The Truth That Lies Beyond The Lies
An AcceleRacers Fanfiction
By: Wings of Speed
Disclaimer: If you really feel the need to read it flip back to Chapter 1, you'll find it there.
Summary: The road to ruin is not always an easy one. Sometimes even the best of plans are not always successful, as the Silencerz may well discover.
The Truth That Lies Beyond The Lies
Chapter 16: The Second Step to the Road of Ruin
The red Supra sat wrapped around the telephone pole, rear end and front end nearly meeting in a way that was not supposed to be physically possible. The designers of the car had never intended for the car to be in this type of accident, never intended for it to end up the way this Supra had inevitably found itself.
Gasoline leaked from a cracked tank and the distinctive odor of the fuel permeated the air. Bright green fluid leaked from a ruptured radiator as murky gray liquid dripped from what was left of the shattered oil pan. The once proud Supra was in a sad state, something its owner probably had never dreamed of seeing.
Luckily she was not there to see it.
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"Nice to see you amongst the land of the living again," Lani said as she finished up her examination and gave a nod to the dark haired young woman before her. Everything checked out good, the bump and bandage on the young lady's forehead the only indication of the accident earlier. There would be aches and pains, but they were to be expected, she was just damn lucky to still be alive.
"Glad to be back," Kara said wryly as she got up from the med-bed. She ran her hands down over her shirt, smoothing imagined wrinkles from the fabric. "How long was I out?"
"Only a couple of hours," Lani answered. "You had us worried there for a little while. The bump to your head was pretty bad."
Kara reached a hand up to her bandaged forehead and grimaced. "I can bet my Sunfire looks worse for wear too."
A dark look crossed Lani's face and she looked away from Tezla's niece. Kara's eyes narrowed as she quickly grabbed hold of Lani's arm, forcing the other young woman to look at her. "There's something you're not telling me here Lani, what is it?"
"Your Sunfire's a total loss," Lani said as Kara suddenly flopped back down on the med-bed, a look of complete dismay crossing the other young woman's face.
"What?" Kara asked. "The damage couldn't have been that bad." Her voice was barely above a whisper, her mind still trying to digest what she had been told. It just couldn't be true!
"It exploded Kara. Your car's nothing but a mangled mess of charred parts now. It's down in the garage along with Trinity's Lancer, but both cars are totaled."
Kara looked away from the other dark-haired young woman for a few seconds then pinned her with a dark glare. "It was that damn Silencerz car, wasn't it? That damn driver took both of us out and probably didn't receive even a minor scratch from the whole thing!" Then her expression slacked slightly and she glanced around the med-bay. "Both cars are totaled? Is Trinity ok?"
"She's fine, she only received a minor concussion and a few scrapes and bruises. She left a couple of hours ago to look at a new car. Her cousin said she'll probably be back in a few more hours, depending on whether or not she finds anything of interest." Lani answered, then her gaze wondered toward the door. "There's a few people that probably wouldn't mind knowing that you're all right."
Kara glanced up at Lani and absently nodded her head. She still couldn't believe that her pride and joy was gone. In a blink of an eye the beauty she had created from scratch was gone. She had spent a lot of time on the plans for that car and in just a few short seconds it was all gone. Just like that, gone up in smoke. Someone was going to pay for this and they'd pay dearly.
She shook her head, still not believing it. Then she looked up at Lani, "She's really gone? There's no possibility of restoring her?"
Lani sadly shook her head in response. "Both Shirako and Monkey looked both cars over. They both agreed that your Sunfire and Trinity's Lancer are done for. The damage was too extensive, the damage from the fire so severe. Everything would have to be replaced; it'd just be a lot simpler to start with a new car."
Kara nodded her head, but by damn, she didn't like it! Didn't like it one bit, someone was going to pay for this travesty and if she ever got her hands on that damn Silencerz driver…well, there'd be all types of hell to pay.
Lani laid a calming hand on the other's shoulder and smiled gently. "Everyone else is down in the common room I believe. Though some of them may have wondered into the garage to work on their cars."
Kara nodded her head. "I'm ok to leave then?"
"Yeah, everything checks out now. You should be fine, but if you become disoriented or dizzy, I want you to let me know immediately. You did suffer from a severe concussion and everyone reacts differently to such things. If anything seems out of the ordinary, make sure you let me know, ok?"
Kara nodded her head again. "Ok…so I can leave then?"
"Yeah." Lani answered as she helped Kara up from the med-bed once again. "Just remember-"
"Yeah, I know: If anything seems out of the ordinary let you know."
Lani nodded her head and smiled. "Good, now get on out of here!"
