******************************************************** It is the year 2099. The legendary battle between the heroic Autobots(r) and the evil Decepticons(r) now continues after over a one hundred years absence. The Decepticons are now lead by Shockwave, and the Autobots by Ratchet. The Transformers are no longer a myth, they are a threatening fact. But what became of the original Transformers? Do they still exist? Perhaps we'll never know . . .
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Transformers 2099 Annual #1 (1998)
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"Who done it?"
Written by: HotRod2316@aol.com and BigRon309@aol.com
Edited by:
AEIC: NeoTrent@aol.com
EIC: HotRod2316@aol.com
********************************************************
ON THE MAIN HIGHWAY RUNNING THROUGH NEW YORK CITY
A sleek, gray Whisper SX with an Autobot symbol on the hood hovers down the mag-lev highway in New York, with a robotic dummy at the wheel. The real controller of this car isn't the dummy, but the car itself. It's Knight, the youthful-acting Autobot of Ratchet's team, speeding down the highway. On his left and right side are buildings over 100 stories tall, including the Stark/Fujikawa building.
'I haven't been here in sooooo long!' thinks Knight, 'I almost forgot what this city looked like!' Knight then takes a left at a split in the highway where half of it goes left and the other half goes right, and sees a mandatory slow down sign appear above the street right after the turn.
'Aw, shock! Not another slow down!' he thinks as he feels himself automatically slow down by the pull of the magnetic mag-lev road. So focused is he on the slow down that he doesn't see the black and red figure swinging high above him on a web line from one building to the next. It's Spider-Man 2099, AKA Miguel O'Hara, web-slinging to his job at the NEW Alchemax building.
'I hope I'm not late,' he thinks to himself, 'My first day at the new Alchemax building is important since I'm the boss. Took minutes for it to be made using nanotech, but all the lost files had to be recovered first, and that took time, searching through all that rubble of the old building to recover as much as possible, such as the files. Stark/Fujikawa managed to take some of them via their Specialists, which lead the company to the creation of those new Transformers. Can't let that happen again.'
After a dozen web-swings past many buildings, the S-Man finally reaches the new Alchemax building, lands on the roof, disables the cameras in a room below him and slips in through a roof window which leads into that secret room, changes into his business clothes and exits the room through the main door, and enters a hallway, turning left and walking towards the room at the end of the hallway.
Inside that room, waiting for him, is none other than his chief managers of Alchemax, the guys who work directly under Mr. O'Hara, all sitting at a rectangular meeting table, with one spot at the end for O'Hara. Miguel walks in through the sliding doors, and sits down in his spot.
"You all know why you're here," Miguel says, "It's to help promote the new and improved Alchemax building. My intent, from here on out, is to convey a good message about it with the people. They must no longer look at Alchemax as a place of evil, but a place where the goods of man can be attained. But first, we must discover WHY the previous Alchemax building was destroyed." O'Hara turns to his offical on his right. "Mr. Johnson?"
"It appears to have been some kind of terrorist bombing," Johnson says, "Bombs placed on all floors of the building. By who, we don't know yet. Our suspicions still lie with Stark/Fujikawa, since they used the defenseless rubble of the building to get those files on those alien robots which they used to build new ones*." (* - See TF 2099 #'s 1-6; Ryan)
"No evidence?" O'Hara asks.
"Just some," Johnson says, "But not enough to make a general conclusion."
"Hmm," O'Hara says, "We'll have to set up a meeting with Mr. Hikaru-Sama to get down to the bottom of this. I doubt he'll admit anything, but something's better than nothing."
"Agreed," says Johnson.
"If I might interject," says a man near the other end of the table on O'Hara's left side, "Maybe one of our first priorities is rounding up these renegade alien robots. There have been many reports of them causing havoc off in the western area of our country, and it is our fault they're active. Maybe if we sent some of our people down there to take them out--"
"NO," says O'Hara, "You keep forgetting, L'Markus, that not ALL of them are evil. The Autobots have stopped plenty of the Decepticons schemes, the Autobots being good and the Decepticons being evil. Our historical records, light as they are, partially indicate the differences between these two factions of warring robots."
"You're going to trust the word of those--machines--and some schetchy notes to determine which side you take?!" L'Markus says, "That's shocking nuts! They're all a menace! They're--"
"L'Markus, calm yourself," O'Hara says, "If the Autobots were a threat to us they would have destroyed us already. They're on our side. Trust me. Spider-Man gave me his word of honor on this. Anyway, like I said, our first priorities are getting the new building up and working and solving the mystery behind the destruction of the previous one. Any questions?" All seated look back and forth at each other, looking for someone to ask something, but no one does. "Good then. You all have your assignments. Good day." Everyone then gets out of their seats and heads towards the door near Miguel on his left side and exit the room. Miguel is the last to leave the room and, when he exits, turns to the left and walks strait down the hallway to his office. While walking, he passes his personal assistant, Winston, the cyborg.
"Messages, Winston?" Miguel asks.
"None, sir," he replies.
