Our not-so-heroes lacked the energy at the end of their day to set up a tent. Instead, they merely brought out their folding chairs and a small cooler full of beer, and sat in front of the Keystone, sipping the brews and trying not to concentrate on the fact that most of their joints ached and throbbed.
“Dude, I so wanted to hurl, like, 500 times,” Ollie said.
“Good thing you didn’t. You were driving.” Devin paused for a second as he wasn’t sure the burp coming up was actually a burp. “I can still taste the banana puke.”
“Dude, don’t remind me. Car’s gonna smell like it from now on.”
“So, Caranavi, then.” Jake said, getting into the driver’s seat and starting the Travette’s engine. He pulled the stick down into Drive and tried to make up some time, the turbocharged three-cylinder roaring as they chased down the Dirt Warriors, though inevitably ended up falling behind, their car simply not having the power to catch the more-powerful machine in front of them. Cody, however, was laughing as they threw gravel and dirt at the teams behind them, their rear wheels spinning furiously on the road.
It was roughly 7 PM when the Travette hustled into the town of Caranavi. Jake checked the phone and said, “Halfway there, and already lost a team. Wonder who it was.”
At 7:30 in the morning, however, it was obvious who was missing. “Where’s those jokers in the lifted muscle car we drove into?” Cody asked. Jake waved the phone and said, “They might be the missing team, the casualty.”
Out on the Death Road, however, Cody took the wheel. “Wish these Dirt Warrior pricks would get off of our rear bumper.” Cody grumbled. “They crash into us, I’m going after 'em with the machete.”
A few twists and turns later, Cody was trying to negotiate a tighter-than-expected turn when they got shoved into the ditch by the Dirt Warriors. In an instant, Cody was out of the car, machete in hand, as he approached the Dirt Warriors. A few swipes were exchanged, mostly Cody doing damage to the paint of the Dirt Warriors car, and stabbing the driver’s seat twice, before the Dirt Warriors swung back and clipped Cody on his arm with their own machete. Cody retreated, but not without calling them all sorts of names and promising retribution later.
He got back into the car, where Jake was busy describing it for a social media post as a "Proper, honest modern sword-fight on the most dangerous road in the world, complete with pictures. The two of them wrestled the Travette out of the ditch with proper abuse of the Sport Mode and the lockable rear diff, then headed out onto the road at a more sedate pace.
Somehow, the two of them made it to La Paz, with Jake limping lightly from driving with a strained ankle, and Cody cleaning the rather nasty-looking, though minor cut on his arm. “I hope their blade fucking rusts to shit for that.” Cody said.
“Well, we could be assholes and chainsaw the roof of their car apart, or we could be civilized about it.” Jake said.
“I’d sure feel a lot better if we dumped a couple of our piss bottles in their driver’s seat. Rear-ending someone on the fucking Death Road. I don’t care that it was an accident, stop fuckin’ tail-gating.” Cody grumbled, checking the phone. “Lost another one, by the sound of it. Looks like it might be the mad-max limo.”
@abg7 Figured I’d give your team a bit of extra glory for that one. After all, not many could say they’ve had a sword-fight on the Death Road. Plus, worst you’ve gotta deal with is some holes in your seats and some rather nasty looking paint scratches. Though I’d be pleased if we at least knocked the mirror off the car… But that’s entirely up to you.
On the infamous Death Road, Geoff and Stan struggled, but still believed they could make it through. Unfortunately, some time later, the Dirt Warriors’ unintentional collision with the Rental Wreckers provoked the latter into threatening to hack off Geoff and Stan’s limbs with their machetes.
“You fools are so thin-skinned, you couldn’t tell the difference between an accident and a deliberate ramming attack!” Stan warned the Rental Wreckers as he swung his own machete. He ended up getting a clean hit on Cody’s arm, convincing him to back off. Eventually he got back inside the Teton and ordered Geoff to hit the accelerator… only to notice the missing passenger side mirror.
“The right mirror’s gone, but it shouldn’t be too serious. It would take too much time and effort for anyone to destroy our car with nothing more than a machete. I think we should head for La Paz right now - we have little time to waste.”
“All right then, let’s get on with it. We don’t want another run-in with these maniacs unless we have no choice!” Geoff hollered in encouragement.
Eventually the Dirt Warriors made it to La Paz, relieved that they and their Teton were in one piece. Despite having fallen out of the top 10, they remained as upbeat as ever, knowing that there was still a lot of driving to do. And with two more teams out of the race, they knew that every mistake could potentially be their last… as far as this race is concerned.
