Chapter 100

“I’ll only be gone for a short amount of time,” I said to Gresh, who was staring at me uncomprehending. “But while I’m gone, if you want to stay with BRIDGE, you’ll need to listen to the rules. This means you have to listen when they tell you only authorized personnel can use an assault rifle. So please, for the love of everything I hold sacred, stop telling everyone who will listen that I’m the only king you’ll follow.”

I tried not to sound as pained as I felt. I don’t think it worked because Gresh looked amazingly disappointed in himself.

“I am sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, be better,” I quoted my father without thinking. Gresh winced.

The two of us were sitting with Demi in one of the huts that had been quickly set up for the new group. They had been added after both Quinjets had returned with a small army of former slaves and their allies.

I looked between Gresh and Demi. “The city of Saur-Lords is officially an enemy of BRIDGE. And since I’m doubting that you guys are willing to beat the shit out of them too, our soldiers here are on your side, Gresh. They won’t be ordering you around, but you need to stop trying to take a rifle for yourself.”

Gresh snarled reflexively. I glared at him. “Guns aren’t swords and skill in one doesn’t translate to skill in the other. If you ask nicely, we’ll train you on how to use them. But for now, consider yourself in training. If it helps, I was the same way only a few months ago. So if you’re diligent, you won’t have to wait. Fair?”

He stared at me, his reptilian nostrils twitching, before nodding. Poor guy. He was like a teenage nerd being told he couldn’t play with a real laser weapon. Still, I decided to let that go to focus on Demi.

“As for you, I’d recommend asking X yourself. I will warn you that you two are completely different species,” on so many levels. “So he might say no,” Demi’s face fell slightly. I winced. “But he’s a good man. He’ll either let you down easy, or he’ll say yes. Just… talk to him. Straight on, tell him what you think.”

Demi frowned. “That is not the way of my people. Our mating practices require an intermediary.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Ah. All right. If that’s your tradition I gues-” then I noticed Gresh rolling his eyes. I took a closer look at Demi. She stared back at me as blankly as she could. As a woman made of stone, she couldn’t sweat, and her facial expressions were harder to read. Unless you were a part-time alien. I noticed the nervousness in the way she shifted, the slight twitch to her eyes.

She was lying. She just didn’t want to talk to X herself.

“You are freaking adorable,” I said at last. After some thought, I nodded. “All right, sure. I’ll be your intermediary. Meantime, let’s talk about something less fun.”

The doors to the cafeteria opened. One by one, people filed into the room. Creel, Fantasma, Gena/Winggirl, the Anklyo-Saur-Lord who had decided to join us, and Dietrich/German Guy, filed in, followed by the sergeant in charge of the BRIDGE soldiers in the Savage Land, a Hispanic with a shaved head and a tattoo of an eagle on his neck by the name of Jamie Silan, and the scientist in charge, Dr. Bernard Kloss.

They moved to sit around the table as I rose up and faced them. As they sat, one more person entered. We looked over at him.

He was tall, built, and tan, wearing only a vest and a loincloth. His hair was a dirty blonde, held up in a rough ponytail. He carried a single knife on his waist and moved with eerie grace.

And following after him was a Sabertooth tiger. Goddamn. Nothing in the universe can prepare you for how fucking big a sabertooth is. Even after all the time I’d spent with dinosaurs, something about a tiger in a shiny cafeteria leant the experience its own level of weird that made Zabu more intimidating.

“Ka-Zar,” I said politely. “Zabu. It’s nice to finally meet you both.”

Ka-Zar nodded politely, while Zabu sat on his haunches and glared at me. “Same. I apologize for not coming to your aid sooner, and I am glad you escaped.”

“Same,” I snarked a bit. “As for now, I think we all should sit and talk about what’s next. Namely, how we prepare,” I placed my hands on the table and faced the group. “Bronto and Anklyo. They might want revenge. They might want to parley. They might try to sabotage us. We also can’t forget the other threats that might be possible. Corporations, scientists, or just straight evil people trying to take advantage of this place from the outside, or threats from within the Savage Land that could be hiding in the shadows. I’ll visit as often as I can, as will a lot of Avengers, but we need a team ready and willing to defend the freedoms of this land’s populace when we can’t.”

I looked around. “A lot of you want the same thing. A good life. The simplest thing in the world for people to want. So it’s up to us to start building the framework to defend it. Now, I can’t offer you guys positions in BRIDGE, since it’s part of another organization I can’t get into, and that organization might question your recruitment for way too long for us to go that route.”

After HYDRA, the UN Officials would be iffy on any recruits who weren’t at least citizens of a UN nation, as screwy as I thought that was.

“However, as Gresh suggested, there is another organization that can work with BRIDGE, and thus give you the ability to work with them as well. So, in the words of one badass motherfucker…” I grinned. “I’m here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative.”

And all the while, the Omnitrix glowed yellow.

------

Later, X and I went with Gena to a nearby laboratory. The one-winged girl was a lot calmer than she had been in weeks, but I could still notice how the blue-skinned young girl was affected by the loss of her limb. It was in two things. First, and most notable, was in the way she walked. She was always off-balance just a bit, always over or under compensating for a weight that was gone.

