SLIM, DELICATE FINGERS FLEW over the keyboard, the perfectly manicured nails hitting each key with deadly precision. The clacking sound was the only thing grounding Natalie, and the only thing keeping her from stalking after Luke Hobbs so that she could beat the absolute shit out of him.

Yes, he was twice her size and had muscles the size of Texas, but he lacked... well, everything else. He had no skill or strategy, he just simply swung and smashed as though he was The Incredible Hulk.

And just like the fictional green monster, the floor practically vibrated with Hobbs' heavy steps, despite his attempt at stealth. His heavy military-grade boots only amplified the deep and thundering sound that resonated throughout the office space.

Unable to resist the smirk that tugged at her lips, Natalie kept her eyes locked onto the screen in front of her, trying not to ruin the surprise. Thankfully, her hair was concealing her face from anyone who wasn't directly in front of her, and Hobbs was to her left.

Despite her twisted version of excitement, her heart couldn't help but pound with reminders of what Hobbs had done, both to her and technically to Owen. Small sparks flared on her abdomen, making Natalie clench her jaw as she tried to will them away.

Not now, she begged, knowing that their current plan would go extremely wrong if her scar kept playing up.

Deckard, who was standing behind Natalie's chair with an arm resting over her shoulders, glanced down at his wife worriedly. He began rubbing circles near her shoulder almost instinctively, knowing it was one of the things that would always help her flare-ups.

Despite her discomfort, Natalie continued to transfer the files from the computer to the USB. Her typing didn't falter, not even once.

The couple tensed even more as Luke Hobbs entered his office. The DSS agent cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of the married couple.

Not giving Hobbs a chance to say a word, Deckard held up his left hand and raised his pointer finger, as though he was dealing with a child.

"Just one sec." The Shaw man spoke, not even sparing the agent a glance as his eyes were locked intently on his wife, who, thankfully, sagged in relief when her pain subsided.

Hobbs raised his eyebrows in surprise at Deckard's attitude, stepping further into the office in an attempt to get closer to the pair, and in preparation for a fight.

"You sure as hell aint the IT guys," the agent spoke, thinking he was being smart and snarky, but all he was really doing was pissing the pair off even more, "so you better start talking before I break that finger six different ways and stick it right where the sun doesn't shine."

Forcing herself to continue typing instead of landing a swing on Hobbs' massive face, Natalie waited for the moment that the cat would be out of the bag - the moment that Luke Hobbs realised he had missed his mark, and that she was not, in fact, six feet under like he had been told.

"Agent Hobbs, right?" Deckard drawled in his thick British accent, still tracing small circles on his wife's shoulder.

"That's right." The man in question nodded confidently, continuing to stare down the couple, who were yet to make eye contact with him.

"See, you don't remember us," Natalie began, her fingers still furiously typing on the keyboard as she spoke with a frighteningly-monotone voice, "but we remember you."

Natalie's voice made Hobbs' eyebrows scrunch together in confusion as his brain tried to work out where he had heard it before. It was only when he heard Letty's screams from that night, along with her pleas and sobs echoing in his mind did he realise just who he was talking to.

"It's not possible..." Hobbs paled, wishing more than ever that he had some sort of weapon on him. "You're supposed to be dead."

"Well," The Shaw woman retorted, finally finished with her typing, so she reached out and grabbed the USB with all of their desired files on, "clearly, it didn't stick."

She placed the USB in the front pocket of her jeans, knowing that it would be safe trapped in the tight denim.

Rotating the office chair so that she was facing Hobbs and his main desk, Natalie gave the agent a satisfied smirk as she watched his confident expression falter, his gaze locked onto her face.

Using all of her strength, the Shaw woman powerfully kicked the large desk in front of her, sending it crashing towards the DSS agent and onto its side. All of the items on top of the table smashed onto the floor, causing Hobbs to stagger back.

Deckard wasted no time in leaping over the flipped table, and landing a striking kick to the agent's chest, sending Hobbs crashing through the glass wall of his office. Glass shards rained down on the fallen man, which crunched under Deckard's shoes as he stalked over to the man who had hurt his wife.

Despite swiftly rolling backwards and rising to his feet, Hobbs couldn't recover before the Shaw man was in front of his landing punch after punch to his shocked face. Natalie trailed behind the pair, knowing that Deckard needed this ─ over the last year, he hadn't had control over much, but right now, he had control over making Hobbs pay for what he did to their family.

Unfortunately, Hobbs managed to grab Deckard by his jacket and shove him through another one of the many glass walls, disorientating and winding him. The agent landed a harsh punch on the Shaw man's jaw, before sending him tumbling to the ground with a powerful uppercut.

