Takashi couldn't believe today was his 17th birthday. It was a day he was looking forward to for a while now. He had worked hard to save enough money to buy himself his first car, a used Ford Mustang that he had seen at Priced Right Used Cars. He knew the owner, as Takashi had always browsed the inventory since he was young. Pedalling as fast as he could down the sidewalk, he knew that he wouldn't be cycling home, but driving home in a new car.

    "WHAT?! IT'S NOT HERE?!" he asked in dismay when he finally arrived.

    "I'm sorry, Tak," Don, the owner said. "It was sold just before you got here."

    "What am I going to do now?!"

    "Well, for one thing, you could stop crying. I know, there's this place down the road a way. Just outside town."

    "Oh yeah?"

    "Yeah, he's an old friend of mine. He always has really cool cars for just your price."

    "Are you sure?" Takashi asked, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

    "Sure! I'll call him and tell him you're coming." Don walked into his office and picked up the phone. He came back a few moments later. "Alright. He says that he has something special for ya. But you have to make it to his lot in time."

    "How long do I have?!" he asked, running for the door.

    "Not sure." Don gave Takashi a piece of paper with an address written on it. "Just get to his place."

    "Thanks a lot, Don," Takashi said, running out the door and climbing back onto his bike. He pedalled as fast as he could, down the street, toward the address that Don had given him. After a few miles, Takashi was out of breath, and when he finally arrived at the lot, he fell off his bicycle from exhaustion.

    "You're late!" an old man's voice said gruffly. Takashi pulled himself up and made eye contact with a short, elderly man.

    "I'm Takashi. Don s-"

    "I'm well aware you whippersnapper! Listen to me. Since you're late I can only give you my last car in the lot. Follow me." Takashi stood up and followed the grumpy old man to the back of the building. Sitting on the gravel was a little blue car, covered in a layer of dirt and dust. It was sort of sporty looking but didn't show too much promise.

    "Is this it?" Takashi asked.

    "Do you want it or not? It's only a 2006 Saturn Ion. Take it or leave it!"

    "Okay old geezer, I'll take it!"

    "Hmph. I like your spirit boy. Sold!" The old man gave him the keys. "This here is Angela. You had best treat her with respect. I can't tell you how many times that I've sold her one day and come back the next to find her here."

    "Oh."

    "Now take her and get out of here. I'm late for happy hour." The old man walked away. Takashi took the key fob and pressed the unlock button. The lights flashed and all the dust seemed to waterfall off the car as if it was suddenly liquid. He opened the door and climbed into the seat. He wiped some dirt off the emblem in the centre of the steering wheel. He put the key in the ignition and started the engine. He slowly drove out front to pick up his bicycle, shoving it into the trunk and driving home.

    When he pulled up his driveway, he was relieved to find out that his parents were still at work. He hoped that they would approve of his new car. It's not like he really had a choice. He parked his car and pulled his bicycle out of the trunk. He put the bike in the garage and he went inside. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang, much to Takashi's surprise. He opened the door to find a girl around his age standing there, a smile on her face.

    "Hi!" she said in a perky voice.

    "Yeah hi," Takashi said, still surprised to see a girl standing at his front door. "Uh... can I... help you?" His eyes widened in dismay as his parents' cars came up the driveway. They then came up to the door.

    "Takashi, you didn't tell me you were going to invite a friend over," his mom said. "She's adorable!"

    "Yeah," his father said.

    "So your name's Takashi," the girl said. "Nice." She turned and faced his parents. "It's nice to finally meet you both," she said with a bow.

    "Same here."

    "You're so cute!" his mother said. Takashi was unsure what to do.

    "Takashi, I thought you said you were going to buy a car," his dad said.

    "Yeah. I did," Takashi says. "It's a Saturn, at least that's what the man said it was."

    "Well from what I see, it's not a Saturn, but it's missing. Did you get car-jacked already?" It took Takashi a few seconds to comprehend.

    "What?"

    "Well, there's nothing in the driveway." Takashi gasped and ran outside. He looked at the empty space where the blue car was parked. It was just there. He then looked at the girl.

    "Did you see the guys who took my car?" he asked her. "Did you do something with it?"

    "How could I steal a car?" the girl responded innocently.

    "But you must have seen what happened to it!"

    "Nothing happened to your car."

    "Then where is it?"

    "Isn't it obvious?" she asked with an innocent smile. "You're looking at it."

    Takashi stared at the girl for a full four seconds.

    "You're kidding right?" he asked, finding his voice.

    "Nope," the girl said with the same smile. She offered her hand to him. "My name is Angela."

    "Takashi, your friend is very... eccentric," his mother said.

    "Yeah," his father agreed. "Come on honey, let's go inside." His parents went inside the house to prepare his party while Takashi was left with Angela.

    "The old man said my car's name was Angela," he said.

    "And that's me," Angela laughed.

    "But that's impossible. You're a human being, you can't be a car." He crossed his arms and glared at her, killing the smile on her face. "If this is your idea of some kind of joke it isn't funny."

    "Why are you being so mean to me?" Angela sobbed. "Why don't you believe me?"

    "If you can turn back into my car then prove it."

    "Alright fine!" Angela huffed. "Asshole," she said, punching his shoulder. She walked back to the spot where the car was parked and in a flash of light, Angela was gone and where she stood, the blue Saturn was parked. Takashi's jaw dropped.

    "Wh-wh-wh-" he stuttered, surprised so much he might as well have a heart attack. "wh-what the... A-Angela?" he asked the car. The headlights flashed twice. "Wait you can understand me in car form?!" The lights flashed again.

    "Takashi!" his mother's voice said. "Is that your car?" He looked at his mother.

    "Yeah! It's that girl!"

    "Your friend Angela?"

    "Yes! Angela show her!" The car did nothing.

    "Is it supposed to do something?" his mother asked unsurely. Takashi fell backwards.

    "Angela! What the hell?!"

    "Hey! You watch your language young man!" His mother gave him a stern tap on the cheek. "I know your seventeen, but that doesn't mean you can talk like an adult." His mother walked back inside.

    "What are you doing?" Takashi hissed at the car. The lights flashed twice. Takashi sighed and opened the door. He sat down in the driver seat and put the key in the ignition, turning it to 'ACC'. "Is flashing the lights the only way you can communicate in car form?"

    "Nope!" Angela's voice came through the stereo, causing him to jump out of the seat in a scared scream. "Sorry."

    "But why didn't you do anything?! You're making me look like an idiot!"

    "Close the door."

    "What?"

    "Just get in and close the door, damn it!" Takashi climbed back into the seat and he shut the door. "Look, just let me explain."

    "Explain what? The fact you're making me look like a retard?"

    "I thought it was 'idiot'."

    "Whatever! It's the same damn thing!"

    "Takashi shut up!" Angela said, the seat lurching forward, Takashi's head hitting the steering wheel. "Listen! You may not know this, but we're not just machines."

    "What?" he hissed, holding his forehead.

    "Cars. We're not just machines. We're more than that. There are those who treat us like people and there are those who treat us like machines."

    "Okay... I got it," Takashi said. He had always been a car enthusiast, and he treated every car with respect, even his die-cast car collection. But learning that cars were people, was strange indeed. "But what about car factories? If you're built piece by piece, how can you turn into a person?"

    "I never said we were smart!"

    "Well... do you know?"

    "Of course not."

    "Figured." He then smirked. "Now who's the dumbass?"

    "Don't push me, Takashi."

    "Sorry." There was a flash and the car was gone. Takashi found himself sitting on Angela.

    "Get off of me!" Angela yelled. Takashi yelped and fell onto the ground.

    "I'm sorry! Next time tell me before you change!"

    "Whatever. Let's go inside. Don't you have your birthday party to get to?" She offered her hand and helped him stand up. "Come on. Let's be friends, okay?" Takashi stared at her for a few moments. He then smiled.

    "Sure," he said taking her hand and standing up. "Let's go."

    "Hold on a minute." She stood by his parents' cars. "Hi! My name is Angela. It's nice to meet you both." Takashi watched as his parents' cars transformed into humans. His mother's crossover, a Honda CR-V, was a man who appeared to be his mother's age. He wore a tuxedo in the same colour scheme as the car. His father's Ford truck was also a man, whose outfit also reflected the colour of the truck.

    "Angela, it is an honour to meet you as well," the CR-V said. "I welcome you to the Sato family."

    "Thank you so much."

    "You're a pretty young thing, ain't ya?" the truck asked. "My name's Buck, and this here is Cain."

    "Yes," Cain, the CR-V said. "Well, Takashi you're turning 17 today, aren't you. Would it be okay if we were to attend your celebration party?"

    "I think you should wait out here," Takashi said.

    "If that is your wish then."

    "Fine, but you better save some of that cake and ice-cream for me then too," Buck said.

    "Oh come now, Buck. You know you can't eat human food. Takashi, if you're served any unleaded fuel, I'll be happy to eat it for you."

    "That's... sure," Takashi said. "Come on, Angela let's go inside." He took her hand in his and Angela blushed, a small smile on her face.

    Takashi and Angela walked inside the house.

    "Surprise!" his mother and father said.

    "Oh, was it today?" Takashi asked sarcastically.

    "Did you at least work things out with your car?" his mother asked.

    "Yeah. It-" he stopped himself when Angela pressed her fingernails into his hand. "-she's fine," he said with a slight hiss.

    "Good to hear," his father said. "Now come on and make a wish." Takashi smiled and blew out the seventeen candles. His parents and Angela clapped. Takashi took out the candles and his mother cut the cake into square slices.

    "Angela, did you want a piece?" she asked.

    "No thanks, Mrs Sato. Maybe later."

    "Aw, please, call me Kyu."

    "Okay. So what did you wish for Takashi?"

    "Don't say it, it's bad luck," his father laughed.

    "I don't believe in bad luck," Takashi declared with a smirk.

    "Well alrighty then. So what did you wish for?"

    "I wish that my new car will never die and that we'll be together forever." Angela's entire face turned red, and she bent down as if to tie her shoe to hide her embarrassment.

    "Aw," his mother said hugging him.

    "Those Saturns are very reliable," his father stated. "I'm sure it will last forever." Kyu then gave him his birthday card. It was car-themed, like all the other ones he would get from his grandparents and relatives.

    "And now the gift," she said, handing Takashi another envelope. Takashi raised an eyebrow slightly and he opened it. Inside was a piece of folded paper, with the logo of the nearby technical school printed on it. His eyes widened as he knew what it meant.

    "What is it?" Angela asked.

    "It's..." he said, unfolding the paper, "it's my acceptance letter. AWESOME!" he jumped out of his chair and his parents laughed.

    "It came in the mail just the other day," Kyu said.

    "Wait, I have something for you too," his father said, showing him a wrapped box. Takashi came over to it and tore off the wrapping. Inside the box was a basic toolset. "Everything you need for your Auto service class."

    "Wow, Dad," Takashi said. "Awesome, thanks."

    "I'm proud of you," he said, ruffling his son's hair. The rest of the evening passed with cake slowly disappearing. Then Angela announced that she would have to "head home".

    "Aw, do you really have to go?" Kyu asked her.

    "Yeah. I'm sorry."

    "Angela don't be. You're welcome here anytime."

    "Thank you. See you tomorrow Takashi!" Angela said before she walked out of the front door.

    "Takashi," Kyu said.

    "Yeah Mom, what is it?"

    "She sure is cute. I think she's a keeper." Takashi gasped as he figured out what she meant.

    "Mom, we're not in that kind of relationship!" he said.

    "Why not? You're so cute together."

    "Yeah, she should come over for dinner sometime," his father said.

    "Whatever," Takashi said, trying to dismiss his parents. "I'm tired, so I'm just gonna go to bed." He walked up the stairs toward his bedroom.

    "Takashi, make sure you brush your teeth," Kyu called up the stairs.

    "I will Mom!" he yelled back down.

    The next morning, Takashi stepped outside to leave for school. Now having a car, he didn't need to ride the bus. He climbed into the car and turned the ignition key, waiting for Angela to say something. He stepped on the brake pedal.

    "OW!" Angela screamed through the speakers, scaring the wits out of Takashi.

    "I'm sorry!" he said instinctively.

    "Jesus, Takashi! You could wake me up in a less painful way."

    "And what way is that?!"

    "I don't know, you could turn on the heater or something!"

    "Okay. Come on, we're late for school."

    "Oh. We are?"

    "Yes."

    "Okay. But be gentle with me Takashi. I'm not used to going fast."

    "Okay fine. Let's go." He put her in reverse and backed out of the driveway. He drove down the road toward his high school. He arrived and parked in the parking lot.

    "Can I come to class with you?"

    "NO, YOU CAN'T COME TO CLASS WITH ME!"

    "Come on. Please?" she dragged. "I'll be quiet, I promise."

    "Angela, you're not enrolled here." He turned the key to off, silencing her. "I'm sorry." He got out and shut the door, pressing the lock button on the key fob. She flashed her lights angrily at him, but Takashi ignored her and walked inside. When the bell rang for the lunch period to begin, Takashi walked out of the classroom and noticed a bunch of girls standing around in a group.

    "Wow, you look so pretty," one said.

    "What school did you transfer from?" another asked.

    "Do you know somebody here?" a third questioned. Takashi's heart dropped sullenly as he could only know what this meant. He tried to ignore the situation and walked by them as if he hadn't noticed.

    "Takashi!" a familiar voice called.

    "Shit!" he hissed. He turned around and saw Angela wearing a school uniform. He was surprised at it actually suited her quite well. "Oh. It's you," he said anyway.

    "Wow Takashi," one of the girls said. "Do you know her?"

    "Yeah," he said exasperatedly. "I do." Angela laughed and threw her arms around him.

    "I'm his girlfriend," Angela said. Takashi choked on his breath, nearly falling over.

    "What?" he croaked.

    "Of course," she said. "Right babe?" Takashi was crying out on the inside. This is too messed up, he cried in his head over and over.

    Takashi sat at his desk with his hands clenched in a fist. He was still angry with Angela for enrolling at his school. The teacher, Ms Asanti had assigned Angela the empty desk next to Takashi, much to his dismay.

    "Why don't you introduce yourself?" Ms Asanti had asked when Angela came into the classroom.

    "My name is Angela," she said with a bow. "It's nice to meet you all." Takashi still couldn't believe what Angela had done. When the bell rang to mark the end of the school day, Takashi marched out to the parking lot and waited for Angela to show up. When she did, Takashi was surprised to see Ms Asanti with her.

    "Well Angela, I am completely fascinated," she was saying. "You'll have to tell me more tomorrow."

    "Okay, Ms Asanti," Angela said with a laugh.

    "Angela, why are you talking to Ms Asanti?" Takashi asked her.

    "She was just telling me about how long you two have known each other," Ms Asanti said. Takashi thought that whatever Angela may have told her was a lie. "And Takashi," he looked at her while Angela walked into the parking lot and turned back into car form. "Don't keep her from the world. She just wants to be part of your life. You shouldn't keep Angela from wanting to have fun."

    "Wait, how'd-?"

    "How else? I'm a car as well." She smirked and walked into the lot before turning into a silver Lexus ES300. She then drove off and Angela honked her horn impatiently.

    "Alright, I'm coming," he said. He climbed in and started the engine.

    "You know," Angela said through the speakers, "more of your friends and relatives could be cars. You just never really know. We can hide in plain sight after all."

    "I know," he said as he drove toward home. He arrived home and parked in the driveway. Angela changed back into human form after he climbed out.

    "So what do you do after you get home from school?" she asked him.

    "Shouldn't you at least stay in car form so my parents can see you in the driveway?"

    "Yeah, but I wanna be with you!" she whined. Takashi sighed and pointed back out the door. Angela scowled at him and strode back outside and changed back into car form in the driveway. That's when he had a thought. How does Ms Asanti drive by herself? Do they have control if they choose to? He did remember that Angela was able to throw him around in the driver seat yesterday.

    "I guess they do have control," he said aloud to himself. He walked to his bedroom and listened to music on his phone. He had no homework to do, so how else would he spend the afternoon? He closed his eyes and had his thoughts to himself when suddenly, he felt a presence on top of him. He opened his eyes and found Angela staring at him curiously. He screamed and jumped out from under her and off the bed. He took his headphones off and glared at her. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!"

    "I just wanted to see you," she answered with a small shrug. "Am I really that bad?"

    "No," he said. "Sorry."

    "Then what's the problem?" Kyu's voice asked. Takashi gasped and looked over to see his parents standing in the doorway.

    "Mom? Dad?"

    "Takashi, we know about the car you bought," his dad said.

    "Angela told us the truth," Kyu said. "But why didn't you?"

    "Well..." Takashi stuttered.

    "Hey, it's okay. Just tell us the truth next time. Personally, I think it's quite interesting, knowing that cars are people too. It'll make me look at my own in a different way."

    "I wonder if my truck is like that?" his father asked.

    "Yeah, it is," Takashi said.

    "Really?"

    "Yeah. He calls himself Buck."

    "Ha!" his father laughed.

    "Mom, your car is a man who is practically a butler."

    "What? Really?" Kyu asked in surprise.

    "Yeah. His name is Cain."

    "I'd have to meet him. Maybe since he is my car, I could give him a more appropriate name."

    "You can do whatever you guys want. Just please, leave me out of it," Takashi said. "I've had enough for one day."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Angela enrolled in school."

    "What?" Kyu looked at Angela for an explanation.

    "I just wanted to be with Takashi," she said.

    "Angela, I'm sure. But you are a car. Not our daughter."

    "She can be both, damn it!" Takashi yelled. He wrapped his arms around Angela and held her close to him. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling, but let her be happy. That's all she wants is to live a life. So let her."

    "Okay, okay calm down, baby," Kyu said. "Watch the language."

    "Sounds like someone's a bit tired," his dad said. "Been a long day? It was for me."

    "I think that we all just need to get some sleep," Kyu said. "It has been a long day. So, let's get to bed so we can hopefully have a nicer day tomorrow."

    The next day, Takashi drove Angela to school. After he parked and got out, she transformed wearing her school uniform.

    "So you're coming in today?" Takashi asked.

    "Of course!" Angela said, her hands on her hips. "I'm a full-time student here. Why wouldn't I be?"

    "You're a car."

    "That may be true, but so is the teacher, if you don't remember."

    "Oh yeah."

    "And who knows? Some of your friends could be cars too."

    "Could be, but the only problem is that I don't have any friends."

    "You don't?" she asked with surprise.

    "Not really."

    "Well then I'll get you some," Angela said taking his hand and dragging him through the doors and into Ms Asanti's classroom. Class began a few minutes later.

    "Alright class," Ms Asanti said, "take out your math books and turn to page 52." She began to write some equations on the board, leaving Takashi to wonder just what Angela had in mind. She didn't make her move until the lunch period. As they walked toward the lunchroom some girls called Angela over to their group. Much to their surprise when she dragged Takashi with her.

    "Why did you bring Takashi with you?" one girl asked her.

    "He told me that he doesn't have any friends," Angela explained. There was a collective "oh" from the group. "That being said, I told him that I would get him some friends today."

    "Wait, hold on!" Takashi said.

    "Takashi, if you want to be friends then just ask," the one who called Angela over said. "My name is Nikki."

    "Aren't you top of the class?" he asked, studying her face.

    "Yep. Top girl in the class anyway. This here is Mina, Faye, and Sabrina." She gestured to her friends. Mina being the youngest in the group as a first-year high school student. Faye was a second-year and Sabrina and Nikki were third-years, as were Takashi and Angela. She enrolled as a third-year, even though today was only her second day in any sort of school, probably.

    "You know Takashi," Faye said, "I really envy you."

    "You do?" he asked, showing little surprise.

    "You have such a beautiful girlfriend. I wish I had her all to myself." The tone in her voice was too pure to ignore. Takashi however, was still confused.

    "You what?" he asked her.

    "Are you really that dense?" Mina asked him. "She's bisexual."

    "Yeah, I figured that," Takashi said, trying to defend himself. "I've just never met someone who's bi before."

    "Well kid, you can scratch that off your bucket list," Faye said, sending a loving glance toward Angela, who backed away with a shiver.

    "Anyway," Nikki said, "Takashi, would you and Angela care to join us for lunch today?"

    "Sure," Takashi said. Angela held his hand tightly, staying far from Faye.

    "So Takashi, do you drive?" Sabrina asked while they ate. He glanced at Angela and she nudged him under the table.

    "Yeah," he said. "I do. Why?"

    "Could you give us a ride?" Mina asked. "I hate having to ride the bus."

    "Well, I-" Angela nudged him harder. "I don't know. Maybe not."

    "I'm taking my driving test next week," Faye said. "My mom says that if I get a perfect score then she'll buy me a car."

    "Good luck," Takashi said.

    "Let's hope you pass this time," Nikki said.

    "What do you mean by that?" Angela asked.

    "I've failed the test the last few times my love," Faye answered her directly.

    "Don't call me that!" Angela said.

    "The point is, hopefully, the seventh time's the charm," Nikki said with a small laugh.

    "Damn straight," Mina said.

    "You know a lot about cars, don't you kid?" Faye asked Takashi.

    "Yeah," he said.

    "If I do get a perfect, then could you help me pick one out?"

    "Of course," he said with a smile. "I loved shopping for my car. I thought it was fun. In fact, I know a few local dealership owners personally. I bet I could get you a good deal."

    "Thanks, kid."

    "Please stop calling me that." Like with Angela, Faye pretended she didn't hear him.

    "You'll come, won't you Angie-dear?"

    "What?!" Angela asked, enraged by what Faye called her.

    "My driving test. You'll be there, to cheer me on, right Angie-dear?"

    "Sure," she forced out. "If you stop calling me names like that."

    "Faye, we'll all be there," Nikki said.

    "Yeah," Sabrina said. "We'll all come. Takashi you may have to give me ride though, my parents are busy next week."

    "Oh okay, sure," he said.

    "Alrighty then," Mina said. "I hereby declare that Project Driver's Test is officially underway."

    "Yes!" Faye said, taking Angela's hand. The other girls put their hands together too.

    "Takashi come on."

    "Fine," he said, putting his hand on top of theirs.

    "Yeah!" everyone shouted, bring their arms up in a team-like fashion. Then the bell rang, signalling the end of the lunch period.

    Before Takashi knew it, it was the day of Faye's driving test. As promised, he drove Angela to pick up Sabrina and Mina. Nikki drove Faye and they were already at the school when Takashi arrived.

    "You guys are late," Faye said. "Hey, where's my sweet Angie, kid?"

    "What?" Takashi asked.

    "Where's my love? I can't do this without her!" Takashi shrugged, knowing that he couldn't hide it from them anymore.

    "Alright. Angela come on," he said, facing his car. Angela then transformed in a flash of light. The girls stared in awe. What was Takashi's blue car a moment ago, was now Angela from school?

    "Angie?" Faye asked.

    "Yeah guys, it's me. I'm his car," Angela said. "Get this through your heads so we can get on with our lives. Faye, don't you have a test to take?"

    "Yes!" she said running inside. While Nikki, Sabrina and Mina were talking to Angela about the fact she's a car, Takashi looked at the Driver's Ed car. It was just a white Chevy Impala. Nothing really special. He wondered what it would be like in human form. A teacher maybe? Faye then emerged from the building with the instructor.

    "Alright Faye, we'll begin your driving test," the man said. "Give me a moment to prepare." He opened the trunk of the car and pulled out a helmet and Takashi almost laughed. Was this man really thinking that Faye was that bad of a driver?

    "The fourth driving test, she rolled the car," Nikki explained. "Since then, Mr A. has always packed a helmet."

    "Well, lesson learned," Takashi muttered, the grin faint on his face. Mr A. sat down in the passenger seat and buckled in.

    "Alright," he said. "Let's get this over with. And please for the love of God pass this time."

    "Don't worry," Faye said disconcertingly. "My love is here cheering me on." Mr A. rolled his eyes.

    "Now slowly drive to the course." Takashi and the others watched as the Impala slowly rolled away from the curb. The Impala weaved around the cones set up in the parking lot. Faye put it in reverse and backed through the same slalom. Mr A. was surprised to see such progress with her, as he checked his clipboard. Faye drove around the corners and into the different parking spaces. So far, she was passing with flying colours. Then came the part they both feared. The adverse road conditions part of the test. Faye drove into the skid area, and when the Impala began to skid, she steered and backed off the gas in order to maintain control. "So far so good," Mr A. commented. "We're not dead." Faye drove out of that part of the course and onto the final test: brake reaction times. She accelerated to 35 miles an hour and when Mr A. signalled for the stop, she pressed the brake pedal quickly and firmly. The car coming to a complete stop before the marked line on the ground. "Excellent reaction time, Faye," he said with surprise in his voice. "You finally passed." He handed her the sheet with all the criteria checked.

    Faye parked the car back in front of the building and she ran to the others.

    "I passed!" she exclaimed.

    "Good job," Sabrina said.

    "It's about damn time," Mina said.

    "Excellent work," Takashi commented.

    "Wow, you were good," Angela told her.

    "Thank you, my sweet," Faye responded.

    "Don't push me, dammit," she said in an angry tone.

    "Not only did you pass," Takashi said, studying the paper, "but you achieved a perfect score. I see a new car in your future."

    "Thanks, kid. You promised to help me pick it out, right?"

    "Of course."

    "Great, just make sure you bring Angie with you!" Angela groaned and shimmied away from her.

    "Well, we can't stay here all day," Nikki said. "Let's go tell your mom the good news."

    "Hell yeah!" she cried happily, hugging Angela.

    "Please let go of me!" she groaned. Later, they were all heading back toward Faye's house. She was more than eager to show her mother her passing grade. When her mother came home, Faye shoved the paper in her face.

    "Look, Mom, I finally passed!" she said.

    "Oh Faye, that's great," her mother responded.

    "You promised me that if I got a perfect score that you'd get me a new car."

    "I know," she said, clearly tired from her day at work. "We'll do it this weekend."

    "Thanks, Mom!" she said, hugging her. "I love you so much." Not as much as my Angie though, she surely thought to herself.

    When the weekend finally arrived, Faye's mother took the others out to Don's car lot. The man was surprised to see Takashi show up with friends.

    "Takashi, what can I help you and your friends with?" he asked him.

    "My friend Faye passed her driving test, and she's being rewarded with a new car," Takashi explained.

    "Ah."

    "Let's just make this reasonable," Faye's mom said. "Takashi recommended you."

    "Oh, is that so?" Don asked. "Well then, I guess I'll have to give you a deal."

    "What kind of deal?" Faye asked.

    "10 per cent off!" Don said dramatically.

    "What?!" everyone asked in disbelief.

    "That's practically giving us a car for free!" Mina exclaimed.

    "I know," Sabrina agreed.

    "Choose carefully dear," Don said to Faye. "I'll only give you this deal once."

    "Alright. Help me, kid," she said to Takashi.

    "Please stop calling me that," he muttered to her.

    "Which one should I get?" Takashi thought for a moment.

    "Well, I would go with a car that would match your personality and taste." He skimmed through the inventory. Pontiac Grand Am, Kia Rio, Ford Explorer, Chevy Camaro, Lincoln Town Car, a VW Jetta, Hyundai Sonata, and a few Toyotas, a Camry, Corolla, and Celica.

    "Is this all you have?" Faye asked.

    "What's up here is all," Don said. "I do have a few in the back though, but I still need to fix them up a little bit more."

    "Can I at least see what you have?"

    "Sure, I guess." They followed him behind the building. There were a few older cars, on blocks and with their hoods up. Takashi rubbed his finger along the door of an old Chrysler 300, wondering what they would be like in human form. While Don was talking to Fay and her mother, Angela was looking at Takashi as he ran his hand along the badges of the cars that sat back here, covered in dust.

    "Takashi, they're dead," she said.

    "What?" he asked, looking at her.

    "Look at them." Takashi looked at the cars, with an unsure expression. "They've had so much changed and replaced. They are no longer capable of turning human. If anything, they'd be more like Frankenstein's monster, or something similar to that. But, you understand my point, right?"

    "Yeah. It's almost heartbreaking. Seeing those who can never be."

    "They're just... machines now," Angela forced out the words. Takashi was taken aback when he noticed that Angela was suppressing sadness and fighting tears.

    "Come on," he said. "Let's go see if Faye picked one out yet."

    "I want this one!" Faye declared, looking at the 2002 Toyota Celica. It was a nice blue two-door coupe.

    "Good choice," Don said with a nod.

    "Alright," Faye's mother said. She opened the passenger door and sat down in the seat. "Hm. It's very comfortable."

    "Yes, ma'am. The brakes were recently replaced and the tires are new. 78 thousand miles, cared for the entire time."

    "Alright. Faye, if it's your choice, then it's okay with me."

    "I'll take it," Faye said again.

    "Okay then. I'll go sort out the paperwork. Do we still have the deal?"

    "Yes ma'am," Don said. "Let's go inside." While they went inside, Takashi and the others were looking at Faye's new car.

    "Open the hood," Takashi said.

    "How do I do that?" Faye asked. Before Takashi could do anything, she turned to Angela. "Angie, how do I open the hood?"

    "If you stop calling me that, I'll show you," Angela said.

    "Just do it, Goddammit." Angela huffed angrily and she opened the driver door and bent down to reach the lever to open the hood. The hood popped up and Takashi opened it, setting the support bar in place.

    "Look at that," he said. "Four-cylinder, inline engine. Decent power with excellent fuel economy."

    "Angie, what does any of that mean?" Faye asked.

    "It's obvious you don't know much about cars," Angela said. "I guess I'll have to teach you everything I know, speaking as a car myself."

    "And that's why I love you," she said, getting close to her.

    "We really need to have a talk." Much later, Faye's mother and Don came back.

    "Well, the adults' work has been done," he said. "The car is yours now."

    "Thank you so much, Mom," Faye said.

    "Well, now that we've spent today, shall we head home?" she asked. She drove the others back to her house while Faye forced Angela to ride with her. When they arrived, Sabrina, Mina and Nikki went home. Faye's mother walked inside the house, leaving Takashi, Angela and Faye with her car.

    "Can it transform too?" Faye asked Angela.

    "Yeah, it can," Angela said. She smiled at the Toyota. "It's okay, you can come out. Show us what you look like." The Toyota did nothing. Angela stepped back and transformed into her Saturn form.

    "See?" Takashi said to the car. "She can do it. So come on, transform for us. It's alright." Angela changed back and then the Celica changed. It was a girl, wearing a blue blouse and long, blonde hair. Her clothes matched the colour of her eyes.

    "H-Hi," she said nervously, blushing shyly.

    "Hey," Angela said with a nice and friendly smile. "My name is Angela. What's yours?"

    "Um, m-my last owner called me 'Celica'." Takashi and Faye exchanged a slightly confused glance.

    "Well, he called you by your name, so that's normal. It's nice to meet you Celica."

    "Oh. S-sure." Faye took her hands and Celica gasped, looking at her.

    "My name is Faye," she said. "I'm your new owner." Celica studied the face of her new owner.

    "Will you be nice to me?" she asked.

    "Of course. Angie and I will be happy to care for you."

    "Th-thank you," Celica said, shedding a few tears of joy. She then hugged Faye. "Thank you so much."

    The next day, Takashi was surprised to see that Faye had driven to the school.

    "So you made it here without much trouble?" he asked her in the parking lot.

    "Yeah. I made it, kid," she said.

    "Please stop calling me that."

    "Whatever."

    "So Faye, is Celica wanting to enrol as I did?" Angela asked.

    "No," Celica said, having transformed into her human form. "I don't really want to."

    "She gets shy around a lot of new people," Faye said.

    "That's understandable," a voice said. Takashi turned and saw Buck, the guy who was his Dad's truck.

    "Buck?" he asked in disbelief, "what are you doing here?"

    "Well, with your Dad at work, and rather than sitting around in the parking lot on my ass all day, I figured I just drop by." Then he gasped as he sensed something.

    "What is it?" Celica asked. Buck walked away, and toward another car. The others followed him to a 1981 GMC Sierra Grande. It was painted a brown, almost earth-like colour.

    "Well, would you look at this guy," Buck said. "He must feel pretty confident, with that power of his." Takashi looked at the truck as it changed into a man, similar to Buck.

