Ares and I didn’t move first. It was Jen who did.

The emerald warrior and I were standing at the eye of the sandstorm. She seemed to realize what I was doing, and quickly ran forward to try and punch Ares. He reached to block it.

I raised a hand and slammed it into the ground, focusing my control over the sands to create a blade in the earth towards Ares. The ground split down towards him, racing along next to Jen, then passing her to Ares, moving faster than a bullet, before hitting him with immense force.

“Desert Spada!”

Ares stumbled back as the collected sand blade sliced across his chest, his armor splitting apart, blood splashing upwards. Jen kicked him in the bloody wound. At some point, Jen’s shoes had been turned into smithereens, and the splash of blood covered her bare right foot entirely.

Then I came out of the sand and hit Ares in the face. His jaw against my fist was like iron. He went back a step, then cursed when a wave of sand smacked him in the face. He tossed his sword upwards, then brought his hands together in a move I’d only ever seen from someone with green skin.

The thunderclap that followed blew Jen, the sand, and I back, tumbling end over end. Jen and I spun on our feet to find him in between us. We stepped forward in unison, and suddenly everything was getting apocalyptic.

At war with Ares. Fighting in the desert. Olympian vs Asgardian and Gamma Mutate. The sand around us was blowing heavier and heavier, the friction of the grains against each other creating a static charge in the air. Electricity flashed at random through the dust.

The three of us, at war, in the center of a storm.

Jen was glowing just a bit in the shadows, she jabbed at Ares, who blocked it on his arm and returned it with a kick. Jen let the blow hit her hip and spun around to uppercut him across the face. Ares snarled and headbutted Jen hard.

I came in at that point, wrapping my arm around Ares’ throat. He roared, trying to pull away. I tightened my massive arm around his throat and screamed. The sand around us roared louder and louder, moving at unnatural speed, the static charge created by it becoming true electricity that cracked across all three of our superhuman forms without any injury to us, the roar of the winds making it seem like the world was ending.

Jen punched Ares in the stomach as I held him tight, laying into him hard. Ares struggled to get my grip off of him. For a moment, I thought we might actually end up beating him.

He laughed under his breath. Then, in a blur of motion, he leaned his head back and bit my ear. I shouted in pain as he leaned forward, using my fucking ear as a lever to pull me with him. Jen’s next punch hit me in the side. Right in the kidney. My whole body froze up and agony filled me like electricity in my veins.

Still hurt less than my ear did.

I let go of Ares and fell to the ground, grunting in pain. Ares stomped down on my head while backfisting Jen across the face. He raised his foot and kicked me away.

“All this power, and you decided to attack me in a fistfight?” Ares said to me, looking amused. “Do you know why I would have trouble with Thor? Not because of his strength, or even his hammer. Because of his domain. The skies that are tied to his power. Your fists alone will not prevail you in this match.”

Ares looked over at Jen. “You, on the other hand, need to focus on making every one of your blows a final blow. Stop holding back and put everything you have into every attack.”

Good point.

I narrowed my eyes and slowly rose to my feet. “...All right. Let's really go all out then.”

Sand rose up from the ground, spinning upwards into tornadoes within the storm. I raised my hands and clenched my fists. The waves of sand went for Ares, looking like a living set of tentacles. He punched one apart, then jumped back from the next, punching and kicking the next two, before I finally grabbed him by each limb. I roared while squeezing hard mentally. He let out a warrior's cry and struggled against my grip.

My mind stretched out to the storm of sand around us. The grains coalesced together, over and over, coming into shape all around us, becoming four pointed blades. When I was done, the storm was gone. And thousands of weapons hung in the air.

Ares stared up at the sky of weapons, chuckling even as he struggled in my grasp. “Better. Much better.”

“Suna Shuriken!” I cried out.

Thousands upon thousands of shuriken came down upon Ares. They smashed into his head, chest, back, genitals, anything I could possibly hit him with. The blades broke apart on his armor at first. I hardened the blades further and further, until they slashed through his armor, then cut at his skin.

“Hahahahaha!” Ares laughed boisterously. “You’re coming close! But not enough! Raagh!”

I winced as he clenched every muscle in his body at once and shattered his sand bonds, then rushed towards me with his immense speed, grabbing my throat. I based his arm off before he could clench, then slammed a fist across his jaw while hitting him with another Desert Spada, sending him back.

“Come now!” Ares grinned, stepping forward to start trading blows with me. “Sand and fists at once. A good idea. But there is something missing in your blows.”

“Because I’m not putting my back into them!” I shouted, bringing one hand back and surrounding it in a tornado of sand, focusing it into a drill. The grinding grains went as fast as could make them go, creating static electricity so that my arm was surrounded in lightning and sand as I slammed my fist into Ares’ chest. “STORM FIST!”

Ares grunted, blood and sand flying around.ik Then he punched me in the stomach, elbowed my jaw, grabbed my head and slammed his own into it. I stumbled back, dazed, but still feeling strong.

Damn. The amount of punishment he was taking was insane but… I was still standing, too? How powerful was my Asgardian form?