"*Sigh*, good," says Miguel, who then steps through the sliding doors to his office. As he sits down behind his desk in his chair, he thinks about what L'Markus said, about the Transformers. It's been so long since he's been in contact with them, so very long. He wonders how his Autobot friends are doing against the Decepticons, and knows that even though the original TFs wouldn't stand a chance against Earth technology of today, the new TFs now are much more powerful and are a greater threat, bringing their war back here. He begins to think deeply about the situation, turning his chair around to face the huge window behind him looking to the street below, and notices something in the street. A gray car, but not just any great car, but one with a familiar symbol on it. He then uses his enhanced vision to look closer at the car, and sees his suspicions come true.
'It's one of them!' thinks Miguel, 'One of the Autobots! But what is he doing here?! I've got to find out!' Miguel then charges out of his office, past Winston, and into his personal bathroom without cameras, changes into his S-Man costume, and charges out the window and floats down to the street.
BELOW
Knight continues his drive along the mag-lev highway at a slow pace, until he sees some madman with a jumpsuit on attached with bombs runs in front of his path. Knight quickly turns into the next lane to avoid him, nearly hitting some other cars going the other way in the process. Knight, after passing the man, quickly gets back in his lane and stops like the rest of the traffic in his lane has, turning around to see the madman.
"DON'T THINK I WON'T DO IT!" the man cries, holding a trigger button in his hand, "I'LL BLOW THIS WHOLE CITY TO SHOCKIN' KINGDOM COME IF ANYONE GETS IN MY WAY!" Little does he see Spider-Man coming down behind him, who then gradually lands on the ground about 10 yards behind him.
"What do you think you're trying to pull, buddy?" S-Man says, "You trying to bring in the coming new year with a bang?" The man turns around.
"SPIDER-MAN!" he shouts, "You think you can stop me?! No one can stop me, or any of my team! Death to Alchemax!"
"STOP!" shouts S-Man, "Alchemax is in good hands now! There's no need for this!"
"How do you know we can trust them?! Sentence MUST be carried out NOW!" the man says.
'I can't just sit here and let this happen!' thinks Knight, 'Gotta help!' Knight then transforms to his robot mode, much to the shock of everyone else standing by.
"It-it's one of those crazy robots!" someone from another mag-lev car shouts, "Look out!" Everyone nearby starts screaming and running away. The madman stares blankly at the Autobot.
"What the shock are you?!" he asks. With his back turned, Spider-Man sneaks up on him, disconnects the bombs, and removes it from his person.
"Hey!" the man shouts as Spidey runs away with the bombs. Suddenly, five Public Eye officers on skycycles land and apprehend the man. "Hey, let me go!!" he shouts as they carry him off and back to their HQ.
"Thanks for the assist," Spidey says, looking up at Knight.
"No problem, Spidey!" he replies.
"Actually, I prefer Spider-Man, or S-Man. Anyway, what brings you back to New York?"
"Just on leave for a while. Fighting Decepticons can really take it out of you!"
"I can imagine! I'm currently trying to find out why the previous Alchemax building was blown up!"
"Let me help! I always love a good mystery!"
"Uh, sure! But I don't know how Mr. O'Hara and his officials will think about it!"
LATER, AT PUBLIC EYE HQ
"Tell us who you work for!" the Public Eye officer shouts, back-hand slapping the man sitting in the chair in the large interrogation room, the man who earlier threatened to bomb the city with the bombs that were strapped around him, who S-Man and Knight stopped.
"Never!" the man shouts, "Death to Alchemax!" The slapper PE officer turn to the one standing next to him.
"We'll never get anything out of this one-tracked mind," he says.
"Should we take up the robot's suggestion?" the other officer asks.
"Very well," the first one says.
Outside the interrogation room, behind a glass wall that can see into it but not vice-versa, stand Miguel O'Hara stands with another PE officer and some Alchemax officials looking through that glass wall.
"Looks like they're going to go through with it, sir," the officer says, "Is that OK?"
"Yes, it's fine," Miguel says, "We HAVE to get our answers ASAP. If this guy is linked to the Alchemax bombing at all--"
"Why don't you tell me, for the record, what happened to you at the time of the bombing."
"Alright, it was like this--" Miguel then retells the tale of how he came down to the engineering room on the first floor since he got no response from the engineers through the intercom, and saw their dead bodies laying around inside that room with the control panel screen counting down from 200. He then pressed buttons on the panel, which revealed on the screen that bombs lay on each floor of the building. He quickly found out he couldn't stop the bombs from exploding in time, so set up a shield to protect the soon-to-explode building, and mostly everyone in the building got outside before the shield came up, including him. It was then that the building exploded, the debris shooting outward, hitting the shield then coming back down within the sheild. Thanks to the shield, the explosion didn't hit anything, or anyone, else in NY.
"Hmm," the officer says, "Some of the evidence from the wreckage matches this guy's clothes and fingerprints. The mind-read with the robot should tell us for sure if he was there."
"You're going to listen to this robot?!" L'Markus says, "You're crazy! You're all shockin' crazy!"
"Calm DOWN, L'Markus!" Miguel snaps, "I trust Knight. Go ahead."
The men in the room strap the man down tighter, and Knight steps closer into the room, barely fitting, and attaches wires from his fingertips to the man's head, and begins extracting information from it.
"This'll only take a nano-click," Knight says.
"A what?" an officer asks. Seconds later, Knight removes the wires from the man's head.
"His name is Herald Jacobs," Knight says, "His mind told me he...came here with his group of bombers, somehow snuck in as security officers."
