A/N: So if I ever write "raised an eye frame," just know that for vehicles that's like raising an eyebrow. You know it when you see it in the movies.

Chapter Three: New Arrival

Everyone slept in the next day, very much exhausted from the party. Somehow, only Harley was still full of energy when she woke up, skating around town and singing at the top of her lungs. The Radiator Springs' residents were just glad she had a good voice, otherwise it would've been unbearable. The young brunette continued on her day, as did everyone else. It seemed like just another typical day in Radiator Springs.

Nobody knew things were about to change that fateful night.

"Harley, time for bed." Doc announced, driving up to Flo's café to pick up his daughter.

"Aw, can't I stay up a little longer?" Harley begged, giving her best pout.

"Didn't you stay up very late last night?" Doc asked with a raised eye frame.

"Yeah, but I won't this time." Harley assured. "Please?"

"I could use a little help organizing the shelves in here." Flo piped up, winking at Harley.

Doc rolled his eyes, but smiled. "All right. We'll say 11 o'clock. I want you in bed by then, okay?"

"Deal!" Harley nodded, checking the clock to see it was only 9:45. She bid Doc goodnight, as did everyone else, and moved to help Flo with some slight organizing. But after making several pyramids of oil cans, Harley found she was actually kind of bored. She checked the clock again. 10:15. She sighed, then stood and began skating down the road.

"Where ya goin'?" Fillmore asked.

"I'm going to find Sheriff, see if he's still asleep at his post." Harley called.

"Harley," Sarge intoned. "Doc wouldn't like it if you went skating out on that road when it's so dark."

"I'll be okay!" Harley assured. "I'll come back with Sheriff. See ya!" She skated off, leaving everyone else to only shake their hoods and smile at the girl's daring mischievousness.

Harley knew she probably shouldn't have been out on Route 66 in the dark. Not that she feared the dark; she grew up in this desert and knew everything about it. But if Doc found out she went out skating this late and so far from town, he'd really give her an earful. Eh, what Doc doesn't know won't hurt him. Then again, he somehow manages to know everything that happens in this town. Harley thought about turning around, but reasoned she was getting far enough out of town that she might as well go all the way.

Soon, the sign where Sheriff kept his post came into view, even in the dim light of the crescent moon. Harley quietly rolled up to the sign, listening to Sheriff's quiet snores. She giggled silently, amazed that Sheriff could be so good at his job when he always seems to be asleep at his post. Harley crept up towards him, smirking.

"Hey Sheriff." Harley whispered.

Sheriff kept snoring, sound asleep.

"Sherrrriiiiiiiff." Harley breathed.

More snoring.

Harley bit her lip to keep back her laughs as she reached to a belt loop where she kept an air horn. Unclipping it and bringing it around, she gave the horn a light shake before jumping and slamming her thumb on the button.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

"AAAAHHHH!"

Sheriff about jumped out of his paintjob as the blasting sound of the air horn woke him up. Harley clutched her stomach, laughing so hard her gut began to hurt. Sheriff, realizing the culprit, glared in irritation.

"For Chrysler's sake, Harley! Ya about gave me an engine attack!" Sheriff snapped.

Harley finally managed to calm down, clipping the air horn back onto the belt loop of her shorts. "Sorry, but you didn't wake up the first two times I called you."

Sheriff scoffed. "Were you really callin' or did ya whisper an' then tried ta make me deaf?"

Harley giggled. "Perceptive, aren't we?"

Sheriff rolled his eyes. "What're you doin' out here, anyway? If Doc finds ya out here at night, he'll have my hood for breakfast."

"Thought I'd come and visit you." Harley shrugged. "It must get pretty lonely out here."

"Well, it's a job I gotta do." Sheriff said. "It's called a 'speed trap' for a reason. Can't have no hot rod delinquents tearin' through town."

"Why?" Harley asked curiously.

"Someone could get hurt." Sheriff explained.

