Episode 9 - The Hit-Run-Rise Theory
Julie threw her bag to the ground as soon as she entered the Burner garage. Tears clouding her eyes, she didn't even acknowledge the guys and left right for her room. The guys watched all this happen and were frozen in shock.
"Uhhh..." Dutch said mumbling. Claire sighed worriedly.
"Oh no." she said under her breath so nobody could hear. She took off after Julie while the boys watched the whole thing unfold. Mike was the first to ask the question they were all wondering.
"What's up with Jules?" he asked turning to everyone. Everyone shrugged and continued to work away on whatever they were doing, simply assuming it was 'girl things'. Mike however thought it was different. Claire ran out of the room a few minutes later in an angry mood.
"Are all the girls PMS-ing today?" Dutch asked. Claire shot him a death glare causing him to cower.
"NO! That's not it!...It's worse than that." she said sounding almost heartbroken. Mike turned to her.
"Is this about Julie?" he asked; his eyes coated with worry. She nodded slowly biting her lower lip.
"Yeah. It's just a family problem. A big one!" she said rubbing her arms. "I came out here to let you know to go easy on her and try to cheer her up when you can." she nodded and then ran back to the room. Mike thought for a moment.
"I wonder what it could be..." he said thinking. The boys shrugged and again went back to what they were working on, but Mike's mind still wandered.
Julie ran into her room and flew face-first onto the bed. Her father knew why, Claire knew why, however the Burners; the people closest to her, didn't. Today was the anniversary of her mother's death. Her father always refused to tell her how and why her mother died; Julie always thought it was something simple like a cold or a heart condition or something. But not even 10 minutes ago her whole world changed.
"Hey Dad!" Julie had said walking into the room. She had slept in Deluxe for the night, not wanted to draw suspicion from her Dad for sleeping at Claire's for almost a full week in a row. He smiled weakly and turned to her.
"Julie, do you know what day it is today?" Julie's face fell as she nodded.
"Yes...Mom's anniversary. How can I forget?" she said gesturing to the bouquet of flowers she had set up not even half an hour ago. It had a picture of her mother above it and a small card underneath she had wrote herself. Her father nodded and turned to her; his face draped with worry.
"Julie, I think it's time I tell you how your mother passed away." Julie's heart stopped but she nodded. She felt that she was ready to hear this. Kane took a deep breath before speaking.
"After you were born; you had been alive for around a week or two, your mother went out one night. She went out with some friends of her's to have a late 'baby shower' since they couldn't have one when she was pregnant with you. She was too busy buying baby outfits and toys for you. She was so excited you were on the way!" he said with a small chuckle at the memory. Julie gave a warm smile, she could imagine her mom's happy face as her father spoke.
"They went out and had fun! You're mother had-not even a full glass of wine before they decided to go on a walk." Her father gulped and Julie braced herself for the worst.
"They were crossing the street a drunk driver slammed into her. Her head shattered through the windshield and glass shot through her neck..." he chocked saying those words as Julie's eyes clouded with tears. "While they were waiting for the paramedics one of her friends tried to speak to her. Your mother's last words were: 'I am not afraid to die. Promise me that little Julie will be safe.'" Julie bit her lip on that last line. "And then she was gone." Julie nodded and looked to the ground.
"Wow..." was all she could say. Kane nodded and patted her shoulder.
"That's why I created Deluxe. So that wouldn't happen to you." he laughed. "That's also why I want to take down Chilton." he smiled and looked his daughter in the eyes. "Now, go have fun. Your mother would want you to." Julie looked up, nodded and left the room. She didn't dare look at the flowers she set up; she would have lost it. The second the door closed behind her, she broke down.
Those last words her mother said rang over and over again in her head. She was crying face first into a pillow unable to function after what she was just told. Claire walked in and she told her the whole thing. Claire left again but later returned.
"How are you holding up Julie?" she asked. Julie turned to face her. Claire handed her a cold wash cloth for her red eyes and she gladly accepted. It calmed her and her breathing.
"I'm going to figure this out." Julie said after a moment of awkward silence. Claire have a questioning glance at her friend. Julie knew what she was doing without looking and finished her thought. "I'm going to figure out who did this to my Mom. I will. And they will be punished." she said balling her fists. Claire placed a hand on her forehead and another on her hand.
"Let's just relax for a moment OK?" she said with a slight laugh in an attempt to calm her friend. Julie relaxed for five more minute before she slowly sat up and headed for the door. "Julie?" Claire called. Julie stopped to face her friend. "Before you go, at least talk to the guys. They've been worried." Julie nodded and left. Claire actually wanted her to go and talk with the guys so they could cheer her up and maybe help her relax a little. Hopefully, they would.
"Hey guys." Julie said entering the room. Mike flipped around as fast as lightning and faced her.