"Can you see anything else, Knight?" Miguel asks.
"They get into into the engineering room, then the bombers all pull out guns and blow everyone in the room away. They set bombs on every floor, and the detonator in the engineering room, in the big computer with the large monitor showing the countdown, then they all quickly evacuate the building." Knight says.
"Where did they go afterward?" Miguel asks.
"A place here in New York. I've downloaded the coordinates."
"Good. Lead a team of Public Eye agents there to check it out."
"OK, but may I speak with you in private first, Mr. O'Hara?"
"Sure." Knight and Miguel then step outside the building to an alleyway.
"I saw something else in his mind," Knight says, "It was hidden, like he was brainwashed or something. It would explain his weird behavior. Anyway, what I didn't say earlier was that I think those memories are FAKE ones, and the REAL ones say they were led into the building by some man. I can't see his face, it's all dark, but he leads them to his office on the first floor, three doors to the left of engineering, THEN he leads them to the engineering room, where they do the rest I described. I think our mystery man then quickly leaves the building. I didn't say this before because I thought he might be someone in the room."
"Hmm..." Miguel says, "I think I know what to do. You lead the PE officers to the hideout, and I'll do my stuff!"
"Got it!" Knight says, "Will Spidey be joining us?"
"No, uh, I think he's got other business right now," Miguel replies, "Now go!" Knights then saluts him, transforms, and leads the pack of PE officers on their sky cycles to the destination of the hideout. Miguel quickly goes into a MetroExpress shipping booth, changes to Spider-Man, then swings back to Alchemax.
LATER, ON THE ROAD THROUGH NEW YORK
Knight steadily leads the PEs to their destination through downtown. They drive past many of the old and broken homes, until they finally reach their destination. It's an old boarded-up wearhouse. Knight transforms to his robot mode in front of it as the PEs hover on their sky cycles above.
"This is the place!" Knight says. Two cannon guns pop out from the ground all around the building and fire at Knight and the others. The PEs avoid the shots and fire back, as does Knight, taking out the guns. The front door to the warehouse is a big metal garage-door-like door, which Knight smashes in.
"Let's go!" he says, turning to the PEs.
AT THE NEW ALCHEMAX TOWER
Miguel O'Hara looks through his personal files on the old building, looking up who's office it was that was three doors to the left of engineering. After a few minutes of searching, he finally comes up with a name: Jed L'Markus.
'L'Markus!' Miguel thinks, 'HE'S the traitor! Makes sense. He is the chief engineer at Alchemax, knows lots about technology, and he was supposed to get the job as CEO of Alchemax after Tyler Stone, but was passed up when Stone elected me as his replacement! He wanted to blow up the building so I, and the rest of the Alchemax staff who supported me as CEO, would die, and he would be the next CEO of the new building! I'll have to confront him, but not as Miguel...' Miguel then runs off to the bathroom, changes into Spider-Man, exits through the roof and heads back to PE HQ.
'Man, how many times do I have to change back and forth, anyway?' Spider-Man thinks to himself as he .
BACK AT THE WAREHOUSE
There's a big computer at the end of the warehouse with a monitor, and a chair with a helmet attached to the top next to the computer. One of the PE officers presses a few buttons on the computer, and an image of a mind-controlling program appears and how it brainwashes people into doing things.
"So those people were mind-controlled!" Knight says, "Does it say who is behind all this?"
"Let me see," the PE says, pressing some more buttons, which reveals files showing that the technology belongs to L'Markus.
"So it was that bigoty guy!" another PE officer says.
"We've got to get a downloaded copy of this and take it back to Public Eye HQ now!" Knight says, and the PE downloads it to a small disk, then hands the disk to Knight. Suddenly, the floors open up behind them, and they turn around to see two giant human-shaped robots jump out of the holes and land right before them. Before they can react, the robots fire lasers at them, hitting most of the PEs as they scream and yell for their lives. Soon, Knight is the only one still standing. He continues to fire at the robots, causing little damage. He then pulls out his sword and swings it on one of the robot's shoulders, cutting the arm off, but the other robot's scissor-hands then grabs and cuts the sword so it's only a stub from the handle. Knight shealths the sword (what's left of it), and grabs one robot from behind. The other robot then tries to cut Knight, but instead hits the other robot, cutting it in two. Knight then grabs the remaining robot's arm and uses it to cut it's own head off. Once that's done, the Autobot then transforms to his vehicle mode and, with the disk, takes off back to uptown.
LATER, AT PUBLIC EYE HQ
Spider-Man sees L'Markus below him as he web-slings towards the PE HQ, where he then uses his web foils to glide down to the man. He lands in front of him.
"Stop!" Spider-Man says, "Mr. O'Hara has reason to believe that YOU were the one who engineered the bombing of the old Alchemax building!"
"That's ubsurd!" L'Markus says, "I had nothing to do with it!"
'This is a mistake,' thinks Spider-Man, 'There's no way I can tie him totally with the bombing. Not enough evidence. But I can't just let him leave...' Suddenly, Knight comes driving by and quickly transforms to his robot mode.
"I've got a disk from the warehouse with EVERYTHING on it!" Knight says, "You're busted, L'Markus!"
"So you managed to get past the defense system, you filthy robot?!" L'Markus says, "Let's see you try to get past ME!" The man then expands and grows out of his suit, until he's the same size as Knight, and grey with warts, large fangs, and huge muscles.
