Brian Tanner

**Brian Tanner** is the protagonist of Need for Speed: Underground, Need for Speed: Underground 2, Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Need for Speed: Carbon. He is a former member of Darius' Stacked Deck and a fugitive street racer who built a reputation across cities such as Olympic City, Bayview, and Rockport.

## History

Brian Tanner was once a member of the legendary Stacked Deck crew, led by his mentor Darius. One night, Tanner participated in a race in Palmont City, where he was racing against the main crew bosses: Kenji, Wolf and Angie. Darius loaned him his Toyota Supra for the race.

The event was ambushed by the police, who were able to arrest everyone with the exception of Tanner. Nikki, who held the cash prize in a bag, managed to hand it to Tanner but Tanner could not save her. Tanner was forced to leave Palmont City and discovered on their way that the bag did not contain their cash prize.

In order to evade the police's pursuit, Tanner ditched Darius' Supra and used the money from the Supra to buy a red Hyundai Coupe FX. Over the next two years, Tanner traveled across the States and won in every street race he participated. When he was notified by the police, he abandoned his car and managed to hitch a ride with a street racer named Samantha, who showed him the way to Olympic City.

### Olympic City

Upon arriving in Olympic City, Tanner was introduced to the street racing scene of Olympic City by Samantha, who showed him the ropes of how the racing events worked. Using the money he earned from street races across the country, he picked up a Honda Civic as his initial car, but after winning more races, he would pick up a Nissan Skyline.

Tanner challenged some of the best racers in Olympic City, such as Klutch, Jose, and Dirt, and met fellow racer TJ, who promised unique vehicle upgrades in exchange for beating time trial challenges. He began taking notice by Eddie, who wasn't impressed by his skills. He eventually builds enough hype to be too hard to ignore and was forced to beat Samantha in a sprint race before he could go after Eddie.

Eddie and the Eastsiders tried to get rid of Tanner, but one by one, he defeated all of them. He also raced against TJ, who repaired Samantha's car after she lost against him, and recovered her car to make amends with her. Eddie then challenged Tanner to a race, but lost and was forced to leave town. After the race, Tanner was challenged to a race by Eddie's girlfriend, Melissa, and won, becoming the best racer in Olympic City.

After winning against the Eastsiders and becoming the best racer in the city, Tanner was contacted by Caleb Reece, who offered him a place in his crew. He refused the offer and his car was rammed by Reece's Hummer H2. He survived the incident but had to be hospitalized.

### Adventures in Bayview

Six months after recovering from the accident, Tanner got out of the hospital and received a note from Samantha to meet up with her friend, Rachel Teller in Bayview, as well as leaving her car keys with an engraved "Rachel" key fob to him. Upon heading to Bayview, Tanner saw Rachel's green Nissan 350Z waiting for him. He was instructed by Rachel through his phone to head to the parking lot and give her the car back.

Upon arriving at the parking lot, Tanner met up with Rachel and used the money provided by the insurance on the totaled Skyline to buy his first car. He first chose a Mazda MX-5 as his starter car and was introduced to the Bayview street racing scene by Rachel. He also met with Rachel's friend and mechanic, Tommy, who taught him how the racing events worked and gave him hints about hidden race events.

Tanner challenged the best racers in the city and began climbing to the top. As he won races, Tanner used the money he earned to replace the MX-5 with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII and modified it, also painting it red. He was offered a position in Bayview's Underground Racing League and accepted the offer.

Tanner would be noticed by The Wraiths and learned that Caleb Reece, the man who attacked him in Olympic City six months ago, was the leader of the group. He was challenged to a drag race by members of The Wraiths, but he lost due to a blown engine. After the loss, Tanner headed back to the parking lot and was told by Rachel that Caleb planned to take over the city's racing scene by making financial deals with racing sponsors and getting rid of him.

Using the money provided by the wrecked Evo, Tanner bought himself a Nissan Skyline and updated it by using modifications and painting it silver and blue. He would be challenged by Caleb's second in command, Nikki Morris, to a series of URL races. Tanner defeated her and Nikki, frustrated with Caleb, left The Wraiths and Bayview.

Samantha went to Bayview after hearing about the recent events and decided to aid Tanner once again. With Rachel and Samantha's help, Tanner defeated all of the members of The Wraiths in a series of URL races. This infuriated Caleb, who after failing to stop Tanner, lost his partnership with the city's sponsors.

Enraged by Tanner's successes, Caleb decided to challenge Tanner to a circuit race, in which the loser would leave the town forever. Although Caleb had the upper hand initially, Tanner would outsmart Caleb and defeat him. Caleb left Bayview and Tanner became the best racer in Bayview.

### Obtaining the M3

A few months after winning against the Wraiths and Caleb, Tanner enjoyed his position as the top racer in Bayview. How he got the M3 is a mystery, though some say that he won one that was an ex-race car from a lottery.

### The Blacklist

A year after the events in Olympic City and Bayview, Tanner arrived in Rockport with his M3, where participated in a friendly race with Mia Townsend. The race got interrupted by Sergeant Nathan Cross, who pulled Tanner over for street racing and driving a non-street legal car. Due to an emergency call, Cross was forced to release him, leaving a big scratch on the car caused by his car keys beforehand.

After being released by Cross, Tanner was involved in the street racing scene in Rockport and met with Rog, who heard about him from Olympic City and Bayview and challenged him to a friendly race. Afterward, he was challenged by the Blacklist, a gang of notorious street racers of Rockport, and raced against the leader of the group and number #15, Clarence "Razor" Callahan. However, Tanner lost against him due to an engine seizure, which causes him to lose the race and his car to Razor.

