Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.


Had Brian known just how overjoyed the Toretto crew was at having him back, he won,d have brought some party favors. He was already getting the secretive glances that just hinted at a get-together.

Even so, as entertaining as it was, Brian had to focus in the now and here. And the now and here was Owen and the captured team Brian once worked with. The nasty glare Adolfson gave him from behind Owen as they filed into the base had Brian feeling as if he had made a grave and unpardonable mistake.

He was perched atop the cement stairs as the closest thing to law judged Owen's actions while the man himself was in a cell. Hobbs, Domninic, and the military leader knew not a thing about Owen's mannerisms however and Brian knew now that this- whatever Owen was doing- was far from over. The absence of Klaus and Vegh proved this even more.

Kumiko was mad.

No. That was an understatement. She was boiling with anger; her hands constantly twitched as if she wished for a wrench to hit him with. She wasn't angry for not telling her of his plan but for his refusal to even apologize...which made Brian realize partly that women were complicated and that he was better off living by ignoring her rather than catering to her bipolar self. He had hung up on her and the other two promptly after that.

Well, at least, when they walked into this military base with the Toretto crew, he hadn't been handcuffed and chained to a jail room. That would have sucked... Granted, they had taken away his gun and his dog tags away- something that made him rather irate- along with the spare ammo he kept in the back of his pocket.

"What about him?" The military commander, named Roelfs, asked, his voice easily heard over the relatively quiet base. Brian didn't even have to look up from his quiet and nervous fiddlings to know he was being discussed.

It surprised him however, the speed at which Dominic rose to defend him. "Not him." The rest of the team stood behind Dom, defiant at the face of authority where Brian was concerned.

"But he was with Shaw!"

Once again, with nary a hesitation, Dom spoke up, "But he's always been one of us."

Maybe Brian looked like a concussed puppy when he heard that but he just didn't understand how Dominic could say that. Brian simply didn't remember the Torettos and even then...even then, they still stuck. Others would have already left...he'd seen it happen.

He might not remember the Torettos but he remembered the hospital and the other amnesiac patients there. Some, after years of memory loss, were simply forgotten and forsaken by their families. But because Brian never had family come in in the first place, he could only hope one never came. But now...it seemed as if everything had changed in the span of a day.

"Let's give 'em a minute." Hobbs suggested, a sort of gentleness around him that Brian couldn't picture in a man like him.

The team dispersed shortly afterward, all heading to their respective little corners while never once bothering Brian. They all seemed to understand his need for solitude right now and he could appreciate that. Nonetheless, he had questions and the only ones who could could answer them were the Toretto siblings.

It was Letty Ortiz who approached him first. She walked with a tentative hop here and there and a frown on her face. He looked up to her as she blocked the light shining above. "Letty?"

She smiled sadly, "Listen...I wanna apologize...it if wasn't for me you wouldn't have-"

Seeing where this led to- the famous 'last' run apparently- Brian shook his head, "I don't know about me but I just don't seem the sort to abandon friends in any way...you've got nothing to apologize for."

Letty chuckled weakly, shoulders dropping as the tense energy left her inky to be replaced by relief, "Yeah." She said softly, "Still..."

"Was it fun?"

"Excuse me?" Letty blinked.

"The run, was it fun?"

Once more, Letty blinked but nodded hesitantly, "I- yeah, I guess."

"Good."

Letty had been momentarily shocked to silence but that was easily broken by her raspy laughter, "You're alright, Calfornia." She chuckled, "Gotta say though, I have a cop waiting to meet you again."

Blinking confusedly, Brian coughed, "Come again? A cop!? Like...arrested!?"


"I'm sweating, I'm sweating like a sinner in church!" Jake dramatized, waving a few printing papers with ladylike flair that sent Zane into peals of laughter and gained Kumiko and Lily's glares.

"Would it kill you to be more serious!?" Kumiko grated, "Bri-Bri could be locked up in jail for all we know!"

