Hot Wheels Acceleracers 5: The Final Lap

Chapter 6

"Vert!" Nolo called out to him.

Vert went over to give handshakes and fist bumps to everyone. Karma hugged him.

"He says he's your father Vert. That true?" Nolo asked. Vert nodded.

"As I already said before, and as I already explained to Vert, I lead the Silencerz." Jack started. Vert kept his arms folded, deciding to keep out of it and let his father explain.

"But we aren't the organization that Tezla made us out to be when he told you about us." He continued.

"What exactly do you want the Wheel for?" Kurt asked.

"Right to the chase huh? Now I know where my son gets it from." Jack commented before preparing to answer.

"It's not us that want the Wheel. It's our superiors. The government. As I also told Vert, what they want it for is classified. I know that's not the answer you're looking for but, that's all I can give." Jack said.

"Tezla said Banjee and the others were lost in the realms. Yet they're here. How'd you find them?" Kurt asked.

"Tezla believed they were lost. And they would have been. Had we not been in the realms to find them. We brought them back here. We offered to let them go, but they agreed to help us against Gelorum. And later on, Dr. Tezla." Jack said.

"He gave us some awesome rides, but I gotta admit, he started to get kinda loco." Banjee commented.

"Then that means you've been racing in the realms from the beginning. Even before we started racing for Tezla." Karma said.

"The Metro Realm. And the Ice Realm. That was when we started to distrust each other." Kurt said, remembering how Kurt was suspected of taking the Metro Realm Accelecharger after everyone, including Taro believed he won, and called him out for his supposed lie. And the mystery of the Ice Realm, where it was believed Karma knocked Taro out of the race to win.

Karma suddenly held her head.

"You alright?" Esmerelda asked her.

"Yeah. I think I just... need some water." Karma said.

"Food's that way." Alec said, thumbing behind him to his left. "Take another left once you get there and just keep going straight. You can't miss it. There's also a vending machine." He added.

"Thanks." Karma said before walking past all of them.

"But I want to know. You got all those other drivers out. Why didn't you save Kadeem? My brother?" Kurt asked, resuming their earlier conversation.

"What she said about us being in the realms from the beginning is partially correct. We didn't start officially racing in the realms until the Metro Realm. That was when we believed our drivers, myself included, were prepared for what was in the Racing Realms. We never raced in the Fog, swamp, or Warp realm. Once we found them, we brought them back to base. The safety of the drivers was more important than winning the race at the time. As for Kadeem and your brother, we couldn't. I'm sorry." Jack said.

"Couldn't? Or wouldn't?" Kurt asked.

"If we could save them, believe me, we would have." Jack said.

"I don't believe you." Kurt said, fuming. "Look what the Drones did to him! To...." Kurt was about to reveal what happened to Kadeem but had to stop himself. He didn't want Vert or the others to have to be described what he and his brother saw in Hot Wheels City. He simply shook his head.

Vert decided to finally speak up, but to avoid Kurt from getting angrier than he already was, he wasn't going to mention what his dad told him when he explained why they couldn't save Wylde.