Cars 2 fanfiction (6)

Descending rapidly from 50,000 feet directly over northeastern China

2020 hours


“WHAT?! No… Is that really the best you can do for us right now?!” the sleek white Gulfstream gasped at the news he just received. He sighed and continued “Alright, I hear you. I can’t thank you and your comrades enough for trying. Alright, signing off.”
Hunter disconnected the radio signal and pinned his throttles as he descended even harder than before.
“Damn politics… Always trying to clip my wings!” he cursed under his breath as he began to enter the clouds.
“Finn, Allen, do you copy?” Hunter asked over the radio.
“I copy, Hunter. It sounds like you’re descending hard, what’s wrong?” Allen replied, obviously hearing the sound of rushing winds over the radio. He deactivated the alarm bell the enemy Mercedes set off and let Hunter continue.
“Uh…” Hunter hesitated; the jet didn’t know how to respond, so he simply said it straight. “We have a serious problem. The Russian Migs that even their government promised they’d send to assist aren’t coming.”
“What, why?!” Allen replied, being quite angry upon hearing this.
“The North Korean government said they’d shoot down any aircraft that tries to assist us ‘foreign terrorist conspirators’.” Hunter replied, feeling helpless.
“In English, please!” Allen blurted angrily over the radio.
“Once Siddeley shows and picks you guys up, we’re on our own. There will be NO assistance of any sort until we reach Khomutovo. Even then the Russian government might not be able to promise our safety on the ground. The Chinese and Russians won’t send fighters knowing they’d just be shot down.” Hunter explained as he penetrated the clouds of around 30,000 feet.
“Can’t they send ANYTHING? Anything at all in case someone gets hurt or we need fuel?” Allen asked as he comprehended the fact of being all alone.
“No, the Chinese and Russians won’t jeopardize their air assets or citizens. Their fighters and choppers are people, too.” Hunter replied as his altimeter registered 28,000 feet.
Allen sighed and continued “Alright, I understand. Just tell Siddeley to double time it too; we’ve been having some ‘interesting developments’ down here ourselves. If we live long enough to get to the extraction point, I’ll fill you in, partner. Allen out.”
Hunter disconnected the transmission and sighed heavily as he contacted Siddeley. This would be an interesting extraction indeed.

