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Justice League: Prime
Episode 1: Secret Origins
Optimus Prime slowly trekked through the halls of the Omega One outpost, his spark seemed as heavy as ever. It had been a little over a week since the death of Skyquake and the day before that, Megatron who got caught in the Space Bridge explosion and one of their own Autobots: Cliffjumper. How he wished things could've been better between them all. If he was capable of shedding tears like humans could, he would have one for every Cybertronian life that had already been extinguished.
/Optimus, Agent Fowler is arriving soon/ Ratchet's voice came over the comms.
"I will be there momentarily, Ratchet."
The Autobot leader turned around to return to the command hub; curious as to what could Fowler had come for this time.
The last Prime was greeted to the sight of Bumblebee and Arcee standing next to Ratchet while Bulkhead was with the children watching the television device humans seemed to be addicted to. He caught a brief glimpse of a human in a blue suit and red cape taking apart missiles. His attention was drawn to the sound of the lift doors opening and Agent Fowler walking out.
"Prime, we may have a situation. Over the past few months, a number of sites in the Deep Space Monitoring Network were totaled, the latest one being the radio telescope array in Texas a couple of days ago."
"Think the Cons are disabling them to bring an army?" Arcee asked.
"Unlikely. Their cloaking technology shields them from even our scanners, I don't see any reason they would need to," Ratchet countered, "Plus, with the complete destruction of their Space Bridge, it would take some time and resources before they can build another one and get it operational."
"Not only that, but nothing even hinting that the Cons were involved; no sightings. No evidence of large beings or vehicles going to or from the sites. No humans have claimed responsibility. Nothing." Fowler added as he gripped the guard rail and looked Optimus in the optics gravely. "This is making some of the top brass nervous, Prime; especially since the United Nations passed Senator Carter's Nuclear Disarmament Plan months ago. Superman's been going around disabling nukes left and right."
"Superman? Isn't he that human-looking alien who can fly in Metropolis?" Bulkhead asked.
Superman. From what Optimus recalled, the being by that name was also from a distant planet and raised by humans. His physiology allowed him to gain god-like power and yet he used his abilities in the defense and safety of humans. The last Prime had a measure of respect for the "Man of Steel" as he was sometimes called. While he applauded his courage at revealing himself to the world; Optimus held no illusions of doing the same with the Autobots any time soon.
"Among other things. Anyway, have you bots picked up anything odd recently?"
Optimus shook his head.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, Agent Fowler, but we'll notify you if anything does."
"I'll run a scan to see if-" Ratchet began but was cut off by the blaring sound of the alarm.
Ratchet rushed over to the console and activated the scanners. Bumblebee rushed over and beeped a question to the old medic.
"We have multiple unidentified objects approaching from deep space and they're approaching fast!" Ratchet reported.
"Decepticons?" Optimus asked.
"No Decepticon or Autobot signals detected; I don't think they're even Cybertronian. One just touched down in Metropolis! Another just hit Paris! Cairo! They're hitting everywhere!"
The bots looked at the map in shock as several dots peppered the map, indicating something had crashed at that site.
"Guys! Check this out!" Miko called over everyone, "A bunch of ugly things came out of the meteor in Metropolis. And they're tearing up the place!"
Fowler and the Autobots quickly gathered around. On the small screen, the saw three white tripod-like creatures laying waste to the city.
"What in Uncle Sam's beard is going on? Metropolis is Superman's turf, why isn't he ripping them apart?"
"He just upped and left; no one knows why," Raf explained.
"What are they? Have you ever seen anything like them?" Jack asked.
"Nothing that we've come across," Ratchet replied. "They appear to be organic in nature."
Their attention was ripped away from the TV by Optimus grunting in pain as he held his head.
"Optimus, are you alright?"
The last Prime snapped up, his expression was one of shock but then shifted into stern gaze.
"Ratchet, prepare to open the Ground Bridge."
"The Ground Bridge? What for?" The medic asked in confusion.
"I believe I know where we can get answers about this invasion."
