The air in East L.A. was thick with tension and brake dust. The races were faster, riskier. And Leonardo could feel the canon storyline narrowing.
It started with a system chime.
[System Notification: Core Update Available – Scheduled Downtime: 7 Days]
[Notice: All active buffs, system scanning, and rewards will be suspended during this time.]
Leonardo stared at the translucent prompt only he could see, the message hovering in front of his vision like a ghost.
System shutdown in: 00:10:00
His eyes flicked to the clock. Ten minutes until silence.
"Of all times," he muttered.
The worst part wasn't losing the buffs. It was losing the passive edge—the character trajectory awareness that had become second nature. He'd relied on it too much.
He closed the prompt and stood up from his workbench. In front of him sat a partially completed camshaft dialer unit, surrounded by precision tools. His workspace above the tire shop was neat, humble, but highly functional.
Ten minutes.
He pocketed his phone and left, locking the door behind him. If he was going to fly blind for the next week, he needed to stay close to the fire. And right now, that fire was Dominic Toretto.
The warehouse on 7th Street was alive with another pop-up race night. Dom's crew had taken a central role in organizing the event—Leonardo noted the layout, the clear escape routes, and the unusually tense expressions on the familiar faces.
Brian was back. Still too polished. Still trying to fit in.
Leonardo spotted Dom speaking with Letty near the line of cars. Vince was pacing, paranoid, arms crossed tightly over his chest. Mia was behind the table, handling money like usual.
He approached slowly.
"Leo," Mia greeted him with a nod. "You racing tonight?"
"Not unless I need to," he replied.
Dom turned toward him, giving a single upward nod. "You always show up right before the heat, huh?"
Leonardo gave a half-smile. "Bad habit."
That night's races were intense—no easy wins. A Mustang spun out. A Supra lost a tire. But no one got seriously hurt. As Dom and the crew celebrated another successful night, Leonardo remained quiet at the fringe.
Then came the unmistakable sound of sirens.
"Cops!" someone shouted.
Panic swept the lot. Tires screeched. Engines roared. The crowd exploded into motion.
Leonardo calmly entered his Audi and pulled away—neither first nor last, unnoticed as always. He didn't use the system this time. He couldn't. It had already gone dark.
[System Offline - Update in Progress]
Two days passed.
Leonardo visited the market. Dom wasn't around, but Mia was. They shared coffee out back, sitting in silence for most of it.
"You're hard to read," she said.
"That's because I'm still learning the language."
She laughed at that. "You're either the most honest liar I've ever met, or the best actor who never tried."
Leonardo tilted his head, sipping his coffee. "Maybe I'm just both."
Three more days.
Brian's investigation continued, but so did his attachment to the crew—especially Mia. Vince confronted him again in private, this time louder. Leonardo didn't intervene, but he watched from a distance.
Dom still didn't know. But soon, he would. Leonardo could sense the pressure building even without his system's aid.
He felt the story pressing forward. The moment where Brian would have to choose. And with the system still silent, Leonardo would have to trust only himself.
He'd spent the last years building a mind sharper than steel.
Now he'd see if that mind could survive the fire.