It was either going to prison and getting the chair, dying in a car accident when they were bulldozed by Vardhaan's men or getting tortured by Vardhaan once more for all he was worth. All roads had possibly escape routes but none of them were guaranteed successes and he was running out of time to crunch the numbers down. All of them lead to one miserable ending after another, but his best bet was getting control of the car and flooring it. It was the only way out that he could see at this point as he was growing desperate. The legendary path of least resistance.
Despite how stupid of a plan it appeared to be, all he really needed to do was use the velocity of the oncoming van to his advantage. Aerodynamics promised him freedom if he remained in the right place at the right time with the right pressure on his bounds.
He was being held tightly to the seat, but pure frustration and the need to survive drove him to yanking on his chains enough to get a better position in the back seat where his feet were on the leather and he was bend down against the car's roof. No matter how badly his wrists begged for relief from the metal pressing into them, causing blood to trickle down his hands, he held himself there and waited... Waiting for the exact moment to strike.
He took in a deep breath, clearing his mind of the world around him and closed his eyes, bracing himself.
Don leaned all his weight against the chains and as the car went flying forward from impact, the reveres weight caused a slingshot like motion and sent him into the front seat, the whole stream of metal holding him to the backfloor snapping into pieces. His legs went over his head and his back landed half way on the dashboard and half way on the stick shift, causing the car to switch gears abruptly which made it surge forward. He slapped his hands over and shoved the gas down, the car launching off at full speed into the car ahead of them and down the street.
Sitting up and placing his own foot over Roma's, who was completely unconscious, Don forced the car faster, grabbing the steering-wheel and ramming the car ahead of them aside to clear the road.
With a short lag of awe, seeing as they reacted so well after being tail-gated, the van that had hit them followed closely behind, the other two coming into formation beside him.
Don panted heavily as if he were about to panic, but kept his cool while flying down the busy streets, narrowly avoiding crashing into other on coming cars as he shifted between lanes like a mad-man. Anything to get them off his trail, problem was, he was being hindered by Roma's dead weight and couldn't drive properly.
"Roma!" He called down at her, looking at her for a second then away. "Roma!" He tried again.
When she didn't wake up, he reached down and eased the seat back, yanking Roma's legs up from the floor and rolling her into the back seat, sliding himself where she had been before and popping the seat back up. He let out a satisfied sigh and swerved the car around a intersection, driving back the way they had just come but on the other side of the road, pulling up on the side walk to keep from hitting other cars.
The vans continued their advances and refused to quit, all of Don's tricks seemed to amount to nothing as they regained their grip quickly and were upon him again within seconds. He almost felt invaded with how well they were able to predict his course of action, down to the very direction he was turning or when he suddenly slowed. No one could do that but him.
All the while, Roma stirred in the back, hearing the droning sound of a car driving under her head. She groaned and sat up, dazed by the pain in her head and the speed they were traveling at.
"What the hell?! DON?!" She looked at him with wide eyes, driving the car as if he owned the place, focused completely on the road ahead. "Don what are you doing?!" she yelled, climbing lamely into the front seat.
"Stop moving around and distracting me!" He half growled, half screamed, his bottom lip protruding out farther and his lower teeth showing as they did whenever he was incredibly angry.
"What is going on?! What happened?" She demanded, holding her head some, looking back behind them to see the vans and gasped as a few bullets racked the sides and bumper of her car. She yelped and dunked down into her seat farther, glaring at Don, "Who are they?!"
"Vardhaan's men. I tried to warn you about them and that I shouldn't be out in plain sight, then you had the nerve to package me up in a car and try to drive me down to the station at the speed limit, ALONE. You idiot." He said, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I'm the idiot? You are the one who couldn't get them off your scent!" She returned.
"Aghh, will you listen to yourself, Roma? You sound like a child! Now shut up and let me drive!" He said, giving up completely with the games, there was no time for them. They could spar with words later when their lives weren't on the line.
He pulled the car off and set in driving up a set of stairs just barely wide enough to fit their car, spinning the car around in a few circles once he reached the roof of the building to get a idea of where he was going next before heading down another flight of stairs on the opposite side then off onto another narrow street. Roma sat there, pinned to her seat, holding back screaming.
