-07-

They came from Outer Space

"Argh" Mark growled in annoyance.

He's been sitting by the desk with the box-shaped device for 2 hours, trying to figure the thing out. He tried to hack it with Raf's laptop, the suit's built-in scanner, and finally Extremis. But nothing helped. Extremis seemed to be doing something, but it still failed.

"Mark. You should rest, honey." June said, rubbing his son's shoulders.

"This is a pain in the..." he paused, as if trying to punch something. "I knew I should've upgraded Extremis ages ago."

"What would upgrading Extremis help with?" Miko asked.

"With it I can access virtually any program." Mark explained. "It's as if I had a hacking computer in my head. Managed to cancel a few tickets from police database," Short-Arcee and June shot him a glare at the mention of the race. "Hey, that footage they had from the underground race Vince talked me into years back- I had to hack their mainframe to delete it."

"And you're still not off the hook, Mark." His Arcee commented, still upset about that night.

"But back to the subject at hand... it won't work with a piece of scrap we don't understand."

He rested his head in his hands, moaning in frustration. All this time and Mark couldn't hack the device. It felt like cracking a Fort Knox safe with a broomstick. He's used to hack so many alien technologies, yet this was way different. Not even the Skrull and Ultron had the firewalls or programming this complex.

"Sir, you have been trying to hack the device for so long." Jocasta commented. "It would be most wise to rest before the prolonged use of the Extremis causes your brain to burn."

"But if those aliens are planning an invasion and they are planting more of these, like Megs says, then we'd better learn what this is. We might be even able to use it against them." He paused, before grinning devilishly. "Maybe even Cons."

"Dude, that'd be sweet!" Omni-Miko approved. "What do you think, Bulk?" she asked, her guardian's counterpart... who wasn't around. Oh, right. She forgot Optimus took him into the team to meet with Megatron.

"How about we focus first on accessing this thing?" Terry asked. "We don't need it to explode here or anything." He commented, and then looked at Mark. "And when was the last time you slept, huh?" Mark looked at him confused. How could he tell he was tired?

"How did you...?" Mark was about to ask.

"You can't think about being an N.C.I.S. agent if you can't read people's face." The African American teen answered. "Half opened eyes. Tired tone. Problems with keeping balance. Red eyes. Irritation. You haven't slept in at least three or four days, man. What were you doing? Building a new set of armor?"

"Well, that's what dad always does." Skydancer answered.

Then June decided to act. "Alright, Mark. Let's get you to bed." She had Terry and Sky help her get him on his feet. "Even Einstein had to sleep."

"Man you're heavy." Terry commented when he tried to lift Mark up.

"You try having another armor stored inside your body. " Terry flinched a little at the thought.

As the four made their way out, Omni-Miko looked at her counterparts. Then Native-Miko smiled. "Wanna prank Ratchet?" The girls nodded excitedly before storming off. Oh, they had this glorious prank already.

As they left, Jack walked around the table, as if looking at the box from every angle. Kelly and Raf looked at him.

"Um... what are you doing, Jack?" the older Darby asked.

Jack picked the thing up, taking a closer look. "I'm thinking of other possibilities to crack this jack-in-the-box." He commented.

"Well, good luck with that." She said, placing her hand on Raf's shoulder and leading him away. "We're going to eat something. Join us soon." Soon she and the preteen disappeared.

Jack kept analyzing the device. He still could not come up with an idea. If only they had some really powerful computer. Teletraan I already failed them. Ratchet tried before Mark, and failed horribly. Then his eyes widened. They had one thing superior to a supercomputer.

His eyes turned to the table, where Mark's helmet was resting. Jack was in deep thought. He knew he shouldn't. But it was their best shot. "Jocasta. How are your calculating capabilities?" he asked.

"Very high, sir. Why?" the AI asked.

Jack sighed heavily, looking around, happy to be alone. "Because I know how to make this piece of alien scrap cooperate."

Mark was placed on the berth. June gave him a cup of water, but he took the bottle instead, drinking as if he just travelled through desert. His Arcee kneeled next to him, concerned for his health. "How are you holding up?"

"Well, you know, with little sleep, no idea how long it'll take to decode that box... Like the Hulk beat me up all over, again." The blond joked.

"Not funny, Mark." June scowled. "If it wasn't for your armor, he could've killed you."

