Cannonball Run 7: High Speed Heroes

by BKelly95

Co-written by The Turbo Man. The Cannonballers have returned for another race around the world for a five hundred million dollar first prize. Who will rise? Who will fall? And who will win the Cannonball Run?

15. Guess we're going to be pulling a jail

CANNONBALL RUN 7: HIGH SPEED HEROES by Bkelly95 and the Turbo Man

DISCLAIMER: This chapter of CR7 had been completed towards the end of 2019 and had thus been written before the many terrible events which have occurred in 2020 came to pass. No offence is meant by anything which takes place in this chapter and the other chapters of CR7 still to come. The fact that the worldwide Cannonball is still going ahead in this story is not meant to be disrespectful to the countries still under lockdown because of COVID-19 and one incident in this chapter is not meant to make light of the Australian bush fires from the beginning of the year. We hope that by continuing to write and publish CR7 that we may provide some light relief and much needed escapism in these difficult times. As usual, we own nothing in this story except characters whom we created ourselves. We hope that you enjoy what is left of this story. Thank you.

CHAPTER 15: "Guess we're going to be pulling a jailbreak after all."

"Welcome back to Cannonball Central. I'm Veronica Corningstone."

"And I'm Lazlow. And this segment is sponsored by Los Santos Customs, proud supporters of Race Wars."

"By which we mean a street racing festival in the Mojave Desert and not conflict between people of different races!" said Veronica frantically.

"And I'm just now realizing the unfortunate implications of that name." said Lazlow.

"Oh yes, of course." laughed Ron. "Well, the racers are now entering Australia, thus leaving two continents before the end."

"As you can probably tell, we're getting very excited about seeing who wins." said Veronica.

"But at the same time, we're also wary of the potential threats coming our way." said Lazlow.

"What's the tally so far?" asked Misty. "We've encountered vampires, terrorists, aliens, robotic cars. What's next?"

"Please don't ask that." said Lazlow.

"Why not?" asked Veronica.

"Because it will most likely be answered." said Lazlow.

"Anyway, we have an interview with a former Cannonball participant." said Veronica. "He is also instrumental in helping to resolve the situation in San Sombrero. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Buckaroo Banzai."

A monitor turned on, showing Buckaroo Banzai in the middle of the Australian Outback wearing a racing jumpsuit.

"Good afternoon, Veronica." he said.

"Buckaroo, we'd like to thank you for your assistance with the situation in San Sombrero." said Lazlow.

"If you really want to be thankful," said Buckaroo "you may give them to the Kolodney Brothers and the Rug Suckers along with their companions who wish to remain anonymous. However, I am also glad that the situation was resolved for not just the racers, but for the people of San Sombrero as well."

"Amen." said Misty.

"I see you're in the Outback." said Ron. "Are you lost?"

"No, no." laughed Buckaroo. "I'm actually out here for a test run. We've developed a new thruster which has been equipped on the SLF450X. We will be conducting the test sometime later."

"Can you...give us any details on this test?" asked Lazlow.

"Not at this moment." said Buckaroo. "I'll have you informed later. Oh, sorry I have to cut this short, but we have some checks to perform before the test."

"Thank you, Dr. Banzai." said Veronica. "Do you have anything you'd like to add?"

"Yes, I do." said Buckaroo. "To the Cannonballers, both new and returning, welcome to the stage of history. You might think this is just a race with millions of dollars on the line, but it's so much more than that. This is the adventure of a lifetime. It's an adventure you'll look back on fondly with friends from around the world with many wonderful memories. I would know as I've done the race three times so far. You've probably noticed the journey is getting easier as you're getting better with experience. We just saw someone finally win the puzzle hunt without losing the prize money afterward. I wish you good luck and God willing, I'll see you all next year."

"Wow, now that was a message." said Lazlow.

"And a great message it was." said Veronica. "But now some more positive reinforcement from Jimmy Eat World."

The band took to the stage. "Alright, guys." said Jim Adkins. "Just a little musical background for our racers."

He started on his guitar. After a few seconds, the rest of the band joined in. Then, he started to sing.

Before this world starts up again,
It's me and night.
We wait for the sun.
The kids and drunks head back inside.

Well there's lots of smart ideas,
In books I never read.
When the girls come talk to me,
I wish to hell I had.

Get up, Get up.
Turn the ignition.
Get up, Get up.
Fire up the system.
Play my little part in something big.

I'll accept with poise with grace.
When they draw my name from the lottery.
And they'll say "all the salt in the world,
couldn't melt that ice."
I'm the one who gets away.
I'm a New Jersey success story.
And they'll say "Lord give me the chance,
to shake that hand."

They'll say,

Back when I was younger,
I was someone you'd have liked.
Got an old guitar I had for years I'd let you buy.

And I'll tell you something else,
That you ain't dying enough to know.
There's still some living left when your prime comes and goes.

Get up, Get up.
Dance on the ceiling.
Get up, Get up.
Boy you must be dreaming.
Rock on young savior.
Don't give up your hopes.

I'll accept with poise with grace,
When they draw my name from the lottery.
And they'll say "all the salt in the world,
couldn't melt that ice."

I'm the one who gets away.
I'm a New Jersey success story.
And they'll say "Lord give me the,
chance to shake that hand."

I have one last wish,
And it's from the heart.
Just let me down.
Just let me down easy.

I'll accept with poise with grace,
When they draw my name from the lottery.
And they'll say "all the salt in the world,
couldn't melt that ice."

I'm the one who gets away.
I'm a New Jersey success story.
And they'll say "Lord give me the,
chance to shake his hand."

They'll say...

"Big Casino" by Jimmy Eat World.

---

As the Cannonballers came off the bridge into the state of Victoria in Australia, Priss rode the Streetfighter hell for leather, cutting past all the cars in her way.

Team Chaos looked a bit concerned for her. Brodie picked up the CB.

"Hey, Priss. What's the hurry?" he asked.

"Sorry if I scared you guys." Priss replied, using the microphone built into her helmet. "I'm going to meet a Life Invader friend of mine in Melbourne. She's a great mechanic and a real revhead."

"Real what?" Jay inquired.

"Revhead." Brodie confirmed. "It's the Australian term for 'gearhead'."

"Oh." Jay nodded.

"Well, just make sure you don't have an accident, Priss. Okay?" Brodie warned into the mic.

"Ten-four." Priss replied cheerily.

---

Near the outskirts of Melbourne, DeMarco addressed the few members of his troops that Big Donnie had allowed him to bring into Australia. Present were the Foyts, the Pollution Ministers, Garthe Knight, and Lidell Rey.

Some vehicles were parked near them, including a silver 1964 Aston Martin DB5 and a MAN TGS armored truck. The Aston had a pair of machine guns mounted on each side of the hood near the windshield and the MAN truck had a heavy grille and push bar attached to the front. There were also four '73 Chevrolet C-20 trucks which all had beefed-up grilles with heavy bumpers. One of the trucks was primer red, another primer black, the third primer white, and the fourth one primer gray.

"Is this all that we were allowed to bring?" asked Alice Foyt, looking unimpressed.

"Big Donnie prefers to deal with problems like the Cannonballers himself in his territory." DeMarco explained. "You should be grateful he let any of us come over here. He only agreed to let me come here to assign you your vehicles. I was tempted to teach him a lesson with the Total Anarchy mask."

"So, why didn't you?" asked Garthe.

DeMarco yawned and covered his mouth. "To be honest, I get tired very quickly after using it. Especially for more powerful feats. I'm beginning to think that everybody is right that I should use it sparingly. Besides, despite his flaws, Donnie is a good ally. He's doing us a big favor."

"Okay. You said that the Pollution Ministers were bringing in some more help." Lidell stated.

"And here they are." Yogostein announced as he pointed to three men standing near the MAN truck.

They all looked dressed for desert living. The leader, who had a beard, moustache and long hair looked relatively normal, but the other two were deformed. The taller of the two had a misshapen skull and face and the shorter one had a malformed jaw and a cleft lip. He wore what looked like a spike strip around his waist like a belt. It almost looked like a lizard's tail.

"This is Papa Jupiter." Kegaleisa announced as she nodded to the normal-looking guy who waved a greeting. "That's Pluto." she continued as she pointed to the big guy. "And his cousin Lizard." she finished as she pointed to the cleft lip guy.

"What made you pick these guys?" asked Janice as she looked uneasy.

"They remind us of the wonderful after effects of pollution." Kitaneidas stated. "In their case, pollution of the land from radiation."

"You three are from Yuma Flats back in the States." Alice realized. "I know of its reputation."

"Then you know one reason we agreed to help." Jupiter grinned. "We heard there are some soldier boys in this here race and we want to make 'em suffer. Of course, we'll make things tough for a few more of these racer assholes too."

"You don't look mutated." Garthe remarked to Jupiter.

"You can't see what I've got under my coat." Jupiter menacingly stated. "And I doubt that you'd want to."

"You're right." Garthe gulped.

"You better tell your pal Lizard there that if he doesn't stop looking at me like he wants to get into my pants that his face won't be the only messed-up part of his anatomy." Janice nastily warned Jupiter.

"WHOO! I been told!" Lizard whooped.

"So, you guys will be the whole team on this leg of the race." DeMarco remarked. "Foyts, you get the Aston. It's called the JB 700. I acquired it from the collection of a late colleague of mine by the name of Devin Weston after he departed this life. It used to be a movie car, but it has had useful modifications."

"Does it by any chance have guns that shoot live ammo?" Alice asked in a slightly sarcastic way.

"Indeed it does." DeMarco surprised her by replying. "Instructions are in the glove compartment. Moving on, Kitaneidas and the Yuma Flats guys get the Brickade." He pointed to the MAN truck as he said that.

"The rest of you get those trucks." DeMarco finished. "I didn't have time to come up with fancy code names, so the red one is called the Garnet, the black one is called the Sable, the white one is called the Bianco and the gray one is called the Slate. Each one of you gets one, so pick one and go kick some ass!"

"You guys better not leave me with the Sable." Lidell warned. "Just because I'm black doesn't mean that..."

Lidell trailed off as he got yet another vision of Mango dancing.

"Mango. My Mango." he sighed wistfully.

"Hey! What's up?" asked Janice as she waved a hand in front of him. Lidell snapped back to reality and looked angered.

"Why don't you get off my case!" he yelled. "I try to make a serious point about racial profiling and you give me the third degree! Always tryin' to keep a brother down!"

Lidell stormed towards the Slate.

"I guess he gets that one." Garthe sighed.

---

At Race Central, Lazlow addressed the camera.

"Now, we have a special interview with the very first of our teams who not only won the puzzle hunt, but managed to keep hold of the money after disasters kept causing the money to be lost in the first few continents." Lazlow announced. "It seems that luck was on their side in a big way. So, here are Team Mystery Inc!"

The screen above Lazlow came on and showed the interior of the Cavaliere. Daphne drove with Velma in the passenger seat as Freddie, Shaggy, and Scooby slept in the back. There were several large bags of food in the back along with the slumbering trio and several large bottles of soda.

"Hey there, Lazlow." Daphne greeted, sounding a bit weary.

"So, ladies. How does it feel to be five million dollars richer?" Lazlow inquired.

"Yeah, about that..." Velma nervously groaned.

"Is something wrong?" asked Lazlow.

"Well, we lagged behind a bit at the end of South America because Freddie insisted that we go for a victory meal at a top restaurant in Cartagena." Velma explained. "We had to visit the local branch of Didier Sachs to get properly dressed for the occasion and so we could have suitable outfits for future occasions."

Lazlow began to look concerned.

"We had a lot of the high-end food in the restaurant, and you know how big Scooby and Shaggy's appretites are." Daphne continued.

"The service was so good that we decided to give very generous tips." added Velma.

"And you can see all the food and drinks we have in our car. We needed some goodies for the rest of the race." Daphne said "The other three of us have to eat on top of Scooby and Shaggy's appetites. And of course, there's gas and possible repairs for the Cavaliere to take care of and they ain't cheap."

"Are you saying that the money's gone already?!" the flabbergasted Lazlow spluttered.

"Not all of it." Velma cut in. "We still have $500,000 left. That should see us to the end of the race."

Lazlow looked astounded.

"Four...and a half...million...dollars...gone." he enunciated in shock. "In less than twenty-four hours."

"Yep." Daphne and Velma chorused.

"Wow." Lazlow deadpanned. "Just...wow."

"There is always the chance we could pull off the big win." Daphne grinned.

"It's true that it's a slim chance, but it's still a chance." Velma nodded.

"I think I'll let you get on with the race now." Lazlow groaned.

"S'alright." Daphne beamed as they signed off.

---

On a long, straight highway leading to Melbourne, two Australian muscle cars sat with their engines running, taking up both lanes of the road.

The first was a matte black 1973 Chrysler Valiant Charger. The other was a metallic red 1976 Holden Torana LX. Both cars had bulges in their hoods as a sign that the engines had been buffed up. Behind the wheel of the Charger was a tough-looking man with shoulder-length blond hair, a beard and a moustache. Behind the wheel of the Torana was an equally tough-looking guy who had red hair shaved into a crew cut.

