Pass the Buck

Cars and its characters belong only to Pixar...much to my utmost chagrin.

A/N: Behold, chapter nine! Yes, it's a bit late, and I apologize for that :T

Please, please, please leave a review if you read this! All feedback is greatly appreciated, and I would like to thank everyone who has been doing so. And so, without further adieu, read, and enjoy!

~Siddeley's cabin, 30,000 feet, entering airspace over the West Coast- 2000 Hours~

Mater rubbed a tire into the aluminum bulkhead beneath him, his gaze shifting between the slim windows along the Marauder's cabin and his fenders, painted silver by a sliver of moonlight. It was still hard to believe that beneath the cool metal, he'd just had Gatling guns inserted. The procedure itself had been primarily painless, but that wasn't what bothered the tow truck now. The private investigator had never…used any sort of weapon in his years as a detective. Not after he saw the bullet riddled form of his partner all those years ago…

"Mater…."

The tow truck jumped, turning to look at the curvy Jaguar. Her brow was furrowed again, eyes tinged with the worry he'd grown all too used to seeing. "Are you sure you're alright?" the spy car continued. "You seem…distracted."

The private eye exhaled petulantly. His gaze wandered over to the other side of the bomber's cabin, where Finn snored away, safely strapped into one of the seats. "What's it ta' yous, Miss Holley?" he questioned slowly. "If Ah 'member correctly, ya' didn't particularly take a likin' ta' me."

Holley seemed to blush….but the tow truck quickly brushed off the notion. "I know…and I would like to apologize for my earlier actions."

Mater shrugged, looking back out the window. "Apology accepted, Ah guess."

The Jaguar observed his expression for a moment, noting how a flicker of childish glee sparked in his eyes as he watched the clouds pass by below them. "Have you ever been in a plane before now?" she asked suddenly.

Mater blinked, returning to Earth. He simply stared at her in muted surprise for several moments, before a smile, albeit a very soft one, spread across his bumper. "Nah. This is mah first. Can't say that it's not as amazin' as Ah thought it'd be…Siddeley's lucky."

Holley chuckled lightly. "I believe that he would agree to that statement. You seem predominantly happy yourself."

The tow truck shook his front end, though the ghost of a smile remained in place. "Can't say Ah agreed witcha' ya…but it is nice up here. Keeps the thoughts of spiraling out of control and plummeting ta' the ground outta' mah head."

The British car felt laughter bubble up in her throat again, but she forced it down. No need to wake up Finn, since this was probably the first night he'd actually got any sleep since her "disappearance". But when Holley looked back towards Mater, she saw that his expression had changed again, and he appeared to be brooding over something.

"What are you thinking about?" she inquired curiously.

Mater shrugged, though his gaze remained locked on the starry night outside. "Just… a buncha' stuff….McQueen, mainly. Ah shouldn't 'a left 'im." He didn't notice the Jaguar stiffen beside him. "Ah would've wanted 'im to come, but….Ah have lost too many friends already…"

Silence greeted his words.

Holley idly spun a tire, a meditative look across her features. "How do you believe he'd react to your protecting of him?"

He snorted, an action that surprised the spy car. "He'd probably complain fer a good hour or two on his ability ta' take care of himself."

"Mhm. And wouldn't you do the same?"

Mater fell silent. Holley looked him over for a few moments, and saw that his brow was puckered. "Did you know," she began, tone light, "they usually don't allow women to become secret agents? They never do, actually."

She had gained his attention. Eyes wide, the tow truck glanced towards her. "Then how're you…"

Holley smiled in a chagrined fashion. "Allow me to start at the beginning." She exhaled softly, before composing herself. "As previously stated, women were never allowed to join any kind of government agency—C.H.R.O.M.E, CIA, DGSE, you name it, and we couldn't be a part of it." She paused, indecisive. "And then World War II rolled about."

She saw Mater wince, and she nodded sympathetically. "The MI6 became desperate to hire new cars—they needed strong, fresh minds, and began to recruit right out of colleges and universities, the best ones of course; Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Glasgow, Bradford, Nottingham, so on and so forth. But because of the war, many of the men had been deployed and recruited, leaving only the women." Holley felt a grin creep its way onto her features. "And that, is where it begins."

"But how does that lead to ya' joinin' yer secret agency?" Mater questioned, an eye ridge raised.

She nodded. "Of course, of course. Anyway, I had been currently attending the University of Sheffield, when an MI6 agent came to inspect the students. After a multitude of tests, I, and ten other candidates were chosen. Of course we were still very low in the ranks, and some of them left after a few months, but I remained. I was one of the only who did, I believe. And while we weren't deployed in battle, office work seemed like a much brighter prospect than wasting away in some blooming university." Mater beamed at her audacity, which usually would've resulted in her earning a disgusted look from anyone else. "And so, nearing the end of the war, a few C.H.R.O.M.E. agents came to our sector. Finn was one of them." Holley gave a nostalgic sigh. "I was in diagnostics at the time—the most boring job on Earth, I admit, but I was good at it. But Finn came searching for new recruits, and I was one chosen." The Jaguar smiled at the memory. "And now here I am."

Mater was quiet for a few seconds, before he slowly asked, "An' how long 'ave ya been an agent?"

"About two years. Finn's become more of a father to me than anything," Holley's smile grew somewhat pained.

Mater noticed. "What?" he implored curiously.

She shrugged. "Oh it's nothing. Just…thinking of my family back home in Sussex…." The Jaguar glanced up at her stoic companion. "Do you have any family, Mater?"

