New Mutants/Transformers #3

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New Mutants/Transformers #3
Post by Orchestra the Mighty on Jul 13, 2007, 6:53am

New Mutants/Transformers #3

Cover: Stryker, Madrock, Alkaline, Stardust, Jubilee, Incubus, and Reflex standing between Megatron and the Earth.

Title: X-men.

“Get up, mutie.” Rogue winced as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, smashed her in the jaw with the butt of his rifle. Some of the students gathered around her in the tent they were being kept in let out murmurs of confusion, and other disgust, but there wasn’t anything any of them could do. The inhibitor collars around their necks not only made them dogs of S.H.I.E.L.D., but they also prevented them from accessing their mutant abilities. Without the collar Rogue would’ve laughed as the agent’s gun smashed against her face, but now…she was counting herself lucky that she only spitting blood and not teeth.

“It’s ah-right kiddies, ah’ll be fine.” she groaned, managing to pull herself to her feet. “Ah take it whoever it is that wants to talk too little ole me will know how to treat a lady…”

“I wouldn’t count on it.” the agent mocked, dragging her out of the tent and into the open air. She barely had time to enjoy the cool breeze of the night air as she was forced forward, past hordes of other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents whose contempt for her was made evident by their gazes and jeers.

The world had never been an easy place for mutants, and with the fallout from the global devastation caused by Magneto’s electro-magnetic pulse and the deadly Legacy Virus, Rogue didn’t think things could get any worse (unless of course Kelly’s proposed Mutant Registration Act passed) but in the wake of the assault at the mansion where Rogue and the students at the mansion who were combat trained had to repel the assault of Madrock, an earth-manipulating robot dinosaur, they absolutely had.

Airwaves were abuzz with the news that the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier had been taken down in flight over New York City by an act of mutant terrorism, an act of mutant terrorism being attributed to the New Mutants own Greg Johansson, the gravity manipulator Geforce. To make matters worse, dozens of murders in Westchester Park, along with the destruction of an entire passenger train were also being blamed on mutant terrorism, and while it couldn’t be proven, the finger was pointing at the Institute.

As dire as times were, Rogue was glad that Professor Xavier was a quick thinker. With the Blackbird having been shot down over New York City in the wake of the Helicarrier destruction, those at the mansion were on there own. They were under attack from an unfamiliar enemy and a familiar one, the government, in the form of a S.H.I.E.L.D. crackdown was imminent, so the Professor made the only choice that made sense: A sacrifice.

Retreating to the sub-levels of the mansion (where they could literally remain undetected, even from S.H.I.E.L.D. for months) with the students most able to participate in combat, the Professor ordered Rogue to allow herself to be captured, if only to watch over the other students who the Professor felt would probably be safer in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody than at the mansion. She may not have agreed, but the Professor had never failed her, ever.

Of course S.H.I.E.L.D., even without their Helicarrier and Nick Fury, wasn’t an incompetent organization. Their strike on the mansion occurred mere minutes after they had defeated Madrock and having not found the Professor, they wouldn’t end their search for the one man who would be most likely to blame as mastermind of the recent string of terrorist attacks. They had evacuated the entire town of Westchester and converted it into a detainment camp for the students from the mansion and a command center for the ensuing search of the surrounding area. They would not rest until they found Charles Xavier.

“Let’s not waste each other’s time. Ah’m not gonna tell ya a damn… this can’t be…you’re…you’re dead.” she gasped, as she was pushed into another tent, and clear as day, there sat Nick Fury, behind a desk, his remaining eye burning with rage.

She could hear some gears turning as his chair moved out from behind the desk, and not only did it reveal to her the hover chair similar to the on the Professor used, but it also showed her Fury’s mangled body.

“I wish I was.” he wheezed, clenching the fist on his sole arm. Rogue watched in horror as he inched toward her. She could hardly believe what she was looking at. Colonel Nick Fury, command of S.H.I.E.L.D., someone who had always been known for his trademark eye patch, was now missing a lot more than his eye.

Along with both of his legs up to the knees and his left arm, Fury’s chest was incased in a strange metallic vest. He knocked on it gingerly as he stopped in front of her.

“Gorgeous ain’t it? Same number Stark’s got keeping his ticker going…and…” he wheezed a moment, something else that shocked her. In all of her encounters with him, and all the cigars he was known to smoke, she had never heard him wheeze or cough. “…once they hook me up with some prosthetics, upgrades of the same ilk as what Misty Knight’s got, I’ll be a regular Iron Man. Ain’t that gonna be a sight to see? Maybe I’ll join the Avengers.”

“How are you alive?” Rogue asked, not looking at him. Fury was a resilient man, but there was no way he could have survived an explosion of the Helicarrier.

“Funny story that.” he said gruffly, flashing his watch. “You see this? Among other things, it’s a short ranged teleportation unit. As long as the Helicarrier is…was…within fifty miles, I could use this to teleport myself into my office, which was probably one safest place on Earth. It was reinforced with Admantium, Vibranium, and contained its own life-support system. It was like a little space-ship…could even detach from the carrier and fly around. Real Reed Richards type setup I had for myself.”

“During the initial penetration of our hull I ‘ported into my office, if only to get a better grip on the situation, but before I knew it…” he stopped and fought back…something. Rogue wasn’t sure if they were tears or just uncontrollable rage. “…they fished me out of the East river early last night. I should probably be “recovering” or some such bullshit, but I wanted to come down here and personally catch those responsible.”

“Don’t dick me around here Rogue, I want some god damned answers!” he shouts, clearly tiring himself out. “…before everything went down, Reed Richard’s sensors picked up something moving at an incredible speed over the skies of New York, he thought it was the god damned Silver Surfer. Our sensors picked up Greg Johansson’s mutant signal just before our ship was taken out. You want to tell me how your school was hiding a student with enough power to make Reed fucking Richards think he was seeing the Silver Surfer?”

Rogue didn’t know how to answer Fury’s question…she just didn’t know what to tell him, as if it would matter anyway.

“Colonel Fury.” she stated firmly, looking him in the eye. “Ah’m sorry about what happened to you and to all the men and women that lost their lives, but from what ah’ve seen of the New Mutants in their training, Greg Johansson wasn’t cap’ble of doing what you say he’s done.”

“Fine, be stubborn.” he responded. “We’re going to find that kid, and we’re going to find Xavier and we’re going to lock up the whole lot of you.” he said, turning back and hovering near his desk. Truth be told, he only wanted Xavier so that he could find Johansson. No matter what they had tried, nothing could pick up his mutant signature, and it boggled his mind how someone that powerful could just drop off the radar.

“Colonel.” stated the agent from before, stepping into the tent, next to Rogue. “There’s been an incident with the X-men’s transfer to Washington D.C., it seems that Wolverine was able to escape.”

Fury reached down into the side of his chair and pulled out his already cocked pistol.

“If I had to turn around I’m going to shoot you son. Get out of my fucking sight and find him!” he screamed, coughing blood up all over the remains of his legs at the same time.

—-

“You’ve got a lot to explain.” stated the Professor, gazing across the steel table at Xavier, also known as Incubus, the team’s resident power mimic.

You’ve got a lot to explain. repeated Gerald, telepathically. He didn’t exactly feel comfortable participating in the Professor’s interrogation of his teammate, but the fact was that Xavier had been hiding a great deal from the team and whatever it was that he knew; it was the key to stopping the things that had been attacking them…these…Muticons.

I don’t think we’ll be needing a parrot. grinned Xavier, as he leeched psychic powers (presumably from both the Professor and Gerald) and forced Gerald to back off. As Gerald wiped the blood from his nose, the Professor preformed a similar maneuver on the power mimic and looked at him sternly.

“This is one of those things we need to speak about, Xavier. According to Gerald and Roxanne your level of proficiency with your powers has increased exponentially the last few days, leading us to believe you may have been hiding your true skills from us. Is this correct?”