Both men wore red and black leather jackets which had the name 'Prime Movers' emblazoned on the back in Roman script font.

Each jacket had a name patch above the logo. The blond man's said 'Mick' and the redhead's patch said 'Wolfie'. Both men revved their powerful engines.

"Now we'll see which one of us is the better driver for this club!" Mick yelled over to Wolfie.

"Get ready to get yer arse handed to ya!" Wolfie yelled back.

Mick inserted a CD into his custom stereo and the song "Death Or Glory" by Australian rock band Rose Tattoo began to play as both cars took off from their starting positions.

Mick took the lead for a brief few seconds as Wolfie upshifted and began to gain ground.

Wolfie began to catch up to Mick and take a brief lead as Mick kept on him and got beside him.

On the road behind them, the Streetfighter appeared as Priss kept riding to keep her appointment with her friend in Melbourne.

She made a bid to pass Mick and Wolfie's cars but they both swerved in front of her and blocked her way.

"Piss off, bikie!" Mick yelled. "Can't you see we're having a bloody race?!"

Priss kept trying to pass the two racers on either side, but they still blocked her way as they wanted nothing to interfere with their race.

Priss slowed the Streetfighter down a bit and let the two jerks get ahead of her a bit. Wolfie activated a shot of nitrous and got ahead of Mick by a few lengths. Mick activated his own nitrous shot and took off after him.

As the two cars got alongside each other, Wolfie swerved his rear-end a bit to try and knock Mick off course. Mick was able to stay on the road and soon the two cars were alongside each other. They didn't realize that they had cleared a small gap between the two cars.

Priss gunned her engine and popped a wheelie. Before the two jerks knew it, the Streetfighter blew through the gap between their cars.

The slipstream kicked up by Priss' speed caused the Charger and the Torana to swerve. The two goons braked to avoid hitting each other and skidded off to their respective sides of the road, nearly going into the ditch.

"Sayonara, buttheads!" Priss smirked to herself as she rode on.

---

In central Melbourne, Michael Knight had stopped the Barbarian at a railway crossing as he waited for a train to pass.

He heard the sound of a powerful engine approaching from a distance and glanced in the rear-view.

The vehicle roaring towards him and KITT was the Sable.

"Michael! We've got a problem." KITT warned as he had scanned the Sable and brought up a view of the driver on one of his monitors. It was Garthe.

"We don't have time for this now." grunted Michael as the train had finally passed. He put the Barbarian in gear and prepared to drive.

The Sable reached them sooner than expected and slammed into the Barbarian's rear quarter panel on the right side, causing the car to turn slightly sideways.

As Michael tried to start the engine again, Garthe leaped out of the Sable's door, armed with a powerful shotgun. Garthe knew that the Barbarian's windows were bulletproof, so he aimed at the door instead and fired a few blasts into it.

Despite the molecular bonded shell, Garthe caused some damage.

"Try this for size, scumbag!" Michael yelled as he hit a button on the dash. A panel opened up beside one of the mirrors on the side of the Barbarian and fired a knockout dart into the side of Garthe's neck.

"Bastard!" Garthe growled as the sedative began to take effect. Michael was able to get the Barbarian started. He corrected the car's trajectory and drove across the crossing.

Garthe got a few more shots off at the Barbarian's rear before he collapsed unconscious.

On the other side of the crossing, the Barbarian went fast down an incline.

At the bottom, a young girl went into the street on the right side to catch her runaway basketball. Michael quickly swerved to avoid her. As he missed her, he tried to right himself but there was another car in the oncoming lane which the Barbarian was very close to.

KITT quickly activated ski mode and put the Barbarian's left side in the air, driving on his right-hand wheels.

Michael sighed in relief as they avoided an accident. KITT set himself down again and they drove on.

"We've got a straight shot for a few miles, Michael." KITT reported. "Shall we, as they say, make tracks?"

"We shall indeed, buddy." Michael grinned as he activated Super Pursuit Mode and they left their troubles behind for a while.

---

At a large garage in the inner east of Melbourne, Priss pulled the Streetfighter up to the garage's entrance where a blond-haired Australian woman wearing a black crop-top and a black leather mini-skirt stood near a tricked-out Holden Sandman. The vehicle was painted metallic black, had a supercharger with a triple-intake bug catcher sticking out of the hood and had its wagon top removed so that the rear was an open truck-bed.

Priss put the Streetfighter up on its stand and removed her helmet. She smiled at the blond woman.

"Hey there, Charlene." Priss grinned.

"G'day, Priss." the woman cheered. Her name was Charlene Fisher, Priss' aforementioned Life Invader friend. "Great to finally meet ya in person. It's probably best that you don't use the full version of your first name in this country."

Priss and Charlene both laughed at her joke as they bumped fists.

"So, this is your ride you've been telling me about." Priss stared as she admired the Sandman. "What was it you call her again?"

"Emmylou. Because of the 'Sandman' connection." Charlene beamed.

"Right. She looks real special." Priss whistled as she looked Emmylou over.

"That's nothing. Let me tell ya what I did to the engine bay." Charlene explained.

"Do tell." Priss inquired curiously.

"Well, I first swapped in a six-point-two liter V8 engine." said Charlene. "After that, I installed a positive-displacement supercharger, racing cams, a race engine block, race pistons, a race intercooler, race ignition, and a race flywheel. And that's just the motor. The car is also equipped with racing compound tires, coil-over suspension, rear anti-sway bars, a roll cage, sport brakes, and a racing exhaust."

"Impressive." Priss said in awe.

"Yeah, but those Prime Mover arseholes still won't let me join 'em." Charlene groused.

"Who?" asked Priss.

"This hoon car club that operates throughout the country." Charlene explained. "They don't let women join. And they're so far up themselves that they give revheads a bad name. I even heard that they make extra cash drug-running, but it's never been proved."

"How utterly charming." Priss sarcastically remarked.

"Speak of the devil." Charlene remarked as Mick and Wolfie pulled up in their cars with very ticked-off looks on their faces. They stopped in front of the garage and got out of their cars, slamming their doors as they did so.

"OI! Bikie bitch!" Mick yelled.

"I presume you're referring to me?" Priss innocently asked as she pointed to herself.

"Ya bet I'm talking to you!" Mick snapped. "You ruined a perfectly good race back there!"

"I was in a hurry." Priss shrugged.

"Well now, you're gonna be late for your next appointment!" Mick growled as he got up in Priss' grille.

"Why don't you rack off and give her a break, Mick!" Charlene snapped. "Then again, it's always sore for you when a female beats you at anything."

Mick now turned his attention towards Charlene. As he did so, Priss slipped over to the left side of Mick's Valiant Charger.

"Who the bloody hell was talking to you, Fisher?" Mick sneered at Charlene. "I suppose you still think you're hot shit with that piece of trash you're driving."

"I put a lot of work into her." Charlene defensively remarked.

"Don't matter, 'cause the Prime Movers still won't have ya or any other girl." Wolfie grinned.

As the two Prime Movers were distracted, Priss tapped her right boot on the ground and a knife blade came out of the toe of her boot.

"Ladies don't belong behind the wheel." Wolfie continued.

"Oh, we all belong in the kitchen, right?" Charlene sneered as she put her hands on her hips.

"Or in the bedroom." grinned Mick.

"You wouldn't know what to do with it even if you had it." Charlene remarked.

"what was that?" Mick whispered calmly, but menacingly.

"Well, I heard that your last girlfriend thought so highly of your technique that she ran off with your cousin." Charlene finished.

"Listen, you little..." Mick began.

Priss kicked the knife blade on her boot into the left front tire of Mick's car. She quickly pulled her foot back and retracted the blade just as Mick and Wolfie heard the hiss as the tire deflated.

Mick ran to look at the tire and his face turned red with anger as he glared at Priss.

"Looks like you have a flat." she nastily grinned.

Mick swung his right fist to punch Priss in the face. She dodged it, grabbed his forearm, turned him around and twisted his arm behind his back.

As he roared in pain, Priss kicked him up the butt and pushed him face-first into a wall.

Wolfie made a move to help Mick out, but Charlene raised her right leg and kicked him in the crotch. She then used her hands to raise herself slightly up on Emmylou's hood and delivered a kick to Wolfie's jaw which floored him.

While that happened, Mick got to his feet and grabbed a sledgehammer that was near the garage door and went to swing at Priss with it. Once again, she dodged the shot and Mick accidentally smashed the sledge into the windshield of his car, breaking a hole in it.

"Hey, dumb ass!" Priss cooed as Mick was distracted. As Mick turned to her, she drove several hard left and right punches into his face and stomach, stunning him. She finally gave a spin kick to his right flank and sent him crashing into the wall again.

Wolfie stumbled to his feet and tried to join in again, but Charlene tripped him up and made him fall over again. As he tried to raise himself up again, she drove her foot into his back and made sure he stayed down.

As both Prime Movers were laid low, Priss partially unzipped her jacket, reached inside and took her special silenced anti-boomer pistol out of her shoulder holster. She trained it on both of the Prime Movers.

"I use this gun to take down killer cyborgs, so you can bet it works on people too." she warned. She then fired a silenced shot into Mick's right-hand front tire, deflating it as well. "And you can see that it's loaded. So, I'd appreciate it if you stayed down."

Mick and Wolfie angrily complied. Priss handed the gun to Charlene who kept the two hoons covered as Priss removed the sledgehammer from Mick's windshield.

"Now then." she grinned. "Why didn't you nice gentlemen tell me there was a car to junk?"

She swung the sledge into both of the Charger's headlights in turn and then knocked the front bumper off. She went to the right-hand side of the car and knocked both the wing mirror and the door handle off with the sledge. As Mick and Wolfie glared, Priss smashed the windows on the car's right-hand side and then went to the rear. There, she smashed the tail-lights, the rear windshield and knocked the rear bumper off.

Priss whistled happily and banged the sledge into the Charger's trunk, leaving dents. She then coninued up the left side of the car and once again smashed the windows on the side and knocked off the wing mirror and door handle. As she got back to the front of the Charger, she drove the sledge into the windshield again and completely smashed it in.

She sighed and mopped her brow as she finished. "That was a great workout." she cheered.

"Can I have some fun too?" asked Charlene as she handed the gun back to Priss.

"Why not?" Priss smirked as she took back her gun and handed the sledge to Charlene.

Mick and Wolfie tried to stand again, but Priss cocked the hammer of her gun.

"Ah, ah, ah." she playfully warned.

Mick and Wolfie stayed down and tried to hold in their rage as Charlene smashed up Wolfie's Torana in pretty much the same way that Priss had worked over Mick's Charger.

When she was finished, she also mopped her brow.

"I could definitely use a cold drink after that." Charlene sighed.

"Then let's go." Priss smirked as he put her gun away and zipped her jacket up again.

Charlene climbed into Emmylou and Priss got on the Streetfighter and put her helmet on again.

"Have a nice day, boys!" they both taunted Mick and Wolfie as they started to drive off. At the edge of the curb, they both did burnouts and sent dust flying all over the two Prime Movers. They then sped off on their way.

The furious Mick and Wolfie finally got to their feet.

"I'll deal with those bloody bitches!" Wolfie growled.

"Not now!" Mick warned. "We've got other things to take care of! Besides, if that slant-eyed bikie cow is a Cannonballer, we'll deal with her and the rest of her mates soon enough. That's what Donnie's paying us for while that race is going through Oz. Now, come on! We'll get some more wheels from one of our warehouses!".

"Right." groaned Wolfie.

---

The Kowalski sped down the highway on the way to Sydney. Up ahead of them was a brown Holden Commodore Ute. In it were a couple more members of the Prime Movers.

The driver was a guy with a shaved head whose name patch read 'The Butcher'. Riding in the bed of the Ute was a guy with a black mullet whose patch said 'Fast Eddie'.

"Oi, mate!" Fast Eddie called to the Butcher. "Are these tossers Cannonballers?"

"Yeah! I recognize 'em!" the Butcher confirmed. "They won the race a few years ago!"

"Let's put 'em in their place." Eddie grinned as the Butcher swerved the Ute from side to side, preventing the Kowalski from passing.

As Homer angrily honked the horn, Eddie reached into a crate he had with him in the truck's bed and took out a couple of beer bottles. He laughed uproariously and flung the full bottles at the Kowalski's windshield. The bottles smashed and covered the windshield with foaming beer.

"THAT'S IT!" Homer yelled. "Hogging the road is one thing, but I will NOT stand for anybody wasting perfectly good brew like that!"

Homer hit the gas pedal and surged forward. He got close to the rear right wheel of the Ute and slammed the Kowalski sideways into it.

"SHIT!" yelled the Butcher as the Ute spun out and Eddie held on for dear life in the bed.

Homer activated his nitrous and floored it again as the Simpsons left the Movers in the dust.

---

The Vulcano rolled into Sydney and parked at a store.

"Well, that was a lot less troublesome than when we crossed two years ago." said Lara.

"You can say that again." said Joanna.

As Lara and Joanna entered the store, the Williams sisters stood guard.

