Searching For The Sun 5

"Carly, your drinks are at the bar!  Carly!" the young Barista shouted out.  It was 6 in the morning, and after the rather eventful night before, the four humans had decided that before embarking on their "mission" they needed Starbucks and real clothes, rather than PJs.  And the coffee was an obvious priority.  Raúl would have protested, but Carly had bought him a breakfast sandwich there as well, and he couldn't remember the last breakfast he'd eaten that wasn't dug out of a trash can.

"You sure you don't want anything else?" Naomi watched Madison grimace as she took a sip of her coffee.

"I'm not hungry," the brunette insisted.

"I meant like sugar in your coffee.  I know you hate bitter things."

"They're out of Splenda, so no."

Naomi rolled her eyes.  "You're so picky!  There's no difference!"

"Is so.  And can we sit down for a few minutes?"

"Uh..." Carly looked out into the parking lot where a Corvette and a Trans-Am sat parked side-by-side.  "I guess a few minutes won't hurt.  So I can eat my oatmeal and text Uncle Ben that you picked up Sideswipe."

Before she had even finished that sentence, Naomi and Madison had plopped down at a nearby table where someone had left a newspaper, which the brunette immediately started skimming.  Shrugging, Raúl joined them, making sure not to sit within kicking distance of Naomi.  Carly gave one last apologetic look to the Autobots outside, not sure if they could even see her in their vehicular modes, and sat down as well.

"Any good articles?" Carly asked Madison.

"Mmm.  Egyptian government's doing something at Deir el-Bahri."

"Where's that?" Raúl raised an eyebrow.

Naomi gave him a look that very clearly showed how little she still thought of him.  "Egypt.  Duh.  Didn't you learn that in high school?"

Embarrassed, Raúl glared, hoping his tan hid the blush creeping up his cheeks.  "I didn't finish high school..."

"You chose to live in the streets instead?" Naomi looked sceptical.

"Why the hell would I choose to live in the streets?!" The boy exclaimed.  "FYI, mi papá kicked me out, okay?  So get off my back!  Ay!"

The blonde was silent for a few minutes before looking away.  "I'm sorry...  I didn't know that..."

"Guys, guys," Carly attempted to ease the tension.  "Let's not start any unneeded drama, okay?  We need to stick toge-"

"What the hell?" Madison piped up, interrupting Carly.

"What?" Naomi looked over at the picture splashed across the page, which had caused her best friend's sudden confusion.  "I don't see anything, Mad, it's just like any other Egyptian painting.  People standing in profile, loads of hieroglyphics..."

"No, that," the brunette pointed at the picture, "is not any hieroglyph I know!"

"You know hieroglyphs?" It was Raúl's turn to be sceptical.

"I'm gonna be an Egyptology major - I can't read them yet, but I know that isn't one," Madison looked sheepish as she flashed her Cartouche she always wore in honour of her chosen major.  Carly looked over at the paper as well, curiosity now piqued.

"It is kinda weird looking..." she gasped.  And it was.  While most of the hieroglyphs in the photograph looked like birds or papyrus or various other things found in Ancient Egypt, a select few looked almost alien.  Random curves and lines that didn't seem to form any image at all but still had their own, distinct beauty - those were definitely not any hieroglyphics that Carly had ever seen!

Before the 4 could speculate any further on the strange glyphs, though, a car alarm went off in the parking lot.  More specifically, a Corvette car alarm.  Madison looked frazzled and Naomi rolled her eyes.

"Your car sure is impatient, Mad."

"Can you really blame him?" Carly asked in Sideswipe's defence as she got up.  "All he wants is to find that Sunstreaker."

Naomi shrugged as she and Raúl both got up after Carly, while Madison ripped the picture out of the paper, shoved it hastily in her pocket, and followed the others out to the cars.

--

"Ay, man, scoot over so I can ride shotgun!"

"No," Naomi shot back to the backseat, where the homeless Hispanic youth was pouting.  Next to them on the street behind Golden Gate Park, in a silver Corvette, Madison and Carly sat calmly.  "I'm not sitting in the driver's seat.  You can if you want, but I refuse."

