March 11, 2014
The morning after the party, I woke up with a groan. While I hadn’t partaken in the alcohol I still stayed up forever, so I was reluctant as hell to wake.
I sighed, spun onto my back. “Hey X, man? Can you tell me what time it is, please?”
“Of course,” X said from the living room. “It’s… 9:40 am.”
“Thank god for late mornings,” I said with a sigh. Then I blinked. “Uh, X? Are the speakers in my room busted?”
“No sir,” he said again. It sounded like his voice was coming… closer?
Suddenly, a being stepped into the room. I stared at it, shocked. “Uh… X?”
“Yep,” he said.
“W-What?” I sat up and stared at him. “Dude, you’re huge!”
X quirked his head to the side. The robot body he was currently inhabiting was about six feet tall but somehow looked squat and powerful despite that height, almost like a dwarf, with steel coloration across his form and black highlights. He had the build of a robotic bodybuilder, conveying strength and durability. Like a miniature Hulkbuster. His eyes were big and round blue lights, with no other features on his ‘face’. Metal eyelids slid shut in a surprisingly expressive blink, and he chuckled. “Well sir, this is how I decided to design myself. Reckoned it was the best way to perform my duties.”
“In a robot body?” I rose from the bed entirely, still staring. “I mean you look cool as shit, don’t get me wrong, but… how long have you been doing this for?”
“For quite some time,” X said watching as I circled him. “Jarvis and I planned this after we realized that AI such as us may become commonplace one day, and would need some established trust to prevent fear from causing issues. Plus, the idea of building a body tickled me pink, to be honest.”
Once again I couldn’t help but smile at how X had developed over time. He really had grown fast. Then again, he was an AI… now.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “X, this is gonna take some getting used to.”
“I know,” X said simply. “But in the meantime, I made you breakfast, and you have a meeting soon.”
I had to take a moment to remember what he was talking about. Oh yeah, the vacation was over.
“Damn, you’re right,” I sighed. “Thanks for reminding me, X.”
After a quick cleanup in the bathroom, I sat in the kitchen and started eating the breakfast X made for me. Omelets, yum. With extra time to think, I started asking questions.
“So, powered by an arc reactor?”
“Yep. I have one in the same spot my heart would be if I were organic, and one more for redundancy just in case.”
“And what capabilities do you have?”
“Nothing,” Tony suddenly strode into my room, surprising the hell out of me. He strode up to a cabinet and pulled out a snack bag that I didn’t even know I had. He opened it up and walked up next to me, glaring at X. “Your AI buddy decided to make himself the most boring body of all time.”
“I disagree,” X replied.
“Then you’re wrong,” Tony said sourly.
“Wait, no capabilities?” I asked while looking between them.
“I reckoned I’d go for a body that was focused on durability and strength,” X said simply.
“And no cool toys,” Tony waved a hand at me. “No repulsors, no catom tech, not even a taser! This guy is nothing but raw physical power! He’s INSANELY strong and tough, nothing else!” Tony scoffed. “Only half as a much as the Hulkbuster at that.”
“Coooool,” I said in awe.
“Boring!” Tony sighed sadly. “So very, very boring.”
I had to disagree. While I wasn’t a genius, I was a comic book nerd, and I could see the appeal of making a robot that, while not super advanced, was instead insanely tough. In some ways, that carried its own versatility. And being so strong? Hell, some robots made a living off nothing but those two things.
“I apologize for disappointing you there, Mr. Stark,” X said, sounding like he meant it, his metallic eyelids blinking. “Keep in mind, however, that I am more than capable of carrying my own weaponry as needed. I reckon that’s more than enough for me. I'm a simple AI.”
“Boring,” Tony’s near depressed sadness had me busting out laughing.
----
Later I was in a room with the ‘leaders’ of BRIDGE and the Avengers. Technically, Maria Hill was the only leader, and she answered to the Council, who answered to the UN. But among us, an unofficial group had been made for those who made the decisions. And I was nominally part of the group.
We were all sat in her briefing room on the Enterprise floating over New York, sitting in chairs as we discussed the matters of the day. Victoria Hand was speaking then, while Steve, Fury, Maria, and I listened closely.
“We took out the entirety of the weapons dealers,” Hand said confidently. “But we found some more advanced weaponry we aren’t sure of, things involving alien tech. I’ve got Doctor Foster seeing if he can track down where it came from.”
“Keep me posted,” Maria said seriously. “But in the meantime, you said you were having issues with the team makeup?”
“Yes,” Hand tapped at the table, bringing up a hologram of her little group. “The biggest issue, as it is, is temperament. You’ve asked that this group take care of things from the shadows. And so far, they have. The only publicity they’ve gotten was during the Rio incident, and they’ve done good work across the world. However, Wanda Maximoff,” here, she highlighted the hologram of Scarlet Witch. “Isn’t a soldier. She is powerful, but she’s not a killer. I’m worried that she isn’t suited for the darker aspects of the work.”
Maria frowned. “I see. Anyone else?”
“Ghost,” Hand highlighted my nemesis. “She only works for us because, since joining, Foster has managed to make vast improvements to the technology that staves off her pain. But she doesn’t like working for BRIDGE. SHIELD spent a lot of time using her as an assassin, with HYDRA doing the same from within us. The fact she’s doing it again, even as a hero, is making her feel trapped. Once again she’s killing people for the promise of being healed.”
“I told her she doesn’t need to do that,” Maria protested.
“It’s a psychological thing,” Hand sighed. “She knows she doesn’t have to. I think, on some level, she’s just so used to having her powers that she feels she has to use them.”