"So I ended up with a few bruises." Mark retorted. "I had it worse."

Jack disappeared for a few minutes. When he returned, he was holding something. It was a piece of armor, enough to cover his whole arm. Jocasta recognized the thing- Circuit Breaker Armor. Rather a piece of it.

"Sir, if my knowledge of this technology is accurate, this device is deadly to you. Especially given your condition," The AI spoke.

"I know." Jack commented, removing one of the plates and messing with the wires. "But CBA's primary power, energy manipulation, extends to controlling technology. M.E.C.H. wanted me to be the perfect being, the Übermensch. As a result, my muscles are more efficient by 32.44% and my brain makes the most advanced supercomputer look like a joke. So this might be our best bet to work this machine out this century."

"Sir, I doubt this is a good idea." Jocasta seemed to speak with concern. "You are not a computer."

"Which is why you are going to help me. I'll plug the CBA to you, so I can have the interface. Plus, with your calculating abilities we have better chances." He explained, grabbing the helmet and plugging the improvised cable. "In case this fails... Tell my sister this." He paused, taking a few deep breaths. "Her cheesecake tasted like a toilet." He said, putting the helmet on.

Then Jack took the armor piece and put it on. Once ready, he raised his hand over the Mother Box. A few beams of light ran from the glove to the device, causing it to activate. Jack's eyes narrowed as he concentrated. The HUD in the helmet showed him a great variation of symbols.

"Hmm... looks like the writing. Maybe the code," The teen reasoned. Focusing more. Some symbols seemed to change to English and numbers. He smiled. "Good. We're almost the..." he paused, greeting his teeth in pain. He looked at his other arm. What he saw shocked him.

His skin was turning to the shade of rust. "Jocasta? What's happening?"

"Without the full armor, I cannot tell." The artificial intelligence said. "However, it would appear that your genetic structure is collapsing."

"Damn." He cursed. "I feared this could've happened. Let's get this over with quick!" he focused, despite the pain. It really did hurt him. He wanted to end this fast, while still being able to do something. But as more and more of his body was rusting, the more in pain he was. Suddenly, the decoding stopped. "No, no, no, NO!" he roared. Then the pain hit him. It hurt so bad he couldn't even scream. His chest, his head, it heard as if someone stabbed him there with a rod. His legs and arms were on fire, yet frozen. That's how bad he felt.

"Sir, I insist you stop." Jocasta spoke. "At this rate, you are risking death. I am detecting abnormally high brainwave activity. Further operation will end with death."

"C-con-tinue..." he grunted through his teeth. Jocasta did not know how, but Jack's will overrode her safety protocols, causing the decoding to continue. Jack was sweating hard. Some blood ran from his nose. He refused to give in. His friends and family were in danger. His planet was in danger. He needed to help. He couldn't do anything back when the Furies attacked, but maybe he could help with this.

Jack suddenly screamed in agony, as an image flashed through his brain. An image of the dark planet, with a number of pits spitting flames, a dark sky where bat-like lizard-men were flying, and an image of a man killing an injured woman, laughing while doing so. The red eyes. Blood. Finally, that creature that pulverized the team. 'For Darkseid' a voice echoed through his mind.

Jack fell on his back, coughing with blood, as his body was smoking, whole skin rust-colored, trembling. The Mother Box hit the ground, also smoking. It deactivated.

"Decoding: complete." Jocasta reported. "Mother Box database access: granted."

It was the last thing Jack heard, before darkness consumed him.

Three figures came running up into the human center: Omni-Jack, Omni-Arcee (who was in her Pretender form), and IDON. The trio was in another part of the base, discussing the team's current situation, until they heard an agonizing scream. They ran up the couch and were horrified by what they saw.

Native-Jack was lying on the floor, smoke hazing off his body; however, the real eye catcher was his rust colored skin. Omni-Jack and Arcee immediately kneeled by him while IDON stood above him leaning down, anxiety written all over their expressions.

"Jack?! Dude!" The Omnitrix wearer yelled in fear.

"Oh no!" Omni-Arcee cried.

June and Arcee were about to leave Mark be until the sounds of screaming echoed across the base. Mark and the two women instantly stopped what they were doing and bolted for the command center. When they arrived, their jaws dropped as fearful looks spread across their faces.

"JACK?!" June screamed and kneeled to genius's side, along with Omni-Jack and Omni-Arcee.

