The next days afternoon the three of them were driving a rental car down to the docks of Istanbul towards a warehouse Sweeper had picked out.
It was not a large warehouse but sufficient for the purpose Sweeper had for it, to hide a car from everyone's eyes and of course in an attempt to forget it.
Which was clear when Sweeper went into his shack to move the desktop and peel open a board in the floor to get a warehouse key.
"So it is in here I take it?" Carlos asked pointing at the door of the warehouse Sweeper had stopped the rental car next to.
"Yes it is..." Sweeper said slowly and got out of the car.
"Why did you try to forget this car? You had lots of cars parked in that hangar at your airport." Sakura asked as she got out of the car.
"Like I said, nobody knows of this car, well most people think that I sold it those who knew of it. Not even Jane knows that this car still exists." Sweeper said slowly.
Sweeper walked over to the door and inserted the key and twisted it.
The lock gave off a click sound and Sweeper went to open the door and on the inside it was fairly dark.
Carlos and Sakura stepped inside as Sweeper turned on the lights and the warehouse revealed a car parked in the center with it's front towards them and the main door.
Sakura's response was a weird look at Sweeper while Carlos on the other gave off a shocked look.
"I told you it was a true paradox!" Sweeper replied.
Carlos walked around the car and took a look at the rear of the familiar car to him.
"You son of a bitch Sweeper! So this was your 4WD system test bed eh?" Carlos asked.
"Yes, I had to analyze how the ATTESA ET-S Pro reacted to several different conditions and variables. So I purchased another Bayside blue R34 GT-R Vspec, most people that knows I had a test bed thinks that was the car I sold McClintock... But that is wrong, it was this car." Sweeper said tracing a finger along the body of the car.
"You really did a thorough test on it. This car has a widebody kit and a whole different rear wing than the original." Carlos said as he walked over the car in detail.
"Still, I do not get the abonomation part of this." Sakura said looking puzzled.
Sweeper's response was not in words but in actions, quickly unlocking the door and getting into the car.
He put the key in the ignition and stepped on the clutch and turned the key.
The start motor cranked the engine a few times before it woke up to life spewing out a good amount of black smoke and idling at 1000 RPM.
"A GT-R is NOT supposed to make a BRAP BRAP BRAP sound like this one does. I think I get what's the thing here." Carlos said and sighed.
Sweeper popped the hood as Sakura obviously didn't understand what Carlos were trying to say.
Knowers of a certain car would have recognized the exhaust sound but Sakura did not.
As Sweeper got out and opened up the hood so Sakura got see, she realized the entire abonomation part of the car.
"A 4 ROTOR GT-R! With a turbo!" Sakura screamed out.
"Yes, do you understand now why this is an abonomation? Why it is no longer a GT-R?" Sweeper asked.
"It is still a GT-R, but with a new meaning... GT-Rotary!" Carlos said while laughing slightly.
"I guess you are right Sweeper, you have allways said the GT-R is a crappy understeering heavy ass car to wedge around corners. I have lost count on how many times you have been saying that." Sakura said to Sweeper.
"Well Sweeper, if you are serious about using this for the 2007 season then you can expect us to be called the GT-R rivals or something along those lines. Keisuke will partly hate and love you while God Foot will probably call you the rotary rocket with true traction!" Carlos said while smiling.
"Still it doesn't feel like this is me after all." Sweeper said as he gave the car a sad look.
"Remembering your car park, does it tempt you to return to that Pontiac Trans Am? All straightaway power and all K class in the first corner as you go through the guardrail." Carlos said trying to make Sweeper think.
"Well I suppose I got no choice but to drive this R34 this year. But you can count on me when I tell you this Carlos! I will NOT be sticking with this GT-R in 2008, not at all." Sweeper replied harshly to Carlos.
"Heh, if you did then I would have to smack you up, you are the FD specialist after all and the so called God Rotary." Carlos replied.
"Give me a break from that God nickname will ya Carlos? Ok let's head out then, do you mind taking the rental car Carlos? I need to make a stop by Jane's for some parts and if she still has what I need." Sweeper replied.
"Not a problem Sweeper, you know I love these rental cars which are FF (Short Author note: Front engine, Front wheel drive)." Carlos said sarcastically as he left through the warehouse door.
Sweeper then went to open the large doors to allow them to drive out the GT-R.
Carlos got into the rental car and took off as he allready knew where Sweeper would be heading, and since he had a GT-R he wouldn't have any problems catching up to a FF.
As Sweeper returned after opening the doors he turned towards Sakura.
"Let's head out then, Sakura." Sweeper said and got into the drivers seat.
Sakura's response was getting into the passenger seat and closing the door.
Sweeper on the other hand, did not start to move the car right away, he kept staring at the wheel and adjusting the bucket seat and seemed like he was in a trance.
"What's the problem John?" Sakura asked.
"It just feels so... Unusual to drive this thing." Sweeper said and shifted into 1st gear and let go off the clutch.
The intial start was flawed as Sweeper stalled the engine and the car only moved half a metre or a few feet whatever unit you preferred.
Annoyed at the initial launch Sweeper were cursing as he slammed on the clutch and turned the key letting the car come back to life before he this time fed it a lot of throttle and left the warehouse while chirping the tires.
Once outside he slammed on the brakes and put the GT-R in neutral before pulling the parking brake and letting the GT-R hold it's position using the rear parking drum brake. (Short Author note: Just had to clearify that the Skyline GT-R has a single drum brake for the parking brake at the rear wheels)
The mercenary opened the door and left the car, he had to close the warehouse doors before leaving, it didn't take long to do that however and he was quickly back in the car.
