Author's Notes: Yay; updatey goodness, thanks guys and gals because you responded so quickly you get a special treat; Chapter Twelve this week, we're nearing the end, Chapter Thirteen will be the final chapter of Final Chaos and at very long last this massive undertaking in the Marvel Earth 929 Beta Universe will be complete. So; without further preamble...
The Pretender Shell form of Bludgeon unleashes a burst of energy from the tip of his blade as he stands ready to do battle; The Transformers logo appears behind him, suddenly his Shell body seperates into it's twin halves and the robot within emerges converting into tank mode and firing on an unseen enemy.
"We Now Return to the Transformers."
Circuit Breaker, Cyclops and Phoenix watched as Shockwave crashed to the estate below; the Decepticon had done considerable damage to the defenses and the east wing of the Mansion was a shambles, but at least the house was partially intact. Magik, Jubilee, Shadowcat, Beast, Storm, Sabertooth, Avalanche, Mystique and Professor X emerged from the intact portion of the Mansion and eyed the fallen Decepticon. Without warning the Avenger's Quinjet landed on the front lawn and both Giant Man and Wasp emerged having been sent to assist the X-Men by Iron Man; upon seeing the situation under control the two Avengers offered a smile.
"Looks like we managed to show up at the wrong time again." Giant Man remarked thoughtfully; Wasp chuckled.
"I wouldn't say that; since the Blackbird is down it would appear they could use a lift into town if they want to help out their friends." She pointed out; Professor Xavier smiled secretively and wheeled towards the two Avengers.
"Indeed; excellent timing, come X-Men let us Xpedite as young Mister Rutherford put it." He called over his shoulder.
"All of us?" Storm wondered regarding the three teenagers concernedly.
"It is safer to remain together rather then separate at this crucial moment." Xavier returned. "Besides I wouldn't leave them alone here with that one; though he appears dormant there is no way of knowing precisely when he might regain his senses." He added sagely; Scott nodded in agreement and together the X-Men their former foes the Brotherhood, the Avengers and a certain former Transformer foe boarded the Quinjet and took off back for the city of New York.
"How did you get past the shields?" Beast wondered conversationally.
"We had a little help." Giant Man admitted pointing out the cockpit window and indicating what looked like a piece of a Fighter still clinging to the undercarriage.
"Ah I see; a Decepticon adversary must surely be suffering a great deal of pain at this moment." Beast returned with a knowing smirk; Giant Man nodded smirking as well, but quickly sobered up as the New York skyline appeared on the horizon after all people were dieing in there, some of them maybe even friends of his.
Galvatron sat in his throne with a scowl on his face; so far Skywarp, Thundercracker and Soundwave had failed to report back. Dirge claimed Thrust and Ramjet were out of commission as well as Rumble and Frenzy and Devastator had lost the Avengers and was currently rampaging through the city proper. His plans to wipe out the accursed super heroes of this world weren't going as he had envisioned; perhaps he should have brought in all his reserve soldiers and not just the six lone Pretenders currently acting as guards for the shield generators. The Predacons or Terrorcons still dormant on Cybertron could have easily tipped the scales in their favor; or that mobile fortress Trypticon, but unfortunately he had arrogantly believed he didn't need Cybertron's resources to conquer this mud ball of a planet.
"Galvatron!" A voice suddenly cried out; the news crews still being permitted to record the assault for later broadcast now that the jammers were in place all swung around to find a strange sight indeed barreling in on the Decepticon Emperor.
"Who dares!" Galvatron demanded rising from his throne and glaring angrily at the approaching warrior; instantly the Cobra Night Raven, which Galvatron easily recognized transformed into a new robot mode he'd never seen before. Except there was something eerily familiar about the cranial design; and as the being smirked, Galvatron instantly recognized his former Aerospace Commander. "Impossible!" He exclaimed daring not to show any fear that he may be experiencing due to the inconceivable survival of his former trusted lieutenant.