"You see, I not only invented the mind-controlling device," says L'Markus, "But I also conducted an experiment on myself, letting me change into this form!" He then kicks Spider-Man, knocking him back into a building nearby, then tackles Knight. Knight struggles with him, laying on the street trying to pull L'Markus off of him. Cars coming by in the street swerve and crash into each other, all trying to avoid the large robot and monster wrestling each other on the street. Knight punches the monster in the face, knocking out a few of it's teeth, but it still won't let go.
"I'd hate to do this, but..." Knight says, who then grabs the creature's jaw and uses a bio-electrical feedback on him, electricuting him and making him wall on his back and off Knight. Just then, a dozen PE officers on skycycles fly overhead and fire down on the monster, who defends himself by swatting some cycles away. Spider-Man quickly rejoins the scene and immediately webs up the monster's face. The monster then pulls on the webbing on his face, trying to get it all off, while the PE officers fire tasers and tranqu. darts at it, knocking it out. Once it's down, the PE officers land and everyone gathers around the monster, who quickly turns back into L'Markus.
LATER
A van is parked near L'Markus's body on the street, as PEs pick him up, strap him down with metal bars on an adamantium bed and place him in the back of the van. The van then drives off. Knight turns to Miguel, who are standing nearby.
"So L'Markus, the cheif engineer, was upset because he wanted to be the new head guy, so he blew up the Alchemax building just so he could be the new head of the new building?" Knight asks.
"Pretty much," Miguel replies, "It's a shame. He was such a good worker. Too bad he turned out to be so twisted. Anyway, thanks for your help, Knight. Because of you, we've solved the mystery behind the previous building explosion AND put a dangerous man away. Is there anything more we can do for you?"
"Nah, we're doin' OK," Knight replies, "Still got our hands full with Deceps to deal with, but otherwise fine. If we ever need more energon, like what you've already given, we'll let you know!" Knight then transforms to his Whisper SX car mode. "See ya! And give my regards to Spider-Man!"
"Will do!" Miguel says, waving goodbye to Knight as he drives off on the mag-lev track and away into the distance.
END.
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"Prime Choice"
Written by: HotRod2316@aol.com, Filter9309@aol.com, and BigRon309@aol.com
Edited by:
AEIC: NeoTrent@aol.com
EIC: HotRod2316@aol.com
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CYBERSPACE
I am Optimus Prime, one time leader of the Autobots, with a body looking like the cab section of a red trailer truck. At least that is who I believe I am, from what I've been told by my companions in the real world. I have traversed the vastness of Cyberspace as only a cyberspace sprite for less than a century, but it feels like eternity. Ever since the early to mid 21st century, when the old man computer scientist Ethan Zachary (who created me) jacked me into cyberspace while on his deathbed, I've been gliding the never-ending reaches of this information plain. Right now I'm gliding from one cyberplane to the next, searching for info, with an online friend of mine called "Wire". Light beams past by us as I "fly", and he "glides" on his board, through the endless reaches of the Cyberworld.
"You keeping up, old timer?" Wire asks, turning to me as he speeds ahead. I fly up to where Wire is, holding my gun in my right hand.
"You'll have to do better than that to lose me, old friend!" I laugh. We continue to race until I begin to notice that I'm fading away.
"Wha--what's happening?!" I shout.
"Prime! What's happening to you?" Wire asks as he turns back around and to me. By the time he reaches me, I have completely disappeared.
"Where the shock did he go?" Wire asks himself.
SOMEWHERE ELSE IN CYBERSPACE
I'm falling, falling down some cyber-hole. I have no idea where it will take me, but I have a feeling I'll soon find out!
I continue to fall until I reach the tunnel's end, and find myself in some large bottomless room with strange objects in it. I land in the middle of the floor-less room on a floating rock, and the strange objects, four of them, gather around me like they're alive.
"What are you creatures?" I ask.
"Welcome to the Ghostworks," one creature says, who appears to be a glowing, floating baby with two heads and four arms, "We have summoned you here for a purpose."
"You--you speak in the binary," I say.
"We are the programs of the Ghostworks*. This is a place unknown to man. Here are gathered the best artificial intelligences in the word, who ask you, legendary leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, to help us." says a floating brain with tentacles coming out of it. A large robotic-like skeleton with a TV for a head approaches me. On the TV appears the face of a familiar twencen TV show character. (* - See Ghost Rider 2099 #1 for more info on the Ghostworks. - Ryan)
"Your mission, Optimus Prime, if you choose to accept it," says the character on the TV, "Is to stop the evil cyberspace entity known as Discord. That is why we brought you here. He is back and causing havoc, threatening to destroy all of Cyberspace. From our understanding of your program schematics, only you can stop him."
"Very well, then," I say, standing tall and proud, "I accept your challenge."
"Very good," says a metronome, "What Discord has developed is a computer program that eats everything in its path. He's using it on copied files that contain information on himself to erase all evidence of his existence to keep online intelligences from stopping him in his schemes."
"He will perfect this device so it can devour all of Cyberspace itself!" says the two-headed baby, "Including us! Only YOU can stop him!"
"Where do I go?" I ask.
"Discord has already infiltrated the cyber city Digitopia. He is in a file building, undetected except to us, looking for everything they have on him. You must go now, my son," says a new TV character on the screen.
