AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wwwwhy? Why am I writing another self insert? This is my third one! I need to be...
Dial (Ben10/Marvel Cinematic Universe SI)
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Omake: Infinite Universes 1
Author's Note: Chapter 100 is up on the patreon, but I wanted you guys to have a gift for the New Year. Enjoy!
Omake:
Greenwich Village, Spring of 2018, Earth 199999
In a street that had been covered in debris, a confrontation was beginning.
Tony Stark, Doctor Strange, Wong, and Bruce Banner strode forward together, watching as a blue beam of light is emitted from a donut-shaped ship above. The beam disappeared, revealing two figures. One, a thin elderly looking being with a massive flat space where a human nose would usually be. The other, a massive and towering being carrying a hammer and covered in armor, smirked at the group of heroes.
The elderly alien, a man who went by the name Ebony Maw, began to speak. As he did, none of those in the street saw a figure far above flying through the air, a green light emitting from it's back as it soared on orange wings.
The heroes and Ebony Maw traded quips for a moment, before the elderly man lost patience at Tony Stark.
Something he shared with many people. Ebony Maw told Cull Obsidian to charge, and with that, the battle began. No one noticed the green figure waiting above on the rooftop.
Tony Stark revealed his nanomachine armor when Bruce Banner was unable to transform, blasting away Cull Obsidian, only to be sent flying in turn. Cull Obsidian, angered by his sudden flight, rises up to his feet and prepares to reenter battle, launching his hammer at Tony.
A familiar green flash flies past Tony, bashing the hammer out of the air before it can hit Tony, before launching forward and punching Cull Obsidian in the face with enough force to shake the ground, sending him flying towards a nearby park.
"Hey, good to see you back, Bruce!" Tony shouted at the green figure. In turn, the figure looked over at him.
And Tony stared for a moment. "You uh… You're not Bruce."
"What tipped you off," the green figure teased. She smirked at him, then rocketed into the air towards the park. Tony, meanwhile, focused on Ebony Maw again, firing twin beams of energy at the alien, who blocked them with pieces of rubble.
Then Doctor Strange dropped from the sky to block a piece of tossed rubble on one of his shields, dropping it to let Iron Man fire another repulsor blast at Ebony Maw, whose face twisted in frustration.
Bruce, meanwhile, was slapping himself in the face as he ran in the middle of a grassy field. "Come on, Hulk! Come out, you're killing me he-"
"NOOO!" Bruce's face morphed, half of it becoming a sickly green collor, growing in size as a voice that wasn't his own screamed. Then it returned to normal, leaving him to fall back onto the grass. "No!" he screamed to the sky incredulously. "What do you mean no!?"
His internal struggle suddenly took a backseat to an external one when Cull Obsidian crash landed in the park, just a few feet away from him. Bruce staggered back, staring as the massive being rose to his feet. Cull snarled something, then noticed Bruce. A sickly grin spread on the muscular aliens face.
"Uh, hi?" Bruce said nervously.
Cull chuckled, raising his hammer to smash Bruce to paste. Bruce raised his arms uselessly, closing his eyes and wincing when her heard the hammer hit flesh.
It took a second for him to realize that he felt no pain. He opened his eyes, then gaped at the sight before him.
The hammer was being held by a being with skin of a green hue that he had only ever seen in reflections of broken glass. The figure was tall, built with muscle, and curvy. She was wearing workout shorts and a t-shirt, a pair of tough boots on her feet. Her long hair flowed in the wind. She turned her head to smirk at Bruce.
"Hey, cuz. Need a hand?" she said confidently.
"...Jenny?" Bruce stuttered in shock.
Cull, enraged, raised his hammer to strike once more. Jen kicked straight out. Her boots slammed deep into the groin of her opponent. Bruce winced as Cull gasped in shock and horror, before a relatively small fist uppercut him back.
"Don't touch my cousin," Jen growled, emerald fists clenched in fury. She bent her legs and jumped forward, cratering the ground beneath her.
Cull Obsidian, just getting to his feet, swung his hammer out at her, smashing her out of the air as it's chain extended out to keep throwing her..
"JENNY!" Bruce shouted in two voices.
Jen landed on her back, flipped back to her feet, and grabbed the chain hammer. She pulled, hard. Cull was lifted off his feet and towards her in a vicious tug, sent flying towards her. She spun around and roundhouse kicked him in the face, sending him back, before looking at Bruce. "If you can't help, hide, now!"
With that, Jen jumped back into the fray. Cull and her hit each other with immense force, sending shockwaves out from the impact as Bruce watched in stunned silence.
------
Back with Tony and Dr. Strange, Ebony Maw was still throwing pieces of the street at the pair.
"Will you just give up already?" Tony snarked, blocking a hail of bricks shaped into daggers with a shield made of nanobots. "You're getting your ass kicked."
"I think not. Your powers are fake and mercurial things, easy enough to overcome," Ebony Maw said to the two bearded men.
"Yeah, how's that working for you so far?" Strange said with a smirk, floating nearby to block an array of sharp stones from skewering him.
"You wanna run, let bygones be bygones?" Tony added, getting hit by a car. He rolled with the blow as Detroit steel shattered around his armored form, then flew forward to keep fighting.
"I will leave, when your corpses are cooling on the stones of this filthy rock," Ebony Maw snarled, ripping a sign off a building with his telekinesis and tossing it at the pair, only for a portal to open just in front of him to let the sign harmlessly fall into the Sahara Desert. Then another portal opened behind Ebony Maw, who spun to see Tony standing there to fire a shot at him, which Ebony Maw barely dodged. "Imputent little-"
The sound of an explosion drew their attention. All three fighters looked up to see the alien spaceship begin to list over. Ebony Maw stared upwards in rage as smoke poured out of a hole in the side.
"...You do that?" Tony asked Strange, who was also staring upwards.
"Nope. I think it was that guy."
A figure fell from the ship, landing next to Tony and Strange with a loud booming noise. A green flash of light was followed by a human man standing there, grinning. Like Tony and Strange, he had a beard. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail on the top of his head, and the sides were shaved. He was also wearing black armor with green highlights across it that covered his body, a large dial resting on his wrist.
"Wassup," the man grinned at Ebony Maw. "I am here to kick ass and chew bubblegum."
Ebony Maw snarled and launched a large truck at the trio. Tony raised a hand and blasted the truck out of the air. The man, to his credit, didn't flinch. "And I'm all out of bubblegum."
"Jesus, are you just a giant Fanboy?" Tony asked.
That made the man flinch and sigh. "Everytime, Tony. Everytime."
Then the man raised the large green dial on his wrist and pressed down on it. In a flash of light, he became a large being made of diamond.
"Diamondhead!"
Ebony Maw tossed another car, only for the crystal being to slice it in half by turning it's right hand into a sword. Then it looked over at Tony and Dr. Strange. "Am I doing this on my own, or do neither of you old guys want to help save the Earth?"
"OLD!?" Tony and Strange said in unison, sharing a sour look before raising their hands, magic and technology lighting up their palms.
Ebony Maw took one look at the gathered trio, eyes narrowed, and raised his hands, several objects rising into the air around him.
Then he was forced to toss aside Cull Obsidian when he came falling from the sky. The giant alien crashed into a building and wearily looked around, staggering to his feet.
The green woman from earlier dropped next to the diamond man, raising her fists. Wong showed up next, raising his arms to summon a magical shield. Tony's hands shifted into a pair of powerful cannons. Dr. Strange lifted into the air. And the diamond man clenched a fist of crystal with a sound like stone shattering, his sword hand slicing the air.
"Five on two," the crystal man growled.
"Offers still on the table," Tony added. "You can run to daddy if you want, tell him you screwed up."
"But if you come back," the green woman punched her fists together, a thunderclap echoing, and grinned. "It'll be for an ass-whooping."
"...When I come back," Ebony Maw said sourly. "It'll be to strip the flesh from your-"
"Yada, yada, yada," Tony cut him off.
"Go, you fucking moron. Go and start writing your will," Ebony Maw stared at the crystal man with eyes full of hate. Then a blue light came from the damaged ship, pulling the insensate Cull Obsidian and the enraged Ebony Maw into its depths before it lifted up into the air, pouring smoke while it took off.
Diamond guy shone a bright green, turning back into the human from earlier. Then he and the green woman turned to look at Wong, Tony, and Strange.
"So," Tony's helmet pulled back, revealing his face. "Any chance you two could explain what amusement park you came out of?"
"New York," the man said sarcastically, getting a chuckle from the woman. Then he scowled. "Seriously though. I'm Dial. This is She-Hulk. And we're Avengers from another world. And an arrogant badass named Professor Paradox sent us here to help yours."
Omake:
Greenwich Village, Spring of 2018, Earth 199999
In a street that had been covered in debris, a confrontation was beginning.
Tony Stark, Doctor Strange, Wong, and Bruce Banner strode forward together, watching as a blue beam of light is emitted from a donut-shaped ship above. The beam disappeared, revealing two figures. One, a thin elderly looking being with a massive flat space where a human nose would usually be. The other, a massive and towering being carrying a hammer and covered in armor, smirked at the group of heroes.
The elderly alien, a man who went by the name Ebony Maw, began to speak. As he did, none of those in the street saw a figure far above flying through the air, a green light emitting from it's back as it soared on orange wings.
The heroes and Ebony Maw traded quips for a moment, before the elderly man lost patience at Tony Stark.
Something he shared with many people. Ebony Maw told Cull Obsidian to charge, and with that, the battle began. No one noticed the green figure waiting above on the rooftop.
Tony Stark revealed his nanomachine armor when Bruce Banner was unable to transform, blasting away Cull Obsidian, only to be sent flying in turn. Cull Obsidian, angered by his sudden flight, rises up to his feet and prepares to reenter battle, launching his hammer at Tony.
A familiar green flash flies past Tony, bashing the hammer out of the air before it can hit Tony, before launching forward and punching Cull Obsidian in the face with enough force to shake the ground, sending him flying towards a nearby park.
"Hey, good to see you back, Bruce!" Tony shouted at the green figure. In turn, the figure looked over at him.
And Tony stared for a moment. "You uh… You're not Bruce."
"What tipped you off," the green figure teased. She smirked at him, then rocketed into the air towards the park. Tony, meanwhile, focused on Ebony Maw again, firing twin beams of energy at the alien, who blocked them with pieces of rubble.
Then Doctor Strange dropped from the sky to block a piece of tossed rubble on one of his shields, dropping it to let Iron Man fire another repulsor blast at Ebony Maw, whose face twisted in frustration.
Bruce, meanwhile, was slapping himself in the face as he ran in the middle of a grassy field. "Come on, Hulk! Come out, you're killing me he-"
"NOOO!" Bruce's face morphed, half of it becoming a sickly green collor, growing in size as a voice that wasn't his own screamed. Then it returned to normal, leaving him to fall back onto the grass. "No!" he screamed to the sky incredulously. "What do you mean no!?"
His internal struggle suddenly took a backseat to an external one when Cull Obsidian crash landed in the park, just a few feet away from him. Bruce staggered back, staring as the massive being rose to his feet. Cull snarled something, then noticed Bruce. A sickly grin spread on the muscular aliens face.
"Uh, hi?" Bruce said nervously.
Cull chuckled, raising his hammer to smash Bruce to paste. Bruce raised his arms uselessly, closing his eyes and wincing when her heard the hammer hit flesh.
It took a second for him to realize that he felt no pain. He opened his eyes, then gaped at the sight before him.
The hammer was being held by a being with skin of a green hue that he had only ever seen in reflections of broken glass. The figure was tall, built with muscle, and curvy. She was wearing workout shorts and a t-shirt, a pair of tough boots on her feet. Her long hair flowed in the wind. She turned her head to smirk at Bruce.
"Hey, cuz. Need a hand?" she said confidently.
"...Jenny?" Bruce stuttered in shock.
Cull, enraged, raised his hammer to strike once more. Jen kicked straight out. Her boots slammed deep into the groin of her opponent. Bruce winced as Cull gasped in shock and horror, before a relatively small fist uppercut him back.
"Don't touch my cousin," Jen growled, emerald fists clenched in fury. She bent her legs and jumped forward, cratering the ground beneath her.
Cull Obsidian, just getting to his feet, swung his hammer out at her, smashing her out of the air as it's chain extended out to keep throwing her..
"JENNY!" Bruce shouted in two voices.
Jen landed on her back, flipped back to her feet, and grabbed the chain hammer. She pulled, hard. Cull was lifted off his feet and towards her in a vicious tug, sent flying towards her. She spun around and roundhouse kicked him in the face, sending him back, before looking at Bruce. "If you can't help, hide, now!"
With that, Jen jumped back into the fray. Cull and her hit each other with immense force, sending shockwaves out from the impact as Bruce watched in stunned silence.
------
Back with Tony and Dr. Strange, Ebony Maw was still throwing pieces of the street at the pair.
"Will you just give up already?" Tony snarked, blocking a hail of bricks shaped into daggers with a shield made of nanobots. "You're getting your ass kicked."
"I think not. Your powers are fake and mercurial things, easy enough to overcome," Ebony Maw said to the two bearded men.
"Yeah, how's that working for you so far?" Strange said with a smirk, floating nearby to block an array of sharp stones from skewering him.
"You wanna run, let bygones be bygones?" Tony added, getting hit by a car. He rolled with the blow as Detroit steel shattered around his armored form, then flew forward to keep fighting.
"I will leave, when your corpses are cooling on the stones of this filthy rock," Ebony Maw snarled, ripping a sign off a building with his telekinesis and tossing it at the pair, only for a portal to open just in front of him to let the sign harmlessly fall into the Sahara Desert. Then another portal opened behind Ebony Maw, who spun to see Tony standing there to fire a shot at him, which Ebony Maw barely dodged. "Imputent little-"
The sound of an explosion drew their attention. All three fighters looked up to see the alien spaceship begin to list over. Ebony Maw stared upwards in rage as smoke poured out of a hole in the side.
"...You do that?" Tony asked Strange, who was also staring upwards.
"Nope. I think it was that guy."
A figure fell from the ship, landing next to Tony and Strange with a loud booming noise. A green flash of light was followed by a human man standing there, grinning. Like Tony and Strange, he had a beard. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail on the top of his head, and the sides were shaved. He was also wearing black armor with green highlights across it that covered his body, a large dial resting on his wrist.
"Wassup," the man grinned at Ebony Maw. "I am here to kick ass and chew bubblegum."
Ebony Maw snarled and launched a large truck at the trio. Tony raised a hand and blasted the truck out of the air. The man, to his credit, didn't flinch. "And I'm all out of bubblegum."
"Jesus, are you just a giant Fanboy?" Tony asked.
That made the man flinch and sigh. "Everytime, Tony. Everytime."
Then the man raised the large green dial on his wrist and pressed down on it. In a flash of light, he became a large being made of diamond.