Disengaging the parking brake and putting the car into first gear and letting the clutch slip out slowly this time ensured a perfect start and the GT-R was on the road again after remaining hidden for years.
At the first corner Sweeper braked hard and threw the car sideways to test it out and quickly recovered the tail.
"I think I am starting to get the hang of this car again..." Sweeper mumbled as it rocketed out of the corner.
Carlos had guessed that Sweeper would be in partial racing mood so he kept pushing that rental car for all it was worth.
Although in every corner he cursed the FF layout and all the understeering of that crappy car he had gotten.
"This is really some piece of shit! Cannot take a corner without going dead ahead, and if you try to slide it all it wants to do is change direction towards the outside guardrail... Why did they allow these cars on the road anyway? They are dangerous for crying out loud." Carlos mumbled as was fighting the understeering.
Shortly after Carlos had exited the corner he saw a R34 catch up quickly to his rental car.
Sweeper had closed the gap quickly with both power and much better cornering grip, something that was quite obvious when you looked at tire size of the two cars, drivetrain, weight and finally the suspension as well as the bodykit.
The 34 was superior in everyway to the rental car except in one field, that was the fact that the rental car was a 4 door sedan and therefore was capable of transporting more people with more comfort than a Skyline GT-R could, although the GT-R did have a backseat it was fairly cramped.
"You finally caught up, well that's to be expected from a 34." Carlos thought as he looked in the rear view mirror and slowed down.
The two cars didn't race any further as it would be pointless and continiued cruising towards a certain rotary shop.
Sweeper parked outside with Carlos putting the rental car in the parking slot behind the Skyline and the gang entered, at the front desk a familiar woman where standing.
"Sweeper, Carlos and Sakura? What brings you here? I thought you were prepping for the World Cup in Japan now." Jane started as she saw them enter her shop.
The shop itself was fairly nice and by the moment you entered it you clearly would see that she was specialized in rotary engines.
On the wall above the counter several rotors in different sizes were hanging and there was a big poster of the Mazda 787B as well.
Continiuing along the shelves there were everything from rotary housings to intake manifolds and tuning parts for the rotary, with Jane's own parts standing on a shelf on their own.
Even though she had spent money on research and gotten her own tuning parts made, she still stocked and sold parts from other famous brands that had parts for rotary cars, prices were so and so when it came to the parts some were cheaper, others were more expensive than her own.
But all in all, Sweeper knew that Jane never made compromizes with her parts to achieve the goal she had set, she was willing to go that extra mile for both the customer and to make sure the part was the best you could get weather your ambitions were high power drag racing and track racing or daily driving on the street.
"Well, we ran into a slight problem with that you can say." Carlos started.
"Slight problem? Does it have anything to do with the car?" Jane asked.
"Yeah..." Sweeper said and begun scratching the back of his head.
Jane's response was in an action, she walked around the counter and towards the door and had a look out on the street.
She looked both up and down as if she was looking for something in particular.
"I don't see your RX-7, Sweeper. Where is it?" Jane asked.
"It is toast back in Japan! I don't know who it was but it was struck by a rocket from a rocket launcher, suffice to say nothing is left of it, nothing that can be salvaged anyway." Sweeper said slowly.
"IT IS WHAT?" Jane awoke quickly and abrubtly.
"He said it was toast." Carlos repeated Sweeper's words.
"I HEARD THAT HE SAID THAT, THANK YOU!" Jane spun around and sneered at Carlos.
"Like I said, I do not know who it was that did it, I had to dive out of the way from a rain of carbon fibre, aluminium and other types of debris from the explosion. When I finally got back out there the black 4 door sedan was pulling away and was outside the range of this." Sweeper said and pulled out the Czech pistol for Jane to see.
Jane quickly calmed down and shook her head, it was clear that this was not the news she wanted to hear.
Not after Sweeper had becomed her major symbol of her parts quality and it was all blown away on one night.
"So what will you do now Sweeper? Retire from the World Cup?" Jane asked.
"Nope, I am not thinking of that anymore, not after I was beaten that badly anyway. But if you look out the door and see that R34 GT-R Jane, that is what I will have to run for the 2007 season." Sweeper said and pointed at the Skyline.
"I told you that pistons are no good when it comes for racing, didn't I? And wasn't you Mr GT-R's-suck-so-badly-and-can't-be-driven-at-all?" Jane asked as she saw the GT-R on the street.
"Well the GT-R part you are right about, but I got no choice this time around. But for the pistons you are way off, I came to you today because I need another fine crafted 4 rotor of the same type that I had in the FD." Sweeper said.
"That thing is an abonomation you know, putting a rotary in a GT-R is like punching the queen of England in the face or something like that anyway. But it is not a problem, I will get you that engine you need, no problem at all. I will have it assembled as quickly as possible and I will ship it to Japan so that you can install it and get onto beating the new boys in the World Cup." Jane said.
"And the cost of the engine?" Sweeper asked.
"That we will discuss some other time, you owe me a win in the World Cup at least after this." Jane said with a smile.
"Not a problem Jane, if I can still keep up with mr God Skyline here then I stand a chance at least." Sweeper replied with a grin as he looked at Carlos.
The 3 left the shop and Jane went behind the counter to start making a few phone calls.
She was going to have to gather a few parts and those had to be delivered yesterday and not tomorrow.