The second, and saddest, was in how X and I found her. Standing at the edge of the cliff I’d once fallen from, looking up at the sky. Again. She did it all the time. Staring at the blue above, her eyes shaking.

So, before I left, I was going to give her something.

“What do you want?” Gena asked me curiously as I led her into the laboratory. The BRIDGE logo was painted on one of the walls. Some lab equipment was placed everywhere, and the corpses of some velociraptors rested on several tables. It took me a second to realize they were the raptors I’d killed.

“I made a promise to myself. Well, a bunch. It’s been a rough week,” I said with a shrug. X stared at me blankly while Gena looked even more confused.

“Okay… so why are we in a kitchen?” she asked, poking idly at one of the dead dinosaurs.

Huh. Yeah, I guess a bunch of dead bodies in a room with knives everywhere could be confused for a kitchen, in an older world. Personally, the smell was enough to make me want to avoid breathing through my nose. I ignored that to go deeper into the lab, heading towards the section set up for delicate repairs.

“Actually, this place is for the scientists to work on their projects,” I opened another door, Gena stepping in after me hesitantly. “And, since the BRIDGE elites have armor and weapons that gets beat up a lot, this is where they get fixed,” we soon stood inside a place that looked like a garage. Mostly because, well, it was a garage.

There were some BMX’s, ATV’s, and a couple of Jeeps resting inside, along with a few sets of armor left standing. They were the heavier mech suits, made to aid the wearer in clearing paths, lifting heavy objects where vehicles couldn’t fit, and punching big things VERY hard.

One of the suits was resting on a table, torn apart and bent. It had malfunctioned on arrival. Which made it perfect.

“Gena,” I turned to face her, my lips quirking upward. “Today I’m going to try and help you out. X is here because he can do the more delicate work. But I want to explain, first and foremost, what I’m going to do, okay?”

“...Okay?”

“First, I’ll be taking this suit apart in one of my alien forms. While I do that, X will be taking measurements and preparing you for surgery, while also taking advanced scans of your body, nervous system, and other things. While he does that, I’ll be in here making the wing.”

She stared at me uncomprehending until the word ‘wing’ left my lips. Shocked, she looked into my eyes, her blue skin turning paler. Then she looked outside, where a Quinjet could be seen just past the windows.

“No,” I said immediately, guessing what she was thinking. “This won’t be a quinjet wing. It’ll be something to provide lift and force according to the way your muscles move in your back. A hover unit. We’ve been testing prosthetics for a while, and we’re getting better. For this, I might have to cheat. But Jury Rigg is good at that.”

“I have also been studying the movements of your fellow Aerians,” X said, drawing Gena’s attention. “Basing my calculation on them and the currently known facts about other winged beings, I agree. With a few hours of work, we can have it done.”

“With your permission though,” I said hastily. “X has a few medical degrees, and we have a bunch of experts, but this is going to require hooking up a hover unit to your back. With a system made to-” I cut myself off as I realized I was getting into things she might not understand. “Look, just… it’ll be a small object that will act like your other wing. Not a real one, but enough to let you-”

“Yes!” Gena stepped forward and grabbed my arm, her grip almost painful as she stared at me with desperate hope. “I-I don’t care what it’ll look like! Just… as long as I can fly again…”

The last was said in almost a whisper. I gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “You will. I promise.”

The small smile she gave me was fragile. But it was so bright that I felt myself smiling back.

“Come,” X pulled at Gena, leading her away. “Dial will need space to work.”

I waved them off. Then, as they closed the door, my smile faded. I felt determination in my heart as I raised my new Omnitrix and watched the dial rise without my prompting. “Wha-” I stared as the dial spun to life and showed Jury Rigg immediately. Curious, I put my hand forward and spun through the menu. Big Chill, Swampfire, Sandrass, Rath. Then, an Aerian form. An Anklyo-Saur-Lord. A Saurian like Gresh. A rock person like Demi. A Saur-Lord raptor, pterosaur, and t-rex.

Man. All these forms, and yet, none of them was more useful than the ones I currently had. Granted, I’d figured this would happen. A lot of Marvel forms would have been cool, but I always knew I would end up with some that were basically just a slightly stronger being, rather than something as badass as an Asgardian or Troll form. Then again, the Brontosaurus form looked useful to just have a big alien.

Still, I liked this. I’d finally be able to do the one thing the Omnitrix was made for. Walking a mile in another person’s shoes, to facilitate peace as an ambassador.

I spun the dial again and found myself hunting through a menu full of creatures. “Damn it,” I said, frustrated at how long it was taking. “Just give me Jury Rigg!”

A flash of green spread across my body while I was still going through the menu. In that instantaneous change I’d gotten used to, I lost several feet in height, gained red skin, and a mind to match the craziest engineers in all fiction.

“Wow!” I shouted in surprise. I looked down at myself, wearing a Black Sabbath t-shirt once again. “I changed… through voice command?”

That was new. In some ways, that was better and worse than using my dial. Touching the dial would be faster than naming an alien in some circumstances, but naming an alien also meant that I could change in human form without any Omnitrix interaction.

What else was new? For a moment, my now genius-level intellect raced through the various implications before I focused myself with a shake of my head.