Having seen enough, Natalie decided to enact some revenge of her own ─ grabbing her pistol from her hip holster, which was previously concealed by her black trench coat, and began to line up the exact shot that she wanted. Aiming the gun towards Hobbs' lower back, and therefore his abdomen, Natalie squeezed the trigger, not even flinching at the sound of the gunshot, or the thud that came from the agent's knees hitting the floor.

She had done it ─ Natalie had shot him exactly where he had shot her just a year prior. Her own twisted version of 'an eye for an eye'; a bullet for a bullet, a wound for a wound.

Hobbs clutched his abdomen desperately, just as Letty had pressed on Natalie's twelve months ago. Blood seeped from between his large fingers, practically pouring from the wound like a faucet that couldn't be turned off.

Reholstering her gun, Natalie strolled in front of the bleeding man, looking down at him through her straightened brown hair. Gently flicking the strands away from her face, the Shaw woman tilted her head to the side, admiring her work. She hoped that if he made it out alive, the scars would serve as a constant reminder of her, and the mistake that he had made on that plane.

"Not to hit a man whilst he's down, but..." Natalie mocked, shrugging nonchalantly before landing a sharp right hook to his cheekbone.

Hobbs crumpled to the ground, groaning as pain shot through every nerve in his body like red-hot knives.

Shaking out her right hand, Natalie stifled a hiss as she looked down at the red consuming her knuckles ─ yep, that was definitely gonna bruise.

A familiar warm, calloused hand grabbed her own, making the Shaw woman look up and meet the gaze of her husband. Deckard didn't even need words to ask his wife if she was okay; his eyes asked the question for him.

Natalie simply gave him a small smile, nodding her head to assure the worried man that she was perfectly fine, before turning towards Hobbs. Her stare hardened at the sight of the man stumbling to his feet, leaning on a railing that was behind him.

Deckard followed her gaze, almost huffing in annoyance at the sight of the DSS agent. Pressing a gentle kiss to the back of the hand that was still grasped in his own, the Shaw man let go of Natalie and ran towards Hobbs, tackling him over the railing.

The drop was only small, and the pair landed on one of the desks, which completely crumbled under the weight of the two grown men. It collapsed instantly, essentially leaving the two men on the floor.

Unsurprisingly, Deckard was the first one to recover. He stood, took two fistfuls of Hobbs' shirt and pulled the man up, wanting to strike him in the stomach, but didn't get the chance. The DSS agent had managed to slam his head into Deckard's and push the now-disorientated man away.

The two exchanged blows, constantly going back and forth with their attacks. Natalie knew that her husband had it handled, but made her way down to the pair anyway, toying with her gun as she went.

At first, she considered finishing off Luke Hobbs and ridding the world of him forever, but then she realised that if he died, he wouldn't have to deal with the lovely little everyday-reminder she had given him, or live with the nightmares and sporadic searing-white pain that he had so kindly gifted her.

Once again reholstering her gun, Natalie strolled towards her husband and the agent, getting in between them so that she could shove Hobbs away from both her and Deckard. Not even giving the agent a moment to register what was going on, the Shaw woman kicked his chest as hard as she could, and managed to send him crashing into one of the armchairs that decorated the room.

Both the chair and Hobbs toppled over, sending the man to the floor where he smacked the back of his head. Unfortunately for the Shaw couple, his position gave him access to a pistol that was holstered under a table.

Hobbs instantly retrieved the gun, flicked the safety off, and began firing at the pair as quickly as the weapon would allow.

Natalie and Deckard wasted no time in diving behind two remaining armchairs, concealing themselves from the rapid gunfire. The Shaw woman made herself as small as possible in an attempt to avoid all of the bullets, and it seemed to work.

Whilst Hobbs was wasting his ammunition, Natalie realised that Finnick had given her some additional weapons before the couple had left for LA. Tucked into the inside pockets of her coat were four throwing knives, a spare pistol with an extra clip, and the latest explosive device that Finn had been working on.

Apparently, the hockey puck-looking bomb would 'cause a moderate explosion on the smaller side of the scale' (Finn's words, not her's).

Quickly sliding the gun over to her husband, Natalie took two of the knives and peaked around the side of the armchair, waiting for her opportunity. When Hobbs paused his rapid fire and began carefully approaching the now bullet-ridden chairs, Natalie smirked to herself.

Flicking her wrist exactly how Alice had taught her, the Shaw woman released the blade and watched as it curved around the armchair and landed right in Hobbs' outer thigh. The man yelled in shock, making the mistake of yanking the blade out and letting it clatter to the ground with a metallic thud.

Elena Neves, Hobbs' colleague and Dominic's ex-girlfriend, joined the fray, calling out for her boss as she advanced towards the Shaws with her gun drawn.