Kara didn't need to be told twice. She wandered aimlessly down the hallways for a couple of minutes. She knew where she was going but she was in no hurry to get there anytime soon. Her car was an obliterated mess after all and she felt like thrashing the first person that irritated her. To say she was in a lethal mood was probably the understatement of the century.
Finally, after what seemed like hours of wondering around she finally arrived at the common room, but she didn't go in right a way. Instead she stood outside of the door for a few minutes, mentally debating with herself on whether or not she really felt like dealing with those inside. In the end she finally grabbed hold of the handle and pushed the door open.
She was greeted by most of the Teku and Maniacs. Only a few were missing, Shirako wasn't there and neither were Kurt or Wylde, the Atomic Winds were unaccounted for as well. Vert was the first one to notice her standing there in the doorway. It didn't take him long to get up from his seat and walk over to her.
"You're up!" he said as he smiled at her. "How ya feeling?"
She grimaced as her hand went to her forehead of its own volition. "Like I just got ran over by a semi?" she quipped.
"I can imagine," Karma said from her spot on a couch next to Taro.
Kara noticed that the other young woman, the only other female in the room, was leaning back against the Maniac driver and she looked pretty comfortable doing it. Kara smiled blandly and waved a hand in the air, "But Lani gave me a clean bill of health and told me to beat it."
"You had a severe concussion!" Nolo said from the chair he was sitting in, across the room from the couch that Taro and Karma were occupying. "Is she sure it's wise for you to be up and moving around so soon?"
"I wasn't going to argue with her," Kara said as she walked further into the room and sat down on the couch that Vert had just previously vacated. Vert followed her and sat down next to her. "Besides," she continued, "I'm not one for remaining out of action for very long. Don't like hospitals or anything that remotely resembles them."
"I can agree with that," Pork Chop said, remembering his own time in the med-lab within the old AcceleDrome. He was sitting on a couch across from the couch that Vert and Kara were now sitting in, Monkey and Tork sitting with him.
There was the sudden echoing of techno music out in the hallway and moments later the door opened to reveal Shirako. His head was bouncing to the beat of his music as his eyes slowly surveyed the gathered group. He nodded his head in Kara's general direction, "Yo," he simply said in greeting.
Then he turned his attention to Vert. "Can I borrow Reverb for a little while?"
Vert raised his brows in interest. Apparently the silent Asian had decided on muttering a few more words than normal today. "What for?" Vert finally asked.
"Need to get some new tunes and supplies for the new ride," Shirako answered, his music never dropping a single decibel during the entire exchange.
It amazed everyone that he could hear a single word they were saying and a few wondered if he'd picked up on the talent of reading lips. It was the only way he'd be able to understand what they were saying.
"Sure, go ahead. The keys are already in her," Vert answered and watched as Shirako nodded his head then turned around and left the room.
"Good riddance," Pork Chop muttered just as soon as the door had closed behind the music crazed Teku driver. "At least we'll have a couple hours of peace."
Music suddenly blasted through the manor and Pork Chop groaned as his fists clenched next to his sides. "At least he's leaving," the burly man groaned beneath his breath.
"Sorry to burst your bubble Pork Chop but that's not music from Reverb," Vert said, a smile threatening to spill across his face. "Besides, that doesn't sound like something Shirako would listen to."
Pork Chop slouched in his seat, "Would it do me any good to curse your cousins and their blasted friends?"
"Probably not," Vert answered.
"Why is it so loud though?" Karma asked. "Even Bassline couldn't crank out that amount of wattage and it was built for just such a thing."
Vert listened for a second and even he had to agree as he watched the glass in the windows suddenly start to rattle as the music was cranked to an even louder pitch. That was much to loud for any one of the Atomic Winds cars, which meant only one thing. The three remaining Winds cars were synched up and blaring the exact same music at the exact same time.
"At least its not that techno crap they were listening to when they first arrived," Pork Chop groaned, his voice barely heard above the din of the music. "Those damn Winds are going to give me a headache!"
"They've already given me one," Tork complained as he held his hands up to his head, his fingers meticulously rubbing small circles against his temples. "Don't suppose there's someway to blow their speakers for them, is there?"
"I doubt it, I've tried it after all," Vert replied.
All eyes turned to regard him and he smiled sheepishly. "They used to listen to shit that even I wouldn't dream of. Sappy stuff that had no right to even be listened to. Anyhow, I thought it would be interesting to blast their speakers to hell and back. It didn't work very well. Apparently their systems are set up with backup wiring. If the main wiring is fried the backup comes on-line. Of course, I learned that the hard way. Trin and Court were laughing their heads off at me. They thought it was pretty damn funny."
