I search my heart
I search my mind
Forgetting all I know
Leave everything behind
Searching
For something missing
A glimmer in the darkness
A piece of paradise
As the sun shone through the windows of the beach house its residents had varied reactions.
Prudence had been up for hours working with her practice katana on the roof and welcomed the added light.
Annabeth had been up for an hour longer than Prudence and was sitting on the porch. She smiled as she looked up momentarily from her journal where she was busy scribbling down battle strategies.
Lynelle sat up in bed and stretched with a smile before she slid out of her warm bed.
Nadia hit her stereo on before she dragged herself out of bed and shuffled to her bathroom.
Claire jumped out of bed and rushed out of her room, already smelling food.
Miko smiled as Claire ran into the kitchen and served her a portion of today's breakfast- scrambled eggs, French toast, and bacon.
Susan rolled over and hid under her blankets, hoping for another hour of sleep.
And Sydney was just slipping into the house.
"Good morning Sideswipe. Have a good night?" Miko asked as the girl tried to run past the kitchen.
"Hi, Ratchet. Hi, Ironhide," Sydney replied meekly as she walked back over to the large island.
"Don't "hi Ironhide" me, Sides. Where were you this time?" Claire demanded.
"We both know the answer to that question, Ironhide. The better question is how was this guy? Date worthy?" Nadia asked as she walked into the kitchen, headphones hanging from her neck softly playing music.
"He was actually worse than I thought. So no, Jazz. I spent the whole night trying to ditch the guy. All those years of figure skating training didn't do me squat," Sydney replied.
"Then go get some sleep. We'll wake you before we head out later," Annabeth said as she walked into the house.
"Yes, Optimus," Sydney nodded before she hurried off to bed.
Claire and Miko gave Annabeth a questioning look while Nadia shrugged as she took a plate from Miko.
"Where are we going, Optimus?" Lynelle asked as she snagged the plate from Nadia.
"Hey!" Nadia protested.
"The mall. There's a new movie out that I'd like to treat you all too," Annabeth responded as she gave Nadia another plate and got herself one as well.
"Breakfast smells great, Ratchet," Prue smiled as she jogged in and placed her katana on the table.
"No weapons on the table, Arcee!" Miko scolded the girl.
"Geez, sorry, Hatchet," Prue rolled her eyes as she picked it back up.
"Ew. Go take a shower, will ya, Arcee? You're stinking up breakfast," Claire complained.
Prue stuck her tongue out before she disappeared towards her room.
There was a long pause in the conversation as everyone ate, the only noises being the consumption of food and Prue showering.
The silence finally got to Lynelle and she was the first to speak again, "So what's this movie? I thought the new Transformers movie wasn't out until next month."
"It's not Transformers but it is a surprise," Annabeth replied.
"Aw come on, Prime. That's not fair," Claire complained.
"I promise you won't be-" Annabeth was interrupted by something hitting the window.
"What the pit was that?" Nadia asked.
Miko and Lynelle ran over to the floor to ceiling wall of windows and instantly glared.
"Decepticons!" Lynelle announced.
"Jazz, go get Sideswipe and Arcee! The rest of you, battle stations!" Annabeth ordered.
The girls sprang into action, Nadia heading for the bedrooms and the others gathering their weapons as the ran for the door.
"Megatron! What is the meaning of this?" Annabeth demanded as she stood slightly in front of the other girls.
Annabeth had been an obvious choice for leader since she was the only one with leadership experience. However she's never been anything but humble no matter her personal achievements; this was how she earned the nickname Optimus Prime.
"We thought you Autoscum could use a nice wake up call, Prime," Alistar sneered.
A group of 7 guys around the same age as the girls stood opposite of them. All of them were a similar height that only varied slightly from guy to guy, the same went for their brown and black hair and the way they wore it. Their faces and body shapes were the only thing they kept them from being carbon copies of each other.
"We were already up. All you did was interrupt breakfast," Prue laughed as she, Sydney, and Nadia ran up, weapons at the ready.
Sydney was only wearing pajama shorts and a tank top while Prue was fully dressed but her hair was still dripping wet.
"Pity," Josh smirked at the katana wielding brunette.
Prue pretended to gag making Claire chuckle as she shifted her grip on her duel tasers.
Prue prefers to let her katana speak usually but when she does it's usually to hand out witty and spite filled comments to their enemies; this is how she ended up with the nickname Arcee. That and she's the only one who owns a motorcycle.
Claire might as well be a guy sometimes and she sure loves her tasers, but if you're gonna be in a fight she's the one you want watching your back; this is how she got the nickname Ironhide.
Beside her Lynelle expanded her baton which could become electrified with the push of a button and Miko unlocked her pepper spray.
Lynelle may be the girly girl of the girls' little group but when it comes to her Chevy Impala and bullies she's got quite the "sting"; that's how she received the nickname Bumblebee.
Miko was usually the odd man out since it was eight to seven so she played medic, she's nice until you get hurt- then she's a real witch; this was how she earned the nickname Ratchet.
Alistar did a brief hand motion and Jack, Fabian, Harley, Josh, Taylor, and Cain encircled the girls, forcing them to fight or retreat into the house.
Sydney growled as she and Susan moved back to back, MMA gloves raised and ready to dish out punches.
Sydney and Susan are the only ones with any real connection beyond a fandom- they're blood sisters.
Sydney's always rushed head first into fights- especially to protect her little sister- but is always the first to lighten the mood whether they win or loose; that's how she was deemed Sideswipe.
Susan is quick to follow her sister but after being the center of their parents attention all her life- to the point where Sydney was ignored- she'd rather keep her interaction with people to just her sister; this is how she earned the nickname Sunstreaker.
