Twenty

Regan sat by the car she had chosen.

"You know, there are better ones on the lot." Nothing told her.

"You may not know what this means, but I'm an O'Conner. This car could be missing its wheels and I still would've chosen it." She replied.

"I know what that means." He smiled down at the floor. "It means your quick and good at what you do. Mild FBI training. Your brother has a thing for imports and Skylines. Your first car was a red one that he'd bought you."

Regan looked at him. "Did your homework on me?"

"All of you guys, but you caught my attention the most. You've been doing this since 2009. Not an original, but you're one of the firsts. Your file still holds your relationship status, but I feel it's outdated from the way you and Tej blatantly ignore the existence of the other." He continued. "Four years, give or take, right? We'll have to update your file. I also know those pretty blonde locks you and your brother sport aren't natural."

She was impressed. Not only had he read all of that shit, but he remembered it.

"What's my favorite color?" She asked.

"Green." He answered.

"Birthday?" She asked.

"September 12th." He answered. She smiled at him. That was something Tej never remembered. "1992." He added.

Regan forced herself to look down as a smile broke out.

Roman tapped Tej. "You see this shit?"

"What shit?" Tej replied.

"Your girl getting cozy with the head asshole." Roman told him.

"Not my girl anymore. She can do whatever she wants." Tej replied.

"More like whoever she wants." Rome muttered.

"What about you?" Regan asked.

"Me?" Nothing replied.

"Yeah. Siblings, parents. A name, maybe?"

Nothing shook his head. "I think we should keep this professional. I'm Little Nobody." He answered. Rae nodded, turning back to her car.

There was a voice yelling over the radio, grabbing the attention of the team.

We got an army of cars driving themselves. Send backup! Send SWAT! I don't care if you send the goddamn Boy Scouts! Just send them some help!

Letty picked up the radio. "Now that's Dom."

"I agree with her." Regan mumbled. "Let's go."

There wasn't any more conversation, the team breaking to get to their cars. They drove out of the Toy Shop in their usual line. Shaw was in the front now, the only unusual thing about it.

Regan stayed closely behind Letty, Roman right behind her. They parked on the street they knew Dom was coming from, putting Hobbs in the center, the rest of them filling out the rest of the street. Shaw was behind him.

Guys, I know why Dom's here. Ramsey announced. Police scanners are saying he stole a nuclear football.

Hobbs picked up the mic. "It's over, Toretto." He announced. "Get your ass out of the car now."

Dom revved his engine.

"So, that's how you wanna play this?" Hobbs asked. "Let's play."

He revved his engine again. They sat their for a heartbeat longer before Dom pulled forward.

He's going for it. Little Nothing said.

What are you doing? Letty asked.

It's a trap. Hobbs said.

Dom went around Little Nobody, running right through the floral shop.

"Are you fucking kidding?" Regan asked. "Why did we bring him, exactly?"

They all flipped their cars around, following after Dom.

Now I know what it feels like to be every cop chasing us. Tej commented.

I'm gonna get a little closer. I'm gonna pit him. Little Nobody told them.

Oh, so you just gonna pit Dom? Roman asked. Little Nobody has clearly lost his little mind.

"That's for damn sure." Regan replied.

I'm on him. Little Nobody announced.

Easy. Work together. Hobbs reminded them.

"Sure, mom."

Dom moved more to the right, taking down the poles of a construction site.

Wait, wait, wait. Hobbs called. Regan pumped her brakes as it came crashing down. Little Nobody was too late to stop, behind caught under it as the rest went around it. I'll take the shortcut.

Hobbs broke through the wreckage. Regan followed Letty through the little swap meet, the pair honking their horns so people would get the fuck out of the way. Letty kept going, a small wall coming up. It was at a diagonal slope, so they both put their right tires on it, letting the car take an angle itself. Regan's right side of her car hit the floor before Letty's. She seemed to struggle with it a bit for a moment. The girls were right behind Dom, swerving through traffic. Letty pulled forward, level with him. Regan stayed close behind her. Dom hit his NOS, which prompted Letty to shoot her hook out.

Regan. She called.

"On it." She pulled next to Letty, throwing out her hook, too. He dragged the both of them, the girls sending each other panicked looks out their windows before they slammed on the brakes. It didn't matter, they were still being dragged. Tej came up beside Regan, doing the same thing. The three of them were being dragged.

Watch the drag, or the line will snap! Letty called. They all let off on their brakes. Letty got a little close to a taxi, pushing her into Regan, which pushed her into Tej. She jolted, looking up at Letty before she turned to Tej.

"How the fuck is he still going?"

They came up to Hobbs, Dom hitting the brake. Shaw shot his line out first, getting the side of Dom's car. Hobbs pulled forward before doing the same with the other side. Roman pulled up, taking the front.

Stretch him out. Hold him. Hobbs told them. They all threw their cars into reverse, barely glancing over their shoulders before slamming down on the gas.

Dom's car jolted with ever tug.

He's gotta have about 2,000 horsepower in that thing. Hobbs said.

"How else would be pull three cars with no problem?" Regan asked.

Try 3,000. Tej replied.

Try five. Shaw countered as the friction of the tire started to cause sparking under his car.

The orange in the corner of her eye caught Rae's attention. Letty's tire was catching fire. As she turned back, she noticed her own tires in her mirror.

Dom hit his NOS again, pulling Roman forward as he pulled back. Dom went straight into him. Roman pulled back just as Dom did. The three split apart when they saw him coming. With the force of Dom's pulling, the back of Roman's car went up before he flipped.