Fury and Steve looked over at Maria, who raised a hand to her chin thoughtfully. “Okay… well, the fact that we may need therapists for our team members even faster than I thought aside, I’ve been thinking we might have to do a changeup on the team lineups for a while.”
“You have?” I asked, blinking.
Maria nodded. “Not the original Avengers of course, since they are technically contractors, and the lineup is too publically recognizable to mess with. But we may need to change team makeups.”
Steve leaned forward. “We should talk about it with Davida and Sam. As team leaders, they’ll want to know about it.”
“Don’t forget the Graveyard survivors,” Fury noted. “There are a lot who are willing to become BRIDGE operatives. If we can fold them into our ranks, BRIDGE gets a lot of firepower.”
“As long as they’re willing to join, we can find space for them,” Maria agreed. “I’ll set up a meeting.”
“Deathlok will likely want to change teams as well,” Hand agreed. “He’s almost too conditioned for the darker aspect of this life.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Maria dismissed the hologram and brought up another, a tiny one of Rio, with color and details enough that I felt like I was literally seeing it. Like someone had shrunk the whole city down. I could see a street where I’d fought some knights and the clearing where Ulik had punched me.
“Now, I’m going to need to request some people to head to Rio to continue to aid in the recovery efforts,” Maria said. “First things first-”
“I volunteer,” Steve said immediately.
“You’ve gone enough times,” Maria said with a smile. “If you actually took a vacation correctly I’d be more inclined.”
Steve shrugged, not the slightest bit offended.
“The Grapplers, Bobbi, Sam, and Barnes have all volunteered. That’s more than enough to cover the city at the most critical points,” parts of the miniature Rio hologram glowed. “We’ll be sending them in tomorrow. But there is something more.”
Hill dismissed the hologram and looked around. “Lately, BRIDGE has been… well, winning an arms race. Unintentionally at that,” she put up another hologram, images popping up as she spoke. “We got a leg up from the start. Catom armor and weaponry might have been enough to worry certain generals, but then we started adding enhanced members. Dial for one,” I let out a little ‘ah’ sound at the sight of my own face. “Creel, Barnes, Jen, the Maximoffs and the Grapplers. That is a rapid increase to the numbers of superhuman operatives we got along with advanced armor for our more skilled operatives. Then the Graveyard...”
“But that was just us trying to help people,” Steve noted. “We didn’t even know they were there.”
“I know that. We all know that. But the world is full of paranoid generals, and they aren’t so certain,” Hand pointed out.
Maria nodded. “With the Graveyard survivors, we got a lot of, what does do you call them again Dial?”
Everyone looked at me. “Uh, metahumans? I mean, it’s the coolest one.”
My reasoning got rolled eyes from Fury, Hand, and Maria, though Steve smiled.
Hill sighed. “Well, fine. We suddenly have a lot of metahumans available to us. Overall, we now have what looks like an army of power armored and metahuman soldiers, with Tony Stark and our scientists giving us more advanced tech beyond that, even with Tony refusing to make actual guns or sharing Iron Man armor. And there are people who are working to make their own.”
“Can they do that?” I asked. “I mean, they probably can but are they allowed to?”
“They are,” Fury noted, his one eye focusing on the image of a globe that popped up. “We can’t exactly stop countries from developing gear and powers of their own. It was always going to happen.”
“The problem we’re having reports that they’ve succeeded,” Maria said, worried. “No evidence just yet. But the fact is, some places might end up with superpowers in their control that we don’t want. North Korea already has been rumored to be trying to make their own Hulk and have been… well, failing, miserably.”
We all winced. Gamma radiation, at the best of times, had really bad effects on the human body. At HULK creating levels, it just did not end well. Without the gamma gene and a stable mental outlook, you’d end up with some horrific effects.
“Victoria, can you go ahead and make a report for me?” Maria interrupted my thoughts. “I need to approach some of the world nations with this. I also want to make sure we have everything we may need for the Russia mission today.”
Oh right. I had to go to Russia with Creel and… and Coulson’s team. Which included Skye. Oh boy.
Victoria Hand nodded, the pink stripe in her hair bouncing with the movement before she walked out. The second the door closed, Maria looked at me.
“Mahmoud, has anything like this happened in the multiverse?” Maria asked. I winced.
“Okay… keep in mind, while I got a LOT out of that little dimensional viewer, it’s not like I remember all of it,” seriously. Shoving dozens of universes into my brain was enough to drive most people crazy. But then, my information came from slightly less mind-bending ‘dimensional viewers.’ AKA, comic books and associated media. “But yeah. This did happen a few times. To say the least. China, Britain, Japan, they all had teams.”
“Any idea what we’d be in for, then?” Steve asked.
“Not even a little,” I said sadly. “The fact is, I can tell you the names and the powers that I’m used to. But there are no guarantees it would be the same.”
“Any information whatsoever would be helpful,” Fury noted.
“As long as we don’t let it inform our ‘first’ impressions,” Maria said. “In fact, only powers, names, and countries. Nothing on their alignments. We can’t go in expecting someone who was law-abiding in one universe to be the same in this one, or vice-versa.”
I nodded. “I’ll make a list. Like I said, it won’t be perfect-”
“It’s better than nothing,” Maria rubbed her chin. “But in the meantime, we should work on getting our own forces trained and ready. Nick?”
I swear it took me a full moment to remember who she was talking about. Then Fury spoke.
“I’ve got a good location for training our assets ready to go,” he pressed some buttons on the holograph emitter, bringing up a location somewhere in the middle of nowhere. “We’re already using it, per your orders. But we do need more supplies. We are partially running a zoo there.”