"Don! STOP! You cannot be driving right now, you are in MY custody!" She yelled over the blaring sound of the wind coming through their now broken windows.
Don ignored her and continued on his way, improvising as much as he could to throw them off and confuse them. If they wanted to act like they had a handbook to Don... Don would have to burn it.
"Don! I am warning you! Stop right now and let me drive! I am a police officer and I can take it from here! I will have them all arrested and brought in for this! You are a gangster and you have no place dealing with this situation right now when you are in my custody." She ordered right into his ear to make sure he heard everything.
He didn't dare take his eyes away from the roads, but she was annoying him beyond what he was capable of withstanding. Normally he loved to hear her screaming and getting all fussed but right now it was doing more harm than good. He needed a way out of this chase, not to pull over and have her get shot by them when they refused her idiotic offer to come quietly. He just shoved her out of the way before slapping his hand back down on the stick-shift, getting back to concentrating.
Roma reached behind her and pulled out the pistol she kept in her car, pointing it at the side of his head. This got his attention and for a short moment he just stared over at her, as if sickened that she'd even suggest behaving this way given the circumstances.
"Are you kidding?" He asked her, looking back at the road and veering around another turn, knocking something over to help stall the vans.
"Stop now... I mean it Don. I was bringing you to prison for real, don't think I will not shoot you." Her voice was stern and without faults or hints of some underlying truth beneath the apparent lies.
"Go ahead, you'll just get us BOTH killed!" He yelled at her, looking back at the road to see a dead end coming their way. How had he turned the wrong way? He instantly slamming on the breaks to avoid hitting a wall in front of them, panting as he stared at it, his mind racing over where to go from here. There was no way through this wall but- He reached around, placing his hands on the seat next to him so he could get a better view of the vans approaching them, a plot forming in the back of his skull.
"Don?"
Rather it was because of Roma threatening him or the fact that these men following him knew too much about his thought patterns, something was driving him to rage and blind madness. He noted a bridge behind the vans and shifted gears until they were rolling backwards in the direction of the oncoming vans, steadily applying more gas until they were furiously speeding toward them, his plan becoming very clear to everyone else as he was almost upon them and not slowing down.
"Don that isn't going to work." Roma said beside him, her voice sounding faded and low compared to his thoughts. You can do this.
All it would take was taking his foot off the accelerator at the right moment, turning and hitting the breaks. Too soon and the van wouldn't have enough force to go over, too much and they'd fall with it. He had worked out the math, crunched the numbers, aligned the designs... All that it took was to put guts in facts and he was free. And he sure as hell had the guts.
"That won't work Don!" Roma repeated, looking at him then the van." There is no way my car could do that, it's bigger than us!"
When he showed no signs of even hearing her, she leaned closer to him, grabbing his shirt some and pushing the gun into his face, trying to get back off on being threatened so he'd reconsider and snap out of whatever delusional coma he was incised in, but he refused to acknowledge her existence.
"DON, STOP!" Roma shouted, about ready to hit him before more gunshots were fired and she released him, dropping back down behind the seat for cover. Don smashed the smaller car perfectly into the van's bummer edge and forced it back against the guard rails on the bridge. With one last tromp of the gas the van, and the helpless men inside, were shoved over the edge and sent spiraling down into the river below. Everyone sat there in awe over what just happened, silence consuming the area until there was a loud splash that rang as a victory bell for Don's success. Letting out a solid laugh, he switched gears and floored it again, skidding past the other vans as he journeyed off on the road he should shave taken, speeding along as if nothing had happened.
Roma popped her head up from behind her seat and stared over where the van had just taken a dive, flabbergasted that it had actually worked. It was one thing to hear stories from others who had faced him, watch it on the news with disgust, even witness the undoing yourself when he outsmarts you in the chase... But watching how he working out these incredible strategies was something completely different.
Everyone far and wide who was inclined on such a subject, knew he was infamous for the art of escape. As if he'd created it himself just to toy with the world.
He was utterly untouchable unless he wanted you along for the ride, inevitably, to merely graze past his flawless cosmos. There was no winning with Don and no one debated it, though everyone fought it. There was never a moment where he appeared outwitted or disoriented when he was being chased, it was as if he remained more concentrated and calculated than usual, like preferred it to a regular life.
