The Truth That Lies Beyond The Lies
An AcceleRacers Fanfiction
By: Wings of Speed
Disclaimer: As before, still in Chapter 1.
Summary: It was suppose to be a normal day, that is until Trinity and Kara come face to face. Then a day that was just like any other leads to a tragedy that probably could've been avoided, somehow.
The Truth That Lies Beyond The Lies
Chapter 12: The Showdown
It was the dawning of the fifth day at the new manor of Tezla and there hadn't been anymore interesting surprises. Nolo had the complete frame finished for his new car; he hadn't come up with a new name for it yet though. He just couldn't see naming it after Synkro, this was a completely new machine and he couldn't name it after Spectyte either.
The others finally had their blue prints finished and had started work on their cars as well. Shirako had downloaded everything to his computer, just in case anything would happen and they'd later need the blue prints for something. It was better to be safe than sorry after all.
Karma had decided to call her new car Storm Force and Shirako was calling his new truck…Bassline of course, version three. Kurt hadn't decided on a name either, but he'd switched the style of his car so many times that Nolo wasn't surprised that he couldn't come up with a name yet. Vert wouldn't tell anyone what he was calling his car, he said it was going to be a surprise, he'd let everyone know at about the same time that the Atomic Winds would be leaving.
Nolo sighed as he put down the wrench he had been using, tightening one of the bolts that would later help hold the engine in place. He had the mounts installed in the engine area, that'd be one of the first things he'd put in the car, then build the rest of it up from there. He figured in maybe a month or so he'd have this new machine finished, then within two to three weeks later the paint scheme would be finished and he'd have the completed package.
It was still to long in his opinion, he wanted to race now. He'd been sorely tempted a couple of times to ask one of the Winds if he could borrow one of their cars. He just wanted to feel the thrumming of the engine beneath him, it had been to long.
He glanced up and watched as Vert walked into the garage bay. There was a brief exchange of hellos before his teammate walked over to the table that still housed the plans for his new machine. Nolo also returned to work on his own machine.
Moments later he heard the tell tale electro groan of the garage door as its mechanisms slowly began to draw the large door open. He could hear the gunning of an engine from outside, the car impatiently waiting for the door to fully open. He glanced over at Vert where he was working on the new frame for his car. Vert caught his gaze and raised his brows in question. "We're not expecting company, are we?" He asked. "All of the Winds cars are accounted for, aren't they?"
Nolo shrugged and put down the wrench he had only moments before picked back up. It clattered as it fell from the part of the frame he had placed it on and hit the floor with a resounding metal clink. "As far as I know none of them left, all their cars should still be out there."
"I had thought they were all in the common room when I'd come down. Should we go see who our visitor is then?" Vert asked as he stepped away from the parts for his car. He figured it had to be someone trustworthy; Tezla wouldn't just have given anyone one of the devices to open the lumbersome door after all.
Both young men stepped from the Teku's bay and were greeted by the five cars of the Atomic Winds, none of them started, each sitting cold in the exact same spot they had seen them in when they'd walked into their bay. Both turned their eyes to the now opened door and took in the car that was sitting there, its engine still revving.
"Kara," Vert said simply.
"Looks like she's back," Nolo said as he grinned over at his friend.
The brand new Sunfire shuddered as the engine was revved once more. It was pitch black in color with bright blue trimming running along the bottom and a scene of a growing thunderstorm painted on the hood, the graying clouds spilling down over the sides to just about the doors. Streaks of lightning erupted from the clouds to blaze a silvery trail down the sides of the car and sparkling drops of rain could just be discerned. The engine revved again and the tires squealed in protest as the car suddenly shot forward.
The E-brake was applied causing the car to drift into a tight turn, just avoiding hitting Bass Assault. The engine was shut off and the driver's door slowly opened. Kara threw her helmet off, it hitting the passenger seat and bouncing off to land on the floor boards of the Sunfire. Her brown hair highlighted with blond streaks cascaded down her back, falling in waved around her shoulders. Her hazel shaded eyes quietly surveyed her surroundings, taking in every detail of the new place that her uncle was calling home for the moment.
"Vert! Nolo!" she greeted once she noticed her two friends standing there watching her. "Uncle Peter didn't say that you guys would be here when I talked to him." Then her eyes landed on the five strange cars and she stared with interest for a few moments. "They're not Teku cars, nor Maniac cars for that matter. Whose are they?"
Vert smiled at her, "They're not for stealing either." He commented and couldn't help it as his grin broadened. Not long ago Kara had been in the habit of stealing cars; a couple of the Teku cars included and Vert couldn't resist the urge to bring that part of her life up. He was joking and she knew it, it was the closest they could get to flirting without actually coming out and flirting with one another. Neither one of them seemed quite ready to take that step yet, but it was apparent to all that knew them that there were unvocalized feelings between the two.