The driver's door of Dom's car came flying off, hitting Hobbs and pushing him back. He took out a traffic light before falling on his side. He pulled back between Tej, Regan and Letty, pulling the three cars spiraling into each other before they fell to the street. On the bright side, Dom had spiraled out with them, too. Letty's car landed flat, Tej's landing on its side, resting on hers at an angle as Regan's landed flat on top of Letty's. She stayed flat like that until the pulling of Dom's car sent Shaw into her, making the car flip to its side. Regan felt it slipping slowly, bracing herself for another fall. It finally came, the remainder of the glass breaking as she slid off of Letty's car.

Shaw got out of the car, chasing after Dom and the case. A gunshot was heard. Regan watched Letty climb out of her car, running off.

You okay? Tej asked.

"Just a little shaken." She answered. "Are you?"

Just a lot shaken.

They made it back to the Toy Shop. It was odd, no matter what happened, Regan always seemed to walk away with the most cuts. Like now, as her lip was slowly scabbing over.

"Anything?" Hobbs asked Little Nobody.

"They're gone." He answered. "And DOD confirmed it was a nuclear football. He's got an EMP and nuclear launch codes. I don't know what it is, but they're building towards something."

"Deckard?" Hobbs asked.

"He didn't make it." Little Nobody answered.

Hobbs stood off the stairs he was sitting on, throwing his fist into the nearest container.

Regan noticed the look on Letty's face. She stayed in her seat, trying to get her attention. When she finally did, she raised her eyebrows. Letty just nodded, wiping her tears.

"Can you pull up the footage from the guy in the alley?" Letty asked.

"Traffic cams." Ramsey told Tej.

"I got you." Tej replied.

"I knew it." Letty said, standing off the stairs. "I recognize that guy. That's Connor Rhodes. I met him when I was working with Shaw's brother. He wanted us to get the Nightshade device for him."

"Connor Rhodes. He's also linked to somebody I'd quite like to forget." Ramsey replied.

"So this entire team is linked to somebody from people we've already dealt with?" Regan asked. "This feels like a boss level."

"Mose Jakande. Warlord who tried to get God's Eye." Hobbs walked back into the room.

"Which means that's twice that Dom has messed up Cipher's business." Tej replied.

"She tapped him because he's the only one who's stopped her." Regan commented.

"The problem we've had with tracking Cipher is there is nothing to trace but now we have Rhodes' information." Ramsey announced.

"And we're getting snapshots of his data before it's scrubbed off the Net." Tej added.

"That look like somebody's bank account, so why don't we just go ahead..." Roman was talking to Tej.

"It's a longitude." Hobbs said. "Given the fact that Dom hit a Russian motorcade, safe to say it's Russia. Go ahead and bring up the map. Good. Let's stop here and run the possibilities."

"Yalta, Poltava...It's like they just threw letters together." Tej commented.

"That's all a language really is." Regan answered.

"Kronyurt..." Tej kept listing.

"It's Vladovin." Mr. Nobody told them.

"What are you doing here?" Little Nobody asked.

"What? I told you I was gonna check in on you from time to time to see how you were doing. By the way, not so hot." Mr. Nobody answered.

"There's nothing in Vladovin." Ramsey replied. "It's just ice."

"That's it." Regan concluded.

"That's funny." Mr. Nobody replied. "Could've sworn there was a secret Russian naval base where they retrofitted Cold War submarines. Well, technically, it's not Russia anymore. Base was taken over by a terror group of military separatists about a month ago, and the Russians haven't taken it back yet, so there's a little window of opportunity here."

"Russian submarines. Nuclear football." Roman listed. "It sounds like everything we do, our legs will be blown off."

"It sounds like you still number 11 on the list." Tej responded.

"It sounds like you've changed since your little punk ass facial hairs came in."

"Guys, guys." Little Nobody interrupted.

"Oh, come on. It was just getting good." Regan whined.

"We gotta call this in." He told Mr. Nobody. "All the way up the chain."

"That's good thinking, champ, except, unfortunately, the Russian Minister of Defense got himself involved in a little incident on U.S. territory and two governments aren't talking to each other for a while. By the time they do, it'll be too late. So, any other suggestions?" Mr. Nobody asked.

"We suit up." Regan suggested.

Hobbs nodded. "How about we just stop them ourselves?" Rae and Hibbs nodded to each other before looking at Mr. Nobody.

"You're talking about a Russian military base." Little Nobody replied.

"Separatist." Mr. Nobody corrected.

"Whatever. It's suicide."

"It's stopping World War Three." Hobbs argued. "What's it gonna be, rook? You gonna close your eyes on this one, too? Pray that the apocalypse doesn't come knocking on your mama's front door? Or you gonna saddle up, be a man and save the entire goddamn world?"

Little Nobody looked down, picking up a crow bar. "You know, I think I figured it out." He said to Mr. Nobody.

"What's that?" Mr. Nobody asked.

"Rule number three." He answered.

"Which is?"

"There are no rules." He used the crowbar to break the glass holding the keys.

Regan smiled.

"What did I tell you, Luke?" Mr. Nobody asked. "I knew he'd get it in three."

"Aerial transport leaves in an hour. Take whatever vehicle you want. All bets are off." Little Nobody said.

"All bets are off?" Tej and Roman stood.

"Speaking of no rules..." Little Nobody started, making his way to Regan. He grabbed her hand, pulling her from the chair. His hand gently cupped her cheek before his lips crashed against hers.

"Finally." Letty muttered behind Rae.