A/N: I do not own any characters from the Pixar movie Cars. I do own my own characters; Rafael, Fluke, Linda, Agneta, Voltz, Titania, Fahrenheit, Maximo, Sleipner, Galvani, Faraday and Louis.

I do not own Sønnico, I just work for them. Any likeness to real persons or events are just a coincidence, and a product of my imagination; NOT REAL.

Alternating current

By: Little Red Toyota

Chapter 21:

The weekend after New Years Eve: Fluke, Voltz and Sleipner finally had time to drive all the way up to the place they had seen on the old map at the HQ.

Fluke didn't look at Voltz, except when he was talking to him. Not even then he was able to meet his eyes with his own. The image of him and Titania was still too fresh in Fluke's mind. He focused on the road, leading the way as he knew this area best of the three cars. He kept a stabile speed as they took the highway north, if they kept this speed they would reach the place in an hour.

What would they find out when they got there? Would this finally be the end of the riddle?

Fluke shook his hood thoughtfully. The riddle had said that the HQ itself held a treasure… that would mean that this trip would only lead to another puzzle.

He sighed, but in the same moment he noticed that Sleipner was falling behind. He slowed down, allowing the young Hiace to catch up with him and Voltz. Sleipner's hood was blushing red from exhaustion, and his turbo was whistling sickly. Fluke felt extremely sorry for him. The white van was sure not made for speed… and he wasn't in a very good shape either. Maybe he should try to get him to join himself in the gym?

"You ok, Sleipner?" he asked, slowing down until he came up beside him.

Sleipner just nodded, not able to speak while breathing so heavily. He felt embarrassed that the others had to slow down and wait for him, and he was sure as hell not going to bail out and tell them he wanted to go slower. He bit his teeth together. He lifted his stare and noticed Voltz also slowing down. The L200's stoneface had softened, and the green eyes studied him with concern.

"I'm really thirsty." Voltz said, glancing sideways at Fluke. "Can we stop at the next gas-station?"

Sleipner blushed. It was obvious that the Mitsubishi wanted to save him from the humiliation of asking to stop, but he was thankful. He really needed to stop and catch his breath… and a nice engine-coolant would taste good too. He smiled to Voltz.

Fluke stopped at a free place at the next gas-station, allowing them to rest a little. He frowned as he saw Sleipner drink coolant with an almost desperate look on his face. How could anyone feel the need to drink coolant in the middle of the winter? He rested his frame on the wet asphalt. Though it was wet, it was still warm as there were heatingcables underneat it to keep it ice-free. The warmth almost made him drowsy.

Sleipner motioned to the others that he was ready to continue, Fluke let him take the lead. Then the youngster could drive at his own speed, without having to tire himself out. They weren't in a hurry after all.

It took another 30 minutes of driving before they drove away from the highway and onto a smaller road. Fluke took a deep breath, the air was much fresher here. It smelled of fresh, clean snow and pine trees. He checked the map to see if they were on the right way, then he speeded up, passing Sleipner, to take the lead again. On these roads there were not possible to keep a high speed anyway.

He saw a group of houses in distance. Three yellow, two red and a brown one. This was the place marked on the map. He drove in between them, studying each building. Which one could it be? The only lead they had was the strange saying "Open sesame"…

A middleaged Audi Quattro came driving around the corner of the largest building, pushing a lawnmower in front of himself. He was obviously a janitor or someone who maintained the area. He looked up at the newcomers with curiousity and a friendly look in his eyes. He stopped the lawnmower and drove towards them, greeting them. "Good afternoon, gentlemen. Welcome to Sedsvoll 2. My name is Kai. Can I help you?"

Fluke presented himself and his company, giving the janitor a short version of the riddle they were trying to solve.

Kai nodded thoughtfully with a small smile on his bumper. Fluke had to smile too, there was something about this guy who made him feel happy in his presence. The eyes of the Audi was glittering and sparkling, full of life and joy, even when he was serious. He was easy to like.