It is. He replied telepathically, in order to give more credence to the Professor’s assumption.

“And you also seem to be aware of what these…Muticons are…care to enlighten us?” the Professor asked calmly, exerting a slight level of persuasion over the boy. He had no time for games, he needed the answers quickly.

Incubus rubbed his temples and laughed.

“You don’t have to do that Professor, I’ll gladly tell you anything you want, but my story is a little more complicated than you might have imagined. As I’ve already told you I’m from the future…”

Gerald let out an audile sigh as Incubus began to speak. They had all heard his “I’m from the future and Rogue’s my mother” song and its accompanying dance before, but it had never meant much to any of them.

“…and Rogue is your mother?” asked Gerald. “Right?”

Incubus looked around the small interrogation room uncomfortably. He wasn’t even sure why the mansion had one.

“Half of my chromosomes came from her.” he responded, hoping they would be content with the answer.

“That isn’t what I asked.” stated Gerald, slamming his fists down on the table. “Is Rogue your mother?” He asks, unleashing a telepathic attack on Incubus at the same time. The enigma of a mutant drops his head down onto the table and rubs his forehead onto the cool metal.

“I’m a test tube baby…are you happy?” he sighs. “I was made from some of Rogue’s and some of Mimic’s DNA with the hopes that power mimicry would be my mutant ability. I was made by the resistance to prevent the world I was born in from ever occurring.”

His expression remained steadfast as he described the horrors of his world and how it came to be.

He explained to Gerald and the Professor all that he knew about the warring planet of Cybertron and how after having been stuck on Earth form years, the Autobots and Decepticons awoke from their slumbers in 1986 and began a secret war that went unnoticed by most of the planets population for two decades.

“…and then Megatron realized that he could use mutants or at least their DNA, in his war against the Autobots. By splicing mutant DNA into the Protoform of a Cypertronian he was able to create the Muticons, transforming robots with the same mutant abilities as those he borrowed their DNA from.”

“In my future, he launched his assault against this world using Muticons with templates based on Dillon, Curt, Roxy, Gerald, Greg, Wreck and Almond…”

“Wait.” interrupts Gerald. “We’ve already heard from Curt about the Muticons that attacked him, Lex and Wreck, me and Roxy fought the one based on her, and since the Professor can’t make contact with Dillon or Greg it’s safe to assume that there’s…what I’m trying to say is that with all the other crap we’ve got to deal with, we’re going to have a couple of these we’ve got no way of countering? And why wasn’t there a Heatwave in your future?”

“Yes.” answered Incubus. “Partly, anyway. In my future the Muticons were a horrible force of destruction, especially Current. Within months they were able to conquer the planet, and then, using the Shi’Ar stargate they were able to begin conquering the Shi’Ar Empire. Nothing could stop them…so…during our battle with Mastermold I prevented Lex from sacrificing himself and instead let Almond do it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” shouted Gerald, as the Professor commanded him to calm down. “Why would Almond being dead stop them from using his DNA?”

“The creation of a Cybertronian is relies on something called the creation Matrix, a strange combination of life that exists, has existed, and will exist. DNA can’t be used in creation of a Muticon if the being it’s from is dead. Don’t ask me why, that’s just how it works.” replied Incubus.

“I figured that if we fail at stopping Megatron and Decepticon and Muticon forces, I’ll at least have made the load a little lighter for the future.” he sighed, looking away from them.

“And yet from what Gerald and the others have told me, the machine, Madrock, seemed to have another attached to it that could mimic their powers, so it’s safe to assume that it based on your template.” stated the Professor.

“That’s right.” Incubus nodded. “And you’ve got his remains in the other room right? He’s exactly what we need to find out all the details of Megatron’s plans so that we can stop him. I’d tell you myself, but even the scientists that sent me back here, most of who were Kree and Shi’Ar didn’t even know the exact details to what had occurred here on Earth.”

The Professor exchanges some glances with Gerald and the pair lead Incubus out of the interrogation room into the near by lab, where they’ve got the remains of the Muticons Madrock and Incubus. Bile rises in the Professor’s throat as he looks at them. Knowing that they were both responsible for the deaths so many of his students…and Warren…

“I’m sorry.” he turns and leaves, tears streaming down his face, leaving Incubus and Gerald there. The pair stands there in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Gerald breaks it.

“So how exactly are we going to use this broken robot to find out what this Megatron guy is planning? I doubt anything we have here can read its memory banks…oh wait, it’s destroyed. There’s nothing to sift through anyway.”

“Not a problem.” replies Incubus, using his powers and calling Wreck into the room, earning him Gerald’s ire.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Wreck can’t be up and about like this!” he shouts, rushing over to the shirtless Wreck, who was leaning up against a wall, sweating and bleeding profusely.

Despite his amazing healing factor, his body had taken an incredibly amount of punishment at the hands of the Muticon that had attacked him, and he would’ve been fine…had some pieces of the robot not managed to work their way into his body during the ensuing struggle. Not being able to remove them, they could only watch as Wreck’s body futilely tried to force them out causing cists and sores to appear on various spots around his body. No one had wanted to say it, but Wreck had no problem admitting the cold hard truth.

“What? You’ve never seen a dying man before?” he laughed, falling to the ground. Incubus felt bad about putting Wreck through more pain, but he needed Wreck to be in the room so that the damaged Muticon that bore his codename would begin repairing itself.

“Get over here Gerald!” shouted Incubus, putting his hands on the body of the now completely formed Muticon. “I can cancel out his powers a little bit but you’ve got to hurry and interrogate this thing! I think your powers might actually work on it.

“I’ll tell you nothing!” screamed the Muticon as Gerald began probing its mind. After a few tense minutes that including sweat pouring down his face, and blood from his nose and ears, Gerald pulled away from the creature, grabbed a nearby drill, and drove it into the machine’s neck.

“That’s for Wreck.” he stated coldly, him and Incubus both carrying Wreck out of the lab and back into the med-bay room, where the Professor sat with the gathered students.

“So…” Wreck, drawled on, limping to his bed. “…who’s ready to protect a world that hates and fears us? Lex?” he asks, looking over at the temperature manipulator, who was basically in an Iron Lung.

“Right, looks like Lex is game…”


Re: New Mutants/Transformers #3
Post by Orchestra the Mighty on Jul 13, 2007, 6:54am

“We have reached a turning point, my soldiers.” boomed Megatron, standing at a podium from the Decepticon’s base on the Moon; look down upon the gathered Decepticons, Wreckers, and Muticons.

“Today shall be the day we destroy the Autobots, and take control of this world for ourselves! With its rich Energon deposits under our control nothing will stop us from defeating the remaining Autobots on Cybertron and from there…” Megatron had to work hard to fight back the maniacal laughter building up inside of him. “Could anything stop us then?”

“NuThInGs CuLd StOp Us!” shouted Frenzy madly, jumping up and down. “NoT eVeN uNiCrOn!” Starscream made moves to hit the small Decepticon but he was stopped by Megatron.

“No, our little friend has right to be overjoyed. And let it be known that nothing gives you the right to lay hands upon him.” Megatron grinned. “It is because of him that we have the key to our victory…it is because of him we have the Muticons!” he proclaimed, letting his laughter seep through. The Decepticons and Wreckers turned towards their Muticon comrades and clapped furiously.

“Everyone, prepare for transport to Earth. And don’t forget…after today we’ll never have to see Optimus Prime again.”

Megatron winced as the words left his lips. He wasn’t sure if he was prepared for that…and existence without that thorn in his side…his rival. Was he?

“MWUHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH”
—-

“Scott, would you mind calling off your son and his goon squad?” as Valerie Cooper impatiently, as she looked at the gathered X-men, all seated against the way walls of one X-factor HQs power dampening cells, all looking equally pissed off.

She didn’t want to be in the position she was in anymore than they did, but it wasn’t as if either party had a choice in the matter.