26,978 feet below…

Allen sighed to himself as he looked over to Finn McMissile who listened and recorded Reed Voltec’s conversation. As Reed the defiant red Chevy Volt spoke, more and more things about the mission seemed to be called into question. First, the Soviet nuclear scientist Vladimir Rackanpinionov did not even exist, that there was no 7 megaton nuclear device in play, that there was only Reed being kidnapped and being forced to build a nuclear device.
“How could the CIA’s intel be so off? How did we know nothing about any of this?” Allen asked, mostly himself.
“Where do you think the CIA gets all of its intel? I sent the falsified reports, used my own VIN number as Rackanpinionov’s, not to mention they tried to have me build a nuclear device.” Reed replied as damage to both of his left doors burdened him.
“Then doesn’t that mean a nuclear device is still here?” Finn asked, going on intuition.
“There is, but I grossly over exaggerated the size of the device to make the mission as urgent as possible where only the best of the best would be sent to find me. In the report I stated 7 MEGATONS, but actually the device I assembled is only 7 METRIC tons. My idea was to conceal a tiny device and detonate it here; destroying this facility, the thugs and myself, the North Koreans would never be able to get at my expertise and lose their installation.”
“Wait a second… YOU have a nuclear device on your person?!” Allen said, perplexed at the very idea.
“Yeah.” Reed replied as he popped open his hatchback and a trunk mounted manipulator arm placed in on the ground next to his crumpled left side. “Here it is, the son of the Davy Crockett nuclear warhead.”
Finn and Allen were in shock. The Impala and Aston Martin scanned the device; being only the size of a large soccer ball made the device quite small and light, yet still quite lethal. The device even had a timer/ remote built into the unit so that Reed could set it off at a distance if need be. Suddenly Allen’s radio crackled and Hunter came online.
“I’m picking up large heat signatures approaching the installation; I count at least a dozen unknowns, possibly hostile. Looks like a convoy of some sort, approaching from the south.” Hunter radioed in from less than 15,000 feet.
“Copy that, did you contact Siddeley?” Allen asked as he looked out the door leading into the hangar which was flooded with light by this point. The rain had stopped, and Korean voices were getting louder as the thugs were obviously getting closer.
“Affirmative, Siddeley is on his way now. ETA of less than five minutes.” Hunter replied as he continued to descend rapidly.
“I don’t think we have five minutes, partner…” Allen replied but was cut short by a shout of Korean and AK-47 rifle fire. As bullets tore through the aluminum walls, Allen had no choice but to return fire; the Impala opened fire and ripped up the enemy white BMW with his miniguns. Shells clinked across the cement floor and a total of 12 barrels smoked as Allen turned to Finn and yelled “We’re out of time! Go hot!” As he said that, Allen’s sunroof slid back several inches and a folded M230 chain gun. As the gun swiveled 90 degrees forward and the barrel snapped into place. Finn made sure his guns were loaded and looked to Reed.
“Arm that device of yours, we may need it!” said Finn as he moved toward the door to assist Allen.
“Alright, he we go…” said Reed as he pulled up a HUD and input codes to remote detonate the device. But right as Reed was about to input the codes to finalize the remote detonation sequence, a bullet ricocheted off his left front quarter panel and hit the timer fitted to the nuclear device. The thug that shot Reed was cut down by Allen as he nearly burned rubber to check on him.
“Are you okay?” Allen asked as he stopped spinning his guns.
“Yeah… it bounced right off.” Reed replied as he looked at the streak of black left on his quarter panel. Then, something popped up on Reed’s HUD which made him tremble; immediately after, the damaged timer on the nuclear device began to count down from ten minutes.
“Uh oh…” said Reed as he could no longer control his own device.
Realizing what was happening, Allen kicked his LS3 V8 into high gear as he hollered “MOVE! THIS PLACE IS GONNA BLOW!!”
“What?!” Finn blurted, he didn’t notice what just happened behind him. As Reed limped past and out the door of the back room, Finn realized what Allen meant and his eyes widened tremendously.
“Siddeley, this is Finn, where are you?!” Finn desperately cried into the radio.
“Finn, its Sid. I’m two minutes out.” Siddeley replied calmly as he flew at mach 1 toward Finn’s position.
“Hurry! A nuclear device has been armed, we’ve got ten minutes! Get over to my position NOW!” Finn yelled into the radio as he met up with Allen and Reed by the main hangar door. Finn darted to the wall of the hangar and out of sight as he saw what was waiting for them all outside. Allen peeked around the corner and saw multiple dark green armored vehicles all bearing red Korean markings; 10 BTR-80’s and 2 T-55 tanks all sat waiting with the same black Hyundai Genesis from before out in front.
“We know you foreign terrorist conspirators are in there with our scientist. Surrender yourselves to us now, you cannot escape.” said the Hyundai over a loudspeaker as all the tanks and BTRs aimed at the hangar.
“That’s it, I’m sick of these North Koreans…” Allen said to himself as he began to transform. His wheels turned upwards into his automotive body as shiny metal covers slid over the wheel wells and became streamlined. Short fins extended from each of the covered wheel wells and the two twin exhaust pipes extended several inches further behind his body. Jets mounted to his undercarriage at each corner of the wheelbase powered up as Allen hovered a few inches off the ground with blue flames coming out from under him.
Finn wasn’t too amazed. “You Yanks and your technology…” Finn said as he grinned.
“What? It has its benefits.” Allen replied with a slight chuckle and his HUD indicated Hunter was only seconds away. “Alright, Finn. Me and Hunter will provide air support while you get Reed to Siddeley. We’ll be going into a hot zone, so keep your eyes open and watch for stray fire. Once we’re all on Siddeley, we’re getting the hell outta here. That device is gonna blow!” Allen explained seriously as he hovered in front of Finn and Reed. “Are you both ready?” Allen asked.