“Not right now! I have work to do!” I ran towards the table in the center of the garage and grabbed onto the edge, climbing up to stand on it. I stared at the armor in front of me, mentally putting the pieces together. “Fix! Fix, fix, fix!”

With the loud clatter of steel being ripped apart by red alien claws, I got to work.

It took an hour before I realized what else had changed.

Namely, that I was still in alien form. After an hour of using my Jury Rigg form more intensely than normal, focusing everything into making the best damn machine I could.

I kept at it. I took apart the armor, pulling the pieces back together, welding them, placing the circuitry. The blueprints weren’t exactly in my head. Jury Rigg didn’t plan things out so clearly. Instead, when I took his form, I would work by intuition and instinct.

Soon, after a couple of hours of work, I stopped, staring at the device I’d made.

It was shaped roughly like a large water bottle, with a large portion of it glowing dark blue. It’s one and only purpose was to emit force based on the various signals it received when it was inserted into a person's back.

I looked up at the clock. Two hours or so. And the Omnitrix hadn’t even thought about blinking red. “Uh… Feedback?”

In a flash of green, I’d become a Conductoid once more. I stared down at my hands, each finger ending in the large golden plug that allowed me to absorb and attack with energy. Then I picked up the hover unit I’d created and started walking, noting the time as I did.

I did my best to ignore the pale white scars marking my body now. The same ones had shown up on Jury Rigg.

Whatever the reason for my scars, they apparently were such a part of me that they were now showing on my alien forms. Just one more part of the Omnitrix I didn’t understand.

------

Gena was in an operating room with X and some of the doctors and nurses we had pulled into the project. I left the hover unit with them and went on to the jail cells.

Ka-Zar and Zabu found me on the way. The big cat and jungle man had been walking the same direction across the grounds, only to stop and stare when I walked up to join them in my Feedback form.

“That is… strange,” Ka-Zar said in his British accent as I joined him. “I was informed of this ability of yours, but I had no idea the change was so extensive.”

Yeesh. For a guy raised in the jungle, he talked like he’d went to Oxford or Cambridge.

“Even your scent is different,” he looked a little spooked. I grinned at him while looking down at Zabu, who walked up to stare at me curiously.

“That’s the nature of the Omnitrix. So. You look like you were headed to the cells too.”

“I am,” Ka-Zar shook off his surprise rather quick. Guess he’d seen weirder things than me, unsurprisingly. “I wish to speak to Sauron.”

“Really? Me too. Well, less speak, so much as make it less likely he’ll hurt people.”

We walked side by side, Zabu leading in front. “I’m also kinda testing something out,” I looked down at my hands. “There are a few questions I’d like answered. And Sauron lets me kill two birds with one stone.”

We entered the building that held the cells. Sixteen in all, lined up on either side of a hallway. Only one was occupied.

At the end of the hall, four BRIDGE guards stood with weapons in hand. The cell was made of a titanium alloy Tony Stark had made specifically for this. Ka-Zar and I walked up to the guards, one of whom stepped forward.

“Sir,” she said, sounding almost relieved to see me.

“Lin,” I looked at the cell door behind her. “How’s he been?”

“Peaceful,” the young Asian woman sounded almost surprised by that. “He just asked for a copy of Lord of the Rings. He’s been in there just… reading.”

“Lord of the Rings?” Ka-Zar looked between us. “What is that?”

“Where he got his name,” I nodded to the guard. “Open the door, Lin.”

She stiffened. As did the others. “Sir, I don’t know if that’s-”

“Lin. It’s okay,” I walked up to the door. “I didn’t show up in alien form because I underestimated how powerful he is. We’ll be alright.”

Lin bit her lip. Then she nodded, stepping aside and pressing some buttons on the keypad. As soon as the cell door opened, I stepped inside. Ka-Zar followed while Zabu stayed out with the guards. The door closed behind me moments later.

Ka-Zar and I stood side by side as Sauron turned to face us. The pterosaur-man gave us a serene look. “Ah… Dial. This form is new for you. And… Ka-Zar,” Sauron’s serenity faded. “You, young man, have been quite a thorn in my side.”

“And you have been a monster,” Ka-Zar said, sounding like he was moments from leaping forward and ripping Sauron in half.

“I have indeed,” Sauron said without a hint of shame. “But then, aren’t all of us? Dial. I’ve heard that you left Stend alive,” when I only stared at him, he gave me a leer. “Interesting… So. Why are you both here?”

Ka-Zar looked at me. I waved for him to speak first. The future King of the Savage Land faced the former one. “Anklyo. He attacked a small village that I was forced to defend. But that village had no use to you. It was far out of the way from your normal raiding routes, had no slaves whose races you have not already taken. In all ways, it was a useless bounty. But he fought like the devil to save something he had no reason to steal. Why? What was important about that village?”

“...Guard that village well,” Sauron looked between us. “The Savage Land has had many rulers. I suspect, many of a fantastic nature. Even stories of beings similar to the fictional world of Atlantis exist in the tales of this lands ancestors.”

I stiffened slightly at that, but neither man noticed.

“That village is said to rest on the weapon of one of those rulers. I found evidence that could not be ignored and sent Anklyo to begin an outpost there, to guard the place,” Sauron looked into my single eye, which I avoided to keep from being mind-controlled, and my head tendrils waved back and forth while he continued to speak. “Whatever is there, it must never be uncovered. Understood?”

