Summary:A little street race turns more exciting than planned. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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The Midnight Race scene is a varied one. The stereotype is that it involves a lot of alpha male gearheads, possibly with some combination of tattoos, backward hats, sagging pants, gold chains and gaudily decorated cars. And there is some sliver of truth in that but the reality is so much more varied and interesting.
The reality is it takes all types and these meetups are equal parts impromptu vehicle show and race organization. Kian had texted Julia a couple of days a go to let her know there was a meet and race on for tonight. And it does not disappoint. The lot where folks are meeting up is fairly full. Not so much that it's making enough noise to instantly call the cops over, but there's a couple dozen folks here, some sweet cars and some REALLY sweet bikes. Kian himself is standing next to a black Kawasaki Ninja, sliiiiiightly modified while folks mill around. He's in his leathers which is a marked difference from the last time Julia saw him. Those are mostly black as well, naturally.
Definitely NOT the time to let anyone know her daytime job. Julia let Kian know she'd be coming, though finding her way through the crowd makes her a bit later than planned.
The mocha skinned woman is dressed similarly to the last time Kian saw her, a light green jacket on over the T-shirt and cargo pants with battered combat boots on her feet. Her hair is braided tight down to her head tonight, and it would be easy to think she's got short, buzzed hair until the lights pick up the lines of the braids.
Joining him at his bike, Julia takes a moment to noticeably eye the machine and then turn her gaze on Kian, a suppressed grin curving her lips. "Guess I missed the note on the dress code." She jokes.
Kian grins when he spots her and waves. He levers up off the lamp post he'd been leaning on as she approaches. "The dress code here tends to be 'don't show up looking like a cop.'"
Yeah definitely not the place to let people know her day job. Folks here probably aren't armed but there's always that chance. None of this is strictly speaking legal and while none of these people look especially like hard core criminals looks can indeed be deceiving. Julia knows that, she's been in that business for a good chunk of her life.
"You have a chance to look around a bit? The competition turned out, that's for sure."
It did too. There's some other Japanese bikes, a couple of korean ones, a couple american hogs and a few Euro's. She might even note a Triumph or two among the bikes parked around the lot.
The asian rider gets a bit of a grin. "So, standing around watching wouldn't be very much fun. Care to ride shotgun?" That adds weight to his bike, albiet not a HUGE amount, but he seems confident all the same.
Julia Pennyworth opens her arms out to the side and looks down at herself before grinning at him. "How'd I do then?" Of course, the light jacket hides her sidearm but she definitely wasn't coming out unarmed. She's been watching the shadows way too long to do that.
Stepping over closer to his bike and by extension him, Julia lets her fingers trace over its curves. "Yeah, I came in on the other end so had a lot to see on the way over. Bettern' a car show and no admission!"
The question gets a short, sharp laugh. "Shotgun? Th' bloody thing doesn't come with a sidecar!" She points out. Of course, she's ridden a bike before so she knows what he means. Also that he's being nice, as the usual term is riding 'bitch'.
"Oh I think you did just fine really. Got a sort of punk rock look, appropriately enough. It's the jacket and boots that sell it."
For some reason, Julia doesn't seem like the sort of person to say 'riding bitch' to. Just, you know, maybe Kian's kind of old fashioned or maybe Julia actually looks pretty fit and he doesn't want his face rearranged. Also, he invited her because she'd been pretty fun to hang out with previously and it'd be a shame to spoil that.
"Sort of spoils the handling. And it's not as fun in my opinion."
He looks out over the gathered competition. "This isn't even New York's A-Team. I mean don't get me wrong all of these guys are good and their vehicles are sweet, and well put together, but there's guys who have blown FORTUNES on this scene and they're damn good drivers."
There's a horn honking rapidly from one of the cars. Kian kicks the stand on his bike and grins at Julia. "This lot I shouldn't have too much trouble with. So, did you want to come?"
"Well someone's cocky." Julia says, grinning at him. She looks about as the horn starts honking and then back over to Kian as he starts to get his bike ready to go.
She's not driving, so she could have had a few drinks on the way over, but this is a much less controlled venue than a popular concert at a well known establishment. The fact that she doesn't quite remember the end of that night isn't too big of a deal, but here? Not so much an option.