"Are you OK?" he asked trying and failing to sound casual. She weakly smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, just family stuff. I'll get over it." she said sitting down. Claire smiled and made massive arm movements behind Julie's head to indicate they should cheer her up. She made driving motions to suggest that they talk about driving; something Claire knows Julie loves. Dutch was the first to clue in, although he thought she was referring to Kane and making fun of him; which the Burners do a lot.
"So...did you guys hear that Kane made an announcement to Deluxe today?" Dutch asked. Claire froze slightly not knowing where this was going.
"Yeah, something about his wife or something." Claire and Julie's eyes widened at the mention. Claire made motions to stop talking but none of them saw, they were already off.
"Please how could Kane EVER get a wife?" Dutch asked with a small laugh making Julie twitch.
"She must have been really stupid, I mean MARRYING KANE?!" Chuck asked. Claire watched as her friend clenched her fist and held back tears.
"Who is this girl? That's so-" Julie slammed her fist on the table before Mike could finish. Mike insulting her family; that was the last straw. The Burners looked at Julie and Claire who both had a hurt expression on their faces. Julie forced back the tears as she looked up at her teammates.
"Shut up." she said quietly. She squeezed her eyes closed and moved her shaking hands away from the table. "Just leave me alone." she said turning for the door. Mike saw her pain and grabbed her hand before she could leave. She shook it out and couldn't look at him because the tears were already flowing down her cheeks. "Just...leave me alone!" she said bursting out the door. Claire placed her head in her hands.
"Oh Julie..." she said trailing off with Mike watching in pain as Julie ran off into the night.
"I promise Mom...I will figure out who did this to you. I promise." she said getting into 9 Lives and driving away. "I promise." she said tearing up again. Suddenly, in a flash of light everything went black.
Claire was pacing back and forth in the Burner room with the other Burners except Mike watching her. Mike had his head down on the table in thought. He was trying to figure out why Julie ran off. 'What's wrong with her family? Is she OK? What made her upset? Was it me?' Millions of questions were giving him a headache but he couldn't seem to stop thinking about it.
"Claire, would you stop? You're going to indent the floor." Dutch said gesturing to the pattern she was walking in repeatedly This had to be the 78th time at the least she had followed that pacing path. Claire sighed and was about to make a snarly comment when her watch communicator buzzed and she knew it was Kane. She slapped her hand over it and ran into the bedroom locking the door behind her. She slowly removed her hand and as suspected, Kane came on asking for Julie. She smiled; glad that she didn't blow her cover.
"Hello Claire! I was wondering if you knew where Julie was? She isn't answering." A struck of fear hit Claire but she shook her head.
"No I don't." she responded; all she knew was that Julie left to figure out what happened to her mother.
"Well, I have a great idea on how to illuminate Motorcity for good! And I wanted to see what she thought!" Claire saw an opportunity and took it.
"What is it? If I may ask." she asked politely.
"Well apparently there was a car accident in Motorcity today. A bright yellow car crashed with a drunk driver." Claire's mind went blank. "I realized something, why don't we take down Motorcity with cars! They seem to be very destructive!" Claire slowly nodded.
"Sounds great." she said blankly. He laughed.
"Yes I thought so too! Well I've got to run! Tell Julie to come home whenever!" then he signed off. Claire placed her hands to her face almost frozen. Then she dashed out of the room. The Burners followed her as she ran.
"Ugh not you too!" Texas almost yelled. Mike turned to face her; very curious to what was going on.
"It's Julie." she said grabbing everyone; especially Mike's attention. "I think she was hit in a car crash."
As they sped down to the hospital more questions boggled Mike's head but he pushed them all to the side as he focused on getting to the medical building. Motorcity wasn't fancy enough to have a hospital, so if you couldn't treat something yourself you would go to this little building where they have doctors and nurses and they would fix you up.
Once they arrived they all ran inside. Claire was the first to speak.
"We are here to see a girl with long red hair that was in a car crash this afternoon. She was driving a yellow car." a nurse pointed to a specific room and Claire made the boys wait outside while she went in first.
She took a deep breath and slowly turned around after she had closed the door behind her. The worst thing Julie had was a broken ankle and some brain damage. She took a small sigh realizing her friend wasn't in critical condition. She had a small bruise on her left cheek and one in the corner of her forehead mostly covered by hair. She had a small slice on her lip, but it wasn't deep enough to need stitches. She sighed happily.
"Thank god you're OK!" she said kneeling beside her friend. Suddenly Julie's eyes fluttered open and turned to see her friend. They made eye contact for a short moment before Julie said her name.
"C-Claire?" she said and Claire nodded.
"That's me! How are you feeling?" she smiled.
"Well, I have no clue what happened but I remember everything up to storming out of the Burner garage." she said with a slight frown. Claire stood with a serious face.
