S2, E3 | The Lava Stratum

Slamming against the ground and splintering into dozens of pieces before heating up as it cooks along the ground, Caesar’s recon bots roll to a horrifyingly hot pause whilst racers they’d intended to service speed past at blistering speeds. “Drivers, do not slow down” Caesar proclaims, watching the cameras of those who enter the stratum whilst monitoring the heat of each vehicle, “I have reason to believe that your tires may melt if you remain stationary for too long.”

“Screw our tires! What about us!” Alec proclaims, his McLaren’s all-black exterior perfectly reflecting the thin streams of lava that line either edge of the track, travelling alongside the course as if they were designed to keep the racers within boundaries. “Yeah, you may not realise this Caesar... But it’s pretty damn hot in here!” Ronny proclaims, travelling behind Taro in lieu of Mark’s absence.

“You’re not driving chariots, boys! You’ve got an A.C” Eric tags on, cranking his to the highest setting whilst following Lana’s lead, checking his rear view mirror to find a lone straggler remaining a few dozen yards behind him. “It isn’t that bad on the bikes” Pat remarks, driving on his own as he veers past the Crew vehicles without instigating issues, advancing closer toward Kaiyo’s tail end whilst inspecting the surroundings, “the air doesn’t feel that hot when it’s hitting you in the face.”

“You better hope it’s just the air that’s hitting you and your friends then, outlaw” Alec responds, poking the bear that Caesar’s interruption proceeds to ensure goes without a reply. “Be mindful of your tires. My readings indicate that you should be able to make it to the end, but you might start losing traction throughout the race” the scientist proclaims, warning those that look back to find black cars appearing through the portal with their green lights shining bright.

“This place looks wild” Kurt remarks, setting his aviator shades over his face as the already-dim landscape grows dimmer, as do the intense streaks of bright lava along his sides. Gargantuan in size compared to their vehicles, the volcano in the centre of the stratum that actively leaves the ground shaking at its behest proceeds to gradually allow liquid rivers of orange to gush over the edge and toward the directions in which the drivers will be forced to navigate.

“Kaiyo, it seems like things are only about to get hotter” Nolo remarks, the topless nature of his convertible affording him the same decent breeze that the DSRC catches, a result that prompts Taro to begin rolling his own roof back in hopes of catching the same. “We’re going inside the damn thing?” Alec complains aloud, rolling his eyes as he settles into his seat, watching the same hole in the side of the volcano that Kaiyo dips into as it approaches.

As the yellow light at the back-left of his Spyder begins to blink the moment he enters the bubbling monstrosity, Nolo leads Kaiyo down the left-most track whilst the Crew quickly follows them in, choosing to take the right turn as a trio whilst the rest catch up. “Pretty ballsy move not taking the straight-away” Alec remarks through the radio, knowing the others are just barely within reach to hear his communication, guiding the Esteemed in the direction the initial track had carried them.

“To the right, boys” Dale proclaims, guiding his Fury in the direction that the Crew had taken whilst Pat carries on in the opposite direction, following the left-most course to the leader’s displeasure. “Worthless little son of a-” the DSRC’s leader begins to murmur as he catches the faintest glimpse of the breakaway driver’s tail lights through his mirrors, only to be kept from finishing the thought at Tyson’s interruption.

“He made his call and you let him. If he’s worthless, it was you that allowed him to be” Butch’s son remarks, leaving little room between his recollection and follow-up for offence to be taken, “stop focusing on Pat and start focusing on getting us to the finish line.” Begrudgingly putting his differences aside with the man he’d been convinced to bring along, Dale grits his teeth and presses the tops of his feet against the pegs as he glues his eyes to the rear lights of the Crew.

“Divide them evenly. Leave no route untaken” the bald gentleman at his conference table remarks, watching the cameras of his automated cars carry themselves into the volcano, leaving his employee to do as instructed. Breaking into smaller groups of four, the corporation vehicles follow each of the three passageways in rows, drafting together and embracing the heat of the artificially-created monolith at the stratum’s centre a few seconds before a following group of cars also do.

“The centre path is the clearest path” the man in the front-most vehicle remarks, looking into his rear-view mirror to see five sets of purple headlights flashing at him three times, gesturing their understanding of his comment. In a single-file line, the black vehicles and their wonderfully colourful lights descend amongst the middle-most route whilst the air outside only grows hotter, intensifying the longer that the volcano threatens to explode into an eruption of incredible heat.

