Spy Racers: Valentines Day

Valentines Day

Monday, February 14: Valentine's Day. Tony had been thinking about it all week, and now there were only 6 hours until the big surprise he and Cisco had planned was supposed to start. The boys had decided to plan a party for the whole crew, and they were currently trying to decorate the garage without anyone coming in and spoiling the surprise. However, since they basically lived there, keeping the crew away had proved to be a real challenge.

Echo had shown up wanting to work on some art projects that she kept in the garage, and they panicked, struggling to come up with an excuse she'd actually believe. Fortunately (for them at least), Mitch had shown up and asked Echo if she wanted to go out. She hesitated, but then he pulled out two tickets to a Valentine's Day art exhibition, and her love for art won over her dislike for Mitch.

"Yeah, I'll go," Echo said with a sigh, and as soon as the words left her mouth, Tony and Cisco quickly shooed her and Mitch away.

"Have fun!" Tony called after them.

"Uh, take your time- art requires patience!" Cisco added. Tony elbowed him and muttered under his breath.

"Dude, we're trying to be subtle here- Echo's gonna know something's up."

"My bad, bro. You know surprises make me nervous."

"Yeah I know. Come on, we gotta get everything ready before someone else shows up."

Thankfully, Frostee was stuck working at his family's restaurant, helping out with the Valentine's Day crowd. He wouldn't be able to leave until 6, so Tony and Cisco didn't have to worry about keeping him away. So, with Echo occupied, there was only one another crew member to look out for- but she was a wild card.

"You heard from Layla today?" Cisco asked as he strung up some paper hearts.

Tony was so focused on trying to decorate the cookies they'd made that it took him a moment to respond.

"Uh, yeah, actually," he replied. "She texted me this morning and said she was going to Santa Monica. Asked if I wanted to race out there."

"What'd you say?"

"That I was busy?"

"For real, T?"

"What?"

Cisco raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, bro. Your mind still messed up from Sudarokov's AI, or something? Layla wants to hang out on Valentine's Day...what do you think that means?

"I don't- oh."

"Yeah," Cisco said, shaking his head.

"Well, it's not like I could tell her I'm planning a surprise party for the crew. What was I supposed to say?"

"Would you have gone with her if we hadn't been busy with the party?"

"Obviously- you know that."

"So, why didn't you just tell me you wanted to go? I could've gotten this stuff done myself. You know I'll be your wingman, T."

"Thanks bro," Tony replied. "But it doesn't matter now, anyway. Let's just get this done."

For the next two hours, the boys decorated cookies, rebaked the batch of cupcakes they burnt, made cards for the crew, and got Miss Nowhere, Gary and Julius to record a video saying some nice things about everyone. Miss Nowhere was uncharacteristically being very complimentary.

"Wow, Miss Nowhere's being so nice," Cisco remarked as they watched the video. However, almost as soon as the words left his mouth, their boss ended her portion of the video by showing a clip from Tony's car-fail video and her saying: