The Twilight Of The Gods

— If a single word could be used to describe an Autobot holding block, "spare" would be the one. Just a long, smooth, and pure white hall, a massive set of doors at its mouth. Now a second word could be used: "dark". The massive metallic face of the entity strapped to the far wall with the heaviest restraints possible was hung in a practiced state of boredom, the great metal jaws, which would give voice to the mind behind them, having remained clamped shut since their imprisonment with the rest of the assorted parts that composed Megatron, Decepticon Leader, a decacycle previous. Behind the expression though, the leader of bots was smiling, for he knew how futile this prison really was in the grand scheme of things.—

The plan will initiate in twenty mega cycles time, and I will be released. The fools thought that they could chain me. I will prove them wrong. Including, no, Especially you, Optimus Prime...

—With that last pleasant thought, Megatron drifted off into recharge mode, no dreams awaiting him, only darkness.—

SZZT

— A blinding white flash of light awakened the Decepticon from his brief slumber, his optics blazing in irritation. —

Now what do they wa—-

— Megatron was rendered quite speechless in thought as well as mouth by what he saw: he was standing in the centre of a wide, tall chamber, consisting of three levels that he could see. His floor was bathed in deep red light, ten chairs set around a square table; the next level up emitted a yellow glare, and the top level, of which the only thing he could see of it was the circular stained-glass image of an entity with horns and feathered wings, projected a cool blue glow. Megatron looked about himself, until he noticed a large steel door behind him, the Decepticon sigil emblazoned upon it; the Emperor of Destruction marched towards it, stretching out a servo to touch it; the plates slid back with the reassuringly familiar four notes, revealing, of all things, his violet-lit throne room on the Nemesis. He stepped back, scowling; he noticed that his arm cannon was not only back, but fully charged and connected. His twin blades were the next thing present on his internal inventory, in pristine`condition. —

Good.

— Behind him, one of the other great doors bore an oddly familiar mask on them... —

edited 30th Dec '10 3:12:35 PM by Colonial1.1

It was immediately apparent that something was wrong. The badly-scarred man knew this as soon as he awoke, for the air of his bedchambers was still save for the distant song of birds emanating from beyond his high windows; thick rays of light shone down on his enormous bed, washing the entire chamber with the dawn’s light, and as his eyes adjusted to the sudden illumination he cast his gaze across the room, confirming what he had already suspected. Apart from himself, the chambers were completely empty.

Where were his servants, he pondered, confusion slowly giving way to ire as he took in more of the unusual situation. They took no breaks and required neither sleep nor sustenance, and the scarred man’s loyal automatons were unflinching in their adherence to perfect routine; that they would be absent, for any reason whatsoever, was an impossibility akin to the Earth spontaneously teleporting itself halfway across the universe and developing both a face and an ego.

Something would have to be done, the scarred man decided as he rose from his bed and crossed to his master bathroom, beginning his morning ablutions. Clearly some outside force was at work here, some group or entity which had either suborned or dispatched his servants before they could begin their daily attendance of their lord and master—no easy feat, considering that they would need to get past his security measures and guards. His home was a fortress unlike any other; much as they might believe otherwise, no mere man had the power or skills required to breach its defences and attack him in so brazen a manner as this.

His morning rituals complete, the man returned to his bedchambers and halted in front of a large, ornate armoire embossed with a stylized D, as one might find in an illuminated Gothic manuscript. Clearly, he thought as he took hold of the door handles and swung them wide, this is the work of a very powerful and very dangerous individual; perhaps this was yet another pitiful attempt at victory from that blasted Richards…

Nestled protectively within the armoire were pieces of a grim, grey suit of armour, which the man withdrew and began to don with a practiced ease. It had been a long time since he last put on his armour unassisted, but even so he had built the suit a lifetime ago to his exact specifications, long before he had attained his rightful place in the hierarchy of his native land, before his servants had been first constructed; and such memories would never desert the recollection of one such as he, no matter the intervening years and decades.

