CHAPTER SEVEN
“Where are we?”
“I don’t know.”
Spacewarp revved lowly from her vocal processor. “I need a better answer than that.”
“It’s the only answer you’re getting,” Foldspace snapped.
The two of them, along with Nickel and Swindle, had found themselves in an empty grassy field on some organic planet, surrounded by a forest. It was nighttime wherever they were, with the moon shining bright above them. There was no sign of Krok or the rest of Swindle’s crew, nor was there any of Gigawatt and the Transwarp Blaster.
“I think this is Earth,” Nickel murmured. “I came here with Tarn and the others when we—”
“Wait,” Swindle said, staring at Nickel with wide purple optics. “You were with the D.J.D?!”
“I was until there wasn’t a D.J.D. to be a part of,” Nickel replied. “Relax, I’m not going to murder you. I was never part of that particular aspect to their operations.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s real reassuring,” Swindle retorted. “Do you have any idea how many times I had to pay off Tarn to get him off my back?”
“Nine hundred and five,” Nickel answered. “And yes,” she added when Swindle gave her a surprised look, “I kept count.”
“Focus, people!” Spacewarp snapped. “We need to find out where Gigawatt and the Transwarp Blaster ended up.”
“What about Krok and the others?”
“Yeah, them too, I suppose.”
“Hang on, I’ve got something,” said Foldspace. “I’m picking up some spark signatures.”
“Are they Decepticon?” asked Spacewarp.
“No idea. They’re definitely Cybertronian though, not Mini-Cons.”
“In any case, we might as well investigate.” Spacewarp transformed into her space shuttle mode, allowing Nickel and Swindle to climb on top. “Whether it is them or not, let’s just hope that they don’t give us any trouble.”
With that, Spacewarp kicked on her thrusters and blasted off into the night, heading towards whatever awaited them.
The Savage Land
Fulcrum wasn’t sure whose side he was supposed to be on. He certainly wasn’t on the side of these mutant humans and their robot friend, but then he also wasn’t keen on siding with the large metal warrior they were fighting. Despite being outnumbered—and “outsized” by Ultimate X-Spanse in particular—Death’s Head was holding up against the X-Men as he deflected their eye beams and dodged their clawed swipes. The only thing that seemed to be stopping him from outright massacring them with his ax and mace was Jean Grey, who appeared to be holding the metal warrior back with her mind powers. Fulcrum wasn’t going to even try to understand how humans could have mind powers….
For his part, JP-93 was also largely staying out of the fight, opting instead to keep a watch over Fulcrum and the still-comatose Krok, Misfire, and Spinister. However, when Death’s Head had finally broke free from Jean Grey’s control and had been about to cleave Cyclops in two, JP-93 drew his weapon and fired it at the alien warrior. Electrical whips shot out and wrapped around Death’s Head, who cried out as his body seized up. This gave Cyclops the opportunity to fire a blast from his visor, though it inflicted little damage on Death’s Head.
Breaking free from his confinements, Death’s Head switched his attention to JP-93 and lunged at the Autobot. Before he could get close however, Ultimate X-Spanse grabbed him from behind and hurled him back into a tree. The impact was strong enough to split the tree in half, sending wooden shrapnel flying everywhere.
“I don’t know who you are,” X-Spanse said, brandishing his energy claws as he stormed towards the fallen bounty hunter. “But you are not leaving this island alive!”
“Look,” Death’s Head muttered as he got back up, brushing himself off. “My business isn’t with you, yes? I just want the Grey girl.”
“What do you even want with her, bub?” Wolverine growled, coming to stand beside X-Spanse along with Cyclops.
“Not for you to know,” Death’s Head retorted. “Just doing my job, yes? Let me do my job and no one else needs to be—”
“Wait.” Jean Grey suddenly stepped forward, standing between Death’s Head and the others. “Can’t you tell me?”
Death’s Head blinked at her. “Pardon?”
“If I’m your target, then surely I should have the right to know what you want me for.”
Death’s Head stared at her blankly for a moment before narrowing his eyes. “If you’re the one I’m after, then you already know.”
“And if I’m not?” Jean Grey asked.
“You’ll be dead by then either way, so I don’t think it matters much, yes?”
“I’ve heard enough!” Wolverine roared as he charged towards Death’s Head. The mechanical warrior raised his shield as the claw-baring mutant slashed at him, before swinging his mace and sending the X-Man flying into a tree.
“Logan!” Jean Grey cried as she reached out with her hands and seized Death’s Head with an invisible force. The bounty hunter let out a yell as he was launched into the air and thrown in the direction of the sea. His cries faded into the distance as he plummeted towards the ocean, culminating with a faint splash.
“Okay,” Fulcrum said. “I am officially both disgusted and terrified by you humans.”
No one seemed to be listening to him as Jean Grey and the other X-Men rushed over to check on Wolverine, although X-Spanse stayed behind with JP-93 to keep watch over Fulcrum and the other Scavengers.
“This is turning out to be a very strange day,” X-Spanse muttered.
“You’re telling me?” JP-93 replied. “I don’t see how it can get any stranger.”
As if the universe wanted to make a point, a silver car burst out of the forest and skidded to a halt in front of them, changing shape to take the form of yet another Autobot.
“Finally! About time I found you. Let’s hurry up and find the others so we can….” The silver bot trailed off as he looked at Ultimate X-Spanse and JP-93, apparently noticing them for the first time. His spectacled optics went wide as he took a step back, gawking in horror.
“Oh no. I’m too late. It’s already begun!”
“What?” JP-93 asked. “What’s already begun?”
“The Crossover! It’s happening as we speak!” The Autobot clutched his head. “Any minute now, we’re all going to—!”
Before he could finish, a bright light erupted from the ocean and began to envelop the island and everything on it. All Fulcrum could do was shield his optics as the light consumed them all.
* * *
“He’s gone now. You can stop playing dead.”
The mutilated human corpse that Death’s Head had left behind started to shift and morph, slowly regenerating itself back into a comprehensible form. “Did I do good?”
“Good enough,” the woman standing next to him said. “We’ll have to move quickly though; when that bounty hunter comes back—and he will—we won’t be so lucky next time.”
“Do we have to change our identities again?”
“No.” The woman looked at a watch on her wrist. “We’re due in Axiom Nexus. The Crossover is about to begin, if it hasn’t already.”
“Are we all set then? Do we have everything that we need?”
“Yes.” The woman’s face split open and peeled back, revealing the eyeless visage of a Dire Wraith. “They won’t know what hit them,” Dakosan said. “And when they do… it will be too late to stop us!”
"SCAVENGERS II" WILL CONTINUE IN 2022
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