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.”
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