Concept--Tire Slayer Girls: A GsG/NFS: Hot Pursuit crossover

So after seeing Odon's brilliant one-off creation in the discussion thread for chapter 95, a lightbulb went off in my head as I explored other avenues for Alternate-universe settings. The following came to mind:

The Republic of Italy, 20XX-- A country famous for La Bella Macchina has been forever changed with the sudden death of its most favorite daughter, Scuderia Ferrari driver and national heroine Enrica Croce, as a result of a high-speed traffic accident involving two other reckless street racers. After her death is mourned, sweeping, often controversial changes are enacted in order to improve motorist and pedestrian safety, usually at the price of personal freedom with one's automobile. A lowered national speed limit, heavy fines and possible jail time for even the most minor moving violations and traffic offenses, and more stringent enforcement of the law force many lovers of speed and power to the racetracks, where spirited driving and behavior is encouraged, but comes at a price not all are willing to pay. Fringe outlaw groups dare to flout the law, continuing to place pedestrians and other motorists in danger for the sake of their high-speed cat and mouse games. One particular group, the outlaw racing club known as the Free Radicals, gather fame, notoriety, and numbers as they continue to outstrip the vehicles law enforcement sends after them. The police are powerless to stop this band of hooligans and thugs with their heavily-modified high-speed vehicles, many of them allegedly built from stolen parts and vehicles, and it is only a matter of time before an innocent bystander is injured or killed by their recklessness.

In an attempt to cull the reckless drivers and street racers that ply Italy's roads, a new, specialized unit is formed within the ranks of the Polizia Di Stato, committed to the pursuit and apprehension of the most reckless and dangerous drivers on the road through the usage of high-performance vehicles and the latest cutting-edge pursuit equipment. Known as the Special Enforcement Unit, or SEU, this elite unit utilizes all the resources and skills at its disposal to ensure the safety of the motoring public, using whatever means are necessary to keep the peace on the roads of Italy. Its (mostly female) drivers are considered among the best in the world, its ranks populated by the cream of the crop within the Polizia Di Stato, as well as former professional race drivers, and even foreign nationals whose Curriculum Vitae is right for the job. With factory backing and support from the manufacturers of their vehicles and equipment, the SEU is ready to deliver justice at speeds of up to 430 kilometers per hour to those who run afoul of the law.

(character information to follow)

The Special Enforcement Unit

Formed in 20xx to curb the increase in sightings of street races, occurrences of reckless driving and related illegal activity, the Special Enforcement Unit of the Polizia Di Stato deals primarily with automobile crimes as well as the surveillance, and if necessary, abolition of outlaw motorcycle and car clubs. Unusually, the SEU recruits foreign nationals in addition to personnel from within the Polizia Di Stato, with a higher than normal emphasis on driver skill, leading to many of its recruits being no stranger to the fickle world of international racing, many of them having been involved in a racing series at one point or another in their lives.
The emphasis on skill is appropriate, however, as the SEU operates the best and most exotic pursuit vehicles in the arsenal of the Polizia Di Stato, some of which were purchased or donated exclusively for the SEU, and carry full support from the companies that manufacture said vehicles.

The Vehicles: An Overview
The motor pool of the SEU is divided into several tiers, ranging from practical-but-quick Traffic Police (marked Polizia Stradale or simply "Polizia" on their livery) vehicles such as the Subaru Impreza WRX STI to completely rare and highly expensive 'Special Response' (marked 'Reazione Speciale') hypercars like the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. In order to advance and drive a higher tier of vehicles, members of the SEU must meet certain qualifications before they drive a car (or in some cases, ride a motorcycle) outside their initially-assigned vehicle tier. What all tiers have in common, however, is that each comes equipped with a Pursuit Equipment Suite, or PES. A vital tool to high-speed pursuits, the PES equips every SEU vehicle with an onboard remotely-deployed vehicle arrest system that is dropped from the rear of the vehicle, and a set of forward-firing 'disruptor missiles', in addition to being able to summon air and ground support to a desired location via GPS, thereby simplifying coordination between units. The SEU's vehicles also provide a testing ground for Formula One Technology trickling down to road car applications, as all SEU pursuit vehicles come equipped with a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) good for an additional 100bhp and 25 Nm of torque, applied for a maximum recommended duration of 10 seconds. Additionally, higher-tier vehicles with adjustable aerodynamics can be equipped with an experimental Drag Reduction System (DRS), which allows for temporary bursts of speed at the cost of downforce. Finally, all vehicles assigned to the SEU are given increased structural rigidity and reinforced titanium bodywork to withstand prolonged abuse should an officer be forced to 'go manual' in a chase situation, as is often the case for those working with the Traffic Police tier of the fleet.