"Diamondhead!"
Ebony Maw tossed another car, only for the crystal being to slice it in half by turning it's right hand into a sword. Then it looked over at Tony and Dr. Strange. "Am I doing this on my own, or do neither of you old guys want to help save the Earth?"
"OLD!?" Tony and Strange said in unison, sharing a sour look before raising their hands, magic and technology lighting up their palms.
Ebony Maw took one look at the gathered trio, eyes narrowed, and raised his hands, several objects rising into the air around him.
Then he was forced to toss aside Cull Obsidian when he came falling from the sky. The giant alien crashed into a building and wearily looked around, staggering to his feet.
The green woman from earlier dropped next to the diamond man, raising her fists. Wong showed up next, raising his arms to summon a magical shield. Tony's hands shifted into a pair of powerful cannons. Dr. Strange lifted into the air. And the diamond man clenched a fist of crystal with a sound like stone shattering, his sword hand slicing the air.
"Five on two," the crystal man growled.
"Offers still on the table," Tony added. "You can run to daddy if you want, tell him you screwed up."
"But if you come back," the green woman punched her fists together, a thunderclap echoing, and grinned. "It'll be for an ass-whooping."
"...When I come back," Ebony Maw said sourly. "It'll be to strip the flesh from your-"
"Yada, yada, yada," Tony cut him off.
"Go, you fucking moron. Go and start writing your will," Ebony Maw stared at the crystal man with eyes full of hate. Then a blue light came from the damaged ship, pulling the insensate Cull Obsidian and the enraged Ebony Maw into its depths before it lifted up into the air, pouring smoke while it took off.
Diamond guy shone a bright green, turning back into the human from earlier. Then he and the green woman turned to look at Wong, Tony, and Strange.
"So," Tony's helmet pulled back, revealing his face. "Any chance you two could explain what amusement park you came out of?"
"New York," the man said sarcastically, getting a chuckle from the woman. Then he scowled. "Seriously though. I'm Dial. This is She-Hulk. And we're Avengers from another world. And an arrogant badass named Professor Paradox sent us here to help yours."
Omake: Dial/Monster Hunter
Author's Note: An Omake commissioned by one of my patterns, who goes by Rolly. Good guy 
Hope you guys like it! And please consider supporting me on Patreon, where the new Dial chapter is already up.
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial:
It wasn't often that I got to meet the Grapplers. After all, whatever the good they had done over the last few months, they were still former criminals, assassins, and mercs working on a path to redemption. Not exactly people who showed up often to hang out, as much as I wished it.
Today was different. Victoria Hand had apparently worked with Maria Hill to give her team a day off, under supervision of course.
Deathlok, AKA Mike Peterson, had gone with Skye and Coulson to visit his son. Pietro was with Wanda, Steve, and Bruce in Sokovia. Davida and Helen went with Jen and Natasha to visit old friends they'd apparently made in Texas during their mercenary work. Ava Starr, aka Ghost, was in the tower with Bill Foster, the two apparently deciding to just enjoy the night as father and daughter.
I, meanwhile, had decided to hang out with a couple of the Grapplers I didn't really hang out with often.
Thankfully, we all shared a few interests.
"It's so cute!" a small pig plushie was raised up to a cheek. Melissa Gold, aka Songbird, hugged the anime toy to her happily for a moment. I let out a small chuckle as I watched her hug the toy. It was a good representation of the pig named Hawk, from Seven Deadly Sins.
"I can't believe they have this here!" the pixie-like superhero said, still cuddling the small plushie. "The anime isn't even out yet."
"Well, Forbidden Planet has been updating their stock, and the anime is supposed to come out in October. So they ended up picking up some of the merchandise early."
"Cool," Melissa looked around the store.
Just like when I'd gone in with Steve, the place was nerd haven. The store only had a few people around right now, one or two pretending they weren't staring at us while we shopped. I couldn't blame them.
"I'm going to buy this too," Mellisa picked up a plastic replica of a dagger with a green coloration and five holes set into it. As she playfully twisted it around, I noticed something awesome.
"I'm probably going to buy this," I said with a chuckle, picking up a Bowser toy that was about a foot tall. "He's my favorite Mario character."
"Mine's Yoshi," someone said behind us. Melissa and I turned to see Marian Pouncy walk up to us. The giant of a woman gave us a bashful look. "Yoshi's Island was my favorite game when I was a girl."
"I hear it was a good one," I noted the figure Marian was holding. "What's that?"
"Oh, it's a Hajime No Ippo statue," she held it up while doing a small dance in place. It was a black-haired anime character with boxing gloves and shorts doing a jab with a determined look on his face. "Ippo Makunouchi's my favorite character."
The last was said very shyly. It was very cute.
"Well, let's go buy this stuff," I said while looking around. "Before twitter gets word that superheroes are in here again."
At that, Marian and Melissa looked around. Around six guys were staring at them almost creepily, while a few others had their eyes on me. Marian blushed, while her shorter friend rolled her eyes. "Yeah, let's-"
My phone rang. The emergency line. I immediately ripped it from my pocket, Marian biting her lip as she watched and Melissa placing the pig and dagger down.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"News from the Hudson!" A BRIDGE operator's voice came through the speaker. "Some sort of, I don't know, dragon monster? It came out of the river and started rampaging! An unidentified individual has been keeping it away from the populace, but we need Avenger-level support! It's headed for Times Square!"
I was already running for the door. It was with some surprise that I realized that Melissa and Marian were running along with me. "You coming?"
"People need help," Marian said immediately.
I couldn't help the rush of pride I felt when she said that.
As soon as we were out, I activated the Omnitrix.
"Fasttrack!"
In my blue-furred form, I looked at Marian and Melissa. "I can carry you guys there at super-speed."
Marian stared at me, confused. "Aren't I too heavy?"
"You kidding? You're light as a feather," I scoffed at the giant woman. She may have been large, but I was pretty damn strong in Fasttrack form.
Still looking skeptical, she nodded her assent. I lifted her into my arms in a bridal carry. I'm sure it looked ridiculous, my blue form carrying a woman almost three feet and several dozen pounds of muscle larger than me, but I ignored it for simple practicality. I began running. The ambient sound faded briefly as Songbird forced it into solid form behind her as a pair of wings, taking off into the air and following me at the literal speed of sound.
We charged across the city, Marian in my arms. I dodged around cars and food stands, avoiding the people along the way, with Songbird flying high over me.
The sounds of chaos became very clear in the distance. The sound of buildings being hit by something massive, of explosions filling the air. I narrowed my eyes, trying to understand what was happening.
"This is Dial, heading in, can you give me any information?"
"The, I don't know, the tar dragon, is almost at Times Square. The boys in blue and our operatives have evacuated everyone we could, and the Mayor has announced a state of emergency!"
"Tell him to hold off on the tanks and assault rifles. We've got something bigger."
I spun around the corner, putting down Marian as I took in the sight ahead of me. Behind us was Times Square, the place completely empty, an eerie thing to see. Before us, the reason for today's problem came towards us.
"What the hell is that!?" Songbird yelled, dropping down next to us.
"A BP Oil Spill brought to life?" I said hesitantly.
A claw as large as I was slammed into a building, slashing through the concrete with ease. A roar split the air, Songbird glowing brighter as the sound hit us with physical force. Black tar dripped from its body, splashing across the ground and landing on a tree to pool on the asphalt. A tail as long as a bus lashed out, smashing into an SUV and sending it bouncing into a storefront, sending glass and metal everywhere.
It was shaped like a dragon, sure, but it was also covered in a thick black tar substance that kept pouring off of it. Spikes all down the length of its 160-foot long body, the spikes coming together on his head to form a horn. It had six limbs, with the front two doubling as both arms and wings. Eyes the color of blood glowed as it walked. Its jaw opened. Another loud roar split the air. And a tiny figure answered the call. As the three of us watched, a seventh story window shattered. And a man came leaping forth, carrying something that looked like a giant spear made of pink dragon scales as he roared.
As we watched in shock, he came down and slammed the spear into the head of the dragon, ignoring the fact he was about as tall as the dragon's head. The tip of the spear exploded on impact, sending the dragons head bouncing onto the asphalt. He landed on the ground as the dragon roared, rolling to his feet and facing the dragon, lifting a shield made of the same pink material as the spear.
He wasn't a tall man, about my height, but his armor gave him an intimidating appearance, covering him head to toe in grey and violet armor. He looked over his shoulder at us. Even with his helmet covering his entire face, I could see his eyes panning across us.
The dragon roared. He spun to focus on it, raising his giant spear. As I watched, he set his feet and fired off a shot from the hole at the end, just above the pink blade at the end of the spear.
For some reason, that triggered my memory. I hadn't played the games in my world, but I'd seen a few Let's Plays of it. As the realization hit, I spoke it aloud.
"Monster Hunter?" the guy in the armor flinched in surprise, but kept himself still as the dragon glared at him. The dragon shook, sending tar splashing everywhere. Before the guy could dodge, the black tar landed on him. It acted like a thick adhesive, keeping him trapped as he struggled against the stuff. The dragon stabbed forward with its horn, and the Monster Hunter braced himself. He didn't see the flash of green light behind him.
BOOM!
When he opened his eyes, it was to see two massive backs holding onto the head of the dragon. One had orange and black fur. The other wore a black tank-top that stretched over taut muscle.
"Listen here, giant-gooey-dragon-who-keeps-attacking-Rath's-city!" I roared, teeth grit as Marian and I stood side-by-side, holding back a dragon. "The only way anyone gets crushed, is if RATH DOES THE CRUSHING!"
Marian grit her teeth. "What he said!"
The dragon's eyes widened as we reared back a fist. As one, we punched. My claw let out a shockwave as it smashed into hardened tar and scales, while Poundcakes fist smashed right next to it, sending the massive titan back a step.
"Ṡ̸̗̫́̍͐Ć̸̱̳̪̻͓͙̋̓͆̎͋̿͐̚͝R̶͚̳̥͇͍̋̌͋̈́́̎͛̚ͅE̷̜̫͌́̋͌̇͠E̴̛̗̝͔̟̗͓̒̈̅͐̐̉͝C̴̩̖̣̹̳͓͔̒̾̈́̍͂H̵̡̡̨̤̱̬̺́̉̔̆͌̀͛ͅ!!!" From above us, Songbird let out a burst of pure sound energy, the pink blast slamming into the dragon. The thing was tougher than it looked, because it's response was to glare up at her and spit a blast of black tar from it's mouth. Songbird sang, blocking the tar with a forcefield. The dragon used that brief time to lash out at me.
I blocked it's arm with my body, the Monster Hunter running in to stab the same arm with his gunlance, which fired a blast at the same time. The dragon roared angrily, a section of it's throat beginning to glow as it got madder. On a second look, it looked kinda like a demon face.
Then the tar across the dragons body exploded, sending up blasts like grenades all around it.
I was sent back by the force, twisting around to land on my feet. I reached out to grab the Monster Hunter as he flew past, while Marian crashed into a van, getting out of it with scorch marks on her body. My own fur was on fire. I patted out the flames, put down the Monster Hunter, and the three of us rushed in.
The dragon roared it's challenge, running down the street towards us.
"Rath wants a fight!" I roared, undaunted by the train of tar and flesh bearing down on me. That was the great thing about Rath. The sheer confidence I felt as strength overwhelming flowed through my muscles, the wind rushing through my fur. "I'm not crouching, but you'll be sleeping!"
Also, Rath had the best insults, and no I'm not delusional.
Just before we could get to the dragon, it jumped over us.
Let me repeat that. It JUMPED over us, ignoring all physics that decided how giant monsters should move, to bound over us like a damn cat. I clawed up at it's belly as it passed, Marian punched upwards, and the Monster Hunter shot at it.
Tar dripped down from it's passing form, splashing onto my fur. I stared in horror as the sticky adhesive dripped down my body, clumping up my fur in bunches.
"...I'm going to kill you."
I ripped my way out of the tar just before the dragon, his mouth full of fire, blasted me in the chest. I roared in rage as the tar on my body, apparently made of some kind of explosive substance ignited and blew me back. My back hit a building, and I landed on my feet with a growl.
Marian smashed the dragon with a right cross, and the tar beast responded by trying to crush her with a claw. Marian caught the claw, asphalt cracking under her feet, her sneakers ripping apart under the force as she held up a giant claw with both her hands. The claw closed around her, lifting her off the ground and throwing her up into the air.
A pink platform caught Marian just before she could fall again. Marian gave Songbird a smile. "Thanks!"
"No problem!" Songbird sang. As she did, pink ribbons came from her back to wrap around the dragons front two legs. The thing struggled, trying to escape the bonds. Marian leaped from the platform to crash onto the dragons back.
The Monster Hunter hadn't stopped attacking in the meanwhile. He slid underneath the dragon, his weird gun-lance thing raised high, and began smashing the tip into the dragon, firing blasts as he went. The dragon turned, trying to get at him, only for the hunter to roll with the movement of the dragon, attacking like a relentless mosquito.
"Ungh! RATH HAS HAD ENOUGH!" I snapped up to my feet and pointed at the dragon. "LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, STUPID-FUR-RUINING-OVERGROWN-LIZARD! YOU WILL PAY FOR MESSING WITH THE GLOSSY AND WONDERFUL SHEEN OF RATH'S BEAUTIFUL FUR!"
I lunged forward, running towards the dragon. It sprayed it's oily tar at me. I dodged it and kept running, ducking under a claw to land next to the Monster Hunter.
"Let's do this!" I yelled at the hunter. He gave me a nod, and we stabbed forward together. I jumped onto a claw when it came slashing at me, then up into the air. "FROM THE TOP ROPE! URSA MAJOR BODY SLAM!"
I slashed with my claws as I hit the dragon's neck with my body weight, sending him back a step. The dragon twisted to roll over on top of me and Marian. I scowled. "Okay, dragon! You can act like you're the biggest, but Rath is the biggest, and anything bigger is gonna be not bigger when I take it and make it smaller! THEN RATH IS BIGGEST! BY DEFAULT!"
"...So this alien is dumb," Marian said thoughtfully.
"I like to think it's part of Rath's charm," I said calmly.
The Monster Hunter yelled out. The Omnitrix beeped, and midway through his talking, I could understand him. His voice was somehow higher than expected, but with a guttural undertone. "-getting angry!"
"Rath is always a little angry," I said, confused.
"No, Gogmazios!" the Monster Hunter pointed at the dragon, which was still struggling to fight out of the giant pink ribbons wrapped around it even as it's other limbs forced it to move.
"Guys!" Songbird landed next to us, clenching her throat. She looked pained. "I can't hold it for much longer!"
"Then-" Marian was interrupted by the dragon, Gogmazios apparently. Because he exploded again. But with even more force. Across his body, the tar that had been dripping off him ignited as the enraged beast let out a roar.
