Author's note: I've never seen any of the Cars franchise. I've only read about it and read fan fiction for it. Furthermore, based on what I've read for Cars 2, I don't like Cars 2. Spoilers ahead: I think it's hypocritical of Pixar to kill off one character whose voice actor died but not to kill off another character whose voice actor also died. Plus, of course they killed off the one character I gave a damn about in Cars 1. I also don't like the deaths I've read about in Cars 2 (the torture death is disturbing to me). To be fair though, I do like the characters they introduce in the second one, and I like some of the concepts. I just don't think it's executed very well. So, I'm pretty much writing my own version of Cars 2 and changing the canon in my head. As a warning, given the above, except this story to probably contain OOC, a mary-sue (depending on how well or badly I write her, knowing my luck it'll probably be badly), and multiple slash pairings, including: Lightning/Doc Hudson, Finn/Rod Redline, Chick Hicks/Sheriff (yes, I know, pure crack pairing!). As well, I'm putting the highest rating on this just in case. As such, I'm already expecting plenty of flames. I don't mind. I'd even be delighted if this ended up as a FFF. So, on that note, flame away! As an extra note: unlike the human character in here, I do think the cars look cute. Granted, the world they live in is completely illogical, but the characters look cute.

Chapter 1

Atrius Vin absent-mindedly chewed on her fingernails as she stood outside of the large warehouse. The double doors dwarfed the girl as they stood open against the red sky. The outline of New London was a dark blot on the horizon to her left. Weeds and decaying human bodies cracked and mottled the concrete parking lot around the warehouse.

Suddenly, a gust sent Atrius' skirts and petticoats fluttering. She could smell the acrid and bitter scent of incoming rain. Dark red clouds rose up in the distance. Streams of red mist floated like gauze beneath the clouds. Atrius sighed and marched into the warehouse. On the inside wall besides the doors, she pushed a large red button. The doors creaked closed and light flickered down from the overhanging lamps. Beneath the button a holographic panel popped into existence. Atrius gestured and swiped along the panel until she heard a crackling buzz. Through the small side window above the button, she could see the eerie green glow of a shield surrounding the part of the building the window looked out of. Atrius swiped with her hand again, and a communication window fazed in alongside the panel. A few colored squares shifted and rearranged themselves until a stable picture of a man's head formed.

A large white helmet encircled the man's head. A visor spanned the length of the helmet's front, shielding the man's eyes from view. On the side of the helmet were the letters NLMP, with a picture of a crown and shield underneath the letters. The man's lips were frowning.

"Report, Vin!" The man said.

Atrius nodded.

"Large rainstorm spotted off the Calgary sector. Smell indicates high acid content still persists within the stratosphere. Morning inspection confirms all weapons awaiting decommission accounted for. As of yesterday evening, plant life in this area contains only what is commonly known as weeds. All plant life outside of the shielding is expected to die if the rainstorm moves over this area. Building H has been secured in anticipation of the possible rain event. As of this morning's inspection, the germ and virus population in the test corpses has leveled off. With treatment, fertilization using the bodies is still feasible." Atrius quivered slightly as she spoke the last couple of sentences. The man gave a curt nod in answer.

"Situation acknowledged. Unless the rain is persistent, evening inspections will continue as normal. Wear your hazmat suit as a precaution." The man said. The communication window disappeared. Atrius tapped a few times on the panel image, and then the panel vanished as well.

Atrius peered through the side window. The clouds now blocked any view of the sky she had been able to see. A second later, and she could hear a continuous tapping and sizzling noise. Red mist clouded everything outside of the shield's purview. Atrius could just make out the dim outline of weeds wilting and turning to mush underneath the rain.

Atrius sighed as she turned away from the window and gazed at the interior of the warehouse. Large black shapes littered the floor. Most of these shapes were silent in the dim light. A few dozen still hummed. She wandered around the shapes, almost dancing. Several Light Infantry Personal Control Robots seemed to glare down at her with their v-shaped visors. Atrius ducked beneath the nose of a Drone Automatic Fighter Jet and gazed up at a full sized Heavy Personal Control Robot. She could feel herself shaking. This particular HPCR was marked with a holographic yellow triangle that matched the upside down one on her forehead. Atrius hummed a few notes under her breath, and the HPCR began to look ragged at the edges. A few more notes, and the HPCR seemed to start dissolving into bits of light. Atrius' trembling and humming stopped. The HPCR still looked ragged around the edges, but it wasn't dissolving anymore.

