- Location
- Venezuela
NRG has a Russian accent. so that may offend them. and I find that Hilarious!
Dial (Ben10/Marvel Cinematic Universe SI)
- Thread starter DesertChocolate
- Start date
- Location
- Brazil
This sounds familiar.
What are the rest?
Well a lot of the Alien Force ones, as well as Ultimate. Shock Rock, from the Ben 10 Reboot, actually looks like he'd fit in really well, whatever your thoughts on the actual alien.
Bloxx, Walkatrout, Molestache, Pesky Dust, The Worst, ChamAlien, they're all aliens I would consider not fitting in as well with the orginal lineup, though that could be a matter of opinion.
To be clear, I like Pesty Dust and the Worst, I just think their designs are painful.
Rogue Gemini
Wanderer without a Twin
- Location
- Here
Interesting lineup, but I do have a concern since this universe isn't limited to just the movies...
Just to be safe, what are your thoughts on using the Celesapians (i.e. Alien X) should the stones come into play in the near future?
76
Nikolai Krylenko/Vanguard
Vanguard roared in rage as a punch from an orangutan hit him in the center of his shield, the strength of the six foot tall ape lifting and throwing him dozens of feet through the air. Vanguard ground his feet until he came to a stop, then lashed out with a punch to a chimp's chin. Creel dropped down behind him to smack aside another ape. The former boxer/criminal was panting in his vibranium form. He looked exhausted.
Vanguard felt the same way. They'd been fighting against the enemy non-stop now. Many Russian soldiers now lay dead on the ground, and Creel and Vanguard were next to the remains of a tank that had been destroyed. Men and primates were dying in droves. But the real issue was that Kragoff wasn't running out of primates. He must have been developing the creatures for a long time to have so many to use as cannon fodder.
High above, several aircraft were battling it out with the apes and monkeys, gunfire and plasma shots flying hundreds of feet above the battlefield. Vanguard didn't have command over that particular part of the battle, but every once in a while a sudden explosion would mark a missile or bomb being dropped on the servitors.
Mikhail rushed by with a mandrill in his mouth, shaking his head like a dog with a toy in his mouth. The bear man had been through the ringer. His fur had been singed across his pectorals and back, brown fur burned black, skin scorched. Long claw marks had been scratched on his face over one thankfully intact eye, as well as his chest, with one especially painful looking one right on top of a burn.
And yet, Mikhail was still rampaging. He spat out the mandrill he'd been chewing on, rose up to his feet and grabbed a cannon turret that had been left on the ground. With a single pull, he lifted the large piece of steel into the air and turned to face a gorilla. "Come here!"
With great enthusiasm, Mikhail spun his newly stolen weapon to swipe, sending several apes flying through the air. More plasma shots hit him, but he only roared and dived back in to fight harder than before.
"How… is he… not tired!" Creel panted.
"The Major has endless stamina for defending the Russian people," Vanguard said. "It is inspiring. And also extremely annoying."
An orangutan dropped out of the sky to land in front of them. Vanguard didn't have time to react before the six foot tall ape grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground. Vanguard snarled, trying to breath through the pain. The orangutan slashed at his chest with the long steel claws on its other arm. Vanguard watched in near slow-motion as four blades sliced through his costume and skin, sending up a spray of blood. Up until they were stopped by an extremely tough material.
Unknown to most, Vanguard's enhancements included a subdermal body armor made of a combination of several lightweight materials, one of them being carbon. The four slash marks across his chest revealed that layer. The orangutan, being more near-machine-like, showed no reaction to this except to claw at him again. Vanguard snarled as his armor, despite preventing the blades from slashing any deeper, were unable to stop the bruising from the hit itself.
Creel grabbed the orangutan before it could strike again, snapping it's arms with brutal force. Vanguard dropped to the ground and spun around, thrusting the sharp tip of his shield deep into the beast's chest.
The worst part of fighting the apes was how emotionless they were. They roared at times, made small noises, but that seemed more a result of instinct. As the orangutan died, it simply stared at him emotionlessly.
Another gorilla fired at Creel. Creel took the immense blast of plasma to his arm, the sheer heat of it burning off the remains of his clothes. Creel rushed the gorilla, grabbed it's head and tore it off.
Then he fell to his knees, coughing heavily. "Creel!" Vanguard grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into cover, a soldier rushing past him to fire at their opponents. Vanguard held back a scream of pain when his hands met Creel's form. Creel was hot. Almost insanely so. Only with the determination given to him by years of training was Vanguard able to ignore that to get Creel to cover behind a tree that had been destroyed.
Vanguard eyed Creel, the superhuman still in Vibranium form, his shirt and pants scorched to almost nothing. "What is happening?"
Creel coughed, leaning his head back against the log they were using for cover. "I… I haven't really gotten this hot so fast before. Or for this long. I just need a sec."
Then Creel spun to his feet to stand behind Vanguard. Before Vanguard could say anything, the man was hit by more plasma shots. The temperature around Creel rose dramatically. Creel grabbed the log they'd been using as cover, lifting and tossing it at the shooters before falling to a knee.
"...shit," Creel whispered, staring down at himself. His metal carapace was unharmed. But anyone could see he was exhausted and in pain, panting heavily. His chest had noticeably taken on a slight red glow. Slowly, Creel rose up to his feet, still grimacing.
Vanguard stared in silence as Creel, despite his pain, went into battle again. The metal man defended a male and female soldier from an ape, fought alongside Mikhail, battled against his pain to keep moving.
Nikolai punched another opponent, ignoring the pain in his own chest from the claw marks that had torn through his skin.
"Vanguard!" Fantasma's voice came on over the radio as he continued to fight. "The nuke has been… diffused," he took a moment to feel relief at the good news. "But we're dealing with a lot of enemies. If this doesn't stop soon-"
Whatever she was about to say was cut off by another explosion as a plane from the sky crashed on the battlefield. Vanguard grit his teeth. Fantasma was right. If something didn't end this soon, quantity would end up overrunning quality, no matter the strength of the Winter Guard, the russian military… or, he thought as he eyed Creel, the strength of the Avenger.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
"There's more coming in from the left!" Fantasma shouted. She was flying by while blasting out magic and slashing out with her violet sword. But I could tell she was flagging. Her face was red with exertion, and her magic was coming just a bit slowed. Each of her shields were faster to crack, forcing her to replace them faster. She was also casting illusions. I only knew that because, every once in a while, a group of monkeys were suddenly replaced by Russian soldiers and copies of my aliens. Then they would get jumped by their friends and get torn apart in seconds.
It was unnerving, seeing Big Chill and Four Arms getting torn apart by mad robot apes. "Somebody cover the left, I need to focus!" Fantasma shouted desperately.
"I got it," Chernobog roared, ripping apart a mandrill to dive for a shaved chimp. He looked stranger than usual. His black form was slowly emitting black smoke like a leaky chimney, and his smile was less evil and angrier than I was used to. Apparently, he was feeling the pressure.
I punched a gorilla in the gut, my huge fist crushing steel, then fired a nuclear blast to its face, melting its face off until I could see the skull.
Fighting as NRG was weird. For one thing, I was struggling to move in the heavy armor I was wearing. My actual energy form was damn strong, but I still got slowed down by the heavy containment suit. Then, there was how I sent my blasts out while in the suit. I simply blasted my energy out from my actual body, and with no other way out thanks to my very tough suit, it would fire out through the face slits. It was weird like I was doing push ups and pull ups at the same time. Two very different muscles working in opposite directions.
I raised a fist and slammed it on the head of another ape, crushing flesh and steel, then blasted another one. I was feeling great, to be honest. NRG may have been weird to move around as, but I was also powerful. It felt awesome, walking around in a badass suit of armor while firing blasts of pure energy. I punched another chimp, shattering it's jaw, then scooped of a handful of lava off the cooling floor and tossing it at another, ignoring the punch that hit me from a gorilla.
The big ape and I wrestled for a moment. His big belly and large arms were wrestling against my own bulky form. I eventually mimicked a sumo move Nat had taught me, pulling his hips in toward me while my upper half push. Taken off guard, he tumbled to the ground, where I blasted him in the chest, melting flesh and metal, finishing it with a footstomp.
We were winning. But it wouldn't last. There seemed to be no end to the servitors pouring in. Chernobog and Fantasma were both coming on the tail end of exhaustion, and while I was fresh thanks to the Omnitrix transforming me, I'd still time out sooner or later. Then, the lava heat around us would do the job. That or my newest frenemies would be dead.
Something had to give, soon.
------
Phil Coulson
"Guys, how is he doing this!? Is he like Ghost!?" Coulson yelled as he ducked yet more bullets from Kragoff. The Russian scientist had pulled out a AK-47 now, and was still going intangible in between shots. Hard to pin down too as he just ran through cover.
"Doubtful!" Simmons yelled. "He doesn't have the same sort of instability!" she yelped when another gunshot took out a vase nearby.
"I don't know, he seems pretty unstable right now," Skye quipped, firing her plasma shots. They passed harmlessly through Kragoff, leaving him untouched.
"None of you can stop this!" Kragoff shouted insanely. "The world will at last understand!" he fired his gun at Skye, then at Fitz, before aiming the assault rifle at May. "For Russia!"
"Would you stop shouting that!?" Coulson returned. "No one is this stupid patriotic!" he stopped thoughtfully. "I mean, most people aren't!"
May had stopped shooting in the meantime. She clearly saw how useless the effort was and had instead focused on keeping Fitz-Simmons alive. "Coulson, we need to disable the servitors. Staying like this isn't going to help the others."
Then Kragoff ran through her cover to stand in between them, forcing Coulson and May to dodge a hail of bullets. "Just die, damn you!"
"Not happening, Kragoff!" Coulson returned. Underneath the bravado, his mind was racing.
This was a waste of time. And that was the whole point for Kragoff, wasn't it? This power of his was insanely useful, as Ghost had proven a dozen times. Ghost had already been on Coulson's list of dangerous enemies he wouldn't want to fight. Kragoff was only marginally less dangerous due to his old age slowing him down. And even then, he was pretty spry for an old man.
But that was beside the point. The end point of all that was he was mostly just keeping them from doing the work that was important. Namely, uploading the virus that would shut down the servitors.
Every time they got close to the computers, he would fire bullets like a mad man while coming close to punch and kick his old man best to keep them away. He was trying to kill them, sure. But he was also keeping them very specifically from the computers. Did he know about the virus? Or did he have something else in mind?
Whatever the case, Coulson had a plan as he rolled alongside Kraven, who looked as frustrated as he felt. "Hey Kraven," Coulson said idly.
"Agent Coulson," Kraven returned in a low growl. "Tell me you have a way to kill him."
"I don't," Coulson admitted freely. "But we've gotten, uh," he tried to think of how to say it. "We've been distracted from our real 'prey'. The servitors as a whole."
Kraven's eyes widened in understanding. "...Agreed. We don't need to kill Kragoff. Just stop him from stopping us."
"Can you distract him long enough for her to get here?" Coulson asked.
"I think I can oblige," Kraven smirked.
He leapt over cover and ran for Kragoff. The old scientist raised his gun towards Kraven, firing away.
Kraven dodged. Nevermind that it was technically impossible to dodge bullets. Kraven still dived out of the way, reminding Coulson of footage of Natasha Romanov pulling off similar maneuvers. Less dodging, more anticipating.
The hunter dived in and sliced at Kragoff, who of course went intangible. Kraven kept slicing, forcing Kragoff to stay intangible while Coulson sent a message. Everyone watched as Kraven began to put on a master class in knife work. He sliced, dived, stabbed, and kicked. With insanely fast movements, he slashed down at the AK. His knife went through it, proving that Kragoff could at least make his weapons intangible as well.
Kragoff, in response, began firing his gun wildly whenever he had a chance to, clearly trying to tag Kraven with anything he possibly could. Kraven kept being anywhere except in front of the gun, while also carefully guiding him to shoot away from the computers.
Coulson watched carefully as he listened over the radio before finally shouting. "Kraven, now!"
Kraven moved with incredible speed, clear away from Kragoff, taking a bullet to the leg for his trouble. Kragoff didn't have time to enjoy that.
The ceiling cracked open above him, then shattered apart into chunks of rubble, raining down on the intangible form of Kragoff. The ancient communist scientist barked out in anger. Suddenly hundreds of pounds of metal enveloped in electricity dropped down from the ceiling. The Crimson Dynamo landed in a crouch before rising to her full height.
"Nice timing, Galina!" Coulson said with a grin.
"Thank you!" she said in a cheery voice. Kragoff ran out of the rubble and started shooting at her. Bullets bounced off of her armor. She chuckled. "Really? Idiot."
Fitz-Simmons and Skye used her entrance to get to the computers. When Kragoff snarled and tried to hit them, Galina stepped in his way, blasting at the man with a single beam of electricity.. Kragoff went intangible, but was unable to shoot around Galina's massive bulk to get to the others. For a moment, Coulson felt some relief that they had turned the tide.
Then a loud wailing siren began to sound out. Kragoff smiled. "Finally!"
He ran away from them, still shooting as he made his way to the other side of the room. May shot at him, Kraven tossed his blade, and Galina fired twin beams of lightning. All of it just passed through the man.
"Too late!" He ran up to one of the many tanks in the room, one of the few that hadn't been destroyed by random fire, and pulled a lever on it.
As Skye and Fitz-Simmons hurriedly hacked his computers, the tank Kragoff had pulled the lever on shattered before the floor beneath it snapped open, revealing a hole. He dropped in as Kraven swiped at his neck. Kraven seemed ready to follow him into the hole before his eyes widened, the hunter diving aside the minute he saw what was in the hole.
First, the nose cone rose out with slowly from the trapdoor. Sections of the floor around the hole began to fall inward. The sound of rocket engines filled the room with an insanely loud din, mixing with the alarms and Kragoff's laughter.
"A fucking escape rocket!?" someone yelled as the large gray rocket came out in full.
It was shaped like a simple rocket one would find in any toy store, with the exception of the giant Soviet Union symbol of the sickle and hammer on the side and the green flames sending it shooting up into the air instead of the normal red flames. It was also shrunken down, being apparently made for one person.