"Good thing your resident music crazed driver doesn't have something like that in his car," Pork Chop said.
"You never know, he just may. He's never blown his speakers before that we know of." Nolo responded.
Pork Chop just groaned and rolled his eyes.
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Shirako walked into the garage, the blare of the Winds' music pounding through even his headphones. The four remaining Winds drivers, minus their leader, were gathered around the yellow Mustang. Wires and other mechanical apparatus were strewn all over the place, including across the hood of the yellow Ford.
"I don't need this crap installed in Powerdyne! She fine just the way she is!" Leti was complaining as Mikey suddenly rolled out from beneath the classic car.
"You won't even know it's been installed. The computer will be hidden away and will automatically connect with the one in Street Thunder or whatever new car Trin happens to get." Mikey was saying as he got up from the mechanics roller he'd been on. "Then all of our cars will be able to perfectly synch whatever it is we're listening to."
"My music is just fine thank you very much," Leti said, allowing a slight note of irritation to eclipse her voice.
"Your music sucks half the time," Courtney laughed as she put a hand on her friend's shoulder.
"Is it my fault I'd rather listen to something a little bit more softer and understandable than the shit you guys like to listen to?" Leti countered.
"Yes!" the three other Winds chorused.
"Your impossible," Leti ground out.
"Hey, it makes things much more interesting when all of our cars are playing the same tune, then people can really hear us coming from miles away." Mikey said, a smile playing across his face. They'd had this argument countless times and for some odd reason Leti had always won out in the end. Of course, Trinity had always been there to put the rest of the Winds in their place and let the Asian woman alone. Powerdyne was her car after all and if she didn't want the synched computer installed, she didn't have to have it.
But Trinity wasn't here right now and it was three against one and the other three were going to get their way just this once. There was going to be no if, ands or buts about it!
Leti just rolled her eyes but conceded, knowing she was not destined to win the argument. At least not this time, she didn't have Trinity in her corner.
She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and spotted Shirako, a smile playing across his face. He must've witnessed the whole exchange. She allowed a scowl to cross her face as she approached her cousin. "And just what do you find so funny?"
He just shrugged his shoulders but didn't answer.
"You can take those damn headphones off for once in your life ya know!" she ground out and actually reached up to remove them.
He dodged her hand and actually slapped it way in mid-motion. "Don't even think about it!"
"It won't hurt you to have those things turned off for once. I wonder sometimes if you even take them off when you shower."
"It would and I do," he answered both of her thoughts at once.
She raised an eyebrow at him, "And what brings you down here? I would've thought you'd be upstairs with the rest of your team and friends."
Shirako pointed over toward Reverb, "Got some stuff to do."
Leti nodded her head in understanding, "Heading into town?"
He nodded is head.
"I'd ask to go a long but I'm half scared to let my poor baby here alone with these idiots. There's no telling what else they'd try to install if I weren't here."
"We heard that!" One of the 'said idiot's' responded. Courtney wore a hurt expression on her face as a smile softly graced her lips. "Nice to know what you honestly think of your teammates," her voice held a faked note of hurt in it but the look in her eyes belied that emotion.
Shirako just smiled at his cousin. "Gotta go," he said simply.
"Yeah, I don't want to keep you from your precious music after all," Leti replied, a smile crossing her lips as she lightly hit Shirako on the arm.
He just continued to smile then turned on his heel and headed toward Reverb. "I'll be back in a few hours," he said as he opened the door to the car and got in.
He had no idea that he'd be back much sooner than that.
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The music was blaring from Reverb as the blue car accelerated down the road. The tires ate up the road and the driver never paid attention to his speed, just loving the feel of the rumbling of the car around him. It had been to long since he had been behind the wheel and it sent a primal emotion coursing through his blood.
Anyone that had never raced could never hope to understand the state of euphoria he found himself in as the car continued to pick up speed. Adrenaline pumped through his system as his foot continued to floor the accelerator. Yes, he had indeed missed this, more than he had thought was possible.
He was just coming up to a hairpin turn and started to decelerate. Downshifting he took his eyes off the road for a second as he changed the track, another techno beat filtering through the speakers.
Looking up, he suddenly swerved once he noticed the red Supra meshed against the telephone pole on the opposite side of the road. He'd seen that car someplace before and it took him a couple moments to realize where. It belonged to Vert's cousin Courtney.
He slammed on the breaks, not caring as Reverb suddenly groaned in protest. The wants and needs of the car took backseat after he'd realized exactly where he'd seen the Supra from before. He knew Courtney wasn't the one driving it, he knew that Trinity had taken the car into town to look at a replacement for her destroyed Lancer.
