Spy Racers: World Tour

Chapter 20: Trouble for Toretto

Twenty Minutes Earlier...

Tony wanted to gag before he'd even made it all the way down the ladder into the sewer. It smelled of rust and sweat and dirty dishwater- along with some other disgusting things he didn't want to think about. A rat skittered away as his feet touched down at the bottom, squelching in a puddle of water and sending echoes around the cement walls. Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned on the flashlight, illuminating four identical tunnels branching off of the main channel he was standing in. One of them led straight towards the Armoury Museum.

"Here goes nothing," Tony muttered to himself before trudging down the murky tunnel.

He was glad he'd remembered to throw a Pico camera in his pocket before leaving that morning, and he fastened it to his jacket collar now. He wasn't sure what he'd find down in the sewer system, but he wanted to be prepared to catch it if something big went down.

The tunnel seemed to go on forever and the smell only got worse. The bottoms of his pants were soaked with the disgusting water and his shoes were a lost cause. Tony prayed he got some new leads for the mission, because there was no way Miss Nowhere would buy him new shoes if he ruined the current ones for no good reason.
As he came around a corner, Tony finally saw something worth all the gross water he'd just trudged through. A small shaft of light was glimmering ahead, shining down from an opening above. Moving closer, Tony realized that it wasn't another manhole, but a drain grate- and it seemed to be inside a building. He must've walked far enough to be under the museum.
The grate cover was only halfway back on the hole, and Tony could hear hushed voices arguing somewhere above him.

"-no time for that. Boss said to get in and get out."

"But we could sell it for another million! Come on, Ty, we can spare an extra minute."

"Whatever. Go for it if you want, but I'm taking the jewels and getting out of there. You're on your own if you get caught."

With some final grumbling comments, the voices faded and Tony heard soft footsteps treading away. He quickly climbed the ladder on the wall next to him and cautiously peered over the top of the drain. A door was just swinging closed to the room, which turned out to be a very old, very gross, and definitely abandoned bathroom. It smelled almost as bad as the tunnels and Tony wasn't sure why a bathroom had such a large drain leading straight underground, but he was mostly just glad to be out of the sewer. He pulled himself up and brushed his hands on his jacket, realizing he should probably leave it behind in case he was seen- he didn't want to draw attention to the rest of the crew. He carefully transferred the Pico Camera to the necklace he was wearing and stuffed his jacket and fake glasses into the trash can before slowly opening the bathroom door.

Tony stepped out into a dark basement. There was a heating and cooling system in one corner, shelves of tools and cleaning supplies, and random pieces of furniture covered in white sheets placed haphazardly throughout the space. The stairs were to the left, a strip of light shining down through the cracked door. Tony began climbing, cringing every time one of the old, wooden steps creaked under his foot. When he made it to the top, he peeked around the corner and saw a long hallway with red carpeting and walls. The high ceiling was decorated with intricate ivory and gold carvings, and, to Tony's surprise, the mysterious people he'd been following were currently scaling the wall where it met the edge of the ceiling.

There were three of them, all dressed in some kind of guard uniform- red, presumably to blend in the building's interior- with masks covering the bottom halves of their faces. Tony watched silently as they moved down the hall and stopped above a wide, arched doorway that branched off to the left. After a count of three, one of the figures placed a sort of covering onto the security camera above the doorway. Tony remembered his very first mission with Layla, when they'd used that exact tactic to sneak into Sudarakov's penthouse. He moved closer ever so slightly as one of the figures held their wrist up to their mouth, speaking into a watch.

"We're set. Light her up."

Tony had a split second to figure out what that meant before an ear-splitting explosion shook the building. He steadied himself against the wall and stumbled back into the shadows, eyes widening as he saw the massive hole that had been blown into the wall at the end of the hallway, exposing the main lobby of the museum. A mob of guards and tourists came rushing into the hallway through the large doorway and Tony could see a frantic crowd spilling out into the main lobby as well. There was screaming and crying and shouting, the smell of gunpowder and smoke filling the air. Flames were licking the walls now, too, crackling out of the room the explosion had apparently come from. Tony knew he needed to make a decision quickly- keep following the three mysterious figures (which he was now 100% sure were thieves), or get out of the museum safely while he could.

Naturally, he chose the stupid, reckless option.

The thieves had vanished during all the chaos, but Tony was pretty sure he knew where they'd gone. He ran over to the large doorway they'd been sitting above and peered inside. Sure enough, there they were, standing in front of a particularly large, glass, display case. One of them had a hammer raised and now swung it down hard, shattering the case and sending glass flying everywhere. As soon as it was broken, the thieves reached into the case and began grabbing all of its contents, stuffing them into large canvas bags. One of them then moved on to other cases, smashing them with the hammer and grabbing other jewels and artifacts. Tony caught sight of the sign next to the first display the thieves had broken: The Russian Crown Jewels.

Oh, this was bad. Or...maybe good? Bad that something so precious was being stolen, but good that Tony was a witness and was confident these were the thieves his crew had been assigned to catch. All he had to do was call the police or the agency, and the mission would be a done deal. It would be that easy.

But of course, as Tony pulled out his phone to dial the number, the thieves finally noticed him. In his haste to make the call, he'd knocked a vase off the pedestal next to him.

"Aw, lugnuts..."

There was a high chance the thieves were armed, and even if they weren't, Tony didn't trust his own fighting skills. So he ran.

The hallway was filled with smoke and flames as he ran back through the doorway and towards the basement. Tony coughed and used his shirt collar to cover his mouth, swinging the basement door open and going so fast he skipped almost every stair. But the thieves were just as quick, hot on his tail as he stumbled into the old bathroom, not bothering to grab his disguise from the trash can and launching himself back down into the sewer. The drop wasn't super big, but it was big enough that Tony twisted his ankle as he landed, causing a split second hesitation that allowed the thieves to gain on him. Tony took off sprinting, his steps echoing off the damp, cement walls, and as the thieves shouted behind him he realized that going back through the sewer system had been a stupid idea. He should've run the other way down the hall, towards the main lobby of the museum where there were crowds and guards. There was no way he was getting away from his pursuers down here, especially now that his ankle was hurt.

But his little side-mission wouldn't be for naught. As he ran, Tony transmitted his Pico camera feed and location to Frostee, getting the confirmation alert that it had sent just as he felt himself forced roughly to the ground. His head smacked the hard floor, sending him into a daze as three sneering faces looked over him, spitting insults and threats he couldn't quite make sense of. But Tony wasn't worried. He'd been in worse situations, and he trusted his family. They would find him. He'd apologize to Layla for not being at the finish line. They'd catch the thieves and finish the mission like they always did...and maybe Miss Nowhere would feel bad he got captured and buy him new shoes.

All Tony had to do was stall the thieves and whoever they worked for for long enough to keep him alive. Easy. Being a distraction was what he did best.