The Bad Guys {RP}

[[Desolate Divine]]

Garret Marshall
Hau'oli City

Garret Marshall
Hau'Oli City Carpark

"No, you haven't missed us just yet." Garret replied to the unusual woman who approached him. He had to admit, she was easy on the eyes, "The others will be here as soon as they make sure the a**hole I just beat comes back here and keeps his end of the deal."

"So are you here to admire the cars?" Garret asked. Before the woman could answer, the sound of a badly maintained V8 engine echoed from the street below. Garret looked over the edge to see the VL driving down, with a few of the regulars driving behind and either side of it. They weren't letting him get away.

"When the others get her, stay behind the car. Things may get ugly." Garret said, "It should be fine, but just to be safe, trust me."

Beatrice could only quirk an eyebrow at the driver's initial reply--so he was a racer! That, however, was overshadowed by the fact that apparently she had arrived at a bad time. Confident in her Pokemon's skills, she opened her mouth to object to staying behind the car, but Lance already had her by the arm, and was tugging her away. "He may talk like a potential thug, but I do agree that you should stay behind the car," the Gallade told her, as though to try to keep her from complaining.

Instead, Beatrice let herself be tugged, though a slight pout tugged at ther lips--she clearly wasn't pleased with this sudden turn of events. Not one to be discouraged, she slipped a pokeball from the belt at her waist, and gripped it tightly. Sid the Inkay wasn't exactly the strongest member of her team, but he was good for disorienting potential problems, which the driver looked to have on his hands.

Garret Marshall
Hau'oli City Carpark
The woman seemed as if she wanted to object, but with her Gallade, made her way behind the car. Less than a minute later, a large group of cars made their way up the ramp to the rooftop where they stood, one of them being the VL.

The newcomer got out of his car, with a look of fury, and made his way towards Garret.

"You motherf-." He began, stopping in his tracks, when he realized he was looking down the barrel of a gun in Garret's hands.

"We had a deal. $5000 to the first across the finish line. Get back here first for Double or Nothing." Garret said, "I crossed the finish line first, and got here first, all without going past fourth gear. So you owe me 10K."

"I'm not giving you anything! There was no way that was a fair race!" the newcomer shouted, "You said your car didn't even have four cylinders, and that's a load of bulls**t! It must be at least a V8."

There was a roar of laughter from the others watching this, with Garret himself having a chuckle. The newcomer looked around confused. Garret walked to his car, opened the door and pulled the latch to open the bonnet. He stuck his hand underneath and pulled the lever to lift it.

"Come here." Garret said to the newcomer. When he didn't move, Garret spoke again, "That wasn't a suggestion, it was an order. Just remember who has the gun."

The newcomer made his way over cautiously, as Garret gestured to the engine in the FD.

"Does that look like any V8 you've ever seen before?" Garret asked. The newcomer muttered to himself quietly.

"I didn't quite hear that."

"No..."

"That's a rotary engine. It has a displacement of roughly 1900cc, and puts out nearly 300hp, as opposed to the 160 or so that would come from that 30 year old V8 you have running that pile of s**t." Garret said menacingly, "It has no cylinders or pistons. It uses three rotors instead. So I kept my end of the deal. Now you have to pay up. $10,000."

The newcomer was silent, trying to find some excuse to have none.

"We have all exits to this place blocked." Garret explained, "Unless you feel like jumping, we aren't letting you leave here without paying, and I will get my money one way or another."

Upon another round of silence, Garret sighed.

"F**k this." he muttered to himself, before pointing the gun at the windscreen of the VL and shooting. A bullet went through it, as well as the drivers headrest, probably lodging itself in the back seat. Everyone remained silent. They had seen Garret pull a gun when people didn't agree to their end of the deal but throught it was just for show. The watched the scene nervously.

"For f**s sake, fine, a**hole." the newcomer muttered to himself, before pulling two wads of cash out, and handing them to Garret.