She glared at him for a couple of seconds before she finally responded. "How many times do I have to remind you that I don't do that anymore? I've gone legit now." Her hazel eyes danced in merriment, enjoying their game as much as Vert was.
Vert smiled as he and Nolo approached her. Vert stopped next to the two tone blue Lancer and placed a hand on the roof. "These cars belong to the Atomic Winds. This is my cousin Trinity's car, Bass Assault."
"Interesting name there." Kara commented, eyeing the car with interest. It was pretty but she'd seen better. And pretty didn't matter much in the game of racing, what counted was what was beneath the hood. "These Atomic Winds any good?"
"We're the best," a new voice said from near the entrance door into the garage.
All three young adults turned to look at the newcomer, having never heard the small door open. Trinity stood there with the rest of the Atomic Winds standing behind her.
"I've heard that before," Kara said nonchalantly. "I'll believe it when I see it." She had heard that particular boast before from countless teams and the only thing it had ever proven was that there was more wind in their lungs than there was horsepower in their cars. She had always left these 'We're the best' teams looking at nothing but her fading tail lights, they hadn't been able to support their bragging.
Trinity snorted then smiled, "Care to put your foot where your mouth is?"
"You wanna race?" Kara asked as one of her eyebrows raised in question. She wouldn't mind putting another one of these holier than though teams in their place.
Trinity walked up to where Vert and the others were standing, she stopped to glare at her cousin. "Remove your hand from my car before I'm forced to break it." He just smiled at her but didn't remove his hand. She sighed and blew a breath out between pursed lips. "You're impossible Wheeler, ya know that?"
"But ya still love me anyhow," he replied.
"The jury's still not in on that one yet," she remarked. He just continued to grin at her. She walked past her cousin, but not before delivering a soft blow to his arm. He still continued to grin which caused her to roll her eyes in exasperation.
She walked a couple of times around the Sunfire, her eyes taking in everything about it. It was nice, a year newer than what Wyldfyre had been. It probably packed a 24 DOHC engine in it with a couple of upgrades to boost the engine performance. All in all, it could probably give Bass Assault a run for her money, except for the fact that the Lancer had a few upgrades up her sleeve as well. Ok, quite a few upgrades up her sleeve, but who was really counting in the end?
She stopped to look at the other young woman, "Yeah, I wanna race. You just name the time, day and place and we'll be ready."
Kara smiled; she'd noticed the other eying her car up with interest. "How about today, right now?"
Trinity cocked an eyebrow. "Right now?" she repeated. "I have a feeling I'm gonna like you."
Kara stared at her for the span of a heartbeat, "I can't yet say the feeling's going to be mutual. I'll wait to see how you drive, then I'll make my own decision."
Trinity eyed the other girl with interest and decided at that moment that this girl was probably just as cocky as she herself was. This could prove to make things very interesting.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
The race took place about five miles from the old mansion, in an area where the jagged lines and crevices of canyons marred the beauty of the otherwise pristine landscape. It was at the base of one of these canyons that the two cars were lined up nose to nose. The jagged crevice of the canyon would provide the route for the race, the steep walls of the cliff ensuring that no one would be able to cheat by attempting to discover a shortcut or hidden path. There would be no such secret courses, at least not in this race.
Leti stood before both of the cars, her arms poised above her head, waiting to give the signal to go. Vert was kneeling between the two cars, looking back and forth between the two drivers. Windows had been rolled down and Vert said in a voice that sounded a lot calmer than he was feeling, "Make this a clean race," he looked directly at his cousin as he said that. "There's a large boulder about two miles down the course, you're going to loop around it and come back, there's a box canyon there so you should have ample room to maneuver around the boulder. Whoever makes it back first is the winner."
He paused momentarily as he glanced back and forth between the two drivers, "May the best driver win."
Trinity just snorted as she revved her engine. Kara smiled at Vert as her foot sank on the gas pedal, the engine responding with a surge of rumbling power.
He turned to look at Leti and nodded. Her arms lowered and she shouted "Go!" but it was drowned out by the gunning of the engines as the two cars took off in a cloud of dust.
Kara's Sunfire easily took the lead, the Lancer a few car lengths behind. There was a loud echo of what sounded like gunfire then the Lancer lurched forward as flames flowed from the exhaust pipe.
"That can't be good," Kurt commented.
"She's supposed to do that," Courtney responded. "It's the way Trin has the nitrous system set up. In the next gear shift, if she needs the extra boost, she'll activate the nitrous. If not, Assault will backfire again as she cleans out more carbon." She looked over towards where Leti and Shirako were standing, then looked back at Kurt. "Bass Assault hasn't raced in a few days so there's bound to be some carbon build up."
Kurt just nodded his head; it was a weird set up if you asked him.
