Techie

Cutting Corners

A Ditch somewhere in the Nevada Plateaus

11:30 PM

"I'm going to kill that mother-fragging bastard!" screamed Tori as her car steamed around her. This time, though, the entire car was upside down, making it extremely hard to get out. The vehicle had managed to stay in one piece, but the engine needed repairs and the gas tank had a leak somewhere. She would have to fix that before restarting the engine or the car would go sky high.

Tori unbuckled her seatbelt and braced her arm on the roof of the car so she wouldn't fall onto her skull, then she started to inch her way out of the smashed window. Tori didn't think she could fix the window. It wasn't metal and she had never added inserts to make it work with her powers anyway. She'd have to order a new one.

'Why does Vince keep doing this?' She thought. 'I don't have anything he wants. And it doesn't put him in first place either. It always slows him down.' While she was thinking about Vince's possible motives for both trying to kill her and putting his own winnings at risk, she stood up and prepared to fix the gas chamber and the engine. She could deal with the dents later.

'Somebody must be paying him. He's an asshat, but he wouldn't risk first place just to run me off the road without knowing he would be reimbursed. But who would have it out for me?'

That thought alone was enough to scare her. She'd never done anything specifically to deserve a price on her head, but obviously someone wants her dead. Or at least not racing. And it wasn't the cons. It had been happening for too long to be the Decepticons.

'Maybe it was a witch from the first orphanage before Fowler found me. But he did a pretty good job of burning any paper trails that would lead her back to me.'

____________________

The Circuit Racing Ring
10:55 PM

Tori drove up to the check in with five minutes to spare before the race stated. Ashton, the man in charge of Circuit racing for Archie, was standing by with a tablet. He was surrounded by girls in skimpy clothing.

Tori was not a fan of Ashton. He was one of those boys that had peaked in high school and wanted everyone to know it. He was always wearing his class ring (unfortunately, he was a Jasper High Alum) and if it was cold he was in a letterman jacket which he had earned through track. He had racing in his blood, though he never actually participated in the event, he was always at them.

His blonde hair was tied in some attempt at a man-bun, but it had obviously been up a while, as many strands were falling onto his shoulders. Tonight it wasn't cold, especially if you weren't going to be driving, so he didn't have his jacket with him. Instead, he was wearing a long-sleeved, black shirt tucked into blue jeans. One ear was pierced and held a giant diamond that was probably real, considering all the cash he made through the races. He was facing away from her, and Tori could see the outline of a gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans. How he hadn't already managed to shoot himself in the backside, Tori would never know. She walked up to him, and faked a smile.

"Name?" he asked without turning around

"Marilyn Monroe"

"Really?" he asked, "just once can't you give me a real name on the first try."

"You still know it's me though," Tori teased. If she flirted enough, she could get into the race at half price and save the gas money. She strutted over to him, hoping that Vince was already in line and not watching. "You know, that shirt goes wonderfully with those... rippling...pectorals," she could barely finish the sentence without gagging or laughing or both.