"The only thing I can think of, related to "open sesame" around here is that building over there…" Kai said and pointed at a large brown timber building. "It's called "Sesame shack" by the locals. There was a shop for baby-clothing in that building about ten years ago. I can lock you in and let you guys have a look around if you like?"

"That would be nice of you. Thanks!" Fluke smiled as he followed the vivid janitor to the door. "This building seems rather old, huh?" he said as he looked around. The leaning timber walls were proof that the building was older than the others in this yard.

"Yes, it is. Nobody really knows how old…" Kai scratched his bumper thoughtful, still having the joyous sparkle in his eyes. "It was moved here in 1869. It used to be located on a local farm, but I don't know which one. I haven't worked here that long."

"Interesting…" Voltz entered the building, scanning it for clues to the puzzle. His eyes fell on the ancient electrical installations. "Cool… this is beautiful. Too bad it's illegal to have these kind of installations now."

"Why?" Sleipner asked, also studying the installation. He couldn't resist running a tire over the shiny, metal coat of the cables. "Because of the metal outside the cables?"

"That too… but the main reason is that it needs a special tool to be bent. Those tools only exists in museums now. If you do anything with the cable without that tool, the leads inside will break, and it increases the risk of an electrical fire with about 90%..."

"I see…" Sleipner tried to lightswitch, but no lights turned on. "Seems like it's out of order anyway."

"It has been disconnected due to the fire-risk." Kai added. "There will be some electricians coming to replace it next week. They're from Sønnico actually…" he looked at Sleipner's uniform logo.

The Audi turned and drove back outside. He stopped halfway out of the door and looked back at them. "I will continue cutting the grass. Just call for me when you are done, so I can lock the door."

Fluke nodded and drove into the next room. It was clearly used as a storageroom, there was furniture and clothes all over the place. It would take ages to go through all this stuff. He turned and drove back to the room with the staircase and looked up. It was possible to see through the gaps between the planks, he saw the other two cars tires as they drove over him. He turned right and started to look around in another storage room. This one seemed more organized than the other, but the heat in there was extreme. The thermostat on the heater must have been broken. He left the door open so he wouldn't get a heat-stroke.

"Fluke! We found something!" Sleipner yelled from upstairs.

Fluke drove up, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the creaking of the floor as he looked down the same gaps as he had looked up on just a few minutes ago. The floor was probably very solid, but it still felt like it would collapse under his weight anyway. He drove into a big room with leaning walls and low ceiling, where Voltz and Sleipner were reading a small metal-plate on the wall. It seemed to be newer than the rest of the building. He tried to read, but the letters just danced and jumped before his eyes like they mocked him for being dyslexic. He cursed. "What does it say?"

"You have come far, but still have a way to go, though you are very close to the end. Take a rest in one of our fluffy beds and you might be guided to the next clue." Sleipner read and noted down the clue.

"Beds…? There is no beds here!"

"We could maybe ask Kai? He seems to know this place very well." Voltz suggested.

They all drove out again, waving to the Audi cutting the grass around the buildings. He came over with the usual smile on his bumper.

"Did you guys find anything of interest?"

Sleipner held the note to him. "Are there any beds around here?"

Kai bursted into laughter. "I would say so! Both here and on Sedsvoll 3. Both places used to be vacation colonies, but have been shut down. This place is now only rented out to parties and such. Number 3 is a boarding school though. Anyway, the mainbuildings of both number 2 and 3 has a lot of beds." He lead the way to the yellow mainbuilding. "If you guys promise not to tell anyone, I would let you stay here for the night without charging you anything for the stay."

The three cars looked at each other and came to a silent agreement. Sleipner nodded. "Thanks, Kai. We would love to!"

Agneta was packing her stuff. It was just two says left of her vacation, and she had to go home to take care of a few things. She didn't look forward to leave Fluke, but she kept comforting herself with the thought of when she came back the next time, she would stay with him forever. A smile formed on her bumper. Moving in with Fluke would be great.

