Autobots, Assemble!
Chapter 1
In Midtown Manhattan, "strange" was an everyday happening. Super villains, time-traveling conquerors, even renegade Asgardians popped up in the city, wreaking havoc to the people who inhabited the Big Apple. S.H.I.E.L.D existed to help try and keep the peace, but the organization was hampered slightly by politics and governmental issues. To help better keep the peace and protect the people of, not just New York, but the entire world if need be, a "specialized" team had been created. Or, rather, created itself.
The Avengers. Earth's mightiest heroes, tackling the threats that no single hero could on their own, consisting of such personages as Tony Stark, King T'Challa, Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner, better known, respectively, as Iron Man, Black Panther, Captain America, and the Hulk, the Avengers are a sign of hope to many. Others, however, consider them not only as vigilantes, but possible threats.
OooooooooOoooooooooO
The Avengers were sparring with their team mates in the training rooms specially designed by Tony Stark and manned by his personal AI butler, who had been affectionately named "Jarvis" by his creator, Stark. The AI not only manned the training sessions, but effectively ran the entire mansion that they occupied and alerted them if it had detected any unusual activity on the planet, whether it be super villain attacks or just investigating something that was strange. The training sessions allowed the heroes to be ready for anything, and it also allowed them to-safely-settle friendly rivalries; Hulk and Thor were the biggest rivalry, always trying to prove that one was stronger than the other.
The AI sounded a small alarm to get the attention of every Avenger. Hawkeye and Cap stopped mid-punch to listen to what it had to say; no doubt the other stopped what they were doing as well.
"What is it, Jarvis?" the soldier asked.
"Everyone is to meet in the assembly hall immediately." Jarvis responded with his British sounding voice, but didn't inform them of any details.
"Oookay, that was a little cryptic." Hawkeye muttered to himself.
Everyone had, just as Jarvis had instructed, gathered in the assembly hall.
"Remind me-what are we doing here again?" Janet van Dyne, a.k.a Wasp, demanded.
"Dunno. Jarvis wouldn't even tell me what's wrong." Tony complained.
"Sir, if I may, the only reason I did not further inform you-any of you-is because I required time to investigate the disturbance." Jarvis said.
"What kind of disturbance?" Hank Pym, a.k.a Ant-Man, asked warily.
"As you know, I am monitoring police radio frequencies to assist in locating escaped super villains. Ms. Foster also allowed me to monitor her specific frequency as well, since she is sometimes sent to assist civilians injured by said villains." The AI began. "A few minutes ago, one squad reported two purple muscle cars of unknown make going well above the speed limit for urban areas, being led by a red Aston Martin. One of their 'dash-cams' managed to capture an image of the three cars."
The holographic screen above the table flared to life, showing a rather blurry image of two dark purple muscle cars headed by a, as explained, a deep red Aston Martin with custom flame designs on the doors.
"Aside from looking 'out-of-the-ordinary', I don't see what the fuss is about. Probably a trio of street racers." Wasp said dismissively.
"Jarvis, zoom in on the front bumper of the first purple car." Black Panther requested.
"Zooming in."
A very fuzzy image of the front bumper was magnified.
"Can you clarify the image?" The Wakandan continued.
"Only slightly. The original image quality is not the best."
"What is it Black Panther?" Thor asked him.
"Patience Thunderer. You will see."
The image clarified slightly…just enough for the Avengers to see what Panther had been looking at.
A sinister, face-like logo adorned the front bumper of the car, horns on its head and its eyes set to portray anger and malice.
"Okay, creepy decals. Why can't the police handle these dimwits?" Hawkeye deadpanned.
"They have tried, sir. As I said before, these images were taken a few minutes ago. Since then, the police squadron has been incapacitated by the three vehicles. According to the radio chatter, they deployed some sort of hyper-advanced weaponry concealed under their hoods. Guns, sir." Jarvis explained.
"Anyone up for a high-risk police chase?" Stark quipped.
The cars weren't hard to spot. They were racing along at breakneck speed through Midtown, clipping corners and nearly running a few pedestrians over. The normally ridiculous traffic New York is known for had vanished to try and avoid the cars after seeing what had happened to the police unit that had given chase. Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Wasp, and Ant-Man were in the air, while Panther, Hulk, and Captain America were pursuing from the ground. The trio of cars apparently realized they were being followed again, turned around, and deployed their guns, firing rapidly to try and down their assailants. Most of the shots went wide, though a few came close enough to nearly graze Hawkeye's skycycle and also impacted a few buildings, though the damage caused was minor at best. A shot from the red Aston collided with Iron Man and his suit fritzed, the wearer temporarily losing control and falling a few dozen feet towards the ground before the suit rebooted itself.