“No.” responded Cyclops, coldly, the first time any of the X-men had spoken to her in hours. Scott deeply wished that his son’s usual penchant for “shooting first, shooting again, and then wondering who was left alive to ask a question” would shine through, but since he hadn’t heard any shots fired, X-force must’ve been engaged in…conversation…with the members of X-factor.

For now though, until Cable (or Wolverine) pulled through, the assembled X-men did their bests to make themselves feel comfortable. After all, it had only been a few months since their last detainment; of course none of them had expected to wind up in the Government’s hands they way they did.

Rumors had been swirling that Magneto had been seen in South America, a near impossibility considering what the Professor had done to him weeks earlier, but they didn’t want to take that risk. Gathering up all of the X-men (save Rogue and Warren) the group flew to South America on what turned out to be a wild goose chase. On their return back however, things took an unexpected twist when they were shot down the S.H.I.E.L.D. and then dragged to Washington and locked up.

“Look Scott, Jean…all of you…I know how this seems, but if you would just cooperate things would go a lot better. All you’ve got to do is tell us where Greg Johansson is…”

“…because he destroyed the Helicarrier. We’ve heard.” replied Jean tersely. “And we have no way of knowing of knowing that without access to Cerebro, not that I or the Professor would help either way. Greg wouldn’t be capable of such an act. He didn’t have enough control of his powers! ”

“Well what about Drummond, the time-traveler? Our preliminary scans indicate that the train explosion Westchester two days ago was caused by a massive build-up of temporal energy. Would Drummond have been capable of something like that?”

The group remained silent at Val’s questioning but deep in the back his mind Hank knew the answer: Yes. Both Dillon and Greg could have theoretically have done what they were being blamed for, and even if S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn’t normally think a pair of kids could so something along those lines, theirs sudden disappearances after the incident made it all the more suspicious.

“What kind of school were you running?” questioned Val, as Storm bolted forward and slammed the wall of their cell.

“You witch!” she screamed. “How dare you accuse us of…” and the rest of her shouts were drowned out by the sound of gunfire and several explosions that rocked the foundation of the building.

Before Val could even mutter “Cable” Quicksilver darted into the room panting.

“Valerie…we’ve got a situation and the X-men’s assistance would be greatly appreciated.”

“Freedom is the right of all sentient beings!” Arcee chuckled as Bumblebee stood atop one of Ark’s exhaust vents and did his best Optimus Prime impression.

“But wait, I can do better!” He shouted, flipping and landing in front of her, then transforming into his vehicle mode. “TRANSFORM AND ROLL….” before he could finish a hail of aerial fire rained down and destroyed him.

Arcee didn’t have time to cry for her fallen comrade before ducking for cover and activating her comm.-link.

“Ark is under attack, I repeat, Ark is under attack! Springer, get into the air and Ratchet…get your Primus forsaken spark out here! Bumblebee’s been hit!”

—-

“We are at the dawn of a brand new day.” spoke the Professor, softly. Behind him stood one of the team’s Blackbirds and before him the New Mutants…no. In his mind he knew it was wrong of him to call them that, not with what he was asking them to do.

“Our world is under attack from an alien enemy, as it has been so many times in the past. And like on so many of those occasions I have sent out my students…my children…to stop such threats.”

Roxanne was doing her best to listen, but the uniforms the Professor had given them were rather uncomfortable.

“And make no mistake, like so many times before my children will fight, and my children will die for this world that hates and fears us. For this world that would deny us our basic human rights and condemn us as machinations of the Devil himself. Well I say to them “fine.”

“I look upon you all and I see tomorrow, and I see it burning brightly. Allison Calendar, Alkaline. Marcus Sun, Stardust. Paige O’Hara, Anima. Jubilation Lee, Jubilee. Xavier, Incubus. Roxanne Madison, Madrock.”

“Excuse me, sir…” interrupted Roxy nervously. She didn’t want to stop the Professor’s speech, but she felt there was something that needed to be addressed.

“And from the mouth of babes…” the Professor grins. “..what is the matter?”

“The robot that killed Mr. Angel and everybody else was called Madrock so I was thinking I’d have a new superhero name.” she tugged on Gerald’s arm. ”What was the one you helped me pick?”

“Calamity.” he replied, a bit embarrassed.

“Right.” Roxy responded firmly. “My new codename is Calamity.”

“Very well then.” smiled the Professor. “Roxanne Madison, Calamity. And last but not least, Gerald Stryker, the son of one of the X-men’s greatest foes.”

“Well gee, I felt sorta bad about not having a codename, but thanks for that Professor.” joked Gerald.

“Gerald.” the Professor stated solemnly. “If anything happens to me, you are to take command.”

“But…you can’t…”

“I must!” he replied, slamming down his fist. “I will no longer have children, my children; die because of my own inactivity. As I have already told you, there are those that would call us Devils, and I say we must not let their taunts and jeers deter us from doing what we know in our hearts to be right. If they call us Devils, then let us breathe fire!” he exclaimed, shocking most of the students.

“The uniforms I have given you are relics of the past, nearly identical to the ones worn by the original New Mutants, but do not let that fool you. From this day forward you are no longer students, you are no longer New Mutants.”

The Professor turned away from the students and began moving his ramp up the back of the Blackbird.

“To me, my X-men.”

Had things been different, Gerald was sure they all would’ve clapped or jeered, but this wasn’t the time for this. They were all jumping into something none of them were prepared for – a battle to save the entire world, and almost just as overwhelming was the fact that the Professor had basically made him second-in-command of the…of the X-men.

Even though nothing had really changed (except, well, the lineup) they weren’t any older, but just the fact that the Professor had called them X-men made everything different.

Still, it remained to be seen how many of these differences he’d live to enjoy.

—-

“Give ‘em hell.” whispered Rogue as she heard the Blackbird whiz overhead. All of the students around her jumped to life with excitement. Despite how hungry, tired, and mistreated, they all were the sound of the Blackbird invigorated them. None of them carried any fanciful thoughts of being rescued, at least not immediately. They knew that whatever was going on, it was beyond them.

“BRING THEM DOWN!” shouted Fury, loud enough for everyone in the camp to hear. “I want those Sentinels in New York launched right now and ready to god damn intercept!” he screamed again, slowing down near the end of his sentence to cough.

Rogue let out a silent prayer at the thought of the New Mutants having to deal with not only the Sentinels, but whatever had been trying to destroy them.

—-

“Cornbread, this needs to end.” scolded Wolverine, slamming Samuel Guthrie up against a streetlight.

After escaping government custody, it had taken Wolverine hours to get “hitchhike” back to New York City. His main goal was to get back to the Institute and make sure the Professor and the students were safe and sound, but on the way there he decided to stop by a certain clubhouse within the city where he was pretty sure a certain mutant from the Midwest had been hiding out.

“This you’re cute, eh bub? Staying too drunk from the Professor or Jean to pick up your mind with their fancy powers?”

“Fuck you.” cursed Sam, looking away from Logan, but his gaze was soon refocused by a punch to the jaw. Wolverine may not have had Adamantium on his bones anymore but his punches still kicked liked a donkey.

“It’s time to cowboy up cornbread. A kid got killed on your watch, tough luck; it was bound to happen eventually. Right now the X-men need us.” he scolded once more, look Cannonball in the eyes. “What’s it gonna be?”

Before Sam could respond either way, a large roaring was heard overhead, and the pair could see one of the team’s Blackbirds being chased through the skies by two Sentinels, with more in pursuit.

“Time to cowboy up.” responded Sam as he prepared to take to the skies. “Let’s go Logan.” Wolverine shook his teammates hand and shook his head.

“Nah, I think I’ve got plenty to keep me busy here.” he laughed, running off into the distance after noticing Spider-man zipping by, his web connected to the back of a jet planet which proceeded to transform into a robot.