The process took nearly an hour to complete, a time that brought a curl of displeasure to his lips. Had the scarred man’s servants been present, donning his armour would have been accomplished in a third of the time. If whoever had done this sought to amuse themselves at his misfortune, they would be sorely mistaken; he would find them, and their suffering would be long and great before they died.

This thought brought a smile to his hideously deformed visage as he brought the final component—his visor—into place. Immediately his armour’s sensors and systems came online, reporting that they had detected no anomalies.

“Begin scanning,” he said, his voice deep and imperious. “Run analysis of all security footage from the last twenty-four hours and pinpoint any irregularities in flow and feed. Identify all persons within the premises and highlight any unrecognised individuals.”

UNABLE TO COMPLY WITH DIRECTIVES, MASTER.

The scarred man’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he donned a green tunic and a vast, hooded cowl. “Explain.”

ANALYSIS OF LATITUDINAL/LONGITUDINAL COORDINATES INDICATES THAT YOU ARE NOT WITHIN CASTLE DOOM, DOOMSTADT OR LATVERIA.

For a moment, there was silence.

“What?!”

The door to the scarred man’s bedchambers slammed open, revealing a space that was most decidedly not one of the hallways of his home and seat of office.

Doctor Doom threw his head back and lifted his arms skyward, curling his hands into armoured fists. Only one man could have and would dare to have done this.

“RIIICHAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRDS!!!!” he roared, his deafening bellow echoing across the cavernous space.

edited 30th Dec '10 9:59:38 AM by SullenFrog

— The massive war machine whirled around, his gun online, optical scanners active; his gaze settled downward on the bellowing, armoured organic, and the mind behind these blazing orbs immediately discarded the idea that the little creature was responsible for his change in current location;

Far too much rage for that to be possible. Still, the technology deserves analysis...

— Megatron stomped forward, flexing his servos before extending them, aiming to seize the bombastic entity by the scruff of his fragile neck. —

MOVEMENT DETECTED, MASTER. UNRECOGNIZED ENTITY DETECTED; COMMENCING ANALYSIS...

Doom turned, his cape flaring dramatically behind him as he craned his neck back to look upon the looming machine advancing on his position.

A mechanical lifeform, he deduced immediately from a single glance, calming slightly now that a problem had revealed itself. Phalanx? Technarch? No—the superstructure is too symmetrical, too rigid for their kind. It cannot be another model of that pompous machine Ultron, either—the android is far too egotistical to craft such a body without crafting its face in his own image. Clearly we are dealing with an unknown variable at present; best not to reveal too many of my armour's capabilities...

The armoured ruler of Latveria lept backwards, nimbly evading the towering machine's grasp in spite of his armour's ungainly appearance.

"If you think that you can best Doom, machine, you are solely mistaken," he declared, thrusting a hand in the robot's direction and launching a bolt of concussive force at moderate power.

-In a side road, a van was parked. Two men were engaged in a very one-sided fight while a woman (stunned from her very narrow escape from being hit by said van) looked on. The first was wearing a T-Shirt with a photograph of a hammer on it, and was widely recognized as superhero Captain Hammer. The second man was wearing a white labcoat and goggles-

-The man in the goggles was called Dr. Horrible, and he was having a really bad day-

-It had all been going so well, and that's what made it worse. He'd set it up perfectly, he had everything ready. He was right on the verge of breaking into the big leagues. And now this. He was so close to success and then Captain Hammer had to show up and ruin everything!-

-He wasn't actually thinking this. It's hard to think clearly when someone's grabbed you by the throat and is slamming your head into a sheet of metal. Slowly he became aware of Hammer releasing his neck, and he straightened up, trying to get a clear glimpse of why he'd suddenly relented. It didn't make him feel any better-

-He was looking at her! Penny! His Penny (although he didn't really have the right to think like that, given he'd never even hinted at being interested in her to her face). And she was looking back at him in the same way. And they were singing to each other. Hammer had to go and ruin everything, didn't he?-

-He wasn't really paying attention as he made snide remarks in between Hammer's words. His heart wasn't in it. He decided that he could at least salvage something from this mess. Hammer wasn't paying the slightest attention to him, so he could wander round to the back of the van and remove it's payload without his nemesis noticing. As he hurried around the side of the van he didn't realise that they'd stopped singing mid-sentence. Nor did he notice the golden dust which was beginning to accumulate in the air-