"I guess that makes sense." Harley bobbed her head. "But come on, Sheriff. Nobody comes down this road anymore. What are the odds we actually see a—"

Harley didn't even get to finish her sentence when a flash of red sped past, roaring with the sound of a powerful engine that made them jump.

Sheriff growled a little. "Not in my town." He clicked on his lights.

"I wanna come!" Harley said, jumping onto Sheriff's trunk and holding onto the lights attached to his back window.

"Then hang on!" Sheriff warning, siren wailing as he gave a chase to the car speeding off. Harley whooped and laughed, amazed by the speed, but yelped in surprise when Sheriff suddenly began backfiring. Sheriff groaned a little, but kept his focus on the red car just ahead of him. He blinked in surprise when the car began swerving back and forth across the road. "What in the blue blazes?" He picked up speed, keeping the red car in his sights and only wincing slightly when he kept backfiring.

Harley yelped again, growing concerned by how much fire and sparks shot from Sheriff's tailpipe when he backfired. "Sheriff! You okay?"

"I'm all right, Harley!" Sheriff assured. "Just a little backfirin'! Hang on tight!"

Harley didn't need to be told twice, but she managed to shift her body around to see the red car Sheriff chased. She winced in sympathy when he ran into the orange cones on the road, but she gasped in shock to see the car suddenly swerve towards a room at the Cozy Cone. Aw man, he's already in town! Sheriff's right, this guy could cause some major damage if we don't stop him!

The car shouted and his tires screeched as he shot around the area, running through a barbed wire fence and taking the wire and some fence posts with him as he went. He tore through Flo's café, narrowly missing Fillmore, Sarge, and Ramone. Although, based on Ramone's infuriated shouts, Harley would guess he actually managed to scratch him. Then she realized how much the red car was shouting and he seemed to lack all sense of direction.

"We gotta stop him! He's so scared he doesn't know what he's doing!" Harley suddenly jumped off Sheriff, much to the police car's surprise as he skidded to a halt. But he couldn't do anything as Harley took off down the street after the red car. She skated as fast as she could, watching him take out Luigi's piles of tires before accidentally plowing down Red's flowers. The barbed wire around him hooked to Stanley's statue, but the car kept pulling until he managed to yank the statue free and cause it to stab into the ground. Somehow even more freaked out, the car did a hairpin turn and sped down the main street, dragging the statue through the road.

Harley finally managed to skate around and put herself in the path of the crazed car. "Stop!" She shouted, holding up her hands in a desperate attempt to show she didn't mean the car any harm. But her eyes widened when she realized the car wasn't stopping anytime soon. Thinking quickly, Harley crouched down and leaped as high as she could into the air. She turned herself as though she would tuck-and-roll, just the way Sarge showed her, but she didn't realize Stanley's statue made the car slow down significantly. Too late, she saw her mistake.

Oh crud.

Harley's back hit the top of the red car's roof, causing her to bounce back into the air. Stanley's statue clipped her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain as she hit the ground. The car kept driving, right past Sheriff as the police car hurried to Harley's side. The girl groaned a bit in pain, only complaining a little as she pushed herself upright. Once he made sure she wasn't dead, Sheriff felt his oil pressure grow dangerously high as he sped after the red car. But he found the vehicle, now revealed to be some sort of stock car, hanging from the phone wires and clearly not going anywhere anytime soon. Sheriff allowed himself to slow down and let the adrenaline rush wear off.

Sheriff glared at the car, angry for both the crazy driving and for hurting Harley. "Boy, you're in a heap of trouble."

"I thought I told you guys I'm fine." Harley assured at breakfast the next day.

"We just want to make sure." Sheriff said. "You have a high pain tolerance, which means you could've broken something and not even known about it."

"Yeah, count your blessings." Ramone said. "Doc nearly blew a gasket, he was so mad."

"Can't wait to see what he decides in court today." Sarge noted.

