Cars 2 (8 page)

M
ater closed his eyes. He couldn't stand to see his friend hurt. Finn and Holley were helpless, too. They saw Grem pull the trigger.

But Lightning zoomed right past the clock tower unharmed. He hadn't even slowed down!

Grem and Acer were shocked. Professor Z radioed them immediately.

“What happened?” the Professor demanded.

“You broke it,” Acer said to Grem.

Grem listened to Professor Z on the radio. “I understand,” Grem said. “Yes, sir.”

“What'd he say?” Acer asked anxiously.

“We go to the backup plan,” Grem said, and they both headed for the doors.

“Backup plan?” Mater called to them.

Grem gave Mater a nasty laugh and said, “Yeah, we snuck a bomb into Lightning McQueen's pit.”

“The next time he makes a stop, instead of saying
‘Ka-chow,'
he's gonna go
ka-boom!
” Acer added.

“Dadgum Lemons,” Mater muttered out of a mix of anger and frustration. Of course, his computer heard “gum” and spun out his weaponry.

The Lemons left the tower, laughing. But Mater noticed that the spinning barrels of his weapons had begun to shave away at the restraints that tied him to the clock's gears!

“Dadgum! Dadgum! Dadgum!” Mater shouted excitedly. It worked! The guns spun away at the restraints until they broke. Mater suddenly dropped toward the whirring gears of the clock.

He quickly whipped out his tow cable and hooked it onto a pipe. He swung himself toward the doors and landed with a thud.

“I gotta get y'all out of there so you can save Lightning McQueen,” he said, looking up at Finn and Holley in desperation.

“There's no time!” Finn told him. “It's up to you now. We'll be okay.”

Holley said, “Go get some more dents, Mater!” Mater gave Holley a smile and shot out of the door.

“So, we're going to be okay?” Holley asked Finn.

Finn shrugged. “He wouldn't have left if I'd told him the truth.” They both watched as a giant gear moved one click closer to crushing them completely. “Being killed by a clock: gives a whole new meaning to ‘Your time has come.'”

That gave Holley an idea. She fired at the clock's gearbox, sending a blast of electricity through the wires and into the gears.

“What are you doing?” Finn asked as a shower of sparks flew through the clock tower.

“Trying to turn back time,” she answered. “If I can reverse the polarity…” She strained to get off another shot. This time, she scored a direct hit. The clock stopped with a jolt and then reversed itself. The gears began to move away from them.

“Quick thinking, Holley!” Finn said, impressed.

But a different gear was now moving closer—a gear that was going to smash in their trunks.

“Drive, Holley!” Finn said as the gear began to move over them.

Chrome was ground off their rear bumpers as the two spun their wheels. They inched just far enough apart to evade the giant machinery—but not too far. The gear sliced right through the cable that had them tied bumper to bumper! Finn and Holley flew to opposite platforms inside the clock.

They were free!

“We've got to get to the course!” Finn shouted. “Calculate the fastest way to get there!”

Holley instantly popped out two wings from her side panels. She could see the shock on Finn's face.

“They're standard issue now,” she told him.

“You kids get all the good hardware,” he said with a smile. He was impressed with Agent Shiftwell. As they headed out the door, Holley noticed an air filter on the ground.

“Isn't that Mater's?” she asked.

They looked at each other and realized that one of Mater's parts had been taken out and replaced. It could mean only one thing: Professor Z had planted the bomb inside Mater!

“I knew his escape was too easy,” Finn muttered.

M
eanwhile, Mater zoomed through London. He had to get to Lightning and warn him about the bomb in his pit. When Mater finally got to the track, he drove through all the pits until he got to Lightning's.

“Mater!” Luigi cried out in surprise.

“Everybody, get out! Y'all gotta get out of the pits now!” Mater shouted. He looked around and saw the entire Radiator Springs gang in the pit.

“Wh-what are you guys doing here?” he sputtered.

“We're all here because of you,” Sally told him. “Is everything okay?”

“No! Everything is not okay! There's a bomb in here! You guys gotta get out now!”

Suddenly, Mater heard Finn over his radio. Finn was driving through the streets of London as Holley flew above him.

“Mater, listen to me,” Finn said. “The bomb is on you! They knew you'd try to help Lightning McQueen, so they planted it in your air filter when you were knocked out.”

