Cars 2 (6 page)

A
s Siddeley reached cruising altitude, he asked Finn, “Afterburners, sir?”

“Is there any other way?” Finn replied.

The jet suddenly jolted forward, and in a few short hours they were looking down at Paris.

Once they'd landed, Mater carefully followed Finn and Holley through backstreets and along alleys toward Finn's “contact.” Mater was excited to see the sights, but he tried extra hard to follow Finn and Holley's lead. This was serious business!

They soon reached a marketplace where cars swarmed them, speaking in French. It seemed that every car had something to sell!

Just then a wobbly three-wheeled car turned in their direction and spotted Finn.

Tomber was a parts dealer who drove a hard bargain. He also was Finn's informant. But Tomber didn't like strangers or his customers to know he had a relationship with the law. So when he saw Finn with a tow truck, he took off like a shot.

Finn finally caught up with him. “Mater! This chap's double-parked. You know what to do.”

Mater's tow hook shot out like a whip. Moments later, Mater was towing Tomber into a dark garage. Holly followed as Finn quickly pulled the door shut, so the four cars could speak in private.

It was all part of the game. Tomber could not afford to let the crowd outside see him talking with strange cars. Finn was pretending to kidnap him while he actually gathered information.

Holley whipped out the holographic photo of the bad engine identified by Mater.

“All right, informant,” Holley said. “Inform us.”

“What a bucket of bolts!” Tomber exclaimed. “Wait. The parts: original from the manufacturer.”

“Any idea who this might be?” Finn probed.

“I haven't seen parts like this in years. They're very rare and very expensive,” Tomber said, confirming Mater's previous remarks. He paused and added, “I'm sorry, Finn. I can't help you.”

“Mater, is there anything else you can tell us about this engine?” Holley asked desperately.

“Sorry.” Mater frowned. “I told you everything I know about this Lemon.”

Everyone in the room paused.

“Lemon?”
Holley asked.

“Yeah, you know—cars that don't work right,” Mater replied. “Lemons are a tow truck's bread and butter. Like those Pacers and Gremlins at the party and race and airport and such? They're Lemons, too.”

“Holley,” Finn blurted. “Pull up the pictures I took on the oil platform. I want to know what other types of cars were out there.”

Holley pulled up the photos and started naming the cars. “There were some Hugos.”

“Mater, is a Hugo considered a Lemon?” Finn asked. He was detecting a trend!

Mater chuckled. A Hugo was definitely a Lemon. And so were the Trunkovs Holley identified in the photos from the oil derrick. Even the genius mastermind Professor Z was a Lemon!

“Finn,” Holley commented, “every car involved in this plot is one of history's biggest loser cars. And they're all taking their orders from whoever this is.” Once again she brought up the image of the mysterious and poorly constructed engine.

“Life made him a Lemon,” Finn said, musing aloud. “So he made Lemons his aid.”

Tomber's eyes grew wide. This was familiar! “This explains it!” he announced. “There've been rumors of a secret meeting of these so-called Lemon cars in Porto Corsa in two days.”

“Then there's a good chance
he'll
be there, too.” Finn smiled as an idea formed in his mind. Quickly, he told Holley to contact their bullet train. They were heading to Porto Corsa!

Mater's eyes lit up. “Hey, if we're gonna be near the next race, maybe we could swing by the pits, and you could tell Lightning how much I'm helping!”

“Tell Lightning what?” Holley looked confused.

But Finn was focused on the Lemons and their upcoming meeting. Now he had a plan: the secret agents would travel to Italy and infiltrate that meeting. Perhaps that would be where they would find out who was behind this plot—and why.

Meanwhile, the race cars and their teams were on their way to the same place as Mater and the two agents, but with different plans and expectations. In Porto Corsa, the small town on the sunny coast of Italy, everyone was excitedly preparing for the second race of the WGP. Lightning and his crew—Luigi, Guido, Sarge, and Fillmore—had just arrived in their WGP transport vehicle.

Porto Corsa also happened to be near the hometown of Luigi and Guido. The cousins couldn't have been more delighted.

“Guido!” Luigi said as they rolled into the town's piazza. “Your eyes do not deceive you. We are home!”

Fillmore got out of the transport and looked around. “Luigi, which way to the hotel?”

“What?” Luigi said quickly. “No friends of mine will stay in a hotel in my country. You will stay with my Uncle Topolino!”

A
s Team Lightning McQueen approached the Maserati fountain in the center of town, a 1937 Fiat rolled into the piazza. It was Uncle Topolino! The piazza soon filled with all of Guido and Luigi's Fiat family. Tears of joy were flowing as fast as the water in the fountain.

Everyone was smiling. But Uncle Topolino noticed Lightning out of the corner of his eye.

