Chapter Four: Seeking Sanity
Beth had to bite at the inside of her cheek at Late's dismayed bellow. She calmly replied with, "Good thing you're not driving by yourself, huh?"
Wide eyes were turned her way. She had no idea if Late was scared, nervous, angry, or what, but she felt it must be a mix of all those and more.
"When I get back to California, I don't think I'll be leaving it."
"It snows in Northern California."
"Then I'm relocating to a desert."
Beth chuckled. "I think I may really miss you when you go back."
This appealed to the tip of the iceberg that was Late's ego. "Of course you will."
The young woman wanted to sigh and roll her eyes, but kept her gaze on the road. Guys like Late were predictable. It was almost too easy. You pet their ego, praise their choice of car, and they're putty in your hands. Never insult them or lead them to think they're wrong in any way, and you were good in their books.
The hill that Late was slackjawed at was on a descent instead of a rise. Truth be told, it could be just as hard to go down a snowy street as it was to go up. Beth almost preferred going up versus down. Going down had a number of things that could go wrong. In her own experience, the worst was misjudging how the vehicle could handle such a descent and slipping sideways.
"So, can you tell me exactly where at the Waterfront you have to be at?" Beth was continually scanning the road, which was a gorgeous white that she knew would be a plowed slushy mess about twelve hours from now. "There are a lot of buildings on the Waterfront."
"Something called the pump house," Late shrugged and continued staring out of the side window.
"Yeah, I know the place," Beth said, though she felt both annoyed (because it was past all the shopping areas) and relieved. He'd named an actual location. That could be good or bad. "After we get down this hill, we'll be going across the bridge, down a ramp from the bridge, and driving through the Waterfront shopping areas," Beth squinted for a moment, yawned slightly, and sighed. "From what you told me, you need to get just beyond the last shopping area. I know the building since it's a landmark. Historical landmark."
"Uh huh," Late looked even more bored by the "historical landmark" phrase.
"Apparently, and despite the steel mills that used to be here, that building you need to get to has been there since the 1700's."
"That's not that old."
Though she wanted to give him an incredulous stare, Beth's focus remained on the road. The traffic lights were blinking in that yellow/red thing that they did when it was after hours. The colors flicked on the snow.
"I mean, not really that old."
"It's pretty old, Late."
"I've seen older."
This time she did roll her eyes. "You look all of thirty. I doubt you've been around, much less seen, anything older than three hundred years."
A mirthful snort came from Late. "Yeah, I might have."
"So, who's giving me a ride home?" Beth figured she may as well pop the question. She was nervous enough about Late and his friends, though it was obvious to her that she had all the power at the moment. Late couldn't even drive his own car!
"Dunno," Late said lazily. "Maybe Ratchet or Lennox." He sighed, then sounded very amused. "Or maybe B could drive you home. He's the guy with the Camaro."
Despite being a bit disappointed in not being able to drive the lovely Lambo back, Beth couldn't help but to be interested in talking to the guy with the so called bright ass yellow Camaro. "Hmm…maybe I can see how well he did in the snow!"
That earned a growl from Late. "I doubt you'd want to talk about his car and snow."
"As opposed to your car and snow?"
"Shut up," Late snapped out. "Bad enough I have a slagging femme driving me, uh, in my car. Everyone's gonna see that."
Beth couldn't help the chuckle that came at how wounded and angry Late sounded. Male pride was ever a testy thing.
Then the chuckle vanished in a gasp as Beth slammed on the brakes of the Lamborghini. She couldn't help the short, though shrill, shriek when the car fishtailed and started to spin.
"No, no! You piece of Italian junk!" Beth tried turning the steering wheel in the direction the car was sliding, which was across the lane of traffic, but the car seemed to be locked up. Neither the steering nor the breaks were responding. She slammed her left hand against the steering wheel, ignoring Late's surprised bellow at her action, and growled low at the car again. "Stop acting up, you stupid Lambo!"