The ribbons shattered apart in a burst of light, the explosion sent us flying. I grabbed Songbird out of the air and hugged her to my chest as we twisted in the air. Gogmazios lifted his winged arms and roared triumphantly.
I twisted around and let Songbird go. She unleashed her wings and grabbed my arm, turning our tumble into a glide. Gogmazios' eyes landed on us floating in the air. Before we could do anything, he reared his head back. The weird demon face on his throat began to glow. Songbird raised a shield of pink energy. The dragon fired a blast of oil at us from its mouth. The moment it left its mouth, the oil was superheated, igniting into boiling firebeam that slammed into the wall of solid sound. Songbird screamed, trying to hold the shield, but it was beginning to crack. Gogmazios' beam exploded. And the sound of repulsors filled the air.
Iron Man flew around us and thrust his chest out. "UNIBEAM!"
At his voice command, his arc reactor lit up. A blue-white repulsor beam as tall as Songbird came from his chest, hitting the superheated oil moments before it could hit us. The two beams clashed and exploded, leaving us with a view of Tony's back while he faced a dragon in the streets of New York.
"Can't leave you alone for two minutes, huh Fanboy?" Tony looked over his shoulder at us. "Always getting in trouble."
"Rath is a trouble-solver!" I said with a laugh.
The dragon raised his head. His wings rose. Then they beat downward. A massive gust was sent out, sending debris and tar spraying everywhere, soaking buildings windows in the stuff. Tony hit one large ball of tar with his repulsor before it could hit him.
Then, the dragon froze. Something rose from the center of it's back. I stared uncomprehendingly as a white hooded figure rose through him, dropped two round objects on the same spot Marian had punched earlier, then ran along his back. The round objects exploded as the white armored figure leaped off the head of the dragon.
A massive cracking noise filled the air, and the dragon roared in anger. His back spikes shattered in an ugly rending sound. The white figure landed and rolled on the ground as Songbird dropped me down.
"Ava?" I asked, surprised.
Ghost stared at us through the red eyes on her mask. Then she looked over at the Monster Hunter, who joined us as the dragon staggered in the background. "You the owner of that guy?"
Running up to us, came a small… cat. Its fur was a dark black, and its eyes were a beautiful green. It was also wearing clothes. An adorable blue and white hoodie with fur lining. It came to us and stood up on two legs before me.
"It's so cute," Marian said, clenching her fists under her chin at the sight of the little thing, Songbird looking similarly surprised.
"This thing showed up in the tower," Tony said. "Came out of some sort of portal."
"Yeah, and he kept wanting to head over her," Ghost said, sounding annoyed.
For a minute, we stared at each other, one cat at another. As we did, the Omnitrix beeped, glowing yellow with the light of a newly scanned alien.
Then, Gogmazios was hit by dozens of arrows, which exploded across its body. Hawkeye glided down towards us, coming to a stop and staring at the small cat. "Who brought a kids toy along?"
The cat hissed at him. Before we could say anything, Gogmazios demanded our attention.
"SCREEEEEAACH!" dripping hot tar splashed out around us. His mouth glowed, the 'face' under his throat lighting up. Songbird made a pink barrier. I leaped out with Marian and Tony, the three of us ready to take the blow. The dragon unleashed a long stream of orange-white burning tar, the sheer heat of the attack melting tires as it passed before slamming into Songbird's barrier. Hawkeye let off a grappling line to one of the buildings, shooting up into the air, letting the line go and gliding on his cloak, firing shot after shot at the dragon as it continued to blast at us. The Monster Hunter and his cat ran along the ground, the Monster Hunter shooting at the dragon while his cat pulled out a rapier and started rushing along the dragon, stabbing at it over and over again as his master unleashed hell with that Gunlance of his.
Songbird's barrier shattered. Marian, Tony, and I were hit by a massive boiling hot blast, which exploded and sent us flying back like dust in a storm. Tony spun around in the air and flew up, joining Hawkeye in aerial bombardment. Songbird flew up and caught Marian on a pink barrier. Poundcakes jumped back into battle, ignoring the black oil burning on her to punch the dragon in the head, cracking the scales there apart.
I, in the meantime, hit a building again. I groaned in pain, spinning up to face the dragon.
Songbird had joined Hawkeye and Iron Man in fighting the dragon from the air, using her powers to bind it as best as she could in pink ribbons. Iron Man hit it with repulsor blasts, sending chunks flying about, while Hawkeye continued to switch between gliding and grappling his way around the air while unleashing as many arrows as he could at the thing. Ghost ran through the dragon, avoiding the monster's attacks with careful application of her intangibility, then dropping grenades. The cat kept stabbing at the dragon with it's rapier, sending pieces of hardened tar up.
On the ground, Marian was hitting the dragon with everything she had, sending shockwaves with each landing of her fists. The Monster Hunter rolled around a claw, took a tail swipe on his shield, and stabbed the tail as it passed. His gunlance exploded into the tail, and a massive piece of tail was ripped off.
Gogmazios beat his wings. The last pieces of tar flew off his form. And he lifted upwards.
As I stared at him, the dragon flew up and up, moving into Times Square, ripping apart the pink bonds Songbird had made. It was running away!
I reached for the Omnitrix and tapped it. I needed a flying form, something that could bring this thing down! Something to match it. Astrodactyl or Big Chill would do.
I turned into neither one of those.
Instead, Rath's fur gave way to green scales. My body grew outwards, my front arms becoming legs, while two wings grew from my back. My eyes began to glow a bright green. I grew out and out until I was half the length of Gogmazios. I flared my wings out, eyes glaring at Gogmazios.
"Didn't you just get this form?" Hawkeye asked as he glided past.
"I did… let's test it out," I beat my wings, lifting into the air. Together, we rushed for the flying dragon.
Gogmazios had enough time to glance upward before I tackled him in the chest. He screamed, clawing at me as we twisted in the air.
"Somebody get me some damn popcorn!" Tony yelled with glee as we slammed into the red steps in the center of Times Square. A news helicopter flew overhead, the Times Square screens around us displaying our fight. Gogmazios rolled on top of me as we shatter the concrete under us, blasting me. An explosion with me at the center went up several stories.
""BA-REE-AAAARRRUUUURRNN!!!" I roared as I replied to his blast with my own attack, fire-like energy gathering in my mouth before hitting the other dragon in the chest. His chest cracked under the assault, while we kept hitting each other.
Tony flew up to my head and unleashed a unibeam attack, the blue of his arc reactors blast mixing with my fire-like attack to swirl and smash the dragon. Marian ran up with both fists and uppercut the dragon. It's mouth shut from the force of her blow. In desperation, it slammed a claw into the ground and swept it outward, sending hot coal up in all directions, then beat its wings to rise again. Hawkeye, in an incredible move that would have made even the Russian judges give him a 10, flipped over the dragon and fired ten shots from his bow. They landed across its wings and blew up into balls of green goop that bubbled up, covering it in the synthetic foam. Gogmazios tried to explode again, but the foam kept him from igniting.
The Monster Hunter, seeing the opening, ran in and stabbed the dragon in the chest, blood and oil covering his armor. His gunlance exploded. For a moment, Gogmazios and the Monster Hunter met eyes, the dragon filled with hate, the hunter filled with determination.
His lance exploded again and again as he pushed deep into the dragon's chest, like he was drilling to its heart. Gogmazios reached to grab the Monster Hunter. I flew in, grabbed his head, then spun around to his back, pulling his head back. Marian grabbed his left wing claw and pulled it back with all her strength. Songbird went to the other arm and sang an area, surrounding that limb in pink spikes that stabbed deep into its winged arm then into the asphalt, keeping it still. The dragon tried to lift off, but Hawkeye shot dozens of arrows at the dragon's wings, until it was trapped under gooey green substance. Ghost grabbed the cat before it could be crushed under the dragon, rolling away.
Iron Man dropped from the sky. Catoms on his right arm flowed forward to form a four-foot-blade. He stabbed it into the dragon's chest, right next to the Monster Hunters lance. The Hunter and Tony yelled in unison, gunlance firing the biggest shot yet while Iron Man's red blade let out a repulsor blast. The dragon screamed one last cry. Then it exploded.
We were all sent flying into the air, television screens cracking. I slid past Ghost, who ignored the buffeting storm as the shockwaves passed through her, and landed on my tail, bending it awkwardly. I hurried to my feet, staring at the dragon.
Gogmazios gurgled aloud, scratching at the asphalt underneath. I beat my wings and flew up and around, crouching in front of it. Gogmazios stared at us, breathing heavily, blood and tar dripping from it's chest. The Monster Hunter stood before the dragon, his armor damaged, while his cat lifted his rapier into a ready stance. Tony aimed a repulsor at the dragon with his right arm, while his left arm stayed in blade form by his side. Marian stood in a boxing stance, Hawkeye landed on a lamppost, and Songbird floated to join us on the ground, rubbing her throat with a pained look on her face. Ghost went through a car to join us, bouncing another grenade in her palm (where was she keeping them all?)
Gogmazios raised his head high. Then, slowly, he lowered down, his head slamming into the earth. The bright glow of his eyes faded away.
I stared down at him. After a fight like that, where a single creature took on an Avenger's level team, I felt a sense of solemness fill me. I wished we could have found a way to capture the creature, but with no real knowledge of how much power it had, our only choice had been to kill it. Necessary, but sad-
The sound of a knife going through flesh filled the air. I stared at the source of the sound.
"...That is so gross," Tony said softly.
The Monster Hunter was slicing into the dragon, happily inspecting pieces of the dragon as he passed them to the cat, who cutely started placing them in piles. At one point, the Monster Hunter noted me. He eyed my dragon-like form, eyes panning across my tail, wings, and claws.
"..." I stepped back nervously, while Tony stepped in front of me.
"No. Bad… dragon killing… lance guy," Tony said, confused.
"This has been such an odd day," Marian said in the background as we watched the Monster Hunter continue cutting a truck-sized monster to small pieces.
Hope you guys like it! And please consider supporting me on Patreon, where the new Dial chapter is already up.Mahmoud Schahed/Dial:
It wasn't often that I got to meet the Grapplers. After all, whatever the good they had done over the last few months, they were still former criminals, assassins, and mercs working on a path to redemption. Not exactly people who showed up often to hang out, as much as I wished it.
Today was different. Victoria Hand had apparently worked with Maria Hill to give her team a day off, under supervision of course.
Deathlok, AKA Mike Peterson, had gone with Skye and Coulson to visit his son. Pietro was with Wanda, Steve, and Bruce in Sokovia. Davida and Helen went with Jen and Natasha to visit old friends they'd apparently made in Texas during their mercenary work. Ava Starr, aka Ghost, was in the tower with Bill Foster, the two apparently deciding to just enjoy the night as father and daughter.
I, meanwhile, had decided to hang out with a couple of the Grapplers I didn't really hang out with often.
Thankfully, we all shared a few interests.
"It's so cute!" a small pig plushie was raised up to a cheek. Melissa Gold, aka Songbird, hugged the anime toy to her happily for a moment. I let out a small chuckle as I watched her hug the toy. It was a good representation of the pig named Hawk, from Seven Deadly Sins.
"I can't believe they have this here!" the pixie-like superhero said, still cuddling the small plushie. "The anime isn't even out yet."
"Well, Forbidden Planet has been updating their stock, and the anime is supposed to come out in October. So they ended up picking up some of the merchandise early."
"Cool," Melissa looked around the store.
Just like when I'd gone in with Steve, the place was nerd haven. The store only had a few people around right now, one or two pretending they weren't staring at us while we shopped. I couldn't blame them.
"I'm going to buy this too," Mellisa picked up a plastic replica of a dagger with a green coloration and five holes set into it. As she playfully twisted it around, I noticed something awesome.
"I'm probably going to buy this," I said with a chuckle, picking up a Bowser toy that was about a foot tall. "He's my favorite Mario character."
"Mine's Yoshi," someone said behind us. Melissa and I turned to see Marian Pouncy walk up to us. The giant of a woman gave us a bashful look. "Yoshi's Island was my favorite game when I was a girl."
"I hear it was a good one," I noted the figure Marian was holding. "What's that?"
"Oh, it's a Hajime No Ippo statue," she held it up while doing a small dance in place. It was a black-haired anime character with boxing gloves and shorts doing a jab with a determined look on his face. "Ippo Makunouchi's my favorite character."
The last was said very shyly. It was very cute.
"Well, let's go buy this stuff," I said while looking around. "Before twitter gets word that superheroes are in here again."
At that, Marian and Melissa looked around. Around six guys were staring at them almost creepily, while a few others had their eyes on me. Marian blushed, while her shorter friend rolled her eyes. "Yeah, let's-"
My phone rang. The emergency line. I immediately ripped it from my pocket, Marian biting her lip as she watched and Melissa placing the pig and dagger down.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"News from the Hudson!" A BRIDGE operator's voice came through the speaker. "Some sort of, I don't know, dragon monster? It came out of the river and started rampaging! An unidentified individual has been keeping it away from the populace, but we need Avenger-level support! It's headed for Times Square!"
I was already running for the door. It was with some surprise that I realized that Melissa and Marian were running along with me. "You coming?"
"People need help," Marian said immediately.
I couldn't help the rush of pride I felt when she said that.
As soon as we were out, I activated the Omnitrix.
"Fasttrack!"
In my blue-furred form, I looked at Marian and Melissa. "I can carry you guys there at super-speed."
Marian stared at me, confused. "Aren't I too heavy?"
"You kidding? You're light as a feather," I scoffed at the giant woman. She may have been large, but I was pretty damn strong in Fasttrack form.
Still looking skeptical, she nodded her assent. I lifted her into my arms in a bridal carry. I'm sure it looked ridiculous, my blue form carrying a woman almost three feet and several dozen pounds of muscle larger than me, but I ignored it for simple practicality. I began running. The ambient sound faded briefly as Songbird forced it into solid form behind her as a pair of wings, taking off into the air and following me at the literal speed of sound.
We charged across the city, Marian in my arms. I dodged around cars and food stands, avoiding the people along the way, with Songbird flying high over me.
The sounds of chaos became very clear in the distance. The sound of buildings being hit by something massive, of explosions filling the air. I narrowed my eyes, trying to understand what was happening.
"This is Dial, heading in, can you give me any information?"
"The, I don't know, the tar dragon, is almost at Times Square. The boys in blue and our operatives have evacuated everyone we could, and the Mayor has announced a state of emergency!"
"Tell him to hold off on the tanks and assault rifles. We've got something bigger."
I spun around the corner, putting down Marian as I took in the sight ahead of me. Behind us was Times Square, the place completely empty, an eerie thing to see. Before us, the reason for today's problem came towards us.
"What the hell is that!?" Songbird yelled, dropping down next to us.