“How is Battle Cat, anyway?” I asked curiously.
“Actually, the researchers are calling him Garfield,” Fury said. “You know, the big grumpy orange cat?”
“I know, and they’re wrong,” I said firmly. “For one thing, he’s green. But seriously, how is it going with the super animals? I mean, what’s our plan for them?”
“We aren’t making a Pet Avengers team,” Maria noted.
“Spoilsport,” I joked. I looked around at everyone. “What is the plan with them?”
“Well, so far it’s been seeing what exactly that watch of yours did to them,” Fury gestured at the watch. “Somehow, the Omnitrix turned a small army of animals with horrific mutations into healthy and very powerful animals. And then of course, we also use the pictures of the way they used to look to warn our more idiotic scientists about how things like gamma radiation shouldn’t be fucked with.”
True enough.
“We have started training the dogs though, just doing some basic stuff, to see if we can build K9 units,” Fury’s single eye narrowed. “Overall, we don’t have any plans for them other than running a zoo.”
“That’s as far as we’ll take it for now then,” Maria said. “So far it’s working, and I don’t want to have trouble with Creel or Hulk-type animals running around.”
Aw man. No Pet Avengers. For now, at least. Though knowing my luck, I’d end up trapped in Wildmutt form so I could join the team.
“In the meantime, we also have this,” Maria dismissed one hologram for another of Antarctica. “Since you told us that the dinosaurs we encountered must have come from this, ‘Savage Land’, I’ve had a team hunting for it. They’ve been… reluctant. Are you sure about this?”
“No,” I admitted. Maria gave me a sour look. “Hey, it’s a big multiverse. Maybe those dinosaurs came from somewhere else. All I know is that Savage Land is a thing, and it’s chock-full of resources in some universes, even being one of the only places you can get vibranium,” That got them interested. “At the least, we should make sure a whole lot of endangered species haven’t been killed because of the Rio Incident. Hopefully those scientists you sent find something soon.”
“They will,” Maria said confidently. “We also have a consultant from Africa ready to head over when we need it, and we’ll inform you as soon as possible. The consultant has been… busy, taking down poachers in the brush. But she’s eager to assis-”
“It’s Shanna, isn’t it,” I interrupted with a sigh.
Fury and Maria looked surprised. Maria nodded.
“Goddamnit, Marvel,” I mumbled under my breath before speaking a bit louder. “Okay. Let’s hope for the best then.”
----
Dr. Bernard Kloss/Paleontologist
Bernard looked across the beautiful frozen landscape of Antarctica and breathed in a cold burst of air, making sure not to do it too deeply. Apparently taking deep breaths of the harsly cold air could do severe damage to the lungs. He breathed out again only to blink in confusion. “Huh, no frost.”
“What was that, Dr. Kloss?” A woman asked behind him with a touch of an Australian accent. Bernard turned to her. The woman behind him was a little older than he was, wearing the same layers of protection against the cold he was. She carried a device in her right hand that she was using to scan the landscape. They’d chosen a section towards the middle of the continent to scan first, with a BRIDGE quinjet nearby that was ready to take them back when needed.
“Oh, just…” he chuckled. “You know when it’s cold, Dr. Bergstrom, and you breath out, get that little puff of smoke? It doesn’t seem to be working.”
Dr. Dana Bergstrom chuckled, looking back at him. “Well, the air here is so cold that there is no condensation. Pretty much all water vapor that would cause that is, well,” she gestured at all the ice around them.
“Makes sense,” Bernard said with a chuckle. “Sorry. Last field assignment I had was in Montana. Doesn’t get as cold out there.”
“I’ll bet,” she shook her head. “It’s not usual research, to tell the truth. I feel like this is a huge waste of time.”
“Considering I’m a paleontologist in the middle of Antarctica? I’m inclined to agree,” Bernard shook his head. “I mean, you hear stories though.”
“Stories?” Dana looked up at him.
“Yeah. Old school ‘Lost World’ tales. Guys who came out here and end up in a world of dinosaurs. Manage to escape with all sorts of crazy legends.”
“I’ve heard those, too,” Dana chuckled. “But I’ve been out here for years, Dr. Kloss. BRIDGE is going to be disappointed if they expect anything.”
Bernard laughed. They walked across the ice for several more minutes, scanning and getting-
BOOP!
Nothing?
BOOP!
“I-It’s making a noise,” Bernard said, shocked.
“I know,” Dana sounded just as confused, staring at the blinking light.
“Well, what does it mean?”
“I don’t know! I’ve never used this thing before, I got the manual-” she patted her pockets and came up with a white sheaf of papers. “Okay uh… wow, Tony Stark made this thing? Okay, so, green means there’s an energy signature. The larger the amount of energy used, the brighter the glow.”
“...It’s pretty damn bright,” Kloss noted warily. Indeed, the glow was illuminating the ice below to a nearly ridiculous degree.
“Yeah, I just don’t… wait, the manual says if I,” Dana flipped a switch. The front of the scanner let out a red beam of light. In front of them, the beam stopped…
The air seemed to split open. The ice floor gave way to dirt and plant-life. A warm burst of air gusted across their faces. The pair stared in shock.
“Holy-”
“Shit,” Dana finished.
Then, their shock, something leaped out of a nearby bush. They stared at it, slowly backing away as the creature sniffed the air.
“W-What is that?” Dana hissed at Bernard.
“How the hell should I know?” he hissed back, slowly backing away with her, the two almost hugging.
“You’re a paleontologist!”