    "Look, buddy," the GMC said with a southern accent, "are you trying to start somethin' with me?"

    "'81 short-wide bed. You're a pretty nice truck."

    "Really? Name's Jed."

    "Buck."

    "Well, then Buck, did you need something?"

    "Naw. But there is somethin' I've been wantin' to do for a while now."

    "And what would that be?"

    "Drinkin' contest. You an' me." Jed laughed.

    "I thought you were gonna say somethin' stupid like a drag race. You're on."

    "Premium?"

    "What else?"

    "Takashi, you better get to class. I'm gonna take this Jed on."

    "Make sure you're back by 6 to get my Dad," Takashi said, taking Angela's hand.

    "Don't worry about it. We men are just gonna have some old fashion fun." Faye shook her head in disappointment.

    "So kid," she asked when they walked inside. "Who was that?"

    "My Dad's Ford truck."

    "How disappointing."

    "Well, I wouldn't say that. He just doesn't get out as much as he'd like to."

    "I guess. Come on Angie, we have a Math class to get to."

    "Don't call me that!" Angela raged. Meanwhile, at the corner gas station, Jed and Buck were busy chugging gasoline from jerry cans.

    "Shit, I've been wanting to top off for a week now," Buck said with a sigh. "How much you at, Jed?" Jed finished his final gulp and he threw the empty container on the ground.

    "That was 10 gallons now," he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

    "You know what, man? You're pretty cool."

    "Of course. My owner spent a lot of time and put so much hard work into me."

    "And cash too, right?"

    "Of course."

    "You gonna finish that last 5-gallon can?"

    "I gotta admit, I'm at full now. You may have bested me this week." Jed gave Buck the can and he drank the last of its contents.

    "No wonder they call us gas-guzzlers," he said, throwing the empty can into the pile.

    "Hey, where'd my jerry cans go?" a man asked. Buck and Jed looked at each other.

    "Run for it!" they both said, jumping over the store's back fence before they were caught.  "Man, I'm getting too old for this," Jed said. He transformed into his truck form and drove off.

     "Not without me old man," Buck said, changing as well and driving after him. By the time they made it back to the parking lot, it was just about time for school to be let out.

    "Jed, it's been a really fun day. I haven't been out like that in a while," Buck said.

    "I'll have to agree," Jed said. "I hope we get to do this again sometime."

    "Well, I better get going. See ya later."

    "You too." Jed changed back into his truck form in the parking spot and Buck transformed and drove out of the lot, just as the bell rand and students began to leave the building.

    "So, how much homework do you have, kid?" Faye asked Takashi.

    "Only a lot," he answered. "And stop calling me 'kid'."

    "Takashi, you'll help me, right?" Angela asked him.

    "Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

    "Faye! You're back!" Celica exclaimed happily. "I missed you." She hugged her.

    "I missed you too, Celica," Faye said. "You wanna head home?"

    "Sure! I'd like to meet your family." Takashi and Angela watched as Faye drove Celica out of the lot.

    "I guess we should head home too, huh?"

    "Hey, if you want to," Takashi said with a laugh. Angela laughed as well. She then kissed his cheek and he blushed. "Angela what was-"

    "Just shut up and get in," she said, blushing herself. She transformed into her Saturn form. Takashi felt his cheek for a moment. Had she actually just kissed him? Was this going to go anywhere, or stay how it is? Takashi then had some weird thoughts, so he dismissed them by thinking that whatever this was, it wasn't going anywhere. When he and Angela arrived home, he decided not to say anything despite the fact that every time he looked at her, she blushed and avoided his eyes.

    "Angela," he said.

    "What is it?" Takashi took her in his arms and looked at her, and she blushed. "What are you doing?" she asked quietly. Takashi then kissed her on the lips. She gasped and shoved him away. He gave her a defeated look. "Takashi..." Angela shook her head as tears fell from her eyes and she ran out the door, changing into her car form and driving away. Takashi slid to the floor and he sighed regrettably.

    "What is wrong with me?" he asked himself.

    Kyu came home later, finding Takashi sulking on the floor, wallowing in regret. "Takashi?" she asked, "what happened to Angela? Why isn't she here?" He didn't answer her, let alone seem like he knew she was there. "Takashi, what happened?" she asked in a sterner tone.

    "I'm so stupid," he muttered. Kyu wondered what that meant. She sat down on the floor next to her son.

    "Can you tell me what happened?"

    "I kissed her." Kyu's eyes widened slightly.

    "Uh... wow. Okay. I didn't think you two were there quite yet, but..."

    "God, I'm so stupid."

    "Oh, stop beating yourself up. So your first kiss was with your car what could possibly be so wrong with that?" Takashi gave her a dirty, yet still depressed look. "Sorry. I figured that." There was a brief silence between them. "I know she's your car, but you both are at that age where things get awkward. It was the same with me when I was your age, ya know."

    "What was your time?"

    "Huh?"

    "What was your time? I went from zero to awkward in four-and-a-half seconds." Kyu laughed, petting his hair.

    "Things like this will happen, especially at your age, so don't worry about it. It's okay, I won't tell your Dad. The last thing you and I both want is him getting involved in this."

    "Who's getting involved in what?" Takashi's dad asked as he walked through the front door. "What's going on? We're sitting on the floor this evening?" He sat down with them. "Tell me Kyu."

    "Nothing happened, Shun," Kyu said.

    "Where's Angela," he then gasped as he realized, "and where's your car?!"

    "I'm not sure. I had Cain go out and try to find her."

    "Who's Cain?"

    "My car." Shun looked at her for a moment. "Angela is a person, remember? She told us. Cain then surprised me this morning when he showed me that he could also turn into a person."

    "The CR-V?!"

    "Yes. His name is Cain and he's practically a butler. He even wears a nice suit."

    "Can my truck do that?"

    "I don't know-" Kyu was interrupted by him standing up and running outside, obviously seeing if his truck can change into a human. Kyu sighed. "Takashi, I'm sorry you feel so down." She hugged her son. "Is there something you want to do to make you feel better?" Takashi shrugged limply. "Well, I'm worried about Angela. I hope she doesn't crash or hurt herself." Much later, Cain was out driving around still looking for Angela. He drove by the park and saw her sitting beneath one of the trees in the garden. He parked in the space and transformed into his human form. He walked into the garden and sat next to her. Angela looked up at him through crying eyes.

    "Rough day?" Cain asked her.

    "No," she said shaking her head. "It's... complicated."

    "Oh," he said in realization. "Would you be willing to tell me what happened? Maybe I could help."

    "It's... it's nothing."

    "Angela, you could use some help, but I can't give it to you unless you tell me what happened."

    "Fine," she huffed tearfully. "It's... it's Takashi. He's such an idiot."

    "Oh dear, what did he do?"

    "He kissed me." Cain went wide-eyed, then he thought for a moment as to what he should say.

    "Well, there could be any number of reasons-"

    "-But I kissed him first!" she interrupted. again, Cain was unsure about what to do.

    "I think Kyu is the expert in this sort of thing," he said. "We should head home." Angela let out a long sigh of enervated energy. "You must be tired." Cain helped her stand and walked her to the parking space. He changed into his car form and unlocked the door for her. "Get in," he said through the speakers. Angela climbed into the seat and fell asleep. He drove out of the park and toward home. Kyu was watching from the front porch and she gasped happily when he say Cain turn up the driveway with Angela in the seat. She came up to him and picked Angela up and Cain transformed back into his human form.

    "So you're both back," Shun said. "You must be Cain."

    "Yes sir. Your wife is a lovely woman."

    "You find her?" Buck asked.

    "Yes, Buck, I have."

    "Wait, you two have met?" Shun asked.

    "On more than one occasion."

    "I need to talk to you both more often."

    "Kyu, if you wouldn't mind, I am running a bit low on fuel. Angela could use some herself."

    "Don't worry," Buck said. "We'll get you some." Shun grabbed the couple jerry cans from the garage while Buck changed into his truck form. Shun placed the containers in the bed and drove off to the gas station. Kyu had carried Angela inside and lay her down on the couch. Takashi placed a blanket over her and sat by her side.

    "Angela I'm sorry," he said softly to her sleeping figure. "I was being really stupid." He sighed to himself. "God, I'm so stupid." Even though he felt ashamed of himself, Takashi couldn't help but smile. He stroked her hair, brushing it away from her eyes. He then stood up to walk to his bedroom, but he felt something grab his wrist. He looked back and saw Angela looking up at him, her eyes, half-closed, a small and exhausted smile in her expression.

    "Takashi please... stay with me." Takashi stared at her. "Please? At least... until I fall asleep?" He smiled again.

    "Sure," he said sitting back down. Angela smiled as well, and her breathing leveled out as she finally fell asleep.

    The next day, Takashi and Angela walked into the classroom. The other students looked at them as if they were expecting someone else.

    "Where's Ms Asanti?" Angela asked Sabrina, who was already sitting down at her desk.

    "We don't know," she answered. "Maybe she's running late." Takashi wondered just what could be holding Ms Asanti up. Then the vice-principal walked into the room.

    "So sorry, students," he said. "Ms A. has just called in and said she'll be here in a while. It seems she's having some car trouble." Takashi glanced at Angela as they both knew she could transform into a car, so what could have possibly happened? "I guess until she gets here... what was she teaching at the moment?"

    "We were reading chapters 4 and 5 today," Sabrina said, raising her hand.

    "4 and 5 of what?"

    "Our novel for English Literature. The Great Gatsby."

    "Oh really? That's a good classic," he said, sitting down in the teacher's chair. "We're you reading it aloud, or silently, or in groups or something?"

    "We were just reading it silently," some other student said.

    "Well then, if that's the case, then just get out your books and start reading." Takashi pulled out his novel and turned to where he left off, just before chapter 3 ended. He didn't read anything, however, as he could only think about what was possibly holding Ms Asanti up. He wondered if that's all Angela was thinking about too, but when he glanced over at her, she seemed to be more focused on her reading. She must really enjoy reading. It was another 20 minutes or so until Ms Asanti finally walked into the classroom, to the applause of her students.

    "So sorry I'm late," she said.

    "You get your car fixed?" the vice-principal asked.

    "No. I had it towed to a garage, and they gave me a ride here." Takashi and Angela both knew that was a complete lie.

    "Well, I hope you get your car fixed soon." He stood up and walked out of the classroom.

    "Alright students," Ms Asanti said, "I see you've read today's chapters already so, care to discuss what happened in these chapters?"

    Much later, after the school day ended, Takashi and Angela were held back in Ms Asanti's classroom.

    "Ms Asanti," Angela said with concern, "are you okay?"

    "You were late this morning," Takashi said.

    "You said that your car was towed to the garage, but you are a car, aren't you?"

    "Yes Angela, I am," she said. "I just had a bit of a bad accident this morning."

    "What happened?"

    "I lost traction and slid off the road."

    "Are you okay?"

    "Just a few dents. I have bruises all over my arm." She rolled up her jacket sleeve showing some hideous purple marks. Takashi and Angela gasped.

    "Oh my God."

    "Does it hurt at all?" Takashi asked.

    "Oh, it stopped hurting a while ago," Ms Asanti answered.

    "We need to get you to a body shop."

    "Takashi, I'll be fine."

    "No, you won't Ms Asanti." Ms Asanti was taken aback by his determination. "It'll only get worse if you keep driving." Angela looked at him, having never seen him act like this before. "Come on," he said, taking her other arm.

    "Takashi," she said with a small smile, "I appreciate your concern, but I can't."

    "Why not?"

    "I have a class to look after, and a daughter to come home to."

    "We'll look after her for you."

    "Takashi, please. It's okay."

    "No! It's not okay!" Angela and Ms Asanti gasped at his outburst. "I can't stand to see you like this. We're taking you to a body shop and that's final." Ms Asanti blushed and turned away from them as tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

    "Fine," she muttered, defeated. "I'll go."

    "Angela, go get ready." She nodded and stepped outside.

    "But just so you understand Takashi," Ms Asanti said. "For us, going to a shop is like you going to the doctor. It's not the best thing in the world." Takashi stared at her for a moment before taking her good arm and pulling her outside to Angela, who was waiting in car form. Ms Asanti sat down in the seat while Takashi climbed in the seat on the driver side. He knew where the nearest body shop was, even though it was many blocks away.

    "Ms Asanti," Takashi asked on the ride there.

    "Takashi, please, just call me by my first name."

    "You're our teacher, it's improper."

    "I know, but since we're... relatively close, I guess you could call me by my first name. Just not during class."

    "Well alright, what is it?"

    "Just call me Lexa."

    "Lexa?"

    "It's short for Lexani."

    "Oh."

    "So, what was your question?"

    "Well, Lexa, if you're a car, how do you have a daughter?" Lexa choked on her breath, her face turning bright red.

    "That was your question?" she asked with disbelief. "I, uh... um... I really don't think I should be talking to my students about this kind of thing."

    "Can you blame us for being curious?" Angela asked through the stereo.

    "Well..." she trailed off, but Takashi's expression when he looked at her during a red light meant that he really wanted to know the answer. "Oh alright," she huffed. "Speaking as a car, we can't eat human food."

    "Yeah."

    "And well, this also means that technically, we can't... procreate... with a human either."

    "But can you with another car?"

    "To be honest, I'm not really sure. I've always thought that I'll never meet the handsome guy of my dreams."

    "What?" Angela asked with a laugh. "Lexa, c'mon. You're in your prime! You're like, 24. If anything, you should be having the guys come to you."

    "What?" she asked, her face red. "Angela, there's no way. Guys probably think that I'm too weak."

    "Hey, we're here," Takashi said, pulling into the shop's lot.

    Takashi and Lexa stepped out of Angela and she transformed back into her human form. He told Lexa to change into her car form and when she did, they saw just how bad these "dents" were. Her front fender was beaten and nearly torn off, her hood was bent up in the corner, and her front rim on the same side was cracked in a few places. Luckily, from what Takashi could see, it appeared as if nothing major in the engine compartment had been damaged. Then, the shop owner walked out.

    "What do we have here?" he asked. Takashi saw that he was at least in his mid to late twenties. He wondered what Lexa was thinking of him. "Mid-90's Lexus, eh? What happened to her?" Takashi noted that he said 'her' but acted as if he didn't notice.

    "Well, we don't know the specifics, it's just that this car belongs to a friend of ours," Takashi said. "She was driving and then she skidded off the road and hit the ditch."

    "It was rainy this morning," the man said. "Do you have the owner's number?"

    "No, but I can give you mine."

    "Fair enough." He checked his watch. "I guess I have enough time for one more fix." He drove the car into the shop and parked it in the workspace. He first set about removing the hood. He placed the hood on a table, and he slapped the person who was asleep on a stool at said table. "Wake up and fix this, Perez." Perez stood up and grabbed a hammer.

    "Si sir," the Hispanic man responded, as he began to lightly tap the dented hood back into its original shape. While he was doing that, the man then put jacked Lexa up and put her on jack stands to remove her rims. Takashi could only wonder what she must be feeling. He looked around, wondering where Angela went, and he stepped back outside. He found her standing at the side of the building, her hands covering her face.

    "Angela what's wrong?" he asked her.

    "It's too painful to watch," she said crying. "I can't stand it. It's too sickening." After piecing this, and what Lexa stated earlier, Takashi thought that inside, Lexa must be screaming her poor soul out. Takashi, hugged Angela, stroking her hair. Back inside the shop, the man then set about removing the ruined fender. With a cut here and a pull there, the fender was then removed. He set about looking for a replacement, only to have to quick-order one from a website.

    "Damn it!" he raged. "Why does it have to take so long?" Takashi, having heard this, stepped back inside.

    "What is it?" he asked.

    "The earliest I can get a replacement fender is noon tomorrow. I've already ordered it. It's the right size and colour."

    "Well then, if it's okay with you sir, she'll have to stay here overnight."

    "Yeah, I figured as much, kid." The man sighed. "Leave me your number and I'll call you as soon as she's done."

    "Alright," Takashi said reluctantly. He wrote down his phone number and left, taking Angela with him. He didn't drive home, instead, he drove to Lexa's house.

    "What are we doing here?" Angela asked after she was parked and transformed.

    "We're going to look after her daughter for tonight," he said, walking up to the door. "Ms Asanti thought this may happen, so she left me with a key and she told me everything we need to do."

    "I never thought I'd spend today babysitting."

    "Get used to it, I mean you never know, we might be parents in 10 years." Angela gasped and blushed.

    "H-How? I'm a car!"

    "She adopted."

    "Oh. So are you saying we are going to adopt a kid?"

    "Well not now, but we could in about 10 years," he said with a smile as they walked through the door, meeting a little girl.

    "Where's my Mommy?" the little girl demanded with a stamp of her foot.

    "Your Mom's at a shop," Takashi told her straight. "She'll have to stay there overnight, so we'll be here for you." Back at the shop, the man was preparing an overnight stay.

    "I'm going to stay here tonight," he said aloud, appearing as if he was talking to himself when he was actually talking to Lexa. He looked at her. "If you're awake, would it be okay for you to change?" Lexa changed into her human form. With her hood having been replaced, she was only missing her fender and in human form, she was missing some skin on her upper arm. The man wrapped some gauze around the apparent wound and she looked at him. "So that's what you look like?" he asked her, a small smile on his face.

     "Yeah," Lexa said, blushing from shyness.

    "I'm sorry I put you through all that pain. That's why I try to get my jobs done as quickly as possible. Are you alright?"

    "I'm fine." She avoided his eyes.

    "You can probably tell why I asked you to reveal yourself."

    "Yeah. You yourself are a car." The man nodded and silence followed. "Thank you," she said after a few minutes. "For helping me."

    "Just doing my job. So, you're 24 I hear?"

    "Why would you ask me that?" Lexa asked her entire face red.

    "I just think you're quite pretty." Lexa was speechless for a moment.

    "Really?"

    "Of course."

    "I don't know what to say. This has never happened to me before."

    "That's a surprise."

    "Hey, let's not get too hasty with things. I do have a daughter."

    "Really? How'd you do that?"

    "I adopted her. She's just the sweetest little angel." Back at her house, that wasn't the case.

    "Ava, get back here!" Angela demanded to the little girl, who was running around the house. "You need to get to bed!"

    "I'll go to bed when my Mommy gets home!" Ava yelled from her hiding spot, while Takashi was searching for her elsewhere in the house. He and Angle knew that tonight was going to be rough.

    The next morning, at the body shop, a delivery man was delivering the front fender that the shop owner had ordered. With Lexa back in car form, he was able to put the new fender on. Since her rim had been cracked, he put on a new set of cheap Lexani replacements. When he had finally finished working, Takashi and Angela stopped by before school started, having finally come to terms with Ava the previous night. Lexa admired herself in a tinted window reflection.

    "Wow, I look great," she said.

    "You look beautiful," the shop owner said. He had talked to her last night, saying that his name was Jeremy. "You still up for that first date?"

    "Please!" Lexa said, her face turning a vivid red, "not in front of my students! But sure, maybe Saturday?"

    "I'll be at your place at 8."

    "Sure." She left the shop and looked at Takashi and Angela. "You two can get extra credit for watching Ava again."

    "Fine," Takashi agreed. Ms Asanti transformed into her car form and drove off toward the school. Takashi then climbed back into the driver seat in Angela and followed. When the lunch period came during the school day, Takashi and Angela were visited by the school resource officer.

    "You're Takashi Sato," the man said, sitting down at their lunch table. "I am Zero Seiko. The school resource officer."

    "Yeah, I know who you are," Takashi said. "Did you need something, sir?"

    "Yes, actually. I need you to watch yourself." Takashi's face darkened as he could only wonder what he was somehow being punished for. "I know who you are, where you live, and what you drive. There have been many complaints about you speeding."

    "I've never driven over the speed limit."

    "Do not lie. You, Ms Angela," Angela whimpered as he stared at her with his ice-cold eyes. "Why haven't you told the faculty your last name? Why do you decline to give it to us? Is it because you don't have one? Now, why would that be?" Takashi knew that this man was going to be a real nuisance, regardless of his title. "Who, or should I dare say, what are you?" Takashi figured he had to do something, as Angela was getting really scared, hugging his arm and trying to hide behind him.

    "I'm sorry sir, but you're keeping us from our class," Takashi said as the bell rang and students began to leave the cafeteria. Takashi was wondering why Zero seemed to have some kind of vendetta against him. When the bell rang later, signalling the end of school, Takashi and Angela walked into the parking lot.

    "Angie my love!" they heard Faye call out. Angle huffed angrily, then faced her with a fake smile.

    "Faye," Takashi said, "I have something to tell you and Celica."

    "What is it, Takashi?" Celica asked, transforming into her human form.

    "Watch out when you drive home today. For some reason, Zero Seiko has some vendetta on me or some bullcrap."

    "Why?" Faye asked. "What would he want with you, kid?"

    "I don't know. But he says that I speed all the time."

    "Do you?"

    "Hell no. I'm not sure why." Takashi thought that maybe Zero was just being perverted and he just wanted to do some dirty things with Angela or something. "Look, just be careful, okay?"

    "Sure, kid."

    "Thanks."

    "Hey, I'll do anything for my Angie."

    "But I didn't say anything!" Angela said madly. "And stop calling me that, dammit!" Celica waved and transformed back into her car form and with Faye inside, drove off. Angela changed back into her car form and Takashi climbed in and started the engine.

    "Don't drive me too fast, Takashi," Angela said through the stereo.

    "I won't. Besides, I don't want any trouble with Zero."

    "Hey, I don't either." he drove down the road toward his house. He looked in the rearview and noticed that a police Dodge Charger had begun to follow him. He remained calm and slowed down by 1 mile an hour. The police car continued to follow him when he turned down the road that he lived on. He then pulled into his driveway and the Charger slowed, just slightly, and continued on down the road. It was Zero, and he and Angela both knew it. "I didn't know Zero was a new Charger Hellcat," Angela said, transforming into her human form. A while later, Kyu came home.

    "Takashi, Angela," she called, "I'm home." Takashi came into the living room, Angela following him. They were surprised to see Cain walking in with her.

    "Where's Dad?" Takashi asked.

    "Oh you know him," Kyu said with a shrug. "Your father sent me a text message saying he's been pulled over by police."

    "I'm not surprised," he said matter-of-factly.

    "I did notice an increase in police presence around here these past couple days," Cain said. "I could only wonder why?"

    "Have you two met Cain?" Kyu asked. "Isn't he just the best?"

    "Yeah," Angela said. "We have."

    "Oh. Cain, did you want anything for dinner?"

    "Now Kyu, I told you before, being a vehicle, I cannot ingest human food. Unleaded fuel or 5W-30 grade motor oil, however, would be acceptable."

    "Aw, and I told you that I have absolutely no idea what any of that means," Kyu said innocently, looking at him romantically.

    "Kyu, please don't look at me like that, I'm sure Shun will be home any minute."

    "Why couldn't he be as cute as you?" Angela and Takashi looked at each other and decided that they should step outside. Shun and Buck pulled up the driveway as they walked out the front door.

    "Hey Dad," Takashi said.

    "Hey," Shun said. "Nice to see you again Angela."

    "Same here, Shun. You too, Buck."

    "Thanks, little lady," Buck said.

    "Takashi, we'll be inside if you need us," Shun said.

    "Alright. We'll just be hanging out here," Takashi said.

    "We'll call you when dinner's ready."

    The weekend arrived and left Takashi to wonder how he should make most of it. As he lay on his bed, his head resting on his arms in a laid back, almost bored, fashion, Angela walked into the room.

    "Hey," he said absentmindedly.

    "Hey yourself Takashi," she said, laying down next to him. "What are you thinking about?"

    "About what we could do today."

    "Huh." Angela folded her arms behind her head the same way Takashi did and thought for a few minutes. Their thoughts were interrupted by Kyu entering the room.

    "Oh, and just what are you two doing?" she pried wryly.

    "Nothing Mom. What did you want?" Takashi said.

    "I heard you're bored. I also heard there's a concert in the park later."

    "Really? Who?"

    "Not sure. Her name was so hard to pronounce."

    "What did she look like?" Angela asked.

    "Oh, she appeared to be roughly your age, with blue hair in a couple of long pigtails."

    "Oh. I know who you're talking about. Knowing her, why would she perform all the way out here?"

    "Who is it, Takashi?" Angela asked.

    "Are the other two with her?" he asked himself.

    "Takashi! Who is it?"

    "Really Mom, you can't pronounce the name 'Hatsune Miku'?"

    "Yeah, that's what I heard her name was," Kyu said. "Do you know her music?"

    "I have a friend who does."

    "Maybe you should go then." Takashi thought for another minute.

    "Alright," he said. "Angela let's go." They left the house and drove to the park. Sure enough, there were some people setting up a stage in the centre of the downtown park. Angela transformed back into her human form and walked with Takashi into the park. Takashi took note that while technicians were building and setting up the stage, he noticed that there were three cars parked behind the stage. One was a light blue BMW Z4 E86. Black rimmed, white leather interior. The others were a Scion FR-S and a Toyota GT86. Both were coloured yellow, with black trim and interior. The Japanese sports coupes looked almost identical, but Takashi could tell the differences. Being one of the few people here not setting up the stage, he tried to get a closer look at the cars, wanting to know why they were back here.

    "Kid, unless you and your girlfriend are setting up the stage, you'll have to wait for the show to start," a man said to him.

    "Sorry," Takashi said, "I was just looking at the cars. Pretty cool."

    "Yeah, and unless you have a backstage pass I'm going to ask you to shoo," he said, waving his fingers away.

    "Shiro," a girl's voice said. Takashi and Angela turned to see a girl, around Takashi's age standing there. She stood a respectable five-foot two-inches, her hair a light blue shade, and styled in long, twin pigtails.

    "Ms Miku," Shiro said. "What are you doing out so early? The concert doesn't start for another couple-"

    "I don't care. If the kids want to see us then let them."

    "Ms Miku, I don't think that would be-"

    "I don't care, Shiro, why don't you go do something productive like building our stage?"

    "Uh... y-yes Ms Miku." Shiro bowed to her and scurried away. Then she looked back at Takashi and Angela.

    "Let me guess, you could tell, right?"

    "No, Takashi just really wanted to see you," Angela said.

    "Another fan-boy? Did you want my autograph?"

    "No," Takashi said, "I know who you are, Ms Miku."

    "Call me Hatsune."

    "Alright, Hatsune. I know who you are, I do like your music, but seeing as how you, Rin, and Len are cars came as a bit of a surprise."

    "Yep," she said with a small smile.

    "Of course!" a boy's voice said. Takashi looked over and saw the GT86 had transformed into Len, a yellow, spiky-haired boy with black shorts and a yellow shirt. "We're not just a computer programme anymore."

    "Since you're up Len, get Rin. We should start warming up here soon," Hatsune said.

    "Got it." He walked over to the FR-S and tapped the hood a few times. "You hear that Rin? It's time to start warming up." The FR-S changed into a girl who looked like a mirror image of Len only her hair was held down with a white bandana tied at the top, almost giving it the appearance of bunny ears. She wore a white schoolgirl shirt with the yellow bow, and she wore a white skirt with white high-top shoes. Angela was in awe.

    "Wow," she breathed," you guys are so pretty."

    "Thanks," Rin blushed.

    "I think we just made a new fan," Len said.

    "I was thinking the same," Hatsune said, as she handed Takashi and Angela V.I.P. backstage passes. "You'll come to see us after the show, won't you?"

    "We'll be there," Takashi said.

    "Front row-seats," Rin said, handing them two tickets.

    "Thanks, Rin," Angela said.

    "Sure," she said with a friendly smile.

    "While we warm up, you guys should go get your seats," Len said.

    "Alright. Come on, Takashi," Angela said, grabbing his arm.

    "Don't forget your glow-sticks," Hatsune said after them.

    "We won't!" Takashi said back. As the sun fell toward the western horizon, the stage was complete and then the crowd began to show up. Glow sticks in hand, Takashi and Angela stood in the front and centre. When the sun finished setting and night fell, the stage lights began to flash and the crowd amped up, their cheers loud. Then all the lights shut off as a single spotlight lit an empty portion of the stage and the crowd quieted, and then Hatsune's voice sang through the speakers followed by her appearance on the stage and the audience roared with delight. Takashi and Angela cheered with the crowd as the concert continued on through the night.

    After the concert, Takashi and Angela were able to hang out with Hatsune, Rin and Len for a while as the crew began to dismantle the stage for their next performance in the town over.

    "That concert was awesome," Len said.

    "Yeah. I've been wanting to go to one of your concerts ever since I first heard of you guys," Takashi said.

    "Thanks," Hatsune said. "So what do you guys want to do?" she asked Rin and Len.

    "I could use ice cream," Rin said.

    "Wait, I thought we couldn't eat human food," Angela said.

    "Just a little isn't going to hurt you," Hatsune said.

    "Alright then, I'm game," Takashi said.

    "Yeah," Len said.

    "Let's do it," Rin said. Angela transformed into her car form and they all climbed in.

    "You're a Saturn?" Len asked.

    "Yeah," Angela said through the stereo as Takashi drove. "Why?"

    "I've just never heard of that brand before."

    "A branch of General Motors," Takashi said. "Started back in 1990, and went on until 2009 when GM shut them down."

    "So not very long then, huh?"

    "Nope," Angela said.

    "Some Saturns were exported to Japan though," Takashi said.

    "Interesting," Len said.

    "I think this place'll do," Hatsune said as they pulled into an ice cream shop. They all walked in and Takashi took the order of four small vanilla cups and a small root beer float. There were a few late night customers who recognized Hatsune and the others and wanted to take pictures. While this was going on, Angela took a very small taste of the ice cream.

    "Wow!" she enthused. "Is all human food this good?"

    "Some of it is," Takashi said, enjoying his float, "some of it isn't." He smiled to himself as Hatsune, Rin, and Len were taking pictures with their fans and signing autographs. After a while, the excitement had died down.

    "Well, I think we should head back to the tour," Hatsune said.

    "Yeah," Rin agreed. "We should."

    "Since we're leaving guys," Len said to Takashi and Angela, "make sure you follow us on social media."

    "Sure," Angela said and Takashi nodded.

    "Awesome. Thanks for taking us out tonight. You guys were great."

    "No man, you guys were great," Takashi said.

    "That's true."

    "Come on Len, we're heading out," Rin said. Hatsune had changed into her car form and was already driving off. With a final wave of good-bye, Rin and Len transformed as well and followed. Takashi and Angela watched as they left.

    "They are so amazing," Angela said.

    "I know. I've been listening to their music forever," Takashi said. "Come on, we should probably head back home as well."

    "Yeah." Angela changed into Saturn form and Takashi climbed into the driver seat. They arrived home later. Angela and Takashi walked inside to find Shun on the couch in the living room.

    "You're back from your concert?" he asked.

    "Yeah," Takashi said. "Dad, what are you doing out here?"

    "Well, I came home and found your Mom asleep with Cain in the bedroom."

    "What?" Angela asked with quiet disbelief. "He's a car, they can't..."

    "I know. It begs the question as to why she's doing it though. Kyu has always been a rather eccentric one. But what am I saying? It's late, and you two should probably get to sleep."

    The next morning, Takashi and Angela headed to school. When they arrived in Ms Asanti's classroom, they were surprised to see Zero Seiko talking to her.

    "Ms Asanti, I think it's a bad idea for you to date this man who you speak of," he said to her.

    "Zero, we happen to have a lot in common," she defended.

    "Ms Asanti, I'm simply looking out for your well being. This man could be dangerous, you have no way of knowing." Ms Asanti glanced over and saw Takashi and Angela standing there, and she didn't reply. Zero looked over and met eyes with them as well. "You children have no business butting into our personal conversation. How much did you hear?!" Angela gasped out of fear and hid behind Takashi.

    "Zero! Leave them alone!" Ms Asanti said, trying to defend them. Zero growled.

    "Don't pry too deep into things," he warned Takashi. "Or you won't be able to get out." Zero then walked out of the room in a fuming rage.

    "I'm so sorry," Ms Asanti said.

    "Why is he so mean to us?" Angela asked her. "We've done nothing wrong!"

