Ready for the next Round

Nathan was furious. He had won this race, but only because Red X had stopped right before the finish line. It wasn't the fact that he lost, it was the way in which he had lost. He had been railroaded. And the fact that his machine was so outclassed was another factor. But he was not able to build something better now. He had a few dozen ideas how to build something even more powerful but none of these ideas were feasible with his possibilities. What he lacked was energy. A lot of energy. Angry about himself and the world he drove back to his warehouse. As he parked his bike and dismounted, he kicked a garbage can angrily. Surrendering to his anger he hit the trash can until he stood in front of the hall calming down. A little calmer he went to the hall and deactivated the safety lock. The system was his own invention and made sure that this top-secret workshop went unnoticed. In his job at General Robotics he was a respected technician, but nobody in the company should know that he used his best ideas to tune motorcycles. The fact that he had to steal some parts from the company was one of the reasons he kept it a secret.

He opened the heavy doors and pushed his bike into the hall. Here he had assembled some of the best techniques. Sighing, he looked around the hall and knocked over his bike. This was the best he could build, and it had not been enough. Then his eyes fell on his work table. Or rather on the box that stood on the table. A box he hadn't put there. Totally confused he went to the control unit of the security system and checked the systems. All the data clearly showed that there was no break-in or error in the system. So, someone had broken in here without leaving the slightest trace. He was very impressed. And pissed off. And worried.

He went to the box and saw a little letter attached to the box.

"Mr. Finch. I've been following your work for some time now and I've decided to give you a gift. If you continue to impress me, I will give you more gifts."

Confused, Nathan looked at the box and the note. When he decided to open it, he could not believe his eyes. In front of him stood a Mark 2 ion generator from NASA. This system was only theoretically possible. Allegedly NASA was working together with LexCorp on a prototype that would power the latest generation of deep space probes. If half of what Nathan heard was true, this generator was basically a pocket-sized nuclear power plant. All his anger and disappointment at the defeat was gone. This ion generator solved all his problems.

Countless cups of coffee later, he was confronted with his latest invention. The Death-Racer was not a motorcycle but that was only a stopover anyway. From the beginning it had been the Death-Racer he had wanted to build. This Bombshell was his ultimate invention. An electric vehicle that had over 1500 HP and was powered by 4 separate electric motors. The body was made of a new type of polymer alloy, which was half the weight of steel but three times as hard. Theoretically, this vehicle was armored as hard as an army troop carrier. The electronics that controlled the vehicle were from top secret projects of General Robotics.

He had planned to do a test drive, but a look at the clock told him that he was on his feet for almost 40 hours. A glance at the empty coffee pot was convincing enough. He looked for a comfortable corner and fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke up it was almost midnight and therefore the perfect time for a test drive. Just starting the car put Nathan into a frenzy. There was not the slightest noise. The generators hummed pleasantly as he drove out of the hall. The displays in the cockpit all seemed to work perfectly and showed that all systems were working within normal parameters.

Now it was time to test the acceleration. He was literally pressed into the seat as the racer accelerated to maximum. Even his bike was almost human against this suit. It was an incredible feeling to race that car through Gotham at night. The improved AI was able to recalculate the racer's cornering behavior every nanosecond and helped Nathan imperceptibly maintain control of the car. It was an incredible feeling to take corners at such speed without fear of losing control.

With this car, he'd smash that fucking Red X. Victory assured, he shot through the night when he suddenly saw police sirens behind him. Apparently, the police had taken notice of him. His first impulse was to pull over and stop, but then he realized that this was not necessary. There was no police car in this country that could even hope to stand up to this car. A light pressure on the accelerator was enough to push the racer to accelerate. He even started playing with the police and laughed loudly as more and more police cars gathered behind him. From the systems in the car he learned that he was mistaken for the gargoyle, which made him laugh even louder. But when he shot around a corner he felt a slight shock and immediately hit the brakes. The racer skidded across the road until it finally came to a stop. The automatic seat belts had made sure that nothing happened to him and the brake control had caught the car just before a wall. A quick look at the fault analysis of the car showed him that he had lost all 4 tires. All were flat. In front of him he could see a police roadblock and then he realized that he had driven over a bed of nails. Within seconds the police had also closed the road behind him and wedged him in.

"Tztztz... do you really think you can catch me like this, you idiots?" he laughed and rolled his eyes. One push of a button was enough to activate the automatic tire repair system. After the racer was fully drivable again Nathan grinned even wider and activated the EMP generator. The policemen could see small tubes to the left and right of the doors that started pulsing blue. Before they could react, a sphere of energy spread out and shut down everything electrical within a radius of 500 meters. After the tubes were retracted, the racer accelerated and headed straight for the roadblock in front of him. While the bullets of the police bounced harmlessly off the alloy, Nathan directed the energy of the ion generator into the body of the car. This created an electrical charge enough to create a repulsive magnetic field. This allowed him to easily repel police cars.

Helplessly, the police officers had to watch their roadblocks being pushed out of the way as if by magic and the futuristic vehicle simply driving off into the night.

"and you're the next Red X!" laughed Nathan almost manically.