"Then we have no time to waste," I reply, and suddenly find myself teleported immediately to Digitopia.
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Transformers 2099 Annual #1 (1998)
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"Who done it?"
Written by: HotRod2316@aol.com and BigRon309@aol.com
Edited by:
AEIC: NeoTrent@aol.com
EIC: HotRod2316@aol.com
********************************************************
ON THE MAIN HIGHWAY RUNNING THROUGH NEW YORK CITY
A sleek, gray Whisper SX with an Autobot symbol on the hood hovers down the mag-lev highway in New York, with a robotic dummy at the wheel. The real controller of this car isn't the dummy, but the car itself. It's Knight, the youthful-acting Autobot of Ratchet's team, speeding down the highway. On his left and right side are buildings over 100 stories tall, including the Stark/Fujikawa building.
'I haven't been here in sooooo long!' thinks Knight, 'I almost forgot what this city looked like!' Knight then takes a left at a split in the highway where half of it goes left and the other half goes right, and sees a mandatory slow down sign appear above the street right after the turn.
'Aw, shock! Not another slow down!' he thinks as he feels himself automatically slow down by the pull of the magnetic mag-lev road. So focused is he on the slow down that he doesn't see the black and red figure swinging high above him on a web line from one building to the next. It's Spider-Man 2099, AKA Miguel O'Hara, web-slinging to his job at the NEW Alchemax building.
'I hope I'm not late,' he thinks to himself, 'My first day at the new Alchemax building is important since I'm the boss. Took minutes for it to be made using nanotech, but all the lost files had to be recovered first, and that took time, searching through all that rubble of the old building to recover as much as possible, such as the files. Stark/Fujikawa managed to take some of them via their Specialists, which lead the company to the creation of those new Transformers. Can't let that happen again.'
After a dozen web-swings past many buildings, the S-Man finally reaches the new Alchemax building, lands on the roof, disables the cameras in a room below him and slips in through a roof window which leads into that secret room, changes into his business clothes and exits the room through the main door, and enters a hallway, turning left and walking towards the room at the end of the hallway.
Inside that room, waiting for him, is none other than his chief managers of Alchemax, the guys who work directly under Mr. O'Hara, all sitting at a rectangular meeting table, with one spot at the end for O'Hara. Miguel walks in through the sliding doors, and sits down in his spot.
"You all know why you're here," Miguel says, "It's to help promote the new and improved Alchemax building. My intent, from here on out, is to convey a good message about it with the people. They must no longer look at Alchemax as a place of evil, but a place where the goods of man can be attained. But first, we must discover WHY the previous Alchemax building was destroyed." O'Hara turns to his offical on his right. "Mr. Johnson?"
"It appears to have been some kind of terrorist bombing," Johnson says, "Bombs placed on all floors of the building. By who, we don't know yet. Our suspicions still lie with Stark/Fujikawa, since they used the defenseless rubble of the building to get those files on those alien robots which they used to build new ones*." (* - See TF 2099 #'s 1-6; Ryan)
"No evidence?" O'Hara asks.
"Just some," Johnson says, "But not enough to make a general conclusion."
"Hmm," O'Hara says, "We'll have to set up a meeting with Mr. Hikaru-Sama to get down to the bottom of this. I doubt he'll admit anything, but something's better than nothing."
"Agreed," says Johnson.
"If I might interject," says a man near the other end of the table on O'Hara's left side, "Maybe one of our first priorities is rounding up these renegade alien robots. There have been many reports of them causing havoc off in the western area of our country, and it is our fault they're active. Maybe if we sent some of our people down there to take them out--"
"NO," says O'Hara, "You keep forgetting, L'Markus, that not ALL of them are evil. The Autobots have stopped plenty of the Decepticons schemes, the Autobots being good and the Decepticons being evil. Our historical records, light as they are, partially indicate the differences between these two factions of warring robots."
"You're going to trust the word of those--machines--and some schetchy notes to determine which side you take?!" L'Markus says, "That's shocking nuts! They're all a menace! They're--"
"L'Markus, calm yourself," O'Hara says, "If the Autobots were a threat to us they would have destroyed us already. They're on our side. Trust me. Spider-Man gave me his word of honor on this. Anyway, like I said, our first priorities are getting the new building up and working and solving the mystery behind the destruction of the previous one. Any questions?" All seated look back and forth at each other, looking for someone to ask something, but no one does. "Good then. You all have your assignments. Good day." Everyone then gets out of their seats and heads towards the door near Miguel on his left side and exit the room. Miguel is the last to leave the room and, when he exits, turns to the left and walks strait down the hallway to his office. While walking, he passes his personal assistant, Winston, the cyborg.
"Messages, Winston?" Miguel asks.
"None, sir," he replies.
"*Sigh*, good," says Miguel, who then steps through the sliding doors to his office. As he sits down behind his desk in his chair, he thinks about what L'Markus said, about the Transformers. It's been so long since he's been in contact with them, so very long. He wonders how his Autobot friends are doing against the Decepticons, and knows that even though the original TFs wouldn't stand a chance against Earth technology of today, the new TFs now are much more powerful and are a greater threat, bringing their war back here. He begins to think deeply about the situation, turning his chair around to face the huge window behind him looking to the street below, and notices something in the street. A gray car, but not just any great car, but one with a familiar symbol on it. He then uses his enhanced vision to look closer at the car, and sees his suspicions come true.