"We're doing good so far." said Anna. "Apart from that business in South America, this race is a walk in the park. I bet the worst is behind us."

"Don't say that." said Nina.

"Why not?" asked Anna.

"Because you'll jinx us." said Nina.

"Excuse me." somebody asked as he walked over.

Nina looked and saw a slender, average height man with dark hair and a tall, blond muscular man approaching. They were both dressed as priests.

"We were wondering if you could do us a favor." the dark-haired priest asked.

"Anything for a man of the cloth." said Anna.

"There is an orphanage near Darwin run by the honorable Reverend Paul Justice." said the blond priest as he presented a box. "This is a sizable donation from a local businessman. We would like the two of you to make the delivery. Is that alright?"

"Oh, yes. That's quite alright." said Nina.

"Thank you so much." said the dark-haired priest. "You two will get your rewards in heaven."

"I don't want to wait that long." said Anna as she took the box.

"Good luck and Godspeed." said the blond priest as he and his friend walked away.

"We'll do our best." said Nina.

Lara and Joanna left the store and walked over to the Vulcano. "Whatcha got there?" asked Joanna.

"It's a donation for an orphanage left by two priests." said Anna.

"I'm thinking if we do this, God will be our co-pilot." said Nina.

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard in my life." said Lara.

The Vulcano raced out of the store's parking lot. The two "priests" watched them leave, then the dark-haired guy took out his cell phone.

"Big Donnie? Alex here."

"Is the egg in the henhouse?" asked Big Donnie.

"It is." said Alex. "Rocco and I just dropped it off."

"Good work." said Big Donnie. "All that's left is to alert the authorities and let the fun begin."

---

Belize...

"I can't believe they're making us repair this car." said Sissy.

"Well, whining about the situation isn't going to help." said Missy. "Let's just get this over with."

"What's next on the list of repairs?" asked Chrissy.

"Next, we have to repaint the car and change back to stock wheels." said Missy.

"I'll handle the wheels." said Sissy.

"I think the paint will be a two-girl job." said Chrissy.

"Okay, I'll help you with that." said Missy.

They entered the garage and found the Zentorno in front of them.

"Do we have what we need?" asked Sissy.

"Uh, yes." said Chrissy. "You need that torque wrench for the wheels. We need those face masks and airbrush for the paint."

"Okay." said Sissy.

She went about setting up the torque wrench while Missy and Chrissy put on their face masks. Chrissy picked up the airbrush while Missy plugged it in and filled the paint reservoir.

"Careful with that airbrush." said Missy. "We want the paint on the car, not us."

"Got it." said Chrissy. She pointed the airbrush at the car and pulled the trigger. The airbrush sprayed a fine layer of paint on the car. Within seconds, the entire panel had been painted.

"See?" said Missy. "It's that easy."

"I know, right?" said Chrissy as she turned to her and pointed the airbrush right at her chest.

"Okay, now I just have to fire up the torque wrench to put the stock wheels back on." said Sissy. She plugged in the compressor for the torque wrench and knelt next to the car.

She used the torque wrench to remove two lug nuts. In the middle of getting the third one off, the compressor switched off.

"It stopped." said Chrissy as she looked at the airbrush.

Sissy looked at the compressor and got up to check it.

"What did you do to it?" asked Missy.

Sissy looked over the compressor and looked to the fuse box.

"I was just using it like normal." said Chrissy.

Sissy looked at the fuse box. "Oh, it's just the circuit breaker." she said quietly.

"Maybe it clogged." said Missy.

Sissy flipped the circuit breaker off.

"Do you see the clog?" asked Chrissy as she looked into the nozzle.

Sissy flipped the circuit breaker back on.

"Looks fine to me." said Missy as she looked into the nozzle.

The airbrush switched back on and sprayed both of them in the face.

Chrissy released the trigger. She and Missy removed their face masks and looked at Sissy.

Sissy looked back at them guiltily and ran.

---

Empire City...

In the garage of Big Boss' skyscraper, Big Boss and Mr. Chairman impatiently checked to see how Turbo and Golem were doing with repairs to the Duke O'Death and the rest of their vehicles.

Turbo sensed their impatience and tried to placate them.

"We're going as fast as we can, Big Boss. This isn't a nine to five job, ya know!" he complained.

"I know, but try to get a wiggle on with it!" snapped Big Boss.

"He has a point." Chairman cut in. "Do you want the repairs done fast or do you want them done right?"

"I want them done right, of course!" Big Boss replied.

"Well, there ya go." Turbo shrugged.

"I'm just glad that we found you and Buttons hog-tied in Rio like that." Big Boss replied. "But how are you gonna start the Duke O'Death up again with no keys?"

"Simple. I'll just hotwire it." Turbo confirmed. "Works with every other vehicle I've used."

"Do you think you could be done with the repairs before the Cannonball gets out of Australia?" Chairman asked.

"I'll try, but don't expect miracles." Turbo warned.

"What would be a miracle is if a Cannonballer finally got arrested for some trumped-up charge." Big Boss grinned. "We'd see who would be laughing then."

---

On the outskirts of Sydney, the Vulcano pulled up to an intersection to find the Ambitious waiting.

"Hey there." said Joanna. "Are you guys doing okay?"

"Sure are." said Michael. "What would you say about a little race?"

"Why not?" said Lara. "I have to warn you, though. You're gonna be eating our dust all the way to Canberra."

"I think you're the ones who need to watch out." said Buster. "Because you're going to be eating (bleep) (bleep) (bleep) (bleep) (bleep) (bleep) that's gonna (bleep) (bleep) (bleep) (bleep) (bleep)."

The members of both teams looked at him in shock. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that." said Lara.

On the radio, Misty gave an announcement.

"And now, for the listening pleasure of our racers and our audience, here are Franz Ferdinand with one of their biggest hits off their very first album."

The song began to start.

"How about we give you ladies a head start until the chorus begins?" Michael suggested.

"Thank you very much." grinned Nina as Lara hit the gas and the Vulcano took off racing.

Eyes, burning a way through me.
Eyes, destroying so sweetly.
Now, there is a fire in me.
A fire that burns.

As the chorus began, Michael floored the accelerator in the Ambitious and took off after the Vulcano.

This fire is out of control.
I'm gonna burn this city.
Burn this city.

This fire is out of control.
I'm gonna burn this city.
Burn this city.

As the Ambitious fought to catch up with the Vulcano on the highway leading to Canberra, Lara swerved around all of the regular traffic in their way and managed to gather a good amount of ground.

This fire is out of control.
This fire is out of control.
This fire is out of control.
I'm gonna burn.

As Michael kept fighting to catch up, the Ambitious passed a residential area. As he sped on, a car suddenly pulled out of a side intersection, causing Michael to hit the brakes to avoid a collision.

Eyes, boring a way through me.
Paralyse, controlling completely.
Now, there is a fire in me.
A fire that burns.

"MORON!" the driver of the other car yelled as he drove on his way out and made an offensive gesture.

Michael angrily waited until the other motorist was gone and started the Ambitious up and drove off at high-speed after the Vulcano.

This fire is out of control.
I'm gonna burn this city.
Burn this city.

This fire is out of control.
I'm gonna burn this city.
Burn this city.

The Vulcano had made great progress on the highway to Canberra. They came alongside a semi-truck. Lara grinned to herself and sent a message over the CB to the driver of the rig.

This fire is out of control.
Then I, I'm out of control.
And I burn.

The Vulcano drove past the truck and got in front of it as the Ambitious finally caught up from behind them.

Oh, how I burn for you.
Burn. Oh, how I burn for you.

As the Ambitious went to pass the rig, the driver swerved from side to side to prevent Michael from passing. Michael angrily honked his horn, but the truck still blocked his way as Joanna activated the nitrous shot in the Vulcano and sped off.

Burn, how I...
Burn, how I...
Burn, oh how I...

"Get them! Nail their asses!" Tobias yelled.

Michael rolled his eyes. He then swerved off into the desert at the side of the highway and overtook the truck. As he swerved back onto the road, Buster activated their nitrous and they kept up their pursuit of the Vulcano.

This fire is out of control.
I'm gonna burn this city.
Burn this city.

This fire is out of control.
I'm gonna burn this city.
Burn this city.

This fire is out of control.
I'm gonna burn this city.
Burn this city.

The Ambitious caught up with the Vulcano and Michael kept dogging Lara's team. Lara gave them a wink in the rear-view mirror and kept her foot to the floor.

This fire is out of control.
I'll burn it.
I'll burn it.
I'll burn it.

I, I, I'll burn it down!

-"This Fire" by Franz Ferdinand.

Suddenly, the radar detector in the Vulcano went off. Lara signalled to Michael that they had to slow down to legal speeds. A second later, they came around the corner to find a police roadblock in front of them.

"Just cruise and smile." said Joanna.

One of the police officers gestured to Lara to pull over.

"Why are we being pulled over?" asked Anna.

"I don't know." said Lara. "I'm not speeding."

Lara pulled over and opened the door. "What seems to be the problem, officer?" she asked.

"I'm going to have to ask you and your friends to step out of the car." said the officer.

Lara and her team climbed out of the car. The officers then started to look through it.

"What are they doing?" asked Michael. "They look like they're performing a sting."

"Oh my God, we're next." said Tobias. "That means we're going to get searched like that."

"What if they throw us in jail?" asked Buster nervously. "Then some guy could make me his B and R me up the A every night."

"Buster, relax." said Michael. "We're not getting arrested. Don't worry about that development."

"Get it?"

Another officer walked over to them. "You can go if you'd like." he said.

"I just want to see how this goes." said Michael.

"Boy, it's rather hot out here." sighed Lara as she unzipped her jumpsuit.

"Would you like to zip that up?" asked one of the officers.

"You look familiar." said another officer.

"I think she's right." said Joanna as she unzipped as well. "It is pretty hot."

"I know I've seen you two before." said the other officer.

"And I know it's pretty hot out here." said Nina as she and Anna unzipped.

"Wait, now I know where I know you from!" said the officer as he pointed to Lara and Joanna. "You're the two who tried to seduce me two years ago!"

Lara suddenly looked guilty. She and her team zipped their suits up again as they knew their routine wouldn't work.

"Thank you." the officer smirked. "Now we can do our job without distractions".

"Well, I can't figure out what you're looking for." Lara said. "I can assure you we're not carrying anything illicit."

The searching officer took out the box the "priests" had given them.

"That's just a donation for an orphanage." said Nina. "I'm sure the Reverend Paul Justice will vouch for us."

"What Nina didn't know was that there was no Reverend Paul Justice. In fact, Paul Justice was an Australian television star who found himself in the center of a scandal that cost him his career. He was caught having sex in the bathroom of an Australian restaurant with a woman who wasn't his wife. Do not be Paul Justice."

The officer opened the box and found several bags of white powder. "I don't think this is something they'll accept as a donation." he said.

"That's probably not what it looks like." said Joanna.

The officer tested the powder. "It's cocaine." he said.

"See? I thought it was heroin." said Joanna.

"Arrest these sheilas!" said the officer.

The officers quickly started to round up Lara and her teammates.

"Those two priests." said Anna as her hands were cuffed in front of her. "They weren't fathers!"

"They were mothers!" said Nina as she too was cuffed in front.

"Hey, as long as you're here, maybe we can go on a date when you get out?" said the officer cuffing Nina.

"Hey, how many times do I have to tell you not to flirt with the prisoners?" said the officer who found the drugs.

"'God will be our co-pilot'. Sure." Lara sarcastically growled as her hands were cuffed in front of her as well.

"Ironically, we could use some divine intervention right about now." said Joanna as she too was cuffed in front.

Michael and his team watched in shock.

"Oh my God, the most prominent team in the race just got arrested." said Michael.

"Brock is not going to like this." said Buster.

"Michael, we have to do something." said Tobias.

"And so, Michael had to work to get someone else out of prison."

---

Big Donnie was on the phone to Jimmy DeMarco, giving him an update on the situation.

"You'll be pleased to hear that my frame job was a huge success, Jimbo." Donnie smirked. "Lara Croft's team is currently being checked into one of Canberra's most exclusive gray bar motels as we speak. And my contact in the force is gonna make sure they don't get out any time soon."

"Excellent work!" DeMarco replied. "That should screw things up and demoralize the Cannoballers big time!"

"If the race does somehow still go on, the Prime Movers car club can deal with any more problems." Donnie added.

"Do you trust them?" asked DeMarco.

"They're excellent drug mules and have never been busted yet. That's enough to earn my trust." Donnie replied.

"Good. My people will try not to get in the way, but still give the Cannonballers some trouble." DeMarco remarked.

"No worries." Donnie grinned again.

---

In the command center, Mr. X ran over to Brock. "Brock, we've got a problem." he said.

"What's going on now?" asked Brock.

"Come on over to the television and watch THIS!" said Mr. X as he turned on the television.

A news program came on. "And the senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity." said the anchor.

"What does this have to do with the Cannonball?" asked Brock.

"Uh, this is a completely unrelated story." said Mr. X. "The story I'm talking about is probably up next."

Five minutes later, the channel was showing a commercial.

