Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Disney. All OCs belong to me.
Chapter 9
By morning, the storm had passed. Sara was still fast asleep when Maru went to find Blade. He wasn't hard to find, as he was busy scolding Dusty for taking off the night before without telling him anything.
"And what do you think might have happened if you'd crashed again, huh?"
"Blade, I know the risks. I was being careful when I flew out."
"Were you now? Huh! Be that as it may, it was still very irresponsible of you. Unfortunately, since you're only here on a visit, I can't officially reprimand you."
Dusty breathed a small sigh of relief.
"I'll leave that up to Mayday," Blade added sharply.
Dusty pouted. Maru cautiously interrupted.
"Blade, I wanna word with you."
Blade grunted. "What about?"
"Sara."
"You can go, Crophopper," Blade told him firmly. Cringing, Dusty headed slowly back to his hanger. Unfortunately for him, Maru and Blade moved well out of earshot. Sighing, he was about to enter his hanger, when he heard Lil' Dipper calling for him.
"Yoohoo! Dustmuffin!"
"Oh, shoot!" Dusty muttered to himself. "Not again!" Moving quickly, he taxied out onto the runway, and he took off. Seconds later, Dipper eagerly followed him into the sky. The smokejumpers watched them leave.
"My money's on Dusty to get away," Avalanche chuckled.
"Nah, I think Dipper will catch him," Blackout added. "He might be a champion air racer, but she's persistent. She'll get him."
…
Meanwhile, Maru and Blade were talking quietly.
"…and she cried herself to sleep last night. Now, you know as well as I do that those trained in the military are discouraged from crying," Maru finished.
"Thank you for your concern, Maru," Blade replied. "As it happens, I know a lot more about Sara and her past than you do. I'm not sure how much I should tell you, but she is grieving. Her commanding officer is coming to talk to her. He should arrive today, actually. In the meantime, we mustn't be too hard on her."
"Are you going to punish her for taking off last night?"
Blade thought for a moment. "Yes. She is going to tell the boy's parents about what she found last night."
Maru frowned. "I don't see how that's a punishment."
"Oh, it will be. Believe me." And with that, Blade moved towards Maru's hanger.
Sara was only just starting to stir when Blade and Maru entered the hanger. She looked at them through sleepy eyes.
"Morning," she muttered.
"We've been waiting for you to wake up," Blade said, frowning. "A small group of us are going to fly down to the lodge, to report what you found last night to Superintendent Jammer. I've already phoned the police. A unit from the missing persons department will meet us there, and they'll take the wheel away for forensic examination."
"Do I have to go?" Sara asked quietly.
"Yes," Blade replied, in his firmest tone.
Sara sighed with frustration. She'd never had to do anything like this before. In all the years she'd been rescuing vehicles at sea, she'd never had to report a fatality. That was until… Sara shook herself. She had to stop thinking about that! And she had to get away from Piston Peak as soon as possible.
…
Later that morning, Blade, Dusty and Windlifter escorted Sara down the valley to the lodge. Sara was shivering as she landed. She'd made her decision. Once she'd delivered her sad news to the boy's parents, she would leave. She knew she could easily overpower the others if need be, but she didn't want to have to resort to violence. Speed would have to be her ally.
Seeing three police investigators parked alongside Superintendent Jammer, Sara almost panicked. Just get through this, and then you can go, she told herself.
"I'm Blade Ranger," Blade said, introducing himself to the investigators. "Where are the boy's parents? We've found something that we're hoping they'll be able to identify."
"They're just over here," Superintendent Jammer said. He indicated to the concierge, who escorted two Mercedes-Benz cars over to the group. Both cars looked extremely concerned, and one of them, obviously the mother, had tear stains on her hood. Sara gulped. She couldn't let anyone see her panic. She had to hold herself together just a bit longer…
"These are the boy's parents," Superintendent Jammer said. He turned towards them. "These aircraft are from our Air Attack team. They've been searching for your son, and they say they've found something they need you to identify."
Trembling, Sara reluctantly opened her cargo bay door. Seeing the broken off wheel and axle, the mother screamed.
"Yes, that is our son's," the boy's father confirmed as he tried to shield his wife from the grim find. "He was wearing 'Ace' tyres when he went missing."
"Thank you," one of the investigators said. He turned towards Blade. "We'll need to know exactly where you found that wheel, so we can continue with the investigation."
"Sara found it," Blade replied.
Sara took a deep breath. She knew she couldn't wait around to help with the investigation, or her cover would be blown. She'd already started to retreat, hoping to make her escape as quickly and as quietly as possible. But first, she had to discreetly remove the boy's wheel…
"LIEUTENANT CHOPPER!"
Sara froze. She knew that voice all too well. Commander Grayson? How on earth did he find me here?
"We need to have a little chat, Lieutenant," Commander Grayson said as he drove into Sara's peripheral vision. "Shall we go somewhere quiet? Or would you prefer to discuss everything out here in the open?"
Sara glanced around. Everyone inside the Fusal Lodge was now watching the exchange. Sara began hyperventilating. She couldn't think. She couldn't move. Her only thought was that she had to get out of there. Fast.
Adrenalin finally kicked in. Moving much faster than she'd ever moved before, Sara whipped around, almost smashing her tail into Windlifter's blades as she made for the exit. The counter-effect of the move was enough to send the missing boy's wheel flying out of her open cargo bay, much to the horror of everyone who saw it.
"LIEUTENANT!" Commander Grayson shouted as he hurried after her. Blade, Dusty and Windlifter quickly followed suit, leaving the police investigators and Superintendent Jammer to deal with the wheel and the horrified guests.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Sara screamed as she powered up her engines.
Realising that he couldn't prevent Sara from taking off, Commander Grayson turned to look for help. Seeing a rope lying beside the runway, he snatched it up and quickly formed a loop in one end. He turned to see Blade and Dusty trying to get in Sara's way to prevent her from taking off. Blade had already powered up his engines as well, ready to take off after her.
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Sara shrieked at Blade. "You told him I was here, didn't you?"
"I was only doing what I knew was in your best interest!" Blade retorted. "You didn't have to go AWOL!"
Sara froze again. Tears were blurring her vision, preventing her from seeing straight. "How dare you," she said in that cold, soft tone that people only use when they're absolutely furious with someone. Blade, taken aback, could only blink. Seizing her opportunity, Sara finally took off. But just as her wheels left the ground, she felt something catch and tighten around her left-hand horizontal stabilizer.
"What are you doing?" Dusty shouted. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"
Sara felt whatever was around her stabilizer slacken. Realising that she was finally free, she took off into the sky. She heard Blade start to follow her, but when he realised that she was flying much too fast for him, he backed off, ending the chase.
…
Blinded by her tears and anger, Sara flew south-west through V6 Valley. She couldn't believe the way Blade had betrayed her.
I hope I never have to speak to him again! she thought as she flew past the entrance to Piston Peak Nation Park. Behind her, the rope that Commander Grayson had lassoed around her horizontal stabiliser, flapped around in the breeze. Suddenly, the rope snagged around a pine tree, causing Sara to come to an abrupt halt.
"Oh, what the…?" she exclaimed, turning around. Seeing the rope, her eyes widened in shock. That could've killed me! She shook her tail around in a vain attempt to dislodge the rope, but it was too tight. She tried again, taking note that not too far below her was the river that had its origins at Upper Whitewater Falls.
While Sara was struggling to free herself, she thought she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. Pausing for a moment, she hovered to take a closer look. At first, she couldn't see anything. But then, laying on its side amid the rocks on the river's bank, Sara saw a small dark-green car.
It was the missing boy!