Harley rolled her eyes, skating off to find Mater. While her shoulder did feel plenty sore from hitting Stanley's statue (thankfully back on the pedestal where it belongs), she knew she didn't hurt herself all that badly. But she also knew Ramone was right; Doc was furious when he found out that not only did some delinquent tear through the town, he also hit the town judge's precious little girl. Boy do I feel sorry for the poor sap. Harley thought, finally discovering Mater at the impound lot.

"Hey Mater." Harley greeted, climbing up to her favorite spot on Mater's roof.

"Hey dere Sissy." Mater greeted. "You come to wait fer 'im ta wake up too?"

"Well it's nice to finally get a good look at the car that tried to kill me." Harley joked, chuckling. A groan caught their attention, and they looked ahead to see the red stock car finally beginning to wake up.

"Oh….." the car groaned, blinking his eyes open. "Where am I?"

"Mornin', Sleepin' Beauty!" Mater greeted, causing the red car to jump. Mater and Harley laughed, the tow truck almost knocking Harley to the ground. "Boy, I was wonderin' when you was gonna wake up."

"Don't hurt me!" the red car pleaded. He suddenly became more aware of his surroundings, especially the parking boot on his front left wheel. "Why do I have a parking boot on? What's going on here?!"

Harley rolled her eyes. Geez. Guy needs a chill pill or two.

Mater chuckled. "I like you already. My name's Mater."

The car finally paused in his struggling, giving the tow truck a strange look. "Mater?"

"Yeah, like 'tuh-mater,' but without the 'tuh.'" Mater explained.

"And I'm Harley." Harley greeted, swishing her blue-streaked hair back. "Like the bike but much cuter. You may not remember me, but I'm the one you almost hit last night."

The red car frowned. "Well who's stupid enough to jump in front of a moving car?"

"Yeah, whatever Speed Racer." Harley scoffed with a raised eyebrow. Oh, Doc's gonna have fun with this one.

"What's yer name?" Mater asked the red car.

The car blinked. "You don't know my name?"

"Uh….." Mater thought for a moment. "No, I know yer name. Is yer name Mater too?"

The red car blinked. "Look, I need to get to California as fast as possible. Where am I?"

"Where are ye?" Mater said in surprise. "Shoot! Yer in Radiator Springs. The cutest little town in Carburetor County."

The red car took a look around, clearly not impressed. "Oh great."

"Well, if you think that's great, you should see the rest of the town!" Mater said, clearly not getting the sarcasm.

The red car put on a big smile. "You know, I'd love to see the rest of the town! Why don't you get this boot off, open the gate, and you and I can go cruising? How'd that be, Tuhmater?"

"Dad gum!" Mater cheered, moving towards the button to open the gate.

"Uh, Mater?" Harley warned.

"Mater!" Sheriff's gruff voice made Mater jump and reverse back a few feet. "What did I tell you about talkin' to the accused?"

"Ta not to." Mater said with a small pout.

"And Harley, Doc's already steamed 'bout you gettin' hurt." Sheriff told the girl. "He sees you anywhere near this guy and he'll blow his hood off."

"Yeah, I know." Harley said with a small shrug, looking a bit sheepish. She slid off Mater and moved to stand beside Sheriff.

"Mater, tow this delinquent road hazard to traffic court." Sheriff ordered, opening the gate to the impound.

Mater drove up, whispering to the red car, "Well we'll talk later, Mater." He chuckled at his bout of rhyming as he hooked up the red car, hauling him down the road with Sheriff and Harley right beside him. Harley took a look back at the red car and discovered a name printed on one of his fenders: Lightning McQueen.

Hmm. Not a bad name. Harley mused. Now what are you doing here?