But first she had to go home and pack her stuff, clean the apartment and pay the rent and tell the landlord that she was moving. Then she would try to find a job near Flukes home.

She took her stuff down to the hallway and placed it beside the door. Fluke had called and told he wouldn't come home this night. She was a bit disappointed, but decided to make a nice meal when he came home tomorrow and try to make their last night together romantic and special. She smiled. She would make sure he wouldn't be able to forget her while she was gone.

The little Civic jumped as someone knocked on the front door.

"Come in!" she shouted.

"Hello, Agneta.. is Fluke home…?" Titania rolled in. Her eyes fell on Agnetas baggage and she frowned. "You're packing…?"

Agneta smiled. "Yes, my vacation is over, so I'm going home."

The big female Hilux grabbed her and slammed her up against the wall with a pissed off look on her face. "What do you want from my brother?" she hissed.

Agneta wriggled, trying to get down. "Let me down, Titania! I haven't done anything wrong!"

Titania sighed and put the tiny Honda down on the floor. "Seriously, girl… You're packing your stuff. I know you're leaving him. What do you want from him? Just sex?"

"I like him more than as just being friends, you know…"

"So… you are not gonna step on his feelings and ditch him when you are done playing?" Titania hissed, expecting the worst. She had never really liked this girl.

Agneta was almost too annoyed to answer, she waved a tire annoyed in the air. "Why do you expect me to treat him that bad?! You might want to know why I am packing right now?"

"As I know you from earlier, I wouldn't be surprised if you were trying to sneak away from him... abandoning him!"

"I'm going home to quit my job and take care of a few things! I actually plan on moving in with your brother, you know!" Agneta yelled back.

"I will be watching you, you know... I wont let you hurt him! And my advice would be: stay the hell away from my brother! He's too good for you!"

Agneta felt deeply hurt by Titania's word and turned around so the taller car couldn't see the tears in her eyes. Angry she blinked them away. "The only bad thing about moving in with Fluke, would be that I would have to see YOU more often! You are the meanest and rudest car I've ever met! I hardly can believe that you and Fluke are siblings!" she sobbed, and cursed to herself as she heard the shiver in her voice.

Titania calmed down a bit, knowing she had went too far. "So you're serious about Fluke? You really want to be his girl?"

Agneta nodded, not able to speak as she was forcing the tears back.

"I know that my brother wants more from you than just some fun for the night... I hope you won't break his heart, or I'll friggin kill you!"

"Of course I won't! I know how it feels to be heartbroken…" Agneta paused and turned towards her again. "Don't you think we should try to get a better atmosphere between each other? I would prefer support rather than being threatened…"

"Maybe... if I see that you are not going to hurt him... then I will start trusting you. Right now, it just seems like you've run to him for comfort because Rafael doesn't want you..."

"Please… It would be nice if you could stop mentioning Rafael, ok? He was actually the reason why I got heartbroken and...you don't have to hurt me with this, ok Titania?" Agneta begged.

Titania frowned. "So you are not over him yet... Fluke is just a toy for you? Just to keep your mind off Rafael, huh?"

"I love your brother, Titania! Deal with it and stop trying to ruin it!" Agneta shouted, tears streaming from her eyes.

"I'm not trying to ruin anything, but if you are just taking advantage on Fluke's feelings for you, because you need something to keep your mind off Rafael, then I will sure as hell ruin your life!" Titania snarled.

"Get the hell out of here!" Agneta pushed the tall Toyota towards the door, making her go outside. She watched as Titania gave her one last hateful glance and drove away.

Was this how it was going to be when she moved in with Fluke? Did she have to deal with his sister every day the rest of her life? Or would Titania actually change and start to treat her normal?

Agneta sobbed. She sure hoped her love for Fluke was strong enough to survive his sister's hate towards her. If not…. She didn't dare to finish that thought.

She shut the door and locked it, leaning against it, slowly sliding down the wooden surface until she was laiing on the floor. Then she released her tears.

To be continued….