Records from Detroit: The Blue Surge

"Records from Detroit: The Blue Surge" is a story set in the Cyberlife Bus universe, and a part of the "Records from Detroit" additional content pack. The story is focused on Cyberlife Car and his past, detailing his relationship with his brother and his days of working as an up and coming boxer, known as the fearsome "Blue Surge". The story was written by Fred Continent and released as a part of the "Records from Detroit: Volume 1" DLC. It was released on the 17th of March, 2020.

The Opening
The story starts off during July 2035, as the 17 year old Cyberlife Car has been invited to a party with his friend, Cyberlife Truck. The party is held in a huge building, similar to a warehouse, just so it can fit all the vehicles partying. Cyberlife Car and Cyberlife Truck grab some beers, and go to a more quiet part of the party to have a talk. The party is full of vehicles dancing, and music is blasting loud. They can barely hear their own thoughts.

As Cyberlife Car and Cyberlife Truck go to sit down, CTruck asks him about his future plans."CT: So, do you have any plans for your future? I doubt you just wanna deliver passengers your whole life.""CC: I don't really have many plans. I'll enjoy life, that's my plan. Look out for any job opportunities I guess. You know my brother's an accountant, with a job like that, I'm sure he can help me find a good place to work.""CT: So the pay from just driving people around isn't good enough? You are a car, after all.""CC: Oh you know it's not e-""CT: I'm just messing with you, the pay sucks and it's boring. Why wouldn't you wanna look for something more, right?""CC: Right. So how about you?""CT: I think I'm gonna be an architect. Or maybe a doctor. Or maybe a lawyer.""CC: Yeah yeah man I get it, you're good at stuff."Their conversation is interrupted by a group standing next to them, yelling and laughing loudly. Cyberlife Truck says that they seem to be enjoying themselves. CT and CC agree to go join the them, to see what they're up to. They see two vehicles surrounded by the rest of the group. The two vehicles both have multiple beers stacked on top of them. The beers are all stacked on top of each other. Both stacks are swaying, and all of the beers are near falling."CC: What on earth are you doing?""Someone from the group: Beer stack bro, there are two players. The one who's stack of beers falls to the ground first loses, and they have to drink all the beers that fell."Cyberlife Car looks to his right and sees a vehicle nearly passed out, seemingly from too much alcohol. He guesses that the vehicle lost in beer stack. He turns to look at the current game, to see who's gonna win. One of the two vehicles loses his balance, and all the beers on top of him fall to the ground. The bottles are durable and don't break upon hitting the ground. The winner starts mocking and laughing at the guy who lost his balance. The loser starts chugging the 7 beer bottles that were stacked on top of him, as the group laughs loudly next to him.

Someone from the group suggests that the two newcomers, referring to Cyberlife Truck and Cyberlife Car, should play beer stack. CC refuses at first, but as the group keeps telling him to do it, he's persuaded and Cyberlife Truck joins him. They start the game, one beer is placed on top of each of them. Easy so far. Soon after, both of them get another beer stacked on top of the first one. After that, a third beer. The group looks on in anticipation. Fourth beer. Fifth beer. "Cyberlife Truck glances over at CC and asks: Losing your balance, pal?""CC: Not even close, bro."Sixth beer. It's getting tough for CC. Seventh beer. He can still manage. Eight beer, and he's starting to lose balance, he feels the stack of beers swaying on top of him. He looks over at Cyberlife Truck, and sees that he's having no problems. "CC: Oh come on..."Ninth beer. The stack on top of him almost falls, but he's able to step back and regain control. Tenth beer. Everyone in the group is looking at them in complete silence. Eleventh beer. As the twelfth beer is about to be placed on top of CC's stack, he loses balance and the stack falls to the ground. The group lets out a loud "OOOOOOO!!" and Cyberlife Car looks at the 12 beers in defeat. "CTruck: Well, time to start chugging bro."Cyberlife Car grabs the first beer, and starts drinking.

Cyberlife Car wakes up, not knowing what time is it. He doesn't remember anything. He sees he's laying on the floor, and gets up. He sees people dancing and remembers he's at a party. He notices Cyberlife Truck and approaches him. His vision is blurry and the sounds of people yelling around him just mesh together as an incoherent mess. When Cyberlife Truck notices CC, he runs over to grab him as CC is about to trip and fall to the ground. "CTruck: Christ bud, those beers really fucked you up didn't they? I tried to find you but couldn't.""Cyberlife Car responds, mumbling: ughg...how-.. how-long......hghhh..... how longg was I passed out man..""CTruck: It wasn't for long, roughly an hour.""He gives CC water, and tells him: You need to rest a bit bro. Calm it down a bit with the drinking, alright?""CC mumbles: yea-. yes...."He sits down and drinks the water.

After resting for nearly an hour, Cyberlife Car decides to return to party. He joins the dance floor, and starts dancing. The hours pass by quickly. He's drunk, but can still somewhat understand what's going on. He sits down once again with Cyberlife Truck, and they notice a group of girls glancing over at them. Soon CC realizes one of the girls is Cyberlife Car 12, a girl he's had a crush on for a long time now. He tries to sober himself up to look good, and starts chatting to CTruck."CC: Hey, that's Cyberlife Car 12. You think I should ask her out?""CTruck: Oh, I'm sorry man, I already starting dating her.""CC: What? And you said yes? But, but you knew I liked her.""CTruck: Look man I'm sorry, I forgot, but she came to me and asked me out, I wasn't gonna say no just because you were already into her, you can't call dibs on a girl just because you like them.""CC: But you knew I was gonna ask her out eventually, bro why do you have to be such a dick.""CTruck: Look CC, you're drunk. You're not thinking rationally. Just go home.""CC: No, you asshole. You knew I've liked her for a long time and you just start dating her? What a great friend you are...""CTruck: Bro just stop.""CC: No man,.. fuck you!"Cyberlife Car drunkenly approaches Cyberlife Truck to punch him. Due to his severely drunk state, the punch misses. Cyberlife Truck tries to calm him down and tells him he's not thinking clearly, but the drunken CC continues. This time he manages to hit CTruck, the punch seems to injure him quite a bit. Before CC can do anything, he's knocked out with a quick punch from Cyberlife Truck.

Cyberlife Taxi 4 is called to the party to pick Cyberlife Car up. He does so, and takes the passed out CC to his own house. Upon arriving at his house, he carries Cyberlife Car to sleep on the couch.

Finest Hour
The next day, Cyberlife Car wakes up at his brother's place. His engine hurts, he has a bad hangover from the party last night. He rests in place for some time, before getting up to make some pancakes. Cyberlife Taxi 4, his older brother who is 21 years old, enters the room and says"CT 4: Oh great, you're up. Mind telling me what yesterday was all about?""CC: It was not my finest hour, I'll tell you that...""CT 4: How many beers did you have, CC?""CC: A few...""CT 4: Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to have to leave work, to pick up your drunken unconscious brother from a party where he started a fight? Everyone looked at us like we were clowns.""CC: I'm sorry, things got a bit out of hand""CT 4: Out of hand? I think you're understating the situation.""CC: Look, I'm sorry. I'll be better, I know I can be better than this. I just have to find a job.""CT 4: And what job would that be?""CC: I don't know, yet. I was hoping you could help me with that.""CT 4: Oh, of course, just let big brother do everything for you, right?""CC: No, I'm gonna do most of it myself, but I wouldn't mind getting a bit of help.""CT 4: You're my brother, of course I'm gonna help you. Just promise me that last night's events, NEVER happen again, got it? And no more fights, drunk or sober.""CC: I promise. Thanks man"They hug each other, and Cyberlife Taxi 4 says that he has to leave now so he's not late for work, and urges Cyberlife Car to keep an eye out for any job opportunities. CT 4 leaves, and Cyberlife Car stays inside to continue making his pancakes.

Job Hunting
For the next week, Cyberlife Car spends most of his time applying for jobs, and even gets invited to a couple of job interviews but nothing seems to quite stick. A montage of him going from place to place, asking for jobs, and getting rejected is shown. Nothing's quite working for him, until he gets a job as a salesman at a local store. It's not much, but it's a place to start. A short scene of him telling his brother about the job is shown, his brother seems to be genuinely happy for him and congratulates him on getting the job.

Though Cyberlife Car is happy he got the job, actually working there is boring for him. He feels like this isn't quite his field of work, but decides to continue working there until he can find something better. Each day feels extremely repetitive. A shortened version of his average day is shown, he helps customers every now and then, sells them products, but mostly sits around looking out of the window. The store is very quiet and doesn't get a lot of customers. He notices it's getting dark outside, he has the closing shift tonight. As the store is about to close, two customers enter. They seem to be a couple, two buses. Cyberlife Car patiently waits as the bus couple drive around the store looking for whatever they want to buy. CC turns back to look outside through the window again. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. He notices someone outside, looking into the store, but doesn't think much of it. After what feels like an excruciatingly long wait, the two buses finally get back to the counter. The other bus seems to be berating their partner for something seemingly minor. The couple buy their products and leave the store, as Cyberlife Car prepares to start closing the store, but something doesn't just feel quite right to him.

He looks outside again, the van who was looking into the store before is still there. Rather than continuing what he was doing, CC decides to stay to observe the van's behavior. He soon realizes that the van is looking at the bus couple that just left the store. As the bus couple keep driving, the van gets out of his hiding spot and starts following them from afar. The situation feels even more wrong now, CC starts to fear for the two buses. It's dark outside, and he sees no one else nearby. No coworkers in the store either. He dials the police, but as he notices the van accelerate, he realizes he has to do something now rather than wait for the police to get here. He starts driving out, but hesitates for a slight moment, as he's not supposed to leave the store alone, especially on closing shift, but soon decides to keep going, deciding his job isn't as important as the lives of two innocents. He starts following the direction where the van went, and sees it in the distance. He accelerates. Once he gets near, he slows down so the van doesn't hear him. He hears the van say something to the bus couple; "Faggots like you are disgusting"

The van takes out a gun and aims at one of the buses, but before he can do anything, Cyberlife Car rushes in and pushes him away from them. The gun falls onto the ground. The van tries to punch CC, but he dodges and returns a swift strike, which momentarily stuns the van. CC follows it with a heavy blow, causing the van to fall to the ground. The van does a quick turn, which pushes CC away from him, and starts crawling away to get his gun back. One of the buses intervenes, pushing the gun away from the van before he can get to it. Cyberlife Car drives back over, and punches once again, knocking the van out. Adrenaline is rushing through his body. His engine is beating fast. He calls the cops so they can arrest the van. Once they all process what just happened and calm down, the buses start thanking CC for his help. "One of the buses: Thank you so much, we'd be dead without you. You're a goddamn hero.""CC: Yeah, it's- it's alright, no problem.""One of the buses: Fuck, like thank you so much, is there anything we can do for you?""CC: No, I just wanted to help, you don't need to.""One of the buses: Oh come on, at least let us buy you a drink.""CC: No, I shouldn't drink. I'm not good with alcohol, and besides my brother wouldn't be-""One of the buses: You've earned this, you're a lifesaver man. Let us buy you a drink. Sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. My name's Cyberlife Bus. This here's my boyfriend, Cyberlife Bus 106.""CB 106: Hello, and thank you.""CC: My name's Cyberlife Car, and I guess one drink wouldn't hurt, but I gotta go close the store. I have closing shift, my boss is gonna kill me once he finds out I left the store like that.""CB: Right, we're gonna stay here until the cops arrive. Come back once you're done closing the store."Cyberlife Car arrives back at the store, engine still racing from the encounter. He sees some teens taking products off the shelves inside the store, he yells at them and tries to stop them, but they all manage to get out with their stolen products. CC sighs, and lets out a quiet "Of course...". He then starts closing the store.

