I was still fighting Scarlet Witch, Songbird, and Poundcakes when the calls about the gamma-enhanced HYDRA soldiers began to come in.
I looked over at Songbird, who had wrapped me up in pink chains that were somehow, despite all the ways physics said it should not be possible, made of sound, Scarlet Witch, who was lifting a desk with her mind, and Poundcakes, who I'd sent into a wall. Then I released a massive burst of lightning while flinging my hands outwards, breaking the chains around me. Scarlet Witch tossed the desk, and I punched it in the air, shattering it apart before blasting Scarlet Witch lightly, electrocuting her with as much power as a weak taser.
She screamed in pain as Songbird blasted me back with a wall of sound, sending me through the wall of the castle and into a small study, emptied out of any books but still containing bookshelves. Marian rushed in and punched me in the face, sending me into a stone pillar. I snarled and punched her back before Scarlet Witch ran into the room and sent a burst of energy at me, tossing me back.
I rolled as I hit the floor and threw my power into a chandelier above. The electromagnetic energy hit the metal light fixture and I pulled it down, dropping it down towards Songbird as she floated above. Seeing what I was doing, she blocked it with a pink energy wall of keening sound. The chandelier broke apart in a clatter of crystals and metal. Still controlling the metal, I pulled it in to surround me, then fired off the shards in a low-powered shotgun blast aimed at the group. Scarlet Witch and Songbird unleashed their powers to block the attacks. Marian ignored the hail of small metal bits, rushing in and uppercutting me. I snarled at the impact, my 'damaged' vocal cords making the sound more horrific and focused the lightning in my body into the coils on my back. They came alight in a burst of green explosion of energy that hit Marian like a hammer, lifting her off the floor and tossing her back. I rushed after her, only for Melissa to step in my way. I expected a pink wall to block me.
Instead, Melissa stepped under my arms, grabbed ahold of my waist and slammed me into a wall with a twist and a heave.
Somehow, I'd forgotten that along with being a user of sonic powers and Green Lantern-esque energy constructs, Melissa Gold was also a badass wrestler with super-soldier like enhancements.
She followed up her surprise toss by blasting me point-blank in the chest. I was sent smashing through the wall and into the next room.
I hit the wall opposite and landed on my feet to unleash a quick blast of power that was blocked by another wall of pink energy.
I panned my eyes around. Okay, this was the room we'd been aiming for. With a shout, I unleashed my power in every direction, acting as though it had been unintentional. Scarlet Witch and Songbird did the same as we all unleashed hell.
Bursts of green, pink, and scarlet filled the room, power tearing apart the stone as we clashed until a loud crack filled the air. We stopped, looking down at where the sound had come from. That's when the floor exploded and fell out from beneath us, sending us into the basement.
I landed in a roll and looked around quickly. While Frankenstrike wasn't a genius, I still felt like my mind was somehow faster when I was him. A lot of my aliens felt like that. Rath made me dumb and aggressive, Astrodactyl made me prefer flying, Snare-Oh's left me feeling like limbs were more like fingernails.
Point was, Frankenstrike seemed to come to a realization faster than I did as Marian rose, Songbird and Scarlet Witch floating down to join us. The room was large, shaped like a big pit, the sort of place you could imagine someone getting tortured in, or a monster being created in.
In front of us, a projector was shooting an image onto the wall behind us. When I looked at the image in question, the face of Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker looked down calmly at us.
“I believe that it is time that we end this farce,” he said.
------
Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker
The leader of HYDRA watched the screen in front of him, eyeing the monster before him.
Finally, a clear image of the 'hero' known as Dial. They'd worked to find one but it had been tough with BRIDGE's AI and the Hercules App constantly on watch. The beast Dial had currently taken the form of seemed to be some sort of parody of Frankenstein's Monster, tall and misshapen, but also built of corded muscle, green electricity flowing from his body.
“I believe you know who I am, Dial,” Strucker said calmly. “And you've become quite a problem for me.”
“It's not like I'm the only one,” Dial said, his voice sounding peculiar.
“Don't,” Strucker said when Marian attempted to speak. “I already know you have betrayed me. I planned in advance for it.”
The group narrowed their eyes at him.
“If that's the case, you know why I haven't just attacked you with everything I have,” Dial said. “Where are they?”
Strucker smiled slowly. “Do you mean Agent Triplett and Carter? Or Ms. Walters? Possibly the hostages John Garrett took in?”
The four people in the room glared at him, Marian walking over to him.
“All of the above,” Dial said. “Stop the monologue. Because if the next words out of your mouth aren't-”
“Helen and Pietro,” Strucker cut him off. “I believe you would want to worry about them first.
“What?” Scarlet Witch stepped forward, horror and rage in her eyes. “What have you done, you monster!?”
Strucker held back a smile. That was all according to plan. If he played his cards right, then the quartet would not be a problem.
“As I understand it, the plan you had in mind was to pretend to fight until the right signal would send you to intercept the kidnap victims. And this, creature you've turned into, it has some intelligence or skill to interfere with the cryo units I'm transporting them in?” Strucker took their silence as a yes. “If my timetable is accurate, then I believe Pietro and Helen are currently helping Garrett. And if he has taken my subtle suggestions in his new mental state, he sees them as... useful.”
------
Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver
Pietro sprinted through a world of frozen moments. He ran through a kitchen past a Chitauri armored soldier firing upon a man made of steel, the plasma bolts doing nothing. Pietro grabbed a knife off a countertop and stabbed the HYDRA soldier in the leg as he moved past, scowling as he did so.
Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! They'd known that HYDRA was SHIELD, but he'd never thought of what that might mean. All this time, all their rage at Stark and they never considered that they were working for the man who had been... Damn it!
The speedster shook his head and moved on. Right now, he had only one task. 'Work' with Garrett until either the AI found out where Cybertek was or Garrett just lead Pietro and Helen there anyways. 'Covering our bases,' Helen had called it.
He ran through the halls of the castle and grabbed a box off the floor in a room where a woman with a sword was fighting a Centipede soldier. He moved under the slow-moving, to him, blade that she was swinging, tripping the soldier with ease, then moved on with the box in his hands. This was all he could do for now. Soon, he could fight these bastards. But for now, he was left to do small pranks no one could track back to him.
In another second, Pietro had appeared in a forest untouched by all the attacks, where several Quinjets had been prepared. The area had been cleared out to allow the seven vehicles to land and dozens of men and women were putting equipment into the Quinjets. He tossed the box in his hands at a nearby man. “Here's whatever that was,” Pietro said dismissively as the large box bounced off the man's chest, speeding towards a Quinjet in the center of the makeshift escape zone. Helen was carrying a large metal machine that had to weigh hundreds of pounds into the Quinjet as Deathlok and Garrett watched.
Pietro stopped in front of the pair of cyborgs. “That's everything. Can we leave now?”
Deathlok eyed Pietro suspiciously but Garrett laughed. “Leave it to a speedster to be impatient!” Pietro held back a shudder at the look Garrett gave him. The young man had seen looks similar to the sick smile Garrett had given him, on Sokovians who had been in war so long they seemed to just... crack. They became obsessed. It didn't matter what those men and women became obsessed with; war, religion, death, or worse. Garrett, smiling there, seemed to go beyond that somehow. He had a 'higher purpose', the kind that Pietro had learned to distrust long ago.
“Don't worry, kid,” Garrett put a hand on Pietro's shoulder. When Pietro tried to pull away, Garrett held him painfully tight. Deathlok circled around the pair. “The future is coming and I can see the Words of Creation! Everything will be clear... after some growing pains.”
Pietro had a moment to hear Helen shout out as the Quinjets back door shut closed behind her. Loud bangs came from inside moments later even as gas could be seen pouring from the gaps in the doors, something getting pumped into the Quinjet. Deathlok, having moved into Pietro's blindspot, shot something into the speedsters chest just as Pietro spun. A small object shaped like a circle stabbed into his chest and lit up red. Pietro managed to kick Deathlok back, then the device activated.
Pain. His heart, usually beating so quickly, was suddenly filled with needles slicing through his body. Pietro fell to his knees, eyes wide. “W-What is this?”
“Stopped your heart,” Deathlok said with sad tones. “Not for long. But enough for this,” Deathlok stepped forward as Pietro looked up at him, holding a syringe. Pietro, seeing the syringe, tried to move, but only flopped down to the floor, gasping for breath, his chest tight with pain as he tried to scream in agony. Deathlok stabbed the syringe into the speedsters neck.
“Made to knock even a speedster out,” Garrett said with a gleeful smile.
The Quinjet was rocking for a moment longer before it stopped. The door opened later, white smoke pouring from the Quinjet to reveal Helen leaning against a wall, the blonde powerhouse knocked out.
“Kinda sad to do this,” Garrett admitted as the tranquilizer injected into Pietro began to knock him out. “I wanted to bring your sister along. But Strucker told me I was only allowed to take three of you,” Garrett smiled. “But hey... you'll do.”
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
“Fuck!” I cursed, Frankenstrike's voice coming out in that strange combination of undead and electric that was going to take getting used to. “So what? We stop Garrett and you get to escape?”
“It does seem to be the situation unless the good Captain and his people manage to reach me,” Strucker smiled. “Do not worry. It will be worth your while. If you survive this next part.”
A loud series of beeps came from around the room then, red lights blinking. I only had a moment to leap for Songbird and Scarlet Witch, wrapping my arms around them. I was surprised to meet Marian's eyes when she did it at the same time, our giant forms wrapping around the petite women. Songbird sang, pink barriers surrounding us, and Scarlet Witch waved her arms to surround us with red energy.
The bombs exploded. And the entire castle around us blew apart, tons of stone falling down on us as fire, shockwaves, and shrapnel hit us.
“AAAAAUUUGH!” I shouted, sending out lightning in a barrier, trying to push back any metal. Heat licked across my skin and burned at my hair.
“YAAA!” Marian, Songbird, and Scarlet Witch yelled in unison.
Dust filled the air. Boulders landed on the Songbirds shield, then shattered it as they kept dropping, landing on the shoulders of Marian and me, some bouncing off of my Tesla coils. We held each other with Songbird and Scarlet Witch between us, all four of us yelling at the top of our lungs as Songbird and Scarlet Witch kept creating shields even as they shattered.
When the explosions were over, we were buried. I coughed up some dust, holding up the weight above me with Marian's help. “Everyone okay?”
“Y-Yeah,” Marian said with a cough.
“We need to save my brother!” Wanda yelled in my freaking ear. I ignored that for a moment, instead focusing on setting my feet under me.
“We'll get him,” Melissa said, rising to put her shoulders up against the stones.
“Guess we can stop pretending to be fighting,” wait, was I disappointed? Well, maybe a little. I'd really wanted to see how much I could do. “Nice to meet you all. Let's go save the world.”
