Jailbreak: A Disney Fan Fiction

Chapter 22

Everyone around him started talking at once. McQueen, always at the back of the crowd, had heard every word from the radio. He could see Mr. Chen on the floor (he knew very little about humans, but he knew that he'd been hurt).

He knew, though, that Daniels was going to try it all again. He was going to drag other characters here from other worlds. Take them from their families. Maybe hurt them to keep them from escaping. Like how he'd hurt McQueen. The very thought filled him with terror. And rage.

Fatima, the human woman helping Mr. Chen, managed to locate Daniels via the radio he was (stupidly) still wearing. He had gotten to the golf carts (apparently tiny cars that weren't alive) and was heading for the monorail system (a train with cars big enough that even McQueen had managed to fit (though not comfortably)). If he got there, Fatima explained, there would be no stopping or catching him.

Marty lost it. He got up from where he'd been crouched by Mr. Chen's side and began pacing around. Red tried to calm him, but he was already starting to hyperventilate. "How are we going to catch him? No one can move that fast–"

McQueen revved his engine, getting everyone's attention. He had a look of pure determination on his face. He'd been terrorized, kidnapped, paralyzed, and imprisoned by this man. He was going to stop him. It was time to test out Marisol's mechanical skills.

"None of you can go that fast. But I've got this." He revved it again and gave them all a look that mirrored how Doc looked when he was about to show Lightning a new trick. "You might want to step aside."

He gave them all a few seconds to get out of his way. The second he had a clear shot, he took off. He drove through the tunnels until he found an exit, and raced through so fast that he was airborne for a second before gravity sent him back to the ground. He didn't slow at all. He saw when he was outside that he was right next to Main Street, U.S.A. He grinned; thanks to the kids, he knew how to get to the monorail station from here. All he had to do was get to Daniels as fast as he could.

He felt no anxiety as his speedometer climbed. He didn't even think about touching his brakes. The last twenty-four hours without being able to truly use his engine had been, for him, the worst kind of torture. This...this was nothing short of bliss. He felt the wind rushing at him, and a smile spread across his face. 

Not thirty seconds after he'd started, he saw Daniels on a canopy-less little white car, roughly fifty feet from the monorail station. McQueen shouted ahead before slowing down and parking. He had some things to say to this guy.

The man turned at McQueen's voice, and smirked. He actually stopped the cart and turned to better speak to the car. "Alright, where are the others?"

"What do you mean?" Lightning answered, pretending to be confused. He quickly realized, however, that ever since their escape, Daniels had only ever seen him parked. He had no idea that McQueen could drive again. Had the situation been different, the car would have burst out laughing.

"Don't play dumb." Daniels continued. "You couldn't have gotten here without someone pushing you. It was those kids, wasn't it? They're hiding around here, somewhere, as part of a stupid plan to get this back." He held up the Charm with two fingers (Red had told him earlier about human hands).

Daniels settled back in his seat, as though relaxed. "I know that you can barely move. I sabotaged your engine. You might never drive again. I might have mentioned this before, but I'm a pretty good mechanic."

Lightning thought of Marisol, how she'd clearly been afraid of him but had helped him when he needed it the most. How she'd helped to calm him through what might have been one of the scariest and most confusing days of his life. McQueen gave Daniels a smile, the smile he always gave to overconfident opponents before he beat them in a race, and revved his engine long and loud. 

"I found a better one."

The smile disappeared from Daniels' face, and he paled as McQueen shot forward. Before the man could even start moving his cart again, the red race car was in his path. And proceeded to block every path that the man tried to take. If he tried to go forward, there was McQueen. If he tried to turn around, there he was again. No matter where he went, there was the car.

Daniels was quickly getting frustrated, but McQueen was having fun. For him, this was as easy as a children's game. He actually laughed once or twice while blocking the angry little man.

He was almost disappointed when he heard Red call out. He made sure he was blocking Daniels' way to the monorail station, then looked in the direction of his friend's voice. That's when he saw the kids, the other characters, Thomas, Fatima, and Mr. Chen (who had a bandaged forehead but looked much better).

He grinned, and gave Daniels a smug grin of his own. "Sorry, but the park's closed."

Thomas and Fatima, who were evidently park security guards, ran over to Daniels. McQueen grinned at his friends. They'd done it, Daniels was under arrest. They were about to go home, finally!

Then he saw terror spreading across his friends' faces. Jack got in front of the kids while Mr. Chen patted the back of his shirt, as if realizing for the first time that something was missing. He saw what was wrong, and quickly backed up so that he was fully blocking the entrance to the monorail station.

When Daniels had ambushed Mister Chen and got the Charm, he'd also stolen his gun back. And now he had it pointed at Thomas and Fatima. That stupid smug grin was on his face again.