Well, here's chapter 2. Hope you enjoy!!

“Hey Auri, could you help me out here?” a man said looking up from his work. Auri got up from what she was doing and walked over.

“What do you need, Manny?” she asked as she looked to see what the problem was. It had only been a few months since the last battle. Not much had happened in those few months. Auri had managed to get a job in a different shop. Her little brother, Danny, was now three and was now going to preschool. Her mother was still working.

“Can you hold this while I install it?” Manny asked as Auri grabbed the carburetor while he started screwing it into place. Once he was done, Auri walked over to the vending machine. Grabbing the water that fell out of the machine, she walked outside and sat on the bench just outside of the garage that she had been working in.

Auri had just taken a drink of her water when her phone rang. Digging through her pocket, she managed to find her phone. She looked at the number for a moment, it was one that she didn’t know. Maybe it was just a wrong number. The phone stopped ringing. As Auri set it on her lap to take another drink, the phone rang again. It was the same number. Sighing, Auri picked up the phone and answered it.

“Hello?” she said.

“Is this Auri?” a voice on the other line asked. Auri paused for a moment. Who was this person and how did they know her number?

“Yes, and who is this?” she asked while she took another drink.

“I don’t know if you remember me Auri, but this is your favorite cousin,” the voice said, laughing nervously. Auri suddenly spit out the water that was in her mouth and started choking.

“Ash?” she choked out, “What the hell? What’s going on?”

Ashlyn laughed nervously, “Yeah, well you see…I sort of…ran away from home and I have a bit of a problem,” she said slowly.

“What the hell did you run away for?!” Auri shouted. People on the street stopped and stared at the girl yelling on the phone. Ashlyn held the phone away from her ear as her cousin yelled at her. She knew this would happen.

“Auri, will you just shut up for a minute?,” she yelled back, “My car broke down about a hundred miles outside of Tranquility. Do you think you could give me a ride into town?” she asked desperately. Auri’s eye twitched as Ashlyn told her to shut up. She thought about what she said. She didn’t know if she had time to leave town to look for her cousin. She still had a couple of hours before she could go. But she knew someone who might be able to help.

“Ash, I can’t help you. I have a few more hours before I can leave work. I think I know someone who can help you though. Let me hang up for a minute and I’ll call you right back,” she said. Hanging up on her cousin, she dialed a different number. She just hoped that he wasn’t busy at the moment.

“Auri? Is everything alright?” the new voice asked.

“Yes Sideswipe, everything’s fine. Listen, my cousin just called me and she told me that she’s stranded outside of town, about a hundred miles out. I was wondering if you could help me. I’ve still got a few hours until I get off of work,” she explained to her friend.

There was a pause over the comm link. Sideswipe seemed to think about it for a moment, “What’s in it for me?” he asked suspiciously. Auri sighed, she was really going to regret this.

“I’ll help you in your next prank against the old medic himself,” she muttered. She really didn’t want to do it, but she really wanted to help her cousin out. Sideswipe laughed, “You’ve got yourself a deal Auri. I’ll leave as soon as I can,” he said. Auri thanked him before hanging up and calling her cousin again. She told her that her friend would drive out to pick her up and bring her into town.

Ashlyn sat in her car, waiting for her cousin’s friend to show up. It had only been about thirty minutes. The heat was starting to take its toll on the young woman. She pulled a warm bottle of water out of her purse and took a drink. It wasn’t the greatest thing, but it was all that she had. The young woman watched as a car would pass by every few minutes. After waiting for about 45 minutes, she noticed a red Lamborghini driving the opposite way.

“Now that’s a nice car,” she muttered to herself, taking another drink of her warm water.

Sideswipe noticed a young woman sitting in a bluish grey Chrysler Sebring, steam coming out of the hood. He quickly turned around and activated his holoform. He pulled up next to the car, and got out.

“Hi, are you Auri’s cousin?” he asked as the young woman stepped out of the car.

“Yes, are you Auri’s friend?” she asked, giving the young man a small smile. Sideswipe looked at the young woman. She looked just like Auri. Same dark brown hair, about the same height, even the same face. The only difference about her was her wavy hair, where Auri’s was straight. And then there were her eyes, those deep forest green eyes that Sideswipe couldn’t look away from.

“Excuse me,” she said, looking at the young man strangely. Sideswipe snapped from his thought and looked at the girl, “Sorry, spaced out for a moment,” he said, laughing nervously. Ashlyn gave a small laugh before repeating herself.

“Yeah, just call me Sideswipe,” he said. The young woman looked at him strangely.

“You’re name is Sideswipe?” she asked.

“It’s what everyone calls me,” he laughed nervously. The young woman just shrugged it off.

“My name’s Ashlyn,” she said, walking over and opening the trunk, taking her bag out. She walked over and pulled her purse out of the car. She walked over to the Lamborghini and placed her things in the back.

Within minutes, they were back on the road. Ashlyn couldn’t wait to see Auri again.