"Oh I assure you it is not." The former Decepticon sneered. "You may have destroyed my old superstructure, but my spark endures; and this time I shall be the one claiming victory and leadership of the Decepticons!" Starscream proclaimed raising a clenched fist in righteous fury; Galvatron sneered now and leveled his cannon on his old nemesis.
"Don't count on it Starscream." He snarled firing almost point blank; much to his surprise the laser did very little damage.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha! I've learned a great deal from our last encounter oh gregarious one; now witness my firepower!" Starscream cried opening fire with a blast from his twin cannons, which slammed into Galvatron and sent him crashing backwards into one of the further buildings surrounding the World Trade Center. Climbing from the rubble with narrowed optics Galvatron charged Starscream and pounded him in the chest sending him crashing through three buildings; Starscream laughed as he climbed practically unscathed from the detritus and began firing secondary weapons housed in his legs similar to gatling cannons, Galvatron shielded his face and growled low.
Leaping at Starscream through the hail of Cybertronian bullets he began to tussle trying to win with brute strength rather then firepower; Starscream managed to keep his grip at bay, even though Galvatron came close to grasping his head casing.
"I'll rip out your optics." Galvatron hissed dangerously.
"I highly doubt that." Starscream jeered reaching behind him and bashing the Decepticon with the nearest object, which happened to be a Harley; Galvatron roared enraged and transformed into his cannon mode firing shot after shot to little avail, Astrotrain quietly watching this smiled thrilled that someone was actually standing up to the tyrannical despot.
"Slag; Octane would have loved this, throw in a couple of femmebots and he would have paid me too." He complained with a sigh before wincing slightly in sympathetic pain as Starscream crushed another building; Galvatron reverted to robot mode and charged again generating an Energon blade from his wrist, this was going to be a really good show.
Amy and Nancy reached the Ark a lot sooner then either of them would have thought; Amy's lessons aboard Voyager had paid off, as she landed and Nancy pooled back out of the empty water bottle the two young girls looked up slightly fearfully at the imposing form of the crashed Ark spaceship.
"Do you think anyone's here?" Nancy asked softly afraid to trigger automated defenses by being too loud.
"There has to be; I've just got to get my daddy's message to them." Amy pouted marching straight up to the entrance and passing inside the alien ship; Nancy hadn't been here last time and so steeled her nerves before racing in after her, this place was huge how could they possibly find anyone? She needn't have worried; their arrival had been noted and someone came out to greet them; well met them in the entrance corridors at any rate, Amy smiled as she looked up and up into the familiar warm face of Ironhide.
"Well now; this is a strange place tah find two little girls." Ironhide remarked. "There a problem besides the Decepticons hostile take over o' New York?" He asked; Amy shook her head.
"I'm Amy Rutherford; my Daddy sent me here with a message for Optimus Prime." She explained; Ironhide's face fell.
"Ah'm afraid Prahme isn't here little lady." He returned; Amy sighed and frowned.
"This is important; real important, if Optimus Prime wants to stop Galvatron he needs to listen to my Daddy, my daddy knows a lot about Galvatron." Amy elaborated turning to Nancy.
"Maybe we can catch up to him before he gets to New York." The older girl suggested.
"Now hold on; what's this message that can help Prahme?" Ironhide asked leaning down to look at the two girls and bring himself a little closer to their eyesight; Amy sighed, she didn't have time to tell every Autobot what her daddy said.
"Daddy said that I should say Emirate Xaaron wouldn't waste time if I was delayed." She revealed; Ironhide's optics flickered with recognition and he quickly converted into his blocky looking van vehicle mode.
"Hop in; Ah'll get ya tah Prahme faster then yah can fly." He urged popping the passenger side door; Nancy followed Amy trying her best to keep her excitement down, she'd missed all the fun last time because of her training at Xavier's and she was feeling a little giddy at the prospect of riding inside an Autobot. Ironhide sped off at special warp speeds making Amy's stomach flip flop a little, but she didn't complain; Nancy didn't experience much unease due to her mutation, but she did feel a little pressure against her body as she was driven into the seat.
"Hold on Daddy." Amy whispered bravely determined.