The SEU also operates a number of motorcycles for use in more urban situations, though higher performance tiers are capable of participating in high-speed pursuit, albeit at a standoff distance. The bikes of the SEU Motorcycle sub-unit come equipped with a scaled down version of the PES found in the duty cars, which have a maximum payload of two disruptor missiles and two compact 'stop blocks' deployed from compartments that hang off the rear of the bike. GPS coordination capabilities are also present, manipulated via LCD touch screen and/or switchgear, though other models feature voice activation and helmet integration.

Personnel


Senior Ranks

Comissario Capo Pieri Lorenzo--Oversees the day-to-day operations of the SEU, answering to the Minister of the Interior regardless of his lower rank within the Polizia Di Stato. Lorenzo first pitched the concept of the SEU in a meeting with the Interior Minister after having a look at the high volume of terminated pursuits due to the Polizia Stradale's inability to keep up with heavily and illegally modified vehicles utilized by the street racers they pursued but failed to capture. After a successful demonstration of the SEU concept utilizing one of the Polizia Di Stato's Lamborghini Gallardos (then modified with a prototype of the PES system), permission to form the SEU was granted, and manufacturer support was brought on with tax incentives to reduce the cost of acquiring vehicles and equipment for the SEU. As the unit is his brainchild, Lorenzo must justify its existence with consistent results.

Ispetorre Capo Ferro Milani--Serves as assistant to Comissario Capo Lorenzo by managing team assignments, approving equipment requests and signing off on expense reports. Ferro has a reputation for efficiency in addition to being a bit of an 'ice queen' at times, but even so, the SEU would not function smoothly without her. She is known to venture into the field on occasion, but generally spends most of her time working 'behind the scenes'.

Middle Ranks

Sovrintendente Capo Jean Croce--Field commander of the SEU; manages active SEU teams out on the street and coordinates them during high-speed pursuits. As the eldest sibling amongst the survivors of the Croce Family, Jean bears a special grudge against the kind of reckless drivers and street racers whose irresponsible actions and disregard for the law took his family and fiancee from him. As a result, he tends to be especially strict on people who commit even the most minor of traffic violations, and is nothing short of merciless when chasing street racers and flagrant speeders. Partnered with his younger sister Rico as her Equipment Officer, the pair utilize a Rapid Intercept-tier Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG to pursue and apprehend suspects in high-speed chases.

Before joining the Polizia Di Stato, Jean Croce had over a decade of motorsports experience under his belt,learning the basics of racing through karting, then making a drastic switch to rallying before a WRC losing streak in his rookie year dashed his hopes of being a successful rally driver. While working in the traffic police division, Jean had pulled over a Ferrari California that was traveling 20km/h over the posted limit. It was during this traffic stop that he first met Sophia Durante, who rather ironically was a fellow officer in the Polizia Stradale, and at that, one of the drivers of the flagship Lamborghini Gallardo that patrolled the A14 Autostrada from Bolonga to Taranto and performed special missions such as organ transplant. For one reason or another, the usually strict Jean let off Sophia with a warning, and in exchange, Agente Durante gave him her phone number. They soon started dating, and after several years together, the couple had gotten engaged. Mere weeks before they were to be wed, Sophia, along with Jean's parents and his first sister Enrica were involved in a fatal traffic collision involving two street racers at an intersection along the A3. No one survived the incident,including the street racers, who were indicated to be travelling at approximately 190km/h at the time of the crash. The loss of his fiancee took a heavy toll on Jean emotionally, and when he finally returned to duty, his personality had changed into that of a knight templar hell-bent on punishing every speeder, reckless driver, and street racer, resulting in several incidents where he drew his service weapon on especially mouthy and belligerent offenders, on other occasions physically causing damage to stopped suspect vehicles. These incidents resulted in several reprimands, a suspension from duty without pay, and his actions nearly resulted in his dismissal from the police service. After another cooling-off period, Jean was re-assigned to the newly-formed SEU, where he found an outlet for his rage under the command of Pieri Lorenzo.

