Ceres: Grand Prix

Disclaimer: I don't own Cars

Chapter One

Arrival in pit row in Motorspeedway of the South signified, to Lexie, the end of an uneventful season which started much too eventfully for her tastes. She signed on to the communication system, glanced at Mater and Sarge, and looked up at the screen, which showed the racers lining up at the starting line. "You got this, Dad," she said.

"You can race circles around them cars," Mater added.

"He's right. Go get 'em."

"Will do, guys," Lightning said in her ear.

Lexie's eyes drifted to the red lights above the starting line, and then her eyes scanned the crowd, or what she could see of it. A familiar, scarred aquamarine Pacer met her gaze and smiled. She returned the gesture, and Mater said, "Looks like you done got you a boyfriend."

"He's just a friend who helped me out once," she replied. "Least I could do was get him a free ticket to the Piston Cup finals, and if you were smart, you'd have done the same for your girlfriend."

"Well, I did, but she had to go on a mission with Finn, somethin' about talkin' to the Professor and a few important lemons and whatnot."

"Montgomery business, basically."

"Yep, Montgomery business. Ah course, that jus' leaves me and McQueen here to look after you in case anything bad happens."

"And Alex."

"Yer boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend."

The lights flashed green, and the racers took off. "Go McQueen," Mater shouted, making Lexie wince slightly and roll her eyes. Mater was easily, tires down, her father's biggest fan.

Lexie made eye contact with Alex again, and she thought she saw a flash in his eyes, perhaps one of warning. She checked her mirrors and scanned the crowd again. "They're not supposed to be here," she said.

"What?"

"There are cars here that weren't here earlier, and they're not supposed to be here. Something's wrong."

"Whaddaya mean?"

"Look at the entrances." Mater did. "See the black and silver sportscars, and a few of the other cars around them?"

"Yeah."

"Those are Montgomery's personal agents and a few off-duty field agents."

"How'd you know all this?"

"Finn told me how to pick them out in a crowd."

"Oh."

"He's a good car. He looks out for us."

"You better believe it."

Lexie studied the cars clustered at the entrances. Among the typical silver and black cars were the occasional yellow, red, blue, and purple cars. "The cars that aren't silver or black are field agents not on other missions. They probably don't even know what they're here for."

"What's that mean?"

"It means that Montgomery views me as a threat."

"Wow, Finn done taught you a lot."

"Yeah, he did."

CARS

"Thank you for having me, gentlemen," Finn said as he drove into the small conference room in the back of a warehouse owned by the Gremlins. Zundapp was to his left, and the heads of the Four Families eyed him with mixed expressions of anger and wariness. "I wish this could be under better circumstances, but I cannot change what has happened."

"Get on with it," Tubbs hissed.

Zundapp said, "Montgomery has been tracking the Ceres' movements ever since the start of the racing season and has reached the Motorspeedway of the South."

"What's this gotta do with us?" Curby snapped.

"Everything," Finn replied with a quick glance in his mirror. "It's a delicate matter, and while we could be on scene within several minutes with Siddeley's help, we could trigger a volatile situation and cause more damage than if we stay here."

"You're gonna trust a tow truck and a few airheaded racecars?" Tubbs asked.

"Alexa is not airheaded, and as a matter of fact, Mater is much smarter than you give him credit for."

"Gentlecars, please," Zundapp said, rolling between Finn and the lemon heads. "We're not here to argue. We're here to debrief with regard to Montgomery and his agents."

"So let's get to debriefin'," Vladimir replied.

"Very well, if you insist," Finn said.