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Doc and Lightning rose the next morning without mentioning their heart to heart the previous night, instead there was a new level of understanding between them. Lighting had issues to work through, his trauma from being jumped and his self-esteem issues. But now he was beginning to accept that maybe he wasn’t a fluke.
Their peaceful early morning came crashing down when Lighting checked twitter as he shoveled cornflakes into his mouth. His eyes landed on a Sky News tweet with a spoonful of cereal suspended in the air.
He whispered quietly, “oh no.” It was quiet but it had Doc dropping his magazine to look up.
“What?” When the young racer didn’t answer him he stood to lean over the kids shoulder. With a sharp sniff he snatched the phone from Lightning’s hand. The twenty year old flailed as Doc held it aloft.
“ Hey , give that back,” he griped with an undercurrent of anxiety in his voice. Doc simply shook his head and pocketed the phone.
“After the race. Don’t need that shit right now,” he answered sternly. But he had seen the tweet, the number of retweets and likes.
Breaking News: Piston Cup contender Lighting McQueen having dispute with sponsors at charity gala. Witnesses say the young racer looked worried and unhappy as he spoke to his sponsors and left shortly after. Has McQueen lost his sponsorship?
“They didn’t, I-” Lighting began to speak but Doc shushed him.
“Don’t you worry about it. Rusty and Dusty will speak to the press and deny it.”
Lighting still looked worried as Doc turned back to look at him, “what if it’s true? What if they are cutting me?”
“ Kid , they would have told you. Don’t start thinking about any of that now. You have a race to run and Chick’s ass to show up.” Beneath his scowly exterior Doc’s softer side showed through. He clapped a hand softly on McQueen’s shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Get your shit, you got tires to warm.”
-
The pair discreetly left the hotel and took the hornet to the track. Mack had set up shop the day before and the pits were buzzing. The race didn’t start until noon but drivers were already getting a feel for conditions. The press were booming at the gates whilst security handed Doc their passes at the in gate. Desperate to get photos of the pair before they disappeared into the pits. News had spread fast and everyone wanted a word from McQueen about the rumour. Doc was insistent that the RustEze press would handle it and it ignored all questions.
As they slipped out only a select few reporters with pit passes were around and they quickly hounded the pair as they approached the shop. Both Lighting and Doc had mirrored shades and security barred the reporters from the workshop.
“How’s the 95 looking Mack?” Lighting asked as they entered the tent. Stacks of wheels lined the tent walls. Mack poked his head out from the hood.
“All good, just topped up your water. I need to do your oil and you're good to give her a run,” the mechanic assured with a smile. Lighting nodded and left to get into his tracksuit. Mack eyed him until he was out of ear shot. “You see the news?”
Doc nodded grimly, “I took his phone but the press aren’t helping. Just waiting for PR to make a statement but yesterday’s conference didn’t help.”
The two men smiled grimly and Doc set to work in the box checking the radio channels and cameras. Back in his prime there weren’t fuel consumption charts or wind trackers or track thermometers. You just raced. In Lightning’s defence it wasn’t like he relied on that information either. He learnt how to watch the road and Doc was there to support him. Slipping the headset on he waited for the familiar crackle that signified that Lighting had his helmet on and was in the car.
It didn’t take too long before he heard it, “ you there Doc? ”
“Yeah I’m here. Track cars’ coming for your escort. Take it easy, get a feel for the track. You got a lot of track to get through today, you’ve done this race once and you did well but it’s tiring.”
“ Yeah...yeah.”
“You’re not thinking about the news are you?” He heard the 95 roar to life over the radio, he turned to see it peel out of the pit tailing the track car. Through the tinted window he saw Lighting raise a hand.
“
I guess. I know that RustEze ain’t dropping me, but people are talking. They’re questioning the rumour, why would they drop me? And people are answering, they’re giving reasons, good reasons, about why a sponsor would drop me.”
He sounded so heartbroken as he accelerated out of the pit lane, the 95 easily cruising around the track. They had fifteen minutes before they would have to come back and another driver would go out.
“Lighting,” Doc said quietly. “They don’t know you. Not like me or Mater or Sally. They can watch you race on the TV and judge what they see, but what they see and what is actually happening are two different things. They only judge what they see, not what they know.”
“ I don’t...I don’t know if I can do this.”
-
The 95 pulled in before the fifteen minutes was up and the press were begging for answers. From the other side of the barricades, cameras were flashing and questions were firing.
“Is there anything wrong with the car?” One voice cut through the rest. Mack had seen the 95 pull in and McQueen jump out to disappear from the public eye. Doc rushed down the steps of the crew box and hesitated.
“Just tell them there's nothing wrong and he’ll be perfectly fine to race,” he ordered before following Lighting. Mack didn’t take the harsh tone to heart, something was wrong and if anyone was going to be able to fix it, it was Doc.
Mack walked towards the press with his hands raised in surrender, “the 95 is firing perfectly on all cylinders and McQueen is one-hundred percent race ready. That’s all we have to say.”
The press clamoured more but he turned his back to do a once over on the car, something was wrong. He really hoped Lighting was race ready.
-
“Who did this to you?”
Lighting was sitting on a foldable chair in what was designated the lunch room of the tent. The face shield was retracted and his hands looped around the mouth guard. He raised sorrowful eyes towards his crew chief.
“Who did this to you Lightning?” He asked again, taking a seat across the trestle table. “No one is born this...self conscious for lack of a better word. Who made you like this?”
Lighting shook his head and swallowed thickly, “you, you know Harv right?”
Harv Terrain, Lighting’s old agent. After Lighting had forfeited the three way race last season the agent dropped him. Doc nodded.
“He liked my success, loved it. Loved the way the press ate me up, the upstart, the rookie who raced like a legend. He didn’t like me, he liked the idea of me. And he made that real clear. He threatened to take away everything when didn’t come first. You ever wonder why I don’t have savings?”
Doc looked down at his calloused hands and said guilty, “I thought you blew it in your early days. “
Lighting smiled in forgiveness. “He used me as a bargaining chip to better himself. Let others take a part of my winnings, let them be connotated with my success. He had me sign contracts that he didn’t uphold yet I still paid the price for. He cancelled them of course, when he dropped me. But I’m still scared he’s gonna turn around one day and make me pay up.”
Doc sighed and shut his eyes, rubbing a hand across his face.
“Kid, I’m so, so sorry. I had no idea you were in the situation. He has nothing on you, nothing . And if he decides to rear his ugly head, you have us. You have help. Sally was a lawyer and a damn good one. You’re not alone.”
“It’s fine, I probably deserved it. I was so arrogant I-”
“Listen Hot Rod,” Doc snapped and Lighting up eyes wide. “It doesn't matter how much of a pain in the ass you were, you were manipulated. Legally and emotionally. But you are strong, not just a strong racer. But inside.” He leant over and jabbed a finger into Lightning’s sternum. “You are so fucken strong kid. And I promise you, if you want to take Harv down, make sure those contracts are redundant, we can do that. But today, you go out there and you do your best, win or lose.
“You never know how far you can go unless you run.”
And so he did.
Lighting went out onto the track that day and he won.