Ka-Zar scoffed. “Why should we believe you? Why shouldn’t we simply take this weapon for ourselves?”

“We’re good on weapons,” I said. “I’ll warn BRIDGE. And I’ll work with them to find out what is going on. You’ve got my word.”

Sauron looked satisfied. “Good… You know, my hopes for the Saur-Lords will live on. I had dreams that they would one day grow enough to enter space. It could have been possible for them to even join the outside world. Barring some great cataclysm, I’d planned to do it in 2020. I suppose I can be happy with what I have.”

I decided to ruin that for him.

“No,” I raised a single hand. “I think we’ve had enough of Sauron. Time for Karl to come back to play.”

Sauron stared, uncomprehending. Then I pulled at the source of energy that had been emanating from him all the while. Silver-white streams of power flowed from him to get sucked into my body. And he panicked.

“Stop!” the pterosaur leaped across the room and grabbed onto my arm.

“Let him-!” Ka-Zar reached for his knife, ready to help me.

“It’s fine!” I held my other hand out, stopping Ka-Zar. I could feel Sauron pulling energy through my skin, his eyes desperate.

“Don’t do this!” he kept pulling at my energy. “I need to stay like this! I can’t go back to-”

“Humanity?” I shook my head. “We all have to someday, Sauron.”

“Not if I keep absorbing the power you’re taking from me!”

“...Sauron. You don’t get it. In this form, I can pull in the energy of the Big Bang,” his eyes widened. “The universe. Compared to that,” I doubled up my absorption, and Sauron’s eyes shook in horror. “You’re fighting a giant.”

He opened his mouth, probably to breath flame, while his body began to glow more intensely. But he was too weak. If this had been before my fight with him, he might have been able to run. As it was, he fell to his knees instead. I lowered myself down to him, continuing to fill myself with his power.

“...I don’t want to die,” he whispered.

“You won’t.”

“Won’t I?” he looked up at me, fear in his gaze. “I’ve been Sauron for over two decades… Every other time I changed back, I lost all memories of my time in this form,” he looked down at his own hands. “If I lose my memories again. That will be the end of me. Of this Sauron.”

“...This Sauron. He’s an asshole. But he’s also strong,” I admitted. The pterosaur-man looked up at me. His red eyes were changing into a more human brown. “He was a conqueror and slaver. A warrior. And to those who didn’t know any better, a hero. An asshole. But a strong one.

“I think, that Sauron. The guy who gave me more of a fight than anyone I’d ever met up to now. That guy wouldn’t forget himself so easily.”

I didn’t know why I said that. Why I tried to comfort him. But he seemed to breathe a little easier.

“...Dial. If I return. I will remember you,” he smirked. “Let us fight again. For more honorable reasons, I hope.”

Then his face shrunk inwards. His green scales smoothed out to brown skin. Hair sprouted across his head, while the crest on his head sunk in. His muscular form changed until he was almost skeletally thin. With a last sigh, Sauron faded away.

And a human man kneeled in his place. He stared down at his hands, before looking up at me, shock in his features.

“Huh… You really do look like him,” I mused to myself.

The face of the great Raul Julia, one of the greatest men to ever grace a screen in my world, turned pale. Then he fainted dead away.

------

After we got Karl Lykos squared away, Ka-Zar and I walked out of the cells to stand at the edge of the cliff I’d fallen off of originally. I stared down at the waters below for a long moment with Feedback’s single eyes. Huh. Surprised I had survived that, actually.

“What do you think?” Ka-Zar asked Zabu. The sabertooth growled for a moment.

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” I said in response to Zabu.

The pair gave me startled looks. “You understand him?” Ka-Zar asked.

“The Omnitrix,” I tapped the symbol on my chest. “He may not speak actual words, but I understand what he’s trying to convey. Sauron wasn’t lying. Not about whatever is under that village, anyways… The Avengers are going to be needed here,” I turned to face him. For a moment, I took in his features. The tall powerful blonde man looked back at me. “So. What do you think? Wanna take the invitation?”

Ka-Zar crossed his arms. “I… suppose, that having an army to aid me would be good. As long as you keep your promise,” his eyes narrowed. “I do not want to see the Savage Land hurt. If BRIDGE starts taking advantage of the Savage Land-”

“Then the Avengers will stop them,” I cut him off. “Ka-Zar, I don’t think you get it. The Avengers aren’t an army of BRIDGE or even the world. We work with them, sure. And BRIDGE has been great. But the Avengers are here to protect everyone. Joining us doesn’t mean you are forced to follow BRIDGE’s every rule. It means that you will help them when they are doing the right thing. And you’ll have a group of superhumans to help you whenever the bad guys need a smackdown.”

I could feel the sun on my back as I held out my hand to Ka-Zar and Zabu. “So how about it? Become an Avenger. And help us save people. Protect the ones who can’t protect themselves.”

Ka-Zar stared at me. He looked… well, like he wasn’t sure what to say. Finally, he nodded, taking my hand in his. I grinned before looking at Zabu. “How about you, man?”

