Transformation Complication

[Big Daddy]

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

[Big Daddy]

Chapter Seventeen

Out on the pavement, Sean dragged himself out of the debris. His gut instinct was to find a weapon and start fighting back. But seeing Frankie and Mac, he instead hurried over to help them climb free of the wreckage. Around them the street had turned into a war zone. Water fountained from a broken fire hydrant. Lying off to one side and close by, Bumblebee?s shattered lower torso trailed twisted metal. His legs were nowhere in sight.

?Bumblebee.? Frankie?s eyes widened in horror as the full extent of the damage to her friend became apparent. ?Oh, no. Somebody, help!?

?Ratchet!? Mac called desperately.

Fighting, digging at the ground with his hands, the yellow-and-black torso struggled to drag himself over to where the Cube lay exposed and unprotected on the bare pavement. Under Sean?s direction, Sector Seven agents who were able to do so spread out to form a defensive cordon around the vital artifact.

Two blocks away, a Decepticon known as Blackout appeared, perching like a hawk on top of an undamaged building. The ground shook as a previously undetected Decepticon came running around a corner. Cloaked in the persona of an Abrams tank, it flattened unoccupied cars beneath its massive treads as it trundled forward. Transfixed and with nowhere to run, Frankie, Mac, Bloo, Wilt, Coco, and Eduardo could only crouch and stare.

A couple of the small-armed Sector Seven vehicles charged at the advancing tank, firing their mounted weapons. Instead of artillery shells, pulse blasts erupted from the armored behemoth. Both charging vehicles were hit, knocked engine-over-exhaust, to explode when they hit the ground.

As everyone looked on, the Abrams tank known as Devastator transformed, rising upward on two massive legs. But the head remained a turret. This pivoted toward them.

Something low and fast appeared behind the transformed tank, morphing even as it skidded forward. Transforming in midslide, Jazz leaped onto the hostile robot?s back and wrenched its torso backward as it fired. The pulse blast shot skyward, missing people and buildings alike. Spinning free, the smaller but more agile Jazz slammed the robot Devastator into a nearby structure just as Ratchet and Ironhide arrived. Transforming together, the three robots began to pound the single powerful Decepticon in their midst.

They were not alone. Seizing the opportunity, Sean led Sector Seven commandoes forward. Launchers were lifted and carefully aimed so as to avoid robotic allies. Miniature sabot rounds sped toward their target.

A massive pulse blast from an unseen source struck Jazz, knocking him to the ground and out of the fight. Looking upward, Sean and his comrades retreated as rapidly as they had just advanced. Something truly massive was coming around the corner: Megatron.

Bending over the injured Jazz, the dark metal monstrosity zeroed in on the damaged robot?s torso, reached down, and with piercing fingers ripped out a flashing, flaring sphere of energy. His spark brutally extracted, Jazz went instantly immobile.

A moment too late, a second colossal machine arrived. Tearing through the fences that separated several of the surrounding buildings, the big diesel was transforming even as he raced forward.

Megatron saw Optimus Prime coming and transformed in reverse. But as the alien jet that Megatron became started to rise, Optimus stretched out both arms, took a single tremendous leap, and locked onto his ascending counterpart. The weight was too much. Both machines plunged downward, smashed into one building, and plunged to the street. Optimus rose immediately. As he stood, the enraged Megatron transformed again, back to his innate, intimidating, bipedal self.

?Hello, Brother,? the giant hissed.

Holding his ground, Optimus gazed evenly back at his peer. ?Hello, Brother.? Nothing else was said. There followed no further words, no elaboration, no nanosecond burst of sonic communication. There was nothing more. It was as though all the millennia that had vanished into time since their last physical encounter had never passed. They charged simultaneously and collided.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Using his hands, Bumblebee had managed to drag himself over to the softly pulsing Cube. Recovering the device, he then pulled himself over to where Frankie and her friends crouched. When Frankie turned at the gentle metal touch, the robot placed the Cube in her hand, clearly urging Frankie to flee.

?No.? Moisture began to well up in Frankie?s eyes. ?I?m not gonna leave you.?

As had already been explained to them, they knew that the yellow-and-black robot did not have much to speak with. But by rechanneling an electrical impulse here, recalibrating output elsewhere, he managed to work around his long-destroyed vocal symbology. Managed to utter two words:

?Gggggooooo Fffffrrraaaannnnkkkkiiiieeee??

