Skyway Burnout: The Draggin' Quest Story


Krayola_Kid

 

Posted

Alright my first post, and it's a long origin story.



Skyway Burnout: The Story of Draggin' Quest

Born in Paragon city, I grew up on the mean streets of Skyway. I was Riding crotch-rockets by the time I was 12, running drag races from "Faultline" to Atlas Park in high school, and rebuilding engines just for fun. Nobody and I mean nobody was faster than I was, or had a better understanding of the ins and outs of well-tuned piece of automotive construction. All of this, while the masks were busy fighting to keep the earth together from the Rikti scum during the invasion in the early 2000’s.

I should have known better, everytime I think back on the situation. What kind of person, with my kind of driving record, would take a risk of such a large hit to my street cred. Every once in awhile when the capes would end up taking out a Rikti warship it'd crash land somewhere in Paragon city. Soon after a reclamation team would be sent out to investigate the situation, and salvage whatever Rikti technology they could possibly find out of the wreckage. There isn't a person alive now that knows this fact, thats how we've got our wonderful War Walls, and emergency teleportation grid, just to name a few. It just so happened that one night my neighborhood was rocked by an impact. I strapped on my Helmet and jumped on my Crey CTX1600, and took off in the direction of the blaze.

I pulled, slowing down to take notice of a few malfunctioning Drones fluttering around for a moment before their optic sensors burned out, and fell to the pavement. Dead Rikti crew members were strewn about as well their bodies charred from a few Capes powers. A few of the more unlucky ones were either crushed underneath the weight of crafts bulk, or dismembered by the sharper cuts of the hull plating. I had to act quick if I wanted to get my own look inside it before those Eggheads at S.E.R.A.P.H. and D.A.T.A got here to quarantine the area and do their work.

Entering the Wreckage I of the craft and began sprinting down one corridor and into another, leaping over bodies of the crew, and stepping in Rikti pooled blood on more than one occasion. I had rounded a corner and ran right into a wall of some sort of fog. As I breathed in the gas it stung my chest and made me feel light headed. Dead end, I turned around. I took a service tunnel ladder down a deck, my course seemed to be heading toward the back of the vessel. I stood before a large dual blast door that had been blown out of its bracings, the front was blackened. I gazed into the room, much of the equipment was reduced to shiny metalic pools. The six Rikti in the room were reduced to cindered skeletal remains. Only on the far end of the room did I find anything that looked of any value. A bank of green glowing “cells” all lined, up inserted into their own bank on the wall. I deduced this was the engineering room, and those must have been some sort of fuel cell for the reactor core. I had found my booty rushing across the room and yanked a cell out of its compartment. It dimmed faintly but was still producing its own faint green tinted light. I had already spent too much time here, I had to get going.

I made my way back out of the craft, back up the ladder and winding my way back through the twisting corridors. Finding my way back to the breach in the warships hull, I jumped out just in time to see the red lights from the D.A.T.A agents vehicles heading down the highway and the off-ramp. I heard from up in the sky a voice yelling down at me, “Halt, citizen!”. I didn't have any time to get a good look at my pursuer, but it was definitely a cape. I certainly wasn't going to let him get his hands on me or my prize. Now I was going to have some real fun.

I gunned it, the engine on my ride squealing underneath me. I was off, I had to get back onto the surface road to try and put some distance between me and the Cape. I was no good in this area , my bike was certainly built for speed not so much handling. As I took a hard right toward the on-ramp the Cape let loose a volley of pure force projectiles that caused bits of the pavement to fly up and pit against my helmet. He had his chance and he missed it, I was long gone now, as I sped up the ramp and glanced in the rear view I caught a glance of the capes silhouette against the last rays of the sun.
Maybe next time I thought to myself.

The next few days were spent with calling off to work, and being sequestered by myself in my garage with my toys. I mulled over my trophy. Studying it, admiring it, inventing with it. I also noticed a subtle change in myself too. At the time it seemed simply coincidence that I was able to do thinks with a greater ease than normal, seemed like my stamina was higher I felt full of vigor. I thought I was still riding the high from the days before. I felt compelled to find a way to integrate this fuel cell into my street car, to see just what it would do. I “knew” that this thing would make me go fast. How right I was...

I felt like I was changing, over the next month I would go right from work to Drenched Donuts for a coffee and sandwich right back home. Some times I would leave the house with grease still on my hands from tinkering the night away in the garage. But at last I had managed to do it. Just in time for the next no limits race me and my street buds would be having going down the 117 in Skyway.

I felt an urge to drive my baby to work but I had already loaded it onto my trailer for tonight. Once again I was on my bike. All day long I thought nothing else but what it would be like on the starting line.. I could almost feel the rumble of the engine right now.

Clocking out I went straight home, grabbed my gear, and hopped into my truck heading to our spot. The 117 was a relatively unused section of roadway, the big pull was its 4 lanes, either way for driving. With the war going on now the only kind of traffic to show up were low lifes looking to score a bit of “Supa” from a troll dealer that'd crawl his way up from under the gutter to keep his own supply coming. I lost more than one pal to the Trolls and Superadine this way.

