Project Race Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Silencerz


The three teams had all taken Carlos back to the safehouse for recovery. They also had to tow his new Lexus for him since it was destroyed. They set him down on a bed, and Mirage tended to his cheek scrape. She dabbed it with medical alcohol, and covered it with a bandage.
Carlos was still dizzy after the accident, but he was slowly coming back to.
"Ugh. Where am I?" He asked, "What happened? Is my car alright?"
"Carlos, do you want the bad news first, or the good news?" Carbon asked.
Carlos didn't like the sound of this.
"What's the bad news?" He asked.
"Bad news is that your car is destroyed." June said, taking a picture of the Lexus on her phone, then showing it to the slightly injured bat, "I've seen bad wrecks in around the world, but this is beyond them."
Carlos slapped his forehead.
"Man! Why did I have to gun it to overdrive!?" He complained, "And the good news?"
"The worst you got, yourself was a scraped cheek." Mirage answered, "It still needs to heal, so don't touch it for a while."
Carlos was still upset.
"Man! This is just like my human childhood!" He said, "Just as I thought I wasn't clumsy anymore! I really need to watch myself."
He sat up, and looked at his totaled Lexus IS F. He sighed, looking at the ground.
"Look on the bright side, Carlos." Sonic said, "You still have your NXS2000, your Evo IX, your DB9, your RX-7, and your RX-8. Those are still your good cars, right?"
"And who knows?" Tails asked, "Maybe if the engine is still in one piece, you might be able to swap it into another car!"
June started thinking. "You know, while I had spent my '11 summer vacation at Paradise, I had met a few master auto-repairers who could fix cars in a matter of time." She said, "I might be able to give them a call, and they could come over to fix your car."
Brains looked at the Tiger. "You've been to Paradise City?!" He asked, "That town is every street-racer's heaven! Is it true that you can even race in a police cruiser?"
"The cops are into racing." June said, "Who knew they'd actually join? I test-drove one in a race, but I prefer Tuners. Anyways, I'll call them right now if you want, Carlos."
"Thanks, June." Carlos said, "That'd be great."
June nodded, and left the room to make her calls. Then Carlos looked to the others, remembering something.
"Guys, I just remembered that we're apparently not the only Realm Racers here in Japan." He said.
"What do you mean, Carlos?" Mirage asked.
"Please don't tell us the Drones are here!" Monkey said.
"Wait, some of the Silencerz are here, aren't they?" Sonic asked.
Carlos nodded.
"I'm guessing Scourge, Fiona, Mighty, Rouge, and my Dad?" Vert said.
"That's them, Vert." Carlos said, "Tezla had called me and said that these five, along with one other Silencer, were coming here for some back-on-track races."
"Espio?" Vector guessed.
"Yes, Vector. That's him." Carlos said.
"Why are they called 'Silencerz?'" Sleepy asked.
"Because they strike without a sound." Honey answered.
"We need to be on the lookout for anything." Carlos said
"What do these 'Silencerz' drive?" Dino asked.
"I know for sure that Scourge drives a green '10 Chevy Camaro ZL1 with a black hood, mirrors, and doors, with orange flames." Brains said.
Sonic looked at him. "How did YOU know?" He asked.
"You guys had a TV show." Brains answered, "I like to watch your races through the Realms."
"Aaaanyways..." Carlos said, "I also heard that the others are driving public cars as well. Fiona is driving a red Toyota Celica, Mighty is driving a red '11 Dodge Charger, Rouge is driving her Impavido, and Espio is driving a purple Jansen X12. June, you should know that car, don't you?"
"Yeah, it's a Supercar." June said, "Basically, it resembles a Koenigsegg CCR, guys. It's from Paradise City."
"So when do you think we might run into them?" Kurt asked.
"Right about now." Said a familiar voice to Sonic from the entrance of the safehouse.
The blue hedgehog turned around, and saw Scourge, Fiona, Mighty, Espio, Rouge, and Jack Wheeler standing in front of their cars. Vector was still getting used to the fact that Espio was a Silencer now.
"Espio, why did you have to join the Silencerz?" Vector asked, "You could've helped us a lot in the Realms."
"Because it would help me learn better stealth." Espio answered, "And they needed help with their research."
Vector wasn't the only one who needed to get used to someone on his team being on an opposing team. The Teku were still surprised that Rouge was also one of them. She had betrayed them, and was spying for the Silencerz. And just after Kurt left the Drones. They obviously didn't want to see her.
"Did you really have to go to your habits during a world crisis, Rouge?" Amy asked.
"Don't you guys remember that Tezla was ALSO one of them, and had actually stolen technology from THEM?" Rouge reminded.
"But it was for the greater good!" Karma said.
"He tried to reprogram an X-88 robot as his assistant." Rouge said, "He betrayed the Silencerz!"
"They didn't care about the Drones!" Manic said, "They only cared about research."
"But we helped when you needed it most!" Rouge said.
"Why do we even bother?" Sonia asked, "It's impossible to make a Silencer see the truth. Especially you, Rouge."
While the rest of the Teku were arguing with Rouge about the real purpose of the Silencerz, Vert was talking to his dad.
"Dad, why DID you join the Silencerz?" He asked, "And why didn't you ever tell me sooner instead of lying and saying you were in the military?"
Jack sighed. "It's all very hard to explain, son." He said, "You see, back before you were born, I also used to drive professional-level racecars. I had a team that I always used to drive with. We were the best. Then, soon after I met your mother, I decided that I had to leave the team. Once she died, I decided to join the military to help our country. I signed up, but I apparently wasn't at a real military sign-up. The Silencerz were posing to recruit drivers, and I was one of them. They had heard of my driving back in my day, and wanted me to join them. They told me that not only would I help the country by driving for them, but I would change the world. So I joined them, and they told me that I would say that I was a military major. That's why I've been leaving while you were growing up."
"But why didn't you tell me sooner?" Vert asked again.
"They told me that they were an organization kept in secret, and I couldn't tell anyone." Jack answered, "I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want anything bad to happen. So I kept it within the Silencerz. That is, until you escaped the Acceledrome, and came out through our portal. Since I knew our base was exposed, now was the time to tell you. I'm sorry I never told you this sooner."
"So why did YOU come here to Japan with Scourge, Fiona, Rouge, Espio, and Mighty, Mr. Wheeler?" Sonic asked.
"Well, you see, Sonic, the Silencerz knew that they needed to get back to normal street-racing, so they gave them a task to come to Japan, and become some of the best in Tokyo." Jack explained, "They sent me along as a military Major to keep them out of trouble if they were caught. So I'm what you would call a 'Hallpass'."
"I see." Sonic said, "You know, I'm surprised that you were actually able to bring Scourge out of the dark side to at least become neutral. How did you do it so easily?"
"I'm afraid that's a Silencer secret." Jack said, "Sorry to leave you in the dark."
Carlos had finally gotten off his bed, and walked up to Sonic and the Wheelers.
"Um, guys?" He said, "Sorry to interrupt, but don't you think we should go look for some races?"
"You're right, Carlos." Sonic said, "The Blacklist are still going around, showing off their ranks, and here we are just talking about the Realms! That's the second time!"
The blue hedgehog turned to Sidewinder, who were just talking with each other about their own things.
"When should we go back out?" He asked.
"Whenever you're all ready." Dino said.