"What happened?" Mark demanded; his sleepiness had quickly vanished.

"We don't know." Omni-Jack replied in a panicked tone. "We heard screaming and we saw him here."

"Sir," Jocasta explained, "Jack used his brain, the CBA, and me to successfully hack the Mother Box. However, it caused his genetic structure to collapse."

"And you just let him do it anyway?!" Mark shouted.

"Sir, somehow Jack's will had overridden my safety protocols. I couldn't stop him." she amended.

Giant footsteps could be heard coming from the hallway. Entering the main ops of the Ark was white Arcee. Her optics honed in on the commotion in the human center and the source, Jack who was lying on the floor unconscious, and his skin had turned into an unnatural rust color.

"JACK!" white Arcee shrieked.

She ran up to the railing and gazed on at her fallen partner, worry and panic evident on her face.

"What happened to him?!" Native-Arcee demanded.

Omni-Arcee turned to her, and answered swiftly, "Short story: Jack used himself, the CBA, and Jocasta to hack into that alien box. It made his genetics collapse in the process."

June had felt the rust colored teen's pulse and vital signs. "His pulse is fading and he's not breathing!"

IDON held up his forearm, a beam of red light emitting from it. After a second, he received the readings and gasped. "By the Great Celestialsapien race, his DNA is collapsing! If we don't do something fast he'll surely perish."

"Why are you all just standing there?!" white Arcee screamed. "HELP HIM!"

Omni-Jack clinched his teeth, feeling the sweat of fear and panic run down his brow. His counterpart's DNA was failing rapidly. They couldn't use the CR chamber; it was only meant for Cybertronians and couldn't possibly repair human DNA. But what else could?

Suddenly, Jack's greyish-blue eyes widened. He pulled up his sleeve, revealing the slim, silver and blue wristwatch adorning his arm. The teen remembered that the Omnitrix had another function besides turning its user into the alien species recorded in its database.

"Everyone get back now!" Omni-Jack stood up and commanded with steel in his voice.

Omni-Arcee, short-Arcee, Mark, June, and IDON quickly stepped back and placed at least ten yards between them and the two Jacks. The group stared at him in confusion.

"Jack, what are you doing?" IDON asked.

The raven haired teen ignored the drone and held up his watch close to his mouth. "Omnitrix, command function override, Code: X"

"Override accepted," The Omnitrix responded in a synthesized voice of Jack's. The watch's faceplate was blinking blue while doing so.

"Omnitrix, scan closest sentient life-form," Omni-Jack ordered.

Suddenly, the Omnimatrix core popped out and a blue beam of light waved over Native-Jack's form from head-to-toe. The light disappeared after three seconds. The device bleeped a couple times before responding.

"Scan complete. Life-form suffering from rapid genetic degradation. Should we repair?"

Everyone looked at each other incredulously. Could his watch really fix Jack? A look of realization crossed IDON's face. He remembered telling Omni-Jack in the first week of their partnership that the Omnitrix had other purposes besides turning its host into an alien. He was relieved that he remembered faster than he did, otherwise…

"Yes! Repair now!" Omni-Jack shouted.

"Acknowledged, one moment please," the Omnitrix replied. The device itself began to hum while the faceplate and eventually the entire watch itself glowed with a holy bluish-white light. "Ready to perform task,"

Omni-Jack aimed his arm at his counterpart, then suddenly, an intense brilliant beam fired out from the Omnitrix and onto Jack. Everyone was forced to look away from the intensity. After a few seconds, the holy-like glow died away.

When they uncovered their eyes or optics, they were awed and shocked. Native-Jack was still unconscious, however, his skin had returned to its normal color and he appeared to look much healthier. Omni-Jack stood above him, he meanwhile, looked very dizzy as he stumbled slightly, trying to catch his footing.

"Task completed. Life-form's genetic degradation completely removed. Commencing to recharge mode," The Omnitrix responded, the faceplate turning crimson.

Omni-Jack only moaned as he collapsed backwards.

"JACK!" Omni-Arcee cried.

The blue haired female quickly came to her boyfriend's side. He was out cold, although she was relieved to find him breathing normally. IDON came behind her and scanned him in the same manner he did Native-Jack a moment ago.

Mark stepped up to the gold drone and asked, "Well? Is he okay?"

