Transformers Regenerated: Beyond Imagination I, Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE: VENOMOUS BITE

 Alternate Earth

If the humans that Gears had encountered in this alternate reality so far weren’t already strange enough, than the ones he met at the Baxter Building were even more so. The X-People that May had referred to were made up of mutated humans with giant wings, ape-like arms, and stretchy limbs; even Dr. Reed Richards, the scientist that was supposed to figure everything out, had the ability to stretch his body in ways Gears didn’t think were possible. His arms were going in all sorts of directions while his neck extended to look at monitors that were so high up on the ceiling that Gears didn’t think a big ‘bot like Grimlock would be able to reach. Sometimes he had to look away because the mere sight of these humans were making the logical centers of his brain module overload as they tried to comprehend them.

After spending quite some time performing calculations on his computers and monitors and whatever other gadgets he had strewn across the giant lab, Dr. Reed Richards finally spoke up.

“All right. I can confirm that our friend Gears here is indeed from another Earth. Earth-9814, to be precise.”

“Oh god, you’ve given them numbers?” Gears groaned, holding his head in his hands.

“Of course,” Reed said matter-of-factly. “All realities in the multiverse must have a unique designation in order to distinguish them. Our reality—the one you’re currently in—is called Earth-103192.”

“Great. Good to know. So how do I get back to Earth Ninety-whatever?”

“Before we get to that, we need to know where Ultimate X-Spanse went,” said the leader of the X-People, a red-haired woman named Jean Grey.

“Funny you should mention that,” said Reed. “From what I can gather, Ultimate X-Spanse is from Earth-9814 as well. His quantum temporal signature matches that of Gears.”

“Wait, how long have you guys had a Cybertronian on your team?” Gears asked.

“About twenty-five years,” said Jean. “In fact, we discovered him before we even knew what you guys were, since the Transformers that we knew didn’t show up until two years later.”

“And you said he was captured by another robot? As in another Cybertronian?”

“It appears that way,” said Reed. “All signs indicate this particular Cybertronian is from another Earth entirely: Earth-42408, specifically.”

“I swear to Primus if you try to quiz me on all these numbers….” Gears grumbled.

“And where did this other Cybertronian take X-Spanse?” asked May, who had since redonned her Spider-Girl outfit and was hanging from the ceiling on a web.

Reed squinted at one of his monitors. “If my calculations are correct, he was taken to Mojoworld.”

“Mojoworld?” The X-Person known as Jubilee groaned. “Oh, great….”

Gears grimaced. “Do I dare ask what Mojoworld is?”

“It’s a planet within a pocket dimension known as the Mojoverse,” explained Jean Grey. “It’s ruled by a being called Mojo, whom we’ve had some encounters with. Although it’s been quite some time since we’ve last had to deal with him.”

“Any idea why this Mojo would want with a Cybertronian?”

“To entertain his audience,” said Jubilee. “It’s what he does; capture people from other realities and pit them against each other to appease his viewers. It’s all a television show to him.”

“And does he ever send people back to their home realities?” Gears asked.

“Only if they’re really, really lucky. And survive whatever torment he puts them through.” 

“Right.” Gears sighed heavily. “So we’re gonna have to rescue him, don’t we?”

“Worry not!” said Reed. “I have recently modified the Bridge to access pocket dimensions as well as alternate realities. I can send you to the Mojoverse and bring you back before sending you to your home reality. The only hard part will be rescuing X-Spanse.”

“Okay, is that seriously his name?” Gears asked. “Because it’s really grating how you enunciate the ‘X’ before—”

“So, which one of us gets a free trip to Mojoworld?” asked Spider-Girl.

“Well, Gears is an obvious choice, given his origin and nature,” said Reed. “I suppose you’re volunteering as well?”

“You know it,” Spider-Girl replied.

“Then that just leaves one more. If I send more than three through the Bridge, then it can become difficult to keep track of you and retrieve you all in one piece. I’ve learned my lesson after that trip to Earth-21915….”

“Then I shall go,” said Jean Grey, stepping forward.

“What?” Jubilee exclaimed. “Jean, no, you’ve got a school to look after!”

“The rest of the faculty can look after it in my absence. I trust Ororo and the others. And you’ve got a team to lead. Besides, I’m sure my psychic abilities will come in handy when dealing with Mojo and his minions.” 

Jubilee and the rest of her team looked as if they were about to protest, but a look from Jean seemed to silence them. After waiting to hear any more volunteers or objections, Reed gave a simple nod.

“All right. I will prepare the Bridge. Once you’re all ready, I’ll send you off to Mojoworld.”

“Awesome!” Spider-Girl lowered herself to tap Gears on the shoulder. “Ready for a team-up, Grumpy Face?”

Gears sighed. “I’m ready to go home.”

Earth-9814

“You certainly know how to make an entrance.”

“Silence, Baroness, before I put you back where I found you.”

Sari awoke to the sound of the bickering voices. Pulling herself up, she saw that she was in a cell within a wide underground lair. Through the metal bars, she could see Baroness—now in a form-fitting spy suit bearing the Cobra insignia—speaking with a masked man in a brown trenchcoat. Said mask was nothing more than a featureless chrome plate, with a wide-brimmed fedora topped over it. He looked as if he had jumped out of one of those pulp crime fiction novels, or from that Dick Tracey movie that her dad liked to watch.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the rescue.” Baroness ran her hand down the masked man’s arm as she smiled slyly. “I didn’t know you cared.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” hissed the man whom Sari could only assume was none other than Old Snake himself. His voice was high-pitched and raspy, only adding on to the snake imagery. “You were simply in the right place at the right time; I needed to engineer a breakout at Blackwater to serve as a useful distraction.”

“Well, I’m sure the police are sufficiently distracted.” Baroness stepped away from Old Snake to pace around the large chamber, taking in the various monitors, computers, and scientific-looking things that were all around the place. “So, what’s the plan now?”

“Prometheus Black’s failure has set us back slightly,” Old Snake replied. “I did not account for these… machines to stick their noses into our operations. But no matter; this is easily recoverable.”

At the mention of “machines,” Sari looked out her cell to see that Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Prowl were laying nearby, apparently in stasis lock. Seated near them in some sort of hover-seat was an old man with most of his body covered in machinery, leaving only half of his face and some of his upper chest exposes, and even then his skin appeared to be heavily scarred and burnt. Based on Prowl’s description of him, Sari guessed that this was Doctor Arkeville, a rogue agent of Sector Seven’s.

“With luck, having an opportunity to examine these Cybertronians up close will give me a chance to improve our Viper models,” Arkeville said, gleefully rubbing his hands together.

“I would hope so,” Old Snake remarked. “Otherwise, your presence here—and your use to me—would be in question.”

Chastened, Arkeville bowed his head and turned away to focus on his work. Old Snake then turned to face Sari’s cell, focusing his attention on her for the first time.

“I’m actually more intrigued by this young lady here,” he said, slowly stepping up to the cell. “You’re not fully human, are you, Miss Sumdac?”

“How do you know who I am?” Sari asked, getting up to her feet. She tried to activate her defensive systems and armor but they did not respond; someone must have put something on her to prevent her from using them to break free.

“I would be remiss to not recognize the daughter of the brilliant Isaac Sumdac. Especially when he’s been in my company for so long.”

Old Snake gestured with his hand and a light lit up to reveal another cell next to Sari’s. Within it was her father Isaac Sumdac, looking tired as he weakly turned his head to look at her.

“Sweetheart,” he croaked. “I am so sorry. For everything….”

Grabbing the bars of her cell, Sari glowered at Old Snake. “What have you done to him?! Let him go!”

“I have done nothing to him other than provide hospitality,” Old Snake said. “He has been courteous enough to provide us access to his company’s assets and technology, if only after some… careful persuasion.”

“I swear to God if you’ve hurt him….”

“Sari,” Isaac said weakly from his cell. “This is all my fault. All of this is because of me….”