Galina fired her lightning bolts at it, scorching the side and making the engines flutter. But the rocket continued to climb.
"Goodbye foul capitalists and national traitors!" Kragoff crowed. "Die in the fires of my retribution!"
"He really is a Bond villain!" Coulson shouted, looking over at Skye and Fitz-Simmons. "Can you stop him?"
'We have bigger problems!" Skye returned as she typed at her holoscreen, a frantic look on her face. "He's activated a self-destruct! It's going to destroy the entire complex!"
"We've got seconds, and the computer is already working on the virus!" Simmons added.
"Here!" Galina opened up her armor, hopping out of it with a section of keyboard attached to the thing. The young engineer rushed over to them. "I can help with the self-destruct!"
"Then I've got the virus," Skye agreed.
All the while the rocket engine continued to roar as it ripped through the last section of roof. Kragoff laughing all the while. Coulson continued to watch.
After a while, he walked over to a chair and sat down.
"Coulson?" May in confusion. Kraven walked up to join them.
He looked between them. "Hey. What else can I do at this point? Might as well enjoy the show."
Kraven gave Coulson a long look, then looked around. Galina, Skye, Fitz, and Simmons were working frantically at the computers. The rocket, flying on jets similar to the ones the monkeys had been using, was now exiting the ceiling. There was damage everywhere, a tiny worker monkey still blithely working on making more servitors. He sighed.
"Yes. I suppose that is all we can do… A self-destruct and an escape rocket though?"
"Right? I'm telling ya, he's a Bond villain," Coulson leaned back in his chair as he watched the rocket finally disappear into the sky. "Shouldn't it be too hot for us to survive this close to a launch?"
"Not with the thrusters he choose to use," Fisk said idly nearby. Then he cursed, pressing frantically at a keyboard. "Damn it, damn it-!"
"Here!" Skye shouted back.
"Okay and… got it!" Galina crowed. Fisk collapsed backward in relief.
Meanwhile Skye watched while biting her bottom lip as a bar on her screen uploaded. For a long while, the bar seemed to freeze. Then she sighed in relief, turning to look at the others. The alert sound that had been ringing out stopped. The monkey workers, still working so diligently, fall to the floor like puppets getting their strings cut.
"...We're saved," Coulson said in awe.
------
Nikolai Krylenko/Vanguard
Vanguard looked around the battle. A servitor fell out of the sky to slam into the ground with an explosion of green. A gorilla, once so formidable, fell to its knees, then to its face, losing the green glow about it. The red-clad hero walked along the field. In the forests beyond, soldiers who had been fighting slowly walked out. Mikhail came up to him, the large bear-man panting heavily. Together, they watched hundreds of apes slowly shut down, dropping to land in the bloody dirt and remains of life that had covered the field. More fell from the skies.
Solemnly, Vanguard looked around. Then he sighted one of the warriors lying on the ground nearby. "Creel!"
Vanguard rushed over the taller man, turning him to face up. The bald superhuman was staring up with wide eyes as he stayed in vibranium form. "Creel!"
"N-Need a minute," Creel coughed. He looked down at his gauntlet. The device was mostly intact, but still had cracks all over the surface. "I-I-I can't risk changing back until I cool down."
Vanguard noted that as a possible weakness. On a much more important note…
"Here," Vanguard began piling some snow next to Creel. There wasn't much. A lot had been trampled or melted by the running feet and the plasma blasts. "For once, Russia's cold will aid an outsider, rather than her people."
Creel chuckled weakly. "Poetic."
"I am ever the soul of poetry," Vanguard said without a hint of humor.
Mikhail watched the team leader of Winter Guard tend to an American criminal turned Avenger, noting the soldiers gathering around and cheering for the victory won.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
I watched the servitors fall to the ground around us, some of the molten stone splashing with the bodies that fell into it. For a long moment, it was quiet. Then I heard Fantasma panting, obviously exhausted. When I looked up, she was still floating over the battlefield, staring down in disbelief.
"...W-We're done?" she said softly.
Still in NRG form, I nodded.
She looked like she was about to pass out, but was holding back. Realizing the problem, I mentally shifted my form.
"Big Chill!"
Back in giant mothman form, I released a cool mist. The molten stones around me quickly solidified, sometimes bubbling at random. After a few moments of this, the temp dropped enough that it was safe. Fantasma slowly floated down until she almost fell. I flew up to help her down, wrapping her arm around my shoulders to support her. As we came down to the floor covered in frosted over servitor corpses and formerly molten stone Chernobog flowed over to us as we landed.
"So, we're done?" he asked casually.
I tapped the Omnitrix, returning to human form with a sigh. "Yeah. I think we're done," I shrugged to get Fantasma closer so I could take more of her weight. My armor was much thinner than before, the prolonged combat having destroyed large chunks of catoms, Fantasma had a magically healing wound on her leg that was surrounded in purple sparks, and Chernobog looked like he was fading away. We'd been hit hard. I'm pretty sure if the Omnitrix hadn't been around, we'd have lost.
Thank you, Azmuth.
"Good," Chernobog grunted. We turned and walked toward the exit.
"I need a drink," Fantasma mumbled. "And a spa treatment."
"Never had one of those," I said as we exited to the hallway, passing the three super-apes we'd killed early.
"I can tell. You have terrible skin," she said idly.
Chernobog chuckled. Then he sighed. "Well… this has been fun. But I'm done."
Fantasma stiffened against me. "Chernobog..."
"Nope," he said with a note of satisfaction. "I don't give a fuck what those morons said about 'secrets of the nation', I'm done. I'm overdue for a nap, and the other guy can walk the rest of the way home."
"Wait," I said, starting to get an inkling of what they were talking about. After all, not only was I a nerd, I was also a friend of Bruce Banners.
Chernobog, the tall being that had been the bane of my existence for the past day, exuded smoke at a fast rate. The chilly black wisps blew past as he shrank down. I watched with eyebrows raised as the big inky black figure of nightmares disappeared, getting sucked into a pale form underneath. The man who stood there instead was almost disappointingly small in comparison. I mean, he wasn't tiny or anything, but he gave the same feeling as Bruce in some ways. All that power, itty-bitty living space. He wore a simple black button up shirt and some slacks, a pair of glasses, his head was balding at the top, and he had a short and well-groomed beard. He looked like someone's dad.
The man adjusted his glasses. "H-Hello. My name is Aleksei Smirnov."
"...Nice to meet you?" I said questioningly. We stood there awkwardly for a moment. Aleksei coughed. "I'd, uh, I'd better let everyone else know we're okay," I said, reaching for my Omnitrix and tapping it to open the comm.
------
Phil Coulson
"I'm glad you guys are safe, Dial," Coulson said through his own comm unit. He looked up at the others in the room and raised a thumb up. Skye was already sighing in relief, Fitz-Simmons smiling while Kraven nodded firmly. Galina and May didn't show much reaction that most would notice, but Coulson could tell May was satisfied, and guessed Galina was relieved.
"We heard from Vanguard's group a while ago," Coulson continued. "They're all right, but Creel was injured. Something about overheating? It's not something we've encountered with his abilities before, so he's being sent to the basecamp infirmary to make sure he's all right."
A series of loud yells came from the comm. Coulson swaed in place calmly as Dial continued to ask frantic questions before interrupting. "We'll be getting out soon Dial, and Simmons will take a look at him immediately. She's pretty eager to figure out what is going on."
"Because I'm worried about Creel!" Simmons protested.
Coulson gave her a look. She quivered silently.
"...And yes, because I'm thinking about the science as well," she admitted. "But it's mostly to help Creel!"
Coulson chuckled. "Well we will-"
"Wait," Galina interrupted. She was at the computer again. She frowned at it. "A timer just started on the computer."
Everyone snapped around to stare at the screen.
10
9
"Are you bloody kidding me!?" Fitz shouted in frustration.
"We have to go," Coulson told Dial calmly.
------
Outside, the trainyard was quiet. Dozens of servitors lay across tracks and rusted hulks, and portions of the walls and other sections were still smoking from the recent battle.
The quiet was ruined when two beings carrying others flew out of a shattered rooftop. For exactly six seconds, everything was peaceful except for the sounds of the group rocketing upward as fast as they could go.
Then a loud cracking sound filled the air. The explosion that followed started at the edges of the trainyard in a massive circle. Then they cascaded inward, over and over, the ground buckling, fire rising along with dirt and corpses. For a moment, the world was fire. Trees all around were blown back by the sheer force of it.
Coulson, hanging tightly to Skye's hand, grit his teeth as he was buffeted by the winds from the blast, May holding Skye's other hand getting just as battered. Skye screamed as she climbed higher and higher to avoid the shockwave. When it hit, she'd managed to get far enough away.
Once the world had stopped shaking, the group looked down at the destroyed remains of the former lab/nightmare factory.
Fitz-Simmons had been carried in Crimson Dynamo's arms, while Kraven had simply clutched to her back, the two scientists staring down in horror at the crater that had replaced the trainyard.
Coulson looked up at Skye. "Were you able to get anything from the computers?"
Skye gave him a stunned look, gulped, then nodded. "Y-Yeah! I'm not sure how much, but I still managed to download a lot!"
"Good," Coulson looked back down that crater. "Good. Because we aren't done with Kragoff. None of us are."
With that ominous note, the sun began to rise in the distance, illuminating the smoke trail left by Kragoff's ascent.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
I helped Fantasma up the stairs with my new best friend Aleksei the dark god, the three of us slowly making our way up. When we got to the top, some rubble was blocking the way. New rubble, I mean, not the rubble from earlier.
"Great," Fantasma said sarcastically.
"I got it," I said with a grin. Flipping through the menu on the Omnitrix, I went through the options. "I just got NRG, so I kinda want an excuse anyway."
"Is, uh," Aleksei adjusted his glasses. "Is he really the most appropriate for this?"
"He'll work," I pressed down on the Omnitrix. Light surrounded me, followed by the massive grey suit of the nuclear alien.
"NRG!"
With great enthusiasm, I punched upward, then pushed. Stones as large as cars were pushed aside with ease. I laughed. "Yes! I am most impressive my friends!"
"Now I know how you feel around Chernobog," Aleksei the secret keeper of evil said to Fantasma.
"No, he's not nearly as bad," Fantasma said, though not unkindly. Aleksei chuckled.
All of a sudden, the massive weight I'd been lifting got a lot easier to pick up. With another shove, we were free.
Mikhail and Vanguard were there to meet us. They helped me shift aside some of the stones to give room for the exhausted Aleksei and Fantasma.
"It is good to see you, comrades!" I said cheerily.
Vanguard and Mikhail stopped lifting stones. They turned to look at me.
"What? Is something wrong?"
"...You had better not be talking that way on purpose," Vanguard snarled.
Uh oh.
Yeah. The rest of the day was a lot more fun after that, thankfully. And less scary.
------
Author's Note: Next chapter, the Russia Arc will end, and we take some time to decompress with the fam back in America. Notably, Dial has an emerald warrior to talk to, and it's not the Green Lantern. I'm also planning on making sure the Russia arc doesn't just have no consequences. Bill Foster and Ava Starr will be among those interested in the arc for example.
Speaking of which, damn that recent Death Battle disappointed me, particularly for how wrong the result was, or at least how it came about. But that's all I'll say about that, since a certain person by the name of Kuro the Artist has already made a video analysis.
I'm more excited for the next chapter. Dial is going to hang with the Winter Guard one last time, head back to the states, and later hang out in a very specific location down south for the next arc
I also wanted to ask for help with two things! First thanks so much for editing the TVTropes page as time has gone on guys. Seeing that thing grow has been amazing I also made a wiki a little bit ago, for the little bits of information that people might need. It only has one page so far, but I'll start to fill it up as time goes on Dial Timeline
I also wanted to thank all of my Patreons. I've only just made it, to help with some medical bills and other expenses, and you guys have already pledged so much. Starting June 1st, I'll be putting out the rewards I'd offered, among them being new chapters coming out 4 days ahead for patrons only, podcasts after each chapter, and access to a poll every month for one of my more neglected stories to be updated based on the vote. For those who would rather donate one time instead, I also have a paypal!
With all that, I'm going to get to work! Hope you all enjoyed, and that you have a fantastic day!
Vanguard roared in rage as a punch from an orangutan hit him in the center of his shield, the strength of the six foot tall ape lifting and throwing him dozens of feet through the air. Vanguard ground his feet until he came to a stop, then lashed out with a punch to a chimp's chin. Creel dropped down behind him to smack aside another ape. The former boxer/criminal was panting in his vibranium form. He looked exhausted.
Vanguard felt the same way. They'd been fighting against the enemy non-stop now. Many Russian soldiers now lay dead on the ground, and Creel and Vanguard were next to the remains of a tank that had been destroyed. Men and primates were dying in droves. But the real issue was that Kragoff wasn't running out of primates. He must have been developing the creatures for a long time to have so many to use as cannon fodder.
High above, several aircraft were battling it out with the apes and monkeys, gunfire and plasma shots flying hundreds of feet above the battlefield. Vanguard didn't have command over that particular part of the battle, but every once in a while a sudden explosion would mark a missile or bomb being dropped on the servitors.
Mikhail rushed by with a mandrill in his mouth, shaking his head like a dog with a toy in his mouth. The bear man had been through the ringer. His fur had been singed across his pectorals and back, brown fur burned black, skin scorched. Long claw marks had been scratched on his face over one thankfully intact eye, as well as his chest, with one especially painful looking one right on top of a burn.
And yet, Mikhail was still rampaging. He spat out the mandrill he'd been chewing on, rose up to his feet and grabbed a cannon turret that had been left on the ground. With a single pull, he lifted the large piece of steel into the air and turned to face a gorilla. "Come here!"
With great enthusiasm, Mikhail spun his newly stolen weapon to swipe, sending several apes flying through the air. More plasma shots hit him, but he only roared and dived back in to fight harder than before.
"How… is he… not tired!" Creel panted.
"The Major has endless stamina for defending the Russian people," Vanguard said. "It is inspiring. And also extremely annoying."
