Fixing Up A Car Turned Girl (backdated)

[clockwork_doc]

After meeting up with Clark in the Nexus, Doc's been getting things ready for him to come over and help him and Marty with the repairs on Dee's car form. He's been putting this off for far too long, thanks to some anxieties about what exactly Dee feels, and whether it's even right for him to do anything to her. Dee's assured him about fifty million times that she feels no pain, though, and she really wants to be fixed. And having Marty around now makes things rather easier than before. End result -- he's finally ready to get Dee back to full functioning condition -- or, at least, as close as they can get.

Finally, three days after Clark appeared, everything's set up. Tools and parts are in orderly piles in the parking lot, as are Dee, Marty, and Doc. "We all set, Doc?" Marty asks, looking around.

"I believe we are," Doc says, going over his mental checklist. "Dee? Anything missing that you can see?"

"Nope!" Dee bounces happily on her heels. This is gonna be fun! "Go ahead and call, Dad!"

"Okay!" Doc goes ahead and sends a text message to Clark's PINpoint: Clark -- it's me, Doc. We're all ready to get to work if you are. Let me know if you're in a position to come over.

Comments

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

Making Doc upset is a bad idea, yes, since "upset" can equal "hurricane" or "tornado" with him. "I know," he says quietly. "I said as much before, didn't I? I just. . .it's a bit of a sensitive issue with me. I wish it wasn't, trust me." Stupid Arcadia ruining everything. . . .

Doc and Marty stare. "That's not glitchy, that's psychotic," Marty says.

"I don't know if it can be truly psychotic if it's an AI--" Doc starts.

"It so can! Haven't you ever heard of HAL?"

"Who?" Doc's surprisingly modern pop-culture knowledge apparently still has a hole or two.

"2001: A Space Odyssey? Wait, maybe that came out later than Andrew got you -- it was in the 60s sometime. Crazy computer starts killing astronauts."

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"I'm only handling this as well as I am because it was a few years ago, and I've had some help since. And Jor-El and I have come to an... understanding." Which isn't really the sort of father-son relationship that would be ideal, mind you, but it's something. "It was about a year before I found the Nexus, anyway. It was kind of disturbing for a while, seeing versions of me who wore it proudly by choice when I didn't have that."

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

"Understanding," Marty repeats skeptically. "I don't know how you do it. I would have smashed the damn thing to smithereens."

"I can imagine," Doc says. "I don't know how I would have reacted in a similar situation."

Dee revs her engine, upset by all the unhappy surrounding everyone. Doc pats her dashboard as he fixes up the time circuit display. "I think somebody's requesting a change of conversation. How are you coming along there?"

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"I actually did, after that. Put a kryptonite key in the ship and blew it to pieces. It just made things worse."

He'd almost forgotten Dee was there, and touches her side panel in apology. "Slow but steady. There are some parts I don't know what they do, but most of them look intact. All the wiring's burnt out though, and I've almost got that replaced."

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

"You can't win," Marty says, shaking his head.

"Good, that's better than I'd expected," Doc says cheerfully. "I've got the new microchip in, and now it's just a matter of replacing some of the wiring in here. And making sure the flux capacitor and Mr. Fusion still work all right, of course."

"Don't think there should be anything wrong with either of those," Marty says. "Otherwise that other me wouldn't have been able to get back to 1885." Dee adds her agreement via honk.

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"Makes sense," he agrees. "Once you're done with that, if I can prop her up, I can go under and see what I can do about the wheel mechanisms." He's not really picky about whether or not they use a jack or just rest her on something, so long as she's stable and comfortable. He can lift her up easily, either way.

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

Doc's "borrowed" a jack, so that's not a problem. "Sounds like a plan. Here, Marty, give me a hand."

The boys set to work, checking the various bits of wiring, lighting, and all that other good stuff that goes into making a DeLorean into a time machine. Some stuff needs to be repaired or replaced, of course, but a surprising amount of it is okay. Either the repairs made by Movie55Doc were more extensive than shown, or the lightning strike really only took out the microchip and the flying circuits. Either way, it's a faster repair than one might think. Doc checks in with Dee as they finish up with a few wires to the flux capacitor. "How do you feel, honey?"

Dee rumbles her engine approvingly. This is much more like it. Doc grins, feeling better. "So long as you're good."

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

Clark finishes and then sits back to watch them work, using x-ray vision to see how it's put together so he doesn't have to crowd their space to see.

"Not as bad as you thought?" he asks, seeing that there really isn't that much that they have to do.

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

"No, thank God -- or Zemeckis and Gale," Doc half-jokes. He wouldn't be surprised if the damage was limited to anything that was dramatically convenient because of them. "The damage was mainly in anything that ran to the microchip. A few other fried wires here and there, but nothing catastrophic."

"That other you gave her a look-over too," Marty adds. "He must have done a good job repairing you, right Dee?" Dee honks her agreement. "Let's get her up on the jack, then you can tell us what's wrong with the wheels."

"Right." Doc brings out the jack, and Dee is carefully lifted up. "It should be okay if you need to lift her more," he says, Dee honking again.

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"Nah, I think this'll work for now." Clark's a big guy, but he has a lot of experiencing fixing farm equipment and getting underneath things without breaking them. Which is good, because if he accidentally dented Dee's frame he would be horrified.

