As much as I would like to own them, all the characters of Glee belong to Fox – I own nothing. All the characters of The Fast and the Furious belong to Universal Studios, I'm just borrowing some of them. All writing belongs to me.
Here we are, first update day! Remember that every Saturday is now when I will be updating it. Thanks to everybody for the reviews and the favs, I really appreciate it and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story! :D
When Letty and Burt had called it a day at the garage Brittany told Marley and Tina to meet her at Shelby's diner. When they pulled their cars up outside next to Brittany's RX8 they headed inside and found her in the booth at the far end of the room.
"Hey Britt, you ok?"
"Yeah, what did you want us for?" Tina asked, sliding into the booth next to her girlfriend.
"It's about what Letty said"
"What, Santana's initiation?" Marley asked, feeling Tina rest her arm by her shoulders along the top of the booth behind her.
The blonde nodded as she played with a napkin, the two other women watching as it turned into ripping the edges.
"Is there something wrong?" Tina asked.
"I just have a really bad feeling about this."
"How?"
"None of you guys had initiations like this. They weren't as hard as what Letty wants Santana to do"
"True but Santana's a really good driver. Maybe Letty knows what she's doing" Marley argued. Tina shot a look at her girlfriend, raising an eyebrow and making her sigh. "Fine. Maybe this time she's going a little too far but what can we do about it?"
"I wish there was a way to help" Tina frowned.
They both looked up when they heard Brittany gasp. "I think I might have an idea!"
Santana had just arrived at the garage and when she walked inside she found the whole crew waiting for her.
"Uh, am I about to get fired?" She asked nervously.
Letty grinned and walked up to her. "No, but we're all going on a road trip. Your car is ok to drive so buckle up and follow us"
Santana did as she was told and moved over to her Supra, Burt throwing her the keys. "Take the shirt off. No work for anybody today" He smiled, making her nod back nervously.
She then moved around to the passenger side and opened the door, depositing her bright blue Nos cooler bag onto the spare seat and pulling off her garage shirt revealing a white t-shirt underneath. Seeing as it was hot outside she decided to just leave it as it was, she really didn't want to be all horrible and sweaty whilst driving. Once she had folded it and placed it into her work backpack she closed the door and slipped into the drivers side. She reached over and pulled out a can from her cooler bag and placed it into the makeshift cup holder next to the center console after pulling on the ring pull and taking a sip. She then strapped herself into her race harness and watched as everybody got into their cars.
Mia got into her Nissan Silvia, Santana now finding out what she drove, Quinn got into her Skyline, Dani slipped into her Ford GT with Kitty surprisingly as her passenger, Tina and Marley got into their own cars and Brittany was the last, getting into her RX8. As Letty pulled out of the yard they all followed, Santana at the very back behind Brittany.
Assuming Letty and the others knew where they were going she slipped on her sunglasses and let the air conditioning do it's magic as she followed.
An hour or so later and they had just arrived in the Tri-City area. Letty led them down into the industrial district and when they had parked up in the minor residential area, a small parking lot outside a diner, they all got out.
Finishing her drink Santana followed everybody's leads and exited her car, leaning up against the hood. She glanced over to her left to find Brittany doing the same with her own car before looking back at Letty.
"Today you're racing"
"I am?"
The older Hispanic woman nodded. "Mia's gonna call the other racer now. All we have to do is wait for them."
Santana nodded and crossed her arms, watching as Mia walked off to call the supposed other racer. When she came back she clapped her hands together. "The other racer is on the way."
"We're gonna head to the finish line. You escape you're part of the crew. If you don't you're out."
Santana frowned at the crew leader as she headed towards her Plymouth. The others hopped into their own cars and as they started pulling out of the car lot she heard police sirens in the distance, instantly understanding what Letty had meant by escape. As she rushed into her car, buckling up she realised that Brittany, Tina and Marley had been hanging back.
"Santana!" She looked up to see Brittany at her window. The blonde handed her a radio and started heading back around her RX8. "Stay on the radio!"