An orangutan dropped out of the sky to land in front of them. Vanguard didn't have time to react before the six foot tall ape grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground. Vanguard snarled, trying to breath through the pain. The orangutan slashed at his chest with the long steel claws on its other arm. Vanguard watched in near slow-motion as four blades sliced through his costume and skin, sending up a spray of blood. Up until they were stopped by an extremely tough material.
Unknown to most, Vanguard's enhancements included a subdermal body armor made of a combination of several lightweight materials, one of them being carbon. The four slash marks across his chest revealed that layer. The orangutan, being more near-machine-like, showed no reaction to this except to claw at him again. Vanguard snarled as his armor, despite preventing the blades from slashing any deeper, were unable to stop the bruising from the hit itself.
Creel grabbed the orangutan before it could strike again, snapping it's arms with brutal force. Vanguard dropped to the ground and spun around, thrusting the sharp tip of his shield deep into the beast's chest.
The worst part of fighting the apes was how emotionless they were. They roared at times, made small noises, but that seemed more a result of instinct. As the orangutan died, it simply stared at him emotionlessly.
Another gorilla fired at Creel. Creel took the immense blast of plasma to his arm, the sheer heat of it burning off the remains of his clothes. Creel rushed the gorilla, grabbed it's head and tore it off.
Then he fell to his knees, coughing heavily. "Creel!" Vanguard grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into cover, a soldier rushing past him to fire at their opponents. Vanguard held back a scream of pain when his hands met Creel's form. Creel was hot. Almost insanely so. Only with the determination given to him by years of training was Vanguard able to ignore that to get Creel to cover behind a tree that had been destroyed.
Vanguard eyed Creel, the superhuman still in Vibranium form, his shirt and pants scorched to almost nothing. "What is happening?"
Creel coughed, leaning his head back against the log they were using for cover. "I… I haven't really gotten this hot so fast before. Or for this long. I just need a sec."
Then Creel spun to his feet to stand behind Vanguard. Before Vanguard could say anything, the man was hit by more plasma shots. The temperature around Creel rose dramatically. Creel grabbed the log they'd been using as cover, lifting and tossing it at the shooters before falling to a knee.
"...shit," Creel whispered, staring down at himself. His metal carapace was unharmed. But anyone could see he was exhausted and in pain, panting heavily. His chest had noticeably taken on a slight red glow. Slowly, Creel rose up to his feet, still grimacing.
Vanguard stared in silence as Creel, despite his pain, went into battle again. The metal man defended a male and female soldier from an ape, fought alongside Mikhail, battled against his pain to keep moving.
Nikolai punched another opponent, ignoring the pain in his own chest from the claw marks that had torn through his skin.
"Vanguard!" Fantasma's voice came on over the radio as he continued to fight. "The nuke has been… diffused," he took a moment to feel relief at the good news. "But we're dealing with a lot of enemies. If this doesn't stop soon-"
Whatever she was about to say was cut off by another explosion as a plane from the sky crashed on the battlefield. Vanguard grit his teeth. Fantasma was right. If something didn't end this soon, quantity would end up overrunning quality, no matter the strength of the Winter Guard, the russian military… or, he thought as he eyed Creel, the strength of the Avenger.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
"There's more coming in from the left!" Fantasma shouted. She was flying by while blasting out magic and slashing out with her violet sword. But I could tell she was flagging. Her face was red with exertion, and her magic was coming just a bit slowed. Each of her shields were faster to crack, forcing her to replace them faster. She was also casting illusions. I only knew that because, every once in a while, a group of monkeys were suddenly replaced by Russian soldiers and copies of my aliens. Then they would get jumped by their friends and get torn apart in seconds.
It was unnerving, seeing Big Chill and Four Arms getting torn apart by mad robot apes. "Somebody cover the left, I need to focus!" Fantasma shouted desperately.
"I got it," Chernobog roared, ripping apart a mandrill to dive for a shaved chimp. He looked stranger than usual. His black form was slowly emitting black smoke like a leaky chimney, and his smile was less evil and angrier than I was used to. Apparently, he was feeling the pressure.
I punched a gorilla in the gut, my huge fist crushing steel, then fired a nuclear blast to its face, melting its face off until I could see the skull.
Fighting as NRG was weird. For one thing, I was struggling to move in the heavy armor I was wearing. My actual energy form was damn strong, but I still got slowed down by the heavy containment suit. Then, there was how I sent my blasts out while in the suit. I simply blasted my energy out from my actual body, and with no other way out thanks to my very tough suit, it would fire out through the face slits. It was weird like I was doing push ups and pull ups at the same time. Two very different muscles working in opposite directions.
I raised a fist and slammed it on the head of another ape, crushing flesh and steel, then blasted another one. I was feeling great, to be honest. NRG may have been weird to move around as, but I was also powerful. It felt awesome, walking around in a badass suit of armor while firing blasts of pure energy. I punched another chimp, shattering it's jaw, then scooped of a handful of lava off the cooling floor and tossing it at another, ignoring the punch that hit me from a gorilla.
The big ape and I wrestled for a moment. His big belly and large arms were wrestling against my own bulky form. I eventually mimicked a sumo move Nat had taught me, pulling his hips in toward me while my upper half push. Taken off guard, he tumbled to the ground, where I blasted him in the chest, melting flesh and metal, finishing it with a footstomp.
We were winning. But it wouldn't last. There seemed to be no end to the servitors pouring in. Chernobog and Fantasma were both coming on the tail end of exhaustion, and while I was fresh thanks to the Omnitrix transforming me, I'd still time out sooner or later. Then, the lava heat around us would do the job. That or my newest frenemies would be dead.
Something had to give, soon.
------
Phil Coulson
"Guys, how is he doing this!? Is he like Ghost!?" Coulson yelled as he ducked yet more bullets from Kragoff. The Russian scientist had pulled out a AK-47 now, and was still going intangible in between shots. Hard to pin down too as he just ran through cover.
"Doubtful!" Simmons yelled. "He doesn't have the same sort of instability!" she yelped when another gunshot took out a vase nearby.
"I don't know, he seems pretty unstable right now," Skye quipped, firing her plasma shots. They passed harmlessly through Kragoff, leaving him untouched.
"None of you can stop this!" Kragoff shouted insanely. "The world will at last understand!" he fired his gun at Skye, then at Fitz, before aiming the assault rifle at May. "For Russia!"
"Would you stop shouting that!?" Coulson returned. "No one is this stupid patriotic!" he stopped thoughtfully. "I mean, most people aren't!"
May had stopped shooting in the meantime. She clearly saw how useless the effort was and had instead focused on keeping Fitz-Simmons alive. "Coulson, we need to disable the servitors. Staying like this isn't going to help the others."
Then Kragoff ran through her cover to stand in between them, forcing Coulson and May to dodge a hail of bullets. "Just die, damn you!"
"Not happening, Kragoff!" Coulson returned. Underneath the bravado, his mind was racing.
This was a waste of time. And that was the whole point for Kragoff, wasn't it? This power of his was insanely useful, as Ghost had proven a dozen times. Ghost had already been on Coulson's list of dangerous enemies he wouldn't want to fight. Kragoff was only marginally less dangerous due to his old age slowing him down. And even then, he was pretty spry for an old man.
But that was beside the point. The end point of all that was he was mostly just keeping them from doing the work that was important. Namely, uploading the virus that would shut down the servitors.
Every time they got close to the computers, he would fire bullets like a mad man while coming close to punch and kick his old man best to keep them away. He was trying to kill them, sure. But he was also keeping them very specifically from the computers. Did he know about the virus? Or did he have something else in mind?
Whatever the case, Coulson had a plan as he rolled alongside Kraven, who looked as frustrated as he felt. "Hey Kraven," Coulson said idly.
"Agent Coulson," Kraven returned in a low growl. "Tell me you have a way to kill him."
"I don't," Coulson admitted freely. "But we've gotten, uh," he tried to think of how to say it. "We've been distracted from our real 'prey'. The servitors as a whole."
Kraven's eyes widened in understanding. "...Agreed. We don't need to kill Kragoff. Just stop him from stopping us."
"Can you distract him long enough for her to get here?" Coulson asked.
"I think I can oblige," Kraven smirked.
He leapt over cover and ran for Kragoff. The old scientist raised his gun towards Kraven, firing away.
Kraven dodged. Nevermind that it was technically impossible to dodge bullets. Kraven still dived out of the way, reminding Coulson of footage of Natasha Romanov pulling off similar maneuvers. Less dodging, more anticipating.
The hunter dived in and sliced at Kragoff, who of course went intangible. Kraven kept slicing, forcing Kragoff to stay intangible while Coulson sent a message. Everyone watched as Kraven began to put on a master class in knife work. He sliced, dived, stabbed, and kicked. With insanely fast movements, he slashed down at the AK. His knife went through it, proving that Kragoff could at least make his weapons intangible as well.
Kragoff, in response, began firing his gun wildly whenever he had a chance to, clearly trying to tag Kraven with anything he possibly could. Kraven kept being anywhere except in front of the gun, while also carefully guiding him to shoot away from the computers.
Coulson watched carefully as he listened over the radio before finally shouting. "Kraven, now!"
Kraven moved with incredible speed, clear away from Kragoff, taking a bullet to the leg for his trouble. Kragoff didn't have time to enjoy that.
The ceiling cracked open above him, then shattered apart into chunks of rubble, raining down on the intangible form of Kragoff. The ancient communist scientist barked out in anger. Suddenly hundreds of pounds of metal enveloped in electricity dropped down from the ceiling. The Crimson Dynamo landed in a crouch before rising to her full height.
"Nice timing, Galina!" Coulson said with a grin.
"Thank you!" she said in a cheery voice. Kragoff ran out of the rubble and started shooting at her. Bullets bounced off of her armor. She chuckled. "Really? Idiot."
Fitz-Simmons and Skye used her entrance to get to the computers. When Kragoff snarled and tried to hit them, Galina stepped in his way, blasting at the man with a single beam of electricity.. Kragoff went intangible, but was unable to shoot around Galina's massive bulk to get to the others. For a moment, Coulson felt some relief that they had turned the tide.
Then a loud wailing siren began to sound out. Kragoff smiled. "Finally!"
He ran away from them, still shooting as he made his way to the other side of the room. May shot at him, Kraven tossed his blade, and Galina fired twin beams of lightning. All of it just passed through the man.
"Too late!" He ran up to one of the many tanks in the room, one of the few that hadn't been destroyed by random fire, and pulled a lever on it.
As Skye and Fitz-Simmons hurriedly hacked his computers, the tank Kragoff had pulled the lever on shattered before the floor beneath it snapped open, revealing a hole. He dropped in as Kraven swiped at his neck. Kraven seemed ready to follow him into the hole before his eyes widened, the hunter diving aside the minute he saw what was in the hole.
First, the nose cone rose out with slowly from the trapdoor. Sections of the floor around the hole began to fall inward. The sound of rocket engines filled the room with an insanely loud din, mixing with the alarms and Kragoff's laughter.
"A fucking escape rocket!?" someone yelled as the large gray rocket came out in full.
It was shaped like a simple rocket one would find in any toy store, with the exception of the giant Soviet Union symbol of the sickle and hammer on the side and the green flames sending it shooting up into the air instead of the normal red flames. It was also shrunken down, being apparently made for one person.
Galina fired her lightning bolts at it, scorching the side and making the engines flutter. But the rocket continued to climb.
"Goodbye foul capitalists and national traitors!" Kragoff crowed. "Die in the fires of my retribution!"
"He really is a Bond villain!" Coulson shouted, looking over at Skye and Fitz-Simmons. "Can you stop him?"
'We have bigger problems!" Skye returned as she typed at her holoscreen, a frantic look on her face. "He's activated a self-destruct! It's going to destroy the entire complex!"
"We've got seconds, and the computer is already working on the virus!" Simmons added.
"Here!" Galina opened up her armor, hopping out of it with a section of keyboard attached to the thing. The young engineer rushed over to them. "I can help with the self-destruct!"
"Then I've got the virus," Skye agreed.
All the while the rocket engine continued to roar as it ripped through the last section of roof. Kragoff laughing all the while. Coulson continued to watch.
After a while, he walked over to a chair and sat down.
"Coulson?" May in confusion. Kraven walked up to join them.
He looked between them. "Hey. What else can I do at this point? Might as well enjoy the show."
Kraven gave Coulson a long look, then looked around. Galina, Skye, Fitz, and Simmons were working frantically at the computers. The rocket, flying on jets similar to the ones the monkeys had been using, was now exiting the ceiling. There was damage everywhere, a tiny worker monkey still blithely working on making more servitors. He sighed.
"Yes. I suppose that is all we can do… A self-destruct and an escape rocket though?"
"Right? I'm telling ya, he's a Bond villain," Coulson leaned back in his chair as he watched the rocket finally disappear into the sky. "Shouldn't it be too hot for us to survive this close to a launch?"
"Not with the thrusters he choose to use," Fisk said idly nearby. Then he cursed, pressing frantically at a keyboard. "Damn it, damn it-!"
"Here!" Skye shouted back.
"Okay and… got it!" Galina crowed. Fisk collapsed backward in relief.
Meanwhile Skye watched while biting her bottom lip as a bar on her screen uploaded. For a long while, the bar seemed to freeze. Then she sighed in relief, turning to look at the others. The alert sound that had been ringing out stopped. The monkey workers, still working so diligently, fall to the floor like puppets getting their strings cut.
"...We're saved," Coulson said in awe.
------
Nikolai Krylenko/Vanguard
Vanguard looked around the battle. A servitor fell out of the sky to slam into the ground with an explosion of green. A gorilla, once so formidable, fell to its knees, then to its face, losing the green glow about it. The red-clad hero walked along the field. In the forests beyond, soldiers who had been fighting slowly walked out. Mikhail came up to him, the large bear-man panting heavily. Together, they watched hundreds of apes slowly shut down, dropping to land in the bloody dirt and remains of life that had covered the field. More fell from the skies.
Solemnly, Vanguard looked around. Then he sighted one of the warriors lying on the ground nearby. "Creel!"