He threw Reverb into neutral and quickly exited while at the same time grabbing his cell phone from within his white jacket. Flipping the phone open he simply hit the send button and waited for the automated voice to ask who he wanted to call. "Vert," he said, his friend's name being the first that popped into his head.
He listened as the phone began to ring, all the while making a mad dash for the wrecked Supra. There was no movement from within, the driver's side being the side that had made impact with the pole.
His phone clicked and he heard Vert's voice come over the line, "What's up Shirako and don't tell me you wrecked my car!"
He got right to the point, ignoring Vert's joking. "Tell Lani I'm coming in, Trinity wrecked the Supra."
"What!" he heard Vert shout. "Is she all right?"
"I dunno," Shirako answered, he'd just reached the mangled car and things weren't looking to hot from his perspective. Trinity wasn't moving and her head was lulled to the side. He spotted the NOS canisters situated in the area reserved for the backseat and knew that it could only be a possibility of a few seconds before they blew, or they might not go up at all.
"Trinity!" he yelled into the car. There was no response. "Hey, can you hear me?"
He banged a couple of times on the passenger window, there was no way to get near the driver's side, the telephone pole was embedded in it to deeply.
"Is she all right?" Vert asked again.
"I don't know!" Shirako nearly yelled into the phone. "I'll call you back once I get her out," with that he shut the phone, not even giving Vert the time to respond. He tried slipping the phone back into his pocket but missed and the small phone hit the ground, sending up a small cloud of dust. He didn't pay it any mind.
He pounded on the window some more, hoping to at least get her to wake up. She didn't even stir. Grabbing hold of the door handle he attempted to open the door, but whether it was locked or jammed from the accident wasn't positive, what was positive was that it wouldn't open.
He glanced around at the ground, searching for something he could use to break the glass of the window with. He spotted a large rock wedged beneath the front tire. Bending down, he hoped he could dislodge it from the beneath the tire. No such luck, it didn't even budge.
He looked around some more and found a smaller rock just beneath the car. Grabbing hold of it he slammed it against the window. It cracked the glass, but that was about it. He slammed it against the glass again, determined it was going to break one way or another.
Another cracked formed, but the glass was being stubborn and refusing to break.
Feeling his anger building he slammed the rock against the window with all this strength and watched in satisfaction as the glass suddenly shattered, spilling into the car's interior. Glass littered almost every part of the passenger's side, but he paid it no mind as he reached in and grabbed hold of the lock, being thankful that at least the locks weren't powered. Manual was good in some respects, and this was one of them.
He grabbed hold of the door handle again and gave it a good yank, expecting some sort of resistance. He was thrown off balance as the door suddenly gave way and he stumbled a few feet backwards.
His surprise was quickly thrown off and he dived into the car, once again not paying attention to the glass that was now strewn all about the interior. He glanced at Trinity's face. It was pale and a large cut was trickling blood down the side of her face.
And she didn't appear to be breathing either.
"Trinity!" he shouted.
She didn't respond.
He was at a loss of what to do. He'd never been in this kind of circumstance before. He didn't have a clue what should be done. He knew he needed to get her out of the car, but what then?
Grabbing hold of the racing harness, he quickly undid the fasteners and caught her as she suddenly slumped forward. She was dead weight in his arms as he bodily drug her from the car.
Laying her down a little ways from the wrecked Supra, he quickly checked her pulse. There was none and she still wasn't breathing. His mind sifted back through what he had learned about CPR.
Tilting her head back and plugging her nose, he gently breathed two quick breaths into her lungs. She didn't respond.
He straddled her prone form, placing his hands just below her heart and compressed five times. He glanced up at her face to see if there was a reaction of any sort. Still nothing.
"Damn it," he ground out between clenched teeth. "Don't you dare die on me!"
He moved so that he was once more near her face and tilted her head back again. He plugged her nose and breathed in two breaths again. He studied her face but again there was no reaction.
He moved to straddle her midsection again, placing his hands once again just below her heart. He pushed his hands down and upwards, attempting to get her lungs working as well as her heart.
Again there was no response.
Am I doing something wrong? He mentally asked himself.
He shook his head in answer, as far as he could remember he was doing everything correctly. Then why wasn't it working?
Maybe she's been gone for to long? He wondered.
"I refuse to believe that," he ground out in a low voice.
He moved back to her head and repeated the motions over again. He still got no response and his hope was slowly starting todwindle.
"Come on!" he said between clenched teeth, "Vert'll kill the both of us if something happens to you!"