“But Logan…”

“Go!” shouted Wolverine, running off towards Spider-man and the Decepticon. “I’ll only slow you down.”

Sam nodded and took to the skies, activating his deactivated comm.-link as he flew towards the Sentinels chasing the Blackbird.

“You folks enjoy flying the red eye too?” he joked, making contact with the Blackbird.

“Sam?” a voice responded.

“Gerald!?” he shouted back in confusion. “What the hell are you doing with the Blackbird? Are the rest of the New Mutants with you?”

They’re X-men now. relayed the Professor mentally, filling Sam in on the situation.

“Well don’t that beat all…” smiled Sam as he flew in between two Sentinels, attempting to draw their attention. “…I’ll tell Almond you guys said hi.” he stated solemnly, shutting off his comm. dodging and weaving between the blasts being fired at him, then charging straight ahead to intercept the other Sentinels that had been launched after the Blackbird.


Re: New Mutants/Transformers #3
Post by Orchestra the Mighty on Jul 13, 2007, 6:58am

The pieces were falling into place perfectly. Megatron knew that just about every facet of his plan had been accounted for. The Wreckers had been dispatched to Washington DC, while the Decepticons had been sent to New York City. By crippling the government of a world super-power, and…a great deal of its super-powered individuals, the soon-to-be initiated process of world-domination was sure to go much smoother.

Of course he knew that the chances of the Decepticons being destroyed by New York’s heroes was very likely, this didn’t bother him much though. If they killed some, good for them, if they fell in battle…less Energon to share. He knew that that Wreckers wouldn’t fail though, the number of heroes in Washington DC being minimal, and with the New York heroes occupied, the United States central government would be demolished momentarily.

But now, right now was the Megatron’s time. With the Muticons by his side he was going to finally accomplish something that he had dreamed about for decades.

”YOU SHALL DIE THIS DAY PRIME!” he bellowed, unleashing a powerful blast, which Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, barely managed to deflect with his sword, a weapon forged from a Cypertronian mineral analogous to the Earth metal of Antarctic Vibranium.

The force of the blast forced Prime to his knees, as he did something he had never hoped to do…he had to look up at Megatron.

“Unless…” the Decepticon leader had his cannon pointed squarely at his chest, one blast and his spark would be extinguished. “…in all these years…have I ever…have I ever given you a choice to choose a side? Join me Prime. Simply hand over the Matrix of Leadership and stand by my side as a harbinger of a new age.”

Optimus could barely believe what he was hearing. Megatron was asking him to join the Decepticons? He could’ve been nothing more than a head unit and he never would’ve agreed to that the sight. The sight Bumblebee, the Dinobots, and Arcee’s destroyed bodies was enough to make him turn down any offer that would’ve spared his life.

“Your time has come Megatron!” shouted Ultra Magnus, leaping from behind Megatron, guns blazing. In a display of speed neither had ever seen of the Decepticon, Megatron’s shoulder cannon immediately flipped backwards and he unleashed his dreaded anti-matter blast. Within milliseconds the only thing left of Ultra Magnus, were their memories of him.

“By Primus…” Optimus cried. Megatron’s anti-matter blasts had long been feared by the Autobots, but he so rarely used them, knowing the strain they put on his circuits. Prime wasn’t prepared to let Magnus’ sacrifice be in vain.

As Megatron fell to his knees, his energy clearly drained, Optimus righted himself and charged forward with his blade, preparing to stop Megatron once and for all.

“I…do not think so….” grunted Megatron as Optimus was cut off by a wall of flames, the Muticon Heatwave, then flinging fireballs at him. As he was forced backwards by the force of the attacks, Prime prayed to Primus to send the Autobots aid in their time of need; if not for their own sakes, but for Earth…Cybertron…the universe.

—-

“Is everyone ready?” asked Gerald, looked at the team…his team…all gathered at the back of the Blackbird.

“Completely.” stated Alkaline, getting herself ready mentally to create the soap slide the team would need to land safely at the sight of the battle between the Autobots and the Muticons. Paige had set the ship to a much more efficient form of Autopilot, and once they were all safely on the ground, it had simply been commanded to give the bad guys “Hell.” Knowing Paige, this probably meant crashing into them, but no one commented on that.

“My X-men…” the Professor stopped mid-sentence, fighting back the wave of emotion that overtaking him. Part of him didn’t want to be responded to reports that the X-men, X-factor, and X-force were engaged in a heated battle in Washington D.C. If he was going to die, he wanted to do it near his children, but he knew in his heart that the students gathered about him were as much his children as Scott, Jean, Warren, Hank, and Bobby, his original students, were.

“…No matter what happens…know that you are my dream…” he stated solely, as Paige commanded the bay doors to crack open. The team immediately fell onto a bridge of soap created by Allison and Incubus, and supported by a rock scaffolding created by Roxy.

By the time the team had reached the ground they were already in the midst of utter chaos, but the Professor and Gerald immediately took control of the situation, doling out orders.

“Autbots!” shouted Gerald into his comm., changing it’s frequency to the one that Ark had been giving off. “This is the X-men and we are here to help you! If there is anything you could have us immediately do to help, let us know!”

“The Protoform!” screamed Ratchet in reply though the channel. “Ark, our ship, hasn’t transformed and entered battle for fear of it being damaged. We need you to go in an activate it; we need more bots out here! Ark will guide you through!”

“On it.” stated Paige, without prompting from Gerald. She hopped onto the back of the Professor’s hover-chair and uttered a single order. “Faster.” and then it took off faster than Gerald had ever seen it do in the past.

Before he could continue giving out orders, he felt a strong presence attacking his mind, the one that had done so earlier…the one that sounded just like him.

So you must be Stryker. He mused, his mind entering another realm where he was face to face with the robotic monstrosity.

And you must be Gerald. it barked back in reply. The time-traveler called out for you as I devoured his pathetic little body, I had assumed you’d be someone worth effort. Perhaps when I’m done with you I’ll challenge the cripple…oh…maybe the child. I tasted the minds of children when I destroyed that train, they were so…so good. Perhaps I’ll get her before I get the cripple.

Perhaps. responded Gerald, trying not to let his fear seep through. Even if he couldn’t save the planet, even if he couldn’t avenge Dillon, he was going to make damn sure the monster that stood before him never laid a finger on Roxanne.

—-

“Where the hell is this Protoform thing?” asked Paige, still riding on the back of the Professor’s hover-chair. It felt like they had been searching Ark for hours, when in reality it had barely been five minutes. Either way, they knew that every minute counted and they needed do whatever they could to help the X-men and the Autobots.

“Head left…and then…up the elevator platform.”

Both Paige and the Professor looked around to see if she had inadvertently animated something, and were pleasantly surprised when they realized that it was the ship itself (without Paige’s power) that was communicating with them.

“Please hurry.” it repeated. “Someone’s messing around in there and I can’t do blasted thing about it.”

As they found the elevator and used it to reach the command center they could both see who had been “messing around” the control room.

“You’re not an Autobot are you?” questioned Paige.

“wHaT? mE nUmBeR oNe AuToBoT!” screamed Frenzy frantically, unleashed a blast of light and scanning Paige’s body. He soon fell to the floor, having taken on the shape of her comm. link. Before she or the Professor could make any moves to approach it, he reassumed his robot shape, this time, his hands and mouth had taken the form of sonic blasters, and he wasted no time unleashing these blasts on the unsuspecting Paige.

As she fell to her knees, deafened, the Professor charged at Frenzy with his hover-chair, smashing him into the control both. He squirmed for a few brief moments, before falling silent.

“Paige, are you alright?” the Professor asked, all the while, following the instructions for activating the Protoform that Ark was flashing on the screen.

“I’m…I’m…” it Paige a few seconds to formulate her respond, the main reason being that she had only managed to hear half of what the Professor said. Her left ear was completely shot and she wasn’t sure if it was one of those things that would sort itself out, not that it would matter if the Earth was taken over by the Decepticons. “…fine.” she responded, cursing herself internally, realizing that she had just tried to lie to a psychic.

