The Art of Stealing Cars by Kara Tezla

Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the Acceleracers Characters. although I wish I did And I do not own Trinity Wheeler and Co., those belong to Wings of Speed.

Summary: The Teku and the Metal Maniacs go to LA to race, but what happens when their cars start disappearing?

Author's Note: Today, my sister went to empty a full box of baking soda into a container all at once. Bad idea. It poofed into a cloud of baking soda-dust and now little baking soda grits are settling all over the kitchen. I laughed at the time, but now I shame my sister because of the bad taste in my mouth. not to mention little tiny gritties in my teeth Lesson: NEVER POUR OUT A WHOLE BOX OF ANYTHING GROUND UP whether it be powdered sugar, baking soda, or anything else containing small granules OUT AT ONCE...OR ELSE. Other than that, it's all good. ;

Chapter Ten: Road Trip

What Kara saw absolute stunned her. There sat three cars; Kara's canary yellow Dodge Stealth, Alex's silver Nissan 350Z, and Mark's red Ford Mustang GT. But all three were tagged with a gang symbol that she had only heard of but never actually seen. On the hood of each car sat a 3D circular X, painted in silver and black. The tag symbol meant that infamous Ashes gang had been there. It was a small gang, but they could make their presence known if they wanted too. They couldn't steal cars, but they could tag and kill, which was their main objective.

"Kara!" Mark shouted, also ducking into the warehouse. He stopped right next to Kara, as did everyone else who followed.

"Ashes," Murmured Alex. The Atomic Winds were the last ones to enter. As soon as Trinity saw the X that was on the hoods of the cars in front of her, she froze. She had seen that symbol before, right before she and her sister and her cousin had been recruited for the Silencerz.

"What's that?" Asked Tork.

"Ashes? It's a tagging gang that nobody ever sees... or lives to tell the tale." Explained Alex.

"Then where do all the stories come from if everybody who sees one of these 'Ashes' people dies?" Questioned Monkey.

"Oh, they're out there. Everybody who's had a car tagged by them has disappears. The thing is, nobody actually knows if they're dead or not; I think the 'dead' part is... what's the word... unknown."

Monkey nodded; a gulp could barely be seen as his head bobbed up and down.

"Yup, and now we can't take our cars," Said Kara.

Mark cursed silently. He really didn't want to have to leave his Mustang in the garage, even though he knew that nobody was gonna touch it.

"Looks as if we're still buddying up on cars," Alex said, throwing his hands in the air.

"Let's go!" Shouted Kara before ducking back under the door. Everyone followed and got in their cars, leaving the old warehouse in their dust.

VVVVVVVVVV

Once they were on the road, Kara pulled out her call phone. She hoped that her brother had his cell phone on, but she had major doubts. Alex almost never had his cell phone on.

"Dang it, Al," She said after listening to the phone ring for the billionth time.

"What?" Asked Tyce, his eyes never leaving the road or Nolo's car in front of him.

"He's got his stupid cell phone off." She commented, waving her hand at him and turning to face the window. The buildings that flew by soon turned to forests and fields that lulled Kara to sleep.

VVVVVVVVVV

"Hey," Said Vert as they pulled into a gas station. "Alex, where is your uncle's house?"

"I think it's... around the Rocky Mountains someplace," Alex said tiredly.

"Um, the Rocky Mountains stretch across the whole United States, Alex. What state does he live in?"

"I don't know, ask Mark and Adrianna. They'll know,"

"Oh, the irony," Vert mumbled as he stepped out of Reverb. "Mark!"

"Yup?" Mark answered, stepping out of his sister's dark navy Mustang that used to match his own.

"Where does Tezla live?"

"Um, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains,"

Vert almost went nuts. "STATE!"

Mark's eyes got wide as Vert exploded. "State what?"

"NO! What state does he live in?"

"Oh... haha, Victor, Colorado. About a hour and a half out of Colorado Springs. Right now, we're only in Arizona, about to enter Utah; been on the road now for 6 hours."

"What? How long does it take to get there?"

"Hm... about 18 hours if you drive non-stop,"

Vert groaned. "How often are we going to be stopping?"

"From here on out... every three hours to trade drivers, it really depends on how close we are to a city. And speaking of cities, we avoided traffic by going around Las Vegas."

Vert raised an eyebrow. "Okay then," As Vert walked back to Reverb, he noticed that they were in a valley of sorts. Hills, not quite tall enough to be called mountains, rose around them. He ducked back into the driver's seat of his car.

"Alex?"

"What?"

"Where are we?"

"At this very moment, I'm not sure."

"Have you made this trip before?"

"Plenty of times,"

"So--"

"Go ask Kara, she'll know."

"Fine," Vert retorted.

"Actually, I'll go get her and she can ride with you. Then you can get to know her better and I don't have to listen to your annoying questions." Alex said, lifting himself out of Reverb and walking towards Tyce's black Ford F-150 that was parked about 100 yards away.

Vert started to object but Alex was already gone. Soon Kara was laughing at something, that he hoped wasn't what he thought it was, and making her way across the parking lot to Vert.

"Hey, we're leaving! Everyone in their cars, please!" Announced Tyce as he climbed into his truck.

Vert sighed as Kara jumped over the hood of Reverb and opened the door. Both the doors were shut at the same time, blending in with other doors shutting and engines revving as the cars were started. Then many squealing tires could be heard, sounding like one loud car, as they all pulled out of the gas station.

Okay! Vert and Kara are finally together... intentionally; thanks to Alex. yes, Alex did do it intentionally And it's time to bring Dr. Tezla into the picture... and that means Lani, too. Trouble? I think so!

Wings: No! You can't kill Alex... wait, yeah, go ahead, just leave Mark alone. I'll get him again for that somewhere along the line, except Trinity will be the one correcting him... and it's not goint to be pretty! and I think it was Mark who made the mistake, not Alex. looks back Yup. You can still kill Alex if you'd like.

Kawaii: My friends and I make fun of Lee's eyebrows, even though they do creep me out. my guy friends, cause my girl friends hate manga and anime... or so they say And I see in your profile that you like Avatar and One Piece--two awesome shows. there were others I saw on there that I liked, but I'm a little tired to remember them YES! I love cliffhangers! And I think I'm aloud to do this, because of what you did with Breaking Point! What's happening to Shirako? You can't leave me hanging! SIDETRACK-ER! haha, lol. I'm not dead... yet. And, as I said with Wings, it was Mark, not Alex. And NOBODY'S GONNA KILL MARK! And your reviews aren't stupid. glares

wbwjcmichael aka Brynn, aka Brenda: Haha, you have so many names! Thanks. I always think that I'm writing everybody out of character when I'm not, it's so wierd. Thanks for reviewing.