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Zabu growled regally. Then he held his paw up. I shook the dinner-plate-sized paw and smiled. “All right then. I guess I need to warn you guys about something too,” I pointed out at the Savage Land. “There’s a dragon out there. Last I saw, he headed North. When I get back, I’ll try and find him. But until then, Hauzer is a possible threat we all need to be ready for. Or, an ally if we find the right person he’d love to fight.”

I faced Ka-Zar. “Let me give you the lowdown on the Earth Dragon.”

------

Hauzer/The Earth Dragon

Hauzer wasn’t a being prone to deep reflection. He did what pleased him. It was the simple logic of both the dragon he had become and the dinosaur he once was. Live life in pleasure, take what was yours, and destroy those who would stop you. A simple and primitive thought process.

Still… Styro’s words had haunted him, on some level. Hauzer was still satisfied with having killed the massive being. But why, at the point of death, had Styro told him to go North?

Perhaps it was a trap? If so, it would fail. Hauzer almost found himself growling at the thought of ripping through a trap of Styro’s making after his death. A final insult at the dead man.

Hauzer prowled through the jungle for several hours, only stopping to hunt down a Brontosaurus and devour it.

He stomped through the Savage Land. And soon, found himself reaching somewhere that felt… right. It felt like he had been called to it, that it had pulled at him. Not with the tug of an enemy, but the way that good food pulled. A scent of benevolence.

The trees parted. And he stood in a grassy field before a wide lake of lava at the foot of a massive mountain. Hauzer stared out at the field and lake, eyes taking it all in. The lake of lava was broiling, leaving a ‘shore’ of black stone at its edges. Beyond that, the grass was thick and healthy, rising to ankle height for Hauzer. He took a sniff of the air and looked up at the mountain. A plume of smoke was rising out of the peak, and he could see lightning flashing within the black smoke.

On a boulder jutting out of the landscape, stood a woman. Hauzer, for lack of anything better to do, prowled up to her. As he did, dinosaurs began to come out of the forest around the lake. Predator and prey alike, roaming forward, from the fierce T-Rex to the gentle Hadrosaurus. All of them came forth, ignoring one another. But they stopped well away from Hauzer.

Soon, Hauzer stood before her. The woman was short. She was shaped like a human but had black fur covering her from her neck to her ankles, a green loincloth made of scaled skin around her waist. She was holding a long staff in her hand, leaning against it as Hauzer prowled towards her, long white hair blowing in the wind. Her aged face showed no fear towards the dragon, pale white eyes somehow gazing upon him despite the lack of pupils. Hauzer growled at her, questioning.

The old woman nodded. “Indeed. I am the one who asked Styro to send you here,” her voice, despite her age, came out with a certain vitality, power quaking through the air while she spoke.

Hauzer snapped his teeth. She shook her head.

“No… the foolish child taking you in was not my doing. I simply asked him to tell you to come,” the old woman stood straighter. “I, Hauzer the Earth Dragon, am known as the Hag of the Pits. I have seen many things over the centuries. But months ago, an event unlike any I had ever seen shook even the great powers of the Pits,” she shook her head. “Even the Nexus of Realities has been disturbed, forcing the need for a guardian there. And your arrival was but a side effect of this.”

Hauzer let out a barking laugh. What did he care for any of this? He was here now. He was free, to eat, to fight, to do anything he wished!

The woman, who called herself Hag, scoffed. “Spoken like a dragon… I wish to grant you a boon, Hauzer. This land,” she waved her hands around her. “And these subjects,” the dinosaurs around them released various sounds. The Hag pointed at Hauzer. “This place, at the foot of the most powerful mountain of the Savage Land. I protected it these many months. All for you.”

Hauzer stared at her. Then at the lands around it. When he looked back at her, she was meeting his eyes. For a moment, he felt the urge to burn her. She wanted something from him. He could tell.

“Permission,” she said suddenly, surprising him. The Hag smiled. “I want permission… I have been making something. One day, the Great One Who Sleeps will come to this world. They will destroy the Savage Land. More than that. The entire world. The event has opened the gates to something horrid. The outside world has created it’s chosen heroes in retaliation, whether they know it or not. And the Great One’s champion will arise, the One who Consumes, while the Fallen Titan prepares his last conquest. And thus, the Savage Land must have its own champions.”

“Hauzer, one of the King’s of the Savage Land. Look upon my weapon,” she held out her right hand. A red crystal was held in it. So small. Almost innocuous.

But to Hauzer, it was like she had pulled a small sun from her pocket. He recoiled, shocked at the power within.

“It is connected to all the lives of this world. Of the world that once was,” the Hag looked up at Hauzer. “But now, another power has been added. You feel it, don’t you?”

He did. His own energy was there. Mixed in with the thousands more he could feel. Hauzer stared at her.

“If you wish, I can remove it,” the Hag said softly, continuing to hold out the gem. Around Hauzer and the Hag, the dinosaurs were joined by more animals. Insects of all kinds, mammals, birds. In the closest river to them, marine life gathered. “I would not allow your power to be borrowed by another,” she said solemnly. “But our champion will be worthy of you. Of all of us. So I implore you, Hauzer. If you wish, you can test him. But this must be done. The world depends on it.”

The Hag’s words were not empty. Because as she spoke, Hauzer’s mind was enveloped by a power beyond the world. He felt it resonate with his magic. And for just a moment, he understood what it was the Hag feared.