He was just starting to straddle her again when she suddenly coughed, her body spasming with the action. Her eyes opened slowly as she drew in a couple more breaths of air.
She continued to stare up at the sky for a few more moments before she finally turned her ocean blue eyes to look down at him. She then opened them wide as a blush of embarrassment suddenly flared to life on her cheeks. "What…" she started, "What are you doing?"
His dark eyes met her blue ones and he actually blushed himself. He was all too aware of the fact that he was still straddling her. "You weren't breathing," he explained.
She nodded her head slightly in understanding, the blush still not leaving her cheeks. "Um…I think I'm ok now, really." She smiled. Her blush suddenly deepened, "Um, I think you can get off of me now."
He smiled down at her while his own blush deepened in intensity. Then he scrambled off of her, once on his feet he offered her a hand up. She sat up slowly, her head aching while her temples began to thump to an unholy rhythm. One hand was planted firmly in the dirt of the ground while the other one went up to her face, tracing a gentle line across her left cheek.
She glanced at her fingers as she drew her hand away, her eyes widening as she saw blood on her fingertips. She glanced up at Shirako, her eyes wearily meeting with his own, then she broke the connection and glanced over toward where the Supra still sat. Her eyes widened in disbelief as the events of the past couple minutes resurfaced in her mind. "Oh shit, I'm dead. Court is going to kill me."
"I think that she'll be happy that you're ok," Shirako said, drawing her eyes back to him. "You messed that car up pretty badly; it could have been a lot worse."
Trinity shook her head, "You don't understand, by the time Courtney's done with me I'll have wished I died in that accident. While Bass Assault has a replacement waiting in the wings, Street Thunder doesn't." She groaned as she drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin against them, "She's going to kill me."
"You're over exaggerating."
Trinity glared up at him, "Oh no I am not. She's going to kill me, slowly and painfully for wrecking her car. She didn't even want me taking her in the first place and now look at her! She's a mangled mess of metal! I'm so dead!" she groaned the last part out, her chin returning to rest on her knees as she wrapped her arms around her legs, drawing her legs even closer to her body.
"She'll just be happy that your ok," Shirako reinterated.
Trinity grimaced, "You don't know her the way I do. She's going to hold this over my head for quite a while. I'll probably end up replacing Street Thunder in the end." She blinked a couple of times as her mind suddenly seemed to take off in a completely different course, "It wouldn't be the first time I've had to do that."
"Huh?" Shirako asked, a look of curiosity crossing his face.
She glanced up at him, "A while back I had to replace a friend's car after I took it off road and right into a lake."
It was Shirako's turn to blink a couple of times, "How did you manage to drive it into the lake?"
A rather sheepish look crossed her face, "It wasn't there the day before! Or at least I don't think it was."
"You…don't…think…it was?" A look of complete disbelief flared to life on the Asian's face.
Trinity now chose to stare at the ground, any place other than at his face. "Well, I had drove past the pasture quite a few times before, but never paid much attention to it before that. I decided on that day that I wanted to take Rocky's truck through the field…and ultimately chase the damn cows around." Then she decided to look up at him, "How was I supposed to know that there was a lake on the other side of the small hill?"
"Chase cows around?"
"Yeah, there's nothing like watching them turn tail and try to get a way from a big red truck that's barreling down on them."
Shirako shook his head, "You have some interesting ways to pass the time in Wyoming."
She grinned up at him, "You have no idea."
Something suddenly occurred to her, "Ya know, Vert told me once, shortly after we'd gotten here and he'd introduced us to the rest of you that you don't talk very much. You'd much rather stay in your own little world listening to that music of yours, but you seem to be doing an awful lot of talking now."
Shirako just stared at her for a couple of seconds before a grin split his face, then he offered her his hand again. "Come on, let's get you back to the manor so Lani can take a look at the gash on your face and to make sure you're ok."
She took his offered hand, his skin warm to the touch and another blush crept up her throat to blossom across her cheeks again. "No comment?" she questioned as she was pulled to her feet.
The edges of her vision suddenly darkened and her head began to spin. She felt light-headed and was having trouble deciding whether or not she was still standing on her own two feet, it certainly felt like she wasn't.
The world suddenly tilted and she felt two arms wrap around her waist. "You ok?" she heard a voice whisper in her ear, the breath warm against the skin of her ear and neck.
She turned her head to look at him and found herself staring directly into his eyes, his face just a breadth from her own, their lips just millimeters apart. It would take just a slight bit of leaning on either one of their parts for the gap to be distanced.