Optimus Prime stood in robot mode over looking the city of New York; his men behind him ready to defend the human race once again from the Decepticons, he'd called in as many as he could and that was quite a lot. Grimlock and Prowl approached him from the ranks wondering what the delay was; now that the shields had been taken down they should get going and put a stop to this madness, they couldn't know that Prime was extremely worried by this new leader Galvatrons' powers.
"Prime; what are your orders?" Prowl asked carefully knowing that his leader was probably a little daunted by their task.
"Jazz; I want you to take Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, Bluestreak, Powerglide, Blaster and Omega Supreme into the Constructicons' tunnels." Prime began turning to face his amassed soldiers. "Locate all of the Energon and disarm the activation protocols for their detonator sequences." He ordered.
"Mission Objective Understood." Omega Supreme stated the massive Autobot towering above the rest; Prime was gambling, it was entirely possible Omega couldn't fit inside the tunnels in his full robot mode, but his smaller tank form should be capable of traversing the systems and aiding in dealing with any defense measures.
"Grimlock; take the Dinobots and stop Devastator before he destroys any more of the city." Prime added turning to the Dinobot leader; Grimlock nodded and instantly took to the air with Snarl, Slag, Sludge and Swoop. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Inferno, Red Alert, Perceptor locate the other Decepticons attacking the city and stop them; the rest of you will accompany me to deal with Galvatron." He finished; before anyone could acknowledge his orders Ironhide raced up and popped his passenger side door, two young girls hopped out and the shortest rushed over to Optimus without stopping to wait for Ironhide to transform.
"What are you doing here?" Red Alert demanded. "Who's guarding the Ark? You didn't leave Wheeljack, Ratchet and the injured Jetfire alone?" He continued berating Ironhide.
"Cool yer circuits Red; Ah'm here because this little lady says she's got an important message from Rutherford." Ironhide shot back brushing past the paranoid soldier and moving to Prime.
"A message from Rutherford?" Prime repeated glancing down curiously at the tiny cat-like girl. "I seem to recall Wheeljack mentioning a daughter; you must be her, but I'm afraid we don't have much time for delays." He continued; Amy nodded seriously taking up a very determined stance.
"Daddy says Megatron used the powers of the Infinity Engine to become Galvatron; he's really strong and no single Autobot or even a group of heavy hitters can take him down alone." She began sounding far too grown up for her young years; Optimus' optics weren't the only ones to widen at the revelation that Megatron and Galvatron were one and the same. "But if you use the Infinity Engine too and reformat your body you'll be powerful enough to match him blow for blow; my daddy says if you want to drive Galvatron off you're gonna have to tap into the Matrix while you're reformatting." Amy continued; Prime's optics indicated that he was frowning, but Rutherford had been touched by Primus.
"Do you really think that's going to work?" Bumblebee asked.
"Sounds like a delusion of grandeur." Prowl added; he hadn't really grown to like the young human, Rutherford reminded him too much of some of the Decepticons he'd faced in his personality quirks.
"Where's the Engine now?" Prime asked turning to Red Alert.
"Uh; back at the Ark in maximum security lockdown Prime." He replied; Optimus nodded and turned to face the child once more.
"Thank you for relaying this important bit of tactical information; and thank your father for us." He stated; Amy grinned proudly. "Change of plans Autobots; I'm going back to the Ark to do as Rutherford suggested, it shouldn't take long. In the meantime I want the rest of you to distract Galvatron as best as you are able and ensure that his soldiers are taken out of this fight." Prime ordered; the surrounding Autobots nodded or cocked their weapons in anticipation of a long fight. "Some of you might not make it back, but I know you'd never turn your back on protecting innocents and doing what's right; so I say Autobots Transform and Roll Out!" He cried; all of the Autobots converted back into vehicle mode and raced into the city or towards the hidden tunnel entrances that their scanners had easily detected, Prime and Ironhide however raced back for the Ark at top speeds all hopes relying in the message from a human who claimed to be from beyond the Universal boundaries; and who possessed the knowledge perhaps of a God.
