Dial (Ben10/Marvel Cinematic Universe SI)

[DesertChocolate]

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wwwwhy? Why am I writing another self insert? This is my third one! I need to be careful man. Not to mention I have a bunch of other fanfics that need love.

Well, the muse is in session.

Ben 10 and Marvel Cinematic Universe. God I love these universes.

I remember being a kid and watching the very first episode of Ben 10. I was so excited, watching a kid become powerful aliens and using them to become a hero. I remember later watching Alien Force, seeing the older, wiser Ben, with a new suite of aliens and a new threat. After that, well... Things went kinda downhill for me personally. Ultimate aliens were cool, but as useful as all that beyond being a ploy to sell toys. As for omniverse and the reboot, not a fan.

Even so, I had mad love for the franchise, and I've always wanted to write a fic for it.

And then we have the MCU... What, am I gonna explain it? It's the MCU. All of us have our first moments realizing the insane awesomeness we were in for when we first saw Iron Man. The movies, the shows, they are often great, sometimes decent, rarely terrible.

So now, a fic. A guy gets dropped into the MCU with an Omnitrix. Have fun, and please let me know what you think.

------

July 15, 2018, Portland, Earth Prime Source

I was writing, late at night. Not something uncommon for me. I was working on a new story after a long day, my legs still burning from my leg workout in the afternoon. It had been a good day though. My nephew had come back from a visit to our family in California and as soon as he saw my face, started asking where his DS in that combination of adorable and annoying only a child can. He'd followed up by incessantly showing me every step he took in Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon.

It was super annoying having him ask me to watch him play while I was trying to get work done, and I absolutely loved him for it. Once again, it was something only a kid you actually love can get away with.

He was asleep now. My legs burning and feeling satisfied with my day, I tapped away at the keyboard, idly sending fictional characters on fictional adventures. I'd probably sleep soon. Maybe. Probably. When I felt like it. For now, in the peaceful cool of an Oregon summer night, I was okay.

A face leaned over my shoulder. "My, you really do need someone to teach you proper grammar, don't you?"

I jumped, spinning my chair around in shock. There, in my room, stood a man. He was tall, thin, and had a dignified age about him. He looked about as old as my dad actually. His face was unshaven, hair slicked back and white with age at the sides. He wore a brown vest over a white shirt and black tie, all covered by a lab coat. A pair of safety goggles with green goggles hung around his neck.

I stared at him for a moment. I mean, if the guy had broken in, smashed my apartment door down, I may have been able to respond in some way. I might have been angry, or scared.

As it was, all I could do was stare at this random guy who'd just shown up out of nowhere in my room.

"Well," he said, still reading my computer monitor. "I suppose it doesn't matter too much. You can practice later."

As though his words were some sort of trigger, I snapped up from my chair, reflexively grabbing the nearest thing to a weapon I had close by. "What the fuck!?"

He smiled at that. Stepping back and raising his hands up with a casual slowness that made me feel foolish, he chuckled. "Young man, while I admire your choice of weaponry, I do believe that the Hero of Hyrule is the only one who could possibly use that weapon. Still, I admire the effort," he said in a accent right out of those classy movies from the fifties.

I looked down at the weapon I'd chosen. I'd gotten it at comic con a few months back. It was a replica Master Sword. The edge was blunted, the point sort of sharp, the hilt made of cheap plastic with a cylindrical hilt that would prevent me from knowing where the edge of the blade was without looking. Barring it's near uselessness as a weapon, it was still in it's plastic sheath.

That said, a big metal stick in a plastic sheath is still an effective club. I tightened my grip, and stared at the guy. "Dude... get out of my room."

He laughed. "Ah, 'dude'. I'm afraid I've come here for a reason. And I don't believe you will attack me. Not without a true reason for attacking me. Sad to say, but the sort of violence that would allow you to attack a man who is simply standing in your room is not a part of you my dear boy."

"I...uh," Once again, I felt foolish, and angry because of that feeling. The fact was, he was right. People just aren't built to attack randomly. Not if you've been raised all your life to avoid that instinct. After all, how many times had I seen street fight videos where two guys yelled at each other for four minutes before unleashing punches? It was 2018, and nobody was really ready to just unleash hell on some random person they'd met. Nobody except those trained for it, people from rough homes/neighborhoods, and people who are just mentally more prepared to initiate violence. Barring exceptions.

And I wasn't one of those exceptions.

"I do admire the effort however. On a basic level of course," he sat down in my chair. Despite the fact my chair had been just behind me a moment ago.

"Wait," I turned to see my chair was gone. I looked back at him, eyes wide. "How did you... I don't-"

'Goddamnit,' I thought to myself. 'What is going on!?'

"Now, I wish I could explain everything," he swung his left leg over his right, leaning back in my beat up old chair. His smile was sad now, almost pitying. "But, sadly, the nature of my visit means I'll need to send you off as is. So, I am only here to be your, what is the word... oh yes, a ROB," he took out a pocket watch of all things and fiddled with it. Behind me a noise filled the air as blue light filled my dark room. The noise was like a plastic cup being torn apart over and over again. "I wish you best of luck. I suppose you won't forgive me, but it is what is needed."

I turned, and stared in shock at the sight behind me. Instead of my desk and computer resting peacefully, there was a giant glowing blue circle hanging in the air. "Oh shit."

"Indeed," A hand pressed into my back with incredible strength. I stumbled. "My name is Paradox, by the way. Safe travels."

"Oh shiiiii-" I fell into the glowing blue circle, and all the air in my lungs was sucked out.

'I should have hit him with my fucking sword.'

------

I fell in a void of blue lights. My body stretched into infinity. But it was also small as an atom. I had infinite understanding, and knew nothing. A whole bunch of other cliché ways to describe traveling through a portal.

I'd been going through that place for a while. I wish I could say it was boring. But it wasn't.

Instead, pain filled my entire body. Knives sliced apart my skin, ripped it from muscle, left my skeleton open to chilling air. My eyes were filled with needles, bit by bit. My limbs flew off of me, wriggling in the void.

Then, in an instant, I was healed again. I knew I'd felt pain. But the memory was only brief, as though I'd read, rather than experienced it. Until happened again.

I had no sense of time, so I had no idea how long I spent in that place. But when it ended, I was still screaming.

I flew into a brick wall in a flash of light. I fell to the ground.

"Ahhhhh!" I screamed, horrified. "Ahhhh! Oh my god, ohmygodohmygod." I screamed and screamed, hugging myself. "No... no. Please. I can't... I can't."

I lay there, in that place, feeling asphalt on my cheeks, tears on my cheeks as rage, horror, and pain left me just...

I never even noticed the watch resting on my left wrist. One with a symbol of two triangles connected at their points. All in green.

------

The sun had been up when I arrived in the alleyway. It had gone down by the time I had calmed down. I slowly got into a sitting position, my right cheek and arm still raw from lying on the concrete. I looked around, eyes drying, my muscles clenching in my arms.

I was in an alleyway. It was disgusting, littered with garbage that ranged from simple plastic wrappers to rotten food, with a dumpster a bit away from me. It smelled pretty terrible. But compared to where I'd been, I was okay with it.

I shivered, and looked down at myself. Whereever I was, it was chilly. Not snowy or anything, but the shorts and Tardis t-shirt I was wearing was still not cutting it. Granted, my beard and long hair was protecting me a bit, but it was no replacement for a sweater.

Still shivering, I rose to my bare feet and started walking. I didn't know where I was, what the hell was happening, though I had some theories. Crazy, insane theories.

I needed to... I needed to find a phone. I could call my brother. Shit, what was his number? Who memorizes phone numbers any more? I mean, maybe I could message him on facebook.

I got to a gate at the end of the alley and found it unlocked, opening it with a squeal of noise. I tripped slightly on my way out of the alleyway, but managed to keep walking, still shivering in the cold. Without a hair tie, my hair was in a poof of curls, so I kept brushing it out of the way as I walked. I looked around the city I was in.

The street I was walking on was named W 48th Street, which meant I had no idea where I was. Most likely a big city though. There were all the signs. Trash in the streets, constant noise in the distance, a random blanket on the floor. Apartment building were rising to the sky. Cars were parked all along the street. I passed by an abandoned lot, covered in gravel and dirt.

There was more though. Lots of portions of the city had apparently been hit by some sort of attack the likes of which I couldn't understand. Buildings had great holes dug into them. Detours were set up everywhere, leaving me to avoid certain streets, but I could see men in orange vests cleaning up broken and twisted steel and concrete.

"What the hell happened here?" I stopped at one point and stared at on bit of the work being done. A guy was driving a crane, taking away some massive piece of metal the color of polished bronze. I rubbed at my arms.

"Damnit," I walked away, trying to focus.

Thankfully, thanks to my workouts, I'm a pretty big guy now. I was actually pretty proud of it, since I'd worked so hard on it. So no one seemed willing to bother me. Which was good, because all the signs of a rough neighborhood were right there with the damaged buildings. Graffiti, guys gathered in protective groups while glaring at passersby. Still, the streets were practically empty.

I saw a park and turned to walk into it. It was forested little area, with bushes and a fence blocking it from the rest of the city. The leaves were brown, and the grass dead, but it was a park nonetheless. I strolled through, my feet burning a bit from the cold and the walking on asphalt. I got to the middle of the park, the trees around me blocking the lights of the city. A chilly wind blew some leaves past. It was actually peaceful.

Of course, that was when the whistle noise came from behind me.

I stopped in my tracks and closed my eyes. "Oooooh, this can't end well."

I turned to see four guys walk up to me. They were wearing jean jackets with matches sewn into them in a symbol I recognized. The guy in front of me was bald, his eyes brown and wide. His pale white skin seemed to glow in what little light there was. The other guys were white as well. This was important.

As they came closer, the patches caught my eye once more. Swastika's covered the men vests with the sort of pride the symbol did not deserve.

I don't give a damn about people talking about Holocaust conspiracies and how not all of them are bad, or how all opinions should be listened to. If you're the sort of jerk who wears a swastika and starts blaming people's race, religion, gender, or sexual preference for your problems, if you use those as a reason to hate people, you don't deserve sympathy, you don't deserve an opinion. Ignorance can be cured. But not when it's intentional ignorance.

The men walked up to me, the guy in the lead grinning. "Well well, look at you? Forget your shoes boy?"

I frowned, slowly backing away. "I did. I'm on my way to get them. Can you let me go?"

A knife came out. "Nah," he chuckled. His friends joined him in chuckling. They surrounded me. "I think I'd rather show what happens to immigrant fucks who come to New York."

He leaped forward, knife aimed at my stomach.

------

I wasn't a martial artist. I'd only been trained in some boxing and high school wrestling. Luckily, I was scared as hell.

I'd been shoved into a realm of pain, woke up in a random city, and found myself getting attacked by some of the worst kind of people in the world.

Like I'd said, no one in the modern world is ready to fight someone immediately without the right mentality.

I was finally in the right mentality.

When the guy stabbed at my stomach, I reached out as fast as I could and grabbed his wrist. The knife bounced off my watch, slicing deep into the back of my forearm. I pulled the guy in towards me, shouting.

"Fu-" My other hand rose up. I pulled him forward. My right hand pulled him close. My left snapped forward. I clenched my left hand into a tight fist moments before impact, twisted my hips with the blow, and slammed him with all the force I had. I aimed for his solar plexus, not wanting to break my knuckles on his skull. As the air was driven from the neo-nazi, I spun him around. The guy was a skinny jerk, so even though he was taller than me, he was easy to spin around and pull close. I clenched his wrist tight, pulling him back with me as my other hand wrapped around his neck. My right hand moved from his wrist to his hand, clenching it tight around the knife he was holding. I forced him to point his knife at his own throat.

I almost fell over, stumbling a bit, but I clutched the neo-nazi close and choked him. His friends came closer as I backed off. One guy took out a handgun.

"Let go of him!" He shouted. I ducked, trying to get the guy in between me and his friends.

"Better do it," the guy I was holding laughed, then tried to shake me off. I squeezed harder, trying to keep a hold of him, and I pressed his knife hand into his neck. He stilled at the feeling of it piercing his neck. "You fucking asshole!"

"I just want to go home," I said back to him. My voice cracked. "Seriously, I just..." I trailed off when I saw my watch. The watch I'd never seen before in my life. Scratch that. I knew the watch. But I'd never seen it in a form that wasn't either in cartoon or toy form.

"...Ha!" I let out. The three guys staring at me shared a look. The guy I was holding tried to struggle again. I felt myself go just a little insane. It was kinda nice. Kinda freeing. "Tell you what boys," I reached for the watch, struggling with my 'prisoner' as I did. "How about this? If this doesn't work... I'll let you kill me."

Looking back, I was probably lying. I'd damn well fight back either way. At this point, I was crazy enough to do it.

I grabbed the watch and twisted the face of it. The triangles opened up, and the guy I was holding stared with the same shock I felt when the watch lit up. A image floated from it, a green figure with a head like fire.

"What the..." One of the guys said softly as we all stared at my watch.

"I know right?" I said a bit crazily.

With that, I slammed my hand onto the watch. A flash of green light came from the device, before it enveloped me. I let go of the guy in my arms, shoving him away even as I became a different person.

My bones widened, growing outwards, before they dissolved entirely. Flesh and blood shifted, until only the green of vines remained. My organs began to produce methane in massive amount. My mind changed, connecting to the world around me in a way I didn't understand. In all, the change must have take less than a second, only a blink of time.

When it ended, I stood up tall, stretching my body out and looking at my hands. My body was now green vines and black sections of bark. My feet looked like roots surrounding rocks, allowing me to stand stable on the ground. My hands clenched into green fists. I knew, if I looked at myself, I would have a head shaped like flame, with slit green eyes.

I sighed. My voice sounded different now. Kinda nasally actually.

"Well... Tradition and all that, right," I reared back, crying out one word as proudly as I could. "Swampfire!"

"Holy shit!" the guy I'd shoved away yelled in amazement.

"Kill it!" The guy with the gun started shooting.

Bullets slammed into me, punching through my body to fly behind me. I staggered back, blinking as I felt the odd sensation of bullets going through me. A moment later, he had emptied his handgun. I looked down at myself.

There were a bunch of holes in me. About fifteen or so, tiny. I felt some wind passing through them. As I watched, the holes began to seal themselves. With a bit of concentration, I accelerated the process. Soon, all the holes were gone, leaving smooth plant-life.

"Whoa," I said in that nasally voice. "That is cool."

I felt so powerful. As though I was a hundred times stronger and more powerful than before. I took a deep breath, my massive chest moving with the action.

Then I raised a hand, mimicking the move I'd seen more than once on Cartoon Network. A plume of flame erupted from my palm. The guys crinkled their noses, apparently bother by the smell.

"What the hell!?" The neo-nazis backed away, scared.

So I threw a fireball at the ground in front of them, laughing. The fireball exploded, erupting with a brilliance I found gratifying.

"Run!"

They spun around.

But we were in a park. In a place full of greenery. Swampfire's home turf.

I reached out with my mind, and felt the trees around me. The feeling of the life around me was intoxicating. I struggled to focus, to ignore the way the world suddenly seemed so much larger, as though I was part of a conversation I'd never known was happening around me every day.

The grass grew up into massive stalks as tall as a man. Trees suddenly erupted with branches. A giant green oval sprouted from my chest, which I ripped out and threw in front of the group. The oval object exploded in front of them, turning into a plant that stabbed into the ground with it's roots and began to grow.

In seconds, the work of months or years, even millenia, passed by. When the guys ran, the plant I'd thrown launched out vines. The forest continued to grow and grow at high speed.

"God hel-" The leader, the guy who'd tried to stab me, was silenced when a vine wrapped around his mouth. In seconds, more vines surrounded his arms, legs, and chest, holding him tightly as he released muffled screams.

The other three turned around, trying to escape the other way. I grabbed one, a guy with a beard bigger than mine, by the shoulder.

"Not today!" I lashed out with a green fist as large as watermelon, my knuckles digging into his side before my inhuman strength lifted him up as I felt something like sticks break under my vine fist.

"Ugk!" He grunted as his ribs shattered. He was sent flying back, slamming into a tree. The tree, under my orders, wrapped him in it's branches, leaving him trapped in a wooden cocoon.

The last two guys tried to escape as well. They ran through the growing grass of the lawn next to the walkway. Which meant they were a field under my control. Feeling a bit vindictive, I stood for a moment, watching them run. When they'd gotten about twenty feet away, the grass rustling as they ran towards the nearest exit from the park to the streets, I dramatically raised a hand. For some reason, feeling like I was being a bit ironic, I snapped my fingers. The grass moved, and the two men fell.

"Augh!"

"Crap!"

I felt the grass speaking to me, letting me know they were wrapping around them. Some weeds joined in, growing with immense speed.