"I order my insulin and they deliver it right to my door." said a woman.

"I thought you said it would be next." said Brock.

"Just be patient, okay?" said Mr. X.

Four minutes later, the story still hadn't been shown.

"Scientists in South America are investigating what appear to be extraterrestrial remains..."

"How much longer?" asked Brock.

"It's coming." said Mr. X.

Six minutes later, the program ran a story with the caption "Highway Outlaw". The anchorwoman said "Every year, the Cannonball Run hits the highways."

"Here it is." said Mr. X.

"Some of the race's biggest fans are the band Highway Outlaw." said the anchorwoman. "They are here with us today on the eve of their national tour."

"False alarm." said Mr. X.

Five minutes later...

"And now we have a story on the Cannonball Run." said the anchorwoman.

"Finally." said Brock.

"This would have been much more dramatic if it aired when we tuned in." said Mr. X.

"Approximately one hour ago," said the anchorwoman "a prominent team in the Cannonball Run was arrested for drug trafficking."

"What?" yelled Brock.

"The team of Lara Croft was taken into custody after being apprehended at a police roadblock outside of Canberra, Australia. A trial is set for Tuesday. We have a reporter on the scene."

"We have to look into this." said Brock.

"Working on it." said Mr. X.

A female reporter stood in Australia with a police chief and a lieutenant.

"I am here in Canberra with Peter Doyle." said the reporter.

"CHIEF Peter Doyle." said the lieutenant. "He is in charge of a national task force investigating drug trafficking across the Outback."

"Chief Doyle," asked the reporter "the suspects are claiming that the drugs were planted on them in the guise of a donation to an orphanage. Do you have any information on that?"

"The information you received is a bunch of crap." said Doyle. "There is no doubt in our minds that Miss Croft and her team were in fact performing the task willingly."

"It's been reported that Miss Croft and her team have no history of drug charges." said the reporter. "Why would they suddenly perform the crime specified?"

"We are looking into that." said Doyle. "We strongly believe that someone paid a large amount of money to Miss Croft and her team to transport the drugs to Darwin or wherever."

"Who would you assume was this mysterious benefactor?" asked the reporter. "We've heard that Australian crime lord 'Big Donnie' Cannaglio has had dealings with the Cannonballers in the past."

"Uh, I wouldn't, um, jump to c-conclusions at this moment." said Doyle.

"Did you see that?" asked Brock.

"It looked like the reporter got him." said Mr. X.

"What does he know that we don't?" asked Brock.

"Apparently, he knows something." said Mr. X. "I say we launch an investigation of our own."

"We'll need someone on site." said Brock.

"My nomination would be someone who's had dealings with Big Donnie in the past." said Mr. X.

"I know who we should call." said Brock. "The Drake."

"Last time I checked, he and his team were taking a bathroom break." said Mr. X.

"Ah, what's the worst that can start in an Australian bathroom?" asked Brock.

---

A clip from the Paul Justice scandal was shown.

---

The Drake and his team were in a restroom somewhere using the facilities.

"Ah, I feel about ten pounds lighter." said the Drake as he walked away from the toilet he'd just flushed.

"I'd hope so." said Venom. "The next restroom isn't for a long time."

Ron's cell phone rang. "I got it." he said. He took it out of his jacket and popped it open. It slipped out of his hand and landed in the urinal. He picked it up, shook it off, and said "Lucas? Okay." He handed it to the Drake and said "It's for you."

The Drake nervously took the phone by the antenna and placed it next to his ear while trying to make as little contact with it as possible. "Drake?"

"Drake, it's Brock. We've got a situation."

"Define situation." said the Drake.

"Lara's team is in jail." said Brock. "We're looking into the incident and we need you to co-ordinate our actions."

"I'll see what I can do." said the Drake. "What are our goals?"

"First and foremost, I want you to prove Lara's innocence and get her freed." said Brock. "Failing the former, just do the latter."

"I think I know who to call." said the Drake.

---

In a roadhouse back in Melbourne, Priss and Charlene played pool when they saw the report of Lara's arrest.

"That's got to be a completely bullshit charge!" Priss exclaimed.

"Do you think there's going to be a jailbreak?" asked Charlene.

"I certainly hope so." Priss replied.

"I have some friends in Canberra. Maybe they can help out." Charlene suggested.

"First, we'd better get the lead out and head there." Priss nodded as she picked her helmet up off the bar.

Charlene followed her out.

---

The Darkness sped down the highway towards Canberra as night began to fall.

Nobody in the car had noticed that Lizard had spread his spike strip across the road just in front of them. As the Darkness drove over the strip, all four tires began to deflate. Lizard, in his hiding place, quickly pulled the spike strip off the road so that it couldn't be seen.

"Shit!" Rob grumbled to himself as he pulled the Darkness off to the side of the highway to inspect the damage to their tires.

"What?" asked Stone Cold as Rob checked the tires.

"All four of the tires are blown out!" Rob reported. "Don't ask me how."

"Ain't no problem. I'll call Skeeter." Stone Cold announced as he picked up his cellphone.

From their hiding place, Jupiter, Pluto and Lizard watched in delight as Team Stone Cold were currently going nowhere.

Stone Cold hung up his phone after calling Skeeter.

"He's about two hours away from us and on the way." Stone Cold announced.

"Well, I suppose we could get some shuteye while we wait." Rob suggested as he got back into the Darkness and stretched out in the driver's seat.

"Okay." Stone Cold yawned as he closed his eyes.

---

A couple of hours later, the Usagi, Terrific, Rumor, and Cowboy pulled into an airplane hangar in Canberra. The Utopia, Ambitious, and Panama were there with their teams standing around.

"So, what's the deal?" asked Charlie as he climbed out of the Terrific.

"Lara and her team were arrested for drug trafficking." said Michael.

"What?" said Buffy as she closed the door to the Usagi. "No, not Lara. She wouldn't do this. Uh uh."

"Yeah, we didn't think so either." said Venom.

"What is this place?" asked Dominic.

"This is the hangar where the Australian aviatrix Kitty Mannock launched from." said Pitt. "She flew numerous record setting journeys in the thirties until she disappeared during a flight across Africa. Her remains and crashed plane weren't found for decades until a pair of battle weary ruffians came upon them. The hangar now stands as a shrine of sorts to Mannock and her exploits."

"So, how did you wrangle its use?" asked Memphis.

"The Australian government allowed us its use in exchange for finding an Australian hero." said Giordino. "We were those ruffians."

"Here's what we're supposed to do." said the Drake. "We have to do some work to prove that Lara and her team are innocent. If that fails, we are to perform a jailbreak."

"Let's concentrate on that first part for now." said Brian. "I'd rather not go through the trouble and time required to break someone out of jail just yet."

"Okay, we'll go about investigating Lara to prove her innocence." said Jordan. "Veronica, this is your field. Where do we start?"

"I think we should start with the crime scene." said Veronica.

"Not possible." said Michael. "It was the side of the road. All the subsequent traffic's probably destroyed any evidence by now."

"What about the Vulcano?" asked Veronica.

"Impounded." said Ron.

"Guess we're going to be pulling a jailbreak after all." said Sway.

---

As Stone Cold's team slept in the Darkness, Nemesis stirred as he sensed that something was amiss. It was very hot, even for the climate the Cannonball was currently going through.

As he opened his eyes, he saw in shock the Darkness surrounded by a ring of fire. On the outside of the ring were Jupiter and his cronies, laughing at the fact that Team Stone Cold were trapped.

Nemesis growled and got out of the Darkness. As Stone Cold and Rob began to be roused by the high temperature, Nemesis lifted the Darkness up onto his shoulders and leapt out of the ring of fire and landed several feet away, clear of the flames.

As Nemesis set the Darkness back down, Rob and Stone Cold were now fully awake and stunned at the near miss they had just had.

"WHAT?!" yelled Stone Cold.

"Looks like our buddy saved us from being the main course of the barbecue." Rob sighed.

The three mutants approached the Darkness. Nemesis growled and faced them down.

Jupiter and Lizard raised their shotguns.

"I wouldn't do that, you guys!" Rob warned. "You'll just make him mad if you shoot him!"

Jupiter and Lizard fired several shots at Nemesis. The shots made him stumble, but didn't do too much to slow him down. He picked both mutants up and knocked them together. They were knocked out instantly. Nemesis growled in triumph and threw them towards the Brickade, which was parked nearby as Kitaneidas facepalmed himself.

Pluto roared and ran forward. He hit his ax into Nemesis' back a few times. But once again, no major damage was done and Nemesis didn't seem to register any pain.

"Come on, son. Just do yourself a favor." Stone Cold suggested.

After a pause, Pluto shrugged to himself and punched himself in the face, knocking himself out.

"This isn't over!" Kitaneidas warned as he gathered up the unconscious mutants and dragged them all back to the Brickade.

As that was happening, Skeeter's van pulled up. Skeeter climbed out with a fire extinguisher and put out the ring of fire. Rob grabbed another extinguisher from the Darkness' trunk and gave him a hand.

"What did I miss?" Skeeter asked.

"We'll tell ya all about it." laughed Stone Cold.

---

"We'll probably have our work cut out for us here." Charlie remarked. "I've heard that Doyle is very powerful."

"And very dirty." chipped in Lyle as he sat at his laptop.

"Huh?" asked Jordan.

"You thought I was just sitting here twiddling my thumbs?" Lyle asked in a slightly offended tone. "Especially when fellow Cannonballers have been incarcerated on what is almost certainly a trumped-up charge?

"Okay." Giordino placated Lyle. "What have you got?"

"I hacked a few of Doyle's accounts, without leaving a trace naturally. I found this Skype call that Doyle made just within the last hour. Come have a look at who it was a call to." Lyle announced.

The others gathered around the laptop. Lyle brought up the image. It showed Big Donnie sitting in his office.

"We can't see Doyle, but we can hear him. And I know that voice recognition software will I.D. him." Lyle added as he pressed play on the clip.

"Are you sure everything's okay?" Big Donnie asked.

"No worries, mate." Doyle's voice replied. "Those dumb shielas are on ice. The Cannoball should be dead in the water now."

"Good. That's why I keep you on my payroll." Donnie nodded.

"And don't think I'm not grateful." Doyle's voice chipped in. "I was finally able to finish work on my house thanks to your contributions for my services. I'm not sure about Mick's crew being drafted to help out."

"They can always say that as respectable street racers, they hate the Cannonball being used as a front for drug smuggling so they stepped up to make citizen's arrests." Donnie grinned. "Besides which, I think that you and Mick need to stop beefing with each other. You are cousins after all."

"Yeah, well he's still ticked off that Annalise left him for me." Doyle complained.

"Well, neither of you really 'won' in that regard since she left you for your pool cleaner." Donnie grinned. "And if you expect me to bankroll your pool getting filled in because of that, you'd better take care of the Cannonball to the best of your abilities."

"Of course I will." Doyle replied. "Even if the others do have the balls to keep racing after Croft's been nailed, we'll stick it to 'em."

"Glad to hear it, mate." Donnie smirked. Lyle then paused the video at that point.

"Well, there we go." said Lyle.

"Can we send this to whoever's in charge of the law enforcement in this country and get Doyle fired?" asked Giordino.

"Sure, we'll just send it in through their illegally obtained evidence hotline." said Lyle.

"Are you being sarcastic right now?" asked Buffy.

"Um, yeah!" said Lyle, even more sarcastically.

"Still, as you say, it proves to us that Doyle and Big Donnie are in cahoots." said Pitt. "I think we can work with that for now."

"It would certainly be the first step in proving Lara was set up." Left Ear nodded.

Lyle got up and went to the snack machine. Gunn kept looking at the screen. Then he noticed something. "Dirk?" he said.

"What is it, Rudi?" asked Pitt.

"What do you see on the bookcase to the right?" asked Gunn.

An artifact similar to the two they'd already found could be seen on the bookcase.

"Is that the third artifact?" asked Pitt.

"And Big Donnie has it." said Gunn.

"Well, you know what we have to do then." said Pitt.

"Wait, no." said Gunn. "We are not breaking into an Australian mob boss' house."

"It's this or we risk not finding that ship." said Pitt.

"Nobody has ever pulled that off successfully." said Gunn.

"First time for everything." said Pitt.

---

Two men stood in a room in Darwin. A third talked on the phone. "Okay, I'll tell them." he said.

He hung up his phone and said "Bad news. Due to the arrest of Lara's team, the puzzle hunt in Australia has been cancelled."

"All that prep work." said the second.

"Well, pack it up." said third. "We'll head back to headquarters."

"I'll get the car ready." said the first. "You guys get the equipment and the prize money for the puzzle hunt."

"Got it." said the third.

The second man picked up a briefcase while the third man began to disassemble a giant pair of nose glasses.

The second man set the briefcase down on a window sill and opened it. He looked over the prize money. "The money's all accounted for."

"Good." said the third man. "We can save it for a later challenge. At least it didn't get destroyed like the other prizes, right?"

The two men laughed. The second started to close the briefcase while the third picked up one of the earpieces from the nose glasses. He turned and hit the second man in the back.