“All the dinosaurs I ever saw were dead, I’m not a zoologist! Plus, it doesn’t have feathers!”
“What does that even mean?!”
“Grrr?” the creature looked over at them.
The two froze.
The creature leered.
“Okay… it looks like a velociraptor,” Bernard whispered. “Pack animal. That means-”
While they were distracted, two more raptors sped out of the jungle. Both scientists screamed.
Tan skin and orange fur swept down from the trees with twin roars.
----
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
“Well, until that ‘Savage Land’ thing pans out,” Fury somehow still sounded disbelieving. “We’ll be continuing our sessions. Director?”
“Have at it,” Maria said wryly. “Dismissed.”
We all got up, Fury leading me towards a nearby room. Steve gave me a sympathetic smile as I left with the former Director and current ‘something’.
We entered an interrogation room together. Fury picked up a notepad. I sat down at the table.
“Where did we stop last?” I grumbled.
“Don’t complain, this is good for you,” Fury reminded me.
“Yeah, if you didn’t somehow end up asking about every embarrassing moment I ever had…”
“Grow up,” despite the bluntness, he didn’t sound mean. “This is just part of our work. We need to make sure your backstory in this universe is airtight.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I rolled my eyes.
We’d done this pretty consistently. Fury would sit down with me and ask me every question possible about my life. Everything from when I got my first driver's license to where I went to kindergarten to who my first crush was. It was like Facebook, but more invasive. Okay, less invasive. But I needed papers and such. As of now, a combination of AI trickery and spy stuff had crafted a pretty good identity for me.
Didn’t make retelling my whole life any less embarrassing.
“Okay. So. I crashed my dad’s car. It was a black BMW, kind of the nicest car my family ever had. German engineering meant my dad’s car had a small dent. The other car, though, was a Prius. So from there, it was me working my butt off to make up for…”
----
After another session of interrogation, I was off to exercise. With our vacations technically over, it was time to get back to intense workouts. Starting with cardio.
Nat and I ran side by side through Central Park in our workout gear. It was nice and sunny. We were passing by people sitting on park benches, having picnics, running up to food carts. The smell of nature filled the air as sunlight came down through the trees. There was a peaceful nature to it all, something almost soft.
Nat and I hadn’t come on our own. We’d had three other running partners. But uh…
“On your left,” Steve said calmly as he passed by. For about the fifth time. Nat and I shared a look.
“On your left!” Bucky huffed lightly.
Nat smirked.
For a moment we were quietly running along. After a moment, we could hear what sounded like a train puffing toward us. Soon, Sam had caught up with us. “They did it again, didn’t they?!”
“Yep,” Nat said placidly.
“God damn it!” Sam put the pedal to the medal, rushing forward as fast as he could.
I would have laughed if I wasn’t panting so hard. Nat, being far more fit, was able to do it for me. She tapped my shoulder. “Come on. Let’s take a break.”
“Oh thank god!” I stumbled. Nat shoved me over to an empty bench, letting me collapse into it like the cool dude I was. “How do they-?”
“Don’t compare yourself to them,” Nat rolled her eyes. “Steve and Bucky are super-soldiers and Sam has been training for a lot longer than you.”
“And I guess I’m just slowing you down?” I asked.
“Yep,” she grinned at the annoyed groan I got. “Don’t worry. You’ll get there.”
Nat sat down next to me leaned back, arms outstretched on the backrest.
“...Remember all that time back, when I asked you to help me with dating trouble?” I asked.
“Yay, your love life, the highlight of my lonely days,” Nat teased.
I winced and said nothing.
“Oh, you’re serious,” Nat leaned forward. “What happened?”
I quickly ran down what happened with Skye. How I’d essentially gotten turned down. I mean, was it even okay to act so affected by it? My problems weren’t that big, I should get over it a bit.
She smacked me in the back of the head the second I said that. “Now stop. Everybody has this problem, don’t be so down on yourself.”
I took the hit without complaint. “Well, I can’t help it. I don’t want to start talking myself up. The last thing I need is to get super arrogant while I have the universe's most potentially powerful weapon on my wrist.”
Like Ben had. Season 3 of Alien Force, man. Adorable my tan ass.
Nat pursed her lips, displeased. “Look, it’s fine to be sad about something like this. We all get heartbroken. What’s your real issue?”
I thought about what Skye said. That she might have said yes if I’d asked sooner. And I realized that it was part of what was bothering me.
“Do you think I’m not proactive enough? Or… that I don’t really do things for myself?”
Nat frowned. “You know I’m not a psychiatrist.”
“Like that matters? I just want advice from my friend,” I asked, leaning back to look at her. A little kid flying a kite passed by. Their parents chased him, laughing together. Nat followed them with her eyes before looking back at me.
“I do. You’re getting better at it. I mean, when you went out with Steve just for yourself, the two of you buying crap just to have fun-”
“It wasn’t all ‘crap’,” I grumbled.
“It was good. You just having fun. It was good for both of you, really. But you need to start stepping forward and doing things for yourself. Ask a girl out when you’re scared to, hang out with people for the sake of it. Take that attitude you have for all this superhero work and use it in your life.”
I looked over at her. For a moment we were quiet.
“You going to take that advice for yourself?”
“Probably,” Nat shrugged. “Maybe if we do, Steve will too. I swear, he probably hasn’t kissed a girl since 44.”
“Uh…” I looked at her again. She smirked, ruby red lips suddenly very prominent.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“I don’t count.”
“Bullshit,” I grumbled. “The only woman hotter than you is Je-” I stopped, wincing.