Local Salesman, Local Hero
Cyberlife Car arrives at a bar with Cyberlife Bus and Cyberlife Bus 106. The three of them order drinks and start a conversation."CB: I gotta thank you once again for what you did, you're a savior. Thank you.""CC: No problem man. Knowing my boss, he's probably gonna fire me though. Some kids were stealing stuff when I got back to the store, just my luck.""CB: You saved our lives and he's gonna fire you?""CC: Probably. He's not the forgiving kind, no matter what the reasoning for leaving was. It's not a huge loss, I'll find another job. Not like working as a salesman is my dream career.""CB: Ah, one of those kinds of bosses, I see. You know, maybe we can help you get a job.""CC: No, you don't have to.""CB: I insist.""CB 106: Oh, looks like I got a call from work. Sorry, I gotta leave. Don't waste too much of our money on drinks.""CB: That's alright, I'll stay here with the double C. And don't worry, I won't. Oh, by the way, E.""CB 106: Engine. I'm going, bye.""CC: What was that? E?""CB: Me and him have a little arrangement, every now and then one of us says a random letter. The other one has to respond quickly enough with a word starting with that letter. If they're too slow, they owe the other 5 bucks.""CC: Why?""CB: It's fun! You'll see. T""CC: Table. Wow I'm having so much fun, saying words. So you get no punishment for when I answer correctly?""CB: No punishment for me.""CC: That's dumb, then there's no risk in saying it. M.""CB: Huh?""CC: Hah! Now you owe me five bucks.""CB: Damn it..."CB hands over 5 dollars to CC. As he's handing out the money, he notices a fistfight starting in the bar. It's between two cars."CB: Maybe we should start leaving, in case that fight over there escalates.""CC: Yeah good idea."As they're walking to the exit, one of the two fighters is pushed into Cyberlife Car."The fighter: Why are you getting involved with this, you bitch? This doesn't concern you!""CC: I'm not trying to get involved, we're just trying to leave.""The fighter: You're punkin me, bitch!"The fighter tries to hit Cyberlife Car, but he easily dodges. "CC: I don't want to fight you."The other fighter joins in and also attacks Cyberlife Car, his attack doesn't miss. Cyberlife Bus joins in and drives into one of the fighters, pushing him away."CB: Just let us leave."One of the fighters drives into Cyberlife Bus. No going back anymore. Cyberlife Car pushes into the fighter, knocking him onto the ground. As the other one approaches, Cyberlife Car starts dodging and blocking the hits. Once the fighter starts to get exhausted, Cyberlife Car starts returning hits. CC's quick pace and brutal force are too much for the fighter, who also falls on down to the ground. CC and CB leave the bar."CB: Shit, that was amazing!""CC: Bunch of idiots...""CB: You're a really good fighter, you know?""CC: Thanks, couldn't have done it without you.""CB: Yes, you could have. Seriously, you should be like a boxer or something.""CC: Eh, I don't know. My brother doesn't like me getting into fights.""CB: Why let him decide what you're gonna be? Seriously, you should consider it.""CC: Maybe. Certainly seems like a more interesting career choice than working as a salesman.""CB: Yeah, hahah. B.""CC: Bee.""CB: You just said the letter, you're supposed to say a word.""CC: No, bee!""CB: Yes, B is what I said.""CC: Noo, I mean the thing that stings people! You know, bee! They're like 'bzzz'""CB: Oh, a bee.""CC: Yes, a bee!"Cyberlife Bus and Cyberlife Car continue their conversation as the camera cuts away. The next day Cyberlife Car informs his brother of planning to try out boxing.

The Start of Something Great
Cyberlife Car arrives at his brother's place. He knocks on the door, and Cyberlife Taxi 4's girlfriend, Detroit Taxi 10 opens it. "CC: Oh sorry, did I come at a bad time?""Cyberlife Taxi 4 yells out from inside the house: No no, come on in.""Detroit Taxi 10: I was just about to leave anyways.""Cyberlife Car: Oh you don't have to leave because of me, I can come back some other time if you two-""DT 10: No, it's fine. I'm gonna go."Cyberlife Taxi 4 drives into the room. He kisses Detroit Taxi 10 as she leaves the house. "CT 4: So, how are things going with you?""CC: Well good... except I got fired from my job.""CT 4: Really? Why?""CC: I left the store to look after the safety of one of my customers. When I got back, the store was robbed.""CT 4: Oh... Well that sucks.. You know I can probably find a new job for you, I have some friends at my workplace that wo-""CC: That's why I'm here, actually. I'm thinking of getting into boxing. Sitting around in a store, or an office, just doesn't seem like the thing for me.""CT 4: Boxing? Isn't it dangerous?""CC: I know you don't like me getting into fights, but I think I'm good at it. I at least want to have a go at it. Hey, you remember back when we were in vehicle school? You remember those bullies that tried to harass and attack us? I fought them, and I won. I protected both of us by beating them in that fight, I'm a good fighter.""CT 4: I'm not doubting your fighting skills, it's just.. nothing.""CC: I promise you, it will go well.""CT 4: If boxing is what you want, I say go for it.""CC: Yes, thank you! It'll go well.""CT 4: You don't need my permission for it.""CC: I know, it just feels better to know you trust me on this. Thanks.""CT 4: Well, no problem. Now that you're here, there's some good news I should tell you, and I might as well tell you right away.""CC: Tell me what?""CT 4: I'm gonna be a father."It takes Cyberlife Car a moment to process what he heard."CC: Wait... you and Detroit Taxi 10 are gonna have a kid??"CT 4 cheerfully nods his head."CC yells out: You're gonna be a father!!! Oh shit! I'm gonna be an uncle!""CT 4 gleefully responds: Yep!"Cyberlife Car rushes in to hug his brother. They're both ecstatic. "CC: What gender is it gonna be?""CT 4: A girl, she's going to be the cutest""CC: Have you decided her name yet?""CT 4: It's not up to us to decide actually, the Cyberlife factory making the vehicles are in charge of each vehicle's name, but they told us she's going to be called Detroit Taxi 17 when we sent them the render.""CC: That's great news man!""CT 4: It's amazing! I've never been this happy!"They continue celebrating the news, as the scene cuts away.

Later that day, Cyberlife Car arrives at a local vehicle boxing gym called the "FitTires Gym" He enters the gym, and sees many vehicles inside. Some are training against each other, some hitting punching bags, some doing pushups, the list goes on. There's also a vehicle treadmill to improve your speed. CC's not quite sure where to start, he doesn't even have a boxing trainer. So for now he decides to start out with the basics, and approaches a punching bag. He later uses a treadmill, and tries out the speed bags. Most training equipment is smooth sailing for him, except the speed bags, they're troublesome. He can't quite keep up with the pace required to use them effectively. He figures he needs a trainer.

He sees a group of vehicles talking with each other, a couple of them are trainers. He decides to approach the group, asking if anyone's willing to start training a newcomer. The only response he gets is "How can I know you're worth training?" but before he can answer, someone already standing in the boxing ring yells at him. "Hey newcomer, show me your skills. Come on, get in here and fight me." Cyberlife Car hesitates, but figures he might as well go for it. He feels confident in himself to beat the arrogant purple car in the boxing ring. He gets in the ring, and is about to put on gloves, but is stopped by his opponent, who states "No pussy shit. This isn't an official match. We're just seeing your fighting capabilities, so that means just raw skill, okay?"

Cyberlife Car nods, and puts the gloves back. The whole gym seems to be observing the situation. Before the fight starts, the purple car asks CC for his name. "CC: Cyberlife Car""The purple car: No, not your real name moron, your boxing name.""CC: Uhh... big C."The purple car chuckles, and quietly says "alright..."

He then loudly yells out "The Titanium Tire Versus The Big C! ding ding ding". CC hears a few chuckles in the gym.

As the fight begins, Cyberlife Car immediately rushes his opponent. He goes in for multiple heavy hits, which all seem to damage the purple car quite effectively. He's backing his opponent against a corner, until it manages to slip away and hit CC to the side. Cyberlife Car tries to strike back, but isn't fast enough, as the purple car dodges. CC goes for another hit, which also misses. The purple car then storms CC with 3 quick jabs, after which he steps back, to once again dodge. CC attempts to adjust to his enemy's quick pace, but is having a hard time. He's not agile enough. However the next time the purple car tries to hit Cyberlife Car, he manages to step to his side, and hits him with all his strength. The heavy blow disturbs the purple car's balance, making him unable to dodge CC's next hit. CC's streak doesn't continue for long, as it doesn't take much for the purple car to regain his balance and flee away from CC's powerful surges. As CC fails to dodge his opponent's hits, it doesn't take long till he falls onto the ground. He fails to get back up, which grants "the Titanium Tire" the victory.

Some of the audience watching the fight chuckle at Cyberlife Car's defeat, but he doesn't pay attention to them. His opponent tells him "Eh, maybe next time things will go your way Big C". Cyberlife Car doesn't respond, and gets down from the boxing ring. He glances over at the group of trainers, none of them seem impressed by his fighting skills. He knows he'd get rejected if he approached them again, so rather he just gets back to the punching bags to train by himself for now. He starts punching the bags in fury, mad at himself for losing the fight. He keeps punching them, until he hears an older voice say something to him. "Hey you. Big C right? Need a trainer?"

Cyberlife Car turns over to look at who's talking to him. It's an old and rusting car. He seems to have been a normal car until a self driving software was installed onto him. "CC: And who are you?""The rusty car: Everyone here calls me Rusty Old Bill. I know I'm not fancy looking, I'm not one of them Cyberlife vehicles with all kinds of advanced technology. But I've been a vehicle far longer than anyone else here. And I'm your best chance of becoming a good boxer.""CC: Why me?""Bill: I see something in you that none of those judgmental 'professionals' do. I was watching that fight, and yeah, you definitely need training. But that's all they saw. What I saw was massive potential. I saw your strength. The few blows you were able to land on 'The Titanium Tire' clearly hurt him, he nearly fell just from getting hit a couple of times. There's potential in you. So, what do you say?"Cyberlife Car nods. "Bill: Now what we should get started with is your dodging and agility. You have strength, but you can't take hits very well. We need to get you more agile, more mobile. Once you're quick, once your dodging is good, that combined with your strength? It's gonna be somethin else, let me tell you that.""CC: Alright I'm ready. Wait, hold on, how much do you charge? How much do I gotta pay you?""Bill: I can start off cheap and if you decide to keep me as your trainer, the prices go up. We can discuss the details later. A great way to improve your agility is using speed bags. So that's what we'll start with."Bill and CC drive over to the speed bags, as the scene cuts away.

