by Hex
Word Count: 804
Quatre glared at the laptop. He went back and modified a few points of the simulation. The solution was obvious. For the downhill they would have to cut the corners tight, tighter than any normal, sane driver would. Quatre smiled. The downhill was theirs. No one could compare with /his/ downhill ace. His downhill ace lacked fear and reason when it came to a car. Then again, no one could compare with his uphill ace. His uphill ace could always, not matter what, find a way. Quatre let himself smirk with a little more arrogance than usual before he tweaked the simulation again. He knew exactly how the time trials would go.
The Lancer Evolution's purr climbed the mountain and parked behind Quatre. Quatre smiled at the black car. The driver slipped out and gave him a nod.
"How was the uphill?" Quatre asked.
"It was fine."
"Did you get the time you wanted?" Quatre asked.
"Yes, but I can shave another one or two seconds off of it the next run."
"Good. There are some things I'd like you to try," Quatre motioned the driver over to him and where he had a laptop running on the hood of his silver RSX. "I want you to be careful here." Quatre pointed to a curve on the map of the mountain road. "You'll be feeling the tires loose their grip at this point. I want you to drive sparing as much wear on the tires that you can until that point. Drive with your head and don't get angry."
"I won't."
"It's a Lan-Evo eight!"
A lanky man followed the excited exclamation, a wicked long braid twitched behind him as he moved. He bound up to the car and then squatted in front of it. He rested his chin on his fists and sighed dreamily as he looked at the car.
"I would sell my soul for this car."
Quatre's friend snorted and moved so they were just slightly between the car and the man gawking at it.
"Just remember you look with your eyes, not with your hands."
Noin, their mechanic, gave the man a warning look before she moved in beside Quatre.
"I want you to put on fresh tires and check the timing belts, the oil and the brake pads." Quatre instructed.
"Sure, what about the MR2?" Noin asked. She scratched at the back of her neck then stuffed her hands in her overalls.
"It should be here soon," Quatre replied. "Once it is, I want you to check the suspension too. We might need to tweak the settings a bit for the last group of tight hairpins. I'm worried about the line we might have to take."
"This downhill is going to be rough, isn't it?" Noin muttered.
"It'll be fine."
"Yes, it will." Quatre agreed and smiled at his uphill ace.
"It's here."
The dark green MR2 rolled up next to the Lan-Evo making the braided man jump and squawk indignantly as he jumped out of the way.
"I wouldn't have hit you," was the teasing comment as the driver stepped out.
"Sure you wouldn't have," the braided man gave a look that clearly said he didn't believe it.
"I wouldn't hurt anything that looked that nice."
The braided man gawked, and Quatre laughed out loud. His companion just made a face.
"How was it?"
"It was fine."
"I want you to consider something." Quatre pointed the tight sequential hairpins. "You practically have to turn on a dime for these corners, but there is a line you can take, only if you really need to, that's tighter than turning on a dime."
The MR2 driver became instantly subdued and glanced over at the dark green car.
"I suppose we can always fix it later."
"It's only if you need to." Quatre repeated. "I wouldn't ask you to do this for no reason."
"I know."
"You'll be fine, so will the MR2."
"Thanks."
"Good luck."
"I don't need luck."
"Relena, come with me so we can set the suspension of the MR2," Noin said and took Relena's arm. The pair of women walked away, leaving Quatre, his uphill ace and the braided man that continued to sniff around the Lan-Evo.
"This might be hard for her, sacrificing the car I mean."
"She'll be fine. She wants to win too badly to let anything get in her way. She's just that focused."
"And what about me?"
"You, Hilde? You wouldn't lose, even if I told you to." Quatre smiled. "Now why don't you go talk to that guy over there before he tries to hump your driver's side fender?"
Hilde snorted but wandered over to her Lan-Evo and smiled. Quatre turned back to his car and smirked at his laptop. These battles would belong to his aces.
"Aces high," Quatre muttered.
Quatre's Car:
Hilde's Car:
Mitsubishi's Lancer-Evolution 8 (Yes I'm aware this just recently became available in NA, but I don't care:p It's a sweet, sweet car.)
Relena's Car:
Toyota's MR2 (mid-ship round about, two-seater. For the purpose of this fic, it's the Mark II turbo charged engine. At least it is in my head anyway ^_^)
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