Adopted by McQueen (Humanized) Book 3

Chapter 13

All the racers began driving on the track, waiting for the first flag to start the race. McQueen was at the very back of the racers, lost in thought worried about his daughter. He shook out of his thoughts as he heard a kid screaming his name from the crowd, a little boy who was a big fan of him. He reminded him of Chloe when she was a kid.

"Hey Lightning!" Mr. Sterling spoke through his headset.

"Hey, Mr. Sterling." He responded.

"To the future and to get Chloe back, ay champ?"

McQueen frowned, "yeah."

"Hey." Smokey spoke through the headset, "just focus on what you're here to do, kid."

"Thanks, Smokey."

"Now. . .go make Hud proud and win Chloe back!"

Chloe managed to get the blindfold off her eyes but was still tied up and had tape over her mouth. She looked around, quickly realizing she was a storage garage on the race track. She used her tongue to push the tape off of her mouth. She was able to make an air bubble but she needed to remove the tape. She looked around and saw a knife hanging on the wall.

She hooked the tape of the edge of the knife and pulled back until the tape ripped off. She started gasping for air.

Now that the tape was off her mouth, she could possibly get someone's attention, "HELP!"

McQueen took a risky chance to let Cruz race for him. He coached her while she raced, reminding her of all the practices they did. She eventfully made it to the top 10, still moving up the roster. As she moved up to 3rd, Storm slowed down to be next to her.

"Hey, costume girl!" He smirked, "you know, at first I though you were out here because your GPS was broken. "

"Don't listen to him Cruz!" Said McQueen.

"You look good! It's important to look the part. You can't have everyone thinking that you don't deserve to be here. They don't need to know what you and I already do. That you can play dress-up all you want, but you'll never be one of us. And McQueen will never get his daughter back with you racing in his place. Looks like I have a new punching bag for a rage room."

"STORM DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!" McQueen screamed.

Storm smirked, hearing McQueen scream in anger meant that he was getting under his skin just like he wanted. He sped back up to first place, leaving Cruz in her thoughts.

Daniel was hearing everything from his spot in the pits. He couldn't let his father get away with this. He snuck away from the pits without anyone noticing.

It was the last lap of the race and Cruz was all up behind Storm's car annoying him. She tried to pass him but ended up smashing against the wall as they kept going.

"Cruz get out of there!" McQueen yelled.

Cruz was able to turn her tire and flip over Storm, crossing the finish line in 1st place. Everyone cheered her name in the race center and her name was shown all around. She did some donuts on the track and parked the car in the pits. She got out the car smiling.

"We did it!" She said.

Storm went up to them, "actually, you didn't. McQueen wasn't the one who crossed the finish line. So it doesn't count."

"Strom you son of bitch where is my daughter!" McQueen tackled him and wringed his hands around his neck.

Storm just chuckled, "you'll never find her. She's-"

"She's right here!" Daniel yelled as he and Chloe were running towards them.

"Dad!" Chloe yelled.

Hearing Chloe's voice made McQueen's jaw drop as he turned around.

"Chloe!" He said running to her and hugging her tightly.

"Daniel you bastard!" Storm stood up with his pistol in hand.

Daniel stood in front of McQueen and Chloe and put his hand front of him, "I won't let you hurt Chloe OR McQueen! You want to wipe out all the old racers to be on top but this is NOT the way to do it! You forced me to do all of this because you knew I loved her and you lied to me that you wouldn't hurt her! But I've watched you beat her and threaten her. I REFUSE TO ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN ANY LONGER! IT ENDS NOW JACKSON!"

There was silence as Daniel and Jackson stared each other down. Daniel knew what his father was about to do. But before he could do it, he tackled him the ground and took his gun. He shot his leg, causing Storm to scream in pain.

Daniel leaned over to his ear, chuckling, "that was a warning, Storm."

The police hurried to the scene and Daniel handed the gun to an officer.

"Just you wait boy!" Storm screamed as he was handcuffed, "I'll be back and you will regret this day!"

Daniel sighed as he walked to Chloe and McQueen. Chloe ran to him and kissed him passionately on the lips. She pulled away as McQueen met up with them.

Daniel looked at him with regretful eyes, "Mr. McQueen sir, I never had any intentions of hurting your daughter. I did what I could to be sure she was-"

McQueen hugged him, "the important thing is that she made it back to me safe. I thank you for that."

He let go of him smiling.

Daniel cocked an eyebrow confused, "wait, does this mean-"

"Yes." McQueen chuckled, "you have my blessing to date my daughter."

Daniel smiled as Chloe hugged him tightly.

Mr. Sterling ended up selling the Rust-eze Brand to Tex because he gave him a "Texas sized offer" and Cruz became a racer for Dinoco. Daniel became a racer too with Chloe as his coach. His Sponsor? Flo's Cafe' of course. Chloe, Daniel, McQueen, and Cruz lined up their cars at the start of the dirt track, ready to race and practice.

"Go easy on him, Little Thunder." McQueen laughed.

"I'm a McQueen." She replied putting her sunglasses on her face, "I never go easy."

Luigi dropped the flags and their race began.