Neo-London, 2077
The semi-dystopian city of a futuristic London pulsed with life, a kaleidoscope of neon hues illuminating the rain-soaked streets. Towering skyscrapers loomed overhead, their glass facades reflecting the vibrant glow of holographic advertisements and flickering signs.
Below, the streets were lubricated with rain and pulsed with aggressive neon. It was perpetually 9 PM here, a symphony of nightlife where the thrumming bass of distant clubs battled the whine of automated hover-traffic.
Opposite a grand building emblazoned with the word "BANK," a sleek, matte-black car sat idly, its angular design echoing the city's futuristic aesthetic.
Inside the car, a teenage boy sat poised behind the wheel. His sharp white hair peeked out from under a dark hood, strands catching the neon glow.
A black tattoo of a serpent coiled around his neck, its tail disappearing beneath his hoodie. A silver earring caught a stray light on his right ear, matching the black necklace with a key-shaped pendant resting against his chest.
He pulled a black nose mask over his face, one patterned with a skeletal mouth and nose, concealing his expression.
His piercing purple eyes… one natural, the other donning a cybernetic contact lens, scanned the street with predatory focus. The lens lent his left eye a subtle shimmer, overlaying digital data and route optimizations only he could see.
His fingers drummed against the steering wheel in a patient rhythm, his gaze flickering repeatedly to the bank's entrance, muscles taut as if waiting for something to happen.
Then, cutting through the ambient silence, came a sharp, piercing siren… the unmistakable alarm of the bank.
The boy's focus sharpened as he turned towards the sound, his eye's augmented vision locking onto the entrance.
In a flash, three masked figures burst through the bank doors, moving with a frenetic energy. Two men and a woman, all clad in dark attire, sprinted into the street, energy pistols gripped tightly in their hands, along with bags of stolen cash.
Without hesitation, the boy slammed his hand on the ignition, and the car's engine roared to life, the hum escalating into a throaty growl.
Just as the robbers reached his vehicle, the first man, huge and fast, ripped open the passenger door and dove in, his duffel bag banging on the floor. "Move it, Ghost!" he shouted, his voice distorted by his mask.
The woman and the second man piled in after him, moving with smooth economy. The doors hardly even clicked shut when the boy… Ghost, moved his hand, grabbing the gear selector into drive, his foot already punching the accelerator.
SCREECH! VROOOM!
The car shot forward, wheels screeching as it tore down the street, leaving behind the chaos of the bank heist.
The moment they hit the main road, the city transformed into a blur of lights and shadows.
Ghost, sharpened by his enhanced eye, weaved through the congested streets with precision. Cars zipped past, their drivers startled by the sudden burst of speed. Neon signs blurred overhead as he hugged tight curves, his lens calculating every angle, every potential hazard milliseconds before his hands moved.
Behind them, police drones screeched into pursuit, their searchlights slicing through the rain.
"We've got company!" shouted the man beside Ghost, who was tagged 'Bucky' by the crew, already swinging to fire his energy pistol out the window.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Bright plasma bolts shot out of his gun, striking one of the drones in a shower of sparks.
Ghost accelerated, weaving between cars as they sped through the heart of Neo London. He could hear the distant thrum of police drones buzzing closer, their searchlights sweeping the streets.
Bucky kept shooting at the drones, eliminating them one after the other, before retreating back to his seat.
But suddenly, a chorus of sirens erupted as more law enforcement vehicles joined the chase… this time with more drones and police cars.
Pew! Pew! Clank! Cling!
Energy blasts from the pursuing vehicles sparked against their car, leaving glowing scorch marks that hissed on the metal.
"Bloody hell! Now we've got actual coppers on our tail." The woman in the back yelled.
"Take them out!" Bucky yelled back, leaning out of the window again, firing shots at the police vehicles.
Behind them, a police drone, tiny and fast, descended, its laser cannon on the front charging up.
Bucky spotted the drone and immediately notified the woman. "Phoenix, target the drone behind you!" he snarled, his words firm, to the point.