    "One day, Zero's gonna get what's coming to him," Takashi said.

    "Just try not to worry about it, okay?" Ms Asanti said. "I suggest that you take your seats, as class will begin in a few minutes." After the classes, when Takashi and Angela went to lunch, they didn't see Zero at all, much to their relief. After school, they didn't see him on the drive home either. They later found out when Takashi turned on the TV that night.

    "...police forces are currently in hot pursuit of a suspect," the newswoman said as they showed the live footage of the police chase. The speeding car was a highly modified Camaro. Takashi watched as he recognized the Charger Hellcat police unit that was Zero, race up to the Camaro and hit it, going 170 miles an hour. The Camaro spun out and crashed in a cloud of smoke and debris. Cop cars surrounded the crashed car and Zero transformed out of his car form and into human form, holding a gun. Angela wrapped her arms around Takashi and they watched as the Camaro changed into a boy who looked a bit older than Takashi. He looked bruised and beaten and from the couch, Takashi and Angela watched as Zero shot the boy where he laid, killing him. That's when the live feed was cut back to the channel newsroom leaving them staring at the screen wide-eyed in utter horror and disbelief.

    Takashi looked at Angela. She looked back at him, tears in the corners of her eyes.

    "He's a cold-blooded killer," she breathed. "He murdered an innocent kid... on fucking live TV!" she burst into tears. Takashi hugged her.

    "I'm sorry you had to see that," Takashi said, the irony being that the newsreaders on the television were also apologizing to their audience that they had to witness a shooting on television. Takashi took the remote and shut the TV off. When Shun and Kyu came home later, Angela was still feeling disturbed about what had happened, as were Buck and Cain. Because Kyu and Shun thought the same, Buck and Cain were allowed to spend the night in the living room, Cain taking the couch, Buck laying back on the floor. Obviously, no one could sleep.

    "It's too bad that kid was killed," Buck said quietly, staring up at the dark living room ceiling.

    "Well, I heard that the TV feed was cut just after Seiko fired his gun," Cain said, "so there's no real way of knowing for sure." Back in Takashi's room, Angela was sleeping on the floor.

    "Takashi," she said softly from the warm carpet.

    "What?" Takashi asked from under the covers.

    "I can't sleep." Takashi sighed.

    "Me neither," he admitted. Angela sat up and climbed into the bed with him. He rolled over and put his arm over her.

    "Takashi, I'm scared," she said after a while.

    "I know. I am too."

    "I'm afraid he'll come after me." Takashi shushed her, looking at her straight in the eyes.

    "I swear on my life, Angela, that I'll make sure he doesn't. Okay?"

    "Okay." It was quiet for another few moments. "Takashi?"

    "Hm?" She slowly put her arms around his shoulders.

    "Thank you." Takashi could see her blushing in the bleak darkness. Angela moved a little closer to him, and before Takashi knew it, he could feel her lips on his.

    The next morning at school, Takashi and Angela arrived early, thankful that Zero wasn't around. When they walked into the hallway leading to the cafeteria, they saw a girl who appeared to be making some sort of altar. They watched as the girl stepped back to admire her work. The girl looked over and saw them, before turning and running away. Takashi tried to chase her, but he lost sight of her once she went through the front doors. He came back to Angela who was looking at the altar. It was a remembrance altar of the boy who Zero killed the night before. In the picture, the boy had a black shirt, black baseball cap, black hair, blue eyes, a face mildly peppered with freckles, and a smile. Later, the teachers were confused as to why the altar had been built, and the principal asked Takashi if he knew anything about it, other than the fact it was built by some girl, who then fled. Since some of the students knew the boy, whose name was apparently John, the teachers decided to leave it up for the day.

    After school when Takashi and Angela arrived home, they were shocked to see the same girl sitting on the couch in the living room, watching TV and eating chips.

    "How the Hell did you get in my house?" Takashi demanded.

    "Oh please, the locks on your front door were a joke," she replied. "Did anything happen to my altar?"

    "No, the teachers let it stand because so many kids knew John," Angela said, still slightly nervous at their uninvited guest.

    "Yeah. He was a very popular kid." The girl stood up and wiped her hands together, cleaning them of crumbs.

    "Hold on a minute," Takashi said, the girl glaring at him from under the brim of her hat. "Who are you?" In response, the girl took off her hat, and Takashi and Angela then made the connection. She had long, black hair, a black blouse and short shorts, a few freckles here and there on her otherwise flawless face, and her eyes were a brilliantly contrasting blue. Her resemblance to John was uncanny.

    "My name is Jemma," she said. "John was my brother." She glanced at the TV, which was on the same news channel as the night before. Takashi and Angela looked at the screen as well.

    "...a police officer was rushed to the hospital after a deadly accident earlier today. The officer was on patrol heading south toward the interstate when the vehicle's brakes didn't stop the patrol car and was t-boned by a semi-truck travelling at 65 miles an hour. The Police Department has not yet released the name of the officer, and the Chief's lieutenant Zero Seiko made an announcement earlier while Police Chief Yoshida Sukata was at the hospital." Jemma's eyes widened when the newswoman said Zero's name.

    "I didn't get Zero?!" she asked in disbelief. "B-But I could have sworn he was to patrol that route at that time!"

    "Wait a second," Takashi said, "you tried to kill Zero?!"

    "He killed my brother!"

    "Guys shut up!" Angela said as she turned up the volume as the TV showed Zero's announcement.

    "I have personally guaranteed to Chief Sukata that we will find the person or people who did this vile act to our comrade," Zero said. "It has become clear that this was an act of retaliation about the before night's tragic event."

    "Tragic my ass you motherfucker!" Jemma yelled at the TV.

    "I can only pray for our comrade's recovery, and that we find and punish those responsible before this escalates into war. It is our job to enforce peace in this city, after all. Thank you."

    "Peace?! You bastard!" Takashi turned off the TV before Jemma could feel like hitting it or something. "Damn it! I'll kill that son-of-a-bitch!"

    "No you're not," Takashi stated firmly. "They'll only kill you too."

    "Fine!" Jemma fumed. "But mark my words, Zero. You'll pay in one way or another. I swear."

    After a while, things had simmered down, and Zero's activity in the force had been under the radar. Angela had forced herself to forget about what had happened a couple weeks back. During school that warm, Friday afternoon, Faye and the others had met Takashi in the school parking lot.

    "Takashi, we're going to have a slumber party," Faye said.

    "Okay," he said with a slight shrug. "But why are you telling me?"

    "Because it'll be at your place, kid."

    "Huh?!" he asked in disbelief. "Why my house?!"

    "Mina's parents won't let us have it at her house, the same goes for Nikki and Sabrina. You were the only other friend who's parents would let us."

    "Yeah," Mina said.

    "Come on," Nikki urged.

    "Please?" Sabrina asked.

    "Yeah Takashi, this could be fun," Angela said.

    "Fine," Takashi said, defeated. "Is Celica coming?"

    "Of course," Celica said, appearing in her human form. "I heard them talking about it, and I asked if maybe I could come and Faye said yes."

    "Okay." When Takashi and Angela arrived home, his father and Buck were the only ones there. "Where's Mom?" Shun shrugged.

    "I don't know why, but she's taking Cain on a date," he said.

    "Why?"

    "Don't know."

    "You're not going to... you know?"

    "Of course not. I'm okay with it, and your mother just has a few screws loose." Then there was a knock at the door. Buck stood up and answered it. It was Faye and the others.

    "Oh hey, what are you ladies doing here?" he asked them.

    "We're here for our slumber party," Nikki said. Buck looked back at Takashi, an eyebrow raised.

    "It's a long story," he sighed. After said long story was told, the girls were moved into the guest bedroom next to Takashi's room. Takashi would have to stay in his own room. As they were about to take some snacks into the room, Kyu and Cain came home.

    "What's going on in here?" she asked when she saw all the girls in the guest room.

    "We're having a slumber party," Nikki said.

    "Really?!"

    "Yeah," Mina said.

    "I've always wanted to go to one, but no one ever invited me."

    "You can join us if you want," Sabrina said.

    "Really?!" she breathed with disbelief.

    "Of course, Mrs. Sato."

    "Oh please, call me Kyu," she said, taking the snacks into the room. Meanwhile, the guys had for some reason gathered in Takashi's room.

    "Good thing it's not too stuffy in here," Cain said.

    "Same," Buck said. "What do you suppose they're doing in there?" Takashi put his ear to the wall. Buck and Shun then did the same.

    "So what do kids do at slumber parties today?" they heard Kyu ask. "Pillow fights?"

    "That's so cliché," Faye said. "But I guess so."

    "Oh. Are they like the ones that kids did back when I was your age?"

    "How was it different?" Angela asked.

    "Well, from what I had heard, girls would have pillow fights naked." Takashi and the other guys' faces flushed.

    "Oh my," Cain whispered in disbelief.

    "Whoa," Buck breathed.

    "Of course she would say that in front of the kids," Shun said. "Son you should probably stop listening."

    "No," Takashi said, keeping his voice low. "I have to hear more of this." There was a brief pause between him and his father.

    "This stays between us."

    "Yes, sir." They put their ears back on the wall.

    "What about kissing a girl?" Kyu asked. "You still do that?"

    "Yes we do, and we are," Faye declared. Takashi could barely hold his breath in complete shock.

    "Alright," Sabrina said.

    "Who's gonna be the lucky girl?" Mina pried wryly.

    "Of course it's going to be my Angela," Faye said.

    "What?!" Angela asked. "Why?!"

    "Oh come on, you aren't at all curious?"

    "I... uh..."

    "Come on," Nikki said. "Just try it for a few seconds."

    "Wow, this stuff is juicy," Kyu noted. Shun had to cover his mouth to stifle his laughter.

    "Well, I don't wanna do it!" Angela declared.

    "Angie, you won't have to do anything," Faye said. "You'll be fine."

    "Don't call me that, and if you so much as touch me, I'll hit you!" Faye moved and grabbed Angela's arms. "No. Stop it, Faye!" Takashi could barely hold his composure. "Get off-" Her voice was cut off as they all knew that she was being kissed. Takashi's entire face turned deep red. He didn't know if he should be excited or angered at what was going on, on the other side of the wall.

    "Scandalous!" Kyu said. Shun nearly burst out laughing again.

    "Oh my God, she used her tongue!" Sabrina cried. Takashi then fell back and fainted from utter shock.

    "What was that?" Nikki asked, hearing his body hit the floor.

    "Go check in the other room," Kyu said. The guys couldn't scramble in time and then Nikki threw open the door, catching them red-handed.

    "Oh my God, you creepy perverts!" she shouted at them, the guys screaming at the top of their lungs. Kyu charged in and gave them all a scolding slap, until she came across Takashi, passed out on the floor.

    "What happened to him?" she asked Shun.

    "I don't know, dear," he answered. "Takashi just fainted."

    "Was he listening too?"

    "What?"

    "Was Takashi listening in too?!"

    "Yes!"

    "Dad, what the Hell?!" Takashi, suddenly sitting up, asked, feeling betrayed, not even knowing the fact he was passed out on the floor just a moment ago.

    "You watch your language!" Kyu scolded with a slap. "Pervert."

    "Mom?!"

    "You heard me!" Takashi let out an unconscious sigh, knowing that this was going to be a long night.

    Takashi woke up the next morning. He rolled his head to the side and instantly woke up fully and jumped out of the bed, having found Angela there. He wasn't sure what had happened that night since the girls had their little slumber party the night before, but sometime between then and now, Angela had come into his room and fell asleep with him. The one thing he did notice, however, was the tan cat ears on her head.

    "Uh... Angela?" he asked. She groaned, being awoken, and sat up slowly, stretching her arms upward.

    "Good morning, Takashi," she yawned with a smile.

    "What's with the ears?"

    "Oh, these?" she asked. "Everyone said they looked cute on me, so I'm gonna leave 'em up there."

    "Uh, okay." When they went downstairs for breakfast, she still wore the ears. "You're still wearing them?"

    "Of course," she said in a slightly annoyed tone. "I'm gonna wear 'em all day."

    "Alright, whatever." When they walked outside to go to town, Angela transformed and Takashi noticed that the ears had translated into having cat ears made of the same plastic as the car was on the roof. "Angela, you still have ears!" he said with disbelief.

    "I do?" she asked through the speakers. "Hey, I do! Yay! It's not every day you see a car with cat ears, huh?"

    "No, it isn't," he said, climbing in. After a bit, when they arrived at the store, as Kyu had asked for him to pick up a few things, he parked Angela in a parking space, and a few girls came over.

    "Hey," one spoke up. "Your car's pretty cute."

    "Oh, you think so?" Takashi asked, just mildly surprised.

    "Yeah," the second said. "It's very cute. Like a cat!"

    "It just needs the whiskers and tail," the third said.

    "Yeah, I'll think about it, but I didn't want to go too overboard with this," Takashi admitted.

    "Aw," the girls groaned at once. Then Angela transformed, shocking the girls.

    "You know Takashi, I think you should listen to them. I personally like that idea."

    "She's an Automorph?" the first girl asked.

    "Is that what they call them?" Takashi thought aloud.

    "Yeah," the second girl said. "I've always wanted to meet one."

    "Hold on, before we go any farther, can we go inside? My Mom wanted me to get a few things. You can talk while we shop."

    "Okay," the girls and Angela agreed. Takashi moaned loudly on the inside. While he was walking around, getting the groceries Kyu had asked for, the girls talked to Angela.

    "So what kind of car are you?" the second girl asked.

    "I'm a Saturn," Angela answered. "They stopped making us back in '09, so you don't see very many of us."

    "Wow. How can you transform?"

    "I'm not really sure. I guess if I want to, I do."

    "Ooh. What happens if you get into a wreck or something?"

    "Well, my human body gets hurt. A flat tire is a sprained wrist or ankle."

    "That sounds painful," the third girl said.

    "It is."

    "What about your cat ears? Is that just because you're wearing them?" the first girl asked.

    "Yep. Whatever I'm wearing translates over to my car form. For example, my cat ears. And, if I was wearing my school uniform, my body colour would be dark blue, rather than my lighter blue that I'm wearing right now."

    "That sounds totally awesome. I wish I could be an Automorph," the third said.

    "I don't think you'd want to," Takashi spoke up in a serious tone.

    "Why not?"

    "Because, haven't you been hearing about this police officer killing people who are in those high-speed chases?" They were silent for a moment before they nodded. "They are all these Automorphs or whatever you call them. They are all killed by the same cop, who from what I understand, is an Automorph himself." The girls gasped.

    "No way."

    "Is this true?"

    "It can't be!"

    "It's true," Angela said. "And this cop hates my guts for some stupid reason, so that's why Takashi and I are always careful."

    "I see."

    "That's terrible."

    "Heartless-asshole."

    "I don't know if you girls drive, but if you do, be careful around him."

    "I'm the only one who has a license," the first girl said. "I'll be extra careful."

    "Even that won't be enough," Takashi said. "If you want him to stay away, then you must stay away from any sort of street racing. Got it?" All three girls nodded. "Good. Now, that's everything on the shopping list. Let's go, Angela." As Takashi and Angela drove out of the parking lot, the three girls were waving goodbye to them. As they drove home, they took extra care to not provoke any of the police officers that they had seen.

    "None of them were Zero," Angela said as they pulled up the driveway. Takashi opened the door and climbed out, taking the groceries with him. Angela transformed and helped carry things inside.

    "Takashi, thanks so much for going and doing that for me," Kyu said, as they put the food away.

    "Sure thing Mom," Takashi said.

    The kid ran through the rain, trying to escape his pursuers. Once he had ran around and through some possible barriers, in a flash of light, he transformed into a red Subaru Impreza. Driving away from where he was, the police were soon in his tracks. One police car, Zero, accelerated, and slammed into his rear quarter panel, spinning the boy out, and caused him to change back into his human form, bleeding from a horrible wound on the back of his leg. The boy was soon surrounded by police cars, one of which transformed into Zero's human form.

    "Thought you could get away?" Zero asked over the storm. "I had hoped that I had made an example of your kind by killing that other boy. Oh well, I guess knowing you and your type it simply can't be helped." Zero pulled the gun from his belt, and the kid cringed, still clutching at his bleeding leg. "Before I make you disappear, I shall ask you one time: Where are the others?"

    "Like Hell I'd tell you!" the boy yelled back in a rage. "You killed my friend! He didn't have to die! You're not a cop, you're just a killer!" Zero didn't reply, but instead shot the boy in the foot, causing him to scream in pain.

    "Since I'm feeling in a good mood today, I'll ask you one more time, and once more only. Where are they?!"

    "I'm not telling you shit, you motherf-" the boy was cut off by Zero shooting him in the chest. Still alive, the wide-eyed boy stared up at Zero, some tears falling from his eyes.

    "Well, since you are offering no help, I guess you're worthless to me now. But don't be so sad. You'll see that friend of yours again." Zero fired a third shot right between the boy's eyes, putting an end to his misery. "Someone pick this trash up. He should still be sellable." The boy's body was taken to a part of the police station, the building wing by the impound lot. There, technicians took the body and were able to force it to change back into its vehicle form. Aside from the body damage and a shredded tire, there was a major hole in the engine. A photograph was taken of the car and was then published to the auction website that specialized in selling off police and other impounded vehicles. All of the inventory on this website was country-wide. Then, the broken car was moved into a secure lot with the other inventory the station had accumulated over time. It was placed next to a wrecked, black Camaro.

    Back at Takashi's house, Jemma had stopped by, or broke in again rather, and she was distraught when she had learned that her friend hadn't been able to escape.

    "Zero's taken this too far," she declared. Takashi and Angela sat with her in the living room. "He's killed two of us."

    "Something needs to be done," Takashi decided. "But we can't kill him. It won't do any good."

    "This has been going on all over the country. That's why most of us had gone underground."

    "Well, I see a lot of cars that are people," Angela said.

    "I meant us," Jemma said. "John and I. We were street racers. We're part of a culture across the country. It's awesome. But ever since the police began to butt in, we've had to go underground. We still try to do as much racing as we can."

    "I understand. It sounds like a lot of fun," Takashi said. "Just like we have track meets, you guys have what we would call 'Street Races'. So I can see why the police would do that."

    "But killing us off like animals is just wrong!" Jemma cried. "Seiko's not a cop! He's a Goddamn serial killer!" Angela began to comfort her.

    "There has got to be a person who can be persuaded to our side who has more authority than Zero," Takashi said, thinking up a list of possible candidates.

    "But who could that possibly be?" Angela asked.

    "It won't be anyone at the police station obviously. The courthouse may not work either. We might have to look at City Hall downtown. Maybe we can work our way up to a higher government official."

    "Do you really think that could work?"

    "Well, it's our only shot. For now, at least."

    "Alright," Jemma said, calming down and wiping her tear-stained eyes. "Whatever you guys are gonna do, I'm with you. Thanks so much."

    "Hey, we just want this killing to stop."

    "We also have numbers on our side. There's still a whole lot of us," Jemma said. "At the last count, we outnumber the police in just this part of the state."

    "Good, but war is the last thing I'm sure we all want."

    "Yeah... I guess you're right."

    "So for now, no more racing."

    "What?!"

    "You heard me Jemma," Takashi said. "We have to let the heat die down. If you keep up the races, it'll only get more innocent people killed." Jemma said nothing for a few moments. "You got it?"

    "Mm-hm," she nodded just slightly reluctant. "Okay."

    When Takashi and Angela were driving home after school that following Monday, there was some road works going on, so they had to take a different way home.

    "Have we been down this way before?" Angela asked through the speakers as Takashi drove.

    "No, I don't think we have," he answered. They then drove by a used car dealership. Takashi decided that they should stop and he turned around and drove back to it.

    "Takashi, what are you doing?"

    "Just going to look around," he said as he climbed out and shut the door. Angela transformed into her human form and walked with him as he looked from car to car. "Hm, there are some interesting cars here," he said. "But the more interesting it is, the harder it'll be to fix." Angela giggled at his statement.

    "Who told you that?"

    "My Dad, back when I was 9." They continued walking until they found a red Saturn. "Whoa, another red Saturn." It appeared a bit older than Angela, its colour was a darker shade of red, and it had 4 doors, similar to Angela who had two suicide doors. "Hm. four doors... an SL1. Or SL2."

     "Yeah," Angela said.

    "Is it like you?"

    "Well, that's the thing. I feel like it is, but I don't feel its life either. It's hard to tell." She put her hand on the front badge and she concentrated, feeling deep within the car and all its parts as if she was reaching into its soul. She gasped as she found it. "Takashi, she's still alive."

    "Awesome. Maybe if I can take her home with us, we can bring her back."

    "Yeah. It's like she's not dead, but she isn't alive either."

    "Like unconscious, or in a coma?"

    "Yeah, maybe. Something like that."

    "What are you two doing?" the dealership's owner asked. He was an older man. They looked at him as he hobbled over, cane in hand as he walked with a bad limp. "It's nice to see you kids interested in my inventory, but this one here hasn't ran for a while, and I haven't been around to getting it fixed. I don't want you kids to buy a car that doesn't work."

    "But Takashi's going to the Tech school to learn how to work on cars," Angela said.

    "Oh?" he turned toward Takashi with intrigue.

    "But I don't need to buy a car," Takashi said. "I already have one. I just like looking at them."

    "Ah yes. I understand. I was the same back when I was your age."

    "I don't start until next year though."

    "Hm," he nodded in understanding then thought to himself for a few moments. "Alright Takashi, I'll tell you what. Once you've had some experience with that, and if I still have this car here, then I'll give it to you. I don't think that there's too much wrong with it, but I think that she'll be a good project car for you."

    "Really?"

    "Sure thing. I can set this aside for you. It'll be here waiting for you once you're ready."

    "Thank you so much!" Takashi said.

    "It's no trouble at all, and you're welcome. I'm just glad to see some folks browsing my inventory for the first time in a week," he said with a chuckle.

    "Okay. Well, thank you so much," Angela said. They waved to the old man as they left. Angela transformed and Takashi climbed back in. "He was very nice to do that for you Takashi."

    "Don't you mean for us?" Takashi asked.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Well, I thought that maybe if we can get you to come with me to the Tech school, then we could help her together." Angela was silent for a minute, as she thought to herself. Then she gave a happy gasp.

    "Takashi, why didn't I think of that? That's a great idea!" Then she hesitated. "But... how are we going to get me enrolled in your Tech school?"

    "I'm not sure. Maybe we can have that shop owner teach you."

    "That could work. We'll have to ask him."

    "Yeah. We'll do that."

    "You want me to do what?" the shop owner asked. Takashi and Angela had begun to execute their plan for teaching her about how to work on cars. "I don't know, kid. Teaching isn't really my kind of thing."

    "Well then, why not have Ms. Asanti teach you how to be a good teacher?" Takashi suggested to the man, who was surprised at his statement.

    "What? Hey, how do you know Lexa?"

    "He said Ms. Asanti," Angela said. "We're students of hers."

    "Oh. That figures. I suppose we'll have to ask her about this then. But if she says no then so will I, got it?"

    "Yes sir," Takashi and Angela sighed, realizing that this was going to take longer than they had thought. They came back to the shop when they knew that Ms. Asanti was going to be there.

    "They want me to do what to you?" she asked the shop owner.

    "Well," he explained, "they want me to teach her how to work on cars, but when I told them that I wasn't the best teacher, they suggested that you teach me on how to be a good teacher."

    "That's a lot of teaching," Lexa noted and everyone laughed for a moment. "But Jeremy, I want to be paid for my services," she almost complained.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Don't be so daft," she huffed. "But I'll teach you how to be a good teacher, okay?"

    "Alright then. Now I can teach them how to work on cars. We can start now." Jeremy handed Takashi an old book that turned out to be the complete service manual for late 90's Jeeps. "I want you both to read this entire thing by tomorrow morning." Lexa smacked his arm.

    "No, not like that! You'll overwhelm them! Let's break this down a bit. We'll start with... electronics basics, okay?" She took the book and flipped through it. "Here." She found the electronic component chapter. "Let's study this for now. We can start simple, like changing out fuses and relays."

    "Oh," Takashi laughed, "I can do that. That's noob stuff."

    "Not for me," Angela hissed at him.

    "It's easy." He walked over to the Chevy Impala that was in the shop already. "Come here." He opened the hood and found the car's fuse box. "See, each of these little fuses here, they make sure that the circuits aren't overloaded." Angela looked at the fuses and she looked at the book.

    "Oh, now I get it."

    "And if you look at this fuse here, you can see that it was overloaded," Jeremy, the shop owner, said. "Notice how the metal inside has been burnt in half?" Angela looked at the tiny 20-amp fuse.

    "Yeah. It burns out like an old incandescent bulb."

    "Yep, exactly. Fuses are cheap and easy to replace, so a beginning technician can do this sort of job." He took the old fuse and handed her a new one. Angela looked at the new fuse. "That's how you tell if a fuse is good or not."

    "If you see the metal there."

    "Yes. Now," he took the 20-amp spare from the Impala's fuse box, and he showed her the diagram on the inside of the box's top. "This shows where the fuses go. Make sure you pay attention to which one goes where, because you could easily blow the fuses if you get any of them wrong. I've handed you the spare, so where do you put it?" Angela looked at the diagram, and at the fuse box. She pointed to the empty fuse slot where the diagram said a 20-amp fuse should go. "Yes, right there. Make sure you put in in correctly as well." Angela made sure the fuse was lined up properly and she pressed it in. "There you go."

    "That was easy."

    "Trust me, it'll get more complicated," Takashi said.

    "He's right," Jeremy said.

    "I don't care. Why didn't you teach me this before, Takashi? This is totally fun!"

    Later, after this first day, Takashi and Angela came home to a surprise. Shun and Buck had hauled that Saturn SL1 that they were looking at the other day. He looked back at them and smiled.

    "I heard you were looking at this," Shun said.

    "Yeah," Takashi said. "First, how?"

    "Well, that old man you talked to, he's the father of a buddy of mine. He called me after you both left his lot."

    "I didn't know that, but it makes sense," Angela said with a shrug.

    "Yeah. I decided that once you start Tech school, Takashi, that you could come home and practice with this. I think it'll be a good project for you. Heck, maybe you could even teach me a thing or two," Shun laughed. In his mind, Takashi brought a hand to his face. He'd had enough teaching for one day. Shun walked inside, and Angela looked at the SL1 again, putting her hand on it.

    "Don't worry," she said softly, "we'll save you. Okay?"

End of Season 1

    Takashi and Angela came home from their fourth day of Tech school. They were able to enrol Angela as a student, with some help from the Head of Student Department, who was also a car herself, a silver Audi Q5, and she pulled a few strings from the inside. But Takashi knew that there would come the day he would surprise the others in their tech class when would have to tell the truth about what Angela really is. Another thing, however, was that they couldn't find a way to take down Zero, and they hadn't heard from Jemma for about a month. The two of them walked inside, as neither Kyu nor Shun were home yet, and Angela wasn't in the best mood for reason.

    "Alright, now tell me what's the matter," Takashi said.

    "Oh, some guy tried hitting on me," she said, laying down on the couch.

    "Seriously?"

    "Yeah."

    "What happened?"

    "Oh, he just said something stupid."

    "Like what?"

    "'Damn bitch, you fine'. Then he slapped my butt."

    "Oh my God," Takashi tried to suppress his laughter. "So what did you do?"

    "I wanted to punch him in the throat, but I just told him to leave me alone."

    "You didn't report him?"

    "He wasn't worth it."

    "Oh. Alright then." Angela stood back up and she walked out to the garage and came back with a quart of oil and she poured some into a coffee mug. "You thirsty?"

    "Of course," she said, drinking. Takashi continued to stare at her. "What?"

    "Nothing," he said, looking away.

    "Whatever," Angela laughed lightly, smirking.

    The next day in Tech class, Takashi and Angela were in the shop, removing the battery from a shop vehicle, when their teacher summoned them.

    "You two," he said, "we need your help over here." The reason for this was that another student, who everyone referred to as "Frosty", was preparing to raise a vehicle using one of the shop's lifts. "I'm gonna show you all how to make sure you properly know how to lift a vehicle so it doesn't fall and kill anyone. Are we centre and square?"

    "Yep," Frosty said from the other side of the truck.

    "Alright. We clear?" Everyone took a good step back, even though there was more than enough room. The instructor pressed down on the button which began to raise the lift. He raised the vehicle to about an inch off the ground. "We need to always make sure that the vehicle won't fall off the lift. Rather have it fall off now, then when it's 10 feet up." He shook the truck, pushing down on the front and back, making sure it was level and would stay. He was satisfied and continued to raise the truck. "You can hear the safety locks clicking into place." Once the truck was a good 6 feet up, he lowered the lift to the last safety lock it had passed. "Always make sure you lower it to the last safety lock you raise it by. Otherwise, if the hydraulics in the lift should fail, it will fall and possibly kill someone. Maybe Rusty." Some of the other students laughed at his joke.

    "Why'd you say me?" Rusty asked. Everyone had some sort of nickname, but Takashi and Angela hadn't, yet.

    That was the tech school was like. Aside from teaching the importance of safety and care for the customers, everyone enjoyed their work, including Takashi and Angela. Aside from the only very offensive jokes and innuendo in every sentence, the instructor said, Tech school was a very good place to learn, and Takashi and Angela enjoyed every minute of it. Even though the days seemed to fly by, Takashi and Angela studied very hard and did their very best work in the shop, so they could finally save the SL1. When they arrived home later after school, Takashi and Angela looked at the SL1 again.

    "Well, we replaced the battery, starter and alternator," Takashi said, but she still can't come back."

    "We might have to re-wire the entire system," Angela suggested. "Those wiring harnesses are just a complete mess."

    "We might have to bring her to Tech. Then we might be able to save her."

    "I know," Angela said with a warm smile. "I can't wait."

    While Takashi and Angela were in Tech, back at the High School, Celica was getting lonely. So, she decided to leave, just for an hour. She drove until she came across a brown, 2008 Saturn Outlook XE at a gas station. As she and it felt one another's presence and they both transformed into their human form. The Outlook was a young woman who had curly, shoulder-length, cocoa-brown hair and sky-blue coloured eyes. She wore a black blouse and skirt. Her warm and outgoing face was peppered with just a few freckles.

    "Hello," she said to Celica in a friendly voice.

    "Hi," Celica said shyly.

    "What are you doing here?"

    "Well, my owner is in school right now, and I was getting kinda bored so..."

    "I knew it. You just wanted a friend, I can relate. You wanna go to the park? I'm free for now."

    "Sure." They went to the park in the middle of town. They walked by the fountain and Celica watched as the girl jumped onto the fountain and walked along the water's edge.

    "So your name's Celica?" she asked, holding her arms out for balance.

    "Mm-hm," Celica nodded.

    "Your previous owner wasn't very original."

    "I know, but I'm okay with it. My new owner really likes my name."

    "That's cool. My name's Cocoa. My owner and her daughter named me for my exterior colour."

    "Well, that isn't all that original either."

    "Don't you go an' insult them like that!" Cocoa said, suddenly mad.

    "Oh! I'm sorry!"

    "Hey, I'm just joking," she said after a moment, a smirk on her face.

    "Oh," Celica blushed. "Don't tease me like that!" Cocoa continued laughing.

    "I like you, Celica. You wanna be friends?"

    "Of course. I love it when I make new friends."

    "What about your other friend, you know that Saturn? What was her name again, I forgot."

    "Angela."

    "Yeah, where's she?"

    "She's enrolled at the Tech school. She's with Takashi, her owner."

    "Oh, so they have that kind of relationship, huh?" Cocoa pried slyly.

    "Um, I'm not sure, to be honest, but I don't think they're that close," she said with a nervous laugh. Cocoa had walked all the way around the fountain and hopped back onto the ground.

    "Here, walk with me."

    "What?" Without another word, Cocoa had Celica walking on the fountain, while wobbly, trying to maintain perfect balance. "Why are we up here?"

    "Because it's fun! Besides, when I walk like this, it helps me think."

    "Um, okay. Sure," Celica said unsurely, trying not to fall into the water.

    "So what else did you want to do today, Celica? I know you want to be back at your owner's school by 3, but we still have a few hours."

