Carmody and the Electric Dragon
Chapter 17

“Sorry we are so late” Sarah’s mum called out to her. “Carrie wanted to try out some rides as soon as we got here, then Brent needed to go the boy’s restroom. Of course your father waited til after that to decide he needed to go as well.....”

“It’s Okay, mom” Sarah jumped in over her mother, knowing the list of events would continue for some time if she didn’t stop her. “I’m glad you all could make it tonight. Except you” she added looking directly at her older brother Brent. In response he stuck his tongue out at her.

“Nice to see you all tonight” Carmody said to Sarah’s family. They all greeted her and Carmody found her gaze lingering on Brent for some reason. She had met him before of course, but tonight he seemed different.

“By the way Brent, great Halloween mask you are wearing. Where did you find one that ugly?” Sarah said, breaking Carmody’s fascination with her older brother.

“Now Sarah, you know your brother is not wearing a mask” her mum said reprovingly.

“Yeah Sarah” her sister Carrie chimed in. “He can’t help being so ugly!”

“Mum!” whined Brent and turned to his dad for assistance, but he was looking with interest at the orange tinged sky as the sun set. Something up there had caught his attention.

“Are those drones meant to be all spiky like that? It seems pretty dangerous if you ask me”

Then they heard the first screams and the school alarms sounded. Sarah and Carmody locked horrified gazes with each other, knowing this was not some prank or mistake.

“Code Red!” Eric’s voice called to them over their earpieces. “We have multiple drones attacking from the air. Get everyone into the school buildings!”

“Ah, copy that!” Carmody yelled into her microphone and was about to call out to the Evermore family when a black and yellow striped drone raced down from the sky. It was aimed right for Sarah, whose back was turned as she tried to yell instructions to her parents.

Without a moment of hesitation she slipped her cricket bat Excalibur from her shoulders, stepped forward and delivered a perfect cover drive. Her timing was exceptional and the bladed drone met her rising bat a good meter clear of her friend’s head. With a loud thunk she smashed the drone clear out of sight, pieces of broken rotors and plastic shell fluttering to the ground around her.

“Oh my god, that was brilliant!” said Brent in awe. “You should play for the Pan Ocean Panthers!”

Sarah had whirled around in time to see her powerful strike on the drone.

“Bloddy hell, you really have gotten good with that bat!” she exclaimed.

Carmody looked at her hands gripping Excalibur, noticing the old bat was still unmarked by any blow she made with it. Her Kinetic Enhancer had kicked in automatically, not needing any conscious thought from her to apply the right amount of power into the shot.

“Come on kids, we need to get to cover!” yelled Sarah’s dad. “There are more of those things coming!” He gathered them all together and they joined the stream of panicked children and adults rushing towards the safety of the school buildings.

As they ran, Sarah and Carmody deliberately held back, watching out for any more drones heading their way.

“I need to get to Stanley!” Sarah shouted to her friend. “If we can get into the air, we can destroy them above the crowd”

“Sounds like a plan. Head inside and go to his house, he should be waiting there” Carmody agreed.

“What are you going to do?” Sarah called out to her friend, seeing her falling back behind her.

“What a Best Friend always does. Watch your back!”

Two more drones zoomed in over the heads of fleeing Festival patrons, ignoring them it seemed and aiming for Sarah instead. With a fierce yell, Carmody ran forwards and leapt as high as she could.

Her first swing caught one drone cleanly, smashing the body into two halves that cartwheeled harmlessly into the trampled grass. Even as she landed the second drone almost got to her friends exposed back.

Carmody pushed off with her left leg and swung the bat in her right hand, gaining as much reach as she could. The tip of the bat grazed the drone and it toppled undamaged to the ground. Before it could try and lift itself into the air again, she drove Excalibur down into the body.

Plastic and metal shattered and crumpled as her bat pounded the hapless drone into the turf, sending a tremor through the soil like a mini-earthquake.

“Wow! Bat Girl really knows her stuff!” said one of her classmates as he ran past, giving her a quick thumbs up.

Carmody took a moment to look around herself. It seemed like the people in this area had already gotten into the school, and further off she could see others rushing to the similar doorways along the building rear.

“Miss Carmody, please retreat inside” came the voice of Fiona over her earpiece. She scanned the top of the school roof and she saw the clone watching her, rifle raised to her shoulder.

“Are there any more people that need to be helped?” she demanded.

“Please get to safety, Miss Carmody” Fiona insisted. “I need a clear line of fire”

“Okay, I am going inside” she acknowledged and ran towards the closest doors. As she approached she could see Guard Unit F-Fourteen standing sentry beside the security doors, urging people inside as quickly as they could go.

Carmody sprinted forwards then stumbled as she heard a high pitched whine of rotors coming up behind her. She realised she was too far from the safety of the doors, but they were still open anyway. With a correcting step she skidded to a halt and was turning to face the attack when a single shot rang out.

She caught a glimpse of the drone exploding as Fiona shot it down.

