Faster Than Angels

Uploading a day early cause stuff busy tomorrow

The referenced album title of Part 26.2 was Human After All by Daft Punk.

[s2_19.0: Part 27.0] Dome 0095

---

<22120627>

Saturday, June 27th, 2212... Earth time.

Cydonia Hotel, Albatross, Dome 0095, Mars

"What the hell do you mean, you'd much rather race pure?!" A visibly irritated man retorted at the 18-year old girl in front of him.

Crinale's two pilots, Leon Turner and Lucia Scarlatti, were having yet another argument. While they were usually good friends, and they had many arguments over their time as pilots, this one was a rather bad fight. Once again, it pertained to Lucia's lack of violence in her racing style during her most recent trial in the simulator.

"God, are you f*cking retarded?! Let me say it again: F*ck this sh*tty violence bullsh*t. I'd much rather use my own racing style, one that lets me have fun, one that I know I can win by using."

"That's great and all, but remember who you're racing for."

"Oh my F*CKING GOD WHY. How many times do I have to say it before it enters your thick skull into your retarded brain?! I don't care about Crinale's sh*tty racing style! I race to win, not to kill."

"Who said anything about killing?"

"Killing, eliminating, who gives a flying f*ck?! It's all the same to me and I couldn't give any less of a f*ck!"

"Is that so?! Well, you could always quit? Oh, but then Viktor will probably make sure you won't race again. You'd have to go back to your loving parents."

"F*CK. OFF!" She yelled, "MY PARENTS NEVER LOVED ME! Can you say that people who couldn't accept who I am, a prodigy that was born to race, truly f*cking love me?! HAH! I DON'T F*CKING THINK SO. Those assholes tried to force their sh*tty religion down my throat, despite my countless protests! I am a woman of science, YOUR HORRID GOD DOES NOT EXIST."

"Uh-"

"NO! F*CK YOU! I'M OUT." She cut Leon off. "You're starting to become like my god damn parents. I'll race however I f*cking want. THIS IS MY F*CKING LIFE, D*CKHOLE."

With that, she stormed out of the hotel and started to roam around the small, shanty town ouside of the dome the hotel was in. She sighed, and started to curse everyone and everything under her breath, until she stopped outside a building, looking at it and the sign emblazoned upon it.

Spiegel's

"...wait, is that...?"

The reason she stopped to look at the building was a simple reason: She swore she could hear metal playing in the bar.

"...F*ck it, I could do with a drink." She admitted, stepping inside. Metal was playing rather loudly in the bar, but that was fine for her. Looking around, the only person in the bar was a rather well built blonde haired man, who was relaxing, reading a book.

"U-um... am I supposed to be here at this time? Why are you the only one in here?" She asked, not recognising the man.

He moved the book away from his view, placing a finger between the pages he was on. He recognised her almost at once. "Ah... Lucia Scarlatti, prodigious Lead Pilot of Crinale International. It's fine to be here. While the bar is closed at noon, I know the owner quite well, and I come here periodically to read."

"Okay... so, um... mind if I get a drink? Or would I have to go elsewhere?"

"Nah, it's fine, I can get you something." He stuck a bookmark in the book and started walking to the bar.

"If you don't mind me asking, you look familiar..." She started.

The man turned around and held out his hand. "Halvred Erikson, 2nd pilot for Syncline R/I. Call me Hal."

"Ah, I thought so." She replied, shaking his hand.

Hal then walked around the bar, placing both hands on it and leaning on it. "Alright, pick your poison."

"If you think I want those sh*tty girly alcopops, you can f*ck right off. Rum and coke."

"Ooh, nice choice."

"What do you recommend for the rum?"

"Recommend?!" He scoffed, "I mean, I know this place looks posh, but really, we all prefer to go with the good Captain."

Lucia stood there, mouth agape in disbelief. "...D-did you just... God, someone who knows a good drink. Please, hit me up with the Captain!"

"Heh, sure thing." He said, getting up.

A short time later, Hal had whipped up her drink, and passed it to her, getting a second glass for himself.

"So, what brings you here?"

"[sigh], you don't want to know. It'd ruin this stupid f*cking image everyone seems to have of me just because I'm a pilot for Crinale."

"Tell me, I know that people can have personalities that are different to their racing styles."

"You sure?"

"Hey, you're at a bar, don't people let out their life stories here?" He joked.

"Hah! Oh, fine. Basically, Leon, the second pilot, is getting on my case just because I don't like to use this overly-violent racing style that's being forced on me."

"Leon... Turner?"

"Yeah."

"Ah, I was raised by his brother... although, telling him about Leon won't change him much, from what I heard about Leon from his brother."

"Ehh, fair enough. I mean, why does Crinale need to do this sh*tty weapon focused battles anyway? It'd just be easier to use the high power of the craft to get quick times and win through that! I can win through perfect runs, by taking Crinale's other technologies to it's limits, not just their stupid weapon tech."

"That's a bit of an oversimplification of battles in racing. If it was so easy to win without weapons, no one would use them. Yet many pilots get so caught up in trying to get their kill that they end up holding themselves back to take out an insignificant target in last place. It's more of a game of chess then it is a mindless shoo-"

"Yeah, yeah, that's great, is that why you haven't got first place in a race yet?"

"Haven't meant a lip like that in a while," Hal chuckled, mostly to himself, "We've had top five placement in every race for both pilots. Maybe we haven't had that magical lucky day, that still makes us the most consistent team of the season."

"I mean, you could get last place in every race and earn that title. Still doesn't mean you'll win."

"In our backyard? I know every curve of that track, you know."

"...Are you challenging me?"

"I'd like to think we crossed that line quite a bit ago. Besides, there's something I've been wanting for a time, it'd be nice to have it for free."

"Ahahaha! A bet? Against me, a f*cking prodigy?! ...The stakes?"

Hal grabbed a bottle from the top shelf, "This red wine, can't get it on Earth, interplanetary shipping comes with too many complications. I bought a glass of this a few months ago, just to see if it was worth it. It caused me to go sober for a week, any other drink was urine in comparison."

"...you mean that if I lose...?"

"You need to buy the wine. Full cost."

"God damn... that's crazy! I'm in."

Hal blinked at how quickly she agreed. "Uh, I wasn't expecting you to accept so easily."

"Yes, well, we both have an advantage. You have the advantage of the home course and I have the racing skills!"

"That's a good point, I'm sure you'll get at least, ohh... tenth?"

"Sure, sure, just pay for the damn wine now, loser." She joked back, having the most fun time of her life in a long time.

---

I'd like you to take note of the position he mentioned, while not that important, it's just something for a later part, that I changed because it was quite close to what he said.

[parts deleted]

[part removed]

The referenced album title of Part 27 was Gas 0095 by Mat Jarvis, under the moniker of Gas.

[s2_20.1: Part 28.1] 30 Seconds on Mars

---

<22120628>

Sunday, June 28th, 2212.

Nilokeras Fossa, Dome 3030, Mars

The entirety of the short course was available for everyone to see first hand, as that portion of the track was encased in a glass stadium. The blue glow of the glass track accentuated beautifully against the rusty red of the planet. Despite the glass stadium, however, it was perfectly safe to be outside, as oxygenators and heaters were placed around the planet in 2140, which were marked by tall beacons that glowed a certain colour depending on the status of the machinery: white if active and red if damaged, meaning one would have to stay away from the area.

The heaters ensured the planet's surface stayed at ideal temperatures, ranging from about 35 to 0°C at day. At night, the temperatures dipped to anywhere between 0 and -35°C. In addition, Biodomes were put in place if the tourists couldn't get used to the unique atmosphere of the planet.

For Brandon and the rest of the team, it was their first time on the planet, which he found very interesting. However, there was no more time to stare at the beauty of it, as the race was about to start.

Suddenly, Alex danced into the room, a light bound in her steps.

"Is it time? Is it going to start?" She was practically bouncing on the spot.

Brandon looked her up and down, a confused look on his face "You... seem to be in high spirits."

"Of course I do, I feel like a giddy teenager!"

"Uh huh. You asked her out, didn't you?"

"Was it that obvious?"

"Not as obvious as Catherine's answer, I take it?"

"Yeah, she said yes!"

"Well, I'm glad for you. I hope you guys do well."

"I hope so too."

With that said, Brandon turned his attention back to the race, which was mere seconds from starting. "Alright Syncline, what do you have planned? This is your home course, I'm sure there's something up your sleeve."

In a matter of seconds, he would find out.

3, 2, 1... GO!
<10:00:00_>
<nilokeras fossa: short fwd_>
<race: lap 01 of 102_>

01. ERI220.1.99.175 (#99 | Halvred Erikson | V.ult-2X1024)
02. TSU524.0.45.175 (#45 | Katsuo Tsukiko | V.ult-2X1024)
06. FUJ616.0.43.194 (#43 | Kyoko Fujisaki | AX2.0_r1)
10. SCA308.0.7.329 (#7 | Lucia Scarlatti | F0-RA8/00095)
11. ARD889.1.19.194 (#19 | Gareth Ardos | AX2.0_r1)
15. TUR847.1.13.329 (#13 | Leon Turner | F0-RA8/000127)

<evangelon | desimal_>

As usual, the craft took off at a blistering pace, but this time, something was very different regarding Syncline. As soon as they were off the line, they altered their racing lines so that Hal was directly behind Kat, decreasing the wind resistance and raising their overall speed.

When they reached the first corner, Kat moved slightly more outside than Hal did, to give him even more turning ability than the unique craft design allowed. As soon as they were out of the turn, they returned to their prior formation of Hal racing directly behind Kat.

Further down the pack, Kyoko was amazed by the sudden and massive lead the team took. Usually, they were mid-pack runners.

"What... even? They aren't this good, were they?! I doubt it's just because it's their home course... They must have some strategy, I've never seen them follow one another so closely before."

"Quake"

Immediately, though, a quake was fired, taking out Kyoko and, when it eventually reached them, both Syncline pilots. It was enough for them to lose their lead, and fall into the main pack.

"Formation Beta."

Suddenly, in the busy pack, the two craft sideshifted in opposite directions. Kat allowed Hal to pass her and they both sideshifted back to being in line with one another. Along with the change in leader, the racing style of the team changed drastically too, becoming more violent. Kat, when she got them, dropped mines and occasionally bombs on the track behind her, while Hal focused on using the forward firing weapons at the opponents ahead of them.

Like Kat did when she was ahead, Hal took the corners further outside than Kat did, to give her the extra turning ability. With their combination in forces, they reached the current race leaders in no time at all. They began to switch back to their previous formation again.

"Missiles. Rockets."

Hal was hit, and fell back, only to be hit by a stray rocket, keeping him stationary for a while longer. It was enough to separate him from Kat. Fortunately, their strategy covered that as well. While he usually absorbed it, he used turbos to catch up with Kat, also adopting a less violent style in the process.

Kat on the other hand, raced as she used to; she always healed using weapons and took the corners aggressively. This brought her closer to the front. However, the pilot in front of them wouldn't relinquish their position to her. It was then her mind tricks came into play.

"So you won't let me through? Fine."

She maneuvered her craft in such a way that they made a mistake in the corner, moving to the outside, whick left Kat to slip on the inside and pass them... for about a second, until they activated a turbo and got ahead.

"Nice try, but who said I'd give up that easily?"

"Me." Came a voice that was not the pilot's.

Thanks to Bardic for providing the concept for these past 3 or so parts, as well as the next one!

The referenced album title of Part 28.1 was the self-titled album by 30 Seconds to Mars.

[s2_20.2: Part 28.2] The Rise of Syncline R/I and the Pilots on Mars

---

<22120628>

Sunday, June 28th, 2212

Nilokeras Fossa, Dome 3030, Mars

<so long sentiment | celldweller_>

"Nice try, but who said I'd give up that easily?"

"Me. Kat, out of the way."

She sideshifted out of the way, just in time for...

"Missiles"

They hit their mark, the white and red craft fell back, and Hal was back in 2nd place, moving back right behind Kat in their original formation. Although, like their original formation...

"Quake"

They were both hit by a quake, and overtaken by the very same craft that was ganged up on.

"I told you already, who said I would give up so easily?"

"Cannon"

That was pretty much the start of a battle between Hal and his new race rival. Initially just an attempt to slow them down, the other pilot defended their position by any means necessary, pumping any offensive weapon obtained into the red and purple craft.

"Fine, if it's a battle you want, then it's a complete curbstomp you'll get."

"Rockets"

All 3 rockets hit the rear of the craft, dealing a great deal of damage and slowing it down immensely, allowing Hal to pass it. He kept an eye on the craft, ready to dodge any attack it would do.

"Tch, really? You're using the weapons to heal? Oh, w-"

"Plasma"

Instantly, Hal sideshifted out of the way, harmlessly avoiding the attack. He sideshifted back, slowed down, and...

"Mines"

Fired them at point blank range, giving the pilot no time to react.

<contender_eliminated_>

"That's enough. Now..."

In the commotion of the battle, Kat had taken the chance to escape and go for the gold. Hal was in 2nd place, but he was a fair way behind Kat.

"I've dealt with them, catching up." Hal notified her.

Again, he healed himself using every pickup he obtained, apart from turbos, which he used. He also took advantage of the track's banking to execute barrel rolls where he could. Over the span of 6 laps, Hal slowly narrowed the gap between him and Kat, eventually reaching her on the 7th.

"Formation Alpha, let's finish this."

"Agreed."

Hal kept to the rear of Kat's craft, having no real problems until the final lap. Somehow, one pilot was able to get close enough to them to attack.

"Missile"

Lucia fired the weapon blind, allowing it to fly across the track. When it missed the target, it bounced off the wall, and directly into Kat.

"Ngh!"

She instantly sideshifted out of the way of Hal, who was still travelling at the same speed. Hal kept his composure and speed up. Running over a weapon pickup, he seemed to be in luck. He dropped the bomb he received and decided to go for the win.

BOOM

"ARGH, NO!"

Lucia had run into the bomb, leaving Hal home free.

<race complete_>

<first place_>

[parts removed]

The referenced album title of Part 28.2 was The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie.

@Bardic, if this part isn't good enough, tell me what I'm doing wrong and I'll fix it.

[s2_21.0: Part 29.0] MARTIAN_SUNSET_MEMORIES

---

<22120628>

Sunday, June 28th, 2212

Firestar, Near Dome 2052, Mars.

23:02:00?

The girl stood by the tower that overlooked the old F3600 course.

'Sure is taking his sweet ass time,' She thought, looking at the time displayed on her phone. 'I don't have a car, I had to buy the stupid wine, and yet I got here before him. The hell?!'

As she finished that thought, a black Koenigsegg raced about the parking lot, sliding to a halt at one of the many empty lots. The tall, well-built man got out and walked up to her.

"Hey." He greeted, a wide, cocky grin on his face.

"Hey yourself. You're late." She shot back, showing him her phone.

After examining it for a second, Hal explained himself. "Your phone's fast." He showed her his phone, which displayed 22:59, then changed to 23:00. He then slipped it back into his pocket. "Anyway, what matters is that we're both here. Did you get the wine?"

"At. Great. Expense." She spoke through gritted teeth, holding up a bag.

"Heh, that's why we bet on that particular one, remember?"

"Quit grinning like that."

Hal did stop grinning like that. Instead, he doubled up and burst out laughing.

Lucia went to say something else, but just gave up and walked inside the observation tower. A short while later, finished laughing and realising the girl walked inside, Hal entered the tower.

"Finished?"

"Heheh... eheheh... Uh, heh, yeah. Let's go. Heheh."

They took the elevator up to the top floor of the tower, then walked to a seat near the window and sat down. Hal took a corkscrew out of his pocket and popped open the bottle, pouring both of them a glass.

"...Holy sh*t... This really is some good stuff... woah."

"I know right? As I said yesterday, every drink becomes piss in comparison."

Lucia chuckled, then stared out of the glass outlook, taking in the beautiful scenery of the sun setting over the old racetrack.

"...Wait, why wasn't this rebuilt for the F12000?" She asked, pointing down at the track. "Don't you guys own it or something?"

"Firestar? We decided that it didn't really fit our style, Nilokeras Fossa was tailored for the V-ult. As to why it looks new and not so dilapidated, well, after our rejection, some other group picked it up and repurposed it for a different racing league, one we own. It's about the same speed as the F3600 was, apparently, so it retains the original 6.3km layout... or so I've heard."

"Interesting." She commented, before asking another question, "Wait, you own your own league? So why you don't have a third reserve pilot?"

"Ah, that one is simple." He explained, "It's all because of the team's pilot chemistry, it is one of the most important aspects of any team. See, while you and Leon are better pilots in terms of your individual skill, I work well with Kat."

"Which is why you were able to win?"

"Well, that and our friend Nilokeras!" He laughed.

Lucia took the bottle of wine and helped herself to a second glass. Hal immediately poured more wine into his still half full glass, since it was his prize.