Above the hiss and roar of sabot rounds being fired and exploding, colliding metal, and crumbling infrastructure, the sudden thumping of multiple rotor blades suddenly made itself heard. Sean looked up. Army Black Hawks, several of them. Better late than never, he told himself. He hurried over to where Frankie was still standing next to the severely damaged Bumblebee.

Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out a compact cylinder. ?Here?s a rescue flare.? He indicated the nearest building. ?Get up on that roof and signal one of the choppers?they?ll pick you up. Do not stop, do not look back?just go. You?re a solider now, Frankie. Everybody?s a solider until this is?over. Get that Cube out of the city. As far away as you can. Or a lot of people are gonna die here!?

Mac approached Frankie with a smile. ?I?ll help you out, Frankie. We?re all in this together.?

Frankie smiled back. Holding the Cube like a football for a big game, she and Mac turned and ran. A shadow loomed over them?Ironhide, providing cover for them. They hurried past cars that had been abandoned, past others that had been destroyed or were burning noisily.

A pulse blast struck Frankie and Mac?s bulky escort. The force of it blew Ironhide off his feet and into the side of a building on the far side of the street. Though Sean?s words echoed in Frankie?s brain, his admonition was unnecessary. Neither Frankie nor Mac had any intention of stopping.

But when the F-22 came rocketing down the avenue toward them and transformed on landing back into Starscream, Frankie and Mac had no choice. Their path was blocked, and not by rubble. Changing direction, they turned and raced up a narrower street. Behind them, the huge robot fired in their direction. Brick and rock and asphalt erupting all around them, the two humans could only yell wildly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ignored by soldiers, agents, Decepticons, and Autobots alike, Bloo searched for some way to contribute both himself and Wilt, Eduardo, and Coco into the ongoing battle?he just couldn?t pass on a great opportunity to become a big hero. Parked in a nearby tow-away zone, a tow truck beckoned. Smashing the window with a chunk of concrete, Bloo climbed inside, while Wilt, Eduardo, and Coco just looked on.

?Bloo, what?re you doing?? Wilt asked. ?I?m sorry, but breaking into someone?s private property isn?t a good idea.?

Bloo turned to him with a deep glare. ?This is war, my friend! There are no rules or boundaries over private property here! We must do what we can to help save this galaxy!? Hoping for keys, he found none in the truck. The same piece of broken roadway that had secured his entrance served to batter loose the ignition assembly. Bloo then stripped wires and brought them together, generating sparks that were followed by a throaty rumble as the engine finally turned over.

?Did Bloo just hotwire a truck?? Wilt asked.

?Si.? Eduardo replied.

?Coco. Coco. Coco. Coco.?

?I don?t know how everybody?s been learning this stuff lately.? Wilt remarked to Coco?s question.

END OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

[Big Daddy]

Chapter Eighteen

The handsome old office building was in the throes of reconstruction. Because of that and the concurrent absence of furniture, there was only construction detritus to block Frankie and Mac?s way: gallons of paint, half-assembled scaffolding, yards of plastic sheeting, rolls of fiberglass insulation, bags and packages, and stacks of refuse. No use looking for a functional elevator, they saw right away: that was also undergoing renovation.

?Let?s just take the stairs!? Mac excitedly suggested, and they bolted upward as the building shook from the shock of nearby explosions.

A gigantic metal skull crashed through the floor they had just surmounted. Turning to look upward, it shone dark lenses on the ascending forms of Frankie and Mac. Five massive fingers thrust upward, reaching. They leaped for the next landing as the hand smashed into the stairs they had just vacated.

?Man! This is insane!!? Frankie exclaimed.

The roof was empty, deserted, and undamaged. Mac?s fingers fumbled with the flare, nearly dropping it. Halfway to the edge of the building it suddenly ignited. By great good fortune, it happened to do so as it was pointing upward. The bright ball of light snared skyward, an unmissable, unmistakable beacon that screamed, ?Here, we?re here!?

The Black Hawk chopper appeared at the side of the building before the flare had fallen halfway back to Earth. Standing on the skid facing the roof, an army commando reached out and down with both arms, extending himself as far as he could.

?Grab my hands! My hands!? he yelled.

Handing the Cube over to Mac, Frankie gave him direct orders. ?Here. Take this and go first.?