Sari frowned. “Dad, don’t talk like that. Don’t blame yourself for any of this.”

“Oh, he is certainly not without fault,” Old Snake chuckled. “But he didn’t know any better. He was simply blind to all of the people manipulating him.”

“What are you talking about?”

Old Snake sighed melodramatically. “Must I explain everything? Surely even a child as bright as you would be able to see the duplicitous nature of Sumdac’s old friend Porter Powell.”

Sari grimaced. “Of course I’ve seen it. But what does he—”

“Powell has been my eyes and ears in some of the world’s biggest corporations in the world. From Epsilon Holdings to Sumdac Systems, from KSI to Hotchkiss Gould Investments. I even knew about those Machination folks that were pulling the strings up until a few years ago and made some deals with them so that I could pick their remains after they inevitably collapsed. Which is exactly what I did. Of course, I still had to remain low while that Blackrock fellow made a scene on the public stage, but as soon as Powell told me he was out of the picture, I was able to finalize the preparations for my plan.”

“Which is for—let me guess—world domination?”

“Ah, you are a clever one,” Old Snake remarked. “Yes, my ambitions have hardly diminished over the past three decades. I’ve simply learned to be more… subtle in my planning. Caught unawares by my reassembled forces and new inventions, the Joes—or whatever form they have taken on now—and their robot friends will not be able to stop me from fulfilling my lifelong plan.”

“Hate to break it to you, but from what I’ve heard my Autobot buddies have gone up against far worse than you,” Sari said. “From robot tyrants to planet-eating gods… you would be nothing but an ant to them.”

“Perhaps. But even the most experienced soldier can be overwhelmed by an army of ants. Or, more appropriately, a nest of snakes.” 

Old Snake reached into the pockets of his trenchcoat and brought out a small remote, pressing a button on it. Behind him, hidden panels in the walls slid down to reveal an assortment of robots, ranging from the stout blue and red Viper drones that Gears had encountered to tall and lanky black and orange bots with blade-like arms. At their center was a mech unlike any of the others, bearing a gold and green color scheme with wide, swooping wings on its back. Old Snake then pressed another button and the room started to shake as the ceiling began to open up, revealing the starry, nighttime sky.

“And this particular snake has a rather venomous bite to it.”

*  *  *

As soon as Teletraan-1 had picked up reports of a massive breakout at Blackwater Prison in Detroit, coinciding with loss of contact with Bumblebee’s team, Optimus Prime had quickly assembled a team of Autobots and led them through Autobot City’s GroundBridge to Detroit. While the Protectobots were sent to help contain the outbreak and protect the civilians, Optimus led Ratchet, Jazz, Ironhide in searching for Bumblebee and his team.

“I’m still picking their signatures, but they’re faint,” Ratchet said as he drove alongside Optimus in his ambulance mode. “It says they should be right around here, but I don’t see them.”

“Think they might be below us?” Ironhide asked.

“It is possible,” said Optimus. “But we would need to find a way to get underground without tearing up the streets.”

“Wait.” Ratchet suddenly screeched to a halt, forcing the other Autobots to do the same. “I’m picking up more energy signatures. They’re not Autobot—or even Cybertronian, for that matter—but they’re coming from the same place as—”

Before he could finish, the ground started to shake and the Autobot immediately converted to their robot modes, drawing their weapons as they prepared for whatever came next. Optimus’ scanners started to alert him of the same energy signatures Ratchet had detected and he looked up to see a number of winged shapes launching up into the sky. They then reoriented themselves and started to fly back towards the city, aiming their weapons directly at the Autobots.

“Looks like we’ll be tearing up the streets anyway,” Jazz remarked as the drones opened fire.

Taking cover, the Autobots returned fire and managed to take down the first set of drones leading the wave. Suddenly, the rest began to change shape, their wings extending into arms as the rest of the drone took the shape of a bipedal robot. They were followed by a flight of A-10 Thunderbolts that took on robot forms as well and began to unload their arsenal of weaponry on the Autobots.

“Don’t tell me these are more of Scorponok’s man-made knock-offs!” Ironhide cried out over the roar of his arm cannons.

“They’re knock-offs either way, given how easily they blow apart,” Ratchet said as he blasted one Viper drone after the other. “But there’s still more of them than there are of us. We’re gonna get overwhelmed pretty soon if they don’t stop coming.”

“I’ll call Autobot City for backup,” Optimus said. “In the meantime, Jazz, I want you and Ratchet to go find Bumblebee and his team. Ironhide and I will handle the drones until reinforcements arrive.”

“Are you sure you two will be able to handle them?” asked Jazz.

“We will have to be, because my order stands regardless.”

Knowing Optimus well enough to know when not to argue, Jazz motioned for Ratchet to follow him as he converted to his alternate mode and drove off, with Ratchet following him closely behind as they followed Bumblebee’s team’s signatures.

Mojoworld

One of Gears’ first memories—and the one he often revisited the most more than any other—was seeing the city of Helex for the first time. Before his activation, it had been a stronghold for the Decepticons during the First Great War (although back then it was just “the Great War”) and had fallen into a state of disrepair after a major battle that had helped spearhead the Decepticons’ defeat. His mentor Wheeljack had since led a project to restore the city to its former glory but it was still a long and grueling process, and it was hardly a beautiful sight when Gears first laid his optical sensors on it. 

Perhaps it was because of this that Gears had spent so much of his life being dour about everything; he would always hear other bots from grander cities like Iacon brag about how beautiful and glorious their homes were while he was stuck with a dump like Helex. Sure, the project to restore the city was eventually finished and considered successful (even if all of that success was wiped away when the Decepticons returned), but it was nonetheless something that had bothered Gears for many, many years.

In any case, seeing Mojoworld for the first time was starting to make Gears reconsider his thoughts on Helex because sweet Primus was it the worst place he had ever seen.

Whoever had designed the architecture of this place was clearly not from the same school of design as the likes of Grapple or Erector; there was no sense to their construction, with doors leading out to nowhere and spiral staircases on the outside that went all the way up to the ceiling with no break in between. The doors were also varying sizes, indicating that humans were not the only residents of Mojoworld, and indeed as Gears extended the scope of his vision from where he and his human companions stood on the outskirts of the city, he could see a variety of organics and machines roaming about the place, all looking either miserable or forcing themselves to look happy. If Gears wasn’t already homesick for Cybertron, he was now starting to feel homesick for Earth because at least its architecture made sense for its inhabitants.

To his relief, he wasn’t the only one who felt this way, for Spider-Girl was quick to speak her thoughts aloud. “Wow, what a circus.”

“Quiet,” Jean Grey hissed. “We don’t want to alert them to our presence; Mojo doesn’t take kindly to offworlders that aren’t participating in his program.”

“How exactly are we going to blend in?” Gears asked. “I mean, moreso me than you guys, ‘cos I don’t see any Cybertronians in the crowds.”

“Just stay in your pickup truck form,” said Spider-Girl.

“I don’t see any pickup trucks either. Besides, how are we even going to get through the crowds to where we’re going? Do you guys even know where we’re heading?”

Before either Spider-Girl or Jean Grey could reply, a floating monitor suddenly materialized in front of them, causing Gears to yelp in alarm. A red screen flashed on the monitor as appendages extended from out of its sides and pointed some sort of scanner at the trio.

“Offworlders detected,” a monotone voice came out from the monitor. “Please stay still and comply with directions as we determine your nature and universe of origin.”

“Crap,” Spider-Girl muttered. “What do we do?”

“When in doubt, just start punching things!” Gears exclaimed.

“Wait!” Jean said. “Don’t—”

Before she could even finish, Gears threw a fist at the monitor. Its screen flashed blue and a bright light enveloped him. When it faded away, his fist made contact with a steel wall and he was knocked off of his feet, landing on his back.

“Ow,” he uttered.