Vanguard rushed over the taller man, turning him to face up. The bald superhuman was staring up with wide eyes as he stayed in vibranium form. "Creel!"
"N-Need a minute," Creel coughed. He looked down at his gauntlet. The device was mostly intact, but still had cracks all over the surface. "I-I-I can't risk changing back until I cool down."
Vanguard noted that as a possible weakness. On a much more important note…
"Here," Vanguard began piling some snow next to Creel. There wasn't much. A lot had been trampled or melted by the running feet and the plasma blasts. "For once, Russia's cold will aid an outsider, rather than her people."
Creel chuckled weakly. "Poetic."
"I am ever the soul of poetry," Vanguard said without a hint of humor.
Mikhail watched the team leader of Winter Guard tend to an American criminal turned Avenger, noting the soldiers gathering around and cheering for the victory won.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
I watched the servitors fall to the ground around us, some of the molten stone splashing with the bodies that fell into it. For a long moment, it was quiet. Then I heard Fantasma panting, obviously exhausted. When I looked up, she was still floating over the battlefield, staring down in disbelief.
"...W-We're done?" she said softly.
Still in NRG form, I nodded.
She looked like she was about to pass out, but was holding back. Realizing the problem, I mentally shifted my form.
"Big Chill!"
Back in giant mothman form, I released a cool mist. The molten stones around me quickly solidified, sometimes bubbling at random. After a few moments of this, the temp dropped enough that it was safe. Fantasma slowly floated down until she almost fell. I flew up to help her down, wrapping her arm around my shoulders to support her. As we came down to the floor covered in frosted over servitor corpses and formerly molten stone Chernobog flowed over to us as we landed.
"So, we're done?" he asked casually.
I tapped the Omnitrix, returning to human form with a sigh. "Yeah. I think we're done," I shrugged to get Fantasma closer so I could take more of her weight. My armor was much thinner than before, the prolonged combat having destroyed large chunks of catoms, Fantasma had a magically healing wound on her leg that was surrounded in purple sparks, and Chernobog looked like he was fading away. We'd been hit hard. I'm pretty sure if the Omnitrix hadn't been around, we'd have lost.
Thank you, Azmuth.
"Good," Chernobog grunted. We turned and walked toward the exit.
"I need a drink," Fantasma mumbled. "And a spa treatment."
"Never had one of those," I said as we exited to the hallway, passing the three super-apes we'd killed early.
"I can tell. You have terrible skin," she said idly.
Chernobog chuckled. Then he sighed. "Well… this has been fun. But I'm done."
Fantasma stiffened against me. "Chernobog..."
"Nope," he said with a note of satisfaction. "I don't give a fuck what those morons said about 'secrets of the nation', I'm done. I'm overdue for a nap, and the other guy can walk the rest of the way home."
"Wait," I said, starting to get an inkling of what they were talking about. After all, not only was I a nerd, I was also a friend of Bruce Banners.
Chernobog, the tall being that had been the bane of my existence for the past day, exuded smoke at a fast rate. The chilly black wisps blew past as he shrank down. I watched with eyebrows raised as the big inky black figure of nightmares disappeared, getting sucked into a pale form underneath. The man who stood there instead was almost disappointingly small in comparison. I mean, he wasn't tiny or anything, but he gave the same feeling as Bruce in some ways. All that power, itty-bitty living space. He wore a simple black button up shirt and some slacks, a pair of glasses, his head was balding at the top, and he had a short and well-groomed beard. He looked like someone's dad.
The man adjusted his glasses. "H-Hello. My name is Aleksei Smirnov."
"...Nice to meet you?" I said questioningly. We stood there awkwardly for a moment. Aleksei coughed. "I'd, uh, I'd better let everyone else know we're okay," I said, reaching for my Omnitrix and tapping it to open the comm.
------
Phil Coulson
"I'm glad you guys are safe, Dial," Coulson said through his own comm unit. He looked up at the others in the room and raised a thumb up. Skye was already sighing in relief, Fitz-Simmons smiling while Kraven nodded firmly. Galina and May didn't show much reaction that most would notice, but Coulson could tell May was satisfied, and guessed Galina was relieved.
"We heard from Vanguard's group a while ago," Coulson continued. "They're all right, but Creel was injured. Something about overheating? It's not something we've encountered with his abilities before, so he's being sent to the basecamp infirmary to make sure he's all right."
A series of loud yells came from the comm. Coulson swaed in place calmly as Dial continued to ask frantic questions before interrupting. "We'll be getting out soon Dial, and Simmons will take a look at him immediately. She's pretty eager to figure out what is going on."
"Because I'm worried about Creel!" Simmons protested.
Coulson gave her a look. She quivered silently.
"...And yes, because I'm thinking about the science as well," she admitted. "But it's mostly to help Creel!"
Coulson chuckled. "Well we will-"
"Wait," Galina interrupted. She was at the computer again. She frowned at it. "A timer just started on the computer."
Everyone snapped around to stare at the screen.
10
9
"Are you bloody kidding me!?" Fitz shouted in frustration.
"We have to go," Coulson told Dial calmly.
------
Outside, the trainyard was quiet. Dozens of servitors lay across tracks and rusted hulks, and portions of the walls and other sections were still smoking from the recent battle.
The quiet was ruined when two beings carrying others flew out of a shattered rooftop. For exactly six seconds, everything was peaceful except for the sounds of the group rocketing upward as fast as they could go.
Then a loud cracking sound filled the air. The explosion that followed started at the edges of the trainyard in a massive circle. Then they cascaded inward, over and over, the ground buckling, fire rising along with dirt and corpses. For a moment, the world was fire. Trees all around were blown back by the sheer force of it.
Coulson, hanging tightly to Skye's hand, grit his teeth as he was buffeted by the winds from the blast, May holding Skye's other hand getting just as battered. Skye screamed as she climbed higher and higher to avoid the shockwave. When it hit, she'd managed to get far enough away.
Once the world had stopped shaking, the group looked down at the destroyed remains of the former lab/nightmare factory.
Fitz-Simmons had been carried in Crimson Dynamo's arms, while Kraven had simply clutched to her back, the two scientists staring down in horror at the crater that had replaced the trainyard.
Coulson looked up at Skye. "Were you able to get anything from the computers?"
Skye gave him a stunned look, gulped, then nodded. "Y-Yeah! I'm not sure how much, but I still managed to download a lot!"
"Good," Coulson looked back down that crater. "Good. Because we aren't done with Kragoff. None of us are."
With that ominous note, the sun began to rise in the distance, illuminating the smoke trail left by Kragoff's ascent.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
I helped Fantasma up the stairs with my new best friend Aleksei the dark god, the three of us slowly making our way up. When we got to the top, some rubble was blocking the way. New rubble, I mean, not the rubble from earlier.
"Great," Fantasma said sarcastically.
"I got it," I said with a grin. Flipping through the menu on the Omnitrix, I went through the options. "I just got NRG, so I kinda want an excuse anyway."
"Is, uh," Aleksei adjusted his glasses. "Is he really the most appropriate for this?"
"He'll work," I pressed down on the Omnitrix. Light surrounded me, followed by the massive grey suit of the nuclear alien.
"NRG!"
With great enthusiasm, I punched upward, then pushed. Stones as large as cars were pushed aside with ease. I laughed. "Yes! I am most impressive my friends!"
"Now I know how you feel around Chernobog," Aleksei the secret keeper of evil said to Fantasma.
"No, he's not nearly as bad," Fantasma said, though not unkindly. Aleksei chuckled.
All of a sudden, the massive weight I'd been lifting got a lot easier to pick up. With another shove, we were free.
Mikhail and Vanguard were there to meet us. They helped me shift aside some of the stones to give room for the exhausted Aleksei and Fantasma.
"It is good to see you, comrades!" I said cheerily.
Vanguard and Mikhail stopped lifting stones. They turned to look at me.
"What? Is something wrong?"
"...You had better not be talking that way on purpose," Vanguard snarled.
Uh oh.
Yeah. The rest of the day was a lot more fun after that, thankfully. And less scary.
------
Author's Note: Next chapter, the Russia Arc will end, and we take some time to decompress with the fam back in America. Notably, Dial has an emerald warrior to talk to, and it's not the Green Lantern. I'm also planning on making sure the Russia arc doesn't just have no consequences. Bill Foster and Ava Starr will be among those interested in the arc for example.
Speaking of which, damn that recent Death Battle disappointed me, particularly for how wrong the result was, or at least how it came about. But that's all I'll say about that, since a certain person by the name of Kuro the Artist has already made a video analysis.
I'm more excited for the next chapter. Dial is going to hang with the Winter Guard one last time, head back to the states, and later hang out in a very specific location down south for the next arc
I also wanted to ask for help with two things! First thanks so much for editing the TVTropes page as time has gone on guys. Seeing that thing grow has been amazing
I also made a wiki a little bit ago, for the little bits of information that people might need. It only has one page so far, but I'll start to fill it up as time goes on Dial TimelineI also wanted to thank all of my Patreons. I've only just made it, to help with some medical bills and other expenses, and you guys have already pledged so much. Starting June 1st, I'll be putting out the rewards I'd offered, among them being new chapters coming out 4 days ahead for patrons only, podcasts after each chapter, and access to a poll every month for one of my more neglected stories to be updated based on the vote. For those who would rather donate one time instead, I also have a paypal!
With all that, I'm going to get to work! Hope you all enjoyed, and that you have a fantastic day!
- Location
- Argentina
Creel must have been hit for over a hour almost non stop to get that hot.
77
May 13, 2014
We piled into an APC together. Vanguard, Creel, Fantasma, Mikhail, Aleksei the secret dark god, and me. Fantasma fell asleep as soon as she got into the truck, her head resting on Mikhail's shoulder. I had to admit, I was feeling the mental strain myself. Mikhail looked like he'd been through the ringer. He was covered in tiny cuts and burns across his bare chest and arms. Like he'd fallen through a rosebush that was on fire.
Creel was resting on a stretcher in between us, snoring slightly. I gave him a grin. He was all right now apparently, but the fact he'd even gotten to a state of being damaged had scared the shit out of me.
As the car rattled along, I looked up at Vanguard, who still looked miffed. "Hey, I told you man. NRG just sounds like that, I can't help it."
"You turned into a literal walking atomic reactor and immediately gained a ridiculous Russian accent?" he asked me with more than a hint of annoyance.
"Look, NRG is basically the closest equivalent to a Space Russian," I rubbed the back of my neck. "I mean, that is just how the Omnitrix translates him to Earth languages. That's all. I mean, if I was going to do a mocking accent, why would I do it in the middle of a battle?"
He sighed. "Boy, I understand that logically. But you should know that this isn't a logical emotion. It will take me time to get over how annoying this is."
"Fair enough," I nodded toward his chest. Some bandages had been placed under his red suit, some seepage of blood going through the white gauze. "You okay?"
He looked down at his wounds before nodding. "Yes. Seems you've also taken quite the hit," he nodded toward my armor, which, while technically intact, still had some scars. I nodded.
"Yeah, we've all had our beating. But hey. We won."
"Not yet," Mikhail said, scowling. "Not until we find Kragoff again."
Vanguard nodded while Aleksei adjusted his glasses nervously. Which just drew my attention to the small man.
"So, you," I said with a raised eyebrow. "You what, host Chernobog?"
"Uh, yes," Aleksei coughed. "But, um, that is confidential information." Mikhail grumbled something about "that horned Debil," the last word being a pretty common Russian insult.
"I'll sign the waiver later," I joked. "But why is it confidential?"
"If no one knows Aleksei exists, we have an operative that can stand in a crowd, as unassuming as can be, only to suddenly become a god," Vanguard explained. "And if no one knows Chernobog has a host, why would they look for one?"
And that was terrifying to think about. Chernobog, even against cloned apes running on computer brains, had been horrifying. Him suddenly transforming in a crowd, or god forbid being taken hostage. That would scare the shit out of anyone. Dude was a funny asshole. He was also sadistic as shit.
Aleksei winced. "Well, I wouldn't put it like that. I'm really not suited for all this violence."
I remembered the moment when Chernobog had licked a servitor gorilla's cheek before biting into it like an apple. Yeah, people might find that hard to believe. I leaned my head back in my seat and sighed. Things got quiet after that, all of us just resting. It had been one hell of a past few hours after all.
The APC bounced and jostled on it's way to the nearest military base, Creel snoring peacefully the whole way.
------
When we got to the base, Boris was there waiting for us. We didn't have much time to say hi. The smiling politician pulled us through a crowd of watching soldiers and personnel into the main base. Fantasma was woken up and followed along while yawning a bit, and Creel was sent to the infirmary on the base.
Coulson, Skye, May, Fitz-Simmons, Kraven, and Galina were all waiting for us.
A tight knot in my chest released the second I saw them. Skye and Fitz-Simmons gave me relieved smiles, rushing toward me. We wrapped each other in a hug, the four of us coming together.
Fantasma hugged Galina, who was smiling like an older sibling trying to seem cool, Kraven sharing a small nod toward the others.
"I have to go check on Creel," Simmons said once we'd all released our hugs, giving me another one. I chuckled as I wrapped my arms around her. "It's so good to have you back!"
"I wasn't gone that long, but I appreciate it," I said with a grin.
She gave me a happy look, then rushed toward the infirmary.
"I'm glad you're all alright," I said with a look around. "Man, I cannot wait to get home."
"It'll just be a day or so," Boris noted. He strolled over to join us. "I must admit, you all went above and beyond what would have been expected."
"That's what we do in BRIDGE," Coulson said.
"Save the world and look good doing it?" I asked.
"That's right," Skye smirked.
Boris chuckled good-naturedly.
"Well, we do have some issues to deal with," Coulson scowled. "Kragoff escaped. And he's enhanced. Has the power to go through objects and people. Like Ghost, but with less problems."
"Oh come on, seriously?" I grumbled. "He already had a monkey army. Intangibility is just cheating!"
"You're one to talk," Fitz pointed at the Omnitrix. "Don't you have over a dozen aliens with powers in that thing?"
"Yeah, but only one at a time," I grumbled again.
