=A Couple of Weeks Later=
With Oscar's permission and Rachel's approval, the team procured another spot to store their cars, work on parts, and just chill. Six-One-Nine was known to be a popular start-up garage in San Diego, and garnered a niche following. Brian would have no problem dumping his life savings into the shop a second time around and become his number number one customer all over again. It helped to have a secondary garage, so that it wouldn't get too crowded anyway.
You could say that the engine bay of a car was Brian's second home. His nose was always buried deep into it, imagining different tunes, setups, and layouts that could benefit a car's use. It was even better when it was his own car that he was working on. And now that the shipment from Miami finally came in, Brian was having a slumber party every night under the hood of his Evo. The jingle from his keys as he turned the ignition was drowned out by the sound of his Evo thundering to life.
"How does she sound?"
Brian was almost too distracted to notice Rachel leaning through the open window on the passenger side, her elbows resting on the window seal. "Like she's missed me. God knows I've missed her. Can't wait to get her back out on the streets." Turning off the car, Brian sat back in his seat and gave Rachel his full attention.
"I'm swingin' by to give you some good news," she said as she opened the door and plopped herself down in the passenger seat.
An extra shift in weight was felt on Brian's driver side, and he looked to see Angie leaning against his door while she wiped oil off her hands. "Heya, Rachel, what brings you here to the cool kids spot?" She sarcastically greeted as she slung the oil rag over her shoulder.
"Oh good, Angie, you're here too. Anyone else?"
"Nah. Just me and Goldilocks today," a playful nudge was given to the back of Brian's head.
"Fine, check it out. Oh, and, be sure to relay this to the team. Our crew's been raisin' up some serious hype out there. We've caught the eyes of a couple of sponsors," Rachel said while holding up two letters from StreetGlow and EUROLITE. "As a team, we can sign with any one of these guys, and you can bet that the coin and the prop will be off-the-hook."
Brian took one letter and handed the other to Angie.
"We're getting some serious recognition already," Brian thought out loud. "Nice to know our hard work's paying off."
"It is. I'm proud of all of you. But now that we got some hype, it's time to start thinkin' about our first big move."
"What, we're finally gonna take on T.K.?" Brian asked.
"Mm mm. Not just yet."
"Why the hell not?!" Came a frustrated reply from Angie.
"Y'see, word on the street is that the Urban Maulers still aren't too threatened by us. So. We need to give 'em a reason to be. One of these nights, we need to go all out. Where we can't be ignored."
Eavesdropping on the conversation, Oscar came over and voiced an idea. "You need the attention, mama? I gotcha an idea."
"Sure, Ozzie. What'cha got?"
"There's this group of chicks that call themselves the Vixens. Besides the Urban Maulers, they run the east side of Coal Harbor. They're, eh, like a step below T.K. and his boys. Take 'em on, and take 'em out. All the vatos in Coal Harbor gonna want your crews to race each other. Cruise by one of their spots and check em' out."/
=Later that Evening=
One of Brian's bad habits was a terrible sense of time. He'd find himself with a new task for his car, then maybe two or three minutes later, his mind was gone into the hypnotic world of tuning. Light from the outside street lamps splashed into the open garage floor, where Brian's car was parked. It must've been around eleven o'clock now. He probably figured it was still in the evening.
"Oi! Brian! We closin' up shop for tonight. You all done?"
Rolling out from underneath his car, he was then made aware of his surroundings - a nice late night breeze sweeping through the place. Familiar screams of modded engines in the distance, ready to get the late night shenanigans started. And then there was the fact that the garage was empty. Everyone was gone. Angie's Charger from earlier was absent; she must've left some time ago. Even the customer cars that came to get worked on earlier were left, with only the tire treads that stained the concrete as a hint. Suddenly, upon realizing how late it was, fatigue hit Brian like an uppercut.
He stood up from his roller and ran a tired hand down his blonde locks. "Oh, shoot. My bad, Ozzie, guess I was just so stoked to have my Evo back, I zoned out."
"Aye, don't sweat it, holmes. I know better than to bother you when you're in the zone. That's when the magic happens."
Brian looked down at his car and shrugged. "'Nothin' to it, man. Just listening to what she needs."
For a minute, the two men went on the millionth tangent about tuning that day. It was just like old times in Oscar's original shop in San Diego. Though… now that Brian thought about it, something was missing. Brian looked around the garage for a second. Once he figured out what it was, he pointed it out to Oscar.
"Say, bro? Whatever happened to that Monte Carlo you were working on? It was a '78, I think? That thing was all sorts of wicked. Dude, don't tell me you sold it."
"'Sold'?! C'mooon, B, you know me better than that!"
"Alright, so, where is it then?!"
One second later, and Oscar had Brian poised in front of a covered lump of steel in one of the storage rooms of the garage.
Two seconds later, Oscar proudly yanked the tarp from the car, and let the tuxedo black paint blind him in all its glory.
Three seconds later and Brian was being hypnotized by the 22inch DUB wheels that spun into a burnout.*
In Oscar's passenger seat, Brian rolled down the window and let the bass of the subwoofers breathe out into the midnight air. Oscar blasted west coast rap as he took Brian in a ride that he claimed was gone. Brian was glad to see it still in Oscar's possession. One random conversation to the next, and the two partners were reminded of simpler times back in San Diego. Well, simple for Oscar, but not so much for Brian. After all, he was on the run.
Oscar decided to mention this as he brought up the whereabouts of Brian's previous car. "So what about you, eh? What happened to that sweet red Mitsubishi you had?"
One eyebrow furrowed to the other as Brian descended into his thoughts for a moment. It had been quite a while since it was taken from him back when he was on the run. "Ohhh, you mean that VR4, huh?"
"Si, si, that's the one. You still got it?"
"Nah… she's long gone."
No need to go into detail. That was enough. Brian really didn't want to get into the nitty and gritty of his past as a fugitive cop on the run. That'd just complicate things to an unnecessary extent. He carried this thought over to the idea of his teammates finding out. Would they think he was a shitty person if they found out the truth of his past? That he used to be a cop? Brian let out a huff. It was a secret that should remain that way. No need for them to know anyway, now that he swore off the police life completely and was, now, fully committing himself to the street racing life he loved so much.
"'Sides, I got something better."
"Huh? Oh, I get it. A little surprise for us, eh?"
Brian chuckled, letting glimpses of silver and blue flash across his mind. His infamous car that he, thank the car gods, still had in hiding back in Miami, waiting for the right moment to unleash it. "Just wait until you see my Skyline…"