I was seriously perturbed at the lack of successful plans the combined heroes of New York had in place for all out Decepticon assault contingencies; as the Quinjet joined us in Central Park of all places and the rest of the X-Men and Avengers arrived along with the Brotherhood I began to consider our options. Devastator was no longer a threat; Grimlock and his Dinobots were taking him on even as we regrouped and I was certain they'd be dealing with him in short order, somehow the Dinobots always managed to overpower Devastator and cripple the giant.
Ratbat and Buzzsaw who had been tailing Devastator had been attacked by Iron Man before they could kill some guy called the White Tiger; the two of them were currently prisoners of war, Daredevil and a few civilians were safe with us while Blitzwing had run off to back up the Pretenders apparently. Dagger was ok; the Pretender attack had simply rendered her unconscious with a few easily repaired lacerations, Thrust and Ramjet were apparently already taken out and Dirge was acting as salvage operation reclaiming the damaged and stasis locked Decepticons among them mysteriously enough appeared to be Skywarp. That just left the Insecticons at Madison Square Garden the largest and easily dealt with threat compared to Galvatron who I could see from this distance as slugging it out with Starscream; Daredevil approached limping slightly alongside Jennifer McMahon.
"Ah; are you supposed to be the Green Hornet?" Janelle wondered with a raised brow.
"Is he real?" I asked; Daredevil laughed.
"Janelle happens to like old radio dramas." He explained; that surprised me.
"She knows?" I wondered softly.
"That Matt's Daredevil? Yes." Janelle replied with a proud little smile as she looked up into the blind eyes of her boyfriend. "He told me three days ago." She added.
"Right; ok Green Hornet radio dramas are real, check." I began. "That solves the question of why Cap and Wolverine were eyeing me funny; naturally they must have heard them back in the past." I muttered; Beast jovially joined us at that moment handing me my watch.
"I believe you'd do better against our Decepticon foes with a change in wardrobe Mister Rutherford." He stated; I sighed, ok so Janelle knew about Matt being Daredevil, that didn't mean she knew who I was. Still that didn't matter now; the proverbial cat was out of the bag, grabbing the watch I discarded the trench coat and mask and slipped the watch on my wrist.
"Trans-Tech Armor Engage!" I exclaimed unleashing my Shadow guise in front of the assembled heroes; doing so also allowed me access to even greater scanner range and so I caught sight of the onrushing Autobot cavalry. "Hey good news bad news time; the Autobots are on the scene, but I don't see Prime with them yet." I called out.
"Well at least that shall aid us in dealing with the veritable insect infestation of the Madison Square Gardens." Beast commented; Rogue and Xavier joined us alongside Cap and Iron Man.
"I'm seriously concerned with what happened to that tank attacking the park." Cap admitted eyeing some of the flaming trees.
"I wouldn't worry about Blitzwing." I began with a brief shudder.
"Why's that?" Iron Man asked.
"Because we've got bigger problems now." I replied pointing up to the sky; Soundwave, Laserbeak, Thundercracker, Astrotrain, Kickback or maybe one of his drones, Bombshell and Shrapnel were now hovering above us.
"I knew the human's so called heroes would gather to brainstorm a strategy against us." Soundwave stated emotionlessly.
"Heh, heh, heh; I'm going to enjoy killing more of these caped fools." Kickback remarked leveling his weapon on the gathering of heroes; Iron Man, Vision and Wonder Man leapt to the sky instantly triple teaming the Insecticon before he could fire. Iceman, Spider-Man and Phoenix assaulted Shrapnel leaving Rogue, Storm and me to tackle Bombshell.
"People; try not to get hit!" Cap called out tossing his shield though it really wouldn't be effective against the Decepticons except maybe Laserbeak.
"Matt!" Janelle screamed as Ravage leapt out of the trees dangerously close to her boyfriend; Daredevil ducked low and struck out with his billy club quarterstaff knocking the Decepticon panther into the waiting range of Circuit Breaker and Logan.