The woman in the back… Phoenix, reacted quickly. She leaned out of the window, firing her own energy pistol. The drone swerved, but Phoenix's shot was accurate. A bolt struck its main thruster, sending it spiralling into a holographic billboard that exploded in a shower of pixelated advertisements.
"We got more coming from the left!" shouted the other man in the back, 'Bull,' his voice frightful, as a police cruiser attempted a PIT maneuver, its reinforced bumper aiming for the car rear quarter panel.
Ghost didn't even look. His cybernetic lens had already registered the threat. With a sudden, violent swerve, he flicked the car into a tight, impossible drift, the tires smoking on the wet road.
The police cruiser, caught off guard, overshot, slamming into a large pillar. Metal shrieked, alarms blared.
Ghost continued driving with calculated instinct. He saw an opening: a narrow alleyway, rarely used, choked with refuse and discarded cybernetic parts.
Without warning, he pushed the car into a hairpin turn down the alley. Sparks flew as the vehicle scraped against rusted fire escapes and neon-lit pipes. His cybernetic eye lit up, overlaying a digital map highlighting a shortcut through a maze of backstreets.
He took it without hesitation. The pursuing vehicles faltered momentarily, unable to match his intimate knowledge of Neo-London's labyrinthine underbelly.
The car leapt over a broken section of road, tires barely touching the ground before landing with a controlled skid.
BOOM!
Explosions erupted behind them as a pursuing police car collided with a small kiosk, sending shards of light and metal raining down.
The car surged forward, weaving between towering market stalls and neon-lit vendor carts. Ghost's left eye flickered, analyzing an incoming drone's trajectory. With a deft flick of the wheel, he sent the hovercar spiraling into a tight spin, dodging a barrage of laser fire.
SCREECCH… BOOOM!
The drone exploded into a shower of sparks, cascading into the street below.
Ghost's passengers exchanged tense glances, clutching their loot tightly. His driving was absolutely terrifying. If only they knew he was just warming up.
They spilled out onto a wider boulevard, but the pursuit was far from over. Five police hover-cruisers were already hugging, their underslung cannon guns snapping in.
"Ahhh! Take that you sons of bitches!" Bucky yelled, unleashing a desperate burst of plasma bolts at the vehicles. But more just kept coming.
"Incoming, six more cruisers on the Northern Arc, and we got drone coverage climbing!" Phoenix shouted, chambering a fresh energy cell into her weapon. "I don't think we can fight off this much cops, Bucky. We've got'a lose them."
"Fuck!" Bucky gritted his teeth as a plasma beam grazed his shoulder. He retreated immediately, taking cover from the relentless fire from their pursuers. "You're right. There's too many."
Then he turned to Ghost, who was focused intently on the road. "Can you get us out of this, kid?"
"Hold tight," Ghost said, his first words since they'd left. His voice was flat, London accent worn smooth by years of engine noise.
They hit the main avenue going seventy, instantly accelerating past the speed limiters. Ghost saw the another set of police pursuit vehicles in front… armored, blue-and-white cruisers already attempting to peel out of an intersection three blocks ahead.
"Clear the lane!" he commanded.
Bucky responded quickly, grabbing his heavy plasma rifle from the back. Then he leaned out the window and fired two controlled bursts.
Pzzzzt… BOOM! BOOM!
The shots sizzled through the rain, impacting a slow-moving hover-taxi and sending it spiralling harmlessly into a support pylon, creating a momentary traffic dam.
Ghost used the chaos. He didn't slow down; he went full throttle. His augmented vision showed him a gap opening between a fuel truck and a maintenance drone. He flicked the steering wheel, initiating a masterful controlled drift.
Screeeeeeech!
The car screamed sideways, tires shedding sparks off the wet asphalt, sliding through the three-foot gap with inches to spare before slamming straight again.
"Jesus, Ghost!" Bucky roared, thrilled and terrified.
They were now on the elevated motorway, Neo-London's primary artery, flanked by towers of glass and steel. Above them, more police drones were locking on.
'Red threat level.' The cybernetic lens overlay flashed a warning in his sight as the drones targeted their trajectory.
