AcceleRacers
A fanfic collaborated by Wings of Speed and Kara Tezla
Summary: They always say revenge is sweet, but sometimes the payback blows up in your face and you discover you've bitten off more than you can chew.
Genre: Your guess is as good as ours.
Disclaimer: We're in no way, shape or form associated with the AcceleRacers or any characters there within. Only our own characters belong to us and you should be familiar with some of them by now, if you've read either one of our fics.
Author's Note: Myself, Wings, will most probably be doing the odd numbered chapters and Kara will probably be doing the even…unless something should come up and one of us can't get our chapter completed.
The Complexity of Revenge
Chapter 1: Just the Beginning (by Wings)
The sun had set hours before, eclipsing the world in darkness. The stars themselves seemed to be afraid, for not even they were sparkling in the dark pitch of the night sky. The moon was obscured by a mass of storm clouds that seemed to threaten to unleash their might on the unsuspecting world below. As far as the eye could see, there was not a single light to be seen, everything was shut down tight, waiting for the leashed fury of the storm that was to come.
Everything that is, but the five cars that sat in the deserted parking lot of an old warehouse that had been shut down for what looked like a decade or more. Windows of the old building were broken or shattered and there were chips and cracks in the foundation blocks. Soot and bird droppings dusted the outer perimeter of the building, adding to the derelict look of the old warehouse.
Dust whipped up around the parking lot, briefly blotting out the silhouettes of the five parked cars. Then the howling wind died down and the five cars were visible again. Upon further investigation it was revealed that it was actually four cars and one truck, all refitted with every imaginable piece of aftermarket racing gear there was available, and some that was not.
The first vehicle was a long, sleek car; looking like a hybrid between a Porsche, Corvette and some other unknown vehicle. The body was painted in a dark blue, that if the light hit it just right turned into a lighter powder blue. The word 'Teku' was emblonzed on the side and hood of the car in a white relief, with white and orange graphics done along the sides and hood of the car. A white number seven outlined in orange could also be seen on the hood and near the back wheel wells. The windows appeared to be tinted in the same shade of orange that was in evidence on the body of the car.
A tall, lanky young man was leaning against the front bumper of the blue car, his wild blond hair getting tousled by the intermittently blowing wind. His blue eyes appeared as dark shaded with the near blackness of the night, but with the occasional flash of lightning streaking across the sky revealed his eyes to actually be a lighter shade of blue that held a note of mischief as well as a wisdom that seemed far beyond his apparent age of early twenties.
Beside his car sat another blue car that was lighter in its shading, almost looking white. The lightest shading of blue was the only indication that the true color of this car was not white. The car gave every indication that it had been made to fly, with the flat front end and the tapered body. It was flat and squat, but aerodynamical in every respect and gave the impression that it would like nothing more than to eat you for dinner. Black decals stretched across the outer most edges of the hood, disappearing just before the windshield only to reappear at the crease of the door to continue on back to the rear wheel wells. The word 'Teku' was done in black lettering beneath, across the doors.
A young woman with dark brown hair stood near the driver's door of the car, her hair pulled back severely in a pony tail, not a single strand of hair escaping to hang into her face. Her blue eyes looked like shards of ice, giving her the look of calm perfection, a look that seemed to suit her perfectly.
Beside her sat a green car reminiscent of maybe an Eclipse or a car similar in appearances. The green of this car seemed out of place amongst the blues of the other two cars. Black racing stripes ran up the middle of the hood and along the roof, with black stripes along the side of the car and the word 'Teku' done in white in the middle of the stripes along the doors. The large spoiler was also done in black.
A young man of possible Latino decent stood near the front of the car, two others stood with him as well. One being of obvious Asian heritage and the other Caucasian. The Latino had long hair that was done in something similar to dreadlocks and fell to just about his shoulders. His hazel-brown eyes held a note of misfortune and past heartache and it was plainly written in the pain that was etched in his face.
Beside his car sat the truck, done almost solely in white. The truck was large and blocky, giving one the impression that it would just as soon eat you up and spit you out as give you the time to contemplate passing its driver. Orange and blue decals were in evidence on the sides and hood of the truck and again the word 'Teku' was done in blue bold lettering near the front wheel wells. The windows were tinted in a light blue and most obvious was the driver's seat, which was situated on the right side of the vehicle than the normal left.
The Asian fellow was the driver of this truck and his attitude didn't quite seem to match that of his ride. He seemed more laid back that his vehicle would imply and the music coming from the headphones perched on his head gave indication that he was more into music than anything else…but it was possible that his love for music was just as passionate as his love for racing. Only time would tell.
The last car was something of interest. There was no roof, only something similar to the windshield of a crotchrocket to keep bugs and other debris from flying into the driver's face. The car was done in a dark blue, with white and orange decals done in relief all over the hood and sides of the car. In what would have normally been the passenger side of the car were speakers, covered by what looked like transparent plexi-glass, lightly shaded in orange, like the small windshield that offered the only protection to the driver.
The Caucasian man was the driver of this car. He sported dark black shades that were at the moment perched on the top of his head. His hair was dark in color and seemed to possess a mind of its own. His eyes were dark, but it was hard to tell if they were dark blue or brown with the darkness, the occasional flashes of light not helping in the least. He wore a look of calm calculation, but there was something in his eyes that gave the sense that he had experienced his fair share of woe.
