Here it is at last: Knockout and Miko actually do some street racing in this chapter! But not before making some unfortunate promises.. hehehh :U
Miko stared up at the new racer from behind her helmet visor. He pulled off his own helmet and looked her up and down, so she began to do the same. He was a bit thin, and despite having somewhat broad shoulders, his height combined with the black jumpsuit he wore made him look downright lanky. That, plus his thin mustache and the way his dark hair was slicked back, made Miko think the guy looked kind of slimy. Considering the reactions of the other racers, her first impression probably wasn't too far off.
Folding her arms across her chest, Miko continued to glare up at him even as he smirked at her. "Master Disaster, huh?" she asked, "What kind of name is that?"
"It's my racing alias, sweetheart." he said, "You don't think we use our actual names out here, do ya?"
"Right... I know." Miko said, trying not to be too obvious that she was lying. "It's just a weird alias."
Master Disaster's gaze hardened just a bit and he leaned forward, looming over her. "Oh. And what is your name, then?"
"I'm Mmm-" Miko just barely stopped herself from blurting out her own name. No, this guy was right. She didn't want them knowing her real name, just in case. She had to think fast. Something that started with an M... Quickly glancing over Master Disaster's shoulder, she saw a bright full moon up in the sky. "-mmmoon... racer... Moonracer!" she finished more confidently. "That's my name."
Beside her, Shauna smiled and let out a short laugh. "Heh. That's a cute one. I like it."
"Yes. Very cute." Master Disaster also smiled, but his was dripping with condescension. After letting that sit for a moment, he stepped past her over to Solon, pulling an envelope out of his jacket pocket and holding it out to him. As Solon opened the contents and flipped through the bills inside to count, he turned back around to look at Miko. "Hope all these leatherbacks haven't scared you off with their talk. I'm very interested to see that car of yours in action, Miss Moonracer." Before either of the girls could add anything, he pushed past them and headed towards his own car.
Miko paused to wonder what kind of insult 'leatherback' was, but then snapped back as she remembered: they expected her to pay three thousand dollars to participate in this race.
"Ah... see, about that." she mumbled, keeping her arms tight across her chest. "I didn't actually bring enough for the entry fee..." She looked up at Shauna feeling a bit embarrassed. "Sorry. I uh, didn't realize it would be so much."
Shauna didn't react with the derision Miko expected. Instead she just shrugged and kept smiling. "Don't worry about it. To be honest you're probably better off sitting this one out. With Master Disaster here, you wouldn't have a very good race anyway." She turned to head toward her own car too, giving a slight wave over her shoulder back at Miko. "Maybe next time."
"Just a moment-"
Shauna and Miko both looked around at Master Disaster as he spoke. He was standing in front of his car, looking back at Miko with a sly grin on his face.
Placing his helmet down on the hood of his car, he continued, "It would be such a shame for you and your lovely vehicle here to have to sit out because of a silly mistake." He continued, moving towards Knockout. He stepped up beside the red Aston Martin placing a gloved hand firmly on the door handle. "May I?" Only giving a short glance back at Miko, he proceeded to open the car door without waiting for an answer and slipped into the drivers seat.
A jolt of panic ran through Miko as she watched this happen. Letting some stranger put his hands all over him? Oh no, Knockout was going to be so mad about this! He wouldn't be mad enough to transform and blow their cover, though... Right? Well actually, Miko wasn't so sure, and, in fact, she thought she noticed his side mirrors twitch angrily as Master Disaster began to touch around his interior cabin. She hurried forward shouting for him to stop, but the racer ignored her, placing his hands on the steering wheel.
"Oh yes. This is one fine car you've got..." He said, his eyes were locked on the screen on Knockout's dashboard. Before Miko could come up next to him and see what he was looking at, he turned to face her, putting his feet out of the car and on the ground again.
"Well, Moonracer, since I'm feeling rather generous, I'll spot the money for this race so you can enter. How does that sound?"
Miko glared down at him, still sitting in Knockout's seat. She definitely didn't trust this guy. He had to be up to something.
"What's the catch?" She demanded.
"No catch, darling." Master Disaster stood up out of Knockout's seat, much to Miko's relief. "If you beat me you keep all the winnings fair and square, just like if you had paid the fee yourself."
"And if she loses?" Shauna, who had followed Miko over, spoke up from behind.
Master Disaster's smirk seemed to grow even more slimy, if that was possible. "If I win," he said, "then I'll take all the winnings, plus your lovely car here." He emphasized the word 'car' by running his hand along Knockout's frame. "What d'ya say, Moonracer?"