I looked over at the leader. He stared at me from the bonds of the plant I'd thrown. "New York City... Good to know." I looked over the men for a moment, then looked down at myself. "Hmm. You know fellas, I am going to need some clothes."

Later, with a bundle of clothing, an empty pistol, knife, and their cell phones and wallets, all stuffed into a bag made of vines, I turned and walked out of the park. Still transformed into Swampfire, flowers began to bloom in the middle of fall, police sirens came closer, and fire burned. Then, with a loud set of beeps and a big flash of red light, I became human again, and walked into the city.

------

Sleeping in a hotel is always a bit disgusting to me. I'm always thinking of how many people use hotels for things I'd prefer not to imagine without supermodels involved. That said, I found a solid place to sleep for the night, and thankfully the neo-nazis had some cash in their wallets, enough to get a room.

I managed to get some sleep, even clean the clothes I'd stolen in the small washer and dryer that came with the room. Granted, the clothes wasn't perfectly my size, but I'd gotten some jeans and shirts. Though I ended up having to rip a few swastika's off at one point.

I distracted myself like that for a bit. Rifling through the guys wallets, folding clothes, showering. All the while, I ignored the object on my wrist. It seemed to weigh me down with every move, a reminder of everything that had happened.

Soon, I had to confront it. I sat on the floor and stared at it, resting against the bed of the hotel room.

The Omnitrix. THE Omnitrix. From the tv show Ben 10.

I felt a smile rise on my face. So freaking cool. I loved that show, and the idea of the Omnitrix, a device that could turn a person into one of a plethora of badass aliens, was exciting as hell. And it was my favorite design too, the one from Alien Force. I reeeeaaaly wanted to play with it, to see just who I could into. Humongosaur? Diamondhead? Oh god, please don't let the Worst be one of my options. Hell, while I'd been freaking out before, turning into Swampfire was freaking awesome. Feeling so powerful, that connection to the plants around me, and the feel of summoning methane and igniting with a thought. Damn it was cool.

I lowered my arm and sighed. But then there was the elephant in the room. Why give me a uber powered watch with limitless potential, then drop me into New York City?

I decided to discard the fact this was all impossible. That the Omnitrix, Professor Paradox, teleportation, and aliens were all fictional, or at least not possible according to the 2018 I knew.

Professor Paradox. He was the key. He had answers, he knew why I was here, why I was given the watch. But most important...

I reached for one of the phones. It was locked. So were the other three. No answers. But they were older models. I couldn't tell if that meant anything.

I decided to wait for the next day to find information. But in the end, sleep wasn't going to come easy.

------

The next day, I was in the Columbus Branch Library. I'd been directed there by a kindly older woman. The library was two stories, gray stone, and in between a place called Rey's Deli Grocery on it's right, and an apartment building of some sort on the left. Once inside finding a computer was easy. Looking up recent news took seconds. I scrolled through the stories, some things jumping out at me immediately as weird. But one took my breath away.

It was seeing a picture of Robert Downey Jr, that guy from the movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. He was wearing a dapper suit, a suave smile on his face as he waved from a private jet. The headline made my headspin.

'Tony Stark Makes Plans To Rebuild Stark Tower As The Avengers Headquarters.'

Well, there was only one response I could give to that.

"Since when the fuck did Robert Downey Jr. play Iron Man?"
------
From June 30th, 2018, to November 19, 2013. The day I left my universe and entered the Marvel Universe.

 

[DesertChocolate]

Author's Note: This chapter took a lot of work, figuring out the New York Area, using real locations, deciding what aliens to use when, and figuring out the dates. Hopefully, that work comes across as interesting, rather than unnecessary. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think
------
December 19th, 2013

"Raaagh!" I swung the sledgehammer with all my strength. The metal head smashed into brick, cracking it. My shoulders burning, I felt a grin on my face.

"Kid, you know how creepy it is when you smile like that?" I turned to look behind me, raising a hand to nudge the hard hat on my head back a bit.

"You know one of the signs of old age is repeating crap to people?" I replied.

The older black man behind me grinned. He was a big guy, with massive biceps and a belly that spoke of good eating. His hair was well groomed, though a large mustache bounced with every word he spoke.

He chuckled, his belly bouncing under the blue cotton shirt he was wearing. He was sitting on a cheap folding chair, sipping at a cup of water. "It's more of an insanity thing. But yeah, try not to look like you enjoy hitting things so much."

"Yeah, yeah," I looked over at the city outside.

The building we were standing in was one of many in New York that had been destroyed during an event that was being called, 'The Incident' by people of the city, though it was known worldwide as 'The Battle of New York'. A moment where aliens dropped from a portal in the sky and came down to attack Earth with the help of Loki. Until the Avengers stopped them.

Although finding out about the portal light in the sky made me feel a bit bemused. I'd seen a lot of movies over the years with a portal in the sky, a lot of those superhero movies, from Fan4stic to Suicide Squad. I suppose real life was imitating art in the end.

------

All of which I could not understand. I couldn't remember any of these events in the comics, and some of the actors looked like actors I recognized. Captain America and Black Widow had even been in the same movies a bunch of times. Well, their actors. Well, the actors that looked like them.

Whatever the case, it happened. I was standing in a building in the middle of Hell's Kitchen, one with a giant hole in it from what apparently been some sort of giant snake monster thing that had flown through the former apartment building.

As part of my attempt to make a living in this weird version of Marvel Comics I didn't know about, I took a job as a construction worker with a company that didn't ask a lot of questions. With all the damage from the battle, and the funding from StarkTech, Rand International, and various others pouring cash into New York to help rebuild it, construction companies had flooded into New York City, fixing buildings and streets that could be repaired, tearing down buildings that were lost causes so they could be built anew.

Perfect way for an immigrant to make some quick cash with some grunt work from guys who don't care a lot about legality. And, seeing as I was the ultimate immigrant, I managed to get work with a guy in charge of finding muscle for one of the companies in charge of the reconstruction of Hell's Kitchen. Some business called Union Allied Construction.

------

"It's simple work," I admitted. "Just gotta swing a stick and break stuff. It's fun, Sammy."

"Ha!" The man sitting with me replied boisterously. "Well, enjoy it while it lasts. In my experience, guys like you and Eddie over there," he nodded over to the side. In a room that had once been a kitchen, a Hispanic man just a bit shorter than me. He was a skinny guy, but he was taking apart the sink with a wrench, removing the pipes with ease. "Well, paperwork matters to some folk."

I sighed at that thought. Eddie and me both had no legal citizenship in America. For Eddie, it was because he crossed into America illegally to help support his mother in Puerto Rico. For me, it was because an asshole had dropped me into the middle of the city, leaving my paperwork in another universe.

"Well... I'll figure that out later," I reared back and swung my hammer. "Shouldn't you be working, Sammy?"

As brick crumbled and Eddie gently removed the sink in the kitchen, Sammy chuckled. "Nah, you young bucks have it handled. Just let my old ass rest for a bit."

"I have it on good authority that Captain America is older than you, and that guy would probably be right next to me."

Sammy scoffed. "Please youngblood, what do you know about Captain America?" He rose up and moved to pick up his own hammer. He reared back and decimated the brick wall in front of him with a single smooth movement. I coughed a bit as dust rose, and looked over at him as he smiled smugly.

"You're strong, kid," Sammy chuckled. "But it's important to know where to hit, and how fast too."

I blinked at this advice. I raised my own sledgehammer and tried to swing it the way Sammy had. The hammer bounced off the wall with no effect.

Sammy chuckled, leaving me to give him a chagrined look.

"Hey!" We turned around. A man stood there, wearing a polo shirt, khaki shorts, a blue hard hat, and carrying a clipboard. He glared at us, eyes hard, face pinched. Fredric, our boss. "Enough talk. We need the floor cleared by the end of the day."

Sammy and I shared a look before turning and going back to our work.

------

Later that day, we were done. Well, the guys on my shift. More would come in and do some work at night, but for now, my muscles burning from exertion, I was leaving for the day.

"Ahhh," Sammy sighed happily as we exited the construction site, entering the sidewalk. New York is never really quiet, but there was a brief sense of peace as the sun went down in the distance. He stretched, letting his arms reach for the sky.

"Ugh," I reeled back, playfully covering my nose while grabbing the arm nearest to me and pulling it down. "Dude, come on, deodorant!"

"Hmm?" Sammy slapped at me, grinning just a bit. "Little punk."

I smiled back. "Yeah yeah. See you tomorrow, old man."

"Hey, Mackmoud?"

I stopped, turning to look at him. I was using my real name since there wasn't much point in a cover story, but Sammy always slurred it from Mahmoud to 'Mackmoud'.

"What's up?"

"You need a ride?" He waved towards the parking lot his truck was parked in. "It ain't a big deal."

"Nah, I'm good." I smiled just a bit. "I wanna walk for a bit. Thanks though."

He shrugged, unbothered, and went off.

I, meanwhile, walked away. For a couple of blocks.

When I was sure I wasn't being followed, I turned towards the same section of neighborhoods I'd been hammering at the whole day. Technically, it was just buildings to be torn down. But in that section, there were a lot of places a guy could hide.

I left the sidewalk behind to go into an alleyway. From there, I hopped over a fence, then went through another alley. One more fence and I reached home.

A door with a steel lock pad blocked the way inside, with a clearly broken keypad next to it. I tapped on the 'broken' keypad, and the door let out a 'click', allowing me in.

Once inside, the motion sensors read my presence, and the lights turned on.

The place I'd been calling home for the past two months had once been an office building, for some tech company. It had been destroyed when some of the aliens, called the Chitauri, had blown up the upper floors with grenades then sent one of their reptile things through it. The building was up for reconstruction, but I could use it for now as a home. Rent free.

I'd taken the back room that had once been used for paperwork or something, and converted it into living space.

Yep. Mahmoud, the owner of a watch with infinite potential, living as a squatter.

I looked around. A big green thing the size of a closet rested in the corner. It had once been a broken refrigerator I'd found on the streets. It was still a fridge. Sometimes. Most days.

I opened the door and sighed in relief when I found my food cold. Rather than frozen, cooked, or just plain gone.

A steak was soon cooking on a machine that had once been a printer, and I moved to a beat up old couch to use my computer.

Like the fridge and stove, it was also made from parts of other devices. The phones I'd stolen from the neo-nazis two months before, a big TV monitor I'd found at one of the construction sites, some of the computers left behind by the tech company, a few more refrigerators, and three older generation video game consoles.

The computer worked. It worked damn well. Except on Wednesday, when it just put on videos of people laughing at Japanese game shows for hours, and when small children were eating lollipops nearby. Yesterday was a Wednesday. So, I could get some work done today.

The computer was really a supercomputer when it actually worked. I reached over for my keyboard and mouse and quickly switched it on. I got up and grabbed the steak, then went back.

"Okay. What are you up to, Stark?" I said to myself. My monitor glowed with a blue light, showing a sci-fi sort of look to it, with folders floating in a blue field. A wave of my hands would have let me move things around, but I reached for the mouse instead.

A quick click of the mouse opened a back channel I had into the Stark Industries employee memos. Nothing invasive, nothing about their secret projects, just the stuff any employee there would get sent. I read through them a bit but didn't find anything crazy. Another click sent me to the email of one Happy Hogan, Tony Stark's bodyguard. Some lovely messages wishing him well in his recovery. Another one from a company wishing to hire him from Stark Industries. Just a snapshot into the life of a good man.

I leaned back in my seat, slicing into my overcooked steak with a sigh.

Feeling a bit more intrusive than usual, I switched the feed again. I pushed my steak aside and focused. Hacking into the employee stuff at Stark wasn't horrific in terms of danger. And Happy had a regular email as well as a more private one which was blocked by some insane firewalls, and I'd only hacked the regular one. Hacking into SHIELD was another game entirely.

Not to say it was impossible. Alien tech, even alien tech made from human parts, was incredibly powerful. With a bit of time, I could hack almost any computer on the planet. Well, I guessed I could.

But that didn't mean I shouldn't be careful.

I went through some of the messages sent to all SHIELD agents. High priority targets, warnings, some simple guidelines for new recruits.

Then I went deeper. The Daily Cadet, the newspaper for the science school that SHIELD ran, had run an article two days before about two of their Alumni, Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz, had saved a kid named Donnie Gill from being frozen. Good on them.

There wasn't much else, except for Project Insight. I tried to gently find my way in, trawling through employee files, hunting down shipments. I made sure not to go through the same channels I had before.

Apparently, Project Insight was going well. They were building three big ass helicarriers, all powered by Iron Man type tech. Which was cool as shit. I took another bite of steak and shifted in my chair. I went to my other research next, still thinking.

Reports of a skeletal figure on a bike in the south. Apparently, people were thinking it was an urban legend, an explanation for the dead criminals getting burned to death. Ghost Rider.

I switched to a school I'd hacked, looking into their records. Peter Parker was doing well. He had won some science award recently. Good on the kid. Weird, he was only twelve. I didn't look him up for long since hacking into a children's school files made me feel skeevy.

The Baxter Building was still being built, and I couldn't find anything on any Fantastic Four member beyond the point they'd disappeared years back. Some company had hired them, before the company and the four disappeared. No Reed Richards, no Ben Grimm, Sue Storm, or Johnny Storm. That worried me. From the minute I'd found out, I'd left a program chasing any info that could be found on them, anything new. Nothing yet.

I growled in annoyance at that, then flipped to something else. "No mutants," I said with a sigh, looking over my other research. Not a sign of them. I couldn't find Wolverine, Cyclops, Professor X... Wait, I think I found... Uh, I couldn't find... Mutants were... I had to-

I ignored my screen for a moment. Whatever was on it probably didn't matter. After a moment, I went back to it to focus on something more important.

Wakanda was still being listed as a third world nation. Which was probably bullshit. I found myself smiling at the thought of Wakanda. It was weird, I didn't know a lot about Black Panther, but I felt a deep warmth when I thought of that nation. T'Challa was in university, studying the sciences, but that was all.

Finally, I turned on the police radio I had as a program on my computer, sitting back to listen to it.

For about ten minutes, I continued eating my steak as I listened. Whenever a code would get announced, I would look over at the notebook I'd written as a reference to what each code meant. Nothing the cops couldn't handle so far. No robbery in progress or anything. I finished my steak and got up, turning my computer off. Then I walked out of my home, locking it behind me, and headed to the alleyway.

Once there, I looked at my Omnitrix. One of the most powerful objects in all of fiction. Funnily enough, it's creator had developed it with the idea of peace in mind. Azmuth, one of a member of a species of extremely intelligent beings known as the Galvan, had created it to make up for another object he'd made, a sword with the power to destroy planets. It was supposed to allow a person to act as the perfect ambassador. With the ability to transform into any race in the galaxy, a person could interact with the people of the entire galaxy, to understand them and aid them. The ultimate peacekeeping tool.

Instead, he'd made the ultimate weapon. A person who can turn into any alien of the Ben 10 universe is not just powerful, they're versatile. Elemental control, enhanced strength and speed, flight, nuclear power, even time manipulation and reality warping. If there was an alien in Benjamin Tennyson's universe who could do something, the Omnitrix could do the same.

That weapon had landed in the hands of a ten-year-old brat. And that brat had done wondrous things with it. Ben Tennyson was one of my heroes, a kid who rose to the occasion again and again. He'd matured through battle and became a hero worthy of any universe. Ben 10 was awesome.

And now I had his Omnitrix. Ten alien forms, each with their own powers, with some crossover between them in terms of ability. Only ten, out of over a million. But that was enough.

I twisted the face of my watch, and it lit up in a flash of green. An image appeared, floating. Swampfire. He was one of my favorite forms, able to blast out flames from methane gases, control plants, and regenerate from harm with ease. But he wasn't what I needed.

I twisted the face, going through the aliens before I found the form that was best for what I wanted. Then, carefully, I pushed down on the watch.

Immediately, the change came.

My body grew outwards. I was already pretty hefty, but I gained over one hundred pounds of muscle in second. My leg twisted backward, my arms stretched out. Fur grew over my entire body. My fingernails became claws, but feet became massive paws. My nose grew outward, my ears shifted on top of my head as they change shape. My mouth became a muzzle, and my teeth became lethal fangs. I held back the urge to howl my name. Instead, I whispered it, in a voice that was half a growl.

"Blitzwolfer..." I hummed, then lifted my nose, taking a deep whiff of the air. To my human nose, the smell of the city was only sometimes palatable. To Blitzwolfer, the smells of the city were a delight. It was like watching a thousand movies at once and somehow comprehending all of them.

"Time to go," I ran for a nearby building and leaped up about twenty feet. My claws dug into the brick, and I climbed at high speed, going to the top of the six-story building in seconds. Once there, I ran.

