Spy Racers: World Tour

Chapter 22: Reality Check (or slap)

Echo jumped in surprise as the door to her hotel room slammed shut and Layla stalked in with a head full of steam, her eyes red and a little crazy looking. She didn't say a word as she threw her suitcase on the bed opposite Echo and began rifling through it, pulling out random pieces of clothing and throwing them into a smaller backpack.

Woah, Echo thought. She's acting crazier than Tony. She needed to get Layla under control quickly or the night was going to turn from bad to disastrous.

"Yo, chill out!" Echo stood up and shut the lid of the suitcase, pushing it away from Layla. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I don't need this from you, too!" Layla snapped, zipping up her backpack. "Toretto could be dead for all we know and Miss Nowhere wants to sit back and wait. Well, I don't give a damn what she thinks anymore- I'm going to look for Tony!"

In hindsight, it was probably a horrible idea, considering it would potentially just make Layla even crazier, but Echo didn't have time to think it through. She stared at Layla for half a second and then slapped her across the face. Hard.

Layla's hand flew to her cheek and she dropped the backpack, gaping at Echo.

"Get a hold of yourself, Layla!" Echo said sharply. "Jeez! What happened to staying calm under pressure? Isn't that supposed to be your thing?"

Echo paused, searching Layla's expression for any kind of answer and bracing herself for a revenge slap. But Layla didn't retaliate. She blinked a few times and then slumped down onto the bed, looking dazed. For a moment, Echo was worried she'd smacked her a little too hard.

"Lay?" she asked slowly. "Seriously, what's up?"

Layla tucked her knees into her chest, hanging her head.

"Damn, I'm pathetic," she mumbled. "This wasn't supposed to happen."

"Um...okay first off, you're not pathetic," Echo replied, sitting down on the bed next to Layla. "And what do you mean? What isn't supposed to happen?"

Layla looked up, her eyes red.

"This. Me. Crying, acting crazy...caring so much."

"Yo, I thought you were past that," Echo said. "Remember? Your whole speech about family and not wanting to go back to being on your own? It's okay to care."

"Yeah, 'course," Layla ran a hand through her hair, her tone becoming frustrated again. "But that's not what I meant and I think you know that."

She stood up again and went to the bathroom, turning on the sink and splashing the cold water on her face. Echo stayed on the bed, her mind now working a thousand miles an hour. Yeah- she knew exactly what Layla meant. She hadn't brought it up in the first place because typically, Layla would shut down every comment that even remotely touched on the subject, and Echo hadn't wanted to send her on even more of a rampage. But for some reason, Layla had decided that now was the perfect time to face reality- that slap to the face must've really knocked some sense into her.

"Yeah," Echo said after a moment. "I know. No offense, but for a spy you aren't great at hiding it."

Layla laughed and ended up getting water up her nose. She shut off the faucet and turned back to Echo, spluttering, but thankfully there was still a small smile on her face.

"Wow, okay," she managed, wiping her nose. "First you slap me in the face and now you're making fun of me."

"Um, yeah, my bad on the slap," Echo replied, laughing sheepishly.

"No, I deserved that- I was actin' a mess," Layla admitted, sitting down on the bed again. "I dunno what's wrong with me. I mean, Tony's gone missing before and I didn't act like this, right?"

"Well...there was that time in the volcano. You sounded like you were gonna kill Moray."

"I might have if Tony had actually been dead."

"Okayyy, and we're veering into crazy again."

"Right. Sorry."

"Look, I'm worried about T too. And Shashi," Echo said gently. "But we're dealing with high-profile criminals here. Rushing into action without a plan isn't gonna get us anywhere. I hate to say this, but look where it got Tony today."

"I know. But I need to do something. I can't just sit here- obviously, it's driving me insane!"

"There is something we can do," Echo started. "Before you came in, I was thinking about going to talk to that woman who interviewed us on media day. Sheena Queens, I think?"

"Yeah, that's right," Layla confirmed. "Do you think she knows something?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But she did talk to all the teams in depth that day, and, just from our interview, she seemed like the type to want to report on real stories and news. You know, not just whatever bias her studio might be trying to push. And she's young, too. Digging up a crazy story like this could skyrocket her career. I think we could trust her to do some investigating for us."

Layla frowned.

"So what, we'd tell her about the mission? Blow our cover?"

"No way," Echo assured her. "I'm just thinking we plant a seed. Start a casual conversation with her, ask her about the teams, what she thinks of Okada and the tour as a whole. Then bring up the thefts and disappearances and say we've heard some 'conspiracies.' If there's even the slightest hint there could be some truth to it, I bet Sheena will take the bait and start looking into it more. And boom- free detective work for us with zero suspicion."

"Soo, manipulation with good intentions?" Layla asked, a sly grin making its way onto her lips. "I'm in."

A/N:
Hey y'all! Sorry for the short chapter and INSANE hiatus. I deleted Wattpad for awhile and just got it back. I'll try to update the other stories as well and hopefully will have the next chapter of this one up soon too! This chapter is pretty short and I don't really love it, but I just wanted to post something since it's been so long. Next chapter will show what happened to Tony and Shashi so get ready!