Miko tried not to flinch as his hand trailed slowly down and along the top of Knockout's window. He was going to be really ticked off by this. But hopefully, the ex-'Con was good at channeling his anger into speed, because according to this Master Disaster weirdo, the race was back on!
Before she had the chance to agree, Shauna took ahold of her shoulder and pulled her back. "No, she does NOT accept!" She said. When Miko tried to protest, she glared down at her and spoke over the girl. "No, listen kid, you can't beat this guy!" She continued, "That car of his is way too fast for any normal car to beat. You've got a nice ride, don't lose it over a stupid little race like this!"
Of course, Shauna had no way of knowing it, but Miko would be racing in a car that was anything but normal. She pulled her shoulder out of her grip and turned away.
"I know what I'm doing, Shauna," She said, holding a hand out for Master Disaster. "and I accept your deal."
With a loud burst of laughter, he grabbed ahold of her hand, shaking it firmly. "Very good!" He practically shouted, not at all able to conceal the excitement on his face. "This will be a good race, I'm sure of it!"
Releasing her hand, he dove back into his jacket pocket and pulled out a black wallet. "Solon," he said, looking towards him. Solon had been intrigued by the conversation and had slowly creept towards the group to better listen. "I'll be covering Moonracer's entry fee. In exchange, if I beat her, I'll take possession of her vehicle." He held out another stack of bills towards him.
"Oh..." Solon looked down at Miko, "Are you sure you wanna do that?"
"Yes I'm sure!" She said, "I know I can win."
Solon didn't reach out and take the money immediately, instead he looked over to Shauna for confirmation. She shrugged her shoulders and looked away.
"I already warned her..." She grumbled, "whatever happens next is her problem."
Solon grunted in understanding and finally reached out to take the cash from Master Disaster. "Alright, all the fees are in. Everybody line up!" He shouted as he turned towards their makeshift starting line.
Master Disaster stood where he was for a moment longer, glaring down at Miko with a devious smirk on his face, but then he finally stepped away from Knockout and headed back towards his own car.
"Hey, hang on a second."
He turned to look back as Miko spoke.
She folded her arms across her chest, glaring at him through her visor. "Why'd you wanna make a deal like that, anyway?" She asked, "I mean, if you lose you'll be out six thousand. And you don't know me. Why take the risk?"
"Oh it's no risk, sweetheart." He said, "And besides, I couldn't let you just leave. It'd be a shame to let such a beautiful creature just disappear into the night."
"That's super creepy. I'm way too young for you, dude."
"I wasn't talking about you." His gaze moved over her shoulder towards Knockout. Keeping his eyes on the car he continued, "I'm very interested to see what you can do... I hope you put up a good fight."
Miko watched for a moment as he got into his shiny blue car. She was glad he hadn't actually been hitting on her or anything, but him talking to Knockout has been just as creepy. Finally, she turned and hopped into Knockout's driver seat, slamming the door behind her.
The ex-'Con's voice came through the speakers the moment the door closed.
"I don't remember giving you permission to gamble with me." He sounded annoyed.
"Sorry, but it was either that or not race at all." Miko shrugged, "and besides, weren't you just saying how you don't lose?"
"Well of course I'm not going to lose! It's just a matter of pride. Being treated like an inanimate object by you humans... It's embarrassing." Knockout shifted into reverse and made his way around and over to the starting line.
"Don't worry," Miko said, reaching forward to grip his steering wheel, "I'll be sure to rub it in that weirdo's face real good once we wipe the floor with him!"
"Good." Knockout's engine revved in anticipation as they pulled to a stop on the starting line, right next to Master Disaster. "That'll show him for putting his disgusting hands all over me."
Miko glanced over at the racer, but he already had his helmet back on and was looking straight ahead at the road. She was suddenly aware of just how pleased she was that she and Knockout were able to race. From what the other racers were saying, this guy needed to be taken down a peg or two. And she had every confidence that Knockout would be able to do just that.
Solon was standing by the sidewalk in front of the cars, ready to prompt their start. "Alright," he began, "Jean is waiting down by the finish line to mark the winner, so there's no disputing it." he raised one arm. "On your marks... get set-" he dropped his arm, "GO!"