Vice Sovrintendente Jose Croce--Jean's younger brother and assistant field commander; coordinates on-call air and ground support during multiple-suspect chases. Devastated by the loss of Enrica and his parents, Jose went into an alcoholic tailspin from which he was only able to recover with the help of his youngest sister, Henrietta. Jose re-entered the Polizia Stradale with the opposite mindset of his brother, choosing to enforce the law as a means of saving lives instead of merely punishing offenders. While initially qualified for Rapid Intercept and Speed Enforcement tier vehicles, taking Henrietta on as his partner has caused him concern, due to her lack of practical experience in the field despite her advantage of recent success in Formula Renault. At present, Jose has volunteered to show his younger sister the ropes in one of the basic Traffic Police-tier vehicles, choosing a quick, nimble Subaru Impreza WRX STI as their duty vehicle, with plans to take qualification tests for higher tier vehicles when Jose feels Henrietta is ready.

Like Jean, Jose also participated in rallying until a bad first year as a rookie driver for Peugeot in the WRC dissuaded him from continuing the sport any further. Entering the Polizia Di Stato was, at least to him, a self-made decision to 'grow up'.

Basic Ranks

Assistente Capo Olga Pavlov--Primary training officer for newcomers into the SEU. A Russian immigrant, Olga spent much of her youth as part of a traveling stunt driving team doing rather impossible maneuvers with underpowered Moskvitches and Ladas. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, Olga was scouted and recruited to other stunt driving teams with more powerful vehicles and traveled the world, until she was asked to provide special driving instruction for the Polizia Di Stato on a more permanent basis. Transferred to the SEU upon its formation some years after 'The Croce Incident', she trains newcomers, who are typically from a racing background, in additional pursuit techniques adapted from stunt driving, such as J-turns,bootleg turns, handbrake turns, and drifting.

While typically uninvolved with field duty, Olga is qualified for vehicles up to the Rapid Intercept tier, but her skillset lends itself to more maneuverable, handling-oriented vehicles like those found in the Highway Patrol and Traffic Police tiers.

Assistente Priscilla Meleori--Assistant to Ispettore Capo Milani and coordinator of the SEU's motorcycle unit. While known for having a ditzy personality, Priscilla is highly effective at keeping track of traffic and crime stats that are always included in every daily briefing. As coordinator of the motorcycle unit, Priscilla is typically responsible for operating a dispatch radio channel specifically for the motorcycle officers, but has occasionally ventured out into the field with an Aprilia SL 750 Shiver.

Priscilla is known to act as a sort of 'Team Mom', and as such is known to be especially hospitable during the annual SEU picnic. In terms of riding ability, she still retains a fair amount of skill from her youth as a rebellious Cafe Racer, but her skills are easily outclassed by those who go on duty regularly.

Agente Scelto Victor Hilshire (AKA Victor Hartmann)-- A former member of the Autobahnpolizei and an ex-endurance racer, Hilshire is one of the earliest members of the SEU and one of the most experienced high-speed drivers, qualifying him for Special Response-tier vehicles. As Equipment Officer for his partner, Triela Schumacher, the two ply the longest stretches of the Autostrada and are responsible for stopping and apprehending high-speed pursuit suspects that other units simply cannot keep pace with by utilizing a Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, considered the crown jewel of the SEU's fleet.