Garret began counting the money as the newcomer spoke.

"I don't know why I don't go to the police. Tell them I was held at gunpoint and had 10K taken from me..."

"Do it. Tell them you staked it on an illegal drag race." Garret said, not looking away from counting the money, "They'd have a field day, defecting your car. I heard that straight pipe from a mile away, and the tires are balder than my father. The brakes sound like they were the ones that came with the car, and there is no way those headlights are legal. You know it's only running on seven cylinders right? It is way too weak to be running on all eight, and it shouldn't be shaking like that, so it probably needs new spark-plugs as well."

The others laughed to themselves, whilst Garret counted the money.

"Sweet, it's all here." Garret said before looking the newcomer in the eye, "Now as for you. You came to OUR meet, talked s**t on all OUR cars, then lost to US, and tried to get out of your end of the deal. You can now politely f**k off, and never return here, if you know what's good for you."

The newcomer left, red in the face both from a bruised ego, and pure rage, as Zach made his way over.

"I radioed ahead to the finish line and told them to not let him get away." Zach explained.

Garret pulled out $2000 from the wads of cash, and handed it to Zach.

"Split this with the guys that helped you." Garret said, "Thanks for your help. I wouldn't be $8000 richer without you."

As Zach went to split their earnings for the night, Garret remembered the other newcomer. The strange woman and her Gallade that stood behind his car. The other guys didn't seem to have noticed her with the scene that had just occurred.

"Sorry about that." Garret said as he made his way over, "I have dealt with his type before. Cocky, and too stupid to realize that they've f**ked up."

Most of the others had returned to their cars, and were starting to head off.

"Everyone is starting to split. Someone has probably reported the gunshot, so the police will be here soon." He said to the unusual woman, "Sorry that's all you got to see. But can I give you a lift somewhere?"

Notes

Spoiler:

Rotary Engine is another variety of engine that uses rotors instead of pistons. Basically different design doing the same thing.

Standard Piston Engine

Rotary Engine.

Straight pipe is an exhaust modification that basically cuts out the muffler from the exhaust making the car stupidly loud. Illegal in some places.

Beatrice Bennett
Hau'oli Carpark

As soon as the gun came out, Lance had Beatrice behind him, mind ready to fire off a Protect, though he wasn't sure how well it would work one something that wasn't a Pokemon move. For his trainer, though, he would try. "Put Sid back, release Sage, have him use Teleport. I am not about to let you--" the sentence went unfinished as the sound of the gun firing filled the air. Realizing it hadn't been fired in their direction, Lance yanked Beatrice down, closer to the ground, making them both even less noticeable than they had been. "I swear Jonah is going to get an earful about this when we get back. Someone elee needs to do fieldwork--"

"I'm the one who went to where the car people were instead of hitting up all the garages in town, stop complaining about Jonah. It's not like anyone else would hire me," Beatrice countered mentally, too shaken up herself to speak.

"Before this gets any more out of hand, Sage. Teleport. Now. Before he comes back for yo--" Of course, it was at that precise moment that the driver stepped around the car and began apologizing and offering up a brief explanation. Lance shot to his feet, putting himself between the armed man and his trainer, clearly not trusting him with the woman one bit.

"He knows cars, Lance, what if this night wasn't a bust after all?" Beatrice slowly stood, a look of shaken apology on her face. "Er, sorry, Lance is very protective of me," she told the man, reaching out to place her empty hand on the Gallade's back, the other still clutched her Inkay's pokeball. "Stand down."

"Beatrice, I--"

"Stand down, Lance. If anything goes sour, I'll use Sid, then Paul, then Sage. Disorient, wipe his memories, then hop out like I was never here." As the Gallade eased, she looked the driver dead in the eye, and said quietly, "I do have a question, though, if I refuse that ride, what happens?
Do I get a gun in my face, too?"

Garret chuckled at the question.

