Chapter 8: The Finale

Ezra's P.O.V

I continued driving through Chicago, following the route until I came up on the final driver. Kanan sent me details earlier about this final driver, and he will be an extreme challenge by the looks of things.

The driver's identity is unknown, but he goes by the street name "Maul," and he drives a Bugatti that is heavily modified, which comes in a red with black designs all over the body. I really was nervous, but I set my mind straight once I saw Maul driving down the road.

"Ezra, this is it! Finish him, and you'll be the winner!" Kanan cheered me on. I didn't reply, and I gunned it towards the red Bugatti. Maul was driving away pretty quickly, in which I used my nitro, speeding up towards him. However, even with my nitro active, he was pretty far up ahead, which indicated that his Bugatti was seriously modified. I sped up, gaining on him a little bit more, to the point where I was nearly neck and neck with him.

I hit my nitro again, now neck and neck with Maul. He rammed me, but I rammed him back, him going into a pedestrian car. I hit the gas quickly as I sped away from him, now in the lead. I saw him following up quickly, in which I got in front of him, cutting him off, in which he swerved, me going the same direction that he swerved in. And then, the next thing that occurred was extreme.

Maul ended up opening fire on me, in which a bullet missed me by what felt like an inch, hitting the window located next to the right seat. I got spooked by it, and then he rammed me again, in which I ended up going off route and into a Chicago tunnel. I thought that I was screwed in the end, until I looked at my GPS, seeing that this was a shortcut to where the finish line was, a warehouse located at the end of the Chicago docks.

I didn't hesitate to slam on the gas, going as quickly as I could down the road, avoiding traffic and using up my nitro at the same time. It just so happened that I was near the end of the tunnel, hitting my nitro and slamming my foot down on the gas, my car going up in the air. I landed after about three seconds or so, drifting to the left, getting back on route. I sped down the road, seeing that I was now in the lead with the finish line being exactly six miles from here.

I continued moving down the road further, avoiding cops after they have been dispatched to deal with Maul and me, and then Maul ended up coming out of nowhere, overtaking me. I wasn't going to let that happen, in which I used my nitro again, and I landed a blow the side of his car, spinning him out. I thought that I was out of the woods for a while as I continued driving down the road to the docks, but the Maul opened fire on me again, and I felt my rear left tire get shot. Oh no! This was not good.

Maul now really has an advantage thanks to him shooting out my tire, but there was no way on Earth that I would let a tire slow me down from winning. But then, I got even more worried about winning in this situation as my tire ended up popping, hearing the rim grind on the asphalt as I stayed ahead as best I could before Maul could catch up to me.

Eventually we came up on the docks, both of us drifting left with me up ahead by just a little bit. Maul opened fire again, this time just hitting my car and not any of my tires, and then he started speeding up towards me. Just before he could overtake me, I quickly jerked right, and rammed him, his Bugatti spinning out. I hit my nitro, the finish line just a mile and a half away as I gunned it down, determined to end this thing once and for all.

But Maul was not out of this. He came up on me again, and this time me and him were neck and neck, both of us hitting our nitro as we neared the warehouse more and more. He rammed me hard, but I stood firm, and hit him back, me ahead in the lead now. The warehouse was just one mile, and all I had to do was hold on as best I could. Maul was coming up dead behind, him getting on my side, me and him neck and neck now as we kept on ramming each other as it was now a battle for first place.

The finish line was coming up in literally half a mile, and it looked like it was going to be dead close as me and him were really neck and neck. Just as we came up at the last second, he engaged his nitro, me reacting quickly, ramming him before he could take the lead, but he was still on me. I hit my nitro, him doing the same thing, and it was going to be extremely close. Literally at the entrance, he tried to engage his nitro again, just not before I reacted quickly, letting out a scream as I hit him, and sent Maul into the walls of the warehouse.

I pulled into the warehouse after that, me drifting my car to its side, and cheering myself on as I was celebrating my win. Just after I won, Kanan called me. "I won, Kanan, I did it!" I said with a lot of glee. "We saw you! You did it, Ezra! Have a listen to the crew. We're proud of you." Kanan said, putting his phone away from his ear, putting it towards the sounds of cheering coming from the crew, proud of me that I won. "Thank you all for the support, guys!" I said, still excited with myself couldn't believing that I drove from L.A. to Chicago, and won myself and my new family of street racers 25 million dollars.

I started doing donuts in the warehouse to celebrate, and then stopped after a while, still extremely proud of myself. I got out of the car then, seeing a woman with long dark brown hair, looking a bit tan, and she was wearing grey skinny jeans, black boots that went up a little bit, but not too much, and a black tank top. "Congratulations on your win, Ezra Bridger." she congratulated me. "Thank you. May I see my prize please?" I asked, excited to really see that money now.

She nodded, and picked up a briefcase, handing it to me. The feeling of awesomeness still inside and strong, I opened up the briefcase, and my face brightened up the most that it has in my entire lifetime. In it was money, lots of money, 25 million dollars. I closed it up, put it in the Bugatti, and then the woman said, "Tell your crew that I got you guys the money." "How do you know about my crew?" I asked her.

"Does your crew have a contact who goes by 'Fulcrum?'" "Yes. Why?" "I am Fulcrum. I was the one helping you guys out on the road, giving you guys the super cars, and taking care of your personal cars." "Well, nice to meet you, Fulcrum, I guess?" I shook her hand, and Fulcrum properly introduced herself. "Ahsoka, Ahsoka Tano." she introduced herself as. "Head back to your crew, Ezra. You have a lot of celebrating to do." Ahsoka said, giving me a smile. "Thanks, and I will do lots and lots of celebrating. I will see you later, Ahsoka." I said. "See you later, Ezra." I nodded at her, and then got back in my car, the feeling of being a winner bright inside me.

Later that night

We were now celebrating my win at the Willis Tower, eating at their restaurant they have there at night now. "Congrats to Ezra for winning it for us, and persevering through a tough challenge. We could not have been more proud of you, Ezra. Cheers, to you." Kanan said, everybody holding their glasses up, all of us clicking them. The rest of the night went by, all of us celebrating my win, and I was glad to be celebrating it with my friends. No, not just friends, family.

Two months later

Hollywood Hills, L.A.

Two months have passed ever since I won it for us in Chicago, and life couldn't get much better at this point in time.

After splitting up the money, we used it for a lot of things. Kanan used it to upgrade the HQ a little bit with some new car tuners and more garages in there and whatnot, and all of us spent it on some beautiful homes here in Hollywood Hills. We all ended up being neighbors, and we would see each other frequently, getting together for hangouts at one of our houses, taking a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway in our super cars that we used in the run, which we got to keep for ourselves, or our personal cars that we got back in Vegas on the way back, etc.

Sabine would come over occasionally to my house,and so would I, due to her living in the middle between me and Zeb, and our "thing" was going well so far.

We all still stuck with street racing, but at the same time we got jobs to keep ourselves occupied for when we are not racing. I was working as a car dealer at a near by dealership with Sabine and Zeb, Alex was working as a mechanic over at the HQ, his girlfriend was working at an Advanced Auto Parts in the city, and Kanan and Hera were running things at the HQ.

As for Agent Kallus and his people at the FBI, once we got the money, we dropped him off of our case, and he was not bothering us anymore along with the agency itself.

And so far, life was awesome, and we were all living it great. It felt great to be me at this time, and I was glad to feel that way alongside the rest of my friends. Whether we're on the road or not, we are always friends and family, and I, Ezra Bridger, will always drive with them, and I will never drive alone.