Disclaimer: "I do not own Speed Racer, that whole franchise, or anything to do with the movie, the TV show, or anything else that has to do with Speed Racer. I own Nova, the character I created, and any original content that I make her do or say. That is all."

Author's Notes: For those of you who follow me as an author and were expecting this to be an update on the Teen Wolf series that I am continuously working on, I apologize. But sometimes, you need to take a break from particular stories. The Teen Wolf stories are my favorite to write, and I take my time with them to try and do them up right. As such, sometimes it gets a little exhausting. So when I need a break and still feel like writing, I focus on some other projects that I enjoy writing about no less, but don't necessarily feel the need to be as detailed or in depth about.

Now, about this story. For starters, let's get this cleared up. I know nothing about cars. Like... literally anything that would give me any clarity on parts, mechanics, or explaining how any of that works. So in this story, I do not go into any great detail about what goes into making, building, or fixing a car. So, just make sure you don't set your expectations too high on that front. I'm just a hopeless romantic, who saw an opening to create a character for this story, and decided to try and run with it.

Secondly, for those who have read any of my other stories, you already know this. But any breaks in the story, any changes in scenery or jumps forward in time, those are noted by the line breaks that I will be putting in the page to show you we've moved on from a particular location in time. Hopefully, all of that makes sense, and nobody finds it too confusing. (There are no breaks in this first chapter, but there will be some in those that follow.)

To anyone who takes the time to read this, I hope you find it amusing, heartwarming, adorable, and I hope that it at least puts a smile on your face as often as it did mine while I was writing it.

And now, without further adieu, I present to you my story based on the film "Speed Racer". Enjoy!

Chapter 1

In a world where racing was everything, Nova would've fit in beautifully. But, even in this world and this town, racing wasn't 'everything'. It mattered a lot, there was no mistaking that. But it wasn't everything.

It certainly wasn't the sport or franchise that her mother had wanted her to wind up in. In any way, shape, or form. But Nova Harrison had never enjoyed the type of work her mother did. Her mother, Blair Harrison, was a clothing and fashion designer. She designed and fashioned entire outfits for the elite people of the world. Designed it from top to bottom; from the hats and the hair to the shoes on a person's feet.

Nova had never found anything more boring in her life. And her father's job as manager of one of the largest retail outlets in America… well, it wasn't as boring, but it wasn't what Nova wanted either. Her father, Henry, spent a lot of time in his office, solving problems, creating new ones, pacing back and forth. Henry loved his work though, Nova could see that and was happy for him. But when she looked at his office, imagining herself inside of it… she saw it like a cage. She didn't want to be confined to a four-walled office, sitting behind a desk, answering the phone and signing papers all day.

Her mother tried to dress her in the finest of clothes, tried to show off her own talents by dressing them up on her daughter. But after middle school, Nova managed to collect enough of her own clothes to keep a stash everywhere she could end up. As soon as she was out of her mother's sight, gone were the dresses and skirts, and out came the jeans, boots, and tank tops. The only thing she actually enjoyed that her mother had made for her, was a really warm, ruby red jacket. It was slick on the outside, always looking like it had been shined or something. But inside, it was the warmest material anyone could find. Nova did always wear that, when she wasn't working.

It was in high school that she also finally found what it was she enjoyed doing. And it wasn't making dresses or solving problems or answering the phone like her parents would've wished. It was fixing things, building things… things that got her dirty and allowed her to be completely hands on in the creation of something. Not that her mother wasn't hands on… but Nova enjoyed the rougher and more grunt like work that went into mechanics. Particularly… all the work that went into putting a car together to make it run as fast, as smooth, and as perfectly as it possibly could.

She took shop class every single year in high school, and when she went to college, she got a Bachelor's in Mechanics with a minor specifically tailored to vehicle engineering. She got a part time job at a sometimes sketchy car dealership, working on the vehicles that were brought in for maintenance. And with her there to help fix the cars, their approval rating shot up quite a bit.

Not that she was given credit for that. She was always the first one in and the last one to leave. She was always covered, at least somewhere, in grease or oil. Her Caucasian skin often looked a shade darker after she was done with work for the day, due to dirt and grease. And her blonde hair, which was often pulled back in a ponytail, almost always had at least one streak or two of grease and oil in it.

Of course, Nova's luck couldn't hold out forever. She'd managed to pay for her schooling after her parents' wouldn't. She'd managed to find a job on her own, rent an apartment, and live on her own for three years, before the bad finally entered her life.

