Hello, heroes and villains. Centurion Maximo here and welcome back to Young Justice: Their War, Our World. In the last chapter, a few things happened. Superman and Superboy have a heart to heart conversation, ending with Superman offering to take Superboy to his home and meet his parents which the latter agrees to. Also, Robin and Zatanna spend more time together, something Zatara looks at suspiciously. Black Canary tries to reassure the father.
On the side of the bad guys, Megatron sends Crumplezone to Mission City to meet up with Squawktalk. Not only that, but an Insecticon Swarmer Drone gains intelligence, scans a Crazy Ant for a new form, and takes the name Electro. Also, Gearhead has been recruited into the Machination via Icicle Junior. In Gotham, Bludgeon is walking around when Shiva meets with him. She also joins the Machination's ranks and becomes his student. So, yeah. None of that is good for the heroes.
Before we begin the chapter however, I have to say this: When I first saw Gearhead in The Batman, I instantly loved his character, and I felt he was underutilized, even for a one-off villain. Plus, I loved that Gearhead was a criminal just for the thrill and not for money or power.
Now, back to the action!
*Happy Harbor. Mount Justice. 18:02 pm*
It was sunset and things were finally looking good for the heroes as Kobra was done. Optimus Prime was in his human holoform meditating with the Matrix when it started glowing brighter, like it was sensing something. Prime's eyes opened and he muttered "New Genesis…"
These days, Conner was especially happier as he was finally on speaking terms with Superman. He was getting his motorcycle to roll when he heard a bark and saw it was Wolf walking up to him. "Hey, Wolf." Conner rubbed Wolf's head.
"Hey, I heard you and Supes are actually talking." Windstrike suddenly said.
"Oh, yeah." Conner kept his smile.
"Feels great, doesn't it?" Windstrike asked, despite knowing the answer.
"Honestly, I've never been happier in my whole life. In fact, soon, he's gonna take me to meet his family." Conner said. "Anyway, I'm heading for some time outside the base."
"Can I tag along?" Windstrike asked.
"Sure." Conner answered. With that, the three prepared to get outside Mount Justice when the sphere rolled in front of them. "Sphere, please move." However, the sphere began shaking and morphed into what looked like a red flying motorcycle, no, scratch that: a Supercycle. The reaction of the three was pretty spot on: Their eyes were wide, yet their jaws weren't dropped. Making a choice, Conner and Wolf were riding in this new cycle while Windstrike was in her McDonnell Douglas F/A- 18 Hornet mode flying off with them.
Meanwhile, a boom-tube opened up in another part of the sky. Seconds later, a group of people in what appeared to be a flying car came through. The person in the front held a weird-looking box that beeped a few times. "Alright, Forever People. We have the location of the New Genisphere, and it's moving." He informed.
"So, it is on this planet." The big burly person spoke up, punching a fist into his hand. "And we will get it back from whoever has it."
"Easy, partner. You heard Vykin." The person with a cowboy-themed attire spoke. "If it's on the move, we gotta wrangle it."
"There's also something. Motherbox has detected Cybertronian signals." Vykin added, getting the attention of the others.
"Cybertronians?" The girl asked, with hope in her voice. "What do you think, Serafin?"
"Holy moly! Ain't this a treat, Dreamer!" Serafin grinned.
"Moonrider? Do you think Cybertronians are on this planet?" Dreamer repeated.
"I don't know, Dreamer. It's worth looking into." Moonrider shrugged. "However, the first thing is the New Genisphere."
Meanwhile, Superboy, Wolf, and Windstrike were flying around with no real destination, but they were on the lookout for Machination forces and Decepticons, just in case. "Should we look around for any abductees?" Windstrike asked.
"Problem with that, Windstrike: We don't know where the Machination takes the ones they abduct." Superboy reminded.
Suddenly, the Forever People flew up right beside them, causing Windstrike to transform into her robot mode, and staying in the air thanks to rockets on her feet. "You will return the property of New Genesis immediately!" The burly man declared.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Superboy was confused.
"These people are weird." Windstrike commented bluntly. "Who are you guys?"
"Don't deny it! You took the Genisphere!" The burly man continued.
Vykin was about to respond when the device he was holding beeped in a certain way. Vykin noticed this and made a gesture. "Forever People, stand down! These ones did not steal the New Genisphere, they saved it from the real thieves!"