'It's one of them!' thinks Miguel, 'One of the Autobots! But what is he doing here?! I've got to find out!' Miguel then charges out of his office, past Winston, and into his personal bathroom without cameras, changes into his S-Man costume, and charges out the window and floats down to the street.
BELOW
Knight continues his drive along the mag-lev highway at a slow pace, until he sees some madman with a jumpsuit on attached with bombs runs in front of his path. Knight quickly turns into the next lane to avoid him, nearly hitting some other cars going the other way in the process. Knight, after passing the man, quickly gets back in his lane and stops like the rest of the traffic in his lane has, turning around to see the madman.
"DON'T THINK I WON'T DO IT!" the man cries, holding a trigger button in his hand, "I'LL BLOW THIS WHOLE CITY TO SHOCKIN' KINGDOM COME IF ANYONE GETS IN MY WAY!" Little does he see Spider-Man coming down behind him, who then gradually lands on the ground about 10 yards behind him.
"What do you think you're trying to pull, buddy?" S-Man says, "You trying to bring in the coming new year with a bang?" The man turns around.
"SPIDER-MAN!" he shouts, "You think you can stop me?! No one can stop me, or any of my team! Death to Alchemax!"
"STOP!" shouts S-Man, "Alchemax is in good hands now! There's no need for this!"
"How do you know we can trust them?! Sentence MUST be carried out NOW!" the man says.
'I can't just sit here and let this happen!' thinks Knight, 'Gotta help!' Knight then transforms to his robot mode, much to the shock of everyone else standing by.
"It-it's one of those crazy robots!" someone from another mag-lev car shouts, "Look out!" Everyone nearby starts screaming and running away. The madman stares blankly at the Autobot.
"What the shock are you?!" he asks. With his back turned, Spider-Man sneaks up on him, disconnects the bombs, and removes it from his person.
"Hey!" the man shouts as Spidey runs away with the bombs. Suddenly, five Public Eye officers on skycycles land and apprehend the man. "Hey, let me go!!" he shouts as they carry him off and back to their HQ.
"Thanks for the assist," Spidey says, looking up at Knight.
"No problem, Spidey!" he replies.
"Actually, I prefer Spider-Man, or S-Man. Anyway, what brings you back to New York?"
"Just on leave for a while. Fighting Decepticons can really take it out of you!"
"I can imagine! I'm currently trying to find out why the previous Alchemax building was blown up!"
"Let me help! I always love a good mystery!"
"Uh, sure! But I don't know how Mr. O'Hara and his officials will think about it!"
LATER, AT PUBLIC EYE HQ
"Tell us who you work for!" the Public Eye officer shouts, back-hand slapping the man sitting in the chair in the large interrogation room, the man who earlier threatened to bomb the city with the bombs that were strapped around him, who S-Man and Knight stopped.
"Never!" the man shouts, "Death to Alchemax!" The slapper PE officer turn to the one standing next to him.
"We'll never get anything out of this one-tracked mind," he says.
"Should we take up the robot's suggestion?" the other officer asks.
"Very well," the first one says.
Outside the interrogation room, behind a glass wall that can see into it but not vice-versa, stand Miguel O'Hara stands with another PE officer and some Alchemax officials looking through that glass wall.
"Looks like they're going to go through with it, sir," the officer says, "Is that OK?"
"Yes, it's fine," Miguel says, "We HAVE to get our answers ASAP. If this guy is linked to the Alchemax bombing at all--"
"Why don't you tell me, for the record, what happened to you at the time of the bombing."
"Alright, it was like this--" Miguel then retells the tale of how he came down to the engineering room on the first floor since he got no response from the engineers through the intercom, and saw their dead bodies laying around inside that room with the control panel screen counting down from 200. He then pressed buttons on the panel, which revealed on the screen that bombs lay on each floor of the building. He quickly found out he couldn't stop the bombs from exploding in time, so set up a shield to protect the soon-to-explode building, and mostly everyone in the building got outside before the shield came up, including him. It was then that the building exploded, the debris shooting outward, hitting the shield then coming back down within the sheild. Thanks to the shield, the explosion didn't hit anything, or anyone, else in NY.
"Hmm," the officer says, "Some of the evidence from the wreckage matches this guy's clothes and fingerprints. The mind-read with the robot should tell us for sure if he was there."
"You're going to listen to this robot?!" L'Markus says, "You're crazy! You're all shockin' crazy!"
"Calm DOWN, L'Markus!" Miguel snaps, "I trust Knight. Go ahead."
The men in the room strap the man down tighter, and Knight steps closer into the room, barely fitting, and attaches wires from his fingertips to the man's head, and begins extracting information from it.
"This'll only take a nano-click," Knight says.
"A what?" an officer asks. Seconds later, Knight removes the wires from the man's head.
"His name is Herald Jacobs," Knight says, "His mind told me he...came here with his group of bombers, somehow snuck in as security officers."
"Can you see anything else, Knight?" Miguel asks.
"They get into into the engineering room, then the bombers all pull out guns and blow everyone in the room away. They set bombs on every floor, and the detonator in the engineering room, in the big computer with the large monitor showing the countdown, then they all quickly evacuate the building." Knight says.