"Drones focusing! Prepare for stun rounds!" Phoenix yelled.
"Holy hell! Faster, Ghost, for the love of the Queen, Faster!" Bull screamed from the back, fear gripping his very soul.
"Not today, copper," Ghost grinned under the mask. He saw another opening: a tight corkscrew ramp descending to the lower industrial level. It was too narrow for the police cruisers to maintain speed, but perfect for his vehicle.
He slammed on the kinetic brakes, the car's nose diving violently, forcing a controlled spin. As the car rotated 180 degrees, Bucky and Phoenix unloaded volleying fire into the pursuing cruisers behind them, impacting their front sensors.
Ghost then executed a perfect reverse flick, correcting the spin and driving backward towards the ramp entrance at eighty miles an hour.
Just as the nose aligned with the narrow entrance, a police pursuit drone dropped low and launched a concussion missile.
"Brace yourselves!" Ghost yelled. He hit a booster function… a sudden surge of forced energy into the wheels, and the car shot forward, narrowly avoiding the missile. It instead struck the concrete barrier of the ramp entrance, which exploded in a shower of pulverized rebar and dust.
They plunged into the narrow, dark spiral ramp, the G-force making the crew gasp. Ghost's augmented eye processed the tight curves faster than normal human reflexes, his hands making minute, perfect adjustments to the wheel.
"We got visual confirmation on our tail, two cruisers still trying to trail above!" Phoenix reported.
"Focus on the bridge supports," Ghost muttered. "I need a distraction for the aerials."
As they burst out of the ramp and onto the lower service route… a subterranean canyon of storage units and power conduits, Ghost targeted a massive, ancient junction box supplying power to the sector's advertising screens.
"Hit the box!" he said.
Bucky didn't hesitate. He fired a sustained plasma blast at it.
BOOOM!
The junction box detonated with a flash of white-hot energy, plunging the entire lower stretch of the freeway into chaotic darkness. Warning sirens screamed from the disabled advertising screens above.
Ghost then saw his ultimate maneuver. A half-completed elevated highway exit, a bridge leading nowhere, its end a sheer drop into a bustling market district. His cybernetic eye calculated the jump, factoring wind speed, vehicle weight, and the precise angle needed.
"Hold on!" Ghost roared, flooring it.
Bull's eyes widened. "Bloody hell, he's trying to get us killed."
"Ghost, what the devil's cock are you doing?!" Bucky yelled, but it was too late.
WHOOSH!
The car shot up the makeshift ramp. Bull screamed in despair. Bucky gripped the dashboard tightly. Phoenix simply kept a straight face, unfazed by the situation.
For a terrifying moment, the car was airborne, a silent, dark angel against the glow of the city. Time seemed to slow down by a fraction. And below them, the market district teemed with life, oblivious.
Mid-air, Ghost adjusted the descent with a tiny flick of the wheel, angling the car perfectly towards a wide, open plaza.
THUD! SCRREECCH! CRASH!
The landing was brutal, bone-jarring. The car's specialized suspension absorbed most of the shock, but the tires shrieked as they met the ground, kicking up a spray of water and market debris. They skidded, narrowly missing a noodle stall, sending street vendors scattering.
Behind them, the police, unable to replicate the impossible jump, were forced to find alternate routes, their sirens fading into the distant wail of the city.
The whole crew sighed in relief. Because by the time the police find alternate routes, they would have been long gone.
They were practically free.
Ghost kept driving. He didn't relax until he had navigated the car into the dark, labyrinthine streets of the East Ends, a maze of forgotten alleyways and derelict warehouses.
He killed the engine deep within a shadowed cul-de-sac, a spot where they usually lay low for some time before heading to their intended destination.
The sudden silence that enveloped the car was deafening, broken only by the heavy breathing of his crew and the distant, fading wail of sirens.
Bucky, his face still pale under his mask, let out a shaky laugh. "Damn, kid. You are one hell of a driver."
Ghost finally allowed a tiny, almost imperceptible twitch of a smile under his mask. He reached up, his fingers brushing the key pendant at his chest.
Another night… another impossible escape.