"Ashelin?" Keira lifted her wrist to her mouth. "I'm, uh, in the garage. I think I just killed UR-86."
There was static. Then, "really?"
"Yeah."
"I'm impressed."
Keira beamed. "Thanks!"
"Welcome. Are you done in the garage? I want you out of there ASAP. Rayn might know we're here. We just took care of one of her henchmen."
"Yeah, I guess I'm done." Keira glanced at UR-86's vehicle. "I got a fast ride out, don't worry about me. Good luck with the Bullet X."
"Ashelin out."
Keira walked around the red car. She peeked inside the open door. UR-86, evidently, did not ascribe to the aesthetics and comforts of living riders. The seat was hard and bare, a mere extension of the frame. The dashboard was void of most of the standard meters. Keira figured the robot plugged itself into the car to take speed readings and weapon checks. There was not a scrap of cloth to be seen; every surface was unrefined and unfinished, hammered into the car straight from the factory.
"Hrm," said Keira, twisting her mouth. "This is probably going to be a bumpy ride." She swung herself into the car and started it. The dashboard lit up with red numbers, seemingly random. Keira grabbed the steering wheel and felt shallow indentations along the inside rim. "Hmm." They were smooth contact points with tiny interfaces embedded in the center.
She shifted into first, slowly let off the clutch, and put pressure on the accelerator. Nothing happened. Keira frowned and tried again. The vehicle revved forward, then shut off. "Dang it!" She tried several more times.
"Maybe he has to plug in, or something," she said, pushing all the little contact points on the steering wheel. The vehicle shuddered. An empty shield generator rose from the back, whining. Burned red eco exhaust wafted through the garage. An assortment of gun turrets whirred up and down the front. "Ohh, okay. These are the command ports for offensive and defensive moves." Keira tested each one, memorizing which gun port was where. The turrets rose and locked away at her command, but would not fire. "Huh. Gotta be wired in, I guess."
"Now," she said, turning the key once more. "If only I could get this thing to go!" Keira glanced at UR-86. It occurred to her that he weighed about four times as much as she did. "Maybe if I-" she stomped the accelerator as hard as she could, "-waugh!" The vehicle shot forward. She turned the wheel just in time and skidded down the ramp, scraping the wall. Keira ducked as sparks flew. She jammed the car into second gear and raced down the under city road.
The vehicle's shocks were either busted or not present. Keira bounced on the hard seat. "Ow ow ow - I wish I - ow - knew where this - ow - road was going!" The glass in her pockets clapped together. Keira tried to concentrate on the tunneled road. It was windy and constricted, lit up by the occasional flickering light. "Need to find – ow – ramp to surface!"
The car veered at every turn, scraping against the walls and leaving long paint streaks behind it. Keira gripped the wheel and squinted into the oncoming wind. The cloak partially billowed around her, constrained by the hemline, which she had stuffed under her butt for a little cushioning. When she saw the faded letters for the garage and warehouse, she realized she was driving in a circle. She looped around again, noting how the roadway turned. At an impossible-seeming curve, she jutted to the right and found herself forcibly merged into above ground traffic.
"Yahhhh!" she screamed. Zoomers swerved to avoid her. Other drivers cursed and made rude gestures. "Sorry!" shouted Keira. She tried to downshift, but the car only responded to the most amount of force she could put on the pedals. "Shoot! Damn!" Keira yanked the wheel and turned right a few times.
The traffic was entirely non-racer vehicles; family zoomers trundled along in the slow lanes. Single-person zoomers zipped along beside them. Keira switched lanes and found that most of the zoomers stayed a distance away from her. "They must recognize the car," she muttered.
Taking full advantage of her vehicle, she screamed through red lights and cut people off. Buildings and overpasses wooshed by, a confusing urban jungle. On the one occasion when a nearby rider pointed a gun at her, Keira pushed one of the little indentations and brought up a missile launcher. The rider paled and pulled away.
"Oh, good!" Keira recognized Rayn's HQ building and swung around another block. As she passed under a glass-walled walkway, something fell from the sky onto the zoomer ahead of her. "Ahh!" She screamed and pulled the wheel, just barely skidding around the other vehicle. Keira ducked as flashes of light and booms sounded from the wreckage. People screamed; cars honked. The thick, moving traffic squealed into a quagmire of crashing zoomers. Keira glanced into the rear-view mirror. A pile-up had begun, flames licking its edges.
The sky boomed with thunder and rain poured down. The roads quickly flooded; filthy water churned around the gutters, clogged with garbage. UR-86's tires of choice usually held the asphalt fairly well, but Keira hydroplaned more often than not.
"JEEZE!" Keira slapped her wet hair back and cursed the open-topped vehicle. She turned again and headed north. "I can't wait to get the hell outta here!"