Faster Than Angels

[Ace3000]

The referenced album title of Part 39.5 was Overkill by Savant.

[s2_31.6: Part 39.6] Fighting the Juggernaut: Omega

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<22121122>

Sunday, November 22th, 2212

10:58:21

Lucia looked back at the body and pulled out the knife embedded into the recently deceased's skull. It was then that she had seen it. She had realised what was so very, horribly wrong with the situation, and the evidence was right on the weapon.

Although, a more accurate description would be that it wasn't. There was a very noticeable lack of blood. It wasn't that there were only a few specks, the blade was actually just as clean as it was before Lucia's attack.

"...wh... what the f*ck?!"

Her gaze moved quickly from the weapon in her hands to the 'corpse' she was still sitting on. The helmet was cracked from her stabbing, but there was an eerie darkness through the splits the knife caused. The curiosity must have gotten the better of him, because Brandon walked over to them, and held the helmet in his hands, looking into the cracks.

"...I'll need to open this, thankfully your knife weakened it, so I can just..."

He tried to pry it open, then pull it off, both to no avail.

"Give me the knife?"

The knife was handed to him, by a rather scared Lucia. Now in his possession, he used the knife to make more cracks in the helmet, effectively breaking it enough that he could pry it open into two halves, using the knife as a lever. Once he did that, it snapped in half, leaving the truth open for them all to see.

"...Well, then. I believe that's a rather... interesting explanation." He looked up at them, wanting to find some kind of answer. "Where is the real Viktor Antonov?"

CO-04, 05, 08 and 11 all looked at each other, then started comparing data and other relevant information, before ringing up the pits at Vohl Square II. CO-11 was the one to tell Brandon their findings.

"The real Viktor Antonov is lying right under Lucia. There is no other 'real' one. It appears that he is, and always has been... an android."

Brandon looked from the man talking to him, down at the very non-human, mechanical innards of the destroyed android, then stood back up, looking back at him.

"...Argh... how the hell did we fail to notice this?! I swear he had a face, the face of Chris Scarborough!"

"It doesn't matter anymore, Russia and Crinale are now without a leader. The only thing left is to-"

"But Scarborough is Viktor! He's the head of the Racing Commission. What th--..."

Suddenly, Brandon stopped. He could see a grand total of thirteen people... not including himself. The man facing away from him... he looked familiar, that was why he didn't notice at first... Suddenly, his demeanour changed, his eyes widened, and it looked like he was about to explode.

"...WAIT... YOU. STOP!"

Upon hearing the man's bellow, the other, unknown individual began running, making his escape. Brandon set off after him, running just as fast, ignoring all of the guards that saw him and tried to stop him. Naturally, that gave the 12 remaining people to make their own escape... or an attempt to catch up to Brandon.

Through the now meaningless fortress, Brandon ran after the other man with all of his energy. He had to catch him under any circumstances. Down stairs, through hallways, down more stairs, and both had soon found themselves in the underground carpark. Weaving through cars, Brandon had lost sight of the man for a split second, before finding him entering a black and white, old-looking limousine, which looked like it had been modified to some extent. Running towards it, he found himself in a spot of deja vu.

The car had taken off, made a turn out of the parking bay onto the stretch of the road Brandon found himself on... and heading right at the man himself.

"WHAAAAAA-?!" Was the only thing he could physically say. Internally, he was thinking something more akin to 'Ah, crap. Not this again.'

Knowing his failure at clearing a jump over a vastly smaller car earlier that year, Brandon made the smart choice to not attempt the same thing again, and instead leaped to the side, out of the way of the speeding car. When he looked back, he saw the car making odd fishtailing movements as if it had made an attempt to dodge him, before its brake lights lit up briefly and it rounded the corner, never to be seen again.

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<11:12:42_>
<vohl square ii: short fwd_>
<race: lap 88 of 88_>

01. TUR847.1.13.329 (#13 | Leon Turner | F0-RA8/00191)
02. ARD889.0.19.194 (#19 | Gareth Ardos | AX2.0_r3)

Gareth was caught by surprise from seeing the black and orange Crinale pull back, slowing down to let him pass. Unbeknownst to Leon, however, he was wary of the tricks one would pull from such a tactic, having experienced it first hand. Thus, he was not as confused as Leon thought.

"EMP Railgun."

"Missile."

They had both fired their weapons, one after the other. Leon had fired his missiles mere milliseconds before Gareth's Railgun temporarily shut off his weapon systems. The aftermath left both craft slowing down, with no clear way of knowing who would win out of the two.

"Quake."

That answer was, "none of them". The Jennter, racing a good distance behind Gareth, had fired their quake, having only seen the Crinale craft initially. The further damage and slowing effect the weapon caused to both craft gave them the edge needed to pull the victory right from under the rivals' noses. Both pilots had failed, losing from their attempts to make the other lose.

Angelus, however, was the one to take second, and Crinale very closely followed in third. With the race over, Gareth returned to the pits to see Brandon had returned.

"Hey! You've returned. Sorry about the loss."

Brandon replied "Ehh, it's fine. 2nd is good enough."

"So, what were you doing?"

"...I think it's a good idea to not mention what I was doing right this moment. Soon, though, soon."

The man, however, was still deep in thought, to what had happened that day...