Finn nodded and Reed groaned “Ready as I’ll ever be…”
Turning around to face the open hangar door but still out of sight, Allen replied to what the Hyundai had said. “HEY! The one thing you should know about Americans is this: we don’t negotiate with terrorists! We do this instead.”
Right as Allen finished his sentence, Hunter came screeching past only a few hundred feet overhead.
“RIP ‘EM UP!” Allen yelled as he flew out of the hangar and opened fire on the BTRs with his miniguns and chain gun. Flying over them, Allen blew apart the Y-8 cargo plane that still sat on the runway, cutting off the enemy’s chances of getting airborne.
Circling 180 degrees around for an attack run, a hatch on Hunter’s right wing root popped open and revealed his concealed four-barreled GAU-12 Equalizer gatling gun.
“Alright, Kim. Let’s party!” Hunter said to himself as he spun up his gun and let powerful 25mm rounds fly out of his gun. As Hunter shrieked past, the unmistakable ‘BRRRT’ sound of his gatling gun was audible as a stream of white smoke came from it. With the tanks and BTRs distracted, Finn had Reed drive next to him for protection past the deafening sounds of autocannon and tank gun fire. As Allen flew in circles around the armored vehicles, he drew their guns toward him while Hunter tore the enemy vehicles apart from behind. While the tanks and BTRs were being annihilated by Hunter’s 25mm gatling gun and Allen’s 30mm chain gun, Finn guided the damaged Reed Voltec towards Siddeley who landed in VTOL mode on the runway.
“Glad you could make it, old boy!” yelled Finn over the sounds of gunfire and jet engines.
“Anytime, sir.” Siddeley replied as he opened the rear entrance ramp and Reed dragged his damaged self up the ramp into Siddeley’s cabin.
Right as Reed got inside Siddeley, a BTR noticed that Finn and Reed were escaping and opened fire on Siddeley. Bullets tore into Siddeley’s fuselage and he wobbled as he hovered.
Realizing the danger, Finn made a choice. “Siddeley, wave off! Get yourself out of here!”
“Not without you, sir.” Siddeley replied, not wanting to leave Finn alone.
“No, go NOW! That’s an order!” yelled Finn to get his point across.
Siddeley hesitated but obeyed. “Yes, sir…” he said as he powered up his engines and began to fly forward.
Finn watched as Siddeley flew forward and to the east, flying further and further away.
“Allen, get to Siddeley before he reaches flight speed.” Finn said over the radio.
“Are you nuts? I’m not leaving you down there! I’ll help you out!” replied Allen as he circled around and saw the remaining enemy vehicles begin to focus on Finn.
“NO! Get to Siddeley and get out of here, NOW! Before that device goes off!” yelled Finn over the radio, obviously set on what he was doing.
“You’ve got a lot of guts, McMissile… A lot of guts.” replied Allen sadly as he flew at maximum speed and used his magnetic tires to grab hold of Siddeley’s rear ramp. Changing back into automotive mode, Allen rolled into Siddeley’s cabin as the ramp sealed behind him. Allen, Siddeley and Reed could only watch the installation grow smaller and smaller behind them as they flew further and further east.
Seeing Siddeley fly away and out of danger, Finn McMissile looked toward the BTRs that slowly rolled toward him. Glaring at them, Finn revved his engine and launched all the missiles he had at the line of BTRs. Explosion after explosion destroyed several of the remaining BTRs, but Finn ran out of missiles and his machine guns wouldn’t do the trick. Panting and out of options, Finn looked at the three BTRs as they aimed at him with their guns. The same black Hyundai rolled up toward Finn with his wheel mounted pistol drawn and shook his head.
“You could have surrendered. You could have had it done quickly.” the Hyundai taunted “It’s over for you, American fool.”
As the Hyundai aimed at Finn, Finn retracted his machine guns and replied “I’m no American.”
Suddenly the three BTRs and the black Hyundai Genesis exploded in a burst of incendiary gunfire. Finn looked up to see Hunter fly on past with his engines roaring.
“I am.” said Hunter with a grin, picking up on what the Hyundai had said.
Safe from the enemy, Finn looked as Hunter circled around the airstrip.
“That burning plane’s blocking the runway! You can’t land!” Finn said, still believing he should be left behind.
Without warning, Hunter stopped in midair and seemed to stall. But in actuality, Hunter was hovering. As he descended down in front of Finn with his main engines and hovering engines on the front of his fuselage screaming, Hunter grinned.
“Who says this Gulfstream needs a runway?” he asked generally as he lowered his rear ramp.
“Never mind that! We need to go, now!” Finn replied as he screeched up the rear ramp and into Hunter’s cabin. Remembering the bomb’s timer setting, Finn estimated that only a minute or so remained before detonation.
“Alright, we’re off.” Hunter said more to himself as he ascended by adding more power. Slowly swiveling his main engines forward, Hunter began to accelerate horizontally before shutting down his forward VTOL engines all together. Racing to mach 1, Hunter gained considerable distance from the installation while smoke could be seen from the destroyed vehicles below. After flying at supersonic speed for about twenty seconds, a brief flash of light and explosion could be seen from behind as the 7 metric ton device detonated, vaporizing the hangar and installation.
Finn sighed and felt a sense of relief, the bomb was gone, the hostage was secure and the evac was successful. He would never have thought that this particular mission would end, though it only lasted a few hours. Finn decided that he needed rest; it would be a fair distance to Russia. Closing his eyes, Finn got some much needed rest as Hunter continued on eastward toward Khomutovo. But one thing bugged the Aston Martin as he drifted off: if Vladimir Rackanpinionov didn’t exist, than what was the REAL point of the op?