"Regardless, he's escaped," Boris said angrily. "And we will track him, and whoever has been helping him, down. He threatened the people of Russia with his foolishness. He is now our priority."
"Yay, more bad guys," I grumbled for the third time. I was hungry, sue me for being grumpy. And seriously, we had a whole bevy of enemies at this point. I was starting to feel real eager to start chipping that list down.
"By the way, can I ask about him," Coulson pointed at Aleksei.
Boris scowled. "Well-"
"He's Cherny's host," I said immediately.
"Cherny?" Half the room said incredulously.
"Yeah, Chernobog," I said idly. "By the way, how did that happen?"
Aleksei opened his mouth, then closed it. Then he sighed. "Yeah, that one is a long story."
"And your powers?" Coulson asked Mikhail.
Mikhail blinked. "That… is also a long story."
"And what the hell happened to your briefcase?" Kraven asked Boris. We all looked down at the massive dent that was now in the side of Boris' metal briefcase.
Boris laughed good naturedly. "Well, as my friends have noted, that is a long story!"
"Well hell, I have an idea for that," I said, thinking of Tony. Specifically, of a story he'd told me. "After Creel is checked out, you guys want to go somewhere together? Someplace with good food."
"...I know a place?" Mikhail offered.
------
A couple of hours later, we all piled into an APC and headed out, Boris convincing the commanders on base to look the other way.
I can't say why we all left. But my personal reason was simple. Because screw it. I'd had a long battle, filled with an insane number of twists and turns, I was hungry, and I wanted to have some fun. So, once Creel was cleared, I left with the others.
With a little drive out to certain bar called the Golden Grizzly, going through the snow until we reached the large wooden structure, we finally had a chance to relax again. Moments later, we were all sitting around a big wooden table covered in scratches and dents from years of rough treatment from drunk Russians, one of the top five types of drunks in the world.
"Za Zdarovje!" We tapped drinks together with a riotous cheer, some of the soldiers who had already been at the bar joining us. They broke off respectfully, leaving just our core group to stay behind. Staring from my left were Creel, Skye, Coulson, May, Fitz, Simmons, Kraven, Aleksei, Galina, Vanguard, Boris, Mikhail, Fantasma, then me.
"Okay," Coulson said as soon as it was clear of people that weren't us. "We've got a few hours. Let's talk about confidential stuff."
Mikhail gave Fantasma a look. The Violet Witch raised a hand and clenched it. A mandala sprouted around the large table, surrounding us entirely, then shattered. The instant it did, all sound beyond that mandala's borders stopped reaching us. I leaned my head back until I could hear the bar again. Then forward. Damn. She'd made a soundproof bubble around us! Awesome.
"Oh, that is so cool," I said in awe. Fantasma flashed me a bright smile.
I patted Creel on the back next to me, my friend looking a hell of a lot better than he used to be. Creel gave me a grin, chugging his drink while ignoring Simmons glare. Apparently they'd had a brief argument about the merits of alcohol while recovering. He'd decided to drink a light beer instead, which in Russia meant very little.
"Okay, so we will talk now," Mikhail nodded. "Where do we begin?"
To that, we all looked over at Aleksei. The man sighed.
"Yes… well, I suppose I am the most obvious one to start with."
"Hell yes," Creel, Skye, and I said in unison.
He adjusted his glasses again, then leaned over the table. "Very well… Months ago, Rio had it's… what has BRIDGE called it?"
"Time Quake," Coulson said.
"Really?" Aleksei cocked his head, then shrugged. "Very well. As Chernobog tells it, the 'Time Quake' had released him. He'd been left in some other dimension, locked away. But then the Time Quake happened. And when he awoke, he went somewhere familiar to him."
I narrowed my eyes. The Time Quake. Looks like it had more repercussions than I had expected. But then, how could it not?
"So… I was a uh, a bartender in my village," I remembered Chernobog mixing himself a drink with some skill. "I worked for an old friend of mine, helping him with the accounts and everything else. One night I was walking home and… well, there were some old ruins, near the village. The kind of place the kids would go to hang out in, smoke, drink, scare each other with old stories. That night I… when the smoke entered my lungs, I didn't think anything of it. Then the voice started talking to me. Animals in the woods, small ones at first, then bigger ones like deer. Some people started showing up at our doctor saying they were very tired. And I started to feel better."
"Better," May asked.
"...I was dying. Lung cancer," Aleksei smiled bitterly. "The children in the village weren't the only ones smoking. But as time went on, I started to feel invigorated. Stronger than I was as a young man even. Then, Chernobog spoke to me."
"And you didn't decide the dark voice in your head absorbing people's life force might need to be kicked out?" I asked curiously.
"He wasn't hurting anyone," Alesei protested. "No one was dying, or even getting harmed! He… he offered me a deal. I-If I let him stay… he would cure me. Instead of the extra year that I had been given, I could live forever. I just had to give up half of my time. Let him 'run the show'."
May narrowed her eyes. "Run the show?"
"It's not that bad. I just let him use my body for a long time, leaving me to feel like I've been asleep for longer than usual, and then he gives it back whenever I like," Aleksei looked around. "H-He's been good. When the government offered him things in return for him channeling his powers to help, he agreed."
"...In return for what?" Coulson asked.
Vanguard narrowed his eyes. Mikhail coughed uncomfortably. Kraven looked unmoved, while Galina and Fantasma shared a look of annoyance.
"There are… people, in the prison system," Aleksei said uncomfortably. "Pedophiles, sex offenders, serial killers, etc. People who wouldn't be missed. And then, the one thing he demanded most heavily… an internet connection, and free access to every streaming site he wants."
If we'd lived in an anime, I would have face faulted.
"Food and internet," Vanguard said sarcastically. The various Winter Guard members chuckled, clearly in on a joke the rest of us weren't. "I don't approve of Chernobog… though recent events make me less inclined to let my dislike of my coworkers affect my job," his eyes flickered to my left. "And beyond that, he is incredibly useful as a warrior."
Coulson shook his head, the older man taking a swig of his drink. "Hard to argue that. But using a dark life force eating god to punish prisoners… that's a slippery slope. The UN is going to have some thoughts on that, especially in terms of ethicality."
"He only eats half! And it's entirely painless," Aleksei said.
I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one to remember the image of screaming monkey souls, or the feel of Chernobog's laugh tugging on our souls.
"When he choose for it to be painless, it is," Aleksei explained further.
"...so when he does that fucking laugh, that uncomfortable feeling of him tugging on our soul... is him fucking with us?" I asked.
"..." Aleksei chugged his drink.
"What an asshole," Creel and I said in unison.
"I-I can't really argue against that," Aleksei coughed.
After a moment of awkward silence Mikhail talked. "As for me, my story is far more simple. Well, at least, the beginning of it, is. As a young man I… well, I was involved in some clandestine operations. I found out around my teens during that time that I was able to… change. To become powerful. And I was used to fight the battles of those who my handlers deemed threats to us. Until I ended up destroying them," he smiled. And I suddenly realized who he was. Or at least, where he had come from. What the 'clandestine' operations he'd been doing had been.
Mikhail looked me in the eyes. I didn't respond. But I noted it as he continued to speak.
"As far as our scientists can tell from studying my genetics, I was born with an aberrant gene, one that has allowed me to change my form naturally. Something that we haven't found in others. I may be unique, or one of many. I'm not sure.
I thought about that. Aberrant gene. That sounded like-
Then Boris was talking, distracting me from whatever I had been thinking. "I believe it is my turn, yes?" he lifted up his metal briefcase, showing off the big dent in the side. "During the battle on the field, I gave Vanguard control of our forces on the ground. A move that I felt was best, as he is not only a skilled strategist and commander, but is also the one who had the most experience with the enemy at the time. Some of those politicians who have some pull over the Winter Guard protested, so I had to… persuade them."
It was only then that I realized that Boris kind of reminded me of Sammy. Overweight. But with big damn arms and knuckles covered in a few scars. His nose was also slightly bent from a former break. Apparently he was more of a former badass than I would have expected.
"Can't you get in trouble?" May asked, the super spy sipping at some very expensive alcohol.
"If I do, it'll just mean I have to buy another briefcase," he chuckled. "I have long since gained some clout, Miss May. I have worked hard for my government. So I am allowed some leeway in how much damage I can do to people, especially when they're being idiots."
"Fair enough," Coulson sighed, relaxing back in his seat. "Well, I suppose that's everything. Unless everyone else has a deep dark secret they want to reveal."
"Not in this chapter," I joked. "But hey, we're here. Let's have some fun!"
"Fun," Mikhail scoffed. "You came to a Russian bar, and ordered that? How can you have fun if you won't drink?"
I blinked down at my mug of kompot, a fruity non-alcoholic slavic drink the bartender had recommended, then smirked. "Hey, you haven't seen the kinds of parties I've been at. I throw a hell of a food fight."
------
Dr. Leopold Fitz
Fitz was not exactly the partying type. Or at the least, he wasn't the type to party the way this current crowd did. Skye, Mahmoud, Creel, Fantasma, and Mikhail were dancing together. Very badly, but the group was laughing as Fantasma and Mikhail tried their best to teach the Americans how to dance. Simmons and Kraven, surprisingly, were in a corner talking. Well, Simmons was. For some reason, Kraven seemed very fond of her. Simmons was showing him what looked like a series of graphs, and the muscular hunter was positively fascinated by what she was saying. Huh. What an odd couple.
Fitz, on the other hand, was sitting across from Galina and sharing some ideas.
"Okay, here," Fitz did a final edit to the schematic he'd been working on, then passed it over to her. "I can't share my actual notes, since those are classified, but this might be a good way for you to get your armor to be more compact."
"I'm not so sure," Galina scowled down at the schematic. "The problem is the material I use. Carborundum is good for running electricity through, it's part of the armor is so effective, but it's not very flexible."
"It doesn't have to be!" Fitz placed his drink down. "You've heard of graphene? Some of the work they've been doing on it?"
Galina nodded slowly.
"Well, it is one of the most conductive materials in existence. But it also has bloody amazing tactile strength! You can layer sheets of it wherever Carborundum might not allow for flexibility, use that to make lighter armor without sacrificing durability or conductivity. All you need to do is create a monolayer of carbon atoms to make the sheets, and you can do that by…"
Fitz stopped to think. Was it a good idea to try and help a technical enemy with this stuff… Well, she was going to hunt down Kragoff. Plus, if he helped her, that meant he could also make his own weapons against her. Just in case?
He leaned over. "Okay, so this is what my own research has shown…"
------
Dr. Jemma Simmons
Simmons watched as Kraven flipped through a series of videos on his tablet. "Okay, look here," the gruff man showed the tablet to her again. "I filmed this as a part of my show years back. I was hunting Black Mamba near a village, trying to get it before it killed anyone."
"You didn't hurt it, did you?" Simmons asked worried.
Kraven smiled. "No. While I do hunt, I avoid killing endangered species. I kill for food and honor. Not to sate some sort of bloodlust. But that is not the point," he pointed at the video. "There were several things I found disturbing about the hunt. Things that I found odd. The patterns of the herds, the predators. I believed at the time that it may have had to do with certain practices of the village."
"And you want to know what caused it?" Simmons asked.
"I want to see if you can discover the reason," Kraven gave her a slightly odd smirk. "You've shown some promise. I want to see how much skill you have in understand the heart of animals."
"You're testing me?" Simmons said, trying not to sound too eager. How exciting! It had been years since she'd had a good test!
Kraven nodded. "I rarely take students. But you interest me. Even if you don't wish to hunt, I can see some value in you learning some of my skills."
Simmons thought about that. In truth, she did have a background on the sort of things Kraven focused on. Despite what most thought, hunters and bioscientists often depended on one another to do their work more efficiently. In fact, whenever forests or jungles encountered some sort of issue, hunters were often the first to let scientists know. It wasn't a perfect relationship, but there was one worth pursuing.
And Kraven was a VERY good hunter.
"Well, give me a moment," Simmons watched the video, biting her lip thoughtfully. So the animals in the village were reacting some outside stimuli? Nine times out of ten, that tended to be man made, but there were some natural things that could have similar effects. The best indicator was what animals were being effected. Black Mamba… Hmm.
Kraven watched quietly as Simmons excitedly began to work.
------
Phil Coulson/Leader of Team SHIELD
"So your plane was destroyed," Boris said.
Coulson nodded sadly. He had liked the Bus. Loved it. That plane had been beautiful. Old, sure, but with all it's upgrades it had been one hell of a plane. And now she was gone.
May gave Coulson a sympathetic look (well, sympathetic for her, anyways) before turning to Boris. "And now we will need a ride back to the states. If need be, BRIDGE will fly over a quinjet, but we thought we might ask you."
"Not a problem," Boris chuckled. "After you helped stop a nuclear weapon and an army from killing our citizens, it would be rather crass of me not to aid you, would it not?"
"Thank you," Coulson said, trying not to sound to bitter about losing his sweet ride. "And Lola?"
"We've left orders to leave her in a safe location," Boris explained. "While usually she would be studied, we already have some models similar to her in storage, so she will be untouched and ready for you to take her to the states."
"I appreciate that," Coulson then looked over at the group dancing to the loud music. "And what about…"
"They already know," Boris sighed. "We'd long since planned this. But Kragoff ended up accelerating those plans. As I'm sure you can imagine. But we've been prepared. Nikolai's sister is ready as well. And this is most beneficial for us all… Do the Avengers know?"
"Everyone who wasn't here. So, Dial and Creel don't know," Coulson explained.
"Why not?" Boris asked.
"Because we were busy with other things," May said. "Dial and Creel are big boys, they'll understand why we kept it a secret."
"And I don't think they'll mind too much," Coulson noted. He was watching those dancing. May and Boris turned to look as well.
Fantasma was helping Creel dance, laughing as he grumpily tried to follow her. Mikhail was having better luck with Dial, Skye laughing at the two as Dial blushed. They seemed to be having fun. Soon they switched, Fantasma and Mikhail dancing together. There was a brief moment of warmth there. When Fantasma danced with Mikhail there was a closeness between. Nothing romantic. More like a proud father having a good time with his youngest daughter.
