Chapter Text
The racers were excited for the World Grand Prix. They had some friendly rivalry. They were all friends though. They were waiting to get told to get in position, so they were waiting in a big garage area.
¶ Two best friends, Lewis and Jeff, were trying to explain to Shu that in 'Humans' two pregnant women fighting was like two babies fighting in mechs. The Japanese race car was stuck listening and was mildly disturbed. Rip bumped his top left tire against Francesco's bottom right tire to get to chat with him. Francesco asked about his country with genuine curiosity. Raoul was wishing Miguel and Max good luck. Lightning, Carla, and Nigel enjoyed a nice casual chat.
¶ Raoul went up to Rip and joined in. Francesco bounced excitedly and exclaimed with passion that he would win. His boasting was cut off by Sir Miles Axlerod opening the door, "Ahhh I see all you astounding racers are excited! You all ready to see who is the fastest car in the world?" Miguel drove up to him, "We absolutely are Mr. Axlerod." He rolled back, "Who's with me?!" He revved his engine and the rest of the racers joined in. They all made sweet noise that was filled with anticipation.
¶ Axlerod chuckled, "That is music to my hood. You all will rock it out there today!" He rolled back out, "Get in positions in three minutes." He left the racers alone.
¶ Holley had listened in through a spare headset in the room. She disabled the hack and turned to her spy partner, "Ok Finn... the race starts in five minutes. Calculations should be correct due to the announcers introducing all of the racers." Finn nodded, "Ok. Let's see what that EMP Emitter really does. Professor Zündapp is a weapons maker after all."
Somewhere else in a different building overlooking the race course, two lemons set up a camera. The lemons in question, Grem and Acer, were set to get three cars out of the race. Grem positioned the camera. Acer looked at him, "Who are the targets?" Grem scoured the area, "I'll decide when I see them. The professor wanted to get Miguel out, but the other two are up to us." Acer grinned, "Which ones have not crashed before?" Grem glared at him, "How am I supposed to know?"
¶ The two lemons looked at the garage area when the door opened up. Hundreds of cars cheered as out drove the racers. Brent began announcing the different race tracks and comparing each racer to the different sections of the tracks. Darrell pointed out the dirt track section of the courses and concluded Lightning was the best all around racer in the competition.
¶ Lightning listened to his pit crew. Luigi reminded him to keep his tire pressure under control. Guido was excited for the pit stop. Sarge cheered Lightning on by reassuring him that Lightning can steal the lead at the dirt track section. Fillmore noted that the required fuel, Allinol, tasted strange and not organic. Lightning didn't question why Fillmore tasted his fuel. Mater reminded his best friend to show what Doc taught him on the dirt.
¶ All the racers would need as much motivation as possible due to this track being new to them. It probably wasn't new to Shu, but even he was nervous. Carla smiled in confidence. Lewis taunted Jeff despite having a lower top speed. Francesco revved his engine with excitement. Raoul looked back and flashed everyone a smile. Rip smiled back. The red lights all turned on and the green flashed!
¶ The racers broke out in spectacular fashion. Lightning and Francesco quickly surpassed the other racers, but Lightning took the lead in the dirt. Raoul was close behind him, followed by Max and Nigel.
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The racers were on their second lap already. Grem readied the camera and grinned at Acer. He set the camera's sights on Miguel and turned it up to 75%. The camera started charging up its beam as it filled with red. Next thing everyone knew, Miguel's engine was blown. He rolled his way into the pits. Grem took this opportunity to aim for the slowest car, Raoul. He charged up the camera and fired it off again.
¶ Raoul began spinning out. He crashed into a side beam in a pile of smoke. The crowd gasped on both blown engines. They decided to wait until the final lap to take down anyone else. They set their eyes on Lewis.
¶ It was time. The racers were on their final lap. Acer wanted to do the honors; Grem rolled away from the camera, and Acer took position. He readied the camera's setting to 75% and aimed at the British race car. He laughed as fire erupted from behind Lewis' tires. The crowd gasped when Rip, who was behind Lewis, rammed into him. They spun out and hit a concrete side beam.
¶ Jeff had never braked so hard in his life. He idly sat there for a few seconds and started driving backwards. He watched his side mirror and stopped right around a building. He faced where the racers would be driving from and turned on his headlights. The crowd had gone silent in anticipation and confusion.
¶ They only heard the sound of Jeff's engine revving in warning. Francesco spotted Jeff's lights from across the bridge. Lightning did too. They slowed down a bit. Francesco went to Shu's side, "I don't-a know who has-a their headlights on. They-a are blocking the quickest way to the finish line..." Shu narrowed his eyes and slowed down. Lightning warned Carla of the headlights, and she in turn slowed down to warn Nigel while Shu warned Max. They all came to an agreement, and all the racers slowed to a stop merely yards from Jeff.
¶ Lightning blinked in surprise, "Jeff?! What's going on?" The yellow American car in question kept his eyes narrowed with a determined look in his light blue-grey eyes. He sighed, "I got a bad feeling. Every engine blown just worsened it, so I'm stopping it." Lightning looked at him in disbelief, "What do you mean by that? Where's Lewis and Rip?" Jeff frowned, "Lewis had his engine blow and Rip crashed into him. That's why I decided to take matters into my own tires and stop you guys. You all are at risk."
¶ Shu was the first to stop his engine. The other racers followed his lead. Darrell went on to the microphone, "Where are all the other racers? They seem to have stopped after the crash involving Hamilton and Clutchgoneski!" Brent responded, "Darrell I think you need to clean your windshield. After Jeff reversed all the racers stopped. It must have been him but why?" David butted in, "The press will have to figure that one out with questions. If no one crosses we might not have clear positions for the next race."
¶ Acer scoffed, "That Gorvette car is way too smart. We should get him out in Porta Corsa." Grem nodded in agreement, "He's just playing the good guy."
¶ Finn stared down at the turn, "What happened Ms. Shiftwell? Any clue?" The spy in question pulled up a screen, "Using thermal tracking the racers seem to have stopped at the turn from Rainbow Bridge." Finn looked off into the distance, "Huh... Those blown engines were a bit suspicious, but it is still possible. Call up Siddley, we should get a look at the picture Rod took." Holley nodded and called up the jet plane.