Chapter 15
I do not own anything from Transformers.
It had taken the Autobots and Gabby another week to plan out the attack on one of Lockwood's facilities. Bumble Bee went and scanned the area, and determined that there was a small army of humans and cyborgs within the facilities. At night, the number did decrease with humans, but not the cyborgs.
They had a plan that if the magnets did not work, they would storm the facility and destroy as much as they could.
However, Optimus was having his doubts. He would rather go straight for the super weapon they were creating, but knew they had to take one thing at a time.
Gabby had her friend Walt install an automatic kill switch on the magnets in case something went wrong.
Mearing was in contact with them, and heard from an informant that Lockwood was onto them, and to make it quick.
They determined for the magnets to work, and get out of there without injury could take up to ten minutes, which was a long time.
The building was gated, but there were no guards at the booth at night. However, there were armed cyborgs around the area unseen.
They would have to work fast.
"Do not be afraid to take them out. They are not human, and remember the yellow eyes," Gabby told the rest of the Autobots and Barricade over the commlink.
"Bee counted about five humans there at night," Optimus said. "Please scan them first before shooting."
Gabby ducked as Optimus drove right through the gate without so much as a grimace.
The plan was she would begin to charge the magnets before Optimus could stop.
She began to turn the dial on the power source.
Optimus grunted a little as they began to charge, and Optimus struggled to stay straight as he drove. She stayed down beneath the dashboard as shots began to ring out around them.
Gabby was getting impatient, but she knew it would take a moment for the magnets to charge.
She turned them up more as Optimus stopped at the side of the ten-story building.
He grunted again as a flood of bullets began piercing his hauler.
"Keep going!" He said, and Gabby upped the power again.
She was about half way there when she yelled. "Now!"
Optimus was not only getting hit with bullets, but he was now incapacitated from the magnets.
He was able to release the trailer. Gabby looked out of the window to make sure the trailer had opened. The Autobots were being drawn to the magnetic field, and trying to fight at the same time.
The air cannons were ready to fire.
"Gabby, I can't fire the cannons. You will have to do it manually," Optimus said through the speakers.
Gabby turned up the power once more, and Optimus began to sway.
She then heard the bangs as the cyborgs began to be overwhelmed with the magnet, and we now stuck to the magnets.
Shit! She thought. She hadn't expected that.
Gabby had to do something.
She got out of the semi much to Optimus' protests, and began to shoot the cyborgs as they came towards her with her pistol.
There were now five stuck to the magnets, and she needed to turn the power down to get them off, and then turn it up again.
She turned the knob, and the magnet field lowered.
The cyborgs began to drop off.
"Shoot them now Optimus!" She yelled.
One by one the cannons fired as each magnet hit the building of each floor.
Gabby smiled as the first five hit the upper floors. Then two more, and then one missed, but the rest were successful.
"Now Gabby!"
She then turned up the power, and she could hear the power of the magnetic field begin to take effect as the metal began making noises, and crashing all over the place.
She turned as metal twisted behind her, and Optimus was now solidly against the building.
The power was now almost full, and she needed just a moment more.
She grabbed the Ipad she purchased and looked down on it. The screen began to flicker. There were cyborgs now stuck to the building along with Optimus.
"Almost there!" She yelled.
The building began to sway, and as the metal was now starting to twist to the power of the magnets.
Gabby could only watch in fascination. She had never seen something so powerful before, beside the Autobots, and her daughter.
She smiled again. Even if Lockwood was coming for them now, they could not approach because of the magnetic field.
She looked down at the Ipad and it had flickered off. She would wait one more minute. She could see the cyborgs now starting to convulse as they were too the victims of the magnetic field.
They did not have the protection the Autobots had.
She spotted the humans in the building running out and away from the scene.
Finally, she hit the kill switch, and Optimus was free again.
He groaned a little, but said, "Let's get out of here."
Gabby then turned, and spotted something not too far in the air.
The rocket came so fast, that she did not have time to react.
The building exploded at the top, and she knew she was a goner.
She did have time to even move as the concrete and debris came at her faster than she could blink.
She knew she had heard Optimus shout her name, and closed her eyes. She prayed for the concrete to take her fast, when she was grabbed from behind, and flung out of the way of the falling debris.
She was paralyzed as the metal hand continued to hold her, and she was pushed into a seat as the metal began to transform into vehicle mode again.
Gabby couldn't move, and couldn't breathe for a moment as the shock of what happened finally started to wear off. She was still grasping the control panel for the magnets as Barricade settled her into the seat, and they began to take off.
"We're under attack!" He yelled as the fighter jets flew above them.
"Optimus!" She screamed and tried to turn around to look where he was.
"Gabby! Put your head down!" Barricade growled through the speaker.
Gabby heard his guns discharge and she had to cover her ears.
The helicopters and the armed vehicles had come out of nowhere.