And fear filled him in turn.

He stared at her. Then, finally, he nodded.

“Thank you,” she said solemnly. Then she placed the gem away. “I will prepare our allies. The Devil and his boy. The Savage ones who have just begun to form themselves. The war is coming. And if there is anything we ‘primitives’ know well, it is the heartbeat of combat.”

Hauzer’s smile of grim rage and eagerness was matched by the Hag.

------

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

After Ka-Zar, Demi, and Gresh all left to tell their various friends that BRIDGE and the Savage Avengers were reaching out for allies, I shifted into Blitzwolfer form and got into a Quinjet with Fantasma and Creel. Then we left.

Yeah, I know. No sudden cheering, no incredible exit. Just getting into a ship and heading home.

Real-life is like that sometimes. Just boring. Thank god. I could use a bit of boring.

I piloted the Quinjet personally, using Bliztwolfer’s claws with more dexterity than I expected. I’d never gotten the chance to really spend time as aliens outside of combat or doing something specific to them, like making tech as Jury Rigg or lifting debris as Four Arms and Rath, so piloting the ship that way was new.

Fantasma and Creel sat in the cockpit with me in silence. After a while, Creel finally spoke just after we finally passed the barrier between the Savage Land and Antarctica. “X isn’t coming?”

“He asked me to head out without him,” I said. “He has to complete the surgery on Gena, which is going to take a while. I’ll probably fly back once he sends me a message about it. But right now, Gena’s surgery takes priority.”

“That’s good,” Fantasma said thoughtfully.

“How about Kraven?” Creel asked the Russian witch.

“He’s in a land of creatures that man has dreamed of hunting for centuries,” Fantasma sounded annoyed. “Where do you think?”

Creel and I shared a look.

“...Should I be jealous that he doesn’t want to hunt me anymore?” I asked blandly.

“Oh, he still wants to,” she said as though that was somehow normal. Which, it kind of was. “But he’d rather fight something that won’t get him in trouble for now.”

I turned to look at her. She only gave me the long-suffering look of a person trying to show how annoying they found their sibling.

“Huh. Rude,” I said at last. Then I shrugged it off, though I made a note to prepare some counters for Kraven just in case. “Still, I’m gonna be damn happy to go back home,” I said, looking out the window as snow fell about us, the Quinjet flying over the ocean.

“Same,” Creel sighed. “Skipped on a lot of sleep while I was looking for your ass.”

“Sorry,” I winced.

“Don’t be,” Fantasma smacked Creel on the head, to which he grumbled slightly. “You didn’t ask for all of… that, to happen to you. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Still… anyways, I’m actually hoping to only spend a day or so relaxing,” I admitted. “After that, I’m going to train my ass off.”

“Really?” Creel leaned forward to look at my face. He didn’t seem perturbed about looking at the face of a wolf that could talk. “You do that all the time.”

“Not in my alien forms,” I said in response. “At least, not that often. Now I want to start developing my skills in these forms of mine,” I raised my right hand, looking down at my clawed fingers.

“And keep stuff like that from happening?” Creel pointed at my cheeks, where two lines of pale white fur marked my new scars.

“I think they make me look rather dashing,” I gave him a grin, trying to hide my distaste for the new markings. “Seriously though. I want to get stronger. More skilled. I need to start thinking outside of the box.”

Creel eyed me. When I looked over at him, my bald friend looked away very quickly. I looked over at Fantasma, but she was staring at her hands.

“Uh...Awkward?” I said questioningly. “You guys okay? I feel like I didn’t say anything real crazy.”

“You didn’t,” Fantasma agreed. I watched as she looked up at me with a strange light in her eyes, her mouth turned upside-down. “It’s just… All my life, my spells were things I had to scrape together. I found half-written texts, knowledge from people across the world with rumors and tales. Most of what I learned was garbage I had to throw out,” she clenched her small hands into angry fists. “But I thought I’d learned enough. I thought I’d become a good enough sorcerous on my own. Then you were lost. And I had no idea how to find you,” she gave me a frustrated look.

“The Savage Land has some sort o-of energy, that interfered with every scanning spell I had. So I kept trying to find a way around what was blocking me from finding you.”

I looked over at Creel, but he was staring resolutely out of the windows. I turned back to look at Fantasma and speak, but she beat me to it.

“It was more than that,” Fantasma opened her palms, and a pair of mandala’s spun to violet light over each hand. “I found a way to scan someone. It requires ancient knowledge. Knowledge I don’t have, from the age before,” she intoned with a voice older than her years. The mandalas began to spin. “Even if I wanted to use it, I wouldn’t know how. And when we fought Sauron, it was one of the first times I found myself in a fight where someone just powered through my most powerful spells. No. That was the first time. And I couldn’t think of anything to fight back with except more force,” she looked up at us. “Mahmoud. I think I understand how you feel. I cannot be lax in my efforts,” she clenched her fists, the mandala’s shattering. “I want to get stronger as well. No. To obtain more knowledge and ability. I want to be better at magic.”

Creel grumbled. Fantasma and I looked over at him. He sighed. “Yeah, well, I don’t feel like sharing my whole thing after you guys already did. Especially since Fantasma did a whole speech and stole my thunder…” he grumbled again.