Not quite understanding she shrugged and fired up her car, skidding out of the lot and speeding off. Taking a hard left she saw the police cruisers in her rear-view and heard the police mention her as she turned on the police scanner.
"This has the stolen computer that was reported missing yesterday! Scans confirm it! Female driver, matches description of assailant given by the Lima police department. Get that computer at all costs!"
Cursing she didn't have time to think about it before her phone was ringing from it's place on her passenger seat. "Shit" She reached over and immediately unlocked it. "Hello?"
"Santana?"
"Cassandra? I'm kind of busy right now!"
"I know, what's happening? I saw your car mentioned on a police call in the Tri-City bay area. What are you doing?"
"How come my car came up?"
"I'm tracking you to make sure you don't get caught and our operation goes to shit. It came up as flagged already. What's happening?"
"I don't exactly know" The Latina replied, switching to speaker and throwing her phone onto the passenger seat as she sped around a large bend. "Letty wants me to escape and if I do I'm in"
"Completely?"
"Yes. Why do the cops think I have a stolen computer?"
"Because you do. Letty must have gotten it into your car yesterday without you knowing. It must be related to the report of the stolen cop car yesterday."
Santana continued to listen as she dodged traffic, deciding that it was probably better if she didn't mention she was at her grandmother's at the time (something Cassandra had forbade her from doing). However, no matter what had happened it was done now and she was being chased as part of some sort of test.
"Santana?"
"Oh yeah, sorry. What?"
"I said escape at all costs. These aren't our cops so cost to state doesn't matter. Just escape and I'll call you when you're on your own."
"Cool" She reached across and ended the call before focusing on the road.
"Santana"
As she found herself speeding through a tunnel she was suddenly joined by Tina and Marley on either side of her. Picking up the radio she accepted the incoming transmission.
"Tina?"
"Follow our lead"
"What?"
"Just do it"
As the three of them cleared the tunnel a cop sped down the road from the right and right into their path.
"Split up!"
Santana watched as Tina steered to the left and Marley took the road to the right where the cop had just appeared. Swerving to dodge the cruiser she sped right ahead, being thrown into a large oil refinery. Taking a hard right she narrowly missed being hit by a cop driving straight at her from the other side.
"Tina, what's going on?"
"This is your initiation"
"But-"
"Look, wait until we meet up again and I'll explain"
Santana sighed as she did as she was told, looking up into her rear-view mirror to see the cop who had driven straight at her crash into one of the large pipes, the front end splitting in two all the way up to the front wind-shield. Moments later the cop that had appeared after they had exited the tunnel spun around the corner, not quite expecting the other cop to be there. Not able to swerve around him in time he crashed straight into the right rear tire sending both of them skidding to a stop. A large plume of dust and gravel became smaller and smaller as she drove towards the exit and soon enough she was back on the road, Marley pulling up alongside her.
"What's going on?" Santana asked into her radio, Tina meeting them and pulling ahead slightly.
"You get out of this you're in the crew, permanently."
"What about this computer thing?"
"The cops are looking for it. All you need to know is that Dani stole a cop car yesterday and we put the computer in your car. We shake the heat and you're in"
"You're helping me?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna scout ahead and Marley's gonna be your blocker. Brittany's waiting in the canyon for you. Let's do this!"
Santana watched as Tina sped ahead and took a hard left, following the Asian woman's every move. Marley was close behind Santana but before they could turn a cop car seemed to come out of nowhere and head straight for Santana. Before he could slam into the side of her he was already spinning out of control, Santana catching sight of Marley reversing and then speeding to catch up with her.
"Nice block"
"Thanks, let's catch up to Tina and get out of here"
Santana shifted up a gear as she sped to catch up with Tina, Marley keeping her pace perfectly. As they approached the road that led to a series of winding and intertwined dirt roads they were just about to clear the oil refinery when a police SUV sped up the road to the left, heading straight for them. In a matter of seconds Marley had swerved around the back of him and clipped the back left bumper, the car losing control and flipping over.
