So to begin with, thanks to guest reviewer Stef for the positive feedback! Now anyways, onto the actual story!
The race was finally going to begin. Ace had returned to the roof of the Committee's office building, and had set up the sniper again. He'd have to be very precise with his shots, cause those bots were expensive and they were hard to come by. The racers were swerving over the asphalt, checking to see if their tires had enough grip and getting psyched up for the race.
The flagman had the flag raised, ready to drop at any moment. Cruz at the moment was near the front of the pack, with Storm as (nearly) always in pole position. Cruz knew that she had this race in the bag, but now that she was on the physical track, she was starting to have second thoughts... Cruz, why are you thinking this way?! Of course you can win this race! Mr. McQueen trained me up to this point to do my best... Cruz's enthusiasm skyrocketed at the last statement. Of course Mr. McQueen would prepare me for this moment! He's a veteran at this!
The flag dropped.
The racers took off, all trying to get first. Storm was pulling ahead of the pack, but Cruz wasn't about to let him get away that easily. She slotted in right behind him and stayed close enough to slipstream him but far away enough for the scene to not look sexual. She saw her speedometer exceed her top speed, a byproduct of slipstreaming the fastest racer on the track. She settled into the grove she had chosen to use for the race, and worked on keeping up with Storm.
Ace, meanwhile, was watching from the top of the building with amazement as he saw Ramirez managing to keep up with Storm. Wow, I underestimated her by a LOT. She's good. Good job, McQueen.
Cruz was still slipstreaming Storm, trying to see if Storm would snap again. If Storm did snap at her, she could use that to her advantage to pass him on, preferrably, the inside. She increased her speed, moving her closer to Storm. Ace saw Cruz move closer to Storm's rear bumper and quickly whipped his phone out to take a few pictures. Adds on to the evidence I'm about to get, thought Ace.
Now, 50 laps out of the 300 had passed, and Cruz was still stuck behind Storm. She'd also had to fend off some of the other Next-Gens, who were on friendly terms with her but competitors nonetheless. She moved to pit, and she saw most of the other racers also moving in to pit. She went to her pit area, and Guido quickly changed her tires and Fillmore started to fuel her up. Lightning spoke up.
"Look, Cruz. I'm thinking we move in to pass Storm. Problem is, if we, Manufacturer forbid, fail to pass him, we could lose a position or two. So what do you think? Play it safe and not get 1st? Or take a risk and probably take first?"
"Yes, I'll try to move in to pass. I'm getting bored of having Storm's rear bumper taking up my line of sight." Fillmore was almost done fueling Cruz up.
"Aren't you taller than Storm...?" She was topped off.
"See ya, Mr. McQueen!" Cruz sped off towards the track, with Storm and the other Next-Gens right behind her. Mr. McQueen was right though... If I'm taller than Storm, why were my eyes being taken over by Storm's rear bumper...? She decided to concentrate on keeping her lead, when Storm suddenly passed her on the outside, and took the pole position. Ngh! Stupid mistake, Cruz! She was still stuck behind Storm, and whenever she tried to pass him, he cut her off.
Back when the racers were pitting, Ace had gotten one of the bots to attach the Storm, but he hadn't gotten Ramirez. He could see Storm's vitals on his phone. Now all I need is Ramirez's vitals. Ace suddenly felt an urgent feeling saying that he had to get the bot attached to Cruz now instead of waiting until she was stationary in the pit area to do it. He readied the sniper with one more bot.
He fired.