The new ride

Posted on Sat Jan 3rd, 2026 @ 20:47 by Alastair Temple & Liana Zhao & Mhairi McIntyre

Chapter: Besieged
Location: New Cresthill
Timeline: Some time after 'Escapes'
2523 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

The weekend out had done them good. It was overdue anyways they had had some time to themselves. Just to bask in the comfort of each other's company, share breakfast, share dinner, share a walk in the forest - cold as it still had been, share some quiet reading time, share a shower, share a bed, share each other's warm embrace for the first time, with nary a care about the outside world. It had been magical. But, alas, duty called, and he had only rented the cabin for a weekend. As such they'd found themselves back at the castle, going about their daily grind again. Still, he wasn't going to complain. He loved his job at the castle, it allowed him to indulge in his passions, and teaching the kids and preparing syllabus would still give him plenty of free time for other pursuits too.

One of those saw the conclusion of something he had been working on for months in secret. Something he had pulled many strings to put together, something that had cost him a not insignificant amount of his savings too, but something that had left him more and more excited as the date drew new. Now then, finally, the day had come. And he'd gotten word that the 20' shipping container from Japan had arrived and been dropped off at Graeme's garage - with their foreknowledge and permission, of course. As such Alastair Temple found himself driving Omen to New Cresthill, with Liana riding shotgun. He hadn't told Graeme or Mhairi what was in the container - just that a garage was an appropriate place to empty it of its contents - and he hadn't told Liana what they were heading out for, just that he was going to need her for the journey back.

It was certainly true that the trip away had done Liana a wealth of good. Though she and Claire wouldn't be clear of paperwork for a good while yet, the counselor had returned from the mountains with a renewed sense of purpose and a considerable elevation in mood and optimistic outlook. Floating, the head mistress had accused her of, a sensation that Liana didn't feel immediately inclined to deny. If nothing else, it had readjusted her focus and allowed her to orient her attitude to prioritise happiness, which was discernably distinct from contentment and, as a result, not a sensation Liana had really been in a position to enjoy for quite some time. That had been a more professional discussion with Jess, a moment to check-in with herself and acknowledge that her previous trajectory wasn't exactly a model example of practising what she preached. Sometimes she had to catch herself before an idle daydream rendered her no better than the emotionally-charged teenagers falling in and out of love around them, but it was nice to have something genuinely pleasant to distract herself with.

Even if it did have a way of springing surprises on her faster than she could recover.

Impulsive car rides were one thing; being told that this was some kind of errand that required her, with no further context, had been intriguing enough to monopolise her attention. Now, a good ten minutes into the drive, Liana was more or less convinced that Alastair wasn't going to tell her what this was about, and since the last time he'd pulled this had resulted in a chalet in the woods, it was hard to blame her for surveying the familiar scenery zipping past the window with renewed suspicion.

"Just into town, you said?" His tenacity for mystery might have come with its own fortitude but Liana had forged a career out of reading between the lines.

"Mmhm, just into town," Now that they were good and well underway Al didn't mind dropping some more hints. "Graeme's garage, going to pick something up, if everything's gone right," he added, half glancing over to gauge her reaction, half keeping his attention to the road. She knew him well enough by now to be able to read his expression like an open book. The soft, mischievous smile, the spark in his eye, the subtle restless energy; whatever he was planning had him really excited. "I'm sure there'll be time enough to grab a bite to eat, if you'd like."

As much as it didn't necessarily shed a lot of light, it at least pointed suggestions in a direction that Liana could make sense of. A fond smile acknowledged the likelihood that this had something to do with Alastair's pride and joy and though she couldn't make a lot of sense of how she could be helpful when it came to Omen, Liana was at least content to be included. She knew very little about cars, but she knew that this one made her boyfriend happy, and was also exceptionally pleasant to get around in. If she was being used as a decoy to carve out time for a lunch date then so be it.