"Jarvis what was that?!" Stark demanded.
"Unknown, sir. I will advise you to avoid the guns blasts in future, as they seem to behave like short burst EMPs." The AI cautioned.
"No kidding." Iron Man grumbled back. He opened a comm. channel to his team mates. [Avengers, keep away from those blasts. They mess with tech and make them shut down for a few seconds.]
[Copy that, Tony. We'll be careful.] Steve reassured him. [Thor, Hawkeye, Panther, slow 'em down for us.]
[Aye!]
[You got it old man.]
[Of course, Captain.]
The three selected Avengers split off and made a bee line for the car trio. Hawkeye unleased a volley of explosive arrows, throwing the cars off course and making them skid around. Thor summoned a massive bolt of lightning in front of the cars to keep them in place, and Panther threw a barrage of vibranium arrow heads to confuse the drivers further. The cars remained motionless, stunned from the triple attack, unable to draw their weapons again.
The Avengers all crowded around the cars to get a better look. The windows on each vehicle were heavily tinted and nothing could be seen within. T'Challa laid a hand on the side of one of the purple cars, but drew it back quickly as though he'd been struck.
"Pym, place a hand on the side of this vehicle. Tell me what you feel." He said.
Ant-Man leaned forward and touched the car just as Panther had done.
Tha-dum, tha-dum, tha-dum…..A steady, drumming pulse was emanating from the car.
"What the?...That can't be right! That feels-that feels like a heartbeat!" He exclaimed.
That's when something unexpected happened.
Clanking gears and hissing hydraulics filled the ears of the gathered heroes, along with the powering up of advanced weapons. The three cars…changed into towering metal robots. The two purple cars changed into large purple robots with expressionless red visors and alien looking guns that glowed bright red, while the Aston turned into a robot just as large with blood red eyes, a deep crimson paintjob, and a cruel smirk that didn't look entirely sane. To make matters worse, one of its hands changed into a massive buzz saw that whirred to life.
"WHAT THE HECK?! Stark, are you seeing this?!" Hawkeye shouted, before scrambling backward and drawing his bow.
"Seeing, still workin' on believing." Iron Man answered in disbelief.
"Enough talk." Thor intervened. He then turned on the red robot. "HAVE AT THEE GIANT!"
The Asgardian flew right for the red robot's face, but ended up being swatted aside by the massive buzz saw as though he were a mere insect.
Hulk tried next, and was swatted aside as well, though he was able to at least get a sound punch in before being swatted. The red robot reeled from the blow, but aside from a large dent in his torso, he looked relatively unharmed.
"Uh, if those things can take out the two biggest guns on our team-"Wasp started.
"We're toast." Hawkeye finished for her.
"No we're not. They have to have some kind of weakness." Tony argued.
"I agree." Cap turned to his allies and raised his shield. "AVENGERS! ASSEMBLE!"
The battle cry acted to rally the Avengers, and every one of them charged forward, but they faltered on hearing another sound.
HOOOOOOOOOONK! HOOOONK! A bright red and blue Peterbilt semi barreled right for the two purple robots, ramming into one's ankle and knocking it of its feet and sending it crashing to the ground. Even more strangely, a tiny squadron of vehicles followed behind it and formed a defensive ring around the Avengers; a yellow and black custom styled muscle car, a sleek blue motorcycle with pink highlights, a dark green armored off-road vehicle, and a white racecar with blazing double 38's on the doors. Each vehicle was revving its engine in a rather obvious threat, as though they were daring the three robots to attack.
Thor and Hulk had recovered from their defeat and got inside the defensive circle of vehicles as well, though the Asgardian seemed confused as to how a group of cars could defend them from three giant killer robots.
"Autobots! Transform and protect the humans!" a baritone voice rumbled from the semi.
"Um did that truck just talk?" Wasp wondered.
Tony's answer to her was drowned out by a second wave of clanking gears and hissing hydraulics. In moments, the "cars" from before had turned into towering robots and each had deadly looking guns pointed at the three other robots. The semi had turned into a gargantuan red and blue robot who towered over his allies, and seemed to give off an air of authority; the black and yellow muscle car was now a black and yellow robot whose eyes flitted in every direction, summing up the opposition; the motorcycle changed into a fierce looking female robot, much smaller than her comrades; the off-road vehicle was a hulking giant of a robot, big and bulky looking, with a wrecking ball in place of a hand; and the racecar was a youngish looking white robot with playful, mischievous eyes and grin on his face. Each robot had a crest somewhere on their bodies, either on their chests or on the doors on their backs-a steady, brave face that gave off a feeling of trust and nobility. The three enemy robots appeared uneasy at the arrival of the new robots.