Before he was ever a police officer, Hilshire was a former endurance racer named Victor Hartmann who regularly participated in the ADAC 24 Hours Nurburgring. After several consecutive wins at this event, he retired from endurance racing after the fatal crash of his longtime teammate, Frenchwoman Rachelle Belleut, at the notorious Bergwerk corner of the Nordschleife circuit. Hilshire, devastated by the loss of his teammate (and possibly his lover, as rumor had it), could not bring himself to continue racing and instead took on a new career as a member of the Autobahnpolizei. A few years had passed, allowing him to fade from the public eye. Then, his superiors called him into their office, whereupon he met a visiting officer from the Italian Polizia Di Stato named Pieri Lorenzo. The Italian extended him an offer to work in a newly-formed special unit of the Polizia Stradale that specialized in high-speed pursuit and performance driving. When Hilshire expressed concerns about his past following him into Italy, Lorenzo offered to enlist him under a pseudonym, which is now his most known identity.

Agente Scelto Triela Schumacher-- A former DTM champion turned 'Queen of Speed' of the SEU. As another early member of the unit, her hard work ethic and driving talent earned her the hard-won qualification for the SEU's handful of Special Response-tier hypercars. At present, she holds the duty keys to the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, the flagship vehicle of the Polizia Stradale Special Enforcement Unit, which is also often present at public events to promote awareness of the SEU's abilities. Riding shotgun with her on patrol is her equipment officer, Victor Hilshire, a fellow German recruit whom she has come to trust and rely on over the few years she has spent in the unit.

As a young girl, Triela was always different from her peers. In addition to being half-Tunisian, she had a passion for cars and racing, and in particular aspired to be like Sabine Schmitz, the first woman to win a major 24-hour endurance race, which coincidentally happened to be the ADAC 24 Hours Nurburgring event that Hilshire had previously won (as Victor Hartmann). Despite an early start racing in Karts, Triela and her family were unable to fully keep up with the rising cost of continuing her racing career, and for a time, Triela dropped out of motorsports. However, she would continue to hone her skills when she could, saving money for a used rear-wheel drive vehicle with a manual gearbox, and as soon as she had her driver's license and enough money to take at least part-ownership of a vehicle, Triela and her father purchased a 1987 BMW 325i (E30). In addition to being her daily transport, Triela often saved what money she could to buy multiple laps on the Nurburgring Nordschleife and practice her skills, which had resulted in even more money being spent on her car for untold amounts of petrol, a set of racing tires, a rollcage, at least two new engines, and quite a few spare exterior parts that were shed in two separate meetings with novice drivers in too-powerful cars. Triela had developed an addiction for 'The Green Hell', though, and each successful, accident-free lap built up her driving skills. Triela eventually became one of many regular 'Track Rats,' and the speed with which she lapped the 'Ring in an otherwise underpowered and aged machine was not lost on certain people who knew talent when they saw it. As a result, Triela ascended from starving petrolhead to rookie touring car driver, and began making her rounds in the DTM circuit, racing for independent teams that raced with either Opel Astra or Mercedes-Benz CLK-based machines before ultimately winning three consecutive championships in a BMW M3.

However, her fourth run at a championship win was brutally ended with a particularly nasty collision in the first race of the season at Hockenheimring. The incident and its resulting injuries had effectively ended her season, and the long recovery time also ended her career, many teams unsure that she would be back in top form following her crash. For a long while, Triela went back to her old 'Track Rat' ways in her cherished 325i to hone her skills once again, until she was approached one day by an elder man who introduced himself as Pieri Lorenzo, a Chief Commissioner with the Italian State Police who was working on a new special unit that required the talents of race drivers like Triela Schumacher.

(more profiles to follow)

I forgot to respond to this when you told me about the idea initially.

But considering how addicting Hot Pursuit is, this might be fun~