Royalton Industries, as it turns out, had been paying someone at the dealership to 'slip' on the job as often as he could get away with. And the man was playing his part, so he couldn't understand why people were still coming to get their cars fixed.

They finally planted a bug and discovered that Nova always went back through the vehicles, checking to make sure things were fixed up to her standards. And if they weren't, she fixed them on her own time.

Two weeks later, and several complaints from others on the staff who received a handsome check for their lies, and Nova was fired for being incompetent and incapable of getting along with her coworkers. She lost the apartment a few weeks later, still looking for more work.

To try and make it by while finding another mechanic job, she took a position delivering the post around town. Royalton Industries was making it impossible for her to find a position anywhere else though, and she was very close to just giving up entirely. She wanted to work on cars… but she didn't want to be homeless anymore because she couldn't afford to live anywhere.

And that, of course, is when something good finally happened again.

Nova was delivering the mail to what she was now familiar enough with to call 'The Racer Residence'. She was not happy at all, that she'd been doing this for so long, that she was familiar with the names of the families that lived in every single house she delivered to. Not that they were bad people… just that she didn't want to be doing this.

Today, they had a package that wouldn't fit in the mail box, so she was bringing it to the garage. The head of the household, who she'd only ever heard called 'Pops', had told her whenever that happened, she was welcome to bring it inside there.

Sitting it down on one of the work tables, she paused a moment to take a look at a car sitting in the shop with the hood up. Dark blue from front to back, it looked like it had once been a beautiful machine. Still was, in fact. But there was also a distinct feeling of abandonment to the car.

Nova was still staring at it, when she felt a tug on her shirt. Glancing down, she saw the little boy, Speed was his name, looking up at her. Smiling, he then points to the car and says, "Pops says it's a lost cause. He just can't figure out what's wrong with it." Nova nods, and then bites on her lower lip for a moment, before asking, "You think… you think he'd mind if I had a look at it?" "Sure. He's given up on it anyway."

Nova shed the top of her work uniform, revealing the tank top underneath the white button up suit. She left the pants part on, leaving the top half hanging down behind her, tying the arms around her waist to hopefully keep it out of her way. Pulling her hair into a ponytail, feeling better than she had in a while, she laid down on top of the creeper (the thing you lay on to roll up under the car and take a look); and went to take a look.

Speed had the day off from school that day. And while the rest of his family had gone out shopping, he'd stayed home to watch cartoons, waiting for the post to arrive. He liked their new post lady. She always smiled and waved whenever he came out to meet her. The other one had always been cranky.

Watching her now as she moved around under the car, he asks, "Do you need anything?" "If you know where the socket-wrench is…"

The tool is thrust under the side of the car towards her within seconds, and Nova chuckles before saying, "Thanks. You know where everything is?" "Oh yeah. Everything!" "Good. You wanna give me a hand?" "Yeah!"

She's not sure how long she spends tinkering on the car's undercarriage. She just knows she's probably fired from the post office. But she got to spend her day working on a car, which made her smile. And Speed was adorable, running around the shop like a little lightning bolt, handing her tools and parts almost faster than she could even ask for them.

With one last turn of the wrench, Nova wipes a bit of sweat from her forehead with her arm and says, "Alright Speed. See if you can crank it?" His feet scamper across the floor as he hops into the driver's seat. And as soon as he turns the key, the engine turns over, and purrs like a beautiful kitten.

Smiling contently, Nova begins sliding her way out from under the car. Speed is running around again, shouting excitedly about how the car is working again when they thought it wouldn't run at all.

The hand that reaches down to pull her off the ground when she comes out is surprising. It's most definitely not Speed's. Too big and grownup of a hand to be a child's. Nova's eyes follow the hand up a strong arm and bicep, over the broad shoulder, up the neck and to the face of who she thinks is the oldest son of the Racer family. Rex, if she remembers his name correctly.

He raises an eyebrow when she continues to hesitate, and then smiles gently and reaches down further while saying, "Come on. Promise I don't bite." Nova blushes a little in embarrassment, but accepts his hand and lets him pull her off the floor. That's when she notices Pops walking around the car, looking it over again. The woman standing at the entrance of the garage, whom Nova has only ever heard called 'Mom', smiles gently at her too, and then watches her husband continue to look over the car.