"Where did they go afterward?" Miguel asks.
"A place here in New York. I've downloaded the coordinates."
"Good. Lead a team of Public Eye agents there to check it out."
"OK, but may I speak with you in private first, Mr. O'Hara?"
"Sure." Knight and Miguel then step outside the building to an alleyway.
"I saw something else in his mind," Knight says, "It was hidden, like he was brainwashed or something. It would explain his weird behavior. Anyway, what I didn't say earlier was that I think those memories are FAKE ones, and the REAL ones say they were led into the building by some man. I can't see his face, it's all dark, but he leads them to his office on the first floor, three doors to the left of engineering, THEN he leads them to the engineering room, where they do the rest I described. I think our mystery man then quickly leaves the building. I didn't say this before because I thought he might be someone in the room."
"Hmm..." Miguel says, "I think I know what to do. You lead the PE officers to the hideout, and I'll do my stuff!"
"Got it!" Knight says, "Will Spidey be joining us?"
"No, uh, I think he's got other business right now," Miguel replies, "Now go!" Knights then saluts him, transforms, and leads the pack of PE officers on their sky cycles to the destination of the hideout. Miguel quickly goes into a MetroExpress shipping booth, changes to Spider-Man, then swings back to Alchemax.
LATER, ON THE ROAD THROUGH NEW YORK
Knight steadily leads the PEs to their destination through downtown. They drive past many of the old and broken homes, until they finally reach their destination. It's an old boarded-up wearhouse. Knight transforms to his robot mode in front of it as the PEs hover on their sky cycles above.
"This is the place!" Knight says. Two cannon guns pop out from the ground all around the building and fire at Knight and the others. The PEs avoid the shots and fire back, as does Knight, taking out the guns. The front door to the warehouse is a big metal garage-door-like door, which Knight smashes in.
"Let's go!" he says, turning to the PEs.
AT THE NEW ALCHEMAX TOWER
Miguel O'Hara looks through his personal files on the old building, looking up who's office it was that was three doors to the left of engineering. After a few minutes of searching, he finally comes up with a name: Jed L'Markus.
'L'Markus!' Miguel thinks, 'HE'S the traitor! Makes sense. He is the chief engineer at Alchemax, knows lots about technology, and he was supposed to get the job as CEO of Alchemax after Tyler Stone, but was passed up when Stone elected me as his replacement! He wanted to blow up the building so I, and the rest of the Alchemax staff who supported me as CEO, would die, and he would be the next CEO of the new building! I'll have to confront him, but not as Miguel...' Miguel then runs off to the bathroom, changes into Spider-Man, exits through the roof and heads back to PE HQ.
'Man, how many times do I have to change back and forth, anyway?' Spider-Man thinks to himself as he .
BACK AT THE WAREHOUSE
There's a big computer at the end of the warehouse with a monitor, and a chair with a helmet attached to the top next to the computer. One of the PE officers presses a few buttons on the computer, and an image of a mind-controlling program appears and how it brainwashes people into doing things.
"So those people were mind-controlled!" Knight says, "Does it say who is behind all this?"
"Let me see," the PE says, pressing some more buttons, which reveals files showing that the technology belongs to L'Markus.
"So it was that bigoty guy!" another PE officer says.
"We've got to get a downloaded copy of this and take it back to Public Eye HQ now!" Knight says, and the PE downloads it to a small disk, then hands the disk to Knight. Suddenly, the floors open up behind them, and they turn around to see two giant human-shaped robots jump out of the holes and land right before them. Before they can react, the robots fire lasers at them, hitting most of the PEs as they scream and yell for their lives. Soon, Knight is the only one still standing. He continues to fire at the robots, causing little damage. He then pulls out his sword and swings it on one of the robot's shoulders, cutting the arm off, but the other robot's scissor-hands then grabs and cuts the sword so it's only a stub from the handle. Knight shealths the sword (what's left of it), and grabs one robot from behind. The other robot then tries to cut Knight, but instead hits the other robot, cutting it in two. Knight then grabs the remaining robot's arm and uses it to cut it's own head off. Once that's done, the Autobot then transforms to his vehicle mode and, with the disk, takes off back to uptown.
LATER, AT PUBLIC EYE HQ
Spider-Man sees L'Markus below him as he web-slings towards the PE HQ, where he then uses his web foils to glide down to the man. He lands in front of him.
"Stop!" Spider-Man says, "Mr. O'Hara has reason to believe that YOU were the one who engineered the bombing of the old Alchemax building!"
"That's ubsurd!" L'Markus says, "I had nothing to do with it!"
'This is a mistake,' thinks Spider-Man, 'There's no way I can tie him totally with the bombing. Not enough evidence. But I can't just let him leave...' Suddenly, Knight comes driving by and quickly transforms to his robot mode.
"I've got a disk from the warehouse with EVERYTHING on it!" Knight says, "You're busted, L'Markus!"
"So you managed to get past the defense system, you filthy robot?!" L'Markus says, "Let's see you try to get past ME!" The man then expands and grows out of his suit, until he's the same size as Knight, and grey with warts, large fangs, and huge muscles.
