SuperCorp+

The Mechanic (Part 1)

Lena was cruising. Normally, she would have flown in her private jet, but she really just wanted time to herself. Despite what everyone thought, she always enjoyed driving herself on the open road. She had the roof down, enjoying the fresh air while listening to her road trip playlist. With her fingers tapping to the beat on the steering wheel and subtly bobbing her head, so she opted to take the scenic route through the rolling hills and woods.

What Lena hadn't counted on, was a deer launching into the middle of the road. Lena let out a slur of curse words in panic. She swerved to avoid hitting it but managed to hit a tree instead. She wasn't injured thankfully. 

"Shit, shit, shit, fuck, shit!" Lena stomped out of the car and slammed the door shut as she popped the hood. She had slowed enough to minimize the damage on her vehicle to mostly cosmetic, but the radiator cracked which leaked coolant everywhere. She made sure nothing else was damaged, but even if she refilled the radiator, it would leak out immediately. She wasn't going to be able to drive the car very far without further causing mechanical issues and killing it permanently.

Lena pulled out her cell to call for assistance. "Of fucking course, there is no fucking service." Lena wracked her brain trying to remember the last sign she saw. She could either continue to walk in the direction she was headed to hopefully find a house or gas station or town in an unknown distance or she could back track to a farm house she though she remembered that was about 8-10 miles back. She figured at most, it would be a 3 hour walk backwards and a total mystery on how much time if she went forward.

Lena gathered up her personal belongings and locked most of it in the trunk. She pulled up the roof to lock the doors and windows. Thankfully she had tennis shoes with her and packed athletic wear. She wandered into the woods a bit and quickly changed into leggings and a racerback. Her phone and keys fit in the pocket. She pulled out some cash too just in case she can pay someone to drive her into town.

She set off towards the farmhouse she already passed earlier. Normally she wasn't opposed to jogging, but it was already 96 degrees out without a cloud in sight. The heat of the day was about to hit in a couple of hours that would bring the temps over 110. Occasionally the woods provided some shade, but the tar from the pavement was radiating heat, too. It took all of two minutes for Lena to be dripping in sweat. 

An hour into the walk, she reached the edge of the woods to a straight stretch of road with fields on both sides. There was no reprieve from the sun. She stripped off the tank and held it above her head to try to keep the sun out of her face. She was just about to crest the next hill when a truck whizzed past her, headed in the opposite direction. Lena quickly started to shout and wave her arms and shirt. 

The truck thankfully braked and pulled to the side of the road. Lena jogged towards the truck with a smile on her face. She knew that she should be cautious. Her phone overheated and wouldn't turn on. She didn't have any backup plan in case the person turned out to be a creep. She was too tired, too sweaty, and too hot to care. Even though she didn't care about who was the driver, she was immediately relieved when a tall, blonde woman hopped out of the truck to approach her.

"Hey, there. What brings you out here in this heat?" the blonde asked with a half wave and concerned expression.

"Hi! Thank you for stopping! My car, having issues. Ride? Please?" Lena was panting and really feeling the heat. She couldn't form a complete sentence if she wanted to.

"Hop in. I have some water with me. Let's get you cooled off. You aren't looking too good right now," the blonde replied. Realizing what she said as she said it, she quickly added on, "not that you don't look good! You look really good, but gosh. This is coming out wrong. Just, hop in? Don't want you passing out from heat exhaustion."