It both was and wasn't a shocker to Beth that the car seemed to shake the locked up phase it had been in. Suddenly the steering wheel was responding to Beth in that fluid motion it had, and she was able to slow the vehicle's spin (which had been a slow but steadily gaining momentum spin across four lanes of road) to a stop.
However it was a stop in the far left lane of traffic, which was to say that any traffic coming towards them was coming from the bridge. It was fortunate for Beth, Late, and the Lambo that there was too much snow on the street and that it was nearing two am, and as such they were the only people out.
Breathing heavily, though mostly due to her nerves being shot to Hades and back, Beth sat back in the seat and relaxed the iron grip she had on the steering wheel. She blinked and let out a frustrated sigh. "Snow and exotic cars…not good bedfellows."
There was no reply from Late, and after noting they were the only souls on the road, Beth gripped the steering wheel with her hands at the top of the wheel and pillowed her forehead on her hands. Just for a second…she needed just a second to get her wits together.
Yet she wasn't surprised when she heard Late's low and venomous retort.
"My car is not stupid."
She raised her head to look at him, but he was staring solidly out the windshield, which was pointed in the direction of the IHOP.
Oh man… she thought to herself. What did I get myself into?
Though he resolved to keep a stoic expression on his holoform's faceplates, Sunstreaker was berating himself. The femme had a good hand, firm and knowledgeable. She slagging well knew what she was doing behind the wheel of a car, especially when driving in the snow, and he had nearly sent them into some kind of a retaining wall.
Her winter driving skills had been very good.
At least they had been until they had gotten halfway down the hilly street. He looked over at her, but she was looking behind them. He also looked, but saw nothing but the tracks his own tires had left in the snow. He grimaced at how the two straight tracks (as straight as tracks can be on a gently curving downward sloping hill) suddenly fishtailed, spun, and orbited to their current location.
Something felt…off. He hadn't known the femme very long at all, but he sensed that she had a very solid head on her shoulders. She wouldn't have reacted so abruptly without reason.
"Why did you do that?"
Beth looked over at him and her brows furrowed with confusion. "Do what? Skid like a novice?"
"Yes."
Her frown deepened before she sighed and shrugged. "I…I thought I saw something…but…" she looked behind them again and shook her head. "I don't see any tracks in the snow."
"You saw something? What?"
She rubbed at her upper left arm with her right hand. "I…I don't…It was dark and fast. It was huge."
With a frown of his own, Sunstreaker also looked back. His optics weren't as powerful in his holoform as they were in his base mode, but he could see that there were no tracks in the snow save for his. And of course his sensors were still on the fritz. He couldn't sense any spark signatures, though if it had been an enemy even Sunstreaker knew of a number of devices that could mask a spark signature.
Being with Beth in this short amount of time, being faced with the simple yet effective enemy that snow was turning out to be, had made him forget about his own enemies. And if a Con was around, this femme would be a very easily squished casualty.
"I could probably handle this from here," he said nonchalantly, "if you wanted to get out."
It wasn't that Sunstreaker was afraid that the femme would be killed. He just didn't want to have to report to Optimus that she had been offlined under his watch. His Prime had a great fondness for these organics. Expelling her here seemed reasonable.
"Are you nuts?" Beth gaped at him, then glared at him. "For one thing it's freezing out there and I'm wearing just the basics. I didn't even grab my heavy coat! Secondly, it's going to take me at least an hour to walk back to my house from here. Third, if I die from you abandoning me here, I'm going to haunt your ass until you die!"
Sunstreaker grimaced. No way did he want this femme haunting his aft for countless millennia. "Okay, fine," he rolled his optics. "But it's your aft if anything happens to you. Not my fault."
One eyebrow was raised. "You're a strange, strange man."
Sunstreaker merely grinned and shrugged. "Them's the breaks." He sighed, simply for show since he didn't need to breathe, and pointed. "How about you getting this gorgeous car moving? I need to meet up with…"
"Blah, blah, your friends, yadda yadda." She roughly put the car in gear. "I heard it ten billion times already."