There were few things that gave me as much joy as being transformed. Feeling so powerful, running at speeds so fast the world was a blur. My muscles pumped as I ran across the gravel rooftop, legs pushing forward. I was so fast!

I finally released a sound as I leaped to the next roof, a bark of joy. The noise exploded from my lungs, and I grinned at the feel of my simple bark resounding through the air like a bomb, echoing into the distance. More barks responded. It was sort of like listening to a foreign language. I couldn't understand the words, but the emotions carried through. Dogs sharing their own joy, their annoyance at my loudness, their challenges towards my dominance. I barked again, this time at the challengers, and laughed when they just barked the challenges once more.

I leaped to another rooftop, then climbed up to the next building, claws digging into the stone.

I ran around for about twenty minutes, keeping to the shadows and listening closely to the city around me. Blitzwolfer wasn't my best way to track someone down, but his speed, strength, tracking, and sonic powers made him an ideal form to travel in New York City so I could help people.

My decision was justified when I heard something. A loud scream. I took a whiff of the air. Elevated scents I'd learned to tie to fear and excitement, one of them being sweat. Combined with the scream, I had a target.

My right foot slammed into the roof, claws digging into the rocky surface to let me twist around in the middle of my run. I booked it towards the sound.

It was only a minute long run, but I smelled blood float up towards me. I growled in annoyance. Deep inside, a more primal part of me found joy in the smell. Fear, blood, all the signs of prey. Prey to hunt.

Luckily, it was easy to push the urge to hunt down. Blitzwolfer's species, Loboan's, were closer to their animal instincts than humans were, but they were still sentient, so I found it easy to focus.

When I reached the site of the scream, I found five people. Two men, one woman, attacking a young couple, a man and a woman. All different races.

The man was being held down by two of his attackers, a woman with long black hair and a man with inky black skin. He was screaming, a knife wound in his stomach pouring blood, but still struggling to get to his girl.

She was struggling too, crying. The last of the attackers was on top of her, struggling to get her wallet out of her pocket as he grabbed her throat.

I leaped down from the rooftop I was on. I didn't waste time waiting to land.

My mouth opened. In four different directions. It was weird how natural it felt to open my mouth and feel a seam open in the center of my face, running a line down my nose all the way to my chin.

I breathed in. Then I howled. Though that was an understatement.

"AAAHHHWWOOOOO!!!"

A green pulse of energy flew from my mouth, slamming into the two holding the guy down. All five of them screamed in pain, the man on top of the woman falling back and grabbing his ears.

I landed on the ground and sped forward, ignoring the spider-web of cracks I left in my landing. I grabbed the guy who'd been robbing the woman by his shirt and lifted him up. At my full height, I was massive, looming over everyone.

"Hey," I smirked at the terrified look he gave me. I looked over at the other two thugs. "How about you surrender?"

The male and female thugs turned to run. I spun around and threw the guy I was holding at them, running after them at the same time. The guy I'd thrown hit the girl, I grabbed the final guy by his leg.

"God, please no! Please don't do this!" He screamed.

"Arrest you?" I chuckled, pulling to join his friends. They were struggling to rise, but I opened my mouth again.

"AAAHWOOO!"

They were thrown back by the sonic blast. I threw the other guy with them, then looked over the couple. The woman was with her boyfriend. Or husband I supposed. They were trying to run.

"Hey!" The couple froze. I sighed at the look of fear they were giving me. "Relax. I'm going to tie them up, then call the police." The woman didn't seem to listen. She was tugging at her boy as he grunted in pain, his knife wound getting opened further. I rolled my eyes, more annoyed than saddened by their fear. "Stupid Marvel hatred of things they don't understand," I mumbled.

The symbol of the Omnitrix rested on my stomach. I reached a hand for it, tapping the device. It glowed green, my DNA once again undergoing a new change. My fur changed color, going from gray to blue. My arms and legs shifted into more human shaped ones, right up until five fingers turned into four, and five toes became two. Blades sprouted from my forearms and forelegs, made of a bony protrusion. I felt the fur on my face shift, rising into 'horns' from around my eyes. My senses were dulled, but my perception of the world slowed down, as though things were a step behind me.

"Fasttrack."

I ran as soon as I was transformed. First, I went into the street, looking around quickly. I saw some pallets near a shop that were being held together by rope, which I ran over and untied. Went over to the thugs, picking them up and wrapping them in the coarse rope. Once done, I went over to the couple.

The woman was still trying to drag her husband away. I gently moved him over away from her, and ripped his t-shirt off, pressing it into his wound to try and stop the bleeding.

Then I slowed down for a bit.

"What just-" The thugs looked down at themselves, shocked at the sight of the ropes wrapped around their arms and legs.

The woman looked down at her arms, blinking at the disappearance of her husband, then looked at me. "You were killing him," I said softly, pressing the shirt into his wound. The man looked at me, shocked. "I can take you to the hospital in seconds. I can save his life."

She stared at me. The man stared at me. After a moment, she nodded quickly, tears in her eyes.

"Okay," I grabbed my 'patients' arm so that he was holding his shirt to himself, then I picked up the man in a bridal carry. While Fasttrack wasn't as strong as Swampfire or Blitzwolfer, I could still easily carry him. "Get on my back."

"W-What?" She rose up, staring at me. I was taller than her, and pretty bulky for a speedster, but apparently less terrifying than my Blitzwolfer form because she seemed less fearful.

"Honey," the guy in my arms grunted. "Just... let's trust him, okay?" He held the shirt tighter to himself. It was soaked through by now.

She hesitated for a second longer. Then she walked over to me. It was a bit awkward, leaning down to let her leap onto my back while carrying her boyfriend/husband/guy. Once she was on, I rose up again.

"Hold on tight. Very, very tight."

When I was sure she was secure, I booked it towards the nearest hospital. I'd found the couple in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan, in an alleyway off W 14th Street. That made the nearest hospital Lenox Health Greenwich Village. I had no idea how long it would take to get there by car.

But I ran into the street, ducked around a car moving in slow motion. I tried to be careful, but I still had trouble with quick turns, so I had to hold the guy tight and keep making sure the woman was holding tight. Still, what was a moment of adjustment for me, was a microsecond to the couple.

"Yaaaaaaaaa!" The girl screamed in my ear as I ran through the Manhattan streets.

"Hoooo!" The guy replied.

Soon I found the hospital, an interestingly shaped building with weird circular holes on the upper floors walls. Lenox Hospital had an emergency room, so I slowed down and went towards it.

Fasttrack was fast. But not so good at slowing down or turning on a dime.

I rushed the couple past an Asian couple walking out of the doors, going in and screeching to a stop. My feet left long grooves in the linoleum, and the wife leaped off my back.

"Hey!" I called out, gently holding the guy. "He's got a knife wound to the stomach!"

A nurse turned, startled, then stared at me, shocked by my appearance.

"Lady, come save this guy!"

My yell startled her into moving. A gurney was brought over, and he was put on top, the nurses yelling medical terms I didn't understand. I patted the woman as she went to follow.

"Good luck."

She responded with a teary smile. "Thank you so much!"

With that, she was off. I watched the two go, smiling a bit. I felt good. Helping people was something I was new to, but it wasn't a bad feeling to know you'd made a difference.

"G-Get down on the floor!" Said a voice from my left.

It was a security guard. He had a gun out, pointed in fear.

"...No."

I sped away in a flash of blue. It was a matter of another sprint to go back to the alleyway, where the three thugs still were. One of them had gotten loose and was trying to rise to his feet. I ran in and punched him in the face at high speed. As he staggered back, I went through his friend's pockets, stealing their smartphones and the knife they'd cut the guy with.

Another run with the rope to tie them up, then it was on to the police station. The 10th Precinct in fact. I ran in, dropped the three off with a note, and was out in milliseconds.

Good thing. The Omnitrix began to beep, flashing red light. A quick sprint past an alley, then I was back in human form.

I tripped mid-run, the switch from Citrakayah to human perception of speed throwing me off, but I managed to right myself. I strode out of the alley and looked at my Omnitrix. The center was now red, so no transformations for the next few minutes. I had a couple of aliens I wanted to play with later, but for now...

I took out my brand new StarkTech phone and checked it. No security. I activated the e-mail function, logged out of the girls account and signed into mine. From there, I could check on my computer's files at home. I went through them for a bit. Nothing new. I went to my research on Latveria. Still no sign of Doctor Doom being a thing, though some basketball player was making a name in the sport. Then I looked into the Savage Land. Yeah, Antartica was still frozen. Nothing on the mystical realms, but there was not much chance of that information on the internet. Worth a shot.

I sighed, walking down the street on my phone. This had been my pattern after work, saving people's lives, wallets... sometimes saving them from horrors that sickened me.

There were times... there was a woman. She'd been savaged. The guys who'd taken her had been at it for hours.

It was one month into me living in Manhattan. That was the first time I'd ever put a concentrated effort into hurting someone.

Thinking of her, I switched over to the file I had set aside for her case. She was still getting help, for the physical and mental trauma. She was doing her best. Jen Tiller. As for her assailants, they were still in the hospital. I'd shattered their bones, destroyed their bodies. They'd need years before they could actually move, eat, or shit without aid again. I felt a burning guilt for that, a pain at how I'd lost control. But Jen Tiller deserved to know her attackers would never hurt anyone else like that again.

As the Omnitrix changed the color back to green, I checked the time. Well. Maybe I could save one more before the night was over.

I managed to save three more people, then ended the night with my workout before going to sleep.

------

January 10, 2014

"Sammy!" I yelled out. He turned to look at me, then nodded when I gestured towards a kitchen Eddie had emptied out. I went inside and started swinging, thinking to myself as my arms and hips moved to strike.

We were at a new construction site. The last house had been taken down just before New Years. In that time, I'd gone on more patrols, done more workouts, and done more research. I'd gotten into a routine, but soon I'd need to move on. The patrols, in the end, were just me practicing. Using my powers against non-threats, moving about the city, making technology for useful purposes. I'd have to step onto the stage soon. Actually, help people on a large scale, help the Avengers. Well, unless they went all Civil War on me, but there weren't nearly enough superheroes for that to be an issue. Besides, I was on camera enough that even hacking hospital and police security footage wouldn't work forever.

As I lifted the hammer again, my phone began to buzz. And so did my Omnitrix.

I stopped, surprised. Then I felt horrified.

My computer at home had a connection to both my Omnitrix and phone. I hadn't been able to mess with my Omnitrix much since my tech transformation was more of an engineer than a scientist, so none of my attempts to unlock the Master Code had worked. But I got it to respond to very specific things.

I dropped the hammer and hurriedly pulled out my phone.

My stomach fell out from under me. I staggered, trying to understand what I was reading. Then I ran.

"Sammy!" My voice cracked, and I tried to focus. Sammy was standing near the trailer set up at the sight. He turned to look at me as I ran up. "I'm leaving!"

"Kid?" Sammy reached for his head and blinked in confusion.

"Mr. Schahed," Frederic, our pinch-faced boss stepped out from around Sammy. "I must remind you that Union Allied does not pay you for the days work without-"

I stepped forward, cocked my hips forward, and slammed my fist into my bosses chin in an uppercut. "I quit, Frederic."

"I don't think he heard you," Sammy said as I walked by. He watched in shock as I left.

I ran into an alleyway and opened my Omnitrix up. It was an effort of will trying not to slam my palm into the dial, to carefully pick my alien rather than rush into it in my panic. I finally pushed it down and felt the change come.

"Fasttrack!"

I didn't care about cameras now. I sped through the streets passing through town as fast as I could.

Alleyway, fence, alleyway, then hop over another fence, put in my code, rush inside. The smell of burnt food told me my fridge had burned its contents again. I ignored it, putting on my computer. I tapped the Omnitrix and returned to human.

"I... I don't understand what to do with this."

I stood in the middle of my living room, staring at my screen. There, in front of me, were words I just didn't understand.

STEVEN ROGERS IS NOW WANTED FUGITIVE OF SHIELD. ALL SHIELD AGENTS ARE TO REPORT ANY INFORMATION ABOUT HIS WHEREABOUTS AND BRING HIM IN FOR QUESTIONING. THIS IS THE NUMBER ONE PRIORITY FOR ALL AGENTS. FIND STEVE ROGERS, BRING HIM IN.

 

[DesertChocolate]

Features:

• 
  
  
  • The Paradox Omnitrix is based on the design of the re-calibrated omnitrix once owned by Ben Tennyson. It can access one of several species from the sector of multiverses where Tennyson is connected to.
  • The Omnitrix is connected to the Codon Stream despite now being in an entirely different multiverse. This is due to Paradox' modifications. This gives the wearer access to all 1000000+ aliens, though it can only access Ten as of now.
  • In order for the user to change size, matter was created from energy or reconstituted to energy as needed.
  • Manually touching the Omnitrix symbol not only allows the user to immediately transform back to normal, but can also be used to change forms while already transformed.
  • If tampered with against the wearers will, the Omnitrix releases a feedback pulse to defend itself. It also cannot be removed under conventional means.
  • It can repair genetic damage and heal mutations, but only those that are harming the users health. Kilgrave, Daredevil, Hulk, and Spiderman, all cannot have their mutations removed.

Extensions

• 
  
  
  • The Omnitrix has AI (Artificial Intelligence).
  • The Omnitrix functions as a GPS.
  • The Omnitrix can create a hologram map, which is similar to the one in Plumber Badges.
  • The Omnitrix has a 2-way communication system which can be accessed by certain people
  • The Omnitrix has a built-in Universal Translator.
  • The Omnitrix can teleport the user through Azmuth's teleportation channel, but this feature is useless in the MCU.

Color Coding

• 
  
  
  • The Omnitrix could display ten colors, each meaning something different:
    • Green: Active Mode
      
      
    • Red: Recharge Mode
      
      
    • Yellow: Capture Mode
      
      
    • Blue: Recalibration Mode
      
      
    • Purple: Controlled
      
      
    • Orange: Self Destruct Mode (original Omnitrix form)
      
      
    • Grey: Deactivated
      
      
    • Black: Stop Mode
      
      
    • Pink: Under spell effect

Display Modes

• 
  
  
  • The Omnitrix had two known display modes.
    • Black silhouettes of the aliens.
      
      
    • Dark green holograms of the aliens.
  • By changing the settings on the Omnitrix, either display modes could have been used with either Omnitrix form.

Clothing

• 
  
  
  • The Omnitrix could alter the clothing of the wearer to better fit the alien forms and could even create different types of clothing and accessories, colored white and black, to accommodate the alien form's anatomy.
    • During Alien Force, nanomachines broke them down and stored them until the transformation ends.

Allocation

• 
  
  
  • When the user was transformed, an Omnitrix symbol appeared on the chest. The symbol was actually the Omnitrix itself, appearing in this form because many species don't have wrists.
  • The Omnitrix was in the center of the chest area on every alien in Alien Force is for easy access. The symbol was put in different places on some aliens in the original series which was a side effect of the Omnitrix not working properly. (Though it was later revealed to be the other way round, with the limited positioning of the Omnitrix being a glitch of the Omnitrix.)

Malfunctions

• 
  
  
  • If the Omnitrix's faceplate cover is broken off, the result was DNA hybrids.
  • When exposed to an electromagnetic interference, the Omnitrix could cause unintentional transformations and the Omnitrix will be unable to deactivate until the source of the interference is gone.
    • This could work in reverse, rapidly changing the user from one form to another until someone/something stops it.
  • Technical glitches caused power glitches that would cause random flight and abilities not native to the alien species, as well as leaving all the aliens naked and cold.

 

[DesertChocolate]

Spoiler: Photo of Subject

• 
  
  
  • Species Name: Methanosian
  • Appearance: Swampfire is a humanoid, plant-like alien that has an overall green and black colored body, mostly with a flame-patterned head and root-like feet, seemingly holding rocks. His eyes are oval shaped with points at each end with pupils copying the shape but are smaller. Also, his shoulders and head have red petals. His elbows and legs have green frills sticking out. Swampfire is taller than an average human and has a distinct rotten stench that worsens with heat. His voice is very stuffy and nasally because he has no nose. Swampfire wears the Omnitrix/Ultimatrix symbol on his chest.
  • Personality: He has a nasally voice due to the lack of a nose. He smells pungent, but not horrific to beings with a human range of scent, though dogs love his smell.
  • Powers: Swampfire has the ability to ignite methane in his palms similar to a flamethrower. After his blossoming, he ignites methane from yellow holes in his palms. He has extreme precision with these fire blasts, even able to fly by using the fire as jet propulsion. He also has a high degree of chlorokinesis. Swampfire uses seeds and gases projected from his body, as well as telepathically interfacing with plant life, to manipulate and instantly create biological agriculture. Plant life exposed to Swampfire's gases will elongate, enlarge and ensnare enemies, seemingly being mutated by the gases. He is even able to speak with plant-life if it is sentient. He can even regenerate from an insane level of damage if done to him. Enhanced strength is one of his powers due to his plant body being able to shapeshift.
  • Weakness: Immense cold can overcome his fire projective powers, damaging his plant parts and hindering his powers. Regeneration also uses part of his stamina, so enough damage over time can tax him, forcing the Omnitrix to change him back.

