A/N: I know some of you know that phase shifter is in New York, but I think it's possible for more than one relic to wind up in the same location.

Chapter 7

Aboard the Nemesis, Terra Breaker sat in the confines of his quarters, observing several monitors at once. Each piece of footage was taken at a different time, but they all had one thing in common; the Autobots. The young mech watched as the Autobots deployed into battle against the Vehicons, studying each of their fighting styles. He watched each screen intently, looking for any weakness in their technique. It was easy to determine a few, but he would need more than that to defeat them.

Bumblebee relied heavily on his vehicle mode when in motion, using it to get the jump on his enemy. At a distance, he used his wrist blasters; when in close quarters, he relied on a fighting style similar to what humans call "boxing". Bulkhead, being the only Wrecker of the group, relied solely on melee and firearms. He used his cannons at a distance and his fist or maces at close range. He would be easy enough to take with a little disorientation. Ratchet, though he rarely set foot on the battlefield, was a medic and appeared to have no firearms of any sort. That provided the advantage of keeping him at a distance with long-range weaponry.

The medic relied solely on his blades and welder for combat; not a very good strategy. All it would take to defeat him would be a well-placed sniper shot. Arcee was a different story; her size provided her with an advantage in agility. She had an expert knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, allowing her to incorporate her wrist blades. She used blasters at a long range and could easily take down a single squadron on her own.

Optimus Prime, being the leader of the Autobots and a Prime, was the largest among them, making him slightly slower. What he lacked in speed, he made up for with sheer strength and durability. He could take damage in battle that would offline most mechs and the wisdom afforded to him by the Primes granted him expert military knowledge. He was definitely a force to be reckoned with, especially when angered. To sum it all up, the Autobots compensated their lack of numbers by relying on their natural abilities, utilizing unorthodox resources, and teamwork.

There were also the variables of Ironhide and Chromia now that they were on Earth, but the young mech needed a little more time before he could provide a proper analysis. For now, he would leave them to Commander Dreadwing and Slipstream while he focused on creating proper counter-measures for the others.

ShadowStrike: Terra Breaker

In one of Manhattans many sky-scrappers owned by L. Thompson Lincoln, a battle had been waged with two of the participants taken out of the fray. All who remained at the moment was Green Goblin, a mysterious and insane maniac bent on total chaos. In his way was supposed "Big Man of Crime", Tombstone, a man shrouded by his own mysterious past. The two stared down at each other, one with eyes as cold and emotionless as stone; the other with a twisted grin plastered on his face and eyes wide with excitement. The Goblin had one of his pumpkin themed explosives ready in hand, waiting for Lincoln to make a move.

Tombstone watched this figure carefully, scanning him for any weaknesses that could be exploited. He also wanted to make sure no one was left to witness this battle; he had an image to uphold to throw off suspicion after all. He stood still, his mind calculating over a hundred scenarios in which to approach this fight. He would not be the one to make the first move in case there were any prying eyes left who would use this as leverage to start a full investigation of Lincoln and his operations. Finally the Goblin spoke, "I heard you were cold as stone, but I didn't think you be as rigid as one!"

Laughing manically, he tossed the explosive at the man, who jumped back as it detonated. The stage was marred by a giant hole in its floor as Tombstone quickly recovered, pleased as he found no witnesses to what was about to happen. The Goblin flew overhead, tossing more pumpkin themed devices, these being bladed projectiles. Managing to dodge the first two, the third found itself lodged in Tombstone's triceps. The injury appeared worse than it was, as the man's face betrayed no feelings of pain or agony.

Still cackling insanely, the Goblin readied for another bout, only to find a web fly out of nowhere and stick to the rear of hid glider. Looking over his shoulder, he found Spider-Man, sticking to the wall, his hands grasping the web tightly, "Whew! Landed me a big one!"

"Whose landed whom?" he chuckled, rotating to face the Spider, a blade sticking out of the gargoyle decorations mouth. Launching himself towards the web-slinger, the Goblin found a foot slammed against his face. Knocked off balance, the Green Goblin fell from his glider, landing on the ground with a thud, but quickly recovering, his cheeky smile still plastered on his face. The glider stood by while its pilot stared down both Spider-Man and ShadowStrike, both looking ready for a fight. "Well, if it isn't you two again. I don't see why you're getting in my way. We all want the same thing, don't we?"

"What I want is to wipe that stupid grin off your face," the ninja growled.

"We can at least agree that Tombstone needs to be taken down," the madman reasoned. "What's the harm if I do it?"

"Because I'm pretty sure you'll take his place," Spider-Man argued. "We'd be trading one crime lord for another."