Zane and Jake stopped immediately and Zane leaned forward, hands stapling over his face, "I...don't think so...he won't be arrested as long as Owen proves to be a problem."

"Owen got caught!"

Zane shook his head, "You're right." He began, "But both you and I know that Owen is a cockroach; he'll keep coming back until we drop an atomic bomb on him and pass him over with a car tire. Brian just risked his life to go against someone like Owen and you're sure complaining about it!"

"But he didn't explain to me why or even apologize!" Kumiko returned, "What if one of you died or something!?"

Lily stood up, "You're right. Brian is being stubborn. But you're being stupid, Kumiko. The moment we agreed to run together was the moment we agreed to give up our lives for Brian and any other teammate. Brian did this for us and we are going to do everything possible to make sure it counts by getting him back to those Torettos."

Kumiko had frozen halfway the explanation. Her face had gone through a myriad of emotions and had finally settled into an understanding one as she gazed at each and every one of their determined faces. Before she could speak, a knock sounded from the door of the trailer.

Puzzled at the sudden interference, Lily rose to answer it. The door opened and both Vegh and Klaus were there. "Guys? What it the world are you doing here? Is Owen-"


Owen stood in front, Adolfson and Jah behind him. They had been escorted by Riley and Hobbs but even then, Brian made sure to stay a bit behind. Toretto however, stepped right up until he was more or less touching noses with Owen.

"You really think you've won?" Owen asked, voice raspy from a probable physical alteration earlier. "This code of yours, it makes you weak...it's the very reason why you weren't even in the game."

Brian tensed, his sudden motion unnoticed by largely everyone but Mia, who glanced at him curiously before turning back to Owen who began to speak again, "I told you what would happen if you didn't turn and walk away, Toretto. I told you I would reach out and break you...and I have. Brian? Why don't you call Kumiko?"

Instantly frozen with terror, Brian never registered that most of the people here had turned to look at him. He would have noticed the sudden pain behind Dominic's eyes or the guilty anger easily seen in Roman's face. What he did register was the realization that Owen, knowing Toretto's Achilles heel, reached out to Brian's team and... Just like that, even without knowing them, Dominic felt a responsibility to helping Brian.

Brian now knew what this whole mess had been.

This had been Owen's attempt to get rid of Brian and everyone related to him. For what reason, he couldn't answer, but he did know that..most likely, Owen would succeed. Nevertheless, the flame of anger and hatred renewed itself within Brian, the likes he had only felt when the authorities had killed a former team member.

His phone somehow appeared by his ear already on dial to Kumiko's phone. The phone rang only once before Kumiko answered. "B-Brian...?" And the line went dead.

More angry than terrified, he glanced up towards Owen, who had been looking to him victoriously. He had missed some conversation between them all when he had been lost in his mental ramblings and then after Kumiko's call but he could see that Owen had put forward his liberty for Brian's teammates.

"It changes everything." Hobbs responded to Roelfs accusation pertaining Owen and the hostages. To Dominic, Hobbs said, "Dom, as soon as he walks out of here...things like amnesty and pardons are out."

Brian knew what he had to do. It was a simple answer to a complicated question. Kumiko had sounded weak...she was most probably dead. If she was...then Zane and Jake and Lily and maybe the others had also been killed. Brian knew he would sound cold hearted if he seemingly showed that he was giving up on his teammates.

And he was giving up but whoever Brian had been, the Brian within that told him this wasn't the solution, he was a different person now. The moment Dominic had cleared up what Brian meant to this group of ragtag criminals...well, that pretty much sealed it. He now owned a debt to them and he was going to pay it.

"No...keep him here."

Mia's head turned so fast, it could have broken if it could, "Brian? No, you don't have to do that..." She soothed, "We'll be fine and they'll be fine...alright?" Brian wanted to nod but she didn't understand...

As if Mia's words had sealed a law, Dominic nodded, "Those things were out the day we were born," he answered to Hobbs.