The second man stumbled forward and dropped the briefcase out of the window. "No!" he yelled.

The briefcase fell onto an air conditioning unit and the money fell into the fan. Pale green confetti shot out of the unit.

The third man ran over and looked out of the window at the mess. The first man walked back in and said "Okay, the car's ready...What?"

---

Chief Doyle walked into the garage where they kept the Vulcano. "How does it look?" he asked.

"You should see this thing." said one of the officers. "It seems to be loaded with numerous weapons and gadgets."

"Check this out." said a female officer. "It's got a flamethrower built in."

"Well then, let's see what it'll do." said Doyle.

One of the officers set up an oil drum on a stack of pallets while Doyle backed up the Vulcano so the tail end faced it.

"Ready for test fire." said Doyle.

"Clearing area." said one of the officers. He and his colleagues ran to the other side of the Vulcano.

"Test fire in three, two, one!" said Doyle. He then activated the flamethrower.

The flame shot through the drum and into the police cruiser parked some distance away.

"Whoa, turn it off!" yelled the female officer.

Doyle turned it off, but the cruiser continued to burn and exploded a few seconds later.

"Ah, krikey!" said Doyle as he climbed out. "Call the fire department and don't tell them how this happened."

He walked back into his office and ran into his computer specialist. "Sir, I hacked into the Cannonballers' computer systems like you asked." he said.

"What did you find?" asked Doyle.

"This." said the specialist as he handed Doyle a photograph.

"Where is this?" asked Doyle.

"We're still working on that." said the specialist. "We believe it to be a drop off point for the drug run."

"As soon as we can determine where this is, we can intercept them there." said Doyle.

---

The Detector had fallen behind a bit in the race and was now just leaving Sydney. 99 drove whilst Alex Munday sat in the passenger seat. Dylan and Natalie slept in the back seat. 99 and Alex looked concerned as they had just heard the news about the arrest.

"So, do you think we should help out?" asked Alex.

"Let's wait until we reach Canberra first." 99 suggested. "No Cannonballers are allowed to go beyond the city until this thing gets taken care of according to what we heard earlier."

"Good." Alex nodded.

The two ladies heard a horn honking and saw the Slate moving up behind them and getting beside.

Lidell had a smirk on his face as he drove the truck.

"Hey, lovely ladies!" he called. "How'd you like to have a taste of some dark meat to go with your white bread?"

99 rolled her eyes at Lidell's pathetic pick-up remark.

"Or how about your friend there?" Lidell continued, leering at Alex. "Wanna have some fun? I LOVE to eat Chinese! Looks like it's gonna be a lovely moon tonight! How about lying under it?"

"Tell you what, homie. If you can catch me, you can have me!" 99 yelled over to him.

"Oh, it's ON, baby!" Lidell cheered as he put his foot to the floor.

99 accelerated the Detector and quickly pulled ahead of the Slate. They very soon left Lidell lagging behind them as they sped onwards.

"That was dumb!" Alex chided.

"Relax! He'll never catch us before we reach Canberra." grinned 99.

---

Lyle worked on his computer. In short order, he had full details on the impound yard where the Vulcano was being kept.

"Nice work." said Buffy. "My friend Willow would be impressed."

"Whoa." said Charlie. "That place looks tough."

"It is." said Lyle. "We're talking a ten foot high chain link fence. The buildings are backed up with a fully computerized security system requiring a keypad entry. At night, the gate is watched by a desk clerk in a shack and backed up by a guard in an SUV. The grounds are also patrolled by another guard in a Holden Monaro at night. Add to that various security cameras and motion sensors and you've got quite a task."

"Memphis, how do you feel about scaling this fence?" asked Charlie.

"I've scaled others." said Memphis.

"Lyle, can you hack the security system?" asked Charlie.

"I thought you'd never ask." said Lyle in a sing-song voice.

"Also map out the cameras and motion sensors." said Charlie. "And while you're at it, see if you can find a pattern in the guard's patrol."

"You've got this all planned out." said Jordan.

Charlie just winked.

---

The Detector was now on the outskirts of Canberra. 99 laughed as it looked like they had lost the Slate.

"I suppose I can ease up a bit now." 99 sighed as she slowed down to cruising speed.

Suddenly, the Detector's engine began to stall and the car slowly came to a halt.

"Shit!" snapped Alex as the Slate finally caught up with them and came to a stop beside them. Lidell grinned and made sure that his gun was safely concealed in the waistband of his pants as he got out of the Slate. 99 and Alex got out of the Detector looking rather peeved.

"Okay, lovely ladies!" Lidell grinned as he began to go for his gun. "That was fun, but now..."

Lidell trailed off and his hand faltered just before he reached his gun. He had yet another vision of Mango dancing in his mind.

"Mango..." he cooed wistfully.

"Hey. Earth to weird guy." Alex called as she snapped her fingers.

Lidell once again snapped out of his reverie and looked annoyed.

"Goddamn it, woman! Quit henpecking me!" he yelled. "I swear, it's always..."

Lidell was cut off as 99 jammed her right index finger into the side of his neck and gave him an electric shock, knocking him out.

As Alex caught Lidell before he fell, 99 showed off the stun ring on her finger.

"Works every time if you catch 'em off guard." 99 beamed.

"Let's put him back in his truck." Alex suggested. "You know the kind of wildlife you get in this country. We'll be gone before he wakes up."

"No problem." grinned 99.

---

That night, Big Donnie and his men settled in for some television in a house outside Alice Springs. Rocco watched a late night talk show with Nicole Kidman as a guest.

"So, Nicole." said the host. "In your latest movie, you play a computer hacker. How did you prepare for this role?"

"Well, it wasn't easy." said Nicole. "I had to consult with..."

"Ah, Nicole." said Big Donnie. "A national treasure if I ever saw one."

"Are you kidding me?" asked Rocco. "I don't know what you see in her. Keith Urban can have her."

"Well, who do you think is Australia's best actress?" asked Big Donnie.

"Claudia Black." said Rocco.

Big Donnie and Alex groaned. "What does she really have to her name?" asked Big Donnie. "Farscape? Stargate?"

"It's not the quantity, it's the quality." said Rocco.

"It's nice to see you having these intellectual conversations when our enemies are plotting against us." said Alex.

"Alex, the Cannonballers are not really a threat right now." said Big Donnie. "One of their favorites is locked up. The race has been suspended. It's not really looking good for them. I think we can afford to relax."

A dog growling could be heard from the patio.

"Someone should tell that to the mutt." said Rocco.

"Alex, go see what she's doing." said Big Donnie.

On the patio, a blue heeler stared down a very large toad that used its long tongue to steal a piece of kibble from the dog's bowl. The dog continued to growl. The toad sprayed the dog with a fluid of some kind.

"What are you doing back here?" asked Alex as the dog started running around crazily and jumped on him. "Ay, down girl! Down!"

"What is up with that dog?" asked Rocco.

"Oh, there's a toad that's been stealing her food." said Big Donnie. "It's one of those things that shoots psychotropic venom in defense."

---

Meanwhile, the Rumor, Cowboy, and Terrific parked near the impound yard. Dominic moved to the driver's seat of the Terrific. "Okay, you know your roles?" he asked.

"Right." said Memphis. "While Vince distracts the desk clerk, I go over the fence with Sway and Sphinx and Lyle provides tech support."

"You got it." said Dominic. "I'll be here in case something goes wrong."

"Alright, let's go." said Brian.

The racers moved into position.

Vince walked up to the shack with Brian and tapped the desk. "Hey, you guys got my Volvo?" he asked.

"What?" asked the tired desk clerk.

"My Volvo." repeated Vince. "You guys got my Volvo?"

"Let me check." said the desk clerk. He went to the tray full of keys.

Meanwhile, Memphis, Sway, and the Sphinx made their way over the fence and landed on the gravel behind a van.

"Napster, you reading me?" asked Memphis into his radio.

"Ten-four, Memphis." replied Lyle as he worked at a laptop in the Terrific.

"Can you find the Vulcano?" asked Memphis.

"According to the database," said Lyle "it should be in the main garage with the other high-end cars. Be careful. That's the most well-guarded building in the lot."

"Thanks." said Memphis.

"Come on, man." said Vince. "You know a guy needs his wheels." He turned to Brian and laughed.

The desk clerk picked up a set of keys and dropped them in front of Vince. "Here it is." he said.

Vince turned to him and suddenly looked confused. "What?" he asked.

"Here's the keys to your Volvo." said the desk clerk. "I'll take you to it in a few seconds."

"Are you sure that's the right one?" asked Vince. "Mine's an S60R."

"So's this one." said the desk clerk. "Nice looking machine if I do say so myself."

"Is this one black? Mine is." said Vince.

"This one is black." said the desk clerk.

"With air conditioning?" asked Vince.

"Yep." said the desk clerk.

Memphis and his group made their way to the garage. "Lyle, I've got a door here with a keypad on it." said Memphis. "Can you hack into it?"

"No prob." said Lyle. He tapped a few keys on his laptop. The door clicked and opened.

The car thieves snuck in. They reached the room where the cars were kept and let out a collective "Whoa." In front of them were rows upon rows of exotic sports and luxury cars.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the promised land." said Memphis.

"So many cars, so little time." said Sway.

"All these cars and we're only here for one." said the Sphinx.

"Where is that one?" asked Memphis.

"Sorry, can't help you." said Lyle.

"I'll take this row, you two take the next two." said Memphis.

"Does it have a sunroof?" asked Vince.

"Check." said the desk clerk.

"CD player?" asked Vince.

"Uh huh." said the desk clerk.

"Cruise control?" asked Vince.

"Sure does." said the desk clerk.

"I found it." said Sway. "Most eye-catching color imaginable."

Memphis and the Sphinx walked over to her position.

"Memphis, we have to remember this place." said the Sphinx.

"Now, let's work on getting it out of here." said Memphis.

Sway tried the door. Strangely, it was unlocked. "A little overconfident, don't you think?" she said.

"Hey, Sphinx." said Memphis as he climbed in. "They've modified it with a backseat. Hop on in."

The Sphinx crawled inside and sat in the backseat. Sway started the car. Memphis got on the radio.

"Okay, Napster." he said. "Can you open the main door?"

"I can do that." said Lyle. "But you have to be ready to move. That door is supposed to remain shut all night. If the patrolling guard sees it open, he is going to give chase."

"Do you have his position?" asked Memphis. "Open it when he's driving away from the door."

Lyle watched his monitor for a few seconds. He saw the patrolling guard driving away from the garage.

"Not gonna get better than now." he grinned as he pushed a key.

The garage door started to open. The guard saw it in his rearview and turned around to give chase. As soon as she had enough clearance, Sway raced under the door.

"Can't go through the main gate." said the Sphinx.

"I'm aware of that." said Sway. "We'll have to find another way out."

"Garmin navigation system?" asked Vince.

"Got it." said the desk clerk.

"Alloy wheels?" asked Vince.

"Got that too." said the desk clerk.

"Satellite radio?" asked Vince.

"Ditto." said the desk clerk.

Sway raced around a few rows of cars with the guard hot on her tail. The gate guard joined in.

"I think you'd better find a way out of here soon." said the Sphinx.

"Well, keep your eyes peeled." said Sway.

"What's that?" asked Memphis. He pointed to a flatbed truck with its bed lowered and parked facing the fence.

"Looks like a flatbed truck." said the Sphinx.

"I call that a way out." said Sway.

She drove towards the truck and kept the pedal floored. She hit the ramp and flew over the fence, then landed with a thud.

"You realize he's going to chase us, right?" said Memphis.

The guard raced towards the ramp himself, but the gate guard cut him off. The guard swerved around him to make the ramp, but no longer aligned with it. His car drove off the side of the ramp and went tumbling into a row of cars. He finally came to rest next to a black Volvo S60R.

The crashing caught the attention of the desk clerk who turned to look at it. He turned back to Vince.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded

Vince pointed behind the desk clerk and asked "Who's that guy?" He and Brian then ran while the desk clerk watched.

---

Max drove the Black Knight through Civic, the central business district of Canberra. As he and Jake took in the sights, Veronica Corningstone gave an announcement on the radio.

"Just a heads-up to all you Cannonballers out there." she announced. "Some of your fellow racers have warned you to keep an eye out for and give a wide berth to a car club known as the Prime Movers. If you'll pardon mon francais, they have been described as some mean mammajammas. So, just keep your eyes open."

Jake suddenly nudged Max and pointed up ahead of them. Mick and Wolfie had recently arrived in Canberra after getting a new car. They now had a '73 Holden Monaro. The duo had never met the two Prime Movers before, but knew them from their gang colors.

Both Mick and Wolfie loaded a case of Foster's into the trunk of their car. As they closed the trunk, both Mick and Wolfie had bottles of the Australian lager in their hands and took long pulls off them. They both cackled obnoxiously and got into the front of the car, still taking the beer in with them.

Max shook his head in disgust at the fact that Mick was driving under the influence.

"I simply can't condone that kind of behaviour." Max remarked. "It's crap like that which gives us Australians a bad name."

