Burnout pulled into the roadside parking spot and unjacked from his car. He looked around; the area hadn’t changed since his previous time passing by.

Subway station on his side of the road, two warehouses on the other side. A few other cars parked alongside the road. Three gang members, uneasy.

Testing his new cybereyes, he zoomed in on the bangers. Armed but not heavily armored. They wouldn’t be a problem. Which isn’t to say that Burnout was confident he could take them all out; he was, but more to the point they had no impact on his mission. Drop a signal hijacker on the roof of the south warehouse, which had no affiliation with or against the local gang.

He checked for traffic, and when the road was clear, Burnout stepped out of the car. At that point, three things happened.

First, a gust of wind caught his Armanté coat, causing it to flare slightly. He grinned internally; never hurts to look like the badass you are. Leather-looking armored longcoat, leather boots, sharp shades. It’s all about the look, man.

Second, he noticed a man that seemed out of place. He was just too kitted out for this part of town. Burnout hadn't noticed him on his earlier drivebys either, which meant he was, up until that moment, doing a good job blending in.

Third, the bangers noticed him.

One ran out in the road, yelling to the others, and brought his gun up.

The man sprinted to the north warehouse wall - the one belonging to the gang. He planted a foot off the wall and did a backflip off it, landing in a crouch then making for the corner. It was a decent dodge move, Burnout thought, but he could have just as easily run for the corner immediately instead of delaying himself. Still, it would've been hypocritical of Burnout not to acknowledge just how badass it had looked.

Furrowing his brow, he rewound the scene in his cybereyes. As he thought - the first foot planted on the wall slipped a good two inches. He'd missed it at first because his polarized shades were interfering with the new eyes' optics. Burnout made a note to himself to ditch them for a less obtrusive pair; the cybereyes had flare reduction built into them anyhow.

The man had apparently been trying to scale the wall of the warehouse to get to the roof, launching off a sign along the way. Now the man was stuck at ground level and firing at the banger in the alley between warehouses. He was either brave or high, and Burnout wasn't ruling out "both".

Or, he was a runner.

Burnout looked at the roof, then at the man. That would've made sense, what with the badass recovery backflip. The banger the man had been firing at sprinted up with a knife (really?) and the other two fired at him. The man hit the pavement.

"Frag," muttered Burnout. He turned and ran back to his car, and felt the impact of bullets on the back of his coat. They didn't hurt much, but they did throw him off balance enough to bring him to the pavement. Not to be deterred, he bounced back up and sprinted to his car, climbing in and slamming the door. He jammed the ignition button and cringed as the windshield took more damage. Nothing got through, though; most consumer cars used strong enough material that a few bullets wouldn't hurt the occupants. His Saturn Tethys was no exception, but it did have a few modifications that could return the favor.

First thing's first, though - the guy dying on the sidewalk.

The two bangers on his side of the road were standing straight in front of the car. He could take them out, but there was still Knifey next to the dying guy.

And Knifey had been the one to shoot him.

He was going to regret his decision to pursue multiple targets - or at least, to shoot Burnout. Because now Burnout was behind the wheel - and jacked in.

Burnout jacked into the car through his Control Rig, the Saturn becoming an extension of himself; for all intents and purposes, the car was Burnout. He peeled away from the curb and crossed the street, aiming for Knives.

The banger dodged. Somehow. Burnout scowled at himself; some of that could be blamed on the polarized lenses, but part of that was just sloppy driving. No excuse. He checked the guy on the sidewalk quick - he was bandaging himself up quickly, and assuming he could get to the car, would make it. "About damn time!" the man cried.

The nerve of this guy, this stranger. Burnout waved for him to get his ass in the car, then checked his rear scopes. The two bangers, now on the other side of the road, had jumped back so as to not get hit by the car, but were bringing their guns back up to bear. The car was between them and the man on the sidewalk, so he was safe from their fire. The one who had dodged was on the trunklid of a Buick parked on the side of the road, directly out Burnout's driver side window. He rolled off the trunk and smashed in the window of the Buick, climbing in, while the other two fired harmlessly into the rear of Burnout's car.

Burnout sighted the two bangers with a scope on the rear of the vehicle, then unleashed one of his modifications. The rear license plate flipped up, revealing an Ares Alpha assault rifle - and a volley of fire that took down first one banger then the other. The man on the sidewalk backed up to the aluminum wall and pulled a long-barreled assault rifle (from where?) and fired into the rear of the car that Knifey was trying to hijack. It didn't connect with the banger but there was a satisfying bang as it hit the trunklid, signifying an explosive round. The man crawled around the front of the car and Burnout popped the door open. The man climbed in the car and the door closed automatically.

"Whisper Wind," he said by way of introduction, trying to gain his breath.

"Really? I would've expected that from me." A shot spanged off the outside of the car. Burnout pointed up to the opening sunroof.

"Huh?" Whisper asked. "Oh. Elf." He flicked Burnout's ear and pulled himself and his rifle up through the sunroof and lined up the other banger across the road.

"Burnout. Try not to bleed all over the place."

"No promises." His foot slipped on the center console and his shot went wide.

"I think you need new shoes."

"Tell me about it." Whisper Wind dropped back into his seat. "Can we buzz?"

"Sure." He slammed the car into reverse and cranked the wheel, facing the rear of the car at the Buick that Knifey had broken into. He smiled and peeled out.

Underneath the rear-facing Ares Alpha, the underslung grenade launcher thoomped. A grenade sailed through the air and in through the shattered car window. A look of pure terror washed over Knifey's face - followed by confusion as with a small flash and a fshhhhh sound, the smoke grenade unleashed its payload, filling the car in seconds.

Burnout drove away, the gun retracting back under the license plate. "Non-toxic, but he's probably not having a good time in there."

Whisper Wind laughed and flipped an obscene hand gesture out the window. Burnout did the same. This could be the start of something special.