Mater was shocked. He snorted and blew his air filter cover off. It was true! Mater could see the bomb attached to his engine. Then he looked up and saw Lightning, grinning and racing right toward him.

“Mater!” Lightning called out from the track where he was racing neck and neck with the other cars. “I've been so worried about you!”

Up in the stands, Professor Z was watching from his private box. He was waiting for Lightning to get close enough to Mater. Then he would press the detonator and get rid of them both!

Just as Lightning was about to enter the pit, Mater cried out, “Stay away from me!” Wildly, Mater spun out and started driving backward onto the track.

“That's not going to happen this time,” Lightning said, and drove faster, trying to catch up with Mater. “I'm sticking by you the way you always stick by me! I just want a chance to explain myself. Please stop!”

Lightning sped up even more. “I'm not letting you get away again!” he said as he zoomed within inches of Mater's bumper, desperately trying to latch on to Mater's hook. Professor Z smiled and rolled his front tire toward the detonator.

In a panic, Mater shouted to his computer, “Gotta get away from Lightning!”

Mater's secret-agent computer answered: “Request acknowledged.”

Professor Z was just about to press the detonator when a rocket in Mater's arsenal blasted him forward. Professor Z was furious when his detonator flashed TARGET OUT OF RANGE.

Lightning, stunned, continued to chase Mater. He had never seen his buddy race at such a high speed. Mater whizzed past Francesco and crashed through a fence. Mater was causing chaos right in the middle of the World Grand Prix racing course!

Lightning took the opportunity to catch up with his buddy. This time, he latched on to Mater's hook and held on tight.

In Lightning McQueen's pit, the Radiator Springs gang watched their television monitor in shock. They heard Brent Mustangburger say, “And Lightning McQueen just blasted away, hooked to a rocket-propelled tow truck.”

From his private box, Professor Z was still pressing the detonator, hoping something would happen. He suddenly saw Holley appear in front of his window. She was hovering in midair. Professor Z quickly realized that her presence could mean nothing but trouble for him. He panicked and raced away, leaving the detonator behind.

Hovering near Professor Z, the Lemons howled, “Get Lightning McQueen!” They remembered Professor Z's warning that there would be no Lemon victory unless Allinol and Lightning McQueen were both ruined.

On the streets of London, Professor Z was beating a hasty retreat when Finn McMissile caught a glimpse of him zooming down a side street. In a flash, the secret agent was on the Professor's tail, desperately trying to capture him.

Finn urgently radioed Holley with a plan: “I'll get Professor Z! You help Mater!”

Holley, who was still in the air, radioed, “Got it!” She quickly flew over Francesco, turned a corner, and disappeared from sight.

“What is happening?” Francesco asked. Everything seemed to be faster than Francesco today.

Finn screamed around a corner, only to see Professor Z speeding toward a large combat ship. The ship was casting off its lines, ready to set sail. Professor Z had signaled ahead for the ship to be ready for his escape.

“Hurry, Professor!” the combat ship said.

Professor Z suddenly felt himself jolt backward. Finn had tethered him by deploying tensile cables to his rear bumper.

Finn began reeling him in. “Did you really think I'd let you just float away, Professor Z?”

But Finn was wrong. He had more than Professor Z to fight. An ultrapowerful electromagnet on the combat ship rapidly pulled both cars toward it.

“Give it up, McMissile,” Professor Z said smugly.

But Finn McMissile was not one to give up easily. He let loose every weapon in his arsenal. The weapons were all instantly sucked up onto the magnet.

KA-BOOOOM!

Flames from the exploding combat ship could be seen from miles away. There was no time to lose. Finn sped off to find Holley and Mater.

At that same moment, Mater was back down on the street with Lightning in tow. Holley was flying high above, trying to watch over them, when she heard the explosion. She tried to put it out of her mind, hoping that Finn was okay. She knew that, no matter what, Finn would want her to save Mater and get rid of that bomb.

From her bird's-eye view, Holley could see Grem and Acer just one block away from Mater. The two Lemons were about to cross an intersection and hit the tow truck broadside.

“Oh, no,” Holley said to herself.