All was going seemingly well, the Pajura had got to second place and was performing well bar one hiccup where the ignition coil had to be replaced.
Johnny had let down on his attack for first place and lent back in his seat and habitually put his hand out of the window to rest on the roof, of course that would have been fine providing the hot roof mounted exhausts were not in place but they were.
“Jeeeesus holy shit” yelped Johnny pulling his sindged hand back through the window looking at it before rapidly blowing on it.
Charlie glanced over and upon seeing Johnny’s red hand he quickly whipped out on the the large bottles of water and started pouring in onto the wound and all over his lap. “You really are a colossal spanner Johnny” said Charlie sweeping the water off his lap into the footwell.
“Stop it you’re getting the car wet ow ow ow ow ow” squeeked Johnny jerking the steering wheel violently as he did so.
“It’s going to get wetter at some point stop being such and old dear about it all” replied Charlie still pouring water over Johnny’s hand. “And don’t put your hand on the bloody roof again”
“Yeah yeah just give me back my hand it’s hard to drive with one are if you didn’t know” said Johnny childishly.
The two continued on with a lot of wincing and sharp intakes of breath from Johnny and uncountable eye rolls from Charlie, travelling slower but still keeping and eye out for the leader.
[The team is at the moment racing to the Death Road, Behind them a green van is overtake them. But the partners try everything they can to stop them overtaking]
“Oh boyo Kyle.” Jim says, “They are still behind us”
“I aint getting overtaken by some fuckbois in their mum’s minivan. I gonna fucking smoke them”
“Smoke them… OH OH I have an idea open the windows!”
“Wot”
“JUST DO IT”
[With a quick flick of the switches all the windows of the SX-2 are getting lowered and with that all the collected Vape Smoke excapes the interror]
Richard, being the first awake is having his morning sip of alcohol and smokes his cigar. Standing at the rear-right corner of the Mimas, looking away from it, he continues smoking as he starts to walk over to the front, leaning against the right fender.
Smith: [slightly louder than normal] “I know everything, Connor.”
Connor: [opens a small gap in the co-driver window] “What do you mean by knowing everything?”
Smith: “Elijah Kamski…”
Connor: “The founder of CyberLife and man of the 21st Century.”
Smith: [cold] “And my son…” a short pause of a few seconds
Connor: “Correct. And your son.”
Smith: “CyberLife?”
[Connor gets out of the vehicle, inconveniantly operating the door using his left hand]
Connor: “CyberLife is a Detroit-based multimillion-Dollar company commercially manufacturing and distributing Androids.”
Smith: “Which year did you come from?”
Connor: [with minor aggression in his voice] “Why would you want to know this information?”
In the middle of Connor´s answer, Smith throws his glass at Connor, who alegantly catches it, still using his left hand only. He lowers the glass and proceeds to answer as if nothing happened.
Smith: [while walking away] “I am watching you…”
Connor: “You do not want your glass back?”
Connor holds up the glass, trying to hand it to Smith, but Smith completely ignores him, getting back into his tent.
Connor, without saying anything, gets back into the car, waiting for the rest to get up.
August 26th 2018; 7:39; morning
The team has woken up and gathered their stuff. As they are loading it into the cargo compartments of the Mimas. Tonsom walks up Smith and Miller in front of their still put-up tent. They are currently having breakfast.
Tonsom: [aggressive] “Mornin’ Fellas… Taking your sweet time huh?”
Smith: [remains silent, looks at Tonsom in slight anger, but starts to pack his stuff soon after]
Tonsom: [less aggressive] “Remember, that shit here is still a race. And a race means getting to the finish line. Preferably fast.”
Connor arrives at the scene.
Susan: “Yeah sure daddy.” [starts to pack her stuff as well]
Connor: “Good morning, Captain.”
Tonsom: “Mornin’…”
Connor: “Remember the coin i asked for yesterday?”
Tonsom: “You still are so keen on that coin aren´t ya? Whatever… [pulls out a 1994 Quarter-Dollar-Coin and hands it to Connor] Have fun playing.”
Connor starts doing some fancy coin tricks.
Connor´s coin-trick
Connor rolls the Coin around his left hand knuckles a few times.
Then he flings the coin across to his right hand in a perfectly straight line.
The coin quickly flies back to his left hand, repeating the process back and forth a few times.