“Don’t feel bad,” an unfamiliar voice said. “I made the same mistake.”

Gears sat up and looked around the new location he was in. He could already tell he was in a cell of some kind because there were four walls and no doors or windows. Turning around, he saw that five other bots in the room with him. Judging by their Autobot insignia, they had to all be Cybertronian of some kind, yet a couple of them looked a bit… different from what he was used to. In particular was a bulky silver, blue, and red bot that walked over to Gears and extended a hand to him. His body was overly detailed with all sorts of pistons and inner-workings being exposed, and jagged lines throughout his armor plating. It almost made him look like as if he was made out of shrapnel. Regardless of the bot’s strange appearance, Gears accepted the proffered hand and allowed the other ‘bot to help him up.

“Welcome to Mojoworld,” the strange bot said. “What’s your name, friend?”

“Uh, Gears. My name is Gears.”

“Gears, huh?” The silver bot chuckled. “Well, that will be easy to remember.”

Gears frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Because that’s my name as well. I’m Gears of Earth-70307.”

All of the bots in the room were forced to tune down their audio receptors as Gears let out a loud, anguished scream.

Star Wars: Vergence IV, Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Frozen moon, UR-2212-GR system, Unknown Regions

“I’m already starting to regret offering to come along….”

Jaden Korr ignored Khedryn Faal’s grumbling as the two of them, along with Marr Idi-Shael, made their way through the Imperial research base. From the looks of things, nothing had been touched in the two years since their last visit to the moon. Abandoned equipment and other materials still remained in the same spots where they had left them, indicating that no one else had been to the moon after they had left. Of course, Jaden had been around long enough to know that appearances could always be deceiving.

They made their way to the lab where they had found recordings left behind by the scientists that had worked at the facility. From what Jaden could recall, the recordings had indicated that the facility had been under the jurisdiction of Grand Admiral Thrawn and was being used as a test site for Force-sensitive clones, made from the DNA of various Force-users. It was where the strange community of clones—consisting of the likes of Seer, Runner, and Hunter—had originated from. The clones had also been made using the DNA of Emperor Palpatine himself, which made Jaden wonder just how involved the Emperor had been with the project or if it had been entirely Thrawn’s passion project. 

Upon reaching the lab, Jaden had Khedryn stand guard outside while he and Marr ventured in. Approaching the main computer, Jaden switched it on and began to sift through in search of any stored recordings that he hadn’t already seen two years ago.

“Amazing that anything in this facility is still operational,” Marr remarked as he looked around the decrepit building.

Jaden frowned as he looked down at the computer. “It’s gone.”

Marr looked at him. “What?”

“The footage… the recordings… they’re all gone.”

“Maybe they’re corrupted—”

“No, they’re all gone! As in someone went in here and erased them all.”

Khedryn poked his head into the room. “What’s going on?”

“The recordings that we found here last time… they’ve all been erased. It must’ve been done manually.” Jaden stepped away from the computer as if it was cursed and shook his head. “Someone else has been here.”

Khedryn started cursing up a storm while Marr tugged at his goatee. “Question is, are they still here?”

“I don’t want to stay around to find out,” Khedryn said. “Let’s get back to the ship before—”

Jaden did not hear the rest of Khedryn’s words as he was immediately attacked with a pounding headache. He let out a cry of pain as he fell to his knees, clutching his head as the room around him warped away. The coldness of the room was replaced with a humid heat, and the smell of lava and sulfur filled his nose.

“Jaden, stay back!” a familiar voice rang in his ear. “Please… don’t… hurt me!”

Fighting against the pain, Jaden managed to open his eyes enough to see the scene unfolding in front of him. He saw Rosh Penin, his friend from his days as an apprentice, standing in front of a lightsaber-wielding figure. He recognized the location around them as Taspir III, with this moment being the time when he had nearly given in to the dark side and killed Rosh. However, the lightsaber wielder was not him—at least, he did not recognize them as himself. Rather than a human male, the figure was instead a Twi’lek woman, her eyes blazing with anger.

“Jaden!” The voice of Kyle Katarn echoed around him. “You’re better than that! Don’t give into your anger! Rosh is telling the truth!”

But the words of his master was not enough to stop the Twi’lek from cutting down Rosh in cold blood. Jaden opened his mouth to call out Rosh’s name only for his headache to renew its assault, and he cried out in agony instead. As darkness curled around the edges of his vision, the Twi’lek turned to face him, her lightsaber now a violent shade of red. As she stepped towards him, her appearance began to drastically change, taking on the shape of a Zabrak, and than a blonde-haired human. She then knelt down and brought a hand to Jaden’s chin, forcing him to look up.

“Yes,” the woman said, her voice as cool as the ice on the moon. “This is him. This is the Iteration.”

Jaden gasped as he came back to reality. Taking the place of his female self was a figure cloaked entirely in black, robes and scarfs covering their face. Other cloaked figures were standing nearby, holding Khedryn and Marr hostage.  As two others came over to pull Jaden up, one of them spoke to the one in front of Jaden.

“What shall we do with these two?”

The cloaked female inclined her head to look at Marr and Khedryn. “The Cerean is Force-sensitive,” she said after a moment. “He might be of use. You may dispose of the other.”

Jaden’s eyes widened. “No, wait—!”

Before the words could even leave his mouth, a scarlet lightsaber blade ignited and pierced through Khedryn’s chest. The pilot’s eyes briefly went wide before his entire body went slack. Marr cried out his friend’s name before the cloaked acolyte holding him put a gag over his mouth.

“Take them both to the ship,” the leader of the acolytes said. “We’re almost done here; just a few more loose ends to tidy up.”

“Who… who even are you?” Jaden croaked, his voice weak from anguish.

“We are those who have waited in the shadows for countless generations. We are those descended from the original darkness, the First Shadow. After watching endless victories and failures, it is time for us to reveal ourselves and bring forth the Final Shadow. We are the Eternal. We are the true Sith.”

One of the acolytes stepped forward to put cloaks over Marr and Jaden’s heads. The last thing Jaden saw was the leader of the acolytes as she pulled back her mask and revealed her face. He felt his heart sink like a rock at the sight of it.

“And our day of revenge is at hand.”

TO BE CONTINUED

Star Wars: Vergence IV, Chapter Fifteen

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

En route to the Ileenium system

As the blue tunnel of hyperspace swirled before her eyes, Rey found her mind drifting into places unknown.

The Sith holocron continued to whisper to her, speaking her name as it called out for her attention. It was still in the satchel Finn had put it in, which he had since moved further away from her as if sensing that she was still being tempted by it. How he wasn’t being affected by it, she had no idea. It was almost as if the holocron wanted her and only her.

She tried to ignore it, but whenever she did strange images would flash in her mind. She saw a jagged, spiked throne surrounded by lightning, occupied by a cloaked figure with white eyes that burned like stars, whispering the same word over and over again.

“Mine.”

It was a voice that sounded familiar, almost paternally. Was the figure supposed to be her father? Or some other relative, perhaps? Still, there was also something off about the voice, something ethereal about it that made her wonder if it was simply pretending to be her father or any kind of relative. Like it was trying to lure her somewhere; as to where, she was at a loss.

This was not the only thing she found herself dwelling on. The words of Kylo Ren also continued to echo in her mind. You clearly want it more than I do, he had said in reference to the holocron. Perhaps you even need it more than I do. 

Did she truly want the holocron? Did she truly need it? Or was it simply the dark side trying to trick her? Toah had warned her about the dangers of the dark side, how it could deceive impressionable minds… yet somehow, she had never found his explanations to be convincing. To her, it felt as if he was simply trying to convince himself that the dark side was something better of untouched, untapped. Yet from what she had seen and experienced for herself, Rey couldn’t help but wonder if a lot of the galaxy’s problems could be solved in a heartbeat if one simply embraced the dark side for what it was: the true, raw potential of the Force.

