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It goes like this...
Following the Second American Civil War, the Spades were forced to leave
their firstborn, Jonathan, with a gang of friendly bikers (the Paladins)
because someone may have been after them. They settled in the Wyoming
frontier town of Paradise with their two other sons, Willie Jay
and the youngest,
Virgil, but were killed by unknown hands before
they could retrieve him.
He was raised by the Paladins until his early adulthood, when the gang was wiped out mysteriously. Finding them dead when he returned from a lone biking trip, he took to traveling, looking for his real family, becoming a law officer in the process. Eventually, he found Paradise and his two brothers. By then, having grown up without their parents for most of their lives, the somewhat badly adapted Willie Jay had become a mechanic working the family garage and Virgil, calling himself "Ace", was a professional autoduelist not always on the right side of the law (like betting on his own duels). Jonathan's goal thus became to reunite his family and keep his brothers out of trouble. Previously... When Simone Lorcquet came to town, she shook things up, and not just with her singing at the local bar. All three brothers found her interesting though it would be Ace who would court her more actively. Not that it was all fun and games! Ace had to deal with a rather nasty loan shark by the name of Oily Pete, and Jonathan had to contend with the suspicious Sheriff Vaugnharvey. And what of "model" citizen Jeremiah Dark, a rich arena owner from the South who knew their parents and seemed to be hiding something? It sometimes seemed like their only friends were Mayor Thorndike, who was a friend of their parents, and young Jesse Waylons, Johnny's comic book-addicted deputy. They were never able to prove that Dark was behind the hijackings of multiple caravans bringing supplies to the town by bikers in yellow helmets, and when the supplies ran too low, the brothers went (not all voluntarily) to a nearby biker community to trade for some. A few drinking and biking games later, and they had the stuff, including the pages of a Bible and a knife with a strange inscription. This clue leads the brothers on a quest to find its owner, an outlaw who may have stolen and hidden a store of high-octane gas of great value. But before they follow up on it, the biker gang that helped them, now attacks Paradise because they've fallen victim to a disease from something traded to them. The town is defended, and in the process, Ace makes friends with one of Oily Pete's men, sympathetic Jimmy "Da Gun". Now following their leads, they drive to Salvation, and then to Rosary, all the while disturbed by dreams of wolves come to revenge themselves on the owners of weapons used to kill the bikers, which turned out to be "micros" smuggled on them to affect their thought patterns. The octane will be found in Rosary's cemetary that allows the brothers to at least pay off Ace's debts. On this trip they meet Lupita, an explosives smuggler Johnny has to bring to justice, but she gets away (without her merchandise). Willie Jay seems interested in her, but he kinda smells, you know? Back home, Ace decides he'll go to Casper soon to participate in a duel, and then there's another attack on a convoy. Johnny bikes out to stop them and... SHIFT> Recently... He rams right into a tree and isn't able to help. Deep questions as to the effects of this first Shift are explored, but no answers come up. Investigations into the convoy hijackings turn up nothing even with the help of Matante Mayhem, Johnny's biker contact. Meanwhile, Willie modifies Ace's car further for the duel. When asked to throw the duel by Oily Pete, Ace refuses, but still gets his ass kicked by mystery driver Lupita who may be cheating. The duel will end in a fireball when a car crashes into the stands, gravely injuring Simone and killing Dark, though he is cloned quickly enough. The brothers visit Simone in the hospital and... SHIFT> |