I drove the Supra slowly back to the start line. The crowd parted respectfully. Vince looked like he'd just seen a ghost, staring at the Supra's tailpipe.
Dom Toretto approached my window, his expression now serious, thoughtful. He leaned down, his massive frame blocking the surrounding lights.
"You drove that car like you built it," he observed.
"I did," I replied simply.
"You saw that turn. Everyone takes that turn wide," Dom pressed.
"Everyone else is trying to lose speed gracefully," I explained. "I was optimizing the trajectory for minimum time loss. Physics, not performance art."
Dom let out a slow, heavy breath, then reached out and tapped the hood of the Supra. "I don't know who you are, or where you learned to run like that, Michael. But that was a quarter mile run in a two-mile race. You got heart, and you got skills to match. What do you want here?"
I looked at the chaos around me—the flashing lights, the roar of modified engines, the high-stakes illegal betting. This was my life now. This was the opposite of beige.
"I want the action," I told him honestly. "And I want to prove that boring is a choice. I hear there's money to be made running high-value imports out of the docks. I figure a man with my skills and instant mastery could be useful."
Dom looked toward Hector, who was stacking the cash and looking terrified.
"You're talking about real risk, Michael. The cops here? They don't play around."
I smiled, my gaze drifting to the upper-right corner of my vision, where the HUD now displayed a small, flashing red and blue icon indicating potential Law Enforcement interest.
"Risk is the only thing that makes life worth auditing, Dom. And frankly, the four-star rating is what I'm aiming for."
I threw the Supra into reverse, executed a flawless J-turn, and sped off into the LA night, the sound of my engine swallowing all other noise.
My simple life was dead. Long live the System. Long live the Speed.
The boredom was over. The game had just begun. I could already feel the cash piling up in my invisible bank account, and the next challenge—the next mastery—was just around the corner. I had a Supra, a cheat code for talent, and a destiny paved in burnt rubber.