The vents of the vehicle pumped out air that was a little warmer than programmed by the "digital" thermostat. Sunstreaker felt he was what the humans called a saint for putting up with this femme…and not slagging aiming his plasma cannon at her.
And firing it.
Repeatedly.
She knew she was making it look easy, and Beth had no qualms about showing off in front of this arrogant, conceited male. But in reality it was a fight every step of the way. If it wasn't the snow that had every nerve on edge, it was the car itself that was fighting her. There was no doubt in her mind that the car was every bit a reflection of its owner.
Shiny.
Conceited.
Arrogant.
Hot headed.
Gorgeous.
She felt her cheeks flush at the thought. Drop that subject, Bethie, she chided herself. Once you get Mister California back with his friends, he and his sexy car will be on the next flight back to that warm weather paradise you'll only see on tv.
Despite wanting to leave Pittsburgh for warmer climates, especially in the winter months, she simply didn't have the money to do so. It was expensive to move, and in this kind of a job environment she had to make do with what she had. Money was tight as it was.
Focus, Beth, focus, she told herself as she guided the car back to the proper lane. She was deeply relieved that there were no police on the road. The last thing she needed was to have to explain why she was driving such an expensive car that belonged to a total stranger.
"It's weird," Beth said, purely to make conversation. "But that dark shape almost looked like something really fast had flown in front of us."
She heard Late mutter something under his breath but couldn't understand what seeking had anything to do about it.
When the femme had mentioned that the dark shape looked as if it had flown, a creeping dread began to work its way towards his spark. He knew that Starscream had supposedly been offlined in the Chicago battle, but no body had been recovered. That mech was as resilient as anything Sunstreaker had ever encountered. He wouldn't be surprised if the fragger had survived.
Then again, if Sunstreaker was on Earth with his twin, it couldn't be too great of a stretch that one or more of Starscream's trine had managed to find their way to Earth. And if the trine was together, then there would be a lot of trouble on the horizon. Not saying that the Command Trine couldn't liven things up, but beyond their entertainment value, they were a bit annoying.
Not to mention, there was only one mech that Sunstreaker knew of that had the ability to be fast, fly, and come and go with barely a hint on a scanner.
:Prime, you there?:
Nothing.
:Prime? Now where the frag are all of you?:
He sighed loudly, frustrated beyond belief. With a glare out of his side window, Sunstreaker saw the dark waters of a river far below them. The bridge lights, and those of a brightly lit shopping district ahead of them, were reflected in the water. "Is that the Waterfront?"
"Yeah," the femme replied, then yawned. "Uh, it's not too much longer." Her eyes flicked around at their surroundings. A blinking traffic light was coming up, and there was a ramp on either side of the slight intersection, both headed down to the Waterfront.
"What are you thinking?"
"Well, we have to get down there, but I think I need to break a few road rules." She flashed a look his way, but he couldn't figure out if she was asking permission or being amused. "You're only supposed to go down on the right ramp and up on the left."
"So?"
"So the place you need to be on is to the left. It'll add more time if we go to the right, and drive around." She nodded to the right. "See that big tan building? That's a movie theater. We have to go around that to go under this bridge, and…" Another nod, this time to the left. "We have to go that way."
"Well it's not as if anyone's here to watch you do anything," and Sunstreaker had to hope that his Prime had figured this out as well. It wouldn't do to be caught by local authorities while they were trying to resurrect Ironhide. With all of this snow there'd be no fast escape, and NEST was still having a fragging hard time trying to polish the reputation of the Autobots. It was hard trying to convince the humans that not all Cybertronians were out to eradicate humanity. Even though Sunstreaker didn't like the squishies much at all, it went against his basic programming to destroy anything weaker than he was.
Having local authorities being aware of their presence in such a little town would be trouble.
And unlike the fragging annoying Seekers, Sunstreaker couldn't fly his way out of trouble.