A
gent Shiftwell swiftly dropped to the street and deliberately skidded into Grem and Acer's path. She was putting herself at risk to save Mater. Unable to stop, the two Lemons flipped over Holley and landed in a waste-disposal truck. Agent Holley Shiftwell had just received her first dent—and she had gotten it by helping out a friend.

Quickly she turned to that friend, Mater, and electronically scanned his air filter. “We've got to get that bomb off you!”

“Bomb?” Lightning repeated, finally noticing the bomb attached to Mater.

“Yeah, they strapped it to me,” Mater explained. It was the Lemons' backup plan to stop Lightning.

Lightning suddenly understood why Mater had been trying to get away from him.

“Mater,” he said, “who put a bomb on you?”

Just then Professor Z rolled up. He was completely entangled in Finn's cables and tensile lines. Finn was holding on to him as if the Professor were on a leash.

“You!” Professor Z moaned when he saw Lightning.

Finn cut the conversation short. “Turn off the bomb, Professor Z!”

But Professor Z simply smirked. “Are you all so dimwitted? It's voice-activated. Everything's voice-activated these days.”

Mater had gotten a little used to this voice-activated stuff. He jumped right in and said, “Deactivate! Deactivate!”

Professor Z laughed as he saw everyone's expressions turn to looks of horror. Mater's voice had activated a timer on the bomb. They had four minutes—and counting—before it would explode.

“Did I forget to mention it can only be disarmed by the one who activated it?” Professor Z asked.

Holley charged up to the Professor's grille. “Say it!” she ordered him.

“Deactivate,” Professor Z said calmly. The bomb suddenly lost a minute. It was now going to explode in less than three minutes! Professor Z grinned as the seconds ticked away. “I am not the one who activated it. Would anyone else like to try?”

Holley turned to Professor Z and hit him with a jolt from her electrified stun gun.

Finn was growing to appreciate Holley's instincts more and more. “You read my mind,” he said to her as Professor Z fell over.

But the bomb was still ticking.

“What do we do?” Lightning asked.

“You blow up,” Victor replied simply. The head of the Hugo Lemon family had rolled next to the Professor. His Lemon relatives were blocking the entrance to the side street.

The other Lemons and their families blocked all the other streets. The Lemons revved their feeble engines, ready to charge.

Lightning took one look at Mater and sighed. “I'm gonna go out on a limb here. These are the guys that want me dead?”

Mater faced the Lemons. “Fellas, listen,” he begged. “I know what you're going through. Cars have been laughing at me my whole life, too. But is hurting folks and making money really gonna make you feel better?”

The Lemons stopped. They looked at one another.

Then one of the Lemons in front shrugged and said, “It's worth a shot.”

A gang of Hugos, Pacers, Zapors, and Gremlins rushed toward Lightning. The Gremlin Lemon was leading the charge when he was suddenly broadsided by a blast of water.

It was Red, the fire truck, spraying his powerful fire hose! And the rest of the Radiator Springs gang was with him. Even Flo was ready to rumble. They drove at the Lemons full-force.

Guido zipped off some Lemon tires with his air gun as Flo blinded them with her high beams. In seconds, Guido had another stack of lug nuts next to him.

Ramone spray-painted their windshields so the Lemons couldn't see. Finn, who'd lost all his weapons to the combat ship's magnet, used his karate skills to take out Lemons three and four at a time. Soon the streets were littered with cheap cars.

“Retreat!”
a Gremlin hollered.

As the few remaining Lemons scattered, Guido rushed to Mater's side. He tried every wrench in his tool case, but not a single one of them could take the bolts off the bomb.

Cross-eyed, Mater took a good look at the bolts. Then it all became clear.

“I get it! I get it!” he cried. “I know what needs to be done!”

“Then do it!” Lightning urged his friend.

“No! I can't!” Mater answered. Then he whispered to Lightning: “Nobody takes me seriously. I know that now. This ain't Radiator Springs.”

“Yes, it is,” Lightning replied firmly. He continued, “You're yourself in Radiator Springs. Be yourself here! If folks aren't taking you seriously, then
they
need to change. Not you! I know that, because I didn't take you seriously before, and I was wrong. Now, you can do this! You're the bomb!”

Mater beamed. “Thanks, buddy.”

“No, you're the
actual bomb
! Now let's go!” Lightning shouted.

Mater latched his hook on to Lightning, and they took off at top speed.