"A BP Oil Spill brought to life?" I said hesitantly.
A claw as large as I was slammed into a building, slashing through the concrete with ease. A roar split the air, Songbird glowing brighter as the sound hit us with physical force. Black tar dripped from its body, splashing across the ground and landing on a tree to pool on the asphalt. A tail as long as a bus lashed out, smashing into an SUV and sending it bouncing into a storefront, sending glass and metal everywhere.
It was shaped like a dragon, sure, but it was also covered in a thick black tar substance that kept pouring off of it. Spikes all down the length of its 160-foot long body, the spikes coming together on his head to form a horn. It had six limbs, with the front two doubling as both arms and wings. Eyes the color of blood glowed as it walked. Its jaw opened. Another loud roar split the air. And a tiny figure answered the call. As the three of us watched, a seventh story window shattered. And a man came leaping forth, carrying something that looked like a giant spear made of pink dragon scales as he roared.
As we watched in shock, he came down and slammed the spear into the head of the dragon, ignoring the fact he was about as tall as the dragon's head. The tip of the spear exploded on impact, sending the dragons head bouncing onto the asphalt. He landed on the ground as the dragon roared, rolling to his feet and facing the dragon, lifting a shield made of the same pink material as the spear.
He wasn't a tall man, about my height, but his armor gave him an intimidating appearance, covering him head to toe in grey and violet armor. He looked over his shoulder at us. Even with his helmet covering his entire face, I could see his eyes panning across us.
The dragon roared. He spun to focus on it, raising his giant spear. As I watched, he set his feet and fired off a shot from the hole at the end, just above the pink blade at the end of the spear.
For some reason, that triggered my memory. I hadn't played the games in my world, but I'd seen a few Let's Plays of it. As the realization hit, I spoke it aloud.
"Monster Hunter?" the guy in the armor flinched in surprise, but kept himself still as the dragon glared at him. The dragon shook, sending tar splashing everywhere. Before the guy could dodge, the black tar landed on him. It acted like a thick adhesive, keeping him trapped as he struggled against the stuff. The dragon stabbed forward with its horn, and the Monster Hunter braced himself. He didn't see the flash of green light behind him.
BOOM!
When he opened his eyes, it was to see two massive backs holding onto the head of the dragon. One had orange and black fur. The other wore a black tank-top that stretched over taut muscle.
"Listen here, giant-gooey-dragon-who-keeps-attacking-Rath's-city!" I roared, teeth grit as Marian and I stood side-by-side, holding back a dragon. "The only way anyone gets crushed, is if RATH DOES THE CRUSHING!"
Marian grit her teeth. "What he said!"
The dragon's eyes widened as we reared back a fist. As one, we punched. My claw let out a shockwave as it smashed into hardened tar and scales, while Poundcakes fist smashed right next to it, sending the massive titan back a step.
"Ṡ̸̗̫́̍͐Ć̸̱̳̪̻͓͙̋̓͆̎͋̿͐̚͝R̶͚̳̥͇͍̋̌͋̈́́̎͛̚ͅE̷̜̫͌́̋͌̇͠E̴̛̗̝͔̟̗͓̒̈̅͐̐̉͝C̴̩̖̣̹̳͓͔̒̾̈́̍͂H̵̡̡̨̤̱̬̺́̉̔̆͌̀͛ͅ!!!" From above us, Songbird let out a burst of pure sound energy, the pink blast slamming into the dragon. The thing was tougher than it looked, because it's response was to glare up at her and spit a blast of black tar from it's mouth. Songbird sang, blocking the tar with a forcefield. The dragon used that brief time to lash out at me.
I blocked it's arm with my body, the Monster Hunter running in to stab the same arm with his gunlance, which fired a blast at the same time. The dragon roared angrily, a section of it's throat beginning to glow as it got madder. On a second look, it looked kinda like a demon face.
Then the tar across the dragons body exploded, sending up blasts like grenades all around it.
I was sent back by the force, twisting around to land on my feet. I reached out to grab the Monster Hunter as he flew past, while Marian crashed into a van, getting out of it with scorch marks on her body. My own fur was on fire. I patted out the flames, put down the Monster Hunter, and the three of us rushed in.
The dragon roared it's challenge, running down the street towards us.
"Rath wants a fight!" I roared, undaunted by the train of tar and flesh bearing down on me. That was the great thing about Rath. The sheer confidence I felt as strength overwhelming flowed through my muscles, the wind rushing through my fur. "I'm not crouching, but you'll be sleeping!"
Also, Rath had the best insults, and no I'm not delusional.
Just before we could get to the dragon, it jumped over us.
Let me repeat that. It JUMPED over us, ignoring all physics that decided how giant monsters should move, to bound over us like a damn cat. I clawed up at it's belly as it passed, Marian punched upwards, and the Monster Hunter shot at it.
Tar dripped down from it's passing form, splashing onto my fur. I stared in horror as the sticky adhesive dripped down my body, clumping up my fur in bunches.
"...I'm going to kill you."
I ripped my way out of the tar just before the dragon, his mouth full of fire, blasted me in the chest. I roared in rage as the tar on my body, apparently made of some kind of explosive substance ignited and blew me back. My back hit a building, and I landed on my feet with a growl.
Marian smashed the dragon with a right cross, and the tar beast responded by trying to crush her with a claw. Marian caught the claw, asphalt cracking under her feet, her sneakers ripping apart under the force as she held up a giant claw with both her hands. The claw closed around her, lifting her off the ground and throwing her up into the air.
A pink platform caught Marian just before she could fall again. Marian gave Songbird a smile. "Thanks!"
"No problem!" Songbird sang. As she did, pink ribbons came from her back to wrap around the dragons front two legs. The thing struggled, trying to escape the bonds. Marian leaped from the platform to crash onto the dragons back.
The Monster Hunter hadn't stopped attacking in the meanwhile. He slid underneath the dragon, his weird gun-lance thing raised high, and began smashing the tip into the dragon, firing blasts as he went. The dragon turned, trying to get at him, only for the hunter to roll with the movement of the dragon, attacking like a relentless mosquito.
"Ungh! RATH HAS HAD ENOUGH!" I snapped up to my feet and pointed at the dragon. "LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, STUPID-FUR-RUINING-OVERGROWN-LIZARD! YOU WILL PAY FOR MESSING WITH THE GLOSSY AND WONDERFUL SHEEN OF RATH'S BEAUTIFUL FUR!"
I lunged forward, running towards the dragon. It sprayed it's oily tar at me. I dodged it and kept running, ducking under a claw to land next to the Monster Hunter.
"Let's do this!" I yelled at the hunter. He gave me a nod, and we stabbed forward together. I jumped onto a claw when it came slashing at me, then up into the air. "FROM THE TOP ROPE! URSA MAJOR BODY SLAM!"
I slashed with my claws as I hit the dragon's neck with my body weight, sending him back a step. The dragon twisted to roll over on top of me and Marian. I scowled. "Okay, dragon! You can act like you're the biggest, but Rath is the biggest, and anything bigger is gonna be not bigger when I take it and make it smaller! THEN RATH IS BIGGEST! BY DEFAULT!"
"...So this alien is dumb," Marian said thoughtfully.
"I like to think it's part of Rath's charm," I said calmly.
The Monster Hunter yelled out. The Omnitrix beeped, and midway through his talking, I could understand him. His voice was somehow higher than expected, but with a guttural undertone. "-getting angry!"
"Rath is always a little angry," I said, confused.
"No, Gogmazios!" the Monster Hunter pointed at the dragon, which was still struggling to fight out of the giant pink ribbons wrapped around it even as it's other limbs forced it to move.
"Guys!" Songbird landed next to us, clenching her throat. She looked pained. "I can't hold it for much longer!"
"Then-" Marian was interrupted by the dragon, Gogmazios apparently. Because he exploded again. But with even more force. Across his body, the tar that had been dripping off him ignited as the enraged beast let out a roar.
The ribbons shattered apart in a burst of light, the explosion sent us flying. I grabbed Songbird out of the air and hugged her to my chest as we twisted in the air. Gogmazios lifted his winged arms and roared triumphantly.
I twisted around and let Songbird go. She unleashed her wings and grabbed my arm, turning our tumble into a glide. Gogmazios' eyes landed on us floating in the air. Before we could do anything, he reared his head back. The weird demon face on his throat began to glow. Songbird raised a shield of pink energy. The dragon fired a blast of oil at us from its mouth. The moment it left its mouth, the oil was superheated, igniting into boiling firebeam that slammed into the wall of solid sound. Songbird screamed, trying to hold the shield, but it was beginning to crack. Gogmazios' beam exploded. And the sound of repulsors filled the air.
Iron Man flew around us and thrust his chest out. "UNIBEAM!"
At his voice command, his arc reactor lit up. A blue-white repulsor beam as tall as Songbird came from his chest, hitting the superheated oil moments before it could hit us. The two beams clashed and exploded, leaving us with a view of Tony's back while he faced a dragon in the streets of New York.
"Can't leave you alone for two minutes, huh Fanboy?" Tony looked over his shoulder at us. "Always getting in trouble."
"Rath is a trouble-solver!" I said with a laugh.
The dragon raised his head. His wings rose. Then they beat downward. A massive gust was sent out, sending debris and tar spraying everywhere, soaking buildings windows in the stuff. Tony hit one large ball of tar with his repulsor before it could hit him.
Then, the dragon froze. Something rose from the center of it's back. I stared uncomprehendingly as a white hooded figure rose through him, dropped two round objects on the same spot Marian had punched earlier, then ran along his back. The round objects exploded as the white armored figure leaped off the head of the dragon.
A massive cracking noise filled the air, and the dragon roared in anger. His back spikes shattered in an ugly rending sound. The white figure landed and rolled on the ground as Songbird dropped me down.
"Ava?" I asked, surprised.
Ghost stared at us through the red eyes on her mask. Then she looked over at the Monster Hunter, who joined us as the dragon staggered in the background. "You the owner of that guy?"
Running up to us, came a small… cat. Its fur was a dark black, and its eyes were a beautiful green. It was also wearing clothes. An adorable blue and white hoodie with fur lining. It came to us and stood up on two legs before me.
"It's so cute," Marian said, clenching her fists under her chin at the sight of the little thing, Songbird looking similarly surprised.
"This thing showed up in the tower," Tony said. "Came out of some sort of portal."
"Yeah, and he kept wanting to head over her," Ghost said, sounding annoyed.
For a minute, we stared at each other, one cat at another. As we did, the Omnitrix beeped, glowing yellow with the light of a newly scanned alien.
Then, Gogmazios was hit by dozens of arrows, which exploded across its body. Hawkeye glided down towards us, coming to a stop and staring at the small cat. "Who brought a kids toy along?"
The cat hissed at him. Before we could say anything, Gogmazios demanded our attention.
"SCREEEEEAACH!" dripping hot tar splashed out around us. His mouth glowed, the 'face' under his throat lighting up. Songbird made a pink barrier. I leaped out with Marian and Tony, the three of us ready to take the blow. The dragon unleashed a long stream of orange-white burning tar, the sheer heat of the attack melting tires as it passed before slamming into Songbird's barrier. Hawkeye let off a grappling line to one of the buildings, shooting up into the air, letting the line go and gliding on his cloak, firing shot after shot at the dragon as it continued to blast at us. The Monster Hunter and his cat ran along the ground, the Monster Hunter shooting at the dragon while his cat pulled out a rapier and started rushing along the dragon, stabbing at it over and over again as his master unleashed hell with that Gunlance of his.
Songbird's barrier shattered. Marian, Tony, and I were hit by a massive boiling hot blast, which exploded and sent us flying back like dust in a storm. Tony spun around in the air and flew up, joining Hawkeye in aerial bombardment. Songbird flew up and caught Marian on a pink barrier. Poundcakes jumped back into battle, ignoring the black oil burning on her to punch the dragon in the head, cracking the scales there apart.
I, in the meantime, hit a building again. I groaned in pain, spinning up to face the dragon.
Songbird had joined Hawkeye and Iron Man in fighting the dragon from the air, using her powers to bind it as best as she could in pink ribbons. Iron Man hit it with repulsor blasts, sending chunks flying about, while Hawkeye continued to switch between gliding and grappling his way around the air while unleashing as many arrows as he could at the thing. Ghost ran through the dragon, avoiding the monster's attacks with careful application of her intangibility, then dropping grenades. The cat kept stabbing at the dragon with it's rapier, sending pieces of hardened tar up.
On the ground, Marian was hitting the dragon with everything she had, sending shockwaves with each landing of her fists. The Monster Hunter rolled around a claw, took a tail swipe on his shield, and stabbed the tail as it passed. His gunlance exploded into the tail, and a massive piece of tail was ripped off.
Gogmazios beat his wings. The last pieces of tar flew off his form. And he lifted upwards.
As I stared at him, the dragon flew up and up, moving into Times Square, ripping apart the pink bonds Songbird had made. It was running away!
I reached for the Omnitrix and tapped it. I needed a flying form, something that could bring this thing down! Something to match it. Astrodactyl or Big Chill would do.
I turned into neither one of those.
Instead, Rath's fur gave way to green scales. My body grew outwards, my front arms becoming legs, while two wings grew from my back. My eyes began to glow a bright green. I grew out and out until I was half the length of Gogmazios. I flared my wings out, eyes glaring at Gogmazios.
"Didn't you just get this form?" Hawkeye asked as he glided past.
"I did… let's test it out," I beat my wings, lifting into the air. Together, we rushed for the flying dragon.
Gogmazios had enough time to glance upward before I tackled him in the chest. He screamed, clawing at me as we twisted in the air.
"Somebody get me some damn popcorn!" Tony yelled with glee as we slammed into the red steps in the center of Times Square. A news helicopter flew overhead, the Times Square screens around us displaying our fight. Gogmazios rolled on top of me as we shatter the concrete under us, blasting me. An explosion with me at the center went up several stories.
""BA-REE-AAAARRRUUUURRNN!!!" I roared as I replied to his blast with my own attack, fire-like energy gathering in my mouth before hitting the other dragon in the chest. His chest cracked under the assault, while we kept hitting each other.
Tony flew up to my head and unleashed a unibeam attack, the blue of his arc reactors blast mixing with my fire-like attack to swirl and smash the dragon. Marian ran up with both fists and uppercut the dragon. It's mouth shut from the force of her blow. In desperation, it slammed a claw into the ground and swept it outward, sending hot coal up in all directions, then beat its wings to rise again. Hawkeye, in an incredible move that would have made even the Russian judges give him a 10, flipped over the dragon and fired ten shots from his bow. They landed across its wings and blew up into balls of green goop that bubbled up, covering it in the synthetic foam. Gogmazios tried to explode again, but the foam kept him from igniting.