Lovers
Cyberlife Taxi 4 is laying in bed with his girlfriend, Detroit Taxi 10."CT 4: Remind me, how long does it take for the factory to create our daughter?""DT 10: You and your terrible memory... 3 human months.""CT 4: Three? How can it take them that long... I just wanna see my daughter already...""DT 10: You wouldn't want them to rush the process and ruin our baby either, would you?""CT 4: Of course not... I wonder if we'll be able to come up with any cute nicknames for her... calling our baby 'Detroit Taxi 17' every time we refer to her seems... strange...""DT 10: We will. And when she becomes a moody teenager she will hate us for referring to her with those cutesy nicknames.""CT 4 chuckles and says: Yeah...""DT 10: Honey, is everything okay? Something seems to be on your mind.""CT 4: It's just that my brother... he..""DT 10: What about him?""CT 4: Well he got fired.. and now he wants to be a boxer.""DT 10: A boxer... interesting. Well I'm sure he'll do fine. Maybe he becomes the next Muhammad Ali. That'd be quite something.""CT 4: Yeah... he'll do fine."

Rematch
The scene cuts away to show Cyberlife Car, still training at the FitTires Gym. He's still at the speed bags with Bill, training his agility. He's spent many hours at the gym, and he feels like he's massively improved thanks to Rusty Old Bill's training. The gym's gonna close in 15 minutes, and everyone has started packing their things up. Cyberlife Car notices the Titanium Tire, still in the boxing ring. And realizes he has an opportunity, an opportunity to show off that he's better than what people think."CC, looking at the boxing ring: Hey Bill. You think I could do it?""Bill: Beat him? Yeah. He's not half as good as he thinks he is. You've already gone against him once. You've got this. But one more thing, you need to change your name. 'The Big C' is not gonna cut it. No one can take you seriously with a name like that.""CC: Yeah don't worry. I have some ideas.""Cyberlife Car gets in the boxing ring and loudly exclaims: Hey Titanium Tire. What do you say we go for round 2?""The Titanium Tire laughs, and responds: You're that dumb? Yeah let's do it. Alright everyone listen up! Before you all leave, I'm gonna have a rematch with this idiot! So stay and watch me beat his ass. Alright, round two! The Titanium Tire Versus The Big C""CC: That's not my name, not anymore. I'm the Blue Surge.""TTT: Alright, if you say so man. The Titanium Tire Versus The Blue Surge! Ding ding ding"Rusty Old Bill carefully examines the fight, and Cyberlife Car's every move, in order to give him feedback later. Cyberlife Car starts the fight the same way as the first round, he aggressively goes in for multiple heavy hits right at the start. And they once again land and damage TTT, but now CC knows not to get greedy with his attacks. He backs away before TTT can strike him back in any way. TTT then approaches and tries to hit him, which CC is able to dodge. He strikes back with a quick jab, he can tell TTT didn't expect it. Cyberlife Car takes advantage of his opponent's surprised state, and goes for a heavy strike. After that, he once again backs away to make sure he doesn't get hit back right away. He notices that his opponent is starting to lose control of his emotions, clearly afraid of losing the battle. TTT makes a reckless move, mindlessly charging CC, who is able to dodge and return multiple hits. After his barrage of hits, TTT manages to land one hit on CC. It doesn't matter however, as CC's next surge knocks the arrogant opponent onto the ground.

Cyberlife Car glances around the gym to see how people are reacting to the fight. He sees people laughing again, but this time not at him. They're laughing at TTT, who lost quick and managed to only hit once. CC notices Bill looking at the boxing ring in a proud demeanor. Cyberlife Car lets out a laugh, and tells TTT "Maybe next time things will go your way, Titanium Tire."

He gets down from the boxing ring, and thanks Bill, saying he wouldn't have won without him. He pays Bill for the day, then starts making his way home. Despite just humiliating his opponent, the only thing on his mind right now is how his brother is going to have a daughter.

A Promising Start
The next morning Cyberlife Car meets up with Rusty Old Bill, to properly begin his training. They start their day by training Cyberlife Car's driving speed. They decide on a route for Cyberlife Car to drive through around Detroit, and Bill measures how long the drive takes CC. Cyberlife Car starts driving as fast as he can. Bill follows him the best he can, and gives advice on what tires to put more pressure on and such. Once CC has finished the route he looks at the clock to see how long it took. 4 minutes and 23 seconds. Bill frankly says "It's alright. But you can do better." Cyberlife Car drives the route once again, Bill still encouraging him and giving him advice. When they get back to the starting point, he looks at the clock. 4 minutes and 17 seconds. "It's a start. But you can do better."

2 hours later, with the help of Bill, Cyberlife Car has been able to get the time down to 4 minutes and 2 seconds. Bill tells CC he's doing well. After taking a break, they go to the boxing gym where Bill trains Cyberlife Car on how to block hits efficiently. A training montage shows them training together for the rest of the month. Their training includes using speed bags, CC dragging multiple concrete blocks to improve his strength even more, doing push ups and much more. Within the montage is also shown Cyberlife Car hanging out with Cyberlife Bus. The training montage leads to a time jump, when a title card says "6 weeks later".

Cyberlife Car is with Cyberlife Bus at their favorite hangout location, sitting on a couch. Cyberlife Car is nervous. His first official boxing match will begin in a couple of hours."CB: I've seen you train. You can beat him, you're damn good.""CC: Thanks... but I hear he's good too. His trainer is very respected among the locals here.""CB: So what? Bill is a great trainer too. Me, Silvie, Cyberlife Bus 106, your brother and his girlfriend, we'll all be there rooting for you. You got this man. Some van calling himself 'Ironclad' is nothing compared to the Blue Surge. Just follow Bill's advice and try your best, it'll go well.""CC: Yeah... it will... I'm just nervous about it, that's all.""CB: That's totally fine man. J.""CC: Jet""CB: See, your reflexes are fine, everything's gonna go well.""CC: I know. Thanks man."2 hours later, Cyberlife Car is in the locker rooms of the boxing stadium. The match will begin in 5 minutes. He's psyching himself up mentally, and hitting a punching bag to prepare. Bill comes into the locker rooms and tells him to come to the arena now. They enter the actual stadium where the fight is held. It's not as big as what CC imagined in his head. He gets ready to enter the boxing ring. Taking a look at the audience, he notices here aren't many people watching, since neither him or Ironclad are well known fighters. CC is happy to see his friends and relatives in the audience, it makes him feel more confident. He gets in the ring, and stares at the opposite corner where his opponent is located. "Before the round begins, he turns to take some advice from Bill, who tells him: Like I told you before, Ironclad is known for being damn good at taking hits. You're strong, but don't expect to knock him down with a couple of blows. He's gonna need far more than that. Try to pad out the match, dodge as much as you can because you need to be able to get in as many hits as possible. You need to hit him with multiple strikes in a row, hit him with some combos. You need to apply pressure. You can do this boy."CC thanks him, then looks at the audience once more, to see his friends and relatives.

The bell rings, as the first round begins. As he has always done so far, CC starts aggressive. He goes in for multiple heavy strikes, but Ironclad is barely affected by CC. He punches back, causing CC to step away and retreat. After a short moment of waiting to see if Ironclad would attack, Cyberlife Car fakes an attack. He pretends to try to attack from the left, but instantly retreats and instead attacks from his opponent's right, allowing him to get a good punch in. He follows this with multiple quick jabs, until Ironclad is able to step away and hit Cyberlife Car back.

Cyberlife Car and Ironclad keep fighting until the timer rings, and the first round ends. There's a one minute break until the next round begins, so CC goes back to his corner for more help from Bill. Bill hands him some oil to give him more energy, and also a bit of water to freshen himself up. Bill tells CC that he has to be even more aggressive. CC nods, then looks once again at the audience. Seeing his brother, Detroit Taxi 10, Cyberlife Bus and Cyberlife Mercedes encouraging him in the audience gives him motivation. Soon after, the second round begins.

Ironclad tries to hit Cyberlife Car, but he blocks the attack. CC then attacks him with a barrage of multiple quick jabs, which all hit Ironclad. Ironclad however manages to step behind CC, and surprise him with a heavy hit. Ironclad keeps striking CC, backing him against a corner. CC tries to get out of the corner, but to no avail as Ironclad keeps striking him relentlessly. Another hit from Ironclad is enough to knock CC down onto the ground. The referee starts counting up to 10. CC has 10 seconds to get up from the ground. One. Two. Three. Cyberlife Car manages to get back up. The referee then quickly checks up on CC's health, before the round continues. Cyberlife Car doesn't get in many hits before the round ends. Once again he has 60 seconds with Bill before the next round.

As the third round begins, Cyberlife Car makes sure to fight aggressive, but still careful so the last round's same mistake doesn't happen. He starts barraging Ironclad with hits. It feels like he's hitting him for 30 seconds straight, but Ironclad doesn't seem phased. Ironclad tries to retaliate with a punch but CC is able to dodge and keeps hitting. The rest of the 3rd round goes smoothly for CC, who's able to get in tons of hits, and the damage is starting to show on Ironclad.

Another 60 seconds before the final round begins. Bill encourages CC to keep doing what he's done so far, and once again gives him some oil and water. The wait for the round to begin feels excruciating, CC's engine is beating faster than ever. As the round begins, Ironclad manages to hit Cyberlife Car multiple times, and well. But CC is able to block one, then quickly counter an attack. He combos it with multiple other attacks. Ironclad is clearly still affected by the last round's beating, and CC realizes if he keeps going as aggressive, he can maybe knock Ironclad down. He keeps striking, but as Ironclad manages to dodge and hit Cyberlife Car, CC starts fearing he acted too overconfident, too aggressive. Ironclad hits him once again, almost knocking him down, but CC is just barely able to balance himself and stand his ground. He sees Ironclad approach with another strike, he knows if this hits he's gonna go down. But with his quick reflexes, he's just barely able to dodge. He then punches Ironclad once more. At this point he knows he can't keep dodging, he has to go all out attacking Ironclad, so he does. He strikes multiple hits in a row, and with his last one, Ironclad is knocked on down to the ground. Cyberlife Car backs up against the boxing ring ropes to rest, as he looks at Ironclad struggling to get back up. The referee starts counting. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Ironclad gets up, and soon after the round continues. Both of them manage to get in a few hits, before the bell rings and the round ends.

Cyberlife Car and Ironclad stand in the ring in anticipation of the score as the three judges count them down. The results from each judge were:

As one of the guards believed Ironclad won, but the two others believed it was the Blue Surge, the end result is a split decision, granting the Blue Surge victory.

