Axlerod quickly noticed the spies. He and the others stopped lowering their victim into the volcano so he could address them. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the spies that stopped me before!"

Finn was quick to get to business. "What are you doing to those race-cars?"

"I'm glad you asked. We plan on lowering these race-cars into the la-"

"Magma," Professor Z interrupted.

The lemon sighed. "We plan on dropping these race-cars into the magma and killing them painfully!"

"No wonder Miss Hibiscus knows about them lemons," Mater mentioned to Finn. "It's because they're here!"

Axlerod overheard Mater. "Ah, Hibiscus. I see you got her letter. That's good. Now I would like to let you know that Hibiscus is not real; we wrote the letter so you could come here."

Mater was extremely confused. "I don't get it, Finn. Why would them lemons lead us to where their hiding?"

Finn thought for a moment. "I don't know, Mater. Unless they plan on killing us."

"That is the reason!" Professor Z replied.

As the other cars spoke, Holley drove over to the edge of the volcano and looked into it. Francesco noticed Holley. "Please a-help Francesco! He does-a not want to a-die! Nor does he a-want to suffer!"

Just as the Italian finished his plea for help, a lemon started up his engines and drove towards Holley, hoping to push her into the volcano. But Holley's reflexes were too quick. She drove out of the way, and the lemon fell into the volcano. Holley and Francesco watched the lemon in the magma as he screamed in agony. Holley was horrified at the sight. Francesco was also horrified, and he became so terrified that he stopped his usual third-person references. "Please-a save me! I do-a not want that to-a happen to-a me! I do-a not want to-a suffer! I don't-a want to-a die! Please-a save me!"

Holley felt extremely sorry for the Italian. "Don't worry, I'll save you!"

"We'll try to save him."

Holley looked up, and saw Finn. "What do you mean by that? We will save him!"

Unlike Holley, Finn was thinking logically rather than emotionally. "That might not be possible, Holley. They already have him over the magma. Chances are we won't be able to save him. We will probably just have to let them kill him, and save the rest."

Holley was nearly in tears. "But what about the promise?"

"What promise?"

"The one we made to Mrs. Bernoulli! We promised her that we would return her son to her - alive!"

"Holley, you know that it's very dangerous to make promises as a spy! Like I said, we'll try to save him! But as I also said, the chances of doing so are very low! If he dies we'll just have to tell her that we're very sorry and that we tried to save him!"

"But Finn, we have to save him! Look at how frightened he is!"

"I see, Holley, and I do feel bad for him. However, emotion should not dictate our decisions! Our rescue plan should be based on logic, not emotion! It might not be possible to save them all, and if that's the case we should at least try to save as many of them as we can!"

Axlerod was rather distracted by the arguing. He looked over to Mater. "Do they argue like this all the time?"

Mater thought for a moment. "Nope...in fact, this is the first time I ever heard them argue."

"Really? That's interesting. I must say, you're not really what I would consider to be...well...spy material, if you know what I mean-"

Professor Z, who had been watching the entertaining argument, noticed his comrade talking to Mater. "And why are you talking to him?" he asked. "He may look innocent, but remember he is our enemy!"

"And why are we not lowering that annoying Italian into the volcano?" Chick asked. "I want him dead!"

Axlerod looked at the green race-car. "Because we got distracted by the arguing - which, I will admit, is entertaining." The other lemons nodded in agreement. "But we should continue." The lemons just looked at their leader. "Now!" The lemons did as they were bidden.

Finn realized that action must be taken quickly, and that having a Logic verses Emotion argument was doing no good. "Holley, you go save the race-cars, while I stop the lemons! Remember, save as many of them as you can!" Finn drove off toward the group of lemons that were not holding the rope.

Holley drove over to the frightened race-cars. She looked back, and saw Mater looking down into the volcano. She also heard Francesco crying. An idea popped into her head. "Mater, use your towing skills to save him!"

"Yes, Miss Holley!" Mater quickly attacked his hook to Francesco's undercarriage.

The Italian race-car was completely caught by surprise when the hook attached to him. "MAMA MIA!"

"Sorry, just savin' your life!" Mater dragged the Italian out of the volcano.

