Author Note: Many thanks to copperspider005, ww1990ww und Telron for reviewing as well as all those who favorited the story and/or put it on their alerts. I'm glad so many people like the story.
Enjoy the next instalment!
– chapter four –
Of Aliens and Heroes
The closer Sam got to her goal, the more she learned about the soldiers in front of her. The squad was apparently well-coordinated, telling her the members had a history with each other. However, her approach slowed a little when she heard a noise behind her. She threw a glance over her shoulder and stopped completely, blanching. The felled tank was rising to its feet again. Determination to help rose to new heights and she hurried on forward, intent on reaching the soldiers before the tank robot got back to its feet.
As soon as she rounded one of the mangled Chenowths, she could finally identify the commanding officer; for one, the insignia on his uniform betrayed his rank – an army captain from the looks of it – and secondly, he was the one handing out orders before running off in the opposite direction. "Sam!" he called, making her wonder how he could know her name. Just then, she saw that he was headed for a tow truck onto which two teenagers, a boy and a girl, were hooking the yellow robot. Civilians! Sam thought with dismay.
Before she could come up with a solution of how to get the teens out of the danger zone, the captain came already running back from further down the street, wearing a resolute expression. He immediately started talking to the boy, all the while gesturing wildly into the direction from which he had just returned. Inexplicably, the boy seemed to argue with him, resulting in the captain grabbing the front of the teen's shirt and shouting, "Listen to me, you're a soldier now!" More heated words were exchanged, and then he pushed an oversized dice into the boy's hands. That seemed to be the decisive reason for the boy to cooperate. The girl wouldn't be as easily convinced though; she stood up to the soldier, and it was the captain who eventually relented.
Taking Sam completely off guard were the black robot and the one posing as the Search & Rescue vehicle; they crowded around the boy, the black one even saying to the teen, "Sam, we will protect you." It made Sam wonder how the boy – Sam – came to be involved in the middle of all this.
Her musings got interrupted when the captain stepped up to her. "You have to get out of here, lady," the man said and lifted an arm, as if wanting to reach for her to maybe push her onward. "It'll become very unpleasant here in a moment."
Sam didn't give him the opportunity. She pulled out her ID and showed it to the now surprised soldier. "Thanks for your concern, captain, but I came here to help. I'm not going to go anywhere anytime soon."
He immediately snapped to stand at attention. "Of course, ma'am. My apologies."
Stowing her ID back in her pocket and simultaneously waving a dismissal, Sam asked, "What can you tell me about the robots? How do we fight them?"
He gave her a very brief but concise summary, concluding with, "Our best shot are sabot rounds – anything that burns really hot. Their armor is thick and it needs well-placed heat to get through to where they're vulnerable."
Sam nodded. "Understood, Captain…"
"Lennox, ma'am. William Lennox, US Army. At your service."
"Do you have a weapon for me, Captain Lennox?" One of the soldiers handed her one, and then a voice called through the streets, "Decepticons, attack!"
Normally, it would be her that was in command of the squad. But even with the briefing, she had no experience with fighting against these robots. The captain and his men apparently had, so she handed the command back. "Point me, I'll do the shooting." Nodding grimly, Lennox stationed her and his men, and then the battle commenced in earnest.
They exchanged weapons fire with the tank, the soldiers hitting their goals more often than the tank, but the tank's shots were far more destructive. What parts of the street had remained intact until now exploded and created potholes of differing sizes. The mounts of concrete rubble quickly formed a maze on the street.
Sam ducked whenever they drew enemy fire before taking aim afterward. She tried hitting the areas that weren't covered with heavily looking metal plates, without much success it seemed. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed Lennox looking over his shoulder before starting to swear under his breath. Sam ducked another enemy shot. "Girl, get that tow truck out of here!" Lennox just then called angrily at where the other teen was still hooking up the yellow robot to the tow truck. Only now did Sam see the extensive damage to the yellow robot's legs the fighter jet's null rays had caused. She couldn't help but be impressed at the teen's stoic consideration she showed the yellow robot. "Get outta here now!" Lennox repeated. But only after having fully secured the robot the girl got into the truck and drove away.
Suddenly, the semi with flames on its sides appeared from a side street and changed into another robot! Sam exhaled shakily; just how many were they? But the big alien that had flown of with the small silver robot earlier immediately came barreling down the street. The semi robot lunged up and grabbed the big alien's wings, and together, they disappeared further down the street. Sam had no time to worry about them anymore; the tank increased its firing rate.