"Julie, you were hit by a drunk driver." Julie's eyes widened.
"Just like my mom? My gosh..." she said fading off. Claire nodded and smiled and let the boys in. Julie stood off of her bed and smiled at all of them. Mike felt a pang in his chest seeing Julie all wrapped in bandages from things they said. He felt extremely guilty. A nurse walked in and stopped them before they could say anything.
"She's free to go home. Just make sure she takes pain killers and drinks lots of water." she said happily.
The gang voted for Julie to ride with Mike, Claire with Dutch and Chuck with Texas. While they were in the car, Mike couldn't help but ask.
"Hey Jules," he began making Julie look at him. "W-..." he stopped for a moment. "What did we say that made you so upset?" Julie froze for a moment.
"Uhh...well uhh...you see.." she said stuttering. Mike looked at her suspiciously. "It's my Mom!" she blurted out and then instantly gave herself a mental slap for letting that slip out. "She...loved my Dad...but they just got...divorced!...Today...and that's why I was upset. When you guys were slamming Kane and his wife...it just... brought back memories!?" she said faking the whole thing and attempting to make it sound believable. Mike didn't believe the whole thing but nodded anyways.
"Makes sense." he said. Julie sighed glad that she had fooled them. While Mike didn't believe her, he wasn't going to pry.
He just knew one day he would have to find out.
The only thing Julie was worried about, was blowing her cover to her father. She got Claire to put makeup over her cuts and bruises. She wore big boots and wore a small hat to hide the bandages she had to keep on for a week before she could take them off. Claire said she looked fine and then sent her up to Deluxe. Julie's plan was to try to convince Kane to not unleash the bots today because Julie was out of commission, and she knew just the way to do it. When she reached the KaneCo. building the limped slightly because of her ankle and her father noticed.
"What happened Julie?" he asked about to take her boot off.
"Nothing!" she said quickly making her father back up. "Just...was helping Claire make an outfit and tripped on...a pair of her shoes..." Julie thought it was sad about how often she had to lie to her loved ones. But figured it needed to be done. Kane slowly nodded; buying the story.
"Well Julie, I'm going to unleash a army of rigged cars into Motorcity! The Burners are toast!" he said with a laugh. Julie placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Dad, can we just...honor Mom's life today?" she said gesturing to the bouquet of flowers she had set out. "I wanted to have a nice dinner with you and me. You know, be happy we have each other!" she gave her father puppy dog eyes and he finally caved in.
"Cancel the attack!" he called out. "I need to have an evening with my daughter!" she gave her father a weak smile as he lead her to the door. He left to go get ready; leaving Julie all alone in the room. She glanced over at her flower display and read the card she had layed out for her Mom; forgetting what she wrote because of her crash.
"To my mother, role model, savior and hero. A woman who died protecting those she loved. I love you Mom, I hope you're angel wings are beautiful like you." Julie wiped away a tear after reading the note and placed it back on the roses. She then left with the image of her smiling mother in her head.
She decided that she didn't want to know who killed her mom. Now that she had been in her mother's shoes all she wanted was to honor her life. She didn't want to hurt more people because of this accident; her mother wouldn't want that. Her mother would want her to be happy.
Forever.
CREDITS:
Created By: Chris Prynoski
Originally Produced By: Titmouse and Disney XD
Written By: tayrox
Ideas By: CMR Rose
NOTES:
So apparently, every day I post a new chapter I get pretty much 200 views that day...holy cow.
So in case you guys didn't see the update I put in the into I wanted to give you all an update on my friends. My BFF had her surgery on Tuesday and it went somewhat well. Her lung collapsed and so she may be in the hospital a day longer then expected. My friend who is never at school, no news on her and my friend who was in a car crash is doing well. She still can't walk and I noticed today that she had a huge gash on her head where she had to get surgery so yeah.
And my sister is still being an asshole.
Thank you to everyone who sent their prayers and wishes! My fans keep me strong! :3
Love youuuuu!
PREVIEW FOR NEXT EPISODE:
Kane manages to take over Mike's body and uses him to destroy Motorcity. How will the Burners be able to save him and the town they love?
"Must...kill...all...Burners..." Mike's robot voice said grasping Julie's throat and lifting her off the ground. She screamed.
"No! Mike, stop!" she cried. Mike's eyes glowed red as a saw was lifted to her neck and began to boot up; spinning faster and faster. She squealed and tried to fight back tears. She then remembered the only way she could stop the machine. She looked around and saw all of her friends injured and bleeding, all the cars just rubble, and their Burner garage a disaster.
"Destroy..." Mike said nearing the blade to her neck. Julie's heart was thumping in her chest. It was a long shot, but it just might work.
"Mike don't do this...I LOVE YOU!" she screamed.
All went silent.
COMING SOON