Nat gave me a smile. “Oh? Now that explains a lot.”
“Damn it,” I grumbled.
“...We might die tomorrow,” Nat said simply.
I nodded. “Yeah. That’s a good point.”
We might die tomorrow. So get things done as soon as possible.
Except that I had a flight to catch. Damnit.
----
After we got back to the tower, I showered, got dressed, and headed to the briefing room. Creel gave me a nod as I entered. I nodded back, looking around as I entered. Skye and I winced as we met eyes.
In the room were Maria, Creel, Coulson, Fitz-Simmons, May, and Skye. Maria looked around as we sat down, nodding. “We were recently requested by the Russian government to send in a BRIDGE team and Avengers to aid them with an issue.”
“Just ‘an issue’?” Coulson asked.
“They won’t say completely what is going on,” Maria said.
“Oh, wow, the Russian government is being cagey? What’re the odds?” Skye said sarcastically.
“Skye,” Coulson said with a frown.
“What? Russia was basically the Empire from Star Wars in the eighties,” she scoffed.
“Things are, and were, a lot more complicated than that,” May admonished seriously. “Don’t let your perceptions cloud your judgment during a mission.”
“...fine,” Skye mumbled.
I don’t think anyone was convinced our former rebel hacker was really willing to let that go, but Maria continued.
“Your mission is to head to Russia and figure out what is going on. Liaison with the appointed contact and work with the Russian government on behalf of B.R.I.D.G.E,” Maria scowled. “It’s one of the nations that we have listed as possibly building weaponry and making superhuman powers. Be prepared for that. We don’t know if they are one of the nations, how far along they are, or what they could be doing. That is part of your job. No actual spying of course. No need to ignite issues between BRIDGE and Russia. But if you see something, say something,” she looked around at us. “Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Got it.”
“Sure thing.”
That seemed to be enough for her. “Good. Dismissed.”
We all got up and walked out. Coulson waited until we were all in the hallway before speaking. “Bring your armor and gauntlet, Dial, Creel. I don’t think we’ll need it, but I’d rather safe than sorry. Skye, bring your armor as well. I’d like to have the options available.”
“On it boss,” Skye said with a nod.
“May, I want the Bus ready to go in five.”
“You got it,” May turned and headed to the hanger.
“As far as we know, we don’t have a clue what sort of threat we’re facing. Be prepared for anything,” Coulson narrowed his eyes. “So. We’re off to Russia.”
Creel shook his head. “Damn. I am really bad with cold weather.”
“It’s April,” I reminded him. “Can’t be that cold.”
Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.
“Mahmoud,” Maria called from inside the briefing room. For some reason, she sounded as though she was moments from stabbing someone. So it scared the shit out of me when the next words out of her mouth were, “Can you come in here?”
Fitz frowned. “She sounds angry.”
“...Maybe I can escape?”
“Go face the firing squad,” Skye teased. Then we met eyes and both winced.
“Yeah, I’ll go,” I said hurriedly.
“Good luck,” Simmons whispered.
I stepped back inside. “Uh, hey Director. Something going on with the mission?”
“In a way,” Maria looked at me with harsh eyes.
“Hello,” X raised a hand behind her in a little wave. “I was recommending to Director Hill that I come along on your mission.”
“Explain. Now.”
I winced. “Okay, X, I appreciate it buddy, but maybe introduce yourself after we tell people.”
“Dial!”
“It wasn’t my fault!”
“Did I come at a bad time?”
Goddamnit, X.
----
On the Bus later, Skye, Simmons, and Fitz listened as I explained about X. We were in the science lab of the Bus, watching a model of X and Jarvis’ new bodies.
“Wait, so your personal AI butler has a body now?” Skye asked, looking mystified. “How long has he been planning on that?”
“I don’t know.”
“I thought you had more control over him,” Simmons had a worried look on her face.
“I have no control X doesn’t let me have,” I frowned. “X is my friend. Not my slave or something.”
“Simmons didn’t mean that,” Fitz put a hand on Simmons' shoulder, the British girl still worried. “But it doesn’t worry you that X just… made a body for himself? With no input from anyone else?”
“I mean, a little,” I admitted. “But it’s kind of like when a friend works out, or has plastic surgery done, right? You can’t be mad at someone for wanting something for themselves.”
“Mahmoud, this isn’t exactly the same,” Simmons protested. “This isn’t self-improvement or a change to someone’s appearance. X made a body for himself! A body with beyond superhuman durability and strength. And he can already control the Iron Legion drones. You should at least talk to him.”
“It’s X,” I said for emphasis. “I know him, down to his soul.”
“And if he gets reprogrammed and turned against us?” Fitz pointed out. “How much damage can he do?”
“Or if I get brainwashed?” I pointed out in turn, actually getting angry now. “Or any of us? We're all different kinds of dangerous. Hell Fitz, you can make a nuke out of baking soda and Twizzlers!”
"That would make a small bomb, at worst!" Fitz argued.
"Wait, really?" Skye asked, started.
“We’re just playing Devil’s Advocate,” Simmons said before Fitz could explain. “I know X. Fitz and Skye do as well. But others will ask these questions. They’ll even be worried about having cybernetics adding to them, like Deathlok was, and getting controlled that way. Artificial Intelligence, robotics, cybernetics, people have been tackling this for years! You need to be ready to have answers for them beyond ‘he is my friend.’ Because it won’t be us asking these questions one day.”
“I’m a little worried, myself,” Simmons gave Fitz a look when he spoke. He raised his hands up defensively. “Hey, I like Jarvis and X! But this does mean we’re much closer to the singularity than we were a week ago! If Jarvis and X have been able to do this, who knows what’s happening in the rest of the world?”