-He finally began to notice when, as he hurried down the road away from his disastrous heist payload in hand, the street began to disintegrate around him-

"What the-"

-And then he disintegrated too.-

-When he came to, he looked around. Back in his lab. That was... weird.-

Inside a chamber made of pulsing flesh and bones there was a raised piece of flesh in the center. That raised flesh held what looked like an egg. The egg was green and pulsating, occasionally glowing green so its inhabitant could be seen on the outside. The humanoid figure inside the egg seemed to be stirring, waking from her slumber. It had been 4 years and she had been busy with evolving her brood. Something was wrong though. Long spiked fingers broke through the outside of the egg and started to tear it open.

The Queen of Blade stepped out of her rest chamber and looked about the room. There was noting wrong with the room, but there was something wrong with the outside. She couldn't hear them anymore. She couldn't hear her swarm and this angered her. If the Terrans had found them and used the Psi Disruptors again, then they would all burn. A section of the wall separated and spread open only to reveal a metal door. This was definitely not right.

Kerrigan narrowed her eyes and hunched over a bit, allowing her bone like structures on her back to rise up in a combat stance. She slowly started to Cloak herself until she was completely invisible and then stepped through the door. This room was not of any Terran design she could recall and it was not anything the Protoss would build. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted something. A very large machine was reaching for an armored man in green. The armored man reacted by shooting some kind of blast from his hand. She kept her stealth and snuck around, observing.

-Horrible starting looking around. What time was it? How'd he got here? Where was Moist? He hurried towards the nearest door, threw it open and peered out-

-Well, thought Horrible, that's weird.-

— The Decepticon Leader reeled backward with a grunt, drawing his twin blades and quickly bringing them up in a defensive stance. —

Kinetic Force Blast? Primitive.

— He was about to bring one of his blades slicing down at the loud organic when he stopped, his audioreceptors picking up fresh sounds, definitely organic in origin. He leapt back from the armoured creature, aiming his cannon at the origin of the sounds. —

Come Out, And I May Not Atomise You.

edited 30th Dec '10 10:28:41 AM by Colonial1.1

-Wonderful. People already threatening him. He practically leapt back from the door, dashing back down into the laboratory and rifling through his work-desk for some sort of weapon-

-inside a separate chamber, a spiralling rhombus shaped patch of energy appeared, and formed the shape of a tall bearded man. He looked around the chamber, confusion turning to anger-

"Where have you concealed yourself Kal-el? Show yourself!"

-enraged, he forced the metal door of the chamber open and stormed into the main assembly area-

"You DARE to presume you have won?! THIS IS NOT THE END! YOU WILL BOW BEFORE ME, SON OF JOR-EL!!"

-he glared at the others, slowly regaining his composure-

"What manner of circus do I find myself in?"

edited 30th Dec '10 10:28:42 AM by GabrielGloom

Kerrigan remained silent, glad for her Ghost training right this moment as the giant robot wheeled around and pointed his gun at someone. Kerrigan silently snuck around to an opposite side and saw as someone else started to shout. These were very loud people.

— Megatron refocused his attention on the loud organic with facial hair, whilst keeping one audioreceptor tasked with tracking the almost insectoid scuttling he had heard. —

Only two humans so far. Time to find out about the unknown quantities here.

— The cannon now aimed at the furred creature. —

Species And Title, Organic.

-Zod scanned the area with his x-ray vision-

Two humans, both possessing crude Earth technology, one insect, and one machine.

A machine that has yet to learn it's place.

-he glanced at the immense robot-

"I do not take orders from you, machine. You will identify first."

-As Dr. Horrible scrambled rantically to find some armament, he was overcome with the sudden urge to sing. He'd heard somewhere that it was good for a villain, helped them work out emotion. Same reason most of them have a practised, carefully-crafted manic laugh. Couldn't hurt, he guessed.-

"Something very strange is happening,"

"What it is I can't be sure,"

"Right outside strange creatures battling,"

"I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore.."