"You know," Hal spoke suddenly, "Kat's doctor made her race with a neck brace, because she refused to be replaced. I mean, I can understand not wanting to be replaced, because of the whole chemistry thing."

"Wait, a neck brace? What happpened?"

Hal had prepared for this question, and had fabricated a story to prevent knowledge of the Stoica Incident from leaking out: "Snowboarding accident. She was at the ice-caps to the north, when another boarder, who had never snowboarded on Mars, just trips up right in front of her. The board smacked her in the neck, hard and in a vulnerable region, which basically left her suffocating on her own throat. Thankfully, a medic came by quickly enough, with a machine to force air into her lungs. It was... pretty brutal, to say the least."

"...Ouch, that sounds awful. Although, that does remind me of an injury I saw someone have."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I was in a mosh pit at this one concert and, well, that's pretty much all I need to say, right?"

"'Can probably see where this is going, but keep talkin'."

"A'ight. Basically, this dude gets f*cking wrecked. Like, he gets hit once, then twice, then all these people just gang up on him. Then one guy throws a punch straight into his neck. He then collapses and is pretty much choking to death. Then these other two guys carry him off to the paramedic so they can do their paramedic sh*t and save him. But yeah, long story short is, I learned that mosh pits can be dangerous."

"Do you go in them?"

"Ahh, f*ck off, I'm more into enjoying the music than wrecking someone's sh*t." Her voice started to slur a bit, the alcohol had started to take effect.

"Heh, true."

"Ooh, hey! Do you have any battle scars?! I bet you do, cause of the whole Viking thing or some sh*t."

Hal made a noise that made it obvious that he was trying to stifle a laugh, but due to his drunkenness, he failed horribly. "The only big scar I have, although it's a surgical scar. It's on my abdomen, from a liver transplant and reconstructive rib surgery after I got in a street fight in Japan. That was a few years ago, 2209."

"Cool, cool... can I see it?" She asked excitedly, her speech getting even more slurred.

"Don't see why not." He shrugged his shoulders, then lifted his shirt up.

The moment she saw his body, she tensed up, her eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly. After several seconds, she only begun to speak after Hal dropped his shirt back down. "Hey!... just so you know... I may be drunk, but I'm not a sl*t, so you better not be thinking about ffff*cking me."

At that point, she was completely drunk.

"...wait, what?"

"You heard me, don' try and f*ck me! I'm not a sl*t."

"Mmmhm, last woman who told me that was the biggest liar of both planets, but I'll take your word for it." He then decided to change the subject quickly, "So, have you been in any fights?"

"Ehh, like, a couple. Most of my fights have been verbal than physical, but I've thrown some punches about to those select assholes that really deserved it... although, with that said, most of my fights were with my parents, my mother especially. She was so high and mighty about God and sh*t, and I just had enough of it. They even went so far as to inhibit my skills by putting me on some pills that I can't remember the name of, but they basically made me feel really, violently ill whenever I went anywhere an Anti-Gravity field. Few months later I just told 'em to f*ck off and I went on my own."

"Huh, that's interesting."

"My parents never had my best interests in mind, they just tried to make me conform to their sh*tty bullsh*t religious f*ckery. Pissed me off to no end hearing them talk about some non-existant entity they read about in a book once. F*cking... bullsh*t."

Those were her last words, before she passed out from the alcohol.

"Hah, weakling." Hal said slightly drunkenly, before taking the bottle of wine and finishing it off, passing out not long after.

------------
The next day.

The soft click of the door opening softly sounded through the area, but the two sleeping people didn't hear it. Suddenly, knowingly, the girl who opened it threw it closed, making a loud BANG.

"HaAAH!" Hal screamed awake. Lucia shot up as well, but made no sound... maybe she did, but it was drowned out by Hal's scream.

"Heeey, Hal! how's it goin'?" Kat greeted him with a smile.

"Kat?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I just wanted to see how well you were doing with Lucia." She said innocently. "So, what did you get for your date?"

At the mention of her name, Lucia turned around and saw the other pilot standing there.

"H-H-H-H-Hey, hey, heyheyheyheyhey! D-D-Don't do that! Why are you snooping around here for?"

"...I just wanted to see how well you guys were doing. I was concerned for my co-pilot. But it seems he did very well." Kat grinned.

"Wh-wh-wh-what does that mean?!"

"Anyway," She turned her attention back to Hal after winking at the younger girl, "answer my question. What did you get?"

"Well, for starters... it wasn't a date... and I didn't buy anything, she did."

"Sure it wasn't..." She nodded sarcastically, "Alright, then, what did Lucia get?"

"Well, I can say it was a bet. To see who would be buying it..."

"Wait..." A smile appeared on her face, "You don't mean... that wine?!"

"Yeah, that really expensive one."

"Wow, you guys must really like each other!"

Lucia started stuttering again, but this time, no discernible words could be understood.

"...we're just friends."

"Of course you are, and I'm a Level 5 esper*, hahahaha! I mean, just look at how your 'friend' is acting! Seriously though," Her tone changed to a slightly more serious one and directed what she was about to say at the two, "Don't worry about it, I'll keep your relationship a secret."

---

*I'll give you a cookie if you know or can figure out that reference.

The referenced album title of Part 29 was SUNSET_MEMORIES by ODDEEO.

[s2_22.0: Part 30.0] Tests for EXPOSURE

---

<22120708>

Wednesday, July 8th, 2212

Unknown location

Unknown time

"Quantum Destabiliser version C-0.2 tuning Test 4, beginning in 3, 2, 1..."

The suited man aimed something that looked like a pistol at a mannequin in what looked like a full racing suit and fired several bright blue blasts into it.

CRACK!

A loud cracking noise was heard as the mannequin split in half from the weapon's destabilisation beam, causing the molecular structure to fall apart explosively.

"...Fine tuning is required. Excepting that, it seems to be working just fine." The man spoke simply.

Completely fine tuning the weapon would take several days, however, they were able to make small adjustments in a matter of an hour or two. The next test involved two subjects, a pig carcass, and another mannequin in a racing suit.

"Quantum Destabiliser version C-0.2 tuning Test 5, beginning in 3, 2, 1..."

The man was to fire 10 rounds, 5 at each of his targets. He fired 5 rounds into the mannequin, which caused the helmet to explode and the suit to liquefy. He aimed at the chunk of meat and began to fire the remaining 5 shots. The instant he fired once, the carcass exploded.

"Ugh! Disgusting." He muttered.

The scientists in charge leaned into the speaker, "Yeah, you can just leave for now, cleaning that up and fine-tuning the device to not affect flesh will take a long time."

"Fine. Just tell me when you've tuned the destabilisation wave." The man spoke, turning and walking out of the lab, leaving the weapon in a container in the scientists' possession.

------------
<22120710>

Friday, July 10th, 2212

The man walked into the lab, after getting a notification that the fine tuning was complete. Walking into the test area, he picked up the gun-shaped device and, seeing two targets similar to the prior test, turned around.

"This better not be a repeat of last time." He cockily said at them

"We fine tuned the wavelengths, they should not affect flesh."

"And you didn't properly test it because...?"

"We thought you wanted to do the tests." They finished.

The man smirked, "You're absolutely correct." He said slowly, before spinning around and firing 5 shots into the mannequin. This time, the helmet didn't explode, but it did fall apart. The suit, while slower this time, still liquefied.

"What kind of pervert wants that to happen? Fix it." He noted upon seeing the suit melt off the mannequin. He then turned to the pig carcass. The scientists had done their job, as nothing happened when the man fired into it.

"Quantum Destabiliser version C-0.3 tuning Test 6, complete."

The break between the test this time was, in addition to fine tuning the device, to perform tests on the carcass to see if there were any unseen effects caused by being shot at with it. A short while later...

"There are no effects to the carcass that we could find. It's safe."

"Good, and the liquefying suit problem?"

"Taken care of, we'll begin the test."

"Fantastic."

As he got into position, the only target was the mannequin, wearing yet another racing suit. The man took aim, activated the weapon, and...

"Quantum Destabiliser version C-0.3 tuning Test 7, beginning in 3, 2, 1..."

5 shots were fired rapidly into the suit. However, the man tilted his head. Nothing happened. The suit didn't fall apart, which was good, but the helmet didn't fall apart. He walked over to the mannequin, drew his fist back, and drove it right into the head.

BAM!

The mannequin fell over from the force of the punch, the head landing on the floor with a loud thud. Those two things were not strong enough to break the helmet apart, which meant that the weapon was useless against it.

"...hey, plebians! You messed up." He said, deactivating the device and hurling it at them. "Fix it, I'm out of here. I need to practice for the race. I can't miss this opportunity to finally give those high and mighty fools the ultimate humiliation!"

The referenced album title of Part 29 was EXPOSED by Boom Boom Satellites.

[s2_23.1: Part 31.1] Tailing the Angel

---

<22120712>

Sunday, July 12th, 2212

Omega Harbour, Perth, Australia.

09:30:06

"Well, that was completely coincidental" Brandon commented, as the first race on Angelus' home course coincided with his birthday.

"Smith-san... it is your birthday?" Kyoko exclaimed excitedly. "I did not know." She then muttered something to the effect of "I should get a gift...", before jerking straight up, realising she said that out loud, and saying "A-A-Anyway... Happy Birthday!"

Brandon just stared at the bowing girl and smiled. "Um, thanks."

The team had a small party, while at the same time preparing for the race. In that half-hour though, they were completely ready to race, and had moved the two craft onto the grid in, naturally, pole position before the countdown started...

3, 2, 1... GO!
<10:00:00_>
<omega harbour: short fwd_>
<race: lap 01 of 92_>

01. FUJ616.0.43.194 (#43 | Kyoko Fujisaki | AX2.0_r1)
02. ARD889.1.19.194 (#19 | Gareth Ardos | AX2.0_r1)
03. SCA308.0.7.329 (#7 | Lucia Scarlatti | F0-RA8/00095)
07. TUR847.1.13.329 (#13 | Leon Turner | F0-RA8/000127)

<star guitar (brookes brothers remix) | shinichi osawa_>
<alt track: death's hand | slayer_>

The craft flew off at their usual high speed, with Angelus taking the lead, Lucia quite close behind the two pure white craft. This time, however, Lucia debuted a new experimental strategy: after planning the race out with Leon, but not Viktor, knowing what was expected of her, and knowing what exactly was to be done at the end, she requested that the entire race be run with radio silence. The reason for that was simple; she was going to race while listening to music.

As the dark, heavy music blared in her ears, she found her rhythm, beginning her attack, which consisted of...

Well, nothing.

She just kept behind them, doing absolutely nothing, not even attacking or racing past, even though she was presented with many opportunities to. Naturally, Viktor was yelling at her to start attacking, but since she turned the radio off in favour of her music, she could not hear a word.

Leon's role of Crinale's new strategy was to act as Lucia's shield, fending off any craft that went near the 3 racers.

"LEON! WHAT IS GOING ON?! EXPLAIN TO ME IMMEDIATELY, OR YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY WILL BE DESTROYED!"

Hearing Viktor's loud yell, Leon calmly explained the plan.

"Basically: relax, it will all be worth it. The very end will be the beginning of our ultimate victory." He concluded.

A few seconds of silence filled the radio, as Viktor processed Lucia's plan.

"...If this was any other circuit, I would reject that plan and force you by any means necessary to use the standard strategy, even if you're using Prototype EXO10; which, by the way, was implemented in the RA8 without my permission! However, this is the home course of Angelus, ergo... I shall become slightly more flexible. IF, however, you fail to win, and hand the victory to Angelus, you and Lucia shall face the full consequences."

"We went over every single aspect of the plan... we won't fail."

"We shall see about that. For now, I shall stand by and observe." He ended the conversation.

Meanwhile, back at the front, Lucia was getting agitated, but she didn't let it get to her.

"Ugh, no no no! You're doing it wrong! This is your home course, you can do so much better!"

She was annoyed at the fact that the two Angelus craft were missing the racing line the prodigy mapped out in her head by mere centimeters. She tried to not let it get to her though, as she needed to stay calm and keep behind them, putting more and more pressure on the team.

Although, it wasn't just the racing line that was off, they also had large inconsistencies in their braking lines. Sometimes they'd brake later than what Lucia thought was the perfect time to brake, and other times they would brake earlier than expected.

'What the hell is going on? Were they always like this? I would have thought they would be better on their home course.'

This continued for most of the rest of the race. The 4 pilots retained their respective positions, playing the other team into their own traps. Despite it being halfway through the season, the rivalry between Angelus and Crinale had reached it's peak.

Lucia had been caught in Angelus' trap, they had been in control of the race since the beginning. The erratic behaviour was just a cover for something far greater, however, the final lap was where both teams would enter the final phases of their strategies.

By controlling their racing line, braking patterns and even their speed, the two Angelus pilots were able to simultaneously get consistent, accurate lap times that barely deviated from each other, while also tricking Lucia into following their wildly deviated racing patterns, with the exact opposite effect: lap times that were all over the place, and causing her to race slower than usual.

Although, that was just one part, a set-up taking advantage of a critical racing tactic that the 18-year old prodigy lacked, for Angelus' final trick, that, in any other circimstance, should have ascertained their victory.

As the two white craft blasted through the mag-lock section and onto the final straight, the pilots communicated to each other in single word sentences, fully aware of the strategy, and the final phase tied to it.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then... aaaaand....

"100! NOW!"

The referenced album title of Part 31.1 was Playing the Angel by Depeche Mode.

[s2_23.2: Part 31.2] Strategies of Darkness and Light: Angelus

---

<22120710>

Friday, July 10th, 2212

Omega Harbour, Perth, Australia.

10:50:39

The strategy of Angelus was only conceived after overhearing part of Crinale's. Alex, having been on an errand, just happened to walk past

"From what I heard, their plan involved keeping behind us, until the final lap, where a second part will happen. What that second part is... I don't know. They must have discussed that part of their plan beforehand, cause they didn't explain."

"Fair enough, I can devise a strategy from that, thanks."

"Y-yeah, no problem."

After a few minutes, deep in thought, Brandon called the two ace pilots in for a discussion.

"'Sup?"

"You wished to speak with us?" Gareth and Kyoko greeted him.

"Yes, I have a strategy that can secure our victory."

"Explain?"

"Basically, it is to do with lap times. Since you've raced this circuit countless times, you know it better than anyone, and can defeat their times easily. The first part of my strategy involves limiting the craft's power to a certain amount, calculated such that you would still be front runners."

"How much would the limit be?"

"I'm not sure, I have to observe the others' times and speeds, and calculate a percentage based on that. If I had to give a rough guess, however, I'd say between 70 and 80%."

"That sounds reasonable."

"Yeah. For now, though, just do your runs at 70% power."

Brandon dismissed them to continue their practice. As they did, he observed the performance of the other teams and gathered them all, having 4 final figures from the data: a fastest time, an average time, a fastest speed and an average speed. He then compared that to Angelus' best times and speeds at full power and at their 70% power limit, performing multiple complex calculations against them. Finally, the end result was multiplied by 100, giving him one final figure.

82 was the percentage by which the power would be limited by. To test this, he spoke to both pilots over their comms.

"I have a semi-final percentage figure. To finalise my calculations, I need you to do some more runs, at 80%."

"Got it."

"Increasing power limit from 70% to 80."

After several more laps, Brandon had enough data, averaging out the data between the laps and re-doing the calculations. Once again, he came up with the final figure of 82.

"Perfect." He commented.

------------
<22120711>

Saturday, July 11th, 2212

"Alright, for our qualifier, you guys will be doing the speed lap at 82% power."

"82?"

"82. Yeah, it is a bit specific, but it is enough that you should still get pole position."

<11:25:00_>
<omega harbour: short fwd_>
<qualifier_>

01. FUJ616.0.43.194 (#43 | Kyoko Fujisaki | AX2.0_r1)
02. ARD889.1.19.194 (#19 | Gareth Ardos | AX2.0_r1)

The qualifier then started, Gareth setting off first, then Kyoko 15 seconds later. Once they had gotten around their flying lap, they started their speed lap proper, speeding past the line at the maximum speed 82% power would yield. After they had run through the standard 7 laps, getting 6 serious times in, the results came in, and it was predictable. Angelus had made a clean sweep, and gotten their 1-2 position for the race.

After the qualifying, Brandon held another meeting with Kyoko and Gareth.

"Now that's done, I can explain the race strategy. First off, you'll be racing at 85% power for most of the race, on the final lap you'll use the full range, all 100% of the Xff's power. But now, let me explain the second part. That lead pilot, Lucia Scarlatti, may be a prodigy, but she is only skilled in racing techniques, that's all. She's too young, she doesn't have the experience of being in dogfights... so, we use that to our advantage.

"Basically, you trick her, lure her into a trap where her racing line and style becomes bad and inconsistent. The psychology behind it is simple enough, her strategy involves paying attention to you at all times, so by using unorthodox lines, yet keeping your times consistent, you should make her race more inconsistently too, but since she doesn't know of the many lines one can take that, while not providing the best time, but a consistent one, her times will drop due to her falling into the trap.