Marian, Melissa, and I pushed up on the stone above us, all three of us yelling loudly. Scarlet Witch, the only one without some sort of enhancements to her physical body, waved her hands and thrust them upwards.
The stones above us shifted. Then they exploded off us in a flash of red and green. A boulder falling to fill the space was shattered by a pink soundwave from Melissa. We were exposed to the open air.
Just in time too. The Omnitrix flashed red three times before turning me into my human form, wearing a simple shirt and jeans, my weapons on my back and hip. I blinked up at the trio of woman, who stared at me.
“Oh thank god,” Melissa said. “You were kind of scary looking before.”
“Yeah well, it's going to be a bit before I can transform. Dial!” My armor flowed over me at the sound of my codename. I pulled out my BCW, the weight of the rifle comforting me. “Jarvis, you have them?”
“I'm tracking a group of Quinjet's taking off now,” Jarvis said, marking the location on my HUD. “But you'll need to move quickly, sir!”
I pointed towards the forest, at a location Jarvis had marked. “This way.”
“Got it,” Marian suddenly scooped me u[ into her giant arms.
“Whoa, what the-!” was my loud response. Then she jumped into the air, my scream filling the air a moment later while the witch and singer followed through the air.
------
Tony Stark/Hulkbuster
Tony stepped forward, a loud boom following the impact of a heavy metal foot onto the dirt. When he spoke his voice was booming thanks to the speakers in the Hulkbuster. “Okay, Blonsky. We're giving you one chance to give up.”
Blonsky, standing next to the cage that Aberration was locked into, cocked his head, twirling the staff in his hand. A sick grin rose on his face “What, when you've just made things fun? I've been waiting for a fight like this!”
“Oh good, you're one of those,” Tony mumbled to himself. “Hulk and/or Banner, you two want a piece?”
Hulk smiled slowly. “Yeah. We do.”
Abomination smiled back, the two monsters apparently needed nothing more than that, sprinting across the grassy field to hit each other with the force of a bomb.
Hulk's uppercut hit his opponent in the chin, lifting him into the air, then grabbing him by the ankle to smash his back into the ground. Abomination kicked him back, the grass around them blown back by the shockwave of the impact. Abomination rolled to his feet and backhanded Hulk, blood spraying from the giant's mouth.
When he raised the staff to stab at Hulk, a massive metal hand wrapped around his forearm, pulling him back. Tony punched Abomination in the face, a sound like metal on stone filling the air.
“Aaugh!” Abomination growled out.
Tony didn't let up. He stepped in with another punch, his elbow erupting with the plume of a rocket to deliver an impact with the force of a small explosive. Abomination, in a quick move, stabbed his staff into Tony's arm, twisting it off. Tony ignored to damage to punch his opponent with his other hand, then blasting him away with a powerful repulsor blast, the staff ripping through his arm. Abomination snarled in pain at the powerful blast pushing him back, trying out walk through it, when Hulk appeared to dropkick him in the ribs, sending him into the forest. Hulk rolled into a landing, then ran to follow Abomination, the pair disappearing into the forest as trees began to fall.
Tony looked down at his arm, watching catoms flow to fill the damage made by Abomination's new toy. For a brief moment, he considered calling for a replacement arm ut dismissed the idea. Better to save that for lat-
SHRIEK!
His thoughts were interrupted by the squeal of metal getting bent. Tony turned to see Aberration tearing her way out of the metal cage, using that magical staff to stab her way out.
“I really hate Asgardian toys, especially since I only seem to find new and dangerous ones” Tony grumbled as Aberration stared at him through the broken metal with glowing yellow eyes, reminding Tony of Jack Nicholson in The Shining.
“Raagh!” Rana jumped out of the cage and landed on Tony, punching the Hulkbuster's big gold mask, her scaled fists denting the metal. “I'm going to tear you out of that thing!”
“Usually something I love to hear from a woman!” Tony yelled back, placing a palm against her stomach and blasting her into the air. “But I'm currently with someone,” he quipped as Rana flipped in the air before landing on clawed feet, her scaled abdomen covered in black soot. Tony blasted at her again, but the gamma-enhanced ducked, running low to the ground. She slid around another blast and tackled Tony, spinning around to toss him in the direction Abomination and Hulk had gone.
“Damn it, lady, this is a new suit!” Tony shouted, twisting in the air firing his repulsors to float over the forest. Aberration leaped towards him, only to get a repulsor to the face that sent her spinning in a series of backward flips. He caught her by the right leg and spun to throw her into the forest. She hit a giant tree, the wood cracking on impact, then Tony sped forward and punched her through the tree. She roared before jumping at him, twirling the staff to stab it deep into the Hulkbuster's chest, scratching the Iron Man suit within.
“Thor, we need to have words about where your people leave their toys, buddy,” Tony growled in the back of his throat as his HUD screamed at him.
Rana ignored the quip to elbow the Hulkbuster suit, screeching like a banshee, then tore a big chunk out of the chest, kicking him back.
Tony twisted in the air and unleashed a Unibeam from his arc reactor that did a wonderful job of chewing up the scenery, sending both Rana and a big chunk of forest flying deeper into the woods.
“Veronica,” Tony said quickly. “Gonna need a new heart, this chick broke mine. A new hand too.”
Luckily, Veronica was designed to understand jokes as orders. The floating machine flew over the forest and ejected a chestplate and arm. The two pieces pressed against Tony, catoms flowing to fill the spaces in Tony's armor until he was back at full capacity.
