Faster Than Angels | Part 40
...that's just what they think, having not seen them do anything by means of opposing them... but there's a reason for that.Originally Posted by Jonny
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Screw it, I'm posting the final part now. Enjoy!
The referenced album title of Part 39.7 was The Fall by Gorillaz.
[s2_32.0: Part 40.0] F:/2212FINALE/
<22121123-22121231>
Monday, November 23rd, 2212
That day started with even more confusion between Alex, Brandon and the COs. Chris Scarborough had made an appearance to close off the 2212 season of the F12000 and announce the 2213 season, despite having been 'killed' by Lucia. And yet hours, even days after, there was no attempt to return to Crinale, or for that matter, the Russian government. The latter was up in arms over the mass confusion, and the fact that their former Tsar had been an android. It would be some time before a new Tsar, or any form of leader, would be appointed to office.
Alex, however, was tasked with dealing with the mess Viktor had made. The space station that served as the team's primary base of operations was brought back down to Earth and disassembled, many of its parts being sold off to pay off the 'debts' collected by the team, using some of their surplus to buy up a new headquarters, keeping it's location unknown, in traditional Crinale fashion. Almost every other piece of Viktor-era machinery was also decommissioned, some even destroyed. Although, that was not their main issue.
Their main issue was in regards to the remaining tech in their hands, the F12000 craft they were left with. Alex made a promise to not have any remnants of Viktor's rule of the company upon her reacquisition of it. However, they had just not enough money, and very little time to develop a new one. Thus, she was forced to break her promise for that one piece of technology. The F0-RA8 would have to stay as part of Alex's new Crinale.
The technologies weren't the only thing she changed. A vast amount of people hired by Viktor that still adhered to his views were promptly fired from the team. Leon, naturally, decided to stay with the team when asked, purely for his love of racing.
Alex had also reached out to Brandon, after a lot of the prior events had died down.
"I've been making a lot of promises recently, so here's mine to you."
"Uh, okay..." Brandon replied, having been caught off-guard.
"Working with your team again opened up a lot of things for me, and I finally realised that I was initially wrong. So, I promise that as of now, we're friendly rivals."
"Friendly rivals? ...Interesting."
"Right, the only time I'll ever be violent towards you will be on the track, to keep that form of entertainment going. But I won't resort to anything illegal or unfair."
"Well, that's very good to know. I shall reciprocate that and act on the track as if you're still a threat to us... because you are, in the sense that you're still a rival." He smiled warmly upon making that remark.
Alex laughed. "Thank you. Thanks for giving me a second chance."
"Not a problem. Take care."
Because of her continued alliance with Brandon, she had accessed her own servers and pulled a certain piece of data. Once she found that it contained the relative information in it, she sent copies of the document detailing the chemical make-up of Tigron's experimental drug to both Angelus and Syncline, so the three teams were able to progress with their research to rid the world of The Condition.
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Angelus, after continued searches throughout the end of the year, and the beginning of the next, still had not found a new pilot to replace Tarah in time for the 2213 season. Many Angelus employees had considered Gareth's performance in the last two races to be quite optimal. Some of those people put two and two together and came up with the theory that he raced better on his own, without any other pilots racing alongside him. Either way, Angelus was still stuck with one pilot for the following season.
The instant they were back in Australia after the Vohl Square II race, Brandon decided to use the secret information network he had to lift more Viktor-related data from Preispodnyaya. Among other, seemingly unrelated data, he had also received data on something he had been quite interested in since he saw it back in February of that year.
Although no data on its actual performance and setup was written out, there were very detailed descriptions on the mechanics, systems and related specifications on the first of the mysterious Shinigami project's products: The RXK. Among the various other systems detailed that made up most of the car's systems, there were two in particular that caught his attention. The first was unheard of for production cars, having been fitted with a COFFIN-type system. However, the second system was so much more unbelievable, that it gained Brandon's attention more than the flight control system.
"...Elec... what?!"
Brandon recalled the final moments of his battle with that car, and how the explosion looked like it was hit with a Plasma. The reason why was simple; the engine was not anything that could be considered 'traditional' or 'normal'. It was referred to as an Electro-Plasma Kinetic Generator, a system that seemed to directly produce over 1500hp of thrust. That explained to him why the car seemed to be so fast, even though he didn't know the true output the car made.
Along with that, he had also found some data pertaining to the F12000, although it was far from enough to bring the league down. Nevertheless, he decided to keep every piece of data he obtained from that place, as it all contributed to his plan to undermine the corrupt league.
Between the start of December and the end of January, the teams were allowed to continue upgrading their craft for the following season. Angelus, naturally, focused their efforts on further upgrading their engine's power output and also the overall handling of the craft. They submitted their upgraded craft as the KA-AX2.0_r4, the AGR:Xff engine being registered as Type 3167.
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On one day in particular, Brandon received a phone call on his personal phone.
"Yeah? Brandon speaking... what?!"
The call was from an employee from Syncline. A few days after receiving the documents for The Condition's source, Nikole had, unfortunately, passed away. After making sure Alex knew, he set off to Mars, travelling to Syncline's headquarters. Once there, he found Johann Webber, the founder and lead technician of the team.
"Hey, mind if we talk?"
The man looked at him. "Brandon Smith, right?"
"Yeah. I think you might know why I'm here."
He closed his eyes and put his hand to his chin. "Mhh, Nikole? I'd rather not answer any questions pertaining to her. Call it a sign of respect."
Brandon nodded. "Alright, I can respect that. How about the Condition? Can you talk about that?"
"To you, yes. We've received the data on the chemical thanks to Miss Kotova, so we, along with Crinale, may proceed with developing the cure. I guess I can say one thing about Nikole, that she would want us to continue with this, no matter what."
Brandon nodded, "I can understand, it is a rather serious situation that needs immediate and consistent attention. Rest assured that I will continue to help you in any I can."
"That is appreciated, thank you."
"How is Kat taking the news?"
For some reason, Johann did not answer immediately. Instead, it looked as if he was thinking, as if he wasn't sure how exactly he should tell Brandon, if at all. But, he could not deny Nikole and Kat's trust in him.
"She... she's in a coma."
Brandon needed a moment to let that information sink in.
"I... what? She's... in a coma? How did that happen?"
The man shook his head, "I'm sorry, I hope you'll forgive me for not willing to disclose that information."
Brandon held up his hand. "No, no. It's completely fine. I definitely understand."
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Several groups of people had been brought together, all through one mutual enemy. Soon, they would be forcibly torn apart from one another attempting to bring them down.
Season 2: End.
FASTER THAN ANGELS WILL R3TURN SOON...
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