"As long as you don't ever end up owing me money, you won't have to worry about this." Garret replied gesturing to the gun, before putting it away, "You're fine to say no. I just know that wherever you're going will be a fair walk, seeing as I drove past you walking down Main Street on my way here."

Beatrice tilted her head slightly, "So you're the genius who was flying down the street, I thought I recognized that car," she replied, seeing to ease up, but Lance noted that the tension didn't quite leave her body, and she still hadn't loosened her grip on Sid's Pokeball. Lance moved back, closer to her, though he was painfully aware that at standing height, Beatrice was several inches taller than he was, and that he couldn't shield all of her. "Speaking of cars, I gather from that conversation that you know them pretty well? If you don't mind answering a few questions, I'll take you up on that offer." Lance glanced back at the woman in alarm--she couldn't possibly be entertaining the idea of asking this man for help.

Of course, all he could feel from her was determination and curiosity now. She was wary of the man in front of them, but not much more wary of him than she would have been of anyone else, and that worried the Gallade just the tiniest bit.

"Sure. But let's get going before the cops show up." Garret said, going to the passenger side and opening the door, "Though I only have two seats..."

The woman put her Gallade back in it's Pokeball, before climbing into the passenger seat of the car. The interior was mostly black, with leather racing seats and most of the plastic replaced with carbon fiber to reduce weight. The foot-wells were illuminated by a bright white LED from above. The standard stereo had been pulled out, and been replaced with an iPad Mini. The gauges with the speed and revs had been replaced with digital instruments, with the only part that looked standard being the steering wheel.

Garret climbed in, and started the car, causing the engine to roar to life. Before he took off however he opened an app on the iPad, and placed his thumb over the thumb print scanning home button. There was a click as the cover that concealed the passenger airbag clicked open. When Garret bought the gun, he built traps into all of his cars that only he could open, in the event of being pulled over and searched. He rarely had passengers, so the airbag wasn't being used. He just had to hope he didn't crash tonight.

Once they were out of the carpark, Garret made his way down main street, sitting at about 75mph.

"So you said you have some questions?" Garret asked, "I own a garage around here, probably the best on the island. I may be able to help."

Beatrice refrained from giving a low whistle as her eyes traveled across the inside of the car, though a triumphant grin slid onto her face as the man offered up that he owned a garage. "We will, we will," she murmured, before speaking up at a more normal volume. "I'll admit I don't know much about cars myself, but if I did, I wouldn't be looking to hire someone. That being said, it certainly looks like there's been a fair bit of work doen on your car--did you do it yourself?" she asked, scientist's curiosity starting to kick in.

"Mostly yes." Garret replied, "When I bought this, it was without an engine or gearbox. This is an RX7, but the engine is 20B from a Mazda Cosmo, and the gearbox is a 6 speed from a Mazda RX8, that I've modified to handle the extra power."

Garret dumped the clutch and shifted up a gear, cruising at about 90mph.

"I hand picked the parts and designed the custom stuff myself. The tedious s**t that anyone can do, I paid other people to do. The specialty stuff that I don't trust anyone else to do, I did myself." Garret replied, "I have this and an S15, but also did up an RX3 and an AE86 Sprinter. Then there is my current project which I am keeping on the down-low."

"That's...really impressive. At least, to someone like me... Though can you really say you're keeping it on the down-low if you're telling the stranger that just hopped in the car with you?" Beatrice asked, though in her head, the guy''s resume was starting to rack up. Somehow, she'd managed to luck out in spite of the gun incident and the guy's thing for excessive speeding. "What kind of work do you do at your garage, though? I know some people only do basic work, or only specialized work...so what do you do?"

"I get broken into a lot, so if I have something particularly rare or expensive in the garage, my policy tends to be to be discreet." Garret replied, "It took me months to track down the part I needed, and cost me an arm and leg. Not taking any chances. I mean, I'm giving you a lift but he'll, I don't even know your name."

