“Give me a pistol,” thought Ray.

Affirmative. Blue flame condensed metal parts from the ambient dust in the air. It

snapped them together with one bullet in the breech.

“Amplify energy as much as you can,” thought Ray.

Affirmative.

Ray took aim with the pistol. He knew enough about how guns worked that he

thought he could hit a target as big as a house nine times out of ten. He pulled the

trigger. The bullet left the barrel before the crack of its passage let him know it was

gone. It hit something in front of the wall and flattened against what looked like an

orange letter floating in the air.

Another wall stood in his way.

How can she keep making those walls? How much energy is she using up?

Unknown.

“We’re not going to crack this unless we’re prepared to blow up the neighborhood,”

thought Ray. “Let’s go with orbital movement.”

Affirmative. Blue flame wrapped around whatever the building was supposed to be.

It ripped the structure out of the ground and sent it hurling into the sky.

“We’re going to have to go up there and look around inside the thing to make sure

she’s out of the picture,” thought Ray.

Affirmative. Blue flame hurled Ray up after the building. Life support fitted into the

light armor so he wouldn’t die without air if something cut off the flow from the

battery to reality.

He approved of that. He didn’t really know how the battery worked except it was fed

by the calories he took in. He didn’t want to be floating in space without a way to get

down other than gravity.

Becoming a fireball followed by a splotch was not something he wanted to do.

Affirmative.

The building they had ripped up floated behind the orange screen without any other

signs of wreckage. Now he had to get in there and make sure she was in there so they

could finish the job.

There was another way to handle things. It was easier than going in and getting ripped

up. He just needed a spot away from people.

“Lamp, can you send this thing down in an unpopulated area of the continent at

speed?,” thought Ray.

Affirmative. Blue dots marked places on the ground that should be free of life. We

will have to guide it in and make sure it doesn’t hit anything on the ground.

“Let’s do it,” thought Ray. “If she isn’t here, we’ll have to check the other place on

the model.”

Affirmative. Blue flame pushed on the building. Gravity took over and yanked the

thing toward the surface. Ray drifted down after it, calculations and observations

filling up the space where the view from the cameras at the campus should be. He

spread out his limbs to slow his fall as he dropped after the stolen block edifice.

The Lamp made adjustments while they were in flight. Apparently it could see life

ahead and steered the projectile away from anybody or anything that it would hurt

when it finally hit the ground.

“Do you think the shield will hold when it hits the ground?,” asked Ray.

Unknown. Magic is in operation and I have no idea how much damage has to be

inflicted to break the spell so we can attack.

“Drive it in,” thought Ray. “Hopefully this will be enough to give us an opening.”

Affirmative. Blue flame pushed against the tumbling building. Its speed turned it into

a blur. It slammed into a desert and flung sand up in the air.

“Punch through,” said Ray. “And then you’re going to have to bring us to a stop on

the ground.”

Affirmative. A giant spike of flame appeared in front of Ray as he fell toward the

ground. The spike drove into the pile of blocks and wood that used to be a business

and home. That was enough to change his direction so he could float to a landing.

“Any life?,” asked Ray.

Blue flame separated the debris and scanned the ground. It flickered out.

Negative.

“At least now she knows we’re serious,” said Ray.

Affirmative.

“Reduce everything to component parts,” thought Ray. “Then bury those. Then we

have to get back to Barley.”

Affirmative. A beam of blue light swept across the desert. When it snapped off, there

was no evidence that anything had fallen out of the sky.

Blue flame wrapped around Ray. It carried him high into the sky for an overview of

the continent. Then it pulled him toward the focal point of his efforts.

“We did all right against an unarmed shop,” thought Ray.

Affirmative.

“Take us in on the second location,” thought Ray. “We’ll try to do the same to that

building. We don’t want to give her a chance to fight back.”

Affirmative.

Ray dropped down over the city. Being carried by the lamp was almost like a bird

flying. He tried to enjoy it as he whipped through the city on a trail of blue flame.

The need for conserving energy was gone in the face of imminent doom.

Targeting information marked indicators as the lamp brought him to a landing across

the street from the tower sticking out of the neighborhood. A light swept through the

neighborhood from the top.

“Nobody thought to ask why there was a lighthouse in the middle of town?,” Ray

said.

Unknown.

Ray pulled out the conjured pistol. He checked the breech. It had one bullet in it. He

smiled. His lamp had given him a single shot weapon that reloaded itself.

“Let’s see if I can knock that light out from here,” thought Ray.

He took aim and fired at the spinning light. The bullet rocketed at the torch. It

flattened against an orange letter before falling to the ground.

“So we know she’s invested in this building,” thought Ray. “Let’s get rid of it and see

what she does to stop us.”

Affirmative. Blue flame wrapped around the tower, crackling against the orange

letters forming a wall to keep people from touching it. It tried to pull the tower out of

the ground.

The building refused to move under the pure strength of the flame.

“Anchored in better?,” asked Ray. “Maybe we can destroy it with a miniature black

hole, or something.”

Arms sprouted from the tower. One raised a hand to point at Ray. Orange letters

formed around the pointing finger.

“Evasive action!,” shouted Ray. He had designed too many monsters not to know

what was coming next.

An orange beam of light ripped across the sky. It tore the roof off the building Ray

had been standing on. Luckily he had been able to take to the sky.

“Can we take a hit from that?,” asked Ray.

Negative. Negative. Negative.

“Better keep us moving around until we figure out what we’re going to do,” thought

Ray.

Affirmative.

The building pushed up with its hands against the ground. Legs split so that it could

stand in the street. The searchlight beam swept toward Ray as he circled the thing. At

least it didn’t have a face to jeer at his incompetence.

“We need to get it out of the city,” thought Ray. “Any ideas?”

Negative.

“See if you can knock it down and get me some time to think about this,” said Ray.

“I never expected to run into fantasy land mecha.”

Affirmative. A giant fist of blue flame punched out from the metal arm. It blasted

against the leg of the man building. The orange letters blocked the impact.

“I don’t think we can stop this with what we got,” thought Ray. “We can at least blind

the operator. Flare her.”

Affirmative. The night sky over Barley became light for five seconds. Ray rubbed his

eyes with his normal hand, depending on the lamp to keep him away from his enemy.

The building paused, unsure where it should go. Both hands formed a guard as it

waited for Ray to take advantage of its blindness.

Ray took a moment to think about the situation. He had to get the transformed tower

out of town before even more damage was done. How did he do that?

A streak of red and gold smashed against the stone man. The shield blunted the force

of the blow. It still staggered backwards from the flying ram.

“That’s right,” said Johnny Mac. “It’s us. When this is over, we’re going to talk about

you ditching us to deal with the crazy old woman at the school.”

“You’re not the boss of me, Leeroy,” said Ray. He smiled.

“How are we going to deal with this?,” asked Ishvar. She waved a hand at the

animated blocks and wood trying to stop Lightner from pounding on it at will.

“We need to get it out of town,” said Ray. “It’s too resistant for me to pick up like I

did the other building. I don’t know why.”

“I got this, Ray,” said Johnny Mac. He smiled on the cloud provided by Ishvar. His

helper stood behind him, as unflappable as any butler anywhere.