Gabby screamed a little as a rocket went off near them, and Barricade lurched across the road.
"How many?" She asked.
"I am seeing five flying machines, and ten vehicles," Barricade answered.
"Where are the others?"
"Right behind me!"
Gabby was relieved. Optimus had to be behind them, but because of his size he could be slower than the others sometimes.
Barricade continued to shoot his cannons into the air. The Autobots were covering him because they knew he had Gabby in the vehicle with him.
Gabby took a look behind her as Barricade made his way to the highway.
She could make out a few of the Autobots, but she was not seeing Optimus.
Where was he?
She began to get worried.
"'Cade, get Optimus on the commlink. I don't see him," she said desperately.
Barricade moved out of the way of another rocket, and gave a disgusted sound.
"I am a little busy, Gabby," he said.
"Please!" She asked desperately.
After a moment, Barricade came back through the speakers.
"Gabby, he is not answering, and the others are trying to get a hold of him. His last order was to run," Barricade said.
Gabby exhaled loudly, but knew she could do nothing right now.
"We have to go back for him!" She yelled.
"No Gabby-"
"Yes!"
"No way! He ordered us to run, and protect you. That is what I am doing," he said.
Gabby finally got out her pistol, and aimed it into the floor and knew where his spark was.
"Do it," she said in a low voice.
"Gabby…..are you…insane?" Barricade asked incredulous that she would take these measures.
"I am close enough to penetrate your spark, 'Cade," she said.
"Gabby….I took his orders…"
The first shot went through the floor, and barely missed his spark. The sound of the gun reverberated through the vehicle making him vibrate for a moment.
Barricade knew right then that Gabby was serious, and she would not hesitate to shoot him if he didn't cooperate with her.
He could try to grab the gun, but her finger was right on the trigger. It would pierce his spark before he could grab it. Humans were too unpredictable. He remembered that she mentioned the bullets she used were too take out the cyborgs, so that meant it could take him out as well.
"Tell the others we are going back," she said.
Barricade cursed in Cybertronian. He got onto the commlink and asked one more time if Optimus was behind them.
"He ordered us to run, and that is all I know," Ratchet answered.
"Well, we're going back," Barricade answered in disgust as Gabby continued to point the gun at his spark.
"We need to follow orders or risk our lives," Ironhide argued.
With a look of determination Gabby looked at the speakers. "We are going back with or without you."
Bee said something discernable, and finally they were able to shake off their enemy.
All of the Autobots turned around and Deserae came through the commlink and asked, "Are you sure you want to do this Gabby?"
"Yes."
Gabby surmised they were about twenty miles outside of the city now, and they should be back within minutes.
"I am wondering why they are still not coming after us," she said looking around as they went back into Los Angeles.
"We defeated them right? By the time they got reinforcements…."
"No! I don't believe that. Lockwood has lots of reinforcements," she said cutting him off.
"Tell the others that you and I go alone, and they can stay around a perimeter," she ordered.
"Yes, human," Barricade said stubbornly, but let the others know.
Gabby rolled her eyes at the comment.
They approached the city, and Gabby spotted the fire in the distance.
Barricade approached the area slowly. Dozens of police cars and fire trucks were in the area as they fought to put the fire out.
"Gabby, they are going to detect me," Barricade said lowly.
"Wait here," she said exiting the car.
Before Barricade could protest she ran down the street and hid behind the other buildings as more police and fire trucks drove by.
She passed a few pedestrians looking to see the fire that began.
She faded into the crowd that gathered, and looked around trying to get a view of the building.
She placed her hand on her gun, and kept her head down. Feeling a little more confident she moved to the other side, and spotted Optimus' trailer.
Frantically, she took a chance and began to push her way to through the crowd and around the building.
She heard police officers barking orders, and the spotlight of an armed helicopter hit her for just a second making her freeze.
When the spotlight moved on, she spotted more armored vehicles approaching. She would have to move soon.
She began to get more and more frantic. She could not spot Optimus anywhere and he was hard to miss.
She finally jumped back into a waiting Barricade, and cried out in frustration.
Where was he?
"Was he there?" Barricade asked.
"No, he wasn't."
"Gabby, we have to go. The rest of the Autobots are searching for him now," he said.
Gabby nodded in defeat. She persuaded Barricade and the others to keep trying to contact him. There was no way, if he was injured, that they could move him that fast in vehicle or robotic mode.
He must have taken off on his own, and something happened from there.
"We'll find him," Ironhide said through the commlink.
She never expected this to happen. How does a massive robotic organism just disappear into thin air with all of Lockwood's forces around?
"If they took him, there is only one place, and I have no idea it's exact location," Gabby finally said after a few minutes.
"We'll have to find out," Barricade said.
Gabby sat back for a minute, and tried to think.
"'Cade, I need to find a place to buy a phone," she said.
"Alright, let's get far away from here first," he answered.
…