The tow truck grimaced, and Holley instantly felt a twinge of guilt at the private eye's aggrieved look. "…Not fer a while now," he said after a moment.

Holley nodded softly, mentally berating herself and worked to maintain the small connection between the two. "What of Lieutenant McQueen?"

Mater blinked, meeting her gaze. "What about 'im?"

"Isn't he like your family?" the British car prompted. She watched at the tow truck mulled this over.

"Ah…Ah guess."

Holley observed him and he glanced back towards the slim window. "You've lost someone close to you…haven't you, Detective?" He noticeably bristled, and the Jaguar saw that his eyes had become devoid of emotion.

"What's it matter to ya?" he questioned unemotionally.

The young agent spun a tire. "It doesn't really…but I suppose that any condolences I could offer would be meaningless." Mater only grunted softly. "But if it helps any…I lost my father before I joined the Mi6." She now had the detective's undivided attention, and she smirked slightly. "He was a police officer back home. He was the Chief Inspector…" She grinned widely at the recollection. "My younger sister and I would tease him so incessantly for being one of the Bobbies in Scotland Yard…" Her smile gradually faded. "He was killed in an attempted bank robbery. It was because of him that I even volunteered for the MI6, and the reason we're here having this conversation at all." Holley looked back up at Mater, and saw that he appeared to be…repressing something. She wasn't sure if it was tears, anger, or exasperation, but he managed to bite it back.

"Ah…Ah'm sorry," he finally murmured. "But Ah kin at least thank 'im…" At her puzzled look, the private eye continued somberly. "If it weren't fer him, Ah never woulda' met you."

~ California Zephyr Station, Emeryville, California 0700 Hours~

"Wake-y, wake-y, Lieutenant!"

Lightning groggily pried his eyes open, looking around the dark train car. He yawned widely, stretching his tires. "Where are we?" he muttered, moving to pull the door open.

He could practically hear the train's grin. "At the Zephyr Station. Your last stop."

The cruiser managed to open the grate, and squinted in the harsh sunlight. "And where would that be?" he questioned, looking around.

"California," Benny answered cheerily.

The police car grimaced. Well that accounted for the sunlight, especially at this unearthly hour… "This is where the coordinates sent us?" he queried, gingerly rolling out of the train car. Benny snorted.

"'Course not! This is just your stop. To get to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you need more than a cargo train."

Lightning lifted an eyes ridge. "And how am I getting a boat?"

Benny harrumphed. "Well, you're downright cheery in the morning, aren'tcha? And to answer your question, there's a boat waitin' for ya in the San Francisco Bay. A little fishing vessel, named Crabby."

The cruiser blinked at the name, but shrugged. "Alright. And…how do I get there?"

The locomotive scoffed. "Tourist." At the lieutenant's miffed expression, he rocked on his axles in an apologetic gesture. "Just take the Bay Bridge. You can't miss it. Then just head for the most populated docks."

"Well…alright," Lightning agreed, reversing. "Thanks, Benny."

"No problem, kid," the train grinned, beginning to chug along the train tracks. "Beats sitting around the station all day. I hope you can find your friend!"

Lightning grimaced as Benny began to fade from view. "I hope so to."

~ Lindbergh Field, San Diego 0815 Hours~

"Well…Ah never thought Ah'd be goin' to sunny San Diego," Mater contemplated, cruising behind the two spy cars as they drove over the airfield. Siddeley was far behind them, refueling before returning to wherever it was he'd been before. Holley glanced back at him with a soft smile.

"And I never thought I'd be asking a tow truck for assistance," Finn responded merrily, sending the private investigator a tongue-in-cheek smirk. "And yet here we are."

Mater mustered a smirk of his own. "Ya'll be lost without me."

The Aston Martin chuckled, bobbing his front end. "Now that is the response I like to hear."

Mater returning his attention to the Jaguar. "So how come they jist let us land? Ah thought they'd be all over us, yellin' 'n stuff."

Holley laughed. "Not to worry, Detective. Finn called ahead, and they reserved that spot for Siddeley."

"I have connections," Finn added smugly.

The Jaguar rolled her eyes. "That you do."

The group neared the gate surrounding the airfield, where there was a checkpoint of some sort. As the Aston Martin spoke to the guards in perfect Spanish, Mater's brow puckered slightly, and he turned back towards Holley. "Um…where exactly are we goin', Miss Holley?"

"San Diego Bay," she responded softly. "We have a boat waiting for us—pardon, they tend to get a bit cross when you call them that—there's a ship, waiting for us".

Mater blinked in obvious confusion, but he nodded slowly. "So…we have someone waitin' ta' take us to the middle of a' the ocean?"

"Yes."

"….Sí….Sí, gracias." Finn turned back towards his two companions, grinning. "These fine gentlemen are allowing us to pass."

Holley bowed her front end in thanks, and the trio began moving forward. Mater sent the pair of guards a suspicious look, which earned him an understandably bewildered look in return from the two Hispanics, before he passed the checkpoint altogether.

The tow truck blinked anew in the harsh sunlight, squinting against the glare and lowering so that his fedora covered more of his windshield. The Jaguar noticed his discomfort and smiled ruefully. "My apologies. I've traveled so much that I often don't even notice the changes in weather."

"Well California's not known as tha' sunny state for nutin'," Mater grumbled, and Holley chuckled.

"Evidently not."

A/N: And yes, the California Zephyr track does actually end in the city of Emeryville :T