Without wasting a moment, Knockout sped off with a squeal of his tires, leaving the other racers in his dust. Miko looked excitedly out Knockout's window at the streetlights whipping past. She didn't know exactly how fast they were going, but the idea of speeding along a city street was thrilling. Rather than check Knockout's speedometer for an exact number, Miko looked into his mirrors to get a look at how far back they were and let out a loud laugh when she saw just how much faster they were going.
"Ha haa! I can't believe that guy thought he could win against us!" she said, taking her hands off the wheel and leaning back, "I wish I could see the look on his fa-" She paused halfway through her word as she continued to watch in Knockout's mirror. The bright blue car had been hanging back behind the other cars, but suddenly it was picking up speed.
"Hey Knockout, don't let that guy catch you!" Miko said, tapping her hand on his steering wheel. "I mean, if you want to toy with him that's fine, but I was kind of hoping we'd beat him by a mile at least."
"Don't be ridiculous, he can't-" Knockout paused as his mirror flicked upward, as if he was only just now looking back. Apparently he hadn't even noticed the blue car was gaining on them. "Hmm. That's odd..." He didn't have anything more to say about it, he just picked up his own pace by a bit.
The blue car did the same, and the gap between them was steadily becoming shorter and shorter. Before too long, he was right behind Knockout. Miko turned around in her seat to look out the back window.
"What's going on here?" she demanded, "Are you doing this in purpose?"
"Sit down!" Knockout's seatbelt suddenly whipped forward, pulling her into the seat and strapping her in tight. Miko didn't say anything else, even about how that had kind of hurt, because Knockout sounded angry. And not the fun kind of angry where he was playing around either. Miko watched silently as Master Disaster swerved to the side, probably to pull up next to them, but Knockout responded by swerving to block him again. This repeated two or three more times before the other racer apparently got tired of it, and with one last swerve, he sped forward so fast that Knockout couldn't swerve in time to stop him, and the blue car pulled right up next to him.
Miko scrambled to get her hands back on Knockout's wheel as Master Disaster came into view through the side window. She stared in awe as the racer turned his head to look at her. She couldn't quite see his face through the helmet of his visor, but she could just picture that smug grin across his face. A moment after his gaze met hers, his hand moved down to shift gears, and the blue car took off out in front of Knockout!
Miko's mouth fell open as she watched him pull ahead. "No way!" she shouted, "There's no way he's gonna beat us, right?!"
Knockout's only response came as ferocious growl as he pushed himself to go even faster. Miko's eyes finally fell on the speedometer. 230... 240... 270! She looked up again and saw the blue car just up ahead of them. Knockout was gaining ground but not nearly as fast as the blue car had caught up with them. She bit her lip nervously. This wasn't going at all how she had expected it to.
"Y-you're not just playing with him, are you?" she asked meekly.
"Shut up, Miko!"
That certainly answered her question.
"But I thought you said there was no Earth vehicle faster than you!"
"I did..." Knockout's engine gave off a loud roar as he sped up even further. "but that's no Earth vehicle."
Miko's eyes widened as she stared out at the car ahead of them. "Wh-what? No way! He can't be-"
Just as she started to speak, with a squeal of its tires, Master Disaster's car suddenly jolted forward with a burst of speed, leaving her and Knockout in a cloud of dust. At that moment, Miko realized she'd had it all backwards: Knockout wasn't toying with him, rather it was Master Disaster who had been toying with them!
"NO!" Knockout's shout was nearly drowned out by the sound of his engine as he struggled to pick up even more speed.
Miko looked down at his speedometer again just as the needle crept past 300. Turning to look out the window again, she saw the streetlights had become just a blur of yellow. They were blasting down the road at a speed she didn't even think most cars could reach... she was starting to feel a little woozy watching it. Closing her eyes tight, she reached up to hold her head, but the helmet got in the way.
"Knockout, this is too fast! I'm gonna be sick!"
"No! I can catch him, I-"
"Knockout, STOP!"
For another few seconds, Knockout continued going at top speed when suddenly he engaged his brakes. His tires screeched against the pavement and he skidded around in a one-eighty until he finally came to a halt. Miko, having been somewhat jarred by the sudden stop, finally opened her eyes. Grasping ahold of the seatbelt wrapped around her, she looked out the window and spotted the blue car stopped just a ways off from them. Master Disaster was starting to get out of the car.
"Wh... what happened?" she mumbled.
Just after she finished asking the question, the other racer pulled off his helmet, and she saw that devious smirk back on his face.
He didn't really have to admit it after she saw that, but Knockout replied anyway.
"...I lost."