"My; isn't this a tempting target." Astrotrain commented as he glanced down in smug mirth leveling his blaster on several assorted heroes; Spider-Girl glanced to where the Punisher was reloading his specially designed semi-automatic and wondered if he could even hurt a real Transformer with it.
"I seriously wish I'd kept that Cerebro shell." I complained as an ineffective electrical assault was redirected into the ground by Bombshells' armor.
"What's the matter Kilowatt; not strong enough?" Circuit Breaker quipped as she hovered up beside me.
"You're suit was designed to attack machines Josie; my powers are elemental in nature." I retorted. "Take over here I think we need more help distracting Astrotrain." I added rushing through the air to deal with the triple changer; Astrotrain saw me coming and redirected his shot at me instead of the heroes, I was sent flying backwards and crashed next to Cloak and Dagger.
"Laserbeak aid Ravage." Soundwave ordered as he landed on the grass leveling his cannon on the Avengers; Giant Man grew to massive size and charged him, Soundwave did not seem to react. Kickback screamed as he crashed to the ground; his army of clones still swarming over Madison Square Garden vanished, Shrapnel and Bombshell strengthened their assaults in retaliation for the loss of half their troops. I was a little disoriented after my impromptu flight and this battle was rapidly becoming out of hand; Avengers and X-Men fought side by side trying to survive long enough to unleash a crippling blow, heroes and civilians were uncertain where to go in order to escape laser blasts. Janelle was really the only civilian around at the moment since the others had run off screaming when the Decepticons showed up, personally this was getting tiresome; the Decepticons seemed to be almost like Gods in their strength and unending assaults as though perhaps the Chaotic forces gathering on Earth Nine Twenty-Nine were ensuring that this conflict would escalate further and further until more deaths occurred.
"Leave this to the professionals!" Sideswipe suddenly cried out as he and Sunstreaker roared onto the scene; the Decepticons showed genuine fear as numerous Autobots suddenly appeared and converted to robot modes, Bombshell and Shrapnel cut their losses and fled with Kickbacks fallen form.
"Insecticon cowards!" Astrotrain shouted whirling on the Autobots and ignoring the humans; his laser screamed and Brawn was forced to dive out of the line of fire.
"Well; seems the cavalry is faster then I would have thought." Spider-Man quipped landing next to Daredevil.
"How do you get purchase here for web swinging anyway?" Janelle wondered thoughtfully striking up a casual conversation as a defensive mechanism for almost being killed at the hands of giant alien robots.
"I don't I was leaping through the trees." Spider-Man replied without thought; Janelle nodded and I chuckled, Soundwave, Laserbeak and Ravage turned to eye the Autobots and also noted that Devastator was no longer visible.
"Astrotrain, Thundercracker the Autobots outnumber us; Galvatron is not present and the Constructicons appear to have been defeated by the Dinobots." He reported. "I suggest tactical withdrawal." He added.
"Why mince words Soundwave; it's just another retreat." Astrotrain shot back rocketing into the sky in shuttle mode so fast it surprised some of the Autobots; Thundercracker curled his lip, though there was a hint of relief in his optics as he raced after his fellow Decepticon. Ravage reverted to cassette mode and returned to Soundwave's chest casing while Laserbeak flew off; Sunstreaker smirked as he took a step forward.
"So long Soundwave; don't let us keep you." He quipped.
"Yeah!" I added out of reflex taking a step away from the others; Illyana giggled as she joined me without my knowledge.
"Human; at least I can ensure that you will no longer interfere with Decepticon operations." Soundwave proclaimed leveling his cannon on me; he fired, I heard a voice screaming from somewhere that seemed a long way off and then I felt someone collide into me and sent me and another warm body to one side. I crashed into the ground and shook my head glancing up in confusion; Colossus had knocked me out of the line of fire, was he insane? I mean I could survive total atomization, but then my peripheral vision memories came back; Illyana had been standing right next to me and I didn't even know where she'd come from.