Santana watched in her rear-view as it hit the central reserves, Marley not far behind. The orange Chevrolet somehow managed to swerve around the crashed car and avoided the same fate, it's driver slamming the accelerator pedal down in an attempt to catch up.
"To the left!"
Santana followed Tina's directions and steered into the dirt road to the left, the three cars flowing into a single file row across the dirt. She watched as Tina pulled ahead, the power of her car truly making itself known for the first time, not that she was surprised as she had owned one herself. Moments later the radio buzzed to life in her lap, the Latina picking it up and throwing it onto her passenger seat next to her phone.
"Follow Marley's lead"
It was then that Marley overtook her as they entered the next dirt road after Tina, Santana soon finding out exactly what Tina was talking about. The next thing she knew Marley was sliding across the tarmac and blocking off the entire road, her car stopped across the majority of both lanes of traffic. Two cops slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting her and slammed into the reserves at the side of the road instead.
Santana continued to follow Tina, who was way up ahead but still slightly visible. As she steered around the large bend past a small gas station on the corner she heard Tina on the radio.
"Incoming at the highway entrance!" She yelled, Santana seeing her car slide around the next right turn and continue to speed ahead.
She did the same and watched as she turned right once more onto the road that led onto and off the highway. As she slid around onto said road a cop came up on her left side determined to make sure she never made it. Luckily Marley was watching and even though she knew she wouldn't reach them in time to help she decided it was time to give Santana a lesson on how to properly block a cop car.
With a limited amount of time before they had to turn onto the right road she had to think quickly. She grabbed her radio as she watched ahead. "Santana, keep it steady and don't let him get close! Listen to everything I tell you"
Santana understood immediately and glanced over at the cop car next to her who was getting ready to ram into the side of her car. With Marley's careful instructions she knew she was about to get her first piece of crew training.
"Wait for him to get ready to swerve into you and tap your breaks."
Without needing any further instruction she waited for the right moment and tapped on her brake pedal.
"Now return the favour"
Santana did as Marley told her and veered towards the rear end of the cruiser. Her front bumper came into contact with the side of his car and caused him to lose some of his control. Marley watched as Santana slowed down until she was next to her and they both observed his demise, his car losing control and spinning 90 degrees to the right. Two oncoming cars crashed into him and the two drivers steered back onto the right side of the road.
Tina watched on her GPS screen as her girlfriend's car steered onto the road she had just taken. Luckily Letty had agreed to have GPS trackers installed in everyone's cars to make sure they could find them. As Tina was the one in the know-how about these types of things, being the in-car electronics expert, she made sure she was able to keep track of the entire crew at all times, or at least when she needed to. The only other person who kept tabs on everybody was Mia. Back at the garage she made sure that everybody was organised and working as a crew.
Now, knowing that her girlfriend wasn't far behind, Tina slowed down a little and let her car blend into the traffic of the busy highway. She knew Santana wasn't far behind either and aware that she was going to pull this initiation off she made a mental note to install a GPS like everybody else.
"You guys ok?" She asked, picking up her radio.
"I'm good"
"I'm fine baby"
"Damage?"
"Santana got a few scratches but Quinn may need to take a look at mine"
"Again?"
"Babe, I'm sorry but you should have seen it!"
"I'm sure it was amazing but Quinn won't be happy, you know she won't"
"But I do it all the time!"
"Exactly! Every time you race you have a new dent! I love you but I would rather keep my girlfriend alive"
Santana smiled, listening to the way the couple bantered between each other.
"Santana you good?" Tina asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.
"Yeah"
"We should be smooth sailing from now"
She glanced over to her right as the Nissan matched her speed, Marley behind her girlfriend and keeping the pace perfectly.
"Good."
"I'm gonna scout ahead just to make sure and I'm sure you can make your way along to the canyon to meet Britt"
Santana watched as Tina shifted up a gear and accelerated ahead, her car weaving in and out of traffic. Marley then fell into pace with the Latina and they continued up the highway following Tina's trail.
"Roadblock ahead!"