When the police arrived at the scene, members of the Blacklist fled the scene and Cross and his partner arrested him and took him to custody. However, he was released due to a lack of evidence. After leaving the police station, he was picked up by Mia, who decided to help him to defeat the Blacklist. She revealed to Tanner that Razor sabotaged his car and has become number one on the Blacklist.

Mia provided Tanner access to a safe house and a car lot in Rosewood through her contact Ed. At the safe house, Tanner chose a Chevrolet Cobalt SS as his beginner car. Tanner then tried to get into the Blacklist again, with the help of Mia and Rog, and challenged members of the Blacklist. As he defeated each member of the Blacklist, Tanner gained new cars, from a Mitsubishi Eclipse GT to a Mazda RX7.

After defeating all the members of the Blacklist, Tanner challenged Razor to a race in order to retrieve his car. Tanner won the race and regained his car, but Razor attempted to prevent the player from taking back the car. Mia then revealed her position as an undercover cop and arrested every Blacklist member. She then handed the car keys to Tanner and let him escape.

Unwilling to let Rockport's most wanted racer escape, Cross called upon the entire Rockport Police Department to chase Tanner. With Mia's help, Tanner headed to an incomplete bridge, where he jumped over the bridge to evade the police. As a result, Tanner was added to the National Most Wanted list by the police. Now wanted by the police, Tanner decided to return to Palmont City to evade their pursuit.

### Return to Palmont City

Two months after evading the police in Rockport, Tanner made his way back to Palmont City to make amends with his past. However, he was soon discovered on the Carbon Canyon by Cross, who became a bounty hunter after being fired by the police. Tanner failed to escape from him due to totaling his car in a crash at a construction site. Just before he was arrested by Cross, Darius arrived at the scene and paid Cross Tanner's bounty. Darius then decided to help Tanner to clear his reputation by rejoining the Stacked Deck crew and he was aided by his former girlfriend Nikki, who still barred resentment towards him.

After choosing a Mazda RX-8 as his first car, he was instructed about different crew member skills by Nikki and Neville, another member and blocker of Stacked Deck. After learning about crew abilities, Tanner was sent into a safehouse by Neville. He would use the safehouse as a base of operations and a garage for the crew. He was also told about the crew wars in Palmont City between the Bushido, 21st Street, and T.F.K. crews by Nikki.

For each crew turf, Tanner chose three cars; a Chevrolet Chevelle SS, an Alfa Romero Bera, and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. Tanner's first stop was Downtown, where he was confronted by Kenji, one of the racers arrested three years ago. After defeating members of the Bushido crew and taking over the territories of Downtown, Tanner was challenged to a race by Kenji and later defeated him in a Downtown sprint race and later in a canyon duel.

Upon defeating Kenji, Tanner then headed to Kempton, where he was confronted by Angie and her 21st Street Crew. Upon defeating members of her crew and taking over the territories of Kempton, Tanner raced against Angie and defeated her. He then headed to Fortuna, where he confronted Wolf and his T.F.K. crew. After defeating his crew and taking over Fortuna's territories, Tanner defeated Wolf in a series of races to win the territory.

After defeating each territory crew boss, Tanner met against three former crew members, Yumi, Samson, and Colin, and hired them to his crew. Each crew member revealed to him more details regarding the fateful race where Tanner left the city three years ago. Around the same time, Tanner revisited the site where the race took place alongside Nikki and began to remember the events surrounding the race.

### Final Showdown against Darius

Once the crew bosses were beaten, Tanner received a phone call from Darius to meet up with him at the old construction site to congratulate him. However, upon arriving there, he quickly realized that it was just a setup: Darius revealed that he had manipulated him by rejoining his crew and taking over territories for him and he was also responsible for the fateful race. He then betrayed Tanner by handing him back to Cross.

Just as Darius left, Nikki saved Tanner by making a deal with Cross, which obliged her to pay for the player and race with them. Nikki also revealed that not only Darius staged the race that caused Tanner to escape, but he was also responsible for the events in Olympic City, Bayview, and Rockport and conspired with other racers to get rid of him. As a result, Nikki and Tanner's crew defected from Stacked Deck and decided to join Tanner.

In order to defeat Darius, Nikki decided to hand him a new car. She called a mechanic from Olympic City to retrieve the Nissan Skyline that Caleb Reece destroyed a year ago. Together with his crew, Tanner managed to repair his old Skyline and modify it. Upon repairing his old car, Tanner headed to Silverton, where he was challenged by his old rivals, who were determined to take revenge against him and regain their territories.

Tanner faced his old rivals in a series of sprint races, culminating in a final canyon duel against them. After defeating the former crew bosses, Tanner then confronted Darius on the main street of Silverton, where faced him in a street race. Afterward, he faced Darius in one final canyon duel and defeated him, taking over the Silverton territory.

Humiliated by this loss, Darius handed the keys to his Audi Le Mans Quattro to Tanner and warned him that there will be always someone faster than him and that he will catch up with him. After Darius left town, Tanner was challenged to a friendly race by Nikki through the streets of Silverton. The winner of the race is unknown.

## Cars

*Need for Speed: Carbon*
(Toyota Supra, flashbacks)*Need for Speed: Underground 2*
(Hyundai Coupe FX, flashbacks)*Need for Speed: Underground*
(Acura Integra Type R Vortex, dream)*Need for Speed: Underground*
(Nissan Skyline R34 GTR)*Need for Speed: Underground 2*
(Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII)*Need for Speed: Underground 2*
(Nissan Skyline)*Need for Speed: Most Wanted*
(BMW M3 GTR)*Need for Speed: Carbon*
(Nissan Skyline R34 GTR, restored)*Need for Speed: Carbon*
(Audi Le Mans quattro)