That's when, after 91 laps of consistent inconsistence, you drop the power limiter and run the final lap with max power and on the fastest line. That sudden change should throw her off balance, giving you the win. Is that simple enough for you to accomplish?"

"Of course mate!" Gareth replied, "We ran that course thousands of times, we know tons of racing lines that would give us the same time, it's just a matter of altering the line and braking points in key areas to make the time differences cancel out."

"Exactly, that's exactly what I meant. I have faith in you guys... now I can't wait for tomorrow!"

[s2_23.3: Part 31.3] Strategies of Darkness and Light: Crinale

---

<22120710>

Friday, July 10th, 2212

Omega Harbour, Perth, Australia.

10:34:04

Leon rushed into Lucia's room, after being called.

"Sorry I'm late, I had some things to attend to." He explained.

"Next time, get your ass in gear." She said, annoyed. "How can we aim for a perfect win if you're late by 4 and a half minutes?!"

"Alright, alright, just hurry up and explain your strategy."

"Well, first off, I'd like to examine every part of the course."

"Fine."

She brought up a map of the track, and pinpointed the racing line of the track, including the optimal braking and acceleration points of all the corners in a surprising amount of detail. It was a job that only the racing prodigy herself could do. While it took a while for Leon to take in all the information, he eventually had it memorised. While he wasn't a prodigy like Lucia, he was still a serious racer.

"Now that you have that memorised, here's what I have planned. Although, this involves going against Viktor's whole BS about violence."

"Uh... okay."

"It will, however, be a fitting and humiliating domination over Angelus though, which is something else what he wants."

A heavy sigh later, Leon gave in. "Alright, let's hear this strategy."

"I knew you'd agree. Basically, this all depends on if they'll be in the lead through most, if not, all of the race. Naturally, since this is their home course, they will be. I've been paying attention to their times, and it seems they're doing extremely well."

"Even more so... did you notice?"

She blinked "Notice what?"

The glasses-wearing man smirked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "They aren't running at full power, and you saw their times. You can see how quick they are here. Unfortunately, they're in for a surprise. Speed isn't everything, after all."

"They're aren't at full power?!... A-anyway, they'll be ahead, so I will follow them, just keeping behind them. Your role in this is to loosely follow me, and attack anyone that tries to take the lead."

"So... I'm your defense."

"Yes. So... when the last lap comes... well, you know what'll happen."

"Uh?"

She got close to him, and whispered, "I'll explain tomorrow, people might be listening in." SHe backed away from himm and spoke in her usual volume "Oh, also, I need to be in my own groove, my own zone. So, I'll also get Viktor to cut the radio on my end so I can have my music going."

"...right.

Oh, and since you know they're not running at full power, and I'm not good at that sh*t, I'll leave you to gather more info on their strategy"

"I'm fine with that. Anything to destroy those pests."

------------
<22120711>

Saturday, July 11th, 2212

17:42:21

"Yes! It's a complete success!" Lucia jumped for joy.

"Huh? What's going on?" He asked.

The two of them were in the hangar, where no outsiders could hear them. They were looking up at Lucia's F0-RA8.

"I got my craft fitted with the Prototype EXO10 system, which, combined with the Quantum Destabiliser, would instantly and violently eliminate them."

"EXO10? They perfected it?"

"In a way. So... here's what'll happen on the last lap. Ready?"

"Just tell me." He said simply

"Alright. On the final stretch of the last lap, I'll activate this modified weapon, eliminate the both of them, and snipe the lead right from under their noses."

"Brilliant."

"Isn't it? It's such a Crinale thing to do, and it's not just violence, violence, violence throughout the entire goddamn race! It's perfect!"

"And if it backfires? What if you lose them?"

"I'm a f*cking racing prodigy, I won't lose to anyone."

"Riiight, like how you lost to Syncline last race?"

It was then she blushed, recalling the memories of the last moment of that race, and after, with Hal. "Sh... shut up." She said sheepishly, blushing.

"Heh, I know you're socialising with that Syncline pilot. I just haven't told Viktor because of your piloting skills."

"W-well... thanks... for that."

"It's nothing. We just need the best pilots, and if Viktor fires you, or worse... well, we'd be screwed. That's all there is to it. Anyway, let's go prepare for the race proper."

[part removed]

The referenced album title of Parts 31.2 and 31.3 was Darkness and Light by coralmines.

[s2_23.4: Part 31.4] A Vivid Wave of Hope

---

<22120712>

Sunday, July 12th, 2212

Omega Harbour, Perth, Australia.

<11:48:56_>
<omega harbour: short fwd_>
<race: lap 91 of 92_>

<i can't wait | celldweller_>

As the two white craft blasted through the mag-lock section and onto the final straight, the pilots communicated to each other in single word sentences, fully aware of the strategy, and the final phase tied to it.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then... aaaaand....

"100! NOW!"

As the two craft crossed the line for the final lap, they turned off their power limiter, which enabled them to use all of the craft's power. A low boom noise emanated from the thrusters, as the craft accelerated up to it's top speed. Naturally, this caused a certain F12000 pilot to show her weakness.

"Wait, what?!" Lucia exclaimed. The sudden sight of the craft moving away from her disoriented her for several seconds. Throughout that time she kept her speed the same, not realising that she could increase her speed. She looked around her instrument cluster, her controls, then jammed the thruster forward, using the F0-RA8's higher thrust output to accelerate faster than the leaders, which cancelled out the lower top speed than that of the Xygen Vs.

"Remember... Line 0." Kyoko reminded Gareth, before the first corner.

"Right."

Line 0 was the one line that was not like the lines taken through the race. This line was a deviation of the one Lucia saw, the perfect line that produced the best times for the course that suited the high-agility craft. Angelus were about to show Lucia just how fast they could go. Having known every single millimetre of the course, they could race at both the craft's and their limits. Despite Lucia having been thrown off her following racing style into her perfectionist racing style and set about catching up to them, they were still pulling away from her at a decent rate.

Or so they thought.

Lucia's 'optimal' racing line was, in fact, suited only to Crinale's craft. It took advantage of the higher thrust of the Micro-Turbine system. As such, while they pulled away in the corners, Lucia had been using her acceleration to keep up with them, albeit still losing ground slightly.

"...Leon, this is it!" She spoke for the first time that race.

"Huh... what? Oh, yes, it is. You're doing well, keeping up with them. The same could not be said for myself, however."

"It's because you're focusing on those behind you. It's fine, though, if all goes well, you'll have a very comfortable 2nd place."

"I can only hope it will. For our reputation, and your safety."

"M-my safety?"

"Viktor is a very intimidating man, I fear to think what he might do to you if you lose."

"Well, we'll soon find out. Hope this works." She engaged the prototype overdrive system just as she entered the mag-strip section.

"In mere seconds, the tables will be turned."

"Do it. Show them how superior we are."

Exiting the mag-strip section, Lucia aimed at the two craft that were seconds from winning. Getting a lock on them, she yelled and fired.

"CRINALE STILL RULES OMEGA HARBOUR!"

------------

Angelus had run the perfect race, they had used no weapons at all, and now, they were pulling away from Crinale, home free. Because they had run the course so many times, they could relax and still get the best time from all the teams. In fact, it took more effort to complete the other, slower, more consistent time laps than their superior speed lap.

"We're so close, Kyoko! We can do this!"

"Yes. It looks like Crinale are falling behind. Our strategy was a success!"

"It's all over for them, they should've thought twice than to mess with Angelus!"

The final corner after the mag-strip section was executed easily by the two light craft. They seemed to have the race in the bag, however.

"WARNING: Undefined weapon detected."
"ERROR: Unknown Weapon ID"
"Quantum Destabiliser"

Those three contradictory warnings came at exactly the same time, an incoherent mash of noise.

"Uh, Plan B."

"Yes!"

Right as she gave consent, they both activated their Turbos, accelerating towards the line with great speed.

...

[part removed]

The referenced album title of Parts 31.4 was ViViD Wave by Hachioji-P.

[s2_23.5: Part 31.5] F12000 Girls Will Seem Somewhat [CENSORED]

---

<22120712>

Omega Harbour, Perth, Australia.

Sunday, July 12th, 2212

<11:49:22_>
<omega harbour: short fwd_>
<race: lap 92 of 92_>

"WARNING: Undefined weapon detected."
"ERROR: Unknown Weapon ID"
"Quantum Destabiliser"

Those three contradictory warnings came at exactly the same time, resulting in an incoherent mash of noise.

"Uh, Plan B."

"Yes!"

Right as she gave consent, they both activated their Turbos, accelerating towards the line with great speed.

"CRINALE STILL RULES OMEGA HARBOUR!"

...

<contender eliminated_>
<contender eliminated_>

The modification to the weapon system allowed it to lock on and fire a more powerful blast. The Quantum Destabiliser arched around and eliminated Gareth almost instantly, then flipped directions and attacked Kyoko, eliminating her mere meters from the finish line. The two Crinale pilots had, indeed, flipped the tables on the whole race and...

<race complete_>

...finished in a perfect 1-2 victory, leaving Angelus in last place from being eliminated.

------------
Angelus Pits, Omega Harbour.

Kyoko stormed back to Angelus' control room, annoyed by Crinale's dirty play.

"That was bullsh*t! How the hell could they have allowed that?!"

"You realise Crinale are effectively in control of the Racing Commission? That's how they're able to get away with so much."

"Either way, those assholes will pay!"

"Relax, we'll deal with them in our own way. There isn't much we can do to them at the moment, but rest assured they will face judgement."

"When the hell will that be?! The longer you don't do anything to them, the more they can do to us."

"Kyoko! Please, calm down. I'm doing all we can as fast as we can. It's rather difficult to get information about them and devise a strategy based on that info. With that said, we don't have enough to form a strategy, but I'm not just sitting around twiddling my thumbs, okay?"

"I... ugh, fine. I guess I'm just uptight from the trainwreck that was that race."

"Yeah, you are definitely not the only one that feels like that."

------------
Crinale Pits

Lucia was ecstatic following her elimination of Angelus and eventual win. "Hahahaha! Sucks for Angelus! They should know by now that the only way to win is though violence and dirty play!"

Leon joined in her joy, "YES! They faced the ultimate loss, on their own home course... and now they shall face the ultimate humiliation!" From his pocket, he pulled out what looked to be a pistol.

"And just what exactly is that?" Lucia asked, "Is it really a gun?"

"Yes, but not the kind you'd expect. I've been using my wealth and a research team to develop this thing. It is, however, still a prototype, but it's a working one nonetheless. It fires a wave of energy that can destroy racing helmets. However, I haven't properly finetuned the energy wavelengths yet, so there may be some unintended side effects."

"You mean...?"

"Yes. With this, we can reveal Kyoko Fujisaki's true identity, and leak it out to the world. Angelus shall be in ruins! Hahahahaha!" He then turned away. "Here, catch." He said, before throwing the gun over his shoulder. Lucia was able to catch it, just barely. Upon hearing her successfully catching the weapon, Leon continued, "I'm entrusting the job to you. Destroy her identity. Do not make me lose hope on humanity. Oh, and don't worry, I ensured that it won't harm people."

"Got it!" She acknowledged, and ran off, entering Angelus' pits.

The guards saw the girl, still in her Crinale race suit, and attempted to stop her.

"GET BACK!" She yelled, pointing the gun at them as she ran towards her target.

Immediately, they gave chase, but Lucia was already halfway up the stairs to the control room.

"Back the f*ck up, and no-one gets hurt." She threatened, pointing the gun at them again, before spinning around and running the rest of the way up the stairs.

Lucia kicked open the door to the control room, and fired in Kyoko's direction, locking the door after. When Kyoko saw her aim the gun, she instinctively leaped up and turned away. The first two shots hit her arm and her back, which knocked her to the ground. As she was getting up, Brandon spun around, facing Lucia.

"Wh-?! You!" He exclaimed, lunging for her.

THUD.

As Lucia was knocked to the ground by Brandon, she instinctively fired again, hitting Kyoko's hip. Keeping her on the ground, Brandon turned to Kyoko. As Kyoko got up, Brandon saw the damage the weapon made. Bits of her racing suit had started melting off.

He looked around for a second, before taking off his lab coat and throwing it to Kyoko. "Here, put that on."

'What?! Fabric melts off? So that was the unintended side effects. Damnit, I should have aimed better. Well, I have one final chance.' Lucia thought.

As Kyoko put the coat on, Lucia fired the one final shot, which hit it's mark, impacting the back of her helmet.

"Ugh!" She groaned.

"Sh*t!" Brandon noticed she was still able to fire, so he kicked the gun out of Lucia's hand. He then turned to Kyoko.

"Are you okay?!"

"I am fine," Kyoko responded, "But my helmet, it feels like... it will fall apart. Also, because of her sh*t aim, my suit is ruined!"

"Okay, I have a plan. But first..." He then lifted Lucia up and escorted her out of the pits. When he got to the exit, he pushed her out.

"Never have I thought that Crinale would go to an all time low. Good job, you keep succeeding in pissing me off, without fail. Then again, I know these words mean literally nothing to you."

"Hey." Leon called out, as he appeared behind Lucia. "Why don't you give up?"

Brandon responded with a few choice swear words and insults, then stormed back inside, getting back to Kyoko, who was holding her helmet lightly, ready to keep it closed when it would eventually break.

"Ok, let's go." he told her, as he signalled to get his car ready.

"Okay... [gasp], sh*t!" She moved quickly, which caused the remains of her suit to fall to the ground.

"You've got my coat on, that's good enough for now. We need to hurry, before your helmet falls off."

"You don't need to say that twice." She said, finally running out of the exit with Brandon.

When they entered Brandon's car, he put a high ranking employee in charge of overseeing the cleanup, before speeding off.

[part removed]

Faster Than Angels, again, is going on hiatus.

Simply put, with this work I'm doing, I can't put enough time into writing than I'd like to. Also, I've been stuck in a writer's block, of sorts. However, the parts I've been posting recently was a suggestion for plot development by Bardic, I have written out a part that takes place near the end of 2212. I could finish and upload that if you all wish, but it not, then prepare for no parts for a while.

I really am sorry about this, but I did take a good long think about it. This is for the best.

FTA will return soon...

in near future, that will gives you a clear head. Really enjoyed the stories :)

stevie:)

A new year Brings a lot of new things on the table. For instance, I completed the work I was doing, so I'll do something new by bringing an oldie back.

FTA RETURNS!... again.

This part may not be as good though, it stemmed from a half-baked idea I wrote out before going into the writer's block. So I decided to salvage it by... tacking something completely different to it. Oops. Still, I think I made it work out...

The referenced album title of Part 31.5 was Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy by Mindless Self Indulgence.

[s2_24.1: Part 32.1] A Moment of Stasis (Part 1)

---

<22120725>

Saturday, July 25th, 2212

Münsterranerring, Germany.

08:03:18

"Oi, Hal. I need to speak with you." Kat called out to her teammate.

"What?" Hal replied.

"I saw you two yesterday."

"Who?"

"Oh, come on!" She said with a sly look on her face. "You know exactly who I mean!"

"...right."

"I admit, I did listen in on you two for a bit."

"Tch, why?"

"Because she's flying for Crinale. [sigh], honestly, though, you two are cute."

"R-really? You think so?"

"Yeah, she doesn't seem like the usual Crinale bunch."

"Mm, I think so too."

"That's why you need to tell her about what we know. Bring up her team's darker side."

Hal shook his head. "No, I can't do that. If she knew about Crinale's motives, it'd put her in danger."

"Hah! Nice try, you're just avoiding the confrontation! You can't just avoid it, Hal! Sooner or later, you will have to tell her. Especially if you plan to stay with her after everything we've planned to do."

She had a point, part of their plan involved Crinale. Hal knew this.

"...okay... fine, I'll get around to speaking with her about it."

------------
<22120726>

Sunday, July 26th, 2212

Münsterranerring, Germany.

09:01:47

The current race weekend brought the teams to Münsterranerring, in Germany. While it was anyone's race, the expected winners of the race proper was the team who developed it as their home course, Jennter. However, a certain team, while technically preparing for the race, did not hold it in their top priority. Well, one person more than others.

Brandon was working away at a computer, examining several pieces of data that were unrelated to the race. It seemed, understandably, that he was disinterested in the race itself and more interested in accomplishing his goal of shutting down the new Crinale, but more so the new tangent he had to deal with. The first draft of a new technology was being completed by him, with help from several close technicians, and a few certain individuals that did not work for Angelus. Those individuals were very important to the project, but did not actually know of the technology's existence. Today, however, Brandon was to change that.

As soon as he had finished the base document and the blueprints for the technology, he called an emergency meeting, including one of those non-Angelus affiliates.

"For what reason did you drag me over here? There is a race going on. You do know that, right?" Nikole questioned him.