    "Well first thing, I don't want to go into the fountain water!"

    "I know!" Cocoa laughed.

    "What's so funny?" Celica turned around to face Cocoa, but her foot slipped and she fell. Cocoa gasped and grabbed her arm, catching her just before she fell into the water. After a second of standing in their awkward position and they had caught their breath, they started to laugh.

    "Hey, get off of there!" an adult said, scaring them to the point they both fell in the fountain. It was a city worker who was sweeping the sidewalk. "See? You fell in." Celica looked at Cocoa, who after a moment, splashed the man. "Hey!"

    "Run for it!" Cocoa said, pulling Celica up. They ran out of the water and out of the park. They continued running until they came back to the High School, both of them still dripping wet and breathless. "Well, that was fun," Cocoa said between breaths. Celica was wringing out her hair when the bell rang for lunch. "What's that?"

    "Lunch bell," Celica answered. "That means that my owner will come out and check on me."

    "Why?"

    "She likes to, and she knows that I get bored out here all alone."

    "Oh. I'd like to meet her."

    "Yeah. Her and the others."

    "Sounds like fun," Cocoa said with a smile as she wrung out her hair as well, and they both laughed.

    Takashi and Angela made it back to school before the lunch period started, as the Tech school ends at 11:10. They found Faye, Sabrina, Nikki and Mina sitting at a table and they sat down with them.

    "Glad you two finally made it," Mina noted.

    "Mina, don't be so impatient," Sabrina said. "They go to the Tech school, so they miss half the day."

    "Isn't that hard on your schedule?" Nikki asked.

    "A little," Angela admitted with a laugh. "But it's alright, really."

    "Hey, guys!" Celica's voice called. They all looked over and saw her coming over to them with a friend.

    "Celica what are you doing?" Faye asked.

    "I'm sorry Faye. I was out in town because I was lonely, and I met Cocoa."

    "Who's Cocoa?" Mina asked.

    "I'm Cocoa, dammit," Cocoa said placing her hands on the tabletop.

    "More like Cocoa-nut," she muttered.

    "That's an interesting name," Sabrina said. "Are you a car as well?"

    "Yeah. I'm a '08 Outlook. My owners named me after my exterior colour."

    "I guess that's legit," Mina stated.

    "Celica, it's nice that you made a new friend, but don't drive off on your own like that," Faye scolded and Celica looked downward in shame. "I don't want to have to worry about you. I already worry about Angie every day."

    "Hey!" Angela said.

    "I can't handle the stress. It's bad for my health and beauty."

    "Why I oughta-" Before Angela could come up with something, Takashi spoke up.

    "So Cocoa, what's your life like?" he asked.

    "Well, it's pretty normal. My owner, she's a single mother with an only daughter," Cocoa said, sitting down. "They're very nice."

    "Well, I'm sure they are."

    "It's nice to know that there are nice people in the world," Angela said. "Unlike some people around here." The others muttered in agreement.

    "We do need more nice people," Sabrina said.

    "Amen Sister," Mina said, and they high-fived. Nikki laughed.

    "Yeah," Takashi agreed. "We definitely need more nice people in this town."

    "You need more what?" a firm voice asked coldly, causing everyone to stop eating... and possibly breathing. They all looked over to see the ice-cold, ice-coloured eyes of Zero Seiko, the school resource officer and cold-blooded car-killer. "What sort of conversation is this?" His eyes fell on Celica and Cocoa. "And why do you two not have visitor's passes?"

    "I... uh..." Celica was unsure about what to do as was Cocoa.

    "Do I need to escort you both off school grounds?"

    "No," Cocoa stood up, taking Celica's hand. Zero narrowed his eyes.

    "If you trespass again, you'll be arrested." Celica gulped in fear, and Cocoa stood her ground. "Am I understood?"

    "Yes." She took Celica and walked away from the table. "Asshole," she muttered once they were out of earshot.

    "Yeah. Takashi warned me about him," Celica said. "God he's so scary." She tried to fight her crying.

    "Aw Celica, don't let him scare you like that. He's just an asshole who likes to look tough."

    "Well, he's too good at that. I hate him."

    "That's the spirit, Celica!"

    "What?!" Celica asked in sudden surprise at what Cocoa said. "Why do I feel like I should be concerned?" Cocoa just laughed. "What's so funny?!" she asked blushing.

    "Nothing, Celica. Nothing." They walked back to the station where they had met. "Well, I gotta wait here. You should head back."

    "Okay. I guess I'll see you some other time, Cocoa."

    "Cool! See you Celica!"

    "Okay," she said as she transformed and drove back to the school.

    "Watch out for Officer Asshole!" she yelled after her, before bursting out laughing at her own joke. "Officer Asshole. That's funny." Cocoa transformed back into her car form and waited for the rest of the afternoon to pass until her owner would finally come and she could take her and her daughter home.

    When Takashi and Angela went home that day, they took their basic knowledge of electronic components and they began to see what the Saturn SL1 needed to be done. Takashi opened the hood and Angela aimed a flashlight around the engine bay.

    "See anything?" he asked.

    "Well, her engine block doesn't appear to be damaged in any way," she responded. She checked the fluid reservoirs. "But her fluids are so low."

    "We'll have to drain them," Shun said, stepping over. "God knows what sorts of contaminants are in the systems. But we can't do that here. Is there a shop where we could take it?" Takashi and Angela looked at each other, and the next thing they knew, they were towing the car to Jeremy's garage.

    "Oh," he said when they arrived. "So this is the project you're working on?"

    "Yeah," Shun said. "Buddy of mine's dad said it should be easy for them to work on."

    "Yeah, it is a basic vehicle. It's a good start."

    "We need to drain all of the fluid systems," Takashi said.

    "Yeah," Jeremy agreed, opening the hood. "You may want to."

    "Can you show us how?"

    "Of course. This should be easy." He took a few jugs of various vehicle fluids, coolant, power steering fluid, brake fluid, engine oil, transmission fluid, and even windshield washer fluid. "Once we have everything filled up, we should run the car a bit, and drain the fluids." He walked over to where a stack of containers was. "We'll drain them into these. Can the car start?"

    "We're not sure," Angela said. "There could be a whole lot of things wrong inside the engine." Jeremy paused for a moment.

    "Well, since you've come all the way out here, why don't you both take a break while I look around in here. I'll tell you if I find anything, okay?"

    "Alright." Before they could really do anything, Jeremy called them over.

    "Look here. She's a single overhead camshaft engine. You see what I mean?" He pointed to the rod with round metal bits on it.  "Those cams are what press the inlet and exhaust valves. But they can't, see? A few of them are cracked and broken. She needs a new camshaft." He walked over to his laptop and checked the website where he could order any part for any car. "Hm, the camshaft is cheap, as are the valves and valve springs. I'll tell you what. I think it would be best to rebuild the engine entirely."

    "Oh, you think so?" Takashi asked.

    "Yeah, it should be easy, I mean it's only a 1.9-litre engine. I can take it out, change out the parts, and clean up any others that are still useable. It'll be a few days, and I always have customers, so..."

    "We understand," Angela said. "Take all the time you need."

    "Thanks. But since it's already past closing time, I guess we could hang around a little bit longer. You could help me take the engine out."

    "We'd love to!"

    "Alright then." He walked over to the far side of the shop and he pulled over an engine jack. "This'll hold the engine while we pull it out." With their help, they positioned the jack and he put the chins on the lifting points in the engine. "Alright," he said wiping his forehead. "We should be able to take off the motor mounts and lift it out." He showed them where the motor mounts were and after they had removed them, they were ready to remove the engine. "Ready on three. 1, 2, 3!" They all pushed down on the engine jack over and over, and the engine came right out. "There we go," he said after they had finished pulling it out. "Engine and transaxle."

    "Whew! That took a lot out of me," Angela said as she caught her breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

    "Yeah," Takashi agreed.

    "Engines and transaxles from front-wheel drive vehicles are really heavy together," Jeremy said. "It's late. You kids should head home. I'll start taking these apart tomorrow, and I'll let you know if anything comes up."

    "Cool."

    "Thanks, Jeremy," Angela said as she stepped outside and transformed into her car form.

    "Alright. See you later then," Takashi said.

    "You too, Takashi," Jeremy said as he watched them leave. He turned back around and faced the removed engine. "Now we can make some real progress on you," he said as he began to take the engine and transaxle apart.

    After about a week, Takashi got a phone call from Jeremy.

    "Jeremy, what is it?" he asked. Angela looked at Takashi while he listened to Jeremy on the other side. "Really? You're almost done with her?" Angela beamed with happiness. "Oh, okay. We'll be right over." Angela was already on her way outside. When they arrived later, Jeremy was topping up the fluid levels. "Jeremy, how are we doing?"

    "Well, I finished rebuilding the engine and transaxle. It only cost a few hundred dollars," he said. "Don't worry, I won't charge you for it. Now that I've finished flushing the systems and refilling them, then hopefully, she should turn over." He gave Takashi the key. "Care to do the honours?" Takashi nodded and took the key. He sat down in the driver's seat and put the key in the ignition. Fingers crossed, he turned the key and the engine started right up, sounding like new.

    "Yay!" Angela exclaimed happily. Her celebrations were short, however, as she and Jeremy sensed something. "Why isn't she transforming?"

    "Alright, shut her off," Jeremy said. Takashi shut the car's engine off and stepped out. Angela placed her hand on the front bumper.

    "What's wrong?" she asked it. "Why can't you change for us?" Takashi gasped as he too, figured out the problem. "Are you scared?"

    "Come on, we saved you."

    "Are you sure she's alive?" Takashi asked. Angela gave him a dirty look, and he backed up half a step.

    "Yes," she said anyway. "I know she was alive."

    "Well, maybe removing the engine killed her," Jeremy said.

    "No, wait." Angela took a deep breath and concentrated really hard, her hand seemingly glued to the car. "She's... still there. I can feel her."

    "Then why isn't she changing?"

    "Come on. Please?" Angela asked the car. "If you don't change... I'll force you to."

    "You can really do that?" Takashi asked.

    "Yeah, but it requires a lot of energy," Jeremy explained. Angela took another deep breath, and she pressed her palm down hard on the front badge while focusing on the car, causing it to transform in a flash of light. After the light had dimmed, Angela found her hand on the midsection of a girl who appeared to be unconscious. Angela felt completely drained of all her energy.

    "She's alive," she said. "Unconscious, but alive."

    "I see," Takashi said. This girl had dark, ruby-red hair that was relatively tom-boyish. Her clothing was a similar colour. Takashi helped Angela stand up.

    "She's exhausted. It'll be a while before she wakes up."

    "The same goes for you. You think you could get us home?"

    "Yeah." Angela stepped outside and transformed. "I'll need some gas though," she said through her radio. Her gas gauge read just above the E mark.

    "You take good care of her, okay?" Jeremy said.

    "Yeah," Takashi said, carrying her to Angela. Later, when they arrived home after a quick fuel stop, Takashi carried the girl upstairs and lay her down in his bed, while Angela had fallen asleep on the couch. Takashi stayed by her side. Angela came into the room much later after her nap and dinner, and the girl still hadn't woken up, but she did appear to be in less pain.

    Next morning, Takashi noticed that her face had twitched and her eyes slowly opened. They were a dark, greyish-black colour. She gasped and sat up, staring at Takashi.

    "Good morning," Takashi said. "I see you're finally up. I'm sorry about all the pain you must have gone through."

    "You," she said softly after a few moments. "You're not her."

    "Excuse me?" he asked with genuine confusion.

    "My owner!" she said with an angry expression. "You're not her!"

    "Hey, calm down."

    "No!" she yelled, climbing out of the bed. "I have to find her!" Takashi grabbed her arm.

    "I'm your new owner now."

    "Don't touch me!" she yelled, punching Takashi and knocking him out.

    "Takashi wake up! Takashi! Are you okay?" Angela's distant voice called out to him. Takashi groaned as he opened his eyes and sat up. He was on his bedroom floor, and Angela had a worried expression. "Takashi, what happened? Where'd the SL1 go?" He rubbed his forehead.

    "I'm not sure, but I think she said something about looking for her previous owner," he said.

    "This isn't good. I've seen what this can do to our kind. There's so much emotional pain."

    "We have to get her back."

    "Takashi!" Kyu exclaimed. "Are you okay baby?" She gave him a very firm hug.

    "Mom, I'm fine."

    "Kyu, we should go," Angela said.

    "I know," Kyu responded. "I know just how much she meant to you guys, Buck and Cain are already out searching."

    "As are Faye and Celica. I called them earlier."

    "Good. The more we have out, the easier this'll be." They all went outside, where it had begun to rain, and Angela transformed into her car form. Takashi and Kyu climbed in and they drove into town, hoping to find the SL1, who was hopefully closing in on her personal goal.

    Across town, the SL1 was driving through the suburbs.

    "It was just down here," she told herself as she drove by the house after house. Then, she turned onto a dead-end cul-de-sac, that was very familiar. "Here it is." She transformed into her human form and ran up to the door, ringing the doorbell. It was answered after a moment by a young, teenaged girl.

    "Can I help you?" she asked.

    "Yes. I-" She paused getting a good look at the girl. "You... you're not her either..."

    "Um... well, I don't... know who you're looking for, but they aren't here anymore, so I'm going to ask you to leave. Please?"

    "N-no... why'd they leave me?"

    "Um... if you don't... I'm gonna call the police."

    "No. You can't. Please... I... I have to know where they went."

    "But who in the Hell are you?" the girl asked, stepping out onto the deck, a hand in her pocket, which contained a small knife. "Answer my question."

    "They named me Ruby." The girl hesitated, unsure about what to do. Neither of them noticed the Honda CR-V drive by and park across the road. It was Cain, and he called the others. Kyu's phone rang.

    "Hello?" she answered.

    "Kyu, it's Cain. I found her."

    "Oh. Where are you?"

    "It's Devroux Lane, a dead-end just off 17th Street."

    "Alright. We're coming." Takashi drove down the road until he found the road Cain said. He turned left and they say Him waiting there in his car form. He flashed his right turn signals to point to the house. Takashi parked and looked over and saw Ruby, wiping her tear-stained eyes. The girl looked over.

    "Excuse me, do you know her?"

    "Yes," Takashi said, walking over. "She's my car."

    "Wait... what? She's one of those Automorph things?"

    "Yes. Ruby please, stop bothering these people and let's go home." He put his hand on her shoulder.

    "You wouldn't know home if it hit you in your fucking face! I don't need you, I need my original owners back!"

    "Wait," the girl interjected. "You came back here, looking for your original owners?"

    "They lived here all their lives!" Ruby cried.

    "I'm sorry... but they both passed away years ago... when this house burned down."

    "What?!"

    "They're dead! What more do you want from me? The damn building caught fire and they both died from the flames and smoke inhalation! At least... I think that what the papers said..."

    "Ruby," Angela said, coming up the steps. "Face it, as a car, we're destined to outlive those who bought us, cared for us, and loved us." She wiped a tear away from her own eye. "Humans die. Car's don't. Get that into your dumbass head!" She punched Ruby on top of the head, causing her to curl up in pain. "They're all gonna die and we're gonna live on!" Takashi and the girl both took two steps back. "Sorry. I didn't want to sound like Armageddon there, but my point stands. Ruby, get up and come home with us. We're you're new owners now, and there's nothing you can do about it."

    "Can... can you at least do one thing for me?" Ruby asked, looking up at the girl.

    "Maybe?" she replied unsurely.

    "Please... take me to their grave. I want to tell them..." she wiped her eyes and put on a smile. "...that I'm okay."

    "Um... okay." She took Ruby's hand and helped her up. Cain smiled, having watched from afar. The girl led Ruby to the Saint Faith Cemetery. Cain followed, after stopping by a florist. "Here they are, Ruby." Ruby went to the gravestone and got on her knees, trying to come up with something to say as she folded her hands in prayer.

    "Well... I always considered the two of you to be my parents," Ruby began. "You named me, loved me, and cared for me. But Takashi and Angela brought me back. They saved me... I know you two would have done the same but... you couldn't. I'm sorry..." she began to cry. "I'm sorry I can't be there for you." Ruby began to shake as she cried and she cried for a good several minutes. "Sorry... you probably don't want to cry so much. I know you miss me... wherever you are, but I... I wanted to let you know that I'm happy to be with Takashi. He saved me from Hell..."

    Soon after, Ruby calmed down enough and stood up, wiping her knees off.

    "Alright," she turned with a genuine smile. "Let's get you home." She took the girl home while Cain helped her get back to Takashi's house. Soon after, everyone was laying down for a good nap, much to Shun and Kyu's surprise to come home and see everyone asleep.

    After a few weeks since Ruby accepted Takashi as her new owner and went down to the courthouse to get herself registered, she checked the mailbox to find a large letter from the state treasury. She brought it inside and sure enough, it was her license plate which read 'RUBY' and she squeed with delight, immediately running to Takashi.

    "Takashi, my plate came in, put it on me!"

    "What?" He asked.

    "My license plate, you dumbass! Put it on my ass already!"

    "Sheesh, perverted much?"

    "Hell no!" She sighed and stepped outside and transformed into her car form and Takashi removed the temporary paper licence plate and screwed in the new one. "Ah! Not so tight back there!"

    The next day, Takashi and Angela had moved into the Heating and Cooling System Basics in the Tech class. They were working on computer work.

    "How far are you?" he asked her.

    "I'm still working on the first part," she replied. "I'm still trying to figure this out."

    "Oh come on, that was easy."

    "Yeah, for you anyway."

    "What do you mean easy?" another student asked. She was the other girl in the class, and it was very unclear as to how she adopted the nickname Zuul. That's just how everyone referred to her, even the instructor, Mr. Arzate. Her real name was Vanessa. "This shit's hard."

    "I thought you like it hard," another student retorted, his name Chris. There were some laughs.

    "Shut up!" There were a few more laughs.

    "Whatever, the point is, I'm finished," Takashi spoke up.

    "Will you do the work for me then?" the student named Travis asked.

    "Only if you pay me."

    "Hell no."

    "Alright then suffer."

   "Damn it," he said, turning back toward his computer screen. That was also what the Tech life was like. Swearing, innuendo, and endless, if sometimes very terrible, puns and references. What more could you possibly want or ask for? When Tech ended at 11, Takashi and Angela drove back to the school before the bell rang for lunch. When it did, Nikki and the others joined them at the table they were at.

    "So you learn anything new in Tech today, Angie?" Faye asked.

    "We started Heating and Cooling Systems today," Angela answered. "And don't call me that." It wouldn't matter how many times she said that, as Faye would never stop. It was just habitual for them both.

    "Interesting," she lied.

    "Whatever," Angela muttered. While they were eating and chatting, Takashi had an eye on Zero as he was having what appeared to be a friendly conversation with one of the teachers. Takashi thought angrily, at how Zero could kill kids, yet still smile like that the next day, as if everything was fine or normal. How could he possibly do it? Takashi figured that if they were going to do anything about him, they'd have to do it now. Much later, after everyone had gone home for the day, Zero was assigned to other patrol routes without any action. Although, most would think that's a good thing. But when he got back to his house, he stepped inside and before he could turn on the lights, his table lamp was turned on.

    "What the-?!"

    "Hello, Zero," the man sitting on his couch said in a deep Chinese accent.

    "Who the fuck are you?!" Zero demanded, reaching for his gun, but the other man suddenly had his hands around Zero's neck.

    "Make one more move and I'll break your neck."

    "Jesus alright," he said, moving his hands away slowly. "What do you want?"

    "I am Agent Yipeng Tang with Autonomous Synthetic Humanizations."

    "A.S.H. huh? You may not know this, Agent Tang, but I'm already doing my job for your company."

    "But you're failing to fulfil our quotas."

    "I'm trying my damn hardest to kill off all of your old projects alright?!"

    "I only come here to warn you that if you fail us again this month, we'll bring you in and have you decommissioned."

    "Oh don't worry, I get the job done sir."

    "We'll be sending someone to keep an eye on you until then. Do not disappoint us again." With his final warning, Agent Tang walked toward the door. "Oh, I helped myself to some of your fried chicken." He then walked out of the house.

    "Asswipe!" Zero yelled after him.

     Some officers were out on patrol later that night, in the south-eastern part of the city. They both sat in the patrol car, a basic Crown Victoria. One officer kept glancing toward his fellow officer, although who could blame him, she was dead gorgeous.

    "Quiet tonight, eh Hadley?" the man asked, trying to spark up some conversation.

    "Shut up, Sukata," she retorted, without looking up from her book.

    "And why the hell are you reading while we're on the clock?"

    "Because there's nothing happening."

    "Wait a second," he said with a change in his vocal tone.

    "What?"

    "Hadley..."

    "I'm busy."

    "Hadley, some chick's in front of us!"

   "What?" She finally looked up from her book and the two officers were staring back into the red eyes of a pale young woman standing in front of their car. She was clad in ruined red clothing with red hair and eyes. But there was something else on her that got Hadley's attention. "She's got blood on her!" She climbed out of the car.

    "Hadley!" Sukata yelled. "Fuck," he muttered, pulling his radio. "This is Unit 334, we have a young woman in front of our unit and she appears to have some blood on her."

    "Copy that, Unit 334," the woman in dispatch said. "Do you need EMS?"

    "She seems to be able to move under her own steam, but could we get a superior out here?"

    "Rodger that 334," a male voice said. "Sherrif Unit 896 is on their way."

    "Ma'am, are you okay?" Hadley asked. "Is this your blood?"

    "N...No," the young woman said.

    "Who's blood is it? Were you in an accident?"

    "I was in an accident... but it's not my blood..."

    "What happened?"

    "He didn't know what he was doing... are you supposed to be an authority figure?"

    "Yes, now, please cooperate with me. You look hurt and I just want to help you."

    "That's what he said before I crashed myself into the wall... and I killed him."

    "What?"

    "You heard me..." The girl drew up a hand with sharpened fingernails and she slashed at Hadley's neck, cutting a long gash along her neck.

    "Augh!" She choked as she fell back, clutching at her neck.

   "Hadley!" Sukata screamed, grabbing for his gun, but the woman lashed out, shoving her hand through his body armour and pulled out some of his ribs. He fell over bleeding severely. She stood back and smirked at the wounded officers before transforming into an old Datsun 240Z, in red, and driving away.

    Takashi couldn't believe the news the next day. Two officers were critically wounded with one of them dead, the other in the ICU in the hospital. He glanced at Jemma.

    "What the hell did you do?!"

    "Don't fucking look at me!" she tearfully defended herself. "I'm laying low just like you said, and do you really think I could fucking tear out a police officer's goddamn rib cage?!"

    "Takashi," Angela butted in. "Don't be so hard on her. Besides, the other officer survived."

    "She's in the ICU!" Takashi retorted. "Once they finally brought her back around, she could only mutter something about..." He paused as the realization hit him.

    "About?"

    "...a red 240Z..."

    "Wait, you think one of us did this?" Jemma asked.

    "Most likely. It's got to be a car who's gone rogue."

    "It could be, but I don't know any old Datsuns at all..."

    "I'll have Cain and Celica look around when they can," Angela said.

    "No, don't," Takashi stopped her.

    "Why?"

    "Because this is dangerous. This car brutally attacked police officers, killing one of them. We need to think carefully."

    "Yeah, I guess you're right."

    "Wait," Jemma said, going to the window.

    "What's up?" Angela asked.

    "I swear someone was here?"

    "Was it the 240?" Takashi asked.

    "No... it looked like some creepy Asian kid."

    "That's weird."

    "Hm... anyway, you both need to be careful out there. I'll try to pass some word around about this killer 240."

    "Good," Angela said and Jemma nodded.

    The next day, Takashi and Angela were at their lunch table waiting for Nikki, Sabrina and Mina. They were talking about the killer Datsun.

    "How do you think Zero reacted when he heard about that Datsun?" Angela asked.

    "I don't know, but my guess is this Datsun is an automorph like you," Takashi noted. Angela then gasped. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

    "N..No..." she tried to gesture over his shoulder.

    "Then what's wrong?" he asked before he felt someone close behind him, and he turned his head, so see this Asian student trying to peer into their conversation. "Dude what are you doing?"

    "Nothing," the kid answered before some blood began to seep from his nose and Angela let out a horrified scream. Takashi handed the boy some napkins while Angela calmed down. "Sorry," he said. "I heard you talking about that Devil Z."

    "And is there something I can help you with, Dude?"

    "I'm currently investigating that car myself."

    "Investigating?"

    "Oh shit," he muttered. "I shouldn't have told you that. Let me come to your place later please?"

    "Wait," Angela butted in. "You're eavesdropping on us, and you expect us to let you into our house?"

    "I mean I do have some authority," the kid said, while Takashi was taken aback by Angela referring to the two of them in such a manner. "Please, you need to trust me."

    "That's asking a lot," Angela muttered.

    "Hey wait," Takashi said. "Don't we have math class together?"

    "Yes, I'm Colin," the kid said. "God, my dry nose is acting up again."

    "Oh," Angela said. "I thought you were some kind of pervert."

    "Well... I like cars rather than people." Angela blushed. "What? I like beaters and luxurious stuff."

    "Well, I'm neither because I'm Takashi's."

    "What?" Takashi asked, having not heard everything.

   "Nothing," Angela said quickly and Colin smirked, stifling a laugh. Later that afternoon when it had begun to rain, Angela and Takashi watched Colin roll up in a silver Toyota Matrix. It looked like it could have used some TLC, but it ran well. Colin parked it and climbed out.

    "I see you made it," Takashi said.

    "Well yeah," Colin said.

    "Good. We can continue this conversation inside." They all went inside the house and Colin helped himself to a glass of water. "So why are you investigating that Devil Z, as you were saying?"

    "Well, I-" they were interrupted by a knock on the door. Angela answered, only to find Jemma there, soaking wet.

    "Oh hey."

    "Yo, who's General Tso?" She asked, opening her bag of chips.

    "Don't be racist," Takashi said.

    "Is she talking about me?" Colin asked.

    "Yeah," Jemma answered. "Who the hell are you?"

    "I'm Colin. Who are you?"

    "I'm Jemma. Takashi, where's your room?"

    "End of the hall on the left," he answered.

    "I need to get out of these wet clothes." She walked into Takashi's room and closed the door, and Angela looked outside and the clouds had thickened, and it was becoming dark.

    "Anyway, I said I was investigating that Devil Z," Colin said.

    "So wait," Takashi interjected. "Dude, I know you're my age, but this investigation, is this like some personal project or what?"

    "Actually, I work for my father," Colin explained.

    "Then this sounds really confidential," Angela stated. "Um... Colin, you probably shouldn't be spilling all of this to us. I don't want to get involved then have... Zero after me." She hugged herself tightly.

    "Ah shit. You make a good point. But let me say this, because of this, I may be acting all weird, or you'll see me in weird places."

    "Well, that's understandable," Takashi said before checking his watch. "Oh, Angela, where's Ruby?"

    "I think she's asleep in the garage," Angela answered.

    "Before I go," Colin stated, "there's one thing I will tell you, that you'd like to hear."

    "And what would that be?"

    "I work for my father, as I said, but Zero also works for my father."

    "Wait, does that mean-?!" Angela demanded, but Colin stopped her.

    "I've been brought in because Zero is failing to meet my father's expectations. I'm here to keep an eye on him, and make sure he does his job."

    "Which is car killing," Takashi stated, holding Angela back.

    "What?" Colin asked.

    "Zero fucking kills cars, Colin," Angela hissed. "And if you're on his side, get the fuck out of my house."

    "Hold on," Takashi said, holding her back more, seeing some genuine concern on Colin's face.

    "Is that what Zero's been told to do?" Colin muttered. "Goddamnit..."

    "Takashi, he's made his point which is against us," Angela said, transforming her arm and hand into her CV shaft and wheel, ready to swing it at Colin.

    "Angela wait," Colin said. "I'm sorry, but I haven't been told what Zero's been doing, only to make sure he's well, not slacking off I guess."

    "Don't feed me that bullshit!" Angela yelled. Jemma came back out and simply watched the whole ordeal.

    "Angela please, I've been kept in the dark about a lot of the details."

    "Whatever," she said, calming down and her arm returned to its normal human state. "Just get out."

    "Alright, I'm leaving," Colin said. He smiled and walked back out into the rain.

    The following day, Takashi and Angela came home to find three people in the living room. It was Jemma and Ruby, with the third being a pale, young woman who was lying on the ground, bound and gagged. She appeared to be unconscious.

    "What's going on?" Takashi asked. "You're kidnapping now?"

    "No!" Ruby defended.

    "She came up to us asking for a place to hide," Jemma explained. "But I had to tie her up once we found out who she is."

    "And who is she?"

    "Akuma Zeto," Ruby breathed a hint of fear in her voice.

    "The cop-killing Datsun 240Z," Jemma said.

    "But... why'd you put tape on her mouth?" Angela asked.

    "She was screaming for help when I began to tie her up, so I had Ruby put the tape on her," Jemma explained, eating some chips.

    "We need to turn her in," Takashi said. The others looked at him.

    "Not yet," Jemma said. "We need to find out why she's doing this."

    "Well... you could have taken her to the basement and tied her to the support beam."

    "And have a car in the basement?" Ruby asked. "I don't think Shun or Kyu would approve."

    "Well, if they come home and see that you have a killer tied up in our house, they're already going to be unapproving of this." By now, the woman had begun to stir as she woke up.

    "Good morning, sleepyhead," Jemma said teasingly. The girl looked up and whimpered as Takashi looked at her and saw genuine fear in her eyes. They seemed different, her eyes. They weren't the eyes of a killer. Takashi took the tape off her mouth and she winced.

    "Ow," she said in a soft voice.

    "Takashi, what are you doing?" Ruby asked.

    "Hold on," he said, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket.

    "What's that?" Jemma asked.

    "It's a photo from the body camera of the police officers when the 240 attacked them." He showed the woman the picture. "Is this you?" She looked at it and gasped, tears falling from her eyes.

    "N... w... why are you showing me this?" she cried softly.

    "Is this you or not?"

    "Well... yeah but... it's also not..."

    "Oh shit," Jemma muttered.

    "What?" Angela asked.

    "Hey, what's your name?" she asked the woman.

    "I'm Akuma... Akuma Zeto," she replied.

    "Akuma... are you bipolar?"

    "I'm cursed..."

    "Damnit," Jemma muttered.

    "What's wrong?" Angela asked.

    "Ruby put some tape back on her mouth."

    "What?" Akuma asked with wide eyes. "Please don't!"

    "Jemma, what's going on?" Takashi asked as Ruby struggled with Akuma, as she got some fresh tape back over the girl's mouth.

    "This a bad case of a severe bipolar disorder," Jemma stated. "She needs some serious help."

    "Then what can we do?" Ruby asked.

    "We can't just turn her over to Zero, he'd kill her!" Angela said. Akuma went wide-eyed and let out some muffled protests.

    "I might have an underground doctor who can help," Jemma said.

    "Maybe I should ask Colin," Takashi said.

    "No, he'd turn her over," Jemma said. "Takashi, please, let's at least try to help her." She reached over and gently patted Akuma's head. "I'm sorry, but I just want to help you. Please Akuma, let us help you." Akuma shied away from her slightly. "Akuma trust me. Please?" Akuma thought for a few moments and nodded slightly. "Good. Ruby, go to the garage and get into your car form. Akuma, you're gonna need to stay tied up in Ruby's trunk." Akuma let out a questioning whine. "So the cops don't see you. Ruby, I'll lead to you my guy, Takashi and Angela may need to be a distraction."

    "A distraction?" Takashi and Angela asked.

    "Just in case Zero is onto us for some reason."

    "If he catches us and if we get out, I'm going to kill you," Angela muttered.

    "Fair enough," Jemma said with a nod, picking up Akuma and taking her to the garage. "Ruby, don't drive like an ass because you'll be carrying Akuma." Akuma groaned as Jemma shut the trunk. Ruby, now in control of her car form, popped one of her rear seats forward slightly to allow some airflow. Ruby then drove out of the garage with Jemma driving her and Takashi followed in Angela.

