When Life Gives You Lemons

Chapter 15- Every Villain is Lemons

Not much to this one, though they do find some answers like in the movie. Also, kudos if you get the reference for the name of this chapter. (I felt like it fit very well with this chapter.)

Chapter 15- Every Villain is Lemons

As they drove along, Finn gave Holley instructions on how to act and what to do. Mater was behind and kept hiding behind Dumpsters, with Fudge still in his truck bed.

"Mater? Fudge?" Finn called.

"Yeah, Finn?" the two answered in unison.

"We're not here to go shopping", Finn informed them both.

Sure enough, Fudge looked around to see a market of car parts! This was probably where they'd find this car who would help them find out who was behind all this. The market was almost overwhelming. The shouts of, "Parts for sale!" came out from all directions and rung in Fudge's ears.

"Dad-gum! You gotta be kiddin'!" Mater exclaimed. "They got everythin' here!"

He was especially impressed by the hoods, but Finn hurried him along.

Mater was right. They did seem to have everything at this market. Everything for cars, anyway. There was even a car that had eyes in her headlights! Fudge and Mater both found her appearance rather alarming and Mater drove away quickly. When they caught up with the other two, Finn was hiding behind a corner. Fudge guessed that they were close to this car.

"Man, there is some great bargains here!" Mater yelled.

"Mater, get back!" Finn hissed.

It was too late. The car, a dark blue one with three wheels, stopped his conversation and looked over at Mater. Then he noticed Finn and shot off.

Finn took off after him and so did Holley.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Mater called, following them.

"You mean, 'Wait for us'!" Fudge reminded him that she was still in the truck bed- and she was glad she was. There was no way she could catch up if she was on her own feet.

Finally, they caught up to Finn and this other car and a misunderstanding led Holley to electrocute him.

"Have you lost your mind?" Finn snapped.

"But I thought-" Holley began.

"Mater, this chap needs a tow!" Finn ordered. "Hook him up!"

"Well, sure thing!"

"You rusty piece of junk!" the three-wheeled car yelled in a French accent. "Get your dirty hook off me!" He didn't appear to be very happy, but Fudge couldn't blame him. She wouldn't exactly be in a good mood either if she'd just been electrocuted.

By this point, Fudge had jumped out of Mater's truck bed and was walking, albeit a little unsteadily at first as she had been sat down for so long. She couldn't help staring at this French car in both sympathy. She felt sorry for him being electrocuted.

"Why are you staring?!" the French car yelled at her. "Why must children always stare?! Have you never seen a French car get electrocuted before?!"

They headed into a dark garage to talk in private. Finn kicked a car out and let the others in. As soon as Fudge scurried in, Finn closed the door and the five of them held a secret conversation.

Finn introduced the car as his informant, Tomber and explained that they've known each other for a long time, having first saved Tomber while he was doing a twenty year to life sentence in a Moroccan impound.

"All right. We get it", Holley intervened. "You both know each other, you're both old."

Tomber made a face (he was still angry over being electrocuted) and Fudge giggled.

"There you go, informant", she snapped, showing Tomber the image of the engine on her computer. "Inform us."

As it turned out, Tomber could only confirm what Mater had previously told them about the engine. Additionally, he could tell them that he sold these parts, but had no idea who he was selling them to. It was his best customer, who always did his business over the phone.

"Well, a Lemon needs parts", Mater remarked. "Ain't nothin' truer than that."

Tomber nodded in agreement.

"Lemon?" Finn echoed, puzzled.

"Yeah, you know, cars that don't ever work right", Mater explained. "Like them Gremlins and Pacers we run into at the party and the race and the airport."

Fudge, who was stood between Mater and Finn, nodded in agreement, feeling rather, well, useless. She was familiar with the term Lemon, thanks to Mater, but still she said nothing. Mater had as much spy experience as she did, yet he was making himself useful, whereas she wasn't. She was too nervous to get involved.

So, the human girl felt like she was being ignored by everyone else, but Fudge honestly couldn't say she blamed them. She just listened in on this conversation like she was watching a movie. She could see and hear what was going on, but she wasn't really there. Fudge just twiddled her balloon stick (which she often liked to fiddle with) and looked at whoever was talking, causing her head to bounce around and she got a little dizzy.

Beginning to sense a trend, Finn ordered Holley to pull up pictures from an oil platform to confirm if the other types of cars there were also Lemons, which, indeed, they were. Eastern European models, Hugos and Trunkovs, were definitely Lemons.

"Finn, everyone involved in this plot is one of history's biggest loser cars", Holley announced.

"And they're all taking their orders from the car behind this engine", Finn added.

"Wait a sec!" Fudge cried, speaking for the first time in this conversation. She spoke quickly to get in before anybody else and contribute to the discussion at least once.

"What is it?" Finn questioned.

"If they're all history's biggest loser cars", Fudge commented, feeling uncomfortable using that term, so she placed extra emphasis on if, "and they're cars that don't ever work right... Don't you think that could maybe be a... a... What's the word?"

"Motive?" Finn suggested.

The eleven-year-old nodded. "Yeah. Motive."

Finn thought about that. "I suppose it's possible."

"After all", Fudge went on, "they're targeting race cars, who obviously work right. Maybe they're jealous or something."

Finn nodded. "It's possible... Especially looking at this engine. Life made him a Lemon, so he's made Lemons his aid."

Tomber's eyes widened. "Ah! This explains it!"

"What, Tomber?" Finn wanted to know."

"Gremlin, Pacer, Hugo and Trunkov never get together", Tomber informed the group. "But they are having a secret meeting in two days!"

"Where's this meeting taking place?" Finn demanded.

"Porto Corsa, Italy", he replied.

"That's where the next race is!" Mater realised.

"On the same day!" Fudge chimed in quickly. "Which makes sense if they're trying to sabotage the race!"

Finn gave her a small smile. "Right. Then there's a good chance our mystery engine will be there too."

"Your chances are more than good", Tomber assured them. "I just sent him a new clutch assembly yesterday. To Porto Corsa."

So, they got some of the answers they were looking for. In the next chapter, more information about the stalker is revealed in one of the most intense ways possible. I hope you're all ready for that. If not, at least you have some time to prepare...