"¿Por qué no?" Raúl muttered as he scrambled into the driver's seat, rolling his eyes.

"...what?"

"Uh, sorry, habit.  Why not, man?"

"Stop calling me 'man'!" the girl demanded.  "I'm not a man!  And besides, I already told you, I'm not sitting there while he's driving!  It seems... rude!"

"You're nothin' but a spoiled uptown girl, you know that?  Why do you always get shotgun?"

"He's my car.  Which you stole.  Remember that?"

Raúl pouted.  She was right, as she always had to be.  Women!

"Are you two done with your petty bickering yet?  You're making my CPU ache," Tracks complained, voice syrupy smooth as ever through the speakers.  "I mean, for Primus's sake, give each other a chance!  I wouldn't be driving you two around if I didn't think you were both great people."

Thinking this over for a minute, Naomi sighed and offered a hand to Raúl.  "Truce"

"...do I get shotgun next time if I say yes?"

Naomi smiled, about to agree to this when the Trans-Am suddenly swerved wildly, causing the teens to be smashed to the passenger window.

"What the hell, man?!" Raúl yelped, and Naomi tugged his sleeve.  When he turned to her, he saw her terrified eyes focused in front of them.  Following her gaze, he saw what had caused Tracks to swerve: two bulky, red-opticed Decepticons.  Before he could react, a third Decepticon grabbed Tracks by the bumper and dragged him back a few yards, slamming the two humans inside him to the dashboard.

"Nn," Naomi lifted her head groggily, bringing a hand up gingerly to where she felt a bruise forming.

"Get out!" Tracks threw his doors open, thrashing all the while as he tried to escape this ambush.  "Get out and get off the road!"

Not thinking at all, Raúl jumped out, pulling Naomi through the driver's side's door.  The two rolled onto a nearby lawn, stopping when Raúl hit a tree just in time to watch Tracks transform and punch the Decepticon who had grabbed him in what the humans could only guess was its jaw.

"Raúl, Naomi, get out of here!" Tracks yelled, throwing the shortest Decepticon, only to be grabbed again around the neck by another of the three.

"Incoming!" a familiar voice yelled, and suddenly Sideswipe was behind Tracks, wrestling the Decepticon off the Trans-Am.  Carly and Madison nearby began to run across the street to meet Naomi and Raúl, but were thrown back by the force with which Sideswipe threw the Decepticon to the ground, and instead ran in another direction upon getting up, pushing aside a frightened blonde pedestrian eating a kiwi.

The fruit rolled out into the road, and the third Decepticon, this one wide and green, tripped on his way over to the Corvette.  Swiftly, Sideswipe whipped himself around on his wheeled feet and with a sickening nails-on-chalkboard sound, slashed this green 'con right through the chest.  Retracting his blades, the Autobot watched as the Decepticon fell.

Raúl and Naomi grimaced, then shrieked when the shortest Decepticon appeared beside them, croaking in a devilish-sounding, alien language, and then in heavily-accented English:

"The coordinates, meatbags.  Hand them to me."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Naomi stammered.

"Do not toy with me, fleshworm!" The Decepticon lunged forward.

"Naomi!" Tracks exclaimed, jumping on this Decepticon and pounding it's head to the dirt as Raúl pulled the shrieking blonde to safety.

"You can't freeze up like that, or he'll kill you," Raúl lectured her as they ran.  Naomi only nodded, struggling to breathe.

"Scrapper!" The other living Decepticon, holding the body of his fallen comrade.  "Retreat!"

"But-"

"RETREAT!"

And, as soon as it had began, the fight was over.

"Yeah, you better run, miserable 'cons!" Sideswipe shouted into the air as the two Decepticons that had survived escaped with the third 'con's corpse.  Raúl and Naomi caught their breath and limped over to where the Autobots stood triumphant, if a bit dented.

"Er, Sideswipe?" Tracks began delicately.  "You didn't happen to see where Carly went, did you?"

"She's gone!" Naomi exclaimed.  "And so is Madison!"

-tbc-