“No, boy! There is much more behind this… You don’t even know what it means to be a god,” he said with a little raised brow.

Jen dropped down next to me, panting as we stared across at Ares. “What are you talking about?” she asked, while I kept my guard up.

Ares, rather than answering, ran forward to attack. I raised a wall of sand to block it, grunting as the grains held under that massive blow for about two seconds before he busted through.

“You’re an Asgardian,” Ares punched me in the face, then blocked Jen’s kick, grabbing her leg, lifting her up, then slamming her into the ground. “A god!”

Something in what he was saying…

He sighed at the look on my face. “Boy. You must acknowledge that power. I can sense it in you,” he grabbed my throat in a blinding fast move, pulling me close so we were face to face. I pulled the sand around us to encase us in coffins, grinding away at his skin. He ignored it.

“Little god, if you must. But acknowledge that your power is tied to a domain, something greater than simple flesh and blood. You are the avatar of something. Is it simply this?” Ares raised a hand, looking at the sand that was pressing to grind at his palm in a bloody mess. “...You said your name, when you transformed…”

“Sandráss,” I grunted.

“Hm…” he was still looking me in the eyes. I tried to figure out what he was thinking. He let go of my throat and pushed me back. “What are your domains? In this form. What do you rule over, Sandráss?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. Something about how he asked. This whole time, from the moment I’d become my Asgardian form, something inside me had been calling out.

“I don’t know, deserts?”

Ares growled in dissatisfaction, glaring at me. “You do. Discard your humanity, the confusion that comes with mortal existence. Think boy. Who are you?”

“I’m…” I clenched my fist and thought. All this time, I’d thought of Sandráss as the Asgardian ruler of deserts. But, there was always more than that to a god… little g, of course.

Thor was the God of Thunder. But he was also the god of strength, sacred groves and trees, the protection of mankind, and fertility. Ares was the God of War, but he ruled over so much more than that.

“Until you understand your domain, Dial, you will never be able to access the true power of this form,” Ares said with a grim look. “As I said. A warrior must understand themselves entirely. Or he will always be fighting with only a portion of his potential.”

He walked over to me and raised a hand. Like clockwork, his sword fell from the sky and landed in his palm. He swung it back and forth, then looked over at Jen. She was on one knee, glaring at us.

“What, no more lessons for me?” she said with a smirk.

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“Only if you are willing,” Ares said.

“...You know, I think I am,” Jen said softly, rising to her feet. “I gotta admit. I really want to learn from you now.”

He smiled, then looked over at me. “...One more exchange. Impress me, once more, Avengers. And if you do, I will take you on as students,” his smile became something horrific. Like the Joker in the skin of a god. “Or I will show you why I also rule over the worst aspects of mankind.”

I knew he wasn’t evil. Nothing in his actions had shown him to be much more than violent. And honestly, Frank, Bucky, and Creel were the same way.

But looking at that smile, I understood why he was feared for centuries by the people of his own land.

I held out a hand. Sand rose into my palm, coming together to form a sword. My other hand came up over my head, palm pointed at the sky. I tried to push that sensation inside of me, the one calling out. This wasn’t the Omnitrix. Something about the Asgardian… no. Something within me was calling out. No more anime-style call outs. I just went for the technique, putting everything I had into it.

I brought the sand around me upwards, then higher and higher, spinning it once more into a storm. Ares, Jen, and I were lifted up by the winds as I forced the storm into something biblical, sending all three of us into flight.

Ares was smiling as he spun around and around, unperturbed by his flight.

“You worried me, Dial and Jennifer. When you first asked me for training, you were as whiny as a baby, boy. And you, girl, are so insolent. Doubting my abilities like that,” his voice echoed through the storm. Jen and I floated side by side, carried by the wind and dust. “But you’ve begun to show more spine than I expected. More humility as well.”

I pushed us through the storm. Jen and I, side by side, flew forward to meet Ares, our fists striking as one to bash into his chest. He went flying back, then was swept back into the storm again. I carried Jen with my power and sent her to intercept him, the green amazon hitting Ares like a torpedo, a shockwave shaking the storm. Ares punched her back, but I was already flying forth to hit him with a kick to the back that sent him high in the air.

“Many have requested my aid,” he said, voice echoing, calm despite our fight. When Jen and I flew back to punch him, he caught our fists in his palms, eyes almost glowing with power. “Sadists,” he headbutted me. “Murderers,” he kicked Jen in the throat in an insane display of flexibility. “Men who worshiped me for the traits they saw reflected in themselves… I am tired, Dial and Jennifer, of men who either disrespect me as my family does, or love me for the things I hate in myself.”

He released our fists. Then, for a moment, the storm shuddered.

And he came forward. He was speed, power, and strength incarnate. His fists crashed into us like meteors. Jen and I tried to fight back, to block, parry, hit him. The storm around us attacked him, but he swept it aside through the sheer wind of his passage. And Ares laughed.

Jen and I slammed into the ground, bruised and bloody. I spat out something, gasping in pain. Jen grunted nearby, clenching her ribs.