“We’ll be exiting hyperspace in a few minutes,” Vi Moradi announced from the cockpit, snapping Rey back to reality. “Just to give you guys a head’s up.”

Rey readjusted herself in her seat and glanced at Finn, who was staring intently at her. Turning to face him, she asked, “What is it?”

“It’s still talking to you, isn’t it?” he asked.

She turned away from him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Look, Rey, I’m no expert on this kind of stuff, but from what I understand, these Sith relics are a danger to everyone, especially Jedi.”

“How would you know?” she snapped at him. “You’re not a Jedi.”

“Neither are you,” he pointed out. “Not yet, anyways.”

She was about to fire off another retort when she felt the ship exit hyperspace and come out into the orbit of D’Qar. Less than a minute later, alarms began to wail around the ship as Vi spoke up again from the cockpit.

“We’ve got a problem.”

Both Rey and Finn got out of their seats to exit the cockpit, at which point they saw right away what said problem was. A number of Star Destroyers were dropping out of hyperspace as well, each one deploying an entire flight of TIE fighters that began to make their way towards the planet.

“This can’t be happening,” Vi muttered as she stared at the scene unfolding before her eyes. “How could they have found us?”

“Must be a mole or something,” said her co-pilot. “Maybe someone at the base was a spy all along.”

Rey felt Finn glance at her; at first, she thought it was an accusatory look, which didn’t make sense to her since she wasn’t the one that was an ex-stormtrooper. But then she thought back to how they had gotten to this point in the first place; how they had gone on a pointless mission against orders and gotten nothing from it besides a dangerous Sith relic… and how it had all started because of what 11-4D had told her. A droid whose origins or purpose she did not fully know or understand.

Until now.

Meeting Finn’s gaze, Rey said quietly, “We’ve just made a huge mistake.”

“Yes,” he whispered back. “I think we have.”  

The Supremacy

“You can sense it, can’t you?”

Kylo Ren ignored Darth Vorath as he sat on his throne aboard the Supremacy. His attention was focused on the oculus viewing device that displayed the First Order fleet jumping out of hyperspace to surround the planet of D’Qar, supposed location of the Resistance’s hidden base. Not long after he had departed from Batuu, the Supremacy had received the coordinates to the base from an anonymous source, and General Pryde’s sources had corroborated the data and found it legitimate enough to be worth investigating. Judging by the Resistance ships and starfighters that were beginning to lift off from the planet to confront the First Order, it appeared the information had been legitimate after all.

“We have been deceived.”

Kylo Ren clenched his fists. No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, the ancient Dark Lord’s voice persisted in his mind, forcing him to accept the truth.

“The Supreme Leader lives.”

Growling in anger, Kylo Ren seized the oculus with the Force and ripped it from out of the floor, hurling it in the direction of the Attendants that maintained the device. The purple-cloaked beings ducked for cover as the device flew past them and crashed into the wall before falling down a bottomless chasm.

Ignoring the pressing gaze of Vorath’s current body from the nearby force cage, Kylo Ren hailed Captain Yago on his comlink.

“Captain, have them prepare my fighter. I shall be joining the battle.”

“As you wish, Executor.”

Before Yago had even finished speaking, Kylo Ren was marching down the pathway leading to the throne room’s turbolift. He kept his back turned even as he stepped in, letting the doors close behind him. Even then, he could still feel Vorath’s gaze burned into the back of his head, a sensation that stuck with him all the way down. 

The Errant Venture

“No. Absolutely not.”

Booster Terrik stood on the bridge of the Errant Venture, his arms crossed as he held a stare down with Kyla Kishanti and Sare Valrisa. The Rybet known as Cyclops—recently outed by Argus Ordo as the Malvis Cabal’s spy within the Smugglers’ Alliance—nervously stood at Booster’s side. Booster had decided to keep him close by rather than send him to the brig, figuring from his own experiences that the Rybet would just get up to more trouble if he wasn’t in his line of sight.

“We are not going to Ord Talavos,” Booster elaborated further. “Not after we encountered a sample of what the Cabal had to offer back at Takodana. We’re lucky they decided to play nice with us.”

“But it’s the only way we can bring an end to the Cabal,” Kyla insisted. “Ord Talavos is the heart of their operations. Take out the heart and the rest will fall.”

“If what you’ve learned and what you’ve told me is all true, then the Cabal has already seeded itself deep within galactic society. If they’ve got their own man running the Alliance now, then taking them out at Ord Talavos won’t do anything. They’re at Coruscant, Corellia, Alsakan, Hosnian, Chandrila….”

“Sedratis,” Valrisa murmured.

Both Booster and Kyla turned to look at her. “What was that?” the former asked.

“We’ve never investigated Sedratis,” Valrisa said. “I remember one of the Resistance’s pilots saying that Sedratis was a likely location of where the Cabal was operating. It’s where my… my mother was from, and she was a prominent member.”

“There you go,” Booster grunted. “No matter what head we cut off, there’s still a million left over even as two more take its place. Look, I wanna get rid of these folks as much as you do, but we can’t just charge headfirst into any—”

“Uh, Captain,” a Togruta comm officer called out from her station. “We’re receiving a call. It’s coming from….”

Booster looked at the officer in annoyance. “Well, then, spit it out!”

“It’s coming from Ord Talavos.”

Booster’s eyebrows shot up and he exchanged glances with Kyla and Valrisa. He then gave the officer to go-ahead to put the call to visual and the viewscreen lit up over the bridge. Rather than display the face of Drakmos, as Booster and the other two had been expecting, it instead showed the face of a green-skinned Twi’lek, grinning toothily at her audience.

“Well met, Captain Terrik,” the Twi’lek said. “My name is Viira of the Veiled Sorority.”

“I remember you,” Valrisa said, stepping into view of the screen. “You were with Queen Kestora and her crew.”

“Former Queen Kestora,” Viira corrected her. She held up the mask of the Pirate Queen, her grin growing even wider and more malicious. “That title now belongs to me.”

Valrisa opened her mouth to question the Twi’lek further but Booster silenced her with a raise of his hand as he stepped back in front of her. “What do you want?” he grunted.

“I simply saw it fit to inform you of recent… events,” Viira replied. “Consider it a gesture of goodwill, should we ever be required to join forces.”

“That’ll be up to Karrde to decide,” Booster said. “What do you have to say, then?”

“The leadership of the Malvis Cabal has been… decimated, for lack of a better word. They had a gathering here on Ord Talavos to celebrate their victory on Coruscant and, needless to say, the host—Drakmos the Despised himself—did not treat his guests too kindly.”

Booster, Valrisa, and Kyla all stared at the viewscreen in shock. “You mean… they’re all dead?” Valrisa asked.

“Most of them. Mikus, Gaar Tandoon…. Some of them managed to escape; we offered Madame Maeva a ride off-world, and we saw some of the others manage to make it to their ships. At least, those that weren’t destroyed in the blast.”

“What blast?” asked Booster.

“I’m not quite sure, to be honest. Some kind of ship fired down on the fortress in Vostal and blew up the courtyard, killing Drakmos and destroying some of the ships in the process. We essentially took that as our cue to leave.”

“And Malvis?” Valrisa asked. “Was he there?”

Viira shrugged. “I wasn’t there, so it’s not for me to say.”

Grimacing, Booster motioned for Viira to be put on mute before turning to look at Kyla and Valrisa. “I’m not buying any of this,” he muttered to the two of them. “Seems too good to be true.”

“I’m not sure what she has to gain by lying about this,” Kyla said. “Even if she’s telling the truth and that most of the Cabal’s leaders are dead, that doesn’t lessen the impact they have already made. Especially if Malvis is still alive; he’s probably just tying up loose ends now that he’s gotten what he wants.”

While Booster contemplated over this, Valrisa glanced back at the viewscreen and saw that Viira was gesturing towards them.

“I think she has more to tell us,” Valrisa whispered.

