CHAPTER FOUR
--Earth--
"God, I'm getting too old for this crap."
William Fowler let out a heavy sigh as he tossed a folder onto his desk before dropping himself into his office chair. Across from him sat the five young adults that Stakeout had brought to him, while the Autobot himself stood in the corner.
Setting his gaze on Verity, Fowler said, "Miss Carlo. It's sure been a while. Still up to no good, I see."
Verity scowled at him. "Forgive me for trying to survive in the world."
"We offered to help you get your life on track," Fowler said sternly. "We would have been willing to get you a place to live, a job--"
"Right, because living under permanent government watch would have just been the dream."
Fowler frowned in disapproval, and was about to retort when Raf raised his hand.
"Um, sir, I hate to interrupt, but my mom is probably very worried about me right now, so would it be all right if--"
"Agent Gonzales has already been alerted and is on her way here," Fowler said. "Just relax and be patient."
"Well, my mom's sure to be panicking," said Jack. "How much longer is this going to take?"
Fowler blew out his breath as he ran a hand through his hair. Turning back to Verity, he said, "Where did you steal the Onyx device?"
"Some shop in Tranquility Mall," Verity muttered. "Powell Emporiums or something."
Sari stiffened at this, her eyes growing wide. "Powell? As in Porter C. Powell?"
Verity shrugged. "Guess so. Why?"
"He's chairman of the board at my dad's company. What's he doing selling Onyx products?"
"People in corporations can be shady, kid." Fowler then turned to Miko, holding up the black phone that the Decepticon had been after. "And you, miss? You say your dad works for Onyx?"
"He's my host 'dad,' but yeah," Miko said. "The place he works at is somewhere by the bay. Santa Cruz, I think."
Fowler nodded to himself as he looked over the device. "We'll send our agents over there to investigate. In the meantime--"
He was cut off when the lights in the room suddenly shut off. Swearing to himself, Fowler fumbled in the dark for his desk's built-in pager.
"Hello? Agent Fowler to Base, do you copy?" No response came. Fowler slammed his fist on the desk before digging out his cell phone. While the screen turned on and unlocked as normal, he was unable to get a hold of anyone else on site, let alone outside the base.
"Okay," he said after taking a moment to compose himself. "This isn't good."
"I'm picking up energon readings," Stakeout muttered. "They're coming from--"
He cried out in alarm as the floor suddenly erupted from beneath him. Verity and the others scrambled out of the way as a massive worm-like robot emerged from the ground, holding Stakeout in his claws.
"Ha-ha-ha! Tremble organics!" the Decepticon cackled. "You are at the mercy of Ped now!"
"Oh my god," Miko said under her breath. "Why does he sound like Mandark?"
The Decepticon shifted his gaze to her and bore his razor-sharp maw. "The device, meatbag! Hand it over!"
Fowler lunged across his desk and grabbed the Onyx device. Just as Ped noticed this action, the agent drew a taser and fired it at the Decepticon. The resulting electrical shock stunned Ped long enough for Stakeout to free himself from the worm's grasp. Dropping to his feet, Stakeout deployed his gun and was about to fire an inhibitor claw when Ped unexpectedly burrowed himself back into the ground and crawled away.
Before anyone could process what had just happened, the lights came back on and a voice crackled through Fowler's pager.
"-owler? This is Agent Powers. Do you copy?"
"Copy, Powers," Fowler responded. "We have a situation."
"Yeah, no need to tell me twice. The base is crawling with these... these... animal robot things."
"Order an evacuation!" Fowler barked. "I'm calling in a Code Omega. Just hold them off long enough so I can call in N.E.S.T."
"All right," Powers said. "Although I'm not sure how long we can... oh god, is that a rabbit? Why is it-- oh, Lord, please no--!"
Static roared from the pager before going dead. Fowler felt perspiration drip into his brow as he turned to Stakeout and the five kids.
"Get them out of here," he breathed. "Get them as far away from here as you can. That's an order."
Without question, Stakeout scooped up the five humans into his arms and ran out of the office. Once he had heard the Autobot transform and drive away, Fowler retrieved the Onyx device and strode out of the room.
* * *
Carnivac growled to himself as he stepped over the bloodied form of his latest victim. Looking around the premises of the Sector Seven base, he saw his fellow Chimeracons were still preoccupied with their own savage amusement, toying with the humans as the slowly killed them one by one.
The wolf shook his head. They were wasting time; they were here for the device, not to play around. Rearing up on his hind legs, he let out a howl which immediately caught the others' attention.
"We need to focus ourselves," he said to the attentive beasts. "Ped should be back with the device any minute now. Then we'll need to make our getaway."
As if on cue, a giant worm-bot emerged from the ground. Carnivac turned to face Ped... and saw that the Monstercon was empty-handed. The wolf bared his fangs as he snarled.
"Where's the device? I thought you had it!"
Before Ped could say anything, a voice called out from behind. "I've got your device right here, Balto."
The Chimeracons all turned to see a human step out of the base, holding a black smartphone in his hands. Carnivac saw Stampy ready to pounce at the fleshling but stayed him with an assertive growl.
"You critters sure do seem to want this thing badly," said Agent Fowler. "I wonder what would happen if I gave it you."
"Hand it over, human," Carnivac growled, "and we may spare your life."
Fowler smirked. "That's cute. But no thanks."
He then put two fingers into his mouth and whistled. Screeching out of nowhere came a black SUV, accelerating straight towards the agent. As the Chimeracons scrambled to avoid getting hit, Fowler grabbed onto the door when it reached him and threw himself into the vehicle. The SUV then peeled out of the base, crashing through the gate and speeding away.
As Carnivac watched it go, he heard Stampy approach him. "Uh... why aren't we chasin' him, boss?" the rabbit asked.
Carnivac smiled. "Because he's going exactly where we want him to."
* * *
Fowler knew something was wrong the moment he got into the vehicle.
For one, there was no driver. He thought Agent Holmes had been the one driving but the tinted windshield has obscured the fact that the driver's seat was empty. The second thing, of course, was that his seatbelt was wrapped around him like a constrictor snake, preventing him from moving or speaking as the SUV drove itself down the winding road.
"Just sit tight, human," the vehicle said to him over its radio. "We've got a long day ahead of us."
Fowler exhaled in resignation as he stared at the dark road. I really am getting too old for this crap.
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