Still, Julia doesn't need liquid courage to do something a bit wild if it promises to be fun, and Kian's definitely playing advocate. With both a shrug and a nod she says, "Sure. If you lay the thing down though, I'm totally gonna beat your ass." As though the crash wouldn't be punishment enough.
"What if I get it back up after doing that?" Kian grins. Julia, if she's seen racing at all, will have seen people almost lay down bikes on very sharp turns. Could he do that with an extra person changing the center of gravity? He DOES seem very sure of himself but Julia's surely seen that go wrong before.
The bikes line up and there's a lot of traditional gunning of engines. When they take off the thing that probably hits Julia first is the acceleration. This thing has a lot of 'get-up-and-go' and Kian uses that to push them out in front.
Julia MAY notice from her position those blinking lights on his back again. And possibly also the timer that's started on the 'dash' of the bike. It's got a previous best on it, one that looks VERY quick. He's got them up to speed now and he's going to have to make a turn pretty soon. This road T's out, and it's coming up VERY quickly.
"You're keen, by the way. Not that I mind. You sure you've never done this before? You move well on the back there." He means the way she shifts her weight when HE moves. Like she knows how to manipulate her - and the Bike's - center of gravity.
Julia Pennyworth can't help but bite her lower lip to *try* not to laugh as Kian says that. She *doesn't* manage to stop her smart mouth from making a comment though. "Well, I *do* like a man that can get it back up." And while in racing the bikes definitely just about lay down into the turns, she's never seen it done with someone on the back. Which she's about to be.
Once Kian is on and their helmets are situated, Julia puts a hand on his shoulder and a foot on the back peg before stepping up and mounting up behind him. This being a sport bike, it's designed for Kian to be laying forward over it, and the extra seat is a bit of an afterthought. Her thighs tuck in on either side of his hips, the front of her body pressed up against his back and her arms wrap around his waist.
When he takes off, her arms tighten and she lets out a little whoop of surprise and he can feel her hands fist about his jacket, holding on tight. There's none of the stiffness of some newbies though, and his question said in such a casual manner gets a bit of a squeak out of her. "You're supposed t' be watchin' the road, not havin' a bloody conversation!" Her words end in a laugh, and despite her chastising she does answer. "I can ride, but I'd never try t' race. A t' B, that's the extent o' my skill!"
"You think I can't handle both?" Kian laughs. He makes the first turn and yeah, it's a steep one. Not quite 'laying down' territory but definitely a hard bank. He's opening up a decent lead. The others are still visible behind them but dropping back slowly. It isn't really that Kian's bike is faster. In fact in raw speed terms it's probably only the third or fourth fastest bike here. It's little things. The way he does his gear changes, the way he executes his turns. The way he scrubs off, or doesn't scrub off, speed in those little maneuvers.
"Alright to be fair I probably should concentrate on the road a biiiiit more. I don't often race with someone on the back. So far, though, I'd say it's working out well!"
Next stop is the Brooklyn Bridge. She can see him angling toward it in the distance.
"Sort of surprised that a speed demon like you hasn't even considered it, though." He says once they're on a straight again. There's a little bit of traffic on this one but he moves around and through it casually. "Is being in the air just more fun? Or was there something else that made you give bike racing a pass?"
Even if it wasn't this, there's plenty of circuits that you can go and just blast around.
There's a rumble of much deeper engines and four bikes pull out in front of him just as he's making the turn onto the bridge. These aren't racers, but hogs and the people on them are wearing matching leathers. Club, then. OR gang, possibly.
"Well shit."
"I'd like to err on the side o' caution!" Julia retorts, though he can hear the laughter in her voice. The vehicles with the most speed have an advantage in straightaways, but when there are turns to make and obstacles to avoid? That's all skill.
"Just don't be thinkin' I'm your lucky charm and expect me t' show at all your races unless I start gettin' a cut." Julia clearly enjoys her sarcastic banter. "I've spent a lot more time behind the wheel of a car, an' I like knowing if mistakes are made, I'm not a smear on the road. Also, my legs get damned sore after riding on a motorbike, but I can run laps all day sittin' in a car."