Grunting, Booster turned back and had the Togruta officer resume audio output for the Twi’lek pirate. At that moment, Viira dragged a human woman into view; a woman whom Valrisa instantly recognized as Queen Kestora herself, otherwise known as Danielle Kieran.

“Since my gift of good news does not appear to have been received well, perhaps this will make you consider my offer of an alliance.” The snap-hiss of a lightsaber activating sounded and Viira brought an emerald blade of energy to Dani’s neck. The Twi’lek’s gaze was now solely on Valrisa, rather than on Booster or Kyla. “You remember Miss Kestora here, don’t you?”

Valrisa frowned. “How could I not?”

“Well, it might interest you to know that she had been keeping secrets from us—her own crew. Apparently, everything she had done back at Corellia and Ord Mantell… was to bring herself closer to you. She had spent the last twenty-five years looking for you, and had been expending the Veiled Sorority’s own resources solely for the purpose of finding you. Truly, a mother’s love for her daughter will go far.”

Valrisa could feel Booster and Kyla’s eyes on her, but all she could do was stare at the image of Viira as the Twi’lek pirate validated what Toah had told her back on Coruscant. She opened her mouth to say something but realized she had no words to speak, unable to form a coherent thought.

Smiling wickedly, Viira continued. “If you want to see your mother again, then meet me on Numidian Prime so that we may reach an agreement. You have two standard days.”

With that, the transmission was cut off, leaving the image of Viira with a lightsaber blade to Kestora’s neck seared in Valrisa’s mind. From nearby, she heard Kyla carefully clear her throat.

“Well then,” the Mirialan smuggler said quietly, “I suppose that gives us our next objective.”

“You don’t call the shots here, Kishanti,” Booster said sternly. “I’ll have to bring this to Karrde, and I doubt he’ll—”

“Sir!” another comm officer called out from their station.

“For kark’s sake, what is it this time?” Booster snapped.

“We’re picking up a distress signal from D’Qar! The Resistance Base is under attack!”

Booster’s annoyance was instantly replaced with dread. “Set course for the Ileenium system!” he shouted out to the rest of the crew. “All gunners, get to your stations! Prepare the starfighters for takeoff as soon as we drop out of hyperspace!”

“But what about—” Valrisa started to say.

“Your mom can wait, kid,” Booster grunted as he shouldered past her. “She’s got two days at least. Our friends probably don’t even have half that.”

Knowing that it would be useless to object and argue, Valrisa simply stood there as the rest of the world continued to move around her, oblivious to hers that had just been shattered.

Transformers Regenerated: Beyond Imagination I, Chapter Four

EDITED 11/14/2023 Rewrote some sections to clean up and fix the timeline of when G.I. Joe and Cobra were active, especially in relation to the Adventure Team.

 CHAPTER FOUR: LOOKING FOR AN OLD SNAKE

Cybertron, long ago

“Welcome to the world of functioning circuitry, Gears of Helex.”

The short blue and red robot adjusted his optical sensors as he marveled at the world around him. The ‘con facility that he had been activated in wasn’t actually anything to write home about, being a standard factory, but to a bot like him that was seeing things for the first time in his life, it was a wondrous sight to behold.

The mech who had brought him online had to wave a hand in front of his face to get his attention. Smiling politely, the mech gestured to another robot, a tall one in white and black with red and green stripes. “Wheeljack here will serve as your caretaker and mentor to help show you everything you need to know about life on Cybertron.”

“Cybertron,” Gears repeated, testing out his vocal processor for the first time.

“That’s right.” The other mech turned to the one called Wheeljack. “I’ll leave you two to it. I have others to assign mentors to.”

“Others?” Gears looked over to where he had been batched from, seeing other bots with the same body-type as him but in different colors; one was in green and purple, while another in maroon and scarlet. All of them appeared to be sharing Gears’ sense of wonderment while also displaying a hint of jealousy at the fact that Gears was already being taken away to explore the world.

Extending a hand, Wheeljack said, “Come on, Gears. There’s a whole world out there to explore.”

Taking one last look at his “brothers,” Gears took Wheeljack’s hand and followed him out of the ‘con facility, taking his first steps into a greater world.

Earth (of some kind), now

“Gears?”

Gears stirred himself back to the present. He was still in the Parkers’ backyard, parked in his pickup truck form. May was leaning against his hood, a concerned look on her face.

“What is it?” he grumbled.

“Dad’s talking with Reed Richards on the phone. Apparently you’re not the only one who’s been having dimensional issues.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Some friends of mine called the X-Men were attacked by another giant robot, who kidnapped a giant robot that’s apparently been hiding in their hangar for the past twenty years or so. Both of them teleported away, and Professor Grey thinks that they didn’t just leave the planet, but left this whole reality.”

“…what?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said when I overheard what Dr. Richards was saying.” May shook her head in disbelief. “Look, I’ll be the first to tell you that I can hardly wrap my mind around all of this time travel, dimensional crap; and I say that as someone who’s dad is a scientist.”

“That makes two of us, then.”

May chuckled. “What, you have a dad who’s a scientist too?”

“I think my species has a different term for it than you humans, but… more or less,” Gears said. “We have what we call mentors, or caretakers. The terminology’s changed over the years, but the role has always been the same. My mentor, Wheeljack, is the Autobots’ chief engineer and one of their best scientists, though he specializes more in gadgets and weapons than the stuff we’re dealing with now. That’s always been more of Perceptor’s thing.”

“I wonder if either of them are still around in this reality,” May wondered aloud. “Hell, maybe your counterpart is still alive and kicking.”

“Sweet Primus, my motherboard would probably overload if I met myself,” Gears muttered. “Only reason why I still haven’t booted offline is because I’ve never met you guys in my reality, so I can still tell myself that this is all one big prank and I’m still on my Earth.”

“Well, now you’ve given me an existential thought,” May said jokingly. “Maybe I don’t even exist at all in your reality… God, I’m getting a headache just by thinking about that.”

“How about we both agree to not think about it and let the experts do the thinking for us?”

May laughed. “Now that I can get behind.”

At that moment, her father Peter came out of the house, having finished his call with whoever this Reed Richards was. “If you two are all set, Dr. Richards is waiting for us at the Baxter Building. Your mom is staying here to watch over Benjy.”

“She’s not my mom,” Gears objected.

Peter smirked. “Sorry. I’m not used to addressing talking trucks. Do you mind if we ride with you?”

“I thought you guys swung on that webbing that you shot out of your wrists.”

“I can’t really do that at my age.” Peter patted his left leg, which made a metallic sound when he hit it. Gears wondered if this meant he was part machine; it wouldn’t be the first strange thing he encountered today. “Besides, we’re not in any rush. We can take our time in sorting things out.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not the one stranded in another reality,” Gears grumbled. Nonetheless, he opened his doors to allow May and Peter to climb inside his alternate mode’s interior. As he drove out of the yard, all he could do was to pray to whatever digital deity was listening that all of this would be sorted out with both his sanity and his physical body intact.

Earth (of a more familiar kind)

After reporting to Autobot City on what they had gotten from Fanzone on the man known as “Old Snake,” Bumblebee and his team had been transmitted all files and records that the Earth Defense Command had on Cobra. The terrorist organization had been a major threat throughout the early 21st century, ultimately being defeated by the time the Autobots awoke on Earth. While most of its prominent members had been either arrested or otherwise accounted for, their leader Cobra Commander—a man whose identity had never been discovered—had went missing with many assuming him to be dead. While there was nothing on him to directly support him being “Old Snake,” there was also nothing to contradict it either, which made it a lead worth investigating in Bumblebee’s eyes.

As it happened, a retired member of G.I. Joe—the E.D.C.’s spiritual predecessor who had fought Cobra during that time—happened to be living in Detroit, having since retired. Formerly operating under the codename “Stalker,” Lonzo Wilkinson had also been a member of the Adventure Team that had dealt with General Kreiger and his experiments involving the Talisman; this made him an ideal person to speak to, and he had agreed to meet with the Autobots at his home.