Seekers…
Sunstreaker sighed again, this time softer. If it was Skywarp, there'd be trouble regardless. The slagger was irritating as much as he was a challenge. While Sunstreaker loved a challenge, Skywarp was more irritating than the scratches he'd gotten on his sides. Internally, he snickered a little at that. Just a little. Sideswipe would appreciate the pun.
The slow pace Beth was maintaining was slagging frustrating. He had since discovered that it was safest to drive this slow, and she had gotten him much farther than he ever would have, but his spark was crying for speed.
Speed, along with battle, was what he was created for.
"So should I…"
"Make the left," Sunstreaker interrupted her. "I don't have time to follow the rules."
She would've thought nasty things about how Late was so stuck on himself and his friends, but she had caught an undercurrent. There was something big going on and Late had gotten himself stranded due to a mistake. He was relying on her to help him. The least she could do was to help.
But still and all…
It was late, she had work in the morning, and her boss would be very displeased if she called off. Not even the snowstorm would be excuse enough for a call off. It was only Wednesday, er, Thursday, and she'd had a tough week at work, dealing with angry customers, and she hadn't gotten decent night's sleep the entire week.
Beth was, to use car terms, running on fumes. Driving the Lamborghini was beyond nice. It was out of this world! But sleep was on the fringes of her consciousness. She'd be lucky if she didn't fall asleep on the drive back, strangers or not.
She yawned again and shifted in the very comfortable driver's seat. From the corner of her eye she saw Late glance over at her.
"You're not going to fall asleep, are you?"
"What? No! Psh. Of course not!" Inside Beth's mental voice was screeching about what a liar she was.
Late made a noncommittal sound.
"I'm not!" Beth narrowed her eyes at the snow covered road and slowed down as the Lamborghini approached the light. Gently she turned to the left. She had never driven down this ramp, though she thought she had heard that once it had been one lane up and one lane down. It was odd to drive down, but she did so after shifting the transmission into second gear.
To Beth, it was quite a relief to drive this late at night, with all the snow. She could easily breeze through intersections. For some reason, the police were the last thing on her mind. It was no time at all as they drove past Target, Giant Eagle, Marshall's, DSW, Petco, Michael's, and then finally a Lowe's home improvement store.
The car seemed to bounce a bit under her feet and she frowned.
"Something wrong?"
Not bothering to look at Late, she frowned. "No, I don't think so." She looked at the gauges, but nothing seemed amiss. "You should probably get some gas before you leave here."
"Huh?"
"Half tank," Beth motioned to the gas indicator. "You shouldn't let it fall too far below half a tank in cold weather." Her cheeks flushed. "At least that's what my dad always told me. Something about fuel lines."
"Yeah," Late replied, but he seemed distracted.
"You wanna call your friends? See if they're still here?"
He shook his head. "I already tried. No one's…picking up."
Beth arched an eyebrow. "I didn't see a phone or hear you calling anyone."
The man held up a dark colored phone in his right hand. "I texted them. No reply."
"Huh. Okay."
The Lambo drove along lazily as the road curved gently. Beth dared to pull up the transmission into drive and she heard Late grunt.
"You're putting it in drive?"
"Yah," Beth felt a bit of regret that she'd never drive this gorgeous vehicle on a dry road. It seemed to have been begging her the entire drive to go faster than the creeping crawl she'd been making it do. "We're almost there."
"We are?" Late sat up from the slouch he'd been in. "How much further?"
"It's right there, that building to the left." Beth frowned. "I don't see any vehicles. Are you sure they're here?"
Oh, they were here alright. Even with his sensors being dulled from maintaining a holoform, he could make out the tracks along the road. Mentally he was kicking himself. The tire tracks from Prime and the others had been there. He just hadn't noticed. Granted they were fuzzy due to an inch of snow, but they were still there.
He felt a bit of giddiness and his engine revved in reply.
"What the…" Beth stared at the hood. "I didn't do anything…Is that normal?"
"Uh huh." The grin on Sunstreaker's face was broad and matched the upbeat growl from his engine.
"Weird."
"Yep."