Brandon just smiled, his usual smile that seemed to be separate from the rest of his face. "Heh. The race is insignificant. Jennter's win is a certainty. Besides, this is much more important."

"Explain. I'm listening."

"Well, since, naturally, the... permanent solution to our problem would take a really long time to develop, I've taken the liberty of developing a more temporary solution, only to be used for the more extreme cases."

He then brought up the blueprint of the device, letting Nikole examine it.

"So, this 'AG Pod'" She spoke, after a while of silence, "It seems like a straightforward solution, I can see how it would help, but you do realise as soon as they get out-"

"I know, I know. That's why I said it was a temporary solution, and only for the more extreme cases. I know what would happen if they were to exit the pod, I do. But it's better than having them roam around without it."

"Hmm, that is true. How long would it take to construct one?"

"Just building it, or when we'll be able to get the first one done?"

"Let's go with both."

"Okay, it should take about a week or 3 to actually construct, but to get the first one done would take a couple months, there would be some finalising of the design, and getting the required things that we don't have to actually build it."

"So this," She pointed to the blueprints, "is not the final design?"

"It's close, but definitely not. The base design is there, but there would be some changes to the final product design and some details of the functionality."

"Alright, be sure to keep me updated, and definitely show me the final design so I may look it over."

"Sure thing."

"Good." She stood up, turning to leave. "Now, if that's all, I have a race to win."

"You won't win." Brandon replied, looking away "I told you, Jennter's victory here is a certainty."

"You don't know that. Wasn't your victory in Omega Harbour assured? What happened to that?"

He instantly looked back at her, fury in his eyes, albeit seemingly not directed at her specifically.

"Crinale's corruption happened. I did the tests, the investigation, they blatantly cheated. Of course, I can't do sh*t about it because they effectively own the league."

"Oh, come on. Be a hero, give them a repeat of 2170."

He shook his head.

"I would love to, but I do not have the necessary information yet. I'm working on it, though."

"Uh huh. In any case, you can't say Jennter will win just because this is their home course."

"We'll see. You may leave now."

"Fine. Keep me updated on the pod, it is a rather useful idea."

"Will do, thanks."

As Nikole left, Brandon turned his attention to the race for a brief moment. As he said, Jennter were a fair way ahead. Apart from strategically dropping mines and bombs outside of the proper racing lines, which Angelus took, the German team were running a clean race, adhering to Angelus' purity...

Faster Than Angels
Part 100F: Leaping into the Future

Friday, 24th July 2212
Münsterranerring, Germany

"Fortunately we don't have to travel long." commented Patrick Rouser, decendant of the legendary F12000 champion Pacale Rouser, and the same prodigy who just raced through all imaginable youth series. "That wouldn't be a problem for me anyway, as I'm simply a robot." jokes Aurora Australis, the next-gen racing android developed by Jennter Enterprises.
"Good morning!" greeted Patrick as both entered the garage of their team.
"I love that they reintroduced the traditional garages in this new league!" was a voice that just entered right after the two pilots "Ah, these good old feelings!"

"Good morning, Mr Bovier!" everyone greeted Nico, the current leader of Jennter Enterprises.
"Ah, morning everyone! Just look at these beauties!" he joyfully greeted back and looked at the two examples of the Jennter F4.2000-1 Flowbreaker.
"We should win this." said Aurora bluntly.
"We HAVE to!" responded Nico "It is the most home-ish home race that a home race could be. We have to show the others, that this is OUR turft!"
"I just mean, our chances are really high, this track should suit our craft and the fact that Patrick and I are the only experienced pilots on it." continued Aurora coldly.

The first one-hour practise session started, as expected, the Jennter team made a clear one-two in it.
At afternoon the first qualifying session began, where Angelus lead infront of Crinale, while Jennter placed on a modest five-six positioning.
"Don't use the material too much until now and give them some hope." was Nico's order for this session.

Saturday, 25th July 2212
The second and final qualifikation session on Saturday went towards the end, it wasn't before only five minutes were left until first Rouser's, then Aurora's craft will leave the pits and begin their warmup lap.
To the shock of all teams, the warmup itself was already faster than Jennter's best practise lap, then Patrick put all his mental abilities into the perfect lap.

The craft flew down the bent starting straight, as Patrick pulled his craft close to the barrier onto the Mag Loc section and thrusted alond the vertical straight and through the curved looping, then at the end of the following straight, left the track early to let his craft drift through the sky onto the track again. He then went again full throttle through another sidewards looping, then took the jump right in the centre of the ramp, making him perfectly pass this cropped section.until heading towards the loop jump.
However, just before the ramp, Patrick pulled his craft up and towards the right, then performed haft a barrel roll to effectively cut out this section of the track.
After the S-curve there was a 90° corner followed by two jumps. He went full throttle for the first jump, then tipped the airbrakes to slow down, land early and collect speed for the second jump, that leads to the equally long, yet faster section of the track.

After smoothly passing the final section of the track, he nailed down a 0:47.675 that, even considering the shortcut, was far ahead of other teams.
Aurora quickly crossed the line shortly after Patrick and delivered a 0:47.772, of course also taking the shortcut.

"WOAH!?" went through the crowd, causing excitement, but also anger from some sides, who felt that Jennter was cheating with their raceline.
The stewards thought long to take action or not, but in sight of thousands of Jennter fans and that there are no shortcut-rules in the first place, accusations weren't placed in the first place.
Jennter was further supported by Angelus, who have spotted the disadvantage for Crinale and claimed "That every team could simply take Jennter's race line, thus it would not be an advantage."

The referenced album title of Part 32.1 was A Matter of Time (Part 1) by Voicians.

[s2_24.2: Part 32.2] The Major Cut

---

<22120726>

Sunday, July 26th, 2212

Münsterranerring, Germany.

10:29:10

...Meanwhile, halfway down the pack, Crinale were having difficulties keeping up, only being able to do so through sheer violence, keeping most of the pack around them. The race would not end well for them in the slightest. For a start, they were not even able to reach Angelus to even attempt to hold them back, let alone eliminate them. Not even the perfect flying of Lucia was able to get the results the so desperately wanted.

The reason, of course, was simple. The course was a protest against the F12000 Commission. Since they knew that the effective controllers were Crinale, they developed their course to greatly favour high handling craft, a similar fashion to the Japanese Sidewinder course. Therefore, high handling craft such as Jennter and Angelus would excel in the course, where heavy craft such as Crinale would end up in the mid-pack at best. This did, unfortunately, hinder teams who did adhere to pure ideals, but still retained heavy-handling craft.

At one point, Angelus were right behind the German frontrunners, having enough speed to overtake them, where suddenly, they pulled up and right. As the craft soared through the air, turning around, it performed a barrel roll, landing facing the part of the track that wasn't supposed to be accessed until after the loop ahead of them. The boost gained from the roll was enough to bring them back up to speed, as Angelus, were unable to react, already flying onto the loop.

"WHAT?! How the hell were we to know they'd employ that same trick in the actual race?!"

"We were not. Relax. I believe our craft are agile enough to copy them. We are able to use their line with ease."

Gareth thought about it, then nodded.

"Alright. Let's do it! We can beat them!"

<apollo (electro mix) | astronaut_>

It seemed that at least some members of the team were taking the race seriously, even if Brandon wasn't. The two craft flew off the ramp and, with a flourish, performed a sequential barrel roll, Kyoko rolling to the left, Gareth to the right, soaring right over the craft entering the loop. Landing successfully, the two flew down the straight at an incredible speed, navigating the light chicane with ease, rounding the final corner and speeding across the line for the next lap.

The next time they went round, nearing the shortcut, they decided to take it. However, it was clear that they were at a disadvantage, and that Jennter had gained a mass of experience in navigating the shortcut, despite Brandon saying that it was doable after the qualifier. Kyoko attempted to mimic the actions Jennter did, by flying up and to the right, performing a barrel roll and...

Boosting straight into the wall. The craft bounced off, the shields taking the brunt of the collision, but she had otherwise made it. Gareth tried to perform a Scandanavian flick, moving to the left, then turning all the way right, opening the airbrake as he flew upwards. He didn't barrel roll for fear of slamming into the wall. He landed at a 150° angle, the momentum still causing him to move towards the loop, but the craft did eventually slow down, then move forwards, barely missing the craft behind him speeding past. Despite the slower approach, the cut sill shaved some time from the lap.

The white and azure craft kept on like that, following the orange and white craft's lines, all in an attempt to overtake them and take the win. It was a friendly rivalry, not being overly violent. It was clear, however, that the German team was more suited to the course, and would know every quirk about it, thus being able to navigate through the perfect line, whereas Angelus had to rely only on their practice runs, and the high handling and top end speed of their craft.

Once again, the teams started objecting to the use of the shortcut, and those with higher handling also made attempts to navigate it, to varying degrees of success, though, naturally, none as successful as Jennter themselves. That did cause the heavier craft to fall behind more than usual. The race had ended that way too, with 2 distinct groupings of the teams' results: Those who took the shortcut, and those who didn't, separated by a large gap in race time. As Brandon had predicted, the winners of the race were, by a long shot, Jennter.

------------

12:15:43

A tired Lucia was walking through the Crinale partition of the pits, not paying attention where she was going. Suddenly, she found herself outside a room, occupied by a certain person. The yells inside had brought her back to reality, but the curiosity got the better of her, and so she listened in, pressing her ear against the door...

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! You forget who I am. I can and will get rid of those routes."

It appeared he was speaking with someone, but she couldn't hear what was being said on the other end, as if it was a phone call.

"Fine, fine. Next order of business, the data.

...

"Yes, that data."

...

"What? What do you mean we don't have it all yet?! What about the Shinigami Project?!"

...

"Fine. I know how I can gather and analyse their data, quicker than usual.

...

"'Isn't it against the r--'?! Of course it is! Since when have we ever cared about the rules?! Or the law for that matter? These stupid teams will learn what is to be expected out of the F12000 sooner or later!"

'...wha-?' Lucia thought. 'I only assumed the team were obsessed with violence, not completely f*cking corrupt?! Unless I'm misunderstanding...'

Slowly, the girl stood up and backed away slowly, before turning and walking away, trying to look normal. However, that was slightly difficult with the information she inadvertently been presented with. Unfortunately for her, someone had seen her walking back.

"Lucia? Are you alright?"

The young girl let out a scream and jumped, the sudden voice scaring her. She looked around, and saw Leon.

"Leon?! What the f*ck?! Do you want to scare me to death?!"

The man looked confused.

"I assure you, that was not my intention. Although, you did seem to be out of it. I'll ask again: Are you alright?"

"I-I... I guess? Sorry, I'm just a bit tired, after whatever the hell that trainwreck was."

He blinked at her, as if he had his suspicions, but ultimately dropped the issue. "Fine. I admit that race was heavily stacked up against us. I can only hope we can do better next time. Get some rest, Lucia. You definitely seem like you need it. I'll wake you when we need to depart."

She didn't need to be told twice. With a nod, she headed off to one of the side rooms, and took a nap inside it. Or at least she would have, if it wasn't for what she heard, the words echoing through her mind. She needed to tell someone, but who would believe her? Leon? Hal? ...actually, Hal seemed like the better choice. Next time she met, she would tell him. With that mental note made, her fatigue had gotten the better of her, and she fell into a slumber.

The referenced album title of Part 32.2 was The Final Cut by Pink Floyd.

[s2_25.0: Part 33.0] A Matter of Time

---

<22120801>

Saturday, August 1st, 2212

Angelus R&D HQ, Perth, Australia.

13:42:51

The weekend after the race brought a guest over to Angelus' headquarters, to discuss a certain piece of tech that was solely in their secretive R&D section.

"Now that we aren't in the middle of a race, we can discuss the AG Pod further. Has there been any more improvements to the blueprints since we last spoke?" Nikole asked.

"Only minor updates, but you'd want to know anyway."

There were two reasons why they were not inside the R&D department itself. The first was that Brandon did not want anyone outside the department seeing the top secret technologies in development there, and also because the device was not constructed yet, so there was no reason to go there in the first place.

"Anyway, the pod. How are you to get the chemical filtered out?"

"I admit that's a tiny problem, because of what Alex mentioned. Unless the data was compromised somehow and we find what we need in that data..."

Unconsciously, Brandon fiddled with a small storage drive in his pocket.

"Well, wouldn't Viktor find out about his data being leaked?"

"Well, it won't be leaked, per se. It will just be used by us to rectify the problem on our hands."

"But would he not just find out his database was hacked? That's what Alex was talking about."

Brandon had mumbled something sounding like "If only it wasn't so incomplete yet." in response.

"Hmm? What was that?" Nikole asked, not hearing his mumbles.

"Ah, nothing. Don't worry. Just thinking out loud."

"..." Nikole just looked at him, but decided to not pursue the issue. "Anyway, as you said, the updates to the design aren't as important. I may need to get a therapist, or a neurologist, or someone to look at this, and see if it's alright."

"I had one look at it."

"And?"

"Would I be still presenting this if I got a no?"

"...good point."

"Would you like to see the report? I have it here."

"Sure, I'll give it a look-over."

"Here, then."

Brandon pulled out a holo-bar, containing pages upon pages of a document regarding the technology and the professional opinion of the neurologist that had examined the technical document before giving their okay on the project. Nikole opened it up and scrolled through the pages, skimming through the results they had come up with. Satisfied, she closed it up and passed it back to him.

"Very well, then. We can build a prototype of the base system, using a different chemical in place of our unknown variable."

"Sure, that works for me. If we obtain the data before it's completed, I shall use the proper chemical."

With a nod, Nikole decided to go further into the basics of the system and the construction itself, discussing it with Brandon...

------------
Unknown Location

18:40:35

A certain group of individuals met up with a recent Angelus employee as part of their regular meetings.

"I have been doing the research," Alexandra Kotova opened with, "And I believe our best time to strike would be right after the final race of the season, Vohl Square II"

"Interesting, because of its location?" CO-02 asked, to which Alex replied with a nod. "We do have our own plans for that race, but we aren't sure if we should go through with it."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Sabotage. We were planning to make Crinale lose. However... that may possibly come at the cost of some technicians."

"Which includes CO-05."

"Exactly. We do not want any more COs losing their lives, if we can help it... unless we make the sabotage subtle, not enough to warrant more senseless killing by our new leader."

"If you can make it so you can guarantee no deaths from this, then do it. If you are even 1% unsure, then do not go for it. It will not worth it in that case, specifically because we are targeting OE-0."

"Understood. We have time before that race, though, so we may be able to devise a plan."

"Fair enough. Remember, not at the cost of others. Anyway, OE-0. Have you come up with any better plans than after Vohl Square?"

"They rarely let up their guard, I believe that after that particular race would be an optimal time to do it. Due to its short distance between a certain building, OE-0 would more than likely visit there. That is when we strike."

"Okay, then. After Vohl Square. Thank you for the meeting."

"Thank you, Miss Kotova."

Hey Ace,

Could you kindly link your posts into a spoiler section in the OP?

That would take a lot of time to find the parts and compile the links, but yeah, I can get that done eventually.

The referenced album title of Part 34 was A Matter of Time by Voicians. The full length release this time, not the Part 1 EP.

[s2_26.1: Part 34.1] A Ghost's Attack

---

<22120807>

Friday, August 7th, 2212

Nokav Vertigo, Rocky Mountains, USA.

12:36:48

On one of the breaks of the practice round at Nokav Vertigo, one female pilot went on a small search for another. Amazingly, she found her leaning on a wall at the peak of the short course, outlooking the view of the mountain range the track was situated upon. Approaching her from the left of the helmeted girl, who was looking out to the right, Katsuo gave a friendly wave when she saw her head move quickly to her direction, to see who was walking up to her.

"Heya, how you doing?" Kat spoke in Japanese to the other pilot, Kyoko Fujisaki.

"Alright." Kyoko replied, in Japanese as well.

"How's the course?"

"Twisty, kinda challenging."

"Yeah, it is a bit."

"...I love it."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I also took a look at the other courses here, and I am rather interested in the 2nd course. Alas, I must wait, but the course we're racing on should be fun."

Kat nodded, smiling happily

"Yeah, this should be fun." Suddenly, she had a thought. "Ah, how's Australia holding up for you?"

"H-Huh? What do you mean?"

"Oh! What I mean is moving to another country, it kinda changes who you are, you know?"

She looked at Kyoko knowingly. While she did have a happy look on her face, there was an air of seriousness in her gaze. Kyoko also stared back at Kat, but, with her helmet on, no-one could determine what her emotion was.

"I think... I understand what you mean. Why you would say that suddenly... is something I'm not yet sure of, but..."

Kyoko suddenly stopped. Her helmet faced Kat, the Syncline pilot feeling the other girl's eyes piercing glare, even if she couldn't see it.

"...I get it. I completely understand now."

Those were her last words before she pushed off the wall, and walked back to Angelus' pits, leaving Kat there. Immediately, without stopping, she walked over to the small lounge room, opening the door and entering.