Spoiler: Edited Out of Final Profile

Comments from Tony Stark and Bruce Banner
Tony Stark: Why the hell does this guy smell so bad? It's like constantly standing next to a rotten egg? Plus, I keep thinking of that tree from the Evil Dead whenever he controls plants, and that is just...
Bruce Banner: Tony!
Tony Stark: I'm just saying!
Bruce Banner: Personally I find him fascinating. The fact an alien creature can control plants from Earth suggests that there is some sort of universal way to communicate with plants, which I think we should replicate.
Tony Stark: Well sure. I'm just saying, if petunias start feeling people up, I'm going to start carrying agent orange wherever I go.

 

[DesertChocolate]

Spoiler: Photo of Subject

• 
  
  
  • Species Name: Loboan
  • Appearance: Blitzwolfer's appearance is based on a werewolf. He had grey fur, a long flowing mane, and a large bushy tail, with three sharp claws on each hand and foot. The inside of his mouth was green. Blitzwolfer wore the Omnitrix symbol on his lower stomach. His mouth can open up into four parts, allowing him to use his powers.
  • Personality: While not his strongest form, it is the preferred form of the MC, as it has a solid suite of powers to be used for anything. Therefore, it is the form closest to the MC in personality, as he has a strong affinity for it.
  • Powers: Blitzwolfer can emit a powerful green ultrasonic howl by opening his quadra-hinged muzzle. This can either cause considerable damage to his targets, reflect incoming projectiles, or propel himself upward like a rocket booster.. He has enhanced senses of smelling and hearing, as well as enhanced agility, speed, stamina, jumping, durability and strength. He also has extraordinary night vision, formidable claws and fangs. Additionally, the claws on his feet can grasp like his hands.
  • Weakness: He can't handle dog whistles or similar noises, and is less durable than other forms, able to be cut and damaged.

Spoiler: Edited Out Of Profile

Comments from Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov:
Clint Barton: A werewolf. He can turn into a sonic blasting alien werewolf.
Natasha Romanov: Our life has gotten really strange, Clint.
Clint Barton: Yeah, it has. So how would you take him?
Natasha Romanov: His senses are more acute than ours, though he clearly doesn't mind loud noises. If we can overwhelm his sense of smell, that would give us an opening. I suggest using that to attack, and make sure to get something that can pierce his tough skin.
Clint Barton: He's also got a brief moment of vulnerability when he splits his mouth open. Hit him fast enough in the mouth, before he unleashes a blast, and...

 

[DesertChocolate]

Spoiler: Photo of Subject

• Species Name: Citrakayah
  
  
• Appearance: Fasttrack is a feline-like alien with a black suit-like color scheme. His hands, legs, part of his head, and chest are colored blue. He has spikes on his hands and legs. He also has black Wolverine mask-like fins around his green eyes. He has a triangle-shaped nose, and a thunderbolt-like design down his chest. Fasttrack wears the Ultimatrix symbol on his chest.
  
  
• Personality: Fasttrack shows no change in personality from the person he changes from besides a noted preference for speedy resolution of issues, sometimes running in head first into problems. Thankfully, this is less of an issue that it is with Rath.
  
  
• Powers: Enhanced speed and agility, partial boost to strength, good reflexes, and simple blades on the arms and legs that can be used as weapons.
  
  
• Weakness: Fasttrack isn't especially tough or durable, as killable as a normal human if can actually be hit. He also has trouble stopping, though this can be trained.

 

[DesertChocolate]

January 10th, 2014

For a crazy moment, I felt under-dressed in my blue shirt. I stared at my computer screen, trying to understand what was going. The message was from SHIELD, being sent to all agents through priority channels. Every agent on the planet was getting this. And it was insane.

STEVEN ROGERS IS NOW A WANTED FUGITIVE OF SHIELD. ALL SHIELD AGENTS ARE TO REPORT ANY INFORMATION ABOUT HIS WHEREABOUTS AND BRING HIM IN FOR QUESTIONING.

I ran through every bit of comic book knowledge I had, some of it mere scraps I'd overheard. What was going on? Why was SHIELD hunting Captain America?

Captain America going rogue was actually pretty common when I thought about it. It was true for all superheroes, a moment when the people who were supposed to support them started to think of them as criminals. But in this case, what was happening? Was he being mind controlled? Framed? Did someone trick SHIELD somehow?

Hail Hydra. Said a soft voice in my mind. An image that had actually in the news for a while in my world. Captain America, suddenly saying those two disgusting words. Was it something like that? Some weird pseudo body switch thing?

I needed answers. I needed to find out who were the bad guys.

My feet didn't move. I licked my lips. For all my power, I'd spent months fighting thugs, gangsters, and rapists, all for the sake of practice. To git gud with my powers, to establish a rhythm, to know when my watch would turn off and reset (Though that was still up in the air). All for the day I'd actually fight as an Avenger, to save people from monsters, to do the work I did on patrol of Manhattan on a larger scale. With the Omnitrix, I could save a lot of people.

I'd thought about going home a couple of times. Of making a device to make a portal back somehow. But nothing I tried let me do it. For some reason, I was locked in this universe, or at least, my tech couldn't make the calculations to find my home universe so I could actually make a device that would get me there. So while I was here, I wanted to do some good. To use this gift that was forced/given to me to be a good guy.

At that moment, I thought of Ben. I thought of how much he'd gone through. I thought of Marvel's famous characters. Of what made those heroes. And it was funny. But I found my inspiration from a boy who, in this universe, was only twelve years old.

With Great Power, comes Great Responsibility.

That thought made me step forward. I turned off the blinking message and switched over to my SHIELD link. I didn't hesitate anymore. I needed information. And only one man would tell me the truth, or at least his version of it.

There was a button on my computer, dedicated to one purpose. It was made from the head of a Hulk doll, something of a joke. Some of my forms had their own sense of humor. I wasn't laughing.

I pushed down on the Hulk's head slightlly, but not enough to actually activate it.. Then I stopped to think before pulling my hand away. Not the time to be impulsive. I walked over to another corner of my home and grabbed the pack I had set aside. It was made from tough leather, filled with clothes, some granola bars, a tough canteen of water, a first aid kit, and knives. With a final thought, I threw off my blue shirt and grabbed one I'd saved. A white one, with a black stripe straight through the center. It felt appropriate. Made for anything, up to getting teleported into outer speed. A bug-out bag. I checked the Omnitrix, flipped through my aliens for a moment. Not to transform, just to make sure of what was happening.

The plan had always been this, on some level. I was always waiting for a call to action. I'd spent weeks preparing for the day I would need to step into battle, to join the Avengers or help one of the street level superheroes like me.

I looked around my small home, shrugging my backpack slightly. "I guess... I guess this is goodbye." I'd been planning to leave in a hurry at any time. That's why there were no posters, no movies or video games in my house. But still... Leaving was gonna suck.

Then I sat down at my computer and pressed down on the Hulk's head. It wiggled slightly, his angry snarl bouncing around.

"HULK SMASH!" My computer speakers cried out.

My screen flickered. That was it. Sadly, computer's aren't exactly dramatic when it came to this sort of thing. But in my homemade supercomputer, a program ripped through every firewall in SHIELD. My passive intrusion became an invasion as I pulled every secret they had into my PC. On any other day, this would have been an insane move. No one human can look into the thousands of files belonging to SHIELD without hundreds of hours of time to read through the sort of dark crap no one should read.

I ignored all of it, switching over to the most relevant file. All the work being done in finding one Steven Rogers.

Satellite surveillance, security camera, social network tracking, word of mouth. Everything on the East Coast was trying to find him.

Which meant I was too.

You know the great thing about technology? With a good enough interface, you don't need to be smart. You just let the tech do the job for you. Not many can build smartphones. Almost anyone can use them. And my supercomputer could do the work of teams of hackers and technicians by itself. It separated out data and started using SHIELD's resources for me. I needed to find Captain America, and my computer started tracking him. Simple as a couple of button presses. I called the program 'CapWatch' and left it running. I pulled out my smartphone and connected it to my computer with a cable. I connected the program to my cell phone. With it on, I could keep a watch on Captain Rogers while on the move. The program would work within SHIELD, hidden by alien programming and keeping me informed.

And then my computer beeped. The cameras had found him, at a mall in D.C. I made sure my phone was connected to the CapWatch program, then turned back to the moniter.

"Huh," I leaned towards the screen, squinting. "He really does look like Chris Evans. But giant."

It was something I'd always known from the footage, but now it was obvious. When he stood next to Thor and the Hulk, he wasn't that big. On his own? Dude had to be over six feet. He was trying to be low-key, but it's hard for a truck made of super-soldier enhanced and sculpted muscle to hid with a hat and a pair of glasses. He was standing with a woman, in the middle of an Apple computer store. They were tapping away at something. Well, the woman in the hoodie was at least. She was shorter than he was and hiding better. I'd barely half-noticed her. Something about how she was standing just... made her hard to notice. As though she was hiding even as she stood there. It took me a bit to recognize Natasha Romanov. So Captain America was innocent? Or, wait, was Black Widow evil in this universe, just like in the Ultimates? Damnit all, more questions.

As she typed, another alert came through. I checked it.

"Ah... shit."

The alert was actually two. First, whatever Black Widow had done, it put a level six homing program onto them, which meant SHIELD now knew where they were.

Second, someone had triggered one of the motion sensors around my home.

I ran to the computer and triggered the outer cameras, made from printer and smartphone parts. Eight screens showing everything around the building showed me what was happening.

Men were pouring from black SUV's, guns out. They wore all black uniforms, with bulletproof armor, helmets, and combat boots. They were going down the alley near my home. All with assault rifles out.

"How the hell did they get here so fast?" I grumbled. I knew they would track me once I slammed through their firewalls with the rudeness of a knife to the testes. But I hadn't expected them to be so quick. Or to come with an army. SHIELD may have been under high alert, but I didn't think they would send assault rifles against a hacker.

I made sure my bag was slightly loose on my back. Then I pressed a self-destruct on my computer. It linked with my fridge, stove, and security system. In three minutes, it would explode everything, leaving no trace of who'd lived there.

It sucked ass. I'd made a home in Manhattan. My crappy rundown home, with tech that barely worked, a fridge that burned food, and a supercomputer that played Japanese TV on Wednesday no matter what I did. I pushed the thought away.

I needed to get to Captain America and Black Widow. I was going to help, and I couldn't let SHIELD stop me. Whatever was happening, he was the key.

Then I looked at the computer. The camera outside my door showed the SHIELD agents throwing something. At first, I thought it was a smoke grenade, but why throw that at a closed door. The computer helpfully identified it for me with the use of StarkTech accelerated reality, zooming in and naming the object. I didn't read the whole description. Two words were enough.

Fragmentation Grenade.

My right arm lifted. I twisted the face of the Omnitrix. I didn't look at the watch. No time to choose, any alien was more durable than I was. I just slammed my hand onto the watch, roaring as my palm hit my wrist.

"IT'S HERO TIME!"

BOOM!

------

When the grenade blew up, it destroyed my metal door. Shrapnel flew into the air, some of it as long as knives. Enough to impale me, to even kill me.

But the change had already come. I grew up to nine feet in height. Blue-green crystals grew across my skin, sliding out of my pores, surrounding my fingers, my face. I grew massive spikes on my shoulders. My body was made of crystal.

"Diamondhead!"

I stood there proudly, ignoring the shrapnel bouncing off the crystal.

"Huh," my voice was odd in this form, resonating. "I would have preferred to run... but maybe I should throw a punch or two."

Not really my plan to turn into Diamondhead. I needed to leave, and this form wasn't made for that.

Then again... they'd thrown a grenade at me.

"All right," I snapped my hands to the side, thinking of Thor for some reason. My crystalline hands shapeshifted, becoming massive blades worthy of any anime. "I said hero time. I'll make good on that."

I leaped out of my home, my backpack now tight, and roared.

There were twelve men in the little courtyard outside my home. I'm not sure what they expected, but it wasn't a Petrosapien leaping into the air out of the smoke, glowing blue-green in the sunlight and wearing a black and green outfit. Behind me, my home for over three months blew up. I roared, blade arms out, and slammed into the ground.

The men around me started to shoot. Bullets slammed into my form, only to fall to the ground in useless chunks. Diamondhead could survive reentry on his own. Bullets would do nothing. I ignored it and ran towards one of the soldiers. My left sword arm shifted, turning into a fist. Simple. But when your hands are as big and heavy as Diamondhead's, they hit with a hell of a lot of force. I punched his chest, sending him flying. My right arm became a shield. I waded in, pumping my left fist in my best boxing stance and hitting another guy in the leg. I tried to be gentle. These were just soldiers after all.

I blocked another hail of bullets from one man using my right arm shield, hearing loud noises like metal hammers on stone as bullets hit crystal to no avail. I walked towards him swiftly, reaching a hand out and grabbing his gun away from him. He staggered back. I punched him in the rips, tossing him aside. Another SHIELD soldier stepped forward to swing his fist at me, and I let him. His fist broke on my chin. He screamed as he fell to his knees, and I kicked him back. "Sorry, buddy."

"Take him down!"

That was the only response I got. More assault rifle fire was shot at me, and I growled in annoyance. While I couldn't be hurt by the bullets, the noise of them hitting me in the head and chest was annoying.

I slammed my fist into the floor. Crystal shot into the earth, then exploded outwards around me in a shining imitation of an explosion. I tried to keep the shards dull, but when crystals the size of diamonds erupt upwards at high speed, they hit hard.

The soldiers around me screamed as the crystals slammed into them, sending them flying. I heard more men coming towards us, and I knew I had to go. I couldn't exactly kill the good guys, even if they had thrown a grenade at me.

I turned and swung my arm out, shooting blades of crystal at the ground. As they sank into concrete, they exploded, turning into a massive ramp. I ran for it, sliding on the crystals and launching into the air. As I came close to another building, I threw more crystals. They grew in seconds into a sort of bowl stabbed into the wall, letting me dive into the 'bowl', slide down and fly out of the other side. I landed on a roof and sprinted as hard as I could, hearing the guys behind me yelling at each other. Then the 'whomp, whomp, whomp' of a helicopter's blades flew by. A sigh left my lips when a black helicopter spun around to come in front of me.

"These assholes are persistent."

No time for niceties. Mid-run, I spun to aim myself at the helicopter, my legs and arms pumping hard. It turned it's right side towards me, the door sliding open. A guy levered a freaking minigun at me. The barrels started turning at high speed.

"All this for a little hacking!?"

The guy pointing the minigun couldn't hear me, considering the helicopter blades were sending a massive ruckus into the air.

The minigun started firing. I lifted a hand up, shapeshifting my arm to turn into a giant shield again. Big bullets the size of thumbs slammed into the shield, sending flattened bullet rounds bouncing on the rooftop as they uselessly tried to break the unbreakable. I sprinted, holding my shield in front of me. My other hand swung outwards and tossed another crystal, a large stone bouncing on the ground before I leaped onto it. The stone grew under my feet, surging upwards and sending me towards the helicopter. My shield became a sword in mid-air.

"Raaugh!" With that cry, I slammed my sword hand deep into the steel of the helicopter, at the point where the tail met the body of the chopper. The sound of metal being sliced by steel was a wailing screech of noise in the air. My sword sprouted a flower of crystals within the helicopter, pushing them to grow as fast as I could make them go. The guy with the minigun stared at me as the section of the helicopter I was hanging from began to sprout blue-green knives from the inside. All along the inside of the chopper, more and more crystals sliced through the seats, the fuel tank, grinding through the aircraft until a massive one rose from the floor. It was as big as a man and forced the guy at the minigun to back up as it crowded the helicopter. The whole thing began to fall, unbalanced and leaking fuel as my crystals sliced into it.

"There's a bar down the street," I said with a grin at the shocked soldier, still held to the chopper by my sword hand. "I suggest you guys go there after this, drink things off."

I leaped from the chopper, aiming towards another building nearby. I slammed into the rooftop in a ground pound and hurriedly looked over at the helicopter. The thing was unsteady, about to slam into a building nearby.

I reached my mind into the crystals within the helicopter. Crystals feel like... light. Warmth of the sun on your face, even as you feel a cooling breeze on your arms. I moved that feeling, carefully, my arms swaying in the air as my carved lips curved. As the crystals moved, I dragged the copter through the air. It's rotors screamed, struggling to fight my pull. I grunted with the effort, trying to hold the aircraft, and guided it slowly to the ground. When it came close to the ground, away from any cars, the pilot stopped fighting me. Together, me swaying my arms and the pilot in the street ahead of me moving his joystick, I slowly lowered the chopper to the ground, ignoring the sounds of more men coming up onto the roof behind me for a second. As soon as the chopper was down, I spun around.

