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She winced and shut off again as her engine stalled, systems shuddering to a halt again, gears creaking and cezing up as her eyes closed a bit, nearly pale from her failing cameras. She could barely keep on, engine within it crumbling age, singed and blackened badly.

The next hour and a half saw a flurry of motion by the mechanics as they did their best to fix CD and her shot wires, fried systems and blackened interior. At long last, they stood back to admire their handywork, though they were covered in a fair amount of grease.

Clutch idled in the garage, waiting for the news of when they finished. At last, he heard the good news.

"Alright, start the engine."

The engine roars to life at a moments notice, systems whirring to life as gears moved at full speed to revive the who knows how old car from her temporary sleep. Her headlights turned on aswell, as she slowly opened her eyes tiredly, vision still a bit blurred. ''I see blurry things.''

Clutch beeped happily as he heard CD come back to life. He rolled forward excitedly, stopping just short of squashing two mechanics. "They did it!" he said happily.

"Ah, yes." One of the mechanics wiped a cloth across the windshield for good measure, then pulled away. "Almost good as new--would be if you weren't such an..artifact. Which brings us to the next topic. How are we getting paid?"

''I am not an artifact!'' She scoffed. ''I can't help it if humans retired me because if my war-torn build. Lets see you dodge bullets and bombs come out unscathed, aight?'' She snapped, eyes narrowed. Pretty much showing the three how she ended up with her odd name to begin with. ''And I don't know.''

One of the mechanics chuckled as another shook his head. "That would explain some of the parts we had to replace."

Another mechanic grinned. "Why don't we sell them? They're sure to fetch a good price."

Clutch felt his tread turn to glue. "Sell us?! That wasn't the agreement!"

"And neither was us sinking some four thousand dollars' worth of parts and labor into both of ya." Returned the mechanic. A screeching sound could be heard as the door to the garage began to lower.

CD snirked, and a gun slides out from her headlight at aims at the mechanics. ''Oh really, now?'' She asked. ''I'm more than a car. You want death? Your asking for it.'' She asked, keeping her eye on the door. Her scanner starts to beep loudly.

Oaths, curses, and shouted orders were directed across the garage as the mechanics freaked out over the gun. The grinding noise came to a halt as the door ceased its downward motion.

"What's going on?" Clutch demanded, "We should get out of here now!" He began to roll towards the exit.

CD floored it into reverse, laughing manically as water just fires out of the gun. ''HAHAAHAA!!'' As she goes out the garage, still cackling like she was beyond insane.

More swearing came from the mechanics as Clutch followed in hot pursuit. "What was that all about?" he asked, or tried to. He wasn't sure CD heard over her laughter.

At least his sensors were responding again, and he was able to keep up. And it seemed that CD was no longer constrained to her 30mph limit.

CD swerves to face forward, giggling. ''Water guns.'' She said, her speed around 190, whizzing past trees and the like.

''Did you honestly think I'd kill them with a water gun? Hehehe...'' She inquired, clocking at around 245mph by now, engine going strong without stuttering. Hopefully the mechanics hadn't lied about fixing her engine.

Clutch laughed. "A water gun? I knew humans weren't that smart!"

He wasn't prepared when CD continued to speed up. "Gah-wait up!" Clutch said, struggling to keep up with the ex-racer. He gave up, his engine, though souped up, couldn't compare to a real racer's engine--and he maxed out at 220 mph. "Whatever, she deserves some fun--" he said to himself, realizing that this was the first time in a long while she'd been able to drive above 30 mph.

"You might wanna check those brakes of yours--" he called ahead. Though he figured those would be the first things the mechanics would fix.

CD attempted to use her brakes...

''....................NO BRAKES!!!!''

(Short, but to the point.)

"Head for a hill! Or grass!" Clutch called to her. "Friction--anything with friction." Anything to slow her down without damaging the exterior. He checked his own brakes--but they were working--he hadn't let the mechanics touch more than his bumper.

CD ran at full speed up a hill, gulping. Hopefully to slow down. She ran up it further, eventually getting to a slower speed of 90. But the plan backfired as she started to roll down the hill, still brakeless. ''Gah!'' She shouted, rolling faster, barely avoiding a few cars who's drovers honked in anger at the near misses.

Well, now that she was slower, he could actually catch up to her--which he did. "You so owe me a new bumper for this," Clutch grumbled as he sounded his horn and put on his flashers to warn drivers around them.

Then matching her speed, in reverse, he pulled up behind her and slowed down enough that their bumpers touched but didn't dent. He then applied more of his own brakes, slowing himself and her. Eventually, they came to a halt.

"I think that was enough excitement for one day..." Clutch muttered as traffic continued to zip around them.

CD was shouting something, but her natural built in mute button had turned on quickly, leaving it to be anm assorted bits of her horn honking angryly until she calmed down.

''THEY SAID THEY FIXED EVERYTHING!'' She shouted. ''Why would they do this to me?!''

Clutch's speakers crackled with static as he tried not to laugh--and failed. If that's what he sounded like when he was upset...it was refreshing.

"C-calm down!" he tried to say. "I don't have eyes so I couldn't see what they did or didn't do. What condition were your brakes before the mechanics got involved?"

'My brakes shouldn't have been in too much of a bad shape. I was able to use them earlier to floor it into reverse and now they won't work at all!'' She sneered, engine rumbling in her bout of anger, gears grinding a bit when it rumbled.

Clutch didn't have an answer for that one. "Well, at least we know not to go to them again." Was there really no mechanic that was willing to give an AI a complimentary tune up?

"And maybe wait until we're at the racetrack before you floor it next time." Clutch's engine backfired, his mood shattered because, of the two of them, she was faster.