Mac leaned out, the gale from the hovering copter buffeting both him and Frankie, threatening to blind them with their own windblown hair. It seemed a long, long way between them and the chopper. It was certainly a long, long way to the pavement far below. Easing himself forward and holding tightly to the Cube with one hand, Mac reached out with the other.

Then the world suddenly blew up in his face.

Stunned and thrown backward along with Frankie by the force of the explosion, Mac struggled to see through the rain of flaming copter debris landing all around them. Scrambling to the building?s edge and peering out and down, Frankie and Mac were just in time to see an F-22 go thundering past. It looked up at them, electric with menace. Starscream again.

A distraught Sean tracked the wreckage of the flaming Black Hawk as it spiraled downward. ?No, no, no!? He turned away as it slammed into the street and exploded. When he looked up again, his eyes encountered a massive pair of lenses?questioning, not threatening. Whirling, he pointed to the top of the tall building.

?Mac and Frankie! They?re up there! They?re in trouble!? The head of the enormous mechanoid tilted back to follow Sean?s lead and considered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bringing the tow truck around, Bloo hurried out with Wilt, Eduardo, and Coco and around the back. They found the tow chains stored and waiting where they ought to be. Pulling them out, they dragged them over to the recumbent Bumblebee and began draping them around metal shoulders. The procedure didn?t take long.

?Hold on. We?re going help you?if that?s okay.? Wilt told Bumblebee.

Locating the correct lever and pushing it down drew the chains taut and hauled the yellow-and-black shape erect. But all the seriously wounded robot could do was sit upright.

Just as Bloo was trying to decide which street to flee down, another shape appeared. The transformed tank, Devastator, had recovered sufficiently to rejoin the battle. Firing in their direction, its first blast knocked them off their feet. Dazed, Bloo and the others struggled to recover their senses. Using the truck for cover, they hurried forward and managed to slip into the cab.

?Let?s bloo this!? Bloo exclaimed with a grin. ?See? It sounds much cooler when it?s me who?s saying it.?

?No?it doesn?t.? Wilt remarked.

?Sí.? Eduardo agreed.

?Coco. Coco.?

Bloo just scoffed at the three. ?Whatever!? Flooring the accelerator, he drove the truck back into battle.

Taking cover in a badly damaged building, Sean and his comrades had to sprint and dodge to avoid one strike after another from Devastator. Given a brief respite as their hulking hunter sought their latest hiding place, Sean called a squad of Sector Seven commandos to him.

?We?re three stories here,? he told them, breathing hard as he indicated the surrounding structure. ?Get up on the top floor and try to get a better angle on this thing. We?ll keep it busy down here.? The squad leader nodded his comprehension and gestured at his comrades. They rushed for the stairs, leaving Sean and the others behind.

Screeching around the last corner, Bloo found himself back on the periphery of the ongoing melee?and behind Devastator. In front of the tank, he and the others could see soldiers popping up and down inside a building to fire in the direction of the transformed tank, and the robot responding by unleashing periodic pulse blasts in their direction. Devastator gave no indication that he was aware of the presence behind him.

?You?re going down, clown!? Bloo screamed wildly, gripping the wheel tightly in both hands and flooring the accelerator, dragging Bumblebee between abandoned cars. The robot?s wide body snapped off doors as the tow truck gathered speed.

?We?ll aim, you shoot!? Bloo yelled back out the open window. Appropriately angry music?the heavy metal was not unexpected?blasted understandingly from the robot?s torso as he readied an arm cannon.

A precisely aligned shot from the injured robot screamed past the imaginary friends inside the cab, followed closely by a second. Both pulse blasts slammed into the rear of the transformed Devastator, splintering the air intake while lifting the back of the tank completely off the ground. The robot landed, ruined and smoking in the street.

?Muy bien shot, senor Bumblebee!? Eduardo exclaimed out the window.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Frankie and Mac huddled on the rooftop wondering what to do next, an enormous shape erupted from the stairwell behind them, shattering the roof and sending chunks of it splattering in all directions. Through the flying debris, they both saw a dark form rise up and up.

Fear suddenly beginning to take over, Frankie whispered to Mac, ?Hold on to me close. It?s going to be okay.?

?CLEVER INSECTS.? Megatron was looking directly at them. Frankie could only look back. There was nowhere left to go. A huge hand extended in their direction. ?IT IS OVER. GIVE ME THE CUBE.?