The two cars were becoming small dots in the distance as they traveled further down the canyon, their engines echoing off of the cliff walls.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Trinity growled beneath her breath, her knuckles turning white where they gripped the steering wheel. She was loosing, not by much but that didn't matter in the end. She wasn't in the lead, the one spot she liked most in the world. She hated coming in in any other position other than first.
She took her eyes off the course for just a few seconds as she hit the button that would pop the laptop out that controlled the flow of the engine, monitored the manifold and energy output. The small flat laptop popped out from beneath the center dash consul and immediately popped open. It was showing that she was just entering Stage 3 and she could use the nitrous in a couple more seconds.
Everything appeared to be running smoothly, every display indicated that things were operating as they should be. If that was so than how come that Sunfire had managed to gain the lead so early on? That car shouldn't have beaten her in the start!
She glanced at the readouts again; Assault was set up for drifting not sprints like Omega One. She took one of her hands off the steering wheel and punched a couple of keys on the keyboard. 'Implement Omega One set up?' popped up on the screen.
She hit the confirm button.
'Implementing…' popped up on the screen.
She felt Assault shudder as gear ratios were changed. The engine whined as the new changes took hold and Trinity automatically downshifted and listened to the new hum of the engine.
'Omega One set up confirmed.' Popped up on the small screen and she could feel the change in the car. Though her tires were still set up for drift, her suspension now wasn't and neither was her breaking system as well. Gear ratios had been changed to increase the speed at the beginning in the lower gears and optimize the use of the nitrous when it was shot through the engine.
She turned her eyes back to the track and the backend of the Sunfire. She could see the boulder slowly coming up in the distance and knew she didn't have long to make her move. She glanced back down at the laptop and counted off the seconds before she could send a wet shot of the nitrous through the system.
She quickly hit another button and another screen popped up. 'Nitrous use in five seconds, approaching gear change,' showed up on the screen.
She loved technology but at the same time hated it. Bass Assault relied heavily on computer systems and chips, so did the other three Atomic Winds cars. The only car that didn't was Leti's; Powerdyne was set up like a muscle car should be with no computers needed.
The engine rumbled louder and she mentally readied herself to hit the clutch and shift the car into the next gear while at the same time her finger poised over the nitrous button. She watched in growing anger as the Sunfire reached the boulder first and careened around the rock.
It was almost like the other driver was one step ahead of her, almost as if the girl could read her mind and knew what she was going to do before she even did it. Not that that was likely, but that's what it seemed like to her at the moment.
Trinity wouldn't have time to use the NOS button before she reached the boulder, she'd have to downshift as she went around the turn. Hopefully she'd be able to catch the other driver on the return trip, if not then she most certainly would loose this race. That made her angrier than anything else at the moment. It didn't bother her at the moment that she was running in second, what bothered her the most now was loosing. She didn't like to loose!
Hitting the clutch she downshifted the Lancer and drifted it around the boulder and then punched the gas. She glanced back down at the computer, 'Nitrous use in two seconds,' was flashing on the screen.
"The hell with that," she mumbled beneath her breath. She needed to make up some time and she needed to make it up now!
Her finger was just lowering on the NOS button when Bass Assault lurched to the side, like someone had hit her with some force from behind. Her car skidded first to the left, then swung to the right as she compensated for the skid. She was nailed from the back again and the next thing she knew she was facing backwards and was looking at the same car she had forced off the road on the trip here.
The silver and purple car was back and apparently the driver wanted revenge.
"Oh shit," she said softly, "this is gonna hurt!"
The other car accelerated, front end clashing against front end and sending Bass Assault spinning yet again. Breaks or gas? Trinity silently asked herself. Which would benefit her the most and which would send her car spinning even more? And once she got her car righted, what would this idiot on wheels decide to do next?
The idiot on wheels decided to accelerate and rushed past her in a cloud of dust.
So much for worrying about him.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Kara glanced in her review mirror, wanting to know exactly where the Lancer was at. What she saw made her mouth open wide in surprise and a soft curse cross her lips. The blue Lancer was spinning out of control and a silver and purple car was fast approaching. Within moments it would be knocking on her back bumper.
That couldn't possibly be a good thing, not in the least.
"What are the Silencerz doing here?" she then wondered softly. "Well, they took her out so I guess I'm next. Hope they don't mind me playing hard to get."
She grabbed her e-break and pulled hard, forcing her Sunfire into a tight spin. "Feel like playing chicken?" She softly laughed, "I certainly do."
She gunned the engine and gave a satisfied smile as her small car leapt to attention and shot forward. Now it would only be a matter of seeing who would dodge first and she had no plans of it being her.
Her Sunfire's tires ate up the distance and within a span of a few heartbeats she could see the front end of the other car perfectly. There was about four or so car lengths separating her from the other car and the other driver gave no indication of even thinking about moving from the oncoming head on collision. Kara sucked in her breath and felt her heartbeat quicken.