Lennox started gesturing toward the right to seek more cover than what the street rubble could provide. Sam followed, all the while shooting at the tank whenever she could. They ended up in a café, but it was beyond recognition. The windows were shattered, the tables overturned, and one of the interior walls had come down. Thankfully, the guests had long since taken to their heels.
Their battle quickly morphed into a standoff. The tank continued demolishing whatever his shots hit, while Sam and the soldiers fired what they had. One of the enemy shots aimed at Lennox soared over his head and brought down a second interior wall. The ceiling over their heads groaned at the loss of stability, releasing lots of dust and bigger plaster parts that rained down on them, but it – thankfully – still held. "Oh, this isn't going well!" Lennox remarked.
Suddenly, the tank drew fire – from the opposite side. Its attention turned away, giving the soldiers an opening to hit the less armored flank beneath an arm. Sam quickly reloaded her weapon and fired several times in succession, mirroring the other soldiers. But in the end, it was the additional firing that felled the tank. Sam jumped backward when the robot came crashing into the café. Her eyes fell onto two red glowing orbs that started flickering before going black.
Carefully, one by one, the soldiers got closer to the tank. In that moment, the tow truck with the yellow robot hooked up appeared outside the café. The right arm of the yellow robot had been exchanged for a weapon, and with a finger of the left hand it lifted what appeared to be a face mask evaluatingly before retracting it fully. A moment later, the teenage girl rounded the tow truck and looked into the café.
"That tank is definitely dead now," the man to Sam's right noted after having prodded it several times with his foot.
"All right, let's go! We got business!" Lennox ordered, directing them out of the ruined building and down the street.
The girl hesitated a moment, then turned to dash for the driver's side of the tow truck. Sam had an inkling what the teen wanted to do but she couldn't allow it. She went after her. "Hey!" she called, stopping the girl from climbing into the truck. "What you did here was very brave – but also very foolish. Stay here. Leave the rest to us, okay?"
Her expression hardened. "You'll need Bumblebee if you want to fight the rest of them," she argued. "He's an excellent shot."
He? Huh. Sam threw the yellow robot a glance; it— he looked right back at her. The metal face was impossible to read, but she thought she could correctly interpret the gleam in the eyes. Turning back to the girl, Sam allowed, "Probably, but would he be happy about a victory if you died while helping?"
The girl's expression became pensive and she looked at the robot— Bumblebee. He nodded in what Sam would call an encouraging nod. Eventually, the girl sighed. "Fine, I'll stay here."
Sam briefly clapped her shoulder. "Good girl. See you later." Then she hurried after the soldiers.
They had not gotten far when she caught up with them. A moment later, Lennox directed them down an alley, making Sam wonder where he was headed. Then she heard it: metal clanging on metal, and she thought she knew his goal. But before they could step out on the next bigger by-road, she heard a helicopter coming down that very same street, and sure enough, the aircraft appeared in front of them a heartbeat later.
Curiously, Lennox signaled them to stop immediately and be silent, his eyes hefted on the helicopter. 'What's the matter?' was on the tip of her tongue, but Sam got her answer when the aircraft suddenly morphed into another robot. She gulped down the gasp of surprise before it could escape. Just how many kinds of vehicles can these robots mimic? she thought.
The heli-robot immediately pulled out a weapon of some kind and walked down the by-road toward where the fighting sounds were coming from. A wave of relief swept over the soldiers, Sam included; she hadn't even noticed having tensed. "Fighter jets in sixty seconds," a dark-skinned Air Force Technical Sergeant announced to the squad, then spoke into his radio, "We got friendlies mixed with bad guys. Targets will be marked."
Lennox took a step forward to keep the heli-robot in view while clapping the sergeant on the shoulder. "Bring the rain." He turned toward the rest of them. "All right, let's kill these things." He headed out toward an abandoned motorcycle while Sam and the other soldiers looked for spots that provided cover.
"Move, move, move!" the sergeant urged from behind Sam, and she quickly ducked behind a vehicle. The sergeant plopped down next to her.
"Remember, aim low. Armor's weak under the chest," Lennox advised, then propped up the motorcycle before swinging onto it.
The sergeant pulled out a laser pointer and hefted it on the heli-robot. "Target marked," he then spoke into the radio. "Still waiting."
