"Destination New York City: achieved."
"Waiting for orders from CyberLeader1."

Twenty humanoid figures had materialised in the space between two buildings. They remained motionless while they patiently waited for someone to give them orders.
A figure turned to the others. Its body was made of a dull metal. On its right arm was a small protrusion, a laser weapon, and the centre of its chest was emblazoned with a large 'C'.
Its face consisted of two black, circular holes over a small rectangular slit, which was lit by a blue light when projecting words, representing a mouth. Coming from the sides of the face, two 'handlebars' met above its cranium.

"CyberLeader1 is unresponsive." Another of the figures replied, "This was not part of our design."
"Scanning for additional units."

One of the units raised a fist to its chest while scanning the world for the rest of the army. There should be five million units, all mapped out at specific locations over the globe. Yet, there was nothing.

"Scans indicate no Cyber presence on this world. CyberLeader1 is absent."

The first unit moved closer to the others.
"Examining stored data of transferral... ... ... ...

"Ghost Shift was operating at peak efficiency ... ... ... Transferral at maximum ... alert! Anomalous activity within sphere chamber! Unknown vessel manifesting. Dimensional rift fluctuating."

The figures all turned and, in perfect unison, marched deeper into the shadows. Their combined footsteps produced a loud metallic stomp which echoed throughout the alleyway.

"Conclusion is obvious. Manifestation of sphere into reality caused an unforeseen repercussion. We have been propelled into an as yet unidentified dimension."
"Nevertheless, we must perform our duty here. We will bring the Ultimate Upgrade to this world."
"We have insufficient numbers to begin the Ultimate Upgrade. Retaliation is probable."

The Cyberman that had stepped forward earlier inclined its head slightly.

"We have no authority to follow."

As one the other Cybermen turned to the figure and said, in their tinny, mechanical voices, "You are designated CyberLeader."

The selected unit marched forward and was met by another who clanged its fist against the emblem of its fellow's chest.

"Commencing download of shared files."

Two other units stood beside him and removed his handlebar attachments.

"Upgrading antennae."

The obsolete attachments were cast to the ground and a new pair, coloured jet black, was attached.
One by one, the Cybermen moved away from the upgraded unit. CyberLeader2 turned to face its new troops.

"This world is unknown. Nevertheless, our purpose remains. The inhabitants of this world must be upgraded and the rogue elements removed from the system.
"We require a base of operations. Accessing global internet."

The steel fist once again clanged onto the chest.

"Searching for suitable location... ... institute located.

We will establish ourselves before we upgrade humanity. All units move to structure... building designation: the Baxter Building."


Spider-Man shot a thin web at the side of an apartment building and swung himself over its roof. Flipping through the air, his enhanced senses picked up the sound of a man calling for help.

Twisting his body, he pointed his head to the ground and descended like a human bullet. At the last second, a web line shot at another building pulled him away from the ground, and he used the momentum to land a massive kick on the side of a hastily driven vehicle.

The car tipped, swerved and crashed into a lamp post. A large, Caucasian man exited and pointed a gun towards the hero.

Fluidly, Spider-Man catapulted off the cars side, over the head of the criminal (removing his weapon with a yank of web in the process), and landed on his hands. A mule kick to the chest plunged the man into the side of his car. Spider-Man covered him in webs before swinging away.

Another day, another dollar, he thought as he landed on a thin metallic flagpole. Well... another day, another carjacking scumbag covered in a thick viscous web-like substance. Gee Pete, that's normal.

Something began vibrating in a small pouch on his belt. It was a communicator that had recently been given to him by Iron Man. It allowed him to keep in touch with all the other 'heroes' patrolling New York City, and up to date on any major crisis. Its signal now obviously meant something was up.

"Talk to me Tony."

Tony Stark, a genius multi-millionaire corporate giant, responded immediately. The buzzing, tinny tone to his voice indicated he was suited up.

"Peter, something's just come up. Our friend Dr Doom has decided to launch a newly created techno-warhead at the US if it doesn't immediately pull its forces from Latverian borders. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four are heading there to see what we can do. You in?"

Spider-Man thought for a moment.