The femme gently steered Sunstreaker into the building's very small parking lot. He could feel things again, unhindered by the slagging snow. A warmth grew in his spark and he could suddenly sense the others. He didn't know what the frag had been going on, but he knew that his nightmare was finally ending.
He overrode what the femme was doing and drew himself to a stop in the center of the parking lot.
"I…what happened? I'm not even touching the brake!"
A side door on the building opened, letting out light and a familiar parka wrapped form.
"Sam," Sunstreaker grinned. "Never thought I'd be happy to see your aft."
"Sam?" The femme looked over at Sunstreaker. "You two…together?"
"Together?" Sunstreaker almost sighed. The femme was obviously not clocking high speeds in her processor. "We are not together. He's over there and I'm over here."
"Not like that!" She looked amused as if by some private joke. "I meant are you two dating. You know, that kind of together."
"No!" Sunstreaker spat out, disgusted. "He's a friend of my friend, the one with the Camaro. By Primus, femme, that's just revolting. Me and Sam? Never."
"Okay, okay," she sat back and stared at the dashboard. "Just…what do I do now?"
"Good question," Sunstreaker muttered as Sam trudged closer. "Let me do the talking. Even Sam knows I've never let anyone in…uh, drive my car."
He felt a mix of shame and irritation flood his processors as Sam walked closer. The human stopped when Sunstreaker opened the passenger door and the expression on Sam's tanned face was priceless when Sunstreaker's holoform stepped out.
"S…Sunstreaker…?"
The mech swiftly shut his own door and glared at the human. "Where are the others."
"They're inside but…" Sam shook his head in disbelief. "Why the holoform? I don't get it."
And it begins, Sunstreaker thought darkly. "I had…difficulties. Prime and Ratchet already know."
"Know what?" The human looked confused. "They haven't been able to reach you for the last hour. Optimus was about to go out himself to look for you."
Icy coldness swept through him, and it had nothing doing with the slush that was practically welded to his frame. "What are you talking about?" Sunstreaker hissed at the human. "I've been talking with Prime and Ratchet! Prime himself told me to let that slagging human," at this he pointed back to his alt, "drive me – ME – down here! So what in the Pit are you talking about, squishie?!"
"Wait…wait, you? YOU let a human drive you?!" He laughed. "Oh, man, that's priceless! It's…" Sam saw the murderous expression on the mech's holoform and coughed. "I mean, damn, that sucks. You want Prime out here?"
"Yes, by all means, send out the thirty foot tall robot that was predominantly visible in the ruins of Chicago. I'm sure the femme won't fry a processor over that."
Sam blinked. "You let a girl drive you?"
Sunstreaker's engine revved loudly and harshly, at the same time that he bellowed out, "PRIME!"
Beth jumped when the Lamborghini's engine roared to life. It had been discomforting enough to see the transmission shift into park, but the engine was a whole other matter. Though it felt stupid to even think it, to her the engine sounded very pissed off.
When the guy had walked out of the building, Beth had seen that the interior had been brightly lit, though for some reason the light wasn't seen through the windows. She knew the inside of the building was all open, like an empty warehouse. But she thought she'd seen…something. Something big and metal.
But she knew that there weren't any metal things in that building, like support beams. Then again, she hadn't been inside the historic building since she'd shopped at the craft sales held there in the summer. It was possible that someone had done some renovation or added support beams.
Just then she heard Late bellow something, but she couldn't make out the word or words. Indecision warred within her. Get out or stay in? Was the guy who had come out of the building the Camaro guy? But no, Late had said this guy's name was Sam, not B.
The Lamborghini suddenly shook and trembled around her, which made up her mind as to what she should do. She reached out and tugged at the door handle. For a second it did nothing and, slightly panicked, Beth tugged even harder. She looked up and saw Late glance back at her with a glare and suddenly the door opened.
Cold air spilled inside the warm cab of the car and snow nearly as deep as the door frame greeted her. Taking a breath, she stepped out and cautiously stepped around the vehicle's open door. Since she didn't have a key for the exotic car, she had to assume that Late had the key on him. To avoid a catastrophe of a key locked in a car, she left the driver's door open.