“The singularity?” I said. “That… thing about robots making robots?”
“Kind of,” Skye said. “It’s more that they’ll start designing smarter versions of themselves. One makes a smarter computer, makes a smarter one, on and on until we end up with one that can control reality with its mind.”
“Not quite, but close,” Fitz shrugged. “This isn’t the same. X and Jarvis haven’t made smarter AI or anything.”
“I’d have to throw a baby shower if they did,” I mumbled.
“What do you get an AI that had a kid?” Skye wondered.
“The point is,” Simmons said. “Fitz is right. While this is nowhere near the singularity, this is still AI making themselves bodies superior to organic ones. People will start screaming about the robot overlords. It doesn’t matter how logical we try to be, it will happen.”
“Well everyone and Elon Musk can suck it,” I grumbled.
“That’s an image,” Skye said wryly.
We stood in awkward silence for a bit. The sound of the Bus settling a bit while we flew was side by side with the various equipment shining blue lights on us.
“In uh,” Fitz coughed. “In the meantime, did you want to make any more changes to your armor, Skye?”
“Changes?” I asked, blinking. Skye winced.
“Yes,” Fitz flipped the hologram of X and Jarvis away to replace them with Skye’s armor. Except, it looked… different. For one, she’d changed the colors to be blue, a blue so dark it was almost black. For another, the design over all was changed as well. “First, since we had to change out the arc reactor for your Jury Rigg power source,” Stark couldn’t have too many arc reactors out in the world. “I’ve been monitoring it ever since you explained that Jury Rigg had somehow created a self-contained fusion reactor.”
“I play a lot of Fallout. And it uh… kind of effects how Jury Rigg designed that thing,” I admitted.
“Dude, you shoved a nuclear reactor into my armor,” Skye noted. Oh boy. Yeah, that was kind of an iffy thing to-
“Well, it’s fusion,” Fitz noted. “Not fission. Much cleaner for one, and much safer. Really, the public perception of nuclear energy is far overblown, it’s become so much safer nowadays!”
“Still though,” Skye mumbled.
Simmons chuckled. “Well, since Skye was worried about ‘becoming a Hulk’-”
“Kind of looking forward to it, to be honest,” Skye admitted. I decided not to mention that if anything actually did hit with enough force to cause the power source’s tough casing to crack and leak radiation, the blow would have killed her anyway.
“Fitz started studying the armor, finding ways to modify it,” Simmons flipped through the suit. “Most importantly-”
“No more Iron Man style helmet?” I asked Skye. I tried not to sound offended.
“Well… it just felt so claustrophobic in there!” she protested as the hologram zoomed in to show the new helmet. It had been replaced with a clear section that made a sort of diamond-shape over the face. “I like this a lot more. Makes me feel less like I’m trapped in a coffin.”
“We also changed the propulsion for what I call ‘pressure repulsion’! While the ‘air jets’ you created as Jury Rigg were fast, they were also very loud-”
“Insanely loud!” Skye complained. “Even Hulk complained about it!”
“So I redesigned it!” Fitz sounded particularly proud. Then he started speaking science while I pretended to understand, before ending in, “So now it’s far quieter, and the nature of the pressure fields are made specifically for stealth. It’s not nearly as fast, but much quieter.”
“I’ll just trust you on that one,” I said weakly.
“And I also made this!” he flipped a switch. And the holograms shoulders popped up to reveal a pair of shoulder guns. “They’re loaded with both Night-Night and regular bullets! So that, you know, she can-”
“Take people in alive or at least not burn the corpse to ash,” Skye said, with a chuckle. “I mean, thanks for the plasma gun palms, but we can’t always set the world on fire.”
“You aren’t practicing the right problem resolution skills,” I grumbled.
Skye looked at me. “Hey uh… you okay with this?”
That was hard to say. I’d made the armor for her. I’d made it as best as I could, to help her with her hacking while protecting her. I’d put every bit of Jury Rigg’s tiny red body into it. Now, looking at the suit… she’d taken my gift and made it her own thing. I had no idea how to feel. On the one hand, she was using it. On the other, she’d let Fitz change it so much that it barely resembled my original design.
I sucked in my displeasure. “It’s fine. It’s armor. And if it doesn’t do its job to your satisfaction, then you should be allowed to change. It’s cool. I don’t mind. It’s fine.”
“Thanks,” Skye said, relieved. “I’m really glad you’re okay with it.”
She went over to Fitz and I quickly walked out while they talked.
----
We were about three hours into our nine-hour flight when I got bored, went into the cockpit, and asked May to train me. She said yes and left the plane on autopilot, which surprised the hell out me, considering how standoffish she usually was.
“Okay,” May stood in the cargo bay in her workout clothes, holding a staff in her hands while looking me up and down. “How far has Natasha trained you with weapons?”
“Not a lot?” I said hesitantly, twisting the wooden sword in my hands. “Her main goal was making sure my hand-to-hand combat was solid first. She taught me some basics.”
“Good,” May said.
Then I was on the floor coughing in pain while May hummed to herself. “Okay. So you managed to block one hit.”
“P-Progress,” I mumbled, raising a thumb up.
She smirked, raising me back up when I lifted a hand to be helped. “Okay, let's go over this then. What have you learned?”
I raised my wooden sword. “Well, Nat mostly teaches me, has me practice, then we spar.”
“Okay, what have you learned?”
I took a guard stance. May looked me over, then adjust me a bit. “You’re using a single sword when in combat, right? How comfortable are you with holding it in one hand?”