Cyberlife Car stands in the boxing ring as the referee announces him as the winner. His friends and relatives in the audience start cheering for him, and he feels relief and joy. He won his first match. He hears Bill yell out "I knew you could do it kid. Great job" Cyberlife Car gets down from the boxing ring and hugs Bill. As he's about to go meet his friends, he hears Ironclad say something to him. "Hey Blue Surge!", Cyberlife Car turns around to look at what he has to say. Ironclad says "Well fought. You're a worthy opponent, man." Cyberlife Car nods and responds "Thanks man, you fought well too."

A few minutes later as Cyberlife Car is about to go celebrate the victory with his brother, Detroit Taxi 10, Cyberlife Bus and Cyberlife Mercedes, he asks Bill if he wants to come with them, but Bill refuses. CC thanks him once again before he goes with his friends to a club to get some drinks and have fun.

Once they've sat down and ordered their drinks, they begin talking."CB: So, you just won your first match. How does it feel?""CC: It feels great! I just have this positive vibe flowing through me, like ugh! Yes! See CT 4, I told you I was gonna do fine!""CT 4: That you did, well I'm glad. And I'm proud of you.""CM, talking to CT 4 and DT 10: So, you two are having a baby?""DT 10: Yep! She's gonna be complete in 6 weeks. She's going to be a beautiful girl.""CM: Congratulations, her having such great family with her when growing up is going to ensure a great future for her.""CT 4: It's still hard to believe I'm gonna be a father... wow...""CC: You're gonna be a damn great one at that. And I'm gonna be an uncle!""CB: Her father will be an accountant, her uncle a boxer. Any fears she's gonna think of CC as cooler than you, CT 4?""CT 4, laughing: Heh, no. I'm sure she will definitely find accounting to be very fascinating."Everyone in the group start laughing, and their drinks arrive. They continue their conversations and keep enjoying themselves. Once they've stayed at the club for an hour and ordered many drinks, CM gets an idea upon seeing the karaoke section left unused.

"Hey Cyberlife Car, how about you go sing karaoke? You know, to celebrate the victory?"

CC responds "That is a terrible idea, and it's going to be very awkward. But I'll do it." He drinks what's left of his drink, then drives over to the karaoke. He grabs the microphone, and sees that the next song is Alan Walker's Darkside. "A blast from the past, it seems" he thinks to himself. His friends are cheering for him from their table as he drunkenly starts singing into the microphone; "We're not in loVe! We sshare no storiess! Just somethn in your eYEs. Dont be afraidd, the shadowss know mee. LEt's leave the world behindd."

He signals Cyberlife Taxi 4 to come sing with him. At first he refuses, but as CC keeps telling him to do it, and as others in the group also tell CT 4 to go join CC, he caves in. He drives up to the karaoke microphone and starts singing into with CC at the same time. "Take me through the night, fall into the darkside" they sing together. "We don't need the light! We'll liv on the darksideee!"

Their friends at the table are laughing and cheering for them. Cyberlife Car and his brother continue singing the song. "I see it, let's feel it! While we're still yung and fearless! Let go of the light, fall into the dark sidee. Fall INto th dark sideee. Give inntoo the dark sideee. Let go of the lightt, fall into the darkk sideee"

The scene cuts to Cyberlife Taxi 4 and Cyberlife Car arriving at Cyberlife Taxi 4's house. Detroit Taxi 10 already arrived there hours earlier, but CC and CT 4 stayed at the club for longer than the others. Entering the house, both of the two brothers are drunken. Cyberlife Car goes to lay on the couch. Cyberlife Taxi 4 decides to also sleep on a different couch, since he doesn't wanna wake up his girlfriend. "CC: You-, you complained about me gettin drunk... but look at you now...""CT 4: You make a good point..."They both lay on their couches, waiting to fall asleep. Cyberlife Car starts quietly singing "lett go of the light... fall intoo the dark sidee...." It doesn't take long until Cyberlife Taxi 4 joins in on the singing. They both quietly sing together "We don't need the light... we'll live on the darksidee...."

They keep quietly singing until they both fall asleep.

Absence
For the next few weeks, Cyberlife Car continues the same lifestyle. He trains with Bill, hangs out with his relatives, enjoys life. His second boxing match is 5 weeks after the first one, and it's against a car known as the Cannonball. The match isn't shown with nearly as much detail as his first one, and rather is shown like a quick montage. Cyberlife Car ends up winning the match as a unanimous decision from the judges. Cyberlife Car is once again shown training with Bill, and hanging out with his friends.

Shortly after that, Cyberlife Car has his 3rd boxing match. But all that's on his mind is that Detroit Taxi 17 is slated to be given to her parents in a week. He tries to get himself together, and focuses on the boxing. He's going up against a motorcycle known as the Razorblade. Cyberlife Car enters the boxing ring, as the match is about to begin. He takes advice from Bill, who tells him "Now like I told you, Razorblade is swift. She's been given that name for a reason, her punches are sharp, and she attacks in quick succession." Cyberlife Car's thoughts start to fade off from Bill's advice, when upon glancing at the audience he notices something. Cyberlife Bus and Cyberlife Mercedes are there... but what about Cyberlife Taxi 4 and Detroit Taxi 10? He tries to look around the audience even more, but they're not anywhere. Why aren't they here? His pondering is interrupted by Bill, who yells at him "HEY! Listen to me, CC." Cyberlife Car takes his thoughts off the audience and starts focusing on Bill's advice.

The first round begins, and it goes smoothly for Cyberlife Car. Even though Razorblade is a quicker opponent than what he's used to, CC is able to adjust to her pace and gets in many good hits. Razorblade is able to get in hits too, the match is mostly quite even so far. The second round goes strong for Cyberlife Car, who's able to knock Razorblade down onto the ground, even though she quickly gets back up. When the 3rd round begins, Cyberlife Car once again glances at the audience and his thoughts return to his brother. Why isn't he or Detroit Taxi 10 in the audience? Once the round begins, he's caught off guard by Razorblade's quick attacks. He tries to fight back, but his mind is still on his family. Razorblade is mostly dominant during the 3rd round, as Cyberlife Car is barely able to fight back.

When the 4th round begins, Cyberlife Car is still thinking about Cyberlife Taxi 4 and Detroit Taxi 10. "Maybe they just forgot to come? Nothing bad happened, right?" he thinks to himself. He starts worrying that something maybe happened to Detroit Taxi 17, her "birth" is supposed to be next week, but maybe they had complications? As he's in the middle of wondering about his family, Razorblade swiftly hits him multiple times. He can't focus on the fight. Not now. He throws a weak punch which misses, and is met with a barrage of jabs from Razorblade. He's knocked onto the ground, and the count to 10 starts. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Cyberlife Car is barely able to get back up, he glances at the audience once more. Upon getting back up, he's able to land a couple of hits on Razorblade but they're clearly not affecting her much. Before the round ends, Cyberlife Car is knocked on down to the ground again. 2 knockdowns in one round. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Cyberlife Car fails to get back up, and so the fight is deemed a knockout by Razorblade.

Cyberlife Car doesn't care about losing the fight, he's scared for his family, to know if everything is okay with them. He immediately gets down from the boxing ring, and starts driving towards Cyberlife Bus and Cyberlife Mercedes. As he's driving to them Bill follows him and asks him "Kid, are you okay?" but Cyberlife Car doesn't have time to respond. Once he gets to CB, CB tells him "Hey, a loss doesn't ma-" but he's interrupted by CC asking him "Hey, where's Cyberlife Taxi 4 and Detroit Taxi 10?"

CB responds "I thought they'd come here but I didn't see them. Weird, but I'm sure they had a good reason not to." Cyberlife Car instantly calls his brother. "CC: Hey, thank god you answered, is everything okay? Why weren't you here?""CT 4: She was born!""CC: Huh?""CT 4: Detroit Taxi 17, we're at the Cyberlife factory with her. She's amazing. I'm sorry we didn't tell you, the information came on such a quick notice and we didn't want you to lose your boxing match because of it.""CC: That's amazing! I don't care about the boxing match, you should've told me man! I'll be there right away!"Cyberlife Car hurries outside and makes his way to the Cyberlife factory.

At the factory, Cyberlife Car has to stay behind in a waiting room as Cyberlife Taxi 4 and Detroit Taxi 10 are inside a room specifically meant for keeping newborn vehicles safe and comfortable. CC eagerly waits in the waiting room, and to him it feels like forever. He waits and waits but it feels like nothing's happening, until Cyberlife Taxi 4 and Detroit Taxi 10 finally drive out of the room. Detroit Taxi 10 is holding her baby, both she and Cyberlife Taxi 4 are overcome with joy. CC rushes over to them to see his niece. She's a very small vehicle, slightly larger than an infant human baby. All of them are in absolute awe of the child. Cyberlife Car says "She's beautiful". CT 4 and DT 10 start playfully talking to the baby."DT 10: Oh I want to hold you forever..""CT 4: I love you, little one. We're your parents, see?"Detroit Taxi 17 lets out baby vehicle noises."DT 10: Ah, bless you..."Cyberlife Taxi 4 carefully carries the child to Cyberlife Car."CT 4: This is your uncle. Say hello to your uncle."Detroit Taxi 17 lets out baby vehicle noises."CC: Hey, kid. It's great to see you. I'm your uncle!""DT 10: She likes you, I can tell.""CC: She's so cuddly... wow...""CT 4: I can't believe it... she's perfect."They slowly drive back home, where they've already bought toys and such for her to play with as she grows up. The Cyberlife workers told them that it's best newborn vehicles get a lot of sleep, so upon arriving home Cyberlife Taxi 4 is sure to place her comfortably on her bed. He stays to look at her for a moment in complete admiration.

The next day Cyberlife Car is at the boxing gym with Rusty Old Bill. They train like usual, starting the day off with having Cyberlife Car block Bill's attacks. They put on gloves, and start training. Cyberlife Car is able to block the first attack, but the one after that hits Cyberlife Car straight in the face. Bill's surprised, usually CC would easily block that. But he decides to keep going. He hits again, Cyberlife Car fails to block it. One more hit, CC fails once again. CC is clearly having trouble concentrating on the training. Bill decides to put his gloves down."Bill: What's up with you today? You can't focus, why?""CC: I'm sorry, it's just that my brother became a father yesterday. I'm an uncle now... It's hard to focus on anything else.""Bill: Well congratulations. But you want to train, don't you? So you stop thinking about your family, and train."Bill slaps Cyberlife Car."Bill: Focus."Bill attempts to hit CC, but he's able to block the attack quick enough."Bill: There you go, that's how you do it."They continue training. Cyberlife Car keeps living the same way he has so far. He has boxing matches usually 3-5 weeks apart from each other. He wins most of his matches, a quick montage of the Blue Surge being announced as the winner is shown. He's starting to make a name for himself among the locals, and gaining respect. Due to his growing fame, he's no longer regarded as a beginner boxer, so his boxing matches get extended to being 6 rounds long, not just 4. With his growing fame, more people are starting to show up to his boxing matches. He keeps training and fighting matches, he loses every now and then but his track record is impressive.

