=Midnight, City Center=

Streaks of silver and teal danced in tandem across the Bayview highway. Two shooting stars fought down to the last tread for victory. One of them was a teal Supra with a Veilside bodykit, decked out in flame decals. Kazuo made sure no one would mistake this car when he blew past them on the road. His Supra was a rising celebrity in the City Core district of Bayview. But what about that other car? The spectators listening on the radio to live race updates wondered this as well. It was a silver Plymouth Road Runner that rolled up to the scene out of nowhere. Strangest of all was the cars that followed the Plymouth when they arrived on the scene. They looked specced out, indicating that whoever this group of racers were must've had some serious cash, credit, and respect to be earned. Was this a new crew? From the comfort of the Bayview stadium parking lot, raving crowds overlooked the outcome of the race.

"It's over! It's over, man, Kazuo lost!" All of the comms sounded off together.

The crowds on the bottom floor of the parking lot quickly rushed upstairs when they heard the news. Everyone waited patiently for the victor to pull up - that silver jet that soared its way to the win. It skidded to a stop at the top of the stadium parking lot, so that it could be showered in praise, as well as the Bayview moonlight from above. Then came Kazuo, the loser, following right behind to a spot off towards the side.

"Damn! Who ARE you?! Never been dusted so bad in my life..."

Kazuo's girlfriend, a brunette with a flower in her hair, strutted over to the winner's car for congrats. That was until a sassy feminine voice came from behind.

"Move your ass. Winner's already taken." It was Letty, in all her unabashed attitude that walked up to the Road Runner's driver door, so that she could set free the man she was proud to call her one true and forever - Dominic Torretto.

From the sidelines, Sean leaned up against his Lancer with his girlfriend, Neela, at this side. All he could do was smile at the sheer magnitude of people, cars, and excitement that the scene boasted. This must've been what Dom was preaching about. Even though it wasn't Sean's own victory, the mutual praise and recognition shared between the team was on another level. They could've sworn their cars were on Broadway from the way the crowd fawned over their rides.

Maybe it was the joy of seeing another promising crew in Bayview. Or maybe it was just another typical night in this city. Neela's RX-8, Han's Veilside RX-7, and even Twinkie's love it or hate it Touareg garnered a crowd too.

"Damn, where y'all get rides like this from?"

"Yo, you guys outta town?"

"Are y'all gonna race tonight? Let's see these wheels in action!"

Then Sean felt a familiar hand tap his bicep. Sean looked over to address the contact, happy to see Twinkie already making a hustle with all the cash in his hand. "Check it out, Sean, I'm makin' SO much green just to charge folks to take a snap with my car! Benjamins, Benjamins, BenjaMINS baby! HAHA!"

Sean rolled his eyes and chuckled. He was pretty sure they were laughing at Twinkie's car! Not fawning over it!

Good thing Dominic and his crew savored as much as they could. Because like a flip of a switch, all attention was sucked away from them.

First came a plethora of bass that sounded like it was from a mobile parade. It was faint at first, but got clearer and louder the more the anomaly rose from the depths of the parking garage. Groups of chanting fans from every direction in the parking lot rushed to the entrance, shouting praises for whoever it was.

"Yo, homie, it's the Eastsiders!"

"Hell, yeah, let's GOOO!"

"Bro, it's Eddie, man! C'mon!"

Han and everyone else stood idly by letting their clothes be rustled by the blistering fans that flew by. There was an ominous sound easily recognized by those who knew what it was and feared it. The sound of the top dog of the import food chain - the haunting RB26 from the R34 Skyline. And then there was that bass again that could rival an earthquake with the way it shook the ground - A sound system from somewhere in the masses that overpowered everything in the stadium.

"OH SHIIIT!"

"YOOOO!"

"Eddie's here!"

One holler after the other. Dom and Letty stepped away from their now disregarded Road Runner and looked back toward their crew.

"'Bout time we meet the big dogs around here." Han murmured.

"That's what all this hootin' and hollerin' is for?" Asked Sean.

