Worlds Collide: A Cars Fan Fiction

Cryptic

If Stevens thought that Moteur had been upset the night before, it was nothing compared to the way he acted when the humans (this time all six of them) escaped again. His shrieking could be heard from across the compound.

"We had them, Stevens! How could you let them, all of them, get away AGAIN?"

Normally, Stevens would have simply swallowed his pride and taken the yelling as best as he could until he came up with a way to fix whatever was making Moteur mad. But the creatures escaping again had been hard on him, too. 

"I didn't let them get away. Those cars helped them. Although how they met Lightning McQueen is beyond me. What would an A-list celebrity be doing in the desert..."

He realized that Moteur had gone quiet. The Vectra was grinning. Somehow, it was much worse than when he was yelling.

"That's where they went." He was muttering quietly to himself, shaking as if he was trying not to laugh. "That's where they went the first time they escaped. That's where they are now. I should have known....I should have known..."

"Sir?" He tried not to show it, but the forklift was very unnerved by his boss' behavior. 

"A half hour from here is a town called Radiator Springs. I knew it was there but didn't think it would be a problem, since the compound is so well hidden. Lightning McQueen lives there when he isn't racing.

"The first time the creatures escaped, they must have ended up there. They must have somehow gotten the cars there to help them."

"Sir," Stevens interrupted, realizing something. "There was a police car in that group. He was right, most of our activities here are technically illegal. And we are within his jurisdiction...we could go to jail for a long time..."

"Like you said, 'technically' illegal. It isn't officially against the law. Besides, he's one police officer from a town in the middle of nowhere. Who's going to believe him?"

He gestured with his tire and began driving down the hall. "Now come on. I have a new plan in mind, and I need you to assemble a team."

"Search team, sir?" Stevens didn't feel any better about the cop, but he tried to hide it. The important thing was getting those creatures back.

"Not this time....get me the head of security. This mission will require stealth."

---

Only a day before, McQueen thought that he'd never been happier to see Radiator Springs. But after storming a compound, learning that a billionaire he'd met only a year ago was an insane scientist, and almost getting captured by said insane scientist, the town looked even better than it had the day before.

"ABBEY!" The second she was down, Hector tackled her to the ground in a hug. Which promptly turned into a choke hold. The two ended up wrestling on the ground before Abbey had pinned him. 

"Good to know that I'm still wrestling champion!" Abbey laughed as she got up and helped Hector to his feet. 

"McQueen! Sally! Sheriff! Sarge!" Mater drove over and greeted everyone like an excited puppy. "Dad gum, I knew you'd do it!"

"Hey Mater," Zane said as he hurried off of the trailer, followed by the rest of his friends. The ride back from the compound hadn't been any easier than the ride there. 

Abbey, who'd heard a lot about the cars of Radiator Springs on the ride back, bounced up to the tow truck. "You must be Mater! I'm Abbey!"

"Nice to finally meet you, Abbey!" He stopped smiling and looked worried for a moment. "They didn't hurt you in the lab, did they?"

"Nah, they stayed far away from me once I shot at them with my eye lasers."

Wait, could humans do that? Every car suddenly looked very nervous. Nikki sighed, putting her hand on her forehead. 

"Humans don't have eye lasers. Abbey, they helped save your life. Stop messing with them."

"You know she won't," Elsie signed, with Zhara translating. "Besides, we need to get to work on these." She pulled the blueprints out of her bag and handed them to Nikki.

"You're right, Elsie." Nikki opened them up and started looking at them. 

"Anything I can do to help?" McQueen asked. He doubted that he'd be any help with the blueprints, but he still wanted to do what he could to get the kids home. 

"Yeah, do you know anywhere we could study these?"

"My office." The humans and other cars looked up. Doc had appeared, and smiled at the humans. "Glad to see that you're okay. You can study those in my office. I might even be able to help a bit."

"So you're a judge, a doctor, a racing legend and an expert in mysterious devices?" McQueen teased as they drove to his office. "Any other hidden talents you want to share?"

"There's a lot you don't know about me, rookie."

The two cars and six humans entered Doc's office. At a clear table, Elsie spread the plans out. Everyone gathered around, but McQueen could still see the machine.

It was very strange-looking; it reminded Lightning of a giant gray traffic cone covered in Christmas lights. Along with a picture of the device, the prints were covered in equations and writing in a language he'd never seen before.

"This device is nothing but evil. Like Thanos, or the Joker." Abbey scowled.

"I know," Hector agreed. "This thing is covered in math! I knew math was evil!"

"Uh, Nikki? This make any sense to you?" Zane asked. 

"Given enough time, Elsie and I could probably crack the equations, but I can't tell what this writing says."

"That's because it's been encrypted!" Zhara said, leaning in the read the plans. "From what I can tell, this is a...Caesar cipher! They letter they wanted to use was replaced with one three letters down the alphabet, so A becomes D, B becomes E, C becomes F..."

She realized everyone but Elsie was looking at her amazed. "What? Hector likes sports, Elsie likes books, I like cryptology! Now do you want me to translate the writing or what?"

Everyone nodded. Zhara bent over the plans, deep in concentration. She muttered to herself now and then, but was otherwise silent. Finally, after several minutes, she looked up. Her expression was one of utter horror.

"What's wrong?" Elsie signed, concerned.

"What did the plans say?" Nikki asked. 

"They brought us here for a reason," Zhara got out. "If they catch us, then we're in big trouble."