After getting back the results, he smiled, "He's fine only exhausted. The Omnitrix drained his own energy as well."

They then turned their attention to the other Jack, who was still lying on the floor unconscious. June was kneeling by him and checking his vital signs. White Arcee, meanwhile, stood there and looked on in concern for her partner.

"How is he?" she asked.

"He's much better. His pulse and breathing is normal. Although, it looks like he's in a minor coma." June reported.

IDON stepped forward. "No doubt a side-effect of the Omnitrix's energy," the Plumber robot explained. "He should be fine. He only needs time to recover."

"How much?" white Arcee inquired, apprehension in her voice.

IDON turned to her with a grim look. "There's no telling."

The military base was silent. The only thing ones on the field were a few dozen soldiers and a woman in the cloak and hood. As the wind was blowing, only more of her bare legs was revealed. Some were curious what that woman looked like under that hood, while privates were imagining her to be naked. If it wasn't for Agent Fowler and Agent Simmons being there, who knows, the soldiers might have tried to take advantage of the poor girl.

The two agents were startled at first when the Boom Tube opened in their office. They feared an attack. To their surprise, a woman landed on their desk, exhausted and frightened. Fowler was ready to pull the trigger of the gun, but the girl just broke the device and surrendered. All she said was that she would talk to the Autobots. Both agents wanted to know how she knew the Bots, but she refused to answer.

Finally the ground-bridge vortex opened before the crowd. In a matter of seconds, the giant form of Optimus Prime, followed by Ratchet and Bulkhead, stepped out. The soldiers, no matter how many times saw it, though it was rare, were always at awe. Agent Fowler seemed stoic as always, while Simmons smirked. But the girl... her reaction seemed to be that of someone who has just seen an old friend after years of departure. Tears ran down her cheeks.

Optimus knelt before her. "My name is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots."

"I know who you are, Optimus." The girl said, surprising the Bots. "But we have no time for explanations." She stopped him from asking. "There is an invasion coming and it is of great importance that you know who you are dealing with. Otherwise you risk making the same mistake we did."

"Who are we fighting then?" Bulkhead asked.

The woman raised the Mother Box, revealing her bionic arm. The device may have been broken, but was functional enough to extract the data she needed them to know. "Planet Apokolips. The armies coming from there follow the simple routine. This Mother Box will reveal everything to you." The Box began to glow. Despite being static, the hologram flashing was clear enough.

'Planet Apokolips. The parademons are expected to follow these orders:...'

'1. Find inhabited world. Execute.'

'2. Conquer the planet. Execute.'

'3. Harvest all organic life. Execute."

'4. Repurpose all organic life. Execute.'

'5. Send the new soldiers to execute order 1. Execute.'

'For the glory of Apokolips and its master. All hail the order. For Darkseid.'

'Important: Five years ago, an unknown alien life form appeared on Apokolips. Scans confirm its origin from parallel universe. New order set: expand conquest to multiversal scale.'

'For Darkseid.'

The hologram ended and the Mother Box started to burn, and the girl fell to the ground unconscious.

"Are you okay?" Optimus asked, reaching for her.

"Don't..." she said with a weak voice. Optimus stopped. "Don't... bother. I am... dying... Stop... Dark...seid..." was all she managed to say, as Ratchet walked up and scanned her body. The readings were not as accurate as would be in his lab, but they still disturbed him.

"By the Allspark." He said. "What was that girl going through? 73.61% her body was replaced with cybernetics, including the majority of internal organs. Signs of drugs and genetic alterations... these people are monsters. Not even M.E.C.H. went that far."

"Ratchet? You think we can help her back at the Ark?" Bulkhead asked, obviously concerned.

"No. Judging by these readings... My knowledge of organics may be limited, but I can still tell when it's too late." He said, in a grim tone.

Optimus was in deep thought. "Darkseid..." he murmured to himself. If the information was accurate, then this planet would be soon harvested. But then, they were all doom the way they were. Optimus turned to Bulkhead and Ratchet. "We need reinforcement." The Prime said, and then looked at the dying woman. Simmons approached her.

"We'll handle her, big guy." He said. "You just go out there and save this planet, which, ironically, will never thank you for the help you provided."

And soon the portal opened. The three Autobots entered the ground-bridge. As it closed, the agents dragged her to the chopper.