Good thing too, because Rana had met up with Hulk and Abomination. She was on Hulk's back, tearing at his armor, while Hulk was being punched in the face by Abomination. Tony rose into the air and flew after them.
“Yo!” Tony landed on the ground and kicked Abomination. The former soldier responded by grabbing his leg and leaping away. “Whoa, what the fu-”
Abomination landed on a hill, the granite shattering under them. “Might as well take care of you first,” Abomination smirked, putting a foot to the Hulkbusters chest and pushing it down to the ground. “You made this to fight Hulk? Well, that's the thing. I'm a soldier, Stark, not some giant moronic child. You can't beat me!” Blonsky leaned down and laughed. “I'm smart, Stark. You can't beat me with something made to beat an idiot.”
“Yeah, about that,” Tony raised his hand. A burst of gas hit Abomination in the face. The green monster coughed, stepping back. Tony rose up and kicked him away. “You're a soldier, sure.” Tony punched him with a rocket-enhanced punch, then blasted him back with repulsors. “But Banner is a freaking genius, one of the best engineers in the world. Guess who helped make this armor!”
Abomination coughed. “W-What did you do?”
“Concentrated gas that Bruce made. It was our attempt to make something that can knock out Hulk. Guess it needs work.”
Tony raised a fist and slammed down into the head of the kneeling Abomination, sending him to the floor, then kicked him into a boulder. “Gotta say, can't really see you as Hulk's rival.”
Abomination rose up in a swift movement, catching Tony's next punch. He twisted and stabbed, the staff in his hands slicing through metal until it was inches from Tony's shoulder. Tony grimaced at the alerts his HUD was throwing up. That was way too close for comfort.
Then Abomination pressed further, flesh splitting with the motion.
“AAAAUUUGH!” Tony screamed in pain, warm blood pouring down his chest.
“Oh? No more funny jokes?” Abomination crowed, twisting the staff. “Come on, Stark. Tell me something funny.”
Tony struggled, clenching armored fists. “S-Sure. Let me just do the set-up for the joke.”
Tony ignited his boot thrusters, flying upwards. When Abomination, surprised, tried to let go of Tony, the billionaire wrapped his arms around the gamma monster. “Jarvis put everything in the boosters!”
“Yes, sir!”
The boots released white bursts of energy, sending the pair thousands of feet up.
“Get ooooff!” Blonsky screamed, clawing at Tony, sending chunks of metal to the ground below.
Tony grimaced at the pain and watched the altitude on his HUD, ignoring the warnings flashing as catoms kept flowing to fill the gaps in the armor, only to get torn out again. The staff was still impaled in Tony's shoulder, catoms moving into the wound to prevent blood from spilling.
As soon as they were at the height of the surrounding mountains, Tony let go. Abomination, not thinking, leaped away. He fell with Tony floating in the air above him, screaming in his booming voice as he twirled in mid-air. Tony fired off all rockets had in the suit, hitting him over and over. He then flipped in the air, diverted all power to repulsers and thrusters and slammed into the falling Abomination, Drilling into the monster's chest with palm repulsers while sending them both into a meteoric descent towards the ground.
“Here's the punchline!” Tony roared as he slammed Blonsky into the ground with an earthshaking explosion, destroying the hill they'd been fighting on. The impact tore apart the Hulkbuster suit, the granite hill, and much of the surrounding forest. From the way Tony felt, he had to guess he'd also bruised every inch of his body as well.
For a moment, things were still. Then Tony rose out of the crater, coughing. He grinned at the sight of the groaning Abomination. “Not Richard Pryor funny but I gave it a good shot.”
The Hulkbuster's left leg fell to the floor. “Whoa!” Tony wheeled his arms around as more pieces fell away, leaving him standing on one leg with even the Darkforce armor within the Hulkbuster barely holding together. “Need to work on that.”
Then, before Tony's disbelieving eyes, Abomination began to rise. He did it slowly, carefully, but he was getting up. “Oh come on!”
“G-Gonna kill you,” Abomination coughed up green liquid. “Kill you!” his grip tightened on the staff, it's runes burning with orange fire. “Raagh!”
Tony prepared to call for a new leg, but Blonsky was already rushing in, staff raised to stab his heart. Then, in between Tony and Blonsky, a rainbow of colors came down from the sky, alight with power. From that beam, a familiar flash of shiny metal flew out to hit Abomination in the face, exploding into a bolt of white lightning. Abomination fell back. He had time to blink once.
“...Urgh,” Blonsky said weakly. Then he fell face down, eyes closing.
“...The hell took you so long?” Tony asked weakly, grinning beneath his helmet as the rainbow beam stopped to reveal it's occupant.
Neither one noticing the dark red stream of vapor that flowed away from the symbol the rainbow had left behind on the ground...
------
Bruce Banner, Hulk
Hulk grabbed a tree and ripped it from the earth, spinning to swing it at the irritating woman attacking him. She backflipped over the tree, landed, and leaped in with a hook punch to his chin, sending him back.
“Girl Blonsky!” Hulk roared.
“It's Rana! You moron!” Rana yelled back.
Hulk ignored that, instead swinging the tree again. She parried it with her staff, then kicked him in the knee, forcing him to kneel. She tried to punch him in the ribs, but Hulk caught her fist, lifted her high, and looked her in the eyes.
“Not moron,” Hulk snarled. “Just learning.”