Lonzo sat in a chair on his front patio, rocking back and forth as Sari and the holomatter avatars of Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Prowl stood in front of him, patently awaiting his responses to their queries.

“I remember the Cobra War well,” he said, a wistful look in his eyes. “Feels weird to call it that, since back then it felt less like a war and more like… I dunno, an adventure. Maybe it was ‘cos we all wore a bunch of damn silly outfits; even Cobra dressed up like they had jumped straight out of the comic books. It was a strange time; we even had some of you robots helping us out.”

“That couldn’t have been us,” said Bumblebee. “We didn’t awaken on Earth until after all of that happened. You might be thinking of Centurion, my ‘doppelganger’ of sorts. He went by ‘Bumblebee’ as well.”

“Yeah, there was a mission where he was disguised as one of our Strikers. Good thing he did, ‘cos Cobra had some robots of their own.”

Sari frowned. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Come on, kid; don’t they still teach our adventures in the history books? Cobra had all sorts of robots, like the B.A.T.s when their Viper grunts weren’t enough.”

“Yeah, but those would have been things you guys normally dealt with. How much more would Centurion have helped matters?”

“Oh, well, because Cobra had turned one of their H.I.S.S. tanks into a giant robot; all big, gray, and scary looking.”

“I know a certain bot that would fit that description,” Bulkhead murmured, although Lonzo did not appear to have heard him.

“Let’s get back on track,” Bumblebee said. “Cobra Commander. Any idea what might have happened to him?”

“Well, he pretty much fell from grace when Serpentor showed up and kind of took the reins. A lot of times he was too busy having a power struggle with Serpentor to be really concerned with defeating us. When all was said and done, he kind of just slipped out of our fingers like the snake he was while we took in Baroness and the rest of Cobra High Command.”

“He must be Old Snake then,” said Sari, turning to the Autobots’ avatars. “Everything lines up for it to be him. I mean, who else could be responsible for giant robots with Cobra logos on them?”

Lonzo chuckled. “Yeah, it does sound pretty obvious when you say it out loud like that, doesn’t it, kid?”

Rubbing his chin (or rather, his avatar’s chin), Prowl asked, “Any idea on where we could find leads on anything Cobra related?”

“As far as I know, a few of them are still being held at Blackwater Prison here in Detroit. Maybe if you ask nicely, they’ll let you speak to one of them.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Bumblebee said. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Wilkinson.”

Lonzo raised a hand. “Don’t mention it. Any opportunity to reminisce about the good ol’ days is a good one, if you ask me.”

After leaving Wilkinson’s home, the Autobots made their way to Blackwater Prison, with Sari using her E.D.C. credentials to gain entrance into the facility, with the Autobots being forced to wait outside. Apparently, the staff didn’t feel comfortable with holographic avatars which they did not understand the science behind walking around aimlessly through one of the most secure prison facilities in the world. Sari honestly could not blame them that much. 

The Cobra member being held in question was a woman known as Anastasia DeCobray, formerly known as the Baroness. By all appearances, Anastasia appeared to be living rather comfortably at Blackwater, with no cellmates and enough appliances and facilities in her cell to live a relatively comfortable life. Whether this was aided by the good looks she appeared to have kept was anyone’s guess. As Sari approached her cell, Ana lowered the book she had been reading to eye the younger woman skeptically.

“And to whom do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” the former Baroness asked, her voice thick with a European accent and dry wit.

“You are Anastasia DeCobray, correct?” Sari asked.

The Baroness narrowed her dark eyes. “Who wants to know?”

“My name is Sari Sumdac, operative of Earth Defense Command. I am investigating a person known as Old Snake and have reason to believe he is your former superior Cobra Commander.”

Baroness snorted in derision. “Please. The Cobra Commander was a witless fool whose only use was distracting our enemies long enough for us to climb the ranks. He was hardly my ‘superior.’”

Sari rolled her eyes in impatience. “Whatever. Point is, we believe he is still out and about, and I’m wondering if you have any idea on where we could possibly find him.”

“And how could I possibly know any of the sort when I’ve been spending the past few years rotting in a cell?” Baroness asked pointedly.

“’Rotting’ is hardly the word I’d use,” Sari muttered under her breath. Aloud, she said, “Are there any old abandoned Cobra bases that he could be using? Particularly those in or near Detroit?”

Baroness raised a dark eyebrow. “And why should I tell you?”

“Because it’s not like you have anything to lose at this point. Besides, if it works out and we defeat Old Snake, I might even put in a good word for you and you can get released early.”

Baroness smirked. “How much earlier than 120 years are we talking here?”

“We can discuss the specifics later. But first, I need to know if you can tell me anything; otherwise, I’m just wasting my time.”

Shaking her head, Baroness leaned back in her seat and returned to her book. “Darling, you’ve been wasting your time from the moment you walked in.”

Sari stepped forward and grabbed the bars to Baroness’ cell in frustration. Before she could fire off a retort, she noticed one of the guards begin to approach her. She quickly stepped away from the cell and raised a hand to hopefully placate him.

“It’s okay. I’m just about finished.”

The guard said nothing, his face completely stoic as he continued to approach. He reached for a baton attached to his belt and detached it; unexpectedly, it extended into a long spear which ended with a sparking, electrical tip.

Eyes widening, Sari slowly raised a hand to her head-mounted comlink. “Uh, ‘Bee? I think I’m about to have a situation.”

No response came. Dread filling her heart, she tried to hail him or any of the Autobots again only to have just as little luck. From within her cell, Baroness let out a biting laugh.

“Talk about impeccable timing.”

Before Sari had a chance to react, the guard raised his baton and released an electrical current that surged through her entire body, shorting out organic and mechanical components alike and causing her entire world to go dark. 

Long ago

“Offensive systems are at 85 percent. Defensive systems at maximum efficiency level. Quantum systems are—”

“I want results, Magnificus, not numbers.”

“Numbers are results, Zardak!” the Decepticon scientist retorted. “This is the best we’ve gotten after all this time.”

“It’s still not perfect. I expect perfection from someone as talented as you purportedly are.”

“Perfection takes time. Do you have no respect for quality?”

“Enough. Slicer, what is your assessment?”

“I say he is more than ready,” opined a blue and black Decepticon.

Magnificus gave Zardak an incredulous look. “Why are you asking him? He’s not even a scientist!”

“I wasn’t asking him for a scientific assessment.” Ignoring Magnificus’ continued protests, Zardak stepped closer to the stationary Expanse, eying the blue and yellow bot up and down. The tall, black and purple leader of the Maladroids then turned around and made a motion to Magnificus.

“Prepare him for a test run.” Already predicting that the scientist was about to object, he raised a hand. “No questions asked.”

Grumbling to himself, Magnificus activated the controls at his station. Immediately, Expanse felt a rush of energy surge through him, heating up his internal systems and making him feel like he was about to explode from within. He let out an anguished cry as claws made of energy extended from his servos while his optics overheated and released laser beams into the sky. As the assembled Decepticons watched on with expressions varying from horror to glee, Zardak gave a simple nod.

“He’s ready.”

Somewhere, now

Expanse awakened to find himself in a predicament similar to the one in his memory. He was standing upright with a variety of restraints around his person while beings he did not recognize studied him. The only one he did recognize was Deadlock, who was leaning against a wall with arms folded over his chest. 

Meanwhile, the horrific organic entity that was standing front and center in his line of sight was nothing at all like Zardak. While his lower half was a robotic set of spider-like legs, his upper half was a disgusting blob-like shape with spindly arms; his head blended into the rest of his body and was split into a horrifyingly wide grin full of sharp teeth, while a tiny pair of cybernetic eyes glowed above the grotesque smile. The entire assembly of organic and machine was suspended from the ceiling from a large metal appendage, moving him from one place to another. Expanse couldn’t help but feel a sensation of disgust as the creature marveled at him, tapping its spindly fingers together.

