&&&
The Misfits reeled under the information that an entire planet full of people was now gone. "I'm so sorry," Althea said to Allo. "We'll do anything we can to help but I don't understand what you need us for specifically. If you want to live here on Earth permanently now that Reptilon is gone, you should probably talk to the Men in Black, not us."
But Allo just shook his massive head. "We called you because we want to know what happened to our world. The Tyrannos' activity on Earth has grounded to a halt when they heard about Reptilon, but we can't trust that it'll stay that way. We can't go investigate ourselves…but you can."
"Us?" Todd asked. "But why us? What can we do?"
"There's one planet close enough to Reptilon to have gotten a good view of whatever happened." Bronto Thunder explained. "It's a colony world of another race called the Zn'rx. They have a presence in your solar system."
"The who?" Fred blinked. "Why does that sound kinda familiar?"
"Roughly put into human speech the name of the race is the Snarks." Steggo explained.
"The SNARKS?" Pietro yelped. "Those overgrown handbags who keep trying to destroy us?"
"So you've heard of them then." Steggo noted.
"Yeah, ever since our battle to keep the Matter/Anti-matter Converter out of their claws, a whole shipload of them have been marooned on the moon in an old alien spaceship." (&) Althea explained. "But why do you need us? You've got shuttles, why don't you just go to them and ask for the records?"
"The Zn'rx are…testy." Allo explained. "We Dinosaucers have relations with them but just barely. They've left our people alone, possibly because we're also reptiles. But they aren't likely to just give us that data we want. And we can't go there and take it because that would jeopardize my people's relations with them. If any of us survived, I don't want them to face the wrath of an angry Zn'rx."
"So you want us to go and raid the Snarks for you to get the data on Reptilon's…disappearance." Althea mused. "We'll do it of course—what are friends for?—but unfortunately our spaceship's in mothballs at the moment."
"Can't you just ask the Justice League for ships?" Justin asked. He'd always been something of a fanboy when it came to the League. Althea winced.
"Yeah, about that…" She coughed. "We're, well, kinda banned from being in any of their Javelins."
"Why?" Tabby asked.
"Let's just say it involves Trinity, two tons of shrimp, Wonder Woman's underwear, and a couple of overly affectionate otters." Wanda groaned.
"Yikes." Rahne winced.
"So basically what we need are some other guys with a spaceship to help beat up a bunch of interstellar lizards." Althea bit her lip in concentration then snapped her fingers. "And I know just who to call, come on people we're heading to a place where the sun always shines! Sunny, beautiful California!"
&&&
"So this is it, we're all gonna die." Kitty gulped as the X-Jet went into a tailspin as it plummeted towards the ground below.
"At least we're far enough away from any urban centers that we won't take out lots of innocent people." Scott noted between clenched teeth.
"Surprisingly, this doesn't really make me feel all that better about this." Gilaad said dryly as he tried valiantly not to throw up.
"Oh come on!" Amira snapped as she looked out the window for a brief second to see the Decepticon jets continuing to follow them down, firing at the falling jet. "We're already crashing!"
Sooraya closed her eyes, partially to try to lessen the nausea she was feeling, but also to make her peace with god. "La ilaha illa Allah wa-Muhammad rasul Allah." She chanted softly, saying the Shahada, Muslim declaration of faith, for what she expected to be her final team. After a moment's hesitation, Amira joined her.
Though Gilaad would have denied it, the girls actions helped prod him to make his own peace with the Almighty. "Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad." He said softly in Hebrew. "I'll be with you soon brother."
Kurt was about to join in the festivities when a sudden jarring impact shook the X-Jet as it stopped falling. The X-Men bounced in their seats as the jet stopped. "What the—" Kurt asked as he looked out the window. "YIKES! Giant bugs!"
Everyone looked out the window at Kurt's shout. Sure enough, clutching the wings of the X-Jet were a pair of giant black insects, one weevil and one grasshopper. They were supporting the jet in midair.
"Wait, those things aren't alive." Jean blinked as she scanned them. "I think they're robotic!"
"They look metallic to me." Rogue agreed as she looked out. "Here comes another one!" A giant black stag beetle flew through the skies in front of the X-Jet. From its giant prongs came a stream of electricity.
"Power's back online!" Scott shouted as he grabbed the controls. "But I'm not in control!"
"Anyone you know Lina?" Rogue asked.
"Sorry, no. My crowd doesn't include giant robotic insects." Lina replied.
"What the hell is going on?" Amira asked in annoyance. "Are we doomed or not?"
"Still to be determined." X-23 observed as she pointed out the window. "Incoming!" The Decepticon jets were still attacking.
Starscream and his two companions, Skywarp and Thundercracker, transformed into their Cybertronian modes and targeted the X-Men and their would-be rescuers.
"Oh look, it's Starscream and the Lonely Brain's Club Band." The grasshopper snickered.
"I would've went with The Thundercracker Experience featuring Skywarp." The weevil said loftily.
"I know what I would call them, call them." The stag beetle said. "Scrap! Insecticons attack, attack!"
The stag beetle transformed in midair to a robot, though one considerably smaller than the Decepticon seekers. The weevil and grasshopper followed suit.
"This is getting into whole new shades of weirdness." Remy groaned.
"Bombshell hold the jet, the jet." The former stag beetle, Shrapnel said to the ex-Weevil. "Kickback and I will handle the others, the others."
"Woo-hoo!" Kickback, the former grasshopper, shouted as he threw himself into the fray. "Party time! Hey Skywarped!" He called as he raised his weapon. "Say hello to my little friend!"
"What, you mean your brain?" Bombshell called out as he held the X-Jet aloft.
"Boo-yah!" Kickback lashed out with his powerful legs and kicked Thundercracker down to the seas below.
"My turn, my turn." Shrapnel cackled as he raised his optics up at the storm clouds brewing above. "How wonderful. Light precipitation and a hundred percent chance of electrocution, electrocution." Shrapnel summoned powerful bolts of lightning and directed them towards Starscream and Skywarp.
Scott winced as the bolts struck home, frying the circuitry of the two Decepticons. "Yeesh and I thought Storm could hurl lightning around!"
"If you two are through having fun," Bombshell said peevishly at missing out, "We should probably take the fleshies and go before they affect repairs."
"Your right, right." Shrapnel agreed as the three damaged Decepticon jets slunk off. "Insecticons move out! Take the jet and head in land, in land. Time for us to have a bite to eat, to eat."
&&&
A/N: (&) See Red Witch's Evolution XMJ
For more information on those loveable Insecticons, visit Insecticons dot com for more!