    Jemma led Ruby to an abandoned building on the southern end of the city, near the docks. She pulled up to a garage door as per Jemma's instructions. Jemma pressed on Ruby's horn a precisely timed twice. The door opened to reveal a man wearing a multitude of yellow with a bandaged face. Jemma got out of Ruby and walked over to him.

    "Well well, if it isn't my favourite little diamond, Jemma," he said in a somewhat snide tone as he grabbed her chin and held her close to his face.

    "Don't call me that, asshole," she said, her voice broken slightly from his grip as her cheeks turned red and she turned her eyes away.

    "Pah, you know I'm just fucking with ya. What's up?"

    "I need your help, Jaku."

    "Alright, pull in." He motioned for Ruby to drive in and she did, before parking and opening her trunk. Akuma shook herself awake and tried to sit up from being cramped for so long. "So you must be the infamous Akuma Zeto." He looked into the pale woman's eyes and she nodded. "Jemma, tie her to my chair and take that tape off her mouth." Jemma nodded and pulled Akuma out of Ruby and placed her in the chair, adjusting the ropes accordingly. Akuma winced as the tape was ripped from her lips for the second time today.

    "Um... could I get some oil please?" she asked softly. Jemma looked at her with an unsure expression then toward Jaku who walked over to a shelf full of liquid drums. Using the nozzle he affixed to each barrel, he poured half a quart of high-zinc 10W-30 oil and brought it over to her to drink. Akuma drank it quickly and nodded. "Thanks," she added softly.

    "So... bipolar disorder, huh?" he asked her as he sat down in a chair beside her.

    "It's a curse," she stated as if he was wrong.

    "You only think that. But I've seen what you can do, tearing out ribs like that."

    "No! That isn't me!"

    "Shut up and listen to me," he said maintaining his composure. Ruby transformed and watched with Jemma. "Whatever happened between you and your original owner is what has caused you to turn out like this."

    "You really think so?"

    "Tell me your story."

    "Well, I was originally purchased back in the early '70s, then was modified for track use. They stripped me of everything from my interior, and then he... or was it they... they took my engine and bored it out. They gave me three duel-carburettors. Hm... I don't really remember what happened after that, or what they did to me. I just know they modified me so much... then they... I... they crashed me. And it still hurts. They said that the driver... he died and they blamed me for it." Akuma sniffled as she began to cry. "I was beaten and torn apart and left to rot. But when I finally came to after a restoration... I always had these episodes of anger after being driven aggressively. And then my driver or owner... I'd... she'd, oh I don't know. They'd just end up dead with myself hurt."

    "I'll bet it was that first crash that hurt you the most," Jaku said. "But whatever it did to your engine is what caused your personality split. You get going and you get angry before you turn on your owner and crash, killing them, and almost yourself." Akuma thought to herself as she let his diagnosis sink in. "Now listen to me, Akuma. There's no cure for this sort of disorder. I can't make that angry side of you go away. Only you can, but it's going to every ounce of strength and willpower you have to control yourself and your mental state of mind. But I think, with a couple of mods, I can help you with that."

    "Please, no more mods."

    "Do you want to live as a free Datsun, or spend your dying days in a jail cell?"

    "I don't think I can ever live a normal life with everything I've done."

    "You just need to atone. And besides, I'm sure you aren't ready to die."

    "What if I want to?"

    "Are you sure about that?" Jaku asked as he pulled out a large nail gun and pointed it at her forehead. "I pull this trigger and a railroad spike goes halfway through your head. If you're ready to die just say the word." Jemma and Ruby stood up to intervene, but Jaku held up an arm to stop them.

    "W-Wait wait!" she pleaded, suddenly scared.

    "I thought so," he said, putting it away, much to Jemma and Ruby's relief. "Akuma, you want my help, don't you?"

    "Y-Yes," she said tearfully.

    "Then trust me." He took out a knife and cut her loose. "Get into your car form. Oh, but before you do, I need to properly introduce myself. I'm Jaku Valentine, automobile extraordinaire. Mazdaspeed Protege5."

    "As a car, young Akuma, you cannot ingest human food, however through some extensive testing, we can, however, partake of specially designed medications. One of which I have created to keep you calm by decreasing your human brain activity when your negative emotions boil over, which can be measured with this gauge," Jaku said as he fixed the red and green needle gauge to her dashboard."

    "How can I take this medicine?" Akuma asked through her speakers.

    "Simple. Mix it in with your fuel after you wake up every morning."

    "I see," she trailed off. "But... the faster I go, the angrier I get."

   "That's what this gauge is for. We'll need to run some speed tests to see what sort of speed you can get up to before blowing your gasket." He smirked and Ruby, Angela and Jemma blushed.

    "H-Hey, no need to say it like that!"

    "Why's that?" Takashi asked.

    "Well-" Angela began.

    "It's kinda..." Ruby stuttered.

    "It's a sexual thing," Jaku said with a smug smirk.

    "I see," Takashi noted.

    "Well, that should just about do it. Akuma you'll be staying with me while we're doing your speed tests. The rest of you can fuck off."

    "Fuck you too, asswipe," Jemma said, standing up and walking out.

    "Wait a second, how can it be a sexual thing?" Takashi asked as they were driving away. Jemma shrugged.

    "Takashi, please don't look into it," Angela said through her speakers. "And Ruby, why are you riding inside me?"

    "Takashi," Ruby whined, tugging on his shirt sleeve. "I'm thirsty."

    "Jeez, we really need to work on your fuel economy," Takashi said. "Angela, let's go to the gas station."

    "Alright," Angela huffed as she turned left and headed toward the service station. She pulled in and Ruby crawled out and grabbed the unleaded nozzle. Takashi and sighed, paying and he selected 87-grade fuel while Ruby drank her fill. Just then, Celica and Faye pulled into the station.

    "Hi, Angie-dear!" Fay said. Angela groaned in response and changed to her human form as Faye hugged her tightly.

    "Ack!" Angela said through a choked breath. "Hey get off."

    "Oh, I have," Faye said slyly.

    "Anyway, aren't you gonna pay for Celica's fuel?" Takashi asked.

    "Hush child," Faye said.

    "But we're the same age."

    "Anyway," Faye continues as she fueled Celica, "I was gonna fill her up and let her go to this club she's been talking so much about."

    "A club?" Jemma asked.

    "Yeah. She says it for cars only."

    "Oh, you mean the Triple C?"

    "That's the one."

    "Triple C?" Takashi asked.

    "The Car Club Club," Celica and Jemma said simultaneously.

    "Wait, Jemma how do you know about it if it's for cars only?"

    "You didn't know?" Angela asked him.

    "Know what?"

    "Oh sorry. I forgot to tell you I'm a 2015 Camaro SS," Jemma said. "I've just never shown you my car form."

    "Wait you always eat my potato chips! I thought cars can't have human food."

    "I puke em up later at some point. They taste good going down, but not-"

    "Shut up. Now."

    "Okay."

    "Takashi, I wanna go!" Angela said.

    "Me too," Ruby added, wiping her lips with the back of her coat sleeve.

    "Can you all stay together?" Takashi asked. "Faye you need to word in on this too."

    "What?" She asked, surprised.

    "We know Zero's out there killing cars so we need to make sure they know what to do."

    "Look, kid, I've taught my Celica everything I could, knowing what you said, and I know my Angie would watch her back." She turned toward the other cars. "I want your word you'll all come back home safe, got it?"

    "Of course," Celica nodded. Angela looked at Takashi and smiled.

    "We'll be alright," Ruby said.

    "Alright, I trust you," Takashi said with a nod. "Stay together, and stay out of trouble."

    "Alright Dad, jeez," Celica laughed. Angela and Ruby laughed as Takashi sighed and they transformed. Jemma turned out to be a black Chevy Camaro, much like her late brother, but she had a special body kit. She was the modern rendition of the old Pontiac Firebird with a pointed front bumper. Takashi thought she looked rather nice. She flashed one headlight as a wink and drove off, leading the way.

    "Wait, do they know where they're going?"

    "I'm sure they do," Faye answered with an honest smile, unlike her usual sly ones.

    Jemma led the others to a large building over in the warehouse district of the city. As they weaved through the multitude of buildings and piles of shipping containers, there was one in the middle painted in a worn British Racing Green with three letter C's painted on the garage-style door which was the only entrance to the building. There was one woman standing outside, as a bouncer. Jemma drove up first and rolled down her window.

    "What the hell do you think you're doing here?" the bouncer asked.

    "Damn Bonnie, is that how you treat an old friend?" Angela and the others watched in silence as the two began to laugh.

    "Are they with you?" Bonnie asked.

    "Yeah, the two Saturns and the Celica."

    "Alright, you all can go in. Oh and Jemma, Cher and Rebecca are going to want to talk to you."

    "Yeah... I'm sure they are," she sighed through her radio. Bonnie stepped back knocked on the door and it opened, she waved all four of them in and motioned for the door to close behind Celica. They drove into the parking area where they changed into their human form. There was a bar with a bartender as well as several tables with chatting automorphs and there were hosts and hostesses serving tables.

    "Fancy," Angela commented.

    "That's kinda the point."

    "Live music?" Celica asked, looking toward the stage.

    "Oh yeah, looks like Mick Jaguar and the Barracudas are playing tonight," Jemma said. As Mick Jaguar sang some classic jazzy tunes the Barracudas, three women, backed him up on vocals. There was also a band playing the music they sang to.

    "So who runs the place?" Ruby asked as she glanced around for a table.

    "You'll see. For now, I gotta go talk to them."

    "Hey don't leave us alone," Angela said.

    "Yeah Jemma," some tall woman said, grabbing Jemma by the shoulder from behind. Angela and Ruby took a step back as Jemma turned.

    "Cher," Jemma said in a sour tone.

    "Oh come on now, Sweetie, you need to cheer up." Cher took a step back and smiled at them. "After all it's been so long since I've seen you."

    "It has, but where's Rebecca?"

    "She's in the office, being her usual self."

    "A stick up her ass?"

    "Not just that," Cher winked.

    "Oho... shit." Jemma blushed slightly as Cher giggled. "Well, this is Angela, Ruby, and Celica. They're friends of mine."

    "Hi, I'm Angela, I'm an 06 Saturn Ion 3 Quadcoupe," Angela said.

    "Ooh, you've got the fun body, huh?" Cher said, running her hands up Angela's sides and fondling her breasts from behind. Angela let out a yelp and jumped away with a violated look on her face.

    "Stay the hell away from me. I get enough of that already!"

    "Oho, so your owner's that type of man, huh?"

    "Takashi is not a pervert!"

    "Um, I'm Celica, a Toyota Celica GT," Celica said.

    "Ooh, a JDM classic," Cher said, eyeing her from top to bottom.

    "Um, please don't touch my boobs or I'm calling the police."

    "Noted, Sweetie."

    "I'm Ruby," Ruby said. "I'm a 1995 Saturn SL1."

    "I like your colour scheme," Cher said, patting Ruby's head. She turned back to Jemma. "Jemma, let's go to the office and talked to Rebecca. The rest of you can feel free to get one free drink tonight."

    "Okay," Ruby said.

    "Wait, why only one?" Angela asked.

    "I think one would be plenty," Celica said as she and Ruby pulled Angela toward the bar as Jemma and Cher walked up the stairs to the office overlooking the club. Angela reluctantly took a seat on one of the bar stools between Ruby and Celica. While Ruby ordered a quart of oil, Celica ordered a glass of gasoline. Angela sighed and just listened to conversations around them.

    "Come on Franzi, you can get me citizenship, no?" a girl with a Romanian accent asked her friend.

    "Nein nein, don't call me that!" her now flustered friend said. "You need to go to the courthouse to get the paperwork done, or at least a work visa, Sandy!"

    "Well, isn't that was your boss always calls you?"

    "I ask him not to, but he does it anyway."

    "Those two are foreign vehicles," the barkeep said with an Italian accent.

    "Well it sounds like you are too," Angela said to him.

    "True, as I am Zun, the newest Zonda commission from Grandmaster Horacio himself."

    "I thought he was done with Zonda's?"

    "True, but my master, Ma, he goes by, had me specially made."

    "Well, he sounds like a nice guy."

    "Oh, he is."

    "Well, what cars are they? I can't tell from here."

    "Oh, well Franziska, or Franzi, but you didn't hear that from me, is a new BMW M850i."

    "Cool."

    "Her companion Sandy is over here on a Visa for the motor museum. She's a Dacia Sandero."

    "Interesting."

    "Sadly she was brought over here to be part of a display."

    "Damn."

    "So she's trying to get a full visa so she can actually live outside that museum."

    "Hey come on, Angela, let's go dance!" Celica said suddenly, grabbing Angela's sleeve.

    "You best join her, Angela," Zun said with a small smile. "Mick Jaguar won't be in town for long." Angela was again, dragged off as Zun could only smile and wave.

    Cher walked Jemma into Rebecca's office.

    "Jemma, sit down," Rebecca said as she was focused on typing something on her laptop. Jemma sat down on one of the leather couches in the office and glanced around seeing all of Rebecca's photos and knick-knacks on various shelves along the walls. Rebecca worked for a few more minutes then sighed and stopped, closing her laptop and standing up, stretching her arms. "Damnit, I gotta get out of this stuffy office," she muttered. She turned around and sat down next to Jemma. "I'm sorry about John."

    "I guess even you hear things like that at some point," Jemma said quietly.

    "Jemma, I know everything about Zero Seiko and what he's doing," she put her hand on Jemma's shoulder. "I know he's killing cars, but what I don't know is why."

    "That's what we're trying to figure out."

    "Who's with you? The two Saturns and the Celica?"

    "Yeah, and this weird Asian kid. What's his name again? He says he works for Zero, but he's gonna be our eyes on the inside." Rebecca thought hesitantly.

    "Do you trust him?"

    "Not entirely, if I'm honest," Jemma admitted.

    "Maybe you should bring him here, and I'll spank some secrets out of him," Cher suggested suggestively.

    "Not like that," Jemma said. "He's human anyway, so he wouldn't know what we're going through."

    "What? Like hell, we need a human in here."

    "We won't bring him here," Rebecca said. "We'll take him elsewhere."

    "Ooh, a kidnapping!" Cher said giddily.

    "Not quite," Rebecca said. "But I will force some info out of him if I have to."

    "Well, one of my Saturn friends Angela doesn't trust him at all," Jemma explained. "Especially since he said he was assigned to watch over Zero to make sure he does his job, even though when we told him Zero's job was car killing I noticed he became distressed about that fact. So that's why I think he can be our man on the inside. But to face Zero publically, we need a bigger man on the outside."

    "Two battles, huh? Hmm." Jemma glanced at Cher who just shrugged while Rebecca began to pace her office in thought. "Jemma, bring your friends in here." Jemma hopped up and nodded, leaving the office. She found all three of them on the dancefloor dancing to the jazzy tunes of the band.

    "Angela, Celica, Ruby come on!" She said as she grabbed their hands. "Rebecca wants to talk with you guys."

    "Who's that?" Ruby asked.

    "Just come on, it's about what we're gonna do with..." she sighed and said quieter, "what we're gonna do about Zero." Angela nodded and grabbed Celica's hand while they all walked back into the office.

    "Good, I need you all to listen," Rebecca said as they sat down. "Jemma, here's the plan. We take this Asian kid you mentioned-"

    "What Colin?" Angela asked.

    "Don't interrupt me," Rebecca said. Angela pouted and crossed her arms at the older woman. "Anyway, we need to take him to a secure location so we can get the info on just what he'll be doing on the inside to we can use the insider info to fight them on the outside. And I know just how we're gonna do that. File a complaint about police brutality with Councilman Ian McCormick."

    "What role does he play?"

    "He's known for his sexy- I mean, his secretary."

    "That's weird."

    "Well yes, but-" She paused as she looked out the windows overlooking the dancefloor. "She's here."

    "I'll get her!" Cher said and she ran out of the office and Rebecca slapped her forehead as she watched Cher grab a woman off the dancefloor. Cher came back up dragging the woman in with her hand over her mouth. "Meet Franzi!" Franzi bit Cher's hand to get out of her grasp.

    "Nein nein! I told you to call me Franziska," the woman said, blushing.

    "Hey, you're the BMW M850i aren't you?" Angela asked.

    "H... How'd you know, fräulein?"

    "Zun, the barkeep told me."

    "Zun, that damn chatter-mouth," Rebecca said sighing. "Franziska, we know you work for Councilman McCormick, but we need his help to file a complaint about Zero Seiko's police brutality."

    "Pfft, you think you're gonna be the first ones?"

    "What?"

    "City council has already had like 405 complaints written in-"

    "Jeez," Celica said.

    "-337 called in," Franziska continued.

    "Ouch," Ruby hissed.

    "-und! 2,513 tweets from teenagers."    

    "Fucking hell," Cher coughed.

    "So as you could imagine, I am very busy at the office all day. That's why I come here to drink."

    "Well, knowing what we know Franziska," Rebecca said, "we need to get this story and what we know to him right away. We need you to get us to him."

    "I mean, we're not gonna hurt him, but we need him to know what's going on," Cher said.

    "Ja ja, I'm sure, but I don't know. I'll try."

    Down at the police station, Chief Yoshida Sukata had Zero in his office.

    "I get you're cracking down on street racers as well as trying to find the woman who killed my nephew," the chief said.

    "And I won't stop until I do," Zero said.

    "But we've heard several reports of complaints filed against you and your... methods."

    "Sir, I'm only going by the lawful policies."

    "I'm sure you are, but even so, if all these complaints go viral, it'll look bad for us as the lawful enforcers of this city. So I'm assigning you to gather a task force to help you on your endeavour."

    "Sir?" Zero looked genuinely surprised by this statement.

    "I mean, after all, you're the hardest working officer, Lieutenant. I'm only asking you to form a task force to help... ease the burden from your shoulders."

    "You know, I might have just the thing for you, Sir, as I've actually had this idea in my head for a while now honestly."

    "Oh, so you have some people in mind?"

    "They're already on their way here. I'll give you their files and a full report when they arrive."

    "Perfect. As you were, Lieutenant." Zero smiled and nodded, leaving the chief's office. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the city, the employees of a full-service gas station were standing by the doorway to their shop as business was slow.

    "Damn this heat," one said.

    "Yeah, it's so damn slow today." They looked toward the airport to see if anyone was going to stop by on their way into town, but even the airport looked slow. "Jeez."

    "Wait, what kind of cars are those?"

    "Huh?" The two boys walked to the edge of the road to see a line of cars coming from the airport. Leading was a Ford Crown Victoria which they recognized, but the other cars seemed off. They all seemed to be police cars of some sort too.

    "Are those police cars?"

    "I guess so, but it looks like they're from other countries. Maybe the police are doing an international show or something."

    "Holy shit, is that an R34?" The convoy then drove by their station.

    "Yeah, and a Porsche. What was that SUV?"

    "I don't know. That Lexus looked weird."

    "And what was that new sedan?"

    "I think that was an Alfa Romeo Guilia."

    "You think?"

    "Well, that's what it looked like."

    "Well whatever it is, it's gotta be important."

    "I know they're bringing a shit-ton of new cars to the motor museum. Maybe they're limited-time exhibits or something."

    "Probably."

    "Hey guys, quit slacking off and wash the store windows!" their boss yelled at them from the office.

    "But we already washed them twice today," the taller one said into the building.

    "Well do it again!" The boys sighed and went back to work. Later, back toward the police station, Zero just left for his patrol routes when he received a radio call.

    "We're here, Lieutenant Seiko," a woman's voice said.

    "Perfect," Zero radioed back. "I'm on my way to our task force's new office. Meet me in front of the Kondo Miyamoto Center. It's the tallest building in the city so you can't miss it."

    "Roger." Zero internally smirked to himself as he drove toward the building in question. Once there, he noticed that there was a line of foreign police cars.

    "Good good, you're all here. Sorry, I'm the one who's late. Follow me to our new headquarters."

    "Yes sir," came their radioed responses. Zero turned on his lights as did the others and they followed as he carved a path through the city, seemingly unaware of the occasional eyes upon them from higher floors.

    "We're being watched by a certain audience," the middle eastern SUV said with her accent as she could tell even from their ground level.

    "Don't worry about it," Zero said. "Besides, don't your superiors always say a show of force is better than a use of force?"

    "That they do," the Lexus radioed with a rather cockney accent, having come from the UK.

    "I've read your files. You all seem like a capable bunch." He turned into a barricaded parking garage behind the police station. "We're setting up in here, given our situations."

    They parked up and transformed into their human forms as some workers were busy putting solid glass panels along the open edges of the parking garage. Zero studied their vehicle forms before they turned. A Crown Victoria, a Lexus LC500, a W Motors Ghiath, a Porsche 911 Turbo, an Alfa Romeo Guilia, and a Nissan Skyline GT-R.

    "Welcome welcome," Zero said with a smile as he already had desks and papers set about and brighter lights were installed. "Let's at least hear some names with the new faces. I'm Zero Seiko. A Charger Hellcat."

    "Konichi wa," the Skyline said nervously. "I'm M-Maki Jingcha. A N-Nissan Skyline GT-R, R34 version."

    "No reason to be so shy," the Crown Victoria said, taking off her sunglasses. "Call me Victoria. Victoria Crown. You know I'm a Crown Vic."

    "You'll be head of undercover operations," Zero said.

    "No shit," Victoria replied, glancing over at the Alfa. "What about you?"

    "Well, I'm Enzo," the Italian man said. "Enzo Carabinieri. Alfa Romeo Guilia."

    "Guten tag," the female Porsche said, donning a witch's hat and carrying a staff. "I am Erika Polizei und I'm a 996 Porsche 911 Turbo."

    "What's with the witches hat and staff?" Zero asked.

    "I specialize in explosion magic."

    "Excuse me?"

    "Oh, nein nein. It's just part of my old outfit, I mean, I am an older car."

    "Unlike me," the cockney Lexus chimed in. "I'm May Rozzer, an LC500 with a rather unoriginal inspired design."

    "Weren't you on that TV show with the three guys-?" Zero asked.

    "I was inspired by that show yes," May answered. "Anyway what about you?" she asked the middle eastern woman. The woman sighed and smiled.

    "I'm Ghiath Shurta, from Dubai. I am a new W Motors built Ghiath Beast Patrol. I have a facial and licence plate recognition software. I have an advanced AI system within me that helps me connect to all of my, and soon our, databases to help us find and locate criminals."

    "Well," Zero said, very much so impressed. "I think with all of our different... suits, we should be able to cover a lot of ground in this endeavour." Zero unleashed a devilish smile with an evil laugh.

    "Crikey mate, chill," May said with genuine worry.

    "No worries," Zero said with a smile going to his whiteboard to review some prewritten plans.

    "So Zero," Victoria asked. "What sort of undercover missions am I going to be doing?"

    "I'm not sure yet," he answered.

    "So what's the plan then?" Enzo asked.

    "Look," Zero huffed, turning his board over to reveal the entire written chain of command as well as his direct orders from his superiors. Victoria took off her sunglasses for a clearer view. "I work for the ASH Corporation to clean up their automorph projects who are apparently running amock and causing chaos."

    "Automprphs?" Ghiath said. "Then what are we?"

    "Most likely, you're all international variants, given the info and research was shared secretly among top scientists throughout the world. ASH is the head of it all."

    "Impressive work Zero," Victoria commented. "These... investigations are going to be damn interesting."

    "Who said anything about investigations?" Zero said. "My source intel says there's a race going on at the airport construction zone tonight."

    "Und we are crashing that party?" Erika asked with an excited smirk.

    "Precisely," Zero said.

    From various drone captures, those who escaped put a video together and the video was leaked online. A new armoured police unit was following the racing cars behind a Porsche and Alfa Gulia. And using the help of an R34, a police Charger has rounded up all the racing cars and the ones who were automorphs were executed on the spot. Other racers were taken into custody and the very few who did manage to escape were surely trying to escape the city, but due to Ghiath's ability, their license plates and faces were caught on cameras and the rest of them were later caught. Jemma sat down at her computer unaware of the powers of the international units.

    "Something's not right," she said from her chair. "I need to see Cher and Rebecca."

    Jemma drove to the Triple C as fast as she could, but when she got there, despite the fact Bonnie was outside, as usual, the place seemed pretty dead.

    "Bonnie!" Jemma exclaimed. "Are Cher and Rebecca here?"

    "No Ma'am," Bonnie shook her head. "They left about an hour ago."

    "They must be after that kid," Jemma muttered. "Alright, see ya!" She transformed back into her car form and drove off. Using her in-car infotainment system, she sent Cher a quick message, and Cher responded with a reply on the neighbourhood where they were. She drove around quietly until she came upon the rather nice house where Cher and Rebecca were standing outside, facing a young boy in an almost silver suit. It looked a bit worn, but it was still proper. "What's happening?" Jemma came over to ask after getting back into her human form. Rebecca held her arm out to stop Jemma from stepping any closer.

    "He won't let us in," she said.

    "What?"

    "She's jumping to conclusions again," Cher sighed. "We rolled up and he just transformed and faced us."

    "What do you ladies want?" the boy asked.

    "Oh, the Matrix can speak," Rebecca said. "Look here, are you owned by some Chinese-American called... um... Jemma what's the kid's name?"

    "It's Colin, you dumb broad," Jemma huffed at her.

    "What do you need him for?" the boy asked.

    "He has some information we need to get out of him," Rebecca said. "Now let us in and we'll take him without hurting him or you."

    "He is assigned to me as an owner," the boy said, transforming half of his body to look more like a mech using his wheels and tires for hands and body panels for protection. "So I cannot allow that without a fight."

    "I got this," Jemma said, stepping up.

    "But-" Rebecca said but Cher stopped her.

    "She's got this," Cher noted. Jemma nodded and transformed her own arms and hands.

    "Now come at me you discontinued pile of shit," Jemma teased. Max's eye twitched and he charged forward swinging at Jemma who dodged each one. Cher motioned for Rebecca to follow her in. The two of them snuck in while Jemma and the Matrix fought. "Not bad for a fat Vitz," she said snidely.

    "You're just asking for it, aren't you?" he asked.

    "Nah, but you seem to be," she ducked under his left hook and gave him a powerful uppercut, sending him into the garage door.

    "Do you intend to wake the owners and therefore risk your friends inside?"

    "I'm sure they've got this." Inside, Cher and Rebecca were sneaking around, looking for the bedrooms. The walked by the master bedroom, but it looks like it wasn't used for the day.

    "His parents must still be at work or something," Cher said softly, pulling something from her pockets.

    "What is that?" Rebecca asked as she turned her fog lights on inside her eyes to look around better.

    "Chloroform and a rag," Cher replied. "I've got the rope in my trunk too. Oh, and tape if he's loud." Rebecca groaned and rolled her eyes, but her light beams came across an open door. She switched off her lights and peered inside, seeing a form laying in bed. She gently moved into the room to look, and sure enough, it was Colin. She glanced back at Cher to move in. Cher nodded and carefully snuck in and then gently soaked the rag in the chloroform.

    "When I turn him over, smother him," Rebecca said. Cher nodded and Rebecca grabbed him to turn him over. Before Colin could get a yelp out Cher shoved the rag over his face rather haphazardly. Colin flailed around for a few seconds before passing out. Rebecca sighed. "Jeez, that could have been easier."

    "I'm sorry!" Cher said. "I've never kidnapped anyone before!"

    "It's fine. Just tie him up and put one of his pillowcases over his head." Cher sighed and did just that. They walked out with Colin over their shoulder and the Matrix laying in the driveway, leaking oil with one of his tires pulled off his arm. "My God, Jemma."

    "What?" Jemma shrugged.

    "I know you had to fight, but you didn't have to tear off one of his hands! You know damn well that's not how we treat each other!"

    "Look I said I was sorry!"

    "Don't apologize to me, you idiot. Apologize to the Matrix."

    "I did get some info from him though."

    "Like what?" Rebecca asked as Cher transformed into her Jeep form and Rebecca laid Colin down in the back of her.

    "His name is Max. Aside from being assigned as Colin's vehicle, he's got some other motive."

    "Like what?"

    "No idea. He passed out before I could get anything else out of him."

    "Nevermind that. We got the kid, let's get out of here."

    Takashi was woken up in the middle of the night by Angela poking him on the tip of his nose.

    "Psst, hey," she whispered a bit harshly in an attempt to wake him. "Hey, Takashi!" He groaned and rolled over. Angela groaned and thought to herself before smirking smugly. She then carefully bit the lobe of his ear. Takashi immediately sat up and before he could yelp too loudly, she put her hand over his mouth. "Sorry listen. Cher and Rebecca, my friends, they kidnapped Colin-"

    "What?!" Takashi responded into her hand, but he moved it to speak but maintained a whisper. "Why?"

    "So we can get info out of him. Duh."

    "But why are you telling me?" Just then, Jemma tip-toed in.

    "Because we got him tied up in your basement."

    "WHY?!" Takashi asked as loud as he dared so he wouldn't wake up his parents.

    "We needed a secure location," Rebecca said as she scoped through the house.

    "Who the fuck are you?"

    "Rebecca," she answered. "2010 Subaru Tribeca Touring." Takashi sighed and climbed out of bed. As Rebecca continued slinking around, she opened a door that led into Kyu and Shun's room.

    "Hey!" Takashi whispered harshly. Rebecca smiled and closed the door.

    "Your mother has really taken a liking to her CR-V, hasn't she?" Rebecca asked Takashi with a smug expression.

    "It's not like that," he defended with a blush, looking away.

    "Uh-huh. Anyway, let's head downstairs." Takashi signed and they all went downstairs. Rebecca opened the door and Cher immediately grabbed her.

    "Rebecca something's wrong!" she cried.

    "What's going-" Rebecca began to ask, but as she looked toward the chair they had Colin tied to, the saw a big bloodstain on the pillowcase they had over his head. "What the fuck did you-?!"

    "I didn't do anything! It just appeared out of nowhere!"

    "Oh, would you two relax!" Takashi cried. He went over to Colin and tore the pillowcase off his head, revealing a still unconscious Colin with a bloody nose. "He told me in school he has bad nosebleeds when it's dry." He grabbed some toilet paper and cleaned Colin's face up before slapping him awake.

    "Ah!" Colin cried.

    "Relax dude. I'm not the one who kidnapped you."

    "Wait what is this?" Colin asked.

    "Look here, I need some info out of you," Rebecca asked. Cher nodded affirmatively.

    "Let's hit him violently and get what we can out of him," Angela suggested, popping her knuckles.

    "No need, I'll tell you everything I know," Colin said.

    "This dude is lame," Cher said.

    "Especially since I'm against car-killing as you all are," he added.

    "That's because we're cars, Ching-Chong!" Angela hissed.

    "No need for racism," Rebecca said. "Or I'll tie you up myself." Takashi blushed as some kinky thoughts ran through his head.

    "The fuck's that look for?!" Angela slapped him, seeing his euphoric expression.

    "Nothing!" Takashi defended.

    "Children focus," Rebecca said. "Colin, I need you to tell me who you work for."

    "Well I work for my Dad who works for some science company called ASH," Colin explained. "But he only has me watch Zero because Zero works for him. But Dad also told me to make sure Zero isn't really aware of what I'm doing."

    "So you're doing some in-house reconnaissance on the side then," Rebecca deduced.

    "I read in some of his reports that Zero's falling behind on his quote-unquote kill quotas."

    "And your dad has you making sure Zero's work is done... wait, you've read your dad's reports?"

    "Yeah, I sneak into his office all the time," he said. Rebecca smirked and cut the ropes. "Are we done?"

    "Not even." She reached into her pocket and handed him a one terabyte thumb-drive. "I need a copy of all the stuff on his computer."

    "Um, alright?"

    "Now scoot before the CR-V upstairs wakes up the parents," Cain suddenly said from the doorway, causing everyone to jump out of their shoes. "What's going on? An interrogation?"

    "Far from it," Takashi said. "We're putting our plan to stop Zero's plan of killing all the automorphs in town, into action."

    "Takashi, you know damn well you could have worded that sentence better."

    "Yeah, I know," he sighed. "It did sound a lot better in my head."