The Monster Hunter, seeing the opening, ran in and stabbed the dragon in the chest, blood and oil covering his armor. His gunlance exploded. For a moment, Gogmazios and the Monster Hunter met eyes, the dragon filled with hate, the hunter filled with determination.
His lance exploded again and again as he pushed deep into the dragon's chest, like he was drilling to its heart. Gogmazios reached to grab the Monster Hunter. I flew in, grabbed his head, then spun around to his back, pulling his head back. Marian grabbed his left wing claw and pulled it back with all her strength. Songbird went to the other arm and sang an area, surrounding that limb in pink spikes that stabbed deep into its winged arm then into the asphalt, keeping it still. The dragon tried to lift off, but Hawkeye shot dozens of arrows at the dragon's wings, until it was trapped under gooey green substance. Ghost grabbed the cat before it could be crushed under the dragon, rolling away.
Iron Man dropped from the sky. Catoms on his right arm flowed forward to form a four-foot-blade. He stabbed it into the dragon's chest, right next to the Monster Hunters lance. The Hunter and Tony yelled in unison, gunlance firing the biggest shot yet while Iron Man's red blade let out a repulsor blast. The dragon screamed one last cry. Then it exploded.
We were all sent flying into the air, television screens cracking. I slid past Ghost, who ignored the buffeting storm as the shockwaves passed through her, and landed on my tail, bending it awkwardly. I hurried to my feet, staring at the dragon.
Gogmazios gurgled aloud, scratching at the asphalt underneath. I beat my wings and flew up and around, crouching in front of it. Gogmazios stared at us, breathing heavily, blood and tar dripping from it's chest. The Monster Hunter stood before the dragon, his armor damaged, while his cat lifted his rapier into a ready stance. Tony aimed a repulsor at the dragon with his right arm, while his left arm stayed in blade form by his side. Marian stood in a boxing stance, Hawkeye landed on a lamppost, and Songbird floated to join us on the ground, rubbing her throat with a pained look on her face. Ghost went through a car to join us, bouncing another grenade in her palm (where was she keeping them all?)
Gogmazios raised his head high. Then, slowly, he lowered down, his head slamming into the earth. The bright glow of his eyes faded away.
I stared down at him. After a fight like that, where a single creature took on an Avenger's level team, I felt a sense of solemness fill me. I wished we could have found a way to capture the creature, but with no real knowledge of how much power it had, our only choice had been to kill it. Necessary, but sad-
The sound of a knife going through flesh filled the air. I stared at the source of the sound.
"...That is so gross," Tony said softly.
The Monster Hunter was slicing into the dragon, happily inspecting pieces of the dragon as he passed them to the cat, who cutely started placing them in piles. At one point, the Monster Hunter noted me. He eyed my dragon-like form, eyes panning across my tail, wings, and claws.
"..." I stepped back nervously, while Tony stepped in front of me.
"No. Bad… dragon killing… lance guy," Tony said, confused.
"This has been such an odd day," Marian said in the background as we watched the Monster Hunter continue cutting a truck-sized monster to small pieces.
Dialverse vs Null Void: Part 1
Kolar
Way Bads
Servantis
Swift
Leander
Phil Billings
VS
Captain America
Thor
Falcon
Creel
Warrior
Dial
Sam Wilson/Falcon
"I've been flying for a while up here, guys," Sam said, looking down at the ground as he tumbled through the air. He aimed himself towards one building in particular. "We sure this is the place?"
The place was an industrial container terminal, right next to the river. No one was working there. Not since the Avengers had tracked strange energy signatures in the area, which had been connected to similar energy signatures found at a jewelry store that had been robbed just a week ago. Sam was trying to see if he could get a view of what was causing those, but all he'd done was fly for a few minutes. As of right then, only six Avengers were available to check in on it. Captain America, Dial, Sam himself, Creel, Warrior, and-
"Indeed," Sam almost had a heart attack when Thor came out of the sky, flying alongside him for a moment before disappearing at high speed. Thor continued speaking, Sam listening through his radio. "This place seems completely empty."
"Watch where you're flying!" Sam said, drifting down to a building that looked like a large warehouse and landing in front of it. Thor landed next to him, giving Sam an embarrassed look.
"Apologies, Son of Wil. I do not have the precision you do in flight."
"Fast as hell though," Sam admitted. "Even if you do fly like you're constantly strapped to a meteor."
"It's pronounced 'Mjolnir'," Thor said helpfully.
Sam shook his head, chuckling. Then he looked over the area. "What do you think, hammer boy? We got anything to worry about?"
"I believe we do," Thor said grimly. He looked around. "I sense some sort of fell magic has taken place here. The energies here… it is like the Convergence has happened once more."
"That whole thing with portals all over London?" Sam shook his head. "Yeah, after Rio, I think I've had enough of that kind of thing. Just feel like we fight enough weirdness on Earth without adding to it, you know?"
"I do know," Thor's voice took on a melancholy tone. "I hope this is not yet another Asgardian problem. My people have caused enough trouble for your-"
"Oh please," Sam rolled his eyes, giving Thor a grin. "Like you're responsible for what a bunch of dickheads from your world does. I might as well take the blame for HYDRA stealing stuff from you."
"But the chaos we cause when we arrive-" Thor was ready to say.
"Look," Sam cut him off, lifting a hand up. "You've been helping out Earth for what, four years now? Little more? I doubt you haven't made up for what your brother and a bunch of guys related to Asgard's history have done. Far as I'm concerned, we're square," Sam patted his arm with a grin. "And I'm not just saying that because you can toss me into the sun."
Thor laughed at that, giving Sam a large smile. "Thank you, friend Sam. I will admit, I do worry about-"
"Yo!" Thor was interrupted when someone came around the corner. They turned around and saw Izzy walking over. The powerful brunette woman was dressed in her knight-like armor, sword on her back. Her helmet was removed, allowing her hair to flow as she walked over, giving Thor and Sam a bored look. "I don't suppose either of you found a fight somewhere around her."
"Ha!" Thor barked. "I agree, Lady Hartley. I hope for a battle for the ages!"
"As long as it isn't over too quick, ya know? Lately, all I've fought is thugs and mercs," Izzy sighed dramatically. "What's the point of this fancy armor if I don't get to really test it out, ya know?"
"Hey, I'm all for the overkill," Sam said. "I don't mind a fight for the right reasons, but getting my ass kicked isn't something I'm eager for."
"Ah, come Sam!" Thor placed a heavy arm around Sam's shoulder. "Where is your warrior's spirit!? The drive for battle, the wish to prove yourself against an enemy worthy of your strength!"
"I'm more of a 'do what I have to for the right thing' kind of guy," Sam said honestly.
"Awwww, that's boring though!" Izzy grumbled. Sam shrugged, smirking.
"What can I say? All the monsters coming out of the woodwork makes me want to tone things back. You can only fight so many demons and mutants before you start to relish normal gangsters."
"We don't fight that many monsters," Izzy said with a sigh.
It was then that a building exploded.
Sam staggered back as dust blew outwards from a warehouse several dozen feet away from them, steel and concrete shattering. And a massive purple form lifted up into the air. Sam stared at the being that stood up, higher and higher, towering over them. The earth shook under a massive footstep, a shadow falling across the three of them as Sam tried to comprehend the sheer size of that being.
"Nice tits," Izzy said nonchalantly.
"What." Sam stared at her. The giant monster strode forward, but Izzy ignored it to look at him.
"Well, look at her. Even if we ignore the fact she's a giant, she's got some nice proportions-"
"HER BEING A GIANT IS ALL WE SHOULD FOCUS ON!" Sam exploded. "Where the hell did she come from!?"
"She is no Frost Giant. A worthy opponent nonetheless!" Thor said happily, twirling the hammer in his hand with a savage laugh.
Before he could do anything however, some smashed through a wall. For a moment, at the sight of the four arms and the muscular powerful body, Sam thought it was Dial in Four Arms form. Until he noticed the pale blue-gray skin and long hair, rather than Four Arm's dark red skin and bald head. Red eyes glared at them. The being was a little shorter and less built than Four Arms, but he was still at least thirteen feet tall, rippling with muscle, and now running right towards them.
Sam leaped back, holding back the urge to start shooting. While he had some powerful weapons available to him nowadays, most weren't built to defeat things as durable as Four Arms.
Thor, on the other hand, was.
"Come, brute!" Thor ran forward, Mjolnir raised. "Have at thee!"
"You think you can take on Kolar!?" two fists smashed into Thor's face, sending out a shockwave, then uppercut him in the stomach. "Bring it on huma-"
A hammer to the chin shut up whoever this Kolar guy was. Thor grinned, his eyes gleaming with savage pride. "I am not a human. I am a god."
Thor punched Kolar, who backflipped to get out of the way.
"Falcon to all Avengers on site, we have to meta beings!" Sam shouted, lifting into the air.
"Same here!" Dial said through the radio. "I'm taking over tactical control of the mission. I'm going to go deal with the Way Bad!"
"You know what that thing is?"
"Intimately. I know these guys. Steve is dealing with the leader, Creel is headed your way with the other three! Sam, take on the girl with wings, Creel will handle the furry one, Izzy, your suit is hardened against rads so you can take on the one that looks like NRG's little brother!"
Before Sam could say anything, a wall nearby shattered into concrete dust. Creel came out of it, rolling on the ground for a moment before snapping to his feet. Sam and Izzy took a spot on either side of him, facing whoever had sent him through the wall. Two men and one woman came out of the hole. All three were wearing similar uniforms, with black armored plating over a lighter shade colored black undersuit, with silver linings around the edges of the armor.
One of them was female, with red skin, short red-black hair, red eyes, and yellow pair of eyebrows or something. Her feet and hands had three digits each, a long tail was coming from her back, and she had wing flaps under her arms.
The second one was human-shaped, with a powerful-looking build, but had a helmet that looked like a smaller version of NRG's. He blasted out red energy as he stepped forward. Izzy stepped in front of them, a shield of catoms flowing on her arm and taking the blast. The laser turned the catoms to slag but were successfully blocked, Izzy glaring at the tall man.
The last one surprised Sam. Because he looked like a human soldier. He was well built, caucasian, with grey-white pulled into a ponytail, and slightly scraggly beard around his face. He raised his hands as he came forward.
"Hold on!" the man said. "Wait for a second! We aren't here to fight!"
"You put me through a wall," Creel said idly. He was in his human form, but Sam could see his gauntlet, full of useful materials, shining on his arm. "I tend to start fights with people who do that."
"It's the laser that does it for me," Izzy said, looking like a little girl about to get a new doll as she slowly raised her sword, the armored knight of the Avengers ready to brawl.
Sam had to step in. Dial likely had good reason for why he thought these guys were hostile. If he could get some time...
"Wait a sec," Sam stepped forward. Izzy and Creel stepped back, but stayed ready. "Who are you? Why is that guy with the four arms attacking one of my team? You with him and the 300-foot tall woman?"
Why were these sentences so normal in his life now?
"The Way Bad and Kolar?" the man shook his head. "No. I apologize for my compatriot's original attack," Sam noted that the guy was beginning to step to the side. Sam slowly backed away, keeping his eyes on him. "My name is Phil Billings. We're the Rooters, members of an organization that fights alien criminals in my world. We aren't here to fight. But as I said. We're from another world, another dimension. We were just confused. We want to go home."
"The Rooters tried to kill a 16 year old superhero because they thought he was going to end the universe. He wasn't. They're the worst kind of military intelligence. Shoot a possible threat while it's still an ally. Like every general who keeps urging us to find a way to kill the Hulk or Thor. Or me," Dial said. The sounds of explosions were going off in the distance, the purple-being screaming.
"If that's the case," Sam said, keeping an eye on all three. "We can talk about that. I'm Sam Wilson, of the Avengers, a peacekeeping organization. We can help you. Provided that you-"
A voice came in on the radio. Steve. "Avengers. The leader of these metas, Servantis, just initiated a psychic assault on my mind. Consider them-" the sound of a shield bouncing off a hard surface was followed by a posh accent cursing. "Hostile."
Phil looked up. He apparently received a message of his own, as did the winged woman and armored man. For a moment the six of them eyed each other.
Dial was speaking as quickly as he could. "The girl is Swift. She can fly fast as fuck, and has laser eyes and a laser tail. But she can't take a beating, so stay on your toes and you can take her Sam. Phil can transform into a monster with enhanced physical abilities, can absorb energy, and interfere with my Omnitrix. Creel can beat the shit out of him while ignoring his lightning blasts and lasers. Izzy, you've got the skills to take on Leander the NRG knockoff, just avoid his direct radiation attacks. Steve. Servantis can manipulate minds, move things with telekinesis, levitate, make force fields, and shoot electric beams. He's a badass. But you're Captain America."
A whistling sound filled the air. The six of them looked out at the harbor. For a moment, just a moment they could see the purple woman facing a flying green light flashing at her. The light smashed into the woman, sending 300 hundred feet of monster movie reject skidding back.
That might as well have been the signal. Sam's wings snapped out. Phil shifted into a furry monster. Creel's skin became a dark black like rubber. Izzy's sword snapped out as she went for Leander, a red blast aiming for her head that she barely dodged.
Sam lifted up into the air. Swift followed. In a blaze of speed, the two went into the sky, and the fight began.
------
Steve Rogers/Captain America
At first, Steve had tried to be nice. He'd seen the man on his own. Tall, almost seven feet, and thin. His skin was red, and his head was elongated, like the Leader's. Unlike Sterns, his head seemed to be covered in a carapace, like the armor of a crab.
Steve had been ready to give the man the benefit of the doubt. Simply attacking someone for being a meta, for looking so different from the norm, went against his nature.
So Steve had walked in, cautious, but not about to attack without reason. Then, a blast of red lightning slammed into him.
And he found himself in the War.
He stared around himself. He was in the War. It didn't matter what time, what place. He was in a fight again. All around him, allies were fighting enemies. Maybe they were Bucky, or the Howling Commandoes, Avengers, SHIELD, or BRIDGE. Maybe they were fighting HYDRA or the Chitauri.
All that mattered was that he was in the war. And someone was fighting him.
"Impressive," a voice said. Steve blocked a punch, snapped a kick out that was dodged, blocked a blast of electricity on a shield that shifted shapes and colors. "Most minds that resist me have had practice. Years of experience with mental defense. But you? How are you fighting me?"
The voice sounded amused. Steve fought with everything he had. As best he could.
"Is it some form of misguided patriotism? That incredibly naive look at the world, or-"
Steve hit the enemy in the face. The world shook. The voice let out a gasp of noise. Steve focused on that.
"Bow," a voice snarled. The weight on Steve's shoulder became insane. "I am Servantis. And you will listen to me. Tell your team to stand down. To let us go!"