“I require your aid then.” he stated, not looking at her. “According to this, Ark has gathered enough data from simply watching the Muticons that he’s been able to replicate their creation process…if you wouldn’t mind…” a small Petri-dish appeared from within the control panel and Paige didn’t hesitate to slice her finger with her trusty knife and add in a few drops of her blood. The thought of a gigantic robot with her powers excited her in ways she wasn’t comfortable admitting aloud.

“Excellent.” chimed Ark. “Now to just choose its vehicle formats…”

“That’s an easy one.” grinned Paige. “Scan the Blackbird…and the rascal right here.” she said, slapping the Professor’s hover-chair. “Bet the Shi’ar tech will give this baby a real kick.”

—-

“Gerald we need orders!” shouted Alkaline, riding around on her soap slide, putting out the fires started by Heatwave and melting the ice slicks he was creating, as Jubilee provided her back-up.

“He’s just standing there!” screamed Jubilee, as she slipped and fell into a puddle of melted ice. Across the battlefield Gerald Stryker was indeed “just standing” there, to the untrained eye. He was, in actuality, engaged in a metal battle with the Muticon Stryker, but while Gerald’s body was little more than frozen in concentration, Stryker’s robotic form had no such limitations.

Hot Rod and Iron Hide were doing their best to destroy the massive train Muticon, while Incubus was simply content to run around and negate the temporal disturbances he was causing with the help of his mini-con, Dilation.

No one was even sure what had happened to Curt and Reflex, the pair had charged one another as soon as the X-men had hit the ground and no one had seen them since. Roxy, and Jazz had all been providing Optimus with back-up in his bout against Megatron (who had become much more powerful than the Autobots had ever seen him) and Marcus was buzzing around in the skies with Springer, trying futilely to bring down Geforce.

“Nothing we try is working!” screamed Marcus into his comm. over the sound of the roaring winds, the ripping around him and Springer.

“Try another round of plasma Stardust.” responded Springer, transforming back into his robot mode and falling to the ground, leaving Marcus in the skies with the ridiculously fast gravity-manipulating jet.

He would’ve tingled at the thought of being called Stardust any other time, having someone else, especially another hero (and how could he think of the Autobots as anything else?) calling him by his codename made him feel like a real hero. Of course he knew there was more to being a hero than a codename, heroes got results, and he wasn’t getting any of those just staring at the jet which was basically vibrating in front of his very eyes.

“Y-Y-You don’t scare me!” he shouted over the winds. “I’ve beaten Galactus!” Geforce let out a humiliating laugh.

“You make me laugh, fleshling! Had your weak, non-telescopic humans ever laid eyes Galactus I am very sure that your loins would release much lubrication.”

Marcus wasn’t entirely sure, the wind obscuring most of Geforce’s words, but he was vaguely sure that the machine had just accused him of wetting himself.

“I stuck a toaster in the over once…” he drawled on. “…hope you weren’t related too either, because what happened next wasn’t pretty.” As he finished his taunt he could feel the Geforce’s nose pressing against his chest. The Muticon would’ve ripped him in to had Springer not leapt up and grabbed it by the cockpit and pulled it downward. Before he even had a chance to use his gravitational abilities Marcus was already letting loose with volleys of plasma, having managed to some of his particles into the cockpit.

“Now who needs to be lubricating themselves!” screamed Marcus, as he flew downward, flipping off the now wrecked Geforce, who lay beaten on the ground. Springer immediately took to the air in chopper form and was laying down fire on Stryker, and he would’ve gone if he hadn’t been caught mid-air with a strike from Heatwave, who was once again in vehicle form. His flaming wheel sliced through the back of Marcus’ uniform and seared the flesh on his back.

“You’ll pay for your transgressions fleshing!” stated Heatwave, as Marcus’ ears were overtaken with the sound of gears and cogs whirring. He, Jubilee and Alkaline (who was tending to his wound) watched in shock as Heatwave began combining with the remains of Geforce.

“I swear to God if that thing’s name is fucking GeWave, or Heatforce, I’m going have my period.” whined Paige over the comm. The combined Heatwave/Geforce took to the skies as it saw her emerge from Ark’s roof in a newly created Muticon, Anima. Part Blackbird, part Shir’ar hover-chair. The result was a jet that greatly resembled the Blackbird, except for a yellow and blue paintjob, and a couple of boosters on it’s underside that would allow it to hover.

“Paige, what the hell is that thing?” questioned Marcus over the comm., while she strapped herself in as Anima transformed from its jet form into its robot mode, to match its opponent, ripping off into the skies.

“Can’t talk now…” she responded.

“…too busy kicking ass.” finished Anima.

The Geforce/Heatwave gestalt looked on at Anima with envy as she tore through the atmosphere and flew towards him. By now they were high above where any normal aircraft could’ve ventured, and Gestalt was impressed that both she, and her human rider could withstand being up there.

“Like poetry in motion.” he mused as Anima stopped before him, her arm extending, beckoning him forward. “No, I think not my dear. If you want me, you’ll have to prove you can keep up with me first.”

Paige gagged, having heard similar cheesy pickup lines in the past, but she didn’t find it so funny when Gestalt had taken off into space.

“We don’t have to chase him, you know.” stated Anima. “It’d be sort of funny if he reached Pluto, turned around and didn’t see us.”

Paige chuckled at the part of the joke she managed to hear.

“You’re like the gigantic, ugly, robotic little sister I never had the pleasure of having…” she grinned as small helmet dropped from the ceiling of the cockpit. It almost reminded her of the one the Professor used with Cerebro, but much more badass. She placed the helmet on without a word and winced as she began synching with Anima. Together, their powers were greatly amplified and they could accomplish feats they couldn’t separately.

With their new found abilities the pair began animating the various systems around the ship, making them autonomous from the main CPU. Completing their modifications to her, Paige and Anima morphed her rear thrusters into one giant thruster that looked quite similar to the one on the Millennium Falcon.

“Let’s show ‘em what we’re made of, fleshling.” joked Anima, covering to vehicle mode and blasting off into space after Gestalt.


Re: New Mutants/Transformers #3
Post by Orchestra the Mighty on Jul 13, 2007, 7:00am

“I have heard that when a human dies their life passes before their eyes…aren’t you glad that you’ll have to see me twice then? Once as I extinguish your life…and then once more as you have your little flashback? Mwhwhahhahahahahha!” laughed Reflex as he darted across the ground, Curt at his back.

The two had been engaged in a race across the country as soon as they had spotted Each other across the battlefield. Their race had taken them half way across the country and if Curt knew anything about geography, they were getting closer and close to New York. He knew that Reflex knew he couldn’t out right beat him in a fight. The last time the only reason Reflex had managed to get the drop on him was him transformation from vehicle to robot, without that element of surprise all he could try to do was tire Curt out, and it was working.

Normally he had no trouble running across water but if it came down to running across the Atlantic Curt knew he was going to crash and drown.

“You think you’re so tough, don’t you?” questioned Curt, struggling to catch up. “Mr. “I’m a big mutant space robot,” but you’re not really any better than me. You certainly aren’t any faster.”

“I believe you have been consuming one of the many hallucinogenic drugs that exist on this world. My understanding is that it can cause what you seem to be experiencing, insanity.”

“Funny. Very funny.” grunted Curt, pushing his body harder. “Accuse the black guy of being on drugs. You know what’s funnier though, the fact that I’m not crazy at all. Did you ever think that I’ve been pushing myself so hard…not to keep up with you but to…heh.” Curt can barely contain his laughter.

“OUT WITH IT FLESHLING!” screamed Reflex, turning around and running backwards.