“Race car,” the wise older car said to Lightning. “You look so down. So low. It's like you have flat tires.”

“He's clearly starving,” Mamma Topolino said. “I'ma gonna make him a big meal right now, fatten him up.” Lightning tried to stop her, but Mamma rolled away toward the kitchen.

Uncle Topolino took Lightning aside. “I understand,” he said. “Is a problem, yes? Between you and a friend?”

“How'd you know that?” Lightning asked, impressed.

Uncle Topolino shrugged and replied simply: “A wise car hears one word and understands two. That, and Luigi told me. While Mamma cooks, come and take a stroll with me.”

It was hard for Lightning to talk about, but finally he said, “Mater made me lose the race, we had a huge fight, and he ended up going home.” Lightning paused and added: “It's for the best, though.”

“Best for him? Or for you?” the older car asked.

Lightning was startled. “What do you mean?”

“This Mater is a close friend?”

“He's my best friend,” Lightning replied.

Uncle Topolino rolled slowly forward. “Then why would you want him to be someone else?”

Lightning considered this for a moment. Lightning now understood that he needed to accept Mater for exactly who he was. Mater was his best friend!

Uncle Topolino gazed into the piazza. Party lights were twinkling, and the sound of music was everywhere. “You know, back when Guido and Luigi worked for me, they would fight over everything.”

Lightning could see Luigi dancing with a lady Fiat—and then he saw Guido suddenly cut in.

Uncle Topolino continued. “So I tell them:
‘Va bene.'
It's okay to fight. Everybody fights now and then, especially best friends.”

They watched Luigi cut back in on Guido. Finally Guido and Luigi danced together with the lady and her girlfriend.

“But you gotta make up fast,” Uncle Topolino added. “No fight is more important than a friendship. Whoever finds a friend, finds a treasure.”

Lightning sighed. He knew it was good advice.

Mamma Topolino returned with a huge platter and scolded, “Now eat!”

Lightning didn't know that at that moment Mater was traveling in a supersleek spy train on his way to Porto Corsa. Along with Finn and Holley, Mater was looking at surveillance photos of traffic in the little Italian town.

Finn was very impressed with Mater's knowledge of car makes and models.

“That one's a Gremlin. There's another Lemon right there,” Mater was saying as he scanned the photos of Porto Corsa. “That three-wheeled feller had to be right about a big meeting. You never see this many Lemons in one town.”

They took a look at a perfectly maintained Hugo being towed by an Eastern European tow truck.

“Must be one of the heads of the Lemon families,” Finn said. “That's why he's in such pristine condition. We've got to find a way to infiltrate that meeting and find out who's behind all this.”

“Hold on,” Holley said as she snapped a photo of Mater. She turned back to her computer and superimposed an image of the European tow truck over Mater. It would be the perfect disguise. Mater could be the one to infiltrate the meeting!

“Good job, Miss Shiftwell!” Finn said, liking the idea.

Mater had no idea what was going on. He was still blinking from the camera flash.

“Wait, what's the plan?” he asked.

But Finn and Holley did not reply. They simply stared at Mater, looking for flaws in the disguise. As the spy train screamed through the darkness, Holley worked on outfitting Mater for his mission. After adding the finishing touches, she fastened a tiny device behind the emergency light on his roof.

“That should just about do it,” she said.

“Perfect,” Finn said to Holley.

Mater looked in his side mirrors. He didn't notice anything different. He was still the same old dented red tow truck he'd always been.

“So, Mater,” Holley said, “it's voice-activated. But, you know, everything's voice-activated these days.”

“What?” Mater asked. “I thought you were supposed to be making me a disguise.”

Instantly, a computerized voice responded: “Voice recognized. Disguise program initiated.”

At the sound of Mater's voice, a holographic image suddenly spiraled out from the device on his roof. The device dropped the cloaking image of the sleek European tow truck right over Mater's body.

“Cool!” Mater exclaimed when he looked into his side mirrors again. “Hey, computer!” he called out. “Make me a German truck!”

Mater was delighted to suddenly see himself transformed into a German model.

“Make me a monster truck!” Mater said, loving this new gadget. “A funny car!” he said next, laughing.

The computer easily rotated through Mater's commands. Holley rolled her eyes and switched it back to the European tow truck. Mater frowned. He was having fun and didn't want to stop!

“The idea is to keep a low profile,” Finn reminded him politely but firmly.

“S
o I just go in and pretend to be this tow truck?” Mater asked anxiously.

“And leave the rest to us,” Holley answered as she deployed a bond sprayer to fill Mater's dents.

Mater suddenly pulled away. “Hey, what are you doing?” Then he took a breath. “For a second I thought you were trying to fix my dents.”

“I was,” Holley replied.