Holy… this must have been what it felt like to fight Goku. One minute, you thought you had a chance. Then, a storm of fists, and you were sent to the ground screaming.

I struggled to my feet, grabbing Jen and looking up. Ares slammed into the ground. The storm I’d created fell onto him. I slammed thousands of pounds onto Ares, pushing him back as much as I could.

He walked towards us, slowly. Hundreds of tons of weight, actively grinding into his skin, blood mixing with dust. And he kept on walking.

Screaming, I poured it on. More and more, everything I had, my brain beginning to ache under the stress I was putting onto it. Something popped, and I felt wetness drip into my mouth, the coppery taste familiar. My nose was bleeding. I didn’t stop. I squeezed the sand around Ares, feeling the grains of sand I was using break down smaller and smaller as they created pressure beyond that of even the oceans.

Ares took step after step. He was struggling. I could feel it. But he pushed through, forcing himself to come towards us.

I let go of Jen and raised both hands, clenching them before me. And then, something broke inside me. Ares stopped. I gasped. And then I was done.

The sand around Ares fell apart as I did, my knees hitting the ground. I panted, trying to understand what had happened. I felt… broken. But, in a good way. I couldn’t fight anymore. I couldn’t even feel the desert. But something inside me, some barrier I had known was there subconsciously, was broken now. I felt… understanding.

Jen coughed as the sand around us stopped freaking out. Ares climbed out of the mound of sand that had been holding him back, and walked over to me. He looked down at me, sword back in hand. I looked up at him, blood dripping from my nose.

“...I am Sandráss… And my domain is the Desert. And all that entails,” the words poured out of me, like a secret I’d been holding for years. “The winds and the sands are mine. The animals within are mine. And I am the Asgardian of Change…” I gasped, trying to stay up. “The change of the dunes and the steppes as the winds grind them away, blowing them as it wishes. The change it forces on the world, making animals and humans alike adapt, develop, innovate, to survive the harshest conditions.”

Ares looked me over. Then he nodded. “Not perfect. But better… You start tomorrow, both of you.”

Covered in blood and dust, armor torn apart, he looked more like the God of War than he ever had. “If you ever give up, you’ll die. Understood.”

“We’re Avengers,” Jen smiled bloodily. “That shit isn’t in our nature.”

Ares laughed, and the desert howled around us.

------

Natasha Romanov/Black Widow

Natasha typed at her computer in her office, carefully compiling something. As she did, she kept from looking up at her guests. One sitting on a couch, throwing dart after dart at a board across from him. The other was walking back and forth, pacing nervously as he kept looking out the window.

“Thor,” Nat said, eyes back on her screen.

The pacing Asgardian looked over at her.

“This was your suggestion, remember?”

“No, it wasn’t,” Thor continued pacing, swinging Mjolnir as he paced. “Heimdall suggested it! I just…”

“It’s a good idea,” Nat said with a sigh. “I was already going to find a superhuman trainer for Dial. And Ares is-”

“The goddamn God of War,” on the couch, Clint tossed another dart. It bounced off the ceiling, then Mjolnir as Thor paced, before bouncing off the actual dart board. “Damn. That’s really hard,” Clint sighed.

“I know,” Thor sighed. “And Heimdall… he’s worried. I can tell. Something is wrong in Asgard. I need to return soon. But I don’t wish to leave Midgard undefended. With so many threats from the realms beyond coming to us…”

He shook his head. “And now, Heimdall tells me that Ares is the best teacher for Dial. I wanted to bring him to my father, to have him trained alongside Asgardians. But Heimdall says that could be dangerous.”

“Why?” Clint asked, confused.

“He won’t say. Just that he needs me to focus on Midgard and begin training Dial in the Asgardian form,” the God of Thunder sighed. “Ares… It’s been a long time.”

“How does an Olympian meet an Asgardian, anyway?” Clint asked. He threw another dart, bouncing it off the window this time.

“Zeus and my father had some dealings,” Thor shrugged. “I only saw Ares from across rooms. He was more interested in Sif. She’s a goddess of war after all. They seemed to have a professional relationship. I spent more time with Hercules,” Thor grinned. “He was fun! We would spar, drink, and be merry, women on our laps as we enjoyed the day! Good times!”

“Oh right, I forgot you were a frat boy,” Clint teased. When Thor glowered at him, Clint only grinned, tossing his next dart at Thor, who caught it out of the air with a reluctant smile.

Thor looked over at Nat. “What are you working on, by the way?”

“HYDRA,” Nat said. “There have been dozens of agents working on tracking them. And we’re coming close. They’ve been trying to hide, to gather their forces to a central location. But they can’t run forever,” she smiled slowly. “I can’t wait.”

Even as she worked on that, there was another tab off to the side of the HYDRA one. Mikhail had long since sent her files she was worried about. Files full of rumors. Rumors of girls disappearing from the scenes of assassinations. There was more. Signs of movement that she recognized. That Mikhail had recognized.

Someone had reopened the Red Room.