More soldiers stood behind me than had appeared at my door. About twenty or so. I stared at them as they pointed their guns at me, my eyes narrowing.

For some reason, this felt... wrong. Opening up with a grenade on a house that could just have held a very stupid hacker. Coming in with guns up, without even speaking to me in some way. I mean, sure, I'd committed a crime, but hackers don't get armies attacking them, they get job offers. All of this felt less like SHIELD, and more like I was fighting an evil army.

The men surrounded me, one in the center barking at me. "Get down, get down now! We will shoot you, you damn freak!"

"Rude," I grumbled softly.

Guns cocked. I raised my hands.

Assault rifle fire slammed into me. I didn't stagger, my feet having sprouted spikes through the bottom of my shoes to let me stay standing. As the bullets hit my stone skin, my fingers sank into my palms, turning them into flat planes with spikes popping out. I fired an assault of spikes from my new cannon arms. They slammed into the ground in front of the guys shooting at me, erupting into a wall of massive spikes to defend me.

I turned and leaped off the building, reaching for my chest. A massive palm tapped the Omnitrix.

Once more, the change came. My crystal skin became reptilian, scaled and colored brown. My massive form shrank to become far more skinny, aerodynamic. My backpack was stretched to the limit when another growth sprouted on my back, which solidified before a pair of wings snapped out from it. My face became beaked, and my eyesight sharpened as my hands and feet each grew three talons.

In mid-air, falling towards the ground I pointed myself towards the ground. A section of my back came alight with green energy. I screeched for joy as I shot forward at the pavement like a jet engine. Before I hit the ground, I twisted my body upwards in a maneuver that would have snapped a human back, at way too many G's. I rocketed back up into the sky as fast as I could, the organic engine on my back roaring with an unearthly noise. I released a pulse of energy, shooting into the sky at sonic speeds.

I passed the guys on the rooftop chopping away at my crystal formation, spinning upwards and crying out the name.

"Astrodactyl!"

With that cry, I spun around. "Okay! Time to g-screeeech!" I blinked, floating for a moment. "That's weird to get used to, Squaaaawk!" I said, letting another screech of noise out once I'd finished. Sometimes you have to let the form do what it wants. And Astrodactyl like to release loud bird noises when it talked. Hell, I kinda liked it too.

I tapped the Omnitrix again, this time trying to access the GPS. I didn't have much time before the Omnitrix would time out, especially with all the stuff I'd had Diamondhead do, so I quickly accessed the direction of the mall Captain America had been in. A moments orientation and I rocketed away, zooming through the sky with a tremendous boom of noise as I broke the sound barrier.

 

[DesertChocolate]

Author's Note: This chapter was fun. Considering the two new aliens revealed, I had to do some playing around with the changes in personality and the way the alien's act. One, in particular, was a lot of fun, and I loved the energy it brought out of me. Though I imagine some would find him annoying.

Overall, this chapter was fun to write, and I hope you enjoy it.

------
Nobody can really understand the joy of flying. Of rocketing through the air, screaming on a wave of air, diving and ducking as gravity fought to grab you and failed. The wind roared past me, my talons trailing behind me as my wings felt the icy chill pass above and over my skin.

But I had a purpose. Even as I flew, I knew the truth. There was no way Captain America was at that mall in Washington D.C. anymore. I had to find them again, him and that mysterious woman with him. With my eyesight, I focused on where I was aiming for. I needed to find them again, which meant hacking. I'd been flying for about a minute. Astrodactyl was fast, fast enough to break the speed of sound with ease.

The distance between Manhattan and Washington DC is only about 230 miles. Even Mach 1 is 340ish meters a second, and I could clear that with ease. Which meant I needed to slow down so I wouldn't overshoot anything. I also dropped as low as possible at points, flying along rivers, under bridges, trying to avoid detection by radar.

About six minutes into the flight, the Omnitrix started to beep. I shot towards the ground, glad I wasn't as high up as the twenty thousand feet I'd been at before.

I came down behind a 7-11 on the outskirts of D.C. It was in one of the rougher neighborhoods of the city. As I landed, the Omnitrix turned off, and I landed in a roll as a human being. I stood up and looked around the empty street, then started walking.

Even with everything I'd done to try and shake off the radar, I knew it wouldn't last. I needed more. I needed a tech solution, a way to stop anyone, anywhere from tracking me. I'd thought of building one before, but I was more focused on hacking.

I grabbed my phone and found the nearest technology store. A Best Buy a few streets away. I started jogging, keeping my eyes open for anyone shady. I wasn't exactly trained in espionage, so I couldn't see if anyone was following, but it was the best I could do on short notice. Funny. All the power to change the world on my wrist, and the first time I get the chance to help an Avenger, it's on a mission more dependent on spy stuff rather than explosions.

I hurried down the sidewalk and got to the parking lot of the Best Buy. When I walked in, a kindly older woman with a badge on her chest that said her name was Martha smiled at me.

"Hello there! Do you need any help?"

"As much as the universe can give me," I said quickly, striding past her fast. She blinked after me as I headed to the gaming center.

Years back, in my home universe, scientists used a little under 2,000 Playstation 3's to create a supercomputer. It used the advanced graphics capability of the gaming console to do things other supercomputers could do at a fraction of the cost. The PS3 was released in 2006, while the year I was in now was 2014. More importantly, it was created in a universe without Tony Stark.

In this Marvel universe, I found stuff I wouldn't be able to back home. I checked my phone as I walked through the store, and kept track of Captain America and Black Widow's traveling through my CapWatch program.

I had one of the employees get me one of the new StarkConsole systems, which he told me would be waiting at the front for me since they didn't keep them on shelves. We did the same with a small monitor, a pair of earphones, some graphics cards, and some legos, though I could carry a few of those items myself.

Once at the cashier, the problems started.

"That will be, one thousand seventy-eight dollars, and thirty-eight cents," the cashier, a cheery young woman with black hair that had a red stripe in her bangs, smiled at me. "And will you be paying with debit or credit?"

"Cash," I reached into my bag. Over the months, I'd only spent money on essentials. The rest, I got from trashcans, sometimes pawn shops, but usually, I rarely spent the money I got from my job for anything that wasn't food. Add in the money I stole from thugs and gangbangers, and I had some cash to spend.

Of course, I'd forgotten that a young man looking hectically around and carrying over a thousand dollars in cash looks suspicious. I realized something was wrong when the cashier started taking an extra long time to check my bills. Then I saw the employee in the background making a phone call. He was trying not to look at me.

Someone came up behind me. "Excuse me, sir?" I turned around. The guy behind me was short, kinda pudgy, with slicked-back hair. He looked like a normal guy. He smiled. "Can you come with me please?" He opened his coat. Inside was a badge with an eagle symbol on it. SHIELD.

"...What, were you in the store already?" I said as the cashier hurried away.

The guy shook his head. "No, but I was close by when we intercepted the phone call to the police... It just took him a while to get here." He nodded behind me. I turned around. There was a guy, standing taller than me. He was striding towards me, wearing nothing but a tank top, which showed off he had enough muscle for a fitness magazine. His head was bald, and his eyes were hard. He was walking towards me, practically glaring.

"Don't move!" The guy who'd gotten my attention first was suddenly pressing a gun to my head. But I'd already reached for the Omnitrix. I thought about changing the alien I had set on it for when I left the store. But it didn't look like I had time. "Get down on the floor, and we-"

I pressed the face of the Omnitrix. The guy fired his gun, but I was already knee height to him.

I shrank down by about five feet. My hair faded away. My ears grew out behind me as my nose grew forward. I felt my arms become skinny sticks, yet somehow become even more powerful. My skin became red. My blue jeans changed to fit my new form, my sneakers as well. And my white t-shirt shrank with me, the black spreading out. As it did, the shirt shifted colors further. A gold image appeared. Like a man wearing a helmet with big goggles on and a triforce symbol on the eyebrow. Over the head were two words. Black Sabbath. Three more words rested under the head. U.S. Tour '78.

"Jury Rigg!" I cried out, stretching my arms out as though I was a menacing monster, rather than a tiny red Gremlin in a tour shirt.

"Hahahaha!" I giggled, rubbing my hands together. "Oh yes! Time to go nuts baby!"

The guy who'd pointed the gun at me stared for a second. I leaped up and grabbed his face. "Hahahaha!" I punched him in the nose, hard, cackling madly as I held onto him by his right ear.

"Oh god! Get him off me!" the guy screamed falling back as I punched him over and over with a tiny fist. He reached up and tried to pull me off him. I leaped away, over him, and ran towards the main store.

My mind was racing. Jury Rigg was just a manic energy kind of guy as is. But here? In the middle of a Best Buy?

"Oh my god," I stopped in the middle of an aisle full of printers. My fingers twitched as I stared at the devices in front of me. "Heh... hehehehehehehe! DISASSEMBLE!"

With that battle cry, I leapt for the nearest printer. My powerful red claws dug into the plastic, ripping through the casing. As I did, my mind began to link it all together. One part connected to this part, so it could do this. And if that was possible, why couldn't I just do this? The feeling of tearing the printer apart, of understanding through destruction, made me cackle like a madman, my squeaky voice filling the air. "Disassemble, disassembledisassembledisassemble!" In a blur, three printer were torn to pieces. Then I started mashing them together. The computer parts, mechanical sections, the pieces just fit together in my head. My mind may have been as hyper as the Flash on crack, but I just felt this... natural intuition for technology. I knew the machine because it just made sense.

"Reassemble!" I cried out, creating a power source in the handle. "Reassemble, reassemble!" I placed the glass in the barrel as a focusing lens, then jammed plastic all around it for reinforcement. "Heh. Fixed it, baby!"

Jury Rigg was my most mind-bending form. But in some ways, he was also my most peaceful.

Just as I finished the machine, the bald guy from earlier came around the corner. When he saw me, he started walking down the aisle. I picked up the device in my hand and pointed it at him.

"Hey, baldie!" I said with a fanged grin. "Say hello!"

The creation I'd made was shaped like a giant gun made of plastic. I pulled a trigger that had once been a piece of plastic, and the gun fired, sending me flying from the recoil.

A ball of light slammed into the tall bald guy. It pressed into his chest, lifting him up and sending him flying.

"HA!" I cried out. The guy slammed into an earphone display, shattering the plastic. "What you gonna do now!?"

The bald giant rose up. His nostrils flared, rage in his face. He grabbed the metal shelving next to him with his right hand. He smirked suddenly, his rage becoming determination. "I can think of something."

As I watched, his right hand changed color. From the point where he was grabbing the shelving, it started to match the shelving. For a moment, I thought it was some sort of camouflage. Then I realized it was so much worse.

The color moved up his arms to his shoulders, and up over his head, until he was completely white, metal replacing skin.

"Huh," I said, my eyes wide. "Your last name wouldn't happen to be Levin, would it?"

------

The big metal man roared, rushing at me. The imagery of a giant white being of metal rushing for a tiny red gremlin carrying a giant gun was hilarious. I raised the gun and fired again, as fast as I could. The light balls didn't send him flying anymore, only smashing into him with force. I leaped onto a shelf and started running down the aisle, kicking products to the floor as he followed me.

"Crusher Creel, right!?" I smirked at the roar I got in response. "What, you don't like that name?"

I leaped over to the next aisle, shooting at the guy. My gun didn't have a punch, but at least the light balls could knock him around.

I leaped over to the next aisle, then the next, going from shelf to shelf. He spun to follow me, crashing through shelves as I leaped from one to another. I leaped over one more. Then I leaped off the shelf and down into the aisle, leaving me to hide against the shelves and wait.

To my left, Creel slammed through the shelves, crossed, the aisle, and crashed through the next one. I grinned at the sight of him continues his chase as I stood behind him, then turned.

I needed to escape. But I also needed to be able to keep anyone from chasing me. I ran through the holes Creel had made, going back until I hit the smartphone stuff. I grabbed three phones and turned to get more.

"There you are!"

I looked up. The guy who I'd punched in the face came running down the aisle. His nose was bloody, and he seemed enraged. He sprinted full force.

"Come here, you little shit!" he reached out his hands to grab me.

I grinned. "Rude!" Then I lifted my gun.

He had a moment to realize what it was. His eyes widened, and his sprint became a backpedal. Then a ball of solidified red light slammed into his face. I didn't stop shooting as he flew through the air, hitting him three more times and knocking him across the store.

"Eat it!" Then I ran.

I grabbed more stuff, earphones, a keyboard, alarm clocks, stuffing my arms as I ran through the aisles of Best Buy. In the distance, I could hear Creel trying to find me. While I was surprisingly quick for being so small, I was on a low amount of time.

"Disassemble," I whispered, unable to fight my compulsion, but still lowering my voice. I grabbed at all the stuff in my arms and tore it apart. Smartphones were torn apart so their batteries could be used as power sources, and their touchscreens as interfaces, their wireless stuff to interact with satellites. The keyboard and alarm clocks used for their circuitry. The earphones to produce sound. Except one, which I used to make something else.

Soon, I was finished. I had a small block of random wires and circuitry before me, and a smaller one that looked like a pair of headphones turned into makeshift speakers with a Darth Vader alarm clock in the middle. I was about to pick them up and run when the wall behind me exploded.

"Yeep!" That was all I got out. Then I was picked up and slammed into a shelf. Hands of steel wrapped around my thin neck. "Gack!"

Creel held me in the air. He smiled at the sight of me in his grasp. Slowly, he began to squeeze.

"Ghhh!" I wheezed out. My left hand hurriedly reached for the Omnitrix symbol on my belt as I mentally reached for a hero who could fight off Creel.

I changed. In seconds, my height exploded up to nine feet. Red skin became orange and white fur, striped black. My muscles exploded outwards, becoming massive boulders beneath my fur. My feet became paws, and my hands each grew a single massive claw popping out of the back of my wrist. And my face became that of tigers.

"Rath!"

I roared in Creel's face, picking him up and tossing him back. He slammed into some shelves, destroying the store further as his metal form broke them. "You ain't about to choke me again, bub!"

With that, I stepped forward. Creel went to meet me, lashing out in a cross aimed at my chin. I caught his fist, a small shockwave as metal met flesh, both with superhuman power. When he stared at me in shock, I grinned savagely.

"Thhhhhat's right buster!" I pulled in his arm, my claw slashing at his stomach. For a moment, my claw and his stomach clashed. A long gash was scratched into his steel form, but not enough to hurt him. He freed his fist from my grasp and fell back, but I stepped for. "Ya got nothing!" I roared, meeting him in battle.

I roared, rushing him, slashing my claws into him. He fell back under my power. I relished in the sight as his metal skin was carved by my claws. "That's right! Let me tell you something Crusher Creel! Nobody can beat Rath!" I picked him and slammed him into the ground. "I'm the best there is at what I do, and it isn't very nice!"

"You talk too much," Creel punched me in the face from his position on the ground.

I fell back, staggering. He followed me, punching my ribs. For the first time since I found out I had Rath as a transformation, I felt pain from a blow, my bones groaning at the blow. I grunted, rage blinding me.

"You think you're great, Mr. I-Can-Turn-Into-What-I-Touch!? Well, bring it on!" I punched him in the face.

Then Creel punched me in mine.

We duked it out, tearing through Best Buy, turning shelves into scrap against our bodies. I grabbed a flat screen and slammed it over his head. He grunted as hundreds of dollars of metal and plastic tore over him. His skin flickered in color to match the TV, and he hurriedly grabbed some steel shelving, to change into steel again. I roared, hitting him over and over. Creel was silent now, trying to beat me with every bit of skill he had, his fists slamming into my chest, ribs, and face. I felt some respect for a moment. Creel was tough. But mostly, I was frustrated this problem wasn't going away by punching it. So, I decided it was time to really fight.

When Creel threw another punch, I leaped up. About twenty feet in the air. "Messier Elbow Drop!"

Creel tried to dodge, but I came down to fast, slamming my full body weight into his back with my elbow. He hit the ground, hard. I rolled to my feet and grabbed him, holding him upside down in a hug, his face outwards. I leaped upwards. And as I came down with Creel's head leading, I called out once more.

"Polaris Piledriver!"

The ground shook with our impact. For a moment, it was still. I sat in a crater that had once been the gaming center of the Best Buy, Creel lying on his face. I rose up, and picked Creel up by his leg, lifting him until he was upside down and face to face with me. Creel was still awake, but weak. I grinned toothily. "Rath wins?" Creel didn't respond. "Yeah, Rath wins!"

I tossed him aside.