"Brandon, w-"

She stopped dead in her tracks. She had spoken before actually realising who was in the room... and what they were doing.

"...I-I... I apologise... I, ah... I'll leave you to it then."

Closing the door behind her as she stepped backwards out of the room, she took the time to think about where Brandon was this time, and so headed to where she thought the lab coat-clad man was, the main control room provided to the teams part of their pits. Like last time, she opened the door and walked inside, this time taking in the scene of the room, letting the door close behind her once she found him.

"Brandon... we need to talk."

He spun around quickly, sensing the urgency in her voice.

"What is it?"

"...Th... they know." Were the words to come out of her mouth.

"...huh? Who knows about what?"

"K-Katsuo, Syncline. They know about... me."

His face darkened.

"What... exactly do you mean?"

"Kat spoke with me..."

Kyoko proceeded to explain what she had said to Brandon, who listened carefully. When she had finished, he just kept staring at her.

"...Finally. They just couldn't resist, could they?"

Brandon suddenly started to move, walking out of the room. Kyoko practically jumped out of the way of the man's path, as he left the control room. Maintaining his pace, he made his way out of the partitioned building, heading to another partition of that very same building. He wasn't invited, but that mattered very little, as he walked right in, as if it was part of Angelus' partition. Since the layouts were the exact same, he knew where to go. He kept walking, unstopping, over to a certain door. He swung it open, and stared at the occupants, his face cold and unsmiling. Walking over to Nikole, he saw that the woman's face had become somewhat grim as well, as she stepped away from him and Katsuo.

"Did you need something from me?" She asked.

"I won't be needing anything if you can't keep to yourself for just a few minutes."

She blinked. "I'm afraid I'm out of the loop on this one."

The man shook his head. "Don't play dumb with me, you know exactly what I mean."

Thanks Bardic for writing this part out.

The referenced album title of Part 34.1 was Ghosts I-IV by Nine Inch Nails.

[s2_26.2: Part 34.2] Etymological Kid

---

<22120807>

Friday, August 7th, 2212

Nokav Vertigo, Rocky Mountains, USA.

12:54:10

Nikole kept a heavy pace to her office to be caught off guard opening the door. Katsuo sat against the wall inside with a bit of guilt in her tone.

"Why don't you stand up?" Nikole asked with an attempt at sympathy. She knelt to Katsuo's level. "I can help you, okay? What did you need to tell me?"

"I think I f*cked up," she replied.

"That doesn't tell me much."

"Well, its kind of a long story."

"Is it immediately urgent? I'm expecting someone here."

"How much time do you have?"

Nikole grabbed Katsuo's hand and implied a request to stand up. "How about you clear your head. I'll meet you in your room and we can talk then."

Katsuo started a smile at the growing likely hood of her over-reaction. "Will it be a few minutes?" she asked.

Nikole backed away for space, just before Brandon swung the door open. Katsuo was about to say goodbye when he signalled for her to stay. He walked to Nikole with a stark face, ready to hold his ground.

Nikole mirrored his expression while stepping further away from him and Katsuo. "Did you need something from me?" Nikole asked.

"I won't be needing anything if you can't keep to yourself for just a few minutes."

"I'm afraid I'm out of the loop on this one."

"Don't play dumb with me, you know exactly what I mean."

"No she doesn't, Brandon." Katsuo chimed in, without any expectation for a reaction from either of them. Brandon's attention was immediately shifted to the shorter girl.

"Are you telling me you interfered with our lives for fun?" Brandon asked.

"You're over simplifying a lot." Katsuo's voice started to raise. "I knew this from something else."

Nikole went between them with a realization of what Katsuo might be recalling. "Calm down, the both of you. We can all solve this."

"Just how much can I except you to be a part of this?" Brandon responded.

"You can stop accusing everyone." Katsuo said.

"And just why am I accusing anyone? Where's you trust for Kyoko to handle herself?"

"She can't handle herself! Nikole is just like Kyoko, except she can see she needs help to function."

"Is that right? You don't know if Kyoko is even like that!"

"So what? Is that good enough for her to ignore it, because I've already seen what happens when that happens and I was orphaned because of it!"

"This is different, we have it handled-"

"It's always handled. Everyone knows exactly what they're doing UNTIL THEY HAVE TO FORCE A KNIFE TO THE SKULL OF SOMEONE THEY LOVE TO SURVIVE!" Katsuo stopped herself with her own words. She found out how close she'd manage to get to Brandon, but wouldn't back away. She was paralysed by memories she'd managed to not think about for years. Nikole pulled her chair behind Katsuo and gently motioned for her to sit. She opened the door for Brandon and followed him outside.

"Is that something she did?" Brandon asked, "I had no idea she was an orphan, I-"

"Her mother did that when Kat was very young." Nikole answered. "I suppose it's only a small aspect of the whole story. I don't think it'd be tasteful to carry on with her past."

Brandon's sympathy returned after better understanding Katsuo's motives. "Is she going to be okay? She's not going to do anything rash is she?"

"She's definitely not okay. She has a habit of dealing with pain in an unhealthy manner. I'll question her about how much she knows in the morning and I'll give you a call afterwards."

"You can't see me in person?"

"We'll be heading back home. Katsuo is in no condition to race. I don't know how Kyoko would act towards her in the race anyway. If anyone asks, my neck is acting up."

"Yeah, okay... listen, I know you said you wouldn't go into Katsuo's past anymore, but... I just need to know that Kyoko will... that she's still alright for now."

Nikole took a breathe before she started. "Kyoko isn't nearly as dire of a situation. Katsuo's father had the Condition when we didn't know as much about it. He was falsely told that her mother would take him in and he wasn't able to think rationally. Her mother wasn't able to calm him down and started to panic." Nikole moved her head a bit to make sure the hallway was clear. "You understand how important it is to never repeat this?"

"Of course." Brandon said. "I'm just going to let Kyoko know that you're leaving the race. I don't know if she'll still feel okay with Katsuo, but-"

"She shouldn't feel okay about her." Nikole interjected. "Once I find out how she figured out what she knows, I'll have to stress to her that she needs to control herself. I just hope she'll be stable enough to her the criticism."

"And then we'll be able to trust her?"

"Likely, yes."

"What do you mean 'likely'?"

"We'll talk about it tomorrow," Nikole said. "Just try to keep things sane on your end for now."

Brandon gave an only slightly understanding nod and started his way back to Angelus, much more calmly than his trip to Syncline.

Okay, as was requested, I've written out a list containing links to all of my parts. However, because there are so many of them, I decided to write this list out on an article on our wiki. The article can be seen here, and a link will also be provided in the first post. I haven't listed all the parts though, as I still need to list all of the Curse of the Devil parts (and, maybe, Jonny and everyone else's parts). However, it is a start nonetheless.

Posting this part early for reasons. Please note there may not be a part posted on the usual day until next week. It depends.

The referenced album title of Part 34.2 was The Impossible Kid by Aesop Rock.

[s2_26.3: Part 34.3] A Series of Issues

---

<22120807>

Friday, August 7th, 2212

Nokav Vertigo, Rocky Mountains, USA.

13:12:51

Back at Angelus' pits, Brandon made his way back up to the control room, finding Kyoko still standing there in the room.

"Huh? What are you still doing here, Kyoko?" He asked.

"Waiting for you to get back."

"Oh, well I'm here now."

"So? You went and spoke with Syncline, didn't you? What'd they say?"

"Oh, right. If you're thinking of getting revenge on Katsuo, it's not happening, even if I allowed it. They're pulling out."

"They're what?" She asked, surprised.

"After I confronted them, they said they're going home. Nikole determined that Katsuo was not in the best condition to race, so they're leaving."

"And Hal? Is he going to race?"

"Seems like it, they do have an 'official' reason, but it's not important to us. Anyway, are you alright to get back out?"

"Ah, yes, I can get back to practising. Excuse me."

Kyoko bowed, turned around and exited the room. As she left, Brandon slid his hands into his coat's pockets, and looked out towards the track, looking at Gareth's progress. As the craft soared past the stretch visible from the room above, Brandon's eyes narrowed, then flicked down to the screen displaying the craft's telemetry.

"...Wait... how the hell...?!"

Turning on his headset without hesitation, he quickly informed Gareth of the situation.

"Gareth, return immediately. Kyoko, don't go yet. This is urgent."

As he got acknowledgements from both pilots, Brandon called the technicians working on the craft to the pits along with the pilots, then fished out his phone and attempted to call Alex.

"...Huh?" He looked at his phone. She wasn't picking up. No matter how long or many times Brandon rung her phone, Alex just wasn't answering. "What's going on here?!"

Brandon rushed out of the control room just as one of the people working the control room was about to ask what was wrong. Running down to the pits, where both craft now were situated, he asked the staff entering the large room where the girl was. Almost all of them had no clue, but one person spoke up: Kyoko.

"She is in Lounge A, but sh... she... wait."

Brandon, like last time, took off before Kyoko had finished her explanation. Not wanting to leave him on his own, she set off after him. Arriving at the lounge, he threw open the door, and was faced with...

"...what... the hell?" Was his outburst to the situation.

"...Wait, what? That's not... w-what I saw earlier..." Kyoko spluttered.

"What are you-? Ugh, whatever, just... help me."

Alex was not speaking, but realising they were going to do what they were going to, she opened her mouth. "...W-wait, no, it's not what it looks like!"

Alex was tied up. Literally, her hands and legs were tied to the chair she was sitting on. Brandon untied her hands, while Kyoko freed her legs. Unfortunately, she looked up at the wrong moment as she was doing so, and had seen how compromised she was, making a small squeak before Alex quickly placed her freed hands in front of her.

"Damn it, I was hoping you wouldn't see..." She spoke in a soft voice, moving one of her legs once it was free.

"Hmm? See what?" Brandon asked.

"...n-nothing you should be concerned with."

"Uh... right."

Soon, Alex was completely untied, standing up after Kyoko straightened up, stretching.

"Why were you tied up? Who tied you up?!" Brandon started questioning her once she rose to her feet. She looked back towards him when he did.

"Brandon... y-you don't understand... I..." She faltered, and looked away, blushing. Her eyes briefly glowed purple for the briefest of moments. Then, she spoke up. "...I wasn't tied up against my will."

"You... w-wait... I understand none of this."

"I-I think I do..." Kyoko murmured.

"You would... cause you saw... me." Alex mumbled back, before turning back to Brandon. "Maybe you'd understand if I told you who tied me up."

"How do you figure that?"

"Well... it was... u-uh..."

"...it was...?"

"...Catherine."

Upon hearing that name, Brandon realised what happened, and his eyes grew wide. He made an attempt to quickly change the subject.

"...U-uh... a-a-anyway... we need you to accompany us to the pits... w-we have a problem."

The lights were dimmed in the personal carrier with Katsuo passed out in the back seat. Nikole had been communicating with several e-mails just across the walkway. Despite her tendency to sleep comfortably in just about any situation, this instance led to her back ached and seemingly permanently bent sideways, along with her head not feeling that far off from waking up after getting knocked out cold.

“Are we there?” Katsuo asked, despite noticing the presence of gravity.

“We've been here a while,” Nikole said, “you wouldn't stay awake.”

“How long has it been?” Katsuo asked.

“We landed about an hour ago.”

“You've been here the whole time?”

“I've had a lot of explaining do.” Nikole answered, still focused on typing on her laptop.

It started to sink in to Katsuo just a bit more what she had done. She unbuckled her seat to straighten herself out, still standing where she'd been. Nikole closed her laptop and set it aside. Katsuo took a breath and sat next to Nikole.

“I take it you found out when finding Angelus's spy...” Nikole said.

Katsuo nodded her head.

“And I assume from the conversation we had after then that you disobeyed orders to find out.” she continued.

“I didn't know what I was going to find out.” Katsuo said.

“That means very little, you still confronted Kyoko about it.”

“Well... I didn't tell her directly, I just-”

“That is also insignificant. You took a very sensitive situation and ran in without caution.”

“You don't think I was being careful?”

“Leaving the issue aside would have been careful.”

“It would have been careless.” Katsuo protested. “I'm not going to close my eyes and wait for the world to stop burning.”

“You're not thinking objectively enough. Angelus knows enough about the condition to handle any anomalies Kyoko experiences.” Her statement was punctuated by a notification sound from her laptop. Nikole grabbed it and read though the new content. Katsuo started to get suspicious at the way Nikole stopped her lecture to read a message on a device.

“You're recording this.” Katsuo said with certainty, with a growing anxiety at the idea that her actions may be more severe then she had thought.

“It's just a live feed, for my superior.”

Katsuo chuckled slightly, thinking that had to be a joke. To her, even with Nikole's serious attitude, that seemed more likely.

“There's no need for alarm,” Nikole said, noticing Katsuo's fast changing expression, “there's just going to be some testing.”

“They think I might've gotten it.” Katsuo said, simultaneously trying to slow her thoughts down.

“Not at all, it's just hard to be sure what someone is doing when they go against protocol.”

“So they think I'm a spy.”

“It's a precaution. I hope you understand why this needs to happen.”

“Yeah, I guess...” Katsuo started to lean into her seat, taking in deep, long breaths. “So, what now?”

Nikole took a minute to articulate her words, and started at a low voice. “There's going to be a DNA test, an MRI for lie detection, and then a test for outside interference, to see if anyone else tries to peek in while you're down there.”

“That last one can't be done while the other tests are happening.”

“The other tests won't take but an hour,” Nikole explained, “but if someone else tries to break in, they could wait for quite a bit longer.”

“Okay... I know you want to make sure I know the reason for everything, and to stay calm, and that I just need to prove my honesty, but I just...”

“Do you need me to put put it bluntly?”

“Please do...”

Nikole took a moment to examine Katsuo's mood once more, even going so far as to check her pulse before continuing. With Katsuo appearing calm and ready to face her dues, Nikole spoke out quickly to get it done.

“They're putting you in an isolation chamber.” Nikole blurted. “It will last ten days so that a third party would likely give up on you had they been monitoring you.

Katsuo went to pat Nikole on the shoulder, to let her know she could handle the news. It ended up being a hug, with each thinking it was for the others benefit.

“Can I make a call?” Katsuo asked, “I just don't want Ryouta to get worried after too long.”

“We'll let him know you'll be gone for the next week and a half. We can't give specifics, but I'm sure he'll be fine regardless.”

“Well, I kinda want to just talk to him one more time.”

“A cellphone call isn't secure enough.” Nikole said. “I'm sorry, but this is the-”

“It's okay,” Katsuo said, “I understand. If anyone else did this I'd expect them to go through the same thing.”

Nikole let her arms go and stood up to the walkway. “I am to escort you out, with you going first.”

Katsuo complied and stood in front of Nikole, and the both of the stepped out through the door into the daylight.

The referenced album title of Part 34.3 was Issues by Korn.

[s2_26.4: Part 34.4] Fear of a Dead Craft

---

<22120807>

Friday, August 7th, 2212

Nokav Vertigo, Rocky Mountains, USA.

13:32:43

Now with Alex, Brandon got the technicians to perform a complete diagnostic on both of Angelus' craft, after disconnecting them from their network as part of their safety precautions. It took a long time to go over every detail of the craft's systems, until...

"There! We got it! Alex, over here. Do you recognise this?"

The black-haired woman stared at the console, looking over the code. As she did, her eyes glowed slightly.

"This... I recognise this. So he's finally using my arsenal."

"Sorry?"

"I had stored several ideas for some... legally ambiguous warfare against you lot. Of course, that was before I mellowed out, so I kept them on a locked partition on Crinale's servers. It appears that he has gotten into it and is putting those ideas to work. This was intended to take advantage of the fact that we knew how the security on your first craft worked, so we could have been able to implant a virus that would ultimately disable the craft's systems."

"So, you know how to combat it?"

"I'm not finished explaining," She continued, "As I said, that was intended for that first craft you built, what was it? The AGR1 or something like that? Anyway, I would suspect that you are all smart enough to upgrade or otherwise rewrite the security's code, so my code would not even touch this craft. Viktor obviously knew that, as the code here is very different to my original, but I can spot traces of that original code in there, which is how I knew what it was. But that begs the question, how was he able to easily slip this into your highly secure systems?"

This time it was Brandon that spoke up.

"Do you remember, Alex? He is in control of the F12000. Just as you can spot traces of your original code in there, I can spot traces of official AGRC system code. This virus seems to be spoofing as official F12000 data. Naturally, all craft have to be compatible with the code, and with someone dangerous as him in charge, he could easily fix races like this. Chances are this was a test, an experiment, and we were the guinea pigs."

"...tch, goddammit. Can you delete the code?"

"Deleting the code is the easy part. Worst case scenario, we restore a systems backup. The tricky part is preventing it from entering our systems again. Because it spoofs F12000 code, we can't simply mark the code as a virus, as the F12000 code will create system conflicts. The worst case scenario would overwrite the code, though, so we won't have it to examine. However, it's not impossible, I have faith in my technicians that they can get the job done. We can't get back out there, though. Gareth's craft is not in the best way, I'm not risking Kyoko's going the same way, and both craft need to stay here for the virus extraction and to further examine it in order to create the antivirus hotpatch. Anyway, I need to go make the announcement that we've stopped practice for today."