"Piotr!" Illyana screamed rushing back to her feet to try and save her brother; reflexively I reached out and froze her in a gravity well, the blast struck her metallized brother and he let out a scream of pure agony before collapsing half of his body mass literally melted away. "Piotr!" Illyana screamed again hot tears staining her cheeks; I was standing, though I don't remember getting back up and my gaze was locked on Piotr's still smoking body. Soundwave flew off; I could see him fleeing alongside the rest of the Decepticons, many of the other heroes and Autobots were staring at us suddenly quiet.
I couldn't react; I didn't even know how to react, even when fighting the Insecticons back before the Infinity Engine crisis or indeed channeling Primus' essence to help stop Megatron I'd never seen the Decepticons actually kill anybody, I always just thought of them as the same harmless characters I'd watched in my youth.
"Kilowatt?" I barely heard Logan's voice call out.
"Shadow?" Iron Man added uncertainly.
"Al, Sug' what's wrong?" Rogue asked softly; I stood unblinking, unmoving, as rigid and silent as a statue as I continued to stare at the body of Colossus, Illyana crying at his side heartbroken.
"Terrific; he's shut down." Avalanche grumbled with a sigh.
"Naturally; he has just been faced with the reality that his childhood fantasies aren't all fun and games." Professor Xavier remarked gently; my eyes finally blinked, which was a blessing to those staring at me most likely considering how alien it must be to find someone who can stand there for hours without blinking.
"Al!" A familiar voice exclaimed as someone new rushed over to me; I was startled further out of my stupor to discover Nancy and Amy among the heroes all of a sudden, Amy quickly gave me a massive hug.
"Oh daddy; I'm sorry." She whispered into my ear; I shook my head and offered a small smile.
"I'm ok." I returned glancing back into the sky. "And with his army deserting him I have a feeling Galvatron won't be sticking around much longer." I added a hard glint entering my optics.
"Guess again Primus' avatar." A chillingly familiar voice gloated as Galvatron arrived. "If you thought the death of one of your mutant allies was upsetting you'll really shut down after I vaporize the rest of these so called heroes." He proclaimed leveling his cannon on the gathered forces of the side of light.
"We're not finished yet Galvatron!" Starscream snarled rushing onto the scene; Galvatron dodged the clumsy charge and growled.
"You never knew when to give up." He retorted; Starscream chuckled.
"Neither did you Galvatron." A very familiar voice stated as a familiar semi barreled onto the scene traveling faster then I would have given him credit for.
"It's about time." Cloak grumbled with a sigh.
"Prime!" Galvatron exclaimed. "At last the only true adversary worthy of my personal involvement." He stated leveling his cannon arm on the truck and firing without bothering to wait for Prime to transform; his smirk transformed into an expression of disbelief as Prime stood in robot mode unscathed. "How?" Galvatron demanded with gritted teeth.
"The same way you improved since our last encounter." Prime returned knowingly; Galvatron appeared taken aback and then started laughing, his laughter almost sounded deranged and it sent chills up everyone's spines, well except the Autobots who didn't have conventional spines.
"And so the eternal struggle continues; mark my words Prime this is far from over, but for now my forces have been defeated and at least I have managed to succeed partially in my goals. You were too late this time Prime; the humans will suffer for this and most will be demoralized, farewell Prime until we meet again on the distant battlefields that forever fuel our endless war!" Galvatron cried his cannon blasting out a roaring flame of energy serving to act as a rocket booster in propelling him high into the stratosphere; Prime sighed tiredly, he hadn't even raised a hand to fight. But Galvatron was right and the city had suffered enough damages this day; Starscream glanced between the object of his desires for vengeance and the gathered Autobots.
"Don't you think you'd better leave too with your master Starscream?" Sideswipe stated with a tired expression on his robotic face; Starscream glared at the Autobot.
"Galvatron is no more my master then Megatron was Autobot, but I have no further quarrel with your kind; until I reclaim leadership of the Decepticons from Galvatron I will not fight your kind again." He informed before transforming into vehicle mode and blasting off in his new Night Raven form; the Autobots were clearly not impressed, Optimus turned to his men.