A gunshot echoed in the store. A brief impact jostled my arm, a mere pinprick compared to I turned around. A bunch of guys were coming towards me, all dressed in police uniforms or familiar black military gear. I scowled. "Rath is real annoyed with you idiots!" I roared. I reached for the Omnitrix symbol on my chest, tapping it.

Orange fur became brown reptilian skin.

"Astrodactyl!"

There were about fifteen men coming towards me. I opened my mouth and charged it with star power. "Squawk!" A beam of green energy flew from my mouth, slamming into a man wearing a cops uniform. As he fell back, my jetpack launched me into the air. I fired again and again in the air, forcing the men back into cover, then cartwheeled in the air.

In the aisles I'd been before, I saw three men walking towards the items I'd made. I flew over, dropping next to them. "Not happening!" I snapped out. The star energy within me shifted to my wrists, in the bracers on my forearms. I unleashed it, creating two energy whips that sprouted from the holes on my wrists. The three men raised guns to shoot me. I snapped my left energy whip out, wrapping the legs and pulling the whip. They fell in a heap. One of the men reached for his hip. I twirled my right energy whip, then lashed out, hitting him in the face. I did it to the other two, then got on to business.

I turned to my creations. First, I fired an energy beam at the gun I'd made, destroying it as thoroughly as I could. Then I scooped up the other two devices. I placed each on either side of my hip. That finished, I lifted up once more. The soldiers were coming towards me again. One had a rocket launcher, which he fired at me as I hovered in the air. I spun an energy whip around and lashed out, exploding the rocket in mid-air.

"You'll have to do better than that, squawk!" I flew for the exit. As I launched forward, my jetpack released a propulsion blast behind me. It hit the ground and exploded, sending the SHIELD agents flying. I swung my whip at the glass of the front store window, breaking it. With that, I was out in the fresh air. I flew upwards, only to widen my eyes at the sight above me in the sky.

"Coooool, squawk!"

A Quinjet. It floated over me, with its rotor wings, cool design, and even missiles on the wings, a feature I'd never seen on them.

I flew up past it. The Quinjet turned towards me, a Gatling gun popping out of its nose.

"Oh, squawk."

The loud whine of a Gatling gun filled the air as I rocketed around. The Quinjet spun to follow me, the Gatling guns filling the space behind me with bullets. The Quinjet fired missiles as well, three gray ones that followed me. I swung left to right, up and down, but I couldn't shake them. My eyes narrowed.

"This is a lot of resources coming at me," I grumbled.

With that, I did a loop. I zoomed above the Quinjet, where it's Gatling gun couldn't reach me. The pilot tried to rise up, but it wasn't fast enough. I turned and unleashed my right energy whip, star energy lashing out to destroy all three missiles. Then I aimed at the Quinjet and fired a blast from my mouth at the top. The aircraft staggered under the blast. I flew upwards, releasing another propulsion blast from my jetpack, leaving the Quinjet behind me. As I did, I reached for my waist and touched one of the devices. Two things happened. First, the device began to emit energy that would interfere with any radar, as well as hacking satellites to erase my image as I flew.

Then the first device activated the second device on my hip. That device projected a bubble in the air around me, one that kept sound crystal clear. Then it began to play a song, the music starting with a guitar riff. As it played, I sighed.

"Gonna have heavy metal in my head all day now," I said, despairing of ever understanding why Jury Rigg was so weird.

All you women who want a man of the street
But you don't know which way you want to turn
Just keep a coming and put your hand out to me
'Cause I'm the one who's gonna make you burn

With that music playing, I did an aileron roll, released another propulsion blast, and shot forward.

------

I landed once I figured I was far enough away. I had to check where Captain America was, and my phone disappeared with my clothes whenever I transformed. I took a moment to despair the loss of my backpack. All that money, gone. What a waste.

I touched down in a bit of forest, changing back. The forest was mostly dead, considering it was January. I took a breath, feeling a bit chilly, but not bad. I sat against a tree and slowly slid down until my butt hit the floor.

I needed a break. Even with all my fighting in New York, I'd never been involved in so much combat. And Creel. Damn. If Creel had fought a bit smarter, he could have beaten me. Even with the Omnitrix healing me, I still felt his blows, the sheer power he had. What was SHIELD doing working with Crusher Creel?

I stopped, just trying to breathe for a moment. Once done, I checked CapWatch once more. The program was still running fine. I did a quick check and found it wasn't compromised. No one had found it. Thank you, alien tech, for being so damn broken. Jury Rigg was awesome.

Anyways. I leaned against the tree and zoomed in on the map, showing me where the two were. Between my shopping, the fight with Creel and the Quinjet, and my rushed flight away from Best Buy, Captain America and Black Widow had made progress. They were on I-95, driving steadily north. If they kept going, they'd eventually hit Jersey. Sammy would have had something to say about Jersey.

I watched them, trying to decide if I should join them. The devices I'd put on were still working at my hips, both humming ominously, but steadily. The beginning refrains of Enter Sandman began to play, kept in a three-foot bubble around me by the device. The tiny image on my screen of a blue truck driving steadily continued to play. I sighed, then got to my feet. I checked the Omnitrix, wishing it had some sort of energy bar I could use to tell how much energy I had left in it. Finally, I just activated it, transforming back into Astrodactyl.

With that, I was off into the sky.

 

[DesertChocolate]

It took some stops to catch up with them. I had to keep landing to give the Omnitrix a break and check my CapWatch program. But soon, I was flying over I-95. And after that, I saw them.

Captain America was driving. Black Widow was in shotgun. They were talking about something.

I swooped in above their truck, staying high so they wouldn't see me. The truck was a big, brand new one. I didn't know Captain America owned a truck. I wasn't sure if it mattered, but it seemed funny somehow.

I followed them like that for a bit, trying to figure out how to make contact. Flying was fun, but I could feel exhaustion coming in with all of the constant Omnitrix use today. I could keep going for a bit longer. But I needed a nap tonight.

With no end to their driving in sight, I followed them by leapfrogging. I would land once the Omnitrix timed out, watch their progress on CapWatch, then take off again to catch up. Like stalking taken to the next level, something I tried not to think about. I had to stay high, using my insane eyesight to see them, so I wouldn't freak them out by flying in close. A giant pterodactyl with rockets wasn't something they'd find comfort in.

Slowly, I flew. They drove. For over an hour, we went like that.

Finally, while I was just wondering if I should cut my losses and take a nap, they turned off the interstate. I sighed in relief and followed them. They drove through the city streets, then down country roads. Until they were driving on one road, an overgrown one that hadn't been used in a long time. A military base was in the distance. It was empty, rundown. After some thought, I flew ahead of Cap and Black Widow.

Once I got to the base, I dropped to land at the gate, turning human once more. I walked up to it, reading the sign hanging on the chain fence. "Camp Lehigh..." The whole fence was brown with rust. A beat up old stop sign rested on it as well. In the light of the sinking sun, I could see that the rest of the base was much the same, a relic of a bygone age. All red brick buildings and rusted railings everywhere.

I turned when the truck slowly rode up to me. I raised my hands up, smiling as best as I could. Captain America stopped the truck about twelve feet from me and stepped out with Black Widow. They'd clearly seen me and, because Cap's shield was on his arm, and Black Widow had her gun out and pointed. I took a deep breath as they came closer. I reached for my waist and turned off the music that had been with me all day.

"Hi!" I said, as brightly as I could. "My name's Mahmoud. I want to help."

The two shared a glance. Captain America walked up to me. There was an incredible grace to him. For all his size, he walked like he was half a second from simply lifting off into the air. Black Widow was different. Where he was grace, she was subtlety. As he came forward, she stepped behind him, almost hiding in his shadow. I tried not be unnerved by that.

But then, I was also trying not to geek out.

Captain America was holding his shield. THE Shield! Made of vibranium in this universe, rather than a vibranium-iron alloy, it was still able to take hit from inconceivably powerful things, including Thor.

And Captain America and Black Widow. I was looking at superheroes.

As they stopped in front of me, I couldn't stop smiling.

"How did you find us?" Black Widow asked.

"SHIELD," they stiffened. I quickly continued. "I mean because I hacked SHIELD. I used their satellites and database to find you, then kept anyone from finding you. Here, see?" I reached into my pocket.

"Ah, careful," Black Widow said in warning, pointing her gun at my face. I flinched. After a moment, I slowly pulled out my phone, raising it for them to see. I switched on the CapWatch app, then tossed it to Cap, who caught it in his right hand. He turned it look, then blinked.

"CapWatch?"

I winced. "I... like my programs to have fun names."

Black Widow's lips twitched upwards.

"And you can follow us with this?" he asked, looking up at me. "Why? What do you want?"

I spoke fast. "Back in October, I was given this," I lifted a hand up, displaying the Omnitrix. "I don't know why I was given it. But it gave me powers. So I started using those powers to help people, traveling around Manhattan and saving anyone I found. It was good work."

"Speed it up," Black Widow said. "It's cute you like playing the superhero, but we're on a timetable."

"Yeah, got it. So anyway, I hacked into Stark Industries and SHIELD," the two shared a surprised glance at that. "I was doing that to make sure the next time a Battle of New York or a Convergence happens, I'd be there to help. And when they announced that Captain America was enemy of the state out of nowhere, I wanted to do something. So I did one big hack, grabbing all the info I could so I could find you. And the next thing I know, SHIELD is tossing a grenade at my door."

"Yeah, there's a lot of that going around," Captain America noted with a smirk.

"That watch," Black Widow stared at the Omnitrix. "I've seen the symbol on it. You're the guy who's been running around Manhattan the last few months. The one who can turn into all those creatures."

The fact Black Widow knew about me wasn't much of a surprise. Even with all I'd done to try and keep off the grid, there was no way someone hadn't discovered my presence in New York, especially considering the people I'd saved had a perfect view of me. I nodded towards Black Widow and she gave me a smile. More of an amused one, rather than a kind one, but still a smile. "Fury was going to send someone to try and make contact with you. You were going to be investigated soon."
"Hopefully without a grenade thrown at me," I said with a grimace.

"Well, it wouldn't have been my first choice," she said. "So you what, wanted to help us out of the goodness of your heart?"

"...yes?" I said. "I mean, I kinda destroyed a Best Buy to find you guys. Which, I gotta be honest, I'm feeling kinda guilty about."

Captain America stepped forward, motioning towards the Omnitrix. "And you said that watch lets you hack things?"

"No," I lifted my wrist to show it to him. "This isn't a watch. This is the Omnitrix. And it lets me turn into aliens."

"Asgardian?" Captain America asked.

"Not from what I've heard," Black Widow answered. "So you were a superhero in New York, found out Captain America was being chased by SHIELD, and you were such a fanboy you decided to come and help."

"Yes," I sighed in relief. "That is exactly it."

Black Widow and Captain America shared a look. After a moment, she put her gun down and Captain America came over to grab my shoulder. He smiled at me, and I found myself grinning back.

"I'm not sure I can trust you... But I'd like to."

"He's naive like that," Black Widow said. She holstered her gun and stepped towards the gate. "I'm still going to shoot you if you turn out to be working for SHIELD."

"Not likely," I said as Captain America stepped around me and used his shield to shatter the lock on the gate with one smooth strike. "Grenade's thrown at me tend to make me an enemy."

"You're really stuck on that grenade thing, aren't you?" Black Widow said.

We entered the camp together. "Yeah well, I'm sensitive like that. So uh, what exactly are you guys here for? What is this place?"

"It's where I was trained," Captain America said. "We're following a lead."

We walked through the camp, looking around the place. "Trained before or after you started punching Hitler?"

Captain America chuckled. "Actually, I never met the real Hitler. I mostly dealt with his soldiers and the Red Skull. But this was before all that," He looked around. For a moment, he looked a thousand yards away. "I was still just a skinny kid from Brooklyn, trying to be a soldier."

"And now you're Captain America," I said, watching as Black Widow moved over to look into one of the windows.

"Call me Steve," he gave me a smile, then turned to look at a nearby flagpole. Once again, it looked like he was somewhere else. When I looked at Black Widow, she was eyeing me. Even as we walked around, she was still eyeing me. She had some sort of scanner in her hand, and it was beeping as she held it up. I looked at it thoughtfully, scratching my chin.

"This is a dead end," Black Widow said. She put down her scanner and put it in her pocket. "Zero heat signatures, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the files must have must have used a router to throw people off." She looked over at Steve, who was staring at a bunker. "What is it?"

I looked at him as well. He seemed to have an epiphany. He started moving towards the bunker, I went to follow, and Black Widow hopped over a railing to join us.

"Army regulations forbid storing munitions within five hundred yards of the barracks," he said as we walked up to the bunker. He gave us a look. "This building's in the wrong place."

He smashed the lock on the door to the uh, the munition bunker, I guess? I couldn't help but stare at the shield as it turned steel into scrap. That thing was seriously awesome.

We walked down a flight of stairs and found what looked like a large office space. "I'm not a soldier, but this doesn't look like munitions," I said, stepping down to the place.

"It's not," Black Widow was looking at a wall nearby. "It's SHIELD."

"Or maybe where it started," Steve added.

We were all looking at a massive symbol on the wall, the centerpiece of the room. An eagle, surrounded by the words, 'Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division'.

"That's probably your fault," I said without thinking.

Steve looked at me, surprised. "What was?"

"Uh," I chuckled, waving at his right arm, still holding the shield. "I mean, they worked really hard to make up a name that spelled SHIELD, right."

Steve looked down, surprised. He held it up. After a moment, he gave his weapon a warm smile. "Yeah. I guess they did."

"I can sense anything that might be in here if you guys let me?"

"How?" Natasha asked.

I responded by waving the Omnitrix at her. "If someone other than us has been in here in recent years, I'll be able to follow their trail."

Steve and Natasha shared another look.

"Do it," Steve told me.

" All right. Keep in mind, I won't be able to talk in this form, so just follow my lead." I opened up the Omnitrix, flipping through my menu. I needed to sense things human eyes couldn't Blitzwolfer was great because he had a good range of powers, including his senses. But when I really needed to track something or someone down even after years...

I pressed the face. And the change came in a millisecond.

I went from biped to quadruped. Orange fur sprouted across my body, covering me in a thick armored coat. My eyes sank away and disappeared, and new sensory organs grew at the nape of my neck. Fingernails became claws. A shoulder brace appeared, with the Omnitrix glowing brightly on it.

I didn't speak English in this form, but if the snarl I barked out when I finished could be translated, I knew what it would be.

"Wildmutt!"

"Well that's new," Steve said. His voice was different now. It was as though he was so much clearer. Like my human ears were only hearing him on the tiniest level. Now, I could hear every bounce and quiver in his voice.

That's just how being Wildmutt felt in general. Every scent in the air, every sound, singing to me. There was no sense of color beyond heat, and photographs would be blank rectangles to me. But I didn't feel blind. How could I, when the world was so much more vivid now? When I could hear heartbeats, smell sweat, feel the primal part of the world in my heart. Being Wildmutt was like becoming something simpler than a human. But it also felt purer somehow. As though the complications of sight was replaced by a roaring world of beautiful scents and sound.

I sniffed the air with my gills, listened to it all.

"He said he can't talk like this," Black Widow said. There was a smell coming from her mouth I had to think to recognize. Bubblegum? A lot of it, too. She had some more in her pocket. "How's he supposed to tell us anything?"

I snarled moving about the room for a moment. I smelled something else, beyond Steve, Nat, the spiders and the concrete. Someone else had been here, months back. He smelled like airline fuel. I moved over to the stairs, following his trail. He'd walked over to an office. I turned, growling at the two.

"What, over there?" Steve walked over to join me, and I pushed the door, smashing it off its hinges and into the ground. Steve cocked an eyebrow. "Huh. Strong."

"Showoff," was Black Widow's opinion.

The two followed me in as I sniffed my way up to some shelves. There were three big blank rectangles up on the wall, which I ignored to follow the scent. Captain America and Natasha walked up the rectangles behind me, talking about them in a way that made me realized they were photos. Cap apparently knew them. His heartbeat skipped a little when he saw them. Time to ask about that later. I followed the smell of the man from before to some shelves. There was a gap in between the shelves where I could smell metal and plastic beyond it, a bit of ozone to indicate electricity, and Steve noticed it as well. "If you're already working in a secret office," I gripped the gap in between the shelves, shoving them apart. Even after all the years, the right shelf easily slid on its rails. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?"

Just a light on the wall and a pair of doors with windows in them. We walked towards it, me sniffing at the air, and Black Widow went up to the keypad next to it. She lifted a device over the keypad, and it created a hologram over the device, showing the numbers on the pad. The hologram shuffled the numbers and quickly came up with the code, which she pressed into the pad. The elevator doors slid open, and we walked inside. As the elevator dropped, Cap looked at me.

"You uh, gonna change back?" I looked up at him. "I mean, is there a time limit, or, do you have to press a button?"