Bumblebee, Arcee and Bulkhead then stood at attention near the Ground Bridge. Optimus gave Ratchet the coordinates while Fowler stood by the kids, if only to make sure Miko doesn't try to run off with them. With the coordinates locked and with a flick of a switch, the Ground Bridge's multicolored vortex came to life. Optimus joined his soldiers.
"Autobots! Roll out!"
With that, they all transformed and sped on into the Bridge.
Moments Earlier…
Superman was following Batman's plane after having just escaped the invaders at the military installation. Having picked up the mysterious J'onn J'onzz, they sought out some breathing room to get an idea of what was going on.
"That was close!" The dark knight said to his green passenger.
"We're not safe yet. Look."
Batman caught sight of a squadron of flyers heading right for them, they soon began to open fire on the heroes. Superman flew in to engage them while Batman ducked down into a canyon with several fighters on his tail. Weaving about in the confined area, the dark knight managed to take out a few with the narrow walls before one literally clipped his wing; sending him and J'onn spiraling down. Things certainly looked bleak until…
"What happened?" Batman asked as the plane was encompassed in a green glow.
"Help has arrived." J´onn said calmly.
Batman looked through the window of the canopy and, standing upon a cliff side, saw that John Stewart; assigned Green Lantern of sector 2814 had arrived. The former Marine kept a firm grip on the damaged plane as more fighters attacked. Another ally came in the form of a woman with a hawk face mask, and wings on her back, wearing green pants and yellow shirt that left her shoulders free. She wielded a mace covered in electricity, giving a war cry as she beat the fighters to death.
"Hawkgirl? What is she doing here?" Batman asked.
J'onn said nothing as he phased out of the plane and joined Lantern and Superman.
"Sorry I'm late, there was an uprising on Rigel 9." John Stewart said as he placed the plane down and charged at the incoming fighters with Superman, J'onn and Hawkgirl. The Man of Steel plowed through a number of fighters, chucking away one of them into the mountain side. Green Lantern used his power ring to slice up a few of them. J'onn engaged the fighters using his intangibility to trick them into destroying one another. Hawkgirl managed to dodge many blast but one strayed in front of her and loosed shrapnel at her, with a cry she fell and was in long for a death blow, fate intervened then as a woman like no other appeared. The woman was tall, with raven hair and quite beautiful to the eye, wearing red boots, golden belt, a one piece suit of red, yellow, blue and white stars, a golden lasso was on her waist, and a golden tiara on her head with a red star.
"Allow me." She said before she deflected every shot fired with her bracers back at the ship.
The redirected fire damaged the fighter enough to send it careening out of control, right at Hawkgirl and the mystery woman. Acting quickly, Green Lantern formed a shield around the two just before the disabled ship crashed into it; leaving the two women unharmed.
"Who's the rookie in the tiara?" Stewart asked.
"I´m not sure," Superman replied as he hefted a fighter and threw it towards a canyon wall.
On the bottom floor a red streak could be seen heading towards the Dark Knight, carrying the wing of his damaged plane.
"Hey bats, I think you dropped this." Said a man in a crimson red body suit, the Flash had arrived.
"More fighters coming in!" J'onn cried out.
Twelve more fighters were approaching fast and ready for another fight with the heroes. Not a moment later, however, a swirling vortex of energy erupted nearby.
"Now what?" Batman asked.
He got his answer when a green truck came barreling out of the vortex at high speed and jumped the cliff right at the incoming fighters. To everyone's shock, the truck's body shifted and rearranged itself until it resembled a giant metal humanoid; its right fist then changed into a mace-like weapon. Bulkhead, using his momentum and mass, smashed into the first fighter; breaking it in two, then broke off the wing of the next one before grabbing onto a third and climbing onto its top.
"Knock, knock," Bulkhead quipped as he brought his mace down hard.