Mater straightened up. “Well then, no thank you. I don't get those dents buffed, pulled, filled, or painted by nobody. They're way too valuable.”

Holley seemed surprised. “Your dents are valuable? Really?” she asked.

“I came by each one of them with my best friend, Lightning McQueen. I don't fix these. I want to remember these dents forever.”

“Friendships can be dangerous in our line of work,” Finn said to him.

“But my line of work is towing and salvage,” Mater answered. He was
supposed
to be friendly!

Finn laughed, admiring Mater's brilliant cover. “Right!” Finn said, chuckling.

Mater frowned. “No, I meant that for real. I—”

“No, no. It's okay.” Holley stopped Mater. “Say no more. I'll work around the dent.”

“In the meantime, you look a little light on weapons,” Finn said as the spy train began its descent into Italy. Mater brightened right up when Finn hit a button and an entire wall of the train transformed into a huge store of gleaming high-tech weaponry.

In the sunny town of Porto Corsa, fans from all over the world gathered to watch the second race of the WGP. Luxurious yachts dotted the sparkling harbor, and expensive shops had their doors open ready to greet them.

The town's winding roads had been converted into a racecourse. The billboards that lined the quaint streets and hairpin turns proudly proclaimed the hometown favorite to be Francesco Bernoulli. His face was everywhere.

Brent Mustangburger and Darrell Cartrip were on hand to broadcast the color and excitement. “Welcome, everyone, to the beautiful town of Porto Corsa!” Brent said into his microphone. “The big news here continues to be Allinol. Sir Miles Axlerod spoke to the media earlier today to answer questions about its safety.”

Brent cut to a video of Axlerod, who seemed very distressed. “An independent panel of scientists has determined that Allinol is completely safe. Okay? Safe!” he emphatically told the reporters.

“So the race will go on,” Darrell Cartrip said. “But the question everyone is asking is: Will the real Lightning McQueen show up today?”

Darrell highlighted a graphic image of the race standings, showing Francesco at the top with ten points. “Well, he'd better,” Darrell said. “Talk about a hometown advantage. Francesco Bernoulli grew up racing this course!”

The announcer barely had time to introduce Francesco before the crowd began wildly chanting Francesco's name.

“Bellissima!”
Francesco said, loving the adoring crowd. “Thank you for your support, and thanks to Lightning McQueen for his big mistake!”

The track announcer continued. “In the second position:
Numero Novantacinque,
Number Ninety-Five, Lightning McQueen.”

The crowd cheered, but Lightning didn't seem to notice. His crew was watching him on the pit monitor.

Luigi became anxious. “Is everything okay?”

“If you're worried about your fuel, man, don't be,” Fillmore said into the radio. “It's perfectly safe.”

“No, guys. I just wish Mater were here,” Lightning answered as he rolled into the starting grid.

The day of the big race was also the day of the meeting of the Lemonheads, the leaders of the Lemon families, in Porto Corsa. Outside the town's elegant casino, a group of rough-looking Hugos were impatiently waiting for the Lemonheads to arrive.

Ivan, the Eastern European tow truck, was telling his Hugo buddy Alexander how ugly Gremlins were, when a very pretty little sports car pulled up.

“My grandfather has broken down,” Holley said to Ivan and Alexander. “If one of you could help, I'd be so grateful.” She was disguised as an Italian model, and they both fell for it.

Ivan revved his engine. “Sounds like you need some ‘roadside assistance'?”

Holley nodded, and after a brief challenge from Alexander Hugo, Ivan happily followed Holley down the street.

Mater peeked around the corner and saw them coming. Suddenly, the whole plan made him nervous.

“I don't know about this,” he said to Finn, who was sitting casually in an outdoor restaurant. “What if I screw things up?”

Finn smiled. “Impossible,” he radioed to Mater. “Just apply the same level of dedication you've been using to play the idiot tow truck and you'll be fine.”

Mater was stunned. “Wait, did you say ‘idiot'? Is that how you see me?”

Finn radioed back, “Of course—that's how everyone sees you. Isn't that the idea? I tell you, that's the genius of it!” he exclaimed. “No one realizes they're being fooled because they're too busy laughing at the fool. It's brilliant!”

Suddenly, Holley turned the corned and zapped Ivan the tow truck into unconsciousness with her electrified stun gun. She looked at Mater.

“Why aren't you in disguise?” she asked him. “Come on! There's no time.”

Mater quickly deployed Holley's cloaking image to turn himself into Ivan's double and rolled toward the casino. Victor, the Lemonhead of the Hugo family, was just arriving.

“Ivan!” Victor called out. “Why do you disrespect me so by making me wait here?”

Mater quickly attached his hook to Victor's polished fender and rolled the distinguished Hugo Lemon through the casino entrance.

“He's in,” Finn radioed to Holley.