Fantastic Four and the Transformers

by Chris McFeely

PROLOGUE

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NEW WORLDS FOR OLD

The universe was dying.

It had reached the end of its existence.

And the inhabitants of the planet Taa were the first to learn of its fate, and of the fate that would befall every living thing in existence. They had lived only to learn, and so the scientists of Taa decided to die learning. They set out on a voyage to the focal point of the universe, which was to be their funeral pyre. But as they neared the centre of all that was, the ship grew unbearably hot, killing all those within it. All save one - a man named Galen. And as Galen waited to die... the universe spoke to him.

“Hear me, last son of Taa,” it had said. “I am the sentience of the universe, and like you, I am also dying. But we need not die without an heir. Come, give me your body so that I may merge it with my being, to create the creature upon which all that comes after us shall be based. He shall posses the power of a galaxy. He shall be a galactic ravager. He shall be Galactus.”

And Galen did so. And as the universe died around him, Galen was kept alive, in a state of suspended animation, his life prolonged by the ship, which slowly began to change, into a mechanical cocoon of sorts, which would transform him into the creature the sentience of the universe had spoken of.

A universe was born. Many dimensions, many galaxies, many planets were contained within it. And Galen awoke, and spoke two words :

“Galactus awakens.”

Thus was born the Devourer of Worlds.

Galactus was merely the first of many beings that would populate this universe. Two beings, even more powerful than he, were some of the next creatures to be born - Primus, the Lord of the Light, and his eternal enemy, Unicron, who became the last of the Dark Lords. These two battled consistently in the void between dimensions, and so fierce was their conflict, that it tore open a rift in the fabric of space and time, sending the two combatants tumbling into another dimension. Unicron was cast into the void of deep space, while Primus, in his death throes collided with an asteroid, merging with it, as Galen had done with the sentience of the universe, creating a mechanical world, that its inhabitants would come to call ‘Cybertron’. The inhabitants were the Transformers, sentient robotic beings with the power to transform their bodies into vehicles, weapons, and more. A war on Cybertron would take these robots to the planet Earth, but the return of Unicron in the year 2006 would bring about the end of the conflict. For the time being.

Two beings.

So alike, yet so different.

What would be to happen if they met...?

CHAPTER ONE

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RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

In the capitol building in the city-state of Iacon on the planet Cybertron, Rodimus Prime stroked his chin with worry. He stared out of the large window at the massive silver orb hovering above the horizon. It had appeared over an hour ago, but had done absolutely nothing since its arrival. Rodimus turned away from the window to speak to the small assemblage who were patiently waiting behind him. He resisted the urge to rest his tried chassis by leaning on the console by his side. Ultra Magnus, Rodimus’s second-in- command, stood in the room, with Springer, the head technician, Powerglide, who had recently arrived with Sky Lynx, and the Aerialbots - Silverbolt, Skydive, Air Raid, Slingshot, and Fireflight - who had made their way to Cybertron in their merged form of Superion.

“Is the investigation team prepared?” Rodimus asked Springer.

“Ready to go, Prime,” Springer responded, using Rodimus’s official title. “Silverbolt will be leading the mission, with the Aerialbots, Powerglide, Skylinx, and myself in tow.”

“Very good,” Rodimus acknowledged. “Where is Skylinx, by the way?”

“Right here!” came Sky Lynx’s voice. Spinning, Rodimus saw Sky Lynx, in his space shuttle mode, hovering outside the window he had been gazing through moments earlier. “Let’s go!”

Silverbolt looked at Rodimus Prime, who nodded, and pressed a button on the console beside him. The window split down the middle, and, with a soft mechanical hum, slid back into either side of the wall.

“Aerialbots - and everyone else - ,” Silverbolt ordered, “Transform!”

With the familiar grinding of gears and pistons, and the chaka-chaka-chaka noise that had become so well know to every Transformer since the moment of their creation, the five Aerialbots transformed into their jet plane shapes. Powerglide followed suite, taking on his seaplane mode, and revving his engines. As a Triple-Changer, Springer could take on two modes, but the choice for this mission was obvious. Rodimus held onto the console for support as the whirling rotors of Springer’s helicopter mode created fierce air currents within the room. With a roar, the seven Autobots flew from the room to join Sky Lynx in the cold Cybertronian air. As Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus watched, they headed of in the direction of the ever-mysterious metal sphere.

“Weapons at the ready!” Silverbolt said to his companions over his comm-radio. “We‘re approaching the alien object!” Turning his attention to the sphere once again, Silverbolt hailed it on his radio. “Attention!” he said. “Identify yourself. You have violated Cybertronian airspace. Are you friend or foe?”

As if to answer Silverbolt’s question, the sphere pulsed with an eerie purple light, and a large panel opened directly in front of Silverbolt.

Come into my parlour..., thought Silverbolt, remembering an old Earthen axiom that Spike Witwicky had once told him. The crackle of his radio caught his attention.

“What do you think, Silverbolt?” came Springer’s voice.

“Looks like a trap to me,” Slingshot said, echoing Silverbolt’s own thoughts.

“We can take ‘em,” Powerglide chipped in. “Whoever they are!”

“Alright then,” Silverbolt decided. “Let’s go for it!”

Silverbolt’s sleek Concorde form shot towards the opening. In his optical sensors, he thought he could see something standing just inside the hatchway - but it’s size... it had to be some sort of glitch in his CPU. Momentarily distracted, Silverbolt was suddenly blinded as a crimson flash of incredible brightness flared up from the orb, and two pencil thin bolts of blood-red energy lanced from within the hatchway.