They had been travelling along the wide open road for a few minutes before Tina had radioed from up ahead, letting them know what was going on. They all knew things wouldn't be that easy.
"They're parked right across the road holding up traffic. If we're gonna make it to the highway exit we're gonna need to take a detour"
"Lead the way babe" Marley radioed back.
"Take the road on the far right. They haven't blocked that for some reason"
The two racers behind her kept their eyes on the tail lights of her car and trailed up the suggested road behind her. Thinking they had just escaped potentially being caught it was short lived when their police scanners came to life.
"This must be a crew job. Requesting back up!"
Moments later as they were half of the way into their detour, just having cleared the first corner, Marley yelled through her radio to Santana to pull ahead. Watching in her rear-view mirror she saw the orange Camaro slow down significantly. In a split second she had rammed into the side of a cruiser that had just sped out of the road that wound down into a canyon and led down to the coastal scenic road.
Tina and Santana continued to drive, making their way back onto the highway and it wasn't long before they could breathe when they saw Marley's distinctive orange paint job glowing brightly in their mirrors.
"Missed me?" She laughed, speeding up alongside them.
Tina sighed. "I hate when you do that"
"What?"
"A reckless move"
"Tina, babe, we've been racing together since we were teenagers. I think you know me well enough by now to know that I'm not getting caught without a fight. I would rather let them total my car before I get taken in"
"I know, but just refrain from mortally wounding yourself in the process, ok? And that means with Quinn. She's gonna gonna go all blood rage on you when she sees your front bumper"
"I've done worse"
"I know, and that's what worries me."
"Tina..."
"Don't worry about it ok? We're nearly at the canyon entrance. Santana, you ok to continue on your own? The exit is the next one on the right"
"Yeah, sure"
"Cool. We'd better get back or Letty will get suspicious if we're gone too long. Brittany's ok 'cause she's not a full crew member but I'd rather not get kicked off the crew just yet"
"Nah it's fine, you two go ahead. I can handle myself from here."
"Ok then, we'll see you later"
"Yeah, and guys?"
"Yes?" They both answered.
"Thanks"
"No problem Santana. See you back at the garage"
Santana watched as the two racers pulled onto the road to the right, the one they had originally entered through earlier that afternoon. She continued along the highway and shifted up a gear, approaching a large bend. She cursed as she started driving into it.
"Shit"
The sirens had already started, a highway patrol car picking up on her approaching presence. Her car was probably out on a city-wide APB so no matter what she did she'd be chased. Figuring that it was only one car she didn't worry too much. She didn't have that long to go before she turned off up into the canyon anyway so she shifted up another gear and hoped it wouldn't try anything stupid.
Meanwhile, Brittany was waiting in a nearby parking lot that overlooked the highway and the three sprawled out areas of the bay area. The lookout point was filled with a few cars and a few sightseers taking pictures as she lent up against the hood of her car, her arms crossed as she waited for Santana to arrive. There was no way she could miss her, this was the only road into the canyon.
When she had hopped into her car she had sped away from the group, going in her own direction. Her, Tina and Marley had planned the entire thing out the previous day in Shelby's diner, the three of them all feeling guilty that she was being put through a tough test like this. The others had all had easier initiations, but none had heat of this level.
Sure, they had police tip-offs but the whole computer thing was on a whole other level for their crew leader. It was justified, Santana wasn't the usual everyday street racer, but she didn't deserve a city-wide police chase for something she didn't even do. Brittany just couldn't seem to understand why it was necessary. She had proved herself from the very first race. Wasn't that enough?
Deciding to think about something else whilst she waited she glanced around at the other people milling about the lot. She glanced over at a couple on the far end resting up against the fence in front of their car, the guy stood behind his girlfriend with his arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Shaking her head she turned her gaze away seeing another couple, this time the guy sat up against the hood of his car with his girlfriend stood between his legs. Sighing she tried to ignore the fact that she was probably the only person here without a significant other. All she ever wanted was a person she could bring here and make all the other couples jealous of. Pushing down the feeling if insecurity she focused her gaze back on the road in hopes that Santana would arrive sometime soon so that they could get out of here.