“Thanks Fiona!” she said aloud, then froze as she saw a small child trapped high on the Slippery Dip ride. He was a good hundred meters away, yet she knew that little boy at any distance. Drones were hovering around him and on the ground she spotted two walking robots, advancing on the crying boy.

“Vance!” she screamed and charged into the open, running for all she was worth. She wondered how her father could have left him behind, then she saw the figure crumpled at the foot of the ride, still moving feebly.

The drones threatening her baby brother left him and raced towards her, as if she was their preferred target after all. One exploded in a small fireball as she shattered it with a single sweep of Excalibur. The second dove in as she was still recovering from her first swing, when a powerful blow from a metal baton crushed it into scrap plastic.

“Recover your brother” F-Fourteen said from beside her. “I will rescue your father”

“Okay!” she shouted and ran to the ladder at the top end of the ride. She tucked Excalibur under her arm as she climbed, frantically hoping she could reach the top where Vance was before more drones arrived.

As if the Universe heard her and wanted to mess her about, two more spike covered drones hummed in her direction. Their beady little red glowing eyes were locked onto her and she looped one arm into the rungs of the ladder, leaving one hand free to wield her bat.

“Come and get me, Emissary!” she screamed, hoping they would not attack little Vance. The drones raced in, one behind the other. They had a plan she realised – the way they were coming, she could take out the leader but there was no way she could avoid being hit by the second.

With another wild battle cry, she swung at the first drone as it got within reach of her bat. It did not even try to evade her swing, sacrificing itself to allow the second one to strike home. As she completed her swing, Carmody braced herself for the pain she knew was coming.

A massive gust of wind buffeted her, bringing with it the scent of flowers as Stanley zoomed past, his strong jaws snatching the second drone out of the air.

“Woo-hoo!” shouted Sarah from his back, holding onto his horns and grinning like a mad woman. “Pin-point accuracy once again!” The pair of them flew off, chasing more drones as they darted and dived over the school grounds.

“Thanks!” Carmody yelled and resumed climbing to the top. She arrived to find Vance huddling against one side of the long ramps that led to the ground, seemingly unhurt but utterly terrified.

“Vance, it’s me, Carmody!” she shouted to him and rushed to his side. He looked up at her with big eyes full of tears and clutched onto her white shirt.

“Big Sis! You came for me!” he cried and she held him tightly in her arms.

“It’s Okay, I am going to get you to safety” she told her little brother, surveying the scene around her. From atop the ride she had a good view over the Festival grounds and it was a grim scene.

Walking and crawling robots were visible across the grassy field, with drones buzzing back and forth overhead. It looked like most people had made it to the school building by now and the doors were closed. Some robots could be seen attacking the doors with blades and spikes but she doubted they could get inside.

The view around the stalls and marquees were obscured and there was at least a couple of places she could make out fighting still occurring. Zooming over the tents was Stanley and Sarah, the dragon taking down flying drones as the girl guided him to their targets. On the school rooftop she could see Fiona and Nero, expertly shooting at the ground based robots, leaving the aerial threats to the Dracoris pair.

Her most immediate worry though was as the foot of the Slippery Dip ride. Carmody’s father was being carried by F-Fourteen towards the building, but he was now surrounded by three walking robots, one of which was a seven foot tall Sentinel robot.

“Vance, we need to go now” she told the boy and he nodded timidly. There were still a number of the large rugs they used to slide down the ramp, so she settled herself and her brother on one.

“Ready?” she asked and then pushed off. The ride was short and exhilarating and on any other day she would be screaming with enjoyment. This time though she saw another of those Sentinel robots stride forwards, its arms with long jagged blades of metal held wide, waiting for them both at the end of their ride.

“Hang on, Vance!” she told him and he clutched her tightly as they slid and bounced down the last few meters of the ramp. The Sentinel had its sensors locked on the pair of them and the girl knew there was no way to avoid landing right in its waiting arms of death.

“Lay flat like me!” she commanded her brother and pulled him down flat onto their backs at the last moment. The pair of them flew off the ramp end straight at the Sentinel, but their sudden lying down caused its bladed arms to swing high over their bodies.

Then Carmody’s feet hit the standing mechanical man and she was so glad for all the training Angelina had given her. She sent power into her feet, pushing all she could into her Kinetic Enhancer just as her shoes hit the armoured chest plate of the Sentinel.

With a crack like a gunshot her feet shattered the Sentinel’s chest and threw the destroyed unit over ten meters away. It landed in a lifeless tangle of arms and legs and remained unmoving. Carmody cradled Vance as they landed with a whump on the padded cushions at the end of the ride.

“Sis, that was the best Slippery Dip ever!” he declared. “Can we do it again?”

“Another time maybe” she told him and got them both to their feet. A quick glance confirmed the worst to her – F-Fourteen was bleeding badly from a number of cuts, standing guard over the slumped form of her father. His opponents were too close for him to use his guns, so he could only defend as best he could against the three attackers with his metal baton.

“Vance, I need you to go hide over next to that cold drinks stand” she hurriedly said to her little brother. “I need to go help dad and my Guard friend”. He was frightened but did as she asked, for once not arguing with his older sibling.