Sheriff gave Mater the cue to encourage Lightning into the courtroom. Despite the demand for order, the residents of the town all began shouting at the red car as he hobbled his way forward, the parking boot preventing him from moving properly. Mater and Harley followed until he reached a spot on the floor labeled "Accused," everyone else behind small dividers to watch the proceedings. Harley skated over to the prosecutor's side, sitting on the railing of the divider and watching Lightning. She did her best to not laugh at the clearly irritated look in the stock car's eyes. He was certainly unlike any car Harley ever met.

"Officer!" Lightning said hurriedly. "Talk to me, babe. How long is this gonna take?"

He doesn't seem very worried. Harley noted, finding the stock car annoying yet amusing. Wonder if he even knows what he's in for.

"Where's your lawyer?" Sheriff barked, not acknowledging Lightning's question.

"I dunno." Lightning scoffed. "Tahiti, maybe."

"When a defendant has no lawyer, the court will assign one to him." Sheriff droned, clearly irritated by Lightning's attitude. "Hey!" He called, silencing the chatter from the townsfolk. "Anyone want to be his lawyer?"

Immediately, everyone except Mater reversed back a few feet. "Shoot! I'll do it, Sheriff!" Mater said excitedly, driving up to park beside Lightning. The stock car groaned, looking as though the stress was just building up. Harley giggled, covering her mouth with one hand.

Sheriff turned to address the townsfolk. "All rise! The honorable Doc Hudson presiding." Sheriff glared at Lightning. "May Doc have mercy on yer soul." He said gravely.

Lightning refused to show he was afraid, but couldn't help but jump in surprise when the doors slammed open. Doc rolled in, fuming so much the rest of the residents gave him plenty of space as he drove up to the judge's pedestal.

"All right! I wanna know who's responsible for wreckin' my town and hurtin' my kid, Sheriff." Doc called, not even looking towards Lightning. "I want his hood on a platter! Harley, stay away from him."

"Yes, Dad." Harley nodded quickly, knowing her surrogate father was in absolutely no mood for arguing. She scooted down the railing, farther away from Lightning. Wonder if he's really gonna be so hard on the racecar. Then again, if Doc never liked to talk about his racing, he might be even harder on poor Speed Racer.

Lightning finally caught sight of Doc as he rolled past, and for a moment he was confused as to why Harley called him "Dad." It only took a second for "adopted" to click in his head, but suddenly he felt like his engine stopped running. If Harley really is this Doc guy's kid, and Lightning clipped her during his unintentional rampage…..he was a dead car.

Doc still didn't take notice of Lightning as he continued to growl and mutter about all the things he would do to Lightning. He drove up to the lift that carried him up to the top of the judge's desk, still growling. But when he finally caught sight of Lightning, and he gave a sudden, soft inhale. Harley blinked in surprise at Doc's sudden change. Everything she was expecting, but she never imagined how surprised he'd be.

He hasn't seen another racecar in years. Harley realized.

"Throw him outta here, Sheriff." Doc ordered, glaring. "I want him out of my courtroom, I want him out of our town! Case dismissed!" Lightning sighed in relief, though it was mostly overshadowed by the rest of the residents' groans of disbelief and some irritation. None of them would dare argue with Doc, but they were all surprised by the verdict. Even Harley was surprised, staring at Doc questioningly.

"Sorry I'm late, you're honor!" Sally called as she suddenly entered the courtroom.

Lightning, like most of the town, turned to the newcomer. His jaw nearly dropped at the sight. "Holy Porsche." He smiled flirtatiously as Sally rolled up to the front of the room. "Hey, thanks for comin', but we're all set. He's letting me go."

Sally braked and turned to face Lightning. "He's letting you go?" she repeated, incredulous.

"Yeah, your job's pretty easy today." Lightning said smoothly. "All you have to do now is stand there and let me look at ya."

"Psst, Speed Racer? I wouldn't do that." Harley warned.

"Not now, kid. Grown-up stuff." Lightning droned.

Harley shrugged. "All right. I tried to warn ya."

