Fast & Furious as Brian O'Connor with a system

We don't even make it a mile before the crotch rockets show up, six of them. At least, surrounding us like a pack of ravenous wolves.

Dom and I share a glance. I already know what's coming when I hear the dull thunk thunk against the driver's side window...my window. But still I turn to look out of the window to find an Uzi.

Tapping against side window.

"Oh, great," I groan. 'I should have been paying better attention to where I was driving.' I think whilst Dom releases a groan too...less out of surprise more out of annoyance than anything else.

"I take it this is gonna be a long-ass night…" I mutter.

"It's gonna be a long-ass night," Dom agrees with a dry nod.

"I could probably lose them…" I offer, already scanning our surroundings for good escape routes.

"Not with all that NOS in the backseat," Dom warns. "They'll probably open fire the second you try...one bullets is all it'll take to send you sky high..."

The Uzi taps again... more insistently this time.

"Follow us," one of the bikers shouts.

So we follow them not really much of a choice, with the threat of being turned into a flamming fireball hanging over our heads.

We're escorted...yeah, that's the nice word for it...through LA's mostly empty nighttime streets, until we roll into the cracked lot of a dead shopping mall.

I kill the engine, Dom and I get out.

One of the bikers pulls off his helmet. It's Johnny Tran.

I take a slow look around. Street signs in Vietnamese. I clock two more guys on foot. 'Vietnam Town,' I think grimly. FBI's been suspicious about the Tran family having ties to Nam Cam and their US network. Looking around, I'd say that suspicion is well-founded.

Johnny Tran steps forward with that smug little smirk of his. "Toretto, I thought we had an agreement. You stay away, I stay away, Everybody stays happy."

Dom is barely fazed. "That would be my fault," I cut in lazily, waving a hand. "I'm still new to the area."

"We got lost," I add with a shrug. "What do you want me to tell you?"

Tran's eyes narrow. "Who's this, Dominic?"

"My new mechanic." Dom says lying like it's nothing.

Johnny Tran nods like he's humoring a child. "Brian, meet Johnny Tran. The guy in the snakeskin pants? That's his cousin, Lance."

"Yo," I say with zero enthusiasm. I casually lean against the Eclipse, my hand drifting behind my back, fingers finding the grip of my custom taser pistol.

"So when are you gonna give me a shot at that Honda 2000 of yours?" Dom asks, staying cool.

Tran snorts. "This your ride?" he asks, nodding toward the Eclipse.

I shrug. "It is."

"You put in the wrench time?"

"I did."

Tran looks at Lance. "What do you think?"

Lance runs a hand along the hood, nodding. "It's an amazing machine."

"Yes, indeed," Johnny agrees, his voice low and edged.

Without another word, Tran gets back on his bike. But he pauses mid-helmet and turns to Dom. "I'll see you in the desert next month. Be ready to have your ass handed to you."

"You'll need more than that crotch rocket," Dom shoots back.

Tran grins. "I got something for you."

They drive off. For a second.

Then I hear it.

Two of them are circling back. The high-pitched whine of their bikes slices through the quite city night.

"That's not good…" I mutter just as the first muzzle flashes light up the darkness.

The air fills with the rapid brrrrrtttt of twin Uzis unloading in our direction.

I spin and fire.

Taser bolts strike true two to Tran's chest, two to Lance on hits his chest the other his neck. Arcs of electric light dance across their bodies like angry lightning. They both twitch, with steam rising from their jackets before they crumple off their bikes in convulsing heaps.

I turn back to the car...and that's when I see it.

A lick of green flame curls across the back seat, towards the Nos tanks.

"THE NOS!" Dom and I shout at the same time.

We dive.

The Eclipse goes up in a WHUMPH of green fire and a secondary blast that sends it up into the air.

I hit the pavement hard, ears ringing.

"You okay?!" Dom yells over the blaze.

"Yeah, you good?!"

"I'm fine, man. I feel sorry for you having to explain to Mia and Letty where their ten-second car went…" Dom chuckles, but I'm shaken I just came this close to death my body's trembling and I'm not in the mood for humor.

I storm over and plant stomp my right foot down on Johnny Tran's head. "Fucking asshole, piece of shit!" I shout and bring my foot down a couple more times until it goes numb then do it all over again with Lance.

"Motherfucking Gooks," I snarl, adrenaline boiling in my bloodstream. I'm breathing hard, body trembling from the fear of almost dying in one of the worst ways possible.

Dom grabs my shoulder. His grip is firm, but not aggressive.

"Easy, Brian," he says, surprisingly calm. "Let's just take their bikes and go."

I breathe in deeply...then exhale, repeating it a few times until the rage and fear fades just enough to be functional.

I walk over to Tran's GSX-R 600, throw a leg over, and rev it once.

"Dom… we just survived a drive-by and a fucking car explosion. Humor me a little what was this all about?"

Dom sighs, kicking Lance's body the rest of the way off his own ride, he sighs. "Tran and I were in business together, things went sideways."

I wait.

"And… I slept with his sister."

I stare at him. "So all of this is because you can't keep it in your pants? You've got a beautiful woman at home, and you're out here causing shit like this because you wanted a piece on the side?"

He grimaces.

My respect for Dominic Toretto takes a nosedive.

Yeah, this isn't the Dom I watched grow into a legend a family man over a decade. This is younger, angrier, stupider Dom. And now I'm wondering just how deep I've been thrown into the fire.