"You see, I not only invented the mind-controlling device," says L'Markus, "But I also conducted an experiment on myself, letting me change into this form!" He then kicks Spider-Man, knocking him back into a building nearby, then tackles Knight. Knight struggles with him, laying on the street trying to pull L'Markus off of him. Cars coming by in the street swerve and crash into each other, all trying to avoid the large robot and monster wrestling each other on the street. Knight punches the monster in the face, knocking out a few of it's teeth, but it still won't let go.
"I'd hate to do this, but..." Knight says, who then grabs the creature's jaw and uses a bio-electrical feedback on him, electricuting him and making him wall on his back and off Knight. Just then, a dozen PE officers on skycycles fly overhead and fire down on the monster, who defends himself by swatting some cycles away. Spider-Man quickly rejoins the scene and immediately webs up the monster's face. The monster then pulls on the webbing on his face, trying to get it all off, while the PE officers fire tasers and tranqu. darts at it, knocking it out. Once it's down, the PE officers land and everyone gathers around the monster, who quickly turns back into L'Markus.
LATER
A van is parked near L'Markus's body on the street, as PEs pick him up, strap him down with metal bars on an adamantium bed and place him in the back of the van. The van then drives off. Knight turns to Miguel, who are standing nearby.
"So L'Markus, the cheif engineer, was upset because he wanted to be the new head guy, so he blew up the Alchemax building just so he could be the new head of the new building?" Knight asks.
"Pretty much," Miguel replies, "It's a shame. He was such a good worker. Too bad he turned out to be so twisted. Anyway, thanks for your help, Knight. Because of you, we've solved the mystery behind the previous building explosion AND put a dangerous man away. Is there anything more we can do for you?"
"Nah, we're doin' OK," Knight replies, "Still got our hands full with Deceps to deal with, but otherwise fine. If we ever need more energon, like what you've already given, we'll let you know!" Knight then transforms to his Whisper SX car mode. "See ya! And give my regards to Spider-Man!"
"Will do!" Miguel says, waving goodbye to Knight as he drives off on the mag-lev track and away into the distance.
END.
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"Prime Choice"
Written by: HotRod2316@aol.com, Filter9309@aol.com, and BigRon309@aol.com
Edited by:
AEIC: NeoTrent@aol.com
EIC: HotRod2316@aol.com
********************************************************
CYBERSPACE
I am Optimus Prime, one time leader of the Autobots, with a body looking like the cab section of a red trailer truck. At least that is who I believe I am, from what I've been told by my companions in the real world. I have traversed the vastness of Cyberspace as only a cyberspace sprite for less than a century, but it feels like eternity. Ever since the early to mid 21st century, when the old man computer scientist Ethan Zachary (who created me) jacked me into cyberspace while on his deathbed, I've been gliding the never-ending reaches of this information plain. Right now I'm gliding from one cyberplane to the next, searching for info, with an online friend of mine called "Wire". Light beams past by us as I "fly", and he "glides" on his board, through the endless reaches of the Cyberworld.
"You keeping up, old timer?" Wire asks, turning to me as he speeds ahead. I fly up to where Wire is, holding my gun in my right hand.
"You'll have to do better than that to lose me, old friend!" I laugh. We continue to race until I begin to notice that I'm fading away.
"Wha--what's happening?!" I shout.
"Prime! What's happening to you?" Wire asks as he turns back around and to me. By the time he reaches me, I have completely disappeared.
"Where the shock did he go?" Wire asks himself.
SOMEWHERE ELSE IN CYBERSPACE
I'm falling, falling down some cyber-hole. I have no idea where it will take me, but I have a feeling I'll soon find out!
I continue to fall until I reach the tunnel's end, and find myself in some large bottomless room with strange objects in it. I land in the middle of the floor-less room on a floating rock, and the strange objects, four of them, gather around me like they're alive.
"What are you creatures?" I ask.
"Welcome to the Ghostworks," one creature says, who appears to be a glowing, floating baby with two heads and four arms, "We have summoned you here for a purpose."
"You--you speak in the binary," I say.
"We are the programs of the Ghostworks*. This is a place unknown to man. Here are gathered the best artificial intelligences in the word, who ask you, legendary leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, to help us." says a floating brain with tentacles coming out of it. A large robotic-like skeleton with a TV for a head approaches me. On the TV appears the face of a familiar twencen TV show character. (* - See Ghost Rider 2099 #1 for more info on the Ghostworks. - Ryan)
"Your mission, Optimus Prime, if you choose to accept it," says the character on the TV, "Is to stop the evil cyberspace entity known as Discord. That is why we brought you here. He is back and causing havoc, threatening to destroy all of Cyberspace. From our understanding of your program schematics, only you can stop him."
"Very well, then," I say, standing tall and proud, "I accept your challenge."
"Very good," says a metronome, "What Discord has developed is a computer program that eats everything in its path. He's using it on copied files that contain information on himself to erase all evidence of his existence to keep online intelligences from stopping him in his schemes."
"He will perfect this device so it can devour all of Cyberspace itself!" says the two-headed baby, "Including us! Only YOU can stop him!"
"Where do I go?" I ask.
"Discord has already infiltrated the cyber city Digitopia. He is in a file building, undetected except to us, looking for everything they have on him. You must go now, my son," says a new TV character on the screen.
"Then we have no time to waste," I reply, and suddenly find myself teleported immediately to Digitopia.