The sudden cut-off from the outside made Shermaine’s expression harden. A frown pulled at her brow, and for a moment, she sat very still, processing the silence. She’d hoped to find a way out hidden in the robot’s chip, any clue, any thread she could pull. But there was nothing. She didn’t want to stay here a second longer. And more than that, she didn’t want to become the reason Joshua was being manipulated and pushed into choices he never should have to make. She knew him. If Judy demanded his life in exchange for hers, he would offer it without hesitation. And that was exactly what terrified her. They were both strong, willful people. Neither of them was built to bend or bow. But this place was starting to feel like a trap with no doors.
Her thoughts were cut short when the robot twitched. Its arm shifted with a mechanical hiss, transforming into a mounted gun and locking its sights on her.
“Mrs. York, heads up!” Neil shouted.
But Shermaine didn’t flinch. Instead, a cold, sharp smile played at her lips. So that was Judy’s game—using her to get what she wanted from Joshua, and then eliminate the evidence. She didn’t even have the patience to wait a full five minutes.
Gunfire burst through the cabin again. Dave, meanwhile, was still in free fall, his rotund little body dropping faster than expected thanks to his generous mass.
Shermaine had already disabled one robot, and two more didn’t worry her. But if they kept coming, things could spiral fast. Her thoughts flicked briefly to Joshua, and something in her sharpened. She launched herself onto the shoulder of the nearest machine, bracing herself. Her hands locked around its neck. While dismantling the earlier unit, she’d noted the design flaw. The neck was poorly reinforced, easy to exploit. With a hard, practiced twist, the robot’s head snapped clean off.
Neil watched from the side, stunned. She hadn’t even been trying before, he realized. What he’d seen earlier was just the surface. She hadn’t even broken a sweat.
The second robot came charging forward. Then with a thud, something crashed from above. A blue, spherical blur slammed into the machine’s head like a meteor. It bounced once, then hit the ground with a muffled plop. The moment his round body touched the floor, Dave seemed to catch a scent of Energon. His eyes lit up like twin scanners. He spun around, alert and laser-focused, scanning the cabin like a predator.
Chapter 241
Neil stared at the strange, jiggling orb. Before he could register, Dave leapt onto the robot’s leg and scrambled up its frame. He dug into its chest plate and yanked out the glowing blue Energon Core, then shoved it into his mouth without ceremony. A surge of light flickered across his body, growing brighter by the second. He immediately gagged. Apparently, Energon didn’t taste as good as he remembered. Once, it had been delicious. Now, it was barely tolerable. But he swallowed it anyway. Wasting it wasn’t an option. Munching noisily, he bounced over to the headless robot Shermaine had just taken down, ripped out that core too, and devoured it.
Then, with all the elegance of a tiny king, he perched himself proudly on Shermaine’s shoulder. “Sheary, I made it!” he beamed.
Shermaine let out a small laugh, the tension in her shoulders easing for the first time in hours. “So when you said you could protect me and the baby… you weren’t exaggerating after all.”
“Told you! I’m awesome,” Dave declared, licking blue residue from his lips. “Feed me enough and I’ll get you outta here.”
Shermaine reached into her bag and pulled out a spare Energon Core. “Is this what you need?”
Dave nodded eagerly. “Yup yup yup! One bite of this, and I’ll transform into Ultraman and punch monsters in the face!”
Shermaine blinked. ‘Great,’ she thought. ‘All that time at Riverswood, and he clearly spent it glued to the kid’s channel.’
Dave threw himself onto the core and started chewing noisily. “Hey Sheary, when we get out of here, you owe me fried chicken. Ten meals!”
“You think this core’s enough to get us out?”
He shook his head. “Nah. With two passengers, I’ll need more juice. We’ll have to find extra.”
Just as he was about to bounce off and search, he froze. He could feel them, multiple Energon signals, rapidly approaching. It was a whole army.
Dave’s eyes lit up like headlights. Those robots were practically walking batteries, more than enough to fuel an escape and keep him powered for days. He floated up into the air, eyes gleaming.
“Sheary, get somewhere safe. I’m gonna go eat them all!”