"Who else would it be?" Han replied, tossing a chip into his mouth. "Let's see if they live up to the praise."/

Now at the top level at the parking garage, the Eastsiders made their grand entrance. Every crowd from left to right was bathed in metallic orange and the matching orange underglow, all of which beamed off of Eddie's Skyline. It was like a rolling concert with everyone and their mother jumping up and down with the beat that hit to the core, acting a fool all over the parking garage.

Never seen or heard without some crunk music from Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz, the iconic street racing gang coasted closer towards the center of the lot, where an eager Dom awaited introductions. The entire backseat of that Skyline had its interior customized for the sole purpose of hyping the crowd up with its subs. And you'd better believe the crowd was beyond hype, chanting, "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK," to the song that was conveniently named after those lyrics.

As the Eastsiders pulled up into the top floor of the stadium parking lot, they parked in a formation that blocked any exit out of the parking garage. Han promptly picked up on this and noticed that if they wanted to leave, the Eastsiders assured that it wouldn't happen. And Han knew this was the case, especially with the looks on Eddie and his girlfriend's faces as they stepped out of their car. For a while, Eddie let the crowd rave and worship him to the song and whatnot until he had his fill and waved everything quiet with his finger hovering above his lips. To Dom's surprise, he watched as the music and crowds obeyed him, and winded down to a whisper - minus the occasional whistle and shout of Eddie's name here and there, like, "I love you, Eddie!"

All cool-like, decked out in matching orange varsity jackets that boasted the name of their crew, Eddie and Melissa eyeballed the new kids on the block with disapproving glares. Eddie then shot his look toward tonight's loser, the driver of that teal Supra. Right away, Eddie could sniff out the just of what happened and called Kazuo out on his business.

"Kazuo. What was your wager?"

Kazuo traded a look between Dom and his crew. He was a bit confused to see Eddie hold off on introducing himself to the out of town guests. Nevertheless, Kazuo answered, "We settled for twenty grand a pop."

Eddie sucked his teeth and finally took a few steps towards Dom's direction. "Damn. So you planned on walkin' away with twenty stacks on my block? I hear that right?"

No way Dom was backing down. He kept his back straight and answered with a quip. "Your boy didn't stutter, did he?"

Then Letty threw another one in. "You deaf? Let me slow it down for you so you can understand. Twenty. Thousand. Dollars. Won fair and square. You get all that?"

Both Letty and Dom could spot where the confrontation was going a mile away, so they spared no time in returning the hostile tone. Eddie sized them up and pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked more frustrated than pissed.

"I see. So, we got us a couple of badasses. Kazuo, what were you doin' sweatin' these guys?"

"Shit, Eddie, I didn't think it'd be a big deal. This dude was rollin' a '70. Old ass set of wheels, man. I thought it'd be easy pickings!"

"But you let him smoke you…" Melissa corrected.

After her words were uttered, the vibe seemed to flip. There was a coldness in her tone and the way she looked at him. Eddie and the rest of the thugs mirrored it. Dom saw the shift, and the restless heads in the crowd - some of them with anxious/scared looks and others with an appetite for drama looking to be fed. A fire seemed to be lit in Eddie's eyes as he stepped closer to the poor man put on the spot.

He repeated his girlfriend's words in a disappointed tone, "You let him smoke you. On our block." Eddie shook his head and huffed. "Keys, Kazuo."

"Goddamn, my bad, Eddie! I just put a fuckin' mortage in that car! You can't just take-"

"-Shut the fuck up and give me those keys."

Kazuo stared at Eddie. Then to thugs stepping closer and closer to the confrontation, their hands buried in the back of their jeans reaching for steel. One last look was given to Dom. Kazuo was basically pleading through his eyes for help. Dom kept his arms crossed. Letty kept one eyebrow arched. Han just kept munching away. Dom's crew stayed solid, unwavered by the lingering hostility in the air; they made it clear that Kazuo was fighting for himself. As soon as Kazuo fished out his keys, one of the Eatsiders' goon snatched it from his hand.

"Eddie… c'mon, man. This is fucked up…" Pleaded Kazuo.

Eddie was tossed the keys to the Supra. He cackled as he turned the key fob over in his palm and glanced at his girlfriend. "You don't like Supras do you, babe?"

Melissa blinked once and deadpanned, "Supras are boring."

Eddie sneered. "Yeah, I'm in the same boat."