I grinned. “Then we’ll all do it. We’ll help each other get stronger. Deal?”

“You are such a freaking dork,” Creel sighed. Then he punched me good-naturedly on my shoulder. “Yeah. I’m down.”

“Magnificent!” Fantasma cheered.

...Man, I am really not avoiding the comparison between me and Ben at this point.

Ah well. I had my Gwen and Kevin again. I had my Omnitrix. And it had been four hours since I’d turned back into a human. Time to go home.

------

When we landed at the tower, I was in human form again. After six hours of being in alien form, I’d decided it was official. I had no time limit on my alien forms anymore.

I didn’t have Master Control though. A look at my Omnitrix menu revealed that while I’d obtained a variety of Savage Land races (like, a shit-ton), I had no access to anything beyond that. No Grey Matter, Way Big, or Alien ‘Win Condition’ X.

So for some reason, after repairing itself, the Omnitrix had chosen to give me voice command and unlimited transformation time. Looked like things would be getting damn interesting for me then.

Still, that thought process left my mind when I saw the people waiting for us.

“Mahmoud!” Thor rushed forward, holding his arms out.

“T-Thor, wait, don’t-URK!” Too late. Asgardian arms wrapped around my chest and lifted me into the air, crushing me to Thor’s chest as he hugged me to him while laughing boisterously.

“My friend! I knew you would make it out of the peril you found yourself in!” He laughed, spinning in place, my legs spinning weakly in the air.

“I appreciate-urk, but please let me breathe,” I coughed, patting him on the shoulders.

Behind Thor, I could see a small group gathered. Tony, Steve, Sam, Bucky, Izzy, Nat, Ruby, Jarvis, Maria, and Bruce, all watching Thor hugging me with varying expressions on their faces. Isabelle walked past Thor and me to hug Creel, who kneeled down to wrap his arms around her.

“We take our eyes off you for one second and you get kidnapped? Can’t leave you alone for a second, can we?” Tony said, coming up to grin at me as Thor finally put me down. He chuckled, patting me on the shoulder. But his eyes weren’t as amused as he was pretending to be, and his smile faded. “You good? Cause, ya know. I’ve been there if you… I mean, if you want to-”

“What he means is,” Nat said helpfully. “Is that we’re glad you’re okay. And we’re here if you want to talk,” she said kindly. I smiled at my teacher. She gave me a warm look, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, what she said,” Tony mumbled awkwardly, smiling quickly. “I mean, I tried to fly over to help, but-”

“But we got a message you’d already escaped,” Steve said.

“Seriously, is everyone going to interrupt me today?” Tony asked, irritated. “But yeah, you already-”

“What happened?” Bucky asked, ignoring the sound of Tony cursing in irritation.

“A shit-ton,” I admitted. “It was an Avengers mission. I don’t think they’re supposed to go according to plan.”

“Ours went okay,” Sam said, giving everyone else an odd look.

I blinked. Then I looked at Maria. She shrugged. “If we’re talking Avengers missions, you and Jen are the only ones whose missions took unusual turns. Even then, she didn’t end up causing a possible international incident.”

“That’s… vaguely depressing,” I decided. Then I realized what she said, and a shot of worry filled me. “Is Jen-”

“She’s okay,” Bruce said, watching me sigh in relief. He smiled at that.

Nat seemed to notice something then. She took a good look at my face. “Those are new.”

I raised a hand to my face and touched one of my scars. Man. I finally get scars, and rather than looking cool, they were ugly long lines. Why was reality so disappointing sometimes?

Nat noticed the distaste on my face. Surprisingly, so did Tony. He smirked and tapped his chest, where a blue light could be seen shining forth. “Welcome to the club.”

There was a warmth to that joking tone. His smirk became more of a welcoming smile. Bucky looked down at his robotic arm. Nat rubbed her belly, where I had seen a pale scar resting over her stomach, then looked at Bucky. He gave her an apologetic look, to which she shrugged.

Tony chuckled. “Hey, at least your scars look cool. Very barbarian warrior.”

“Yours can power a city,” I pointed out.

“Well, I came into life a winner, what can ya do?”

“Mahmoud,” Steve said, drawing my attention. “Creel, Fantasma. You guys all had a hell of a mission. Are you all okay?”

Creel snorted while hugging Izzy close. “Yeah. All I did was wait around-”

“He spent two days digging through the jungle without sleep,” Fantasma said, leaving Creel to sputter. “He kept worrying over where Mahmoud was. He needs sleep.”

“Awww,” Izzy patted Creel’s cheek from they were still hugging, smirking at him. “You big softie.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Whatever happened to ‘Team Metal Men’?” Tony shook his head with a sad sigh. “Between you and Rhodey, I’m the only one holding down the masculinity around here.”

“You wear pink shirts,” Sam said.

“Real men wear pink,” Tony and I said at the same time, sharing grins.

Then Ruby stepped forward. I looked down at the blonde fourteen-year-old. We looked into each other's eyes for a long moment. Her eyes flickered to my scars.

“...Sup, midget?” I said as warmly as I could.

She pouted up at me. Then she looked down at the floor. “Dummy. I-I’m glad you’re okay.”