= Driveline is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and his entity of Pacer1 from the start of Season 1 onwards =

“Hey, Alec! I think we’ve still got someone tailing us!” Eric proclaims, gently pulling off to the side just the faintest amount to give the leader a glance at the pursuing vehicle from his rear view mirror. “It looks like one of those street punks” Ross remarks, checking the reflection just as the group’s leader does, only for that conclusion to already have been brought on by the Esteemed’s shot-caller.

“I figured you’d be trying to follow your brother now that your squad cut you loose” Alec proclaims, calling back to the driver that had remained silent in his observation of the leaders until this moment. “You and I have some unfinished business too” Mark responds, laying his foot into the pedal as he gains ground on the leader, catching a glimpse at a divide within the track up ahead, “it seems like we’ve got the same choice as a minute or so ago coming up. What do you say you and I take the right course and your buddies go left?”

“Why would I agree to that? It sounds foolish” Alec questions back, implying his disinterest despite the way in which he phrases the proposition to clearly leave room for him to be convinced. “Listen, preppy. If you’re scared, that’s perfectly fine” Mark remarks, bypassing the question and playfully jumping to conclusions, knowingly getting under the leader’s skin as such a comment serves to do, “maybe you need your friends around to win, I totally get-”

“The rest of you take the right track while I school Kurt Junior on how to race like a real man” Alec interjects, ordering his group to do as instructed whilst the divide in the course approaches, already beginning to turn his wheels to the right. “Are you sure, babe?” Lana questions back, watching the man’s vehicle break from the pack just as Mark’s does from behind, leaving them to do as told.

“Just go the other fucking way” Alec cuts back aggravatedly, keeping to his side of the road whilst the rest of his group does the opposite, taking the shift to the right whilst the drone vehicles near closer. “One to each side and two keep on the straight-away” Hamilton remarks, watching Delilah tap the controls into her tablet as the results display themselves in the shifting of their cars’ course.

“Maintain the straight-away” the helmeted driver of the rear-most group remarks, again looking into his rear view mirror as five sets of purple lights flash at him, carrying on with their journey through the cavernous beast of a structure that further rumbles the ground.

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“I think we’re just climbing higher up” Vert remarks, continuing to follow his group’s lead whilst glancing as high into the volcano as his eyes can catch, “I’m not able to see much more than you guys, though.”

“The track looks like it spills out at the top. I saw a part of the course that spills over the edge and just shoots down before we got inside here...” Pat remarks, addressing the Kaiyo driver’s curiosity with assurance of his own, “...I’m pretty sure we’re on that track.”

“Where did your friends go, biker guy?” Kurt questions back with an eyebrow raised, watching as the motorcyclist continues to travel alongside them, barely passing Talia before climbing the ascent even higher. “They decided that being loners was more important than winning” Pat responds, the ease in which his vehicle moves with the turns and grooves in the track proving beneficial as he continues gaining ground on the Kaiyo leader’s vehicle.

“If you’re arguing that winning is more important than anything else, I’m afraid we don’t see eye-to-eye with you either” Kurt confesses, watching the man’s Diavel gain ground on him as the motorbike keeps to the right-most side of the track. “I’d rather share a track with you than the guys that keep trying to run me off the road” Pat admits, looking toward Kaiyo’s second in command as their vehicles become level with each other, “besides, you guys are more interested in the art, right? Running me off the road doesn’t seem to align too well with that.”

“Don’t fuck with us and we won’t fuck with you, that’s all I’ve got to say” Nolo remarks, looking toward the Diavel’s driver in the right-most mirror on his car, “if we’ve got an agreement on that, drive as you please.” Using the leverage of his bike to his advantage, Pat picks up the pace and aligns his motorbike with the topless Spyder, looking toward the Kaiyo leader as they approach a modest straight away and offering him a quiet salute, gesturing his agreement before pulling just slightly ahead.

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“Is that ash?” Ronny wonders aloud, watching the sky darken as their track leads beyond the mountainous structure and into open air once more, the hellish tinge in the air having been blanketed behind a layer of horrible clouds. “That’s a shame, I was really starting to enjoy having the top down on this thing” Taro remarks, flipping the switch on his centre console that prompts the top to cover his ‘Cuda once more.