"Shall we teach them a lesson?" asked Jake.

"I think that's a good idea." Max nodded.

"Just give me a minute to prepare." Jake grunted as he closed his eyes and concentrated hard.

---

Veronica Mars sat in the Vulcano and looked around the passenger compartment. She tapped her fingers on the dashboard, then she clenched her fists and groaned.

"Someone sounds frustrated." said Buffy as she climbed into the car. "Still haven't found anything?"

"I've gone over every inch of this car." said Veronica. "I still can't find any evidence proving Lara's innocence."

"Maybe you should take a break." said Buffy. "We can't have you getting too upset and making a mistake."

"You're right." said Veronica. "I'll give it five, then tackle it again."

She and Buffy climbed out of the car to find Jordan watching them. "Maybe we could try a different angle." said Jordan.

"Different angle?" asked Veronica. "You mean like not looking over the car for something that could prove wrongdoing?"

"Look, there's a technique my father taught me." said Jordan. "Would you like to hear it?"

"We've exhausted everything else." said Buffy.

"Hit me." said Veronica.

"Okay, what we do is we recreate the crime." said Jordan. "Each of us takes a different role and acts out what we think happened. Then we can get an idea of what might be amiss and address that."

"So, who's who?" asked Buffy.

"I'll be Nina." said Jordan as her outfit morphed into Nina's jumpsuit. "Veronica, you can be Anna." she added as Veronica's outfit morphed into Anna's jumpsuit. "Buffy, you can be Joanna." said Jordan as Buffy's outfit morphed into Joanna's jumpsuit.

"What about Lara and the cop?" asked Veronica.

"Oh, uh..." said Jordan as she looked around. She found Memphis Raine's team and Team Bluth watching. "Sway, why don't you play Lara?" she asked.

"Sounds fun." said Sway as her outfit morphed into Lara's jumpsuit.

"I'll be the cop." said Michael as his suit morphed into a police uniform.

"Okay, what happened first?" asked Jordan.

"Well, first Lara tried to bare her cleavage." said Michael.

"I'm not doing that!" snapped Sway.

"We'll just pretend that happened." said Buffy.

"Good idea." said Michael. "After that, the police officer tried to question the girls. Aw roit, mates! Let's check ya stuff and throw it on tha bah-bee."

Buffy and Veronica stared at him. "That was terrible." said Veronica.

"Yeah, let's pretend the accents are happening too." said Buffy.

Sway pretended to hand Michael a box and said "All we have is this donation for the local orphanage."

"Wait." said Veronica. "Did Lara protest the handling of the box?"

"No, she didn't." said Michael.

"I don't think she knew what was in the box." said Veronica. "That supports the claims she was framed."

"It would also explain why she was carrying it in plain sight." said Jordan. "Unless she didn't have a place to hide it."

"With all the gadgetage, I'd be surprised if she didn't." said Buffy.

Sway climbed into the Vulcano. She looked over the control panel. She found a few switches and flipped one. A panel on the rear fender popped open.

"Did you break it?" asked Jordan.

"I don't think so." said Sway as she climbed out. She walked over to the panel and opened it. "What's the best thing we could find in here?" she asked.

"A note saying Lara didn't do it?" asked Veronica.

"A hidden compartment." said Sway as she showed off the interior of the compartment.

Veronica walked over to inspect the compartment. "If Lara were running drugs, why wouldn't she hide them in here instead of a box that could easily be found?" she asked.

"So it was a frame up." said Buffy.

"Lara is innocent." said Jordan.

"I'm glad that you established that." announced Lone Wolf as he and Hardtop walked in. "Sorry we're late. It took us some time to find this place."

"I take it that Brock sent you to help out?" asked Veronica.

"Of course." Hardtop nodded. "Hikita-san was able to find out which jail Lara and her team are being held in. When the morning comes, we're going to attempt a rescue."

Pitt walked up to Lone Wolf and cleared his throat.

"Listen. I know that no Cannonballers are supposed to leave Canberra until Lara is freed, but me and the guys have to go a bit farther." Pitt announced. "But it's on a mission that's kind of related to this business as it involves investigating Big Donnie Cannaglio and whether or not he is involved with this mess."

Lone Wolf nodded. "I don't think Brock would mind that. So, go ahead. The rest of us can handle this."

"Good luck with the rescue." Pitt grinned as he shook Lone Wolf's hand.

---

Mick drove his Monaro through the light industrial suburb of Mitchell in Canberra, occasionally still taking swigs out of his beer with his free hand. In the passenger seat, Wolfie also downed his beer and drummed his fingers on the dashboard to the beat of the song "Axegrinder" by the Hoodoo Gurus as it played over the stereo.

A bright pair of headlights suddenly appeared in the rear windshield of the Monaro. The lights were so bright and so close that the two Movers couldn't even see what kind of car it was tailing them.

Mick glared and tried to move ahead of the tailgater, but whoever it was stuck to him like glue.

Wolfie angrily turned in his seat and gave the finger out of the rear windshield.

"SHITHEAD!" he yelled.

"Hang on!" Mick grunted as he hit the brakes.

Their pursuer also came to a halt not too far behind them.

"Let's give this arsehole a taste of his own medicine!" Mick snarled as he started to back the Monaro up at high speed. Whoever it was behind them began to back up as well, keeping pace with Mick precisely.

"The hell with this!" Mick yelled as he put the Monaro back in forward gear and raced off. After they had got a bit ahead, their pursuer began to give chase once again.

In less than a minute, Mick pulled the handbrake and slid into the parking lot of a warehouse where he had intended to go in the first place.

Waiting in the parking lot was another Prime Mover whose name patch identified him as Merv. Merv's car, a beige '53 Holden FJ sedan, was parked nearby as he looked stunned at the speed with which Mick and Wolfie pulled in.

The two lead Movers threw their doors open and jumped out, armed with pistols.

"What's up with you guys?" Merv asked in surprise.

"Some shithead's following us!" Wolfie snapped back.

"Hope he comes in here!" Mick added.

With a squeal of tires, the Black Knight roared into the parking lot at near-supernatural speed. It was the car that had been tailing the Monaro. Before any of the three Movers could react, the Black Knight slammed into the side of the Monaro. The Black Knight knocked the Monaro into a lamp post and wrapped the Monaro around it, completely wrecking it.

"BASTARD!" yelled Mick as he opened fire on the Black Knight. The bullets didn't even seem to hit it as Mick's gun ran dry.

The Black Knight's passenger-side door opened and Jake stepped out, now in his Wraith form. It was now Wolfie's turn to raise his gun and fire at the Wraith. But once again, the gun eventually clicked empty with no damage done to the supernatural warrior.

The Wraith reached into the Black Knight and took out his special shotgun. Max got out of the driver side, also armed with his own shotgun.

The Wraith gestured down to the ground with his shotgun. Mick and Wolfie looked nervously down and saw the fuel leaking from the wrecked Monaro as it began to pool around their feet.

"Any more gunplay and there will be a major bang." Max warned. He faced Merv, who looked just as scared as Mick and Wolfie were.

"Have you been drinking, mate?" Max asked.

"No, sir! I don't drink!" Merv assured. "The other Movers make fun of me because of it!"

"Well then, you take your pals here and hit the road!" Max ordered.

"YES, SIR!" Merv answered enthusiastically.

"Don't think you Cannonballers have heard the last of the Prime Movers!" Mick warned as he, Wolfie, and Merv piled into Merv's sedan and drove off.

"Expertly done." Max congratulated the Wraith as they gave each other a thumbs-up.

---

As morning dawned, Zorak drove the Bionic Cheetah through the Outback between Sydney and Canberra. As the Cannonball was not going beyond Canberra just yet, Space Ghost's team had decided to test out their car's off-road capabilities.

On the radio, Ron Burgundy gave an announcement. "We know it's early morning in Australia right now, but we thought we'd cheer our racers up with some musical inspiration." Ron announced. "So, here are Papa Roach!"

As the song began, the Bionic Cheetah roared down a straight dirt road. A few seconds after they had gone, the JB 700 and the Bianco pulled into the road and went after them.

"Good thing some dickheads wanted to show off!" grinned Alice Foyt as the two enemy vehicles began their pursuit.

I walk sick streets full of dead meat.
See empty heads and cancelled eyes.
I got a pain, I got a hunger.
Lord my soul ain't satisfied.

The JB 700 caught up with the Bionic Cheetah and stayed on its tail as Team Space Ghost saw that they had company.

Janice Foyt activated the guns above the JB 700's headlights and fired on the Bionic Cheetah. The rear window of the Cannonball vehicle was shattered and the rear end took a lot of damage.

Come on, come on.
Hit the accelerator, the accelerator.
Come on, come on.
Hit the accelerator, the accelerator.

"Hang on, guys!" Space Ghost reassured as he hit a button in front of him. An armoured shield slid shut over the rear window, keeping the team safe.

Janice fired again, this time blasting off the wing mirrors on the Bionic Cheetah.

"The hell with this!" grunted Moltar as he picked up a laser rifle and leaned out of his window.

It ain't hard to be a sinner.
Lord it's hard to be a saint.
You've had a taste, you've had a glimmer.
Start to shiver, can't be what you ain't.

As the Foyts tried to swerve around Team Space Ghost, Moltar fired a few blasts from his laser rifle. He was able to take out both the guns on the JB 700 and fired a shot through its windshield between the Foyts.

Alice lost control and spun out. Kegaleisa glared and gunned the Bianco to keep up the pursuit.

Come on, come on.
Hit the accelerator, the accelerator.
Come on, come on.
Hit the accelerator, the accelerator.

The Bianco now got right on the Bionic Cheetah's rear bumper as Moltar tried to fire. The laser rifle made a buzzing sound.

"CRAP! It needs to recharge!" he groaned as he climbed back in.

"Don't worry! We'll lose 'em!" Zorak cajoled as he poured on the speed.

Come on!

Kegaleisa was able to keep up with Team Space Ghost and rear-ended them a couple of times. She then pulled up beside them and used her gun to fire a shot through the driver's side window. Zorak and Space Ghost avoided the shot by ducking down. Space Ghost hit another button and made armoured shields slide up over all the Bionic Cheetah's other windows apart from the windshield.

Zorak upshifted and hit the nitrous to try and outdistance the Bianco. Kegaleisa was able to keep up her speed and kept dogging them. The JB 700 had rejoined the chase and the Foyts soon caught up with their partner and kept chasing Team Space Ghost.

Here we come, we're coming fast.
All the others are in the past.
Voices screaming in my head,
Into the future, into the future.

The Bianco and the JB 700 both rear-ended the Bionic Cheetah and pushed it farther down the dirt road. Up ahead, Zorak saw a wooden barricade warning of a sharp turn. He upshifted once again and crashed right through the barricade, falling down a sheer drop.

Come on, come on.
Hit the accelerator the accelerator.
Come on, come on.
Hit the accelerator the accelerator.

The pursuers came to a halt and got out of their vehicles. They both looked over the edge and saw that the Bionic Cheetah had fallen into a deep creek. Kegaleisa and the Foyts grinned to themselves as it looked like Team Space Ghost had drowned.

"Sorry, fellas. Just doing our job." Alice vindictively grinned.

"Hmph! No oil slick. I was hoping the water would be polluted too." Kegaleisa huffed.

"You can't have everything." shrugged Janice as the villains returned to their vehicles and drove off.

Come on, come on.
Hit the accelerator the accelerator.
Come on, come on.
Hit the accelerator the accelerator.

Come on!

-"Accelerator" by Primal Scream.

However, in the depths of the creek, the Bionic Cheetah had undergone a conversion as it had fallen off the ledge and had shifted into an aquatic mode, moving slowly and silently through the water.

"Okay then." Zorak grinned. "All ahead full, and we'll head to Canberra now."

"Roger." replied Space Ghost as they went on their way.

---

Michael parked the Ambitious in front of the jail where Lara and her team had been taken.

"Here we are." he said as he and Buster climbed out. "I wonder what Tobias is planning?"

"Here's what I'm planning." said Tobias as he climbed out of the car wearing a black leather jumpsuit and a wig that looked like Lara's hairstyle.

"Tobias, what are you doing?" asked Michael.

"I plan to enter this ediface of security to rescue the Lady Croft." said Tobias. "The plan involves taking her place while she makes off, then disrobing and claiming I was imprisoned by mistake."

"It was the most ridiculous plan Tobias had ever come up with. And that says a lot."

"Where'd you get the jumpsuit?" asked Buster.

"I found it in the garage while the others were going over the Vulcano." said Tobias. "I can't believe I found a jumpsuit like Lara's. Maybe she'd like a spare."

"That WAS Lara's spare jumpsuit."

"I'm surprised they make it for a woman." said Tobias.

"They ONLY make it for a woman."

"Don't you think they're going to notice your accent?" asked Buster.

"Oh, I don't worry too much about doing a British accent." said Tobias. "Remember Mrs. Featherbottom? That was actually me."

"No. Really?" asked Michael.

"Although you do raise a point." said Tobias. "I'll try to keep my dialogue to a minimum. After all, if you can't handle an accent, you shouldn't try to fake it or your performance will stand out badly."

