Episode 1: Back In Action

Event 2: Onslaught

Location: Downtown Central

For a second or two I could have sworn I felt the two left tires rise up from the missile's shock wave. But only for a second, because just like the name of this game that's all it takes for the shit to hit the fan. Even through the torrential down pour and the sound of SG missiles exploding I can hear my car complain as I fought to get it back under control.

"You okay in there?" Bonnie's voice filled my helmet.

"Kinda, that last impact was a bit too close."

"Yeah, the idea of having an...uh oh, heads up!"

Of course. Right out of the underpass and into the missile barrage, I bet the Split Second chopper pilots love their job. I snap the left paddle back and listen as my engine revs high, 2 rockets passed. I cut deep into the corner, the front of my Severus way too close to the wall. I tapped the brake and begin trying to point myself in the right direction for the fast approaching left turn.

"Whoa shi-" the car rumbled as a Firestorm tried to make a move on the outside. It was brutally was cut off by SGM's direct impact. The shock wave pitched my vehicle around. Damn rain, come on car, don't end me now...you know you really don't realize how solid a wall looks until sliding towards one at a 100-something miles per hour. Brakes, not working. Legs? Now they won't move...wait. Fuck.

"Ugh, why is this stuff so hard to break out of." This S.A.F.E. foam is really annoying sometimes, sure it saved my life, but it smells like crap in here. God this pocket knife is not helping. I wind up for another stab when I hear a drill turn on near me.

"Just hold tight for a few more minutes, KR is getting you out." Connie yelled over the power drill. K? he was in that race with me too, I wonder...heh who am I kidding he probably won. I sat with my arms crossed for what felt like an hour before something finally broke through. Which is a jigsaw, not a drill. I zipped down the front of my suit just a little a fanned myself. Man I need a shower. I shuffled around and forced off my helmet. As soon a I saw the blade retract to make another incision, I rammed the cut foam with my helmet. A little bit of contorting, and yes, I am free.

"Welcome back." Bonnie smiled at me, then again, I don't I've ever seen her with a frown. Ever. I turned to acknowledge KR but he had already gone back to...

"Ah, my car!" I jogged over to it, my once powerful Cobretti Severus reduced to scrap. Stupid missiles. I placed my hand on the vehicle, the left side looked fine, it was the right side that was completely crumpled in.

"Man I feel stupid, what happened while I was out?" KR stopped wielding for a second and pointed toward the scrap heap near in the garage's back corner. There sitting on top was a gold medal. A helicopter with two cars underneath was engraved in it. Why does he continue to do that? Every medal, every trophy he gets he just throws away. I turn to go pick it up but stop at the familiar sound of a Hanzo Katana. Please don't have a white paint job. I turn around.

"Damn it." I mutter under my breath. Carter took his time as his cruised Hanzo's flagship car in the garage. He custom butterfly doors open, he stepped out and took off his solid white helmet.

"Tough break Konani, but even escaping a horrendous, life threatening crash you still look drop dead gorgeous in a racing suit."

I immediately zipped up my suit, hiding away my exposed cleavage. "Oh shove it Carter, whatda want?"

"Well first this." He walking to one of the big screens located in our garage and turned it on. The first thing to meet my eyes was a bright orange Severus careening into a wall and exploding, followed by a white ball of foam that bounced over the totaled car and above the guard rail.

"Why are you showing me my wreck?"

Carter shrugged, "I don't know, it just seemed funny to me."

"Jackass"

"Eh. I was wondering if you wanted a wingman for your next event. You do know you don't have enough credits either way to enter the Elite Race."

Crap, Carter was right about that. The credits count reset for the new season, the only way I was getting into the Elite Race was to have a total of 100 credits for the episode or to have at least 50 I could manually spent to enter. I only had 20 from event 1's Eliminator, plus...wait.

"Why are you offering to be a wingman, no offense Carter but you not the..." gently now," strongest driver out there."

"That's what you think. I'll have you know my driving skills have increased greatly since you saw me last season."