“You boys be careful back there, you hear?” Harland remarks, calling out to the trio of bikers that remain a few paces behind them, aware that the same luxury his co-founder has is not universal. “Keep your warning to yourselves” Dale responds, keeping an eye out for the corporation cars that tail him as the layer of dark fog overhead only appears to descend faster.

“To each their own” Harland replies, conceding to the demands of the rival group and remaining focused on the goal of seeing the end of the track first. “Dad, we’re not gonna be able to drive through this” Tyson remarks, warning the man between himself and the leader of the conditions that they face before receiving the same reply that the Crew’s leader had received. “Keep that nonsense down, son” Butch retorts, leaning into his 750 slightly further as he gears up for the road that remains ahead.

Rolling his eyes, Tyson shakes his head and stares toward the sky, passing a glance in his mirrors to the drone vehicles that follow behind, emerging from the volcano as the blanket of ash continues to fall. Turning on his wipers, Harland braces against the ash just as the rest of the vehicles do, keeping a mental image of the track and the turn that appears to come up ahead before taking a sudden notice of the conditions.

Giving himself a rough estimation of the distance between the descending blanket and the track ahead, Harland makes a split-second call that leaves his hand pulling away from the gearshift and resting upon a button nearby it. “Crew, hit your booster now” the leader remarks, doing just that before watching those behind him follow along, speeding ahead of the conditions before slowing back to a regular pace, “again! Hit the booster again!” he proclaims with a second propulsion.

“What are they doing?” Hamilton wonders aloud, looking into the cameras of the vehicles that tail the bikers, noticing the speed in which the course’s leaders breeze through. “I believe they’re trying to outrun the-” Delilah attempts to answer, only to find herself being hushed as the rear-most biker burns rubber against the track and grinds to a stop, quickly turning his vehicle around and retreating back the way that he’d come.

“Son, what the hell are you doing!?” Butch shouts back, watching his offspring cut away from the pack and begin racing the track backwards, driving head-first into the drone vehicles that preemptively part toward either side of the track, allowing the young man passage that seemingly takes him out of the race.

Receiving no answer, Butch angrily slams the dashboard as Dale’s tail light becomes more difficult to spot, vanishing into the cloud of ash gradually. “Pay no mind to the little bastard, Butch! This is you and I!” the DSRC’s leader proclaims, writing off Tyson’s actions and moving beyond them whilst following in the speedy Crew’s path, leaning into the turn that begins to slowly fall from view before feeling give in the track beneath him.

“Rubber, Dale! Rubber! You’re losing-!” Butch proclaims, barely able to see the team’s leader skidding further along the course than intended before his bike begins doing the same, losing too much traction to keep themselves on the track. Sliding off the road at the same time as each other, the bikers brace for impact and instinctively reach for the button that leaves their only remaining trace within the stratum to disappear with the flash of light.

Unable to see any further development in the distance other than a modest and subdued pair of flashing lights ahead, Hamilton watches the drone cameras suddenly fall into darkness that only ends when a brief flash of bright, vibrant orange emerges within view and cues the end of their signal. “What happened!?” the scientist proclaims, having recognised the feed being cut before looking toward the woman at the room’s side, her bottom lip pressed between her teeth.

“I believe we just lost four of our cars, sir” Delilah answers to the reaction of a balled fist slamming against the conference table. “Damnit!” Hamilton proclaims, realising that the orange glow he’d witnessed shortly before losing contact with the cars was a pit of lava they’d been unintentionally submerged into.

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“Tyson, Dale and your father have safely returned to the second level” Caesar remarks, speaking into the biker’s headset as he returns to the divide that he’d initially taken the left-most track of, quickly turning onto the straight-away as he replies. “Did they get run off the track?” Tyson questions back, resuming his participation in the race that he at least intends to finish unlike the other members of his team.

“Not necessarily...” Caesar replies, his voice being amplified into the second level whilst both Dale and Butch angrily remove their helmets, overhearing the conversation that the scientist has with their remaining team member, “they realised that they really weren’t able to drive through that.”