“A being named Gideon once took my powers for his own and did amazing things with them, like stealing kinetic energy from the Earth itself…I’ve just recently learned how to do this myself. What you don’t realize is that I haven’t been running behind you in this little race of ours, I’ve been running past you. I’ve done it dozens of times already.”

“Impossible!” bellowed the Muticon, his metallic face contorting with rage.

“Heh. You’re right.” responded Curt. “But I got you to believe it just long enough for…”

Curt laughed as Reflex’s back smashed through the base of the statue of liberty, his body exploding as it came through the other side.

“…that.” gasped Curt as he skidded to a grinding halt on Liberty Island. It took him a few moments to get his bearings. As he looked up, he noticed that the Statue of Liberty seemed to be missing most of its upper body. He also noticed the remains of several Sentinels littering the ground.

“Did a number on them didn’t I?” grinned Sam, hobbling towards Curt, using a piece of metal as a makeshift crutch. It took Curt a few moments to realize that same needed the crutch not because he had hurt one of his legs, but because he was missing his right leg entirely.

“You sure did, teach.” coughed Curt. He could tell by the look in Sam’s eyes that he still wanted to be in the fight, and he did too. If he could’ve mustered the strength to stand up he would’ve. All he could do now was sit by while his friends battled for the world. He completely understood why Lex and Wreck had been so angry when they left them at the mansion.

“Do you think….” before Curt could continue, Sam cut him off by raising a hand. Something was coming in through their comm. link, something which they may not have known at that exact moment, was being broadcast throughout the entire world, on every radio wave, TV and phone signal.

“This is Professor Charles Xavier, broadcasting from the Ark I…”

“Hn.” Wolverine looked up at the screen in Time’s Square, shocked to see the Professor’s face. Of course he only had a brief instant to listen to the message as the Decepticon Starscream was coming back in from a second volley of attacks. Still, Starscream was no match from both Ghost Rider and Spider-man pulling him down to the ground with their chain and webs respectively, and after that, it was simply up to him and Hulk to pound the scrap out of the machine.

“Hey…this reminds me of that time we were the new Fantastic Four.” quipped Spider-man, not looking up at the screen the way the others were. “God damn it, you guys need to stop acting like that didn’t happen!”

—-

“Are the rest of you hearing this?” asked Cable, his eye pulsating at rain fell down upon the heroes gathered around him, those that were left of X-force, the X-men, and X-factor.

“Damn you Cable, help us!” screamed Quicksilver, pounding his fists into Cyclops’s chest, futilely trying to restart the mutant’s heart. In the distance Jean could be heard tearing into the last of the Wreckers. The rage she had launched into after they had struck down Cyclops could only have been matched by that of the Dark Phoenix.

He should have helped, he wanted to help, but Cable couldn’t bring himself to break away from the words and images he was picking up with his comm. and he knew that aside from Jean, most of the others probably couldn’t either.

Cable knew at that moment that for the first time in his life he had picked the wrong battle to be a part of. Everything in his gut had been telling him to head to the mansion and secure the Professor, but he had insisted on freeing the X-men first. His mistake. He hoped that the planet wouldn’t have to suffer for it.

—-

“Unbelievable.” sighed Paige and Anima at the same time as they found themselves stopping their pursuit of Gestalt somewhere around Saturn. Paige knew where they were only because she could see where he had grabbed the space rocks from to construct the giant heart that was floating in space before them.

“The exact word I thought when I first you, my dear.” laughed Gestalt. “You are far too perfect to ally yourself with the Autobots my dear. You are a Muticon, and whether or not Megatron created you or not, if it wasn’t for him, you would not exist.”

Paige coughed.

“Yes, because that DNA floating around in her shiny metal ass just came from magic.”

“Hush, cow. If I wanted the words of a fleshing in my ear I’d remove your head and stick it there.”

Paige wasn’t sure what Anima was thinking, but all she knew was that she wanted Gestalt destroyed, and made into many, many belt buckles. Of course the idea crossed her mind that she could be dying in mere moments, if Gestalt attacked, or if Anima decided to actually side with the Decepticons and go on to rule the universe. It sounded like a sweet gig; she would’ve taken it had she been taller than a house and made of metal.

“Your silence tells me all I need to know…” stated Gestalt, pausing briefly afterwards. “…why can’t I move!?” he screamed at Anima, who had already turned away and was heading back towards Earth.

“Shut down his movement systems didn’t you?” asked Paige, with a positive response appearing on the computer screen before her.

“You know I’m pretty much deaf in one ear don’t you?” this time her response was broadcast into the ear she still had usage of.

“One last question, sis…you considered his offer didn’t you?”

“Only for a bit.” Anima responded. “Would’ve gone along with him if I didn’t think I’d wind up being the only chick.”

The two shared a chuckle as they approached Earth’s atmosphere, which allowed them to just about hear the end of the Professor’s messaged which had been broadcast globally.

“Changed my mind.” responded Anima. “Now way the Decepticons had a speaker on their side that good.”

—-

“Fucking hell…get the order through to Washington!” barked Fury to the agents under his command, all of whom had been entranced by the words of Professor Charles Xavier. “I want the Operation: Wide Awake Sentinels launched immediately. Every last one of them. Those kids are gonna need all the help they can get…”

—-

“It’s over Megatron.” proclaimed Optimus, as he and the remaining Autobots and the X-men surrounded the Decepticon leader and his only remaining Muticon, Stryker, who had been incredibly damaged.

“Do you really think that Prime? I’m sure the words of that old crippled fleshling may have provided you and these X-men a much needed boost in morale, but this operation was carefully planned. Do you really think I would lose so easily?” Megatron might’ve continued had a volley of lasers not reigned down from above, ripping through him and Stryker.

“Yes.” responded Paige and Anima in unison, the jet having switched into its second mode, a hover-tank. “Yes we do.”

“I’m afraid then…that…you are…mistaken…” Megatron’s words left his mouth fragmented, but what occurred next was clear to everyone. A harpoon like object was fired from his shoulder cannon, clipping Prime right through the chest; he then recalled the wire pulling Optimus into him.

“If you…if you…must…kill…Prime! BWHAHHAHAHAHAH!” he laughed, just about the clearest thing that had left his mouth. The Autobots, even Anima, of course, hesitated. They didn’t wish to kill their leader, and neither did the X-men but they knew his menace had to be stopped. Before they could do anything however, dozens of tendrils lashed out from the side of Stryker’s body and began devouring both Optimus and Megatron. The Autobots couldn’t make any moves to stop him because he was using his psychic abilities to affect their minds. The most Anima could do was eject Paige from her cockpit in case she tried to crush her.

Paige joined the other X-men on the ground who watched in horror as Stryker, having finished devouring the leader of the Autobots and Decepticons unveiled his awful robotic transformation, that of an enormous dragon.

“How is this possible…” cried Allison, rushing towards Gerald, who was still engaged in some sort of mental combat with the creature.

[i]It’s the power of my DNA Gerald, that’s how it’s possible.

“He says it’s the power of his DNA…but that…makes no sense…” struggled Gerald, fighting back the pain he was being caused by connecting his mind with the creatures.

Of course it is. I’m different from the other Muticons, because none of them were given DNA from a carrier of the Legacy Virus.

“No…” Gerald fell to his knees, tears running down his face. It was okay to accept that he was going to die here, in battle, but knowing that if he survived he’d kick the bucket anyway…

“Gerald, we need to do something!” screamed Roxy, rushing towards him. The team was surrounded from all sides. The mind-controlled Autobots, Stryker…there was nothing left that could save them.

“Look…” grunted Jazz, struggling just to point until into the sky where an entire fleet of Sentinels approached them.

“We have strict orders from Colonel Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. to ensure the destruction of this alien threat…and from Secretary of Defense Henry Peter Gyrich to eliminate the X-men.”

“No.” murmured Gerald as he looked up at the attack force.

“What do we do Professor…what do we do?” he heard Roxy mutter as the Sentinels prepared to fire upon them.