"Carter, you were first to be eliminated during Event 1, I was there."

"Oh...well how about dinner lat-"

"Shut up."

He held up his hands defensively, "Alright your loss, but I'll be back, probably with roses next time. Ciao." With a smug smile and a tiny wave Carter finally left in his "hard earned" Hanzo Katana. I sometimes feel a little sorry for that car. But pretty soon I'm over it because right now I've got a hot date with a hot shower. Before Bonnie can feed me excuse to stay I haul ass out of the garage and into our living quarters. There's one upside to living under S2's rule, we get to stay in the greatest dorms imaginable. And this shower, beautiful. Craftsman ship aside, what I need now is...ah yes hot water. God that feels gooooood. Almost makes me forget that tomorrow is gonna be another long day. I finish my shower and wrap up, I frowned. You could still hear the downpour going on outside. I moved as fast I could to my room, trying not to track water. With a swift lock of my door I slide toward my oversized bed, wait, crap. I must have been more tired than I imaged because as soon as my face hit the pillow, I was gone.

"KONANI!"

Arggggh who the fuck...too tired...

"KONANI!"

Half asleep I shuffle my hand across the night stand in search of my phone. About 30 seconds later I come to the conclusion that it must still be in my suit. In my suit, that means I have to move. Damnit. Thankfully the carpeted floor was forgiving as I rolled out of bed. Phone, phone, phone...there we go- 1:34. Fuck my life, who would be up this early? Unfortunately the person at my door answered the question for me. Even in the near complete darkness I knew it was KR peaking his head in.

"Konani get up and put some clothes on, I need your help." And just like that he was gone. Great now I need to find something to wear...er wait its pitch black in here. How did he know I wasn't wearing anything...ugh forget it. I quickly find and don the closest clothes around me before trudging out to the garage. I squint as the fluorescent lights nearly blind me.

"What is it man? It's two in the morning." I yawned. But I couldn't help but smiled when I laid eyes on my newly repaired Severus. Wow this guy is some kind of miracle worker. From his position of leaning over the engine, he points forward to the already open driver slide door. Ah, he needs me to start the car. With another yawn I slip into the driver seat and put my key I had luckily grabbed into the ignition. I started the engine which cranked beautifully for a second, then stopped.

"Er, K what was-" he tapped the vehicle signaling me to start the car again. I did, this time the car spooled up and stayed up.

"Give it some gas." he yelled over the engine. I pulled back both shift pattles to put the car in neutral then pulsed the accelerator. That's when I caught the hint of something out of place, the sound of a new turbo charger.

"Hey, it probably still gonna be raining tomorrow, er today. I'm gonna change to some new wets now. Is that cool?" I gave him a groggy nod as I stepped out of the Cobretti. I found a nearby chair and dropped into it as I watched him change the tires. Even though I'd consider him to be quite possibly be my closest friend, I know next to nothing about him. Other than the fact that he's South African, kinda. It's diluted to say the least, you can still easily see his tattoos. I wouldn't mind see the rest of those tat's but he refuses to take off his shirt. Whatever, I'm sure he's got no more than Brawn. hm, looks like he's done.

"Alright Konani, I'm out. try not to wreck this one so fast."

I sneered at him before I got up and followed him into the living quarters.

Ugh, at least the carpet is still forgiving the second time. Where's my phone, uh, there we go. 8:42, of course. I scrambled to my closet, and threw on a clean racing suit as fast as I could. I had one foot out the door before I went back for my helmet. I sprinted down the main hall and burst into the garage. The sound of drivers and technicians alike poured in from outside despite the rain.

"Cutting it a little close I see." Bonnie called out before tossing me a can of Amp. I crack it open. Yeah, that's good stuff.

"KR was about to leave without you."

I shrugged at her in between chugs. I jogged to my car while downing the rest of my drink, egar to do some driving. KR gave me a nod before jumping into the cockpit of his Cyclone, mirrored as I slid into my own driver seat.