Her eyes wondered down to his lips then crept back up to meet again with his dark irised orbs. He was still staring at her, but his eyes were hooded, making it impossible for her to tell what was going through his mind. He had made no indication that he was interested in her, gave her no clue what his feelings might be and she was going to be damned to make the first move, she wouldn't go through that again!
Rocky! Her mind screamed.
Images of the red truck flared to life before her eyes. She still could see it as it careened over the cliff that had claimed her lover's life. She had refused after that to allow herself to love again, but someone this guy had gotten by her well laid guard. Somehow without her even realizing it he had gotten by her barriers and wedged himself in her heart.
It just didn't seem possible, not in the short amount of time that they had known one another!
She suddenly felt his arms tighten their hold on her and she was brought back to her current situation. She blinked a couple of times and looked back into his eyes, they seemed to be trying to tell her something, something he didn't seem able to voice.
She found herself breathless as his lips suddenly descended toward her own, meeting her lips in a torrent of emotions. Her eyes closed as she brought her arms up to wrap around his neck, pulling him closer yet. He responded by tightening his embrace, drawing her body tightly up against his own.
Her mind was swimming and her knees felt like they were about to buckle beneath her. Only his arms wrapped around her waist kept her from falling. But she was still falling though, spiraling out of control in an ocean of emotions, none that she had any control over at the moment.
This isn't part of the plan! Her mind screamed at her. You're not supposed to fall for him. This wasn't supposed to happen!
Shut up! The tiny voice in the back of her mind screamed back. Maybe this is exactly what's supposed to happen. Maybe this is truly what her destiny was meant to be.
No, her destiny is with the Silencerz, like the rest of her family.
Vert isn't part of the Silencerz and never will be. The tiny voice responded.
In time he will be, if she sticks to the plan. But this isn't part of the plan. She needs to stop.
Trinity willed both of the voices into silence; she didn't want either one of them to disturb what was going on. Still though, she wasn't entirely sure what was going on. She had a rough idea, but that didn't mean anything. This could just be something happening in the heat of the moment. Maybe he'd felt some sort of compassion and sympathy for her…there was no guarantee what his feelings were toward her. He'd never voiced them or given her any indication that he felt anything for her.
He was a teenage boy after all and most of the time they thought with their nether regions more than the mind they had been given. This could just be his hormones working in overdrive, taking advantage of the situation.
Shirako pulled away from her, his eyes focusing quickly on her own. She wore a guarded look and he suddenly found himself debating whether or not he had been right in her interest of him. Was she sorry that he had kissed her? Better yet, was she ready to slap him into the next state?
"Sorry," he said softly as his eyes suddenly focused on anything but her face. Even the ground seemed much more interesting at the moment.
Her arms were still wrapped around his neck and with a simple movement of her shoulder she was able to bring his gaze back to her own. "Don't be," she said softly as she placed a soft kiss on his lips. She tightened her embrace and leaned her forehead against his shoulder; her voice was muffled as she spoke again, "Please don't be. You've got nothing to be sorry for."
His lips gently pressed against the juncture of her shoulder and neck, and he realized suddenly that she smelled like vanilla spice and fresh ripened cherries. He breathed in her unique scent, his breath tickling her skin. This caused a shiver to course through her body.
"Cold?" he asked softly, his lips gently teasing her flesh, causing her to shiver again.
"No," she answered in a lowered voice as she pulled her head back slightly to look into his eyes. A hint of a smile ghosted across her face, "It's you actually."
He stared at her for a couple of seconds, not sure entirely of what she was talking about. A wicked grin suddenly crossed her face and she leaned up slightly so that she could blow gently against his own ear. She felt a slight shiver race through his body and she smiled up at him in triumph.
He just grinned back at her, his lips lowering as he once again kissed her.
Once he pulled back she glanced up at him, her lips curving into a smile once more. She leaned her head against his shoulder again, a sigh escaping from her lips. "I think I could get used to this in all honesty."
He pulled her closer, his lips resting on the juncture of her shoulder and neck once more, inhaling deeply of her perfumed skin. "You and me both."
She hugged him, her body pressed intimately against his own. "Glad to hear it."
A sudden soft beeping filled the air and both turned to look toward the shattered Supra. "My phone," he said softly. He looked down at her, "I'd called Vert after I found your car. He's probably beyond worried since I cut him off without really giving him any details on what was happening. I'm surprised him and the rest of the posse hasn't showed up yet."
She giggled, "Perhaps you had better go and get your phone and let him know I'm ok. I'll grab mine out of Street Thunder, Courtney's probably called it a dozen times over."
