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It was going to be the satisfying end to this whole mess.
The Studie that wasn't a Studie rolled along the street, and Maddox as looking forward to unloading the heap and getting shot of the mess.
His boss wasn't too happy. They had put the kit job together and Maddox had played his part, but some people in high places hadn't gotten what they wanted.
So now, he was selling off the car, and was going to Atlantic City with the money. Life's too short.
He pulled into the parking lot, looking around for the buyer.
It's not long before another Studebaker comes rumbling on in, this one a '50 bulletnose Starlight Coupe painted in delicate orange and cream colors that may have seen better days, riding on chrome-rimmed mags and rumbling along into the old parking lot with a noise that probably isn't from the original motor. She glances over to Tessa, saying, "I guess if it gets awkward, focus on how the thing looks and I'll otherwise do a deal. He's probably getting greedy on the asking price, but wants to get rid of this thing while it could be hot. Hopefully he'll be thinking real loud about why." She's getting her first really good look at the custom job, trying to place what she may about the style of mods, but then again, that's what she'd do under any circumstances. The coupe rolls to a stop, and she steps out, raising a hand in greeting. "Hey. Guess you'll be the guy," she says. "How ya doing."
Blue hair is, unfortunately, Tessa's identifying feature. So the woman that steps out with Julie isn't blue-haired. At least not to the man. The instant he looks at Tessa, what he does see is a blue-eyed, redhaired woman with a lovely bit of freckles around her nose and cheeks. And while her attire is normally very… business-like, the clothing the man sees is a bit on the girlier side. She remains silent, though, until something's side. For the moment she just peers at the moment's surface thoughts.
Maddox smiled.
*Coupla girlies. Okay, Nice, Probably buying for the boyfriend. So don't tell 'em it's a kit car.*
"Hello, there. I see you have a sweet ride, but always good to get another one, right?" He steps back and let's them see the Studebaker for the first time. On the outside, it looks cherry, except the wheels are a little large, practically filling the wheel wells. One good jounce, and those wells are going to shave rubber.
"Ya got any questions ya wanna ask? But be quick, I got five other offers today."
*Yeah, right. The only other one who saw it cut and run."
Julie shrugs up her leather jacket, and smirks, tilting her head back to what was, in fact, her first car in high school, since having passed through a couple of her younger cousins' hands before, it's planned, returning to the strip this summer. "Sure, buddy," she winks, not elaborating on any of that, eyeing the vehicle in question. "You know how offers is." Peers into the cabin, …given her family business, she knows old Studeys like some kids knew their hobby-horses. She gestures at the hood, in a motion like the fellow should open it. "What you running in there?" Without a hint of shyness about it, she pulls out a military-surplus angle-headed flashlight, and peers up at the undercarriage to check out the frame. Doubtless for any leaks as well. Probably, notably, what sort of vehicle said frame and axle came from, if not another Studey. Clicks her tongue a bit, but doesn't comment aloud as yet. Knocks a bit on the wooden sides as she makes her way back to look in there. She peers under the hood. "Guess you brought the pink slip for this setup?"
"Och, dinnae be givin' him such a hard time." Yes, Sage's Scottish accent is flawless (if perhaps a little stereotyped, blame the BBC). She smiles brightly and winningly at the man - or rather, he assumes she does. "Dinnae be mindin' m'friend too much. She's trying t'be all helpful because she knows cars. We're just shoppin' fer me fela." Telepathy is such a handy thing. "Lots o' offers on this one, aye? Any real big offers?"
Maddox was a little disconcerted at the flashlight.
*What's she looking for? She can't know that much about cars. She's just a girl.*
"Well, a couple are thinking about making it a show car. Offering eight Ben Franks for it."
*If only. But keep it coming. Hope she gets it a good 50 miles before some mechanic tells her she's got a Studie shell on a Fairline.*
"I've got the pink right here.
*The best fake money could buy.*
"But time's a-wasting. I'll let you have her for 500, cash on the barrelhead."
Meanwhile, in Dizzy's head, a bewildering amount of actual car-assessment passes through. «Heh, knew that was like a Ford ten-bolt posi, » She hrms, poking at some supports and panels, then leaning a bit, eyes, still mostly curious about the actual motor, apparently, "You drove this to pieces, that you ain't wanting to impress me how it runs, for that?" Oh, there's the leading question.
"Eight?" She feigns surprise with an over-girlish 'wow!' …Well, okay. She doesn't actually do it, much to the disappointment of others wanting Tessa to display a little emotion. No, the projection does all that. "Who has that kinna money for a used car?" she wonders. "Someone famous, ya think?" That comment is mostly aimed at Diz, but it's designed to provoke a thought or three in the man's head. "Och, c'mon. I've got that money right here, we dinnae need t'give him such a hard time."