Carmody prepared her cricket bat in two hands and rushed into battle, yelling at the top of her lungs.

=====

Angelina could see the disaster begin quite clearly from her elevated stand. First the swarms of modified drones buzzing in low over the ground, followed in the distance by walking, crawling and wriggling robots. By the time the screams started and the alarms sounded she had already checked her inventory of available supply drones and ground based robot carriers. They were low on battery charge, but they had enough left to do what she wanted.

“Angelina, please come down sweetie!” her mom called as she rushed up to the stand. Her father, Hammerton and Monique were close behind. “There is some kind of terrorist attack on the school and we need to evacuate!”

“I am staying here, mom!” she shouted back. “I need to hold off those drones as long as I can until everyone gets to safety!”

Her parents looked up at her with terror and confusion on their faces.

“Don’t be silly, Angelina” her dad yelled at her. “We pay people to fight for us. You don’t need to do this!”

Angelina had already sent her first wave of drones into the counterattack, using them like guided missiles against the incoming wave. As each one slammed hard into the attacking drones, their signals dropped from her computerised inventory. Her fingers flew over the datapad, assigning each remaining drone to a nominated target.

“I can do this!” she shouted, barely glancing at her parents. “You need to get to safety! Please mom and dad, I need to know you will be safe!”

Even as they watched their dear little girl, a drone covered in long spikes flew straight at her mother. Angelina saw it and reached out instinctively with her Telekinesis, grabbing the drone mid air like a bug and crushing it like it was inside her curled fingers. With a deft flick she threw the remains at another drone, causing it to spin wildly into the ground.

“Please Sir and Madam, seek shelter. I will protect Miss Angelina” Hammerton assured them. Her parents looked at the stern resolve of their only child and the implacable gaze of her fierce guardian.

“Very well, Hammerton. Keep her safe” her mother decided. With a gun pulled from under her clothes, Monique the Head Maid took the lead as her parents joined the throngs heading to the safety of the school buildings.

“You know she gets this from your side of the family!” complained Mrs Brackenridge as they raced to cover, Monique expertly shooting any robots or drones that dared come too close.

Mr Brackenridge spared a glance back at his daughter, still directing drones with her datapad and smacking others from the air with her Telekinesis.

“Yes, she does” he agreed and smiled happily.

=====

Traversing the length of the school, Lilly and Achmed arrived at the AURA Project headquarters, which of course was also Stanley’s house. Alarms were blaring and the outer doors were all locked, but the access codes both students had immediately opened any of them.

“You know I could open these doors anytime I need to” Achmed boasted as Lilly dragged him by the hand.

“Yeah” she agreed. “Save your energy for knocking out drones”

Sarah had arrived a little after they did, immediately leaping onto Stanley’s back and flying into the fray. If it had not been so terrifying, Achmed could have sworn Sarah was excited by how the Festival had turned out.

They found Eric in the Guard Post, sending alerts to the nearby Guard barracks and to his brother, Jericho-Two. He seemed in his element, calmly and efficiently ordering the five Guard clones on duty to various tasks.

He saw his friends enter and nodded briefly while he finished his commands. As soon as he was free, he addressed them both.

“Lilly, in that case there are some metal balls about the size of a baseball. Do you think you can teleport them to places I nominate?”

She looked at the case he had pointed to and picked up one of the metallic spheres. It had a small display and some buttons to set a time delay.

“Are these bombs?” she asked with concern. “I don’t want to be sending bombs out where people could be hurt”

“Those are EMP Grenades” Eric hastily explained. “They work just like the Pulse that Achmed can do as a Scanner. Range is about thirty meters from the detonation point and should fry any drones in the vicinity. Like Achmed, the pulse shouldn’t affect living creatures”

“Okay, I’ll set them into my memory” Lilly said and began holding each one for a few seconds, locking the item and location into her mind.

“What can I do, Eric?” Achmed asked. “Do you want me to try and fry some drones myself?”

“No, I have a more important task for you. Come outside with me”

Eric lead Achmed to the edge of the roof, alongside where Fiona was methodically shooting down robots and drones. From up here, there seemed to be dozens and dozens of the things, on the ground and in the air.

“These are all being controlled by someone, possibly the Emissary” Eric told his friend. “We need to try and locate where the command signals are coming from”

A drone flew low over the rooftop, its blades visible in the dying sunlight. Without pausing, Eric spun and drew his pistol from inside his jacket. Two quick shots and the drone faltered and dropped inert to the concrete roof.

“The sooner we find the command nest, the sooner we can stop this attack” Eric told the boy. “I’ll leave you to it”

With a gulp, Achmed stood close to the Guard sniper, the one they were calling Fiona now for some reason.

“Do not fear, Master Leroi” she said to him in her calm manner. “If any drone gets too close I will destroy it” She quickly lifted her long barrelled rifle to her shoulder and squeezed off another shot, exploding a robot with many bladed arms that was chasing one of the festival staff.

“Thanks Fiona” he said and drew up power into his Scanner ability, casting his inner eye over the streams of data he could see flowing below him.

It had sure turned into an interesting Halloween he thought to himself.

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