The metal head radio station I had been listening to broke in with the normal DJ, “This is a city wide alert , All super powered beings be on the lookout, Rikti aircraft have been detected in the vicinity of Skywa...” I didn't have time for this bull crap, I needed to Race.

The Street lamps were just flicking on with the soft buzzing noise as I lowered my ramps and moved my ride into position. As I saw the lights of my friends autos approach the skyline was aglow with the green and red streaking lights from the warships attack.

“Johnny, you damn maniac we can't believe you're wanting to race on a night like tonight.” Tom scorned me as he drove up to the line in his jet black auto.

“Whats the matter, getting tired of me always smoking your [censored]?” I mused with a smirk, Tom returned the glance and without missing a beat simply said, “Lets do this!” as he began to rev his engine in unison with the other two cars.

I got in my car and fired it up, the noise was defining. I could see Tom mouth out “Nice Ground effects.”, as I noticed the bright neon green glow radiating from the undercarriage of my ride. The scantly clad Jennifer stood in front of us, as she dropped the flag my rearview lit up with a flash as the Rikti bombardments began tom and the two others were already off, Jen was shaken with fear, I soon found out why.

Glancing back and Yelling for her to get in at the same time, I saw the housing for a Rikti anti-mater warhead, lodged into the pavement, a display showing flashing lights and other unknown readouts. Jen Dove in and narrowly was able to buckle in before I floored it, and once again the bright lights fell from above behind me. At the same time the shell went off, as everything in the local area seemed to be sucked into the miniaturized black hole the ordinance was made to create. I could feel the pull on my car smoke billowed out from my tires, I was redlining it and as the hole faded out of existence I was able to make a break at last.

I was a shot, even with the lead my opponents had on me I easily started to come up on them. From either side of the road I saw the familiar green glow of a Rikti Drone, fly along side the other cars and one by one, fire brilliant beams of light at them. Explosions followed, “What the hell had I caused!” I thought to myself. I was alone, Jen was screaming in fear, and in tears holding tightly to my arm. I drove better than I had ever driven before, darting to the left and right, as the drones fired again and again at my vehicle. The game of cat and mouse went on and on, I outdistanced them eventually. Thinking I had gotten away I foolishly let my guard down for a moment, as a blast from ahead split the road. I swerved to avoid the attack, but was too late, my wheel caught the damaged road and I went right through the side guard rail. Down, down, down I went my life flashing, as I grasped Jen tightly telling her I was sorry.

The next thing I know is pain. Pure pain the fire burnt me horribly, opening my eyes I saw Jen, fatally burnt... I wanted to mourn for her, but why was I in such pain and not dead? The high octane fuel I used long since burned up, but the cell was still fueling the plasma fires engulfing the vehicle and myself. Scarred I was, my body seemed to be absorbing this power. I heard a strange noise outside the car, I managed to crawl myself out from the wreckage. To see four armored Rikti emerge from a spacial disturbance.

“Target: Experiment Number:XP073007, Johnathan Storm...
Status: Mutation Successful...
Conclusion: Apprehension for study and disposal.”

The leader of the group at that moment was hit by a familiar looking blast of force. It was the Cape at the warship crash site. With a few of his friends in spandex. From that point on everything got hazy has the last thing I remember was a kid in a yellow and green costume looking down at me giving me his Emergency Teleportation device, and being winked away to the Emergency room.

I was in a coma for a week before I came around. I came to find out from the doctors that no reconstructive surgery had to be done that I simply seemed to be healing myself at an astonishing rate. My physiology seemed to be drastically altered, while not warm particularly to the touch, my core temperature had rise to over 100°C, oddly enough with no ill effects, only supposed advantages. The day I was allowed to leave the hospital I was visited by a Cape, his “name” was Regull, sporting a pair a wings from his back. Gull informed me that himself and his superteam were responsible for bringing down the Rikti ship I took the power cell from, and they had been monitoring Rikti radio traffic about me. I was allowed to get away from the Cape that night, the whole thing up this this point had been orchestrated by the Rikti and the Capes were hoping to make a big bust on the Rikti once I made my move.

I was enraged, Gull and myself had a scuffle, he allowed me to plant two fists square into his jaw, the whole while going on about how he deserved it for all the pain I had been cause and those I'd hurt. I fled from the room, and rushed from the hospital going into solitude for much the remainder of the 1st Rikti war.

During this time I trained myself to learn how to manipulate the new powers I had been endowed with. I met with others who had to eek shelter from the increasing attacks of the Rikti. I became their protector and their benefactor. I learned to cause the heat in my localized area to be able to cause a regenerative effect to those around me. Healing them of wounds and ailments. When the time would arise to protect my friends I was able to incinerate my foes, or simply ward them off, holding them at bay so that I and my allies might make a retreat.

After the war was over at last, I decided that what the Capes did, they did it because it made them feel good, and have purpose. I still love speed. I fixed so many family cars and did untold tune-ups while I trained. My costume, I took up the one thing I know and love. The road, and racing. The black and yellow of the road, and the checked flag I'll always be striving for. I am a drag racer at heart, I am Draggin' Quest.


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