He tossed the keys over his shoulder, not even bothering to look behind him as the crowd erupted into chaos for who got the free car.

It was such a heinous act, it even garnered a whistle out of Letty. "Damn. That is fucked up…"

"You ain't lyin'," Agreed Sean.

Dom tightened his jaw and kept his eyes locked on Eddie.

Anybody in their right mind would be crashing out after having their car stolen, only to be thrown away to some random Ordinary Joe. No surprise, Kazuo dropped any respect he had for Eddie and threatened him at the top of his lungs. "You shitting me?! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Before Kazuo could connect the punch he threw, a fist met his jaw, courtesy of one of the bodyguards. Kazuo thudded to the ground and let blood crawl out of his busted lip. The guard moved to dish out another hit for safe measure, but Eddie stopped him.

"Nah, that should be enough." Eddie said this while dragging his sneakers over Kazuo's trembling body, shaking from pain and anger - none of which he himself could do anything about.

Melissa and her heels clicked to catch up to Eddie; she snaked her arms around his bicep, and he returned the favor with a hand on the back of her low-rise jeans.

Finally, with no other distractions, Eddie came face-to-face with Dom. "It's alright to be a hotshot. I don't got a problem with that. We all gotta start somewhere. Just make sure it ain't on my block from here on out."

Eddie tossed a look back to Kazuo and his chin caked in blood. Looking back to Dom, he chuckled, as if he was saying through his smile, "Or you'll be next."

Here came Todd rolling his shoulders right behind Eddie, snickering, "'Preciate you warmin' the crowd up for us. But the main attraction's arrived. You can take a hike now."

"Oh, and, don't forget about your fee," Eddie added, eyeballing the wad of winner's money jutting out from Dom's pocket. "My spotlight ain't free."

Dom chuckled. "Your spotlight?"

"What? You thought my fans were actually impressed by this…-" Eddie shook his head and gently elbowed Melissa; both of them looked towards the Road Runner, "-babe, what is this?"

"Looks ancient," she replied in her usual bored tone.

Eddie laughed as he took his eyes off the car and put them back on to Dominic. "This must've been what the cavemen used to outrun the dinosaurs." Every end of the crowd laughed, even though the joke was hardly amusing nor made a lick of sense.

Dom shrugged. "Looks to me like your fans were enjoying themselves. Maybe the main attraction's all played out."

"Word, son," Chimed in Twinkie. "You ain't gotta trip just 'cause we stole your thunder."

Letty kept up the momentum with a tease of her own. "Yep. Stole it, and ran circles around you clowns with it. The crowd loves us. Boo hoo. Cry about it."

"Yeah, you might wanna go on 'head and get used to it," Sean added. "We ain't finna leave any time soon."

From one end to the other, every group of spectators "OOO'D" at the hostile exchange. Some of them were eager for some new blood. Others not a fan of the newcomers, and let them know with a few boo's and curse words hurled at them.

Melissa drug out a groan from the back of her throat and rolled her eyes toward her boyfriend. "Babe, why are we wasting our time with them? Let's just waste 'em and get it over with. I'm tired."

With one sweep of his arm, Eddie threw off his jacket so that everyone could be treated to his jacked arms. One hand slicked up his spiked blonde hair, and the other made a fist as he walked up closer to Dom. Instinctively, Letty, Han, Sean, and the others got closer as well in case things took a turn for the worst. Behind them, the crowds all flipped out their phones to capture shots of the hostility.

"Know what? I'm tired too." Eddie started with an aggressive bite to his already deep voice. "I dunno what it is about Bayview that keeps attractin' all these posers. But because you think you're hot shit on my corner, the Eastsiders are gonna make an example out of you." Eddie took one step closer to Dom's face. "Now, imma give you one last chance to make it a little less embarrassin' for you. Fork up the cash that you won on my streets."

With his arms crossed, Dom let loose a nonchalant chuckle. One glance was taken beside Eddie so that he could see the other members of the Eastsiders, Chad, Kurt, and Todd waiting for their boss' orders. Then there was the crowd very much so biased towards Eddie. So Dominic knew he was screwed and more than outnumbered. But backing down was never his thing. Even among impossible odds.