Alex nodded, as Brandon headed for the control room, letting everyone who wasn't tasked with the virus' removal that they were now free to do as they wished.

------------
13:01:22

<vargas | vinter in vegas_>

"It's ready, we've loaded it onto your craft. Now destroy Angelus!"

As Gareth was going through his practice run, a certain black and orange craft set off from the pits, aiming to catch up to the light craft flying around the track. However, because of the initial tight corner-heavy first half, the heavier, less agile RA8 could not get near the Xygen V, despite the fact that the Micro-Turbine thrusted craft could accelerate out of the corners faster than the traditional Xygen could. Even on the high-speed second half, the Angelus had it beat, having a higher top-end.

It was there that the pilot of the dark craft decided that it wasn't an actual race, and so had decided to slow down and let the faster craft come around. As the white racer returned into view of the black craft, they put the next part of their plan into action, remembering what Viktor had told them beforehand.

"Activate the weapon and fly close enough for the data to transfer itself."

Waiting for the perfect time that the craft would fly close enough to them, the Crinale craft had sped up, flying at it's normal speed, which was still slow enough to let the Angelus craft catch up to it. Eventually, it had gained on the team, and so they engaged a set of maneuvers to prevent them from overtaking, keeping them within range for their attack. Angelus' computer didn't acknowledge that a weapon had been fired because, technically, one had not been fired. It was released, able to be transferred, absorbed, into the systems, under the guise of official F12000 data.

Once the data had completely transferred, the craft stopped its offensive maneuver, and resumed flying around the track in a normal manner, allowing the now infected craft to fly past. The virus soon started to take effect, with the airbrakes acting odd. Unfortunately for them, that was all they could see of the virus' effects, as the pilot soon spun the craft around and limped back to the pits soon after rushing past the main straight.

"Brandon must have noticed and called him back in."

"It is fine, they still have the disadvantage of using up their precious practice time on working on the virus. We can only hope that the nature of the code proves impossible for them to remove it, or at least gain an immunity to it."

------------
<22120808>

Saturday, August 8th, 2212

13:54:37

Throughout the night and the following day, Angelus' technicians worked on the update code for the craft's security, when they had a completed version, they applied it to a virtual copy of the craft systems, then ran the extracted virus to the patched system, noting the effects and, if the patch didn't work, restore the system, work on the update and repeat the testing.

It was well into the Qualifier, and the team was still working on the code. If they were unable to get it working within the day, they would automatically be disqualified. Although, it seemed like someone had a backup plan.

"Brandon, I'm not letting my craft let the whole team down, if they can't do it in time, put Kyoko out. She's a good racer, she can win!" Gareth pleaded to his team leader.

"Gareth, we still have an hour and 5 minutes to get this thing completed, it still can be done. Besides, even if it doesn't get completed, and we send her out, Kyoko's craft may suffer the same fate as yours, hell, maybe even worse."

"I wouldn't be so sure..." A technician working on the code spoke up. "Come take a look at this."

Brandon walked up to the screen and looked at what he instantly recognised to be the diagnostic log of the the Xygen's systems. He instantly read the line that was highlighted.

"Wait... it was deployed as a weapon?"

"Yeah, and regarding the type of transmission, I believe that they cannot use it in the race proper. At least, that's my hypothesis."

"Well, I can only hope you're right with that."

By that point, they were extremely close to being successful with the code blocking out the virus but keeping in the F12000 data. It would only take them 38 more minutes to finish the security patch. Excited, they patched the update to the virtual system and ran the virus on it. It gave two quick, low beeps and spat out an error.

WARNING: Blacklisted data detected. Transfer denied.
Virus detected. Data deleted.

"YES! It works! Now for the dummy file."

He sent through an official F12000 data file, running it into the system, which graciously accepted it.

"Brandon, are the craft connected up to our systems?" Was the head technician's question.

"Yeah, why?"

"Has Gareth's been restored?"

"Again, yes. Why?"

"The patch is complete. We can send them out to the ships, and send them out for the qualifier."

"Do it. Quick!"

With Brandon's permission, the head technician brought up the system back-end, and sent the hotpatch through to the two craft, updating their security immediately.

"Alright, contact the AGRC and our pilots, tell them we're ready."

The referenced album title of Part 34.4 was Fear of a Blank Planet by Porcupine Tree.

[s2_26.5: Part 34.5] A Fragile Mind

---

<22120809>

Sunday, August 9th, 2212

Nokav Vertigo, Rocky Mountains, USA.

08:53:43

The previous day's qualifier had put Angelus in 2nd and 8th position for the race, which went without a hitch, thanks to the software engineers' security update, which gave the team an immunity to Crinale's viral warfare. Gareth's craft did need some alignments and fine-tuning done to fix the damage the virus did to it, but the craft was back to its optimal performance in time to post a competitive time. However, said competitive time was not the best time the craft could do.

"Tch, if only we had more time, I could have put in a better time." Gareth commented, "I didn't do the Xygen justice, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, just relax." Brandon replied. "You did what you could, we all did. The starting position is not the be-all-end-all, the race is what matters."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll be able to catch up to Kyoko... I think."

"That's the spirit! Now go on, the 5 minute warning should sound an-"

"Warning. 5 minutes remain until race begins. All pilots please move to the start line in your relative positions." The announcement sounded, cutting Brandon off just as he was mentioning said announcement.

"...ahem, as I was saying."

"Yeah, I'll get going now. See you on the other side of the race."

Gareth then ran off, heading for his craft, which was in position, ready for him to enter and get ready. Kyoko, on the other hand, was already in her craft, waiting for the race to start. But, for the first time since she flew for Angelus, she was scared. Syncline knew... of course they did, they seemed to know about a lot of things pertaining to this horrid league, that would explain her visits to Angelus itself.

However... what she could not forgive... was that they could not keep their mouths shut...

"And for that... they need to pay!"

3, 2, 1... GO!
<09:00:00_>
<nokav vertigo: short fwd_>
<race: lap 01 of 109_>

02. FUJ616.0.43.194 (#43 | Kyoko Fujisaki | AX2.0_r2)
04. ERI220.1.99.175 (#99 | Halvred Erikson | V.ult-2X1024)
08. ARD889.1.19.194 (#19 | Gareth Ardos | AX2.0_r2)
11. SCA308.0.7.329 (#7 | Lucia Scarlatti | F0-RA8/00095)
12. TUR847.1.13.329 (#13 | Leon Turner | F0-RA8/00127)

<strobo migraine | callasoiled_>

The craft shot off the line, and as usual, Crinale set about attacking the competition, gaining offensive weapons to make their gradual climb towards the lead. Fortunately, Gareth was able to avoid most of their barrages, catching up to Hal and Kyoko, who were in 2nd and 3rd respectively. However, when he caught up to them, what he saw shocked and confused him.

When the race started, Kyoko's higher thrust Xygen rocketed away from Hal's 'Vulture', but she let him catch up to her once he had gotten his speed up. Once he passed her, she began her revenge. She ditched her speed-based racing technique and became more violent towards the red and purple craft. She was actively trying to eliminate Hal. Since it was just her, Hal decided to ignore and evade her, aiming for the top position. Unfortunately, Kyoko was having none of it, as her faster, more agile craft could easily keep up with him without breaking a sweat, where she continued to fire her weapons at him. It was getting to the point where if Hal didn't stop ignoring her, he would be eliminated fairly quickly.

"...Kyoko? Are... you okay?" Gareth spoke, after catching up to the two craft battling.

"Perfectly fine. Why do you ask?" Came the reply of the 'faceless' pilot.

"You... seem to be... how should I put this... in the mindset of Crinale."

"Please, they're worse. I'm just delivering some well-deserved revenge."

"'Well deserved'? What did they do? ...Oh, whatever, it's not important, just let them go."

"You let go. Keep that lead spot warm for me, I'll be there once Syncline learns to keep their damn mouth shut about sh*t they don't understand!"

"Rockets"

That point blank attack pushed Hal back, but he wasn't going to let that defeat him.

"Missiles"

He attacked back, impeding Kyoko's progress. Due to that battle commencing, Gareth decided to heed Kyoko's advice, and blast out in front, slowly reeling in the lead spot, but not before taking the full brunt of the heavier Vulture, as Hal's more violent solo racing style took over. The attack required some quick thinking on the Angelus pilot to regain control from the ram. However, he was back on track, and resumed aiming for 1st place.

Many laps later, though, the inevitable happened.

<contender eliminated_>

Someone had been eliminated. Gareth, who was in a battle of racing skill and strategies with the craft in first place, naturally assumed Kyoko had finally eliminated Hal.

'Tch, what's with her? What did they do to her to cause her to go haywire?' He thought, before speaking to his teammate. "Hey, Kyoko, you finally get him?"

The response was... not what he expected.

"Ah... about that..."

------------
09:06:47

As Gareth shot off with an amazing acceleration, Kyoko and Hal continued their battle, trading blow after blow. Despite the overall violent nature of their battle, their attacks were quite different, Kyoko taking advantage of the Xygen's light weight and agility to dodge and dart about, making it difficult for Hal to hit her, while also refraining from letting him escape her grasp, bringing him back down to where she was to resume the battle. Hal's technique was more direct, making use of his Vulture's heavy frame to, as well as firing weapons at the white, agile craft, ram into said craft whenever he got the chance to.

'Khh, what's with her?' Hal thought, 'Usually she'd be shying away from violence, not taking part in it.'

Naturally, since he was not aware of what Kat had done, he had no idea for Kyoko's reasons for attacking him. Nevertheless, he continued defending himself, but the constant hold ups of being attacked in the first place brought the two pilots down in the ranks, albeit not by much. He kept his defences up, while continuing to go all out on Kyoko.

Kyoko kept forcing weapon after weapon into the purple and red craft, becoming increasingly annoyed in the process.

"Tch, come on! How much sh*t do I have to pump into you?! I should have done enough damage to eliminate you already, even if you've been absorbing weapons!"

Her increasing annoyance was stemming from two sources. The first was the more obvious fact that Hal was not as defensively weak as she had initially anticipated. He could cover his bases quite nicely, something she naturally didn't see due to all of their other races that she had observed showed the two working together to aid the other. With this race, though, she could see Hal's natural racing talent, and close-up from her insistence on eliminating him.

The second source of her annoyance was her craft. Or more specifically, the shielding system. Another reason why she thought Hal should have been defeated by that point was the fact that her own shields were nearing the end of their usage. She was about to be eliminated. Or so she thought. As she ran over a weapon pad, the image that displayed in her HUD gave her a rather difficult choice.

She could potentially go for the kill and fire the Plasma at Hal, but also run the risk of missing. Alternatively, she could absorb it for a rather sizeable and much needed increase to her shield energy.

"...Agh, screw it! Haaaiiii-YA!"

She charged and fired the plasma right at Hal... who took the hit, but was still not yet out. Although, he was dangling on an extremely thin wire, having his shield energy percentage go down to just single digits. As the white craft passed him, he unleashed something that was only seen twice before.

"Im-flash"

The super-weapon of Syncline was a homing projectile weapon similar in design to a missile. However, it, like Angelus' Railgun, dealt no direct damage. The weapon temporarily messed with the hud and other visual and aural inputs, effectively blinding the pilot to the outside, as well as not allowing warnings from incoming weapons to be announced to them. Kyoko was, reasonably, hitting the walls, removing more of her shielding. And, just as the weapon wore off...

"Bomb"

Instinctively, the girl flicked her right wrist, making the light craft sideshift, avoiding the explosive device by a minuscule amount. As she soared past the failed attempt to eliminate her, she let out a sigh, passing Hal and taking a particularly sharp corner. Hal had learned how she acted through corners by watching her as they battled, however, and was ready to strike at the opportune moment.

"Plasma"
<contender eliminated_>

A short yelp from Kyoko was the final and only thing that she was able to do, ending her race at the hands of Hal.

The referenced album title of Part 34.5 was The Fragile by Nine Inch Nails. Remember this, it will be important... maybe.

[s2_26.6: Part 34.6] THREELAYERPOSTRACESTRUCTURE

---

<22120809>

Sunday, August 9th, 2212

Nokav Vertigo, Rocky Mountains, USA.

10:06:57

It was a close race, but the overall winners of the race by mere milliseconds were Wyvern, just snatching the victory from Angelus. However, Brandon had some words for Kyoko.

"Hey, what was that just now? I understand what you're going through, but that performance was... how should I put it... ah. I've let you keep somewhat of an open mind when making your racing strategies, except when it's absolutely necessary, because you know what is to be expected of Angelus. However, that performance was really pushing the envelope. We must race pure, Kyoko, do not fall into the F12000's trap. Do not give in to the violence."

Kyoko just sat there, looking down at the floor. When he finished speaking to her, she bowed deeply.

"I am sorry. I am so sorry... I do not know what came over me, I just... I just felt like I had to eliminate him. It will not happen again, I promise."

Brandon smiled. "That's what I like to hear. Anyway, let's go back now that it's all over."

------------
On the other end, Hal had something to do as soon as the race was over for him. He picked up his phone and called a certain someone.

"Yeah?" The voice on the other end answered.

"Hey Nikole, it's Hal. Um... I, uh, just thought you needed to know something."

"Go on."

"It's Kyoko. She was acting rather odd in that race. She was going for me, only me."

"What do you mean?"

"She was trying to eliminate me. She was being quite forceful about it too."

A brief silence came from Nikole's end, before she responded. "...Interesting. Well, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

"Not a problem. Later."

He put the phone down, and stayed there. He could have left at any time, however, there was something he had planned. for that day.

------------
17:30:13

Throughout the past two weeks, a certain couple had been catching up with each other over the phone since they had met up in Germany. For the first time since then, they were able to meet up again, after the race. When they finally met up, and they were sure that no-one could see them, they embraced each other with a large, warm hug.

"Aaaahhhh, it's felt like forever since we could actually see each other!" Lucia greeted Hal.

"It does feel nice to finally meet up again. How've you been holding up?"

I've been okay, not too bad. Missed you though. How about you?"

Hal let out a small chuckle, then replied.

"Yeah... much of the same. So what about Nokav? How did that treat you."

"With Crinale's heavy-ass craft? It was quite a challenge, I have to admit... but I liked it, it was the good kind of challenge."

"Ah, yeah, you have traditional airbrakes. Syncline's are quite unique, so on that course, we had an alright time."

"Ever the competitor, aren't you?"

"Oh, come on, it's fun, isn't it?" Hal laughed.

"Well... I would be completely lying if I didn't enjoy racing."

Lucia had a smile on her face, but she was holding her arm, looking away. It seemed like that smile was an attempt at hiding her true emotions, which Hal picked up on.

"Lucia... are you alright?"

"I..."

She had thought about lying to him, but had somehow gained the inability to do so, due to her mental self-promise.

"...no. I'm not. Hal, I... I heard something I wasn't supposed to... a-about... Crinale."

"...when was this?" He looked at her more intensely

"Right after the German race."

Hal's shoulders drooped.

"Of course... why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"It... it wasn't something I could tell you over the phone. I had to tell you in front of you." She looked up at him, looking somewhat distraught. Whatever she heard, Hal thought, it must have been pretty bad. But that was Crinale, if only she knew what that team was up to...

"It's okay, I'm here now, just tell me."

With a nod, Lucia told him of every word she had heard her team director say. Hal looked at her directly, taking in every word. When she had finished, there was a small silence, as he processed everything she said.

"...Yeah, that fits exactly with what I know of them, and a certain other group of interest Syncline have been investigating."

"H-huh?"

"Oh, trust me, Crinale are definitely corrupt, it's not your imagination." He thought for a moment more, before speaking again. "...[sigh], you're a smart, good girl, you need to know."

"I-what? Know what?" She looked up at him, her anger rising ever so slightly. "Also, I don't think I care for you treating me like a kid. I got that sh*t from my parents, I don't need you giving me that too."

"Wh... I... I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention. But what I'm about to tell you is the truth. I know how you feel about Crinale, so I know you can take what I'm about to tell you."

Lucia just kept looking at him, curious and afraid. Hal took this as a sign to continue, so he did.

"Crinale are very much corrupt. They've had a past of using stolen and illegal technologies to get their wins. But they were much tamer in the past. They made an attempt to make a league similar to the F9000, and, according to some of our sources, that is exactly what they've done, with this, the F12000. Ah, let me explain the F9000 to you, and why it's so bad. It was controlled by a corporation called Overtel, who were corrupt beyond belief. Quite a lot of races were fixed, financial irregularities ran amongst some teams and blackmailing had definitely occurred. A lot of people died there. It... it was practically war, with weapons taking more precedence than it should. This Crinale are making it happen all over again, just for everyone's entertainment. It's only a matter of time before the blackmailing and race fixings happen again..."