The Ark

Native- Jack was still unconscious and was lying on a berth, his Arcee kneeling beside him, a look of extreme worry on her face plate. Even though IDON said he was fine, Arcee was still worried about her partner. Even Omni- Jack regained consciousness, but there was no change in her Jack's condition. Someone placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Mark's Arcee smiling at her.

"He'll be fine." she squeezed her shoulder in reassurance and her counterpart smiled back.

"I know. I'm just worried."

"Preaching to the choir." the white Arcee laughed lightly.

"How's Mark doing? I heard he didn't sleep the past few days." the blue femme looked over her shoulder towards Mark who was at the ground bridge terminal with IDON and Ratchet working on something.

"He doesn't sleep much anyway. Side effects of being half- Cybertronian I guess. " she sighed "I stopped worrying about that a long time ago." Arcee remembered the times when he was still fully human and didn't sleep for three days at times.

"So, umm... Do you love him? " the blue Arcee was slightly caught off guard. Normally she kept her private things private, but since it was another version of her, she decided it was okay to share a little.

"With all my spark." the white Arcee nodded with a smile and looked at the still unconscious Jack. She wondered how exactly she felt about him.

"We did it! " everyone turned towards IDON when they heard his joyous yell.

"That we did. " even Ratchet smiled.

"What happened? " Omni- Jack ran towards them with a questioning look.

"The dimensional portal! We made a dimensional portal! How great are we? " Mark raised his hand to IDON for a high five which the drone gladly accepted.

"You what? " the Arcee trio said in unison and everyone laughed. They did that a lot lately.

"Time for some reinforcements." IDON began typing on the terminal when a com-link opened and the voice of Optimus Prime was heard on the speakers.

"This is Optimus Prime of the Autobots. Identify yourself."

"Am I glad to hear your voice again Optimus." Omni- Jack piped in and there was silence on the other end.

"Jack?"

"It's me Optimus." he heard cheering on the other side.

"Jack? JACK!" June's happiness was soon replaced by anger "Where have you been? We searched the entire planet for you! You have a lot of explaining to do mister!" Omni- Jack was happy to hear his mother's voice and laughed.

"I'm sorry mom. I promise I'll tell you everything when I get back, but right now, we need help."

"Oh no you don't! You explain everything now mis- HEY!" what they didn't see was June being dragged off by agent Fowler, yelling in the process.

"What is happening Jack?" Optimus asked

"An invasion." there was silence again "We have a crazy warlord, maybe even crazier than Vilgax, invading this Earth."

"What do you mean this Earth?" Omni- Jack heard Tetrax's voice over the com-link.

"Tetrax? You're back? " Omni- Jack was surprised that the Petrosapien returned to Earth.

"I heard you went missing so I decided to come back and help look for you."

"Thanks. Anyway, we're in a parallel dimension right now and an invasion is coming. We need all the help we can get." Omni- Jack could hear his mom protesting in the back and already prepared himself for the scolding he's going to get once he's home "We will open a dimensional portal inside your base."

"Understood. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Tetrax. Prepare for departure. We will be seeing you soon Jack."

"Glad to hear that Optimus." Omni- Jack smiled and nodded to IDON to open the portal. IDON typed in a few more commands and a vortex opened in the place of the ground bridge. After a few moments the hulking form of Optimus Prime stepped through, followed by Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Tetrax. The vortex closed behind them. When Optimus saw Optimus, they eyed each other shortly before engaging in a firm, quiet handshake.

"Bulkhead! " Omni- Miko ran up to her guardian who offered his palm.

"Miko! You're okay! " he brought his arm to his face and Miko hugged him. His attention then fell to the others in the base "Uhh... "

"Oh! I have someone I want you to meet!" Miko pointed towards her two counterparts who waved back. Bulkhead was confused but waved back nonetheless. Tetrax and Omni- Jack shook hands.

"Good to see you again Tetrax. "

"You as well, Jack. " the two nodded at each other and parted. When Skydancer saw Bumblebee, her face plate went a little bluish from the rush of Energon to it. Native- Miko nudged her leg.

"Someone's got a cruuush! " the girl smirked at Skydancer who got even bluer in the face.

"I do not!" she almost screamed. Bumblebee scratched his helm in confusion and bleeped something to the others. Optimus looked around and was met with some familiar looking faces.

"Introductions will have to come later." the Prime said in his deep, authoritative voice.