"Alright babe, let's do some work." When I started the engine I was instantly rewarded with the sound of my baby roaring to life. Just over the sound of my V10 I could hear the KR's Ryback squeal.

"Radio, test 1, 2, 1, 2. Looking good guys, see you on the track." Bonnie's voice echoed through my helmet.

"Ladies first." KR offered.

"Why thank you sir." I replied in a mocking southern accent. I put my car in reverse and backed out of the garage. The rain pinged against my vehicle as I made my way out.

"Ugh, could they have picked a worse day to have a race."

"Probably" KR replied while backing his vehicle out behind mine.

Second City, the Split Seconds driver's home away from home, though I'm not one hundred percent sure where, I think were somewhere near the Great Rockies. Where ever we are, when it does rain it pisses down like no tomorrow. It makes me wonder how this is gonna work on the ice cover roads of Dead Man's Peak. I panned around looking for our entry gate when I had to stop to keep for T-boning a line of Firestorms.

"Christ that was close." I gave the three cars a closer look before following them into the gate and onto the track.

"Bonnie, what's the lineup today?" KR asked when we were forced to stop again and wait in line for track authorization and T-tubes.

"Hm, good question." Bonnie replied, followed by the sounds of rustling paper.

"Ah, here we go Event 4, race on Expressway...hey it's a full house, all 24 slots are filled. Uh let's see, Big G Emmy is here starting in 13th, Golds's starting in 10th, oh you'll kick a kick out of this. Guess who got pole position?"

"Carter." KR deadpanned.

No doubt his parents bribed that position out of S2 like they did for that Katana Carter drives. What bothers me is the fact that he's okay with all the corruption S2 has brought here. But then again reputation seems to affect starting position as well, because fuck if I know how I'm starting in 4th. I roll up to grid and kill the engine. I flip up my helmets' visor and look as best I can through my rain smeared windows. Way over to the left past the big screens and spotlights I could see the lights of the "Pit" where Bonnie and the rest of the crew chiefs are probably running last minutes checks or flipping through a playbook.

"I think I found who you're looking for KR, the Ryback Angels starting in 7th, 8th, and 9."

"Ugh." I respond, making sure to drag out my sigh of discontent. That's one thing I loved about BRTV running the show, it was all about the racing and explosions. The edge of your seat photo finishes, and the skill of the drivers and crew members that made it all happen. I didn't really notice at first, but soon it became obvious what S2 was doing. S2 saw they could capitalize on not just the explosions and cars but the sex appeal of the drivers as well. And driving crews like the Ryback Angels just eat that shit up, they went from being little known racers to the sex bomb icons of Ryback in a matter of weeks. I sure am glad that I earned this Severus before the media started calling me the "Hawaiian Heartthrob". Being sexy is nice and I'm sure these double D's have gotten me more fans than I want, but still part of me wants to be known as a racer first.

"HEY, Konani! Spool it back up, were about to go live in 30." KR alerted me.

I flicked my visor down and turned the key, my Severus rocked as it fired up. The rain began to spiral and kick up as helicopter hovered in front of the starting line, the starting light array hung suspended below it. My fingers flexed over the steering wheel as I felt for the friction between my gloves and the wheel. That when the last voice I expected to hear fill my helmet.

"I know you'd much rather have Raven, but I still got your back Konani." Carter's voice came through sincere and honest, almost sad.

"Good to know, Carter." Bonnie responded for me, "look alive guys you got the lights."

Event 4: Race

Location: Expressway

I looked up, yellow, yellow, red...GREEN. The rain muffled the sound of 24 cars peeling of the line surrounded by Split Second's signature starting explosions. Even in these conditions my Severus's massive torque rockets me past 3rd and 2nd. I tailed Carter through the first set of easy right turns making sure my T-tube gave me the Power for drafting. Giving my rear views a quick peak, I watched as a Slipstream spin out after being cut off by one the obnoxiously pink Firestorms of the Angels.