As a throat clears from beside her, she looks up at Rex, and then follows his eyes down to where he looks. At their hands. Because she's still holding his.

Snapping her hand down and wiping against her pants, grease and oil staining the once pristinely white material, Nova moves to grab the rest of the mail she was supposed to deliver, and hurriedly walks back down their sidewalk and on up the street.

The little motorbike she had been given to make deliveries is pushed to the limit that night as Nova scrambles to finish by dark. She pushes it so far that, when she finally is finished, it breaks down about halfway back to the post office.

She was tinkering with her own tools this time, figuring out what was wrong and fixing it, when a car pulled up alongside her on the road. And Nova had dealt with enough of Royalton's men to be wary, her largest wrench held tight in her hand as she waited to see who they were and what they wanted. Nova wasn't an expert in any fighting style, not by any means. She was just scrappy. And she was small and bendy, which made it easier to slip out of peoples' grip. And she was good at simply evading people. She wasn't a coward. She didn't run away, screaming for the hills. But she could make you chase her for hours on end, if she wanted to. She could leave herself just close enough to make you think she was in your grasp… but you'd never actually catch her.

But, for as scrappy as she knew she could be, it was unnecessary. The car contained Pops, Rex, and Speed, who literally jumped out of the car to run up and see her. He hugged her around the waist for a moment, and then grabbed at her hand and says, "Come on! Let's go! Come on!"

Nova, for her part, didn't understand what was happening. She just knew she couldn't come with them. At least, not before she fixed and returned the motorbike. But Speed was still tugging on her arm, insistent that she come now.

And when she asked why, Speed looked up at her and says, "Because dinner is getting cold! Come on!" Dinner? What on earth was he talking about?

Pops and Rex finally joined him, Rex grinning at his kid brother before looking at Nova again. Pops had his arms folded over his chest, but his tone of voice didn't really pack any heat when he said, "You took off before I could thank you. And fixing a car that I'm gonna sell for quite a bit of money demands quite a bit of thanks. For a start, dinner. So, come on."

Nova stares at all of them for a moment, and then says, "Um… I can't. I mean, I'd love to! But… I can't." Gesturing back to the motorbike, smoke still coming off of it, she says, "I've gotta get this back before I'm fired and also sued for stolen property." Speed stops tugging at her hand, and then says, "But you're amazing! You can fix anything!"

Nova blushes brightly and says, "I… wouldn't say that. I'm just good with my hands. Besides, I can't fix it before I know what's wrong with it. I haven't figured that out yet." Rex turns to Pops, nodding his head towards the car before moving back towards the trunk. Pops grins and says, "Well, let's see if we can't shed a bit of light on that."

It takes another fifteen minutes, and the borrowing of some of the tools that Rex brought from the trunk of the car, to fix the bike. Then Nova returns it and hops in the back of the car with Speed to head to the Racer residence.

Mom was keeping everything warm when they arrived, and after having Nova wash up with the others, they all sat at the table to eat the wonderful meal. Nova hadn't eaten a truly full meal in a while. And it must've showed. She'd no sooner finished her first plate, then Mom was taking it away and putting a second one in front of her. She blushed again at how obviously hungry she must've appeared, but she ate it anyway.

When all was said and done, Pops then got down to business. No extra chit-chat anymore. No beating around the bush. The man simply said, "I've been looking for a new mechanic to help out with Racer Motors, but hadn't found anyone who could fit the bill yet. At least, until I saw you fix up the Melange this afternoon. So… if you want the job, it's yours."

Nova could've cried. In fact, she almost did, and had to take a moment to breathe deeply a few times before she nodded and answered, "I'd love to."

But she couldn't just accept it outright. Leaning forward, picking at one of her nails nervously, she takes another breath and says, "But… you should… you should probably know. Royalton Industries… they don't like me."

Speed's eyes widen and he asks, "You pissed off Royalton?!" Mom looks over at him and says, "Language, Speed!" "Sorry Mom. But… how?"

Nova gives a brief overview of how she'd been fired and how Royalton had been making it impossible for her to get work anywhere else. And she also expressed her understanding if they didn't want to hire her and risk pissing off Royalton further.

Pops' only reply was that instead of starting her at eleven an hour, he'd start her at thirteen. And on top of that, there was a spare room down the hall that was hers to stay in, for as long as she wanted.

And that was how Nova came to work for Racer Motors. That is how she became a part of the Racer family.