He grabs a few tools he thinks he'll need and slides underneath, starting with the front driver's side tire and examining the mechanism in detail. It's a complicated little gizmo, not quite hydraulic in nature, but he can reason out how it works and what likely needs to be fixed. The melted parts are a giveaway, naturally, but he can see where some expertly applied heat vision could help free it up.

[dee-lorean81.livejournal.com]

Dee considers herself lucky that none of this damage seems to affect her human form. It's bad enough being a busted-up DeLorean -- being a busted-up kid would have been the pits. She very much appreciates everything everyone's been doing.

Doc takes a look under while Clark examines it. "Interesting device," he comments. "Or it would have been had it not had an encounter with intense voltage and heat. You know, you think they would have accounted for this possibility in the design. Flying cars in general would be more susceptible to lightning strikes. And you can't force people not to fly in the rain."

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"Maybe it works differently with contemporary cars," he suggests, gently freeing a part with his bare fingers, better than any wrench. "She was a thirty-five year old design at that point, and I doubt they were still using so much metal. It was probably more designed for plastic or whatever they were making cars from then."

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

"I have no idea," Doc readily admits. "I only know what I've seen in the movies." He frowns. "It's times like this I almost wish I would meet an alternate of myself. I could grill him for information regarding time travel."

"That would be a trip," Marty says. "Thinking about you talking to yourself. . . ." He laughs. "You'd lose me in the first five seconds."

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"It's definitely weird, meeting alternate versions of yourself," Clark offers, finishing with this wheel and scooting down to the rear wheel on this side. "You never really know what to expect. Or if you're even going to get along."

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

Doc follows along, observing so he can learn as much as he can about this process. You never know when you'll need to make field repairs, after all. "I would hope I would get along with another me," he says. "Though I have to admit, I'd be a bit jealous if he was the me from the end of Part III." Wife and kids. . . Doc never would have believed it.

"Same here," Marty admits. "Meeting yourself would just be freaky." He looks over at Clark. "You've met alternate yous, right?"

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"Well, from what I saw in the movies, the you from there did fine meeting himself," Clark says with a smile. "It's not the same thing, and one of them didn't even know who he was, but it's the closest you came, I think."

"Oh, yeah. There's a few of me around. Some from worlds so close to mine that you can barely tell the difference between us. Although some can get pretty far away, too. The one I see most... you might've seen him around. About sixty-five, always wearing that... costume." Clark may be uncomfortable about wearing such a thing himself, but on his alternate, it looks heroic instead of stupid.

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

"Oh, that scene. Yeah, hardly the same thing," Doc says. "I do wonder what would have happened if my younger self in that scene had caught on. He seemed on the verge of it when that version of me pedaled away." He shakes his head. "Maybe I'll do better simply because of seeing myself in the movies."

"Don't think I have, but maybe I've just been coming at the wrong times," Marty says. He tilts his head. "That costume really weirds you out, doesn't it? What would you have designed?" He can't help it, he's honestly curious.

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"Well, and there's less risk you'll pass out or destroy the universe or something," he jokes.

He's done with this tire, so he slides out from underneath Dee to walk around to the other side. "Well... it doesn't look ridiculous on him. And I don't feel quite so stupid calling him Superman. I don't know, but the whole... tights and bright colors thing is a little awkward, don't you think? I'm not too sure about the cape either. Seems like it'd get caught on stuff."

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

Doc chuckles. "True. At least on the latter." He knows himself too well to bet all that much on the former.

Marty shrugs. "I grew up with that sort of stuff. I'm used to it," he says. "Though you've probably got a point about the cape. I guess that's more for the flash factor or something."

"I knew a fashion designer back in regular Chicago who apparently did some work for superheroes back in her world," Doc reports. "She helped me out with this coat. Adamantly against capes -- according to her, they'd been the doom of a couple of heroes. Pretty much for exactly the reason you mentioned."

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"It probably looks better when flying, but that's about it," he says. "And I'm not that worried about getting sucked into a jet engine or whatever, since it wouldn't hurt me, but I do think I'd have a hell of a time being taken seriously if I wore something like that."

[clockwork-doc.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but people take the other you seriously," Marty points out.

"Different world, different reactions," Doc says. "It probably also has something to do with how you wear it. If Clark thinks he looks ridiculous in it, odds are other people might think so too. His body language and such would change the look." Looking at Clark, he says, "Let's face it, you've gotten a pretty negative opinion of that costume. Maybe it would be better for you to go in your own direction."

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"April's always telling me that I don't have to be Superman just because other Clark Kents are," he nods, getting back to work. "But... even if that's not the name or the look I end up with, I don't think I'll be able to stop the whole saving people thing. Lifelong habit and all. And it'd be a shame if I started wearing glasses for nothing."

[museicalmarty.livejournal.com]

Marty snickers a bit. "Yeah, that would be annoying," he nods. "You give any thought as to what you might want to go by? If you want to go by anything?"

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

He shrugs, even though it's not something easily visible underneath a car. "Not really. I mean, in a way it doesn't matter what I call myself, because if the media picks something else and it sticks, I'll never get them to use anything else but that. I mean, I suppose I could introduce myself as Kal-El, strange visitor from another world, but then I might get deported."

[museicalmarty.livejournal.com]

Marty snorts and rolls his eyes. "Hilarious. How would they even find you to deport you?"

"So you're just going to let the media pick your name?" Doc says. "Here's hoping they don't pick something patently ridiculous."

"Saves-People Man!" Marty says, overly dramatically. "He -- you know."