Author's Note: Okey dokey, here's Unraveling, part 2. Oh, and if anybody knows how to properly spell the word 'syched' (pronounced sigh-k-d), please review if I misspelled it. Oh, and I need to know what the technical term for that thing that looks like a plank of wood with wheels attached that mechanics use to get under cars is. Oh, and I'm no mechanic, so if someone is and I seriously messed up on something, please review so I can fix it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Speed Racer. If I did, X and Annalise would have broken up by episode 4.

After lunch, I rejoined Connor and Lucy.

"So, how was lunch with the most popular kids in school?" Connor asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm for once. I heard him mumble something that sounded like, "Wish I could've sat with Annalise."

"It was not fun. I don't think that X's girlfriend likes me, and those other two guys are dumber that a fence post."

"More like a brick wall." Lucy said.

"I'd say about as useful as a fifth wheel on a car." Connor said. We all laughed at that.

"Anyway, where's this car that's going to run like a dream, Connor?" I asked.

"I never said that it would run like a dream. I merely said that I could fix it up to do so." Connor said matter-of-factly.

"Touché." I said.

"The car's in here." Connor said as we came to a garage in the Grand Prix Building. He swiped his key in front of it. "This garage belongs to room 208, so you can come in here anytime you like." He added. The garage door opened to reveal my 'new car'.

"Wow... That... is hideous." Said Lucy. "I thought you said you could make this thing run? It looks like it should've been totaled by now."

"I don't care how ugly she is," I said, already deciding that if my car could be any gender, it would be a female, "I'm just syched she's mine." I said running up to my car and checking it out. Lucy had been right. The car was hideous. The body was rusted and it looked like the bumpers were held on primarily by duct tape. The words 'Lost Hero' were painted on the side in a surprisingly un-chipped white paint.

"Of course I can make this thing run. It can even run now, but not for very long. I told you, I need a few days to fix it up." Connor said to Lucy. Turning to me, he said, "It's a good thing that you came a few days early. Otherwise, you would've had to drive this thing straight out of the garage."

"Hey, Speed. I heard your garage was here, and thought I might stop by. Hey Connor, hey Lucy." X appeared at the garage door and greeted us. He took one look at the Lost Hero and stopped in his tracks. He smacked his face.

"You are not." He said.

"It's almost officially my car." I said. "I know it's not much to look at, but soon it'll be my car. And we're going to fix it up. It should only take a few days." I said, ignoring my brother and turning to the car. The bumper promptly fell off. "And we can always reattach that." I added.

"Forget a few days. In order to get this junker fixed in time for the qualifying race you'd need at least a few weeks." X said, shaking his head. He walked over to the Lost Hero and lifted the hood. "Make that months. This thing looks like it had been totaled."

"X, we really just need it to run long enough for the qualifying race. After that, we can look at trying to build a new engine."

"Speed-."

"Don't even try to disenchant them." Lucy said, cutting X off. "I've got to go get my backpack. When you guys get your heads out of the clouds and back on the track where they belong, then I'll help you fix up the car." She said, walking toward the exit. "Oh, and Speed, just so you know, you aren't allowed anywhere near the track until the qualifying race. School rules." She added.

"Out of the three of you, I'd say Lucy has the brain." X said once she left.

"Hey!" Connor said from underneath the hood of the Lost Hero. He was already making adjustments.

"Don't either of you have classes?" I asked X and Connor.

"I was just headed to defensive driving." X said. He then turned away and headed toward the exit.

"Advanced auto mechanics; I need to start/finish a project, which I have just decided is fixing the Lost Hero, that's due this Friday. My professor won't mind if I skip as long as I'm working on the project." Connor said. "Chim-Chim, where are you? I need your help." As if on cue, the small robot came bursting out of the trunk. In just a few short steps/hops, it was alongside Connor, helping him fix the car. For a while, I just listened to the 'conversations' they would have. Hey, they were pretty funny.

"Chim-Chim, no! Don't eat the air filter." Connor scolded.

"Beep, beep! Chirp!"The robot (sort of) replied.

"Chim-Chim put it back."

"Chirp!"

"I know it tastes good."Connor replied.

"Hey, do you need any help?" I asked. Connor and Chim-Chim were funny and all, but I was feeling like deadweight.

"Sure. I need someone on the undercarriage." Connor said. "And someone to start the car occasionally to see how much progress we're making." I grabbed the sliding board with the wheels on it and got underneath the car.

"This thing is a mess." I said. Wires were sticking out everywhere. There were no brake lines that I could identify. "We're definitely going to need some more parts."

"I know. I'll have to borrow them from my mechanics class tomorrow. But eventually I will have to give them back. Luckily, today's Monday, the qualifying race is Wednesday, and my project is due Friday, so you'll have plenty of time." Connor said.

"So, why did you procrastinate on your project?" I asked, coming out from underneath the car.

"I didn't. The assignment was to see how much we could do in a week. It was only given to us last Friday." Connor said, pushing me back under with his foot. "So, what all happened? When you were kidnapped, I mean."

"That's... not something I really want to talk about right now..." I said, sighing. I still wondered, out of all people, why it had to happen to me.

"Oh...Well... what about the fire? You went missing, and then walked out of the woods, right?"

"Yeah..." I said reluctantly.

"So... how did that happen? I mean... how did you get out of there without anybody noticing you?" I didn't answer that.

"You know you don't talk a lot about yourself." Connor said.

"There isn't much to talk about." I countered. I went back underneath the car. For a while, we worked in silence. Then Connor glanced at his watch, said he needed to get to his next class, and it was just me and the robotic chimp, working on the Lost Hero. Now, if one were typing up my life's story, and one were typing up that particular sentence, it would be very likely that said author would probably think to themselves: Now there's something I never thought I'd type.