"Alright, the safeties have just been released on all the Power Plays, good luck guys. And be careful" Bonnie spoke.

No sooner had she said that did Expressway's first power play ignite, the large building to our right exploded into a brilliant cloud of flame and debris. My Severus and Carter's Katana fishtailed from the shock wave, but that didn't stop a Bayonet R from plowing into me. My car skidded further causing me to miss the open shortcut to the left.

"No!" my car spun out and began to stall before I quickly shifted down. The tachometer waved for only a second before the clutch finally started giving power back to the wheels. My tires gave a beautiful squeal as the Severus swung back and curved around the now flaming tanker truck Power Play. I didn't even have to look at my rear views to know that the back half of the lineup was closing fast. Pedal to the floor, my Severus power slid the next corner as I began to line up for the hairpin near the dock side warehouse. Boomboom, boom boom boom! This series of explosions sounded almost musical as the warehouse exploded in a wave of flames. Not so much as a tremble shuck my car as I drifted like a pro around the corner and out of the last explosion's blast radius. I couldn't help but smirk at the sound of metal on metal as the car's behind me collided with one another.

But even that smile was short lived as from what I swore was out of nowhere, a Ryback...wait, what is that? It caught up and rode beside me as we came to the under pass, boy I wish it hadn't. It was monstrous, larger than a Ryback Thunder, and with equally as overpowered engine to boot. I glanced down at the LED array the lined the top of my dial console, two blue bars were filled. Let's see how much strength this truck's got, I tapped the blue button on my steering and watched as the tanker truck near the end of the under pass exploded causing my Severus to skid. Christ, I wonder if that truck even knew the explosion was there. It didn't. We both barreled out of the underpass and onto the back straight, into the next corner I could hear the faint but recognizable sound of the dump truck Power Play cutting through the underpass. But details like that began to blur out of focus as all my attention when to putting this truck driver down. Debris flew with us out of the back alley as we slid around the flaming remains of a spent bus Power Play.

"And stay down!" KR voice suddenly broke the radio silence, causing me to pull away from my self-induced trucker rivalry. I opened my mouth to ask, but stopped when the trucker and I roared past a flaming heap of pink Firestorm.

"Nice." I answered KR, in between being shoved by the massive Ryback. As we caught up, I could see the scraps and burns littered across KR's Cyclone and Carter's Katana from battling the Ryback Angels.

"Please tell me that's a Ryback Thunder behind you, Konani." KR suddenly asked as the six vehicles began to make the slight climb back to the start/finish line.

"Uh, no. why-"

"Route Switch!" Bonnie yelled, cutting me off.

The Expressway route changer Power Play, defiantly not one of my favorite, mostly because of the gruesome sound of derailed train exploding above you. Combined with the Doppler effected horn, ugh. It came as a low rumble first, building speed then, WABOOM. It rained trains left and right. I looked in my rear view to see the Ryback brushing off the shock waves like it was nothing but a little breeze. Fuckin' truck.

I held my breath again as I severed around a S.A.F.E followed by another flaming pink Firestorm. The dodge causing me to take the entrance to the tunnel a little too wide. I winced as my deployable spoiler scrapped the wall and broke off. To add insult to injury the truck sideswiped me after dodging one of the falling Power Plays. The Ryback barreled past, rear ending the last pink Firestorm out of its way before blazing a trail toward KR. God, I have really had enough of this bullshit truck. It had to die.

"K, that truck has got to go." I groaned

"Chill out, Konani. Not one of us are taking out that driver alone." KR replied. "Carter you wanna help? Here's your chance, fall back and let Konani take your draft. I'll slow it down, Konani you need to be ready with the underpass Power Play. Got it?"

I grunted in acknowledgement. I wanted this truck under my belt, but KR seems to know who the driver is despite that I or probably anybody has ever seen that model of Ryback before. Ryback..., I knew I forgot something. I glanced behind me long enough to see a pink Firestorm cruising steadily inside my slipstream. Man there's never an easy race in Second City.

