Chapter Sixteen
Still gripping her gun, Madame Foster shoved hard against the cabinet with her shoulder, leaning all her weight into it to keep it wedged against the badly damaged door. Keller and Simmons joined her in the effort. Behind them, Cheese was running around screaming, while Goo was leaning toward one of the computer?s speakers. An electronic stutter suddenly made itself known above the low-level static.
?They?re responding!? she yelled excitedly to her companions, meeting Keller?s gaze. ?They?ve accepted your authorization code!?
The secretary?s spirits soared. ?Call in the strike! Tell them what?s happened here, put it in your own words, but tell them what to look for in the immediate area and to respond accordingly!?
Goo nodded and bent back to the keyboard. As she did so, the deteriorating door finally buckled enough to allow Frenzy to squeeze through. Leaping into the room, the Decepticon instantly appraised its surroundings and began unleashing one lethal disc after another.
Madame Foster dodged to the side as one disc cut right through the barrel of her riot gun, taking another couple of inches off its already reduced length. The damage didn?t seem to affect its functionality, however?that much was certain to Madame Foster even as she said, ?Ain?t no stoppin? me, ya little pipsqueak!?
When she pumped it and fired, the shell struck the homicidal robot dead-on. The mechanoid emitted a crazed electronic squeal as the sheer force of the shot knocked it backward. Recovering its footing, Frenzy looked around and sprang straight up as Madame Foster fired again. The robot disappeared through a gap in the ceiling where an insulation panel had been removed to allow maintenance access.
?Goo! Send the message quick!? she shouted at her friend as she patrolled beneath the ceiling, trying to listen for movement overhead while gripping the shotgun tightly.
Goo was tap-tapping furiously on the two keys. ?I?m doing my best here. The killer robot?s
really distracting, you know!?
Halting, Madame Foster listened intently, then raised the shotgun and fired upward. A section of ceiling came crashing down, followed by the robot. Whipping limbs sent Keller spinning to the ground. Stepping up beside Madame Foster, Simmons unleashed his flamethrower. Displaying reflexes no human could have matched, the robot dodged the gout of flame and fired another disc. Only Simmons?s exceptional training saved him as he twitched to one side at the last possible instant.
Having sidetracked the agent, the crazed machine spun on Madame Foster. She fired once, twice,
click. Empty.
Using the gun as a club, she swung madly at the oncoming robot. Her eyes were fixed on the place on its torso that emitted the deadly discs. When it fired again, she crouched down as low as she could. The discs bounced all around the room. Most embedded themselves in equipment. Only one of them ricocheted several times before returning to take a reverse swipe at its intended target.
Ready for it this time, Madame Foster ducked a second time. It shot over her and?cleanly decapitated the machine from which it had been launched. As Frenzy?s head fell to the floor, the multi-limbed body swiftly crumpled. Breathing hard and still clutching the empty shotgun, Madame Foster straightened and glared down at the twitching body.
?Ha! What goes around comes around, baby!?
Keller turned to confront an exhausted Goo. ?Did you get the message out?? Goo slumped in the chair. For a moment she didn?t respond. Then she turned to him and a wide grin broke out across her face. Holding up both index fingers, the ones she had used to tap out the Morse, she blew on the tip of the first one and then the other, nodding as she did so.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
It didn?t take long after Sean rejoined the others for Alissa to make relay contact with the scrambled flight from Nellis. It was a strange way to communicate?CB radio to field relay to base to aircraft?but it worked. ?Aircraft circling city, this is on-site. How copy? Can you track our position??
The only reply was static. Then a low whine became audible. Coming in low and fast, the F-22 Raptor passed directly overhead, a lot lower and closer than anyone in the FAA would have countenanced. As it thundered past, Sean turned to follow its progress.
?The air force
has arrived! Confirm our position.?
A couple of Sector Seven agents fired flares. It was immediately evident that they had been observed, as the jet began to circle back. The fighter came in their direction, dipping lower as it approached.
Within the convoy, shapes shifted, bodies morphed as pickup and eighteen-wheeler, sports car and Camaro and emergency vehicle swiftly transformed. They did not need to consult with the humans or imaginary friends in their midst to know that something was wrong.
?Jazz, Bumblebee,? Ironhide rumbled, ?flanking positions!?
Jazz loped to one side as the Raptor came on, impossibly low, and?unleashed missiles straight at the convoy.
?NOOO!!!? Sean howled as he dove to one side.
The Decepticon known as Starscream, disguised as the Raptor, fired several times as its targets scattered for whatever cover they could find. Heedless of their own exposure, Bumblebee and Ironhide picked up and flipped a nearby heavy truck in front of the convoy to shield the unprotected humans and imaginary friends. One missile struck the truck and sheared it in half. Bumblebee was catapulted backward, his torso bouncing one way, his legs the other. The hideous squeal of metal sliding over cement accompanied him as he finally tumbled to a stop.
Knocked free by the blast, the Energon Cube went bouncing onto the asphalt. The combination of the impact and the concussion from the missile strike caused it to release a short-range shock wave that swept over everything within the wave?s effective radius?including any and all electromechanical devices.
Having looked on in shock at the ongoing chaos, two young men abruptly fled from their car as the energy wave from the Cube swept through their vehicle. As they stumbled away, every piece of electronics in the tricked-out sedan was transformed into a miniature multi-legged horror.
Rapidly losing intensity as it dissipated outward, the wave still retained enough strength to shatter the windows in a nearby superstore. Rushing through the aisles, the energy burst swept over one shelf after another. Soon panicked shoppers were fleeing in all directions. One employee pushing a cart piled high with game consoles screamed as metal arms suddenly thrust out of every box, ripping at the cardboard in a frenzied desire to escape.
Among the stores situated on a street a block further away was an extensive gun shop. Within the single, heavily barred window a single rifle put out hesitant tendrils and started to rise before collapsing back onto its display mount. The Energon wave had lost its potency nary a yard too soon. There was no foreseeing what mayhem a second, stronger discharge might set loose on the already chaotic streets.
END OF CHAPTER SIXTEEN