*About*two*hours*later*

I was underneath the car. Chim-Chim had run off somewhere. After a while, Lucy walked back in to the garage.

"Hey." I said.

"Hey." She said. "How long have you been working on this?" She said, leaning down against the car. I rolled out from underneath it.

"A few hours. Connor had to get to class. I'm assuming that school is over?" I asked.

"Yeah. Nobody really does anything until dinner. Then it's get as much stuff done as you can as fast as you can before curfew. You need any help?" She asked.

"Yes, please." I said with a half smile.

I had to admit, although working in general wasn't fun, working with Lucy was. She lifted up the hood, and, wrench in hand, gracefully re-attached sparkplugs, examined cylinders, and repaired radiators. Eventually, we switched places; I moved to work under the hood, while she started work on the undercarriage. Everything ran smoothly when we worked together. When I was with her, I felt like nothing could go wrong. We worked on the Lost Hero until the bell rang for dinner. This time, I sat with her and Connor.

"So, where were you while Speed and I were working on the Lost Hero?" Lucy asked Connor, who looked up from his spaghetti innocently.

"I was seeing Mitch about car parts. He said he'd give them to me for free if I gave him something of Speed's he could sell over the internet. I'll check my auto-mechanics class for parts tomorrow." Turning to me, he said. "Mitch is the local stalker, and not in an amorous way, which means more ladies for the Con-mister." He said grinning.

"Like any girl in the school would want to date you." Lucy teased.

"ANYWAY, he'll steal anything from anyone famous. His main target is X, although he used to steal stuff from Annalise until she paid him to back off. He said you're top prospect right now."

"Tell him he can have my suitcase once I finish unpacking. I prefer a nice sturdy backpack." I said, digging into my dinner.

"Trust me, he would prefer your suitcase before you finished unpacking." X interjected, walking over to our table.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Annalise and I got into a fight a couple hours ago." X said, looking at his shoes.

"What happened?" Lucy asked.

"She...said some things that I didn't necessarily... agree with, and it went downhill from there." X said. He looked across the cafeteria at Annalise, who promptly looked away, her nose turned up. "So, how's work on the car going?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Good so far. We still need a few parts, though." I said.

"Such as?" X inquired. I could tell that he was enjoying this; it would prove that he was right about the car.

"...Well, we need break lines." I said.

"And new sparkplugs." Lucy added.

"Don't we need radiator fluid, too?" Connor asked.

"I think so." I replied.

"Of course you do." X said sarcastically, taking a bite of his meatball.

"Hey, we can get it working by Wednesday."

"Of course you can." X said. I grabbed a nearby bottle of ketchup and promptly squirted my brother in the face. He then returned the favor, only with mustard.

"Hey, how about we not start a food fight?" Lucy said.

"Killjoy." I muttered. Lucy kicked me in the shins underneath the table.

*Sometime*later*that*night*

We were in my room. Mitch and I were discussing a trade for car parts.

"Pleasure doing business with you." Mitch said. He drove a hard bargain. I had started out with my suitcase for all of the parts we needed. Then he said the suitcase and my toothbrush for all of the parts. Eventually, he settled for my suitcase, some of my socks, a few used napkins, the pudding cup that I had just finished eating, and my used toothpaste (he actually made me use all of the toothpaste I had to brush my teeth, and then spit it out into a plastic bag and give it to him. Needless to say, it was the weirdest thing I have ever done) in exchange for the car parts.

"It was... weird doing business with you." I replied. He left with everything in a huge trash bag, and I had all the parts we needed in a toolbox. I set the box down on the desk.

"Out of all the weird things that I have ever done in my life, trading used toothpaste for car parts is one of the weirdest." I said to Connor, who, surprisingly, had sat quietly through the whole thing.

"There are things weirder than that?" Connor asked.

"Try being kidnapped by a secret criminal organization and being told that you're the long-lost second son of the world's most famous racer." I said.

"Aha! So you admit that it was a secret criminal organization!" Connor exclaimed.

"I admitted nothing." I said. "So, tomorrow when can we resume work on the Lost Hero? The qualifying race is Wednesday, after all."

"Chim-Chim will probably help you most of the morning, Lucy and I will be there right before lunch to help you out. Then you and Chim0Chim are on your own again, unless X wants to help during his free period." Connor said, sleepily. The bell rang for curfew. "Hey, Speed?" He asked while changing into his footsy pajamas. I briefly wondered why they even made them for teenagers anymore.

"Yeah?"

"When you were with Annalise, did she say anything about me?" He asked hopefully.

"No." I was about to say something about her dating X, but then I remembered the fight that they were fighting.

"Oh... I'm going to sleep now." Connor said, and he did. I removed my shirt and slept in my jeans.

Author's Note: No, Unraveling is not done. I still have to get Tuesday and Wednesday out of the way. Then the action starts up again. And a little drama, just for all the people who like drama. It's drama, and it's action: it's draction! Or Actioma! On that note, I BEG YOU TO REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!! ALL REVIEWS ARE WELCOME, EVEN FLAMES (but if you're going to flame me, please keep the language at the rating level, which is T.) For all who review, I will share my 3 Musketeers bars with them! (Yes, I love 3 Musketeers bars because they remind me of X: hard on the outside, a little softer on the inside, 100% CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!)

Speed: "What food am I?"

Me: "... I'd say that you would be... BIRTHDAY CAKE FLAVORED ICE CREAM WITH JELLY BEANS STUCK TO IT!!!! Because you're sweet and good looking like birthday cake flavored ice cream and you have your jelly bean serious moments!!!!!!!!