As the other bikers come into sight, Julia leans a bit so she can look over his shoulder better. "I take it they're not real friendly?"
"Nooot especially. One of their friends lost a race, and I bike. They're sore. They probably want to block me and return the favor." Kian grunts and he guns it. The next thirty seconds or so involve him jockying with the quartet which slows and tries to keep in front of him. Eventually he spots a gap JUST wide enough and shoots it. Julia MIGHT notice the blinky lights blinking a LOT faster when he does.
Before he can quite clear them, though, one of the riders reaches out and tries to grab Julia by the jacket.
Well this got a bit more exciting than anticipated. Julia's hold tightens around his middle, hopefully not making it too hard for him to breathe, but the jockeying *is* a bit disconcerting.
As they shoot through and one of the riders makes a grab for her, Julia's reflexes take over. "Hold steady!" That isn't playful sarcasm, that's the bark of someone that expects to be listened to. Her hold eases and he feels the shift in weight as Julia half-stands on one of the riding pegs, grabbing his shoulder as her body twists out of the rider's reach and then her other leg comes up and kicks out at the grabber. The length of her legs exceeds that of his arm, and her combat boot slams into his side.
The squeeze IS quite firm but fortunately not to asphyxiation levels, and Kian can indeed hold steady. The one that Julia kicks loses both his grip and balance. His bike wobbles and then lays down as Kian reaches back with one arm to steady Julia and kicks on the gas. They shoot ahead, clear of the remaining three.
"Jackasses." Kian mutters, but loud enough to be heard. "You okay? At this rate I think you've almost earned a cut. But as for lucky…" She can almost hear the grin. "We'll see, won't we?"
One of the chasing bikes kicks on something that looks like nitrous and closes FAST.
"Sonofa… Get steady and hang on." Now he's using that tone that she used just a moment before.
There IS traffic on this bridge - going both ways and Kian starts to use it, weaving in ways that don't quiiiiite seem possible wihtout being able to see in multiple directions at once.
"Well on the plus side, this'll probably a lot faster run than my last time." He remarks dryly, almost as though they were NOT being chased by people who had just tried to pull Julia off a speeding bike.
Julia Pennyworth adjusts as Kian reaches back, accepting the help and then sliding back in behind him and resettling into place.
"Yeah, I'm fine. They never expect th' bitch t' bite." While Kian was trying to be nice with his language, she spent time in the army, and British or not, a foul mouth is applied liberally.
Pulling in tight against both the bike and Kian so as not to force him to compensate for her being there too much, she can't help but hold her breath as some of the maneuvers that Kian engages in are.. well. Hairy.
"Have you considered making more friends?" Julia asks then, turning to look over her shoulder at their pursuers.
"Why, something wrong with the ones I have?" Now Kian's snark comes with the distinct sound of someone concentrating. "You seem to have a hell of a bite, though. Maybe I should be trying harder to make friends with YOU."
Indeed even though she's got the look of someone who isn't exactly helpless, her small size and the fact that she's on a bike probably made them think she wouldn't be able to do much. Their mistake clearly.
The last hog gamely keeps pace with them tanks to liberal applications of the NO2. Finally Kian gets into opposing traffic right in the path of a tanker trailer which, expectedly, swerves.
And Kian ALMOST lays the bike down. He sends it into a slide that ducks them under the trailer and on the other side rights the bike and zips on. Predictably, the last hog isn't able to follow that maneuver and by the time they're clear of the bridge the welcome party is far enough behind that they've lost sight.
"Hah!" Clearly Julia isn't the only one who's an adrenaline junkie.
"Yeah! They're tryin' to get you killed!" Julia returns dryly, clearly meaning the bikers.
Keeping an eye on their pursuer, Julia calls up to Kian, "What's he think he's gonna do when he catches up to us?" There's an edge of worry there, because surely the guy has a plan, right? And that can't be good.
She turns to look forward again to see Kian swap lanes into the the *oncoming traffic*. She doesn't have a chance to cuss him out for that because they're about to have a real unfortunate encounter with a tanker.
Julia's about to haul them off to get them out of the way of the collision when Kian shifts their weight and puts the bike into a slide. Thinking goes out the door and she's reacting. Shifting to help compensate, changing her grip to stay tight on Kian's ass.