A yellow muscle car and a driverless blue motorcycle came out next and they two changed into robots before jumping onto the fighters, their hands now transformed into blasters as they fired point blank into the ships they were on. The ships began to plummet to the ground and towards each other; prompting Bumblebee and Arcee to bail as the ships crashed into each other. This drew the attention of half of the remaining fighters to them; the two Autobots responded by returning fire. A few shoots easily took out the four ships. The three remaining ones closed in on Batman and Flash.
Finally, before the vortex closed, a red and blue semi-truck roared out and transformed as well; leaping in front of the two human heroes. His right hand changed into a blade as the first fighter open-fired on them. The ship got too close as Optimus drove his blade into the invader craft who then used it as a shield from the other two. When they passed over, Prime threw his make shift shield at them; only hitting one of them before he drew his Ion Blaster scored a direct hit on the other. He turned his attention to the human heroes; his face guard retracted.
"Are either of you injured?" he asked them.
"Uhhh…no, w-we're good," Flash answered as the other heroes landed beside them, handing Batman the broken plane wing.
The other three Autobots approached slowly.
"Good thing they break easily," Bulkhead joked with his teammates.
"I think we've had more trouble with Vehicon troopers," Arcee said smugly, Bumblebee chirped in agreement.
"Okay, this day just went to a whole new level of weird," Flash grimaced before he caught sight of the mystery woman out of the corner of his eye.
"Whoa! Where have you been all my life?" The Flash asked.
"Themyscira." She replied innocently.
"Huh?"
"The Home of the Amazons? I thought that was just a legend," Hawkgirl said as she and the others gathered around.
"I assure you, it's as real as the ground on which we stand. I am Diana, princess of the Amazons." The raven haired spoke in all seriousness.
"Pinch me, I must be dreaming," Flash exclaimed, not sure how to process what's been happening. Superman elbowed him in the arm.
"Themyscira is protected by the gods, but I could not stand idly by as the rest of the world was in danger." Diana continued.
"It was lucky you showed up when you did." Superman spoke but J´onn intervened.
"No, not luck I telepathically summoned her just as I did them," he said looking at the Autobots.
"And just who are you guys?" Green Lantern asked.
"We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron; or Autobots for short. I am their leader, Optimus Prime," Prime explained.
"Cybertron, I don't think I've heard of that planet before," Stewart responded.
"Look I'm usually pretty quick on the uptake but can someone please tell me what the heck is going on here?" Flash asked what many almost forgot about.
The Martian paused to prepare them for his tragic tale.
"I believe it would be best if we continued this discussion in a more secure location. The enemy is likely to send more troops when the ones we just engaged do not report in; if they haven't already," Optimus said.
"The big guy has a point; we're sitting ducks out here," Green Lantern agreed.
"I suppose you know a good spot," Flash asked Optimus, who placed a metal finger to his comm.
"Ratchet, open the Ground Bridge; we're returning to base. And inform Agent Fowler that we are bringing some guests."
/Roger that, Optimus/
Another vortex opened up in front of the heroes.
"This Ground Bridge portal will take us to our base; we can all be briefed on the full situation there. Agent Fowler, our liaison to your government would no doubt like to hear this as well."
Reluctantly, the heroes slowly entered the Bridge followed by the Autobots; the portal closing just as more fighters arrived.
After the human heroes got over the nausea, they took in their new surroundings.
"Whoa, what is this place?" Flash asked.
"Looks like an old Cold War-era bunker," Stewart guessed.
"Welcome to Autobot Outpost Omega One," a man's voice called out from the catwalk. "I'm Special Agent William Fowler. Prime, mind telling me why you brought these guys here?"
"I had them brought here because one among them is willing to share what he knows of the invaders and we could use all the help we can get."
"Where's Jack, Miko and Raf?" Bulkhead asked.
"I had them sent home; safest place for them to be right now. The invaders are targeting the major cities first so I'd say Jasper, Nevada is safe for the time being," Fowler answered, "Now then, what exactly are we dealing with?"
Everyone turned to J'onn as he grimaced; steeling himself as he told his sad tale.