I growled in annoyance, reaching for my shoulder to tap the Omnitrix. In a flash of light, I was back in my white and black shirt and blue jeans. I sighed in disappointment. Ironically, changing from Wildmutt always made me feel blind as a human.

"What does that feel like, anyway?" Captain America asked.

"Remember the day you became a superhuman?" I said. "That sudden feeling of becoming stronger, faster, having better senses?"

Steve nodded.

"Like that, but I can change back."

"God, I wish we had time for me to interrogate you." Black Widow muttered.

I looked over at her. "I mean, you could just ask me questions."

"I prefer interrogation, lets me get the real story." She replied.

"You never talk to people over coffee?" I had no idea why I was talking the way I was. For some reason, it was really easy to talk to her. She was funny.

"I do, but not when they can suddenly turn into giant dogs."

"What, you don't like Tony Stark?" We shared a grin, and Steve chuckled.

"Any chance you guys can tell me about what's going on?" The elevator was still lowering. "I mean, why is SHIELD attacking you guys?"

"We aren't sure," Steve said. "As far as we know, the answers are here."

"What about Nick Fury?" I asked. "I mean, he's the head of SHIELD, why didn't he stop this?"

The two shared a look, then faced the doors again. Steve answered. "He was killed by the Winter Soldier."

I stared at him. Then at Black Widow. She looked back at me. And I scratched at my wrist, near the Omnitrix, trying to think.

"That look on your face," Black Widow said knowingly. "That's why I want to interrogate you."

The doors opened then. I swallowed, and we all walked out of the elevator and into a dark room. It was hard to see anything. But as we walked up lights began to turn on, revealing the space to us.

"Whoa," I looked around. Hundreds of rectangular towers surrounded us, each with reels that could be seen inside through windows. Some "What, they couldn't upgrade to a laptop? This is an inefficient use of space."

"You always talk this much?" Black Widow asked.

"Dialogue is important for relationships," I said as we followed Steve towards several monitors. "Plus, I'm nervous when I meet superheroes."

"Children," Steve said gently. "We have work to do."

When we got to the monitors, there was a desk in front of them. There were a couple of camera on top of the monitors. "Well that's new," I said when I saw a USB port station on the desk. "And I mean that literally."

Natasha took something out of her pocket and plugged it into the port. More lights turned on, clearing things up further. The reels in the towers began to spin. As we stood there, the center monitor turned on over the desk, and two words appeared as the speakers in the station spoke.

"Initiate, System." The voice was robotic.

Natasha moved over to the ancient keyboard and tapped away at it. "Y-E-S, spells yes..." She smirked as the computers hummed. "Shall we play a game?" She intoned in a deep voice. I grinned at that, and she turned to Steve. "It's from a movie-"

"I know," he cut her off, bemused. "I saw it."

"Oh yeah," I said, realizing. "You have a lot of pop culture to catch up on."

"I'm doing my best," he replied, clearly focused on the task at hand.

Suddenly the center monitor lit up. Lines of green codes went down the screen, and a voice spoke.

"Rogers, Steven." Said a voice with a German accent. "Born, 1918."

"What the..." I said in confusion. A camera on top of the monitors turned to look at Black Widow.

"Romanov, Natalia Alianovna. Born 1984." The camera turned to look at me. And then it stalled. The voice spoke again. "You, I do not know. That never happens."

"What, are you an AI?" I asked.

"No, I am not, herrlien," the voice said. "I may not be the man I was when the captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am." A monitor to the side showed us an image. An older man, with glasses and a rather sour look on his face.

I looked around the computers, thinking to myself. Natasha asked Steve, "Do you know this thing?"

Steve didn't speak for a moment. He stepped around the monitors, going down some stairs and circling behind it.

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years." Steve said.

"Well, apparently he went all brain upload instead," I said, reaching for the Omnitrix and flipping through the menu.

"First correction," the computer, or I suppose, Armin, said. "I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive."

"Yeah, well, bet it's been a while since you had a good steak or smelled flowers," I replied.

"True," Armin admitted. "But it is better than death. When I received a terminal diagnosis in 1972, there was nothing to be done for my body. My mind, however, was saved on over two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain." His voice was thick with satisfaction on the last words.

"Sorry we didn't wipe our feet," I whispered, selecting an alien, but not pressing down on the watch yet.

"How did you get here?" Steve asked once he'd circle to stand between Natasha and I once more.

"Invited," Armin said.

"It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value."

"They thought I could help their cause," Armin said smugly. "I also helped my own."

"Hydra died with the Red Skull," Cap said firmly.

"Cut off one head," an image appeared on the screen, and I frowned at it. A skull, with tentacles coming out from it. The symbol of Hydra. "Two more shall take its place."

"Otherwise known as not knowing when you goddamn quit," I whispered to Steve. He ignored me.

"Prove it," Steve said softly to Armin.

"Accessing archive." The computer screens changed, showing us an image of a thin man wearing a Nazi uniform. Johann Schmidt, the Red Skull. "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist." The imagery of the founders of SHIELD, from Peggy Carter to Howard Stark, showed on screen.

"Yeah, because I sit around all day wishing someone would take my ability to choose from me," I growled, touching the Omnitrix again. Natasha shushed me.

"The war taught us much," he continued. "Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD." I stared at the screen, dawning horror filling me as I realized the implications of what he was saying. More and more images of war, of stock prices, of Armin himself working within SHIELD, all as images of the Hydra symbol flashed throughout. "For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed." The image of a man with a metal arm flashed. An arm with a red star on it. Bucky Barnes.

"And nobody found out?" I asked.

"Accidents will happen," More images appeared. A newspaper declaring the death of Howard and Maria Stark. Nicolas Fury, with the word deceased over his picture. HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise." Steve's face tightened. His hand clenched into a fist as he looked at the monitor that was Armin's face. "We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your life; a zero sum."

Steve lashed out, shattering the middle screen. It was quiet for a moment. Then another screen lit up.

"As I was saying..." Armin's voice was so damn smug. I was going to activate the Omnitrix and start disassembling shit, but Steve spoke again.

"What's on this drive?" He indicated the USB Natasha had plugged in. I stared at it, realizing something.

"Project Insight requires... insight. So I wrote an algorithm." Armin replied.

"What kind of algorithm, what does it do?" Natasha asked.

"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." Suddenly, the doors behind us began to be blocked by a pair of blast doors. Steve threw his shield at it, but they slammed close. I took a moment to marvel at the sight of my first look at Captain America throwing his mighty shield, but apparently, the doors had refused to yield, and it bounced back into his hand.

The device in Natasha's pocket beeped, and she pulled it out to look at it. "Steve, we got a bogey. Short-range ballistic. 30 seconds tops."

"Who fired it?" Steve asked, shocked.

"SHIELD," Natasha answered.

"I'm afraid I have been stalling, Captain," Armin said smugly.

"I wouldn't worry about that," I turned to look at Armin. "I've got something for missiles."

I activated the device on my hip. I grinned as the field enveloped me in a massive radius, and the beeping from Natasha's device stopped. Moments later, the sound of a muffled explosion came from the surface, feeling like it was coming from our right. "If I'm right, that missile will have veered off. Right?"

Natasha blinked, looking down at the device in her hand. Then she looked at me. "How...?"

I took the device on my hip and tossed it to Captain America. "I made this for my flight over here. It keeps me from getting caught by infrared, anything made for the air. And if anyone aims a heatseeker or something while I'm flying-"

"It forces it to veer away," Steve looked up at me, grinning.

"That, is impossible!" We turned to look at Armin. His green face was blinking in and out at a high speed.

"Oh yeah, it is," I said back, grinning. "Unless you got the right toy. Alien tech, baby. My alien tech. And now, we need answers from you computer man. See, I heard about Project Insight while I was hacked into SHIELD, and I know a bit. But if it's Hydra, we need more."

"I will tell you nothing!" He seethed.

I looked at Captain America. "Hey, Steve. Is it cool if I tear this guy apart and build him into something that will give us answers?"

Steve looked at me. Then he looked over at the computer. Then he smiled.

"...Scheisse," a German-accented computer said quietly.

I pressed the Omnitrix. The change came in seconds. Once again, I was a small red Gremlin, wearing a Black Sabbath t-shirt and tiny blue jeans, with the Omnitrix symbol on my belt. And as I changed, the other device on my hip began to play music.

"Jury Rigg!"

"Well, that's attractive," Natasha said, still looking a bit amazed at surviving.

"I have my moments!" I squeaked. Then I looked around me. To my eyes, I wasn't standing in a weird computer room anymore. I was in heaven, a place where I could see how all the pieces separated... or were put together.

"We don't have much time," Steve said. "Can you work fa-"

"DISASSEMBLE!" With the battle cry, I leaped at the monitor Steve had broken, smashing my way through it, then digging my way into it.

"No!" Armin Zola screamed, horrified. "Get out of me you horrendous creature! No! NooooOOOOOO!"

I smashed my way out of another monitor like an alien out of a crewmembers stomach and roared with glee before diving back in, ignoring the disturbed looks Natasha and Steve gave me. I grabbed at wires, every pull of them showing me transferred power and information. I ripped out chips, and the way they broke told me what to do. Every bit of destruction gave me the delicious answer to creation.

In the end, while Armin's mind ran through thousands of feet of databanks, it all sent information to the computers I was tearing into. And if it did that, it meant I could pull all those archives to me.

"Just one more second!" I yelled, my red ears quivering with glee. "This is gonna be great!"

"Please, no!" Armin yelled. "Captain, he is causing me pain! I cannot feel, yet he is making me! Please, he is-"

I pulled out another chip, and he petered out. "Sorry! I shut off his sound now!"

"...He's writing his begging on the screens now," Natasha said from outside the computer as I dug through another section. She sounded fascinated.

"I'm letting him!" I smashed my way out from another screen and pulled in the USB port station and the keyboard. With a blur, I pulled all the pieces together. "More fun that way! HAHAHAHA!"

"Where's that music coming from?" Steve asked, coming closer.

"Take me through the centuries to supersonic years!" The device replied, playing Black Sabbath's Symptom of the Universe.

"We're running out of time," Natasha said. "We got a Quinjet coming in, we need to run."

"Done!" I leaped out of the computer. As I did, Armin Zola's program shutdown. The reels around us stopped spinning. I turned to look at the only screen I hadn't shattered as more words rolled onto the screen.

Damn you.

With that, Armin Zola died. I'd have felt more sympathy, except he was a jerk computer. If he'd been Data, or EDI, or Vision, I'd have been sorry. But he'd had his chance at life. Plus, it wasn't like I'd stabbed a man in the heart.

"Okay!" I turned to look at them. "So now we run, right!?"

"That has the answers?" He asked, staring at the X-shaped mass of wires and glass in my hand. I nodded quickly.

"Yep! Reassembled, baby!"

"Good!" Steve looked at the elevator. "Then we need to run, now!"

"Can't go up the elevator," Natasha said. "They'll be waiting up top, and as soon as the Quinjet gets here they'll start shooting."

"Then I say we dig our way out," I tapped the Omnitrix symbol on my belt. Red skin became diamond-hard crystal, and I rose up to tower over Natasha, then Steve. I grinned as I stood at my full height.

"Diamondhead!"

"You gonna run out of those anytime soon?" Steve asked me as I walked over to a nearby wall, placing the device holding Zola's memory on my waist.

"I haven't yet," I said with a smirk. "Now, hop on." Crystals grew beneath my feet, becoming a flat platform about six feet around me. Natasha stared at it as Steve walked over to hop on to the platform.

"Uh, can you break down your plan?" She said hesitantly.

"Digging our way out."

Still hesitant, but having no other bright ideas, she got on as well. I forced the crystals to surround us in walls until we were in a large tepee made of blue-green crystal. Then I had the crystal under us grow, pushing us up at an angle. The top of the 'tepee' slammed point first into the ceiling, smashing through with ease. More crystal grew beneath us, pushing at a diagonal angle. I forced more and more power through my body, and we sliced through the earth with ease.

"This is crazy," Natasha said in awe.

"I hope not," I said as we shot through the dirt, the groaning sound of dirt being pushed away by us surrounding my makeshift shovel. "If I am crazy, this would be a bad time to become sane."

"And I thought the helicarrier was the end of me being surprised," Steve muttered.

Behind us and down, the sound of explosions began to sound out. I turned to look at Natasha. She nodded. "Yeah, that would be the Quinjet destroying the base in an attempt to kill us."

I looked at Steve. He looked sad. He leaned against a wall of the tepee, sighing. "I'm sorry," he looked at me. "I know that place meant a lot to you."

We met eyes. After a moment, he nodded. "Yeah. I haven't been there in a long time but... it was where I got started."

I nodded at that. "We'll make them pay," I said with a sigh. "SHIELD isn't what you thought it was. But it was made by good people. And with this," I nodded towards the junky looking device on my waist. "We can save it."

"Is it worth saving?" Steve asked.

I looked over at him. He was still staring at the ground. He was staring at his shield. I tried to think of what to say.

"Those people," I finally got out. "The ones in the pictures that you and Natasha were looking at. Who were they?"

Steve looked up at me, sighing. "Yeah, um..." Natasha sat down, looking at him. "They were the founders of SHIELD. Friends of mine. General Chester Phillips. Howard Stark. P-" Steve stopped, swallowing. Then he continued. "Peggy Carter... They'd be horrified if they saw what SHIELD became."

"Some of it was good," Natasha said weakly. She sighed. "I wouldn't have joined if I didn't think so."

We were suddenly in the open air. I opened the tepee by sliding the crystal apart. We'd popped up in a field, a long way away from Camp Lehigh's remains. It was night now and crickets buzzing in the field in the distance.

As we got out, Natasha looked back at the massive crystal jutting out of the earth. "You going to do anything about that?"

"Nope." I sighed. "I already left crystals behind. I might as well give them something insane to dig through. I like the idea of Hydra cleaning up my messes."

At that moment, the Omnitrix timed out in the classic red beeping before flashing out bright red light, turning me human again. I grimaced, looking down at my Omnitrix. "Times up. We need someplace to rest. I'm running out of steam at this point. Plus, we need to look into the data I stole."

"...I think I've got somewhere in mind." Steve said. He hefted his shield.

"What, someone you know?" Natasha asked.

"Iron Man?" I added.

"...Not exactly."

------

Steve knocked on the sliding glass door in front of us. When it opened, a fit man with dark skin and well-trimmed hair opened the door. He was wearing a purple shirt and looked a bit sweaty. He looked at the three of us. I was standing next to Steve, with Natasha behind me, as always, since she could shoot me in the head faster that way.

"Hey man," the man said.

"How's it going?" I replied. Steve put a hand on my shoulder, looking back at the man.

"I'm sorry about this," Steve said. "We need a place to lay low."

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us," Natasha said.

The man looked at us. After a moment, he seemed to come to a decision. "Not everyone."

He stepped aside to let us in. I smiled, and the three of us walked past him.

"I'm Mahmoud Schahed, by the way," I said to the man once we'd gone inside.

He smiled, holding a hand out to me. I took it. "Sam Wilson."

I tried to hold back my shock. Holy crap. The Falcon. I looked around the room. Captain America, Black Widow, and the Falcon...

"Today has been... just the best." I finally said, grinning like a madman.

Steve and Sam gave me weird looks. Natasha narrowed her eyes at me. I just grinned back at them.

Guess I'm an Avenger now?

 

[DesertChocolate]

Author's Note: So this chapter is mostly talking. Even worse, it's mostly copy and paste from the movie, just like last chapter. So hopefully the changes still help. And there is the fun of the promised action. Either way, I really hope you guys like this.

------
January 11th, 2014

Later, I was deleting the CapWatch on my phone. As good as it was, a dedicated program for finding Cap wasn't useful anymore. And without my supercomputer, I couldn't turn in into something new, so, bye bye CapWatch. Though has served me well.

Sam came in with a pot of coffee. "Oh thank god," I said, walking over to join him at his dinner table. "I'm running at fumes at this point."

"Yeah, you all look like you had a hell of a day," Sam noted with a look at me, then at the hallway where Cap and Natasha had gone. "What exactly is going on?"

I shrugged, watching as Sam set out some creamer and sugar, bringing some cups to him. "I'm honestly just the guy who shoved myself into the mess. I wanted to help Captain America, then they're trying to kill me. But here's what I know, and what Cap and Nat told me on the way here..."

I gave Sam the low down. Project INSIGHT, Fury dying, SHIELD attacking Cap, SHIELD attacking me, the stuff we'd found out from Arnim Zola, and finally the x-shaped device I'd made from Arnim's parts.

"So that little thing has all the info you need?" Sam asked. He was scrambling some eggs now and had some toast set aside.

"Yep, as far as we know," I took another sip of coffee.