"Right. Everyone, come over here." Omni- Jack motioned towards an empty corner of the base "I need to bring you up to speed." the bots nodded and Bulkhead lowered Miko down and joined them in the corner. IDON then looked at Mark.

"You wanna' give it a try? " the drone asked and Mark smiled widely.

"Hell yeah!" he cracked his fingers "Time to bring in the troops." he looked at the terminal and used Extremis to connect with his world. After a bit of static, the link opened and he was greeted by Raf's voice.

"Mark? Is that you?" Native- Raf's eyes widened.

"Is that me?" he asked when he heard his voice over the link, only sounding older.

"Yeah it's me." Mark heard cheering on the other side.

"What happened? One moment you were there and then-" he was interrupted by Mark.

"Dimensional portal. Look, we have an invasion over here and we need back-up." there was murmuring on the other side "Who else is there? "

"The Avengers. When they heard you disappeared, they immediately went searching for you." Mark smiled at that.

"Thanks boys and girls. " Mark could swear he heard Logan growling on the other side "Raf, I'm gonna open up a dimensional portal. Just step through it."

"Okay." after a moment of silence Raf spoke again "I'm happy you're still alive."

"Tell me about it." Mark prepared once again "Here it goes." Extremis did its job and the dimensional portal opened in the base on both sides. Raf was the first to step through. After a short handshake with Mark, he saw his younger self.

"I get taller? " his younger counterpart asked with wide eyes.

"Yep. And you get a girlfriend." he winked at him, leaving the younger Raf speechless. After him, a man in a dark blue combat suit, with a white star and three stripes coming from it on each side stepped out. His helmet was also blue, covering the upper half of his face, a white A on the forehead and what looked like small wings painted on each side of the helmet. The most noticeable feature was the round shield with a star in the center.

"Captain." Mark extended his hand.

"Iron Man." Captain America shook his hand shortly and walked past him to join the older Raf in another corner of the base. Two women followed after him. One had long red hair and wore a tight black combat suit, the zipper slightly open and revealing a bit of cleavage. The other had long blonde hair and also wore a black combat suit but with red boots and red gloves. Her suit, however, was zipped up completely up to her chin and a yellow star was on her chest. A black mask covered her eyes.

"Whoa... " Terry and Omni- Jack looked in awe at the two beautiful women. However, Omni- Jack felt the glare Arcee was giving him and averted his gaze.

"Natasha, Carol, thanks for coming." the two curtly nodded at him and walked to the Captain. The person who came out next had the two Mikos and Kelly lose their breath. He was taller than Mark and built like a God. Well, he was a God. The God of thunder himself, Thor. His Asgardian battle uniform had six round metal plates on the front and a red cape that swirled behind him. He held his hammer Mjolnir tightly in his hand.

"He's... dreamy... " Omni- Miko sighed as well as her counterpart. Rescue just snickered since she had the same reaction when she first saw him years ago. Kelly tried hard not to blush when the thunder God winked at her. With a short handshake he joined the rest of the Avengers. Coming next, or rather swinging in, was a man in a red and blue spandex with web patterns on it. A black spider was on his chest and a red one on his back. His entire face was covered with a mask that had two white lenses on it.

"Watch out, coming through! " he flipped in the air and landed gracefully on his feet next to the Avengers. Rescue went to him and greeted her longtime friend with a fist bump. Mark smiled but then an intense smell caught his attention. He looked and saw the Wolverine walking towards him in a black combat suit with a yellow X across the chest. His sideburns would even make Elvis jealous and his hair reached his shoulders.

"Logan. Nice to smell you again." he extended his hand for a greeting but Logan just raised his fist and only his middle claw came out. The message was clear. Mark looked behind him in anticipation "Um, where's the Hulk? " Logan smirked.

"The dentist." his voice was gruff, almost like a growl. He also joined the others and crossed his arms.

"Great, another Ironhide." Jetfire whined on the side.

"Watch it, bub." the Wolverine extended his adamantium claws menacingly and Jetfire gulped. Ironhide found this amusing and chuckled to himself. The last one to come through was also a man in a black combat suit and a mask that covered his entire head. The eyes were white and it looked like he had small cat-like ears. He curtly bowed before Mark and proceeded to the Avengers corner.

"These guys really like black don't they? " Omni- Miko whispered to her counterpart and the latter nodded.