"Sounds like the pair of you have been conspiring." Amused, it took Liana a moment to clarify. "You and your car, that is, though why do I suspect you've roped in a local mechanic too."

"Something like that," Al seeemd ever more amused by Liana's musings. "You'll see soon enough." Which wasn't a lie. It wasn't long before they approached Graeme's garage, as Al turned onto the now familiar parking area in front of the establishment. But where normally sat a few vacant spaces with a car here and there - or more than a few depending on how busy it was - now a little over two parking spaces were taken up entirely by a large, twenty foot shipping container, looking imposing and a bit clumsy, semi out of place, in the lot of a small town garage. Al beeped the horn to announce his arrival, two short, friendly blips, as he pulled Omen into a vacant space.

"It's really here," he beamed, motioning towards the shipping container. Faded black in color, with a few rust spots here and there. No discernible markings, other than a listing of size and mass for the container itself. The doors were held shut by chains, with a heavy duty padlock ensuring nobody could easily get in. "After all this time and money, it's really here~"

Of all the expectations Liana could have mustered, a shipping container hadn't even made the list. It shifted assumptions, which had been based around upgrading Omen, to a genuine bafflement that swiftly highlighted how ill-equipped she was to make predictions where cars were concerned. Alastair's excitement, however, was infectious enough that confusion gave way to curiosity pretty quickly, though she followed at a pace that sought not to intrude on what was shaping up to be a fairly standard 'love at first sight' situation.

Al fumbled around in a pocket for an envelope he had received at the castle, a while earlier. Inside it, he knew, there was the key to the padlock that held the container shut. The envelope torn open, key retrieved, he took a moment to gather himself. Eyes closed, a deep breath, a smile playing on metalhead features. One could even be forgiven to believe they saw his hand shake a little bit as he slid the key into the padlock and opened it.

"I fecking knew it." From the open garage door came the call that echoed across the lot. "The moment an all black shipping container from the far east shows up, it could only be one Victorian looking bastard." Mhairi slowly got closer to the man now fumbling with the padlock that she had considered cutting open at least three times this morning. "So, what is it? Motorcycle? Helicopter? DIY kit for a Zero?"

"Better 'n all of those," Al replied, finally removing the lock and setting about opening the doors. "Hey Mhairi, how's things?" he added with a grin thrown her way as he swung open the metal gates to reveal the inside of the container. And where Liana might just see an car, to Mhairi and Al the gleaming black machine chained down to eyelets welded to the floor of the container meant a lot, lot more.

Obviously sharing DNA with Omen, this new machine shared the double headlights, some styling cues and the mirrors on the fenders instead of the A-pillars. Fat tires, a splitter under its chin and a subtle spoiler in bodycolor on the boot hinted at the performance locked within this steel beast. But where Omen's stance and lines were aggressive, this new ride was sinister. Where Omen was mildly wedge shaped, this import was boxy. Still a coupe, still a two-door like Omen, sharing the small, chrome 'Skyline' badges on the fenders and 'GT-R' badge on the grille. But where a second generation GT-R like Omen enjoyed a reputation of fierce performance and a snarling two-liter six inline, all that reputation was built up over years of circuit racing by this, a first generation GT-R, nicknamed Hakosuka.

"Umbra," Al whispered in reverence, stepping into the container to place a hand on the car's fender, almost expecting it to growl and bite his head off.

For all her lack of expertise, Liana had enough appreciation for quality to recognise it even in unfamiliar settings. The car was certainly worthy of closer examination, even if there was something slightly intimidating about it. If nothing else, she understood Alastair's taste by now and was astute enough to realise the specimen in front of them was no ordinary mass-produced monstrosity.

Nevertheless, after the first cursory glance provoked the flutter of surprised eyelashes, Liana's attention turned swiftly to the man's reaction, which was of far more immediate interest to her and was better poised than the car itself to stir up a faint smile of gentle affection. After the past few months, any sort of excitement was a boon; that it was Alastair able to convey it was just an added, somewhat bias, bonus.