Scrambling to the edge of the roof, Frankie took a look over the side, nearly vomited, and hung on to her small glowing burden. ?Try asking that again, tin-head! And I bet a million I won?t hand it over to ya!?

?I ADMIRE YOUR ARMOR. BOLD WORDS FROM SUCH A TINY, FRAGILE ORGANISM. WORDS ARE PRAISEWORTHY. METAL IS BETTER.? The fingers gestured. ?THE CUBE. NOW.?

Chests heaving, Frankie and Mac crawled a little further, until their heads and parts of their upper bodies were hanging over the drop. Mac bravely told Megatron, ?We are never giving it to you!? Rolling suddenly to their right, they sprinted toward the opposite edge. Through the settling dust, they had spotted a double loop of metal there?a fire ladder, hanging over the side.

END OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

[Big Daddy]

Chapter Nineteen

Out in the street where he and his comrades had fled from the building, Sean?s gaze locked on a parked motorcycle. In his panic, the driver had abandoned it. The key was lying by the kickstand: good. Picking it up, his sister watched him with confusion.

?Sean, what?re you doing?? She asked. ?Hope it?s not anything rash.?

?You call me saving your well-toned butt for the millionth time a rash action?? Sean remarked with a self-confident grin.

Alissa seemed a little taken aback by his remark. ?What were the other millions times you?d saved my butt??

?Never mind about that.? He told her. ?Just tell those Raptors to bring the rain! They?ll know what you?re talking about when you tell them. It?s a military tactic. And a darn good one if I might add.? Unlimbering the launcher from his back, he positioned the tube he had been carrying against the bike?s handlebars as he gunned the powerful street machine forward through the flaming wreckage. His sister followed him with her eyes for a moment, and then spoke clearly and distinctly into the CB.

The two planes came in low and angry at the top of the street?and did not transform as they vectored in on the rampaging Blackout. The Decepticon turned to face the oncoming human threat. As it did so it did not see the lone human buzz in underneath it, grab the launcher it was balancing on the front bars of its two-wheeled vehicle, slide the bike it was riding between both towering legs, and fire just as Blackout was preparing to bring down both oncoming aircraft.

The mini sabot rounds tore into the Decepticon?s body and limbs, melting metal, leaving behind ugly spreading lesions in the alloy. They were not serious enough to bring the robot down, but they were more than distracting enough to divert it sufficiently for the two diving fighters to have time to unleash their own missiles. Missiles that had been hastily fitted with oversized warheads.

They ripped into the glowering robot, tearing off an arm, blowing great white-hot holes in its chest and lower torso. Shrieking electronically, the mechanoid shook, wavered?and, as Sean scrambled clear, began to disintegrate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ladder, Frankie thought wildly as she and Mac ran toward it. If they could just reach the ladder, then what? A chance, maybe. Break open a window, disappear into the depths of the empty building, dodge and hide?let the big chunk of murder find them then!

They did not have to.

A huge hand slammed downward, digging into the roof and blocking the way between the humans and the beckoning ladder with a wall of metal. A terrible arm rose up, cannon-tipped. It fired, once, striking the section of roof just in front of Frankie and Mac. The rooftop crumbled, breaking away beneath them. Frankie and Mac felt themselves falling, falling, accompanied by broken statues. They both closed their eyes?

And hit. Hard, but not nearly as hard as they had expected. Sooner than they had expected, too. Opening their eyes, they saw that they were lying in the palm of an enormous hand. Something about the color was familiar?they looked up and found themselves gazing into the lenses of Optimus Prime.

They were falling toward the street together. Leaping from above, a furious Megatron plunged downward after them. Even if they landed in one piece, Frankie realized, they would be crushed between the ground and the colossal mass of the hurtling Decepticon.

Cradling Frankie and Mac protectively against his chest, Optimus whirled as they fell. His other arm morphed into a huge gun. A first shot missed, but the second struck home, blasting the pursuing Megatron off to the side. The leader of the Decepticons would hit the ground with tremendous force, but he would not land on them.

Extending both legs, Optimus jammed his feet into the side of the building. They ripped through successive floors of concrete and steel, slowing but not stopping the robot?s fall. When he finally struck the street, the concussion rattled every building nearby. A cloud of dust and debris geysered from the point of impact.

