Engines roared, flames shot from the boosters, and the track lights blurred into neon streaks. The Death Race was chaos, but in the middle of it, Jax sat calm and steady, as if it wasn't his fight at all.
Ava's breath came fast beside him. "The oscillation's gone crazy! It's skipping balance! Jax, the whole chassis is jumping!"
Her voice broke under the vibration. "If we keep this up, we'll break the suspension!"
Jax didn't answer immediately. His fingers was dancing over the console, adjusting readings that made no sense to anyone watching not stabilizing, but syncing.
He leaned closer to the glass, watching the reflection of their own headlights flicker along the racing line. His lips curved faintly.
"It's perfect."
"Perfect?!" Ava nearly screamed. "We're about to bounce ourselves into orbit!"
He smiled just barely. "Exactly where I want us."
Outside, the crowd had gone from cheering to gasping. Every bounce of the car sent sparks into the air. The commentators shouted over one another.
"The Rayne car is out of control!"
"They're going to spin out any second!"
"What in the name of engineering is he doing!?"
Zinnia's car thundered ahead, silver streaks cutting the air. She laughed into the open channel.
"Goodbye, Jax! Looks like your toy forgot how to stay on the ground!"
Celestia's voice followed, calm and cutting.
"Her system's collapsing. It's overheating in cycles. This is done."
Ava gritted her teeth, eyes locked on the track ahead. "We're losing ground!"
But Jax's gaze never wavered.
He wasn't watching Zinnia's car. He was watching their reflection on the metallic barrier running along the curve measuring every flicker of bounce like notes on a rhythm.
"Not yet," he said quietly. "We haven't hit resonance."
"Resonance?!" Ava shouted. "What does that even mean?"
And then she felt it.
The vibration beneath her feet shifted no longer chaotic but steady. Every bounce fell into sync, like the car's heartbeat had found its rhythm. The steering no longer fought her hands; it guided them.
The screen flickered red.
[Warning: Chassis Stability at 5%]
[Capacitor Pressure 94%]
[Discharge Unsafe]
Ava shouted, "It's going to blow!"
Jax whispered, "It's going to fly."
He twisted the manual override. The car lunged forward, not sliding but slipping between momentum and gravity. The oscillation turned into a pulse bouncing not up but forward, every impact feeding velocity.
The audience erupted.
The commentators couldn't even speak their words tripped over disbelief.
"What… what is happening right now?!"
"He's… he's using the instability for propulsion? That's not possible!"
"No recorded build in academy history could withstand that force!"
Zinnia glanced at her mirrors and froze.
Her screens showed a ghost.
The Rayne car the unstable and broken wreck wasn't chasing her anymore. It was sliding beside her, skipping over the air like a heartbeat out of sync with reality.
"What—?!" she hissed. "How are they still moving?!"
Celestia stared at her readings. "He's feeding the instability back into the flux lines. He's bouncing energy between shocks and capacitors turning vibration into thrust."
Zinnia's nails dug into the control stick. "That's impossible!"
Celestia's tone faltered. "No, Zinnia… that's genius."
The next curve came fast a sweeping arc lined with glowing barriers. Zinnia fired her railgun, two precise shots meant to shatter their path.
Ava saw the blasts streak across the track. "Incoming!"
Jax whispered, "Good."
He shifted the left stabilizer not to dodge, but to tilt the car into the energy wake of the shot. The plasma wave grazed their side and then the car surged.
The audience screamed again as their speed counter jumped fifty points in a blink.
Zinnia's mouth opened in shock. "No— no way— he's using my firepower to charge—!"
"Exactly," Celestia said softly. "He baited your aggression from the start. He wanted you to shoot."
Every blast that should've crippled them only made them faster. Every hit became fuel.
Zinnia's confidence cracked. "He's cheating! That has to be an override!"
Celestia shook her head slowly, awe replacing anger. "No override. Just logic. He built an energy feedback loop inside an unstable system the first of its kind."
Ava could hardly breathe. The air felt thin, the sound of the engine a scream beneath her chest.
They were flying — not metaphorically, literally lifting off the track for microseconds before slamming back into the next arc of the bounce.
Jax's eyes were sharp as ice. "We're at critical range. She'll try a coolant purge."
Ava blinked sweat from her lashes. "How do you know?"
"Because that's what I'd do."