To finalize the calibration process, the coin flies back to his right hand once more and comes to a stop with it´s edge between his right index and middle finger.
After Connor is done doing his coin thing, he hands the coin back to Tonsom.
Connor: “Thank you.”
Tonsom takes the coin without saying a word. A few minutes later, the team is ready to set off.
The team is on a straightaway on their way to the next campsite. Connor, however, stops the car on the side of the road, gets out and walks towards some very noticeable skid marks on the road.
The others, by then did notice a grey muscle car in the pond next to them. Reactions are mixed. Redwood and Miller are sad, because another team died on this illegal event. Tonsom does not care too much, as he kind of expected people to die. Richard´s reaction is similar to Tonsom´s, but for different reasons which are better left unspecified. Connor walks around, seemingly without much clue of the happenings, until he straight up walks INTO the sea towards the car.
Tonsom: “wowowowWOAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!!”
Connor does not follow Tonsom´s order.
Connor: “I need to check something.”
Connor arrives at the upside-down Saetta in the puddle and opens it´s door. He manages to have a look inside of it, seeing dead versions of Ana and Alejandro. He then gets up and walks back towards the car and gets in as if nothing happened. He is wet from the knees downward, soaking the floor mat in water.
Tonsom: “The fuck were you doing there???”
Connor: “I was investigating the accident to know how it happened.”
Redwood: “Now my floor mats are all wet… this will take ages to dry…”
Connor: “I am sorry about your floor mats.”
Redwood: [curious] “How did it?”
Connor explains how the accident happened
The accident happend around 40 min before our arrival. There were two vehicles involved, but without collision. One of them crashed, resulting in the death of the two occupants, Ana Gutierrez as the driver and Alejandro Gutierrez as a passenger, both born in 1996, and the destruction of the vehicle, a 1985 Vega Saetta VT. The driver tried to overtake another participant and started skidding trying to negotiate the upcoming corner. Their slide angle must have been higher than desired, because the driver tried to countersteer, which resilted in the car tirning around the other way. They were not able to correct the mistake and hit that rock with the rear-left wheel [points at a rock with clearly wisible paint marks]. The collision with the rock was lethal, killing both Ana and Alejandro. This rock caused the car to get airborne, flipping multiple times, ultimately landing in the pond upside down.
Tonsom and Redwood are impressed by the amount of detail in the explanation. Miller is interested in Connor, as he seems to be very smart from her view. Smith, however seems to have accomplished something thought-related…
The rest of the day went on rather uneventful, with the team arriving after almost 18 hours of driving. They vaguely set up their tents, and quickly fall to sleep.
John is close to Caranavi. As he drives, Scott wakes up, still in pain from his arm crushing into his elbow…
“Where are we?” asks Scott, sounding as if in pain
“Jeez, you’re awake? You broke your arm bud…” says John
Scott looks at his arm, completely broken and bloody.
“I’m still tired, I need more sleep…” says Scott, as he drifts to sleep again
An hour later
John and Scott have arrived in Caranavi
John sets up his tent and goes to sleep, Scott is left to sleep in the car…
The Next Morning - 7:20 AM
John wakes up immediately and brings down his tent, Scott is awake and ready to keep traveling, they set off onto the Death Road…
“You are the most unlucky bastard.” says John
“Maybe you should take it slower you idiot.” replies Scott
All of the sudden, while they are bickering, a car appears out of nowhere and John slams on the brakes, this was also on a corner. The truck was inches away from falling off of a cliff…
“YOU are the biggest fucking idiot…” says John
They are taking it slow as they don’t want to fly off a cliff and most likely die…
As they reach the end of Death Road and see La Paz, they stop and take a breather…
“Not surprised that people die on that road every year…” says John
“I bet someone did a stupid move on --” Scott is cut off by a text on John’s phone
“What is… 2 casualties… someone did something wrong, probably that damn M-Series.” says John
That isn’t the several explanations I demanded… Then again, Team Valhlalla was a team of no few words. That point eluded me…
Well, time for a rather serious change of pace.
Aston's Orc Krew: Stage 2 - The Deadliest Road
The usual intro for Jack Aston’s GAR 2 show plays, dubstep and all. But when the intro ends, Jack’s expression is rather somber…
Jack: Hello, one and all. This is Jack Aston, with updates for Stage 2 of the Great Automation Run 2. Sadly, these updates involve the passing of two great drivers, people who were too young for this world. During the first part of Stage 2, Ana and Alejandro Gutierrez, drivers of the Vega Saetta Mk4 representing Shitbox Brothers, lost their lives after a violent accident. We received visual confirmation not only from our sources, but also from fellow team Operation BIRD, who brought their investigation to light following the stage.