There was a war. There was an enemy. And there was the right thing to do. The people he had to fight for. The ones he knew, the invisible ones he would never know, but who he had to save all the same. He reached for that. The world was no black and white. But for Steve, that didn't matter. As long as there was good in the world…
Steve planted his feet. The enemy surrounded him. An intangible body that pressed to his skin. He lifted his shield, and threw it forward. For a moment, he wasn't throwing a shield. He was throwing everything. His beliefs, hopes, his willpower. Not a metal frisbee, but all the things that represented him. Red, white, and blue flashed through the war. And the voice shouted.
Steve's mind cleared. The man he'd been facing staggered back. Servantis. That was what he'd said his name was.
"Avengers. The leader of these metas, Servantis, just initiated a psychic assault on my mind. Consider them," Steve tossed his shield, it hit the chest of the man. "Hostile!"
"Damn you!" Servantis shouted. He snapped his head up. The carapace on his head opened up, revealing his brain, to Steve's disgust. Red electricity snapped across the crevices of his brain. Steve caught his shield in time to block a blast of electricity that lifted him into the air before he could get his feet under him to tank the blast on the invulnerable shield.
"Dial, give everyone a rundown on what we're fighting!"
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
I sped into the air, trying to figure out what the fuck the Rooters were doing here.
I hadn't watched a lot of Omniverse. But I had visited the Ben 10 wiki a lot before getting dropped into this world. Hell, I'd dropped into a lot of wiki's in my time. So I knew who these guys were.
But hadn't they been locked in the Null Void? Hell, in the show, Kevin 10,000 mentioned fighting them a bunch. So what were they doing here, in 2014 New York?
With a Way Bad. Don't forget that. The terrifying and giant Kaiju of a monster currently striding into the Hudson.
I cartwheeled into the air and spoke while flying, trying to inform everyone even as I tried to figure out a damn way to take down a cosmic storm summoning mutant.
"The Rooters tried to kill a 16 year old superhero because they thought he was going to end the universe. He wasn't. They're the worst kind of military intelligence. Shoot a possible threat while it's still an ally. Like every general who keeps urging us to find a way to kill the Hulk or Thor. Or me."
I started blasting the Way Big with green energy blasts as I flew, thinking carefully. She screamed as the blasts exploded against her. I dived between her legs, right above the water, and shot at her thighs and crotch as I passed. She screamed again, but it was like taking down a normal human with pop rocks.
Okay. Needed to hit a lot harder then.
I flew up out of the city, passing every mach I could, sonic booms following in my wake. Until I was going past the atmosphere, reaching space. I twisted in the air, for a moment flying with the Earth to my back and the great emptiness of outer space above me. Then I flew back. Everything I had went into my flight.
I arced down, aiming diagonally towards my target. I spoke as I went over the ocean, the Omnitrix passing my words through to the others despite the fact I'd passed the speed of sound a while ago.
"The girl is Swift. She can fly fast as fuck, and has laser eyes and a laser tail. But she can't take a beating, so stay on your toes and you can take her Sam. Phil can transform into a monster with enhanced physical abilities, can absorb energy, and interfere with my Omnitrix. Creel can beat the shit out of him while ignoring his lightning blasts and lasers. Izzy, you've got the skills to take on Leander the NRG knockoff, just avoid his direct radiation attacks. Steve. Servantis can manipulate minds, move things with telekinesis, levitate, make force fields, and shoot electric beams. He's a badass. But you're Captain America."
With that, I aimed for the Way Bad's chest. She roared, though I couldn't hear it. I tapped the Omnitrix and transformed in a flash of green light. At mach-20, I slammed into the Way Bad in Diamondhead form.
The Way Bad screamed, a wave of spit coming out of her mouth. God. Until you actually saw it, it was hard to comprehend what it meant to interact with a being of her size. As she fell back, I could feel wind get created by her movement. Her voice cracked the air with a sound like a car crash. Even in my Diamondhead form, so much taller and larger than my human form, I felt like a beetle falling away from the chest of a human woman. I raised my arms and fired crystals as I fell, the crystals exploding on impact as they smashed into her chest and face. I tried to aim for her armpits, elbows, groin, then knees, with a few shots headed for every place a super-assassin and a war god had pointed out as a weak point on a bipedal body.
The Way Bad acted with all the pain of a person getting hit by a bunch of dodgeballs. That being, pained, but far off from knocked out or dead.
I landed in the water with a splash, thinking furiously as Way Bad reached into the water, waving her arms around. Even below the water, getting spun around like a toy in a bathtub, I could hear her grunting and moaning in exertion, the sound booming in the water. I tapped the omnitrix.
In a flash, I was Big Chill. Under the water, I went intangible, letting that feeling of being separate from the universe fill me just as Way Bad's fingers passed through me, her hand becoming encased in ice. I spread my wings and arms. I forced that chill within me, the dark power that filled Big Chill to his core, out of my body in an explosion of cold.
"YAAAAA!"
The water of the Hudson River around me froze into an iceberg. It climbed up the legs of the Way Bad, surrounded her as she panicked and punched at it, but slowly became covered in chilled gross smelly ice. She reached out just before she was finally frozen entirely, her face a mask of fear and pain.
Then I flew up out of the water, creating a tower of ice that floated up to about neck level from her. I knew what was going to happen next. This was a creature of immense power. No way getting frozen would stop her.
"Have at thee!" Thor went flying past. Kolar was punching him in the face. Thor laughed, lightning sparking in his eyes.
"Die already!" Kolar roared.
"Not this day or any other!" Thor got his arm out of Kolar's grip, then smashed him in the chin with Mjolnir, sending him skyrocketing into the sky in a trail of a few broken teeth. Then Thor noticed me. "Dial! How does this battle find you my friend!?"
True to my paranoia, the ice began to crack. I tapped the Omnitrix.
A giant monster erupted from the ice, then blasted me in the face with a laser.
I spread my stance on the chilled ice platform and raised two pluglike hands. The laser, as big around as a semi-truck flying at me, shrank and was absorbed into the openings on my fingertips.
In Feedback-form, I absorbed the full power of a cosmic storm. The energy was warm. In my time, few bursts of energy that I'd pulled into me matched the energy of the Way Bad in terms of output.
"She's got a lot of juice," I mumbled to Thor.
"Indeed. Would you like aid in this battle?" my Asgardian friend said, hefting Mjolnir in a single hand.
I raised my hands and fired. The beam of blue light I smashed the Way Bad with was the most powerful I'd ever done, enough to send her screaming onto her back in a wave of ice and water. I kept up the blast, trying to keep her down. "After you're done with Kolar!" I said in answer to Thor.
"Very well!" Thor looked up. The spinning tetramand was coming back down towards us, screaming with abject rage. "Tell me, how do members of his species deal with lightning?"
"Enough will work," I absorbed another blast from the Way Bad, then groaned when my return blast had as much effect as a firehose on a person. Hurts, but not unbearable.
"Then I will be back!" Thor rocketed upwards, slamming into Kolar with a loud 'boom!' The lightning that fell from the sky enveloped them. The clouds above began to swirl, and rain poured down upon us. Thor and Kolar fell towards the Battery, the park that sat at the southern tip of Manhattan island, the sounds of thunder and lightning echoing before I lost sight of them.
This wasn't working… Okay then.
I shifted to my human form. For a moment, I stood there in my black and green armor on top of a pillar of ice. Then I looked at the Omnitrix on my wrist. Time for a hail mary.
"Come on, Omnitrix," I mumbled, staring at it, before looking up at the Way Bad. "Give me something appropriate."
I popped the Dial up, spun it like the cylinder of a revolver, then smashed down on it. Honestly, if I had to deal with the Way Bad with any of my normal forms, I knew I could figure something out. But here and now? Hoping that the AI within was going to help me out felt oddly appropriate.
A flash of light appeared. The Way Bad looked at me. Then she blinked. The ice platform beneath me shattered as my weight crushed it. I rose upwards. Like all my transformations, it was instant. But the sheer size I was growing up too made it seem like a gradual increase, my shadow crossing the Way Bad. My head grew a tall and thin fin, as did the backs of my arms.. My skin shifted shades to red across my fins, arms, and feet, with a single line stretching down my chest to surround the Omnitrix. The rest of my body was colored a shade of white almost dark enough to count as grey.
I stopped at my final height and stared down at the Way Bad. She stared back at me.
"You're in big trouble," I said with a slow, long, smile.
She snapped to her feet. Now, matching her in size, her moves seemed normal. Rather than the strange slowness her colossal weight gave her movements, I could appreciate how fast she really was. She grabbed at me, squealing. She sounded like a scared animal. I grabbed her right arm and twisted it behind her, the water at my feet ankle deep now. Funny enough, I was about a foot taller than her. Uh… Well, make that a lot of feet. Whatever, I was taller than her.
She desperately fought against my grip, our struggle bringing us closer to the buildings. "Jarvis, is the city-?"
"I had the buildings near the harbor evacuated the moment you began fighting a giant. You are clear."
"Then sorry in advance if Tony ends up having to pay for a hell of a lot of property damage," I brought the Way Bad around and punched her in the chin, then throat, solar plexus, right breast, trying to throw her off guard as much as I could. She blindly grabbed me and twisted around, pushing me away. I stumbled when my ankles hit the rocks masquerading as the Hudson's shore, falling back and smashing into one of the buildings behind me.
The Way Bad, sensing weakness, rushed me in a manner that reminded me of the time a meth addict had attacked me once. I rolled out of the way and smashed her head with my elbow as she spun away.
It was so strange, being this size. No other transformation had made me feel like this. I felt like I was in the middle of a Lego city, cars smaller than my feet, buildings reaching up to my waist. And inside I felt power. Power that swirled in me. Only in my Asgadian form had I felt such insane strength. Beyond that there was this… sense. Of something outside of the atmosphere. A storm.
I pushed aside that thought to focus on the Way Bad… who was running?
"Are you serious!?" I roared, rushing towards her, the ground cracking under my footsteps. "Get back here!"
"SKREEEEE!!!" she screamed like a scared animal.
Damnit, I should not be feeling sorry for a giant monster made to subjugate worlds.
I got to her and punched at her. She blocked it on her forearm, then lashed out. I slid to a stop, so that we were standing on either side of a street. For a second, things got relatively interesting.
She started punching and clawing at me. I blocked and parried. A fin on her arm slashed out at me. I caught it between my elbow and knee and punished her by grabbing the horns on either side of her face, pulling her in for a headbutt. She surprised me with a claw across the chest, her hardened nails clashing with my tough skin and leaving a painful sensation. I kicked her in the ribs, then cracked her in the jaws. She blasted at me, and I had to take the blast to keep the buildings behind me safe.
I was the better fighter, but I wasn't trained in being a giant in a city I wanted to keep from squishing. She had no such issues, and could unleash her animalistic fighting-style with impunity.
At one point, she stepped back. Her foot smashed through a wall, crushing a restaurant that had been situated at the bottom of building. Neither of us paid attention to it beyond the pain that was caused when she blasted me again.
"How dare you?"
I winced. Way Bad screeched. We looked at the source of the voice that had seemed to echo in our minds and souls.
I couldn't recognize him. At Way Big's height, all people looked like dolls. He was wearing a purple set of robes. Which he was removing, glaring up at us.
The Way Bad, seeing I was distracted, punched me in the face. I staggered back, but forced myself to fall in front of the one guy who'd ignored evacuation, landing on my knee. I raised my hands in a cross, focusing the energy within me into the air in front of me, then out towards her.
A beam of green light sliced through the air, smashing her in the chest and sending her flying back into a building.
"Ultraman, bitch!" Yeah, I couldn't help it. I've watched Kaiju movies all my life. Even for all my new experience with superhero antics, fighting as a giant still made me excited. All I needed was Godzilla.
Then the guy I'd been protecting began to grow behind me. I turned, stunned, to watch him rise up towards the sky. Now, much closer to him, I could regonize him. He was bald, but with a long wispy beard. Despite his appearance of advanced age, he had the muscles of a martial arts master. He was changing shape however. His pale white skin darkened and thickened into green and savage scales. His small head elongated out and out, until it was shaped roughly like a lizard or horses, long spikes sprouting along his spine between two wings that rose from his back before they went down along the tail he grew. He came to match me in height, then even taller, finally stopping when my head was about chest level with him.
"...Always a bigger fish," I mumbled slightly, staring up at him.
"A sound philosophy, from a below average film," the bipedal dragon told me, smirking. "I am-"
"Fin Fang Foom." I hadn't seen him since the party, where he'd been talking to Thor and Jane. I'd decided to leave him alone after a deep background check had revealed a simple chef making good food, rather than the conqueror of worlds he was in other incarnations. I wasn't willing to attack him for no reason. I'd hoped to speak with him, but all the other problems kept coming up.
And now, here he was, forced into my life… Of course.
He chuckled, stepping forward to walk around me. "My excellent reputation precedes me! As does yours, young hero. But I'm afraid I must step in. You are clearly inexperienced with fighting in a form of such magnificent size," his eyes narrowed. "And the young one there crushed one of my restaurants."
"Well. My mom always taught me not to get between a dragon and their enemies," I stepped aside to let him pass. God. He was huge. I felt like I was standing next to the Hulk. Which, considering my own size made him- my mind shut down at the numbers. How was New York City even standing while three of its citizens were currently making the square-cube law their bitch!?
"She sounds like a wise woman," I watched hundreds of thousands of tons of muscled scales stalk towards the Way Bad. She rose to her feet, eyes blinking in confusion, then widening at the sight of Foom, his tail whipping in the air behind him as he walked towards her.
Panicking, the Way Bad brought her arms up and blasted out a red beam of power. Foom returned it with a beam of green light from his mouth. They clashed for a mere moment, then Foom's blast overwhelmed hers, exploding against her face. She staggered, then ran forward, claws slashing outwards.
If my shift in size had made fighting a bit harder for me, then Foom showed what I had to aspire towards. He ducked the claw strike, hit the Way Bad in the chest with a palm that pushed her back, then brought his hands up, his body swaying slightly. For just a moment, I was reminded of Ip Man or Bruce Lee.
The comparison became more relevant when he began blocking her attacks with high speed. He used two hands at first. Then, when he seemed to realize her lack of real martial skill, he turned to the side, brought one of his hands behind the small of his back, and started blocking and parrying with one clawed hand.
I was beginning to feel really annoyed at my previous performance. Ares was going to make me run drills when he saw my fight, I knew it.
"Ah, child. Someone truly ruined you," Foom said, shaking his head. He blocked a kick with his left leg, grabbed a wrist before a fist could land in his ribs, then chopped the Way Bad in the throat. "All rage and hatred. That is no state for you to be in. For any being to be in. A feral child, unable to even speak. Where are your kin?"
"She was cloned," I said helpfully.
Foom looked over at me. For a moment, he looked shocked. Then his eyes lit with rage.
When the Way Bad, still coughing from his neck chop, came at him with a screech, he looked at her. Her arms were wide, teeth bared.
