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: Hmm... I'm too tired for an author's note. XD

Chapter Thirteen: Cliffside

"Aw, man!" Kara said, glancing around. "This is all you had for my back up car?" There was one candy-apple red Dodge Grand Prix GT sitting in front of her.

"What?" Alex said, almost whining. "It was the best I could find on short notice!"

"Short notice? Alex, I gave you 2 months!"

"Huh?"

Kara rolled her eyes; sometimes she hoped that Alex was adopted. "Fine, but I wish you would have got a good paint job or something. Now I have to do it all myself."

"Why don't you send it to Joe?"

"'Cause I don't want to wait a hundred years for it to come back!"

"Oh, haha, right," Alex said before he turned and walked out of the small side-garage. Kara walked around the sleek car, examining every part closely. Soon, she had a plan of the car that she could make out the Grand Prix in her head.

Kara walked out where everybody else's cars were. "Hey, Mark, I'm taking a walk out to the Cliffside. Make sure Alex--actually, you make sure you don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"Um... okay?"

"Wait, scratch that; Adrianna!" Kara called.

"Yeah?" Came the answer from under the hood of her Mustang.

"Make sure the guys don't do anything dumb while I'm gone."

"Can do,"

"Thanks," Kara said as she turned and ducked under the half-open garage door. Vert stole a glance sideways out from under the hood of Reverb at the exiting girl.

"Go ahead," Said a voice behind him.

Vert whipped his head around so fast that he hit it on the hood. Cursing silently, he came out to see Trinity standing there.

"I don't blame you if you follow her." She said.

"What makes you think--"

"Come on, Vert, you know you want to." Said Courtney, coming up beside Trinity.

Vert thought for a second.

"We'll cover for you,"

They practically made up his mind for him. "Fine, I'll go,"

Both girls exchanged grins. Vert dashed out the garage door, barely catching a glimpse of Kara as she disappeared into the woods. He sprinted to the trail and followed her quietly as she walked to where ever this "Cliffside" place was. He almost felt like he was a spy or something... narrating his own adventure.

"And he jumped back, she wasn't far ahead now. This was the last chance, he had to capture her; the evil one." Vert whispered, jumping and running around the trees.

They finally arrived at the Cliffside, which happened to be a rock cliff that overlooked the Cove of the Seven Falls, and beyond that, you could barely see the Fort Carson Military Base. Kara sat with her back against the trunk of a giant weeping willow; her eyes were closed. The mist of the falls rose up out of the small cove, as did the faint rumbling from below.

"You can come out now, Vert, I know you're following me." She said, just loud enough for Vert to hear her over the thundering falls.

Vert stepped carefully out of the woods. How did she know? He was quieter then a mouse! He sat down a couple feet away from the brunette.

"How did you know it was me?" Asked Vert.

"Please," She replied, chuckling. "You should never dart back and forth across a path when you're following someone. Besides, I could hear you narrating all the way down the trail."

Vert grinned. "Ah, you caught me. How did you know where this place was? It's amazing,"

"I've spent many years at Uncle Peter's, and you'd think I wouldn't explore these woods? Come on, staying at my uncle's house is almost as boring as watching paint dry; at least, after you explore the house. That took us a few days,"

"Us?"

"My brothers and I,"

"Oh, cool," Vert said, flopping on his back. "It took forever to get here, though."

"Actually, only a half a hour if you run or jog."

"Okay, fine, it seemed like forever," He said, grinning. She grinned back for a while before going back to gazing at the falling water. It was almost hypnotic if you stared for too long. Her eyes soon took a break and looked out over the solar-panel covered military base not too far away. A thin line of dust rose from the dirt road that lead along the barbed wire fencing towards them. Kara squinted; she couldn't tell whether it was on the inside of the fence or the outside.

"What?" Said Vert, sitting up.

Kara looked at him. "You're covered with dust,"

Vert looked down; noticing the small particles of dirt covered his jacket. He tried to brush them off, but it only caused the dust to rise into the air around him.

"Whoops," He said, coughing.

"Smooth," Kara said.

"What is... it?" Said Vert, who was still coughing.

Kara squinted again; she could now make out something on the outside of the fence. "I don't know, but it's heading this way."

Vert also squinted at the line of dust. "Huh, I wonder..."

"Car; it's a silver car."

Muahahahaha! A silver car! Evilness. Actually, I guess it is. You just don't know it yet! Muahahahaha! thunder crashes Haha-haha. Well, I think I am going to start another story soon... maybe some Acceleracers drabbles? Or maybe I'll put them through Volleyball practice! yup, it's that tough! heehee.

Kawaii: Yeah... I think Tezla knows that the Teku and the Maniacs were there... but then again... Alex only told him that there were "fifteen others that were tagging along." hmm... I love stupidness! It's so hilarious! I told the Alex that would think I was weird, and he just gave me a puzzled look. And I also remembered another Alexander that would go with Alex! Al on Sahara the movie! He's so cute when he's paranoid. n.n fun.

Wings: I like to watch TV while I write my stories. It provides instant inspiration. I think that that was where those two lines came from... either that or a book. I have the next two chapters in my 'story' journal, so they should be up soon. YES! Update! You should put in a 'drabbles' story too, so you can put all your short stories in there for everyone to enjoy! They're so funny!

firedragon: Thanks.

Brenda: Haha... no. I don't think they'll be getting in a car together for a while... but it still might happen! heehee.