“Evasive manoeuvres!” Silverbolt screamed through his radio, but while his comrades were saved by his warning, it was too late for him. The energy bolts slammed into him, and he fell, unintentionally transforming to robot mode as he did so.

“I’ve got him!” cried Sky Lynx, banking right to catch Silverbolt as he plummeted. There was a resounding clang as Silverbolt landed atop Sky Lynx’s massive frame. Groggily shaking his head, he looked up at the sound of a whirring noise coming from the orb. A walkway of some sort was extending itself from the hatchway that Silverbolt had been fooled by. As the whirring stopped, a gigantic being marched down the walkway. It wore a garish suit of blue armour, with lavender gloves and boots, and a large helmet, with two triangular-shaped antennae protruding from its sides. The being’s features were humanoid, but all the Autobots could tell that this was no human.

“Guess it wasn’t a glitch,” Silverbolt said out loud.

Springer rose up to become level with this gigantic creature’s face. “Who or what are you?” he demanded. “And why have you come here?”

“I am Galactus,” the being responded. “That is all that need be said.”

Springer watched as this ‘Galactus’ waved his hand, and suddenly, he found himself in robot mode, back in the control chamber, with all of his companions, standing in front of a very startled Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus.

“What’s he doing?” Ultra Magnus asked.

Rodimus Prime had no idea. The gigantic being Springer said had called itself Galactus had removed several large mechanical components from his craft, and appeared to be assembling them into some sort of spherical unit. But for what purpose, Rodimus did not know. All he had was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. Galactus - he had heard that name somewhere before. He strode over to a large bank of computer controls, and pressed a large red button. The console hummed to life, and the image of Kup, head of operations in Autobot City on Earth, blinked into existence on the viewscreen.

“Greetings Rodimus Prime,” Kup said, his wizened voice coming through loud and clear from the console’s speakers.

“Hello Kup,” Rodimus responded ,and then cut to the chase. “Kup,can you please have Teletran 2 scan for information on someone or something called ‘Galactus’?”

“No problem,” Kup answered. “But if you don’t mind me asking, why?”

Rodimus had no wish to alarm his friends on Earth, and simply replied “Oh, no reason, really - just something I was thinking about...”

“I’ll get right on it,” Kup said, saluting. “Over and out!”

With a blip, Kup disappeared from the screen. Rodimus turned to look at Ultra Magnus, who cocked his head.

“Was that wise?” he asked.

“Probably not,” Rodimus answered bluntly, “but I can’t afford the EarthForce to suffer any distractions - not with the Decepticons so active on Earth right now.”

Magnus shrugged. “I guess all we can do now is wait.”

Less than an hour later, Kup had the information Rodimus Prime had requested.

“Galactus,” he began, “an intergalactic entity who consumes the life-energy of planets to sustain his existence. No-one’s sure where he came from, but what we do know is that he’s tried to make a meal of Earth several times before. Each time he was fended off by a team of twentieth century superheroes called the Fantastic Four, who disbanded at the turn of the century. Their members consisted of Reed Richards, codenamed Mr Fantastic, his wife, Susan Storm-Richards, called the Invisible Woman, her younger brother, Jonothan ‘Johnny’ Storm, known as the Human Torch, and Richards’s college roommate, a pilot named Benjamin J. Grimm, who took on the name of The Thing. They each had elemental powers that they got through exposure to cosmic rays on a space flight in an unshielded craft.”

“Is that all we’ve got?” Rodimus inquired.

“That’s all Teletran 2 could find,” Kup said, adding, “Remind me again why you wanted this stuff?”

Rodimus looked at Ultra Magnus, who nodded.

“We now have reason to believe that...Galactus...is attempting to consume Cybertron’s life-energy in the manner you spoke of.”

Kup was silent, and then said “Too bad the Fantastic Four aren’t around any more. They could solve your problems.”

Rodimus stiffened. “Kup,” he said, “You just gave me a great idea.”

Shortly, Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus were standing outside of the special weapons storage and examination depot within the capitol building of Iacon. Rodimus keyed in the access code on a small keypad, and the door slid back with a hiss of compressed air.

“I know it’s in here somewhere,” Rodimus said, as he rummaged through a large pile of strange-looking objects.

“This is crazy Rodimus!” Ultra Magnus persisted. “How do we know it even still works?”

“Only one way to find out!” Rodimus responded. With a shout of happiness, he pulled a small grey box from one of the piles that littered the floor. It had nothing attached to it save for a red button in its centre.

“That thing is dangerous - Galvatron nearly altered history with it!” Magnus went on. But Rodimus wasn’t listening. He was studying the device intently. It was called a Time- Jumper. Galvatron had created one like it shortly before the battle with Unicron, and had travelled back in time to try and alter history. It was how he had escaped termination in the void of space when Rodimus had cast him into it during the conflict with Unicron. The original had been destroyed when Rodimus had merged it with his own time travel mechanism to restore various Autobots and Decepticons to their rightful times after a confrontation occurred between members of each fation from differing time periods, which had colourfully been labelled the "Time Wars", but this new unit the Autobots had created was only experimental. Still...

Rodimus looked up at Ultra Magnus, who was still carrying on with his lecture. Rodimus smiled as Ultra Magnus saw what he was doing.

Rodimus pushed the button.