"Tag, you're it." I quickly said as I scraped past Carter who had dropped back as per KR's plan. The last Ryback Angel following suit. In all honesty I was expecting Carter to voice a complaint, but I never came. For a glorious 30 seconds, there was nothing but the sound of engines roaring and tires sliding, this was how God indented racing to be. I'm not sure why or how but for that short period of time, the Angel, KR, Carter, the Trucker, and I. We just ran. Drift passing, draft slingshots, for that moment only we were racing. Long enough to miss the Power Play KR wanted me to trigger, long enough for me the squeeze into 2nd. But you know what people say about all good things, they always come to an end. Out from under the broken overpass, everyone could hear the engines of the helicopter that held the damaged dump truck rev up. Ah, yes back into the brink.

"Fuckin' shit" Carter spat, I skidded left, the Katana and Firestorm close behind me. KR on the other hand did what he does best, making it a crowd pleaser. To the right I watched his custom Cyclone sail down the track, the dump truck rolling closer behind him every second. I steered my Severus as far left as I could knowing that the Power Play was designed to come back across the road cutting off the left side of the street. My head rattled as the rolling mass of dump truck edged closer, I yanked my E-brake and drifted wide. The Firestorm of course was right on my bumper. Carter on the other hand wasn't so lucky, his audible cruse was cut off as the S.A.F.E system deployed in his car. Better luck next time Carter, any other day I might make a joke, but this race was running out of road fast. The remaining four of us shot out of the alley way and past the used bus Power Play. KR had 1st, which I am always okay with, it wasn't for the fact that the damn truck was still here, riding high in second.

I began to open my mouth to voice urgency when KR made his move. Moving right, he flew through the small cutout shortcut and slide into a hard right toward the gas station. The trucker followed him but avoided the station, instead activating the Power Play. The already destroyed gas station exploded again. Fire and shrapnel rained everywhere obscuring everyone's view of KR who had decided to park his Ryback in the middle of road just outside the station. I watched in disbelief as both vehicles exploded into a mushroom of flames, ejecting two S.A.F.E balls in the process. The tires on my Severus squealed as I dodged the wreck with no room to spare. I looked into my rear view, flaming pile of cars, and one pink Firestorm closing the gap. Ugh. Time to let this new turbo charger earn its keep. I dodged the last obvious Power Play, thankfully the rain dampened some of the shockwave. My hand flicked the right shift paddle gearing my car up to 5th, it was at this point I despised driving a car built with a similar top end as a Ryback Firestorm. The opposing car swung out of my slipstream and pulled alongside me, in another race I might of lost in a photo finish but not today. Are cars roared across the line, my Severus half a car length ahead of the last Ryback Angel.

"Booyah, that's how we do it!" I exclaimed as I slide my car to a stop.

"Nice driving Konani." Bonnie replied, "You'd better thank KR for his kamikaze play though."

"Yeah, I'll admit it was a ballsy move, what did the officials have to say?"

"Nothing, since KR's Ryback is standard transmission he just made it look like he stalled coming out of the station."

"Clever"

"Yeah, God forbid why he continues to bail you out at his expense."

I shrugged off the question but still released a sigh of relief, with 70 credits won in this episode I could now buy my way into the Elite Race. Though I'm sure some idiot S2 lackey will try and convince me to fill a slot in a Detonator bracket. I definitely won't be having any of that.

My Severus squeaked to a stop inside the garage. I killed the engine, and stepped up and out of the low profile machine. Giving a quick once over to my vehicles battle scars I shut the door, I took one step before getting startled by the truck carrying two S.A.F.E. balls. It backed in and dumped its load before speeding away. Man S2 technicians are assholes. I grabbed the jigsaw KR used to get me free a walked over to the nearest ball of foam. The jigsaw poised to start when I was scared out of my wits again as a fist burst out of the foam. Eh, well that explains which one KR was in. It took less than 10 seconds for Raven to tear himself out of the S.A.F.E., I wasn't even finished with my first cut on Carter's foam before KR was completely free. He stretched a bit before walking towards me and taking the jigsaw from my hands.