"Tobias, that's...actually a good acting tip." said Michael.

"I thought so." said Tobias. "Somebody posted it on Actors Exact. That's a website I created for actors such as myself to exchange advice on our trade. We actually managed to get twenty thousand visitors within the first week."

"Twenty thousand?" asked Michael, both surprised and impressed.

"Tobias wasn't lying."

The home page for Actors Exact was shown.

"He had founded an acting website called Actors Exact which had drawn twenty thousand visitors in its first week. But that was mostly due to the Paul Justice incident and a poorly chosen web address."

The URL was shown. It read "actorsexact .com."

"Once the site's true purpose was discovered, all but ten visitors stopped returning."

"Well, I'm off." said Tobias as he marched towards the jail.

"Yikes." said Michael.

"And so, Tobias went to set his plan in motion. Unfortunately, his plan had a tragic flaw that unraveled it within a minute."

"Prisoner escape!" yelled a cop.

A second later, four more police officers tackled Tobias to the ground. A fifth then ran over, struck Tobias with his billy club, and yelled "Oy!"

"This may have been a step backwards." said Michael.

---

Back at Race Central, April O'Neil had set up an interview with Chief Doyle via satellite.

"I hope you don't intend to keep me all morning, love. I have important things to do today." Doyle grumbled.

"I was wondering if it was possible that Lara Croft's team were indeed set up by Big Donnie Cannaglio as the rumor suggests." April stated.

"No offence, but since the Cannonball Run IS an illegal race, it was only a matter of time before some of the participants decided to take part in some other illegal activities to spice things up a bit." Doyle snidely remarked.

"With all due respect, sir, I took part in the Cannonball back in 1987 and the only illegal thing that happened there was the violation of the speed limit." April indignantly stated.

"So you say." Doyle scoffed. "For all I know, you yourself could have had a drug habit back in those days with all that garbage you talked about 'ninja turtles'. Not to mention all the taste I know you had for weird pizza toppings!".

"EXCUSE ME?!" April snapped.

"Look, love. Leave the important work to the men here, okay? You go and make a cup of tea, coffee, or whatever you Yanks drink these days. I have important duties to attend to. Goodbye." Doyle smirked as he signed off.

"That sexist, condescending..." April snarled as she balled her fists.

"HEY! Get a grip!" Gloria Baker insisted as she came over and held April back.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Big Donnie has that guy on his payroll!" April growled.

"You may have a point there, April." Bulletproof stated as he walked over with Brock and Professor Hikita. "That's why we're going to investigate what's going on."

"Hikita-san here was able to find Big Donnie's home address thanks to some computer searching." Brock added.

"We've been watching him anyway. As a drug lord, he's an affiliate of the World Crime League." Hikita nodded. "They didn't all just pack up and go when Hanoi Xan was dealt with."

"Team NUMA are on his trail right now and we were going to give the details to Team Angels as well." Brock informed.

April perked up at the mention of that.

"Could you use an extra pair of hands?" she asked. "If that cop is on Big Donnie's payroll, I want to be the one to prove it to the world! I owe him that much for being such a misogynistic creep!"

Bulletproof looked surprised and impressed by April's bravado.

"I would say it could be dangerous, but I doubt you'd care about that." he sighed.

"Believe me, the way I feel right now, no low-level criminal would dare mess with me!" April snarled. "And there is a reason why I'm called an INVESTIGATIVE reporter."

"Okay." Brock agreed as he made a pacifying gesture. "We'll have Bullseye fly you over there as soon as he gets his ride fired up."

"And I think we have a road vehicle which should be of good use to you." added Hikita.

---

The police marched Tobias into a holding cell next to the one Lara's team were in.

"Oh, bloody hell!" said Lara. "Is that my spare jumpsuit?"

"I only wore this as a distraction." said Tobias. "It was part of a plan to misdirect them. Relax, I wouldn't try to rip off your outfit."

Lara looked a little perplexed. "What's the status on the race officials' actions?" she asked.

"I don't know." said Tobias. "But I know that Michael is probably working on something right now."

---

In the hangar, Jordan answered the phone. "Cavanaugh." she said.

"Jordan, it's Michael Bluth."

"How's the rescue going?" asked Jordan.

"Not well." said Michael.

"Why not?" asked Jordan.

"Well, Tobias had a plan..." said Michael.

"Say no more." said Jordan. "We have to come up with a plan of our own."

"What kind of plan?" asked Michael.

"We're working on it." said Jordan. "In any case, we have to get a message to Lara and her group about a rescue. You're going to have to do that."

"How am I going to get in there?" asked Michael.

"Find some way to get a meeting with her." said Jordan. "You just go in there posing as someone in authority, have a meeting with Lara, talk for a long time, blah blah blah..."

"Hold on." said Michael. "I know how to get in there and get the message to Lara."

---

Back at his headquarters, the annoyed Chief Doyle took another unwanted video conference. This time it was with Banner and Baxter, who were annoyed at CRAP being blocked from entering Australia by Doyle's task force.

"If what you say is right and the Cannonball really is a front for drug smuggling, then CRAP has every right to get involved!" Banner protested.

"This is an Australian affair, and it will be dealt with by Australian authorities!" Doyle snapped. "Besides which, as far as I've heard, your team has done sweet damn all to stop the Cannonball thus far. So it looks like the acronym for your team is very appropriate right now."

"Hey!" protested Baxter.

"I tell ya what, mate." Doyle sighed in irritation. "You can send ONE team of your CRAP operatives into this country. They can deal with all the other Cannonballers and they bloody well better stay out of my way! Be grateful I'm allowing you to do that."

Banner and Baxter sighed deeply.

"Deal." they both groaned.

---

Yogostein drove the Garnet towards Canberra. He searched for Lidell after the latter had failed to check in with a progress report.

As the Land Pollution Minister got near the city, he saw that the Slate had been moved over to the side of the road and Lidell sat asleep behind the wheel.

Yogostein pulled the Garnet over and got out. As he approached the Slate and opened the driver's side door, he heard Lidell talking in his sleep.

"Mango. My Mango." Lidell mumbled.

Yogostein shook Lidell awake.

"Lidell, what's..." Yogostein began.

"WHAT?!" Lidell yelled as he woke up and looked irritated. "What do ya want?!"

"Well, I..." Yogostein tried to say.

"WILL YOU GET OUTTA HERE!" Lidell screamed. "Ya think I'm playin' games? I need to be left alone! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!"

"Cool. Cool." Yogostein nervously whispered as he stepped back.

"Just leave me alone with my dream." Lidell grumbled.

---

Back at the hangar, Jordan had just received a phone call from Priss.

"I understand you're going to be busting Lara out." Priss remarked.

"That's right." Jordan replied. "Can you help us out?"

"Sure thing." Priss answered. "I'm texting you a GPS route right now. Send it to Lone Wolf as well. If you follow those directions, some local street racers can help us out."

"Okay. Thanks." Jordan nodded as the text came through and she checked it out. She grinned to herself and forwarded the text to Lone Wolf.

---

In the jail...

"Miss Croft?" asked the jailer. "Your lawyer's here."

"That was fast." remarked Lara. The jailer led her to the meeting area. She found Michael waiting for her. "Ah, my lawyer." she said, winking at him.

"Nice to meet you." said Michael. "I am Lady Croft's lawyer, Bob Loblaw."

"Ah, yes." said Lara. "May we have a moment alone?"

"Sorry, regulations." said the jailer.

"Okay, Lara." said Michael. "We took a look at your case. We're doing everything to get you out of here."

"I certainly hope so." said Lara. "They arrested an innocent group. Those were not our drugs."

"I know that." said Michael. "Don't worry. We should have you out of here in ten minutes. The jailers will be so surprised, they won't know what hit them."

Lara thought about Michael's words, then realized what he meant. "I see." she said.

"I knew you would." said Michael. "Now, there is someone else you wanted me to see, a Mr. Tobias Funke."

"Yes." said Lara. "Excuse me, can you bring Mr. Funke in here?"

"Is this some kind of a trick?" asked the jailer.

"Please!" said Lara. "I didn't come out here to talk nonsense to Bob Loblaw."

"Fine." said the jailer. He went into the cells and brought out Tobias.

"Oh!" said Tobias. "It's good to see you, Michael!"

Michael quickly handed him a business card he'd saved from the real Bob Loblaw.

"Michael." muttered Tobias. "It's good to see you, MY COOL friend! How ARE you?"

"I am fine, Mr. Funke." said Michael. "So, I understand you also need legal assistance."

"Please, you have to get me out of here!" pleaded Tobias. "I feel like Kathryn Erbe on 'Oz'! Please, do what you must!"

"Relax, you'll be out of here in no time." said Michael. "Eight minutes, tops. In the meantime, I got you something to tide you over."

He took out a small box of cupcakes and handed them to Tobias.

"Oh. Cupcakes." said Tobias.

"I hope you enjoy them." said Michael. "There's something good inside." he added, then clicked his teeth.

"Thanks." said Tobias.

---

Empire City...

Batgirl's investigative team sat in a rather disreputable diner. She and Blue Falcon both wore civilian clothes and J'onn wore his human 'disguise'. Dynomutt sat under the table wearing a leash and collar to try and look like a normal dog.

Batgirl looked in disgust at a dinner plate with a triple cheeseburger and some very greasy fries which J'onn had ordered.

"The guy we're going to meet is actually going to eat THAT?" she asked in revulsion.

"Why do you think he's called Greasy?" replied J'onn.

As if on cue, a short man with black hair and a mustache approached the table and sat down.

"The man knows!" The guy grinned as he saw the dinner plate. This was obviously Greasy. He sat down and grinned at the detectives.

"Nice to see you, Greasy." J'onn stated.

"Good to see you too, Mr. Jones." Greasy smirked as he took a bite out of the cheeseburger. "Who are your friends?"

"Just some people I'm thinking of making partners in my agency." J'onn replied.

"So, I understand you're looking for Nightshade?" Greasy inquired.

"That's right." Batgirl nodded.

"You are aware that Big Boss doesn't exactly trust her much any more. Not since she started that romance with that moron C.O.P. Mace." Greasy remarked.

"Nonetheless, we think she may have pulled a job on the West Coast recently." Blue Falcon said.

"It would make sense with her wanting to get away from Empire City." Greasy nodded. "But I did hear that she was in this city a week or two ago and broke into Dr. Badvibes' lab. Took some kind of fancy ray gun from what I heard. But she has been known to operate all over this country. Hell, she has safehouses in just about every state. In fact, I MIGHT have a flash drive with the locations of all of her safehouses on the West Coast."

"How much?" sighed Batgirl.

"I'm not greedy. So, about ten grand should be enough." smirked Greasy.

Blue Falcon sighed and handed over the money. Greasy pocketed the cash and handed over the flash drive from one of his jacket pockets.

"Do you guys even have the time to search all of the safehouses?" Greasy asked.

Batgirl grinned as she remembered the Batwing which was concealed nearby and disguised by a cloaking device.

"I don't think we'll have a problem getting to them in time." she assured.

---

Canberra...

A pair of police officers sat in their cruiser and watched the area around the jail.

"Hey, look at this no-hoper." said one as he pointed to the Rumor.

Dominic sat in the Rumor looking into the passenger seat while talking.

"Yeah? What about this nong?" asked the other as he pointed to the Ambitious.

Buster sat behind the wheel while moving his arms and body stiffly like a robot.

"Hey, don't forget this bloke." said the first as he pointed to the Guardian.

Lone Wolf looked right back at them. "They really have no clue." he whispered to himself.

Behind the cruiser, Memphis crawled under the bumper and slipped a heavy chain over the rear axle. A large truck sat behind him with the Sphinx behind the wheel.

---

At the rear entrance to the jail, Chief Doyle pulled up in his cruiser. He looked very perturbed about something.

As he opened the rear door, he failed to notice a service entrance at the restaurant next door creaking open a little bit and Michael Bluth and Sway peering out.

The two of them waited until Doyle had gone inside and left the rear door ajar.

"Okay. Coast is clear!" Michael whispered.

"Just a second." Sway cautioned as she took out a can of black spray paint and sprayed it in the direction of the security camera at the jail's rear door. She completely blacked out the lens

"Let's hustle." Sway whispered

In the cell area, Doyle and the jailer walked up to the cell Lara and her team occupied. The jailer unlocked the door as Doyle took a few pairs of handcuffs off his belt.

"Okay, moving day for you lot." he said.

"What?" asked Lara. "What's going on?"

"You tell me, darlin'." said Doyle. "First, someone steals your car from impound, then this ratbag goes in impersonating you..."

"Hey!" said Tobias. "Don't refer to me using words I don't know!"

"...then there's your meeting with your lawyer who seems to have gotten here right quick." said Doyle. "Now, forgive me if I sound a tad suspicious."

"You're forgiven." said Lara. "But don't let it happen again."

"So, I've taken it upon myself to move you to a more secure holding cell." said Doyle. He swung open the door and marched in.

Doyle handcuffed Lara behind her back, then the others.