"The toll has been high this time Autobots; we came too late to prevent countless damages to property and loss of life, once again our war has affected those we have sworn to protect and their families." Prime recited as though speaking a familiar pre-recorded speech. "We shall be faced with much animosity towards us for bringing our war here and for failing to keep the Decepticons from attacking this city; it is the nature of the human race, but we can not harbor any ill will towards them nor hate them for their beliefs." He continued; I tuned him out as I turned to the still weeping Illyana who hadn't left her brothers side, moving over to her I placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I…I can't say anything to make this better Illyana." I admitted completely lost.
"Al; Sug'." Rogue whispered coming up beside me as well; suddenly I heard something that sounded like a whining beep.
"Prahme!" Ironhide's voice burst out over the quieted gathering of heroes; Optimus glanced to his wrist communicator with uncertain wariness. "Some shadowy human woman just took off with our Infinity Engine." He reported bringing the Autobots up short and filling me with a very deep sense of dread.
"I don't understand Ironhide; what are you saying?" Prime demanded keeping a calm tone in this moment of extreme chaotic flux; my senses were screaming to get out of there, now that I wasn't distracted by the rush of adrenaline.
"Rogue; get back." I cried pushing gently to move her out of the way even while I tried to get away from her and Illyana.
"Daddy!" I heard Amy cry out as I felt someone grasp me from beneath; glancing down I saw a lithe though slightly emancipated looking feminine hand clutching my ankle.
"Talia." I growled trying to shake free out of her grip, but some strange jolt ran through my body and I found myself sinking into the shadows; Illyana suddenly grabbed me.
"Nein; not you too!" She screamed in Russian; I tried to shake her off, but that odd jolt passed through me again and into her and she collapsed unconscious into my arms. Trying in vain to push her aside so she wouldn't be caught with me I felt a third and final jolt failing miserably; and then I felt nothing more as I slowly felt myself sinking into the shadows of the night trapped in the grip of an apparent mad woman.
"Mein Gott, where have they gone?" Nightcrawler wondered eyeing the spot where Allan and Illyana had been mere seconds ago.
"The Shadow Realm." Mystique replied with a brief shudder. "It appears our former captor Talia has taken Rutherford and Illyana was accidentally caught up with him." She added thoughtfully; Iron Man and Captain America shared confused looks while Optimus Prime quietly relayed a few orders to his man on the other end of the communiqué. Amy Rutherford was crying softly, but she wasn't worried; Nancy came up to her concernedly.
"Is your dad going to be ok?" She asked voicing a concern most of the heroes and Autobots were all feeling.
"He's finally going to stop this chaos threat." She replied bravely. "My daddy's the best; he'll stop that nasty woman." She added with a tiny smile; Rogue eyed the young Catarian a hopeful expression on her face.
"Professor; can ya sense him?" Logan wondered; Xavier shook his head.
"The Shadow Realm is strangely impenetrable for my abilities." He admitted.
"Whatever's going on we should probably move out of here." Prime commented towering above the humans; Cap nodded.
"Good point; Charles can we use your grounds temporarily until we've repaired the damages caused by the Decepticons to our own headquarters?" He asked; Professor X nodded and the X-Men eyed the Avengers warily. "Thank you; Prime if you could offer some of your soldiers for transport, whatever Rutherford is involved in we can't help him now and until he gets back we should probably work on getting the citizens of New York safe again." He added; Optimus nodded and turned to several soldiers nearby, they instantly transformed into vehicle mode and the tired humans climbed in grateful for once that the Autobots could drive themselves.
To Be Continued; At last it is time for that final confronation; poor Illyanna, Poor Piotr, alas casualties are a must in any conflict involving giant alien robots from Cybertron; well maybe not totally, maybe I was just going for total serious-mode. Anyway; enough from me, quick Review and you can find out what happens next. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
Optimus Prime stands in his new body overlooking the carnage of New York; Allan Rutherford stands beside him, the Marvel logo appears above them both...
"Final Chaos will Return After these Messages!"