"Time on target 20 seconds," came the reply. The accompanying sounds identified the speaker as a pilot.
Sam got herself into a better position, prepping her weapon and taking aim at the heli-robot. Through the visual she could clearly see the spots in-between armor plates where a hit would leave the most damage, just like Lennox had said. Her finger tightened on the trigger but didn't release it yet.
"F-22s, we're still waiting," the sergeant mumbled half to himself, half into the radio.
The jets would be too late, no matter what, for in that moment, the pointed laser wandered too high, grabbing the heli-robot's attention. It squealed loudly and turned toward the soldiers, took aim and fired.
The sergeant shouted, "Move out! Incoming!" in warning, then the street in front of her exploded. Sam pulled the trigger while simultaneously, out of reflex, pushing herself to the side. She rolled across the asphalt, debris falling down all around her, before she came to lie on her stomach by pure chance. She quickly hefted the weapon back on her target and unleashed a volley.
Once her current munition was depleted, she got up and ran for cover again, noticing out of the corner of her eyes that Lennox was racing toward the robot on the motorcycle. He must have a death wish, she thought with a slight shake of her head while her fingers were already busy reloading her weapon.
Eventually, finally, the fighter jets they had been waiting for barreled down the street and unleashed their fire on the heli-robot. Sam watched with half worry, half incredulity how Lennox deliberately let the motorcycle crash to the ground, his momentum making him slide across the asphalt – right through the robot's legs. The captain was shouting something indefinable and fired his own weapon upward at the underside of the robot several times. That – combined with the jets' volley – quickly downed the robot which emitted another electronic squeal before the red optics blinked out.
Warily, Sam slowly stood up, keeping her eyes hefted on the robot, not quite trusting it was dead just yet. Behind the wreckage, Lennox came to stand on his feet again at the same time. He threw the robot a disgusted look before signaling his squad to follow him. The men around Sam headed his order without question, so she opted to follow him without comment.
When they arrived at the battle at the intersection, she identified the two combatants as the big alien-looking robot and the robot posing as a semi with painted flames. The former seemed to have the upper hand as the latter appeared quite battered and hardly able to keep his opponent from landing blows to his chassis. Lennox didn't hesitate with taking aim and firing at the big alien robot, coming to the semi robot's aid. His men mimicked him and the sergeant pointed his laser once more before using the radio to vector in the fighter jets.
Sam, however, took no part in this battle; she had spied the teenage boy, the other Sam, ducking low in a rip in the street, clearly seeking cover from the fight raging above him, and opted to try to rescue him. She was now heading in his direction while trying to not get in the combatants' way. This made the approach to pull the kid out of the danger zone quite hazardous but her sense of duty would not allow her to fail. The life of a civilian depended on her so she continued on as quickly as she was able, more so when the kid decided to leave the relative shelter of the rip and climbed back onto street level.
Suddenly, the fighter jets came barreling down the street and fired at the big alien robot. A few of the missiles went astray and hit the asphalt. The resulting shock wave nearly pulled Sam off her feet though she regained her balance quickly. The teen was not so lucky. Above him, the big alien robot writhed while parts of its armor burned, but it didn't keel over. Instead, it noticed the teen and ran for him. The semi robot stopped the advance; it tripped its fellow robot, making it crash onto the street with a resounding clang.
But it was not over yet. The big alien robot worked itself up onto its elbows, then reached for the kid that suddenly was right in front of it. "Mine! All spark!" it growled.
From behind the boy, the semi robot rolled from its back to the front, its chassis opening up a little. "Sam!" it called urgently to the teen that was crawling backwards, away from the big alien robot. "Put the Cube in my chest! Now!" The boy was still hesitating so the robot urged, "Sam!"
Then, as if those words were some sort of trigger, the expression of the teen changed from scared to determined. He almost sprang to his feet with renewed vigor and made for the enemy! Sam about had a heart attack, as did the semi robot. "No! Sam!" it shouted.
But the kid didn't listen. He raised the dice above his head at exactly the moment the big robot leaned over him.
To Sam's – and probably everyone else's – surprise the dice started dissolving in a pillar of light and flames that shot upward, hitting the robot dead center. It started yelling, the frame convulsing – like a human in death throes. Then it crashed onto its back where it continued spasming for another moment before coming to lie very still. A moment later, the red optics flickered out.
Author Note: Reviews are love.