"Someone's been shopping," she observed warmly, wrenching her gaze away from Alastair's stunned reverence to glance once again at the car and then upwards to catch Mhairi's reaction. "Though I feel a little lacking in qualification to understand exactly what I'm looking at."

"Ye're looking at a barely road legal monster of Japanese engineerin'." Mhairi needed a moment to properly process exactly what she was looking at. "I'm sorry tae say, Ms. Zhao, but I think Alastair might've promised his first born tae some daemon fer this." She stepped closer as if approaching a feral cat. Tentatively her hand reached the hood, taking all of her willpower not to pop the hood and inspect the innards of the Japanese classic. She turned to look at the white car that they had come in with, "though to be fair, Omen might fulfil that particular clause."

"Took some doing getting this organized!" Al called out from deeper inside the container where he'd half clambered half slid past the gleaming black machine to get to the rear wheels and start undoing the chains. "And an amount of funding that quite honestly the car's not worth from purely a value proposition. But honestly, with that reputation and heritage and those looks - I've always wanted one. It's my dream car. Mhairi, can you undo the chains holding down the front wheels? Between the three of us I'm sure we can get her out of the container safely."

The explanation wasn't any more illuminating, though Liana could appreciate that Mhairi's reaction lent Alastair's reverence an extra degree of legitimacy. Bemused and yet instantly molified by the man's palpable glee, the slender woman held both hands up in supplication and went as far as to take a step backwards. "The honor is all yours," she assured Mhairi, attempting share a moment of amusement with the other woman only to find the car had all but dominated both her companions' attention. As an added precaution, Liana retreated until she was in a position to lean against Omen's bonnet and, almost as an afterthought, reached sideways to pat the poor thing gently.

After all, they were both in the process of being severely out-shone.

Mhairi wasted little time to get the beast free of its shackles. Helping the man gently coax it out of its narrow cage.

With the three of them and some elbow grease they got the car out of the container safely enough and undamaged. Al pushing from inside the container, Mhairi reaching in through the open window to the wheel and ensuring it went straight, and Liana helping guide the car onto the pavement. As they worked Al explained. "In the late 1960s, Nissan wanted to enter the touring car racing championships. To do so they took their 'Skyline' family car, modified the suspension and chassis and put a powerful engine in the front. That became this, the first generation Skyline GT-R, which in turn became a successful racing machine. Unfortunately the big oil crisis of the time means that only a few hundred were built and many were driven to within an inch of their life in races, so to find one in this good condition took some doing. Omen is a second generation, which never raced but continued the tradition of very sharp steering and performance suspension and a powerful two-liter in a relatively small, sporty package. These two cars built the Skyline GT-R reputation."

"And Umbra here is going to need engine oil, gearbox oil, brakes flushed and topped up, a battery, gasoline and an MOT. Think you can handle that while Li and me go grab a bite to eat and see what New Cresthill is up to these days, Mhairi?"

Slowly and deliberately Mhairi walked around the all black Nissan. Only now that it was out in the open it could truly shine. Not that the grey sky gave it any sort of romantic backdrop. It didn't need one. She waved Alastair off, almost dismissively. Of course she could put it through the motions. "Import papers in the dash?" She'd already made her way over to the passenger side of the car to get everything she needed to get all the paperwork in order so that this car could actually leave the lot in front of Graeme's.

"Oh! Right. Paperwork," Which was in Omen's dash actually, having been sent seperately, along with the keys. A quick step back to Omen to retrieve the envelope with paperwork before handing it over to Mhairi, along with the ignition keys. "Here you go, Mhairi. We'll be gone for a bit, I'm sure you'll take good care of her in the meantime," he offered. He couldn't deny a certain lack of patience; now that it was finally here after months of waiting he wanted to drive her already. But he'd have to be patient for a little while longer yet.

For now though, he'd leave it in her capable care, as he and Li set out to town.