“Yeah, well... That was nonsense to them” Tyson replies, his voice, too, carrying itself through the speakers that litter the second level’s interior, catching the ear of those who’d been forced to retreat from the race at a loss. Grunting as he frustratedly throws his helmet at the ground, Dale climbs off his Fury and retreats for the clubhouses, doing so whilst Butch remains standing by, watching him walk off whilst passing a stare at the dash camera on his son’s VRSC.

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“You see that, Kurt Junior? It looks like your big brother’s getting the best of you yet again!” Alec proclaims with a grin, continuing to lead the exiled member of the Crew as they ascend higher into the mountain, watching as the Kaiyo cars and their straggling, motorcyclist friend approach the top.

“Good luck, boys!” Pat proclaims, continuing to remain just slightly ahead of the topless Spyder as they climb the straight ascent into the open air. “Right back at you, biker guy” Nolo casually replies, pushing against his seat as they near the lip of the mountain, watching the Diavel’s wheels leave the surface of the track two seconds before his own do, their ascent into the air appearing more like the running waters of a tidal wave than anything else as they curve back toward the earth, the air embracing them as the volcano suddenly begins to roar.

Colliding with the ground nearly halfway down the hill-like slope of the track, Pat and Kaiyo pass momentary glances at the volcano that they emerge from like a newborn child, finding its rockface to suddenly begin shaking as violently as the ground does. “I think the beast is waking up” Kurt quips, keeping his focus on the track ahead as the ground continues to vibrate, making it feel as if the structure supporting the track were capable of giving out at any moment.

“Hey!” Alec proclaims as he’s thrown closer to his steering wheel than he’d like, feeling the weight of his car jostle forward as his shadow's Firebird slams against the back of it. “You just gonna keep playing defence or are you ready for me to make an example out of you?” Mark questions aloud, gently relocating his finger toward a button on his centre console.

“There’s nothing you can do that’ll-” Alec begins proclaiming, only for his response to be cut short as his car is again slammed into, only this time by a vehicle that also forcibly shoves the Firebird off to the side. “Fuck off, asshat!” Mark proclaims, watching the all-black vehicle that grinds against his driver’s side attempt to intervene in their race before fighting fire with fire, battering back into the corporation car’s side to return the favour.

“What the hell is this asshole doing!?’ Alec questions aloud, forced into checking his rear view mirror more often now that he’s no longer sharing space with only one other rival. “He’s trying to ruin my goddamn fun!” Mark proclaims, only to be startled by the appearance of a streak of lava firing upward from the base of the volcano, erupting from within the structure like a beam of light as they draw nearer to the crater’s exit.

“What the fuck was that!?” Alec proclaims, bracing for impact just as his opponent had before failing to receive a reply as the corporation vehicle attempts to overtake him. “I’m pretty sure it’s a sign that we better get the fuck out of here!” Mark proclaims, taking notice of an opening that he receives as their ascent nears its ultimate peak, the same leap of faith that his brother had taken not too long ago now presenting itself to him as an inevitability.

“Eat shit, asshole!” Mark proclaims, violently thrusting his vehicle to the left as the drone car exposes itself to an assault, pit manoeuvring the driverless vehicle as it attempts to climb ahead of the Esteemed leader’s own, though involuntarily taking the leading automobile off course as well. “What the hell!?” Alec proclaims, suddenly hearing the screeching of his rubber tires as they drag along the ground, the front of his car facing the left side of the track whilst the automated cruiser skids off the road.

Maintaining control of his vehicle as the rival vehicle teeters over the edge, Mark stomps on the gas and slams his Firebird’s hood against the side of Alec’s McLaren, forcing the luxury car to stabilise itself as they near the ascent in a display of good sportsmanship. “Hit your booster!” the Crew’s exiled leader proclaims, taking advantage of the Esteemed leader’s uncoordinated attempt at reclaiming control of his car to prove his reliability.

In unison, the pair of drivers trigger their advantage and fire out of the volcano like rockets, doing so as a wave of lava spews into the air and just barely fails to strike at the escaping vehicles. Bracing for impact together, Mark and Alec return to the track and watch as the Kaiyo drivers continue speed well ahead of them, accompanied by only a biker as their course appears to run parallel to two others.

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“Hey, Caesar! Are these the corporation or the other guys!?” Tyson wonders aloud, asking the same question that Butch had sitting on the top of his mind as he watches the live feed from the second level. Keeping his lips from the microphone, the man whose intellect is called for inspects the scene that he finds from the VRSC’s camera, “I’m not sure” he admits, as all eight cars appear to continue driving in line with each other.