Back Into Routine
It's been a few weeks since Detroit Taxi 17's birth. Cyberlife Car took a small break from boxing to enjoy time with his family. He decides to go visit his brother once again. "CC: Hey, how's everyone doing?""CT 4: Oh hi, we're doing good. It's certainly a unique experience, taking care of a baby, but we're getting used to it.""DT 10: It's quite easy actually, she just sleeps for most of the time."As they're talking, Cyberlife Car goes to grab a plushie bunny. He goes over to Detroit Taxi 17 and starts shaking the plushie, its ears wiggling around. The baby seems very amused by the toy, she giggles loudly. "DT 10: She loves that one. Never fails to amuse her. Anyways, I'm about to head to the store to get some fuel for the baby. You two want anything?""CC: Nah I'm fine, thanks.""CT 4: I don't need anything either, see you soon honey. Love you"Cyberlife Taxi 4 and Detroit Taxi 10 kiss"DT 10: Maybe you two can sing her a song, since you were so eager to sing at that karaoke.""CC: Heh, yeah no, that was a one time thing. I'm gonna be heading out too, just wanted to check up on everyone and see how they're doing. I oughta get to the gym."As his life seems to be going back to normal, Cyberlife Car is ready to get back into boxing. He meets up with Bill again, and they once again start training. A short montage of them training together is shown, just ordinary training. The same as usual. It's intercut with Cyberlife Car in boxing matches, some of which he wins, some of which he loses. But his track record is good, and he's making a name for himself. As he's deemed to have enough experience, the boxing matches get extended from being 6 rounds long to being 8 rounds long. Cyberlife Car expects he'll soon be approached by sponsors, which is how he'll be able to make serious money out of boxing. So far it's been good for cash, but he's had to borrow a bit from his brother every now and then.

Cyberlife Car is training alone at the boxing gym, hitting a punching bag, when he hears someone say something to him. It's not Bill. He puts the gloves down and turns around to look who's talking to him, maybe he's getting approached by someone representing a sponsor? Cyberlife Car sees that a man in his 30s was the one talking to him. The man is wearing a leather jacket and smoking a cigar. He has three other men with him, they have rugged clothes."The man: I assume you are the Blue Surge. Correct?""CC: Yeah, that's me. And you are?""The man: I'm the man who's gonna make you rich. Name's Darryl Booker. I'd like to have a talk with you. Come with me."Cyberlife Car follows Booker to a private office located in the gym building. As they're going over to the office, CC notices people are looking at Booker, seemingly afraid. Upon entering the private office, Booker sits down and tells CC to also sit and relax. The three men that came with Booker get in front of the door, blocking CC's exit. CC's getting suspicious of the situation."Booker: So, the Blue Surge. You've been making a name for yourself around these parts. I admire your talent.""CC: Thanks.""Booker: You look like a smart guy to me. Are you a smart guy, Cyberlife Car?""CC: Uhh, yeah I guess so.""Booker: Good. Are you a man of your word, Cyberlife Car?""CC: Look, what's this about?""Booker: I want to know if I can trust you.""CC: Trust me with what?""Booker: I want you to to do a favor for me. In return you get money.""CC: And what kind of a favor are we talking about here?""Booker: You see, there's this club here in Detroit. We like to gamble. There's big money involved. One of the things we happen to gamble about are boxing matches. Let's say you're a part of one of these matches that we happen to bet upon. Let's say I bet you're gonna lose that match, and if my bet is correct I get thousands of dollars. Would you be willing to lose said match on purpose? I get the money, and give a part of it to you. We both win.""CC: Uh, I'm not so sure about this. I'm a law abiding citiz-""Booker: If I were you, I'd choose my words carefully."Booker takes something out of his pocket. It's a handgun, which he points straight at CC's engine.

CC hears the three men behind him also take out guns, but they seem to be heavier weaponry. They're either shotguns or machine guns. He's taken over by fear."CC: Hey, hey, let's not go too overboard with this... please"Booker rests his gun on the table."Booker: Of course not. I just want you to know who you're dealing with.""Booker gets up and tells CC: You're gonna have a match against 'the Explosive Engine' in 2 weeks, correct? It's a shame he's just a better fighter than you. You will lose the fight."Cyberlife Car is still sitting, frightened."Booker: And you know what's gonna happen if you fail to comply with our wishes, or if you go to the cops about this? You can probably guess. Let's just say things won't go well for your family. What a shame. So it's better you do what we say, right?""As Booker and his men are leaving the room, he tells CC: Oh, and Cyberlife Car? Don't make it too obvious. Don't go down in round 1."They leave the office, and shortly after CC does as well. He gets back to the gym, horrified. He's paranoid, and frantically looking around the gym to see if Booker's men are anywhere nearby. He feels defeated. Like he should've stood up to them. He knows they had guns, and it would have gone down bad. But it doesn't feel right, not doing anything. He's horrified, but also frustrated. He slowly drives over back to the punching bags, where he takes all his frustration out on the punching bag. He beats it with tremendous force, to the point it feels like the bag is gonna fall off or break. He keeps beating it, and beating it, until he has nothing in him anymore. Exhausted, he goes to sit down. Mad at himself. Mad at Booker.

The First Deal
Cyberlife Car is about to have his eight boxing match. The one against the Explosive Engine. The one Booker told him to lose. It feels wrong, but he has no choice. As he's in the boxing ring waiting for the first round to start, he feels nothing but frustration and anger. He hears Bill giving him advice for the fight, but ignores him. It's all for nothing, he has to lose the match.

As the first round begins, he fights like he normally would to not arouse any suspicion. He doesn't feel the same excitement and joy he's felt on every previous match. But Booker told him to make it believable, so that's what he'll do. He beats on the Explosive Engine, and does it quite easily. If the match wasn't rigged, he'd win it without breaking a sweat. The first round is quickly over, and he hears Bill complimenting his fighting. Cyberlife Car looks over to the audience, the same people are there as always. Only this time Booker is sitting on the row behind them, with a gun clearly poking out of his pocket. An obvious threat and a reminder.

"What a fucking piece of shit" Cyberlife Car thinks to himself. When the 2nd round begins, he makes sure to let his opponent get in many hits.

The boxing match jumpcuts to round 7, which is about to end. The bruises on CC are clearly visible. He's taken quite a beating this round, on purpose of course. The last hit from the Explosive Engine is what gets him down onto the ground. He hears the referee start counting up to 10. He pretends like he's trying to get up, but knows he won't. The referee gets to ten, which grants the Explosive Engine a knockout victory.

Cyberlife Car looks over to the audience where Booker is sitting with a smug look on his face, smoking a cigar once again. He nods to CC.

They meet up after the boxing match at a local park, late at night. Booker has three men with him, and he's holding a duffle bag containing the money."Booker: Good job. I knew I could trust you.""CC: How much money?""Booker: Overall 5000 dollars. I get 3500, you get 1500. It's not much but we're only starting out. You and I are gonna make a lot of money together, bud."Booker gives CC his share of the money"Booker: I'll let you know the next time the club is betting on one of your matches."Cyberlife Car despises him and every word he utters out. But he doesn't have a choice but to work with him."Booker: Oh and CC, one more thing."Booker takes out a pistol and shoots one of his own men. The person shot doesn't die, but they fall to the ground."CC: Shit, shit""Booker: Remember what happens if you fucking turn on me"Booker unloads his gun's entire clip unto the damaged man's face. Some of the blood splatters onto CC. "Booker: He was a fucking snitch. Don't be like him."He gets in his car with his two other living men, and they quickly drive away. It takes a moment for CC to process what just happened, the gunshots are still ringing in his head. That's the first time he saw someone die in person. He stares at the bloody corpse in shock. The guy was alive a couple of seconds ago and now he's not, just like that. His heart was beating and now it's not. Fuck, he has to get out of here. He rushes over to his house as fast as possible, avoiding people on his way. Once he gets inside, he hurries to the shower to get rid of the blood on him. He watches the blood wash down the drain and thinks to himself "What the fuck did I get myself into?"

Unordinary Life
Cyberlife Car tries to keep living life like normal, trying to forget the fact that there's a homicidal maniac threatening him and his entire family. He still frequently visits his family, but every time he does he can't help but think of Booker threatening to kill them. If he never got into boxing this wouldn't have happened. He wouldn't have to worry about some psychopath murdering his infant niece.

The same thing happens whenever he goes to the gym to train with Bill. Every time he's paranoid, fearing someone in the gym is working for Booker. And the worst part is he can't talk to anyone about it. He doesn't want to involve them in this and put them at risk.

The 2nd boxing match that Booker betted on was 3 months after the last time he met up with Cyberlife Car. During those 3 months he won nearly every single boxing match. And now it's time to purposefully lose once again. Which he does. This time the money bet on the match was more than 5k. 5 times more, to be precise. An overall amount of 25 000 dollars, 17.5k for Booker, 7.5k for Cyberlife Car. The money exchange this time around is much more peaceful than last time. No one got shot, Booker didn't do anything crazy. As dangerous as the situation is, CC's getting used to it. He isn't as paranoid anymore. He isn't as fearful of Booker as he was before.

And because he now knows there's roughly a 3 month period ahead of him where he doesn't have to worry about Booker again, CC can take life easy for now. He continues boxing as usual, gaining a lot of fame, really making a name for himself. He's now thought of as a professional, and his boxing matches get extended from being 8 rounds to being 10 rounds. He discusses the situation with Bill at the FitTires Gym"Bill: So, you're officially considered a professional now. Congratulations.""CC: Thanks, didn't think I'd get this far when I started, to be honest.""Bill: I always knew there was something special about you. You gonna try to enter the VBC?""CC: The what?""Bill: The vehicle boxing championship. I think you could win it.""CC: Really? Against all those pros?""Bill: You're a pro too now.""CC: Yeah you're right... maybe I should go for it""Bill: You should.""CC: They have like that system where you gotta win one entry match so you get approved to enter the championship, right? We should start training for that.""Bill: You're goddamn right we should. But tomorrow, not now. It's getting late."Before going home, Cyberlife Car goes to visit his brother again to inform him of attempting to enter the VBC. Once he's let inside by Cyberlife Taxi 4, he sees Detroit Taxi 17 and her mother sleeping at the couch, so he suggests they go talk outside."CT 4: So, what's up?""CC: Not much, I just wanted to let you know I'm gonna be trying to enter the vehicle boxing championship. I'm gonna try to get into the pro leagues.""CT 4: Really? Oh wow.. you sure you wanna go for it?""CC: Yeah, why not, right? There's some serious money involved, I'll get fame and reputation. You know I think I'm ready.""CT 4: That's great and all.. but still...""CC: Why not?""CT 4: I don't know..""CC: You don't know.. You should be supporting me with this""CT 4: Look, if you wanna go for it, go for it. I need to get to bed."Cyberlife Taxi 4 gets inside and closes the door, leaving CC confused.