1 hour later…

Hunter flew at 50,000 nearing mach 1.1 in the thinner air. He kept his eyes open and his radar operating just in case the North Koreans didn’t want them to get away. But as he neared Lake Khanka just past the Chinese-Russian border, Hunter detected something to the rear on radar. His HUD scanning systems ID’d the unknown object as another plane, but one descending from 60,000 feet.
“What the…?” Hunter began to say to himself but was interrupted by high caliber ammunition tearing a trio of holes into his white tail. Yelling out in pain, the unknown object turned out to be not one but three fighter aircraft. Hunter’s HUD scanners ID’d the trio of aircraft as North Korean Mig-23’s. He immediately armed his weapons and tried to lock on to the enemy fighters.
In the cabin, Finn was thrown awake by the impact of the gunfire and squealing jet engines.
“Hunter, what the bloody hell was that?!” Finn blurted angrily.
“Can’t talk right now, McMissile; I’m busy!” Hunter replied as he tried to lock on to one of the enemy fighters.
Looking out the window, Finn noticed the enemy fighters were Mig-23’s and felt a wave of shock rush over his steel body.
“Oh, no…” Finn said mostly to himself, he knew what this class of foe was capable of. Before he could have another thought, Finn was thrown upwards into the ceiling of the cabin by a sudden descent. Using his magnetic tires to grip the floor, Finn decided to tell Hunter what he thought would be best to do.
“Hunter, these are Mig-23’s! You can’t outrun them, you can’t go higher than them and you definitely can’t outmaneuver them.” said Finn desperately.
“Gee, thanks. You’re really supportive right now, Finn.” replied Hunter in an irritated tone as he finally got a lock on an enemy Mig and shot his 25mm gun at it. Scoring a hit and knocking the tail of the opposing plane off, it tumbled uncontrollably to the ground. Hunter smirked at his kill and went on to target the remaining two fighters. The two Mig-23’s flew behind Hunter and fired a pair of heat seeking air to air missiles at him. Rolling his eyes, Hunter deployed flares and the missiles detonated upon chasing down the flares.
“Come on, is that all you’ve got?” Hunter taunted, but spoke mostly to himself.
Pitching downwards at an extreme 45 degree angle and nearly ripping his wings off due to the intense stress, Hunter coaxed one of the enemy Migs to tuck in its wings and follow. Being smaller and faster, the Mig sailed past Hunter’s nose and realized too late of its mistake.
“All too easy.” Hunter quoted as he locked on to the enemy fighter and tore it to shreds with his gun.
Pulling up gradually and reducing speed using the airbrakes and reverse thrust, Hunter leveled out at around 15,000 feet.
“Hunter, this is getting too dangerous!” Finn cried, not wanting to be in any more trouble.
But Hunter was too focused on nailing the last fighter to listen. As he began to cross over Lake Khanka, his systems detected an incoming fighter coming towards him. Looking ahead from his HUD, Hunter saw the Mig dart past his nose in the opposite direction. He gasped and wobbled in flight as the Mig passed and began to circle around.
Hunter was not going to be intimidated by one last fighter. “Tough guy, huh? What do you think of THIS?” Hunter said and enunciated as he hit the airbrakes and slowed dramatically; trying to fly slower than the Mig could fly safely. But the Mig, instead of getting out of Hunter’s way only locked on to Hunter as he closed in and fired a radar locking missile.
Firing flares, pinning the throttle and retracting the airbrakes in desperation, Hunter tried to gain speed and turn away from the missile but could not react fast enough. The missile detonated right next to Hunter’s T-tail and shredded portions of his white painted aluminum skin. Crying out in sheer agony, Hunter began to descend rapidly again as his hydraulics began bleeding out and dense smoke trailed from his engines.
“Hunter, what was that?!” Finn hollered in desperation.
Panting heavily, Hunter replied “Finn, we took a hit…”
The enemy Mig-23 slowed and took its time to line up with Hunter, it obviously wanted to defeat his opponent the way he defeated his wingmen. Loading his GSh-23 L 23mm cannon, he tucked in his wings and prepared to finish Hunter. He did not get the chance.
Seeing the enemy prepare to fire, Hunter hit the airbrakes and used reverse thrust. Coming right at the enemy, the Mig did not see Hunter’s maneuvers through the smoke. The Mig flew right toward Hunter and tried to wave off, but Hunter rolled his left wing up and sliced the enemy’s right wing clean off, taking Hunter’s left winglet with it.
