The engine howled like a beast in pain.
Devon Shaw's hands gripped the wheel tighter, knuckles white beneath blood-soaked gloves. His custom-tuned BMW M8 roared through the rain-slicked streets of Prague, tires screaming as it weaved between armoured vans and spike strips like a ghost on nitro.
"Incoming chopper twelve o'clock high," crackled a voice over comms. Dutch. Nervous. Dying.
Devon didn't flinch. He shifted gears, downed the pedal, and twisted the car into a sideways drift under a collapsing bridge.
Metal screamed. Concrete exploded behind them.
The job had gone to hell.
Their crew was elite tight, brutal, smart. It should've been clean. Get in, take the war bonds, vanish into the tunnels.
But someone sold them out.
It wasn't Interpol. It wasn't some street gang.
It was something colder.
Professional.
Military.
As they hit the edge of the city, a glint caught Devon's eye rooftop. RPG launcher. Locked on.
"NO !"
BOOM.
The explosion swallowed the world. Heat. Shrapnel. Silence.
Darkness.
Time passed. Or maybe it didn't. Devon couldn't tell. He floated in that space between memory and void, trying to scream but having no voice.
And then
Light.
Blinding, sterile, unreal.
A woman's voice weeping with relief.
"You did it, Mrs. Shaw. Congratulations. Twins. Two healthy boys."
The words struck harder than the blast.
Twins?
Devon wanted to move, but his limbs didn't respond. His vision was blurry like staring through a wet lens.
A warm hand cradled him. A gentle voice cooed in that familiar London accent.
"This one's the quiet one," the nurse chuckled. "What shall we name him?"
"Deckard," came the exhausted voice of the mother.
Another wail his brother's.
Then
"And this little one?"
"Devon," she whispered. "Devon Shaw."
What the hell is happening.
He wasn't dreaming. He could feel everything the soft blanket, the heartbeat of the nurse, the buzz of old hospital lights.
He tried to speak, to scream, to ask where he was but only a baby's cough came out.
Then, like static in his skull:
[System Binding Complete.]— Welcome, Host: Devon Shaw— Skill Upgrade System Activated— Initiating Scan of Previous Life: Complete— Loading Primary Skills:➤ Driving: Tier A➤ Hacking: Tier A➤ Engineering: Tier B➤ Combat: Tier C
— Current Status: Rebirth Confirmed— New Mission: Surpass All Limits.— System Objective: Become the Ultimate Driver, Hacker, and Mechanic
Devon blinked.
This wasn't reincarnation. This was a reinstall.
Same soul. Same memories. New life.
And across the room, swaddled in blue, was Deckard Shaw.
Even as babies, they looked different. Deckard had that cocky edge in his smirk even as an infant. Devon, on the other hand, was staring at the ceiling like he was analysing tactical routes.
The bloody universe just gave me a second chance.
And a cheat code system to go with it.
He didn't know why. He didn't know how.
But he knew one thing for damn sure.
He wasn't going to waste it.
Not this time.