He threw her up, then swung the tree into her like he was at bat, sending her into another tree. She screamed in pain, then gasped when a green foot hit her in the stomach. She raised her staff and stabbed it into the leg currently pressing its foot into her. Hulk yelled, dropped his tree and limped away, and Rana fell to her knees, coughing until she vomited.
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“A-Asshole...”
“Fighting,” Hulk reminded her as his leg healed.
The two eyed each other, green eyes on yellow.
That's when the beam of rainbow power fell in the distance. They looked over at it in surprise, then looked back at each other. Rana looked down at the staff in her hands, struggling through the horrific memories the staff was pulling up. Memories of a man over her, panting and ignoring her pleas.
“Yaaagh!” the memories pushed through. She leaped towards Hulk, surprising him, stabbing his abdomen. She did it over and over, ignoring the green fists that beat on her, tears pouring, eyes glowing, staff slippery with green blood, and the memory forcing her to a frenzied rage, the taste of vomit in her mouth.
Hulk beat on her, hitting her over and over.
Their fight wasn't magnificent, tactical, or glorious. It was two monsters, filled with pain, hurting each other, covered in each others blood, dirt, and wooden shrapnel from the trees falling apart around them, pine needles falling from above.
Hulk finally picked up Rana and pushed her to the ground, holding her there as he punched her in the face. Once, twice, eight times. Rana stabbed him in the arm holding her down, the two screaming.
“▄▅▃▄▄▅▅▂▃▃▄▄!!!”
When they stopped screaming, Rana and Hulk simply looked at each other, both panting heavily. She was still crying, the staff glowing and embedded deep in Hulk's forearm. Hulk's fist was held high, but limp, his face twisting in confusion.
“...Why... Sad?”
“...” Aberration, her face bloody and bruised, grinned through broken teeth. “Heh. Who cares? I still won, in the end.”
She passed out, leaving Bruce and Hulk to stare down at her, both heroes at a loss to understand what had just happened.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
I managed to prevent myself from screaming, but being held in Marian's arms as she jumped was not a comfortable experience. I was getting bounced around in her grip, trying not to grunt at each impact on the ground.
“Sorry!” Marian yelled as we went. “This is faster!”
“I know, don't worry about-oof!” I grunted when we hit the ground and jumped again. “Don't worry about it!”
Scarlet Witch and Songbird were flying above us, Songbird on pink wings and Scarlet Witch by blasting red energy below her for propulsion. Wanda seemed a little unsteady, as though she hadn't practiced the maneuver much, but she was still better off than I was. The two followed Marian through above the trees, so I only saw them when Marian broke through the treeline.
“Are we close!?” Marian asked me.
I was going to nod when a green flash jumped through the woods, hitting me and Marian on our way down.
“Shit!” I shouted, tumbling down into the branches of a tree. I bounced from one to another, curling myself up to keep from bending anything the wrong way. My shields flared with each hit, protecting me somewhat until I eventually hit the ground on my back. When I looked up, Marian was roaring and locked in combat with a green monster, wrestling with the man in the dirt. Songbird dropped from the trees with a Chitauri armored soldier following, blocking his plasma bolts on a pink wall of energy, then blasting him with a pink wail of sound, only to be confronted with more flying HYDRA assholes. I rose to my feet and brought my gun up, firing an ICER into one of the men, then ducking behind a tree when more soldiers fired at me. Scarlet Witch dropped down next to me, her eyes filled with fear.
“This is crazy!” she shouted.
“This is Tuesday,” I said, trying to seem confident while plasma bolts burned away at my cover. When she stared at me, I found myself surprised at the fear in her eyes. I mean, this was the Scarlet Witch. This woman, in many universes, had enough power to reshape reality. But she was terrified.
Before I could think on that, another roar came from in front of us. I looked up to see two gamma monsters rushing us, Centipede soldiers in tow. I stepped in front of her and raised my BCW, switching it to repulsor setting and firing quickly. “Wanda!”
“R-Right!” she spat out. Two red blasts of energy hit one of the gamma-enhanced, sending him flying, and I hit a Centipede soldier with a repulsor shot.
“X, we need backup!” I shouted.
“Falcon, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Mockingbird are on their way!”
“We have to run!” Wanda yelled in my ear, sounding scared. “We have to-”
I didn't hear the rest over the Omnitrix beeping. I hit another Centipede soldier as the gamma-enhanced Wanda had thrown away got back up, then reached for the watch and activated it, twirling it quickly. I needed Astrodactyl, so I could fly out and stop Garrett from escaping, so the second I saw wings I pressed down on the Omnitrix.
It took me a second to realize that in my haste while Centipede soldiers and two gamma-enhanced rushed us, I hadn't picked Astrodactyl at all.
The change was instantaneous. My skin went from brown to inky-black, blue accenting me like the patterns on an insect, and with white chunks the color of solid ice in the center. My chest became a segmented blue carapace, the Omnitrix glowing there. My eyes changed to green with some darker spots in the center. My long limbs ended with three pointed fingers and a thumb on my hands, and two toes and a claw-like heel on my feet. From my back spread two large blue moth wings that sprouted upward, two smaller ones pointing down, and a pair of antennae at my shoulders. I spread them wide, rising to my full height, white smoke pouring from my mouth.
“Big Chill!”
I looked down at myself, registering my new form. “Oh, now you give me Big Chill,” I grumbled to the Omnitrix, my voice sounding ghostly.
The soldiers were still rushing us, Wanda staring up at me in surprise.