"By the way, do you know me somehow?" Sam asked. I sipped my coffee again. "I mean, you seemed to recognize my name."

I didn't speak for a moment, leaning back in my chair. "Yeah. SHIELD had a file on you. They said you were a good soldier. I didn't dig through anything, but apparently, they were planning to recruit you one day."

Sam froze for a moment. He looked up. "And if SHIELD is HYDRA-"

"Not all of it," I corrected him. "Black Widow isn't. There's a whole lot of people there who are probably just trying to help people and have no idea they were even infiltrated by HYDRA at all.. But yeah. If SHIELD knew about you, HYDRA might too."

"That's mildly terrifying," Sam put the eggs he'd cooked onto a plate.

"I think the world got terrifying the moment I woke up in a New York City that had aliens and superhumans as part of the day to day," I admitted. "Compared to that, all this espionage stuff is almost normal. At least we know HYDRA is a threat made by normal men. Normal, racist men."

Sam, a black man, and me, an Arab man, shared a glance. "Can't believe we're dealing with Nazi's," Sam mumbled.

"Hey they came back, and Captain America came with them," we shared a grin at that. "I want to kick some HYDRA ass. I'm just wondering what we need to do to get it done. I mean, all I knew about Project Insight was that they had three big old helicarriers with repulsor technology installed."

"Sounds like you can do a lot of damage with those," Sam said. He put the eggs and toast on the table, and I thanked him as I got some. "I'm gonna go get those two."

He walked back to where Steve and Natasha were, and I continued to eat. The group entered shortly. Natasha gave me a look, eyeing the Omnitrix, but didn't say anything. I decided that was progress. Steve sat next to me, while Natasha took a spot nearby to lean against a wall. Sam took some toast and started buttering it, sitting down with us.

"So what do we do?" I asked the two superheroes.

"Have you gone through the information that you took from Zola?" Natasha asked me.

I shook my head. "I may have a genius on my wrist, but I'm not skilled in espionage or military tactics. I wanted to wait."

I reached for my device and tapped the top of it. "X-Device, wake up."

The glass and steel creation buzzed for a moment before projecting a holographic screen facing me and Cap.

"Whoa," Sam looked at the hologram, ignoring the toast in his hand.

"How is that possible?" Natasha asked, as stunned as Sam. "Arnim Zola wasn't made of any tech to make holograms."

"Doesn't matter," I said. "Jury Rigg doesn't see technology based on what it is. When he tears things apart, it gives him insight into what is possible. He's like a guy who breaks apart a Lego house so he can see the pieces, then makes something new."

"I'm not going to question it," Steve said. "Show us what you've got."

Funnily enough, he actually didn't seem too worried. I suppose his experience with sudden new tech was more flexible after being frozen in the ice.

"X-Device, what do you got on Project Insight?" I asked.

"One moment, sir," Natasha flinched when the device spoke.

"Wait, is it alive?" She stepped forward, staring at the X-Device.

"No, I am not ma'am," The voice was very country, the sort you'd hear in Texas. I'd wanted a voice based on something American, seeing as we were fighting Nazi's. "Mahmoud made me as an interface to access my files."

"He's just a basic virtual intelligence," I explained. "He can simulate responses and reactions, but beyond that, he's not a real person. No offense meant, X."

"None to be taken sir," He responded.

"That means you killed Zola?" Steve asked me.

I scoffed. "No. He wasn't AI. He wasn't even a brain upload. Damn close but... true AI and brain uploads can develop. They can come up with new ideas, process emotion, learn, even do stupid things. Zola wasn't alive. He was just a recording. A tape that could spit out the responses on cue. He was stuck in time, no soul, no true intelligence.

"That is correct sir," X said. "At most, he was a lesser version of myself. Ah, I have the files." X said, displaying the files on the holographic screen in front of us. I lifted a hand up to flip through them by 'pressing' my fingers to the screen and moving them.

"Let's see, Project Insight," I brought up files of various blueprints. I threw those over to Natasha, who blinked when the X-Device created a second screen for her. "Here are the blueprints for the helicarriers. But Zola said it required an algorithm. What for?"

"Fury said that the goal was to kill terrorists before they could strike," Steve sounded a bit disgusted. "Maybe HYDRA wanted to do something with that?"

"Hm, no," Natasha flipped through the blueprints I'd sent her, zooming in to look at the various hallways. "It can't be just a plot to kill terrorists. The way Zola spoke, it was as though this was some sort of endgame. We have the algorithm, and we have the information Zola had. Um, X?" Natasha said hesitantly.

A southern accent replied. "Yes ma'am?"

"Is there anything in your files on what the algorithm was supposed to do?"

"No ma'am. It was made to predict things on a massive scale, using the internet, stored footage, medical records, social media, actual media, and various other sources." X replied. "Zola believed that you could predict the course of a man's life by following these trends. But there is no record of what HYDRA itself was going to do with it."

"Well, that's convenient," Natasha said with a sarcastic grumble.

"It makes sense though, right? Zola made the algorithm so it makes sense he would have that in his brain, but I doubt Hydra put all their plans in an outdated location that wasn't even guarded." I stated before asking, "So what now?"

"Well, someone launched that domestic missile at us," Natasha closed her screen, tossing it to me. "Who in SHIELD can do that?"

"Pierce," Steve leaned back in his chair, looking annoyed.

"Alexander Pierce," X said. "Head of HYDRA, and one of their highest officials. He would often visit Zola for advice."

"Well, right now he's in one of the most secure buildings in the world," Natasha said.

"Not a problem," I raised the Omnitrix. "I can just smash my way in and grab him. But then, I don't know who is HYDRA in the building and who isn't. X, do you have a list?"

"One moment... I have select personal, but many of Hydra's operatives are hidden and I'm sure that Zola's information base was heavily outdated. The various leaders do not trust each other to share a full list of soldiers and Zola was 'technically' a defunct asset beyond his algorithm."

"But it's a good start," Steve leaned forward. "Who in HYDRA worked under Pierce?"

"Jasper Sitwell," We all looked at Natasha. "He was on the Lemurian Star. Where I first stole Zola's algorithm."

"He is on my list of subordinates. Apparently, his son is currently going to HYDRA Preparatory Academy."

We turned to look at X. "Uh," I looked around. "HYDRA has an academy... for kids..."

Steve let out an explosive breath, running a hand down his face. "Okay, focus. We need to kidnap Sitwell, find out what the algorithm is for. So the question is, how do the two most wanted people in Washington and their shapeshifting friend kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?"

Sam got up, drawing our attention. He went into the kitchen and threw a folder on the table. "Answer is; you don't."

Steve looked down at the folder Sam had dropped. "What's this?"

"Call it a resume," Sam said confidently.

I leaned over to stare at the photo. Sam was there, a little younger than he was now, wearing a tight suit. A man stood next to him wearing the same suit, both holding goggles in their hands. Natasha picked up the photo, looking at it closely.

"Is this Bakhmala?" Natasha asked. Sam nodded. "The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you," she gave Steve a glance. "You didn't say he was a para-rescue."

Steve was focused on something else as he took the photo. His eyes were on the other guy standing next to Sam. He looked up at Sam.

"Is this Riley?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

Sam and Steve seemed to pass something between each other with that look. I didn't comment on it. Natasha spoke once again.

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?"

"No," Sam stepped forward, picking the folder up to hand to Steve. "These."

Steve took the folder, opening it. I grinned at what was inside. I'd guessed, but it was still cool to see the truth.

Steve seemed amused. "I thought you said you were a pilot."

Sam grinned. "I never said pilot."

Steve looked down at the folder. After a thoughtful pause, he shook his head. "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in," Sam said firmly.

Steve and Natasha gave me a look. I held up my hands. "Hey, he didn't hear it from me. When Captain America needs help, people want to help him."

Steve looked between me and Sam, and he seemed overwhelmed for a moment. After a while, he nodded. "Okay. Where do we get these things?"

"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall."

Steve and Natasha shared a look. She shrugged. Steve looked back at Sam. "Shouldn't be a problem."

He threw a folder onto the table. On it, several words were emblazoned. EXO-7 Falcon.

"I guess I'm gonna need to make another radar jammer," I said before turning to Steve. "And you need to make a phone call."

"Wait," Steve interrupted, already guessing what I was getting at. "I don't think that's necessary."

"...They'll want in on this," I said to Steve. "I mean, the stuff you're dealing with? At least let them know you're okay man."

"I," Steve looked at Natasha. She smirked. "I have no secure way to contact them-"

My answer was to throw my smartphone to him. He caught it out of the air easily. "That's my phone.

It's undetectable by anything short of actual magic. You can call anyone on the planet, and not worry about people listening in."

Steve stared at me, at a loss for words. I shrugged. "They're your friends, right? I'd want to know my friends are safe."

"He's right," Natasha said. "Plus... we might want to call them to help later."

"I don't want to drag anyone else into this," Steve protested.

"I'm not sure what's going on," Sam said, drawing our attention. "But if the people you want to call are friends... If Riley was alive, and he didn't ask me for help with something this big, I would never forgive him."

Steve looked around. After a moment, he sighed and walked to the other room. "Fine. I'll make the call."

------

A while later, I was sitting in a room with Natasha and Steve, waiting for Sam to do his part of the plan. He was looking over the city from a nearby window. Natasha, on the other hand, was asking me questions.

"So you say you're from Oakland?" She asked pointedly.

"Born there," I answered. "Raised in different cities in California, then spent part of my life in Oregon before I came here."

"Where you got the Omnitrix?" Black Widow asked.

"Yep."

"Who gave it to you?"

"No idea."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "None?"

"Well, some," I admitted. "But I have no idea for sure."

"So someone gave you, a random nobody by your own admission, alien technology programmed with the ability to turn you into beings like Diamondhead, and you have no idea why?" Natasha asked skeptically.

"None," I looked at her. Her gaze was neutral. I sighed. "Yeah, I know it's suspicious. I'm just doing the best I can with the tools I've been given."

Just then, the elevator down the hall opened. Natasha gave me a look. "You ready?"

"Yep," I answered easily. The three of us went over the elevator. Inside stood Sam and another man.

Older than us, with a bald head, skin a shade darker than mine, wearing glasses, slightly overweight. He also looked scared as hell and about to piss himself.

He stared at us as Sam shoved him forward. I grinned.

This was going to be fun.

-----

Steve threw the guy, Sitwell, through the door to the rooftop as Natasha and I followed. Sitwell fell, rolled back, and got up almost tripping over his feet as Steve followed him. I circled around, and the three of us strode towards the man. I stared at him, feeling my anger fill me. HYDRA. This guy was one of the people who had tried to kill me. Things were feeling pretty personal about now.

Steve didn't waste time. "Tell me about Zola's algorithm."

Sitwell took fast steps back, trying to stay calm. "Never heard of it."

"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?"

"I was throwing up, I get seasick."

We got to the edge of the roof, and Steve grabbed Sitwell's suit, pulling him close so they were face-to-face. It was tense for a moment. Then Sitwell smiled. "Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? Because it's really not your style, Rogers."

Steve eyed Sitwell. After a moment, Steve smiled back, stepping away. "No, it's not. Luckily, I've got people for that."

I pressed the Omnitrix. Instantly, orange fur sprouted across my form, and my eyes faded away. I got down on all fours and roared, a snarling bestial cry of rage and joy all in one.

"OH MY GOD!" Sitwell squealed.

"I know right?" Natasha stepped forward, a rush of sweet scent and beautiful sound moving along the rooftop to step past me. "And that's not even your immediate problem." With a smooth move, she slammed her foot into Sitwell's chest as he freaked out at the sight of my Wildmutt form.

"WAAAAaaaaaaaaa...."

As Sitwell's voice faded in the distance, Natasha looked over at Steve, snapping her fingers. "Oh, wait, what about that girl in the science division, Diana..."

"Debbie!" Steve replied, looking down at the falling form of Sitwell. "With the blue stripe in her hair?"

"Yeah!" Natasha said happily. "She's cute, right?"

"Yeah, I'm not ready for that."

I let out a bark, a small chuff, trying to sound disapproving.

"I know," Natasha said, sounding as disappointed as I did.

Steve didn't know what to think of that.

Suddenly, in a burst of noise, Sam rocketed past us on his winged jetpack.

A winged jetpack, man. With big gray wings, graceful flight, and cool rockets. How freaking awesome was Sam?

Sitwell was in his left hand, still screaming in fear. Sam went over us, dropping Sitwell onto the rooftop. As soon as Sitwell dropped, I rushed him. Sitwell screamed anew, trying to escape, but I landed on his back, twisting him so he was facing up at my snarling jaws. I bit down in front of his nose, and sucked in the sweet scent of fear.

"OH GOD!" Sitwell screamed in horror. I drooled on his face. He screamed louder. "Please, get him off!"

"Think we forgot to mention that in this form he likes the taste of people." Widow happily added, which only made Sitwell whimper in fear.

I laughed, a growling noise filling the air.

"Kid!" Steve barked as they came closer. I stepped away immediately, letting Sitwell rise.

"Zola's algorithm is a program!" Sitwell said hurriedly, trying to back away from Sam, Natasha, me, and any other monsters hiding nearby. "For choosing Insight's targets!"

"We got that part," Natasha said wryly. As she walked by me, she ran a hand along my head, getting a pleased growl as she scratched my head. "Who are the targets?"

"All of you!" Sitwell looked around, trying to breath, flinching whenever he laid eyes on me. "A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa city. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future."

I stopped growling.

Anyone. Anyone. Even a baby could eventually grow to have a rebellious hatred of HYDRA. What if he developed that as a child when he saw his parents were killed? Would Project Insight decide he was a risk? Hell, anyone could decide HYDRA was evil. Peter Parker. Matt Murdock. Jessica Jones. The people of Wakanda. If any of them decided to rise against HYDRA, HYDRA would attack. And once they did...

I slapped my Omnitrix symbol. In a snarl, I rose to my feet as a human, ignoring Natasha backing away hurriedly from where she'd been petting me. "How many people!?"

Sitwell stared at me.

"HOW MANY!?"

"Millions!" Sitwell looked around at us. "The Insight Helicarriers will kill millions."

------

We were in Sam's car later, driving at high speed towards the Triskelion, the headquarters of SHIELD. I was sitting in the back on the left of Sitwell, behind Sam, while Natasha sat behind Steve on Sitwell's right.

"So we're going to sneak in there and shut it down?" I asked.

"That's the plan," Steve said grimly.

"Well, Project Insight is launching in 20 hours, we should be able to get it done in time," Natasha noted, leaning forward to speak to Steve and Sam.

"I know, but let's make it fast anyways," Steve said. "We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and get to the helicarriers, then we can have Jury Rigg or Diamondhead stop them from flying."

"What!?" I winced when Sitwell yelled in my ear. "Are you kidding me!? That is a terrible, terrible id-"

A massive impact hit the roof. Then a robot hand shattered the back window, grabbed Sitwell, and threw him screaming from the car.

"Holy shit!" I yelled, shocked. I could see Sitwell fly twenty feet before slamming into a car, rolling to a stop only to get run over. "Damn!"

"Move!"

Natasha grabbed me and pulled me from my seat as a bullet slammed into the cushion. I let her move me, following her lead, and she forced me into the front seat with Steve, where we crammed ourselves in as awkwardly together as possible.

"How did he even get on the car!?" I yelled in shock.

Natasha shot at the roof as the guy on it fired back. Steve reached over Natasha to slam the parking brakes on as Sam drove, and we came to an abrupt stop. A man came flying off the roof, rolled along the pavement, then got to a kneeling stance and slammed his fingers into the concrete, coming to a stop. His robotic arm glinted in the light, and I stared. "Winter Soldier."

He rose to his feet. His face was covered in a mask and goggles. But I knew Bucky Barnes rested beneath that mask.

I reached for the Omnitrix. Natasha raised her gun.

And a car slammed into us from behind. For a moment, Natasha's elbow was in my stomach as we were thrown around by the impact, and I hurriedly pushed myself into the back seat. Our car was forced forward at high speed towards the Winter Soldier. He leaped over and onto the car with another loud 'thump'. Sam tried to put on the brakes, but we were getting pushed by the car behind us even so.

"Put on the gas!" I yelled.

Sam punched it. Behind me I could see Winter Soldier's feet as he hopped from the roof to the hood of the truck. The truck came around as Sam sped down the road, and I cursed when my body was slid from side to side all over the place. The truck slammed into the car once more, and we were sent into the guardrail. There was a horrific moment where I was airborne. I reached for the Omnitrix. Steve, Natasha, and Sam flew out of the car.

I had a brief moment where Natasha and I shared a horrified glance.

And then I was alone as the car flipped through the air.
------
Author's Note: Next chapter is the Battle of Washington, done my way. Afterwards, a meeting with new allies, and the decision of what to do with SHIELD.