“Now if that isn’t interesting?” the creature said, its voice sounding as gross as its appearance. “A robotic mutant. I didn’t think such a thing was possible.”

“Not to sound like a comic book nerd, but it isn’t,” Deadlock piped up from where he stood. “We Cybertronians don’t have what you organics call ‘DNA,’ so we can’t carry the X-Gene or whatever you call it.”

“Obviously,” the creature growled. “But if what you told me about him is true, then he is the closest equivalent the multiverse has to such a thing. The audience will go mad over it.”

“The good kind of mad or the bad kind?”

“There is no difference from my perspective. Either one boosts up the ratings.”

Deadlock shrugged. “S’pose that’s true. Hate watching is a thing, I guess.”

The creature’s harness came to life and moved its occupant across the room, moving him towards a humanoid female with six arms. “Spiral, prepare the Green Room for our new arrival. Tell Longshot to prep the other selections as well.”

“As you wish, Master Mojo.” With a bow, the one called Spiral departed while the creature—apparently called Mojo—turned his horrific visage back to Expanse, grinning maliciously.

“I hope you’re ready to play your part, Cybertronian. It is one you will be playing for the rest of your gifted existence!”

Mojo released a terrifying laugh that filled the room as Expanse shuttered his optics, succumbing himself to his new fate.

Transformers Regenerated: Beyond Imagination I, Chapter Three

 CHAPTER THREE: SO MANY X'S

Detroit Police Station

It was well into the evening when Captain Fanzone came out of the room where the arrested Nino Sexton and Prometheus Black were being questioned. Sari Sumdac was waiting near the front desk, showing her human face rather than the weird masked one she had been wearing back at the Biotech facility. To Fanzone’s relief, her Autobot friends were waiting outside in their vehicles forms; the last thing he wanted to do tonight was to speak with a bunch of no-good machines.

“All right,” he said to an awaiting Sari. “Those two didn’t give me as much as I was hoping for, but might as good a start as any for you and your… crew.” Fanzone eyed the Autobots outside warily before continuing. “The speedster guy, Nino Sexton, said that he got his speed suit from his benefactor, whom he didn’t have a name for. Prometheus Black, meanwhile, says he’s been working with a guy by the name of ‘Old Snake.’”

“I’ve heard that name before,” Sari said. “Do you have anything on Old Snake?”

Fanzone shook his head. “Can’t say I do. Both of them say that they got their Sumdac tech from Old Snake though, so maybe he was an ex-employee. Who knows?”

“What about the plane robots? What were those for?”

“Ah, Black said he was producing them for Old Snake in return for the Sumdac tech. Apparently they weren’t even close to being finished which is why your robots friends were able to take them out so easily.” Fanzone paused for a moment. “And about those plane robots… that red snake logo they had, does that mean anything to you?”

Sari shook her head. “No. Why?”

“Figured as much. It was before you were probably born. See, back in the ‘80s there were these flashy insurgents—terrorists, really—that called themselves Cobra. That was their logo on the plane ‘bots.”

“There must be a connection between them and this ‘Old Snake’ then. Are Cobra still around?”

“Nah, they got their asses handed to them years ago. Long before these damn robots started showing up.”

Sari rested her chin in her hand. “I’ll see if the E.D.C has any records on them that could lead us to Old Snake. Is there anything else those two talked about?”

“Only other thing of note is the names of two other people who might have their hands on Sumdac tech: Mason Divelbiss and Henry Masterson.”

Sari nodded. The name “Henry Masterson” sounded familiar to her but she couldn’t put her finger on it. “All right. Thank you for your help, captain.”

Fanzone grunted. “Don’t mention it. Now get out of here so I don’t have to worry about those robots outside of my station.”

With an understanding nod, Sari took her leave. Fanzone waited until she had gotten into one of the cars outside and driven off with the rest of the machines before turning away from the front door and letting out his breath.

“Five years until retirement. Five years until retirement.”

Elsewhere

In all the time he had spent on Earth, Gears hadn’t had much interaction with humans. The most he ever had was catching a glimpse of some diplomat or officer at Autobot City, but they were only there to speak with Optimus Prime, Elita, or any of the other higher-ups, not for nobodies like him. Which was fine by him; he was never the most social bot when it came to interacting with his fellow Autobots. With humans, he would be even more awkward than he already felt in normal conversations.

And yet, in the span of less than an hour, he was already being introduced to some strange humans. Upon arriving at her home, Spider-Girl—or May, as she was actually called—had brought out her parents to introduce them to Gears. Her father was a bearded man named Peter Parker, and apparently he used to be a “superhero,” whatever that meant. If he understood May correctly, he apparently had the same powers as she did which included sticking on walls and shooting out webs with their fingers or something like that. Which was just as gross now as it was before. May’s mother, meanwhile, was a red-headed human named Mary Jane (although Peter called her “MJ,” which was confusing. Gears wished these humans could pick one name and stick with it). From what he could tell, she didn’t have any powers but had a well-paying job at something called a modeling agency. Gears wasn’t sure what that entailed, but he could only assume it had something to do with automobiles since humans liked to show those off to each other.

There was also a third member of May’s family unit; a small human that they all affectionately called “Benjy.” However, they had all sent Benjy off to bed so he could recharge (or “sleep” as they called it), leaving the three of them alone with the blue and red pickup truck that May had brought in through the backyard, keeping him out of sight of any nosy neighbors. It was then that May had given her introductions and prompted Gears to transform. Once he was crouched down in robot mode, May’s father Peter looked up at him in amazement.

“Well, I’ll be. It really is you, isn’t it, Gears?”

“Uh, yeah?” The Autobot tilted his head. “Sorry, but, uh, I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“I’ll admit, it’s been a minute,” Peter replied. “A lot has happened over the past twenty years.”

“Twenty years?! But I’ve only been on Earth for less than one!”

Peter frowned in confusion while May sighed. “Yeah, I was afraid of this,” she muttered. “He kind of just showed up out of nowhere while I was fighting Aftershock and he’s been acting confused ever since. I think he might be from an alternate reality.”

“An alternate what?!” Gears exclaimed.

“That makes sense,” Peter said. “I could have sworn most of them had all died or left after the Machine Wars.”

“After the what wars? Most of who died?”

“Take it easy, tiger,” Mary Jane said exasperatedly. “We’ll get this all sorted out. Just hold onto your circuits.”

“First of all, my name’s Gears, not Tiger,” the Autobot said, annoyed. “Second of all, you all need to slow down and just give it all to me straight. I am sick and tired of people talking about things I don’t understand as if I should and leaving me out of the loop.”

“All right, all right.” May raised her hands. “How about you sit down then? Just… cool down for a bit.”

Gears placed himself down on the ground, causing it to shake slightly which made the three humans wince. He was anything but “cooled down,” however.

Peter pulled over a lawn chair that was on the patio and sat down, taking a deep breath before speaking. “All right. So, twenty-three years ago—in this reality—you guys, you Autobots, awakened here on Earth. Back then, I was a superhero called Spider-Man, and you and I teamed up to fight your enemies, the Decepticons. It was a one-and-done deal; we won the day and went our separate ways, never to see each other again after that.

“Years went by and I got caught up with my own business. I would hear rumblings about your guys’ activities here and there, usually from SHIELD, but for the most part you stayed in your own lane. That was until about 2003 when the Decepticons returned and started destroying cities. I had already retired by that point and could only watch as my friends did what they could to save people from the Decepticons’ rampage. It wasn’t until the Machine Wars of ‘07 did things finally settle down, because by that point you guys had already killed off enough of each other that there was no one left to fight.”

Gears stared at Peter in disbelief. “You mean… the Autobots… my people… are all dead?”

Peter shrugged. “I don’t know for a fact. But it’s been ten years and no one’s heard from you guys. Until now that is. But if you’re from another reality, then….”

