It started in London.
Not with tires screeching or engines roaring — not yet — but with shadows moving between fog and steel. In the heart of the city, a military convoy was reduced to molten slag and twisted metal by something too fast, too clean, too surgical.
Owen Shaw had made his move.
And now it was time for Dom Toretto's crew to answer.
Shepherd stood beside Dom as they stepped out of a blacked-out SUV onto an airfield near the outskirts of London. The wind was cold. The sky slate gray. Ahead of them stood DSS Agent Luke Hobbs, arms crossed like stone, with Elena just behind him. A C-17 cargo plane idled nearby — its engines humming with barely contained power.
"You're late," Hobbs growled.
Dom smirked. "Traffic."
Shepherd scanned the airfield. Drones circled above, some visible, some cloaked. This wasn't just a mission. It was a warzone waiting to ignite.
Hobbs turned his gaze to Shepherd. "You're the cousin."
"Shepherd," he replied. "And yeah, I'm in."
Hobbs grunted. "He's quiet."
"He's dangerous," Dom said. "You'll see."
The rest of the crew began to arrive. Roman, dressed like a man already planning his next selfie. Tej, carrying a tablet and cracking jokes. Han and Gisele, walking in sync like they'd never left Tokyo. Brian and Mia — a last-minute surprise, with Mia leaving baby Jack behind, just for this briefing.
For a moment, it felt like old times.
Then Hobbs shattered the calm.
"Owen Shaw," he said, tapping the screen behind him, revealing images: blueprints, tactical maps, photos of wreckage. "Ex-SAS. Former SpecOps. Went dark five years ago. Now he runs a crew that hits like ghosts. High-speed, high-tech, zero mercy."
Shepherd watched the screen shift to show the devastation of the convoy attack. Twisted metal. An overturned tank. Drone footage of a matte black car vanishing into a tunnel like smoke.
"He's building something," Hobbs said. "Tech-based. We believe he's after components for a weapon that can cripple a country."
"Why us?" Dom asked.
Hobbs paused. "Because he's got someone."
The screen shifted. A blurry image sharpened.
Letty.
Alive.
Breathing.
Armed.
Fighting alongside Shaw's crew.
Dom stepped forward. Everything else faded from his expression. The street king was gone — what remained was something primal. Personal.
"That's not possible," Brian muttered. "We saw her car explode."
"She didn't die," Hobbs said. "Shaw picked her up. She doesn't remember who she is."
"No," Dom said softly. "She just forgot where she belongs."
Over the next few days, the team set up shop in an underground garage provided by Hobbs' contacts. Shepherd kept to the edges at first — observing, modifying equipment, and running high-level scans of the tech Shaw had stolen.
Shepherd knew it wasn't just Earth-made.
Some components had quantum structures that reminded him of another world. The edges of Rift technology. That troubled him more than he let on.
Dom came up beside him one night while he was tuning Lockdown's systems.
"You holding something back?" Dom asked.
"Maybe. But not from you."
Dom nodded. "We'll need every edge we've got."
"Then you've got one."
That same week, the team began tailing Shaw's crew. Shepherd joined Tej, hacking traffic cams and creating blind zones across the city. Roman tried to flirt with MI6 agents and got shut down in record time. Han and Gisele took the bikes, following one of Shaw's tech mules into a black market auction. And Brian — always chasing ghosts — volunteered to return to the States for intel on Letty's faked death.
But it was Dom and Shepherd who found themselves in the thick of it first.
The crew set up an ambush in a warehouse district — Shepherd feeding live tactical maps into the team's comms while driving Lockdown in recon mode. When Shaw's crew arrived, it wasn't just bullets flying — they were using ramps, EMP grenades, and a car that drove under other vehicles.
Shepherd's instincts kicked in. He accelerated through a side path, ramming one of Shaw's support vehicles and sending it crashing into a wall.
But it was Letty who pulled the trigger — nearly taking Dom out with a well-placed shot before disappearing again.
Shepherd pulled Dom back before Shaw's people could finish the job.
Dom didn't speak for hours after.
Later that night, Dom confronted him.
"Shepherd."
"Yeah?"
"You ever lose someone and get a second chance?"
Shepherd thought of Maria. Of his mother dying alone in Rio. Of never getting that chance.
"Not yet," he said. "But I'd burn the world for it."
Dom didn't need more. That was enough.
The next morning, the team gathered for the next big move.
Tej stood at the center of the garage, arms crossed. "We found Shaw's warehouse. High security. Military-grade. We hit it, we hurt him."
Roman looked nervous. "Please tell me this time we're not being chased by tanks."
Shepherd grinned. "Can't promise that."
"Damn."