Of course this is Death Road, many say. But above all else, we’re bringing this death to light because there was another team who lost their lives, but not because they were fighting tooth and nail. Their names don’t need to be said, because their act killed any shred of respect we had for them. For the Premium Ticket subscribers, this team’s ID is clear as day; Team Valhalla. These heartless motherfuckers tried to ram our car off the road during the second part of Stage 2. We have GoPro footage that more than confirms their intentions, and also their demise.
If your path needs suicide and you’re that committed, then you stopped caring for life. But that is no reason for you to take anyone else down along the way. Suicide is a single-person trip, your life and your life alone. What Valhalla did was the lowest of the low you can go in a race like this. The other teams are listening to our speech, so they should also listen to this. Bump ‘n’ draft? Sure. Mild nugging? Fine. But ramming another car off the road to its team’s death? That is a dick move, and you will be seen as a jackass afterwards. I don’t care if God or Devil told you, take your life and your life alone. This isn’t a demolition derby, this is a survival race. Fuck off with your burial shit, your sick dreams of homicide, anything of the sort. You don’t want the money, the glory? Then stop your car and quit, simple as that.
So, as you can imagine, this will not be a long update. But I am a professional, as much as the Guiterrez brothers were. I did call them “Cheatbox Bros.”, but that did not mean I hated them. And while we were never truly acquainted, I like to think they would want others to be informed about the efforts of those who fight for victory, fair and square.
Therefore we will give the current standings; Team Wonderbolts have jumped to the lead, followed by Team Bakewell Bălțata in the Pajura. Despite a rough stage, the Modesty Machine has survived with a third. Whereas the dark horse leader Area Wanderer fell down the standings to 17th place, perhaps due to their powerful V12, too wild for such a tight road. We the Aston Orc Krew are third-to-last, for obvious reasons.
It’s also worth noting that Team Rental Wreckers have voluntarily quit the race, due to a fight with the Dirt Warriors. Therefore this entire stage claimed three teams. Post Mistake Segment!(turns to Sly, who is giving him a last-minute update) …is that so? Our apologies, our sources were misinformed. Team Rental Wreckers is still in the race, their driver has recovered from an arm injury and will join the field for Stage 3.
Surpringly enough, the M-Series is still here, but it was two days late. Hence the delay in our broadcast. Normally I would do a joke and mock them for this abysmal pace, but their guts is a better lesson worth noting. For people like Team Valhasses, for instance.
As always check our social media for more informations. This is Jack Aston, and be safe. I mean it. And if you’re contemplating suicide, get as much medical help as you can. Don’t think ending your life leaves others free of guilt. Thank you, and good night.
Jack gives Hugh and Sly the signal to cut the feed, looking visibly frustrated.
Sly: Jack…
Jack: I don’t want to hear anything. Right now, I’m going to sleep this shit through and wait for more indications. If anything happens, I’ll be in the trunk. (goes away)
Sly: Damm… Mr. Hugh, maybe we should quit while we’re ahead.
Hugh: No, we shouldn’t.
Sly: But…!
Hugh: Didn’t you notice something? Where Jack is going?
Sly: He said the trunk, but… Wait, he would usually hog the tent all for himself during his other series when he threw a fit! He left the tent for us…? Back then he would never do anything else if something went wrong…
Hugh: Heh, maybe that shouting I did had some effect other than wrecking my throat. Just before this race I did the same to some Intelligence people… Perhaps a good verbal thrashing hasn’t gone out of style.
Sly: Er, didn’t you say you were a private investigator, Mr. Ache…?
Hugh: Boy, I guess I’m talking crazy now too. This calls for a night of rest, so let’s get to it. (leaves)
For the record, we’ve not quit the run. Merely licking our wounds and preparing for the next leg. Only thing we stopped was trying to kill the Dirt Warriors.
It could be a text about an all-team meeting, bar the late M-Series, after the last car crossed Stage 2’s finish line and the officials were informed by BIRD. The meeting is held afterwards, which is then mentioned by Jack (as he hosted the Stage 2 episode after the M-Series arrived)…
Of course, this can be tackled differently by you. Just dropping an idea to help the story flow.