"Hey, I was doing fine." I complained. K shot me a look before freeing Carter in half the time it took me to complete one incision.

"Jesus, thanks man, I would have suffocated before Tenma got me out." Carter said. I stuck my tongue out at him before spinning on my heel and heading toward the dorms.

"Yeah, real mature Konani." Carter called after me. Whatever, KR and I were going to the Elite race tomorrow, nothing was going to sully my mood.

Split/Second Championship Race Day

I removed my helmet and stepped out of my car, I put a hand against my forehead to shield my eyes against the blazing afternoon sun. From the thunderous roar of the audience you would never know it billion fucking degrees outside. I looked around, only half of the non-Elite racers were here, they're probably still waiting on the tally for the 5th Event. The single driver runs like Air Strike and Deadline usually takes awhile since one track has to be rebuilt multiple times over the span of two days. Of course that didn't stop the S2 producers from having the opening ceremony, and for once I'm glad KR and I got here early. As it turns out, The Hammer and Torpedo retired for the new season. Driving the Elite 440 Special is apparently Brawn's brother Blitz, and in the GT12 is the Elite Driver's second female racer, The Ghost. God damn did she give me a bad vibe, it makes me wonder though if the vehicles have the same specialty parts as their previous drivers.

As a last second decision by BRTV, Elite drivers were given clearance to install unique parts to their vehicle in an attempt to make the championship races more interesting. It worked. Now Elite Drivers have custom performance parts added to the series' most powerful cars that the rest of the Split Second drivers can't even have access to. Nobody thought it would even be that bad until they saw the cars in action. Live Wire's GT12 can adjust its spoilers in real time during a race giving it unparalleled handling under any race conditions. And Rigg has enough NOS in the Goliath to make a Top Fuel dragster piss himself. To make matters worse we don't even know what the rest of the cars can do. During season one, Raptor, Vixen, and Brawn never bothered using their upgrades, because...well, they didn't need to.

And now we have two new drivers that god knows what they did to become Elite. Contestants know very little about the Elite drivers themselves. Rumours like Raptor was a Formula One driver before BRTV employed him, and that Vixen is a WRC Champion pop up all the time. Hopefully these new drivers aren't going to make Elite Races any shitter. I squinted my eyes as I look over towards the Start/Finish line of Terminal. The grayscale Elite vehicles sat there unscared and untouched from the lack of racing they'd done this week. Their drives' stood, posing for pictures as the rest of their fans hungrily fought for their autographs. Ugh, I'm sure who but somebody was turning in their grave. Beep! Beep! The buzzer sound of the five minute warning was issued. Behind me the last few cars rolled up to the start grid, the drivers' revving their engines in anticipation. I swept back my hair before putting my helmet back on and returning to my Severus. Over my own engine I could hear the loud speak power on.

"WELCOME RACE FANS TO THE SECOND SEASON OF SPLIIIIT SECOND!" The crowd roared, even over the sound of the trucks pulling the stands a safe distance away from the track. "WE'VE GOT A GREAT RACE COMING TO YOU LIVE FROM THE EXPLOSIVE AIRPORT TERMINAL TRACK! ARE YOU READY FOR SEASON TWO'S FIRST ELITE RACE!" the crowd roared even louder. "DRIVERS READY?" My Severus rocked as a I pulsed the accelerator, but it was drowned out as Rigg's Goliath started its massive engine. I rolled my eyes as rest of the Elite started to rev their engines in unison. "10! 9! 8!" My gloved hands flexed over the wheel as I took a breath, "Alright babe, let's do some work."

Event 6: Elite Race

Location: Airport Terminal

"3! 2! 1!, GO! GO! GO!" 28 tires incinerated to asphalt as all 14 vehicle tore away from the line. No one looked back, no one said a word, and no one here was your friend. This is and will always be a Split Second Elite Race.