Chapter 3: Highway Battle
Ezra's P.O.V
We were doing pretty good right now on the road. We were now in the lower 210's, coming down ever so slowly to the top 100's. The crew and I were enjoying our drive down the dessert highway to Vegas, where we passed some other racers earlier. It was a nice drive for me as I have not seen this part of the U.S, due to my time primarily being spent on the west coast, and I was glad to be doing it with my friends.
Time also had flown by pretty quick as the drive continued, thanks to us socializing via conference calls on our phones as we drove, and admiring the drive we were taking. However, this wasn't just a Sunday drive, and all of us knew that clearly. We were racing for money, and we had to focus on the task at hand. The time currently is coming up on 5:30 pm, and we were still driving. In fact, we focused on the drive so much that non of us bothered to stop anywhere along the way, except for gas and the bathroom, which we were quick about when we stopped.
We were still on the highway to Vegas, where we passed a sign telling us that it was only ten miles to Vegas, which meant that we were getting close. Our objective was to make sure that when we got in Vegas, we got there in the 170's to 160's, or around there, and we were all now in the 180's. We saw more racers on the road ahead of us, and it was now our objective to pass those racers to get in our preferred positions in the race.
"Heads up, crew. We got opponents up ahead." Kanan informed us through a conference call when he dialed us up. We came up more closer to the opponents, where it was time for a challenge with these racers again.
We came up on three cars in the beginning, all of them battling out for position, in which Zeb provided a distraction by trying to ram them with his Raptor's size to get them off the road so that we would have a clear opening. I saw him move for the crimson Pagani that was neck and neck with a blacked out Mustang, in which Zeb used his truck's size to ram the Pagani off the road, giving the Mustang an advantage, just not before Alex provided assistance with his Challenger, ramming the Mustang, with him and the Mustang's driver neck and neck. While Alex delayed the Mustang, I moved in on the grey Supra, hitting the back of it on the side, with it spinning out of control and into traffic. That was three cars now, and we had to be on the lookout for more of them on this road.
I moved up to catch up with the rest of the crew with Alex and Zeb, and prepared to assist the others. We were ready alright when we saw four of the other members of our crew engaged with three more cars on the road. Kanan was battling it out with a 1960's Pontiac Firebird which was bright red, in which Alex moved in to provide assistance, while Isabella was engaged with a purple Lancer on her end. Hera was neck and neck with a blue Porsche, and Sabine had a tough challenge with this rival on her end: the car she was neck and neck with was a Koenigsegg Agera that was colored white, and the Agera had an advantage due to it being slightly faster than Sabine's AMG, but she was putting up a good fight alright.
While I saw Alex engaged with the Firebird, giving Kanan an opportunity to move up, I moved in to help Sabine out. Before I moved in, I instructed the others over the phone to help out the others that need help, and that I was moving up to deal with the Agera. I hit the gas hard, and I moved in on the Agera. When I rammed the Agera, it was a bit of a surprise to Sabine when she said over the phone, "What are you doing? This car is way faster than yours, it's probably difficult to deal with." "Not for an experienced driver." I responded, staying on the Agera while Sabine attempted to pull away from it. Her AMG pulled away further from the Agera, and she went to assist Hera, while I dealt with the Agera.
And Sabine was right about this car, it was way faster than mine, but that didn't mean that I wouldn't have been able to fend it off for the others to pull ahead of me. The Agera rammed me on the side, in which I rammed him back harder with my Skyline, sending him off to the side. However, the Agera got back into it, moving in on me now, just not before I engaged my handbrake, with it missing me, and going into a tractor trailer on the road. "Ohhh. Ouch." I said after I witnessed that blow to the car. I hoped that the driver's okay though.
Everybody was clear after that, and I moved up to catch up with the rest of the crew. All of a sudden, we heard sirens. "Great. This day just can't get any easier." I said to myself, engaging my nitro to pull away from the cop car. While I was pulling away, I contacted the crew through our conference call. "Guys, we have the cops on us now." I informed them. "As if we didn't know that already." Sabine responded. "Get your wheels over here, Ezra. We need assistance before we get busted by these coppers." Hera tasked me. "I'm almost there, Hera. I'm en route, but this cop is putting up a good fight." I responded, me ramming the cop car hard, sending it off the road. I engaged my nitro again, and caught up with the crew, helping them out as we neared Vegas further and further, passing more racers on the way on the highway.