Entry Match
The next day Cyberlife Car tries to forget about his puzzling conversation with his brother. He arrives at the FitTires gym once again to train with Bill. The entry match is scheduled to be 3 weeks from now, 3 weeks to train for arguably his most important match so far. But he's ready. He's psyching himself up mentally, and hitting the punching bags. It's taking Bill a while to arrive at the gym, and once he finally does, he looks quite disheartened. Cyberlife Car drives up to him."CC: Everything alright?""Bill: No. I'm sorry, but I can't train you for the entry match. In fact I can't train you at all anymore.""CC: What?? Why? But the entry match is in three weeks, am I supposed to find a new trainer that works well in that time? Where did this come from?""Bill: I'm sorry, I really am, Cyberlife Car. But I'm an old man. My engine's been acting up lately, and my doctor said I need to stop this. It's too much for me now. I only found out about this today, I would've told you earlier if I knew.""CC: Engine issues, are you gonna be okay? It's nothing lethal, is it?""Bill: Yeah I'm gonna be okay. As long as I keep from any kind of exercise. I'm sorry but I can't train you.""CC: That's alright, it's not your fault. I just hope you're gonna be okay.""Bill: You'll do fine in the entry match even without me. Just look for a trainer, if that doesn't work out, maybe you can try training yourself. You're good, I believe in you.""CC: Thanks. It's a shame we can't work together anymore.""Bill: Really is, kid. I wish our partnership didn't have to end like this. But know this, you're destined for great things. I can tell. No matter what anyone tells you, no matter what anyone does, don't give up. I believe in you.""CC: You were a great trainer, Bill.""Bill: And you were a great student. Now go out there and train."And so he does. He walks over to a punching bag, and hits it. The camera jumpcuts to 3 weeks later. Cyberlife Car is in the locker rooms, as the entry match is about to start. The last time he was this stressed for a boxing match was for his first ever match. Cyberlife Bus is there with him to boost his morale."CB: You can do it man. You're a fucking badass, one of the coolest badasses in fact.""CC: Doesn't matter how cool you say I am, I didn't get a trainer. How am I supposed to make it in the VBC if I have to train myself? Man this is never gonna work.""CB: Don't stress yourself too much with this. I know they don't allow anyone in the audience for the entry match, but just know that me and everyone else, we're rooting for you."An employee informs CC that the entry match is about to start. So he enters the arena. If he doesn't win, he's not gonna make it into the VBC. At least not this year's championship, he'd have to wait 2 years for the next one. No pressure. It's a unique experience to have no one in the audience watching the match. He kinda likes it.

The first round begins. His opponent is a skilled VBC trainer, a red Cyberlife Car. CC is on edge, carefully examining his opponent's every move. His opponent tries to hit him, but CC is able to block it. The trainer tries to hit him again, but CC dodges and punches his opponent twice. He then proceeds to retreat. Cyberlife Car goes for another combo of two punches, but the trainer blocks them both and hits CC back once. They continue carefully moving around the arena and examining each other's moves. The first round is quickly over.

As he doesn't have a trainer to give him advice, the only thing the time between the rounds serves as is a short pause until the fighting continues. The first round didn't go as smoothly as it could have, but CC is still optimistic. As the 2nd round begins, Cyberlife Car keeps fighting the best he can. Overall the 2nd round goes roughly the same as the first one, him and the trainer are pretty much equally good. If only CC had a proper trainer to prepare him for this fight.

During the 3rd round, CC decides to change his tactics. Since his opponent is good at blocking and dodging, he wants to wear him out, make him tired. So for this round, CC decides to pretty much only block, forcing his opponent to come to him and attack. Some hits land on CC, but he's able to block and dodge most of them. This tactic seems to be mostly working for now, if he keeps going like this, his opponent will for sure be exhausted within a few rounds, which will make going for a knockout easy.

4th round. CC spices up his strategy by surprising his opponent. Where as he spent the last round only blocking, this time after he blocks an attack, he follows it up with multiple hits back. Which works well for him this round, but now that his opponent knows his strategy, he's gonna have to change it up for the next round.

5th round. Cyberlife Car fights more aggressively, hoping to take advantage of his opponent's slightly exhausted state. He attacks unrelentingly for the entire round, not giving his opponent a chance to retreat. His opponent fights back similarly, which catches CC off guard. His opponent's strikes leave a toll on him, and he ends up taking quite a beating this round.

6th round. His opponent fights with even more aggression than last round. He's able to back CC into a corner. Hit after hit, the trainer doesn't let up. CC spends nearly half of the first round getting beat at the corner, he doesn't get a single opportunity to dodge and get out of the tight spot, every time he tries, he's met with a punch back from the trainer. So instead of trying to dodge anymore, CC uses all of his strength to strike his opponent. The heavy punch pushes the trainer away from him, he's clearly lost his balance. CC uses the opportunity and goes for another strong hit, which manages to push the trainer down onto the ground. One. Two. Three. Four. The trainer gets back up, and the round is over.

7th round. Cyberlife Car remains optimistic. If he's able to knock down the trainer, maybe he can really win the entry match and get into the VBC. Even without a trainer. He's gonna have to keep doing what he did last round, heavy hits seem to be what affect the trainer the most. He tries to hit his opponent as much as he can, but most of his attacks don't land. The trainer is able to hit him back effectively. The trainer is mostly dominant this round.

8th round. CC is uncertain, there have been rounds that he's quite clearly won but also many rounds where the trainer was superior. The last few rounds will be what decides whether or not he gets into the VBC. He could really use a trainer giving him advice now. As the round begins, he waits for his opponent to make his first move. The trainer fakes an attack, which succeeds in tricking CC as the trainer hasn't done that before. As a result, CC gets hit with a brutal strike that leaves him dazed. The trainer follows it up with another hit. And another. CC's unable to block or dodge. And soon he falls to the ground, he was unable to maintain his balance. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Cyberlife Car gets back up. "Fuck, I can't lose this" he thinks to himself. He dodges every hit after that and punches back frequently. His engine is beating fast. He has to carefully consider every move before he makes it. Getting knocked down affected CC's agility, his punches are slightly slower than before. As a result it's easier for the trainer to block and dodge his attacks.

9th round. It would really help to see his friends and relatives in the audience rooting for him. No one being there makes him feel isolated and alone. He's losing confidence in being able to win the entry match. "Fuck, get yourself together. You can do this" he tells himself. The round starts. He rushes his opponent with a barrage of three quick hits, after which he retreats. The trainer hits him back, but it doesn't hurt him too badly. Making one wrong move, one wrong step could be enough to cause him to fail. CC tries faking an attack, but it doesn't work in tricking his opponent.

He takes a risk and once again rushes the trainer, all of his hits land and clearly damage his opponent. He goes for another punch but this time the trainer's able to dodge it. He hits CC, over and over again. He tries to dodge but he doesn't have the energy for it. The last punch from the trainer knocks CC onto the ground. His sides hurt. His tires hurt. As he's down on the ground, he glances over to where the audience is supposed to be. No one there, he's alone. But he's not gonna give up. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Cyberlife Car manages to get back up right before the countdown reaches to ten. He won't give up.

But soon after getting back up, the trainer hits him again without hesitation, and CC falls back onto the ground. He can't see properly, his vision is glitching. He can feel himself coughing up oil. He still tries to get up. He puts all of his energy onto his tires to try to lift himself up. But he can't, no matter how hard he tries. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. The bell rings, a knockout victory for the trainer. Cyberlife Car is angry, he got this far only to fail now. If only he had a fucking trainer. He can hear the opponent ask him if he's okay. After that he passes out.

Cyberlife Car wakes up in a hospital bed several hours later. He's still hurting from the beating he took during the match, but his vision is fine now. Cyberlife Bus, Cyberlife Mercedes and Cyberlife Taxi 4 are in the room with him."CT 4: Hey, how are you feeling?""CC: Could be worse.. but it hurts, a lot.""CT 4: I hate seeing you like this""CB: The doctors said the injuries weren't serious, typical stuff for boxing. Well except for the passing out part. But they said you'll be fine.""CC: Alright... I was so close..""CM: That doesn't matter now, what matters is you're okay.""CT 4: Exactly. I can drive you home once you're ready to leave.""CC: Thanks, to all of you."As Cyberlife Car is laying in the hospital bed, he starts doubting if he ever even should've gotten into boxing. All that's ever come from it has been trouble. And if he can't even get past the entry match, how's he supposed to make it in the VBC? Maybe Cyberlife Taxi 4 was right. Maybe boxing isn't fit for him.

Insights
It's almost midnight when Cyberlife Taxi 4 arrives at his house, carrying CC."CT 4: You can stay at our place for tonight, if that's fine with you. Seeing Detroit Taxi 17 will surely cheer you up.""CC: Yeah thanks. Already feeling better."As Cyberlife Car gets inside, he goes to check up on his niece, who's sleeping in her crib. If he never got into boxing, that baby wouldn't be in any kind of danger. Life would be good. Cyberlife Taxi 4 sets a blanket and pillow on the couch, which will be where CC's gonna sleep for the night."CT 4: I'm going to bed, I'm so damn tired. Goodnight""CC: Night, I'm gonna make some pancakes then get to sleep as well."Cyberlife Car goes to the kitchen and starts making pancakes, when Detroit Taxi 10 also enters the kitchen."CC: I thought you'd be sleeping by now.""DT 10: Not yet, takes me forever to fall asleep.""CC: Same here. Want some pancakes when they're done?""DT 10: No thanks, I'm not hungry. So, are you alright after that boxing match? Sounded pretty serious.""CC: It was serious, but I'm alright, yeah.""DT 10: Was it as bad the injuries you took three weeks ago?"Cyberlife Car's confused. He didn't get any injuries three weeks ago."CC: Hm? My last boxing match before the entry match was six weeks ago, which injuries are you talking about?""DT 10: The ones Cyberlife Taxi 4 paid for.""CC: No, I haven't gotten injured recently. Where are you getting this from?""DT 10: Huh.. that's strange.. 3 weeks ago we lost 30 000 dollars, Cyberlife Taxi 4 told me you got injured in a boxing match and that he used that money to pay for your hospital bill.""CC: He said that? Nothing like that happened.""DT 10: Hm. Gonna have to ask him about that. Oh well, I'll do that some other time, I'm gonna get to bed as well. Goodnight."Cyberlife Car is left alone in the kitchen. What did Cyberlife Taxi 4 spend 30 000 dollars on 3 weeks ago? Why did he lie about it to his girlfriend?

