An adrenalin-infused, triumphant smile crosses her face at Tiago’s compliment, but she doesn’t respond. It’s not time to celebrate yet. This might not be her squad, not in the same way it belongs to any of its members. She’ll win or lose with them nonetheless, and so she won’t celebrate until their final competitor is first across the finish line. But Mags does her best to hide any stress. There’s nothing she can do, so she may as well enjoy the rest of the race. Tiago knows what he’s doing. That much has become clear over the past few days. She trusts his friends to do so as well.
Mags pulls her helmet off roughly. Her gloves follow. Replaces the look of dismissive disgust on her face, because of course the crass Yank doesn’t quite manage to cut himself off in time.
(It doesn’t get to her. It’s just. There are few things she hates more than someone who refuses to respect skill, wherever it’s found. She knows, intellectually, that bigotry is irrational. It still vexes her every time she realizes that there’s nothing to be done. That people can be so irrationally stupid. Not that Mags ruminates on it today.)
She looks up in time to watch Billy take his first curve.
Her shoulders stiffen as she overhears Tiago’s response to Jason’s apparent doubt. Maybe she spoke too soon. Lord knew d y n a m i c could mean as much as talent in a situation like this. It was part of why she’d tended to ride alone. She couldn’t be bothered to deal with a group that couldn’t keep themselves together. Far too much risk she’d be expected to somehow play therapist.
The benefit of being less engaged is this:
A sudden silence. The screech of rubber fighting the track instead of gripping it. Every head turns, including hers--an entirely involuntary response to unexpected movement--but Mags snaps her eyes back to the starting line, considering. Scenarios and probabilities spin in her head.
If Jason is good enough to be here, she can already tell he’ll likely be fine. Adrenalin may be a confounding factor, true. But realistically, he has the instincts necessary to remain in control. Not that it really matters, so long as he’s safe enough that the race continues. No, the real problem is the lead he’s giving the Americans. Because she may not be engaged, soon to be desperate, but she is t w i t c h y. She’d given them a more than decent lead only to see it wasted, and, alright, perhaps she doesn’t handle helplessness well.
The gravel just off the track isn’t large enough to cause any real problems in an exhaust pipe. Any of the prototypes she was near-constantly tinkering with that could be of any use were in her saddlebags, abandoned in the grass to get rid of the unnecessary weight. She doesn’t have long enough to get something into the tank, even assuming the rider was that oblivious.
What she does have is a frankly unnecessary amount of sealant for her tires. It’s a risk. Having a reputation as a cheater isn’t really an improvement over having no reputation at all. But it’s better than sitting here and watching the inevitable. So a mere half-second after Jason starts to struggle, turns her gaze to Riley’s bike, tantalizingly close. The man in question is distracted, making questionable jokes at Jason’s expense. Her throat aches with the urge to say something. She resists. Physical lessons are likely to be far better received.
As Jason gives one more dramatic wobble and begins to straighten out, she leans down, just slightly, and presses the wad of sealant onto Riley’s back tire. With any luck it will look like concern, and her return to straight-backed posture relief. She certainly keeps her face straight enough for that to be the case. But internally she’s smirking, because in the end, no amount of talent can overcome physics. And motorcycles are so easy to unbalance. Especially those clunky, heavy American models. A few revolutions of the wheel, and the uneven surface will be too much for even a skilled rider. He’ll be fine. The worst case scenario is a snapped leg or collarbone under the weight of his bike. But it will take him time to recover, assuming he fully does so.