Mary Jane put a hand on her husband’s shoulder. “Then you really oughta call up your friends at the Baxter Building to help sort things out.”

Peter nodded. “You’re probably right. If anyone would know what’s going on, it would be Reed.”

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Gears asked. “Let’s go there and get this over with!”

“I’ll have to call him to make sure he’s not too busy,” Peter said. “In the meantime, you’re welcome to stay with us. Plenty of room in the backyard!”

“You’re sure the neighbors aren’t going to start asking why we suddenly have a blue pickup truck in the backyard?” Mary Jane asked. “You know how Doris can get sometimes.”

“One of these days she’s going to have to start minding her own business. Maybe May can web her mouth shut or something.”

“Dad!” May objected. “Don’t even joke about that kind of stuff. What is it you always tell me? With great power comes—”

Gears tuned down his audio receptors as he converted back into his alternate mode, resigning himself to the fact that he was going to be here for a long time…. 

*  *  *

As much as Deadlock would have loved—absolutely loved—to just barge into the X-Mansion and crush all of the mutants on the way down to their hangar, his employer had given him explicit directions to not kill any natives of this reality unless it was absolutely  necessary. They had even threatened to deduct a large percentage of his pay if he did just that. As such, he was forced to do things the hard way, taking the long route to the hangar that was built beneath and behind the outer building. Along the way, he had to keep his sensors peeled for any security cameras that wouldn’t have liked seeing a red sports car on the grounds, disabling them remotely. By the time anyone noticed they were offline, he and his quarry would be long gone. 

At least, that was the plan in any case. Usually his plans went well… except for all the times they didn’t. Hopefully, this one wouldn’t be one of the latter.

He got through the grounds without much incident, only having to put up a cloaking shield when he came across live beings hanging around in the courtyard. They seemed to be more preoccupied with each other though, kissing and whispering grossly sweet things into each other’s ears, rather than looking out for alien robots. Once he was past them, Deadlock had made it to the cliff side that hung over the opening to the hangar, at which point he dropped his cloaking shield and transformed to robot mode, making sure to not make too much noise as he dropped down.

Sure enough, the thing he was after was parked right there: a blue and yellow SR-71 Blackbird. It was joined by others of its kind, perhaps indicating that it was no longer in regular use given its age. That was fortunate for these X-People, because pretty soon they were going to be down one Blackbird.

Just to make sure he had the right one, Deadlock walked over to the old blue Blackbird and waved a scanner over it. The readings it gave back to him confirmed everything he needed to know. Smiling to himself, Deadlock gave the jet a tap on its nosecone.

“Hey, you awake there?”

The Blackbird made no response. Not that he was expecting one; this was more for his own personal amusement than anything else.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I imagine you’ve had quite the journey over the past… however many years it’s been. You tend to lose count when you’re dimension hopping all over the place. A lot of the old crew is either dead or gone to do their own thing; hell, I hear that Zardak got his aft handed to him by the D.J.D. Surprised it took them that long, honestly.”

Again, the Blackbird remained silent. Already getting bored of this, Deadlock brought out a small disk-shaped device and attached it to the jet’s hull.

“I hope you decide to be more responsive when we get back to my employer, because he’s really keen on seeing you.”

He pressed a button on the device and a burst of energy surged out from it, knocking Deadlock back. At the same time, the Blackbird hummed to life and started to shift; its cockpit folded up and into itself, allowing arms to spring out. The back thrusters extended and unfolded into legs, allowing the morphing mech to stand up and rise over the cowering Deadlock.

“Oh frag oh frag oh frag.” Deadlock scooted back and drew his guns. “I was just joking! I didn’t think you would—”

A head emerged from where the Blackbird’s cockpit had been, red optical sensors glowing intensely as a yellow-rimmed visor fell over them. Knowing what was about to come next, Deadlock turned around and converted into his vehicle mode, speeding out of the hangar as the mech fired a laser beam from its visor. Without even thinking, he drove off the edge of the hangar bay and plummeted towards the awaiting body of water below, even as more laser beams came his way….

*  *  *

“Alarm’s going off. Are we under attack?”

“No idea, Spanner,” said the X-Man known as Simian as he moved himself down the halls of the X-Mansion with his large, ape-like arms. “I just know it was coming from the hangar.”

“Get a move on, will ya?” said the speedster Torque as he zipped past his teammates, followed closely behind by the winged Angry Eagle. “It’s not everyday you get to respond to a crisis unfolding in your own home!”

The four X-People quickened their pace (the other three mainly to keep up with Torque) and eventually made it to the hangar bay. Large scorch marks marked the floors and walls, but what was most telling was the fact that one of their X-Jets—the one that had been used by the original X-Men many years ago—was nowhere to be found. Torque moved ahead of the others and zipped over to the opening of the hangar, only to speed on back when a laser beam passed in front of him.

“Holy cats!” he exclaimed.

“What is it?” Spanner asked, stretching her body and extending her neck to get a better look herself.

“The X-Jet… it’s… it’s a giant robot!”

“Shut up. No it’s not.” Simian looked over at Angry Eagle. “Is it?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Angry Eagle retorted.

Pulling herself back, Spanner said, “Get Jubilee. Hell, alert all of the X-People. This might get out of hand pretty quickly.”

The ground shook as a beam of energy struck the ocean, causing another giant robot—one in red and black—to jump out and scramble up the hill side, changing shape into a sports car as it attempted to flee the laser blasts that must have been coming from the X-Jet—or what used to be the X-Jet.

“I think it already has,” Torque murmured.

*  *  *

“This is not how this was supposed to go down….”

Shifting back into his robot mode, Deadlock turned around to face his target once more. The hulking bot hovered over him on a set of jet thrusters built into his legs; a trio of energy claws extended from each of his hands while his visor glowed intensely as it prepared to unleash another blast.

“I’m not going back,” the bot spoke, his voice weak and filled with static from years of disuse. “Never going back.”

“We’re not going back to your old place, if that’s what you’re really worried about,” Deadlock said, hoping to placate the other mech and buy himself some time. “I’m taking you to a new place. New places can be fun and exciting, right?”

“Not leaving. This is home. Never leaving home.”

“Eloquence never was your strong suit, was it?” Deadlock reached into his compartment of gadgets and pulled another of the same disk-shaped device he had attempted to use earlier. Maybe this one would actually work. “Well, maybe if you behave, Grubby will let you go home without being too horribly mutilated and tormented.”

He then flung the device at the blue and yellow bot and it attached to his chest with a satisfying snap. Deadlock then activated it remotely and in a flash of light his quarry was gone and away. He let out a hoop of victory as he pumped his fist.

“Second try! Not as good as the first, but better than third or fourth!” He then activated a switch on his arm to prepare his own interdimensional jump. “Hold your applause, please. We’re just getting started.”

A flash of light similar to the one that had taken his quarry enveloped him, and just like that, he was gone as well.

*  *  *

“Well, hell.”

Professor Jean Grey emerged from the X-Mansion to join the gathered X-People that had come out to respond to the alarms that had blared throughout the facility. Jubilee and her team were standing on the hill side that overlooked the hangar, staring at a spot where some action had clearly taken place, indicated by the scorch marks in the grass everywhere.

“What happened here?” Jean Grey asked to her former teammate and students.

Jubilee turned to her and lowered her shades. “We’ve lost X-Spanse.”

Jean Grey frowned. “Is he dead?”

“He got teleported away. No telling where he is or what it did to him.”

“I’m sorry, but what the hell is an ‘X-Spanse?’” asked Torque. “And why are you talking about it like it’s a person?”

“Because X-Spanse was a person,” said Jean Grey. “Or at least as much as a giant alien robot can be a person.”

“Sorry,” said Simian. “A giant alien what now?”

“Everything can be explained later,” Jean replied. “But right now… we need to bring this matter to Reed Richards.”