The next day

When Detroit Taxi 10 leaves for work, Cyberlife Car decides to confront his brother about the 30 000 dollars."CC: I wanted to talk to you about something.""CT 4: Alright, let's talk.""CC: It's about my boxing. I think I should quit. It's just maybe not for me.""CT 4: You sure?.. Well I guess I agree, it's what I've been telling you from the start.""CC: Of course.. I knew it.""CT 4: What?""CC: Your girlfriend told me that three weeks ago, you spent 30 000 dollars on a hospital bill for me. We both know that's not what happened. I didn't get any injuries.""CT 4: What are you saying?""CC: Don't deny it. You know, 30 000 dollars, that's a lot of cash. What would you spend that much money on, and why would you lie about it? It just didn't make any sense, it kept me awake at night. I thought about it a lot, and the only thing I can think of, the only thing that makes sense is, you paid Bill to not train me for the entry match. It was always you, right?""Cyberlife Taxi 4 doesn't respond.""CC: Right back to when I started boxing, you always doubted me. Wanted me to quit. I didn't think about that much until now. Three weeks ago, I decided with Bill to try to make it to the vehicle boxing championship. You and him were the only two people that knew at the time. Don't tell me it's a coincidence, that right after that you lose 30 000 dollars, and Bill can no longer train me. You gave him that money, told him to lie to me with some engine issue bullshit. Tell me why.""CT 4: I wanted you to quit boxing.""CC: Why?""CT 4: You know why, it's not safe. It's mindless fighting that fuels your violent ways. You could be so much better than that, you could have a respected job! Instead you're out here beating people until they can't see properly anymore, I want better for you than that.""CC: I thought you were proud of me.""CT 4: I was! Back when you got a job at that store, I was very proud, you got a legitimate job.""CC: I think I know the real reason for why you don't want me boxing. I was getting famous. Can't have that, right? Can't have the dumber brother be more known than the mighty smart accountant. It's better to keep him as some low wage cashier. Is that it?""CT 4: No, this was never about fame. I know you, I know what you can be like when you're violent. Boxing just fuels that, your insistence on wanting to do nothing but fight, that's gonna end up hurting everyone around you.""CC: So you're saying I'm some heartless violent bastard that just wants to fight? That I don't care about what happens to my family or friends?""CT 4: No. I know you'd die for the people you care about. But it would be most likely you who even got them into that life threatening situation in the first place!""CC: That's not true... you know I would have gotten into the championship if it wasn't for you, right? You did that. We're brothers, we're supposed to look out for each other.""CT 4: That's what I was doing. Looking out for you.""CC: Unbelievable... fuck you."Cyberlife Car storms out of the house. His own brother sabotaged him, stopped him from getting into the championship. He goes to the boxing gym to let off some steam. He goes to the punching bags and does the same thing he did back when he first met Booker. Starts beating a punching bag with immense strength. He keeps hitting it over and over. He feels like yelling. The last punch is enough to break the punching bag, it falls to the ground. Besides feeling fury, he's also grief-stricken. He thought his brother supported him. He thought they were on the same side. As he's looking at the broken punching bag, he hears a familiar voice."Booker: There you are, I've been looking for you. You have a boxing match scheduled against the Big Wheel 2 weeks from now, you know what to do.""CC: Oh, I was planning on cancelling that match, I don't have a trainer yet.""Booker: What does it matter if you have a trainer or not, you're gonna lose the fucking match.""CC: Right...""Booker: Good. You're a smart guy."

Penance
2 weeks later

Cyberlife Car is in the locker rooms. His boxing match against the Big Wheel is about to start. All he has to do is lose the match and Booker is kept happy. Easy. Cyberlife Bus is with him in the locker rooms once again. Cyberlife Car isn't even thinking about the actual boxing match, or Booker. All that's on his mind is how Cyberlife Taxi 4 betrayed him. It's all he can focus on."CB: How are you feeling, you okay?"CC doesn't respond. He's not listening to what CB is saying."CB: Hey, Cyberlife Car! Hello? E"CC still doesn't respond"CB: Okay you owe me five bucks now. B""CC: Brother.""CB: There you go, you sure you're fine with boxing now? You don't have to fight.""CC: I can do it, don't worry."The bell rings. It's time to enter the boxing arena. And so he does. In the audience he sees Cyberlife Bus and Silvie. His brother isn't there. As CC expected. The first round begins, and goes as it's supposed to. CC lets his opponent hit him a few times, and hits back every now and then. Smooth sailing. The first round is quickly over.

As the 2nd round begins, Cyberlife Car's thoughts start to wander away from the boxing match once again. All he can think about is his conversation with his brother. He starts getting increasingly angry, and starts taking out his anger on his opponent. His brother's insulting words repeating in his head, he beats on his opponent unreletingly. He is filled with rage, hitting on his opponent with all of his strength. He keeps punching him, until his opponent falls on down to the ground. That's when Cyberlife Car is able to calm down and realizes. "Shit, Booker. I'm supposed to lose the match"

He looks over to the audience where Booker is sitting. He looks unhappy. Shit. Cyberlife Car glances over to his opponent who's still on the ground. The countdown starts. One. Two. Three. Four.

Cyberlife Car is internally telling his opponent to get back up. Get up, please.

Five. Six. Seven.

No, no no.

Eight. Nine. Ten. The referee announces the Blue Surge as the winner.

Cyberlife Car sees Booker exit the audience. That's when the panic settles in. CC doesn't want to think about what Booker might do to his family, he drives outside as quickly as possible. Shit. He has to make it to Cyberlife Taxi 4's house before Booker. He drives full speed. He has to make it there. He has to. Maybe if he gets there fast enough, they can get to a police station and stay there for safety.

But it's too late. He arrives at his brother's house and sees multiple cars parked outside. Booker's vehicles. Cyberlife Car rushes into the house. Inside, he sees Booker with a shotgun, aiming the weapon at Cyberlife Taxi 4. Detroit Taxi 10 is standing next to him. They're all frightened and confused. One of Booker's men is holding Detroit Taxi 17. "Booker: Cyberlife Car, you knew what would happen if you turned on me.""CC: I didn't turn on you, I'm sorry! Please, let them go, they had nothing to do with this!""CT 4: Cyberlife Car, who are these men?""Booker: Shut your fucking mouth.""DT 10: You want money? We have money, you can take all of it, just let us go...""Booker: I didn't come here for money, I came here because of money. 50 000 dollars in specific. That's how much money I betted on you losing that fucking match, CC! And instead you took that fucker down in round 2. 50 000 dollars, wasted!""CC: Wait, just wait! Don't do this! Please I'll do anything you need. They're my family! Kill me instead of them, they're innocent!""Booker: No, after I kill them I'm leaving you alive. I'm giving you a second chance because maybe you'll wisen the fuck up, and lose the matches that I tell you to lose.""CC: No, we can talk about this!""Booker: We're past the point of talking. Now's the time we start thinning the herd."Booker aims his shotgun at Detroit Taxi 10 and pulls the trigger. The shot is lethal. Her lifeless body falls onto the ground."CT 4: NO!!"Cyberlife Taxi 4 charges at Booker, but Booker's men stop him and hold him down."Booker: You're trying to be a hero?""CC: PLEASE STOP!"Booker aims his shotgun at Cyberlife Taxi 4"CC: NO, DON'T!! WAIT, HE CAN LAUNDER YOUR MONEY!"Booker lowers the shotgun and turns around to look at CC"Booker: I already got a guy that launders money for me""CC: Yeah, but Cyberlife Taxi 4, he's an accountant! He knows how to do it better than anyone!""Booker: Why does him being an accountant make him better than my current guy?""CC: Money financing is his job! He knows how to get your dirty money back to you legally quicker and more efficiently than anyone else!""Booker: Is that true, Cyberlife Taxi 4?"Cyberlife Taxi 4 doesn't respond. He's in shock. Staring at his girlfriend's lifeless body."Booker: Seems he isn't as sure of it as you are.""CC: WAIT! Come on CT 4, tell him you can do it, you'll launder his money for him."Cyberlife Taxi 4 turns to look at Cyberlife Car."CC: Do it for your daughter, please. She needs to grow up with a father."CT 4 manages to pull himself together."CT 4: He's- he's right.. I can run your illegal money through my banking systems, you'll get them back way quicker than whoever's doing it for you right now.""Booker: How quick?""CT 4: I can launder roughly 50k every month""Booker: Holy shit, that much? My current guy takes a month just to get 10k legally. Alright, I'm keeping you alive."Booker walks over to the man holding Detroit Taxi 17."Booker: But I don't need her.""CC: NO, STOP! If you kill her, he's never gonna launder your money for you!""Booker: Hm. Normally I'd kill her anyways, but I don't wanna risk that now. So she's staying alive as well then. Leverage for later. Gotta say, I wasn't expecting to make a new business partner when I came here."Cyberlife Car is relieved he was able to save his brother and niece. But when he sees Cyberlife Taxi 4 staring at his girlfriend's lifeless body once again, he feels an overwhelming amount of guilt.

Booker walks over to Cyberlife Taxi 4"Booker: No grudges about the dead girlfriend, right?"CT 4 looks at Booker with rage. He wants nothing more than to attack him right then and there. But he can't."Booker: I'm looking forward to our partnership."Booker's men grab Detroit Taxi 10's corpse so they can dispose of it later. They hand Cyberlife Taxi 4 his daughter, and after that Booker leaves the house with his men. Detroit Taxi 17 is still only a few months old, she won't remember any of this when she grows up. Cyberlife Car drives over to his brother."CC: I'm so sorry, I didn't want any of this.""CT 4: Get out of here. I don't want to see you.""CC: Please you need to understand, I didn't-""CT 4: I said get out."After a moment of silence, CC nods. He leaves the house.

Aftermath
A week later, Detroit Taxi 10's funeral is held. Cyberlife Bus, Cyberlife Mercedes, Bill, and many of Cyberlife Taxi 4's and Detroit Taxi 10's friends and coworkers come to the funeral. Many of the visitors brought flowers with them.

The visitors come to CC and CT 4 to offer their condolences and apologize for their loss. Cyberlife Taxi 4 is not in the mood to talk to anyone, so Cyberlife Car is the one to respond to most of what they have to say. The visitors try to comfort and support CT 4, but he's mostly only silent, thinking about the loss of his girlfriend.

Cyberlife Car blames himself for what happened. If he hadn't let his emotions take over, if he hadn't entered a phase of pure anger, he wouldn't have won the boxing match. And now because of him his niece is going to grow up without a mother.

As the funeral is ending, CC approaches his brother."CC: Do you want to talk about it?"Cyberlife Taxi 4 ignores him and drives away. Cyberlife Car understands, he'd do the same if he was in his brother's position.

A month later

Cyberlife Taxi 4 has been distant from CC after DT 10's death. It's been weeks since they last saw each other. But now Cyberlife Car figures it's time to go check up on his situation, to go to his place and see how he's doing. Even if he doesn't want to see CC. Upon entering the house, the first thing he does is go to Detroit Taxi 17's baby crib, believing this is where CT 4 would be too. Detroit Taxi 17 is awake and alone in the crib. Cyberlife Car goes to playfully talk to her, "Hey kiddo, good to see you again. I'm uncle car, remember? Where's your dad?"