I sucked in a quick breath. Wind inside my chest swirled. I set my feet and flared my new wings.
When I breathed out, a cloud of white spread out from me. I pushed hard and pumped out a giant cloud that hit every soldier in front of me. The ground began to freeze over, the plants exploding as the water within them froze. The gamma-enhanced began to slow as ice crawled over their forms, snapping over and over. Wanda managed to be on the ball and started shooting, red blasts hitting the gamma-enhanced, slowing them down further. The Centipede soldiers stopped in place, covered in a thick shell of blue-white ice.
When the gamma-enhanced didn't stop, I narrowed my eyes and focused. The cloud became a 'beam'. I swept it over one, stopping him about five feet away, then at the other. She stopped mere inches from punching me in the chin.
“Chill out,” I quipped. Then I turned to Wanda. “One second.”
A pump of my wings and I lifted into the air. With a twirl, I was around the tree.
Songbird was floating in front of a group of Chitauri armored men and women, flitting about to dodge, blocking their plasma bolts with pink walls, sending them flying with wails and chaining them up. She was getting tired, her left arm already clearly wounded. Marian was currently beating on a green woman, another monster down and out behind her as Centipede soldiers were being launched about. I headed towards the group of fliers with pale smoke pouring from my mouth, my green eyes narrowing. To their credit, they reacted quickly to my appearance, turning to open fire on me.
So in response, I went intangible.
It was like nothing I'd ever felt. Being... there, and not there. Separate from the universe, feeling as though nothing was real anymore. Plasma bolts were fired at me. They went right through me like the mirage I almost was. I flew forward, a ghost in all the ways that mattered, aiming at one man in particular. He had time for his eyes to widen. Then I flew through him. He became covered in ice, his armor shattering as he fell from the sky.
I swept through the crowd, Songbird joining me. Scarlet Witch came around to join in, red and pink smashing soldiers out of the sky. Once they were done, I landed on the ground, my wings wrapping around me like a cloaked hood, my eyes on Marian and her opponent. I raised my hands and white streams from my palms hit the gamma-enhanced in the back. Songbird and Scarlet Witch joined in, the three of us staggering the girl. Marian uppercut the ten-foot tall monster back.
“EEAAUUOOKK!” The woman screeched, ice covering her chest as sound and... whatever Wanda was blasting (was it chaos magic in this reality?) sending her to her knees, Marian giving her a right cross and sending her to the floor.
Marian fell to her knees, panting, Songbird landing next to her to rub her friend's back.
“You okay?” I asked, stepping forward. When Marian and Melissa gave me confused looks, I realized they had no idea who I was. “It's me, Dial. I got a new form.”
“Oh,” Marian said slowly, looking confused. “Does that... happen often?”
“More these days than before,” I admitted, putting the question of why in the background. “Can you fight?”
Melissa and Marian shared a brief look before they rose to their feet. Marian smiled. “Yeah. For Helen, always.”
Must have been a hell of a story behind the loyalty they held for each other. I unfurled my moth-like wings and lifted into the air. I was going to say something but the three women were already moving in the direction we'd been heading earlier.
I joined them, shooting through the air with a fluttering of my wings. Big Chill felt so different. Hot and cold all at once, as though I was on the cusp of existing and disappearing from the universe. But it felt comfortable. I don't know how feeling as though I was fading from the universe could feel good but it did.
I did hope I didn't start going on a metal eating spree all in the efforts of having alien bug babies, that would be super weird. Might need to look into diaper prices...
Moving over the forest, Songbird and Scarlet Witch flew beside me. In the distance, I could see several Quinjets taking off, surrounded by more Chitauri armored fliers.
“How accurate are you!?” I asked Songbird and Scarlet Witch, Marian bounding up to join us before arc down into the woods again.
“I don't know!” Wanda admitted. “I've never tried to hit something so far away!”
“I can hit them!” Melissa said, her pink wings flapping. With a quick song, she released a blast of pink sonic power, hitting a Chitauri soldier. He sprawled but stabilized himself in the air. A couple Quinjets twirled to confront us, some fliers twisting around as well. The others, however, began to speed up. I pushed myself forward, going intangible and ignoring the bullets and plasma bolts flying through me. Instead, I aimed for the lead Quinjet, passing the others and flying into it, landing inside. The Quinjet was mostly empty but a couple of things stood out. First, the two men standing before me. One was tall, with dark black skin and armor on his chest and arms. He raised a hand lightning fast when I entered, aiming it at me as a mini-rocket launcher popped out of his arm. That would be Deathlok then.
The other guy was a surprise. I mean, I knew what he'd look like from his files but seeing Bill Paxton standing in front of me with a snide smile was weird.
On either side and behind of the men were three white tanks, holding a person inside each. One on the right was Helen, looking like Trish Stratus. The other was... the guy from Godzilla? Wait, didn't Elizabeth Olsen play the guys wife? And they were brother and sister here- I smashed away the illogical thought and focused the last one. A tall, green-skinned woman rested inside, sleeping peacefully. I stared at her for a moment before focusing on the two men.
“John Garrett?” I asked.
“Yeah?” the man said, smiling. “And you're that alien kid, huh? You've caused a lot of trouble.”
“Like every SI before me,” I admitted freely, stepping forward.
Deathlok fired a rocket but I went intangible, the rocket bouncing off the wall behind me encased in ice. Turning tangible again, I kneeled and pressed my palms against the floor. Ice flowed across the floor, sinking into the Quinjet. I released a cloud from my mouth, and the two men shouted as ice began to fill the jet. The whole aircraft shook, compromised by the ice filling the inside of the Quinjet's machinery. Soon, it began to fall out of the sky, metal cracking under the stress.