Skye looked over at Coulson and noticed him watching. She gave him a smile, and Coulson felt his lips turn up in return.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
"Okay, here you go," Aleksei passed me a drink, surprising me. I'd taken a break by sitting on my own, watching everyone have a good time. Of all people to join me at the table, Aleksei had been just above-
"May I?" Vanguard, the bottom of the list for people I'd expected, joined Aleksei, the pair sitting down with me.
"Uh, sure?" I said hesitantly. Aleksei and Vanguard sat across from me. Vanguard looked a lot better, and had long since dropped his mask to reveal his rugged features (Getting really tired of being the only non-supermodel superhero). Aleksei similarly looked happy. I looked down at the drink he'd handed me.
"Don't worry, it's more kompot, an apple one this time," Aleksei said with a smile.
"Oh. Well, thanks," I hesitantly looked between them. "So. We've had a hell of a mission. I finally have a story that beats Tony's at least."
"It's certainly is not what I expected," Vanguard said gruffly. "I had assumed our missions would be more… realistic."
"Welcome to the world of superheroism," I said with a shrug. "It just gets crazier from here. Just wait until more aliens drop out of the sky."
He didn't seem to know how to take that.
"How about you?" I asked Aleksei. "You've got Chernobog inside you, he's probably seen crazier."
Aleksei frowned thoughtfully. "A few. But he never sees them as 'crazy'. In fact, pretty much every moment about the past few days has been par for the course for him."
"Makes sense he'd have a higher threshold I guess," I sipped at my drink.
Truthfully, while that whole mess had gotten a little nuts, the servitors hadn't been quite on the level of Rio. Which admittedly was tough to top.
"Enough men died during this mission," Vanguard said softly, looking over at the soldiers in the room around us. "I don't want things to be any crazier."
Fair enough. Crazy for superheroes usually meant death for everyone in our immediate vicinity if we didn't move fast enough.
"...I had to deal with that kind of thing a few times," I said sadly. "I mean, I try my best. But," the images of corpses in Rio, of body bags in the Triskelion, filled my mind. "Can't save everyone."
Goddamn, what a fucking sad thing to say. 'Can't save everyone'. Like that solved anything. Yay for damned platitudes.
I couldn't help my disgust at my own words. Vanguard apparently noticed. He raised his drink. "To those who were lost."
Aleksei raised his own drink. "And to those we saved?"
I looked between them. Then I raised my glass and struggled to think of what to add. "And uh… to the battles to come? The people we'll work to save?"
"I'll drink to that," Vanguard clinked his glass with ours and we all took a swig.
------
"Hahahaha!" Fantasma, smiling happily, dropped into the seat in front of me. She was clearly a little drunk.
"Heya, magic girl," I raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"
"Y-" she hiccuped loudly. "Yes. I'm all right. One moment," she waved her hand slowly, clearly using all the focus she could muster. Then she clapped. Some purple sparks appeared before her head and she sighed in relief.
"...Did you just… cure your drunkenness?" I asked.
"Not quite," she said, sounding more focused. "I simply staved it off. I'll still need to deal with the results of a hangover."
"How many spells do you know, anyways?" I asked curiously.
She frowned thoughtfully, resting her head in her hand. "I am not sure. My magic is very instinctual. I have to think about it, sometimes, but I often just need to have the focus and willpower to do the spell. I have to practice of course. I can't just make a new spell out of thin air, and I've spent hours perfecting them. But it's like I'm forcing myself to remember them, rather than making new ones."
"Sounds similar to my watch," I noted. I tapped the Omnitrix. "I uh, I've gotten pretty good with the watch. And I've got sort of a cheat code on how to use them," if you could call dozens of episodes of a kickass cartoon a 'cheat code'. "But I still need to get used to them. Figure things out and what-not."
Fantasma nodded slowly. Then she quirked her head to the side and looked closer at me. "You never seem… thrown when I talk about magic," when I looked confused she continued. "Even now, I still have the researchers calling what I do 'quantum displacement' something or other. Mikhail thinks I'm like him. Vanguard thinks I got my powers from radiation. Galina thought I was cheating with machines," she hesitated before continuing. "Chernobog was the first person to take what I do at face value. Why do you believe me as well? None of your friends do."
Well. Shoot. How was I going to explain… oh right, this basically had its own explanation.
"Last year, I wouldn't have believed how my life would go. Then I woke up in a world where a group of superhumans fought off aliens, my Omnitrix let me turn into those aliens, and now I fight monsters and villains for the fate of the Earth," I shrugged. "Magic being real… that's not a surprise. That's another folder to be added to my file cabinet of super awesome but weird information."
She smiled. "I'm super awesome."
"Super awesome," I said with a grin.
Fantasma laughed, her eyes glittering before she gave me a soft smile. "Thank you, Mahmoud."
"You're welcome," I got up from my seat and held a hand out. "So. I've got a flight in the morning. Till then. Want to dance? As you know, I could use some practice."
She nodded and placed a hand in mine, rising gracefully, a little smirk on her face as her eyes continued to glitter happily. "I would love that."
------
May 13, 2014
We hung out for a while before the Winter Guard had to be pulled to their duties. We were flown back to Moscow in a helicopter, where our newest frenemies got pulled into a series of PR bonanzas. I got to watch it from the Winter Guard base with the others, watching as Vanguard led the rest of his team for a series of photo ops and short interviews. They downplayed the role of the 'Americans' in the whole thing of course, so we didn't get any awards, but I wasn't too offended by that.
I took a nap at some point. Coulson woke me up from the bunks we'd borrowed on the base to start the trip back to the states a few hours later. Fitz-Simmons went to say goodbye to Galina, who had apparently spent the night designing things instead of sleeping. I found myself saying goodbye to someone who surprised the hell out of me.
"Now look," Chernobog placed a massive hand on my shoulder. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way. But I'm going to miss you. When you turned into NRG, I-I just," he shuddered. "My stomach was never in such turmoil!"
"Why is every conversation with you an awkward horror movie?" I asked, as uncomfortable as possible without literally crawling out of my own skin.
"Can you change into him? Just one more time?" the black skinned monster smiled down at me in what he probably thought was a comforting way. "Just so I can taste that… power."
"Okay, first," I pushed his hand off me. "Please stop talking in that… black speech you do. Second, I am going home now."
Chernobog sighed sadly. "Well. I suppose I'll have to visit you instead," he chuckled, my heart clenching painfully as he did. "It's too bad. But you should be proud, Mahmoud Schahed. You are now first on my list of people to visit in the United States. Just above the Bald Mountains and Disneyland."
I walked away as fast as possible as he laughed behind me. Yep. Not gonna miss that guy. And I was damn tempted to destroy the slip of paper he'd given me with his email address on it.
I went as fast as I could, headed to a location I'd found last night. I had sort of a… thing, that I'd been doing lately. And if I had the chance to keep it going, might as well extend it in a different direction.
I walked into the more public section of the base. While it wasn't exactly a tourist trap, it was made to accept those deemed safe by the government. And considering the skill they had with public relations, the Russian government had ironically embraced one of the best parts of capitalism.
And so I found myself in the gift shop, grabbing as many Winter Guard shirts of different types as I could.
As I was comparing a chibi Chernobog shirt and a heroic Vanguard one, Creel walked into the gift shop as well, quirking an eyebrow at me. "Of course you're grabbing more nerd gear."
"I have a style now man, I have to contribute to it," I said with a shrug. "Granted, it's mostly Tony's fault, but it's still my style now," I looked up at him. "How are you man? You scared the shit out of me."
Creel reached for the shirts I was looking at on the shelf, flipping through them. He was clearly not really seeing the clothes though. He was looking through the smalls, or the Russian equivalent anyway. The women's smalls at that.
"I'm all right," he said at last.
"Creel-"
"I said I'm all right," he looked at me with a scowl. "I got hit hard, I'll admit it. But I've been knocked down. And I've always gotten up again."
"Yeah, you have man," I scowled back at him. "I'm your friend, dude. I was worried about you. Sorry, damn."
Creel gave me a glare. Then he looked back at the shirts and finally realized what he was doing when he picked up a shirt that was clearly designed to reflect Fantasma's outfit. He stared at it, eyes wide. "Uh…" he said in confusion. Then my phone flashed.
When he turned my way I was chuckling as I sent the photo off. "Yeah, you'd look good in that. Hope Izzy agrees."
"You little-!" I ducked under Creel's outstretched arm, still laughing. Creel grumbled as he tossed the shirt back on the shelf. He walked over to another bunch of shirts. "Yeah. It sucked."
"I guessed."
"But I'll get over it. I'll figure out someway to get used to it, or maybe a way to cool down fast when I need to. I'll get stronger," he looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "Thanks though. For worrying, man."
I gave him a manly punch to the shoulder, then grabbed my manly chibi Winter Guard shirt and went to purchase a few extras.
------
"...What is this?" Coulson asked later. He was staring at the same thing we were. A plane. A big ass plane that actually put the currently destroyed Bus to shame in size. This thing was just stupid huge. Bright white with a blue stripe, it stood on the tarmac of the Russian airport like a dragon come to life, our group staring at it with wide eyes.
"This, is one Antonov An-124 Ruslan," Boris said proudly. He waved at it. "One of the largest and most powerful planes in the world! A marvel of engineering, a true testament to the craft."
"...There are cameras again," I noted, looking around at the media. There was a huge audience as well. Which kinda made sense, considering what an important goodbye this was. They weren't taking much more than some token photos, but the fact they were there was annoying. There was also a big stand nearby with a podium that had dozens of microphones on it. "I don't think we're going to like where this is headed."
Skye nodded next to me. "I can hack the cameras, maybe? Unless their tech is too old."
"I can always shoot them," May sounded a lot more ready to do that than I would have expected. Guess even the most stoic person had her limits.
Creel and Fitz-Simmons seemed to share our thoughts on the matter.
"Yep, really not going to like this," I decided.
"You won't," a female voice said. We turned to see Fantasma and Mikhail walking up to us. Mikhail was back in his military gear. Fantasma, on the other hand, surprised me by coming up with a blue blouse and blue jeans, carrying a large bag over her shoulder. I'd gotten used to her purple outfit and tall boots.
"Hey, Fantasma, Mikhail," Coulson said politely.
"Hey," I said with a small smile. "Kind of expected you in your superhero costume."
"I've been told I tend to distract in that uniform," she said with a smirk.
"Yeah you do," Skye said huskily. She blinked when we turned to look at her. "What? She's hot, I can accept that."
Fantasma opened and closed her mouth while blushing heavily, though she looked amused as well.
"Okay, Boris," Coulson turned to look at the badass politician. "You're going to pull another publicity stunt. Just go for it."
Boris had the good grace to look a little embarrassed. Politics. What are ya going to do?
...I got the Omnitrix ready.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Boris stepped forward to stand on the red stand, walking up to the podium, Fantasma and Mikhail giving us a look before walking up to us, his voice projected through the speakers. "Our dear Fantasma, hero of the Winter Guard, will now be leaving us!"
There were some sad calls out, several members of the media talking into their mics. I looked over at Fantasma. She was smiling sadly, waving at the audience of people.
"She will be joining the Avengers, representing the glory of Russia across the world! Fighting alongside the heroes of the world to defend our great nation overseas!"
Creel and I looked over at Coulson in shock. Skye and Fitz-Simmons did the same. Coulson looked over at us blithely, then smirked. May chuckled.
"What? You didn't think she was just coming with us for a trip to the states, did you?" Coulson asked casually.
"Do all superspies just love having more info than the rest of us?" was the best response I could give.
"It's one of the perks of the job," he chuckled.
In the meantime, Boris had been continuing his speech. "But as we say goodbye to Fantasma, we also greet two new heroes!"
He gestured to Mikhail. With a step forward, he began to grow. His muscles inflated, his Ivan Drago features became Smokey the Bear features. His military uniform was apparently made with easy tear away velcro or something, because it came apart everywhere. His pants stretched to match him. Soon, a big shirtless bearman stood and roared. The audience gasped in fear and awe. His fur shone in the sunlight as he posed proudly over everyone. Apparently Mikhail had a hell of a good conditioner.
"Ursa Major! A skilled warrior and esteemed soldier of our nation, now joining us to continue that fight!" Boris said proudly, Mikhail roaring, as though to punctuate the statement.
Coulson and May, meanwhile, shared a look. "Two?" Coulson asked.
From above us, she came. Surrounded in an aura like a starlit sky in the shape of a star around her body, the young woman slowly came down toward us. Dressed in a black leather armor with a yellow star in the center of her chest, her blonde hair flowing behind her. With the starlit aura around her and her eyes glowing with colorless energy, she looked like an avenging angel. Dark and powerful.
The blonde landed to a series of flashing cameras, walking up to shake Boris' hand and give a hug to a happy Fantasma, Mikhail speaking to her fondly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Darkstar!" Boris cheered, the blonde stepping forward to wave happily at the crowd.
"Oh hey, new frenemy!" Simmons chirped. When I gave her a look she explained. "Fantasma said you kept calling the Winter Guard that."
Yeah, that was probably appropriate.
"And, last but not least," Boris continued once the cheering died down. "As a gift to our brave American friends for the aid they supplied the Winter Guard, we have decided to gift them this!" he gestured to the plane behind him.
So that was their game. And apparently the crowd was loving it. Good way to look good, giving a free plane to the Americans for the 'aid provided'. Instead of, you know, some of us almost dying to try and help.
Say what you will about the Russians politicians, they are really good at public relations.
As the cheering died down, Boris and the Winter Guard walked over to us. Boris looked apologetic as he clasped hands with Coulson. "I'm sorry Coulson, but it was the only way I could convince them to let it go."
"I understand," Coulson said. He didn't sound like he meant it. Boris didn't seem to mind that. He gestured to Darkstar, who was eyeing Creel and I curiously.
"Oh, this is Laynia Petrovna."
"Hello! It is very nice to meet you all!" Laynia said in heavily accented English. She sounded like a Russian Fluttershy.
"Petrovna?" May asked.
"Like Vanguard?" I asked.