"SCREEEEEEE-"
There was a blur. A sound like meat getting smashed by a baseball bat. A few windows cracked. And Foom was lifting the Way Bad into his arms in a bridal carry.
"What the-" I mumbled. That had been so fast! Like watching Pietro or Fasttrack move a little slower than normal. Likely it was a lot slower than I thought, but he'd still moved really damn quick for such a big bering.
"The irresponsibility of parents," Foom looked down at her sadly, shaking his head. He looked down at Way Bad. She was so small compared to him. Compared to me as well, really. He sighed, hefting her. "It makes an old fool like me… well. Enough of the past I suppose."
He looked at me. "I will be taking this one into custody. See if I can teach her how to become more than an animal."
"Do you really think you can?" I asked, walking until I had a close look at the Way Bad. "Rehabilitating anyone is a tough prospect. Her… well, her DNA might be a mess. Her mind, the way Dr. Psychobos created her and her 'siblings', might make her unable to even function as a normal person. She was made from the DNA of this species," I patted my chest. "To be a weapon."
"Is that so," Foom chuckled. "Well. A weapon is a noble thing, in the right circumstances. I will see if I can give her that."
His wings rose into the sky, spreading their shadows across the city. With a massive beat that somehow left the city around us undisturbed, he lifted into the sky, leaving me behind.
"Well," I looked up in the sky, watching a dragon take off with a kaiju woman in his arms. "Still not the weirdest thing I've seen."
With that, I turned and ran to join the others, who I hoped also got magical help with their battles.
Way Bads
Servantis
Swift
Leander
Phil Billings
VS
Captain America
Thor
Falcon
Creel
Warrior
Dial
Sam Wilson/Falcon
"I've been flying for a while up here, guys," Sam said, looking down at the ground as he tumbled through the air. He aimed himself towards one building in particular. "We sure this is the place?"
The place was an industrial container terminal, right next to the river. No one was working there. Not since the Avengers had tracked strange energy signatures in the area, which had been connected to similar energy signatures found at a jewelry store that had been robbed just a week ago. Sam was trying to see if he could get a view of what was causing those, but all he'd done was fly for a few minutes. As of right then, only six Avengers were available to check in on it. Captain America, Dial, Sam himself, Creel, Warrior, and-
"Indeed," Sam almost had a heart attack when Thor came out of the sky, flying alongside him for a moment before disappearing at high speed. Thor continued speaking, Sam listening through his radio. "This place seems completely empty."
"Watch where you're flying!" Sam said, drifting down to a building that looked like a large warehouse and landing in front of it. Thor landed next to him, giving Sam an embarrassed look.
"Apologies, Son of Wil. I do not have the precision you do in flight."
"Fast as hell though," Sam admitted. "Even if you do fly like you're constantly strapped to a meteor."
"It's pronounced 'Mjolnir'," Thor said helpfully.
Sam shook his head, chuckling. Then he looked over the area. "What do you think, hammer boy? We got anything to worry about?"
"I believe we do," Thor said grimly. He looked around. "I sense some sort of fell magic has taken place here. The energies here… it is like the Convergence has happened once more."
"That whole thing with portals all over London?" Sam shook his head. "Yeah, after Rio, I think I've had enough of that kind of thing. Just feel like we fight enough weirdness on Earth without adding to it, you know?"
"I do know," Thor's voice took on a melancholy tone. "I hope this is not yet another Asgardian problem. My people have caused enough trouble for your-"
"Oh please," Sam rolled his eyes, giving Thor a grin. "Like you're responsible for what a bunch of dickheads from your world does. I might as well take the blame for HYDRA stealing stuff from you."
"But the chaos we cause when we arrive-" Thor was ready to say.
"Look," Sam cut him off, lifting a hand up. "You've been helping out Earth for what, four years now? Little more? I doubt you haven't made up for what your brother and a bunch of guys related to Asgard's history have done. Far as I'm concerned, we're square," Sam patted his arm with a grin. "And I'm not just saying that because you can toss me into the sun."
Thor laughed at that, giving Sam a large smile. "Thank you, friend Sam. I will admit, I do worry about-"
"Yo!" Thor was interrupted when someone came around the corner. They turned around and saw Izzy walking over. The powerful brunette woman was dressed in her knight-like armor, sword on her back. Her helmet was removed, allowing her hair to flow as she walked over, giving Thor and Sam a bored look. "I don't suppose either of you found a fight somewhere around her."
"Ha!" Thor barked. "I agree, Lady Hartley. I hope for a battle for the ages!"
"As long as it isn't over too quick, ya know? Lately, all I've fought is thugs and mercs," Izzy sighed dramatically. "What's the point of this fancy armor if I don't get to really test it out, ya know?"
"Hey, I'm all for the overkill," Sam said. "I don't mind a fight for the right reasons, but getting my ass kicked isn't something I'm eager for."
"Ah, come Sam!" Thor placed a heavy arm around Sam's shoulder. "Where is your warrior's spirit!? The drive for battle, the wish to prove yourself against an enemy worthy of your strength!"
"I'm more of a 'do what I have to for the right thing' kind of guy," Sam said honestly.
"Awwww, that's boring though!" Izzy grumbled. Sam shrugged, smirking.
"What can I say? All the monsters coming out of the woodwork makes me want to tone things back. You can only fight so many demons and mutants before you start to relish normal gangsters."
"We don't fight that many monsters," Izzy said with a sigh.
It was then that a building exploded.
Sam staggered back as dust blew outwards from a warehouse several dozen feet away from them, steel and concrete shattering. And a massive purple form lifted up into the air. Sam stared at the being that stood up, higher and higher, towering over them. The earth shook under a massive footstep, a shadow falling across the three of them as Sam tried to comprehend the sheer size of that being.
"Nice tits," Izzy said nonchalantly.
"What." Sam stared at her. The giant monster strode forward, but Izzy ignored it to look at him.
"Well, look at her. Even if we ignore the fact she's a giant, she's got some nice proportions-"
"HER BEING A GIANT IS ALL WE SHOULD FOCUS ON!" Sam exploded. "Where the hell did she come from!?"
"She is no Frost Giant. A worthy opponent nonetheless!" Thor said happily, twirling the hammer in his hand with a savage laugh.
Before he could do anything however, some smashed through a wall. For a moment, at the sight of the four arms and the muscular powerful body, Sam thought it was Dial in Four Arms form. Until he noticed the pale blue-gray skin and long hair, rather than Four Arm's dark red skin and bald head. Red eyes glared at them. The being was a little shorter and less built than Four Arms, but he was still at least thirteen feet tall, rippling with muscle, and now running right towards them.
Sam leaped back, holding back the urge to start shooting. While he had some powerful weapons available to him nowadays, most weren't built to defeat things as durable as Four Arms.
Thor, on the other hand, was.
"Come, brute!" Thor ran forward, Mjolnir raised. "Have at thee!"
"You think you can take on Kolar!?" two fists smashed into Thor's face, sending out a shockwave, then uppercut him in the stomach. "Bring it on huma-"
A hammer to the chin shut up whoever this Kolar guy was. Thor grinned, his eyes gleaming with savage pride. "I am not a human. I am a god."
Thor punched Kolar, who backflipped to get out of the way.
"Falcon to all Avengers on site, we have to meta beings!" Sam shouted, lifting into the air.
"Same here!" Dial said through the radio. "I'm taking over tactical control of the mission. I'm going to go deal with the Way Bad!"
"You know what that thing is?"
"Intimately. I know these guys. Steve is dealing with the leader, Creel is headed your way with the other three! Sam, take on the girl with wings, Creel will handle the furry one, Izzy, your suit is hardened against rads so you can take on the one that looks like NRG's little brother!"
Before Sam could say anything, a wall nearby shattered into concrete dust. Creel came out of it, rolling on the ground for a moment before snapping to his feet. Sam and Izzy took a spot on either side of him, facing whoever had sent him through the wall. Two men and one woman came out of the hole. All three were wearing similar uniforms, with black armored plating over a lighter shade colored black undersuit, with silver linings around the edges of the armor.
One of them was female, with red skin, short red-black hair, red eyes, and yellow pair of eyebrows or something. Her feet and hands had three digits each, a long tail was coming from her back, and she had wing flaps under her arms.
The second one was human-shaped, with a powerful-looking build, but had a helmet that looked like a smaller version of NRG's. He blasted out red energy as he stepped forward. Izzy stepped in front of them, a shield of catoms flowing on her arm and taking the blast. The laser turned the catoms to slag but were successfully blocked, Izzy glaring at the tall man.
The last one surprised Sam. Because he looked like a human soldier. He was well built, caucasian, with grey-white pulled into a ponytail, and slightly scraggly beard around his face. He raised his hands as he came forward.
"Hold on!" the man said. "Wait for a second! We aren't here to fight!"
"You put me through a wall," Creel said idly. He was in his human form, but Sam could see his gauntlet, full of useful materials, shining on his arm. "I tend to start fights with people who do that."
"It's the laser that does it for me," Izzy said, looking like a little girl about to get a new doll as she slowly raised her sword, the armored knight of the Avengers ready to brawl.
Sam had to step in. Dial likely had good reason for why he thought these guys were hostile. If he could get some time...
"Wait a sec," Sam stepped forward. Izzy and Creel stepped back, but stayed ready. "Who are you? Why is that guy with the four arms attacking one of my team? You with him and the 300-foot tall woman?"
Why were these sentences so normal in his life now?
"The Way Bad and Kolar?" the man shook his head. "No. I apologize for my compatriot's original attack," Sam noted that the guy was beginning to step to the side. Sam slowly backed away, keeping his eyes on him. "My name is Phil Billings. We're the Rooters, members of an organization that fights alien criminals in my world. We aren't here to fight. But as I said. We're from another world, another dimension. We were just confused. We want to go home."
"The Rooters tried to kill a 16 year old superhero because they thought he was going to end the universe. He wasn't. They're the worst kind of military intelligence. Shoot a possible threat while it's still an ally. Like every general who keeps urging us to find a way to kill the Hulk or Thor. Or me," Dial said. The sounds of explosions were going off in the distance, the purple-being screaming.
"If that's the case," Sam said, keeping an eye on all three. "We can talk about that. I'm Sam Wilson, of the Avengers, a peacekeeping organization. We can help you. Provided that you-"
A voice came in on the radio. Steve. "Avengers. The leader of these metas, Servantis, just initiated a psychic assault on my mind. Consider them-" the sound of a shield bouncing off a hard surface was followed by a posh accent cursing. "Hostile."
Phil looked up. He apparently received a message of his own, as did the winged woman and armored man. For a moment the six of them eyed each other.
Dial was speaking as quickly as he could. "The girl is Swift. She can fly fast as fuck, and has laser eyes and a laser tail. But she can't take a beating, so stay on your toes and you can take her Sam. Phil can transform into a monster with enhanced physical abilities, can absorb energy, and interfere with my Omnitrix. Creel can beat the shit out of him while ignoring his lightning blasts and lasers. Izzy, you've got the skills to take on Leander the NRG knockoff, just avoid his direct radiation attacks. Steve. Servantis can manipulate minds, move things with telekinesis, levitate, make force fields, and shoot electric beams. He's a badass. But you're Captain America."
A whistling sound filled the air. The six of them looked out at the harbor. For a moment, just a moment they could see the purple woman facing a flying green light flashing at her. The light smashed into the woman, sending 300 hundred feet of monster movie reject skidding back.
That might as well have been the signal. Sam's wings snapped out. Phil shifted into a furry monster. Creel's skin became a dark black like rubber. Izzy's sword snapped out as she went for Leander, a red blast aiming for her head that she barely dodged.
Sam lifted up into the air. Swift followed. In a blaze of speed, the two went into the sky, and the fight began.
------
Steve Rogers/Captain America
At first, Steve had tried to be nice. He'd seen the man on his own. Tall, almost seven feet, and thin. His skin was red, and his head was elongated, like the Leader's. Unlike Sterns, his head seemed to be covered in a carapace, like the armor of a crab.
Steve had been ready to give the man the benefit of the doubt. Simply attacking someone for being a meta, for looking so different from the norm, went against his nature.
So Steve had walked in, cautious, but not about to attack without reason. Then, a blast of red lightning slammed into him.
And he found himself in the War.
He stared around himself. He was in the War. It didn't matter what time, what place. He was in a fight again. All around him, allies were fighting enemies. Maybe they were Bucky, or the Howling Commandoes, Avengers, SHIELD, or BRIDGE. Maybe they were fighting HYDRA or the Chitauri.
All that mattered was that he was in the war. And someone was fighting him.
"Impressive," a voice said. Steve blocked a punch, snapped a kick out that was dodged, blocked a blast of electricity on a shield that shifted shapes and colors. "Most minds that resist me have had practice. Years of experience with mental defense. But you? How are you fighting me?"
The voice sounded amused. Steve fought with everything he had. As best he could.
"Is it some form of misguided patriotism? That incredibly naive look at the world, or-"
Steve hit the enemy in the face. The world shook. The voice let out a gasp of noise. Steve focused on that.
"Bow," a voice snarled. The weight on Steve's shoulder became insane. "I am Servantis. And you will listen to me. Tell your team to stand down. To let us go!"
There was a war. There was an enemy. And there was the right thing to do. The people he had to fight for. The ones he knew, the invisible ones he would never know, but who he had to save all the same. He reached for that. The world was no black and white. But for Steve, that didn't matter. As long as there was good in the world…
Steve planted his feet. The enemy surrounded him. An intangible body that pressed to his skin. He lifted his shield, and threw it forward. For a moment, he wasn't throwing a shield. He was throwing everything. His beliefs, hopes, his willpower. Not a metal frisbee, but all the things that represented him. Red, white, and blue flashed through the war. And the voice shouted.
Steve's mind cleared. The man he'd been facing staggered back. Servantis. That was what he'd said his name was.
"Avengers. The leader of these metas, Servantis, just initiated a psychic assault on my mind. Consider them," Steve tossed his shield, it hit the chest of the man. "Hostile!"
"Damn you!" Servantis shouted. He snapped his head up. The carapace on his head opened up, revealing his brain, to Steve's disgust. Red electricity snapped across the crevices of his brain. Steve caught his shield in time to block a blast of electricity that lifted him into the air before he could get his feet under him to tank the blast on the invulnerable shield.
"Dial, give everyone a rundown on what we're fighting!"
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
I sped into the air, trying to figure out what the fuck the Rooters were doing here.
I hadn't watched a lot of Omniverse. But I had visited the Ben 10 wiki a lot before getting dropped into this world. Hell, I'd dropped into a lot of wiki's in my time. So I knew who these guys were.
But hadn't they been locked in the Null Void? Hell, in the show, Kevin 10,000 mentioned fighting them a bunch. So what were they doing here, in 2014 New York?