I stared at her. Nat was smiling proudly at Ruby while the tiny teen shuffled in place. And suddenly I thought of my sister. My baby sister, who was now married and pregnant. She used to do the same sort of thing. She and Ruby weren’t anything alike, truthfully, but then I stepped forward and gave her a hug.

“H-Hey!” she sputtered, pulling at me.

“Thanks,” she stopped trying to get me off her. I tried my best to hide my face from the others while I hugged her. For some reason, seeing Ruby of all people had worried about me just brought it all home. And I couldn’t stop the tears. Real big man I was, crying silently in a room of superheroes.

Damnit. Why can’t I be cool?

“I’m sorry if I scared you.”

“...Dummy,” Ruby said into my shoulder, patting me on my back.

“...This is awkward,” Sam said in the background, Bucky and Steve giving him sharp looks.

“It is good to have you back!” Thor marched forward to pat me on the back, happy as could be. I let Ruby go and grinned at everyone. Fantasma gave me a smile.

“Good to be home,” I said. Then I sighed. “Now I’m just gonna head to my room and rest.”

“Really?” Tony cocked his head to the side. “Sure you don’t want a party? I got burgers. Tradition, ya know?”

“Tradition?” Bruce said, confused before he shook his head. “But yeah, I get it. Jen said she’d be in your room, but I think her phone is off, so she doesn’t know you’re here yet.”

I nodded. Then, with an awkward smile and wave, I walked away, leaving everyone to stare after me. I just wanted… I don’t know, to relieve the stress. I appreciated everyone worrying about me, but there was someone I really wanted to see.

When I got to my room and opened it, the smell of food filled my nose. Lasagna. My favorite. I stepped inside and closed the door quietly, entering to see Jen leave my bedroom. We froze on seeing each other.

She was wearing workout clothes, her hair was up in a ponytail, and her feet were bare. She had some water dripping off of her like she had just gotten out of the shower. I crossed the room towards her without realizing it.

“Hey. I’m back.”

When I stopped in front of her, she raised her hands and pressed them to my face, touching my scars. “Oh Mahmoud,” she said softly, green lips quirking up a bit. “What did you do?”

“Kicked ass and took names,” I said unsteadily. “Heard you had a tough adventure.”

“So did you,” she frowned. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her down. She let out a small surprised gasp. I was very proud when our lips met and that gasp melted into a moan. We pressed into each other, warm muscles pulling close. When we pulled away, her eyes were closed. She opened them slowly, giving me a look that made parts of me jump up and beg for attention.

“Missed me, huh?” she chuckled.

“More than anything,” I smirked. Then I pulled away from her, grabbing her right hand in my own, and gently pulled her towards my bedroom.

“Oh, hey,” she pointed at the kitchen with her thumb. “I ordered food.”

“You really want to eat right now?” I asked with a smirk. “Cause I have more scars than just on my face. Wanna help me find them?”

Her jaw dropped. She stared at me, uncomprehending. Then she sped forward, picking me up in her arms as I laughed, and kicked the door behind us while carrying a massive smile on her lips.

We didn’t leave my bedroom for a long time after that.

------

Savage Land

Deep in the tunnels beneath the Savage Land, along the river where the superhero known as Dial had floated down days ago, Anti-Metal shone. It stuck along the walls of the tunnel, vibrating at random intervals as the passing water flowed next to it.

The air split above the water. For a moment, it looked as though a single line of light hung there. Then it opened into a mathematically perfect circle of green light mixed with white swirls. A small machine flew out of it. The machine, made of some sort of ceramic material, was pale white, shaped like a triangle, and flew on hoverjets that glowed blue. It had a symbol on its back. The same symbol as the Omnitrix.

The machine flew up to the Anti-Metal. Undisturbed by its metal dissolving properties, the machine extended a drill and began to work. In moments, it had a large hunk of Anti-Metal in its claws. With that, the machine flew back into the portal it had created, which snapped close moments later, leaving the river to continue to bubble peacefully.

------

Galvan Prime

The machine bounced in time and space for mere seconds before coming out the other side into a large lab. There, Azmuth, the First Thinker and creator of the Omnitrix, stood, watching gravely as the machine flew over to him, extending a claw holding glimmering anti-metal out. Azmuth waved the machine away.

“Over there, you infernal contraption,” he grumbled. “That much will turn the metals in my body to nothing.”

Obediently, the machine brought the metal to a nearby table made of the same ceramic as it. Azmuth watched it, then looked at the portal that had finally closed.

“Hm. Should I… No,” he shook his head. “The boy has earned some freedom, I suppose. Besides, if I gave Ben Master Control, I suppose I can let this new one have no time limit.”

The machine chirped. Azmuth grumbled. “And what are you doing eavesdropping on an old man? Get to work!”

Unfazed by his anger, the machine started to chip away at the anti-metal. Azmuth carefully backed away, looking at the pair that walked up to join him. A blonde-haired young woman dressed in a black and white dress, and a tall green-skinned woman with tentacles about her head.

“Eunice, Myaxx. Prepare for the test, please.”

“Yes, First Thinker,” Myaxx said politely.

“Yes, father,” Eunice said in bright tones.

Azmuth grumbled under his breath to hide a smile, then looked over at the machine tearing apart the anti-metal. “Now. Let’s see what use you can be put to.”