"Is that everyone?" IDON asked when he counted the new arrivals, eight in total. He didn't think they would get this much back-up. Now they had a fighting chance.

"Not yet." Mark looked at the portal and smirked. No one came out.

"Who else is coming through?" IDON asked and looked at the portal. The others, minus the heroes from Mark's universe, looked at the portal in anticipation. Still, no one came out.

"It takes them a while to warm up." Mark said to the Plumber drone.

"Them? Who's them-" he was interrupted when a silver Iron Man suit flew in and landed behind the Avengers "I expected more." just as he said it, more Iron Man armors flew through the portal, 34 of them to be exact, with about ten Rescue armors among them "Oh..." everyone looked in awe as the armors landed behind the Avengers and stood there like a military unit. Mark nodded in satisfaction and closed the portal.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Iron Legion." he motioned to the armors and they all saluted.

"Great, there's more of them." Jetfire whined again.

"Tell me about it." Ironhide growled when he saw the Iron Legion. The War Machine armor caught his optic with all its weapons like it was mocking him. The War Machine also caught Terry's eye and it didn't go unnoticed by Mark. As Mark passed him, he patted Terry on the shoulder.

"Happy birthday buddy." Terry's jaw almost fell off. Kelly, however, didn't like the idea and immediately prohibited Terry from using it. Like that's gonna' happen.

"You mind explainin' why we're here?" Wolverine sounded agitated, like always.

"Yeah." Spider- Man nodded in approval and looked at Wolverine "Just put on some deodorant first and-" three metal claws appeared under his chin "Did you get a manicure? Your claws look beautiful." Spidey got a growl in response and Wolverine retracted his claws.

"Okay, listen up. Here's the deal. " Mark then told them everything that happened, is happening and was about to happen. Omni- Jack was finished with bringing his team up to speed.

(cue orchestral heroic music xD )

"This Darkseid sounds like a formidable enemy. This could be our most dangerous battle yet." Omni- Optimus stated and everyone else nodded. The Prime then looked around and smiled "It's a good thing we have so many allies on our side."

"I say it's time to kick aft! " Omni- Bulk smashed his fists together and Omni- Bee began air- boxing in excitement.

"I have a score to settle with one the furies. " Omni- Arcee clenched her fists.

"Me too." IDON looked at Arcee and they made a silent agreement to kick Harriet's aft.

"Let's see how they fair against Petrosapiens." Tetrax made a crystal blade from his right hand and slashed the air. Terry was about to say something but stopped himself when Kelly glared at him.

"With all of us here, I'm sure we can do it. " Omni- Jack nodded confidently.

"We beat Thanos and Ultron. We can beat this Darkseid as well. " Captain America held up his shield in the middle of the group "Are you with me?" all of the Avengers plus Rescue, Arcee, Raf and June put their hands on the shield.

"YES!" they all shouted in unison.

"If Iron-pants over there thinks he can outgun me, he's got another thing coming." Ironhide smirked as he looked at the Iron Legion in the corner.

"I agree. Time to show them what real Autobots are made of." Hot Ride deployed his blaster and patted it.

"You got that right, yo!" Jazz was ready to kick aft.

"Well, guess this is it. This is where we die." Jetfire wasn't very optimistic about all this.

"Shut up, Jetfire! " Arcee smacked him upside his helm.

"This will indeed be our greatest battle yet. But it is not our own." Optimus looked around the base that was filled with heroes of all sorts "Their worlds are in danger as well and we will do everything in our power to stop Darkseid." he saw the two younger Mikos marveling at the Rescue armors, Terry trying to equip the War Machine armor against Kelly's protests and Skydancer was talking IDON "For no matter how small- " the older Raf was showing something to his younger counterpart on the laptop "-young or old- " Spidey was trying to arm wrestle with Thor but got beaten as fast as lightning. Optimus smiled lightly "-strong or weak, their hearts and sparks are stronger than any evil that may come our way. "

"Optimus... " Ratchet called from the terminal and pointed to the screen. Everyone turned towards the screen and silently watched as it displayed numerous Boom Tubes being opened around the planet. Optimus's optics narrowed.

"It has begun... "

To be Continued...

A.N.: Yeah! Finally, the pre-main event. Now the real battle starts. Well, that's pretty much everything. Until next update. Please review, if you want us to update soon.