"I-I... wh-wha-?"

Lucia was in disbelief. Her racing team, her career... was run through corruption? She... just wanted to race... that's all she wanted to do... and yet... and yet... he was still acting like her parents. She wanted to believe him, but...

"God damn it... not you too... why is everyone trying to f*cking stop me from racing?!"

"I'm not... I want you to race. I can see the passion in your eyes. But... that's the truth about your team. We're working on stopping it, we are. You can have your perfect race, you won't be forced to use weapons even when you don't need to use them, I promise you, Lucia. I... I'm telling you this because I love you, not because I want you to quit doing what you love."

The girl looked down. She had been quick to judge, and she started to realise her mistake in doing so. He did want her to race, he could see how much she enjoyed it. But still, whenever she got angry like this, she stayed like that for a long while, so she was also still pissed off at him. On top of that, it was a lot of harsh information to take in, so she also felt lost, unsure of what she should do, if anything at all. Shaking her head, she looked back up at him, her face clearly showing that she was flooded with emotions.

"L-look... I'll forgive you. Not now, but eventually. I... I must go, I have a lot to take in."

Not waiting for a response, she promptly spun on her heel, and walked out of the building they were talking in, clearly wanting to return to a place where she could have some time to herself to process all of that information, getting too far deep into something she didn't understand, apart from knowing it was clearly very bad. But she needed to plan what she was going to do with the new info, as she could not just go back to her normal life after this.

The referenced album title of Part 34.6 was THREELAYERSTRUCTURETHEORY by Calla Soiled.

[s2_27.1: Part 35.1] An Umbra Called Crinale

---

<22120821>

Friday, August 21st, 2212

Monte Carlo Nouveau, Monte Carlo, Monaco

11:05:30

The next course in the roster was Monte Carlo Nouveau, a course that contained copied sections of the antique circuit, scaled up for the larger size and higher speed of the F-class craft. The course itself was situated several meters above the original road that constituted the course. The actual road was still being used for other road races, for cars that could fit within the road's dimensions.

After a several very fast runs, a certain F12000 pilot set about making her own strategy for the race. She made note of all the points in which she could use her craft's high thrust output to gain the advantage over the competition. However, that was naturally stopped when a higher ranking individual, employed by Viktor, walked past her room, seeing the plans laid out.

"What the hell is this? You don't need a strategy like this, you are paid to race our way." The head mechanic said.

"Not this crap again." Lucia sighed, before lying to them. "Look, it's only half the plan, you need to go fast to win. The other half comes from being violent."

The eyes staring into her narrowed. They knew of her difficulties in the past, as such not buying her story for one second. "Are you testing me? Do you believe you can lie to me?"

"Of course not. However, I was signed on for my racing talent. Do you believe you can hold my talent back like you're doing now?"

"SILENCE!" They yelled at her. "You will not speak to a superior like that! Y-"

Lucia clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes, interrupting them "Listen, the pilots are the most important people. You cannot tell me what to do or how to do it. I'll race my own way, without interference, or you can just simply say goodbye to your amazing talent as she walks out the f*cking door."

As the young girl stood smugly with her hands on her hips, she did not see the the head mechanic pull the object from the pocket their hand was in the whole time and, gripping it tightly, slash her face with it with a speed so fast the object became almost invisible with how much it blurred across the air.

"Agh!"

The resulting attack caused Lucia to fall to the floor, her injury not even having time to cause her any pain. However, when it did...

"A-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

She held her hand up to the wound, yelling out in pain. The mechanic looked down their nose at the crumpled heap of the girl, scoffing disgustedly while they slipped the screwdriver back into their pocket.

"I sure hope that serves as a lesson, young lady. You will race for Crinale. You will race and you will race our way. Let that be a lesson to never go against us. Understood?"

Lucia responded by continuing to breathe heavily, remaining in the position she had found herself in on the floor. The head mechanic took that opportunity to walk over to the plans she had laid out, and take them, which included her half-completed strategy. Their final fate were going to be destruction, as the head mechanic left, not even paying the shocked, injured Lucia any mind.

Slowly, silently, she looked at her hand. Instead of the usual pale colour, a glistening red hue took its place. She was bleeding, the screwdriver must have cut deeper into her than she had thought. Although, with that said, she did not recall the actual attack, only that she had found herself on the floor afterwards, the sharp, searing pain taking precedence shortly thereafter. But she realised that she could not lie there on the ground all day. Finding enough energy to stand up, she slowly left, her hair covering half her face. She let another, different higher-up that she was returning to her hotel room.

Of course, this was a lie. Upon leaving the circuit grounds, she began her search, moving throughout Monte Carlo, looking through every single bar and hotel in search of the one person that could help her, the one she was the least pissed off at. Finally, after looking in the final building, she gave in, slowly and reluctantly pulling her phone out and sending a text out.

"Where are you?"

A few minutes later, she got a reply. He was in a hotel she had checked earlier. She had just missed him. She set off, running towards and into the hotel.

"Lucia, he- what the hell?" Were the first words to come out of Hal's mouth upon seeing her, as she entered his room.

She began to explain what had happened prior. His face changed from curious, to intrigued, to somewhat shocked. Finally, he calmed down.

"They... what?" He finally spoke. "Show me."

"No."

"Lucia, please. If you don't show me, I can't help you."

"I don't want you to see me like this."

"I need to see it, Lucia. I need to know. Please, show me."

"You 'need to see it'? Please, no-one needs to see it."

"Lucia, look. You aren't invincible. Wounds, especially facial wounds, can become more hazardous to your health if left alone. Please, I care about you... just... show me."

She looked down sadly, not because she lost the argument, but because she was still afraid. Afraid to show the one person she cared this much about something that horrific. She raised her arm to brush her hair aside, but then dropped it. Hal moved closer to her, raised an arm slowly and, when she didn't flinch to his movements, brushed her hair aside.

"...Sh*t. They did this to you?!"

"Goddamn it. This was why I didn't want to show you. It's not that big a-"

"Not that big a deal? Bullsh*t. I... I care about you... to me, it is a big deal, nothing will change that. Now come, let's treat that."

He sat her down and treated her wounds, using a first aid kit he had, which sat in his room. When he was finished, and her wounds treated, she stood up. He did as well, checking out his work, seeing if he missed any areas.

"Th-thanks for that. I... I appreciate it."

"It was nothing! Nothing at all! I care about you, my friend, that's all that matters."

In a soft voice, she replied. "No it's not, it's more than just simply caring about a friend."

With that, she turned to face the man whose face was close enough to hers. She didn't have to move far forward for her lips to meet his.

"Mmm?!"

She held that position for several long moments, neither of them pulling away. In fact, Hal reciprocated, kissing back. The passion, the pure emotion that went into the kiss was more than either of them had ever expressed before, let alone to each other. Their arms soon found their way around the other, holding each other in an embrace as their lips remained pressed together.

She wanted to be here, living this one moment forever. The feel of human contact made her feel like everything was okay, the feel of Hal's arms around her, his lips pressed against hers... it was euphoric. She never wanted to let go, and she was so sure that Hal felt the same way. In fact, it was like, in that embrace, each other's feelings, their emotions, were displayed in full view of the other. She had never felt this way about any other person in her life, such that she never thought she had the capacity to feel these emotions in the first place. But here she was, completely enthralled by Hal. This... this was love, pure and simple.

Eventually, Lucia was the one to break the kiss, but not because she wanted to.

"I... I want to stay, I really do, but I need to go. Those assholes need to still think I'm loyal to them. Don't worry, they'll eventually pay their dues, but I can't do sh*t right now."

Hal just smiled. "It's okay, I understand. Just... Stay safe." He let go of her.

She pulled herself towards him for another hug, "I'll try." She spoke into his chest, before breaking contact and running back to the hotel Crinale rented out.

This part was an experiment to me, being written in a unique way that I have never attempted before. Nothing and no-one are referred to by name, and there is zero dialogue in this part. Still, I hope you enjoy it.

The referenced album title of Part 35.1 was Umbra by Boom Boom Satellites.

[s2_27.2: Part 35.2] Rage Against Everything

---

<22120823>

Sunday, August 23rd, 2212

Monte Carlo Nouveau, Monte Carlo, Monaco

13:55:14

<swamp | callasoiled_>

One pilot, due to previous events, had made her presence less known, but her higher ups were still aware of her being there, and as such had prepared her craft. Like the past two days, she had her hair draped over her face where a wound lay. Because of them being the cause of her wound, she had also been actively avoiding her team's head mechanic, however it was only technicians that were dealing with her craft.

Wordlessly, she climbed onto and entered the craft. After getting herself properly seated, she performed the final checks on the craft, the diagnostics being sent to the technicians. When they had received the data, and perceived it as being normal, they gave the okay to have the craft moved up to the track proper, where it sat on the grid, ready for the race to begin.

When the craft's brace had brought it up, its pilot flipped all but one of the final group of switches. The last one, the ignition switch, was flipped for the briefest of moments. A low rumbling noise soon turned into a high-pitched whine, as the craft's unique thrust system gained power. As she looked upon the different racing craft developed by different racing teams ahead of her, she wondered briefly what it would be like to race for them. Would they let her race however she wanted? Or would she have to follow a strict racing style like the team she raced for?

Her brief daydream was, however, cut short. The race's countdown had started, which pulled her out of it. She quickly built up the craft's thrust, waiting for the moment the green light appeared to release that thrust to launch off the line. The high thrust output of the unique system ensured that her craft would get to the higher places quickly, which was a good thing, because two days were not enough time for her to recover mentally from the attack she received.

She was eventually passed by several craft, even, briefly, by her own teammate. She was racing far from 100%, as her mind was clouded by a mishmash of emotions, which blended together into one massive lump of uncertainty. She was not feeling right, about herself, about her team, or about what she should do or how to go about it doing it. Despite that, being passed by the other similarly coloured craft forcibly brought her far enough out of the depths of her mind to pass it and stay ahead of it, but she still wasn't at her usual limit.

That was because, while racing less passively than before, she was still piloting her craft subconsciously. She navigated through the course through sheer memorisation of the twisty, elevated course, and was using her weapons moderately, just to slow the competition down. It was a racing style she was able to use when she wasn't trying to cater to one of the two extremes: Pure, weapon-less runs or violent, weapon heavy racing. The racing style usually came up when she wasn't actively thinking about racing, but wasn't her true default style, which was her pure style.

After racing like that for a long time, her mind still preoccupied, she saw it.

One lone craft, clad in a white and azure paintjob...

Cutting through the sky so cleanly, so majestically...

They look so happy...

...

The girl's uncertainty began to change, one solitary emotion growing, changing.

It was changing to a deep rage, but it was more than that...

...Hatred, for the team that would do anything to get their way, even resorting to violence to have their pilots fly their way, even if her way would garner more results...

...Fear, for what they might do to her if she were to defect to a team that would let her do her own thing...

...and Jealousy, for her forced-upon arch-rivals, who looked so happy, and flew in a racing style that she preferred...

She was a racing prodigy, she knew how to win... but her talent was being impeded by them... forcefully...

<my violent heart (instrumental) | nine inch nails_>

The rage within her grew to such an extent that she could no longer hold it inside her. At that point, she silently exploded. They had got what they wanted, the girl had begun to race more violently than she ever had. Her rage was poured into the controls of the craft as she gripped her craft's controls. Her mind was slowly clearing up, her racing becoming more of a conscious task.

She gritted her teeth as she actively pressed forward, catching up to them by firing every single offensive weapon she received into the craft representing the team she was the most jealous at. To the other team ahead of her, though, it was seemingly just like any other race. They thought it was just violence as usual, without knowing that it was more than that, that it was a very effective outlet for her built-up pressure.

Her rage was so great, that she had actually started doing something she had never tried before. Pulling alongside the white craft, she shifted her craft to the side, ramming into the craft. Pulling away from the craft, she did it again, and again, and again, until she received something that, when unleashed, could very well represent the pilot's own vast rage.

Pulling back so her black craft was behind the opposite coloured one, she charged the massively powerful weapon, and fired. A bright blue beam shot out from the craft's front, hitting the one ahead of it. A few seconds passed between the beam making contact, and the craft's shields becoming destabilised, failing and eliminating that particular pilot. Shifting sideways again, out of the way of the rapidly decelerating craft, the angry, upset young pilot continued to race forth.

Reaching the second light craft after bombarding the other racers with weapons and rams from her craft, some avoidable, some not, the pilot started actively attacking them. All of a sudden, her vision began to blur. She was able to blink and shake it away, but it would just return after a few seconds. It was then she realised the blurriness was stemming from her tears, streaming down her face, from attacking the team she was the most jealous at, the team that, after this, would most likely not accept her, even if her current team would let her leave to pursue her own team, her own career.

Nevertheless, her tears did not slow her down, she kept on, firing weapon after weapon into it, and then ramming the craft, first from behind as it slowed down from the weapons' damage, then from the side as it regained its speed. She had started to become very emotional, yet despite those emotions coming to the surface, her rage persisted, still being as strong as ever.

The only time she would lose ground over the craft was by one of the two rather hard, tight corners. Otherwise, she would be right on top of them, whittling down their shield energy just that bit more. The pilot of the remaining white craft proved to be more skilled than the other that fell, but it was still not a challenge for a prodigal racer. Even when the odd weapon or two hit her and she fell back, the amount of effort to return back to following the craft at a very short distance was not overly much.

The white craft gracefully rounded the tightest hairpin of the course, pulling away from the looming black craft. The pilot of said craft following them launched their final attack on that particular team. A large, unavoidable weapon was fired, guaranteed their elimination from the race. The already critical shields took the final hit, which reduced their energy to zero. The black craft shot past, the pilot looking back at the remains of the craft.

As she looked back forward, having given that particular team what she thought was an accurate representation of how enraged she was, she set about finishing the race, not hesitating to fire weapons into any craft that stood between her and the finish line. It was not a victory by any means of the word, and even if it was, she would still not feel satisfied, as she was still part of a team that she actively disliked.

Her fear of what they would do if she did leave kept her from doing so. She had become a prisoner to her own feelings, her own fear, and like how was proven in that race, something would eventually have to give way, it would not stay like this forever. Pressure was constantly being built up within her, and only time would tell when she could not take any more, and would release it all.

The referenced album title of Part 35.2 was the self-titled album by Rage Against the Machine.

[s2_28.0: Part 36.0] The Takeover is Happening

---

<22120829>

Friday, August 29th, 2212

Somewhere in South Korea.

12:05:58

"Lucia, meet your friend's brother, Sterling."

Hal had taken Lucia to accompany him to meet up with Sterling Turner, the older brother of Leon. While Leon acted more intellectually, Sterling acted more physically, being the leader of a certain private military company, whom Syncline often sought their services. The man looked down at the girl and raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, so you are her. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Lucia. Hal has told me a lot about you."

She blinked. "Hal? I thought you'd have also heard about me from Leon."

Sterling smiled back. "Ah, him. Let's just say we both think the other's a humongous bell-end."

"A what now?"

"They don't like each other." Hal chimed in. "Well, either way, we're here for a reason, I'm sorry for going off-topic."

He shook his head. "It's fine, I guess. Anyway, I only know of the Crinale name because of my tosspot brother being a pilot for them. I've spoken with the boss numerous times, and he seems convinced now is the right time to destroy them from the inside."

"They're a corrupt team that'd do anything to win." Lucia said passionately, "We're going to destroy them so that corruption dies too."

Hal turned to the her. "Lucia, I believe you can help us, but this job isn't without consequences. A small mistake could mean your life if you're lucky, are you sure you wan-"

"-I know they're corrupt, and they also slashed my beautiful face open. I. Want. Them. Dead."

"Great, I knew you'd do it." Stirling said cheerfully.

Lucia looked to Sterling. "Alright, how are we gonna plan this? Wouldn't be as simple as going up to Viktor and killing him, I'd think."

"Very true, although I doubt he can defeat me in combat. With a solid strategy, we will be able to end him. So, let's begin planning it out..."

------------
<22120831>

Monday, August 31st, 2212

Angelus R&D HQ, Perth, Australia.

12:05:58

Two people were standing over a half-built machine, while Angelus technicians were working on it. That half-built machine was an AG Pod, in the process of being constructed.

"There has been a recent development that will change everything to do with this." Brandon spoke to Nikole. "It appears that we don't need a sample to maximise the effectiveness."

"Does that mean-" Nikole started, before being cut off by Brandon.

"Yes. We will be able to build them and put them to use as soon as we can now."

"That's fantastic, but what exactly was the development that didn't require the chemical?"

"In all honesty, I should have grabbed this data while my team and I were planning it. I obtained a chemical make-up of our subject before everything went to hell. That gave me all I needed to create a filter that kept everything except that chemical make-up out."

"Fascinating. How old was that sample?"

"2205, taken from Sydney."

"Alright, that's good enough. When would they be completed?"

"The first should be completed in October, there's still some fine-tuning to be done to get it absolutely right. After that, though, they should take about a fortnight or two to be constructed."