Ahead, Zinnia's car vented a plume of mist, cooling the overheated engines. It cut her booster efficiency by half — exactly as Jax had calculated.
He muttered, "Now she's blind."
He reached for the auxiliary switch. "Front turbines — reverse."
Ava blinked. "Reverse?! You'll stall us!"
"Not if I spin them backward fast enough."
He slammed the lever. The car's nose dipped and then it spun like a blade, slicing through the coolant mist. Sensors scrambled, Zinnia's visual feed went white.
Celestia cursed, "We've lost tracking—! She's— they're—"
And then, out of the mist, Jax's voice came through the comms. Calm. Amused.
"Checkmate."
The Rayne car burst out of the vapor like lightning, sliding past Zinnia with the glow of its overcharged engine casting a blue halo across the track.
The crowd exploded.
"They overtook her!"
"He did it again he used her purge as cover!"
Ava's hands trembled on the loop. "We're in the lead… Jax, we're actually in the lead!"
Jax didn't answer. He wasn't looking at the finish line. His eyes were on the numbers flickering across the board. The capacitor was peaking. The instability had reached maximum tolerance.
He exhaled softly. "Perfect timing."
"Perfect for what?"
He didn't respond. He pulled a small switch cover open, revealing a red toggle hidden under the console.
Ava stared. "You added another one? What is that supposed to—"
He smiled, that half-lazy, half-devilish grin that made her stomach twist. "The reset key."
He flipped it.
The screen went white.
A thunderous burst of pressure slammed through the car, hurling it forward faster than any booster could. The crowd saw only a flash of light and a streak that passed the sound barrier.
Zinnia's hair whipped forward from the shockwave. Her car shook, sensors failing to keep up.
Celestia whispered, voice trembling, "He — he detonated the overclock field without melting the core. He's stabilizing chaos through controlled failure. That's not racing… that's rewriting engineering."
Zinnia slammed her fist against the console, fury breaking her composure. "Then why's he still ahead?!"
Celestia looked at her. "Because he planned this. Every bounce, every instability, every insult you threw at him — all of it was part of his launch equation."
The last curve appeared. The finish line glowed like a portal ahead of them.
Ava could barely breathe. "We did it— we're crossing—"
But Jax's voice dropped low, almost a whisper. "Not yet Victory isn't guaranteed until the end."
He pulled back slightly on the throttle.
Ava's head snapped toward him.
She banged her face right into the drivers lap -- Jax dick.
Then something unexpected happened.
The speed gauge of Jax car dipped. 280… 260… 240…
The crowd gasped. "He's slowing down— what's happening—?"
The car began to bounce again, rhythmically, almost lazily. The engine's roar softened into a strange and uneven pulse.
Zinnia who had lost all the hopes of wining this. She was too far to catch up even if his car was at 200 she would loose. But seeing the sight she smiled. "Finally it's breaking. That trash can will eventually come to a stop. Lets push!"
But Celestia's eyes narrowed. "Wait… no. Look closer."
The bounce wasn't random anymore. It was steady. Too steady.
The car's movement looked… off.
Like the instability wasn't mechanical anymore but human.
The crowd murmured. "What's going on inside the car?"
Zinnia blinked, confusion mixing with disbelief. "Why is it— bouncing like that?"
Just five minutes before...
Inside, the cockpit was quieter now just the sound of shallow breaths, the muted hum of victory already in their grasp.
After landing on his dick which turned instant hard due to his low resolve.
Ava's lips curved in a mischievous smile, sweat glistening on her neck. "Since we're already first… I'm taking my reward."
Jax blinked, caught completely off guard. "Ava— wait, what do you—"
She leaned closer, whispering, "You'll see."
He opened his mouth and forgot what words were.
Outside, the commentators fell silent.
The car's speed dropped slightly again.
The display on the big screen flashed:
[Speed: Decreasing — Cause Unknown]
Viewers leaned forward, whispering in confusion.
Zinnia's expression flickered with sudden fear. "Don't tell me… Why isn't there car failing?"
Celestia just stared at the telemetry — the pulse, the motion — her face unreadable. "No," she whispered. "That's… something else."
And as the Rayne car glided toward the finish, bouncing ever so slightly under the lights, the crowd held its breath not knowing whether they were watching a breakdown… or brilliance taking its final, defiant breath.