He nodded his head and took her hand as he headed towards the remains of Street Thunder. She blushed slightly, the feel of his skin against hers something new, but she liked it and hoped that nothing would destroy this brand new feeling that was just now awakening inside of her. She wanted it to last, but knew that if the Silencerz had anything to do with it, they'd make sure that what she had just discovered wouldn't be given the time to become what it had the possibility to become.
She'd fight tooth and nail though to see that that never happened. They most certainly would not take this from her as well, she was finished with allowing them to control her life for her. Her time with the Silencerz was over!
Shirako grabbed his cell phone from where it had fallen on the ground and watched as Trinity literally hopped through the open door of the Supra. She glanced around the mangled mess of the interior, searching through broken glass and other odd parts until she finally found her tiny silver and purple phone lying on the floor boards of the passenger side.
She allowed her eyes to wander around the inside of the car some more, she knew there was something else she was looking for, something else that had been in one of her pockets…oh yeah, Courtney's favorite CD. She'd taken it out when she'd put her own music blend in the CD player.
Something sparkling down near the gas pedal caught her attention. Lying flat across the two front seats, she reached beneath the steering wheel and grabbed the small flat silver disk from where it had fallen. She glanced at it, her hand tightening around it to an almost painful point.
The tracer that had been placed in Bass Assault, the little device that had allowed those privileged few at the Silencerz HQ to know her whereabouts at all times. She glanced up at where Shirako was standing, he was watching her with a concerned eye.
"Everything ok?" he asked.
She grinned up at him as she placed the small silver disk back where she had found it. "Yeah, everything's fine." She glanced at where the key was still in the ignition, still turned to run. She patted the dashboard of the ruined Supra.
You've seen us through a lot of rough times, sorry it has to end this way, she thought as she touched a simple button located near the NOS injector button. The delayed nitrous purge. Within a few moments the car would send a nitrous purge through the engine, the result with the ignition still turned to run: big explosion.
With the resulting explosion, the tracer would be destroyed and those within the Silencerz would have no way of tracking her.
There's a flaw in your plan.
What? Just great, the little voice was back. Couldn't she get any peace from it?
Bass Reflex. Or should I say Technetium?
Oh shit! I forgot completely about her. Damn, damn, damn!
"Vert?" she heard Shirako speaking from somewhere within the back of her mind. "Yeah, she's fine. Street Thunder is probably a complete loss though." He paused and she turned her eyes to look up at him.
The nitrous purge! Don't you think you should be getting away from this car…like right now?
Shit! Damn it, would you get out of my head!
That's a no go. Can't do that and you know it.
Go away!
How 'bout you get a way from the Supra, I don't feel like being completely obliterated today after all.
Damn!
She calmly exited the ruined car and looked up at Shirako innocently. He raised an eyebrow at her, wondering why she was looking at him like that. "Tell Vert we'll be back in a little bit." She said as she walked past him, grabbing his hand as she did so.
He just shook his head but followed her. "We'll be back in a few Vert, then you can make sure for yourself that she's ok."
They were just about to Reverb when an explosion rocked their surroundings. Shirako turned to watch as the car literally exploded into a half a dozen pieces, the chassis literally being blown up into the air, the wheels coming a full two feet off of the ground. Trinity turned around at the same time, a look of satisfaction crossing her face.
Vert's voice could be heard over the small cell phone, "What in the hell was that!"
"Street Thunder just going up in a blaze of glory," Trinity answered as she took the phone from Shirako. He was still staring dumbfounded at the inferno that had only moments before been a wrecked car.
"Are you two all right?" Vert questioned.
"We're fine. Might want to bring something to put this fire out when you guys bring the wrecker to collect her. Better yet, why don't you bring some marshmellows. I'm hungry now."
Vert was silent for a few moments, "Your hungry now?" he questioned.
"Yeah," she answered, a smile threatening to turn the corners of her lips upwards. "We'll talk to you as soon as we get back."
She didn't even give him time to reply as she closed the phone and handed it back to Shirako. He just stared at her; something told him that the explosion had been intentional. That she had purposely sent the car up in flames, but he didn't understand or know why.
"Ready?" she asked him as she opened the passenger door to Reverb. She didn't give him time to reply as she sat down and shut the door behind her.
Shirako shook his head as he too got in the car. He just looked over at her before starting the engine and tearing off down the road. She smiled at him, but there was something behind her blue eyes that told him there was more to her than he would ever realize. That she had skeletons in her closet that would probably scare the living crap out of him.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Reverb pulled into the garage, the blue car's tires squealing as it came to an abrupt stop just before the Atomic Winds' cars. Lani was waiting there for the two occupants to exit the car; she intended to make certain that Trinity was all right. They'd heard the explosion of Street Thunder all the way within the depths of the manor.