He threw a look to Letty, and the look on her face said it all, "I gotcha Dom. Just say the word and I'll knock his ass out."

For now, Dominic would concede and play along with Eddie's game. Although, not without his own form of a "fuck you." Dom fished out the money he won from Kazuo and let it dance in between his fingers, dangling it in Eddie's face.

"This is yours, right?" Dom teased, before letting the wad fall in between their feet. Eddie watched as the wad unraveled thanks to the breeze, and let the money swim in the late night air. The crowd began hollering again, urging for someone to fight already. Dom grinned and flicked his head down at the ground between them. "Fetch. You might as well suck my dick while you're down there."

"OOOOOHHH!"

"Yo, he did not just say that!"

"Aye, fuck that man up, Eddie!"

"What the fuck did you just say, asshole?! You think we're just screwing around with you?!" Melissa shouted in a tone she rarely used and came in with a clenched fist, but Letty was just as fast, posting herself up by Dom's side. Melissa paused, then threw on a taunting smirk, beckoning Letty to take the first swing. "Try it, girl, I'd knock you dead."

"Oh, I would LOVE to see you try, Barbie. Does mommy and daddy know their princess is out here tyrin' to play badass?"

Eddie's hand pulled Melissa away. He stepped up even closer to Dom, the two men the same height and noses centimeters apart. "You're gonna wish you hadn't."

One snap of Eddie's fingers later, and Chad, Kurt, Todd and some members from the crowd began surrounding Dominic's car.

"Whoa! Aye, hold up!" Twinkie shouted, trying his best to prevent the group from getting to Dom's car.

But big burly brutes bulldozed their way through. Even Sean and Dominic himself couldn't stop the swarm of burly muscle that took over them in a flash. Eddie backed up, a grin on his face as he watched his influence go to work.

"Back off!" Letty shouted, as she saw a crowbar, somewhere in the crowd, dive into the Road Runner's windshield.

Then went the tires…

Then went the lights...

"Ungh!" A heap of insults and grunts flew out of Dom's mouth as he shoved off one thug to another. After all, Dom was a brute himself, and he scored a few punches onto the thugs that had the stones to test Dom's power.

But then came Han's hands fighting against Dom's shirt. Han did his best to hold Dominic back, but was failing miserably. "Dom! Don't! Let it go, man!" Han was right. He could spot flashes of silver nestled in the jeans of certain hostiles that went to work on the Plymouth. Seems like the Eastsiders loyalists were packing much more than just reckless devotion. "You heard him! We're on their turf! DOM!" Finally, Dom paused enough to look at the severeness in Han's eyes. Through shaky breaths, Han continued his plea, "We just have to let it happen, Dom. Just this once."

What were they to do? So just like the rest of the large number of crowds that spectated, Dom and his crew watched as his Plymouth was taken apart, wrecked, and beaten down to the last bolt. A molotov cocktail was the icing on the cake. And everyone was treated to dancing flames dressing the sad heap that was once a proud, beautiful work of Dom and Letty's own hands. The fire that blazed in Dom's heart was even hotter than his own car.

A boisterous laugh came from Eddie as he and his crew began leaving the scene. "Consider that a hospitality gift. Welcome to my city." He hopped in his passenger seat and let his girlfriend drive them away. The other Eastsider's members backed up and let the numerous spectator cars leave the parking lot. Kurt pointed at the Bandoleros, specifically Han and the other remaining cars that were spared the fate of Dom's Road Runner. "Don't come around here no more. Or you'll ALL be next. And this time, it won't be just your rides getting jacked up…"

=Later That Night, Dom's Hideout=

Adrenaline made Dom's ear ring in tune with his heartbeat. Not for a second did his hands unclench themselves, even though Letty pleaded so for the thousandth time. She hated seeing him like this- in a trance of his own violent thoughts of what he wished he could do to somebody. Truth be told, Dom just hated feeling like he lost. He felt like he already failed his crew. His own promises. If Eddie wasn't surrounded by miles and miles of people willing to go to jail for him, tonight would've been a much different story. And it was that version of the story that Dominic couldn't stop thinking about.