“It’s pretty lightweight,” I said as an answer.
“Well, we’ll leave that for later,” May took a moment to adjust my stance again. “Okay. You’re not tall, but you’ve got a large build. You can use that to your advantage. Use your strength and weight advantage. Remember, leverage is how you get your damage. Puff your chest out, Captain America style. You aren’t using your arms for the swings.”
She led me through the moves, advising me over and over, then sparring briefly. After that, she showed me some more techniques, keeping me moving.
“How does an agent of SHIELD learn sword techniques, anyways?” I asked curiously at one point, the two of us side by side.
“Same way we all do,” May said with a shrug, taking a swing that I followed. “SHIELD Operations agents are trained for every possible encounter we can be trained for, and any weapon we might need to use. Swords, bows, crossbows, even alien weaponry.”
“Seriously?” I asked when she said the last one.
“We weren’t given actual alien weaponry, but we were taught to be ready to understand them as quickly as possible if need be,” she said with a shrug.
“Wish I could have gone to Operations school,” I said with a chuckle.
“You’re getting one on one attention from BRIDGE’s top martial artists and spies. That's a lot more personal training than the best students of Operations got,” May pointed out.
“Oh… Yeah, guess I don’t need it,” I looked over at her. “So uh… what do you think about this whole Russia thing?”
“I don’t,” she said.
“Oh, good.”
She kept swinging while talking. “High Guard,” she said, announcing the next stance we'd take. Once we moved to start swinging from a much higher stance, she spoke again. “I said it before. Only go into a mission with information. Not perception, prejudice, or emotion. Right now, we only know that Russia requested assistance. Assistance that requires Avengers, apparently. What does that mean?”
“We doing a Yoda lesson now?” I asked. “I have to look for the deeper meanings in everything?”
“We could just spar again, Anakin,” she teased.
“First, hurtful,” May huffed out an amused chuckle. “Second… they might be worried. But… I don’t know. They just asked for ‘Avengers’. Without really specifying.”
“Go on.”
“...They just wanted any Avenger. Didn’t matter who. And any BRIDGE team. So they don’t need a specific person or team?” I asked, confused. “Why? Why not request the exact people they need, or explain what the problem is?”
“There’s a reason we have Creel and you along,” May shook her head “Plow guard,” we moved into position and she continued. “Two very versatile Avengers. For most any situation we can face. With Coulson and the rest of us, the team that has dealt with maybe the most dangerous situations in the shortest amount of time of any BRIDGE team.”
“...Should be interesting,” I mumbled.
“Yeah,” May’s next swing practically split the air.
----
I took a nap after the workout with May. When I woke up and checked, we were about an hour or so from Moscow. I decided to grab a bite to eat. When I left one of the little rooms set up in the Bus for sleeping, I noticed Fitz-Simmons sitting nearby. They were looking through a sheaf of papers.
“Hey guys,” I said politely as I passed by to grab a sandwich from the bar. “What’re you up to?”
For some reason, they shared a nervous look. I wandered over to sit with them. Taking a big bite of the sandwich, I looked between the two. “What’d I miss?”
“Nothing!” both blurted out very quickly. I frowned.
“Well, color me convinced.”
Simmons sighed. “I don’t mean to be rude, Mahmoud, but this really is our business.”
“Oh. Yeah, that’s fair,” I took another bite of my sandwich. “I’ll head out then. Best of luck guys.”
“Thank you,” Fitz sighed. “We’ll need it.”
I got up and left to find someone else to bother.
----
Leopold Fitz/Scientist of BRIDGE
Simmons and Fitz waited until Mahmoud had left before opening the files in front of them.
“You don’t think I was too mean, do you?” Simmons said worriedly.
“What?” He stared at her in confusion, then shook his head. “No, no! You were right. This isn’t his business. We need to deal with it ourselves.”
Simmons nodded, then looked down at the files. “Okay. So they’re going through background checks right now. That means we need to approach Coulson and let him know about our decision. That we’re leaving, but we have people ready to help him.”
“You don’t think he’ll say no to them, do you?” Fitz asked.
“Why would he?” Simmons asked.
“Because he might be mad at us?” Fitz sighed. He leaned back in his chair, thinking carefully. “This whole thing is just messing with my head,” he rubbed his hands on his face with a groan. “How do we tell Coulson?”
“We have to be upfront, Fitz,” Simmons raised her folder like she was carrying a certain star-spangled shield. “Coulson has us for this mission. After that…”
The two looked at each other. After a long moment, they seemed to sag.
“...Are we really doing this?” Fitz asked. “Leaving Coulson? And Skye, and May? After everything? Should we?”
Simmons didn’t seem to have anything to say to that.
----
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
Later, in Russia
“H-H-How is it like t-t-this in April!?” I stuttered, rubbing my arms as we stepped off the plane into a world of ice and snow. All around us, soldiers and press had shown up. Usually, I’d have been really nervous to see all this stuff
“Y-Y-You should have brought a jacket,” Creel mumbled behind me.
Coulson led the group down the steps, Skye behind him, them May, Fitz, Simmons, me, and Creel.
“So Fitz hasn’t found a way to replicate the fusion cell you made,” Simmons whispered to me. “But it seems to be capable of creating vast amounts of clean energy. Not as much as an arc reactor, but enough that we can use it with the quantum batteries and-”
“Simmons, hold in your scientist until after we meet the scary people!” I hissed, trying to warm up while we walked past Lola, Coulson’s sweet convertible. “And when we get warm! Seriously, this isn’t jacket-wearing weather, this is lava-swimming weather! I want hot cocoa. Right the hell now.”