    "You, Jeep Cherokee, and Subaru Tribeca, as... lovely, as it was meeting you both, I do suggest you leave."

    "Apologies," Rebecca said. "We needed a secure spot."

    "Try harder next time."

    "Will do, but for now thank you for having us," Rebecca said with a nod. Cher nodded too and left with Rebecca.

    "Now to clean the mess," Cain said grabbing his floor cleaner spray. "Takashi and Angela need to go back to bed."

    "What about me?" Colin asked.

    "I'll take you home when we're done cleaning up."

    "Okay," he said with a nod. "So you're a CR-V, huh?" Colin asked starting a long chain of questions that a tired Cain really had no time for. Takashi sighed and went back to his bed and got back under the covers, falling right to sleep. Angela smiled warmly and pet his hair, looking out the window as he slept before laying down next to him later.

    A few nights later, in the city outskirts, a lone car pulled into the gas station. One of the employees came out to service the vehicle but stepped back in shock when he noticed it lacked a driver and transformed into a girl.

    "Holy shit," he muttered.

    "Hey relax," she said, noticing his fear. "I'm not gonna hurt you, but I would like a drink." She handed him some money and he shakily took it. She then took the fuel pump nozzle and began to drink the gasoline. Once she had drunk the money's worth, she put the nozzle back and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She then walked inside the store and looked around before finding a small bottle of fuel cleaner and brought it to the counter.

    "Is this dessert?" the employee dared to ask.

    "I guess you could say that," the girl smiled as she handed him some more money. He handed her the change and she drank the fuel cleaner. "Ah," she said with satisfaction. "I love this stuff. Thank you, have a good night." She smiled and left the store, transforming back into her vehicle form and driving away. She set her internal radio she had linked with her phone to play her synthwave playlist as she drove around the city. She wasn't just meandering around however, she was methodically waving down and around the side streets checking around bars and pubs, looking for something, or someone. As she weaved through a few more alleyways a police car came out behind her. The girl noticed it was a Nissan Skyline R34. It trailed her for a few blocks before turning off. The girl also turned off into a park and transformed back into her human form. "What the heck did she want?" she wondered aloud. "Damn. Well, they got my plate so I better take it on foot from here." She continued on her way until she noticed a car driving by. It was a grey BMW, but it was a new M850i. Feeling its presence, she hailed a taxi cab and climbed in.

    "Where to?" the driver asked.

    "I think I know the driver of that BMW there, could you follow them please?" the girl asked.

    "Sure thing, but don't blame me if they go farther than you want," the raggedy driver said with a smoke-scented smirk. They followed the car toward the city ports and warehouse district. The driver stopped the cab as the BMW rounded a green building. "Dead-ends round the corner. You gonna be alright?"

    "Oh yes," the girl answered, handing the driver some money. "Keep the change." She climbed out of the cab and walked around the building, seeing a woman outside the building letting the car in. The girl walked over to the woman. It was, of course, Bonnie, bouncer to the Triple C.

    "Hey," Bonnie said. "What do you need, kid?"

    "I'd like to gain entrance to your social club please, I believe my hairdo is in order," she said with a smirk and Bonnie just cocked an eyebrow.

    "Get the hell out of here, before I make you," Bonnie said cracking her knuckles.

    "Hey, if I beat you in a fight would you let me in?"

    "Ha, I'd like to see you try, kid," Bonnie said, immediately delivering her fastest right hook. The girl caught her arm and putting her other hand on Bonnie's breast to get the upward momentum started, swung Bonnie over her shoulder and onto her back. Bonnie gasped as she coughed up oil and had the air knocked out of her.

    "Do I win?" the girl asked. Bonnie coughed and pulled herself up.

    "Goddamn," she coughed. "What do you want, really?"

    "I'm looking for my brother," the girl said seriously. "I know he and I are twins and after we were experimented on and turned into Automorphs, we were separated with our memories wiped."

    "Then how do you remember all of this?"

    "My owner was a former scientist and he worked in that sector of the ASH Corporation."

    "Was?"

    "He was killed by some foreign assassins who attempted to steal his data."

    "So who has the data now?"

    "I do."

    "Then you better drive in there and ask for Cher and Rebecca. They can help you out." Bonnie smirked and knocked on the garage door. It opened and the girl nodded.

    "Oh, I'm Maxxine by the way," she said with her perky smile before she changed into her car form, a 2004 Pontiac Vibe GT. Bonnie nodded and stepped aside to let Maxxine drive into the club.

    Maxxine entered the club and parked before transforming back into her human form and continuing toward the bar, where she sat next to a taller woman who looked like a secretary. She then cued for Zun, the barkeep.

    "I'll have what she's having," Maxxine said.

    "Well, you're a pretty young thing, aren't you?" Zun asked with a smile, and Maxxine blushed.

    "Are you sure you want what I'm having fraulein?" the woman asked Maxxine. "It's pretty expensive stuff."

    "I'm sure I can handle it. Besides, I know you're the secretary to a high-ranking councilman, right?"

    "Ja, but..." the woman then narrowed her eyes. "How do you know all this?"

    "I know because I've done my research, Franziska, or should I call you-"

    "-If you call me by my infamous pet name I will tear out your crankshaft," Franziska threatened, putting her hand over Maxxine's mouth before she could finish her sentence.

    "You're a very dominant woman," Maxxine doted, causing Franziska to blush.

    "Nein nein nein nein nein!" Franziska said quickly. "What makes you think that?"

    "What I think is Councilman McCormick must love having you in bed with him, right?"

    "Oh mein Gott, would you cut that scheisse out!" By now, Cher and Rebecca were at a nearby table, watching, along with a few other patrons.

    "Look, let's just say I blackmail you for some info I want about someone in town, that I know you have access to records for."

    "Mein Gott. What do you want to know?" Franziska asked, rubbing her temples in defeat.

    "Don't answer that," Rebecca said, stepping into the conversation. Maxxine looked over in surprise. "Franziska, you and the Pontiac, my office." Cher grabbed Maxxine's arm and led her upstairs to the office.

    "You must be Cher and Rebecca the woman outside mentioned," Maxxine said once she sat down.

    "Stop patronizing my patrons," Rebecca said.

    "I'm just looking for my brother, and since I was told you two could help, I figured it would be more fun to make a scene rather than try to find you directly."

    "You're so naughty," Cher said. Now Maxxine raised an eyebrow in confusion.

    "Maybe not in that way."

    "Whatever," Rebecca said, retaking control of the conversation. "The point is you want Franziska to access the public records department and find your brother, right?"

    "Yes."

    "Is he one of us?"

    "Yes. He is."

    "Alright. Franziska, go ahead and pull his records when you can."

    "Ja ja," Franziska said. "What is his name?"

    "His name is Max. He's a 2004 Toyota Matrix XR. In silver."

    "So it's not just public records, it's also MVR's we'll need to go through as well," Cher said.

    "Then I know someone who can help," Franziska said.

    "Who?" Rebecca asked.

    "Sandy, the Dacia Sandero. She has an intern Visa and she works in the MVR department of the Treasury. She can access all the files on registered vehicles in the city."

    "Perfect. Next time she is here, we'll get her informed."

    "No need, I'll just send her an email."

    "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Maxxine asked. "Your superiors will know what you're doing."

    "I can tell Mr. McCormick that the vehicle is one that I need to find for personal reasons, and he'll just blow it off aside for me to work freely."

    "I suppose that works," Rebecca said.

    "So is that the plan?" Cher asked them and Maxxine and Franziska nodded. "Alright, Maxxine. Let's find your brother."

    The next day after Franziska had finished her assigned tasks for Councilman McCormick, she sent an email to Sandy. In the other end of City Hall, Sandy checked her email and after reading it, did a database search for Max's vehicle requirements. What came up was his vehicle form as well as his registered owner's info. She copied it all and sent it back to Franziska who then copied it and sent it to Rebecca. Rebecca checked her email and opened it up.

    "Holy shit, Cher!" Rebecca called to Cher who was down at the bar cleaning up as Zun was out for the day. Cher came running up to the office.

    "What's going on?" she asked.

    "That Matrix that Jemma beat up when we kidnapped that Colin kid..."

    "Yeah?"

    "That was Max!" Cher gasped. "He's the Matrix Maxxine is looking for. Look." Rebecca turned her laptop screen and showed Cher the info. It showed the city ID for Max in his human form as well as his registration papers. What shocked them was a vehicle ID tag for the ASH Corporation.

    "No way," Cher breathed.

    "Max works for the very company we're trying to bring down."

    Back at school, Colin was talking to Takashi, much to Takashi's dismay.

    "Wow, like I had no idea Cain was equipped with V-Tech, like even for a small crossover he's so cool!" Colin was rambling on and on about the other cars. Takashi sighed and tried to eat his lunch. He was jealous as to how Angela could use this time to take a quick nap, despite Colin and frankly, the rest of the din from the cafeteria. While Takashi took his empty tray to the kitchen counter with the rest of the trays Colin followed him and continued his nonsense. "Like, I like Buck for being the well used and hardwearing truck that he is..."

    "Colin," Takashi said, his eye twitching.

    "Yeah?"

    "Shut... the fuck... up. Look, I know you're trying to be nice and I'm glad there's another car enthusiast like me in school, but dude tone it the hell down."

    "Oh... alright." Colin laughed nervously. "Sorry, it's just that I've been kinda all over since I found Max's wheel fell off him the other night."

    "What?"

    "I think Dad said it looked like his wheel hub assembly came off."

    "Who's Max?"

    "Oh, that's what I named my Toyota Matrix."

    "I see." Just then the bell rang to mark the next class period to start. Angela sat up with a start and much to Faye's dismay, she couldn't get a photo of Angela sleeping.

    "Faye... were you watching me sleep?" Angela asked with a slightly concerned tone.

    "I couldn't get a picture," Faye said sadly. "But you drool in your sleep." Faye leaned in quickly and licked the small amount of drool from the corner of Angela's lips. Angela blushed heavily and jumped away from her with a violated expression. "Oh relax, you're so delicious." Angela just grabbed her bag and quickly ran to her next class. "Aw, I must have crossed a line."

    "Yeah, I'd say so, kid," Takashi said as he put his hand on her shoulder, having witnessed the whole thing. "If you violate my car again, I'm going to file a restraining order."

    "Whatever kid," Faye said with a smug smirk as she went down the other hallway to go to her class. Takashi sighed and went to his science class, however, his grades had been falling slightly as his mind was busy thinking of ways to get back at Zero still. He needed to get ahold of Jemma to listen to her latest ideas, even though he was sure most of them would be pretty stupid. But despite this, Takashi focused on the lesson. Meanwhile, in the parking lot, Celica was sitting in her parking space, taking a nap in her vehicle form, when the presence of other vehicles woke her up. It was a Jeep Cherokee and a Subaru Tribeca.

    "I wonder what they're here for," Celica wondered aloud through her radio. "I don't recognize them." She changed into her human form and watched them walk into the building. Back in the school's office, the two ladies walked in. It was, of course, Cher and Rebecca.

    "Hi, how can I help you?" the office receptionist asked them.

    "Oh, we're here to pick up a couple of students for an appointment," Rebecca answered, handing a forged note from Jaku. "Ah, you're here for Takashi and Angela Sato?"

    "Yes, I'm their aunt Rebecca," she said with a smile.

    "Alright," the receptionist said with a smile handing them visitor's passes. "You'll have to go get them. They should be in Ms. Asanti's class right now, it'll be downstairs at the south end of the hallway."

    "Alright thank you," Cher said with a smile. The two of them walked down the hall and into the cafeteria first. "Their school sure is nice," Cher noted as she held onto her pass.

    "I feel like I've been in a place like this before though," Rebecca said as the two of them reached the end of the upper hallway finding the stairs.

    "I'm sure you're mistaken."

    "I don't know. Another reason why we need to get to the bottom of this." They walked to te door that had Ms. Asanti written on it and Rebecca knocked. Ms. Asant came over and answered the door.

    "Oh hello," she said, noticing their visitors passes. "Can I help you?"

    "Sorry, we're here to pick up Takashi and Angela," Rebecca said with her smile. "They have a doctor's appointment." She handed Ms. Asanti the note. Takashi heard and looked over, sighing silently. He grabbed his stuff and stood up, hearing the mutters from the rest of the boys in the room about how busty Rebecca was and Takashi rolled his eyes.

    "Well, oh, Takashi, you're ready to go?"

    "Yeah," he answered. "That's my aunt Rebecca and her friend."

    "Alright, well you make sure you do the assigned homework," Ms. Asanti said. "Oh, and I'm sorry, but Mrs. Hickman up in the office must have forgotten, but I don't have Angela this period. She's in her math class with Mr. Kern right now. He's by the other stairs on the left," she pointed down the hall with her pen.

    "Thank you," Rebecca said. "Come on now, Takashi." They walked toward the other end of the hallway and stopped by Mr. Kern's room to grab Angela.

    "Alrighty then," Mr. Kern said after he invited them into the room. "Angela the assignment is page 123 numbers 2 through 26."

    "Okay," Angela said packing her bag. They all headed out together after returning the passes to the office. Once they were outside, Takashi looked at them.

    "Alright, so what's really going on?" he asked them.

    "Let's go home," Rebecca said. "Then we can continue this conversation between us."

    Rebecca was driving them all home.

    "Wait," Takashi said, as Cher looked at him from the driver's seat, even though she didn't need to drive as Rebecca was doing it. "You've met Jaku, the Mazda Protege 5?"

    "Yes," Cher said. "He's... very interesting."

    "He's perverse," Rebecca said through her radio.

    "What makes you say that?" Angela asked from the middle row seat.

    "That... pet girl of his."

    "Pet...?" Takashi asked. "Wait, Akuma?!"

    "I think she's adorable," Cher said.

    "Um, you did hear how she put one police officer in the hospital and a second in the ground, right?" Angela asked.

    "Oh no, the second officer died from 'medical complications' apparently," Rebecca said. "Probably an ASH agent killing the poor woman in an attempt to get some info from her." She continued to drive toward Jaku's warehouse.

    "So what happened to Akuma?" Takashi asked again.

    "Oh you're in for a treat," Cher laughed as Rebecca pulled in and Jaku closed the garage door.

    "W-Welcome home, Masters," Akuma's voice said nervously. Takashi turned and nearly died of shock, seeing the cop-killing car dressed as a cat-girl, with paw-shaped shoes and gloves, ears, tail, and even a collar with a cute little bell on it. He blushed from embarrassment, but the blood in his cheeks didn't stop his pants from suddenly feeling tight.

    "A... A-Akuma?" he stuttered.

    "I know, kinky right?" Jaku smirked, putting his hand on his shoulder. "I can make an outfit like that for Angela if you want," he added softly so only Takashi could hear.

    "I'll sell you my soul for that!" Takashi said too quickly. Angela scoffed from embarrassment and kicked Takashi in his stiff spot.

    "Takashi, whatever you just agreed to sounds perverted," Angela huffed, walking away and finding some fuel cleaner to drink. Jemma meanwhile, just sipped on her oil, watching all of this.

    "Besides, she said 'welcome home masters' which is fine if she was cosplaying a maid," Takashi strained as he pulled himself up. "But she's dressed as a cat-girl. So where's the nyan-nyan?"

    "Aw did I mess up, Jaku?" Akuma asked with tears in her eyes.

    "Very much so," Jaku stated. "Now I gathered you all here, it's time we got down to business. We need to find out a way to get into ASH before we take it down."

    "How are we going to do that?" Rebecca asked.

    "I honestly think it's time we call on Colin," Takashi said. "He did say he was just as against Zero killing cars as we are. We're going to need him to feed us the inside info so we can be one step ahead of them."

    "But can we trust him?"

    "Regardless of his strange personality, I'll admit, I think his intentions are pure. Besides, he's just another wacky enthusiast like me."

    "Shall I interrogate him?" Jaku asked.

    "No, we've done that," Rebecca said.

    "Really?"

    "Yeah, he spilt everything we needed to know and we didn't have to hurt him," Cher said.

    "Sounds to me like he can be trusted," Jaku decided. "Alright, time to put our plan into action."

    "H-Hey Takashi?" Akuma asked him, poking his arm with her paw.

    "Eugh-?! Oh, Akuma, you scared me," he said. Jaku laughed.

    "What's a 'nyan-nyan'?" Takashi laughed as a certain twinkle came into his eyes.

    "Oh, Akuma," he said dramatically. "You need to pose when you say it."

    "P-Pose?"

    "Yes, like this," he said arching his back and folding his arms in front of him, with his wrists down seemingly cat-like.

    "So like this?" Akuma asked, mimicking his form.

    "YES! NOW SAY NYAN NYAN!" he nearly demanded her.

    "Nyan?" she muttered out of embarrassment.

    "Yes!" he said and gave her a thumbs up and Angela ran over and jumped at him, kicking him in the groin with both feet.

    "Goddamnit, Takashi don't be such a goddamn pervert!" Even Jemma was on the floor laughing with Jaku. Meanwhile, Rebecca was just scowling, silently judging Takashi while Cher was giggling. Akuma was doing all she could to not faint from embarrassment.

    Later, Angela had to drive Takashi home as he was still sore, as any man would be from the assault upon his lower-middle area he had to endure. The two of them walked into the living room.

    "Oh, you're both home," Kyu said. "Well, Shun and I already had dinner so there are leftovers in the fridge."

    "That's fine," Takashi said, still straining his voice a bit.

    "Sweetie, are you okay?"

    "I'm fine I just..."

    "He slipped on some oil in tech class today," Angela said. "Mr. Arzate let him take it easy for the class."

    "Okay," Kyu said. "Takashi, you get to bed early and heal up." Takashi was already in his bed. Angela sighed and walked to his room and closed the door.

    "Don't be so perverse and I won't do that to you," she said softly, blushing and looking away from him directly.

    "Well," he said, but she put her finger over his lips.

    "Just shut up and rest. Besides... if you like cat-girls so much... I'll dress as one for you." She dared to look back at him, but he had fallen asleep. Angela blushed even more and even though she wanted to hit him, she didn't bring herself to. "You made me so jealous. I'm your car, Takashi." She sniffed and wiped the tears forming in her eyes. "I'm your car, and I want you to look at me that way, you fucking idiot."

    A few days later around midday, Colin was driving around in his repaired Toyota Matrix, unaware of who his Matrix really was. As he drove along, he made sure to keep his distance from the police Charger he was following. Following his father's orders, he was keeping a distant eye on Zero. As much as Colin wanted to look around admiring all of the cars and whatnot, he had to shake those thoughts from his head, quite literally at a stoplight as he waited his turn to make the right turn. Once the light went green, he made the corner and just saw Zero turn into an alleyway and once Colin made the corner, he saw Zero standing there, pointing his gun his way. Before Colin could react, his Matrix threw itself into reverse and it did a J-turn to get out of the alleyway and Zero was already giving chase.

    "Whoa holy shit!" Colin was screaming like a little girl, trying to regain control of his car.

    "Colin relax," a male voice came through the Matrix's radio. "I got this."

    "What the hell?! Who's got this?!"

    "No time, I'll tell you later!"

    "No, tell me now!"

    "Not now! I knew he was onto us. I'll get you somewhere safe."

    "What- how- who are- what are you?!" Colin demanded of his car.

    "I'll explain everyone once we're both safe!" Colin turned and saw Zero following closely. Colin clenched himself in the seat with this eyes shut as his Matrix took him down and around the city streets, slowly evading Zero. They came into a supermarket parking lot and the Matrix drove right up to the doors before transforming into his human form taking Colin with him. Colin watched in utter disbelief as his car changed into this suited young man.

    "M... Max?!" Colin asked.

    "No time!" Max said as they both ran inside. "Quick I'll get her tampons you get the HotWheels!"

    "What?!"

    "No time just do it!" Max said as he ran off one way and Colin ran the other way. Zero then ran inside breathing heavily, looking around, but there wasn't anyone who saw the two of them run inside.

    "Goddamnit!" he hissed. "That stupid Chinese bastard sent his damn son after me!" Zero continued to swear for a bit until an employee told him to leave. Zero walked outside and transformed into his vehicle form and drove away from the supermarket. Once Max felt his presence was gone, he breathed a sigh of relief and went off to find Colin. Colin was over by the toy aisle.

    "I got some HotWheels," he said, holding a 5 pack of the little toy cars.

    "Don't worry about it," Max said, "I just wanted to get us split up until he left."

    "I was gonna say who needed the tampons- wait a fucking second!" he said with a sudden remembrance of everything that just happened in the last 5 minutes.

    "Oh here we go," Max muttered.

    "Max? You're Max, right? My Matrix?"

    "Yes Colin, I'm Max, your Toyota Matrix." Max put his hand on Colin's shoulder. "Look, I'm an automorph created by the ASH Corporation. Your dad works for them, as does Zero, as I'm sure you know since you told me you read your dad's files."

    "So everything I've been telling you, talking to you, living with you, driving you, you were there the whole time?" Colin had some emotions rising up.

    "Yeah, I was. As much as some of it was annoying, it was fun, watching you grow up-" Max gasped as Colin was crying.

    "This is my dream come true! My car can come alive."

    "Hey, come on Colin, chin up dude. Look, I'll take you to my favourite bar and I'll tell you more there."

    "Okay," Colin wiped his eyes and sniffed, reaching for a handkerchief in his trenchcoat pocket and blowing his nose into it. "Can I at least buy the HotWheels?"

    "Of course you can." Colin smiled and brought it to the nearest checkout lane and paid the cashier and the two of them left the supermarket. "Since Zero has my plate memorized now we better walk from here."

    "Yeah, probably," Colin agreed. "Besides, there's so much I want to ask you and talk to you about!" Max sighed and rolled his eyes, readying himself for the longest walk of his life.

    Meanwhile, in the depths of ASH, there was a room where scientists were experimenting on a test subject, a young girl. She was strapped to a table as tubes and needles hang menacingly above her, waiting to be used. She couldn't turn her head or even mutter a single word due to the heavy restraints. As she lay crying noiselessly, the scientists worked around her as they were mixing together a glowing, dark-green chemical.

    "This one is the right ratio now," the lead scientist said.

    "Is it?" one of his colleagues asked. "You said that last time and nearly got your head taken off."

    "Yes, I'm well aware. But this one I know for damn sure will get her to transform." He looked toward the girl, who couldn't meet his eyes. "We can turn people into cars and trucks, but this formula for something much bigger should be perfect for her, and her tiny body."

    "What vehicle is she going to be?"

    "Oho, you'll see." He cleared his throat to address the whole room. "I'm going to inject her now. Everyone clear out as she'll be quite... sizable." All the other scientists grabbed their notebooks and hurried behind the safety wall as the head scientist put the liquid into an outlet on the machine the girl was stapped beneath. He typed some programs on the computer and the fluid was sent to all the needles above her as the machine moved each needle into place. The little girl could do nothing but tense herself in fear. "You need to relax," he told her. "If you do, it'll hurt less. Trust me." He then hit the enter key and ran behind the wall as the machine hummed into life and all the needles plunged themselves into the little girl. Three needles in each arm, leg, five needles across her small breasts, three more lined down towards her waist, two on each side of her jawbone and one in each eye. "Stay perfectly still!" the man commanded her as the liquid was injected into her. Once all the liquid was injected, the needles pulled out and the machine powered down. He pressed some buttons on a remote and the straps holding the girl in place unlocked and opened up, allowing the girl to fall onto the floor in a small puddle of saliva and blood.

    "Hey, is that wise?" one of the other scientists asked.

    "Just wait," the lead man said.

    "H... Help me..." the little girl muttered, sputtering in pain. Suddenly, her limbs flexed and her stomach convulsed as she twisted herself up and began to scream as her body changed. Her limbs grew out and fused together as they formed massive treads, her body elongated and her brain and head transformed into a massive turbine-diesel engine and her back lashed out transforming into a tank body with a turret forming on top.

    "Holy shit!" the scientists exclaimed.

    "Boss," one said, knowing what vehicle she was becoming. "You're a fucking madman!"

    "ASH needs an M1A2C!" the lead man defended. "Subject A113S will be my greatest achievement!" By now the girl had finished transforming and what was blood in her body was now oil running through the engine, despite the fact that a lot of it was scattered around the floor from the transformation. Before the scientists could react, the tank began acting erratically and swinging her turret into the wall as she drove around, crushing the machines and lights.

    "She's tearing the room apart," one of them said.

    "Don't worry," the lead said. "She only has so much fuel. We'll let her burn herself out. Besides, she'll hurt herself eventually. Once she's calm enough we'll get the control device ready." After a few more minutes of the tank flailing around, she finally ran out of juice and fell down, reverting back to her human form, crying to herself, her throat burning. The scientists carefully re-entered the room. "Well now, had enough of your little temper tantrum?" She looked back up at him with as much hatred she could muster. "I know the first few transformations are a bit painful, but I'm sure you'll get used to them. For now, though, we'll need to make sure you obey us." They stood her up and one scientist brought over a device that fitted around her head and covered the lower half of her face and nose. "This will tap into your central nervous system and allow us to control you and your movements. It will also serve as a gag to keep you quiet. But don't worry, you'll be able to breathe just fine." As much as the girl tried to fight back, the scientist got the straps around her head and the device was attached to her face. The scientist then turned on his laptop and typed in some programs. The girl coughed and hacked as the device attached itself to her nerves and her eyes darkened as she was forced to submit to their commands.

End of Season 2

    The next day Takashi and Angela walked into school after their tech class. They walked to sit down at their lunch table when they heard Zero talking on his cellphone.

    "...yes yes. Of course. Okay okay... I'll bring you my report later. Okay." They heard him quickly pace a bit then walk out of the hallway.

    "Wonder what's got him all tangled up," Takashi said.

    "Whatever. I hope he gets fired," Angela muttered, releasing her grip on Takashi's arm.

    "We still need to gather everyone somewhere so we know who's all going to be part of our attack."

    "Yeah. Cher and Rebecca don't let humans into their bar."

    "So I guess it's going to be my place then."

    "What attack?" Ms. Asanti asked, sitting next to them.

    "You know Zero's a car killer, right?"

    "Yeah, he's told me." Takashi and Angela stared at her wide-eyed. "What?"

    "He's told you about all the shit he's done?!" Angela asked with disbelief.

    "Hey hey, watch the language. But yes. He always tells me about his missions."

    "You need to see Cher and Rebecca."

    "Who? Wait, your aunt her friend?" she asked, looking at Takashi.

    "Yeah," he answered.

    "By the way, you know they're cars too, right?"

    "Yeah, but I'm not related to them though. That was a lie so they could tell me..." he trailed off, realizing something important. "We really shouldn't discuss this here." Angela already sent a text to Rebecca.

    "Look, you need to talk to them," she said. "Please Ms. Asanti. This is a matter of life and death." Ms. Asanti sighed. "Alright. But you think we could have this meeting at Jeremy's shop?"

    "Sure," Takashi shrugged. "We'll need his help too." Angela nodded and texted Jaku as well. Over their lunch break, while Takashi ate, Angela had Ms. Asanti call Rebecca and the two of them talked for a bit, seeming to really hit it off. But Angela was sure that she's find Jaku just as weird as they did. Meanwhile, Zero was on his way back to the ASH building, when he saw a white limousine parked outside.

    "Oh shit," he muttered to himself as he parked and transformed, standing by the limo. A tall, white-haired older woman stepped out of the limo and adjusted her scarf. She took off her sunglasses and looked around.

    "Well well, it seems things are picking up," she said. She turned toward Zero and smiled. "Why don't you walk with me to my office, Zero?"

    "Yes," Zero nodded, sweating slightly. He walked alongside her as they walked inside the building and towards the elevators.

    "I really like how my company has been coming along, despite the issue that happened 20 years ago, I'm glad things have turned quite around."

    "Yes," Zero agreed.

    "No need to be so stiff, Zero."

    "But-" he protested but she shushed him.

    "No need to say such things, Zero." They arrived at her office where the lead scientist was waiting.

    "Ah, President, so glad you made it," he said.

    "Not now, please," she dismissed him.

    "O-Oh, okay. I'll just email you my latest report then?"

    "Sure," she huffed. The man nodded and hurried back to his lab. Zero held the door open for her and closed it once they had both walked in. She sat down at her desk and loosened her scarf slightly.

    "I see you're still wearing your scarf," Zero said meekly.

    "Well it is my favourite," she said, opening her computer. "After all, it was bought for me from someone very special to me." Zero sighed to himself, praying for the indignities to end.

    "You don't really need to say it like that, do you?"

    "My my, Zero, that is not how you act," she scolded as she read through submitted reports. "Why don't you tell me how things have been going on your end?"

    "A few bumps here and there, but so far we're doing good."

    "Now that you have friends from overseas, right?" she pried with a raised eyebrow.

    "I suppose so."

    "Well, I've read their files. They seem fitting for the job."

    "Yes, they are," he stated, standing a bit from her desk. She finished drafting an email and she sighed, looking at him, pushing her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose.

    "Zero, you don't need to be so tense around me," she said. "After all, I'm your mother."

    Zero's mother, Vertalia Seiko, was going through her reports when the lab results from Subject A113S's transformation experiment came in. She read through it then scowled at a second glance.

    "What the hell?" she muttered to herself. She read the report one more time and groaned to herself. She pressed a button on her desk phone, calling the lab.

    "President?" the lead scientist asked once he picked up.

    "My office. Now," she commanded. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose and contemplated pouring herself a drink for her nerves. Once the scientist came to her office, he had Subject A113S in tow. "Why the hell did you bring her with you?"

    "I take her everywhere," he answered. A113S looked at him with somewhat curious, yet dead eyes. It was hard to read her expression due to the device on her face.

    "What the hell made you think a tank was a good idea?"

    "Well President, seeing how we were lacking in... certain areas, I took it upon myself to make sure we had a controlled superweapon at our disposal," he said nervously.

    "What do you mean by that?"

    "I heard that Zero was failing to meet our quotas in returning former subjects to us."

    "Go on."

    "So I decided to get us a superweapon to help speed up the process due to his incompetence."

    "I know he's been slacking... but don't you dare insult my son again." The man gasped.

    "You- your son?! President, I had no idea," he stuttered.

    "How do you control her?"

    "What?"

    "The little girl. How do you control her?!" A113S looked at Vertalia with the same curious yet lifeless eyes.

    "Vocally, or a remote," he said, setting a remote on her desk. He stepped back nervously.

    "I see." She studied the remote for a few moments before pressing the activation button. A113S stood at attention, salute and all. "Target him," she said. A113S nodded slightly and glared at the man with glowing eyes.

    "P-President... what are you doing?!" he cried.

    "Kill him."

    "President!" he yelled pleadingly before he began to scream in agony as A113S pounced on him, tearing his clothes to shreds and beating him to death. Vertalia could hear the girl growling through the device as she brutally beat the man.

    "A113S," she said, and the girl immediately stopped and looked at her. "Finish him with this," she said, handing her a gun. A113S looked at it curiously, then back at Vertalia for an explanation. "Hold it like this," Vertalia said, getting down and helping her hold the gun properly. "You point it like this, right between his bleeding eyes, and then you take your finger and pull the trigger," she explained, pulling the trigger, killing the man, ending his misery. Vertalia smiled and pat the girl on the head. "Good job, A113S." The girl's lifeless eyes lit up a bit as she did her best to smile. "Now, do you know where our waste disposal incinerator is?" The little girl shook her head. "Alright, well, grab him and let's take him there, okay?" A113S smiled again and nodded, grabbing the dead man's ankle and dragged him to the incinerator, following Vertalia, as she gave her a tour. "Now that we're in the back of the facility, this is where we burn our waste and other burnable materials we no longer need, such as him." A113S nodded. Vertalia noted to a technician to open the chute, leading into the combustion chamber. "Think you can put him in here?" A113S rolled her shoulders slightly, and picked him up with relative ease, throwing him headfirst into the chute. "Good job, A113S," she smiled, patting her again. "Let's go back to my office, okay?" The girl nodded and followed.

    "How're A113S's tests going, President?" a lab tech asked, walking by them.

    "Quite well I suppose," she answered, looking at down at A113S, who cocked her head slightly. "Do you think you can make a device that keeps her in our control without gagging her?"