With a Way Bad. Don't forget that. The terrifying and giant Kaiju of a monster currently striding into the Hudson.
I cartwheeled into the air and spoke while flying, trying to inform everyone even as I tried to figure out a damn way to take down a cosmic storm summoning mutant.
"The Rooters tried to kill a 16 year old superhero because they thought he was going to end the universe. He wasn't. They're the worst kind of military intelligence. Shoot a possible threat while it's still an ally. Like every general who keeps urging us to find a way to kill the Hulk or Thor. Or me."
I started blasting the Way Big with green energy blasts as I flew, thinking carefully. She screamed as the blasts exploded against her. I dived between her legs, right above the water, and shot at her thighs and crotch as I passed. She screamed again, but it was like taking down a normal human with pop rocks.
Okay. Needed to hit a lot harder then.
I flew up out of the city, passing every mach I could, sonic booms following in my wake. Until I was going past the atmosphere, reaching space. I twisted in the air, for a moment flying with the Earth to my back and the great emptiness of outer space above me. Then I flew back. Everything I had went into my flight.
I arced down, aiming diagonally towards my target. I spoke as I went over the ocean, the Omnitrix passing my words through to the others despite the fact I'd passed the speed of sound a while ago.
"The girl is Swift. She can fly fast as fuck, and has laser eyes and a laser tail. But she can't take a beating, so stay on your toes and you can take her Sam. Phil can transform into a monster with enhanced physical abilities, can absorb energy, and interfere with my Omnitrix. Creel can beat the shit out of him while ignoring his lightning blasts and lasers. Izzy, you've got the skills to take on Leander the NRG knockoff, just avoid his direct radiation attacks. Steve. Servantis can manipulate minds, move things with telekinesis, levitate, make force fields, and shoot electric beams. He's a badass. But you're Captain America."
With that, I aimed for the Way Bad's chest. She roared, though I couldn't hear it. I tapped the Omnitrix and transformed in a flash of green light. At mach-20, I slammed into the Way Bad in Diamondhead form.
The Way Bad screamed, a wave of spit coming out of her mouth. God. Until you actually saw it, it was hard to comprehend what it meant to interact with a being of her size. As she fell back, I could feel wind get created by her movement. Her voice cracked the air with a sound like a car crash. Even in my Diamondhead form, so much taller and larger than my human form, I felt like a beetle falling away from the chest of a human woman. I raised my arms and fired crystals as I fell, the crystals exploding on impact as they smashed into her chest and face. I tried to aim for her armpits, elbows, groin, then knees, with a few shots headed for every place a super-assassin and a war god had pointed out as a weak point on a bipedal body.
The Way Bad acted with all the pain of a person getting hit by a bunch of dodgeballs. That being, pained, but far off from knocked out or dead.
I landed in the water with a splash, thinking furiously as Way Bad reached into the water, waving her arms around. Even below the water, getting spun around like a toy in a bathtub, I could hear her grunting and moaning in exertion, the sound booming in the water. I tapped the omnitrix.
In a flash, I was Big Chill. Under the water, I went intangible, letting that feeling of being separate from the universe fill me just as Way Bad's fingers passed through me, her hand becoming encased in ice. I spread my wings and arms. I forced that chill within me, the dark power that filled Big Chill to his core, out of my body in an explosion of cold.
"YAAAAA!"
The water of the Hudson River around me froze into an iceberg. It climbed up the legs of the Way Bad, surrounded her as she panicked and punched at it, but slowly became covered in chilled gross smelly ice. She reached out just before she was finally frozen entirely, her face a mask of fear and pain.
Then I flew up out of the water, creating a tower of ice that floated up to about neck level from her. I knew what was going to happen next. This was a creature of immense power. No way getting frozen would stop her.
"Have at thee!" Thor went flying past. Kolar was punching him in the face. Thor laughed, lightning sparking in his eyes.
"Die already!" Kolar roared.
"Not this day or any other!" Thor got his arm out of Kolar's grip, then smashed him in the chin with Mjolnir, sending him skyrocketing into the sky in a trail of a few broken teeth. Then Thor noticed me. "Dial! How does this battle find you my friend!?"
True to my paranoia, the ice began to crack. I tapped the Omnitrix.
A giant monster erupted from the ice, then blasted me in the face with a laser.
I spread my stance on the chilled ice platform and raised two pluglike hands. The laser, as big around as a semi-truck flying at me, shrank and was absorbed into the openings on my fingertips.
In Feedback-form, I absorbed the full power of a cosmic storm. The energy was warm. In my time, few bursts of energy that I'd pulled into me matched the energy of the Way Bad in terms of output.
"She's got a lot of juice," I mumbled to Thor.
"Indeed. Would you like aid in this battle?" my Asgardian friend said, hefting Mjolnir in a single hand.
I raised my hands and fired. The beam of blue light I smashed the Way Bad with was the most powerful I'd ever done, enough to send her screaming onto her back in a wave of ice and water. I kept up the blast, trying to keep her down. "After you're done with Kolar!" I said in answer to Thor.
"Very well!" Thor looked up. The spinning tetramand was coming back down towards us, screaming with abject rage. "Tell me, how do members of his species deal with lightning?"
"Enough will work," I absorbed another blast from the Way Bad, then groaned when my return blast had as much effect as a firehose on a person. Hurts, but not unbearable.
"Then I will be back!" Thor rocketed upwards, slamming into Kolar with a loud 'boom!' The lightning that fell from the sky enveloped them. The clouds above began to swirl, and rain poured down upon us. Thor and Kolar fell towards the Battery, the park that sat at the southern tip of Manhattan island, the sounds of thunder and lightning echoing before I lost sight of them.
This wasn't working… Okay then.
I shifted to my human form. For a moment, I stood there in my black and green armor on top of a pillar of ice. Then I looked at the Omnitrix on my wrist. Time for a hail mary.
"Come on, Omnitrix," I mumbled, staring at it, before looking up at the Way Bad. "Give me something appropriate."
I popped the Dial up, spun it like the cylinder of a revolver, then smashed down on it. Honestly, if I had to deal with the Way Bad with any of my normal forms, I knew I could figure something out. But here and now? Hoping that the AI within was going to help me out felt oddly appropriate.
A flash of light appeared. The Way Bad looked at me. Then she blinked. The ice platform beneath me shattered as my weight crushed it. I rose upwards. Like all my transformations, it was instant. But the sheer size I was growing up too made it seem like a gradual increase, my shadow crossing the Way Bad. My head grew a tall and thin fin, as did the backs of my arms.. My skin shifted shades to red across my fins, arms, and feet, with a single line stretching down my chest to surround the Omnitrix. The rest of my body was colored a shade of white almost dark enough to count as grey.
I stopped at my final height and stared down at the Way Bad. She stared back at me.
"You're in big trouble," I said with a slow, long, smile.
She snapped to her feet. Now, matching her in size, her moves seemed normal. Rather than the strange slowness her colossal weight gave her movements, I could appreciate how fast she really was. She grabbed at me, squealing. She sounded like a scared animal. I grabbed her right arm and twisted it behind her, the water at my feet ankle deep now. Funny enough, I was about a foot taller than her. Uh… Well, make that a lot of feet. Whatever, I was taller than her.
She desperately fought against my grip, our struggle bringing us closer to the buildings. "Jarvis, is the city-?"
"I had the buildings near the harbor evacuated the moment you began fighting a giant. You are clear."
"Then sorry in advance if Tony ends up having to pay for a hell of a lot of property damage," I brought the Way Bad around and punched her in the chin, then throat, solar plexus, right breast, trying to throw her off guard as much as I could. She blindly grabbed me and twisted around, pushing me away. I stumbled when my ankles hit the rocks masquerading as the Hudson's shore, falling back and smashing into one of the buildings behind me.
The Way Bad, sensing weakness, rushed me in a manner that reminded me of the time a meth addict had attacked me once. I rolled out of the way and smashed her head with my elbow as she spun away.
It was so strange, being this size. No other transformation had made me feel like this. I felt like I was in the middle of a Lego city, cars smaller than my feet, buildings reaching up to my waist. And inside I felt power. Power that swirled in me. Only in my Asgadian form had I felt such insane strength. Beyond that there was this… sense. Of something outside of the atmosphere. A storm.
I pushed aside that thought to focus on the Way Bad… who was running?
"Are you serious!?" I roared, rushing towards her, the ground cracking under my footsteps. "Get back here!"
"SKREEEEE!!!" she screamed like a scared animal.
Damnit, I should not be feeling sorry for a giant monster made to subjugate worlds.
I got to her and punched at her. She blocked it on her forearm, then lashed out. I slid to a stop, so that we were standing on either side of a street. For a second, things got relatively interesting.
She started punching and clawing at me. I blocked and parried. A fin on her arm slashed out at me. I caught it between my elbow and knee and punished her by grabbing the horns on either side of her face, pulling her in for a headbutt. She surprised me with a claw across the chest, her hardened nails clashing with my tough skin and leaving a painful sensation. I kicked her in the ribs, then cracked her in the jaws. She blasted at me, and I had to take the blast to keep the buildings behind me safe.
I was the better fighter, but I wasn't trained in being a giant in a city I wanted to keep from squishing. She had no such issues, and could unleash her animalistic fighting-style with impunity.
At one point, she stepped back. Her foot smashed through a wall, crushing a restaurant that had been situated at the bottom of building. Neither of us paid attention to it beyond the pain that was caused when she blasted me again.
"How dare you?"
I winced. Way Bad screeched. We looked at the source of the voice that had seemed to echo in our minds and souls.
I couldn't recognize him. At Way Big's height, all people looked like dolls. He was wearing a purple set of robes. Which he was removing, glaring up at us.
The Way Bad, seeing I was distracted, punched me in the face. I staggered back, but forced myself to fall in front of the one guy who'd ignored evacuation, landing on my knee. I raised my hands in a cross, focusing the energy within me into the air in front of me, then out towards her.
A beam of green light sliced through the air, smashing her in the chest and sending her flying back into a building.
"Ultraman, bitch!" Yeah, I couldn't help it. I've watched Kaiju movies all my life. Even for all my new experience with superhero antics, fighting as a giant still made me excited. All I needed was Godzilla.
Then the guy I'd been protecting began to grow behind me. I turned, stunned, to watch him rise up towards the sky. Now, much closer to him, I could regonize him. He was bald, but with a long wispy beard. Despite his appearance of advanced age, he had the muscles of a martial arts master. He was changing shape however. His pale white skin darkened and thickened into green and savage scales. His small head elongated out and out, until it was shaped roughly like a lizard or horses, long spikes sprouting along his spine between two wings that rose from his back before they went down along the tail he grew. He came to match me in height, then even taller, finally stopping when my head was about chest level with him.
"...Always a bigger fish," I mumbled slightly, staring up at him.
"A sound philosophy, from a below average film," the bipedal dragon told me, smirking. "I am-"
"Fin Fang Foom." I hadn't seen him since the party, where he'd been talking to Thor and Jane. I'd decided to leave him alone after a deep background check had revealed a simple chef making good food, rather than the conqueror of worlds he was in other incarnations. I wasn't willing to attack him for no reason. I'd hoped to speak with him, but all the other problems kept coming up.
And now, here he was, forced into my life… Of course.
He chuckled, stepping forward to walk around me. "My excellent reputation precedes me! As does yours, young hero. But I'm afraid I must step in. You are clearly inexperienced with fighting in a form of such magnificent size," his eyes narrowed. "And the young one there crushed one of my restaurants."
"Well. My mom always taught me not to get between a dragon and their enemies," I stepped aside to let him pass. God. He was huge. I felt like I was standing next to the Hulk. Which, considering my own size made him- my mind shut down at the numbers. How was New York City even standing while three of its citizens were currently making the square-cube law their bitch!?
"She sounds like a wise woman," I watched hundreds of thousands of tons of muscled scales stalk towards the Way Bad. She rose to her feet, eyes blinking in confusion, then widening at the sight of Foom, his tail whipping in the air behind him as he walked towards her.
Panicking, the Way Bad brought her arms up and blasted out a red beam of power. Foom returned it with a beam of green light from his mouth. They clashed for a mere moment, then Foom's blast overwhelmed hers, exploding against her face. She staggered, then ran forward, claws slashing outwards.
If my shift in size had made fighting a bit harder for me, then Foom showed what I had to aspire towards. He ducked the claw strike, hit the Way Bad in the chest with a palm that pushed her back, then brought his hands up, his body swaying slightly. For just a moment, I was reminded of Ip Man or Bruce Lee.
The comparison became more relevant when he began blocking her attacks with high speed. He used two hands at first. Then, when he seemed to realize her lack of real martial skill, he turned to the side, brought one of his hands behind the small of his back, and started blocking and parrying with one clawed hand.
I was beginning to feel really annoyed at my previous performance. Ares was going to make me run drills when he saw my fight, I knew it.
"Ah, child. Someone truly ruined you," Foom said, shaking his head. He blocked a kick with his left leg, grabbed a wrist before a fist could land in his ribs, then chopped the Way Bad in the throat. "All rage and hatred. That is no state for you to be in. For any being to be in. A feral child, unable to even speak. Where are your kin?"
"She was cloned," I said helpfully.
Foom looked over at me. For a moment, he looked shocked. Then his eyes lit with rage.
When the Way Bad, still coughing from his neck chop, came at him with a screech, he looked at her. Her arms were wide, teeth bared.
"SCREEEEEEE-"
There was a blur. A sound like meat getting smashed by a baseball bat. A few windows cracked. And Foom was lifting the Way Bad into his arms in a bridal carry.
"What the-" I mumbled. That had been so fast! Like watching Pietro or Fasttrack move a little slower than normal. Likely it was a lot slower than I thought, but he'd still moved really damn quick for such a big bering.
"The irresponsibility of parents," Foom looked down at her sadly, shaking his head. He looked down at Way Bad. She was so small compared to him. Compared to me as well, really. He sighed, hefting her. "It makes an old fool like me… well. Enough of the past I suppose."
He looked at me. "I will be taking this one into custody. See if I can teach her how to become more than an animal."
"Do you really think you can?" I asked, walking until I had a close look at the Way Bad. "Rehabilitating anyone is a tough prospect. Her… well, her DNA might be a mess. Her mind, the way Dr. Psychobos created her and her 'siblings', might make her unable to even function as a normal person. She was made from the DNA of this species," I patted my chest. "To be a weapon."
"Is that so," Foom chuckled. "Well. A weapon is a noble thing, in the right circumstances. I will see if I can give her that."
His wings rose into the sky, spreading their shadows across the city. With a massive beat that somehow left the city around us undisturbed, he lifted into the sky, leaving me behind.
"Well," I looked up in the sky, watching a dragon take off with a kaiju woman in his arms. "Still not the weirdest thing I've seen."
With that, I turned and ran to join the others, who I hoped also got magical help with their battles.