Maddox smiles, but the smile is not quite real.
*I hope that tank is empty.*
"Sure, I'll just put it in neutral." He walked over to the driver's side door, got in, then set the shifter in neutral and turned the key.
It was not the best idea.
The system had been pulled from a World War 2 P-51 and had been converted. The tank was almost empty…but only almost.
When he started the car, the last of its content flowed in through the injection system.
He had hoped for the satisfying rumble. What he got was an engine woken to roaring life as the RPMs suddenly went from 1,500 to 7,000 in the space of a second. The resulting roar of the hyper-taxed engine sounded like a pissed-off dragon.
Julie is, in her mind, thinking toward Tessa, «We need to make him think about what he did and how he got this, maybe who made it, and who's wanting him to lose it in a hurry. Besides, I gotta live around here, making mi familia look like a buncha pushovers could mean we'd never see the end of it… Oh, mother of…» She's as suddenly putting together her perusal of the components she's seen and making wide cutting motions away from her neck and yelling "Shut her down!" NOS may not be in wide use yet, but nitro in the gas would be a good guess for someone looking for cheap horsepower in the short term. She facepalms a bit, and waits for the noise of whatever destruction of engine internals may have just been exacerbated. Glances back to Sage, then to Maddox. "What maniac thought *that* was a good idea to do to an old mill like that?" There's another pregnant pause there as she sniffs the air, and looks over to Sage, rather like she's about to walk away entirely, then turns back. "That mill's no good after all that. Lady likes the shell, here, though. How bout two bills and I tow it outta your life?"
« Perhaps I was playing the part a little hard, » she admits. Tessa was trying to project a certain something, let Diz push his thoughts in the right direction. But the roar of the angry dragon engine (patent pending) makes her - or rather her projection - frown. "That… dinnae sound tae great, ya kin?" she notes, giving him her best impression of second thoughts. "I'm nae sure now," she tells Diz, trying to help push the dude into desperate. A name, a name… "Maybe we oughta fin' something that dinna sound like me mum after da belched at the dinner table." The unspoken 'there are other cars' hangs in the air after her words.
Maddox quickly shut the car off, and nearly broke the key yanking it from the ignition
*This is going belly up in a hurry. Stark said it had to be sold, and you don't mess with John Stark unless you want one of his strikebreakers visiting you in the middle of the night…*
"Uhh…yeah, sure. 200 bucks works." He was taking a bath on this, but the NOS going nuts on him soured the deal and he had to unload it.
Julie will, doubtless, be very interested to find Merlin-engine Nitrous fitted to what's probably a Ford flathead, then be sure to keep it out of her cousin Carmine's hands, but nods. Glances to Tessa, and says, in that very Italian way, "Doanworryabout it. Less money, more time, another motor, next thing you know, surfing safari." Dizzy looks back to hold out a hand to Maddox to agree on the deal. Tilts her head back toward the apparently-redheaded lady. "Foreigners, what canya do. This is gonna be a lotta work, but you know."
Sage fishes a hand into a pocket and seemingly counts out two hundred dollars. Sure, it's four 5 dollar bills she hands over, not four 50s, but hey. Telepathy comes in handy, and this guy had a hand in Lorraine's situation. So she feels warranted in being more than a little sneaky. "Here ya go, fella."
Maddox takes the money eagerly, handing over the faux-slip, which he had already signed and filled out. "Great doin' business with you. You won't regret it!"
*…until I'm gone.*
He heads over to another car and drives off, humming a tune. He stops humming after he gets home, then takes out the money to put in the safe.
He peers at the bills, then frowns. "Weren't these fifties?" he asks the empty house. He looked at the safe, then sighed. "Aw, CRAP."
Julie watches Maddox drive away, and peers under the hood of the car again. Hrms. "Probably time to make like a tree. I know a place we can stash this thing, if you'll follow pretty close." She tosses the keys to the coupe they arrived in, and adds, "Close, cause this thing's gonna start dropping main bearings and pushrods on the street if I actually run it very long and we don't want no one hearing …the, ah, nothing. I'll getcha a drink when we get there."
The illusion drops, Sage nods slightly. "Just what I wanted to do while investigating. Drive from the wrong side of the car," she says, catching the keys. Nevertheless, she heads for the car, ready to follow Diz to wherever they have to go with this.
Julie smirks to Sage. "Ay, that's the side it was always on. Just, ah, keep it on the QT till we get there, everyone knows that Starlight's been in my family since I was in bobbie socks. Believe it or not, there's a good martini where we're going and then you can tell me if you got anything."