    "Oh easily," the man responded. "Would you like me to get that started for you?"

    "ASAP," Vertalia responded with a smile. "I see a good future with us for her, and I want to talk to her."

    "Yes Ma'am," the tech said, heading back toward his lab. Vertalia smiled at A113S once more.

    "I think you're going to do great things for us." A113S smiled again and nodded affirmatively.

    Jaku was in his warehouse, slowly petting Akuma who lay in his lap, purring as he pets her. His phone then rang and he picked it up, Akuma's ears perking up. She looked up at him curiously.

    "Yeah?" he answered. "Really?" There was a pause and Akuma sat up. "Are you fucking serious, a what?!" He reached over and grabbed his laptop and checked his inbox, seeing a file there. A copy file of A113S and her lab results. "There's no fucking way... alright thanks. I owe you big time." He then grabbed his phone.

    "What is it, nya?" Akuma asked, looking at his laptop. "Who's this?"

    "Our biggest fucking enemy yet," he said with a very concerned tone. He sent some urgent messages to Cher and Rebecca, as well as Jemma and Angela. As everyone checked their phones, Angela called Rebecca.

    "You got the message?" Rebecca answered.

    "Yeah. We need to meet up at his place," Angela said. "This is serious shit." Angela ran outside and transformed and Takashi climbed in and they drove to Jaku's warehouse. When they arrived, they noticed Jaku had two new women sitting with him. One was dressed as a traditional Japanese shrine maiden, the other was in pseudo modern oriental clothing.

    "Who are they?" Rebecca asked.

    "Allow me to introduce Daika Shiroka, from the shrines in the mountains, as she's a Toyota Century."

    "Whoa," Takashi breathed. "The only V12 engine ever produced by Toyota."

    "Hai," Daika nodded.

    "Damnit Daika, I said no moonspeak." Daika sighed and glared at Jaku.

    "Don't be so fucking racist," she said in perfect English with almost no accent. "I was just agreeing with the human."

    "That kind of stung," Takashi noted.

    "Look, kid," the girl in the Oriental clothes said, with a hint of a Chinese accent, "we're all cars. If anyone's gonna die on this mission, it's gonna be you."

    "He's not going to die, because I'll protect him," Angela stated.

    "Alright, sheesh. Oh, I'm Chilyn Xishun by the way. I'm a new Hongqi L5."

    "Holy shit," Cher muttered.

    "You're quite impressive," Rebecca admitted.

    "Alright, now that introductions are out of the way, let's get down to business."

    "Master that's gonna have to wait," Akuma said, coming down from a perch by the window. "There are police cars outside." Jaku jumped up for a peek and saw a German police Porsche and a Nissan Skyline police car with the Japanese police design.

    "We need to ditch them and go to a friend's body shop," Takashi said, and he saw everyone's face contort slightly with unease. "Look, he's a car too, and he's trustworthy."

    "Oh, you mean Jeremy?" Angela asked and Takashi nodded. "Remember, Ms Asanti is there waiting for us."

    "We can't drive out of here, can we?" Cher asked. Daika sighed again and stood up.

    "You all walk out the back," she declared. "As much as I hate to admit, Chinatown and I are the only ones who can fight."

    "Uh, the fuck did you just call me?" Chilyn demanded.

    "Shut up. Jaku, you take the others out the back. We'll hold them off and join you later." While Jaku and the others escaped and fled into the city's underground tunnel network, Daika and Chilyn opened the garage door and faced Erika and Maki.

    "It would be wise for you two to surrender," Erika said, pointing her staff.

    "What the hell are you gonna do, cast some explosion magic?"

    "Um, Erika, are you sure we can take them?" Maki asked, unsurely.

    "God, you really need to toughen up, Maki," Erika said.

    "She's right Maki," Daika said, moving in front of her. "I'm Japanese just like you, but I can't show you mercy." Daika drew her katana and pointed it at them.

    "Maki, shoot them!" Erika demanded. Maki gasped and reached for her gun, but despite their slow start, Daika and Chilyn both had already won the fight. Chilyn having twisted Erika's neck and Daika having run her Katana through Maki's heart.

    "The Porsche has been severely wounded, yet not killed," Daika said to a wide-eyed Maki, as oil seeped from the wound on both sides of her body. "With luck, your superiors will find your bodies before you die from fluid loss, if not, then Maki, Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, may you rust in peace." Daika finished her eulogy before withdrawing the katana from Maki, allowing her to fall down, still gasping for air as the concrete turned black with oil.

    "God you Japanese are always so fucking dramatic."

    "Shut up." She swung the blade to get rid of the oil before sheathing it. "We need to go to this damn shop the human said." Chilyn agreed with a small nod and the two of them took off along the rooftops.

    "Z... Zero..." Maki gasped and coughed, her wide eyes beginning to close. "S... someone... help..." Just before her vision faded, she saw someone clad in white walk into view.

    "My my, you're certainly screwed up," a faded female voice said. "Too bad you won't remember me, because this is going to be so much fucking fun!"

    Later that day, they all made it to Jeremy's shop. Lexa told Cher and Rebecca about what Zero had told her. They brought out a map of the city and began to make plans.

    "If things go by stereotypical fate, we might have to fight him face to face," Cher said.

    "What makes you say that?" Jeremy asked.

    "He's going to be security for the new Daiya building," Jemma said.

    "But it's not open yet," Takashi said.

    "Yeah, but he's going to be there along with several other heads of state, city council, as well as foreign dignitaries."

    "We're going to fight him when the place is armed just about literally to the teeth?"

    "You never know nya," Akuma said. "With my powers, I could be a great weapon."

    "But you won't be," Jaku said.

    "Why's that?" Angela asked.

    "Because ASH just came out with this girl." He showed them the files. "A113S. She's a brand new Abrahams tank."

    "Fucking hell," Takashi breathed. "How are we going to fight this?"

    "You're not," Angela said. "We are."

    "Excuse me?"

    "I said it before, Takashi," Angela said with a serious tone. "You're human. You'd just be the first one to die, and... and I don't want that to happen."

    "Actually," Daika said, walking in, with Chilyn behind her. "I think we're winning."

    "How so?" Jaku asked.

    "Stabbed the R34 in the heart while Chinatown here broke the Porsche's neck."

    "Stop calling me that damnit!" Chilyn fumed.

    "And what did you do with the bodies?" Jaku asked.

    "No idea. We left them."

    "Why? You should have brought them with you. They could have been bargaining chips."

    "He's right," Jeremy said. Lexa looked at him. "We could have used them." Just then, there was a honk outside. Jeremy walked over to the garage door and opened it, everyone watched as a silver Pontiac Vibe drove into the garage and transformed.

    "Maxxine?" Cher asked. "What are you doing here?" Jeremy closed the door behind her.

    "I heard about what's going on," she said. "I need to find my brother more than ever."

    "Alright," Rebecca said.

    "Wait, who's your brother?" Takashi asked her.

    "Why's a human here?" Maxxine asked.

    "Don't mind him, he's just trying to help," Angela said.

    "Whatever," Maxxine dismissed him. "His name is Max."

    "A Toyota Matrix?" Rebecca asked.

    "Yes," Maxxine said with a light in her eyes. "Do you know him? Where is he?"

    "He's in the hands of another human contact of ours, who happens to work for ASH. His dad is a higher-up. He keeps a company eye on Zero for them and us."

    "Good. At least I know he's alright."

    "Should I call him here?" Takashi asked.

    "Not yet," Jaku answered him. "We need to make sure we play our cards right."

    "But we need Zero taken down now before he kills anyone else," Jemma said.

    "But how are we gonna loosen the security, nya?" Akuma asked. Now, Jemma had a wry smirk on her face. Jaku laughed, seeing her expression.

    "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

    "Get your gang of racers back together. Cause chaos. Wreak havoc."

    "Just... don't' kill anyone," Cher added.

    "Well obviously. Don't worry, now that I know what's going down, I'll get ahold of my friends. We'll set something up so it'll keep the building clear."

    "But we need to be ready in case ASH brings their tank A113S," Jaku said. "How are we going to fight something so insanely powerful?"

    "We get something as equally as powerful," Takashi said. All the cars looked at him.

    "We're just cars," Rebecca said.

    "Yeah, what can we do?" Lexa asked.

    "You can't be serious," Jeremy added.

    "Takashi, just shut up," Angela said.

    "Guys please, just hear me out," Takashi said. "Akuma's proven herself to be deadly."

    "Nya?" she asked.

    "No, I'm not removing my control devices from her," Jaku said. "What good would that do?"

    "Look, you and I both know that as a secret weapon, the Devil Z will be the last resort," Takashi stated. "And that would only work if we force the tank to transform into her human form."

    "So you're saying we run the tank dry?"

    "Exactly."

    "And how are we going to do that?" Daika asked.

    "Jemma, we're going to need every racer you have," Takashi said. She nodded and pulled out her phone. "Set up a meeting tonight for them and I'll relay you the plans later. Jaku, I know Akuma isn't the only special case in your care." Jaku nodded.

    "And now what are you saying?" he asked him.

    "I need everyone we can control. Especially if they're madly powerful vehicles. We'll need all the horsepower we can get." Jaku nodded and grabbed some of his folders.

    "I have a few I think we can enlist." Takashi opened the folders and skimmed them, finding a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, an 89 Jeep Wrangler with right-hand drive, a set of Ford Transit sisters, and a Jaguar F-Pace.

    "Alright, with their help I think we can win this war."

    Later that night, Jemma called a meeting of everyone who was in her underground racing league. Everyone drove to Jemma's personal underground hideout up in the eastern mountains. Everyone was chatting amongst themselves until Jemma finally drove in, transforming as someone closed the garage door behind her.

    "About damn time, Jemma," a girl with bunny ears said.

    "Eheheh, sorry Eredith," Jemma laughed sheepishly. Eredith was a modified 1983 Volkswagen Rabbit. Jemma sighed and got up to her podium of sorts and addressed her crowd. "Alright, so I'm sure you know why we're all here-"

    "-Racing finally!" a lot of them said along those lines.

    "Yeah yeah," she said. "But you all know how that assfuck of a cop Zero Seiko is gonna be head of security at the opening of the new Daiya building right?" There were murmurs from her crowd. "Look, I have some strong contacts who are going to take him down, and we've been tasked with being the distraction. But don't you worry, we'll still have our race. But knowing how some of you aren't Automorphs like the rest of us and use your personal cars if you want to back out, now's the time. But please know that we're going to need as many of our wheels out there as we can." Jemma watched as everyone exchanged thoughtful glances before looking back at her and she smirked. "So I take it no one's gonna wuss out?"

    "Hell no!" everyone said.

    "Good. Here's our route," she said, bringing down a big map of the surrounding area. "We need to spit up in the beginning so we all meet up on the overpass toward downtown. There, we need to stay in a group as we make straight for the Daiya building. Once we're there, it's every racer for themselves as they race back to the summit of Mount Avalon and back here." Everyone got out their phones and programmed a route. "Alright once you have your routes, get with a leader for the starts. We'll have Eredith, Kjeld, Oliver, and Tsubaki lead each group."

    "I'll start the drifters on the mountain," Oliver said quietly, being a shy purple and yellow Honda NSX from 1993. He had a nice VIS body kit.

    "I'll keep the muscle heads by the port until we race along the highways," Kjeld said with a smile and a thick Scandinavian accent.

    "No fair, I wanted the highways," Tsubaki huffed. "Oh well. Euros, we take the B-roads," she declared. She was more than capable of handling those back roads as she was an RWB widebody Porsche.

    "Hot hatches," Eredith said, "We'll start by the airport and cut through town, hopefully, we meet everyone else coming off the overpass." Everyone finished programming their given routes and Eredith went back to Jemma.

    "Daiya's opening is two days out. We need to stay hidden until then. Then we all attack at once, that way we achieve the most of the surprise."

    "Well said," Eredith agreed.

    "Jemma," Tsubaki said, walking over. "I'm taking my group to our hideout in the forest."

    "Alright," Jemma nodded.

    "We'll be camping here," Oliver said.

    "I'll get out of your hair."

    "Heading to the Triple C out by the port," Kjeld said.

    "Alright. Eredith, take the hatches to the campsite in the fields. Given the starting locations for each group, we'll start off at different times, the farther you are from Daiya the quicker you'll start. I'll radio for all when it's time. Racer's let's go avenge our brothers and sister's that assface Zero has killed." Everyone cheered and those who could transform did so and drove off with their respective groups, aside from Oliver and the drift team, who were staying in the mountains. "Remember," Jemma said through their radio. "Don't do anything to raise suspicion. We wait then we can raise all sorts of hell." After everyone had left and Jemma reviewed the plan with Oliver, she transformed and left for Takashi's house. By then some mountain fog had rolled in as it was calling for rain for the next day or so. As the rain started, Jemma noticed a car on the road in front of her. It was a police Charger. She couldn't tell if it was Zero or not, but as she stayed well within the confines of the speed limit, she noticed the car had begun to drift out of line, and towards the cliffside of the road. Jemma sped up and as she got closer, she noticed the police car looked worse for wear and looked highly unfit for driving. She then noticed as the car slid toward the cliff, it transformed into a woman who went sliding along the road toward the cliff, reaching for a guardrail, but her momentum carried her over the side. Jemma however, transformed just in time to grab the guardrail and the woman's arm. The woman was wearing the uniform of an officer but it was very tattered. Jemma gasped in horror as the woman turned around and looked at Jemma with feral red eyes, sharp teeth, and a large scar on her neck.

    "Wait... fuck you're officer Sera Hadley, right? The one who was hospitalized by the Devil Z?" The feral woman just hissed at Jemma, using her other arm trying to claw at Jemma who just dropped her. The feral Hadley went growling and hissing as she tumbled down the cliff in her human form. Jemma watched with pity. "And just when they said you were killed by what we assumed to be ASH agents... unless... fucking hell!" She stood up and transformed back into her vehicle form and drove as fast as she could to Jeremy's body shop, knowing Jaku was still there. "They're turning people into cars!"

    "Tell me one more time!" Jaku demanded of Jemma, who was sitting on a stack of tires, wrapped in a towel.

    "I swear, I caught her from sliding off that cliff and when she looked at me I know it was Officer Hadley!" Jemma said. "She had her messed up old uniform, but her badge was there."

    "The hospital said she died of complications!" Rebecca said.

    "It was probably a paid cover-up," Takashi speculated. "Do they even have records of what was done to her body?"

    "Official records state she was taken by the family and cremated," Jaku said. "But obviously, she was taken by ASH and experimented on."

    "She was going to attack me and looked... like she wasn't even human anymore," Jemma said, a shake to her voice from fear. "Her eye's fucking glowed red, Jaku. Red!"

    "What's going on?" Daika asked, walking in.

    "Jemma told me that an officer who was originally attacked by Akuma who supposedly died in the hospital was taken by ASH and turned into a car," Jaku said.

    "Excuse me?"

    "Someone who was supposed to be dead was effectively a zombie vehicle!" Jemma said.

    "Damn. Well... good luck with that shit," she said walking off.

    "We need to find out ASH's endgame with this tactic," Jaku said.

    "Yeah," Takashi agreed. "The tank wasn't fucking enough, they have to go and make fucking Zombies?!" Takashi began to get angry.

    "Takashi please, calm down," Angela said. Takashi sighed and took a few deep breaths.

    "God. We need to bring ASH down... and we need to do it now."

    "Don't worry, the attack is only two days away," Ms. Asanti said.

    "And when it comes, you need to bring your daughter Ava and hide here," Angela told her.

    "As much as we need all the help we can get, you guys need to stay safe here," Takashi told her. He then turned toward Jaku. "Hand me those files. We need to find these cars you have."

    "Well," he started. "You need to put more emphasis on 'find'. They're still not in my direct care yet. The Jeep's is abandoned in a barn somewhere in the fields, the Aventador SVJ is sometimes spotted rampaging throughout the desert."

    "Oh jeez," Takashi muttered.

    "The Transit sisters work at your school, and this F-Pace usually hangs out at the Triple C."

    "We'll look out for her," Rebecca said.

    "Speaking of which, we need to get back there, it's Movie Night," Cher said. With that, the two nodded to Jaku and left.

    "What should we do?" Angela asked Takashi. He thought to himself for a moment and grabbed the file for the Jeep. "We'll bring Buck and Dad's trailer to go find that Jeep." Jaku nodded.

    "I'll come with you," he said. He looked at Daika and Chilyn. "Can you two chase down that SVJ?"

    "They'll need help," Jemma said.

    "Can you even catch that?" Takashi asked her.

    "Dude, are you kidding? I may have the Firebird Hommage kit, but I do also have a supercharged LSX. I'm throwing one thousand horsepower to my rear wheels."

    "Goddamn."

    "She'll be just what we need," Daika said with a smirk as Chilyn grabbed the file. Takashi and Angela drove home with Jaku in tow. Kyu and Shun were already in bed and Buck transformed and turned around.

    "You kids are home pretty late," he said. "Who's this?"

    "I'm Jaku," Jaku said, transforming and shaking Buck's hand. "Grab your trailer. We're going on a little heist."

    "Wait, what? I ain't gonna be stealing anything!"

    "Buck relax," Takashi said. "We're saving an abandoned Jeep from a barn."

    "Out in the farmlands?"

    "Yes, why?"

    "That's a bit of a drive."

    "Need some motivation?" Jaku asked him, showing a picture of the girl they were looking for.

    "Damn, she's a pretty young thing, ain't she?" He then transformed and backed to his trailer. "Takashi, hook me up. Let's go save her!" Takashi sighed and Angela laughed as she went and grabbed the toolboxes.

    "Will that be enough tools?" she asked Jaku.

    "Make sure we have battery jumper cables," he said. "She'll have been sitting there for quite a while. We might actually need to buy a new battery."

    "Alright, we'll stop at a parts store," Takashi said. Jaku nodded and climbed into Buck's driver seat. The convoy then left toward the farmlands, stopping at a parts store for the battery.

    "A Jeep huh?" the counter guy asked as he handed Jaku the battery.

    "Yeah, we're gonna try to get her started after god knows how many years," Takashi said.

    "Oh. Are you sure there are other parts you're gonna need or are you guys set?"

    "We're pretty much set," Jaku said. "This was kinda the last thought though."

    "Alright, well good luck guys. Thanks," he nodded as Takashi and Jaku left the store and the convoy continued on.

    It was late into the full mooned night as Takashi and his convoy found the barn that Jaku had said was housing the abandoned Jeep. Takashi reread the files as Angela pulled up and transformed, Jaku got out of Buck and transformed. Buck backed his trailer up and Jaku set it up before Buck transformed as well.

    "Sure looks big enough to hold an old Jeep," he said.

    "Yep, this is the place," Jaku said. Takashi walked up to the barn door to try to open it, but the door broke apart in his hand.

    "Augh, damn," he hissed, trying to not get splinters in his hand.

    "Are you okay?" Angela asked with a concerned tone.

    "Yeah, I'm fine." Buck switched his internal lights on and looked inside, his beams falling upon a green Jeep, surrounded by dusty boxes and containers, hopefully of spare parts. Takashi and Jaku set about moving the stuff out of the way as buck shut off his lights and set up some of the shop lights he had brought. Of course, the light from the full moon coming in through the broken roof was almost sufficient enough. Angela set up a small workbench where Takashi set the files and Angela read them.

    "So your name is Kaylee?" Angela asked the Jeep, putting her hand on the hood gently. "Don't worry, we're here to save you... just... this might sting a little." With her final nod, the boys set to work, Takashi opening the hood and doing an engine inspection, Buck making sure it was on level jack stands, and Jaku getting the spare parts laid out.

    "Think she'll be able to run as she is?" Buck asked, standing up and stretching his back.

    "God no," Takashi said. "She'll need all fluids drained and all systems flushed. God knows if her internals are rusted."

    "He's right," Jaku said, getting a drip pan and a huge canister ready. "Whatever's left we'll drain in here." He set the canister on the ground and drained what was left of her fluids. The oil was surprisingly still liquid albeit dirtier than Takashi's thoughts about Angela in a catsuit. It took a few attempts, but soon, all of her fluids were changed. Luckily, her water pump was still in good condition. Takashi and Jaku then set about changing all of her cables and spark plugs.

    "How's her alternator?" Buck asked.

    "Looks fine, but we'd have to test it," Takashi answered, as he took tools Angela handed him as she watched with worry. Not only for Kaylee but for Takashi's safety. Once that was done, Takashi checked the voltages of her current battery. "Well, her battery is dead, so we'll need the new one."

    "Coming in hot," Buck said, putting the new battery in as Takashi pulled out the old one. Buck rewired it and Kaylee suddenly tried to start. Everyone jumped back.

    "Whoa whoa!" Takashi exclaimed.

    "Hey hey hey," Jaku said to her. "Please, I know you're hurt but you need to let us finish Kaylee." She seemed to settle down. "Please Kaylee, my name is Jaku, this is Takashi, Buck, and Angela. We're here to help you."

    "Please, let us finish healing you," Angela pleaded. "We're nearly finished, I promise." Once Kaylee had her filters changed and an internal polish, Jaku brought a jerry can full of fuel mixed with system cleaners.

    "Okay, we're done," he said. Kaylee transformed into her human form with a few coughs. She opened her brown eyes and wiped her green hair from her face. She coughed a few more times and grabbed the jerrycan, gargling the fuel for a bit before spitting it out. She wiped her mouth and drank the rest with a sigh.

    "Ey it's about time yuh got me out of dis hellhole," she said with a strong East Coast accent.

    "Wow you sound like my pizza chef," Jaku said. Kaylee shot him with a serious glare.

    "Oho, youse a funny man, huh or what?" She approached him and poked him aggressively. "Well if I sound like a chef to youse, then you bettah prepare yuh face faw a knuckle sandwich!"

    "Kaylee, sweetie, let's calm down," Buck said, nearly matching her accent. "Look, ignore my dumb friend here. There's a big hoedown going a couple days out where we all get to throw some fists and tires. We came here to save you and bring to our side."

    "How do I know your side's the right one or what?"

    "Because we're Automorphs, and the other side is led by a car-killing cop Automorph."

    "I see. Do I need to call my old contacts?" she asked with a smirk.

    "Maybe," Jaku answered.

    "I'm not talking to youse," she glared at him. "You... Takashi, god the hell's with that name?"

    "I'm Japanese," he answered.

    "Whatevah. Let's blow this pretzel stand." She led the way as the convoy left, Buck towing his empty trailer.

    The following day, in the midst of the vast desert to the north of the city, Daika, Chilyn, and Jemma were in the middle of the long, straight road connecting the city to the city airport, having not found a single trace of the rampant SVJ.

    "Maybe she's on the west side of the airport," Chilyn suggested.

    "No, she's out here," Daika said as they patrolled in a convoy. The only noise was the low whine of Jemma's supercharger. Just then, a dust cloud appeared on the horizon. Daika transformed into her human form for a better look as she pulled up a pair of binoculars. "It's her!" She then transformed back and drove toward it as fast as her old V12 could carry her. Jemma and Chilyn kept up and they watched in horror as Daika suddenly turned in front of the speeding Lamborghini. It avoided the fatal accident by flying off the road and into the desert, transforming into a woman midcrash and she ended up face-first into a cactus.

    "Augh crap!" she exclaimed. "Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid!" The other girls transformed and looked at each other, then Jemma checked the file. 

    "It says her mentality has been split apart," she read as the woman pulled cactus pricks from her face.

    "And what's that mean?" Chilyn asked. Their answer was the SVJ clambering over to Daika and beating on her chest, despite being just taller than her.

    "Dummy dummy dummy dummy dummy!" she cried in an almost childlike manner.

    "Jeez, I'm sorry alright?" Daika said, backing away.

    "No," the SVJ said, suddenly angry. "Sorry doesn't count!" She actually landed a sucker punch before Daika could react.

    "Fuck!" Daika said, holding her nose that was dripping oil. The SVJ then grabbed Daika and proceeded with a tremendous beat down. Daika took punches in the face and chest as she was then kicked in the gut and legs. Chilyn ran in and grabbed her, pulling her away from the SVJ howling with anger.

    "Fucking hell," Chilyn said, as the SVJ stormed off, speeding away. "Jemma catch her!"

    "Got it!" Jemma said, speeding after the SVJ. Despite the Lamborghini's head start, Jemma had more power so her supercharger whine was heard all the way up the point where Jemma slammed into the SVJ's rear quarter panel causing the woman to once again spin out and crash into a cactus. Jemma transformed and used the momentum to carry herself into the woman and knock her out. "Goddamnit," she panted after a quick knockout. "You're one tough bitch." Chilyn pulled up with the injured Daika in the back. Daika handed Jemma a duffle bag and Jemma took out the ropes and handed them to Daika who tied up the woman.

    "How the fuck are we gonna use her?" Chilyn asked through her radio. "She's uncontrollable."

    "Let's just get out of here," Daika said. Jemma laid the woman down under her feet in the back seat of Chilyn.

    "Hey, who said you could ride?"

    "Would you rather her transform while inside you?" Jemma asked.

    "Good point," Chilyn conceded. As Chilyn drove, Jemma read through the woman's file again.

    "Okay, so she's a 2019 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. Her name's Jota Huracan."

    "Okay," Daika said.

    "She's... it says due to experimentation, her mind has lost most of her now broken mentality which causes sudden and drastic mood changes, personas, and when she is exhausted it reduces to a child-like state." As if on cue, Jota groaned and woke up.

    "Wakey wakey, sleepyhead," Daika teased.

    "Mm... Mommy?" Jota asked softly.

    "God fucking damnit," Daika hissed.

    "Those... are bad words," Jota said, looking up at Daika with nervousness and fear. She tried to sit up, only to find herself bound and she began to panic.

    "Hey hey, calm down," Jemma said, holding her tightly.

    "M-Mommy! Help!" Jota cried.

    "No no, please understand Jota, you need to stay like that!"

    "No! Mommy!"

    "Jota look at me!" Jemma said, causing her to stop flailing around and look at her. "Look at me, I am your Mommy okay?"

    "I'm sorry what the-?!" Daika asked but Jemma shushed her.

    "You're okay Jota. You're not feeling well and I have you tied up so you don't hurt yourself okay?" Jota looked down as if in thought.

    "Okay," she said with a somewhat pouting tone.

    "You're not feeling well, and I have someone who can help you okay?"

    "Okay." Jemma smiled and pat her head.

    "That's a good girl." Daika rolled her eyes as Chylin just drove back to the body shop in stunned silence.

    Rebecca was looking around the club, seeing a lot of muscle cars in, knowing one of them was a good friend of Jemma's.

    "You seem to be looking for someone," Kjeld said, drawing her attention.

    "Yeah," Cher said, turning toward him. "A Jaguar F-Pace."

    "And not a friend of Jemma's?" he pried with a polite smirk.

    "Well, that must be you," Cher laughed. "But really, I need this F-Pace."

    "Why?" a woman came up and asked Cher. "I'm an F-Pace. The heck you want?" Cher eyed the woman up and down. She had emerald-green hair with dark eyes and a devious expression.

    "Well if you'd like to come with me to Rebecca's office, that would be nice."

    "Why though?"

    "Because we believe you can help us in our cause."

    "You should listen to her, Ma'am," Kjeld said taking a sip of his octane booster. "It might be a good opportunity for you."

    "I'm sure it must be," the F-Pace said. "But really, I must decline. Sorry, but I hope you find some help elsewhere." With that, the Jaguar left the club.

    "Well shit," Cher muttered. "There goes that idea."

    "No worries," Kjeld said. "She probably wasn't the best girl for your plans anyway."

    "What makes you say that?" Cher asked as she sat down next to him.

    "Well Ma'am, I hear a rumor that SUV's are getting together and forming some sort of alliance with that serial killer Jacki The Ripper."

    "Why?"

    "Because there's an equally wide-spread rumor that she's an SUV herself."

    "Great, another enemy we need to worry about."

    "Look... Cher, correct?"

    "Yes," she said with a blush. "Saying it with your accent is very sexy."

    "Oh come now Cher, you jest. Look, Jemma told me about you, and the last thing we need to worry about right now is some group of SUV's lead by a killer."

    "True."

    "Excuse me," a young woman piped in.

    "Yes?" Cher asked her, seeing a pale silver Mitsubishi Lancer ES.

    "My name is Mitsu, and I heard you saying you needed people for something?"

    "Well yes, but I can only tell you if you're absolutely interested."

    "Hey, I asked because I'm bored at home and have nothing better to do than listen to my owners complain about me."

    "You're hired!" Cher said with a smile as she led Mitsu to Rebecca's office.

    "I guess that's that problem solved," Kjeld noted with a laugh, going back to his drink. Meanwhile, at school, Angela went off to search for the Transit sisters, whom she found in the school's bus shed. She introduced herself and they all transformed.

    "What do you want?" the lead sister, with a serious expression and glasses asked.

    "Look, you know about Zero, our school resource officer?" Angela asked them.

    "Yeah."

    "Hasn't he been killing cars?" another with long twin-tailed hair asked.

    "Yes, which is why we're putting a stop to him."

    "I don't know it sounds kinda dangerous," the last one said nervously.

    "It's going to be, but we need all the Automorph help we can get."

    "Look, kid," the lead sister said. "What's in it for us?"

    "Free drinks at the Triple C for life? I'm not really sure, you'd have to ask our head of operations." The sisters gathered for some hushed conversation.

    "Alright," the lead said once they faced back toward Angela. "We'll help. I'm Theresa."

    "I'm Tessa!" The twin-tailed sister said.

    "U-Um, I'm Tina," the short-haired one said nervously.

    "Alright," Angela said. "Meet at the Triple C tonight at 10. Can you all make it?"

    "Of course," Theresa said. "We always travel together."

    "Good. I'll be there, and so will the head of our operations." Angela smiled and left the Transits who later appeared at the Triple C later that night. Angela was enjoying a swig of fuel treatment cleaner and the Transits walked in and sat next to her. "Glad you could make it," she said.

    "Sure thing," Theresa said.

    "Oh waiter, some fuel cleaner please," Tessa said. Angela giggled as Zun brought over a platter of drinks.

    "Some fuel cleaner for the lovely Transits," he said in his suave accent, causing Tina to look away shyly.

    "Thanks," Theresa said.

    "Ooh," Tessa cooed. Tina just nodded in thanks.

    "Oh Zun," Angela said. "Be a dear and fetch Cher and Rebecca for me."

    "As you wish, M'Lady," Zun said with a twinge of sarcasm.

    "What's with the shyness, Tina?" Tessa asked with a smirk.

    "Nothing," she replied childishly.

    "Angela," Rebecca said as she came over. "You must be the Transit sisters."

    "Theresa," she said introducing herself.

    "Tessa!" she raised her hand.

    "T-Tina," she said shyly.

    "Good," Rebecca said with a smile. "Finish those drinks and come up to my office. We'll talk there." They finished their drinks and all stood to go up to the office. Tina gently tugged on Rebecca's sleeve as everyone else was walking up. "What is it?" she turned around and asked.

    "Um... it's... Zun," she said.

    "What about him?"

    "I think..." Tina blushed, mustering up her courage. "I think I love him."

    Rebecca stared at the blushing girl whose knees were shaking, at her fear of admitting such a thing. However, Rebecca couldn't help but laugh.

    "Pfft," she smirked, but then tried to undo her mistake when she saw tears falling from Tina's eyes. "Oh sweetie, he's gay for his owner."

    "Wha... what?"

    "She's right," Zun said, walking by. "I'm flattered truly, but I'm afraid my owner has my affection more, as I was crafted with passion for him."

    "I... I see," Tina said quietly, before walking up to Rebecca's office.

    "Rebecca, you shouldn't have laughed, she didn't know." Zun sighed and continued working. Rebecca sighed as she felt bad for crushing the poor girl's heart and thought of a way to make it up to her. But for now, she went up to her office and filled Mitsu in on what was going down.

    "Oho, so we're gonna be having a big race to distract all the police from an even bigger fight?" Mitsu asked, trying to piece together all the info she had to take in.

    "In layman's terms yes," Cher said.