Never had she been this close to the other car when she'd implemented a game of chicken, the other driver had always backed down. This guy wasn't even flinching; his car wasn't wavering in the slightest. Apparently he had no intention of backing down either.
"You're crazy," she said to the other driver even though they couldn't hear her, "You're even crazier than I am!" She had no intention of backing down though, she'd hit this idiot head on if that's what it took. No one butted in on one of her races, especially when they hadn't been invited. This guy was gonna learn a valuable lesson the hard way!
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
There was the sound of clashing metal and in the distance they could see a large cloud of dust. Then suddenly everything was quiet. There were no sounds of gunning engines, or even squealing breaks. It had suddenly become deathly quiet.
There was no sound at all in the stillness, not even the noises of animals or nearby insects. Nothing at all.
Vert looked over at Leti and Courtney, "That didn't sound good."
"It sounded like someone wrecked," Karma spoke up and her eyes immediately went to Courtney and the rest of the Winds. "I swear, if that idiot you call a leader did anything to Kara, there's gonna be all types of hell to pay."
Courtney snorted and allowed her eyes to narrow as she glared at the other female, "Trinity doesn't have a problem with your friend…not yet at least. But if she did something to Trinity, she'll have a problem with the Winds." With Trinity gone for the moment Courtney took over the role of leader of the Winds and she certainly wasn't going to allow someone else to bash one of her teammates.
With that said, the four remaining Atomic Winds were sprinting for their cars, all thoughts of the race forgotten. Something had happened and they didn't have a clue what. Plus they didn't know if Trinity was involved and if so, how. The only thing that mattered at the moment was finding out if something had happened to their teammate.
"What's that?" Nolo asked as he noticed a dust trail approaching.
Courtney had just reached her car and she turned around to see what it was that the leader of the Teku had noticed. She saw the dust trail as well and immediately presumed it was either Trinity or Vert's friend. Maybe nothing had happened after all…but if that were the case, than what was the noise they had just heard moments before?
The dust trail grew closer and as it did so they could finally make out the car that was stirring up all the dust. It was neither of the two cars they were watching for. Infact, it was the car that Trinity had forced off the road on their trip here, and its front end had sustained some damage.
"A Silencerz," she heard some of the members from the Teku and Maniacs exclaim.
She stared at the fast approaching silver and purple car for a few more seconds than snapped, "Winds, saddle up! It's time to move!" There were questions that needed to be answered but they could wait until it was discovered what had happened to Trinity and the other girl.
The rest of the Winds didn't need much more motivation as they all quickly got in their cars and within seconds were sprinting down the course. Dust flew in all directions as the four cars full throttled down the make-shift road, passing by the silver and purple car without a moment's hesitation.
The first car they came upon was the black Sunfire, its front end smashed and steam billowing from the ruptured radiator. Courtney motioned for Jon and Mikey to stop and see how the driver was as she and Leti continued on.
A little further down the road they came across the twisted heap that had once been Bass Assault. Courtney slammed on her breaks, kicking up dust and debris as her car slid in the dirt, just narrowly stopping a few feet from what was left of Bass Assault.
"Trinity!" Courtney screamed as she rushed from her own car.
Blue smoke was slowly spiraling up from beneath the hood and small tongues of flame could be seen dancing from beneath the shattered undercarriage. The smell of gasoline wafted to her nose.
Suddenly the sound of an explosion rocked the silence.
Well, there we have the ending of Chapter 12 and quite an ending it is! Good? Bad? Makes you want to know what's going to happen next? Let me know…better yet, why don't you guess and tell me what you think is going to happen in the next chapter!
Now, to thank those that have made anon. reviews…
Chase Wheeler: Thank you so much for reviewing each and every chapter! You have no idea how happy that made me! As for there being a Leti/Vert romance in this fic…sorry but I hate to burst your bubble but Vert is already taken so there won't be anything happening between him and Leti. I do have some stuff planned for her and another character though. Hopefully you'll continue reading even though nothing's going to happen between Vert and Leti…I think Kara would probably kill me if I put Vert with anyone else.
Dark672: Yes, I know. As always, it's good. Thank you for reading as always. Glad to know you still are.
KawaiiYamato: It doesn't matter how much you say it I'll still argue the point with you. He's mine, not yours! All mine…I've got some sort of claimship papers somewhere, just let me go find them. He's still mine, all mine I say! And although you may have written all those crazy fics…um…yeah…he's still mine! Jealous of? Little ol' me? I'm glad you think it's good though I'm not to sure about the perfect part. I always think my work could be a little better, but when I read it over I can never find the spot that needs to be improved, though I know it's there. I just can never find it! Trin and Karma will definitely have their day…but that's still a few chapters to come. There's some things that need to be revealed first, then all hell's gonna break loose and I pity anyone unfortunate enough to be stuck in the middle of it.