Worlds Collide: A Cars Fan Fiction

A (Strange) Town Meeting

The security team, on Moteur's orders, had sped for the trap's location. The sooner they had all of the creatures, the better. The fact that it was past ten and all but pitch black outside meant that they didn't meet anyone on their way, allowing them to get there faster.

When they did arrive at the location, however, they got a very nasty surprise. Instead of a creature, a car, or even a desert animal (no one had told Moteur that the traps could have been sprung by anything), they found a mess of discarded wires and metal pieces. The team members glanced at each other in shock. They called their base. 

Stevens picked up. "It was WHAT?"

"Completely dismantled. No animal could have done this, sir. One of those things must have taken it apart."

Stevens was utterly speechless for a moment. He'd had a feeling that these things were smart, but this...He wanted those things back in the lab. Now he was more determined than ever to see what made them tick. Still, he knew that they had no real choice but to wait for a clue to reveal itself. 

"Return to base," he ordered. The team copied back, then turned off the com. Stevens rolled away from it, and eyed Moteur's newly-repaired office. He wasn't looking forward to giving his boss the news. Still, it had to be done. He braced himself for one of his boss' tantrums.

But to his utter shock, Moteur merely grinned when the forklift told him. "Marvelous creatures, aren't they?"

"One-of-a-kind," Stevens agreed, suspicious. His boss never acted this calm. 

"But even the most wonderful of creatures make mistakes, have weaknesses...no one's perfect, after all."

"What are you getting at, sir?"

"Those five might have escaped. But we still have one of them."

"And..." Stevens was beginning to catch on, "you want to use the captive creature as a hostage?"

"I think the perfect word is 'bait'."

---

Doc Hudson had gone through some tough times in his life. Challenging races, his crash in '54, getting through medical school...

Still, at that moment he felt like he'd rather go through any of them again than have to be a part of what was, for a lot of reasons, the strangest town meeting that Radiator Springs had ever seen. 

First of all, they weren't at the Town Traffic Court, but at Flo's. Second, Mater and McQueen were the ones heading it, as neither he nor Sheriff knew what to do in this type of situation. Third, and most obviously, there were five humans standing in the center of the station.

Everyone stared at the humans (who looked very uncomfortable) while Mater and McQueen explained what had happened in the desert. The only cars that didn't seem shocked or confused were Red (who liked most people, unless they wanted to hurt his friends), and Fillmore. Once the two friends had finished their story, no one spoke for a moment. 

Then, Sally drove forward a bit. She and McQueen seemed to have a silent conversation, and he gave a small smile before she turned to one of the humans. "Your name is Nikki, right?" 

The human girl who seemed to be the leader nodded, smiling. "Nikki Washington."

"I'm Sally. Sounds like you five need a place to stay tonight. I own the inn; you can stay there until further notice."

"Thanks a lot!" The youngest human, a boy with more energy than Mater (which was really saying something), butted in. Sally led the five humans to the Cozy Cone. He watched as the three girls were led into one cone while the two boys were put in another. He was still a bit amazed at how small the humans were. 

Some unfamiliar feeling gnawed at him. The fact that those five humans were only kids...He didn't know how to describe the emotion that it stirred in him. Sadness that they were stuck in another world, all alone? Anger that they were in this situation? Afraid because of those crazy scientists that were after them?

Doc had never had kids, and didn't pretend to know a lot about parenting (although more than one car had brought up how he and Lightning were about as close as father and son). But he wasn't going to let any kid, no matter the species, face something like that alone.

Once the humans were gone, everyone at Flo's began talking again. Sheriff and Sarge were already planning to find the compound and arrest everyone in it for illegal experimentation (as well as save the human they'd captured). Mater was trying to explain to Fillmore how the humans most likely would not like his organic fuel. Luigi and Guido were arguing in Italian. Ramone and Flo talked near the counter about what they should feed the humans, since one of the humans, Zane, had told them that humans couldn't drink gasoline. 

The flurry of conversation, which was so unlike the usual small talk of the cafe, left Doc's head spinning. He calmed a bit when he saw McQueen driving over to him. The rookie (though, after three seasons, he wasn't much of a rookie anymore) smiled. 

"Want to take a drive, Doc?"

"Please," the Hudson Hornet said, driving away from the noisy chaos. While he was happy to know that a majority of the town had agreed to help the humans, he'd never been one for group arguments. 

He and Lightning drove for a moment before the younger car spoke. "This is weird, isn't it?"

"That's one word for it."

"What do you want to do? I mean...I've never really dealt with something like this before."

"No one has. Only time I can remember going through something like this was when some hotshot race car showed up out of nowhere and destroyed the road."

"Very funny," Lightning answered sarcastically.

Doc chuckled before speaking again. "I think I might have the perfect idea."

"What?"

"I'm going to sleep. Maybe we'll think of something in the morning. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Doc." Lightning turned around and headed back to Flo's, where the arguments had begun to lighten up. The Hudson Hornet drove to his office. It had been an eventful day. If they were going to help five beings from another dimension, as well as rescue a sixth from a compound full of crazy scientists, then he was going to need a full night's sleep.