"Wow, you really picked this up fast," Carl said, feeling torn between pride at seeing Mina succeed and a slight sense of dismay that she actually hadn't needed him to teach her hardly anything, which made him even more proud because she was just so freaking smart. He sighed contentedly. Yeah, any dad would be proud as heck to have a daughter like her.

"I couldn't have made nearly this degree of progress without you," Mina said, pulling another sharp turn that left the green car on the track far behind them.

"Only one thing left I've gotta make sure you learn," Carl said reluctantly. "Let's go back to the entrance spot, and you can pull over.

Mina took the next curve at an even tighter angle, then began to decelerate as they approached. "What's left? Some manner of racing strategy?" she asked, turning to him with the biggest smile he'd ever seen on her.

Carl smiled back, feeling some reluctance. "Nah. Well, sort of, I guess."

The car came to a stop just outside the track.

He unclipped his harness and placed his left hand on her shoulder. "I'm gonna wait here, and you can finish out the practice time by yourself."

Mina's eyes widened in panic. "What? No, Carl, there's no—"

"You'll have to be able to drive by yourself in order to race," Carl said. "Have you seen anyone else driving around with two people in the car?"

Mina's lips trembled. "But…"

Carl steeled himself, remaining entirely unaffected by her look of desperation despite how much he wanted to keep sitting here with her.

Carl Weathers wasn't a helicopter parent nor was he the type of father who would smother his children and leave them unable to function without him. That wasn't how he'd been raised, and it wasn't how he wanted his kids to grow up.

"Mina," he said calmly, "you were the one driving for the past couple hours, not me."

"But—"

"You're the one who's going to be the queen of racing, aren't you?"

"Carl, don't—"

"This is your track, isn't it?"

Mina's face fell as she looked down. "Not… Not so long as she's here," she said softly.

"She? Who, your sister?" Carl scowled. Her family are all monsters. If I ever meet one of them face to face… The thought of it made him clench his free hand, and he had to force himself to relax. "It's just a game, Mina," he said. "You're just trying to race now, right? She can't do anything to you anymore."

"She can," Mina said, nodding. "She will. I know she will. She—"

"I won't let her," Carl said. He pointed to his window. "I'm gonna stand right there, and if she shows up or if anyone tries to mess with you, I'll… I'll get out my spear and scare 'em off if I have to," he growled. "All you have to do is drive. You focus on what you wanna do, and I'll take care of the rest. Okay?"

Mina sniffled. She reached up and wiped at her eyes, then started to nod. Her hands fumbled with the latch on her harness, and once it was released she awkwardly flung herself across the seat to hug him around his neck, pressing her face into his shoulder. "Thank you, Carl," she said. "Thank you so much."

Carl hugged her back fiercely. "I'm here for you, okay? If you're worried, you can talk to me. If you're afraid, I will protect you."

She sniffled again, and her hug tightened. "Thank you," she whispered.

He pushed her gently back to her side of the car after a minute or two. "But for now, if you really wanna race and make this your track, you have to do that. I can't do it for you."

Mina sniffled again and rubbed at her eyes with her sleeve. "I…" She took a deep, shuddering breath, then a second one and rubbed at her eyes one more time. "I will. I'll do it," she said, nodding her head, parts of her face still glistening from the tears she'd wiped away. She reached behind her head and pulled the blue band that held her hair tighter.

Carl nodded. "I know you will."

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She smiled a little, though her eyes were still watery. "You'll see," she said. "I will become the queen of racing no matter who attempts to prevent it."

"I'll start getting your crown ready," Carl said.

She giggled a little. "It should be something I can wear while I'm driving, at the least."

"Yeah," Carl said, having the beginning of an idea. "It should be, shouldn't it?" He turned the lever on his door. "I'll be right here if you get scared, Mina, okay?"

Mina nodded. "I'll see you again in a short while, then."

"Have fun," he said seriously. "It's just a game, remember."

"In a certain sense," she said, finally smiling.

Carl gave her shoulder a quick squeeze, then opened his door and stepped out of the car, turning the latch again once he'd closed it. He watched while she re-fastened her safety harness, waved to him, steadied her hands on the wheel, and drove off onto the track. Only once she was safely in the distance did he let out the breath and tension he'd been holding in. Man, she's messed up. That's not fair. How could anyone do that to a kid as smart and cute as her?

He shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. Seriously, if I ever meet her sister, or parents, or anyone, I'm not gonna be held responsible for whatever happens.

"Hey."

Carl started to tap his foot out of growing agitation. Still pissed I didn't get to take that fucking hero apart limb by limb. He must've had all the filtering disabled. Means I could've—

"Hey." A broad-shouldered, lightly armored, gladiator-looking guy came into his field of glare. "Who is she?"

Carl took a deep breath and looked around a bit, realizing that the assembled crowd of people seemed to have drawn up towards him at some point. "Huh?"

"The beauty in the fast blue car," the twenty-something guy said, pointing as Mina zipped by, buffeting them with a gust of wind. "She your lover? Or…"

"Inventory."

It wasn't even a conscious decision that made Carl retrieve his fishing spear at that moment, though when he recognized through the dim fugue of Dad Mode Eight that he was gripping it and scowling down at the kid who thought to even talk about…

"She's my daughter," Carl growled, looming over the gladiator. He felt the warm pavement under his toes begin to crumble as he stepped towards the backpedaling kid. "You wanna live, or do you have more questions about her?" The butt of his spear crashed down onto the ground, shattering the asphalt.

A chunk of the shattered pavement flew through the air. Carl caught it, purely on reflex, and squeezed. He opened his hand, and a black powder sprinkled out to drift on the breeze as another car passed by.

Carl was in a very particular mood at that moment after connecting so deeply with Mina in the car. If anyone so much as looked at her right now, he was going to thoroughly test out how strong his so-called Fishing Spear of the Sea God was.

Unfortunately for how worked up he'd gotten, he spent the short remainder of the day's practice time on the lower track standing next to the track without leaving any bodies on the ground. In his left hand he held his spear—just in case—and with his right hand he waved to Mina each time she drove towards him.

----------------------------------------

"This is, I'm quite certain, the most marvelous day of my entire life," Mina said.

Carl walked alongside her next to the street. He popped another one of the sweet dough balls into his mouth. "These are pretty good."

"Don't think me ignorant of your attempts to devour all the dessert pastries," Mina huffed, grabbing another one out of the small cloth sack he held in his left hand.

"Well, I did buy 'em," Carl said between chews.

"You've also purchased new clothing, but I've not seen you attempting to eat your trousers. Or wearing them, for that matter."

"Still don't see what's wrong with my novelty suit."

"It could hardly be described as such now. Look, it's practically more holes than suit. Were some of those in slightly different locations, it would be positively indecent to wear!"

"Look, I've been meaning to get it repaired, but—"

"Have you been rolling about in a forest? Now that I look more closely, I believe that's a small piece of a bush emerging from this tear on your sleeve."

"What? Nah, must've just fallen off of something."

"Regardless, you do yourself a disservice to be wandering about looking like some indigent. Have you even bathed since we arrived?"

"Not really sure—"

"Well, I'm quite certain that you're in need of it."

"You know, you're pretty bossy all of a sudden."

Mina looked up at him, seeming worried for a moment before she visibly hardened her expression. "It's because I care, Carl," she said. "I'd not wish for anyone to think less of you for the manner in which you present yourself."

Carl considered it. Well, maybe she's just embarrassed since she's got this sort of highbrow, refined aesthetic. He looked down at himself again, ignoring for the moment the loss of another tasty dough ball from the bag he was holding between them. I guess I am pretty dirty, now that I really look. Too much realism again. It was enough when gear had durability. Don't need to add some cleanliness stat. He sighed. Bobby's gonna be sad if she ever finds out I had to get rid of the suit she sent me. "Alright, fine," he said. "And then how about you tell me what's in—"

"No, I don't believe I shall," she said with a smile, continuing to hold onto the small ceramics shop sack she'd retrieved on their walk back from watching several races at the track.

Gah, she's driving me crazy. He frowned. Why's it even bothering me? He glanced down at the blonde girl smiling mischievously up at him and couldn't resist smiling along. Well, whatever. I'm sure it's gonna be something cool.