The Goblin scoffed, "Details, details." He pulled out two more explosives and tossed them towards the two masked men. Jumping out of the way as the bombs exploded, Spider-Man swung towards the Goblin and started trading blows. He threw a punch, but it was caught by the Goblin, who threw one of his own to Spider-Man's gut. He kneed the red and blue hero in the same spot and tossed him back.

Landing on his feet, Spider-Man barely dodged another punch from the green maniac, slowly backing up as he threw punch after punch. Using his agility, Spider-Man managed to kick the man in the stomach to no avail. Grabbing the wall crawler's leg, he threw the man back, but Spider-Man landed on his feet yet again. The Goblin laughed, "You think you can keep beating me with a few punches and kicks?"

"No," Spider-Man charged at his opponent, "But he does." He ducked as ShadowStrike used him for leverage to launch a kick in his face. Staggering back, he was met by a fist to the jaw and a heel to the temple. Two heroes alternated their attacks to keep the Goblin guessing, pushing him back and keeping him off balance. They finally managed to land both their fists in his face, sending him into the stage.

Sliding on to his rear, the Goblin looked up at the two masked men, both of the glaring down at the Goblin. Despite the beating he'd just taken, he still smiled, chuckling darkly, "As much fun as this has been, I best be going now."

"You're not going anywhere," Spider-Man replied.

"Aren't I?" he pressed a button on his gauntlet, causing the web head's Spider-Sense to activate as the chandelier above to explode and fall to ground, shattering into pieces. Spider-Man and ShadowStrike, who'd taken cover during the commotion looked to find the space occupied by the Goblin empty. The looked up to find his glider gone, an insane cackling heard in the distance.

"He got away," Spider-Man growled.

"He came prepared," ShadowStrike replied. "I doubt we've seen the last of him." He turned to find Tombstone applauding them.

"Well done," he said. "You managed to stop the Goblin with only minimal property damage. I suppose a reward is in order."

"You can keep your money," Spider-Man spat. "I already told you that I won't be your little puppet."

Tombstone nodded and turned toward ShadowStrike, "And you? Do you share Spider-Man's sentiment or are you interested in heroics that pay?"

"I'm no one's puppet," the ninja replied. "But I'll be taking that staff you've got in your office."

"And what value does that old relic have for you?"

"I'm in the business of collecting 'rare' items," the ninja said. "Trust me. My competitors won't hesitate to take that thing from you with maximum property damage." Tombstone simply nodded and walked towards his office, motioning for them to follow.

"What are doing?" Spider-Man asked.

"Trust me," ShadowStrike replied. "That relic is better off in the hands of my friends than it is here." Spider-Man nodded and followed the two men. Entering the office Lincoln picked up the staff and handed to the ninja.

"It's been a pleasure," he said with no emotion.

ShadowStrike: Terra Breaker

Standing on the building with the Nexus Spear in hand, ShadowStrike was deep in thought about all that had happened today. He went from using New York as a training ground to defending it alongside Spider-Man, learning a lesson in heroism in the process. Maybe there was something to be gained from not killing so indiscriminately. For the first time in the last few months, Jack felt like he did before this whole ShadowStrike conflict began. He also felt slightly better about going home to Sunny and the others, feeling proud that no blood stained his blade today.

Maybe he could be something akin to a hero if he followed Spider-Man's example. He turned to find said wall crawler walking up from behind, "Enjoying the view?"

"It's pretty nice," he replied.

"I just wanted to say thanks for giving me a hand with Tombstone and the Goblin," Spider-Man said. "It was nice to have a little back-up for once."

"I should be thanking you," he said, still looking ahead.

"For what?"

"Helping me salvage what was left of my humanity," he said, ignoring the confused reaction he got. Spider-Man pushed out all thoughts about that statement and walked in front of him, extending his hand. Smiling beneath his mask, he took it; the two men looked at each other with a newfound respect.

"Why don't you stay in New York for a while?" the red and blue man asked. "This city's becoming stranger by the day and I don't I think I can handle it on my own forever."

"I might just do that," the ninja said. "First I need to make sure this reaches my friends."

"Good," Spider-Man said. "Now we need to come up with a word that works with ShadowStrike. How Shadowy or Sensational? What about Brooding?"

"You had to ruin the moment, didn't you?" the ninja scowled.

"I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

"Troll."

"And proud of it!"

ShadowStrike: Terra Breaker

In the Autobot base, Optimus and his men gathered as the monitors alerted them to latest unearthed relic. Watching the monitor intently, Optimus turned to his troops, "A new artifact has been discovered, prepare to roll out." Ratchet activated the ground-bridge and the six 'Bots shifted into vehicle mode and sped through.

ShadowStrike: Terra Breaker

A/N: I hope you enjoyed. As you can see, Jack might be staying in New York for a while, which leaves me with the opportunity to develop everyone else's character. Any suggestions on that would be helpful. On a related note, what would you think about the full sequel to Rising focusing on Miko.