She wasn't kept waiting long though when she heard the familiar roar of a high powered engine approaching. Jumping into action she slipped into her car and strapped herself into her harness. Firing up her car and ignoring the stares of the other people in the lot she peeled out just as Santana was approaching, the blonde catching sight of the familiar green paint job.
It was smooth sailing all the way up the first part of the canyon, the climb uneventful as the two racers sped ahead of the police on their tails. Santana's car pulled ahead of hers, obviously the more powerful of the two but as they reached the first tight turn her car's power to handling ratio was off with all of the recently installed upgrades. That put her slightly out of her element as she was put to the test for the first time since installing all of the new parts.
When they came to the third, a wide right turn, her car showed just how out of balance it was. Brittany kept it tight and as Santana went wide, hitting the temporary barrier, the blonde drifted effortlessly around the bend. She watched in her rear-view as she saw the Latina recover but the cop car behind her wasn't so lucky, the rear wheels losing it's battle to get back onto the road and falling over the edge reducing the number down to three, two having followed Santana up from the entrance to the canyon road before she had joined the race.
Shifting up a gear and catching up with Brittany she watched as the blonde drifted around the next corner effortlessly. With what control she had gained of her car in the past few turns Santana adapted and tried to keep grip as she followed, throwing her car into a drift in Brittany's slipstream.
The two cars slid around each corner, lucky there was barely any traffic, keeping in tune with each other as they tried to lose the remaining heat. When they reached the widest turn they both drifted again, a cop coming up next to Santana and forcing her dangerously towards the edge. She knew she had to lose him if she was going to survive the turn so referring back to what Marley had taught her earlier she thought quickly.
Timing it just right Brittany watched from ahead as Santana sent the car into an oncoming minivan. The Latina grinned as she heard it's siren promptly die, the sound making her laugh as she sped to catch up with Brittany.
Behind them the last cop was determined not to suffer the same fate as his comrades, the green Supra in front of him his only target. On the last turn Santana went too wide and the back end of her car slid dangerously around the edge of the canyon road, her rear end destroying the lousy safety barrier. The cop took this as his opportunity and slammed into the side of her, pushing her closer to the edge and probably to her death.
Brittany slowed down and watched as the Latina threw the car up a gear, her foot mashing down on the accelerator and snapping herself back into the road. The cruiser tried the same thing but failed, the car sliding and sending it into the stone reserve where the barrier ended. Moments later it slid down to the side and the two racers watched as it fell deep down into the canyon below.
Breathing a sigh of relief Santana heard her radio flare to life in her passenger seat for the first time since Tina and Marley had left her to meet Brittany.
"Follow me"
Nothing else was said as she followed the blonde's car around a few more bends, watching as she effortlessly drifted around them with ease. She would definitely have to ask her about that when they had stopped.
A few minutes later she saw the blonde pull into a familiar parking lot, parking up next to her. She took a few moments to herself to breath without the fear of being caught and let her head rest up against the top of her racing seat. That was close, but she had made it. Now hopefully she could start worrying about taking Puck and his goons down instead of being rejected to join Letty's crew.
She was broken out of her thoughts when she got a text. She reached over to her passenger seat and picked it up, sliding it open to see a text from Cassandra.
-Cassandra-
Good work. Your chase was just abandoned. Probably not a good idea to come back to this particular area any time soon until you've changed the appearance of your car and uninstalled that police computer though. Good work, Miss Lopez. I'll see you when you get back to Lima.
Guessing that her handler was happy she unbuckled herself from her race harness and got up out of her car, sliding her phone into her pocket and seeing Brittany looking at her.
"Hey" She grinned.
Santana smiled back. "Hey"
"That was intense"
"I should be saying the same thing. Where did you learn to drift like that?"
The blonde shrugged. "I practice when I need some time to myself"
"For real?" The Latina asked, closing the door to her car and locking it up.