Carefully but swiftly peaking over the top of the furniture, Natalie once again threw the blade before taking cover. This time, the blade only grazed Elena's arm, slicing open her long-sleeved top and causing the woman to hiss in pain.

Retrieving the explosive from her pocket, Natalie showed it to Deckard, who nodded in agreement with her plan. She slid the device over to him, and watched as he dived across the gap between his armchair and an office table, throwing the now-activated explosive towards the two agents.

Deckard quickly gestured for his wife to take cover with him to avoid the blast, so without hesitation, Natalie darted for her husband and ended up in his familiar, comforting arms. He kicked the table in front of them over, giving them a barrier to protect them from the explosive.

Instinctually, Deckard shielded as much of Natalie as he could with his own body, not caring if he got hurt in the process. They could barely hear Hobbs calling for Elena before the device went off, sending the couple crashing into the wall behind them.

Somehow Deckard had managed to take the brunt of the hit, his back hitting the brick wall whilst he was clutching Natalie to his chest protectively. Coughing from the smoke, Natalie kept one hand wrapped around her husband's arm whilst the other dug into her front jean pocket.

Pulling out the undamaged USB, the Shaw woman sighed in relief, knowing that they had the files that they needed.

Step one: complete.

"NO, I SHOULD BE the one to drive."

Xavier sighed in exhaustion, leaning back in the driver seat of the car he and Nick had taken to Tokyo. His sister, Natalie, and his brother-in-law had been successful in retrieving Han Seoul-Oh's file, and found out that the close friend of Dominic Toretto was currently taking residence in the capital city of Japan.

Whilst flying to the country and waiting for the street-racer, Nick had not stopped complaining that he should drive instead of Xavier, and the older brother was five seconds away from leaving his brother on the side of the street and driving away.

"Nicholas, I swear, if you don't─" Xavier began, only to be cut off, again.

"We both know that I did better than you when Nats was teaching us how to drive like she does." Nick argued, his accent thick as he waffled on about driving. "And there was that time we raced and I beat you─"

Pulling out his phone, Xavier massaged his temples with one hand in an attempt to relieve the raging headache that was pounding against his skull. Scrolling through his list of contacts, he finally landed on the one that he wanted, pressed 'call' and put the phone on speaker.

"Wait, who are you calling? Xav─"

"Zoey, please tell your husband to shut the fuck up." Xavier groaned, hoping that Zoey King would solve the loud and incessant problem that sat next to him.

"Nick, shut the fuck up." Zoey responded with no hesitation, her voice not tainted with even the slightest hint of surprise.

"You don't even know what we're talking about!" Nick exclaimed, shocked that his wife would side with his brother so easily.

"I don't need to, because I know what you're like." Zoey laughed. "Stop chewing your brother's ear off and focus on the job."

"I just want to─"

"No."

"Fine." The younger brother groaned, slumping in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest, and pouting exactly like Piper would when she was told off.

"Don't pout at me, Nicholas King." The King woman remarked over the phone, causing Nick's eyes to widen in shock.

"How the fuck did you know? What─"

"I have to go. I love you, Nick." Zoey rushed, "Both of you be safe. Come home in one piece."

The call ended, and Nick stayed silent for a moment as he stared at the phone in shock. Xavier sighed in relief at the silence, but it was almost immediately interrupted by the police scanner in their car.

"All cars, warning ─" A woman spoke in Japanese, causing Xavier to turn up the radio-like device, "two cars are currently racing with an RX-7."

"That's our guy." Nick said as his brother peeled out of their parking spot, headed towards where the race would be. As they were driving down the road, the woman spoke again.

"The race is headed towards Central Shibuya." She said, causing Xavier to press down on the gas and weave in and out of cars. "The RX-7 is approaching the intersection."

Spotting Han's orange car in the road over, the King continued to race towards the intersection and managed to time it perfectly; just as the RX-7 turned the corner, Xavier's old silver car smashed into its side, flipping it and sending it tumbling down the tarmac.

Easing to a stop, both brothers climbed from their car, slamming their doors shut behind them. Nick grabbed his phone from his pocket as they approached the wrecked vehicle, whilst Xavier grabbed the silver cross necklace that Natalie had asked him to throw into the crash.

Dialling a number, the younger brother brought the phone up to his ear, waiting for the person on the other end to pick up.

"Dominic Toretto." Nick seethed, clenching his fists as he spoke. "You don't know us... but you're about to."

Hanging up the phone, Nicholas looked to his older brother and nodded, before the pair walked away, leaving an explosion in their wake.

HAYLEY WRITES...
and so it truly begins...

do y'all think that the bomb
scene (the toretto house
blowing up) plays out
the same way in this book
as it does in the movie? or
do you think i've changed
it? 👀

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