She watched as first Shirako then Trinity exited the car. The first thing she noticed was the deep gash that ran across the blond's left cheek. Blood was smeared across her face, making it apparent that she hadn't even attempted to clean the blood away. There had probably been more important things at the moment than worrying about the drying blood.
She walked up to Trinity and closely examined the deep gash. It was deep but didn't look like it would require stitches. If the blond was lucky it wouldn't leave a scar either.
"Any dizziness?" Lani questioned.
Trinity waved her off, "I'm fine. It's just a minor cut, that's all."
"Why don't you let Lani be the judge of that?" Shirako questioned from behind the blond racer.
She whirled around to glare at him, "I've been in enough accidents before and have sustained injuries far worse than this. This is nothing."
He smiled at her, "Don't make ya an expert on such things though."
She just continued to glare at him, then gave a rather unlady-like snort. "I think I'd know better than anyone if things weren't as they're supposed to be, don't ya?"
"How about we go to the infirmary just to make certain?" Lani questioned, bringing both of the arguing racers eyes to her. "You could have sustained another concussion or something worse. Besides, I'd like to clean that cut up and put a bandage on it."
"You've got a second thing coming if you think I'm gonna walk around with some damn bandage plastered across my face!" Trinity nearly growled. She was getting ganged up on and she knew it.
"I just want to make sure everything's ok, that's all. We've got bandages that blend in with the skin tone so no one will know you've got one on." Lani said, her voice soft as she tried to defuse the temper of the blond.
Apparently the short temper fuse ran in the Wheeler family. She'd seen Vert loose his a couple of times and was always glad she'd never been on the receiving end of it. Apparently Trinity had a temper to match that of her cousin…would Courtney's be just as bad then? The other cousin seemed more calm and down to earth, so it was hard to tell.
Trinity gave another snort. "I'm fine," she ground out as she attempted to walk past Lani; she didn't get very far for her world suddenly went dark. It just seemed as if somebody had suddenly turned the lights out, everything just went black. She had the feeling of falling and the vaguest of notions of someone catching her but she wasn't certain for her world was suddenly engulfed by complete night.
"Trinity!" she heard Shirako's voice, but it seemed so far away.
Images suddenly began flashing before her in the darkness. She didn't like what she was seeing and felt herself scream, but it got lodged someplace within her throat.
Why of all times did this have to happen now? Was her last coherent thought before the blackness became all consuming and she found herself swallowed up by the images flashing before her.
Well, there we go, the longest chapter so far. Hope you enjoyed the read as much as I enjoyed writing it. The plot thickens now doesn't it. Or maybe it doesn't, I don't know. You be the judge on that.
Questions? Comments? Feel free to leave them in a review. I thrive on reviews after all.
Now onto the usual shout outs:
Moriko: grins But Wylde does suck at driving! Sorry, couldn't resist that but I guess I should probably run for cover now, shouldn't I? But t'is true, if he did break both of my arms and one of my legs, I really would have a problem with typing and updating the story so it's probably a good idea that you've decided not to sic him on me just yet. Hey, even if you've gotten to the story late, I still appreciate your reviews. They make me all happy inside…boy, did that ever sound really damn corny. As long as you continue to review, I'll be happy.
RacerBoy-Chase: I still insist that you don't give yourself enough credit. In my opinion you write just as well as I do if not better. I know what it's like to come home from work and find the story updated (your story) makes me all happy and such. To much damn sap in this chapter, now I'm in sappy mode.
KawaiiYamato: Yes, Trin is very much on a path to destruction. And the path is not quite ready to let go of her, not just yet anyhow. Loose control? Did she ever have any control to begin with? In all honesty, probably not. She's beyond the loosing control bit, lol. Hopefully things start looking up for Lin, just remain positive and I'll do the same. I have to believe that the rock bottom was already reached and in that case there's only up to go. You've got to believe it as well my friend.
Dark672: Yes I know, as always. Thanks again.
Kara: Yay, another update, lol. In one aspect Trin does take after me, she's an accident waiting to happen. She's now demolished a total of four vehicles, two of them not belonging to her. Five if you want to include the incident with Cobalt Blue. Concerning Court, yeah I know, she is way out of the loop and doesn't even know it! Guess Trin may end up replacing Street Thunder for her in the end…not the first time, lol. Well, it's true, you already do know what's going to happen next. Well girl, hopefully I'll catch you on the forums here soon. And Happy New Year's to you too, hope you enjoyed it. Damian actually stayed up long enough to watch the ball drop. He thought it was something of interest until I told him it was time to go to sleep, lol.