"As for what I do, how long is a bit of string?" Garret asked with a chuckle, "I can do basic services and tune-ups. But so can every mobile mechanic in Alola. Half the reason I decided to set up shop here was because there were very few actual garages here. It's too expensive to set up something like I have out here for most people. And because of that when someone does, they rule the market."

"Most of my work is specialty stuff. Stuff that most mechanics here either don't have the equipment, know how, or nerve to try. My cars are an example of that." Garret said, "People in the car scene who know my work will come to me for basic stuff, but your average Joe doesn't come to me unless I am the only one who can do what he wants."

"I don't know your name either, but that's part of my point--I'm not sure why you're telling me of all people, not that I plan to do anything," Beatrice replied, before nodding to the man with a slight smile. "But I'm Bea. Nice to meet you." She'd put her Inkay's pokeball back in its place on her belt, but now she produced another plain pokeball, rolling it between her hands. She listened as he explained what kind of work he took on, and she actively had to fight to hide the sly smile she knew she'd be wearing otherwise. Jackpot. Jackpot, jackpot, jackpot. "Is there anything you don't do? Clearly you've got some friends with some interests that aren't exactly legal, so now you've got me a tad curious..."

"Garret." Garret replied, "And as for what I don't do, are you a cop?"

"I kid. But really, you can make anyone do nearly anything if you wave enough cash in their face. As long as there aren't any ties to me with the end product, then I don't mind doing stuff that has questionable legality." Garret said, "There is a reason I got the engine for this car so cheap. Hell, the license plate is on a motorized pivot. I can press a button and swap the plates. I paid someone in the DMV to let me make another registration of the car under a fake name. I have the fake ID to go with it. Basically, I won't get caught in this. Not for a while at least."

Beatrice gave a barking laugh as Garret asked her if she was a cop. "I'm so far from a cop it'd make your head spin. You think I'd have gotten in a car built for illegal drag racing with an armed man if I were? I'm stubborn, Mr. Garret, but not stupid." She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing. This man seemed to be perfect for the jobs she needed done--a godsend if there ever had been one. "Let's just say I'm asking for a client who'd like some work done, and they'd like to be very careful about who knows about said work. They'd prefer the final product have no clear ties to anyone in particular--hard to trace, hard to catch, easy to deny ownership of if the first two measures fail. They'd provide the vehicles--I believe they're wanting two, if not three, and I'd need an estimate, but payment should be far from an issue."

"Bea, have you ever heard of the good, quick and cheap mentality?" Garret asked, "You can only pick two. If you want it good and cheap, it won't be quick. If you want it good and quick, it won't be cheap. If you want it cheap and quick, it won't be good. Where does your client stand on this spectrum?"

"As for what you want done, how long is a bit of string? I can go all out and make these things the perfect getaway vehicles. But it will be a lot of work and far from cheap. If you want a ballpark price for the complete works, it'll probably be around $200,000. Each. And that will go up if you want it sooner as I will have to outsource some work to save time. Nobody will see anything suspicious. But that means that whatever it is you do with these cars, as long as the driver knows what his doing, and doesn't do anything stupid, they can escape from nearly anything. I already have some ideas for it." Garret replied, "Has your client got cars in mind? Because they sound like some higher up who really doesn't know much about cars, and chances are they will pick the wrong ones."

"I never said anything about fast or cheap, Mr. Garrett. While sooner is definitely better, they understand things take time--especially perfection. As for price, my client was unsure what this kind of thing would cost, and didn't give me a maximum price range, but that's easily discussed. I don't believe they had any cars pre-selected, but the less conspicuous the better." Despite her unsure wording, Beatrice was confident that Jonah would be more than willing to pay up. In her experience, the man had more charm and money than actual brains, and tended to either try to smile his way out of things, or throw money at his problems until they went away--she knew he'd been a big business owner at some point. But...that was really all she knew. That, and that he was willing to hire anyone to achieve his goals, including a girl that clearly qualified as mentally ill, and someone who was on the run from the law.