1000 human years Mars was habitable, they were peaceful and advanced, but then they came. It was unknown where they originated from, but their intentions clear as they wanted the lush world for themselves. Though pacifists, the Martians soon learned how to wage war in an effort to drive of the invaders, but centuries of warfare decimated the planet, his people hunted and either captured to be fed upon for their physic energies like parasites or killed.
They stole their shape shifting abilities, erased their civilization, until finally a handful of survivors launched a desperate attack. They fought their way into the heart of their citadel, until J´onn was able to release a powerful nerve agent that left them in a catatonic state. The price paid for this victory however was J´onn became the last of his people. So he took it upon himself to guard the creatures, but when astronauts came and released them during his hibernation period; with nothing to stop them, they planned to add Earth to their list. Barely escaping, he came to deliver a warning only to be captured.
"Wait, those astronauts never said anything about finding life on Mars." Flash spoke.
"Hmph! Some pencil pusher in Washington must have decided it should be classified information." Stewart added.
"I don't believe that is the case," Optimus interjected.
"What do you mean?" Batman asked wondering what he saw that no one else did.
"J'onn, you said that these invaders stole your race's shape shifting abilities, correct?"
"Yes"
"Then it may be possible that those astronauts never returned from Mars but rather imposters did. Agent Fowler, do you know who was on that mission?"
"Yeah, Ed Reiss and-" Fowler stopped in realization, "-and J. Allen Carter, the senator who pushed for the Nuclear Disarmament Plan. The phony got into a place of power so he could take out our heavy artillery."
"And explains why they sabotaged the Deep Space Monitoring Network; so we couldn't track their activities," Batman added.
"We got to stop them before it's too late." Lantern said as he raised his fist in defiance and his eyes glowed with power.
"It may already be too late." The last Martian said in an ominous tone.
"Optimus, I think you should see this," Ratchet called over.
All eyes turned to the monitor where a news broadcast from Metropolis was broadcasting from the impact site. Suddenly, the meteor broke apart and from the crater, massive tendrils suddenly broke out and reshaped themselves in to strange shaped objects. From a hole in the bottom, a drill bore and pounded into the Earth and in a scene similar to a morbid heartbeat, smoke and debris were expelled into the atmosphere.
The heroes watched as a cloud rose and covered the sky.
"What is that?" Diana spoke in alarm.
"It´s begun." J´onn said in finality.
"What are they doing?" Hawkgirl asked as she looked to the green man for answers.
"The invaders are nocturnal; they want to blot out the sun to live in perpetual darkness." He said in a grim tone
"Friends of yours?" The fastest man asked in humor at the Bat.
"This is no joke." He snapped back.
"What´s the big problem can´t you just whip up some more of that nerve gas." Flash said as he moved to the Martian's side.
"Unfortunately no, the gas can only be made from a rare Martian plant, I brought a sample with me but it was destroyed when I was captured" answered the green alien with the same monotone voice.
"Uh, what´s plan B?" The young hero asked lamely.
"Can't call in air strikes, everyone is preoccupied by all the walkers and if Carter was a spy, there's no telling who else could be. Without knowing who to trust, we're on our own," Fowler said.
"We'll have to take out those factories." Diana broke the silence.
"Agreed, surgical strikes may be our best course of action. If we divide into teams and Ground Bridge to sites where security is minimal, we might be able to gather more intel and disable those machines," Optimus added.
"Now hold on, this is no job for amateurs or metal giants we know nothing about. How do we know we can even trust you?" Lantern voiced his displeasure.
"Hey, Glow stick! Prime and his team saved my star-spangled shorts and this planet while you've been flying around in your PJs. They've earned my trust and you can quote me on that," Fowler raged at Stewart.
"Let's not fight amongst ourselves," Superman tried to play peace maker.
"I assure you all, we'll explain everything once the crisis has been averted," Optimus attempted to placate everyone as well.
"Right, first things first. So who's go with who?" Fowler asked them all.
"Dibs on the Amazon." Flash moved fast next to the princess who gave a wide eyed impression.
Everyone else stared at the speedster.
"What?"
A/N: Yeah, I know; a new story but I wanted to see how this concept would work.