Suddenly an arm came out of the smoke, reaching for my throat. I went intangible, the arm moving through me so fast I couldn't freeze it. John Garrett appeared, grinning madly, and slapped the button to open the back door.
Before I could wonder what he was doing, Deathlok tackled me just as I went tangible, both of us falling out of the Quinjet.
Tumbling through the air, I went intangible again, Deathlok letting go of me before he could freeze over. Jets of purple snapped to life on his feet, propelling him away from an ice beam I sent at him. He fired a rocket I let go through me. A strange port opened on his shoulder. My experience with being in War Machine and Iron Man's armor warned me to go intangible before plasma bolts started flying.
Apparently, he had gotten some serious damn upgrades.
I looked at the Quinjet, which was slowly dropping through the sky, then at Deathlok, thinking.
'Come on, guys,' I thought to myself. 'Save them.'
------
Ten Minutes Earlier
Skye
Over the New Mexican desert, Skye typed at a computer, activating the programs she'd created and throwing in some stuff Tony and Dial had supplied her with. Hit with the hacking expertise of three genius hackers, one of them alien, she soon had the access she needed. Smirking, Skye looked up at the people surrounding her.
Maria, Melinda, and Coulson stood before her with several BRIDGE Elites and US Marines, all in front of a door to a base with the Cybertek logo on it.
“Let go say hi,” Skye tapped a button on her laptop, the door in front of her clicking open.
“Let's,” Maria said, smiling as the BRIDGE Elites rushed in. “Skye, Melinda, you know what to do.”
“Understood,” Melinda said, smiling. She walked in. Skye went to follow, getting a supportive nod from Coulson.
As they ran through the halls of Cybertek, taking a right with several US Marines coming along. High above, Skye knew the Helicarrier would be dropping cloak and lowering over the base, guns firing on vehicles. Sure enough, explosions began to sound out around them, followed by alarms. Skye switched over to her phone and slipped her laptop into her bag, disconnecting operators on the base from the Centipede soldiers with some button taps. She also pulled out a gun, jostling a tiny plastic object aside. Soon they were at a door labeled Incentives. Melinda kicked the door in.
Two Centipede soldiers and a HYDRA operative looked up at them.
“Uh, hi guys,” Skye said.
The HYDRA soldier moved forward, only to get an ICER between the eyes from Skye. The Centipedes rushed forward, and the US Marines following Skye and Melinda opened fire, unleashing a barrage of bullets onto the Centipedes. They ignored the first 10 bullets. The next ones tore them apart.
Skye ran in, opening the door the files indicated. Inside, a young boy with chubby cheeks looked up at her, his skin the same dark color as his father's.
“Hey, Ace!” Skye chirped.
“Skye!” the boy rushed forward, wrapping Skye up in a hug. She smiled, leaning down to hug him back. When they separated she reached into her bag and pulled something out. A Hulk toy. Handing it to a smiling Ace, she spoke softly. “Okay, Ace, I need you to give me a message.”
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
I twirled through the air, going intangible to go through some bullets fired on me from some Quinjets. Deathlok followed, mercilessly chasing me. Songbird was in the air with me, fighting her own battles, but Scarlet Witch had gone to the forest with Marian. I could hear Marian roaring as flashes of red light came from the darkness below.
Deathlok was persistent, but my eyes were still on the Quinjet holding the three prisoners.
Just when Deathlok seemed like he was going in for another shot, he stopped. Then he fired.
I watched the rocket he'd fired tear a Chitauri armored soldier in half.
Far off, I could see a winged figure flying toward us. Sam. Some explosions came from the forest below, the twang of a bow proceeding each one.
At the same time, Deathlok started tearing into his allies, plasma bolts from his shoulder and rockets from his arm firing over and over. So Maria and Coulson had saved the prisoners at Cybertek.
Which left Garrett.
I flew towards his struggling Quinjet, free to do so now, and went back inside. He looked over at me.
“Don't suppose you'll surrender,” I offered, my wings wrapping back around me.
He smiled. “Why? The future needs me. Needs me to translate the Words! To show a way to the End of it all. I can see it you know? I can even see your soul, torn through the universe, lost on the winds of faith. But there's a bett-”
I froze him over. He even looked surprised before he was encased in an ice prison of blue-white. The pilots looked over at me as I walked towards them.
“...Can we still surrender?” The pilot asked. When I nodded, he sighed in relief. “I-I'll just land the Quinjet then.”
As the jet lowered, I looked over the prisoners, focusing on the one in the center. “Whoever is with the Hulk... tell him I have her.”
A Quinjet suddenly flew past, turning around to aim at us. He flew towards us, apparently about to kamikaze us.
“What's he doing!?” the pilot shouted.
“We're going to crash!” the co-pilot yelled as well, trying to twist away.
I flew forward, going intangible to move through the glass, erupting into the air.
Then a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, hitting the other Quinjet hard enough to bash it into the forest below.
More bolts struck the battlefield, hitting the Quinjets one by one. A final Quinjet flew past me, trying to escape. A silver flash came from the sky, piercing through. As the final Quinjet spun through the air, I looked up at the sky.
“...He's back.”
Thor, the Asgardian Deity of Thunder, standing on the Defiant for support, grinned down at all of us, blonde hair flowing in the wind.