He stepped out and looked at his cellphone as he got a new text alert.

"Damn. I've gotta get to that photo op at my head office." he grumbled.

He turned to the jailer.

"You take these ladies to the high-security cells." he ordered.

"Yes, sir!" the jailer saluted.

Doyle spun on his heel and walked out of the cell block.

The jailer went into the cell to escort the girls.

Nina squeezed her legs together and crouched. "I have to go bad." she groaned.

"There's a toilet right there." said the jailer as he pointed to the toilet in the cell. "Use the bloody thing!"

"I still need someone to unzip me." said Nina. The others groaned.

"Fine." said the jailer.

"And my belt too. Pretty please?" Nina pouted.

The jailer reached over and undid Nina's belt. He then unzipped her jumpsuit slowly until it reached her navel. Despite trying to remain professional, he got quite aroused at the site of Nina in her lingerie underneath her suit.

That had been exactly what Nina had hoped for.

Whilst the jailer was distracted with this job, Anna slipped over behind him and grabbed the keys to the cuffs off his belt.

"Hey, don't do that!" said the guard in surprise as he realized what had happened.

Nina swung her foot into his groin, then hit him with a spin kick, rendering him unconscious.

Anna unlocked her handcuffs and removed them. She went on to unlock Lara's, then Joanna's, and finally Nina's.

With her hands free, Nina zipped her jumpsuit back up and fastened her belt. She looked to the unconscious jailer.

"What kind of girl do you think I am?" she growled at him as she nudged him with her foot.

Lara and her team made their way out of the cell and ran for the exit.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Tobias. "Don't leave T-Bag hanging!

Upstairs, the oblivious Doyle walked out of the rear entrance and closed the door behind him.

After a pause of about twenty seconds, Sway and Michael crept out of the supply closet they had hidden in.

"Thank God this place doesn't have heavy security." Michael whispered.

"Where's Lara and her group?" Sway hissed. "They should have been out by now!"

"Tobias isn't here either." said Michael. "I'll look for them in their cell."

He ran into the cell area and found Tobias in his cell.

"Michael!" said Tobias. "How nice of you to get me out of here."

"Where's Lara?" asked Michael.

"They took her to a separate cell because of your meeting with her." said Tobias.

"Oh no." groaned Michael.

"She and her team should still be in the building." said Tobias. "You can go get her if you hurry."

"Alright, let's do that." said Michael as he grabbed Tobias' cell door. "Time to..." He tried to open the cell only to find it still locked. "Tobias, why didn't you unlock the cell?" he asked.

"Michael, don't be silly." said Tobias. "How can I unlock the cell when I don't have the key?"

"What about the cupcakes?" asked Michael.

"Oh, I flushed those." said Tobias. "Right down the toilet."

"You flushed them down the toilet?" asked Michael.

"I didn't need those trans-fats and complex carbohydrates." said Tobias.

"But there was something good in those cupcakes!" said Michael.

"And something bad as I just mentioned." said Tobias. "Maybe the next time you want to give me a gift, you should remember my need for an actor's physique."

Michael looked at Tobias for a second, then said "There was a lockpick hidden in one of the cupcakes!"

"What?" asked Tobias.

"A lockpick, Tobias!" said Michael. "How could I have not been more clear? What do you think I meant when I said 'There's SOMETHING GOOD in these CUPCAKES'?!"

"Hey!" Sway called from the stairs leading to the cells. Lara and her team were now with her. "Look who I found."

"We'd gone up to the first floor to try and see if we could climb out a window at the back of this place." Anna explained. "I guess we weren't as quiet as we thought since Sway heard us."

Michael sighed. "Would any of you ladies happen to have the keys?"

"Ask and ye shall receive!" Joanna cheered as she threw Michael the keys they had taken from the jailer. Michael quickly unlocked Tobias' cell and Tobias stepped out.

"Can't you take a hint?" Michael asked Tobias in frustration.

"Well, I'm out now." Tobias shrugged.

"That's not the point!" Michael snapped.

"Guys! Later, okay! Let's go!" Sway whispered. The group all headed upstairs into the reception area.

"So, are we just gonna walk out the front door?" Lara incredulously inquired.

"You'll see." winked Michael.

"Just a second." said Sway. She threw an empty soda can out the window.

---

The can landed in the middle of the street. The Cannonballers in the cars and the two officers saw it.

"What was that?" asked one officer.

"Something suspicious." said the other. He quickly started the cruiser and threw it into gear.

Behind them, the Sphinx did the same with the truck, only he put it into reverse and looked to Memphis in the passenger seat.

"Make a wish." said Memphis.

The rescuers and Lara's team came running out of the jail.

"Get 'em!" said the officer.

The Sphinx put the truck's accelerator to the floor and backed it up. In the process, the truck tore police cruiser's front axle off and dragged the cruiser halfway up the block.

Joanna and Sway jumped into the Rumor. "Button up." said Dominic.

Michael led Lara and Tobias to the Ambitious. "Hop in my Chrysler, it's as big as a whale." he said. He opened the door and "Mr. Roboto" was heard over the stereo.

Nina and Anna climbed into the Guardian. "Drive." they chorused.

The drivers started the getaway cars and drove away from the jail. A few police cruisers started to pour into the area.

"Looks like they're more interested in recapturing the ladies than catching those responsible for their release." said the Sphinx.

The getaway cars maneuvered around the approaching cruisers.

In the Ambitious, Buster and Michael lip synched to "Mr. Roboto" while Buster drove away from the jail.

Lone Wolf got on his radio. "We got the girls, all five of them." he said.

"Five?" asked Brock. "Oh yeah, Mr. Funke."

"I was wondering if we could have some getaway music." said Lone Wolf.

"Coming right up." said Jezz Torrent. "Do you have a request?"

"How about a little message to convey." said Lone Wolf as he started up the Guardian and led the Cannonballers down the road at high speed. "A little ditty called 'Runnin' Wild'."

"You got it." said Jezz. Love Fist took to their instruments and and then Jezz began to sing.

I've got the wind at my back and my foot to the floor.
I ain't comin' back to you no more.
I'm sick of your shit and your moaning whine.
I'm leaving you for good come rain or shine.

You can cry me a river, cry me a river of tears.
Yeah you can cry all you like but it won't change my mind.
I gotta get away, get you outta my life...

Lone Wolf lead the getaway cars, following the GPS route that had been provided by Priss.

As the getaway cars sped through Canberra, followed by the police, some of the other Cannonballers had stopped for a rest. Team Rocket had stopped near a local high school and watched some cheerleaders practice. Giselle was also parked nearby and Minnie and Daisy taught the cheerleaders a new victory routine.

"Huh!" snorted Jessie. "You'd think they'd learn something more dignified than spelling out things with their arms."

"Ooh! Those grapes are sour." said James.

The escaping Cannonballers turned into the street the school was in and rushed past, with two police cruisers chasing them.

Giovanni casually glanced at them and said "Good. Some of the OTHER racers have trouble. That'll let us sneak away unnoticed".

You got me runnin' wild and free.
Runnin' wild and free.
You got me runnin' wild and free.
Runnin' wild and free.

Gonna drive all day gonna drive all night.
Whatever it takes to get to the light.
I'm running on rage I'm outta control.
My anger for you is like hot burning coal.

The getaway cars rushed towards a crosswalk.

Lisa Simpson had just come out of a convenience store and tried to cross the road. When she heard the sound of approaching engines, she looked and saw the Ambitious and Rumor heading for the crosswalk. Both cars narrowly missed her. A few seconds later, the Guardian and the cop cars did the same.

Lisa whimpered to herself and quickly crossed the road.

So you can cry me a river, cry me a river of tears.
Yeah you can cry all you like but it won't change my mind.
I gotta get away, get you outta my life...

You got me runnin' wild and free.
Runnin' wild and free.
You got me runnin' wild and free.
Runnin' wild and free.

The chase had reached the highway heading out of the city. By the side of the road, the Wisdom had pulled over and Mortimer worked under the hood while Bob and Bella watched 'Vanishing Point' on the dashboard TV set. The volume was up rather high.

"Hey, guys. Can you turn the TV off? I can't hear myself think here!" said Mortimer.

"Okay, dear." said Bella as she turned the TV off.

As she did so, Lone Wolf's group and their pursuers rushed past them. The three SimCity natives didn't notice, but when she heard the sound of the cop car sirens, Bella gave the TV a bit of a knock, convinced the sound was still coming from the movie.

"Hey, Bob. Can you come look at this a minute?" Mortimer asked.

"Sure." said Bob as he got out of the car and went to look under the hood.

"I think this adjustment could work." said Mortimer as he adjusted something under the hood.

Suddenly, a jet of water shot out of the radiator and hit Bob in the face.

"Sorry." grumbled Mortimer.

You got me runnin' wild, wild and free.
The open road is all I need.
You got me runnin' wild, runnin' free.
It's never gonna be like it used to be.

Hey, Hey, Hey.
Hey, Hey, Hey.
Hey, Hey, Hey.
Hey, Hey, Hey.

The chase went past a road side washroom where Team Looney Tunes took a break. As Bugs, Taz and Wile E. were in the stalls, Daffy had his head in a barrel of water for washing trail dust off. As the getaway cars and the cops passed the washroom, the oblivious Daffy lifted his head out of the barrel and shook himself dry.

"That felt good!" he sighed.

No I won't turn around, I won't turn back.
I've made up my mind and that's a fact.
It's over baby I'm hangin' up this phone.
But before you I go there's just one thing you should know...

Farther down the road, Dick Dastardly had parked the Cataract just across the street from a line of garbage bins.

"This should work just like that magnet gizmo Bat-brain hit us with." he explained his new gadget to his team. "It should pull us closer to the competition and help us to pull them back and take the lead!"

"Let's see!" urged Fearless Leader as Dastardly activated the magnetic device in their front bumper. It began to make one of the wheeled garbage bins roll towards them as Dastardly grinned.

I hope you drown in your river, drown in your river of tears.
Yeah you can cry all you like but it won't change my mind.
I gotta get away get you outta my life...

The bin's left wheel suddenly hit a rock. The pull from the magnet was still so strong that it now dragged the Cataract across the street towards the bins as Dastardly's villain team screamed in protest.

As the Cataract crashed into the bins and got garbage spilled all over it, the getaway cars and the cops sped past.

You got me runnin' wild and free.
Runnin' wild and free.
You got me runnin' wild and free.
Runnin' wild and free.

At a local diner, Team Mystery Inc. had stopped. Shaggy had been playing a game of 'Burger Time' and drinking a milkshake when he heard the approaching sirens.

"Zoinks! A police chase!" he exclaimed as he went to the window to witness the getaway chase. As he watched it, he accidentally squeezed his drink cup too hard and caused his milkshake to be splattered over himself.

"AW, CRUD!" he groaned in frustration.

Yeah you got me runnin' wild and free.
Runnin' wild and free.

As the getaway cars raced past an intersection, a semi truck pulled out into the road and blocked the cops' way briefly. As their pursuers were held back, Lone Wolf's group saw Priss and Charlene waiting in the road ahead of them in formation for a street race. There were several more Australian muscle cars present. They were Charlene's friends she had said would help out.

"Let's go!" Priss yelled as she flipped her visor shut and the vehicle convoy drove off at high speed.

You got me runnin' wild and free.
Runnin' wild and free.

There were a set of railroad tracks along the side of the road. As Priss lead the way, the getaway cars and the street racers raced the train to a crossing just up ahead. Behind them, the cops had got past the semi and were tried to catch up

You got me runnin' wild, wild and free.
The open road is all I need.
You got me runnin' wild runnin' free.
It's never gonna be like it used to be.

With seconds to spare, the Cannonballers and the racers had cleared the crossing just as the train crossed it and blocked the oncoming police cars.

"SHIT!" yelled the lead officer as he pounded his dashboard.

Hey, Hey, Hey.
Hey, Hey, Hey.
Hey, Hey, Hey.
Hey, Hey, Hey.

Runnin' wild!

"Runnin' Wild" by Airbourne.

The escaping vehicles peeled off and went in different directions. Lone Wolf's group made their way back to the hangar.

"Well done." Nina cheered. "So, how's the investigation into who framed us going?"

"A few of our best people are following it up now." Lone Wolf replied. "I think Pitt's bound to be very close to a breakthrough now."

---

Pitt, Giordino, and Gunn entered a roadhouse outside of Alice Springs. The regulars milled about and talked.

"Why are we here?" asked Gunn.

"I thought this would be a good place to make inquiries." said Pitt.

The three men took a seat at the bar.

"Well, ain't seen you around here before." said the bartender. "What brings you to our humble abode?"

"Big Donnie Cannaglio." said Giordino.

The crowd quickly hushed and looked at them.

"Hypothetically speaking." said Giordino.

The crowd went back to their conversations.

"Seriously." said Pitt to the bartender. "He's got something we need and it doesn't belong to him. We need to get into his place and get it out."

A burly man staggered up to them. "You want to go up against Big Donnie?" he asked. "The name's Rango and I think I have something to say about that."

TO BE CONTINUED...