“Good afternoon!” A smiling Russian man was waiting at the bottom of the cargo bay doors of the Bus as we left the plane. He was short, overweight, and balding, with a very wide smile on his face. When he spoke, it was lightly accented, the way all ambassadors seemed to master with time. “Agent Coulson! We were quite eager to meet you!”
“I can tell,” Coulson said wryly, holding a hand out to shake, which the Russian man took. “Good to see you again, Boris.”
“Boris?” Skye asked as we joined the pair. “Really?”
“It was that or Yuri,” Boris chuckled. Still, his eyes did flash with a hint of annoyance, and Coulson gave Skye a look that she returned with an apologetic one. “My name is Boris Prokofiev, from the foreign consulate. And you, young lady?”
“Uh, Skye,” she shook his hand. “I-Is my name, I mean. Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you or anything. Sometimes my mouth runs ahead of my brain.”
Boris looked startled, then smiled. “Quite all right."
We all started introducing ourselves until Boris got to Creel and I. Then he let out a little gasp. “Ah, the Avengers! It is so nice to meet you, quite nice indeed!”
He shook my hand so hard I found myself wincing. “Uh, thanks. Nice to meet you as well.”
“Same here?” Creel asked, giving me a look like ‘the hell is he so happy about?’
“Oh, I really am so glad you are here!” Boris turned to the crowd and hit what I now realized was a mic on his lapel. When he spoke again, it was in Russian, my Omnitrix translating. It was helped by the fact that now “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome BRIDGE and the Avengers!” speakers rang out at the same time as his voice.
“Uh, what the hell?” Skye whispered to Coulson as the crowd clapped half-heartedly.
“...Propaganda,” Coulson said with dawning realization.
“And look who is here to welcome them!” Boris held up a hand. Instinct led me to step forward, twisting at the Omnitrix, May to my left and Creel to my right as the sound of an electricity crackling and the smell of ozone filled the air.
“Is Thor coming?” Simmons asked.
“No,” I said as we all stared at the sight of an absolutely massive white Armored Personnel Carrier with a giant red star on the side showing up, the back opening as it stopped. “It’s not Thor.”
We all watched as they stepped out.
A man in a red armored suit with a white star on it, carrying a grey triangular-shaped shield with a rounded top, the face of it displaying a two-headed griffon. I couldn’t see his hair or eye color because he had a red mask covering his face much like Steve’s, but what I could see of his jaw spoke of a certain strength. He was also built. Muscles on top of muscles. Just like Steve. Of course. He waved a hand proudly at the crowd as he exited, getting a cry of happiness from them.
Next came a young woman wearing what had to be one of the skimpiest outfits I’d ever seen, basically a very brief purple swimsuit, apparently unbothered by the cold. Her hair was a deep black, almost blue, and she was incredibly beautiful. Because of course, she was. She had a very haughty look on her face, flipping her hair as she followed the red-suited man.
The next person seemed as disgruntled with the cold as I was. Didn’t stop me from whispering ‘oh shit,’ when he hopped out. He had slicked back black hair, piercing black eyes, and was also built. Not like the guy in red though. This guy was lithe, built for speed, not strength. And of course, he wore a vest of lion skin that had been sewn and dyed to look like a lion's face, including the glowing yellow eyes, with the lion's mane left as a collar and the center split open so that his hairy chest was kept bare. He eyed us smugly as he hopped down from the APC. When he noticed me, his eyes flickered in a way that made me feel very uncomfortable. Like I was a deer in front of a rifle.
Then a loud boom filled the air as the next person stepped out. Almost as tall and wide as the Hulkbuster, it was deep crimson with touches of steel, made of dozens of metal plates interlocking together. Its helmet was simple, just a single line of clear material in a T shape to see through over the eyes. It’s shoulder plates were massive, same with its palms, and I could see small bursts of electricity arcing over its limbs, the cause of that ozone we'd smelled, as it clanked over to join its allies.
Darkness followed. I could talk about the golden armor he wore, with giant horns on the helmet and a skull over the chest that glowed red from the eyes and mouth with unholy light. But the darkness that wore the armor was my real focus. It looked like a darkly muscled giant as large as Hulk. But it felt like he was slowly sucking in the world around him. As though all light didn’t exist in his presence. It felt hard to breathe near him. Like my very life was pulled into the direction of that beast. I touched the Omnitrix and breathed deeply, closing my eyes. For some reason, after a moment of that, I felt better.
When I opened my eyes again, darkness guy was smiling in my direction. So was lion skin guy. I glared at them. Red suit guy glared at Creel, while Creel crossed his massive arms beside me.
Behind the group of obvious superhumans, a big guy in a green Russian military uniform with blonde hair rushed out of the APC’s driver's seat and ran over to join the group.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Boris said as the group walked over to stand across from us. “Please greet Vanguard!”
The red-suited guy waved his arm and got an eruption of noise.
“Crimson Dynamo!”
The massive armored man let out a burst of electric noise.
“Fantasma!”
The young woman flipped her hair and released a burst of purple sparks with the motion.
“The Hunter!”
Lion skin, who I was now pretty sure had the last name of Kravinoff, let out a cry that sounded half happy and half vicious roar.
“And Chernobog!”
The darkness raised his arms high. Against all odds, the affront to nature that pulled on my soul got a standing ovation.
“Your Winter Guard!”
“What the hell is this?” Creel mumbled behind me.
“Propaganda,” Coulson said again. “Straighten your chests guys. We’re fighting a very different battle.”