Lightning hardly paid her any attention, focusing on Sally. "Listen, I'm gonna cut to the chase: me, you, dinner. Ka-chow!" Lightning caught the sunlight coming through the window on a lightning bolt-shaped sticker on his fender, flashing the light across Sally's eyes. The baby blue Porsche winced, groaning from the intense light and a little out of irritation. "I know, I get that reaction a lot." Lightning said, oblivious. He revved his engine, loudly, causing Sally to wince and yelp in surprise. Harley covered her ears, glaring at Lightning. Still, the racecar focused only on Sally. "Oh I'm sorry. Did I scare you?"

"Well, a lil' bit. But I'll be all right." Mater said, only to be ignored by the red racer.

"Okay." Sally rolled her eyes, then put on a tight smile. "I'm gonna go talk to the judge."

"No problem, baby." Lightning said. "Just be careful. Folks around here are not firing on all cylinders if you know what I mean."

Speak as low as you want, we can still hear you. Harley thought, rolling her eyes.

Sally smirked at Lightning. "I'll keep that in mind. Hey there, Mater."

"Howdy, Sally!" Mater greeted.

"Hi, folks!" Sally called to the rest of the town, everyone else returning the warm welcome.

Lightning was shocked, casting a look at Harley. The girl only shrugged with a smirk that said "I warned ya." Harley giggled, turning her attention to Sally as the Porsche approached Doc. Oh boy, here we go. Should've known Sally wouldn't let something like this go so easily. Let's see what she has in store this time.

"Doc, you look great this morning." Sally told the Hornet. "Did you do something different with your side view mirrors?"

Doc allowed his glare to lessen, but only a little bit, as he looked to the Porsche. "What do you want, Sally?"

Sally didn't see any point in beating around the bush, especially given Doc's mood at the moment. "Come on. Make this guy fix the road. The town needs this."

"No." Doc said firmly. "I know his type: racecar. It's the last thing this town needs."

Harley stared at her father curiously before glancing at Lightning. They way Doc spat out the word "racecar" made it seem like an insult. Harley could sense a deeper meaning behind Doc's words, or maybe he just knew Lightning was just like any other hotshot racer Doc had seen in the past.

Sally wouldn't be deterred. "I didn't want to have to do this, Doc." She reversed in order to address the entire courtroom. "Fellow citizens, you're all aware of our town's proud history."

"Here she goes again." Doc muttered with an eye roll.

"Radiator Springs." Sally continued. "The glorious jewel strung on the necklace of Route 66. It is our job and our pleasure to take care of the travelers on our stretch of that road."

"Travelers?" Sarge scoffed. "What travelers?"

"Ignore him." Fillmore called.

"But how, I ask you, are we to care for those travelers if there is no road for them to drive on?" Sally asked. "Luigi? What do you have are your store?"

"Tires." Luigi said proudly.

"And if no one can get to you?" Sally asked.

"I won't sell any…tires….." Luigi's face fell. He began blubbering a bit, with Guido comforting him.

"Flo, what do you have at your store?" Sally asked.

"I have gas." Flo said, causing snickers from Ramone and Mater. "Lotsa gas!" The two men immediately began laughing.

Sally rolled her eyes. "Okay boys, stay with me. And Flo, what'll happen if no one can come to your station to buy gas?"

"I'll go outta business and…will have to leave town." Flo realized sadly.

"And what's gonna happen to all of us if Flo leaves town and closes her station?" Sally demanded, causing a brief uproar of concern from the rest of the residents. "And can we forget our little Harley?"

"Do not drag me into this." Harley droned.

"It's a lawyer thing, nothing against you." Sally whispered before speaking up. "Doesn't our precious little gem of Radiator Springs deserve to grow up in a town that's structurally sound? What's going to happen if she keeps hurting herself from skating on a damaged road?" Another round of concerned comments from the residents, and Harley's face turned beet red. "So don't you think the car responsible should fix our road?" Sally demanded.

"The only guy strong enough to fix that road is Big Al!" Lizzie noted.