"Sure, why not? I feel like being irradiated or techno-ised or whatever this thing does to you. One question...how'm I going to...get...that is the biggest flying space thing I have ever seen..."

Behind him a large blue and white jet began to hover. It was rumbling gently but aside from that was silent. On its wings were emblazoned large white '4's surrounded by a white circle.

A long, gloved stretched out from the cockpit and beckoned "Feel free to take your time, Spider-Man. Its only the fate of our home we're talking about here."

As the heroes jetted of to Europe, a group of metal figures were stamping through the New York sewer system. Ranked in two lines of nine, with CyberLeader2 at the head and a unit bringing up the rear, they made their way to the Baxter Building.

Mike Kapowski was a regular guy. He liked watching football on the weekends, drinking beer with his buds, and spending tie with his family. He also liked his job. He was a security guard stationed at the Baxter Building. Not only did he get to see celebrities on a daily basis, he never had to actually work! What could he do, a mere man with a nightstick, which The Thing couldn't do with his bare hands? Or Mr Fantastic couldn't wrap around; or the Torch couldn't burn; or Sue Storm (man was she hot!) couldn't blast with her invisible telekinetic things? Nothing.
Yep, he had it easy. Him and the other guards watched the monitors, ate doughnuts and got paid a bucketful by the state.
Tonight, Jesse, a woman who was on guard with him, had brought in a pirated copy of The Manic Mutant III which they all planned on watching.
They drew straws to see which of them would have to stay on monitor duty, and, as luck would have it, Mike was drew the short straw. He watched as the other guards placed their Bluetooth attachments over their right ear and laughed while they walked off.

"There's any trouble Mike, give us a call."

Mike slouched over his desk. He could see the others staring intently at the screen, jumping now and then whenever the deranged mutant killed someone. He moved closer to the screen. I can...just... make it out. He fixed on the screen, putting on headphones and turning up the volume to max allowed him to just hear what was going on too.
He was so focussed on the murderous mutie that he failed to notice a small flashing light and an incessant beeping to his left which warned of an intruder.

Jesse squealed as Repulsar (the bad guy) squeezed the life out of a blonde, teenage girl. Behind him, another blonde, teenage girl began hitting him with a plank of wood. He roared in pain and dropped the girl he held to give chase.
Beside her, the eight other guards either jeered or shrank away from the film. It was not exactly wholesome viewing material. Repulsar zapped, or ate, or otherwise maimed his victims. One of them had been beheaded and his body was eaten by rabid ants while his head (which was still alive due to Repulsar's mutation, a directorial deus ex machina) watched. She felt her stomach rise as the mutant shot the legs from his prey.

"Umm, guys. I'm gonna go check on Mike."

She stood and turned. As she opened the door she screamed. A figure stood in front of her. It was tall and bulky, and the bright light behind it hid its face from her.
The others scrambled up, grabbing their nightsticks and running to her side. The figure slowly reached to its left, its right hand moving towards Jesse.
In an instant it grabbed Jesse, and the other light pressed the switch. Mike shook Jesse and laughed. "Did I scare you Jess?" Jesse, enraged, pulled away and punched him lightly in the stomach. "Idiot."
Another guard, older and fatter, jabbed his stick at Mike's chest. He had a thick Brooklyn accent when he reprimanded his associate.

"Hey Mike! Ain't you'se s'posta be watchin' tha cams?"

Mike frowned, "I was Dick. But there was an intruder alert. That's why I came to get you. We have to go to Richards' lab. They're still here."
He turned and marched towards the elevator while the others scratched their heads. Jesse noticed something over his left ear. Another Bluetooth?

"Mike, what's with the other earpiece? Is there another guard squad on the end? I'm hurt Mike." Mike didn't turn. "We don't have time for humour. They'll be gone soon."
The ten guards crowded into the elevator and waited while it reached the top floor.
As the doors opened, the guards walked out into the corridor. At the end of the hallway was the wooden door which led to the lab. Faint sounds of machines at work could be heard. Hums, whirrs and buzzes indicated something was either being taken apart or made.
Mike moved to the front of the line. "Listen up, here's what we do. I'll kick the door through and we move – together – into the room. Understood?" The guards nodded and filed behind him.
"Okay. One – two – THREE!"