OOC: sorry for diuble post, thius is done to keep direct RP and general talking seperate from each other
also, this post is “shorter”, because there was little to do in terms of events to RP for
Operation BIRD; Second Stage II
August 27th 2018; 7:11; morning
The team did not sleep too well… They pack their tents up (Tonsom managed to construct his successfully this time), load it onto/ into the Mimas and quickly head off for day three. The seating positions are the same as yesterday, with Connor still being the driver.
The race was relatively uneventful this time, until the Mimas hits a bump, sending it airborne. The rebound of the jump results in every occupant hitting their head on the roof lining of the Mimas. The Mimas lands safely in Connor´s control.
Everyone (except Connor) : “OW!”
Tonsom: “Now my neck hurts…”
Connor: [concerned] “Are you okay, Captain?”
Tonsom: “Yeah… nothing serious. At least i think it is…”
They continue on, without much talking. Maybe a little non-relevant chit-chatting, if at all. A few hours in, Connor stops the car at a gas station named “ES Adaluz Petrol”. He refill the car, silently, gets back in and goes on driving.
Another few hours later, they reach the DEATH ROAD. dun dun dun
Connor is applying a highly conservative driving-style, trying to drive as predictable as possible for the natives, while also trying to avoid collisions or falling off the cliff. At some point, Connor has to let a native Truck pass on the “Wall” side, leaving him very little space between the cliff and the outer two wheels of the Mimas.
He manages to let the truck pass safely, having applied a little trick to decrease vehicle width, which is called “folding in the mirrors”.
The rest of the race remained fairly boring, with few events taking place. Eventually, they reach the city of La Paz.
August 28th 2018; 1:23; night
At the “Aeropuerto International El Alto”
Connor: “We have arrived at the airport.”
Tonsom: “Here we go. Time to say goodbye, i guess.”
Redwood: “Have a nice time, wherever you are from.”
Smith and Miller also say goodbye to the members of Operation BIRD, get out of the car and get their stuff off the car. Then they walk off into the airport terminal building.
The team then proceeds to drive back to the campsite location and catches some valueable sleep for the next stage.
Upon the receipt of the “GO” order we headed out; desperate to make time up on the rest of the racers. However, try as we might, we lost touch with the rest of the racers… Our car was simply too standard; no power made for no progress, lol.
We were able to make it to the base camp at Caranavi, which is more than could be said for Team Shitbox… Their car’s carcass was still hissing and ticking when we stopped to check their wreck. Ben scared off some locals who were fishing for souvenirs while I conducted a quick walkaround to see if anyone had been flown clear of the wreck. Unable to find any traces of the team, I then checked the car itself. The roof had caved in and the doors were jammed, making opening the car an expensive and gory exercise in futility. So, after calling to the car’s occupants and tapping the bodywork without any response, before we left Ben lobbed a 40MM willy-pete into the coupe’s fuel tank, giving the Shitbox brothers a fiery funeral as well as protection for their remains from the local carrion hunters, both animal and human…
Caranavi, Bolivia, 07:30 AM. 27th August 2018.
The next day saw us hit the imfamous “Death Highway”. Ben and I had driven the road before so we weren’t too worried, but only a fool gave the road any less respect than it fully deserved…
As always, our sensible offroader proved inadequate to the rigours of racing and we fell further behind. We missed all the excitement of the day and we didn’t see where the Death Metal limo had speared off into the unforgiving void. Later that night, after many tense near misses, we arrived a La Paz where we holed up with some of our smuggling buddies for the night. We’d be ready for tomorrow, when it arrived, but for now we wanted sleep, cider and the good company of trustworthy friends!
@HighOctaneLove
congratulations!
you just managed to light a car on fire, while it is submerged in the sea by 2/3rds of it’s height.
now we have a burning oil platform, essentially
Thanks for the nice maps of where the car crashed on stage 2! They would have come in handy when I was writing up my RP flair… Being at the back of the race requires me to write whatever I can from the scraps left to me by the other, faster teams!
The hardest part for me is knowing that @VicVictory is currently beating me… I’ll get you next time, Team Canon Fodder! NEXT TIIIIIIMMMMEEEE!!!..
sorry for that…
should have included them in Connor’s explanation…
i am just gonna assume you siphoned out the fuel and used it to make some (although short-lived) fire with it
also:
i am at the far back myself.
i have just been quicker to write RP, limiting faster teams in actions
i.e.: they cannot burn up a car if i reach a non-burnt one
(you should be even further at the back, so you can burn it if wanted)
Sorry, will update that ASAP.
