Need for Speed: Carbon The prologue to the beginning of the Career Mode, starts out with the player driving down Carbon Canyon in his BMW M3 GTR, which the player won back from RazorNeed For Speed Most Wanted) in the final Blacklist race in Rockport. The story is recalled throughout the game with the use of FMVDarius's Toyota Supra, in Palmont City (with Kenji, Angie, and Wolf racing against him). As the cars approached the finish, the Palmont PD ambush them and use what seems to be an EMP device to disable all the cars, apart from the player's. Nikki, the player's friend throughout the game, rushes to the car to drop off a bag containing the prize money. As she tries to pass the bag over to the player a 'cop' pulls her away, and the player makes his escape through an alley that is strangely blocked by a Chrysler 300C after the player escapes. The player opens the sack only to find it is filled with paper, implying there were two bags, a decoy and a real one, and that they had been switched without Nikki realizing. As the flashback ends, Darius advises the player to leave the city with his car rather than face the heat. The subsequent introductory race involves Cross (the former Rockport Police Sergeant), who is now a bounty hunter, pursuing the player down a Canyon in his Chevrolet Corvette Z06, just as the player is about to drive away. Like the intro race in Most Wanted, this race ends abruptly, fading out as the player's car slams into a truck. The next cut scene shows the BMW M3 GTR totalled and cornered by Cross, who is all too happy to finally settle their old score from Rockport. Eventually, Darius comes to the scene in his Audi Le Mans Quattro. Darius gives Cross the money he needed, and Cross goes away.
As Darius explains to the player now the main concern in Palmont is the current war for territories between rival Racing Crews. There are 4 dominant gangs ruling their respective areas of the city, three of them headed by the player's opponents during the race that fateful night the player left; as well as Darius's "Stacked Deck", along with several minor gangs. Darius recruits the player with the intention of using him to take over the city for "Stacked Deck", to return Darius's favor of saving him from arrest.
As the player progresses through Career Mode and proceeds to win more and more races, the player gains new territories and eventually wins complete control over a gang's entire district. After taking all the territories in one district, the boss of the district's dominant gang challenges the player to a series of two races: one on the streets of his or her respective district and the second in the canyons. If the player wins, they are awarded "Marker Cards" similar to those in Need for Speed: Most Wanted; the player can choose two out of a possible six cards, one of which maybe the pink slip to the defeated boss's car. After that, a member of the defeated crew will ask to meet the player, where he/she will then reveal their point-of-view of the night the player fled, giving clues to help the player make sense of the suspicious circumstances of his departure and offer to join your crew.
After the player defeats all three crew bosses, Darius offers to meet up with the player. Instead of congratulating him, he accuses the player of stealing the money that was dropped off in the player's car and asserts that the city is rightfully his own. He then has Cross, who was waiting for the player; arrest him. Next, Darius takes the player's car keys and hands them to Nikki, asking her to bring the player's car to his garage. However, Cross instead releases the player as Nikki tells him of a deal she made with Cross, before handing back the player's keys. She also helps the player connect his crew members' stories to reveal the true nature of the police intervention: Darius had set up the fateful race to allow him to become head of the dominant crew in Palmont and to drive the player out who was a threat to him. Part of Nikki's deal includes her racing as part of your crew.
The player is then given access to Silverton, the final District the player has to conquer, controlled by Darius's "Stacked Deck". Here Darius is agitated by the player's dominance and recruits the three other major crew bosses to race against the player; part of the deal presumably, providing them with new cars as well. Once the player defeats of all of Silverton's territories, he is challenged to a series of 4 final races, the first two against all three of the other gang's bosses, the 3rd a street duel and the finale; a Canyon Duel with Darius.
After Darius is finally defeated, he grudgingly hands over the keys to his Audi. Darius then leaves without much left to say, but not before giving a final warning that "there's always someone out there who's faster than you are, and sooner or later they're going to catch up." After Darius warns the player, he walks into David's Jaguar XK (which can be used in collector's edition). Finally, Darius and David leave Palmont City forever. (the antagonist in sequences, which are presented as "flashbacks". The first flashback recaps the player's last race before he left Palmont, driving.