Suddenly, two of the green-light vehicles are knocked off either side of the track by the remaining six, who carry on undisturbed whilst Tyson continues to tail them. After a few seconds, the tail lights that provide him with his only clue begin to revert to their original, purple colour and carry on with their journey.

“I do now” Caesar finally responds, taking the gesture as an answer whilst Tyson hits his booster, catching up with the fleet of vehicles ahead before purposefully cutting his increased speed off before he can overtake the fleet. Skilled enough to lift both hands from the handlebars as he draws nearer, Tyson keeps his bike in line with the track as he presents himself as purposefully unthreatening, approaching the leading vehicle as the scientist at home watches on intently.

Catching the eye of the man behind the wheel of the front-most car, Tyson gestures his hand in a cranking motion whilst Dale emerges from the clubhouse with a beer in hand, looking toward Butch before letting his eyes wander toward the camera of the son’s bike. Refusing to respond for a moment, the curious group’s apparent leader finally does as instructed, lowering the passenger’s window and opening a branch of contact between himself and the rival racer.

“I don’t want any trouble! I just want to know who you are!” Tyson proclaims, unable to see past the man’s helmet as Caesar can only see the track ahead, hoping to overhear an answer from the driver that he cannot see. Without saying a word, the leading racer of the vehicles with purple lights points his thumb toward the back of the cars, gesturing for the biker to oversee a presentation.

In a flash of white light, the rear-most vehicle in the fleet disappears from the stratum similarly to how the man’s father and club leader had, this view presenting itself to the remaining biker. With a curious squint, Tyson looks back at the vehicle leader as the man points his finger toward the button on the man’s bike twice, inevitably turning the finger toward the ground and making the same motion.

“You want me to press the angel button!?” Tyson questions aloud, watching the mysterious racer nod his head three times, agreeing to such a conclusion that prompts the biker to seriously consider following the command. “I will, but I just want to know one thing before I do!” the remaining DSRC motorcyclist proclaims, extending an olive branch that he hopes the other faction’s racer will accept, “are you a threat to us? Are you like them?” he questions whilst pointing toward the direction in which the corporation vehicles had been thrown off.

Without verbal reply, the leading driver lifts the palm of his hand toward the following biker before folding each finger aside from his index digit, slowly pulling it toward his helmet and gesturing for the racer to quiet. With a slight confusion, Tyson takes the gesture as something more than he’d received to this point and lets his mind roam toward the most-optimistic of thoughts, considering the non-answer he’d received as good as he’ll get before doing as suggested.

Pressing the base of his hand against the angel button, Tyson’s DRSC vanishes into the air with a streak of light and returns to the second level, gradually descending the ramp that his father soon hurries to. “What the hell just happened in there!?” Butch calls out, running to his son as the man frees himself of the helmet, letting it press against his side as he wraps his arm around it, looking at his bike whilst softly whispering to himself.

“Silence” Tyson murmurs with a curious gleam in his eye, not addressing his father’s question or answering his own, but simply reciting the gesture that he’d been asked of with intrigue.

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“I see the end” Nolo proclaims, glancing into his rear view mirror as the green lights of corporation cars remain dragging in the distance, the lights of three other vehicles just now rounding from one track onto their own, making it clear that they remain the front runners. “Do you want us to take care of the drone cars, Nolo?” Vert questions aloud, receiving no answer from the leader at first before the hesitation is overridden.

“Talia, Vert, stop your cars and form a line with me” Kurt orders, slowing his vehicle down as the temperatures continue to rise, taking the Kaiyo leader’s non-answer as an opening for his own decree to take over, “be ready to hit your angel buttons the second they slam into us.” Doing as told, Vert and Talia approach the front and back of Kurt’s RX-7 respectively as the enemy vehicles draw nearer.

“Go get it done, Nolo!” Vert proclaims, leaving both the Kaiyo leader and the breakaway driver from the DSRC to carry out the final stretch of the race. “Use the storm stratum key!” Hamilton proclaims, only to find the cameras of his corporation vehicles being shaken as the fronts of other vehicles slam into them from behind.