Atrius turned away. Nearly all of the silent machines were marked with the same holographic yellow triangle. She eyed each of them. A bright white light abruptly bathed the area. Atrius crouched as a booming thunderclap ripped through the area a few seconds later. She slowly unclasped her hands from her ears and lifted up her head. The overhead lights flickered and then steadied.

Atrius moved toward a dingy brown door at the far side of the room. She undid the deadbolt and latches with the key set jangling from her right secondary belt. A set of stairs vanished into darkness. Atrius sidled onto the top stair. A few light bulbs above her head sputtered on. Atrius descended the stairs while lights overhead lit up with her advance. At the bottom of the stairs a red and white door blocked her path. A square sign rested on the door's top half. It read:

Warning! Emergency Secondary Portal and Power Systems! Only Authorized Personnel

Permitted!

Atrius undid the seven deadlocks and latches on the door and forced the door open. She stepped beyond the door and into a small room. Holographic panels and large consoles cluttered the space. Atrius swiftly stepped over to the consoles lined with blue plastic. She pattered away on an ancient keyboard and tapped on a series of panels. A large viewing screen faded into view above the panels in the center of the room.

"Emergency Tertiary Power Systems online. Instantaneous backup to Secondary Power Systems confirmed. Please input authorization code." A computer voice droned over several speakers situated throughout the area.

"Authority code Theta Psi 75323a40975." Atrius said.

"Please identify." The computerized voice said.

"Inspector Atrius Vin, code identity 039hb4058933."

"Identity and voice id match. Identity confirmed. Authorization confirmed. Tertiary Power Systems backup established. Safety locks confirmed. System Analysis started. Please stand by." The computer hummed as many power outputs, performance analysis outputs, and mapped system data stream outputs popped up on numerous holographic screens. Atrius stared at her shoes.

Atrius lifted her head and cocked it to the right as she heard a squeaking sound. She crouched down and peered beneath the consoles to her right. Out of the corner of her eye, Atrius thought she saw a bit of shadow moving beneath the consoles on the far side. She slowly crawled over to the consoles decorated with red plastic. The shadow crept into the light. It was a giant mouse.

Atrius felt the corners of her mouth lift in a huge grin. Her eyes lit up.

"Hello there. We thought you were extinct! The council will be happy to hear you aren't." Atrius said.

The mouse was at least twice the size of a normal mouse. Its fur was ragged and bits of it were missing. It had naked and sharp paws with wrinkled skin. A large pink tail with ridges curled around the mouse. The mouse had two large sharp front teeth. Its eyes looked like tiny black glass beads. Atrius held her finger out to the mouse. The mouse snarled back at her, and scampered away.

"Oh damn." Atrius said.

Atrius stood back up, and wandered back to the blue-lined consoles. She rocked back and forth on her feet as the numbers on the outputs rapidly changed. She slowly crept back to the red consoles and examined the shadows underneath the console banks. She gradually sank down to her knees and peered beneath the consoles with her hand on a console for support. Atrius leaned further beneath the console and felt her finger graze a button. The red consoles lit up.

"Oh fuck!" Atrius said, and then promptly banged her head on the underneath of a console as she tried to scramble to a standing position. She rubbed her head as she ducked back down.

"Well that hurt." She said.

Atrius swiftly stood up, gazing about the various holographic screens activated on the red consoles. She could hear a buzzing that was getting louder in intensity.

"Weapons selected. Parallel dimension selected. Project Colony activated. Emergency deactivation blocked. Please stand by." Atrius gaped as a deep computer voice spoke.

"What the-what the hell is this?" Atrius said, before rapidly activating a series of programs and emergency signal. Atrius looked up as a large hole appeared in the center of the room. Wind rushed past her into the hole. At the distant end of what looked like a tunnel, she could see a desert environment. She swiveled around as several loud bangs erupted from behind the entrance door. She heard clattering, and then even closer bangs. The door burst open, and Atrius ducked as several weapons flew past her, shrunk, and escaped into the portal.

"Damn!" Atrius said before leaping into the speedily shrinking portal. Behind her, the red consoles shut down.