Landing on his feet nearby, Megatron recovered immediately from the shock of contact with the street. As he did so, Sean and his comrades appeared out of holes in the ground and began plastering the immense mechanoid?s armored body with a fusillade of mini sabot rounds. These were far from lethal?but they were distracting.

As the dust cloud cleared from the small crater Optimus?s landing had made in the street, the robot lowered one hand and uncurled his fingers. Still somehow clutching the Cube, Frankie slid off the slick metal and back onto solid ground along with Mac.

?You two would give your own lives to protect the Cube?? Optimus was quietly incredulous. ?But it is not the source of your kind?s spark.?

Frankie summoned a smile from the depths of exhaustion. ?It?s like my buddy Mac here said: we?re all in this together,? she barely managed to mumble as she wrapped both arms tightly around the softly glowing Cube.

The ground shook as Megatron came flying around the nearest building to slam into Optimus, knocking the other robot backward. ?IT?S MINE! THE CUBE IS MINE!!? Frankie and Mac whirled and half stumbled, half ran away from the renewed struggle.

Diving jets unloaded missiles at the unmissable target that was Megatron. Several punctured the layer of extreme outer armor. They slowed the giant but did not stop him as he reached for Frankie. Swinging around sharply in an arc parallel to the ground, Optimus?s leg screamed through the air above Frankie and Mac?s heads as they dove beneath it. The heavy metal limb hit Megatron hard, driving him back but not knocking him down.

?Aim the Cube at my spark!? Optimus yelled at Frankie. ?The merging will overwhelm both power sources and destroy it!?

Battling to stay on her feet, Frankie looked across at the supine mechanoid. ?But?what about you??

?DO IT NOW!? the robot thundered.

Frankie hesitated and made one last minute change of plan that she knew Optimus would hate after it had been done. With no idea what to expect, she slammed the Energon Cube straight at the center of Megatron?s chest instead. The blinding flash that resulted blew her and Mac backward as Megatron?s overloaded spark exploded. The giant straightened and stepped backward, clutching his chest. Megatron took a step forward, another backward, shuddered once?and fell.

In the sky nearby, the transformed Starscream let out a shriek of dismay, whirled, and fled. Not to any point of the terrestrial compass, but upward into the clouds and beyond, speeding toward a destination where the human-piloted F-22s that pursued him could not follow.

For the first time in a long while, quiet descended on the city?s southern suburbs.

END OF CHAPTER NINETEEN

[Big Daddy]

Epilogue

Emerging from the wreckage that until that afternoon had been a bustling Southside city street, Sean searched the rubble until he found Alissa. Brother and sister regarded each other for a long moment, then hands rose up. The smack of a loud high five being exchanged echoed across the devastated street. Both siblings smiled.

?Guess this makes the millionth time you saved my butt.? Alissa said.

?And a million more to come, I bet.? Sean uttered.

Elsewhere, Ratchet and Ironhide came trundling up another street in search for their leader. The lifeless, sparkless Jazz lay cradled in Ironhide?s arms. Gently, he set his brave fellow robot down on the ruined pavement. Bending low, Optimus studied the metal corpse. Nothing was said, no words were spoken, no communication exchanged?not even electronically. It was not necessary. Each of them felt the appropriate words without having to speak them. The moment was shared.

Turning away, Optimus walked the few steps to where a deep crater had been gouged out of the main avenue. A shape lay in the bottom, crumpled, broken, and inert. Megatron.

?You left me no choice?Brother. For the Energon to be dealt with, one of us had to die. I was willing for it to be me.? He pivoted. ?Better it was you.?

A much smaller shape approached tentatively, leaned forward to peer into the crater, and then straightened to consider the standing robot. ?All I remember is a bright light and being picked up and dumped across the street. What happened to the Cube?? Frankie inquired hesitantly.

?It is destroyed,? Optimus told her.

Frankie looked up at the giant. ?I?m sorry. I was afraid something bad might happen if I put it in you. You guys needed it to go home and bring your world back to life.?

?Without the Cube, there is no going back. That purpose is ended now. That home is closed to us.? The enormous, gleaming metal head tilted downward to meet her gaze. ?Our home must be here now. Among your kind. Among humans?and friends of your imagination.? And with that, he bowed, the entire immense upper body inclining in Frankie?s direction until it was directly over her and parallel to the surface. To her considerable credit, Frankie held her ground as tons of metal hovered just over her head.

