The crowd immediately stepped back. Michael realized most of them hadn't seen the race due to how difficult it was to fly a drone in-between all of the trains.

However, the Medics new how to do their job.

The crowd parted and an old school Chevrolet ambulance carefully drove through the gap parking about 15 feet from the Foxbody. The ambulance made no engine sound, and Michael realized this particular ambulance belonged to one of the rare Racing Authority licensed crew of paramedics, cleared to use a manually driven car instead of an AutoCab for rapid response. It must have been converted to an electric drivetrain to save cost and increase reliability and off the line acceleration.

Michael motioned to the passengers side of the Foxbody.

"She's in there, there was a big wreck, I pulled her out but the car is still out there, it might cause an accident." Michael said, still in a bit of a panic.

One of the paramedics nodded.

"We'll send in word to the city, the trains will be detoured from around here, that way a tow truck can get to the car." They said calmly.

The next half hour passed in a daze of guilt and exhaustion for Michael. Riley was wheeled away on a stretcher after being removed from the Foxbody.

He hadn't even realized he was still wearing his helmet even though the race was over.

Michael felt tired, guilty and scared. Through his pride and desire to be the best, he caused someone to be severely injured

If he had just hit the brakes and let her by, all of this would've been fine.

Come to think of it, it reminded him of the dream he had Friday night. It had felt so real, it was more like a memory than a dream...

Michael ducked back in the Foxbody and moved it out of the way, shutting it off after parking it off by the sidewalk. He slid his helmet off and put it in the passenger seat.

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, Michael heard the familiar purring of a 2JZ motor. He turned to see Michelle's BRZ park behind him, followed by a black Racing Authority M5.

Michael stepped out of the Mustang, trying his best to appear as normal as possible.

Michelle stepped out of her car first.

"We won! Dude we won..." Her excited expression faded when she saw the grim expression on Michael's face.

"There was... an accident." Michael sighed.

"oh..." Michelle simply said, backing up and sitting on the hood of her car.

The doors of the M5 opened simultaneously, and Amelia and Nick stumbled out from the back seats, followed by Kalinda who gracefully exited from the passengers side.

Nick leaned against the M5 in a daze, while Amelia stood looking Michael in the eye, a single tear rolling down her cheek. After a few seconds, she sprinted up to him and threw her arms around him.

"You're ok...You're ok!" she said into his shoulder, squeezing Michael so hard it almost impaired his breathing.

After about a minute she let go of him, planting a soft kiss on his cheek.

Nick walked over to Michael and gave him a fist bump.

"You won man..." He said with a slight smile, "Why are you so bummed out?"

"She wrecked. She's going to the hospital."

"So? Why do you care? She wrecked your ride..."

"It was my fault. You weren't there, she could've died."

Nick fell quiet.

Michael sighed.

Kalinda, sensing Michael was available gracefully walked up to him and handed him the second key to the Foxbody and a crumpled pink sheet of paper.

"Your bounty to the evening, Mr. Cooper, a 1949 Mercury Coupe... No doubt rather heavily modified."

"Thanks but... I can't take this." Michael said, shoving the pink slip towards Kalinda.

"Excuse me?"

"Look, the accident was my fault, I don't feel like it was a fair race at all."

Kalinda smiled.

"Well, if you truly believed that, go present it to the owner." She said handing the slip back to Michael.

She turned to leave, but a sudden realization hit Michael.

"Kalinda?!"

"Yes Mr. Cooper?"

"If you we were to get you control of the whole city, would you be able to stop accidents like these from happening?"

"That and much more Mr. Cooper..." Kalinda said with a smile.

She walked away towards a group of sinister looking RA agents, and Michael turned back to his team, unsure of what to do next.

"oh shit... COPS! COPS ARE COMING!"

Michael turned towards the crowd of spectators, and a scrawny man emerged from a grey 370Z.

Kalinda calmly walked in front of the crowd.

"Everyone remain calm! Remember, stick together, and non car owners are strongly suggested to get a ride with a Racing Authority agent! Good luck to you all."

Immediately, spectators ran in several different directions, starting various cars and peeling out of the parking lot.

Michael realized he wasn't worried. After all he had done this before. He turned back to his team.

"Nick, Amelia... You two get a ride with an Agent. Michelle and I will take the cars."

Amelia, wide eyed simply said "Ok." and sprinted towards a Racing Authority M5 followed by Nick.

Michael turned to Michelle.

"You ready?" He said.

She nodded.

The ran back to their cars.

Michael turned the key to the Foxbody, which thankfully snarled to life. He heard the BRZ scream into the night behind him.

He put the Foxbody in gear as his helmet's HUD initialized.

"We'll stick together like Kalinda said." He heard Michelle say through the radio.

"Alright. Let's go."

Michael hit the gas, and the Foxbody snarled forward. He focused on driving carefully, gingerly shifting through the gears as he dodged other racers peeling out of various parking spots, periodically glancing into the Mustang's rearview mirror to see that Michelle was staying right on his tail mimicking his every move.

Michael kept glancing around and checking the minimap of his HUD, looking for a police vehicle, but he saw none. He smoothly took a left turn at an intersection, which would put them heading south towards the edge of the city and homewards towards Redview.

"I think we got lucky..." Michael said confidently.

"Imagine if it was a false alarm..." Michelle said laughingly over the radio.

Suddenly Michael heard police scanner chatter over the radio.

"Perfect. They scattered into groups as expected. This is the perfect chance to deploy the prototypes."

"Deploying the AUTM-3 Prototypes."

"Let's see them outrun this."

"That cannot be good..." Michelle muttered.

"I'm sure we won't come across them, whatever they are." Michael said nervously, checking the mini map.

"I hope we get that kid in the grey Mustang that got away from me last time." A familiar voice said over the scanner.

Michael cursed under his breath. That meant agent Shifter was out there. Even though he had outran him several times, it still unnerved him that someone was out there, specifically after him.

They turned another corner, heading out of the industrial district and towards the outskirts of Kempton, a few late night AutoCabs populating the streets.

"Maybe we actually made a clean getaway..." Michelle said.

"Targets acquired." A voice on the police scanner said.

Immediately Michael's HUD lit up.

Someone had caught up to them.