------
Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker
Strucker stood in his personal Quinjet, sighing sadly. “We lost so much, simply to survive. Aberration. The Centipedes. Garrett. The Grapplers. All gone,” he shook his head, still looking out of the window as they flew over the ocean, a fleet of Quinjets following as they escaped their chasers. Soon, a large section of those flying with them twisted in the air, headed elsewhere. Strucker watched them with a scowl. Malick, off to his ridiculous religious crusade to bring a god to life, with all the improvements Sterns had given him. Strucker shook his head and turned back to his goal, out across the ocean. The Sceptre was held in his gloved hand, glowing.
They flew for hours, simply trying to get away. As the sun began to drop into the horizon, the radio crackled to life.
“Sir!” a HYDRA operative on the other end said. “Sterns, h-he...”
“He, what?” Strucker asked, unperturbed.
“I-I don't know sir, he just disappeared! He was in the back of our jet, then he pressed something, and now he's gone!”
The radio crackled again. “Baron Von Strucker!” List shouted. “We're getting the reports! Dozens of boxes of our resources have vanished!”
Strucker turned and walked into the back of the Quinjet, unworried. As he did so, the screen there came to life. On it, Samuel Sterns stood in a dark location, smiling smugly as he watched Strucker approach.
“You've betrayed me, Sterns.”
It wasn't a question.
When Sterns spoke, his voice was as clear over the stereos of the Quinjet as though he was right there. “Please, Wolfgang. I'm honestly not surprised you didn't manage to predict me, but you must have had some inkling? And please, call me 'The Leader'.”
Strucker frowned. “A bit presumptuous, as names go.”
“A man chooses the name he embodies,” Sterns smirked. “I decided it was time to go our separate ways. I've taken some essentials, things that would be more useful in my hands, as payment for my services. I'm afraid that your primitive mind simply won't be able to use them to their full potential,” Sterns chuckled. “I'll have to take Miss Walters, Blood Diamond, and the Agents as well, to use in my own experiments. It was a mistake, you know, to allow me so much leeway with the Phase Harmonic Teleporter and the portal Malick believes leads to his 'god'. Really Wolfgang, understand this isn't personal. I know you aren't as... enlightened, as I am. But you must see that.”
“...You need more experience, Sterns,” Strucker said. He smiled.
Sterns frowned. “I'm sorry?”
“You think I never anticipated this? That I never saw the glares, the covetous looks? I knew you would betray me, Sterns. It was just a matter of time. So I forced the issue.”
He raised a hand, holding a detonator switch. “As though I would ever let you take my subjects. Ms. Walters has been returned to Mr. Banner, to keep him from feeling any need to chase us, with footage of your experiments on her. As for Blood Diamond,” a girl with black hair and eyes of topaz stepped into view. “She and the agents are with me. So Sterns, if you've truly teleported something from the planes you believed to hold my current passengers.”
Sterns' eyes widened. Strucker flipped the detonator switch. A series of loud explosions came from the other end, Sterns shouting before flame hit him, the screen going to static.
Strucker smiled, tossing aside the detonator and looking over at the two cryo-tubes sitting in the back of his Quinjet, Agents Triplett and Carter sleeping peacefully within. “Pilot, make way to Germany. I have something to pick up. A family heirloom.”
“Yes, sir,” the pilot said. With that, the Quinjet twisted in the air, the others following.
------
*(^!#@$*@&^#...!(*#&@*&!a
As the battle settled, something flew over the ground. A red mist floating gently as it passed through the world. It flew towards a BRIDGE Elite with his back turned. The man was walking through the forest with his team, gun aimed high. The red mist touched his back, then sank into him. Or more specifically, his armor.
The man blinked in surprise when his HUD flashed. He slapped his head, watching the HUD flicker before solidifying.
“Hey,” one of the other soldiers, a woman, asked. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” the man said, shrugging. “You sure this stuff doesn't glitch?”
“Who knows?” she said with a chuckle.
He chuckled as well, moving on.
And the presence waited within.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
Later that night, there was a lot to do. Soldiers were brought in to clean up after us, arresting HYDRA operatives. I found myself curing a lot of Gamma soldiers, leaving them normal humans. All of them ungrateful asshole screaming about how I took their powers.
Scarlet Witch and the Grapplers were brought in for questioning since they were technically former enemies. But they were brought in gently, while Helen, Pietro, and Jennifer were put in medical. Deathlok, on the other hand, was arrested, put in cuffs made by Tony himself. He didn't seem to care.
Hulk and Tony brought in Aberration and Abomination in, after apparently tearing most of a battlefield apart to do it. When I informed Hulk that I'd managed to find 'Jenny', he gave me an oddly gentle hug, smiling as he changed back into Bruce.
Some people on our side had died. Gamma monsters, Chitauri armored soldiers, and Centipedes did some of it, but good old bullets did the same. I found myself staring at the body bags at one point, stacked side by side. I'd seen stuff like that in movies but...
It took a while to sort everything out. And even that was just set up for the next day. In the end, though Strucker escaped, he'd cut off a few limbs to do it. A majority of his soldiers were dead or arrested. Jarvis and X had gotten a lot of information about his other bases off computers, and armies across the world were assaulting them even now. Garrett's frozen ass had been put in a van and carted away, Deathlok glaring at him all the while.
Of course, it was hard to be melancholic. Because Tony immediately called for a party.
I'd need to speak to a certain Asgardian as well. The Omnitrix was already glowing yellow.