As he rights the bike, there's a whole lotta silence coming from the back of his bike.
It's not entirely clear if Julia noticed the way that the lights on Kian's back went into overdrive when he did that. If she thinks about it - which at the moment she may well not be able to - something like that would require a LOT of precision, reflxes and strength to pull off. Extremely HIGH degrees of all of those. And it's not clear just by looking at him that Kian is that conditioned. He's FIT certainly, but that?
There's silence from the front of the bike for a few more streets but that's mostly Kian making sure they have indeed lost their tail as he continues on the circuit. They're well in Brooklyn now and looping north to use the Ed Koch bridge to come back into Manhattan.
"Hey, you okay there? Did I break you a bit?" He actually does glance over his shoulder to see how she's looking. Adrenaline junkie or not, that was a hell of a moment. A 'staring imminent disaster in the face kind of moment.'
"Looks like we lost 'em. I don't think we'll see 'em again tonight, if it helps. You moved just perfectly back there too so, thanks and good on ya."
Earth to Julia?
As the ride eases into something a bit less… exciting, Julia's hold eases back off of Kian and she sits back a bit. He can feel the loss of her heat at his back as the wind rushing around them greedily slides into the gap that's been created. "I may not ride bikes so much, but I know when someone's startin' to make a habit of the impossible." She notes to him. "An' if you don't wanna tell me, that's fine. I can understand that. But don't tell me that was just luck an a bit o' skill."
"Well no, it wasn't a bit of skill. It was a LOT of skill." That could be flippant but in this case it's not. Kian is keeping up a fast pace but compared to what they just did, is she really worried that he can handle it? Even when he glances over his shoulder, feeling that separation.
"I'm good at this Julia. I am very good at this. And, well, you remember I told you that my medical implant had been tested for enhancing people's reflexes and such with mixed results? The results weren't all bad. Mixed, yeah, but not all bad."
That might explain some of it, to be sure. "I mean, you didn't figure I was just some rich kid from back east with enough time to and spare change to have a questionably legal adrenaline fix, did ya?"
That last is a biiiit more playful.
A huff comes from Julia as Kian makes with the fast explaining. "It was more'n a lot of skill." She agrees, and when he fesses up about his implants, well, she can believe that.
"I didn't figure much beyond y'r pretty face and smooth talkin'." And she might need to amend that and do a bit more poking into Kian's background.
"So y'r fleecin' the rest of them, because there's no way they're gonna keep up with ya."
"Ehhhhhhh…" Kian lifts one hand off the bars to make a 'so-so' gesture. "My advantages aren't that overwhelming. What it lets me do is race better bikes and beat them by being a better rider. And lose tails with panache." Yes, he just said panache.
"But sure, there's a good chunk of them that don't have a chance against me unless I have a REALLY bad night. It's a good way to earn a bit on the side and hey there's always those riders whose skills or machines are good enough that they can give me a run for my money. Just, you know, not in this particular crowd."
Another quick turn, another long straight. They're coming up on the bridge and from then it's just a loop south to wind back up at the start point and win.
"I mean, it doesn't hurt that the bikes tonight are mostly slower than mine. They know I'll probably take something that isn't their bike if they talk to me about it. That's why I'm still welcome at these races at all. That and everyone wants bragging rights for taking me down." Which… has happened. Not MUCH but folks might hear rumors.
His background should be interesting to look into. "You up for drinks after this, or did you want to maybe live a little dangerously and go on another ride." Not a race per se, but there's plenty of fun to be had trying to find shortcuts and beat a time.
Of course she might well decide that one brush with death is enough for the night. He'd get that, to be sure.
"How about, if you promise to stay on the right damned side of the road, we go for a bit of a drive." Julia says. She's a lot more used to brushes with death than most people, so they're not going to scare her off too badly. "One thing a route around the City isn't gonna show off is just how fast you can push this beast."
And maybe they'll follow it up with drinks.
"I think I can manage that. Let's finish this race and then we'll open up the taps on this thing and see what it can really do." Kian is grinning like a fool, not that she can see it. Julia can damn well hear it though.
The bike makes one more turn and zips off down the straight and into the night. That's one race won, and the night's riding is far, far from over.