"Large power drain detected on Tertiary and Secondary Power Systems. Please begin an emergency systems check. Authorization required…..authorization required…sending emergency signal to headquarters…..signal sent…authorization required…" The computerized voice droned.

Doc Hudson groaned as he lumbered into his garage. He sighed as he moved his tires to a horizontal position and rested on his frame. His gaze lingered on the multiple dents and cuts that littered his hood. There was a particularly deep one near his right eye. He could see the impression of tire treads in it.

"Hey! Hey Doc!" Doc groaned and rolled his eyes, before wearily rubbing at his passenger side front window with his right front tire.

"Doc! Doc, how're you feeling?" Lightning McQueen, current winner of three Piston cups, practically careened into Doc's garage.

"I feel exactly how I felt 30 seconds ago, two minutes ago, and five minutes ago. Exactly the same. Don't you have anyone else to fuss over?" Doc said, still rubbing at his window.

"No one else looks like they got run over with a semi." Lightning said and then dropped his gaze to the floor. "Thanks, by the way."

Doc rolled his eyes. "Will you get over this guilt complex of yours, already? That's the 17th time you've said thank you in two days. Not to mention the several times you've said it in the last several weeks."

Lightning looked up at Doc, his eyes wide. Doc's gaze softened.

"Look Rookie, I'm all right. I'll get the dents fixed soon. Why don't you go hang out with Mater, or Sally?" Doc said, raising himself up slightly on his front wheels. Lightning glanced around the clinic.

"Hey, what's that?" Lightning said, pointing at something out of Doc's eyesight range.

"Lightning, I can't possibly see what 'that' is way over there, when I'm way over here." Doc said, once again rubbing at his window with his right front tire while leaning on his left front wheel and keeping his back tires flat on the ground.

Lightning bounded over to the object and bought it back to Doc. It was a small thin square tablet. It looked like it should have been crushed in Lightning's tire. On the front was a blank screen. Doc gently took it from Lightning, and turned it over in his tires. On the back was a Red Cross insignia next to a blue rod of Asclepius. Both of these symbols were enclosed in a giant white wrench. Doc turned the object back over in his tires. Doc narrowed his eyes.

"I've never seen this before." Doc said. Lightning opened his mouth. Before he could get his sentence out, the screen lit up.

"Initializing a repair sequence." A female computerized voice drawled loudly.

"What in the-" Doc said right before being doused in a blue, transparent, and quivering light emanating from the screen. The tablet clanged onto the floor as Doc fell over sideways.

"Doc!" Lightning frantically rushed up to Doc before rushing out of the garage while calling the Sheriff's name.

Atrius peeked around the side of the garage as the red car sprinted out; calling for what she presumed was the town's sheriff. She crept forward into the coolness of the building. Sweat fell down her face and parts of her bodice. She slunk past the blue car and shuddered as she looked at where its eyes had been. The car was tilted on its side and dark blue metal replaced its eyes. Atrius shuddered again. She reached down and deftly picked up the All Repair Emergency Repair Module from where the blue car had flung it. She could hear voices in the distant. The red car sounded panicked. There were several other voices with the red car's voice.

Atrius hastily ran out of the garage and hid behind its wall. She poked her face out, and watched as several cars gathered outside of the garage's entrance. They all had eyes, mouths, and tongues. Atrius pressed a hand to her mouth and gulped. The other cars somehow managed to maneuver the blue car onto a wooden platform on wheels. A rusty light blue tow truck began hauling the blue car away. A police car sped alongside the tow truck with its siren wailing. The red car accompanied them. Atrius crept around to the back of the building as the other cars closed it up and rolled away. She could hear them whispering quietly amongst themselves.

Atrius slowly sank down to a sitting position. The visor her forehead's triangle had projected still displayed a power surge in the area. She looked down at the repair module. There was a crack running down through the screen. A yellow holographic triangle glinted on the upper right corner. The screen flickered on and off. Atrius softly sang. The tablet dissolved into particles of light that darted inside of Atrius. The visor disappeared.

"I don't understand. They all have eyes, and tongues! They all have muscles. It's…disturbing. Why do they all look like they're from the 19th century? Or was that the 20th century? 21st? Well, sometime around there. I was never that great with history anyway…oh, it doesn't matter! They're cars…with muscles! What the fuck?" Atrius took a few breaths. "I wish I didn't have to destroy that repair module. It could have come in handy."