Brittany nodded as she did the same with her own. "Yeah. I mostly do it for fun though"
"Seriously? With skills like that you should be a full member of the crew"
"Nah. I'll leave that to you"
"You really should. Do the others know how good you are?"
"Not really. I don't race like they do"
"Maybe you should consider it."
"Maybe"
"Anyway, where are we?" She asked, looking around at where they were.
This area was different from the rest of the canyon, a few large houses on the hill opposite the road and a few shops surrounding the parking lot they were now in.
"Breadstix"
Her head snapped up at the name, now recognising where she was. Mentally slapping herself for not remembering her favourite place to eat she realised they were indeed in the small restaurants parking lot.
"Breadtsix? Are you kidding?"
"You know it?"
"Yeah, I used to eat here all the time before I left!"
"You did?"
"Yeah, it's my favorite food! I was sort of a local legend here"
"Oh really? Well, do you wanna get lunch before we head back to Lima?"
"Of course!"
Brittany smiled at the Latina's excitement and started walking towards the front door. Before she could reach for the handle Santana was already holding the door open for her, making her blush as she entered first. As soon as they were seated and had ordered they started talking to pass the time whilst they waited.
"So, 'local legend' huh?"
Santana grinned and pointed to the cork-board of names and pictures near one of the back booths. "You see the one named 'SNIX'?"
"Yeah?"
"That's me"
"You're the legendary Snix?" She asked excitedly.
Santana nodded as she took a sip of her water. "The one and only. Me and my abuela used to come here all the time when I was younger. I used to eat here every Friday without fail"
"Really? Me too! Every Friday me, my parents and my little sister Abby used to eat here!"
"You don't any more?"
Brittany shook her head, sobering up a little. "No. My sister's busy with senior year and my parent's are always busy. I usually eat here and then go to drift in the canyon. It's where I practice"
Santana nodded, making a mental note to come here again to practice herself after she had talked to Letty about passing her initiation test. "Well, that practice paid off" She said once they had been served their food. "I can't believe the others don't know about your drifting"
"I kind of like keeping it to myself. Not that I don't love the crew but it's just for me. You were pretty good yourself. Apart from those first two turns"
"I admit they weren't my best but I had no idea how fast my car was. I didn't get a chance to test it out before today"
"I know, we finished it up yesterday afternoon before you came back. I guess you wanted to try it out today"
"Yeah, I didn't get a chance to fine tune it like I usually do. I had no feels of the car but when I got in your slipstream I guess I just fell into it"
"That was cool. I've never had someone to drift with before, especially with someone as good as you"
"Please, I'm definitely not as good as you"
"Hmm, maybe not quite as good as me" Brittany grinned, making Santana laugh. "Nevertheless you were really good. I might just teach you sometime"
"Really?"
"Yeah. Tell you what,"
"What?"
"If I teach you how to drift, you can teach me how to drift around a corner at high speed with Nos"
"You liked that huh?"
"Yeah, I really did mean it when I said it was cool you going around a corner like that."
"Thank you"
"No problem. Now, how are you gonna upgrade your car next?..."
Half an hour later they had finished and were making their way back to their cars. "I'm thirsty"
Santana looked up as she fished her keys from her pocket. "I have some energy drink if you want some"
"Really?"
"Yeah, hold on"
Santana unlocked her car and made her way over to her passenger side door. Brittany lent up against her RX8 and watched as the Latina pulled out her blue Nos cooler bag. Unzipping it she handed a can to Brittany before grabbing one for herself.
"You like Nos?"
"Yeah, both ways" She winked, walking back around to the driver's side of her Supra.
Brittany smiled, popping the ring pull and taking a large gulp from the blue can that was sweating in the heat.
"I do too"
"Yeah?"
Brittany nodded. "Yep. You just made my day that much better."
Santana blushed as she watched the blonde slide into her car, strapping herself into her race harness and rolling down the windows. As she strapped into her own harness and rolled down her own windows Brittany smiled over at her.
"Let's get back to Lima before Letty thinks we both got caught. Just don't tell her we helped you"
I am currently working on car designs but they should be up on my Tumblr soon!
TBC