“We breathe fire. Calamity, Incubus, lava!” he shouted, the two of them taking his orders immediately. Within seconds an eruption of molten rock and fire shot up out of the ground (directly under Stryker) and up at the Sentinels. Marcus, Jubilee and Allison did their best to the shield the group from the rain of fire.

For an instant they almost thought their efforts had been enough, but when Stryker burst forth from the lava column, once against launching his tendrils, this time absorbing the remaining Sentinels, they knew all hope was lost. The team watched in horror as Stryker once again transformed before their very eyes.

“Now this…this I like.” he cackled, lording over the group, levitating above them. He now resembled something that had haunted the nightmares of most of the group for days since they had first encountered it. “I believe I should be calling myself Master Mold now?” he asked looking down on them.

”No. I possess within me the Autobot Matrix of leadership…I believe I shall call myself Master Prime. Does that sound too pretentious?”

“Yes.” responded Gerald, launching as powerful a psychic attack as he could against the creature. “Everybody…you need to…run…away…”

“Not an option.” strained Incubus, as he aided Gerald in his mental bout against the creature. The Autobots watched on hopelessly, the Autobots mainly because Master Prime had restricted their movements. The isn’t too the say the X-men, who were doing their best to destroy or at least somehow harm Master Prime’s body, weren’t feeling hopeless, they just knew there was no point in making it known verbally.

“I think I’ve got it!” shouted Allison, as she activated her comm. and hailed any of the Autobots that could still speak. “The acid you all leak, I haven’t been able to work with it…if one of you could just explain its chemical composition I might be able to make a bomb.”

“I’ll tell you…everything I can…” responded Ratchet, barely getting his message through before he lost the ability to speak. The acid, really having been Energon, was a foreign substance to Allison, she had never encountered it before, but once it had been explained to her, that changed. She could now feel the substance in the earth around their feet, flowing through the Autobots, and most especially, she could feel a great deal of it radiating from Master Prime.

“I need a bigger wound on that thing!” she screamed, as a beam of Prime’s energy ripped apart the ground around her, killing Jubilee instantly. She didn’t have time to cry for her teammate before Marcus had fulfilled her wish, expelling all of his energy to blow a hole in Prime’s leg, allowing the Energon to leak out.

Even though time was of the essence, Allison hesitated. She knew that once she began converting the Energon around them into a bomb, the chances would be slim they would be able survive the ensuing blast. Gerald, feeling the apprehension in her mind, gave her the nudge she needed.

It’s what has to be done. He sent out a singular goodbye to the rest of the team as he pressed on his mental barrage so that Allison could do her work. He felt a power surging up from within him and it was then that he could feel the Legacy Virus in his system. The prolonged usage of his abilities was doing little than bringing forth the condition, but at the same time, it was making him more powerful.

He could feel the heat welling up around them all, and it wasn’t just from the lava that Roxy was commanding in order to attack Stryker. It was Allison. All of the Energon in the ground, and in the machines around them – The Autobots and Stryker – all of it was igniting and it felt like a million little nuclear bombs going off around them.

Autbots…X-men…it’s been an honor.


Re: New Mutants/Transformers #3
Post by Orchestra the Mighty on Jul 13, 2007, 7:01am

“Steve, I think I found the last of them!”

Roxy had never been religious, truth be told, she didn’t know much about religion at all, but she opened her eyes and saw Ms. Marvel before her, engulfed in an aura of sunlight, she was sure that she had died and gone to heaven…fortunately for her, that wasn’t the case.

“What’s…what’s going on?” she asked, as she was lifted from the ground by the super-heroine. “Where am I?”

“You’re okay, and that’s all that matters!” shouted Rogue, flying forward and pulling Roxy from Ms. Marvel’s arms. Had Roxy not be so confused, she would’ve noticed the awkwardness between the two women.

“Rogue…I don’t…understand…” Roxy stated, as Rogue embraced her. The last thing she remembered was saying good bye to Gerald and everyone else, before it got hot and bright. While in Rogue’s arms she began to calm down and scan the area. The entire battlefield was little more than a wasteland, crawling with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Avengers, Fantastic Four members, and various X-people. Hand things been different she would’ve been excited, but right now, more than anything else, she just wanted to see her friends.

“They’re over there shug. Maybe ah should just let them explain.” Rogue, said, putting the young mutant down, who shakily approached the table where (most) her teammates sat, wrapped in blankets, with coffee and donuts.

“…bullshit if I’ve ever seen it…we save the fucking universe and they don’t even bring us the good stuff…this coffee’s from Dunkin Donuts damn it!” she cursed, before realizing that the team all had their attention turned on Roxy. “Oh. Hey kiddo. Donut?”

“What happened?” she asked, still in a bit of a daze.

The team truly had a hard time explaining it to her, since they weren’t really sure what had happened themselves. In order to help survive the explosion, something had buried them all deep under ground and placed them in psychically induced stasis. It would have been easy to assume that Gerald and Roxy had saved the day, neither had any recollection of carrying out such an action.

“Where’s Incubus?” asked Roxy, taking a seat next to Gerald, who looked considerably worse for wear than the rest of the team. He wouldn’t admit it then, not to anyone, but the Legacy Virus had already begun eating away at him.

“We’re pretty sure he didn’t make it, but he died saving us.” said Allison, raising her cup of coffee. “To Incubus…”

“To Jubilee…” stated Paige.

“To Stardust…” responded Gerald.

Roxy clenched her cup of coffee tightly and let out little more than a whisper. ”To Professor Xavier and…and all the Autobots…”

The team sat in silence for a few moments, reflecting on the fact that their teacher, their mentor, was truly gone…but this silence was broken by the sound of a scuffle coming from several yards away.

“You can’t take that!” shouted Anima, who had survived Allison’s only because she had thought quickly enough to transform the Energon in her body into another sufficient power source. There’s also the fact that she made a gambit and used her reality warping abilities to teleport herself several thousand feet into the air. She was glad it hard worked, but she doubted she could ever do it again. “Put it down!”

The scuffle was apparently between Anima and Reed Richards, who had stretched himself to appear her height.

“…this object could be of great use to…”

“Put it down Mr. Fantastic. Sir.” barked Roxy timidly, as she and the rest of the team approached. They had no clue exactly what the small golden object was, but they knew that if anyone had any claim to it, it was Anima, as she was the last remaining Autobot on the planet.

Before Richards could initiate any sort of fight, he was cut off by Nick Fury, who approached in his hover-chair.

“If the kid says give it up, give it up, Richards. We owe them this and so much more.” he stated, as Reed begrudgingly gave the device to Anima. Fury knew he’d get hell from Agent Brand of S.W.O.R.D. for what he had just done, giving up an alien artifact, but he didn’t care, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t already gotten enough to work with from the leftovers in New York and Washington.

“Thank you.” stated Anima, bending down on one knee and looking at the X-men. “I’m only a few hours old, but Ark was able to download a great deal of information into my mind before he was destroyed. I know that this is that Autobot Matrix of Leadership and that it must be returned to Cybertron.”

“You can’t go yet.” murmured Paige. “Not until we bury our dead.”

And so they did.

In the ensuing days the X-men, nee, the world, buried all those that had during what was being referred to as historians as “The Battle.” All those affiliated with the X-men gathered at what was left of the Xavier Institute in order to bury those who had died including: Dillon Drummond, Gregory Johansson, Warren Worthington, Jubilation Lee, Marcus Sun, Xavier Incubus, Scott & Jean Summers, Robert Drake, Jaime Madrox, Tabitha Smith, & Rahne Sinclair.

Tears were also shed for the other heroes that fell during the battle, including: Dwayne Taylor, Angelica Jones, Robert Baldwin, and Namorita Prentiss of the New Warriors, along with Jazz, Ratchet, Springer, Arcee, Ultra Magnus, Bumblebee, Hot Rod, Iron Hide, Grimlock, Slag, Sludge, Snarl, Swoop, and Optimus Prime of the Autobots.