"Would you be willing to give me sometime to speak with them, and get back to you? I know tomorrow is that rally--are you attending, or will your garage be open?"

"It's the spiel I give everyone. I have a poster of it on my garage wall." Garret replied, "You would not believe how many idiots have come to me wanting me to turbocharge their piece of s**t car in a day for the bare minimum."

"If he hasn't chosen cars yet, for the way I'd set these things up, I'd say get a Subaru Forester. Don't worry about what's under the bonnet, as I am not going to leave it stock. Just make sure that the body has no damage." Garret explained.

Bea mentioned the rally, to which Garret rolled his eyes.

"I won't be at the rally." he replied, "I'll be doing personal projects in my garage seeing as this rally is closing off main street, which is a pain in the a** for the businesses there. Mine included. Bring him by."

"I know the feeling--I do a few other things for my client, and unfortunately it's taken more time than I'd like to get him to understand that I'm not a magician...but he knows now." She had deliberately avoided telling the man what line of work she was actually in, but what she spoke was the truth. It had taken her several months to get Jonah to understand she couldn't finish a project yesterday the moment he snapped his fingers. Science wasn't like big business. She listened to Garret's suggestion on cars, nodding, though one thing bothered her...

"Do you have any suggestions on where to acquire one or two for a good price? I'm sure your connections in that aspect are better than ours. I can do footwork, but I don't like doing it without knowing where I'm going. That's how I end up in the middle of conflicts between angry drag racers." She paused for a moment to chuckle before responding to his last suggestion.

"...My client will be busy tomorrow, and would like to remain as anonymous as possible for reasons similar to your own. If you don't mind, I was appointed to be the middleman in this particular set of dealings, and as such, you will likely only see me during our dealings. It is possible that another one of my client's associates may be sent with me, but for the most part, that is unlikely." she said, praying this did not suddenly explode in her face.

"Just go to the dingiest, crappiest second hand car dealership around. Those places know that most people who buy from them know nothing about the engine, so put all of their budget into making it look nice, and fixing up the body. Find the cheapest one there that has a fairly clean and rust free body. Even if the paint is faded and the clearcoat is coming off. Just make sure the body is free of any damage or rust." Garret replied, "That's fine. As long as you and your client are 110% on the same page. Last thing I want is to have to pull half of the car apart again because there was a slight miscommunication."

"I'll have a look into some dealership websites before I visit tomorrow to give you my client's final verdict," Beatrice said, nodding to Garret thoughtfully. "I'll make sure we're on the same page, there won't be any worries there." After all, in the end, all Jonah was doing was footing the bill, really. The cars were needed as a secondary part to a project that he had her working on--one that had already proven successful several times over, now she just needed the transport vehicles to properly make the project a success.

"I believe that's all the questions I needed answered for now, Mr. Garret, so if rhat's all the questions and advising you have for me, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could drop me off by the Seabreeze Hotel by the port, please?" She hadn't exactly intended to stay the night, but it made more sense to do so now. All she had to do was have Sage briefly teleport her back to the Aether Paradise so that she could report in and grab a few things for her stay. She'd likely need to go car shopping in the morning, an idea that filled her with dread.

Great, just great. I get to hang out in Hau'oli while at it's most packed, her mind hissed.

"Sure." Garret replied, making his way to the freeway. After a few minutes, they were at the port, by Bea's hotel.

"Here." Garret said, handing her a business card, "Come by the garage when you're ready. Just, if you're doing dodgy s**t with the cars, don't leave that in them."

Garret was half kidding, but at the same time, had idiots whom he had done less-than-legal work for get caught with them, and had the police knocking on his door.

Once Bea had made her way inside, Garret drove back to the garage. The night was still young (to a degree) so he spent a few hours working on his personal project before getting some sleep.