Ignoring that damage and leveling off at about 13,000 feet, Hunter spat in the falling Mig’s direction.
“That’ll teach him…” he said wearily as his HUD popped up and indicated that all systems were starting to go offline and fail. Knowing this, Hunter began to realize that this would be the end of him; he defeated the last enemy plane but the damage had already been done. Hunter decided to get Finn out of his cabin and save him from sharing his inevitable fate.
“Hunter, where’s that last Mig-23?! We have to find that plane and destroy it!” said Finn, not knowing that the last fighter had already been destroyed.
Taking a chance, Hunter decided to act as his hydraulics began to seize. Banking over Lake Khanka, Hunter knew that if Finn landing in the water he could swim, having a submarine and boat mode.
“Finn, the enemy Mig’s right behind us. Get to the rear ramp, there’s a remote gun system mounted back there!” Hunter said, pretending to act desperate though he did already.
“Roger that!” Finn replied as the rear ramp lowered and Finn rolled out onto the ramp as sparks flew and smoke billowed from the engines as Hunter continued to descend. Using his magnetic tires, Finn gripped the ramp and got into position, but there was no remote gun station there. Knowing Finn was outside of the cabin, Hunter sealed the bulkhead door separating the rear ramp from the cabin. Finn realized this and immediately objected.
“Hunter, what the bloody hell are you doing?! Open the door!” Finn yelled.
“Finn, I’m sorry. I truly am.” Hunter replied.
“What are you saying?! OPEN THE DOOR!!” Finn yelled as he backed up into the bulkhead door and dented it.
“Finn, don’t. I’m trying to save you here.” Hunter replied as he tried to reason with the Aston Martin. “I’m not going to make it out of here.”
“What are you saying?’ Finn asked.
“I’m saying that I’ll jettison you into that lake down there. You’ll be able to turn into a submarine and get to shore.” Hunter replied as his HUD indicated that his hydraulic system had failed completely.
“Hunter, no! Don’t do this to yourself!” Finn objected, not wanting to abandon his partner.
As his nose began to tip downwards, an oily tear slipped from Hunter’s right eye. “Tell me wife and son in Washington DC Hunter loves them and he’s sorry he couldn’t make it home.”
“HUNTER!” Finn cried, desperate to work things out.
“Forgive me, Finn…” Hunter said tearfully as he sent the signal to the ramp hinges. In a simultaneous burst of sparks, the hinges blew and the rear ramp separated from Hunter entirely with Finn still on it.
“NO!!” Finn yelled into the open air around him as he detached from the falling ramp and freely fell 8,000 feet into the waters of Lake Khanka below. Upon impact, Finn felt as if he’d been shot; the water felt like solid rock. But his training took over and he turned into a submarine and ascended to the surface of the lake. Detaching his breathing apparatus, Finn motored on over to the shore of the lake and to safety in Russia.
Seeing Finn safely on the water’s surface, Hunter was relieved even as the leading edge of his horizontal stabilizer broke off and he entered an uncontrollable freefall. As Hunter spiraled, he thought of his wife and son back home in America. Panting as he tumbled toward the Earth, Hunter’s HUD and all systems went offline for good. Feeling the stresses of the fall, Hunter could do nothing but groan in pain as his already damaged left wing snapped where it joined his white fuselage and hung by a thread. Fuel ignited and turned Hunter into a blazing comet as he fell below 1,000 feet. The Gulfstream G650 closed his eyes and waited for it all to end.
As Finn reached the shores of the lake and turned back into an automobile, he saw Hunter fall to the ground and explode in a massive fireball less than a thousand yards from him. As the fireball subsided and black smoke rose, Finn decided to see the wreckage as he activated his homing beacon for Siddeley to pick up. As the Aston Martin drove along the rocky shores and came upon the wreckage, he could only feel guilt. Finn looked at the blackened debris and fuselage remnants that could not possibly have been Hunter.
After about half an hour, Siddeley landed in VTOL mode and lowered his rear ramp. Finn gave him a halfhearted look as he entered. Siddeley immediately took off and flew towards Khomutovo.