His foot sent the door flying open and the security force rushed into the room. Nightsticks raised, faces grim and ready to defend themselves as they stared at...nothing.

"Hey Mike, I thought you'se sed they wuz in here?"

The guard lowered his stick and turned around slowly. His face was blank, emotionless; and embedded in his ears, his Bluetooth devices began blinking.

"They are."

The sound of whirs and groans suddenly resumed. Figures emerged from the shadows beside the door as strong metal hands grabbed each of the guards, preventing them from turning or fighting back. They were forced forward towards a metal chamber that opened to greet them.

Dick was thrown into the chamber and immediately began running out. Like a pair of snakes, poised to attack, wires rushed out from behind him and pulled him back. From above, a device lowered itself above him as a pair of blades sliced off his limbs. Dick screamed. He screamed in anger, fear and pain. A laser removed the lower half of his torso as needles injected something into his head. Swiftly the neck was severed, and his body dropped to the floor. Some kind of robot body appeared from the sides of the chamber and hooks raised themselves around his head before forcing their way through skin, hair and bone and gently grasping the fleshy grey brain within. Another injection caused the face, hair and skull to melt away, revealing the soft fleshy mass suspended by the metal torso.

The surgical platform ascended into the roof of the chamber, and in its place a metal head dropped down, encasing the brain in an impenetrable endoskeletal structure. Immediately, the remains were consumed by a blast of white hot flame. Dick stamped out of the chamber and stood to the side.

"Next."

It had been done. It had been done efficiently and cleanly. The unnecessary flesh was incinerated and the nine new units had immediately begun constructing additional chambers. CyberLeader2 turned to Mike and said in its tinny voice, "We require additional units. You will contact your forces of law enforcement and request aid."

Mike turned and raised his phone to his head. He spoke urgently and quickly before hanging up and heading downstairs.

A Cyberman approached its leader. "Leader, our reconnaissance into this world's information systems has revealed possible mechanised units which may be compatible."

Instantly the new data was uploaded onto the wireless network which flowed between each of the Cybermen. CyberLeader2 accessed the files and broadcast satisfaction. "This information is valuable. We will use these units to facilitate a national upgrade.
"Block any communication emanating from this city. We must remain undetected for as long as possible until we have a large enough force to achieve our goal."

General Nick Fury, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, placed his feet on his desk and a cigar in his mouth. He raised a match to it and lit the end, drawing in a blast of soothing tobacco. In his private thoughts, he was finally allowed a moment of rest without the weight of everything else on hi-
"GENERAL FURY! GENERAL FURY!"
The door flew open and a corporal dashed into his office.
"What the hell d'you want, corporal?"

The corporal ignored him and ran behind his desk, shoving his legs out of the way and pushing his chair back. He began typing into the computer. "Son, you'd better have a damned good reason to...Oh my God."

The small LCD monitor displayed fifty gigantic robots, flying through the air at breakneck speed. Each of them was built to identical specifications, and the purple pink design was unmistakable.
Fury's gaping mouth caused the cigar to drop on the floor.

"Those are Sentinels! What are they doing? Who restarted the program?"

The corporal shrugged and began typing again. "No one did sir. And if you think that's bad, look at this."
A video appeared on the screen showing what appeared to be a Sentinel manufacturing plant. Mechanical arms and welding devices stuck pieces of metal together, and activated circuit boards.

Fury wasn't impressed.

"What the hell is going on! Contact the facility and order all of the personnel there to-"
The corporal stared wide eyed at his officer. "But sir, there is no personnel. No ones at the controls. No ones in the control booth. There is only one man here, a journalist who heard the noises and investigated. This is his film."

Fury leaned closer to the screen.

"Sir, the factories are operating at 150, producing Sentinels at the rate of one per 90 minutes: and they're doing it automatically."

Fury stared at the screen again. The arms began moving at an increased speed. Joints were connected, limbs attached and Sentinels powered up at a phenomenal rate. At the end of an assembly line, a Sentinel's eyes burst into illumination as the massive robot stood up and activated its thrusters. The roof opened up and allowed him exit. As he watched, the screen flickered slightly. Suddenly static covered the screen and white noise filled the room.

"Jesus H! Find out what's causing that and stop it!"