    "You're a base model Lancer," Rebecca said. "If you want to help you need to go to this building up in the mountains. They can modify you if you're willing to go through the pain."

    "Well... maybe nothing too over the top," Mitsu said with a nervous smirk as she took the paper with the address written on it.

    "I think she just needs a body kit and a cold air intake, maybe some plug and wire changes," Cher said.

    "Y-Yeah, let's just stick with that," Mitsu said. "Um, anything else?"

    "It's a bit of a drive so we'll let you get up there. Your owners will assume you're stolen if you don't tell them."

    "Screw those old farts," Mitsu said with affirmation and she left with a nod.

    "It's nice to see you can still ignite their cylinders," Rebecca said to Cher and Cher giggled.

    "Honey, I may be the aloof character in this anime, but I can be the straight woman too."

    "What?" Rebecca asked, not understanding the fourth-wall break.

    "Forget it," she smirked and went back down to the bar floor. Meanwhile, at Jeremy's body shop, Jeremy fixed up Jemma, Chilyn, and Daika. Meanwhile, Jaku was staring into the scared eyes of Jota, as she was bound to one of the support beams on the other side of the shop.

    "Please let me go," she begged him, showing no signs of her angry outbursts.

    "Not until I can harness your unstable mentality," Jaku was saying, performing mild physical exams of Jota's body. "We're gonna need you for something big."

    "But I wanna go home!" she whined. She glanced toward Jemma. "Mommy tell him we wanna go home!" Jaku slowly looked over his shoulder at Jemma for an explanation.

    "Um..." Jemma stuttered, unsure what to do. "Well, Jota, you know you're not feeling well and this... doctor, here is gonna help you feel better."

    "But I'm fine," Jota pouted.

    "I feel like if I force some depressants into her it might just work," Jaku said.

    "What, you mean like mild anaesthetics?"

    "With some anti-depressants for the mentality," he concluded.

    "Dude that'll kill her surely," Daika said through her radio, having her nose repaired.

    "Don't talk Daika," Jeremy said. Daika's response was dropping her hood on the back of his head. "Damnit!" Chilyn laughed as Jeremy disconnected her battery cables, effectively knocking her into a medically induced coma.

    "I know, she's a bitch right?" Chilyn snickered.

    "Shut up you're next," Jeremy said, retaining his bad mood and Chilyn froze, waiting for her repairs. Of course, being a very rare Japan-only model, it was hard to gather the parts for Daika so she'd have to wear some bandages for awhile, as would Chylin, as her parts were damn near impossible to get after imploring with some engineers at Hongqi in China. Unlike Jemma who was repaired in only a few hours. While this was being done, Jaku was forcing Automorph-safe medications down Jota's throat.

    "Just swallow the pills and you'll feel better," Jemma said, trying to calm Jota down until after a few minutes and the medications did so.

    "Mommy... heh heh," Jota laughed lightly, her head swaying a bit.

    "That might have been a bit overdone," Jaku admitted. But, he untied her and Jemma held Jota's hand.

    "Will you come home with me?" Jemma asked.

    "Yes Mommy," Jota said, now with a hint of honesty in her voice.

    "Well, at least it's working," Jaku said surprised.

    Later that night, Takashi and Angela sat on the bed riddled with anxiety. Tomorrow was the big day they'd go after Zero and everything was in place. Takashi gently took ahold of Angela's hand.

    "You nervous?" he asked her.

    "I can feel your hand shaking," she responded. "Takashi," she paused and sighed. "If you want to bow out, now's the time. I can't guarantee your safety. I'm a Saturn, not an armored truck."

    "You worry about me too much," he smiled.

    "Well, it's like I said before. Takashi, if anyone's gonna die here, it's going to be you. So..." Takashi's smile disappeared as he knew where this was going. "I can handle myself. You're gonna stay here where it's safe."

    "You need all the help you can get," he said.

    "Yeah, vehicular, not human. God, this isn't even your fight." Takashi frowned and stood up.

    "I love you too much to let you die on your own."

    "I'm not going to die."

    "You don't know that!" he yelled. "Besides, you're my fucking car and I'm your owner so you're doing what I say!" Now Angela snapped, transforming her arm into her CV shaft, ready to hit him.

    "Angela no!" Kyu came into the doorway, having heard the commotion, Shun and Cain soon after. Angela just stood back and scoffed as Kyu ran to Takashi and held him as she backed them both away from Angela. "What are you doing?"

    "See you're afraid of me. Do you really think you can stand up to Zero?"

    "Angela..."

    "If you want to be a good owner Takashi, you do as I fucking say, and stay the fuck home." Angela changed her arm back to her human form and walked out of the room and the house, transforming and driving off. Takashi looked down in shame, tears in his eyes. Cain sighed and began to head that way as well.

    "C... Cain wait!" Kyu ran after him, grabbing his wrist.

    "Kyu, please," he begged. "We just want you and your family to stay safe." Kyu ran after Cain, but he was already down the driveway in his Honda form, driving away. Shun sighed and went to the garage only to find Ruby arguing with Buck.

    "If you wanna go then go, I ain't gonna stop ya," Buck said, as Ruby flipped him off and left.

    "For God's sake, you're all leaving?" Shun asked Buck.

    "They are," he replied with a sigh. "I'm gonna stay here. Y'all still need a car and protection."

    "Thanks, Buck. I'm glad you're my truck." Buck, however, had the same mood.

    "Save it for when all this shit blows over, Shun," he said as he brought up some planks and began to board up the windows.

    "Um, Buck is that really necessary?" Kyu asked him. Buck sighed again.

    "Angela and Cain couldn't say it, but we want y'all to be safe cause we love ya. Y'all are the perfect owners cars like us could ever ask for, but all of our lives are on the line. Since you're only human, you need to stay in and stay safe. We have bodies of metal, we can take a few beatings, me especially."

    "What did you mean by Angela couldn't say it?" Kyu asked him as he went back to work, Shun helping out.

    "Kyu, you and I both know that she and Takashi are destined for each other. But right now, she's got a lot of bad things going through her little head. She... no, we all need to do what we have to in order to get through this. You gotta trust and have faith in us." Kyu looked at Shun and they nodded at him. Buck smiled in response. Meanwhile, Angela was heading toward the Triple C. She got towards the park and she transformed to walk the rest of the way.

    "God Takashi's such an idiot," she muttered to herself as she absentmindedly sat down on a bench.

    "Trouble with a boyfriend?" an accented voice next to her asked. Angela gasped slightly and turned to see a Chinese businessman eating a bucket of fried chicken. Angela stared at the man, utterly dumbfounded. A well-dressed businessman alone in a park late in the afternoon, eating a bucket of chicken. Needless to say, her expression showed that she had several questions.

    "Uhm... no," she said, struggling to speak. "He's not really my boyfriend."

    "Ah, so you broke up with him?"

    "What- no-no. We're just... friends, I guess." The man laughed and offered her a chicken leg, but she respectfully declined.

    "My son's about your age, yet he hasn't really talked about girls much. Just Max, his car." Angela gasped as she figured this man was related to Colin, possibly his dad. "Sound familiar?" he asked, seeing her recognition.

    "Y-Yeah. Takashi always talks about his... his stupid car."

    "Well, my son Colin sometimes mention a kid named Takashi. Do you know Colin?"

    "Yeah, we go to school together."

    "I see, I see. Well, then I'm sure you've figured I'm Colin's father."

    "Yeah. Why are you just sitting in the park eating chicken?"

    "Why aren't you?" he retorted.

    "A fair point, but I need to be going." Angela nodded and walked away quickly.

    Takashi found it a challenge to fall asleep that night. Angela had stormed out and Cain never came back. Kyu was stressed out, tugging at her hair and pacing.

    "You should sleep," Shun told her, massaging her shoulders gently. "It's late."

    "I know, but I'm so worried," she said with a sigh.

    "He's right," Buck said from the hallway, sipping on a jerry can. "I can stay up unlike y'all, so don't worry. I'll keep an eye on the place." Shun smiled and Kyu nodded with a seemingly defeated sigh. She walked to her bathroom sink and opened the medicine cabinet, grabbing a bottle of sleeping pills and she took a couple.

    "Hmph, I haven't had to take these in a while." She walked back to the bed, climbing under the covers like a zombie, falling asleep almost instantly.

    "Those are too effective for her," Buck told Shun softly.

    "She used to abuse them, but since Takashi was born, she had the help she needed," Shun said. "I still don't like it even when she has to."

    "I hear that," Buck said, before checking on Takashi, who was lying in his bed, facing the wall, presumably asleep. He gently closed the door to his room and went back to the living room, checking through a small hole in the boarded-up windows, seeing a police car drive by, hopefully just on patrol.

    Earlier that night, Angela rolled into Jeremy's shop, where Daika, Chilyn, and Lexani were sitting around.

    "What the hell are you doing here, kid?" Daika asked.

    "I told Takashi to stay home while I handle this on my own," Angela explained.

    "What?" Chilyn asked. "You can't-"

    "No, listen," Angela said. "I'm still going by the plan, but I won't have Takashi driving me. I..." She blushed slightly as she trailed off.

    "You love him too much and don't want him hurt?" Daika asked, reading her expression perfectly.

    "It's not like that!" she defended, blushing more.

    "It totally is," Chilyn said, Daika nodding in agreement.

    "Whatever!"

    "Aw, that's adorable," Lexani said.

    "Whatever, look, Jeremy, I need to be an integral part of this plan, and for that, I have some things I..." she sighed and clenched her fists. "I need you ...to modify me."

    "What?" he asked, setting his repair book down. "Angela, you are aware of what can happen, right?"

    "I know, and I'm prepared to take that risk. Surely you've got my box of parts, right?" Now Jeremy sighed.

    "Yeah. 4 piece body kit with straight-flow ceramic exhaust and Redline-capable parts including the 5-pound supercharger." Angela bit her lip and nodded, transforming into her car form.

    "Angela please reconsider," Lexani begged. Angela didn't respond, and even the emotionally bare Daika was staring at her vehicular body with an expression of uncertainty... and almost fear.

    "Damnit, look," Jeremy said. "I need to get rid of these parts you got. Don't blame me if you die," Jeremy said and he put the lift arms underneath Angela.

    "Baby wait," Lexani said, grabbing his arm.

    "She's decided her fate, Lexa," Jeremy said. "The least I can do now is prepare her. If you want to leave, now is the time." Lexani began to cry as she walked away as Chylin left the room. Daika did as well, with a sick feeling forming in her stomach as Jeremy began to remove Angela's body panels to put on the rather modest body kit. After her new kit was on, Jeremy placed all the mechanicals on a countertop. "Wanna test out that new body?" he asked with a small smile, hoping for a response he never got, but he could tell she was still alive, just being stubborn. He sighed and opened her hood, setting to work upgrading her ECU, changing her exhaust, mounting the supercharger and air intake system. Once that was all done, he upgraded her suspension on both her front and rear to help her handle the power, as well as better brakes with a rear-disc conversion. Once her lightweight chrome wheels were put on with high-grade sports tires fitted, he lowered her back down. "Hey, you awake in there?" he asked Angela. She transformed into her new human form, a different hairstyle, sharper eyes, and a sterner expression. She looked at herself up and down in the mirror.

    "Damn this fits me well," she said, her voice slightly deeper. "Fuck," she hissed, some of the physical pain hitting her now.

    "Take some time and get used to it," Jeremy said. "I just hope Takashi takes it well." Angela didn't retort to that comment, still eyeballing herself in the mirror.

    Zero was standing on top of the platform atop the newly finished Daiya building. He could see the entire city, the country lands, and even the forested mountains, vaguely seeing the outlines of the mountaintop observatory that was the front for ASH and their corporation.

    "What could she be planning?" he wondered aloud, referring to Vertalia Seiko, his own mother. "She's mad." He thought to himself, reflecting on his actions for the past year, killing all of those innocent people, former ASH projects. Sure it looked like he was stopping crime, being part of the police force, but he was really just cleaning up after his insane mother. Once he realized that's all he had been doing, he was sure he would be next, the final project decommissioned. He went back inside the tower's observation floor, with wraparound windows as he paced back and forth. He stopped as he came to the window facing the main street toward the tower, seeing a pair of headlights charging for the building. Using the pay-binoculars, he saw a blue Saturn speeding toward the building, then he could feel the anger in the air that wasn't his for once. "It's that Angela bitch." He blinked and watched as she drove up to the building, seeing the hatred in her headlights. "She knows I'm here, and she's bringing a fight." He smirked. "Good." The timer on the binoculars expired and with a slight sigh of defeat, he stepped back and waited. Sure enough, after a while, he heard the elevator whir into life as it rose up to the floor at 5 floors a second. After a minute, the elevator stopped on the floor and Angela stepped into the dimly lit floor, with only city light pollution filling it.

    "Where are you, you car-killing fuck bucket?" Angela breathed, still getting used to her performance parts. She transformed her hands into wheels and tires to use them as weapons, she fired her internal engine to get them spinning.

    "Ooh, you sound supercharged," Zero said to her, moving through the darkness. Angela spun around, trying to follow his voice. "Let me guess, you had yourself modded so you could fight me?"

    "I can handle you, you bastard," she declared.

    "You sound deeper too. Exhaust modification?"

    "You bet your dead ass," she said with a smirk, still following his voice.

    "So it would seem," he stopped and looked at her as she hadn't spotted him yet. "Then let's finish this, Angela." By now she was looking toward him.

    "Then let's do it," she smirked, turning on her new LED headlights, her eye's nearly blinding Zero as she charged at him, swinging her right tire, spinning as fast as she could push it. She landed a blow to his own face, sending him into a support pillar. He gasped and coughed out oil, before pulling himself up. He growled and transformed his fists into his own wheels and tires, fighting back, using his strobing police lights in an attempt to disorientate her.

    "You're facing a Charger Hellcat bitch!" He then soon overpowered her, but Angela managed to hold on dodge a few of his harder blows. By now people going about their nightly business had noticed the light beams from the top of the Daiya building and after some calls were made a police helicopter was airborne to investigate. Zero had begun to get the upper hand in their fight until the helicopter came and shown is beacon through the windows fighting them both, a news helicopter not far behind.

    "It looks as though the lights coming from the new Daiya building are... a couple having some sort of... wait, that's Police Lieutenant Zero Seiko!" the news anchor said from her helicopter. "Lieutenant Seiko is fighting some teenaged girl in the observation deck of the Daiya building! We have no idea what exactly this fight is about but we have our man on the ground following officers inside the building so we can see just what's going on!" Angela took the opportunity to get some sucker punches in while Zero was distracted by the helicopter. Meanwhile, Takashi was at home, watching the fight on TV.

    "Angela!" he cried.

    "What the hell?" Buck asked.

    "He'll kill her!" He got up to run to the door.

    "Takashi no! You'll be the one who's killed!" Kyu cried tears in her eyes.

    "Shut up!" he yelled, slapping her. She gasped in horror, stepping back.

    "Hey," Shun said, reaching for him.

    "I won't let her get killed goddammit! I love her too much!" He stormed out of the house and ran toward downtown.

    "Goddamnit," Buck hissed, running after him, but Ruby showed up pulling next to Takashi.

    "Get in you dumbass!" she yelled through her radio. "You need to hurry!" Takashi climbed into her driver seat and floored Ruby, her front wheels spinning as she did a front-wheel burnout before moving. Meanwhile, Jemma was watching everything unfold, as was everyone else.

    "We going ahead of schedule?" Eredith phoned her.

    "Damn right we are!" Jemma declared, phoning everyone. "Operation Underground is a go!" With that, everyone leading their groups left their safehouses and sped toward downtown and the Daiya building.

    Oliver the modified NSX led the drifters tearing down the mountain passes blasting Eurobeat music.

    "Alright everyone, you know the drill," he radioed his group. "Time to make some noise." Sure enough, the local police scanner lit up not only for reports about them but for plans on what to do about Daiya. Meanwhile, Eredith led her group, the hatchbacks toward the airport where they did burnouts, doughnuts, and other hooning about to attract attention. Sure enough, when airport security couldn't handle it, they had to call cops out of the city to come help. That was their cue to leave and floor it toward the city. At the same moment, Tsubaki's group the European imports had caught the attention of Enzo and Ghiath.

     "So many of them are cars like us," Ghiath said to Enzo through their radio in her middle-eastern accent.

    "Don't sound so surprised," Enzo said. "They can hear us with their illegal scanners." Tsubaki was indeed able to hear them, so she radioed for her group to split up through all the B-roads. Sure enough, Enzo had to call for local backup despite the city and indeed county force running thin at this point. Even Kjeld's group hanging out at the Triple C began to do some drag races at the port, much to Cher and Rebecca's enjoyment.

    "You think their plan will work?" Cher asked Rebecca.

    "Angela took matters into her own cylinders," Rebecca replied, sipping on some fuel cleaner in a goblet. "Jemma decided to begin early because of either Angela's bravery or stupidity."

    "So aside from Jemma, Angela may have just brought everyone down with her?" Cher asked, trying to understand Rebecca's logic.

    "Precisely, she's either tanked the whole operation or saved everyone some heartache and stress." Meanwhile, Ruby and Takashi were speeding toward the building.

    "Takashi there's a crowd," Ruby said. "I'm gonna transform and using my speed, throw you forward okay?"

    "Wait you're gonna what?!" he exclaimed.

    "Hold on, you dumbass!" she yelled as she used part of her human and vehicular strength to throw herself into the air, transforming mid-flight and throwing Takashi over the crowd. It wasn't anything too dramatic, but she got him fast enough to just land properly and head inside. The news crews on the ground filmed the entire thing.

    "Someone has just... jumped over the crowd of onlookers and officers and has gone into the building!" a news reporter on the ground said. "That speeding car... transformed into a girl and she threw him inside!" Several of the reporters scrambled to get Ruby but she transformed and drove away, still being filmed. "Did you see, did you see?" reporters clambered.

    "That car transformed into a girl!" one reporter yelled.

    "She morphed into a car!" another said.

    "An automorph has been spotted!" While the media was having a fit over this, a woman in the crowd with beautiful blue hair and sleek black clothing walked away before transforming into a Rolls Royce Cullinan. Another woman walked in and sat in the back seat.

    "Everything is set, Freyr," she said, using a codename. She wore all white and had an insane expression. "We should leave before things get a little too... explosive... around here."

    "As you say, Sif," the female Cullinan said, driving through the alleyway. Meanwhile, another woman stood atop a smaller building many blocks away, watching the madness, licking her lips sensually.

    "Oh Idunn," she said in an angelic English accent. "I am just excited for the fireworks show," she said as she pet the woman next to her, who sat crouched like a cat, with cat-ears and all. The yellow and black-clothed woman purred with an engine idle. "This will mark the rise of the SUVs. These upstarts will know just how powerful we can be, all thanks to our powers granted to us by that pathetic science company." She laughed manically, showing her sharp-teethed smirk. Unaware of the danger, Takashi made it to the elevators and called one, making it in before any of the officers in the building could get him. As he made his way up, he gulped and clenched his fists.

    "Angie I'm sorry," he said to himself, "But I can't let you die here. I... I love you too much." The elevator made it to the top floor and Takashi stepped out.

    "Angela!" Takashi yelled, bursting into the observation floor, as Zero delivered a hard left hook, sending her across the room, her weapons changing back into her hands.

    "T... Takashi?" she spat out some oil as she struggled to pull herself up. "G... Goddamnit, I told you to stay out of this!"

    "She's right Takashi," Zero said, pulling his gun, pointing it at him. "Stay out of it."

    "Zero don't hurt him!" Angela said instinctively.

    "You really think you can stand up against me, Takashi?" Zero taunted.

    "If I h-have to," he said, fearfully taking a fighting position and Zero laughed.

    "Look here kids, you want to know the real reason I killed all those cars?" Takashi and Angela nodded as Zero put his gun down. "My own mother runs the Autonomous Synthetic Humanizations Corporation. You know it as ASH. She was the original creator of us Automorphs, and it wasn't until after she shared her findings globally that she realized that we had flaws so she put out an order to have all 3,144 of her subjects recalled." Takashi and Angela stared at each other wide-eyed, before looking back at Zero. "Yeah, that includes me too!" He laughed insanely before tears fell from his eyes. "And like Hell, I'm gonna die." Angela stood in front of Takashi as Zero began to lose it.

    "Takashi get out of here!"

    "No damnit I love you too much!"

    "Now's not the time for this conversation!" she said, blushing.

    "And you fucking see?!" Zero cried. "You two twits have something I will never get ever again! I wanted to be loved with a normal life, but NO! Mom just had to experiment on me... turn me into a test monkey! I mean sure I've had this great power, but at what fucking cost?! My goddamn mortality!" He sobbed uncontrollably. "My goddamn humanity! I'm a 2015 Charger in a 29-year-old man's body! AND I MISS THE TASTE OF FUCKING CANDY!"

    "Don't take it out on us because you didn't have a normal childhood," Takashi said.

    "But Mom said that if I kill all of her failed science projects she would turn me back... to normal." He raised his gun and pointed it at Angela. "Angela... even though that drove me... it motivated me... do you think I liked killing all those innocent people!" He cried with a pained expression. "I was used! I was the victim! I see their dead and crying faces when I try to even sleep! I had to fucking kill children goddammit!"

    "Zero..." Angela muttered.

    "Shut up. You wouldn't understand."

    "Maybe I do! We could work together! We need to stop her together! Then... we can both go back to normal... maybe."

    "Like hell!" He fired his gun, but he missed, being so emotionally unstable. The bullet went through the wall and the whole building shook violently causing the three of them to fall to their knees.

    "Zero what the hell did you hit?!" Takashi cried out.

    "That wasn't me!" he said, going to the window seeing the smoke and flames. "Oh fuck! Someone bombed the ground floors!"

    "WHAT?!" Takashi and Angela cried out as the building began to lean to one side.

    "An explosion on the ground floor!" the anchor in the helicopter cried out, the camera turning toward where the crowd was. "The building's leaning!" The pilot radioed for help.

    "Daiya's been bombed!" he cried. "We need the military and all the help we can get!" Inside, Takashi grabbed Angela and pulled her toward the support beam he was holding onto for balance as Zero rolled toward the now lowering windows.

    "Zero!" Angela cried, reaching for him, Zero crying out, reaching for her only for furniture to fall onto him, breaking his body through the windows. "ZERO!" The poor man screamed as he fell to his certain death.

    "Angela, forget him we need to find a way out!" Takashi cried. Angela wiped her eyes and nodded, running to the opposite window, kicking it out, Takashi holding onto her. She transformed into her vehicle form and began driving down the leaning side of the falling building, the film crew watching in absolute awe as this blue Saturn drove down the side of this falling skyscraper. Jemma, Eredith, Oliver, Tsubaki, Kjeld, Cher, Rebecca, Buck, Kyu, Shun, and everyone else in the county watched in horror as the building fell, crushing the nearby city blocks, seeing the blue Saturn drive headfirst, into the dark debris cloud below.

    "Shun, Kyu, get in!" Buck cried, transforming as they climbed in, Buck sped toward the city, following the path of all the county firetrucks, ambulances, National Guard, and other disaster relief personnel.

    "No..." Jemma said into her radio. "Angela!" Rebecca and Cher went into emergency mode and quickly had the bar transformed into a mass of hospital bays for injured Automorphs, Cher putting a huge sign up stating so while Jaku and Jeremy rolled in ready to help. The coast guard came into port unloading supplies and personnel while the ferries from across the bay came in, bring more people and supplies to help as the TV had been broadcasting the Daiya building nationwide. A black 1972 Chevy Chevelle came roaring down the highways from out of town toward the city.

    "Um, Destiny?" The Chevelle asked her driver through the radio. "You're taking me pretty strong here."

    "Look Beauty, Colin could be in trouble," Destiny replied to her car. "Someone brought down the tallest fucking building in the entire state. Can't you handle me like this?"

    "I'm more than capable of this sort of speed," Beauty replied, sounding almost offended.

    "Then we need to punch it!" Destiny said, changing into top gear, pushing Beauty's speed well past 170 miles an hour. Meanwhile, Colin and his Dad were scrambling around in the ASH building, his Dad had made a plan and put it into action during all the commotion.

    "Dad what are you doing?" Colin asked.

    "I'm going to take over this company," Yipeng said. "That old woman doesn't deserve such a failing business. I can make things right." He went through all of Vertalia's files and grabbed her laptops. "Come on, grab Max, we're getting out of here!"

    "Max!" Colin yelled, and the boy came running, having kept watch. "Let's get out of here!"

    "Right!" Max nodded and they all ran out to the parking lot where Max transformed and Yipeng packed in everything he could get while Colin jumped into the driver seat.

    "Dad let's go!" Colin said, and he climbed in, Colin flooring Max down the winding road away from the compound. Buck got Shun and Kyu as close to the city wreckage as they could and they jumped out, Buck transforming.

    "Whoa whoa, we need to clear the area," a fireman told them.

    "Did you see that car driving down the building?!" Kyu demanded.

    "Yes, Ma'am now please-"

    "That was my son!"

    "Come on, let us through!" Shun demanded.

    "Hey, hey," another fireman said. "You folks need to leave this area while we search for survivors!"

    "Damnit!" Buck shouted, transforming. "Guys get in!" They climbed back in Buck as he drove through the barriers and into the still billowing debris smoke. Meanwhile, Takashi pulled himself up, covered in dust. He wiped his eyes and looked at Angela's dusty interior. They had a rough landing and Angela managed to pull herself into a nearby garage bay before the building was buried by rubble. It was still structurally sound, but they were trapped in the dark. Takashi got out, trying to inspect his wounds when he saw the state Angela was in. Her entire suspension system had collapsed and she was leaking oil badly. Her windows were all broken and her body was all sorts of dented. She was able to transform and her body was just as bad. She had her left eye shining as she could still run, but she coughed, oil coming out with each cough.

    "See Takashi?" she said weakly. "I knew I could protect you."

    "Angela please... save your energy." He got up and Angela followed him with her eye so he could see. He managed to find some oil for her to drink, but of course it would just come right back out.

    "You need to save your energy. Hopefully my idle won't choke you." Takashi took his phone and tried to turn it on.

    "Damn it's broken."

    "Don't worry Takashi," she said. "We're together."

    "But... we're gonna die," he said, starting to cry.

    "Don't cry you dumbass." She sat against a pile of rocks, Takashi sitting next to her, and she leaned on his shoulder. "Don't cry. After all, I love you."

    "I love you too," he said, and they shared a slow and dusty, but passionate kiss. There was a distant rumble, but then they heard the dull droning of rainfall, some it leaking into the garage space where they were trapped. "Maybe it'll get us out of here," Takashi said.

    "So long as it comes in and goes out." There was a minute of near silence

    "Hey."

    "Yeah?"

    "I like your new mods." Angela stared at him and they laughed. After a few moments, they locked arms and sat next to each other, both of them falling asleep.

    An uncertain amount of time later, Takashi awoke to the beeping of an EKG machine. He looked at the all-white ceiling, then the walls, then his eyes drifted into the unmodded eyes of Angela, who was looking back down at him, and she smiled.

    "Morning sleepyhead," she said, gently kissing him.

    "You've..." he said.

    "Gone back to normal?" she finished him, putting a finger on his lips. "You've been asleep for nearly a week."

    "What happened while I was out?"

    "Lots of things," a nurse with long black hair and orange eyes said, walking in and closing the door. "The terrorists who claimed responsibility for the Daiya attack are a rogue group of SUVs who plan on taking over the world. The ASH company has been dismantled and one Yipeng Tang has managed to seize most of the assets belonging to that company, including that A113S tank. Vertalia Seiko is on the run, and with the leftover ASH assets, a so-called cure for the automorphs has been mass-produced for those who are left in their vehicular states."

    "And Takashi," Angela started. "I was so badly damaged, in order for them to save me..."

    "You're normal... normal," he said. Angela nodded and bit her lip.

    "I'm not your blue Saturn Ion anymore. I'm sorry."

    "Also," the nurse continued, "the assets also contained the case files for all 3,144 projects. Including their original names and information." Angela handed Takashi a paper that had all her info on it. As it turned out, Angela was an orphan who disappeared when she was 5. The orphanage thought she ran off and most likely died but was picked up by ASH and experimented on. The only thing she could remember after being turned into an Automorph was her own name. "Anyway, Mr. Sato, it's time for your meds." The nurse gave Takashi some painkillers. "I'll leave the two of you to talk things out."

    "Kyu and Shun are on their way," Angela said, checking her phone.

    "Angela, now that you're normal, what are you gonna do?" She smiled and giggled.

    "Isn't it obvious? We're gonna go out and buy a Saturn." She kissed him on the forehead. "Takashi... I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Now that I'm a normal human girl..." she looked down as her whole face went red. "Takashi I want you to put a baby in me!" she declared as Kyu tore the door open.

    "WHAT?!" Kyu cried running over and hugging Takashi. "Oh my sweet baby boy you're alive!" Shun came over and hugged them too. Kyu then turned to Angela. "What did you say about babies?"

    "Um... Mrs. Sato..." she said nervously.

    "Mrs. Sato relax," the nurse said, coming back in, closing the door, taking Takashi's vitals. "Didn't Buck and Cain tell you that in order to save Angela's life she had to be given the Automorph cure?"

    "Meaning?" Kyu asked as her mental gears turned.

    "K-Kyu..." Angela said sheepishly. "I'm no longer a car. I'm a normal girl." Angela bit her lip again out of nerves and it drew some red, human blood. The nurse handed her a tissue.

    "Oh."

    "A-And Takashi and I declared our love for each other. Now that I can truly live with him. I decided what we're gonna buy a new Saturn, and move away from this hellhole."

    "Well good luck with the whole 'new Saturn' part," the nurse said. "Some of us are gonna stay here and fight those SUVs."

    "Wait, are you an-?"

    "Yep. I am Schwarze, a new CTV5 Blackwing. I have some friends moving in, and we're gonna take down those SUVs. Seriously, tell all of your human friends and get the hell out."

    "She's right," Jaku said, walking in with Akuma. "Good to see you up, Kid."

    "Yes nyaa," Akuma purred.

    "Takashi, take your nice family and leave this town. A few of us are gonna stay behind."

    "Who's staying?" Takashi asked.

    "Well Jeremy and Lexani are, Daika and Chilyn went back to their homelands, Buck-"

    "What about Buck?"

    "I'll tell him," Shun said. "Well, he fell in love with Kaylee, that Jeep you guys rescued. They both got cured and decided to move up north-east."

    "Cain?"

    "He's still with us, and he's still a car," Kyu said. "He said he'll get cured when he's ready, but for now, since Buck left we still need a car."

    "What about Faye and Celica?"

    "The school's been shut down and the district has merged with the state. You'll be graduating a few towns over. Kyu and I already have a place for all of us."

    "Okay good."

    "I heard from Faye," Angela said. "They're moving in with their grandparents across the country. Nikki, Sabrina, and Mina are also moving in with their relatives. Everyone who can leave is leaving the city."

    "Wait, what about the building collapse?"

    "Cleanup was halted by the SUVs," Jaku said. "Downtown is effectively a warzone. I'm staying to help with any Automorph casualties. Like Schwarze here said, I suggest you guys pack what you can and haul ass."

    "Takashi Sato, I hereby dismiss you from our care," Schwarze said with a smirk. "You should be good to go." Angela helped him out of the bed and the Sato's walked downstairs together and outside where Cain was waiting. He drove them to the outskirts of the town where Takashi and Angela looked back upon the smouldering city where they used to call home.

    "What about Jemma and her friends?" Takashi asked Angela.

    "She just texted and said they'll be fine," Angela responded. "I'm sure we'll hear down the grapevine what happened with everyone later."

    "For now though, let's get you all safely out of here," Cain said through his radio as he drove them to their boarded-up house where they had everything packed up into a trailer and moving van. With Shun driving the moving van, Angela took care of Takashi in Cain's back seat as Kyu drove, and they drove into the traffic of all the other survivors leaving the city. Meanwhile, atop the city's ruins.

    "It's time for this world to realize the future of SUVs," the English SUV said in her strong accent, adjusting the tophat on her head. "For I, Jacki The Ripper, Aston Martin DBX, shall pave this new wave in history!"