"He is my brother," Laynia said with pride. She looked at Creel in particular. "He… say, that you saved his life. Thank you."
Creel looked surprised. When he smiled, I've never seen the big lug look more pleased than at that moment. Except for when he was with Isabelle.
"Well, we had better head out," Coulson said, looking closely at Laynia. "But I think BRIDGE will want to speak with you soon."
Boris was unfazed. "Coulson. Despite what others may say, the Winter Guard is thankful to you all. We know what you risked for us. So thank you."
Coulson seemed pleased by that. "Thank you for saying so Boris… now, we've got a hell of an exit to make. Ms. Petrovna, it was good to meet you."
"And you!" Laynia said.
Huh. Pretty chirpy young woman.
Fantasma and Mikhail were saying their goodbyes when Coulson pulled me aside.
"...Mahmoud," Coulson said icily.
"Yeah, Coulson?"
"Any chance you can change the paint job on this thing?"
I grinned slowly. "Sure. Just say the word.."
"Great," Coulson looked over at Boris, who had for some reason brought everyone to the front of the plane. "Now, I really want to get Lola into this thing. But Boris is wasting time at this point. What is he doing at the front of this thing? Is there a door we… missed?"
As Coulson and I watched silently, the front split open. Coulson and I walked slowly outward until we could see what was happening. The entire nosecone of the plane rose up, spitting out a long cargo ramp. Coulson and I shared a look.
"Dude… Russia has been really weird."
"It always is," the older agent said while we watched Lola the beat up convertible get gently placed inside the plane.
With that little statement, I raised the Omnitrix. "You know what though. We Americans can go all out too."
Coulson smiled at that.
------
I got to see the footage later. While the others entered the Antonov through it's weird nose ramp, I waited outside, some cameras focusing in on me. The second everyone was secure, Coulson let me know on comms, so the cameras caught me reaching a hand up to my head to reply. Then I pushed down the Omnitrix.
"Upgrade!"
The second I had turned into that giant mass of nanotechnology, I merged with the Antonov, the sounds of surprise filling the air as I did so. As always, it looked like black liquid metal with green circuitry running through it encapsulated the entire surface of the vehicle until it was colored exactly the same color as me. I connected my body to the plane and took it over. In a matter of seconds I took control of the entire plane. Cameras flashed as the now super-advanced cargo plane turned it's engine to face the tarmac and fired up.
Hundreds of tons of steel floated upward. On the side of the plane, a massive logo appeared. The symbol of SHIELD. Not BRIDGE. SHIELD. I figured it was only appropriate.
"Peace out, Russia!" I crowed through the planes speakers. "It's been fun!"
I twisted the engines around again and blasted off towards home.
------
Author's Note:
Okay, gonna try to make this brief. As those of you on my discord may know, due to issues with money and the lack thereof, I have no internet at home, so I am not able to reply to messages and stuff. Thanks to those of you who have supported me on patreon, I've been able to take steps to fix that, but it'll take a bit longer. Until then, replies to these stories will take a bit.
That said, the next chapter of anyting with be one of my other stories, Saiyan In Brockton.
In the meantime, I hope you guys like this chapter. I especially loved writing the interaction between Fantasma and Dial, but I hope you guys liked it overall.
Let me know what you think, and I hope ya'll have a great day!
We piled into an APC together. Vanguard, Creel, Fantasma, Mikhail, Aleksei the secret dark god, and me. Fantasma fell asleep as soon as she got into the truck, her head resting on Mikhail's shoulder. I had to admit, I was feeling the mental strain myself. Mikhail looked like he'd been through the ringer. He was covered in tiny cuts and burns across his bare chest and arms. Like he'd fallen through a rosebush that was on fire.
Creel was resting on a stretcher in between us, snoring slightly. I gave him a grin. He was all right now apparently, but the fact he'd even gotten to a state of being damaged had scared the shit out of me.
As the car rattled along, I looked up at Vanguard, who still looked miffed. "Hey, I told you man. NRG just sounds like that, I can't help it."
"You turned into a literal walking atomic reactor and immediately gained a ridiculous Russian accent?" he asked me with more than a hint of annoyance.
"Look, NRG is basically the closest equivalent to a Space Russian," I rubbed the back of my neck. "I mean, that is just how the Omnitrix translates him to Earth languages. That's all. I mean, if I was going to do a mocking accent, why would I do it in the middle of a battle?"
He sighed. "Boy, I understand that logically. But you should know that this isn't a logical emotion. It will take me time to get over how annoying this is."
"Fair enough," I nodded toward his chest. Some bandages had been placed under his red suit, some seepage of blood going through the white gauze. "You okay?"
He looked down at his wounds before nodding. "Yes. Seems you've also taken quite the hit," he nodded toward my armor, which, while technically intact, still had some scars. I nodded.
"Yeah, we've all had our beating. But hey. We won."
"Not yet," Mikhail said, scowling. "Not until we find Kragoff again."
Vanguard nodded while Aleksei adjusted his glasses nervously. Which just drew my attention to the small man.
"So, you," I said with a raised eyebrow. "You what, host Chernobog?"
"Uh, yes," Aleksei coughed. "But, um, that is confidential information." Mikhail grumbled something about "that horned Debil," the last word being a pretty common Russian insult.
"I'll sign the waiver later," I joked. "But why is it confidential?"
"If no one knows Aleksei exists, we have an operative that can stand in a crowd, as unassuming as can be, only to suddenly become a god," Vanguard explained. "And if no one knows Chernobog has a host, why would they look for one?"
And that was terrifying to think about. Chernobog, even against cloned apes running on computer brains, had been horrifying. Him suddenly transforming in a crowd, or god forbid being taken hostage. That would scare the shit out of anyone. Dude was a funny asshole. He was also sadistic as shit.
Aleksei winced. "Well, I wouldn't put it like that. I'm really not suited for all this violence."
I remembered the moment when Chernobog had licked a servitor gorilla's cheek before biting into it like an apple. Yeah, people might find that hard to believe. I leaned my head back in my seat and sighed. Things got quiet after that, all of us just resting. It had been one hell of a past few hours after all.
The APC bounced and jostled on it's way to the nearest military base, Creel snoring peacefully the whole way.
------
When we got to the base, Boris was there waiting for us. We didn't have much time to say hi. The smiling politician pulled us through a crowd of watching soldiers and personnel into the main base. Fantasma was woken up and followed along while yawning a bit, and Creel was sent to the infirmary on the base.
Coulson, Skye, May, Fitz-Simmons, Kraven, and Galina were all waiting for us.
A tight knot in my chest released the second I saw them. Skye and Fitz-Simmons gave me relieved smiles, rushing toward me. We wrapped each other in a hug, the four of us coming together.
Fantasma hugged Galina, who was smiling like an older sibling trying to seem cool, Kraven sharing a small nod toward the others.
"I have to go check on Creel," Simmons said once we'd all released our hugs, giving me another one. I chuckled as I wrapped my arms around her. "It's so good to have you back!"
"I wasn't gone that long, but I appreciate it," I said with a grin.
She gave me a happy look, then rushed toward the infirmary.
"I'm glad you're all alright," I said with a look around. "Man, I cannot wait to get home."
"It'll just be a day or so," Boris noted. He strolled over to join us. "I must admit, you all went above and beyond what would have been expected."
"That's what we do in BRIDGE," Coulson said.
"Save the world and look good doing it?" I asked.
"That's right," Skye smirked.
Boris chuckled good-naturedly.
"Well, we do have some issues to deal with," Coulson scowled. "Kragoff escaped. And he's enhanced. Has the power to go through objects and people. Like Ghost, but with less problems."
"Oh come on, seriously?" I grumbled. "He already had a monkey army. Intangibility is just cheating!"
"You're one to talk," Fitz pointed at the Omnitrix. "Don't you have over a dozen aliens with powers in that thing?"
"Yeah, but only one at a time," I grumbled again.
"Regardless, he's escaped," Boris said angrily. "And we will track him, and whoever has been helping him, down. He threatened the people of Russia with his foolishness. He is now our priority."
"Yay, more bad guys," I grumbled for the third time. I was hungry, sue me for being grumpy. And seriously, we had a whole bevy of enemies at this point. I was starting to feel real eager to start chipping that list down.
"By the way, can I ask about him," Coulson pointed at Aleksei.
Boris scowled. "Well-"
"He's Cherny's host," I said immediately.
"Cherny?" Half the room said incredulously.
"Yeah, Chernobog," I said idly. "By the way, how did that happen?"
Aleksei opened his mouth, then closed it. Then he sighed. "Yeah, that one is a long story."
"And your powers?" Coulson asked Mikhail.
Mikhail blinked. "That… is also a long story."
"And what the hell happened to your briefcase?" Kraven asked Boris. We all looked down at the massive dent that was now in the side of Boris' metal briefcase.
Boris laughed good naturedly. "Well, as my friends have noted, that is a long story!"
"Well hell, I have an idea for that," I said, thinking of Tony. Specifically, of a story he'd told me. "After Creel is checked out, you guys want to go somewhere together? Someplace with good food."
"...I know a place?" Mikhail offered.
------
A couple of hours later, we all piled into an APC and headed out, Boris convincing the commanders on base to look the other way.
I can't say why we all left. But my personal reason was simple. Because screw it. I'd had a long battle, filled with an insane number of twists and turns, I was hungry, and I wanted to have some fun. So, once Creel was cleared, I left with the others.
With a little drive out to certain bar called the Golden Grizzly, going through the snow until we reached the large wooden structure, we finally had a chance to relax again. Moments later, we were all sitting around a big wooden table covered in scratches and dents from years of rough treatment from drunk Russians, one of the top five types of drunks in the world.
"Za Zdarovje!" We tapped drinks together with a riotous cheer, some of the soldiers who had already been at the bar joining us. They broke off respectfully, leaving just our core group to stay behind. Staring from my left were Creel, Skye, Coulson, May, Fitz, Simmons, Kraven, Aleksei, Galina, Vanguard, Boris, Mikhail, Fantasma, then me.
"Okay," Coulson said as soon as it was clear of people that weren't us. "We've got a few hours. Let's talk about confidential stuff."
Mikhail gave Fantasma a look. The Violet Witch raised a hand and clenched it. A mandala sprouted around the large table, surrounding us entirely, then shattered. The instant it did, all sound beyond that mandala's borders stopped reaching us. I leaned my head back until I could hear the bar again. Then forward. Damn. She'd made a soundproof bubble around us! Awesome.
"Oh, that is so cool," I said in awe. Fantasma flashed me a bright smile.
I patted Creel on the back next to me, my friend looking a hell of a lot better than he used to be. Creel gave me a grin, chugging his drink while ignoring Simmons glare. Apparently they'd had a brief argument about the merits of alcohol while recovering. He'd decided to drink a light beer instead, which in Russia meant very little.
"Okay, so we will talk now," Mikhail nodded. "Where do we begin?"
To that, we all looked over at Aleksei. The man sighed.
"Yes… well, I suppose I am the most obvious one to start with."
"Hell yes," Creel, Skye, and I said in unison.
He adjusted his glasses again, then leaned over the table. "Very well… Months ago, Rio had it's… what has BRIDGE called it?"
"Time Quake," Coulson said.
"Really?" Aleksei cocked his head, then shrugged. "Very well. As Chernobog tells it, the 'Time Quake' had released him. He'd been left in some other dimension, locked away. But then the Time Quake happened. And when he awoke, he went somewhere familiar to him."
I narrowed my eyes. The Time Quake. Looks like it had more repercussions than I had expected. But then, how could it not?
"So… I was a uh, a bartender in my village," I remembered Chernobog mixing himself a drink with some skill. "I worked for an old friend of mine, helping him with the accounts and everything else. One night I was walking home and… well, there were some old ruins, near the village. The kind of place the kids would go to hang out in, smoke, drink, scare each other with old stories. That night I… when the smoke entered my lungs, I didn't think anything of it. Then the voice started talking to me. Animals in the woods, small ones at first, then bigger ones like deer. Some people started showing up at our doctor saying they were very tired. And I started to feel better."
"Better," May asked.
"...I was dying. Lung cancer," Aleksei smiled bitterly. "The children in the village weren't the only ones smoking. But as time went on, I started to feel invigorated. Stronger than I was as a young man even. Then, Chernobog spoke to me."
"And you didn't decide the dark voice in your head absorbing people's life force might need to be kicked out?" I asked curiously.
"He wasn't hurting anyone," Alesei protested. "No one was dying, or even getting harmed! He… he offered me a deal. I-If I let him stay… he would cure me. Instead of the extra year that I had been given, I could live forever. I just had to give up half of my time. Let him 'run the show'."
May narrowed her eyes. "Run the show?"
"It's not that bad. I just let him use my body for a long time, leaving me to feel like I've been asleep for longer than usual, and then he gives it back whenever I like," Aleksei looked around. "H-He's been good. When the government offered him things in return for him channeling his powers to help, he agreed."
"...In return for what?" Coulson asked.
Vanguard narrowed his eyes. Mikhail coughed uncomfortably. Kraven looked unmoved, while Galina and Fantasma shared a look of annoyance.
"There are… people, in the prison system," Aleksei said uncomfortably. "Pedophiles, sex offenders, serial killers, etc. People who wouldn't be missed. And then, the one thing he demanded most heavily… an internet connection, and free access to every streaming site he wants."
If we'd lived in an anime, I would have face faulted.
"Food and internet," Vanguard said sarcastically. The various Winter Guard members chuckled, clearly in on a joke the rest of us weren't. "I don't approve of Chernobog… though recent events make me less inclined to let my dislike of my coworkers affect my job," his eyes flickered to my left. "And beyond that, he is incredibly useful as a warrior."
Coulson shook his head, the older man taking a swig of his drink. "Hard to argue that. But using a dark life force eating god to punish prisoners… that's a slippery slope. The UN is going to have some thoughts on that, especially in terms of ethicality."
"He only eats half! And it's entirely painless," Aleksei said.
I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one to remember the image of screaming monkey souls, or the feel of Chernobog's laugh tugging on our souls.
"When he choose for it to be painless, it is," Aleksei explained further.