Following all of the funerals, a great many changes took place within the X-men and around the world.

Anima returned to Cybertron with the Matrix of leadership, while on Earth, Henry Peter Gyrich was prosecuted to the full extent of the law following his rogue actions during “The Battle.”

The organizations of the various X-related teams were greatly restructured, mostly due to the deaths of the Professor, and several longtime members. X-factor broke away from the government and began independent operations as a global response unit to mutant related activities. Beast reopened the institute to students and split the number of X-men who operated from the school with that of the newly built west coast school, which was spearheaded by Cable, a few choice members of X-force, and those young men and women who had served bravely during “The Battle.”

It pained them all when months later Gerald Stryker passed away from complications due to the legacy virus, but life had to move on quickly when Anima, now leader of the Autobots, returned to Earth from Cybertron (with a few of the Autobots finest scientists in toe) with news of the war against the Decepticons.

Energon deposits were running low and it was absolutely imperative that that they begin mining it and shipping off-world to help the war effort immediately, and S.H.I.E.L.D. was happy to oversee their efforts, but when Anima requested Earth heroes to return to Cybertron with her, to join the Shi’ar forces that had joined their effort, the response was even more alarmingly positive. Heroes from all over the world, not just X-men, volunteered, and battling along side them, a new generation of Muticons, the Supercons; Autobots with the genetic material of Earth’s greatest heroes, some mutants, other human.

It had been a hard few years in space but eventually the war ended…

Epilogue

“…for some sooner than others, but I’m not going to pretend I regret having to come home. I mean, there have been some perks, like everyone waiting on me hand and foot.”

“You certainly know how to tell a story, Roxy…”

Roxy grinned as Sam entered her room, his scruffy beard covering most of his face, and his prosthetic leg clanking along with him. Given the advents in technology made from contact with the Autobots, Roxy knew that the only reason Sam’s leg was making any noise at all, is because he probably wasn’t taking regular care of it, not that it mattered. The thing was state of the art, and a few creaks would do little more than give it charm. Roxy still wondered sometimes if it could transform, but she never mustered up the courage to ask, despite all the years she had known Sam.

“…except you left out a part. Xavier’s speech.” he corrected, patting her on the shoulder.

“You’re right, I did forget the speech. How did I forget the speech.” she wondered, leaning down and staring at the small the infant who lay in a bed near her own. “Well when Auntie Paige left Ark in Auntie Anima, Professor Xavier remained behind and used Ark’s technology to relay scenes of the battle throughout the world, but that wasn’t all. He made a speech.”

“It wasn’t a long speech, or a particularly flowery speech like the kind that’s going to bore you to death when you start going school, but it was a good speech. The Professor urged mutants all around the world (like you, hopefully) to understand one simple truth: That we were different from humans, but that did not make us better than them, it simply gave us more responsibility. That whether or not we were the next step in human evolution or not that we had to ensure there would be a generation that followed us, whether they be entirely mutant or entirely human…”

And then his neck was broken by the Decepticon Frenzy, of Roxy didn’t include that part of the story.

“…that’s not exactly how it went, but mommy’s always had a bit of a bad memory.” She smiled, looking down at the child. Sam put his arm around her and kissed her on the forehead.

“Gosh I’m proud of you Roxy, we all are, but I don’t think you’ve got to hope for her to be a mutant…” he said, smiling, pointing out the child’s grey skin and horns which matched her mother. Her tail on the other hand, was a trait from her father.

“I know, I know,” Roxy giggle. “but I’d like her to have powers. That would be nice.”

“You know what would’ve been nice? If you had waited to have a kid. I still think you’re too young.” he said in his best fatherly tone. Roxy simply sighed and took a seat on her bed.

Even though it had been twenty years since she first joined the New Mutants, Sam insisted on treating her like a child. He had been against it when she joined the rest of her team, and he pitched a fit when she accompanied Anima to Cybertron.

The war on Cybertron had been over for several months now, but Roxy hadn’t been there to see it’s conclusion, having been sent back to Earth on account of her pregnancy.

“Don’t tell me I should’ve waited. What about Curt?” she asked.

“Curt’s got three already with a fourth on the way, he’s clearly a masochist.” Sam replied, a smile still on his.

“And Paige?”

“Paige isn’t on speaking terms with her son, Roxy.”

“He’s six.”

“You should’ve just followed Allison’s example.”

“Allison’s been divorced three times!” she shouted in mock anger, as the two shared a laugh.

“She’s just trying to get settled.” replied Sam, helping Roxy up off the bed. “Are you sure about this? Did the Doctor say you could…”

“…as a matter of fact Allison did tell me I could. She says “Hi.” Sam hugged Roxy before she kissed her daughter and exited the room. From the window he could see her running across the lawn of the mansion, already getting chewed out by both Paige and Anima, who had been waiting there for god knows how long.

In order to celebrate the end of the war and the anniversary of “The Battle” the Cybertronians had constructed two cities within our solar system. The first at the sight of “The Battle,” which they called the Xavier Institute, and the second, on the moon, where the Decepticons base had once been, Optima Prima.

Sam would’ve loved to have attended the unveiling of the city on the moon with Roxy (because after all these years he still hadn’t been off-world,) but he was content with babysitter duty.

“Hey kid.” he said, pulling a seat near the crib and looking through its bars. “Your mama ever tells you about your immortal uncle Sam?”


Re: New Mutants/Transformers #3
Post by Orchestra the Mighty on Jul 13, 2007, 7:04am

Edited Author's Note: Yeah I'm totally not writing anything again for a while.

Sorry if the combat seems kind of…not there…I suck at writing it so tried to avoid it, which is why so many of the Muticons and Autobots were simply taken out in one fell swoop, rather than killed in battle.

A lot of stuff was supposed to make it into the story, but I just couldn't work it in their and get it to flow:

- Originally, Curt was supposed to die (and I'm not even sure how Marcus wound up dying) but then I felt bad about having killed all the black New Mutants >_<

- Lex and Wreck were supposed to die at the hands of Megatron but that scene just didn't fit, plus, the whole point of it (Megatron retrieving the Muticon Incubus) just over-powered him way too much.

- Some stuff with Paige and Anima in space.

- The reason the war against the Decepticons lasting just about ten years is because they teamed up with the Phalanx (because as you can see, I tried to cram and warp as much of our established NM continuity to make this story and it's universe work)

- The original idea for this story (which makes me laugh now) was Sam, a farm boy in the midwest, would've made contact with The Muticons, a group of transformers based on the original New Mutants and Professor Xavier (with Magneto and his crew being their enemies) who wouldn't have been from Cybertron, but they were human mutants that the Cybertronians had helped reach an even further step in evolution by becoming machines…then there was some other stuff that reminded me of Beast Machines and after I finished throwing up I scraped that idea.

- Not really a flow issue, but I think I made everything Xavier say way to epic.


Re: New Mutants/Transformers #3
Post by Marisol Morales on Jul 13, 2007, 11:30am

Dude, you're fucking awesome.


Re: New Mutants/Transformers #3
Post by Protoman on Jul 13, 2007, 11:42am

So long….I'll read it sometime today.


Re: New Mutants/Transformers #3
Post by Paige "Anima" O'Hara on Jul 13, 2007, 9:19pm

Jul 13, 2007, 11:30am, Marisol Morales wrote:Dude, you're fucking awesome.

That sums up my feelings pretty accurately. This was the fucking shit.


Re: New Mutants/Transformers #3
Post by Orchestra the Mighty on Jul 13, 2007, 11:56pm

Glad you guys liked it.


Re: New Mutants/Transformers #3
Post by Liz "Euphony" O'Conner on Jul 13, 2007, 11:59pm

I for one did not, you whore. It was too long, so I only read the first post.


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