The burly man had a shocked expression that quickly became an apologetic smile. "Apologies! The Forever People recognize you three as worthy warriors!"
"You've got to be kidding me." Superboy muttered, still confused at what was going on. Wolf added to this with a confused growl.
"Forever People?" Windstrike asked. "Can we get to the ground? We can't afford to be detected."
The three along with the Forever People landed on the beach close to the city. "Alright, now who are you guys?" Superboy asked.
"I am Dreamer. That is Moonrider, Serafin, and our leader, Vykin." Dreamer introduced.
"I am named after an animal that doesn't exist on your planet, but you may call me Wolf." The burly man explained.
"Nope. That is Wolf." Windstrike said, gesturing to the white wolf.
"Ah. Bear, then." Bear said.
"We are the Forever People." Vykin said. "And this is Motherbox, the living computer connected to the Source."
"Wait a minute." Windstrike realized. "You guys are from New Genesis!"
"What?" Superboy raised an eyebrow.
"You know of New Genesis?" Dreamer asked with hope.
"Yeah. I stumbled upon reading about your world during some downtime during the War For Cybertron." Windstrike answered. "Your world, New Genesis, is basically the world of goodness, life and the Source as you call it. However, you guys have an enemy in the form of Apokolips which are basically the opposites: Death, slavery, and evil."
"So, they're similar to you Autobots and the Decepticons?" Superboy put together.
"Yeah, except their conflict is on two worlds, not one." Windstrike added.
"Autobots? Decepticons?" Now, Dreamer was confused.
Windstrike gained a deadpan expression. "Oh, right. These guys were visited by Ancient Cybertronians. They don't really know about the Autobot/Decepticon division."
Noise was heard and the Forever People readied for battle. "Stop! They're on our side!" Soon enough, the Team, League, and Autobots all rolled up.
"So, New Genesians have arrived." Optimus muttered.
"Who are you all?" Vykin asked.
"We're the protectors on this planet." Wonder Woman smiled gently.
"We're the Justice League." Superman held out his hand which Vykin looked at. "The younger ones you see are the Team."
"He's telling the truth, Vykin." Dreamer smiled.
With that, Vykin shook Superman's hand. "We're the Forever People of New Genesis."
"New Gods." Optimus spoke up.
"So, why are you here?" Bumblebee asked, tilting his head.
"We were here to retrieve the New Genisphere which we believed the one called Superboy stole until we learned he saved it." Vykin answered. "However, we are also here to make contact with Cybertronians."
"Well, you made contact with the right ones." Flash smiled. "We would've been in trouble if you made contact with the Decepticons."
"Who are these Decepticons?" Serafin asked. "They sound like varmints."
"Millenia ago, the golden age of Cybertron ended and the planet was plunged into war." Optimus began. "The Autobots, who believe that freedom is the right of all sentient beings, have been fighting against the Decepticon who believe in peace through tyranny. I am the leader of the Autobots and the master of the Decepticons is Megatron. Eventually, our planet's core shut down. We were forced to abandon our home in hopes of finding new life among the stars and finding ways to revive Cybertron."
"Unfortunately, the Decepticons far outnumber us." Ratchet pointed out. "Now, the quickest way to determine Autobot and Decepticon is our symbols." The Autobot medic showed the Forever People the Autobot symbol which looked like a face. "Our symbol is red and looks like a face. The Decepticon symbol is purple most of the time and looks more like a mask."
"Interesting." Moonrider mused.
"Okay, so that's useful information to have." Bear commented. Suddenly, the Motherbox beeped and the Supercycle responded in kind.
"It seems Sphere's taking a liking to the one called Superboy." Vykin commented. "She's grateful to you for saving her."
"Nice." Superboy smiled for a minute. "Wait, Sphere's a she?"
"Guys, there's been a break in at the Happy Harbor Federal Reserve." Robin informed.
The Forever People were confused. "The government keeps money there." Superboy explained.
"It's a heist." Serafin grinned, readying his guns. "Let's head on in there and wrangle those varmints!"
"He's seen a lot of Earth westerns." Dreamer deadpanned.
"Hold on, I'm also detecting Decepticon signals." Robin continued. "We haven't seen this one before."
"Then remain vigilant." Optimus advised.
Later on, at the Happy Harbor Federal Reserve, a massive hole was there with a few thugs guarding it. "Hey! I brought your jacket!" One of the thug's mothers was walking toward him.