"More metal giants? Are they in league with the others?" Thor whispered to Cap.
"I don't think so. I think they're friendly, and I get the feeling that the red and blue one is the leader." He whispered back. "Besides, why would an enemy go out of their way to protect us?"
"A fair point." The Asgardian admitted.
"Well, well, well, look what the cyber-cat dragged in." the red robot leered. "The Autobots and a band of fleshlings."
"That's it. I officially hate that one." Stark growled.
"Knockout, leave the humans alone. This conflict only concerns Autobot and Decepticon." The red and blue robot rumbled.
"Really? If I recall, they attacked us! So like it or not, they just got involved." The red robot, Knockout, retorted.
"Uh hello? We're right here! What did we get involved in?" Wasp shouted and shrank down, buzzing right in front of Knockout's face.
"Jan are you insane?! Get down here before he kills you!" Hank yelled up to her.
Knockout smirked, "Foolish human." and caught her between both hands with ease, peering inside to see his capture.
"JAN!" Hank shouted.
A loud Zap! and a bolt of yellow energy shot out from between Knockout's fingers. He stumbled backwards, holding a hand over one of his eyes.
"Argh! My optic!" he howled. He turned to the second purple robot (its comrade was still down) and snarled, "What are you standing there idle for? Destroy her!"
Wasp stuck her tongue out and dove back down to the ground, narrowly avoiding the robot's swiping hand.
"Too slow!" she teased, and sent out another energy blast, hitting the purple robot square in the eye, disorienting him as well. The other friendly robots stood stock still, probably surprised to see a human capable of fitting in another human's hand taking on a giant robot on her own. "You guys gonna help or not?"
This shook the "Autobots" out of their stupor, and the red and blue robot and the small blue and pink female one opened fire, striking the purple robot in the chest. One final high-powered blast from the red and blue one and the purple robot fell to the ground with a thud, its red visor dimming as its systems went offline.
"Five against one, Knockout. I'd recommend leaving….unless you want that precious paintjob of yours scratched." The female robot taunted.
"Twelve if you count us in." Hawkeye quipped. "I'd be happy to put a few arrows in his chest for ya."
Knockout rolled his eyes at the archer. "Please, as if a few arrows could possibly-"
He was cut off as three arrows whizzed right for his chest. Each impacted with a faint thunk and buried itself in his armor. What he wasn't expecting was for the arrows to discharge a powerful electric shock, sending his systems on the fritz and disorienting him yet again.
"You insolent little…!" Knockout snarled.
"Thor, electricity hurts him! Give him everything you've got!" Iron Man realized.
"Aye!" The Asgardian nodded, and launched into the air. On reaching an appropriate height, he starting swinging his hammer in large, circular motions, and storm clouds started to from above the city.
"What in the…?" the white robot had gone wide-eyed at seeing the strange spectacle. "What's he doing? How is he doing that?!"
"What, you've never seen Thor summon lighting and fry a bad guy before?" Iron Man grinned at him from behind his helmet. "Speaking of which, his lightning can be a little haphazard, so Jarvis is recommending you take cover so you guys don't get accidently hit in the process. After all, metal does attract lightning."
The red and blue Autobot gave him a small smile in return. "A wise precaution." He turned to his allies. "Autobots! Find cover!"
Each robot changed back into a vehicle and sped off. The large robots went for cover in a nearby underground parking garage, while the motorcycle simply sped down into a subway entrance, her small form jumping the turnstile and vanishing below ground.
"Light 'im up goldilocks!" Hulk bellowed.
Thor's swinging motions became more rapid and the hammer began to glow and spark with electricity. One satisfied that the hammer was charged enough, the Asgardian stopping swinging it and pointed it right at Knockout.
"FOR MIDGARD!"
A massive wave of lightning shot out from the hammer and collided with the red robot, who was standing and staring, frozen with fright. Once the flash faded, the robot teetered for a bit, then fell backwards with a resounding crash. Thor flew back down to inspect his handiwork.
"Nice shot." Hawkeye complimented him.
"It was satisfying indeed." Thor answered him.
"Let's go find those 'Autobots; tell 'em it's safe to come out now." Wasp chirped.
Cap nodded. "Right. Wasp, Panther, Ant-Man, go down into the subway and get the motorcycle; the rest of us will come with me and get the others."