With the cop cars rammed and totaled, Kanan ordered us all to move to a safe house in Vegas to lose them, because cops on us when we hit Vegas after what we did on the highway would be a bad thing here. We came up on the exit of the highway, in which Kanan took lead and guided us to the safe house in the city. We arrived after about a five minute drive in the city, us moving our cars in there.
The safe house was a warehouse, and it seemed like a reasonably good hideout for a bunch of Rebel street racers. We waited there for a while, until the crew's contact, known only as "Fulcrum," contacted us, and informed us that the cops are clear. He, or she, what ever gender this contact is since the crew has never seen its face with the contact speaking with a voice changer, told us that we all have some new rides waiting for us. Ooh, I got a good feeling about this one.
The lights of the warehouse turned on, revealing seven cars for us, which were under cover sheets, and looked like sweet rides underneath those sheets. What were they?
"Crew, pick your rides, and move your items out of your current cars, but keep your car keys in them. We are most likely continuing the rest of the way in these rides to Chicago, so pick wisely." Kanan informed us, getting his stuff out of his Mustang. We nodded, and went back to our cars. I got my travel backpack, my GPS, my phone charger that I had connected in the car, and the rest of my stuff, putting my car keys above the driver seat, along with the others doing the same thing. However, I wondered what was going to happen to our cars though.
"Kanan, what about our current rides?" I asked him. "They'll be safe. Fulcrum is sending some contacts who are based in Vegas to bring them to a Rebellion safe house near here to keep them safe until we get back." he answered. "Let's hope so." I said.
After that, we walked over to our cars covered in the cover sheets, and boy was I ready to get my hands on some sweet wheels. I removed the cover sheet of my car, and I was surprised to see what it was. I brightened up when it was a black and orange Bugatti under there, and man was I stunned when I saw this car. "Kanan, where the heck did you get these?" I asked him, still unable to contain my excitement about me in that Bugatti standing right there.
"From various prize races. We won a lot of money in those prize races, and some of those cars as well, donating them to this warehouse in case we use them for races that go across the country. And these rides have been standing here since then." Kanan answered. "Fun fact: I was in the race where we won the Bugatti. I wanted to keep it for myself, but I decided to donate it here." Alex said. "Are you sure you don't want it?" I asked him, willing to give up that sweet ride for something else in here. "Ezra, keep the ride for now. Plus, it's in your kind of color." he said, remembering orange as my favorite color. "Thanks." I said to him, getting into the interior of my ride, and placing my backpack with my items on the seat next to me, and plugging in my phone and GPS into the car.
While in the interior, I saw what other cars people unveiled once the sheets were removed. "An Agera! Sweet!" Sabine said, getting in her Koenigsegg Agera, which came in magenta. Ironic for her, considering that I helped her deal with an Agera earlier, and we all know how that ended for the driver. "Nice. I have the Aventador." Alex said, getting in his Lamborghini Aventador which was colored light blue with black rims. "McLaren baby!" Hera said, getting in her emerald McLaren P1. "Sweet. I have the Pagani Huarya." Kanan said, getting into his green ride. "Ferrari! Let's go!" Isabella said with excitement, getting in her red Ferrari. And now for Zeb's ride. "Nice. A Marussia." Zeb said, getting into his Marussia which was colored purple.
Once everybody was in their super rides, we reached for our keys, which were above the driver's seats, and inserted them into our cars, starting them up. Once we got settled in, we dialed each other up on a conference call. "Crew, no casinos. We are rolling out." Kanan said on our conference call. "Since when were we gonna go to casinos anyway?" Sabine jokingly asked him. "It's Vegas, Sabine. Besides, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." Alex replied to her joke. "Exactly, Alex." Hera chimed in. "Alright, enough. Let's roll out." Kanan said, with him going out of the warehouse first, followed by Sabine, followed by me, followed by Alex, followed by Zeb, followed by Isabella, followed by Hera, and we left the warehouse, getting back on the road.
While we started driving at racing speed on the streets of Vegas, I was impressed with my ride, and I'm glad that I chose this. It's a bit powerful though, as even the slightest step on the gas is enough for the car to near fast, so I was keeping it mostly at around 50 or so miles in speed. I also took the time to go on my phone, with it set up in a holder on the dash board next to my GPS. I looked at our position, and we were already in the 150's, the lower 150's actually, which was good considering that we delayed a good couple of minutes at the safe house. On with the race as we drove through Vegas.