-He still hadn't found a suitable weapon, and panic was rising. He decided to work it out through the song-

"Come on Billy! You're supposed to be a villain!"

"Supposed to be unshakable, evil to the core!"

"Come on Billy! Be Doctor Horrible!"

"Come on Billy... They're right outside the door..."

-Finally he found something. A gun-like instrument, quite clearly labelled 'Freeze Ray'. He grabbed it and headed for the door-

''"

— The Decepticon sheathed one of his blades, then sent his left set of servos snaking out to grab the organic by his simple collar, holding him up before the great frowning face. —

Such Arrogance For Something So Weak.

— The great grey Decepticon powered upward, slamming the Kryptonian down on the ledge of the yellow-lit upper level. —

You Will Identify First.

-He peeked out the door. Giant robot. Strange man being thrown at the ceiling. Other strange man. He needed to get something worked out, and fast. He hefted his Freeze Ray, taking aim at the robot, more for insurance than anything else-

—Pinning the leg of the organic with one finger, Megatron looks back down, until he sees the young organic with the temporal weapon; he aims his cannon. —

Don't EVEN Think About It, Human.

edited 30th Dec '10 11:06:55 AM by Colonial1.1

Jack Spicer wasn't happy. Not in the least. "Stupid monks with their power of friendship and shapeshifting dragon." He grumbled. "Should've taken care of them when I had the chance." He stopped his angered grumbling. The lab was uncharacteristically quiet today. No clang and clatter of Jackbots, no hissing shout of Wuya discovering a new Shen Gong Wu, not even the soft hum of his computers. "Ugh. I'm getting bored. I think I'll go out and terrorise some people." He said to nobody in particular. He gathered up a few Shen Gong Wu and opened the door. The pale skinned teen's eyes widened. "Oh." He then ran back into the lab, screaming like a little girl.

"You underestimate me at your peril."

-Megatron felt an incredible pressure on his servos, forcing Zod out of his grip-

"I fear you may have mistaken me for another of these wretched, insipid humans. A mistake I will not allow you to repeat."

Kerrigan quickly lost interest in all of the fighting going on, it didn't concern her after all. What was important was getting back to the swarm, her swarm. They have been in hiding for the past four years and in now way was she going to let that be ruined by all of her broods losing control from the lack of her presence. She looked around the chamber that they were all in, sneaking around and trying to find anything of use.

-He gulped. Now or never. He couldn't exactly be sure the Freeze Ray would work on the robot (theoretically, it would, but he'd never field-tested it). Then again, he couldn't be sure that the robot wasn't going to crush him under his foot the moment he lowered the weapons-

-He squeezed the trigger, almost by accident, and a ray of light was the only visual indication that his weapon was essentially grabbing the laws of space and time and putting them into a painful headlock as it fired. The ray, should it connect, would isolate and freeze Megatron in the timestream, giving him time to react-

Jack exited the lab, holding as many Shen Gong Wu as he could carry. One hand was covered by a massive gauntlet, then other clutched a staff with a carved depiction of a monkey on it. Around his waist was a blue sash that ended in a clawed hand. He wore a pair of boots that were nothing out of the ordinary, appearanc wise. Two poles with helicopter blades sprung out of his backpack. He took off and hovered over to the man in the labcoat. He looked sensible enough. "Alright, waht's going on? I have important evil business to get to." He said, his tone filled with false bravado.

— At the same time as Zod's forcing of his servo, the freeze ray struck, the war machine's face frozen in a manner of mild surprise as he toppled backwards, falling on his back with a monstrous CLANG. —

-Zod remained in mid-air-

"Interesting..."

-he floated to the ground-

"You."

-he turned to face Doctor Horrible-

"You are a native of the planet Earth. What is your stance on the one you call 'Superman'?"

-Doctor Horrible was too caught up in what was going on to pay much attention to the youth. For the most part he was preoccupied with his surprised expression as Megatron toppled over-

"It actually worked. Huh."

-The floating man's interjection snapped him out of it-

"Superman? He's a superhero, right? Probably a jerk."

edited 30th Dec '10 11:16:45 AM by MadeOfAxes