"Excellent. Keep the first here, we'll take a few, and if we need more, we'll let you know."

"Sure thing."

"Oh, another thing. The basic strategies of the plan to take Crinale has been laid out."

"Oh, right?"

"It would take a while to complete the plans. We've got the best person we know working with us."

"It seems like there are lots of people now rising up against this new Crinale. Even my old employees."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I believe they call themselves CO; Crinale Originals. They were the original 13 Angelus employees that split off to form Crinale. Alex has recently been in contact with them."

As Nikole opened her mouth, Brandon continued, not giving her a chance to speak. "I have overseen a couple conference calls, and I can definitely say they're on our side, they want Crinale back in Alex's hands."

"Really? I have seen some of them, they only mention an OE-0."

"It's a codename for a certain mutual enemy we all have." He smiled. "It is a need to know basis kinda thing, but I figure that we all need each other's help. Yours, mine, Alex's and the COs. We've all agreed to do the same thing, so I might as well make an attempt to bring everyone together and up to speed."

"Well, thank you for that. We'll do some more investigating into things."

"Fair enough. I will also let them know that Syncline are helping them. Oh, with your consent, that is."

Nikole closed her eyes, shrugged and looked the other way. "Do what you must. As you said, we are all fighting against a mutual enemy. I don't mind if they know of our intentions."

"Alright, thank you."

A Letter Found in the Room of A Certain F12000 Pilot.

---

<22121108>

Sunday, November 8th, 2212

http://i.imgur.com/Q9PVTzE.png

---

Click the baton thingy to open the letter. If you're having difficulties reading it because of the transparency, here's a version without.

You thought that one image constituted as a part? You thought wrong, here's the actual part!

The referenced album title of Part 36 was This is Happening by LCD Soundsystem.

[s2_29.1: Part 37.1] 2212: A Pilot's Odyssey

---

<22121108>

Sunday, November 8th, 2212

Omega Harbour, Perth, Australia.

19:51:02

Angelus were more relaxed than usual, which was natural considering the course they were on, this time on the more difficult medium course.

"Alright, Omega Harbour round 2. The best thing we can do is make an attempt to not have a repeat of last time. The true challenge is not the yellow run, but the red. In any case, like the last race here, I expect less weapon use than usual, but I won't be angry if you do end up using them as usual... just don't overdo it. Anyway, that should be all, You guys know what to do and how to do it. Good luck!"

As the personnel exited the room to do their assigned tasks for the race, Catherine entered, having been let through by the guards.

"Hey, Brandon, I wanted to cheer you guys on... even though I'm not supposed to have favourites when working at the AGRC... but whatever, it appears that I didn't have to work today, so here I am."

Brandon shrugged and smiled warmly. "I don't mind, make yourself at home."

"Thanks! ...Ah, that's right! I'm also here to see Alex."

"Of course! She's right here, so you can come in and catch up."

"Cool!"

As Catherine walked in, she saw her girlfriend sitting at the desk.

"Hey you!" She smiled.

"Catherine, hi!" Alex greeted.

"I'm needing to observe the race, so I'll take my leave. Have fun, you two!" Brandon said, getting up and returning to the control room, the race almost ready to start.

"Sorry I'm late." He said as he entered. "I'm just glad I got here before the race started."

"Well, it's not like we have to talk our pilots through, right?" A team member said.

"'Course not! This'll be easy."

"That's what you said last time."

"Ugh... don't remind me of that."

"Seriously, what happened in that race, we definitely had it... and then we didn't."

"I'm putting it down to bad luck. Besides, we can't win 'em all."

"Yeah, guess not. But really, our home course?"

"Quite a few teams have lost on their home course this season, it's not really a big deal at this point... oh, wait, here we go."

3, 2, 1......

------------
Several minutes earlier...

Just as Kyoko had finished preparing for the race, she found a note lying conspicuously in the room.

'How did that get here?' She thought, 'Moreover, what exactly is it?'

She picked it up and began to read it in the few minutes she had remaining until the 5 minute warning.

"What... the hell? Is he for real? FINE. If it's a race you want, it's a race you'll get. There's a reason you're 2nd, Gareth! Screw Brandon's stupid purity, I'll be as violent as I want to be. I'll eliminate you so hard your stupid craft will be a smouldering wreck on the side of the track! ARGH!"

She stormed out of the room to her craft, getting in and performing the final checks before entering the grid.

Finally, the race was about to begin...

3, 2, 1... GO!

The referenced album title of Part 37.1 was A Funk Odyssey by Jamiroquai, which is a reference of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[s2_29.2: Part 37.2] Plans Falling Apart

---

<22121108>

Sunday, November 8th, 2212

Omega Harbour, Perth, Australia.

<4001 | squarepusher_>

3, 2, 1... GO!
<20:00:00_>
<omega harbour: med fwd_>
<race: lap 01 of 67_>

01. FUJ616.0.43.194 (#43 | Kyoko Fujisaki | AX2.0_r2)
02. ARD889.1.19.194 (#19 | Gareth Ardos | AX2.0_r2)
12. SCA308.0.7.329 (#7 | Lucia Scarlatti | F0-RA8/00095)
19. TUR847.1.13.329 (#13 | Leon Turner | F0-RA8/00127)

The craft exploded off the line, Angelus more so than the rest, as the two pilots were hell bent on defeating each other. The medium course ran through the second half of the course, and the only official route that contained the 900° spiral.

"And so it begins." Gareth said, psyched up for the race that meant the most to him.

The two Xygen Vs gained no ground over one another until the first corner, where Kyoko slipped ahead. Gareth had slowly shifted from his usual racing style, into his unparalleled zone run style, even though it had been proven to him on more than one occasion that the racing style was ill suited for an actual race, due to the use of weapons. However, on this occasion, he somehow ended up avoiding most of the weapons fired at him.

With his newly adapted racing style, he treated Kyoko's ship as a time to beat, an unattainable target that he was sure he could get. He entered the renamed 'Omega 900' turn, the 900° spiral, on the inside, getting gradually closer to the inner wall until he was almost scraping it. This caused a significant gain on Kyoko, who couldn't get on the inside due to Gareth.

With a snarl, Kyoko made a move no-one had seen before, a unique maneuver that caught even Gareth and Brandon by surprise. The craft drifted almost perpendicular to the wall and tilted sideways towards the front of the track. That had resulted in an unexpected speed increase which was just enough to pull away from Gareth.

That was, however, not a smart move, as it only urged Gareth on, pushing him to speeds he could only achieve through the higher zone speed classes.

"Kyoko, you don't understand. You don't know how determined I am to win... I can defeat you!"

"I would like to see you try."

Out of the Omega 900 spiral, Kyoko straightened out. Gareth had caught up with a turbo, and was using her slipstream to catch up. He was close enough that he could pass her at any second...

"Get off me!" Kyoko growled.

"Mines"

Instantly, that ground he made up was lost, as Gareth was hit by all 5 mines before he knew it. As the first one hit, he instinctively turned, then sideshifted when that proved ineffective, but hit the last one as the craft shifted, which planted him into the wall, sending him into critical shield energy levels. He was able to restore enough energy in a short time, but at the cost of catching up to Kyoko all that much quicker.

Shaken out of it, Gareth slowly reverted back into his zone mindset. Slowly, he managed to gain the ground he lost due to a bout of good luck, obtaining far more turbos than his teammate, whose racing style had gotten slightly more violent. Finally, after several laps, he could see the white and azure craft ahead of him. He held onto his EMP Railgun shot for a while, then he got a clear shot.

"...no. I don't have to resort to that." He said as he absorbed the weapon.

"Wrong choice."

"Bomb"

This time, Gareth had time to prepare himself, since he wasn't close to Kyoko. He sideshifted out of the way with minimal effort, shifting back into the slipstream once more. As he was in view of her, Kyoko began turning using her new-founded style, pulling away from the pursuing Xygen, forcing him to chase her down all over again.

Gareth, on the other hand, was grateful she did that. He began to enjoy the speeds he could achieve through the chase. In fact, he enjoyed the chase more than anything, being able to hunt Kyoko down.

"This is the greatest race EVER! You just keep making it better!"

"How? You just keep failing to pass me!"

"Bhhah! While I do care about passing you, this little chase is so much fun! Also, because of my determination to win, I've been racing faster than I've ever done."

"Argh, you were so much better when you were more passive, now you're just getting annoying."

"You just don't understand my passion."

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" She shot back. "You act as if I feel the same way you do! BUT GUESS WHAT?! I. DO. NOT."

Suddenly, her racing style changed, becoming instantly more violent in nature. She was all over the place, turning late in some places, sometimes delaying or limiting her acceleration out of a turn in others, all in an attempt to put Gareth off his perfectionist run. However, that was not enough to put him off, as her overall speed was enough to keep herself ahead of him, and because they had both used that tactic before.

"Either way... I will defeat you... for myself."

"DO IT! I DARE YOU TO TRY. You will only destroy yourself in the process."

"Heh. Hehahahaha... Do you realise how much you sounded like Alexandra Gelorum in her Crinale days?"

"I don't care. I care about nothing anymore... do you know the despair I feel? Of course not, because you only think of yourself, you weak, ignorant, arrogant, selfish BASTARD! You will never know what it feels like to hide under a mask, to pretend you are someone else, to act as if you know not... as if you have no feelings towards those you love! Your friends, your hobbies, your likes, your dislikes, ALL GONE! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I HATE THIS! BUT I'VE DONE IT ALL FOR HIM!..."

Kyoko suddenly slammed on the airbrakes, slowing down to allow him and several other pilots to pass.

"What the hell?" Gareth blurted out

"Kehhahahaha... That's it... I have had ENOUGH!"

The referenced album title of Part 37.2 was Things Falling Apart by Nine Inch Nails... a companion album to The Fragile. Did you remember like I told you to?

[s2_29.3: Part 37.3] The Destructive Condition

---

<22121108>

Sunday, November 8th, 2212

Omega Harbour, Perth, Australia.

<20:48:20_>
<omega harbour: med fwd_>
<race: lap 36 of 67_>

01. FUJ616.0.43.194 (#43 | Kyoko Fujisaki | AX2.0_r2)
02. ARD889.1.19.194 (#19 | Gareth Ardos | AX2.0_r2) +0.120
06. SCA308.0.7.329 (#7 | Lucia Scarlatti | F0-RA8/00095) +16.306
14. TUR847.1.13.329 (#13 | Leon Turner | F0-RA8/00127) +28.294

Looking at the race's progression, Brandon could see clearly that there was something horribly, horribly wrong. Gareth's racing style was more perfectionist than ever, a display of pure, determined racing that he had never seen before. Kyoko, on the other hand, was all over the place. The racing style she had adopted was wild and rough. While there were no opponents to attack, she was overall violent.

'Violent?' He thought. "....OH CRAP... sh-she... she was right... it's happening."

Brandon was worried for a reason, he recalled a meeting he had with Nikole after the Stoica incident...

------------

Monday, June 15th, 2212

"Because my trust in you has been regained, I'll hear you out. What's the info you have? What's wrong with Tarah?"

"Didn't I tell you at the start of the year? We need some kind of payment."

"As long as it doesn't negatively affect our financial status or our participation in the league."

She thought for a moment, before making her proposition. "Okay, how about this. That car you've shown off, the Neko, I believe it was?"

"What about it?"

"It was really an announcement for Angelus' participation in the World Rally Championship, yeah?"

"Yes."

"Drop out."

"Drop out? From the WRC?"

"Yes, retract your intention to participate. It will do nothing but help you focus more on the F12000."

After some deliberation, Brandon responded. "Fine. As soon as I get the chance, I'll make the announcement, but officially, Angelus will not intend to participate in the WRC as of today."

"Fantastic. Now, the information... We have reason to believe Tarah is under the influence of something called 'The Condition'. The symptoms depend on the host, but basically, it can either cause someone to have extremely violent thoughts without reason, or the more subtle effect, making them more sociopathic."

Brandon had his eyes closed in thought. Suddenly he snapped them open.

"...Sol 3 eliminator..." He muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing... So, is there a cure for this... 'Condition'?"

"That also has to do with it's origins." Her eyes flicked briefly to Alex, then back at Brandon. "It's origins can be traced back to an event that occurred in 2209... Crinale's infiltration of the abandoned Tigron building."

"Sh*t." Alex exclaimed loudly. "I know exactly what you're talking about. When we salvaged that Tigron data, there was one piece that we never used. It detailed an experimental drug that would make their pilots more aggressive."

"Exactly. What you didn't know was that the active compound increased in potency in the 39 years that it lay there unused. When you broke in, that chemical was able to be released into the atmosphere."

"...what? Is... that true?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

Alex placed her hands behind her head... then slammed it on the desk.

"It... was all my fault." She mumbled, her head still planted on the desk. "God... F*CKING DAMN IT!"

Both Brandon and Nikole flinched at Alex's outburst. Slowly, she raised her head, placing her hands on the desk, then suddenly bowed her head down.

"Please... Let me help... I'll do whatever it takes, just let me fix this!" She begged.

After a moment's consideration, Nikole accepted Alex's proposition. "Sure, let's do this. I will need to test you to see if you aren't affected, if you aren't, then I will be more than willing to help you."

"First off, however, I need Crinale back in my hands, the data is securely archived."

"Can't you just access it now?"

"I can, but I have no idea what Viktor will do if he finds out I'm accessing what is effectively his database. Also, I'd be needing access to my researchers, won't I?"

"I'll be willing to help if you need me to." Brandon spoke up.

"No, you've helped more than enough. Please, this is something I must do."

"I disagree. This affects the entire world. We need as much help as we can get. I will do everything I can until you get Crinale back in your hands."

"...okay, fine. Let's do this."

------------
"...if she keeps this up... then... ugh."

His fears became more than just a reality. Kyoko didn't just keep up her violent racing style, it got worse.

"What the hell?"

"Kehhahahaha... That's it... I have had ENOUGH!"

The referenced album title of Part 37.3 was The Ideal Condition by Paul Hartnoll.

[s2_29.4: Part 37.4] The Holy Angel of Anger

---

<22121108>

Sunday, November 8th, 2212

Omega Harbour, Perth, Australia.

"Kehhahahaha... That's it... I have had ENOUGH!"

"What are you doing?!" Brandon yelled, slamming his hands on the desk

<salt in the wounds | pendulum_>

"Plasma"

BOOM.

<contender eliminated_>

"HH....AAAHAHAHAHAHA! This is it! THIS IS THE END OF IT ALL! Screw purity! F*ck hiding! Today... I WILL UNLEASH ALL OF MY HATRED UPON YOU ALL! NOW.... DIE."

Despite the low power output of Angelus' weapons system, Kyoko continued on her rampage, firing her weapons both wildly and strategically, depending on the weapon.

<contender eliminated_>

She looked behind her for a second and saw Lucia behind her, slowly catching up.

"YOU!"

"Hahaha, it looks like Angelus has finally lost it. Did all that 'purity' get to you?"

For the second time that race, Kyoko jammed open the airbrakes, the craft jumping under the sudden increase in drag. She didn't question why she could suddenly hear Lucia, there was only one thing on her mind: Destroy.

"Huh?"

As soon as Lucia was ahead, Kyoko closed the brakes and jammed the thrust open with a low "BOOM". Finally, as the black craft was completely in front of the pure white one, she sideshifted directly behind Lucia.

"Rockets"

BOOM.

"Ngh! What gives? I thought your fearless leader taught you to not use so many weapons so aggressively?"

"Pah! You're just a child, you couldn't possibly understand the sh*t I'm going through."

"I'm not a child, I know enough to know that Smith would be unimpressed by your racing right now. Give it up, become a good little pure pilot and accept your fate as Crinale's b*tch."

"How about you learn to respect your elders?"

"F*ck no, just let us eliminate you like you are supposed to. Know your role, sl*t."

"Cannon"

<contender eliminated_>

"You sh*tty CHILD! I told you to respect your f*cking elders!"

Brandon jumped backwards in his seat.

"Kyoko... just eliminated Crinale... how does that even work? ...This situation is worse than I thought."

Kyoko was far from finished, though.

"As for the rest of you..."

"Quake"

"KYAHAHAHAHA! Beware Gareth, I'm coming for you now!"

In less than no time at all, with help from the quake and her new racing style, Kyoko was directly behind her new target.

"Now... allow me to give you a taste of your own medicine!"

"Mines"

"HWHH-?!"

Contrary to her warning, Kyoko was instead the one to taste 5 mines from following closely to the opposing Angelus craft. This time though, her craft twisted itself, facing the wall. She was able to turn it back to face the track again, but she wasn't able to avoid any mines.

"Hah, looks like it was me that gave you a taste of your own medicine. You need to relax, Kyoko, you're being too violent."

"No! I will never relax! You have not once considered my feelings, and now I've had enough of everything! Do you hear me, Gareth Ardos? I. WILL. DESTROY. YOU."