Detroit Taxi 17 giggles out baby noises. Cyberlife Car responds "Yeah, thought so. Thanks anyways". He goes to the kitchen where he finds Cyberlife Taxi 4 sitting at the table. "CC: Hey, I know you don't want to see me, but I had to come check up on you. To see you're okay. The kid's all alone over there.""CT 4: I'm doing fine. You can leave now."Once Cyberlife Car drives more into the room, he sees Cyberlife Taxi 4 has a bottle of wine next to him."CC: Hey... you sure that's a good idea?""CT 4: Look, I just need something to get my mind off things. I'd appreciate it if you left, okay?""CC: I don't think I'm gonna do that. I know how much you loved Detroit Taxi 10. I did too. And what happened was awful. It's okay to grieve-, it's good to grieve. But this isn't the way to do it, man. You've got a kid over there all alone in the other room. She's gonna have to grow up without a mother. You need to be with her, she deserves to have a father.""CT 4: She wouldn't have died if it wasn't for you. You're the reason those men came to our house.""CC: I know. And you can hate me for it, if you want me out of your life, I can do that. I'm so sorry for what happened. I really am. But that kid over there? She deserves to have a father taking care of her."CC drives over to the room where Detroit Taxi 17's crib is. CT 4 comes with him."CC: Look at her, isn't she the absolute cutest?""CT 4 lets out a chuckle, and says: She is adorable."CC instantly notices his brother's mood brighten up, when being with the kid. Seeing his brother brighten up also makes CC feel better. Cyberlife Taxi 4 carefully takes the baby out of the crib and starts playfully talking to it: Aww... I love you

The baby starts giggling in her father's grasp. CT 4 keeps talking to his baby, as Cyberlife Car leaves the room, feeling better than when he entered. He goes to the kitchen and puts the bottle of wine into the trashcan.

The next day, Cyberlife Car once again comes to check up on his brother, to make sure he didn't go back to drinking alcohol. He gets into the house, and goes to DT 17's crib again. Cyberlife Taxi 4 isn't there, but neither is his daughter. Cyberlife Car drives into the living room, where he sees Cyberlife Taxi 4 on the couch. He's sleeping, and with him is Detroit Taxi 17 in his hold. She's sleeping too. CC is happy CT 4 seems to have started spending more time with his daughter, and leaves the house since he doesn't want to wake either of them up.

Jackpot
Soon after, Cyberlife Car is once again approached by Booker for a rigged boxing match."Booker: Blue Surge, there's another boxing match coming up. We hit the jackpot.""CC: We did?""Booker: Your opponent, the Tornado, is really famous. There's big money involved in the betting. You know what to do. Don't fuck up again."It jumpcuts to the boxing match, it's already round 8. A heavy punch from the Tornado knocks Cyberlife Car down onto the ground. And he knows not to get up. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Knockout victory for the Tornado. Cyberlife Car looks over to the audience, Booker seems pleased. Very pleased.

After the boxing match is over, Cyberlife Car goes to the same meet up place as always to pick up the cash from the gamble. Except this time he doesn't see Booker anywhere. He only sees two of Booker's vehicles drive up to him."CC: Where's Booker?"One of the vehicles takes out an EMP and stuns Cyberlife Car with it, immobilizing him.

Cyberlife Car wakes up in the outskirts of Detroit. The first thing he sees is Booker pointing a shotgun at him. "Booker: Hello. Took you long enough to wake up."There are four vehicles with Booker. They all have guns too."CC: Why are you doing this?""Booker: I don't need you anymore. When I said we got the jackpot, I meant it. 250 000 dollars man. I don't need you to lose any matches, I'm rich for the rest of my life when your brother launders this money. It's better to take care of loose ends than to risk you going to the cops.""CC: Wait, wait don't do this""Booker: Too late. I got the money."Cyberlife Car lunges towards one of the vehicles, just as Booker is about to shoot. The shotgun rounds hit Booker's own vehicle instead of CC. The vehicle dies from the shotgun hit.

Booker: Shit, fuck

Cyberlife Car drives away from them as fast as he can. The three living vehicles take out their guns and start shooting at CC, but he's able to use the nearby trees as covers. He drives into a forest, hoping to lose track of them. Booker and the three vehicles with him follow Cyberlife Car into the woods. The vehicles separate, each of them go their own way in the forest, trying to find CC.

CC's hiding in cover behind a large tree when he hears one of the vehicles approaching him. He tries to look around for more solid cover, but it's too late, the vehicle is right next to him. CC has no choice but to attack. He rushes the car, and starts beating him before he can shoot his gun. Four quick hits are enough to knock him out, his gun falls to the ground. Only Booker and two of his vehicles left. Cyberlife Car is about to pick up the gun, until he hears something behind him. Fuck, another vehicle is here. Cyberlife Car drives away as the vehicle starts shooting at him, none of the bullets hit. The enemy vehicle yells out "HE'S OVER HERE!"

Cyberlife Car drives far into the woods, he hasn't heard or seen any of Booker's vehicles in a while, so he slows down. Maybe they lost his track. Just as he thinks that, he spots the two vehicles near him. They seem to be moving as a pair now. He can't take on both of them at the same time, he has to get out of there. He starts slowly sneaking away from his current position, being careful not to make a sound. He grabs a rock and throws it at the opposite direction of where he's going, it seems to work in tricking the two vehicles. CC starts going faster, he wants to get out of these woods. That's when he encounters Booker right in front of him. He would try to drive over him but he has a shotgun, Booker would surely be able to shoot CC and kill him. So instead he jumps behind a large nearby rock, as Booker shoots. The shotgun rounds hit the rock instead of Cyberlife Car. Booker keeps pursuing him. This time Cyberlife Car has nowhere to go to cover.

Booker raises his shotgun, it's pointed straight at CC. A loud gunshot echoes through the woods. Yet CC is unharmed. He's confused as to how the shotgun didn't hit him from that range. Until he looks over at Booker, who has a gaping bullet wound on his stomach. Blood is spurting out onto his clothes. Far behind Booker, is Cyberlife Taxi 4, holding a hunting rifle. He's the one who shot Booker. As Booker turns around and raises his shotgun once again to shoot back at CT 4, another bullet from Cyberlife Taxi 4's rifle hits him. This time on his chest. The impact from the bullet is enough to push Booker down onto the ground, he loses grip of his shotgun.

Cyberlife Car is shocked. Just like that, Booker is on the ground with two bullet wounds, bleeding rapidlly. It happened so quick. Cyberlife Taxi 4 drives over to Cyberlife Car and Booker.

Booker is laying against the rock CC used as cover. His hand holding his bullet wounds, trying to stop the bleeding. He's coughing up blood."Booker: I thought you and me had no grudges. Killing your girlfriend, it wasn't persona-"His words are interrupted by Cyberlife Taxi 4 putting his rifle up to Booker's face. He pulls the trigger without hesitation. Pieces of Booker's brains are blown across the woods, blood splashing everywhere. Booker's face is left an unrecognizable bloody mess. Cyberlife Car is surprised by how cold heartedly his brother was able to kill someone. But he's also glad to see Booker dead."CC: Holy shit, we have to get out of here"That's when the two vehicles that worked for Booker drive up to CC and CT 4. They heard the gunshots. The two vehicles aim their guns at CC and CT 4. CT 4 is aiming his rifle back at them."CT 4: Don't shoot. You have nothing to fight for, your boss is dead."The two vehicles look at the corpse behind Cyberlife Taxi 4."CT 4: No one to pay you anything. The best thing for you two to do in this scenario is to just leave. Because the cops will arrest you. And when they do, you don't want two murder charges on top of all the crimes you've already commited. If you two kill us, you're gonna spend the rest of your life in prison."After a moment of thinking about what CT 4 said, the two vehicles lower their guns. They start driving away in a hurry, maybe hoping if they escape from Detroit now, the cops won't find them. Cyberlife Taxi 4 turns to look at his brother."CT 4: Are you okay?""CC: Yeah, I am. Shit, thanks for saving me there. How did you know where I was?""CT 4: You weren't responding to my call so I knew something was up. All I had to do was look at your location through the Cyberlife systems.""CC: Right. Where did you learn to shoot like that?""CT 4: I've gone hunting."They make their way out of the woods and call the police to inform them of what happened. The evidence the police found from Booker's pockets was enough to incriminate him and the men working for him, so everyone working for him got arrested.

Booker is no longer a threat to Cyberlife Car and his family. Cyberlife Car had forgotten what it felt to be "free", not having to worry about any life threatening maniacs. That feeling is extremely satisfying, and refreshing. But he's still on bad terms with his brother.

When Cyberlife Car tells his friends about what happened, the whole thing from the first time he met Booker, they're all shocked, yet supportive. CB insists that CC should've told them before and that they would've helped, but CC still believes he did the right thing by not involving them with this.

3 years later
February 2039

Cyberlife Car is watching a movie with the 6 year old Detroit Taxi 17. Her dad's at work and asked him to babysit her for tonight, he was glad to oblige. They're watching Winnie the Pooh, and Detroit Taxi 17 is eating a bag of gummy bears. CT 4 told CC that she loves those gummy bears, so he decided to buy them for her. CT 4 seems to have been correct, as she's eaten nearly the entire bag in a few minutes."DT 17: Uncle car, why is the bear so fat?""CC playfully responds: Hey you can't say that, that's mean!""DT 17: No, you're mean!""CC: No, you are.""DT 17: You're silly, uncle car.""CC: With how you're munching through that bag of candy so quick, you better watch out so you don't become 'fat' like Pooh""DT 17: But they taste so good!""CC: Yeah I can tell.""DT 17: Want me to give you one?""CC: No thanks, kiddo.""DT 17: You sure?""CC: I'm sure."They're interrupted by Cyberlife Taxi 4 coming home."CT 4: Watching Winnie the Pooh, I see. A fine choice!""CC: She called Pooh fat, you gotta teach her some manners!""DT 17: I didn't say that, uncle car is lying!""CC: Oh is that so?""CT 4: You know sweetie, considering that every time I watch Winnie the Pooh with you, you call him fat, I gotta say I don't think your uncle is lying here""DT 17: He isss"CC and CT 4 both chuckle. They find DT 17 adorable."CT 4: I see you bought her those gummy bears, good!""DT 17: Can they be all I eatt, pleasee""CT 4: No they can not, young lady.""CC: Oh and CT 4, Cyberlife Motorcycle 3's bringing me, Silvie and CB some pizza tonight. You wanna come with us? You could take DT 17 with you, I'm sure they wouldn't mind, they think she's adorable too. Some pizza after a long day at work can do wonders!"CT 4 drives over to the kitchen. He doesn't want Detroit Taxi 17 to hear their conversation."CT 4: I don't want to sound rude. But you and I, we don't have to be on good terms. We don't have to make up with each other for what happened.""CC: But why not?""CT 4: I'm fine with things staying the way they are between us. You get to see your niece every now and then, is that not enough?""CC: But why?""CT 4: Look, I don't want to hurt your feelings. But the truth is, you've just never mattered all that much to me."Cyberlife Car doesn't respond."CT 4: I'll call you the next time I need you to babysit her."Cyberlife Car slowly drives out of the house, with Detroit Taxi 17 yelling out "bye uncle car!"

He arrives at his friends' hangout place, the only person there so far is Cyberlife Mercedes. He starts bugging Cyberlife Car with some complicated tech talk, but all that's on his mind are his brother's last words to him.