"Ma?!" The thug was surprised to see his mother here. "What're you doing here?!"
Out of nowhere, Vykin, Superboy, Wolf, Serafin, Moonrider, and Bear dropped down behind them and began beating them down. Superboy and Wolf were just taking down thugs left and right with help from Bear.
Serafin fired his guns at more thugs who barely evaded his shots. Those that did had to face Moonrider's small energy blasts. "Ma! Get out of here! It's… dangerous." The mother rippled into Dreamer. Vykin then gestured the thug to hit himself three times to knock himself out.
"I was expecting more of a fight." Bear commented with a shrug as Kid Flash, Blurr, and Bumblebee ran up.
"Then you will get one." A new voice said which was revealed to be Soundwave walking up to them along with Ravage right beside him. Alongside them was a woman with long red hair tied in a ponytail along with a big man with a small mustache and a few more thugs with unidentified weapons with a black and red color scheme.
"Weapons of the enemy..." Dreamer muttered with worry.
"Holy crap! This drone actually talks!" Kid Flash exclaimed.
"No, you dolt. That's the real Soundwave." Blurr deadpanned.
"Ravage, attack. Operation: Elimination." Soundwave ordered. Ravage growled and sprinted towards the hero group. Wolf charged forward at the robotic Jaguar who scratched Wolf in the side, causing the animal to wince in pain.
Bumblebee shot at Ravage with his stingers who dodged the attack. However, Blurr shot at Ravage, actually hitting him. Ravage chuckled. "Not bad, Autobot. Not bad at all, but not good enough." Ravage jumped at Blurr and began scratching his chest plate. Serafin fired his guns and admittedly, they did a little bit of damage to the feline Decepticon, but it wasn't enough as Ravage made his way toward the New Genesian. Luckily, Superboy delivered a hard punch to his side, knocking him over, only for a moment.
As if that wasn't enough, Sphere flew in and fired her own weapons at Ravage, actually forcing him back a couple of feet. This gave Bear the opportunity to grab Ravage by the tail and throw him back even further. "Ravage, withdraw." Soundwave ordered. Soundwave fired his own weapons at the group and the blasts knocked them all back. The human criminal group couldn't really believe what they were seeing, only the woman took an action and stepped forward and was right next to Soundwave. The woman activated a whip that had a great red glow. She gestured and the whip destroyed a broken-down car. The big man fired five red discs at the group, but Bumblebee shot them all before they reached them. "Let me guess, these weapons are from Apokolips." Blurr assumed.
"You are correct, Blurr." Dreamer confirmed. Ravage then fired the guns on his back legs, providing cover fire. The rest of the criminal group fired their weapons. Vykin raised his hand, causing earth to rise and form a protective wall.
"Soundwave, you and Ravage must return now." Megatron said over the comms.
"Understood. Abort mission." Soundwave replied. He grabbed the woman, transformed into his stealth drone alternate mode, and took off with Ravage running on the ground keeping up with him.
"Well, that's not good. So, that was Soundwave and Ravage." Blurr said.
"Motherbox has detected our rescue drill in the hole." Vykin informed. "Thank you for helping us. Now, I'm afraid we must return to New Genesis."
"That won't be neccessary, Vykin." Optimus said driving up to them. "I have spoken to the Highfather. He has allowed you to remain on Earth." The Forever People looked at each other in shock. They were being allowed to stay on Earth? "I know your looks. You could be a big help in this war against the Decepticons."
"We accept that, Optimus Prime." Vykin bowed. "However, we feel we would do better on our own apart from everyone else, but you can count on our undying loyalty." Optimus held out his hand and Vykin shook his finger.
Hello, everyone. I hope you all liked this chapter of Young Justice: Their War, Our World. The Forever People have arrived from New Genesis. Unlike in canon, they will remain in the series as I felt like they had great potential in the series, but I also felt they were sorely underutilized. I know I didn't include the whole Infinity Man shtick but as I've said time and time again, things are different in this story, but rest assured, Infinity Man will appear before this story is over. In the end, the Forever People are allowed to remain on Earth which is great for the heroes.
During the fight however, the real Soundwave shows up along with Ravage who also talks. The two have proven to be tough customers. Ravage has his look from Bumblebee (2018) mixed in with his IDW look just for clarification.
As usual, if anyone has any ideas for this story or it's sequel, please let me know in the comments/reviews, or personally PM me.