?I owe you my life,? Optimus Prime told her. ?Humans do not always think rationally, but you can think fast. I did not anticipate what you did.? Straightening, he looked toward the crater. ?Neither, thankfully for all, did Megatron. We are all of us in your debt.? Gathering around him, the surviving robots formed a towering circle of glistening metal. Emulating their leader, they also bowed toward Frankie Foster. Looking upward, she turned a slow circle to regard each of them in turn. The sight was impressive, inspiring, almost overwhelming to the emotional Frankie.

?Aww, you guys,? she muttered, wiping away a single tear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a lovely clear day in the capital. In a downtown office, the secretary of defense of the United States stood at one end of a long conference table and regarded the individuals seated before him. Their expressions were expectant, their attention absolute.

?In an effort to limit awareness of the extent of the situation and its true import, the president has ordered Sector Seven to be dissolved and the remains of the deceased aliens to be secretly disposed of. He and his administration will take the heat for what will officially be called ?a civilian-military experiment gone bad.? There will be a storm of questions from the media. Given that ?alien invasion? is among the least likely explanations to be believed, we think it should be possible to manage the consequent fallout. Public relations-wise, containment will not be perfect, but I am assured that it can be spun.?

Turning, he indicated a wall screen. It showed the bow of a huge freighter surrounded by escort vessels. As the remote camera looked on, the twisted, gnarled remains of lifeless Decepticons were pushed through an open railing and over the side of the ship, to disappear beneath white-topped waves.

?To prevent any chance of unforeseeable environmental fallout resulting from possible degradation of the, uh, bodies, they are being dumped into the Laurentian Abyss. At the disposal point it is seven miles to the sea bottom?the deepest point in any of the oceans.?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a party at the backyard of the Foster?s mansion, as several friends of the house, from Frankie Foster herself to Blooregard Q. Kazoo, celebrated their victory over the foiled alien invasion plot orchestrated by the Decepticons. In the center of it all was a beautifully restored and refinished Camaro, gleaming like new thanks to the combined efforts of the handiest mechanics in town and the expertise of the small but quick-witted Jackie Khones. Humming from Bumblebee?s stereo to make the festivities more thrilling was a song by Linkin Park tilted ?What I?ve Done.?

Nearby the mansion, an emergency vehicle (unoccupied by driver or passenger) sat parked on a hill crest along with a gleaming black GMC pickup truck. Both looked as out of place on the hillside as did the giant eighteen-wheeler that loomed over them.

Optimus Prime mused to himself, while gazing at the same sunset that was presently casting its magic over the Foster?s mansion. ?For now, the Decepticon legions are vanquished, and fate has yielded its reward. A new world to call?home. We live among its people now, hiding in plain sight, but watching over them in secret. Waiting. Protecting. I have been witness to their capacity for courage and sacrifice. Though internally and in many other ways we are literally worlds apart, as with us there is more to them than meets the eye.?

The odd assortment of vehicles was alone on the hill. Optimus felt safe in raising his hood?his head?slightly off the ground and aiming it skyward. With that look, and an undetectable burst of energy, a final message flashed outward toward the sky and the stars beyond.

?I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any survivors of my kind who may be taking refuge among other systems, other stars. You are not alone. You have a home here, among others of your kind.