"Force them back then make a break for the cars as soon as you see a window," Annabeth ordered.
"Right, Optimus," The girls chorused.
Nadia flipped her headphones into speaker mode, cranked the volume, and hit play. Dum Dee Dum by Keys N Krates rang out across the beach.
Nadia's always the most up to date with modern pop culture out of the eight and is quick with the perfect song for a moment; she was the first to earn a nickname, her's being Jazz.
"Autobots, roll out!" Annabeth yelled.
The fight was a blur.
Annabeth went straight for Alistar, quickly landing a punch straight to his jaw, it didn't hurt him as much as she hopped seeing as her MMA gloves had a medium level of padding. Still they exchanged blow after blow as Annabeth tried her best to force the man back so she could escape with her friends.
Lynelle was quick to strike Cain in the leg with her baton. She whirled around and jabbed the baton into his stomach before electrifying it. Cain stepped back away from the slight sting before he swung at her with his police baton.
Jack was at Claire's throat almost instantly.
"Back off Screamer," she seethed as she tased him at point blank.
He fell back away from her and into Fabian.
Fabian yelled at his friend as he shoved Jack off his and blocked one of Nadia's punches.
"Lay off Blackout," Jack hissed as he rode out the bolts of electricity.
Nadia saw an opening and roundhouse kicked the man in the stomach. He stumbled back way from her landing at the feet of Josh and Prue.
Prue was relentless as she stepped over Fabian and continued to try and cut Josh down.
"Having fun yet, Sunny?" Harley whispered as he yanked Susan in close to him.
Susan was pissed at the sound of the nickname, "Don't call me Sunny, Soundwave!" She landed a solid elbow to his gut and he tripped backwards over Jack.
Everyone glanced up at the sound of Sydney's yell as she jumped off the porch at Taylor. He was taunting her, trying to piss her off enough to make her sloppy. It was obviously working as she had taken him down with her, had him pinned to the ground, and was trying to punch his lights out.
"Sides stop! Sideswipe! Sydney!" Susan tried to pull her older sister off the man, "Syd you've won. Forget Sideways and let's go."
Sydney let herself be pulled off Taylor by Susan and Lynelle before they dragged her towards Lynelle's black 1967 Chevy Impala.
Lynelle climbed in the driver seat and tore off followed by Annabeth, Susan, Nadia, Miko, and Claire in Annabeth's Jeep Wrangler and Prue on her motorcycle.
The girls didn't slow down even after they were a few miles from the house in case they had been followed.
"You can't keep letting him get under your skin like that, Sides. He'll do it forever if you let him," Lynelle spoke up finally.
"And we shouldn't have to run from our own house every time they try to pick a fight with us, Bee. Damn Decepticons," Sydney growled.
"We've done everything short of a restraining order, Sides. They'll just keep coming back. It's the thrill of the fight they're after, like they actually enjoy getting beat up by a bunch of girls or something."
Sydney cracked a smile before she caved and laughed.
Lynelle smiled, "There's my best friend."
Sydney smiled back before she looked down at her pajamas.
"Hey are my extra clothes still in here?" She asked as she turned around and started looking around in the backseat.
Lynelle glanced back at her, "Probably not. Remember, we cleaned back there recently."
"Hey, my skates! I was looking for these!" Sydney grinned as she turned around with two red and black inline skates in hand.
"Ratchet made you put them in here after she banned them from in the house."
"Right, right."
"You look like you just won the lottery, Sides," Lynelle chuckled.
"I did, cause I found my ice skates back there too," Sydney responded as she pulled said skates up into her lap and draped them over her shoulders by the tied together laces.
"Well, at least you're happy again."
Sydney shrugged as she pulled out her phone and checked her email, "Hey, Forgotten Pasts finally updated!"
A few yards in front of the Impala that was leading the little convoy, a bright pink ball rolled out into the road. Sydney looked up and her smile dropped as she witnessed a little girl run out into the road in front of them.
"Lynelle look out!" She exclaimed as she reached over and yanked the wheel to the right.
The Impala swerved off the road still doing at least 50 mph. Lynelle tried to bring the Impala back on to the road while still avoiding the girl.
The other girls watched in horror as the Impala swerved and flipped before it started to roll down the road. Annabeth slammed on the brakes but it was too late and the Jeep plowed into the Impala. Prue swerved to avoid farther pile up only to get clipped by the rear of the Jeep swinging around and get launched over the guardrail.
By the time the vehicles came to a complete stop the air was filled with screams of terror, yells of the neighbors as they ran up to try and get the girls out, smoke from the Impala, and crying from the little girl whose mother had pulled her out of the road just in time.
"Hang on, just hang on. 911 will be here any minute," someone said as a small group started to try and pull Annabeth, Claire, Nadia, Susan, and Miko free.
Miko's head lulled to the side and she noticed the gas leaking from the Impala and trail towards the already ablaze fire.
"Get away! The Impala's gonna blow!" She exclaimed.
"What?" The man questioned.
"Get everyone away from the cars or a lot more people are gonna die!" Claire yelled.
The man nodded, "Everyone get back! One of the cars is gonna blow!"
The five in the Jeep grabbed each other as they watched the gas meet the fire and the fire spread back towards the Impala.
The Impala exploded and threw the closest people back away from the crash.
From the grass Prue started to cry as she watched the fire consume her friends. She knew none of them would live through the explosion nor would she live through the piece of broken guardrail that had impaled her as she landed.
She slowly closed her eyes and welcomed death as she listened the sirens approach.