Holley drove over. As she loosened the rope from Francesco's middle, she spoke to Mater. "Great job Mater! You saved him! Ok, now I need you to get him something to drink!" Mater did as he was bidden. Luckily, there was some fuel nearby. He grabbed it and drove back to his girlfriend.

Francesco, who still had tears flowing down his cheeks from his crying, was in a state of shock. Holley gave him a few moments to recover, then gave him the drink. "Alright, once you finish that you'll need to drive off as quickly as possible."

The Italian finished his drink quickly. "Francesco a-thanks you so much for-a saving his life."

"You're welcome! Now escape, quickly!"

Francesco drove off at full speed down the mountain, glad that he was rescued and alive.

Holley then drove over to the other race-cars. They cheered as she arrived. "Oh, thank goodness, you've come to rescue us!"

"You're our hero!"

"We're grateful that you came!"

"I was afraid that it would be the end of us! But now that you're here I know that's not the case!"

"And for a moment there I thought that it would've been the end of Francesco Bernoulli's life. But you and your American friend saved him at the nick of time! Now save our lives!"

Holley tried to calm the race-cars down. "Relax, I know you're all happy to see me, but if you want to escape you must keep quiet."

But their cheers caught the attention of the rest of the lemons, and they drove over towards Holley and the race-cars. Finn noticed, and drove after them, shooting at them as he did so. Finn was a very accurate shooter. Five out of six times he shot a lemon. Just as he scared the rest of the lemons away, he found keys. He tossed them to Holley. "These are probably the keys to the chains! The lemon that had it must of dropped it while attempting to escape."

Holley tested the keys on the chain attached to Raoul. It unlocked. "Yes, this is the key! Now guys, listen closely. Once I get the chains off of you, you are to drive down that volcano as fast as you can, and meet up at the same spot so that we can take you home. Also try to find Bernoulli. I forgot to tell him to meet you guys somewhere. But don't bring him back, just have him stay with you. Got it?"

"Yes," all of the race-cars replied.

Holley finished getting the chains off of Raoul. "Good, now go!" Raoul drove down the volcano as Holley started to take the chains off of another race-car.

Meanwhile, Finn continued to fight the lemons. At first, the lemons were determined to fight. But their opinions quickly changed. Finn managed to shoot most of them, and a few of them even exploded. Those that were still alive gave up. Grem waved a white flag. "Please, sir, we...we surrender. Don't...kill us, please!"

Finn ignored the lemons. He drove up to Holley, whom was finishing with unlocking the last chains of the last race-car. "I see you got them all freed. That's good."

Holley smiled at Finn. "Yes, and I was even able to save Bernoulli - with Mater's help, of course."

"You did? That's excellent!"

"And I thought that you said it wasn't possible."

"Yes, but...I almost forgot that Mater was with us. If he wasn't with us it would've been impossible. But thanks to him it was, and I'm glad. Speaking of him, where is he?"

Mater was at the edge of the volcano, surrounded by Professor Z, Axlerod, and Chick. Finn and Holley drove up, weapons ready.

Axlerod wasn't intimidated. "So, it's come to this. Go on, shoot us. But if you miss, you might shoot your little friend here. Do you want that to happen?" Both spies shook their heads. "I thought so."

Chick, on the other hand, was intimidated by the weapons. He drove off down the mountain as fast as he could.

Mater took the chance of the opening to escape. Before the two lemon leaders could do anything about it, Mater was with Finn and Holley.

Professor Z realized that this was the end. But he hoped he could convince the spies to let them live. "Please, Finn, Holley, Mater, let us live! We promise this will never happen again!"

"Promises are dangerous to spies," Holley replied.

Axlerod hesitated. "Well...uhh...please don't kill us - ahh!"

The two spies shot the two lemons. But not fatally. It was just to injure them so that they could take them into captivity. After gathering up the rest of the lemons that were still alive, Finn, Holley, and Mater drove down the volcano with the lemons. As they did so, Finn called Siddeley. Once they reached the shoreline of the island, they drove around it. Finn, Holley, and Mater quickly realized that something was wrong: the race-cars were nowhere to be found.

NucleoWolf: R-E-S-C-U-E, Rescue Aid Society...sorry, I couldn't resist doing that. The title of this chapter made me think of The Rescuers, and I love that movie!