?We are waiting.?

~~~~~~~~~~

Later that evening on television, spunky blonde-haired, red-dressed reporter Erin Peterson stood before a large group of characters on the same city street where the battle between humans/Autobots and Decepticons took place. Flashing her highly noticeable, bright toothy smile, she turned to the camera and began her report.

?Erin Peterson here to ask some of the local citizens one important question: are we truly alone in this universe?? She walked towards three preadolescent boys all sharing the common name of ?Ed.? ?These three young men claim to have witnessed a tall alien robot come out of an auto shop, disguised as a sports car.?

The rather intelligent if high-strung Edd addressed the reporter. ?Well, it didn?t exactly walk in as a sports car. It was a common intergalactic, bipedal machine that looked much like it came from another plan??

Eddy, the avaricious ?leader? of the trio, quickly interrupted Edd, pushing him out of frame from the camera and looking deep into its lense. ?What my friend Double D is sayin? here, folks, is that with the services of ?D, DD, and DDY?, you can be safely assured that these alien menaces will be wiped clean off our planet. That is, with an amiable price, say in the form of two dollars.?

?We want lots of jawbreakers. Yeah.? The slow-witted Ed stated.

Erin moved away from the three boys and over to a boy named Adam Lyon and his friend Jake Spidermonkey from Charles Darwin Middle School. ?These two middle school students claimed that a pickup truck was driving all by itself near the front of their school one evening.?

?It wasn?t aliens, Miss Peterson.? Jake stated. ?It was ghosts! Ghosts possessed the truck and made it drive all by itself! We?re not being invaded! We?re being soul-reaped!?

Adam made an odd expression. ?Soul-reaped??

?Yeah, it sounded really cool in my head, so I said it out loud.? Jake said, before speaking in a deep, manly voice that opposed his usually high-pitched, almost screeching tone. ?Sooooouuuuuuulllllll-reeeeeaaaaaaappppppeeedddd!!!?

?Oh, brother.? Adam uttered.

Erin then went to another trio of characters from a camp filled with animals just like them: the carefree Brazilian spider monkey Lazlo, the level-headed Indian elephant Raj, and the albino pygmy rhino Clam. ?These noble scouts were having lunch at a local diner, as a meteorite came down and destroyed their bus. Could this somehow be connected to the aliens??

?Oh, you bet!? Lazlo excitedly exclaimed. ?It?s just like that movie with that weird blob-looking thing. I forget what the name of the movie was, but the blob creature ate everyone after escaping from its meteorite pod.?

Raj appeared to be quivering as Lazlo gave the description. ?Oh, please, Lazlo! Don?t ever talk about that movie again! It was horrible how that blob ate that man who came near the meteorite! I had nightmares for weeks!?

Erin gestured her microphone towards Clam. ?You have anything to add, little guy??

Clam looked towards the camera, smiling and waving. ?Hi, mom.?

Finally, Erin went to two kids (a boy named Billy and a girl named Mandy) who were accompanied by the Grim Reaper?who Erin just dismissed as a parent wearing an early Halloween costume. ?These three have brought further information to the table by mentioning how the meteorites were indeed pods transporting the alien robots.?

?It?s a conspiracy. The government wants us to believe it?s an experiment gone wrong, but you can?t hide the truth forever.? Mandy stated. ?It was out there once, and now it is here. And you can make certain I?ll uncover it.?

?All I knows is that George W. Bush hates metal people.? Billy stated.

?BILLY!? Grim exclaimed. ?Don?t tell da people at home dat!?

?Well, it?s gotta be true, Grim. Why else would he destroy such awesome alien robots??

?Gee. I dunno. Maybe because?THEY WERE TRYIN? TA KILL EVERYBODY!!!? Grim shouted.

?Don?t be hatin? just because you ain?t got a cool transforming power, Grim.? Billy said, which made Grim only fume even more.

After the comments made by Billy, Mandy, and Grim, Erin returned her gaze back to the camera. ?You have heard it here from the frontlines, ladies and gentlemen. Apparently, we aren?t alone. Will it be a matter of time before more of these monstrous machines come? Only time can tell. This is Erin Peterson?signing out.?

THE END

[Cassini90125]

Well done. Doesn't sound like much but given my opinions on fanfics in general and Foster's fanfics in particular it's rarer than winning a Nobel Prize in literature.

[Big Daddy]

Thanks, Cassini. I'm hoping my future Foster's fanfics will be much cooler than this one. I hope I gave the FHFIF characters enough action scenes in that last battle. I really liked writing the part where Bloo, Wilt, Eduardo, and Coco help Bumblebee take down Devastator, and also the part where Madame Foster takes on Frenzy.

I know a lot seemed a little bit unbelievable, such as Goo knowing how to hotwire computers. But I figured it was only fan fiction and whatever additional characteristics I brought into the characters would only be for this story in general. Though the thought of Goo being a computer hacker does sound interesting.

[Partymember]

i was skimming and i can say i'll be reading this in its entirety over Thanksgiving Vacation. You are an exceptional writer, my friend.

perhaps i should type up a little fanfic of my own?

[Big Daddy]

Thanks, Partymember. Hope you enjoy the story. And I'll read whatever fanfic you type up and post on this forum.

[Partymember]

I loved it!