"Do you think they're going to show?" he asked the young Latino man.
"I have no doubt that the Maniacs are going to show Kurt, the question is: Will these Dark Scorpions?" The Latino man answered, leaning back against the hood of his green car.
Kurt shrugged his shoulders, his lips turning down in a serious frown, "Your guess is probably about as good as mine. I'm gonna suppose they will; word on the street is that they've been itching for a chance to run against us."
"If they want that chance, then they're going to show," the blond from the first car spoke up as he walked over to the three. "But if they don't show, it'll just prove that they didn't think they had what it took to take on the Teku. No big deal in my book."
"You would look at it that way Vert," the woman said as she followed him over to the others at a much slower pace. "The only thing it'll prove by them not showing up is that they're chicken and that won't get them very far in the world of racing. From what I understand though, they're one of the best racing teams this small burgh has to offer. My bet is they'll show and attempt to give us a run for our money."
"Speaking of money, how much is the ante?" Vert asked, a look of interest crossing his face and lighting up his eyes. The Teku were in no means desperate for money, but like any young group of racers, money helped out in the long run. Especially when there were repairs to be made and the basic maintenance of the cars was to be taken into account.
"We're not low on cash Vert so don't worry about it," the young owner of the green car stated, a look of brief anger crossing his face.
"I'm not worried about it Nolo," Vert responded, allowing a look of hurt to cross his face. "I was just wondering that's all. If what I've been hearing about these Dark Scorpions is true, they're sitting on a nice lump of money. Word on the street is they get aftermarket parts long before they're available, they've got connections in some high up place."
"They have connections, we have Tezla. I see no reason to worry," the young woman stated, a look of boredom crossing her face as she leaned back against Nolo's green car. He gave her a brief look as if to say 'what-are-you-doing' to which she only shrugged her shoulders and gave him a brief grin. He shook his head but turned his attention back to the conversation at hand.
"We had Tezla you mean Karma," Kurt admonished. "Don't forget we haven't been able to get a hold of him for the past couple of weeks."
"And we're running low on the Nitrox 2," Vert added as a look of worry crossed his face. If they ran out of the Nitrox 2 formula, they'd have to resort to using normal Nitrous, which wasn't quite as powerful as the Nitrox 2. Which would then result in them loosing their edge on the other street racers.
"Then let's just hope that Monkey's able to refine his Nitrox 3 and a half formula," Karma said, a look of distaste crossing her face. Of all the Metal Maniacs, Monkey had to be her least favorite.
"And that it doesn't blow any of our engines, like it did Tork's on its inaugural run. Or that he can redesign the formula to work in drive instead of just reverse, I don't think we can run a whole race in reverse after all," Nolo quipped, a smile crossing his face as the mental image of their cars running a race completely in reverse flashed through his mind.
"I just can't believe that Tezla would completely ignore us this way, not after all we've done for him. It took us finally winning every single one of the Racing Realms and those races that took place in the world of the AcceleRons for the Drones to finally be defeated and he starts treating us like yesterday's garbage. We saved the world for crying out loud!" Vert shouted, his voice rising with his anger.
Kurt clapped a hand on the younger man's back, "Remember what happened after the World Race…would you really expect anything less this time around?"
Nolo looked from one to the other, not really sure what they were talking about and not sure if he wanted to know. He'd heard bits and pieces of the events that surrounded the World Race, but he'd never gotten a detailed description of what had occurred and at the moment he was partially glad he hadn't. From what he could figure out, this seemed to be a common occurrence for Tezla.
"Besides, the last time any of us had talked to Tezla, he said something about having family matters to attend to. Though I never knew the good doctor had any family, at least none that he talked about." There was apparent sarcasm in her voice as she referred to the good doctor.
Nolo let out a sound that resembled a snort an awful lot, "That man has more secrets than the CIA or FBI put together. Look at his involvement with the Silencerz, the technology he stole from them; the way he never told us about sending drivers into the Realms before us or loosing them in the Realms…there's an awful lot that guy's never told us and a lot he's probably never going to tell us."
"You're probably right, it just would've been nice for him to leave a forwarding address or phone number to reach him at. What if there was an emergency or something?" Vert gripped, completely annoyed with Tezla for leaving them out of the loop, even if he didn't know what the loop was at the moment.
"I'm sure he'd consider us running out of the Nitrox 2 an emergency. There's nothing he'd consider concerning us as an emergency. He's completely finished with us, we've served our usefulness to him." Karma nearly snarled. They needed to direct the conversation in another direction before someone decided to hunt the wayward doctor down and do a few inhumane things to him.
The sounds of engines in the distance drew their attention to the road leading into the deserted parking lot. Five sets of headlights became apparent in the darkness, a brief flash of lightning revealing the oncoming cars as those of the Metal Maniacs.
"Well, it looks like the Maniacs have finally arrived," Karma said as she watched the five cars approach, their engines rumbling as thunder crashed and more lightning streaked across the sky.
"Now all we have to wait on is the Dark Scorpions," Nolo said softly, his voice nearly eclipsed by a clap of thunder.
"That's if they haven't chickened out and decided not to show," Vert responded as a bolt of lightning lit the sky once more.
Well, there we have the first of this nice little collaboration fic. Hope you enjoyed it and please be kind enough to review. Kara will be coming up with the second chapter just as soon as time and her schedule permits.