"Oh, he can do it. He's got the horsepower." Sally assured. "So what do you want him to do?"

"Fix the road!" The residents called.

"Because we are a town worth fixing!" Sally finished, looking to Doc. The Radiator Springs' residents cheered, chatting excitedly until Doc blared his horn.

"Order in the court!" Doc shouted, the folks finally quieting down. He glanced at Sally, then at Harley. The brunette could almost see the gears churning in his head before he looked up again. "Seems like my mind has been changed for me." He said, albeit regretfully. The town cheered, a few of them honking their horns.

"No!" Lightning moaned. He glared at Sally. "That's it! I am so not taking you to dinner."

Sally laughed. "That's okay, Stickers. You can take Bessie."

"Oh, man! You git ta work with Bessie!" Mater told Lightning excitedly. "I'd give mah left two lug nuts fer somethin' like that!"

"Bessie?" Lightning asked. "Who's Bessie?"

Harley smirked at Lightning's reaction to seeing Bessie. She nudged Mater. "Hey, go over there and tell him he owes you thirty-two thousand dollars in legal fees."

"Why?" Mater whispered.

"Because it'll be funny." Harley said. Mater blinked.

"This here is Bessie." Doc introduced to Lightning. "Finest road-pavin' machine ever built. I'm hereby sentencing you to community service. You're gonna fix the road under my supervision."

"What?" Lightning gawked.

Mater finally approached the racecar. "Hey, I know this may be a bad time right now, but…you owe me thirty-two thousand dollars in legal fees." Harley struggled to hold back her laughs at Lightning's reaction, giving a thumbs-up to Mater as the tow truck smiled proudly.

"So we're gonna hitch you up to sweet Bessie and you're gonna pull her nice." Doc instructed, driving out to where the start of the destruction began. "You start there where the road begins. You finish down there where the road ends."

Lightning, Harley, and Mater came around to see the main road, and they gawked. Seeing the damage in the light at last, they realized the entire main street had been torn right through. "Holy shoot!" Mater gasped.

"Holy shoot is right." Harley breathed.

Lightning also gawked, realizing just how far the street and the damage stretched. "How long is this gonna take?"

"Do the job right, should take about five days." Doc said.

"Five days?!" Lightning repeated. "But I should be in California schmoozing Dinoco right now!"

"Then if I were you, I'd quit yappin' and start workin'!" Doc snapped. "Hook him up, Mater."

"Okay-dokey!" Mater nodded, pressing down on Lighting's parking boot. He struggled a bit, putting more of his weight on the lock.

"Um, Mater?" Harley piped up. "Maybe you ought to wait until he's attached to Bess—"

Clink

VROOM!

Mater, Harley, and Doc stared as Lightning suddenly sped down the street, leaving skid marks and the parking boot in his wake. In the distance, they could hear him shout "Freedom!" Doc glared at Mater, who could only stare in shock at his mistake. Harley cast a similar look as Doc, only more sympathetic.

"Maybe I should've, uh….hooked him up ta Bessie…..and then, uh….then took the boot off…." Mater guessed. He looked to Doc and Harley, the latter face-palming.

"Great." Doc groaned.

"Don't worry, he won't get far." Harley assured.

"He could be halfway to California by now!" Doc snapped.

"Not with how much gas he's got." Harley said, smirking craftily. Seeing Doc's and Mater's confused and surprised looks, Harley giggled. "I may or may not have helped Sheriff siphon Speed Racer's gas while he was passed out."

Doc chuckled. "That's my girl. No doubt he'll only have enough gas to reach Sheriff's post."

"Should I go tow 'im back?" Mater asked.

"Well, he does seem to be in a hurry to get outta here and towing him would get him back here faster." Doc mused. "Nah. He can drag his sorry bumper back."

Harley giggled furiously as Doc rolled away. "You're so evil!"

"And proud, little missy! And proud." Doc laughed.