3 hours later…

Siddeley landed at Khomutovo airport in Russia; his tires screeched as the contacted the runway and he began to slow. Coming to a stop on the runway, Siddeley panted heavily with the amount of flying he had just undertaken. As he taxied over to the airport hangar, Russian police vehicles escorted him. Once inside the hangar with the doors closed, Finn, Reed and Allen disembarked from Siddeley. Medical staff saw to the injured, Siddeley for multiple gunshot wounds to his fuselage and Reed for a T-bone impact damage and a gunshot wound to his quarter panel. As for Finn and Allen, they both sat alone in silence.


In the following months…

Allen (AKA Agent SS) returned to the Pentagon and received a Hostile Action Service Medal and continues to work as an agent for the CIA. Reed Voltec was awarded a Presidential Citizens Medal for his competence and eventually returned home to Kansas City, Missouri after being repaired in Hamtramck, Michigan and continued to work around US nuclear warheads. Agent Siddeley still works for the British Intelligence (MI6) as does Finn McMissile; they were both awarded the George Cross. Agent Hunter of the CIA was awarded a posthumous Purple Heart and CIA Intelligence Star after being killed in action over Russia.
As for the op that was undertaken, it turns out that the purpose of the op was set up by the North Koreans to capture Finn McMissile while having a 7 megaton device built. As for the installation, it was completely destroyed in the explosion as was all the evidence linking North Korea to the op at the time.