That night…

The tractor fields were especially silent. Frank had gone off to sleep in his garage. Not even the clouds were present in the moonlit sky. It was perfect conditions for a long round of tractor tipping. But it wasn't meant to be. Tonight, Mater had more important matters to attend.

The tow truck rolled down into the fields, approaching o a large patch of dirt in one far corner. A tree branch poked out of the ground.

Mater used his hook to tug at the branch once, and then again a few seconds later. When nothing happened, Mater scowled and kicked his tire on the floor

"Dad-gummit! It's me! Now open up already!"

A few seconds passed, then the branch shot down into the ground. A low rumble could be felt, and Mater backed up in precaution. The patch of dirt opened up with a metallic sliding noise, revealing it to be a ramp that went down underground for several feet. A small light shone down from below.

"Sorry!" A young female voice shouted from inside the hidden bunker, "We forgot you had called a meeting for tonight,"

"Darn well I did, Mia!" Mater said, driving down the ramp, "And this is important, so we best get on with it quick!"

As Mater reached the bottom of the bunker, Mia pressed a lever which raised the ramp back into place.

"Hey, Mater!" Waved Mia's identical sister, Tia, "We were just playing a quick game of Race-O-Rama,"

"Yeah, and I was winning too!" Said Mia.

"Oh shut up…I'm telling you last place always gets the best items. I'll come out on top for sure!"

"You say that every game, Tia.."

Mater rolled over to them, "Well now that I'm here, let's put the games away. I've got some important news to share,"

"Important news?" the twins said at once, fully alert.

"I'll tell you all about it in the meetin' room," Mater said, driving off at once.

The twins looked at each other, then followed.

The meeting room was dimly lit, with a single bulb flickering over a round, circular table. The surface of which was cluttered with piles of papers. These held all kinds of secret information that no other car knew about.

Notes of branching timelines, paradoxes, complex formulas, as well as costume designs that Mater and the twins devised for themselves.

Ordinarily, most of these were stored in a filing cabinet. But Mater had a nasty habit of being disorganized. It was established long ago that any papers of repeated importance would stay on the table.

Given the sheer number of them, it was clear that either Mater was lazy, or that there were more than a few important things.

Fishing around in the sea of papers, Mater pulled out the ever familiar profile for a car they knew all too well.

Lightning Mcqueen.

Or to be specific, Lightning Mcqueen version ⍺113.

The letter alpha meant that this Mcqueen originated from the first AU, that being the original timeline of the Cars story. The number 113 meant that Mcqueen had been born one hundred and thirteen times since the world's initial inception.

Therefore, Mcqueen's existence, and by extension the entirety of time itself, had been reset one hundred and twelve times prior.

the person responsible for time's continual resetting was Mater the tow truck. He had gained the ability to alter timelines through a clock hidden under his radiator cap. As for where the clock came from, only Mater knew.

Whenever the tow truck retold stories of his adventures, he would change the details to the point that everyone in town believed them to be tall tales. Even Mia and Tia believed this to some extent, and they knew more about Mater's secrets than anyone else.

Regardless, they all knew that no matter what happened, Lightning Mcqueen needed to be alive. Such was necessary for the correct future to come about.

If Mcqueen were to perish, Mater would have to reset time again.

When Mia and Tia saw the paper, they understood the stakes of the situation immediately.

"How bad is it?" Mia asked.

"Are we gonna have to reset?" Tia said with tears in her eyes.

Mater began to pace, "If I'm rightly thinkin about this, It's nothin' major,"

"Oh,"

"But if I'm not," he said, looking at a clock on the wall meaningfully, "⍺113 as we know it could be under threat,"

"Oohh…" Tia shuddered,

"Shame if it were true. Thirteen's my lucky number," Mater mumbled. He turned back to face the twins.

"Anyway, let's not beat about the tumbleweeds… Here's the facts as I know them,"

Mia tensed in preparation. Her tires gripped a pen and notebook with the aid of cartoon physics.

"Firstly, Mcqueen received an invite in the mail a few days ago. It seems like Chick Hicks wants to duel him in Motoropolis City."

"Another duel? And in Motoropolis?" Tia's eyes widened.

"I know! I was surprised too!" Mater said, "I thought I did everything to stop the events of last time…"

"How did that even happen?" asked Mia, "I think I was out sick during that time…"

"Well, last time, Mcqueen got invited to a dirt rally. I assumed it was just a little nothin', so I didn't bother to intervene…

…Then the headlines came in, and you know the rest…"

Tia nodded grimly

Mater smiled, "Yep. Good thing I saved the Master Clock's position before all that went down. By doing so, I was able to go back a few weeks and make one key change to the order of events, thereby preserving ⍺113 for now."

"So that was why you were out of town last week…." Mia said,

Mater nodded, "I took a road trip to El Machismo's place in Autovia. That's the guy who Chick contacted last time,"

He shrugged, "I figured you two would understand the reason for my trip...considering what we've been through... But I probably should've been more transparent,"

Mia shrugged, "At least you're telling us now..."

Mater winced, "Anyways... While Machismo was out practicin' on the road course, I snuck in his place and took his phone."

He then revealed one of the cans he had been stacking earlier. Upon shaking it open, a small cell phone fell out onto the table.

"Don't worry, I plan on givin' it back….for a price," He gave an impish grin, "It'll make up for what he did in the last go around..."

Mater clicked his tongue thoughtfully, "Now I was pretty confident that Chick wouldn't make plans this time. But it seems he must've found somebody else to do the job…"

"Hm…" Mia frowned, "Do we have information on the car?"

"That's the thing," Mater smiled darkly, "We don't,"

"So what do we do?" asked Mia.

"That's what we're here to answer tonight,"

The three of them stared at each other in silence. If the worst were to occur, they could always just loop back to the Master Clock's last save point. But Mater didn't like the idea of going through an isolated time loop multiple times.

He frankly couldn't bear another loss.

Tia spoke up, "I suggest we try to dissuade Mcqueen from taking the duel. Who knows how many assassins Chick has access to."

"Yeah, but Mcqueen's like a bull in a china shop, and Chick's out there wavin' his flag…."

"What about the cops?" asked Mia,

"In Motoropolis?! You must be joking!" Mater laughed, "They don't do nothin' but get high on gasoline all day!"

"Why not get our own Sheriff involved?"

Mater frowned, "That guy freezes up at the sight of bees, let alone killer cars,"

"But Mater, you're scared of bees too," Tia pointed out.

"I…shut up,"

"It's true!"

"I said shut up," Mater fumed.

"Anyway," Mia said, "so we really lack information on what's going on… Why not have us come to Motoropolis ahead of time? We can spy on the plans as they're being made."

"There's no time!" said Mater, "If Chick's already sent the letter, he's probably got everythin' planned out by now..."

"What if we told Mcqueen about Chick's intentions?" Asked Tia

"Even if we did, he wouldn't believe us. The kid's a dull blade…"

"It's worth a shot…"

"Eh, maybe….but we still need to do something about Chick,"

And so the three of them planned deep into the night...