Their hideout was an easy to miss little spot just shy of the city outskirts. Humble beginnings. After all, Dom's crew was new in town, so a small town home was to be expected until they could upgrade to a more spacious location. For now, it served its purpose, and offered enough room for them to store their cars and operate. Dom was still fuming by the time Letty demanded that he take a shower, go to bed, and clear his mind.

Over in the living room, Twinkie was already neck deep into the information highway so that they could begin planning their first move in retaliation. Specifically, it was a web forum dedicated towards the street racing scene in Bayview. "So, peep this, right?" Twinkie started, leaning back in his chair so that they could get a better look at the computer he was working at. "This is what we got. Whooole lotta game all through the city, really. I mean, it's like gang warfare with all these crews they got out here. But the main ones we should pay attention to are from this dude right here. They call this dude, 'Booke', right? Check this out. A ton of crews are owned by this dude, and the biggest one he has is guess who?"

"Eastsiders." Answered Letty.

"Yessir. And that ain't all. Looks like our boy D.K. is runnin' with Booke too. See this place called Jackson Heights?" Everyone followed Twinkie's finger to the top of the screen that showed an online map of Bayview. "Word is D.K.'s already puttin' in work up there. They call the joint 'Little Tokyo' now. All because of Takashi."

Sean chuckled and confidently crossed his arms. "Looks like I'll have to put that boy in his place again."

Not so amused was Neela, who promptly shook her head. "I just hate to think that Takashi came out here. Why did he have to come to the same city as us?"

Sean caressed her shoulder and reassured her with a confident look. "He ain't no threat to nobody out here. 'Specially you. I'll make sure of that." She nodded and he comforted her even more with a kiss on her cheek.

"Alright. How soon do we start?" Asked Letty.

Han shrugged towards her. "Can't do anything without rep."

"You ain't wrong," Twinkie started. "But that's where this other chick comes into play." He said, clicking over to a tab that featured forum members discussing another urban legend in the underground. "You got this broad, Rachel Teller, over here who's got ties all through the city. Says here she can hook you up with some tight connections if you got the green and the rep. Shoot, one look at our portfolio and she'd be crazy not to hook us up. That's how we get our foot in the door out here, you feel me?"

"Hmm," hummed Letty. "Right. Connections are what we need more than anything right now. Especially if we don't want what happened tonight to keep happening."

"Sounds simple enough," Neela added. "Sooo… what do we do? Do we just find a way to contact her and ask her to represent us?"

"Nope. Doesn't seem to be that simple." Han said, squinting his eye at the forum posts on the screen.

"Huh? Why not?" Letty asked.

"Well… says here on these posts that Ms. Teller started her own crew not too long ago and has been hard to get a hold of ever since. Seems like she's taken a step back. A bit of a hands off approach to her game."

"So," Letty groaned, "We're out on our own and shit out of luck."

"It ain't no fun if it's all free handouts anyway," Sean said with a determined smirk on his face. "I don't mind startin' all the way from the ground up."

"Good," Han said, stepping away from the computer and tossing a chip in his mouth. "Looks like 'ground up' is this city's industrial district. Coal Harbor. When we're all set, we should start building our rep over there."

"Aye, that sounds good to me." Twinkie said, getting up from the sofa with a smile on his face. He dapped up Sean. "Ready to do this thing, man? Get some payback for what they did to our boy?"

Sean looked back and forth between his best friend, his girlfriend, and the rest of his teammates. "Ain't gotta tell me twice. Let's give this town a run for its money."

"More than just a run," came Dom's booming voice from the entry of the hallway.

Letty groaned and cocked her hips. "What's the matter, Dom, I thought I told you to crash early for tonight? You're still heated."

"Relax. I'm fine." He countered. He walked up to the team circle and repeated himself. "More than just a run. I know tonight was rough. For all of us...-"

"-Especially you," came a snarky remark from Letty.

Dom smirked at her. "'Especially me', she says. *Chuckles* Yeah. That's true. But if anything, this is just more motivation to do what we so best. Win. We'll strike back, team. And we'll strike hard." Dom's fingers dove into his pockets and fished out a key to his next project car labeled, "Daytona." He smiled and nodded one last time at them to conclude his motivational speech. "By the time we're finished with Eddie… and this whole city… no one will even remember who they are."