positive reviews I get!