Cutting off the corporation cars from retreat whilst Kaiyo’s vehicles prevent them from further advancement, the remaining Esteemed drivers disrupt their plans and get the better of their aggressors, stubbornly refusing to allow safe passage. “We don’t need your help” Kurt calls out, making it clear to those that travel without a leader what their intention is.

“You see your leader up there!? There’s no way we’re catching up!” Ross proclaims with an arrogant grin, slamming on the gas once more as the front of his Tributo causes problems for the drone cars once more, “we’re just having fun with them now!” Trailing behind, by a few hundred yards, Alec and Mark coincidentally travel in a single-file line and begin catching up to the frontman’s group.

“Alec, hit your turbo again!” Mark calls out, prompting the Esteemed’s leader to glance back at the rear-view mirror once more as he pauses, considering the suggestion for a brief moment before following through on the order. With the slam of his thumb on the centre console, the McLaren takes off firing whilst the Firebird maintains distance, heavily catching up to those that the front-most driver of the pair answer to.

“Boys and girl! Move aside and hit them when we do!” Alec proclaims, getting within the range of the group’s radios quickly as he prepares to take on yet another shot of speed. “What the hell are you doing!? Use the key!” Hamilton proclaims, climbing out of his seat before receiving as much reluctance from his secretary as necessary.

“Boss, they’re ganging up on them! The key won’t do anything for all of them!” Delilah responds, prompting the hairless superior to look back at the monitor as the automated cars draw nearer to the line of Kaiyo cars. “Hit them in three... two...” Alec proclaims, slamming his hand against the turbo button once more whilst Mark follows suit, quickly thrusting into the back of the corporation vehicles in unison, “...one!”

“Brace for impact!” Kurt proclaims, tensing up as the full force of the Esteemed, the four corporation cars and his own little brother slam against their frontline and cause a pile up with so much force that all twelve cars are shot off the road, flying through the air with the majority vanishing into a ray of light, returning to the second level whilst others dive into the bubbling lava to the angered reaction of the boardroom-based overseer.

On the final stretch and with nothing to stop them, Nolo and Pat approach the same goal that presents them with a deep, red glow. Triggering their booster at the same time as each other, the Kaiyo leader’s front bumper evens out with the DSRC departee’s front wheel as they hit the propulsion system, guaranteeing the second level a victory as they fire into through the dimensional divide at the same time.

Vanishing through the display of light, both the Spyder and the Diavel emerge from the top of the same offramp as each other, skidding their mostly tractionless tires across the ground whilst the rest of the newly-returned racers watch on. Racing from the control centre above, Caesar glances over the railing at the returned vehicles with widened eyes, staring in wonderment with hopes that either vehicle- both of whom have interiors exposed to the air- will present him with a burst of colourful light.

Finally regaining control of his vehicle, Nolo grasps the steering wheel tightly and looks around his front seat, looking for any sign of victory that he can find before unbuckling his seatbelt. Opening his door and touching back upon solid ground, Kaiyo’s leader watches as the portal spits out a trio of vehicles he’d grown accustomed to seeing over the years, their completion of the race just barely managing to fall behind himself and the breakaway biker.

Sliding across the ground, Harland’s Oldsmobile becomes the first to roll to a stop before he climbs out of his car, doing so only when the scene appears safe. “Did you win?” the Crew’s leader questions aloud, doing so as Ronny hurriedly climbs down from his Lil’ Red Express and whilst Taro pulls down his ash-less convertible top.

“I don’t know! How do we know if we-?” Nolo calls out, looking around the area for a brief moment in search of answers before falling silent, finding the same floating card that glows such brilliant shades of red that each racer’s eye is transfixed on it. Casually pulling his helmet off, Pat stares at the squiggly-shaped key that floats beside his person before plucking it out of the air with a grin, looking at the Kaiyo leader that it appears he’d just narrowly beaten.

“Sorry, man” the DSRC departee remarks with the stratum key in tow, the apologetic tone that he takes on not being shared by the scientist above, Caesar’s relief and smile carrying the bow of his head as he leans against the bannister. Suddenly losing the spurt of hopeful enthusiasm he’d carried, Nolo steadies himself back against his car and lets his eyes fall just as loose strands of hair do, the frown that Kurt carries toward him from afar being complimented by the disgruntled scowl that Dale holds toward the race’s victor.

== Driveline ==