"Hey, hi," she ventured and both guys turned her way. She gave a little wave. "I'm Beth."
"Nice catch," The new guy winked at Late. "She know all about…everything?"
"Nothing," Late snapped. "And it stays that way."
A spark of anxiety flared to life within her. Beth's conscious crowed about being right. Late was some kind of nutcase, and so were his friends. What kind of "everything" did the new guy mean? Whatever it was, it was true. Late hadn't said a thing, other than a few insults and snarky comments.
"You know, I'm just gonna…gonna bail, okay?" And she was already edging away, towards the road. She could call a cab or…something. Surely there was some cab company that was nuts enough to be out in a snowstorm.
Late spun around and the new guy was staring at her as well. "What?" The word was sub-zero from his lips.
"Yeah, so, I'm glad you made it to your friends," Beth focused on being as unthreatening as she could. "I know my way home from here so…"
"What game are you playing, femme?" Late turned around and stalked towards her. "You said it would take you an hour to walk home when we were back up there," he pointed towards both the bridge and hill they had come from, which were both still in view from the parking lot. "So this distance would take you more hours than that, plus it's cold and you are not properly attired."
"So?" She couldn't help the twinge of surliness.
"You're fond of hypothermia?" He shrugged. "Whatever. Knock yourself out, femme."
Something in Beth bristled. "My name is not femme! What does that even mean?"
"It means whatever you think it means."
The other guy looked back at the partially open door and then faced Late. "Uh, things are just about to get started and…"
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Beth blurted out, throwing a hand out onto the roof of the car to steady herself when she slipped a little. The snow beneath her feet was thick, with an icy base that would make walking home a chore. She was distinctly worried that she might freeze to death.
Late tensed. "Hands. Off. The. Car."
When she saw even the new guy tense, though seemingly in apprehension as opposed to Late's aggression, Beth felt a little thrill of fear race up her spine. "Seriously, there's something really wrong with you." Just then she swore she felt the metal vibrate slightly beneath her gloved hand. "And this car! What's going on with this freaking car?"
The slight scowl on Late's handsome face was scary. "Just…hands off. Now."
"Fine, whatever," Beth made a slight show of holding her hands away from the car. "Next time I'll just fall on my ass."
This time Late looked confused. "What does a donkey have anything to do with this?"
Beth gawked at him. "You are the…the strangest guy I've ever met."
"Dude, things have to happen now." The new guy said it in an urgent tone. "At the risk of my own life, do something with her."
"Excuse you?" Beth demanded huffily, and when both males looked at her, she felt her annoyance turn to dread.
Late walked towards her. "You shouldn't have come. You shouldn't be here. Why are you here?" The tone of his voice was odd, almost confused. He seemed suddenly uncertain as to why she was among them.
"You couldn't drive in the snow, remember?" Beth breathed out, watching as it fogged white in the cold air. "You were stuck." Her own tone of voice was only a step above pleading, and though she hated to sound like that, she really hoped she hadn't stumbled into some sort of illegal situation. And she kind of felt more and more like she had.
"I know," Late smiled, almost sadly. "And now you're the one who's stuck."
When he strode closer to her, Beth panicked and took a fast step back. Too fast and all in the wrong conditions and in the wrong direction.
She slipped and fell, felt a jarring pain of her head hitting something at the same moment that she saw a flash of white, and then no more.
Oooh, am I mean, or what? So, Sunstreaker has finally caught up with the others. But I wonder...has someone else also caught up with Prime and the others?
And while we know that Sunstreaker isn't a bad guy (aww, you're not, not really, Sunshine!), Beth hasn't got a clue as to who, or what, he really is. That makes it fun, right? lol
The Pump House does exist, but I'm taking great artistic liberties with it. Beth is right, it is old, but not 1700's old. It is, however, an historical landmark.
I think this chapter was a little short, but in the long run, it made sense to end it at this point.
Next up, lots of fun in the snow. Yes, Sunstreaker, even more snow!