He was similar to a chess player who invented a opposer just to make his twisted game more interesting than playing alone. He was a mastermind.
She looked over at Don who was just sitting there with a smile on his face, knowing to himself all too well how powerful a mind he possessed and how much it left people awestruck.
"That was-" Before she could finish her words his eyes grew wider and he grabbed her head, shoving her down against the seat, a yelp from Don was the only exception over the gunfire as to what she heard while her face was plastered against the leather seat. He ground his teeth in a snarl from the sudden pain flashing through his flesh, the shock leaving his hands shaking and weak. He released the steering-wheel with his bound hands and place them over Roma to shield her from the reign of bullets that hammered into the vehicle, forgetting his own issues to try and prevent her from suffering the same.
"Stay down!" He muttered heatedly before sitting back up fully and watching the road, hot blood oozing from his arm that draped over her. At least it had served as protection enough...
The car started jolting and rocking as Don drove it over bumps in a unfinished road, knocking things over recklessly on his way across the work-site, not paying any attention to the men around him yelling for him to turn back.
Roma pulled her head up finally and gasped for air. "What the hell was that?! They- Blood?" She looked down at her shirt when the bright red color caught her eye. For a moment she seemed to believe she'd been hit and felt over herself. When she felt no pain, her eyes wandered until they landed on his arm. "You're bleeding!"
Don looked unenthusiastically down at his arm, grunting a affirmative to her. It didn't matter right now.
"Did you just get shot?" She asked.
"No, I just threw up blood all over myself and you, conveniently when we're being shot at." He combated, rolling his eyes.
Roma glared at him. "You can't possibly be planning on driving while you're wounded! You are already gushing blood everywhere, you'll be dead in a matter of minutes, we need to get you help!" She protested, leaning closer to him.
"They don't want you, they want me..." He interjected lowly, both of his weakened hands clinging to the wheel as he swerved the car around construction vehicles. His expression was rather blank though there was something desperate and unhappy seeping through his confident nature. As if he knew another selfless moment was in order for there was no other choice.
There was a brief silence between them as they hurried to collect words against the other. "So? I am not letting you out of my sight! I will deal with them and with getting you help." She said at last, raising her gun again and pointing it toward him. "Now pull over and I'll take the wheel."
Don sighed loudly, in both irritation to her stupidity and relief that she had been so ignorant to show her weapon again for him. "Thank you." Was all he said before he reached over, slapping the gun from her and and taking it in his own. Roma opened her mouth to protest but he shoved her face against the seat again to ensure her safety, at that same moment he opened his door, he elbowed the stick back, which suddenly switched it into parking gear, the whole car slammed to a stop.
The gravity of the halt causing his already flimsy door to rip off completely. Satisfied that he had removed that obstacle, he threw the car back into gear and pulsed forward, looking in the rear-view.
"You want to drive so bad?" He sarcastically asked, by this point Roma was almost on the floor, trying to recover from whatever she'd just been through.
"What?" she asked, dazed.
"You want to drive so bad, take it for a second... And put on your seat-belt." He replied with a smug smile before leaning out the side of the door slightly, using the rear-view mirror to aim and fired off a few shots at the closest van behind them, none of them hitting home or doing more than encouraging them to accelerate. All the while, Roma grabbed the wheel and kept them on course, muttering curses under her breath.
He narrowed his eyes and aimed more carefully, letting off the gas and waiting until he could clearly see the driver's face before firing a bullet straight between his eyes. Immediately, the van went out of control and swerved all over the road, crashing into the other one behind it.
Don pulled himself back inside the car, pushing Roma's hands off the wheel and tossing the pistol on her lap. "Thank you." he said, smiling still.
Roma looked over the back of her seat, seeing that the last van was, in spite of everything, making it's way around the wrecked one. "They are still following us." She blurted, glancing back at Don who seemed all to unconcerned.
"I know." He said coolly.
The unforgiving sound of police sirens blaring filled Don's ears, causing him to frantically whip his head around to catch a glimpse of their location so he could move farther from it.