"...so when he does that fucking laugh, that uncomfortable feeling of him tugging on our soul... is him fucking with us?" I asked.
"..." Aleksei chugged his drink.
"What an asshole," Creel and I said in unison.
"I-I can't really argue against that," Aleksei coughed.
After a moment of awkward silence Mikhail talked. "As for me, my story is far more simple. Well, at least, the beginning of it, is. As a young man I… well, I was involved in some clandestine operations. I found out around my teens during that time that I was able to… change. To become powerful. And I was used to fight the battles of those who my handlers deemed threats to us. Until I ended up destroying them," he smiled. And I suddenly realized who he was. Or at least, where he had come from. What the 'clandestine' operations he'd been doing had been.
Mikhail looked me in the eyes. I didn't respond. But I noted it as he continued to speak.
"As far as our scientists can tell from studying my genetics, I was born with an aberrant gene, one that has allowed me to change my form naturally. Something that we haven't found in others. I may be unique, or one of many. I'm not sure.
I thought about that. Aberrant gene. That sounded like-
Then Boris was talking, distracting me from whatever I had been thinking. "I believe it is my turn, yes?" he lifted up his metal briefcase, showing off the big dent in the side. "During the battle on the field, I gave Vanguard control of our forces on the ground. A move that I felt was best, as he is not only a skilled strategist and commander, but is also the one who had the most experience with the enemy at the time. Some of those politicians who have some pull over the Winter Guard protested, so I had to… persuade them."
It was only then that I realized that Boris kind of reminded me of Sammy. Overweight. But with big damn arms and knuckles covered in a few scars. His nose was also slightly bent from a former break. Apparently he was more of a former badass than I would have expected.
"Can't you get in trouble?" May asked, the super spy sipping at some very expensive alcohol.
"If I do, it'll just mean I have to buy another briefcase," he chuckled. "I have long since gained some clout, Miss May. I have worked hard for my government. So I am allowed some leeway in how much damage I can do to people, especially when they're being idiots."
"Fair enough," Coulson sighed, relaxing back in his seat. "Well, I suppose that's everything. Unless everyone else has a deep dark secret they want to reveal."
"Not in this chapter," I joked. "But hey, we're here. Let's have some fun!"
"Fun," Mikhail scoffed. "You came to a Russian bar, and ordered that? How can you have fun if you won't drink?"
I blinked down at my mug of kompot, a fruity non-alcoholic slavic drink the bartender had recommended, then smirked. "Hey, you haven't seen the kinds of parties I've been at. I throw a hell of a food fight."
------
Dr. Leopold Fitz
Fitz was not exactly the partying type. Or at the least, he wasn't the type to party the way this current crowd did. Skye, Mahmoud, Creel, Fantasma, and Mikhail were dancing together. Very badly, but the group was laughing as Fantasma and Mikhail tried their best to teach the Americans how to dance. Simmons and Kraven, surprisingly, were in a corner talking. Well, Simmons was. For some reason, Kraven seemed very fond of her. Simmons was showing him what looked like a series of graphs, and the muscular hunter was positively fascinated by what she was saying. Huh. What an odd couple.
Fitz, on the other hand, was sitting across from Galina and sharing some ideas.
"Okay, here," Fitz did a final edit to the schematic he'd been working on, then passed it over to her. "I can't share my actual notes, since those are classified, but this might be a good way for you to get your armor to be more compact."
"I'm not so sure," Galina scowled down at the schematic. "The problem is the material I use. Carborundum is good for running electricity through, it's part of the armor is so effective, but it's not very flexible."
"It doesn't have to be!" Fitz placed his drink down. "You've heard of graphene? Some of the work they've been doing on it?"
Galina nodded slowly.
"Well, it is one of the most conductive materials in existence. But it also has bloody amazing tactile strength! You can layer sheets of it wherever Carborundum might not allow for flexibility, use that to make lighter armor without sacrificing durability or conductivity. All you need to do is create a monolayer of carbon atoms to make the sheets, and you can do that by…"
Fitz stopped to think. Was it a good idea to try and help a technical enemy with this stuff… Well, she was going to hunt down Kragoff. Plus, if he helped her, that meant he could also make his own weapons against her. Just in case?
He leaned over. "Okay, so this is what my own research has shown…"
------
Dr. Jemma Simmons
Simmons watched as Kraven flipped through a series of videos on his tablet. "Okay, look here," the gruff man showed the tablet to her again. "I filmed this as a part of my show years back. I was hunting Black Mamba near a village, trying to get it before it killed anyone."
"You didn't hurt it, did you?" Simmons asked worried.
Kraven smiled. "No. While I do hunt, I avoid killing endangered species. I kill for food and honor. Not to sate some sort of bloodlust. But that is not the point," he pointed at the video. "There were several things I found disturbing about the hunt. Things that I found odd. The patterns of the herds, the predators. I believed at the time that it may have had to do with certain practices of the village."
"And you want to know what caused it?" Simmons asked.
"I want to see if you can discover the reason," Kraven gave her a slightly odd smirk. "You've shown some promise. I want to see how much skill you have in understand the heart of animals."
"You're testing me?" Simmons said, trying not to sound too eager. How exciting! It had been years since she'd had a good test!
Kraven nodded. "I rarely take students. But you interest me. Even if you don't wish to hunt, I can see some value in you learning some of my skills."
Simmons thought about that. In truth, she did have a background on the sort of things Kraven focused on. Despite what most thought, hunters and bioscientists often depended on one another to do their work more efficiently. In fact, whenever forests or jungles encountered some sort of issue, hunters were often the first to let scientists know. It wasn't a perfect relationship, but there was one worth pursuing.
And Kraven was a VERY good hunter.
"Well, give me a moment," Simmons watched the video, biting her lip thoughtfully. So the animals in the village were reacting some outside stimuli? Nine times out of ten, that tended to be man made, but there were some natural things that could have similar effects. The best indicator was what animals were being effected. Black Mamba… Hmm.
Kraven watched quietly as Simmons excitedly began to work.
------
Phil Coulson/Leader of Team SHIELD
"So your plane was destroyed," Boris said.
Coulson nodded sadly. He had liked the Bus. Loved it. That plane had been beautiful. Old, sure, but with all it's upgrades it had been one hell of a plane. And now she was gone.
May gave Coulson a sympathetic look (well, sympathetic for her, anyways) before turning to Boris. "And now we will need a ride back to the states. If need be, BRIDGE will fly over a quinjet, but we thought we might ask you."
"Not a problem," Boris chuckled. "After you helped stop a nuclear weapon and an army from killing our citizens, it would be rather crass of me not to aid you, would it not?"
"Thank you," Coulson said, trying not to sound to bitter about losing his sweet ride. "And Lola?"
"We've left orders to leave her in a safe location," Boris explained. "While usually she would be studied, we already have some models similar to her in storage, so she will be untouched and ready for you to take her to the states."
"I appreciate that," Coulson then looked over at the group dancing to the loud music. "And what about…"
"They already know," Boris sighed. "We'd long since planned this. But Kragoff ended up accelerating those plans. As I'm sure you can imagine. But we've been prepared. Nikolai's sister is ready as well. And this is most beneficial for us all… Do the Avengers know?"
"Everyone who wasn't here. So, Dial and Creel don't know," Coulson explained.
"Why not?" Boris asked.
"Because we were busy with other things," May said. "Dial and Creel are big boys, they'll understand why we kept it a secret."
"And I don't think they'll mind too much," Coulson noted. He was watching those dancing. May and Boris turned to look as well.
Fantasma was helping Creel dance, laughing as he grumpily tried to follow her. Mikhail was having better luck with Dial, Skye laughing at the two as Dial blushed. They seemed to be having fun. Soon they switched, Fantasma and Mikhail dancing together. There was a brief moment of warmth there. When Fantasma danced with Mikhail there was a closeness between. Nothing romantic. More like a proud father having a good time with his youngest daughter.
Skye looked over at Coulson and noticed him watching. She gave him a smile, and Coulson felt his lips turn up in return.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
"Okay, here you go," Aleksei passed me a drink, surprising me. I'd taken a break by sitting on my own, watching everyone have a good time. Of all people to join me at the table, Aleksei had been just above-
"May I?" Vanguard, the bottom of the list for people I'd expected, joined Aleksei, the pair sitting down with me.
"Uh, sure?" I said hesitantly. Aleksei and Vanguard sat across from me. Vanguard looked a lot better, and had long since dropped his mask to reveal his rugged features (Getting really tired of being the only non-supermodel superhero). Aleksei similarly looked happy. I looked down at the drink he'd handed me.
"Don't worry, it's more kompot, an apple one this time," Aleksei said with a smile.
"Oh. Well, thanks," I hesitantly looked between them. "So. We've had a hell of a mission. I finally have a story that beats Tony's at least."
"It's certainly is not what I expected," Vanguard said gruffly. "I had assumed our missions would be more… realistic."
"Welcome to the world of superheroism," I said with a shrug. "It just gets crazier from here. Just wait until more aliens drop out of the sky."
He didn't seem to know how to take that.
"How about you?" I asked Aleksei. "You've got Chernobog inside you, he's probably seen crazier."
Aleksei frowned thoughtfully. "A few. But he never sees them as 'crazy'. In fact, pretty much every moment about the past few days has been par for the course for him."
"Makes sense he'd have a higher threshold I guess," I sipped at my drink.
Truthfully, while that whole mess had gotten a little nuts, the servitors hadn't been quite on the level of Rio. Which admittedly was tough to top.
"Enough men died during this mission," Vanguard said softly, looking over at the soldiers in the room around us. "I don't want things to be any crazier."
Fair enough. Crazy for superheroes usually meant death for everyone in our immediate vicinity if we didn't move fast enough.
"...I had to deal with that kind of thing a few times," I said sadly. "I mean, I try my best. But," the images of corpses in Rio, of body bags in the Triskelion, filled my mind. "Can't save everyone."
Goddamn, what a fucking sad thing to say. 'Can't save everyone'. Like that solved anything. Yay for damned platitudes.
I couldn't help my disgust at my own words. Vanguard apparently noticed. He raised his drink. "To those who were lost."
Aleksei raised his own drink. "And to those we saved?"
I looked between them. Then I raised my glass and struggled to think of what to add. "And uh… to the battles to come? The people we'll work to save?"
"I'll drink to that," Vanguard clinked his glass with ours and we all took a swig.
------
"Hahahaha!" Fantasma, smiling happily, dropped into the seat in front of me. She was clearly a little drunk.
"Heya, magic girl," I raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"
"Y-" she hiccuped loudly. "Yes. I'm all right. One moment," she waved her hand slowly, clearly using all the focus she could muster. Then she clapped. Some purple sparks appeared before her head and she sighed in relief.
"...Did you just… cure your drunkenness?" I asked.
"Not quite," she said, sounding more focused. "I simply staved it off. I'll still need to deal with the results of a hangover."
"How many spells do you know, anyways?" I asked curiously.
She frowned thoughtfully, resting her head in her hand. "I am not sure. My magic is very instinctual. I have to think about it, sometimes, but I often just need to have the focus and willpower to do the spell. I have to practice of course. I can't just make a new spell out of thin air, and I've spent hours perfecting them. But it's like I'm forcing myself to remember them, rather than making new ones."
"Sounds similar to my watch," I noted. I tapped the Omnitrix. "I uh, I've gotten pretty good with the watch. And I've got sort of a cheat code on how to use them," if you could call dozens of episodes of a kickass cartoon a 'cheat code'. "But I still need to get used to them. Figure things out and what-not."
Fantasma nodded slowly. Then she quirked her head to the side and looked closer at me. "You never seem… thrown when I talk about magic," when I looked confused she continued. "Even now, I still have the researchers calling what I do 'quantum displacement' something or other. Mikhail thinks I'm like him. Vanguard thinks I got my powers from radiation. Galina thought I was cheating with machines," she hesitated before continuing. "Chernobog was the first person to take what I do at face value. Why do you believe me as well? None of your friends do."
Well. Shoot. How was I going to explain… oh right, this basically had its own explanation.
"Last year, I wouldn't have believed how my life would go. Then I woke up in a world where a group of superhumans fought off aliens, my Omnitrix let me turn into those aliens, and now I fight monsters and villains for the fate of the Earth," I shrugged. "Magic being real… that's not a surprise. That's another folder to be added to my file cabinet of super awesome but weird information."
She smiled. "I'm super awesome."
"Super awesome," I said with a grin.
Fantasma laughed, her eyes glittering before she gave me a soft smile. "Thank you, Mahmoud."
"You're welcome," I got up from my seat and held a hand out. "So. I've got a flight in the morning. Till then. Want to dance? As you know, I could use some practice."
She nodded and placed a hand in mine, rising gracefully, a little smirk on her face as her eyes continued to glitter happily. "I would love that."
------
May 13, 2014
We hung out for a while before the Winter Guard had to be pulled to their duties. We were flown back to Moscow in a helicopter, where our newest frenemies got pulled into a series of PR bonanzas. I got to watch it from the Winter Guard base with the others, watching as Vanguard led the rest of his team for a series of photo ops and short interviews. They downplayed the role of the 'Americans' in the whole thing of course, so we didn't get any awards, but I wasn't too offended by that.
I took a nap at some point. Coulson woke me up from the bunks we'd borrowed on the base to start the trip back to the states a few hours later. Fitz-Simmons went to say goodbye to Galina, who had apparently spent the night designing things instead of sleeping. I found myself saying goodbye to someone who surprised the hell out of me.
"Now look," Chernobog placed a massive hand on my shoulder. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way. But I'm going to miss you. When you turned into NRG, I-I just," he shuddered. "My stomach was never in such turmoil!"
"Why is every conversation with you an awkward horror movie?" I asked, as uncomfortable as possible without literally crawling out of my own skin.
"Can you change into him? Just one more time?" the black skinned monster smiled down at me in what he probably thought was a comforting way. "Just so I can taste that… power."
"Okay, first," I pushed his hand off me. "Please stop talking in that… black speech you do. Second, I am going home now."
Chernobog sighed sadly. "Well. I suppose I'll have to visit you instead," he chuckled, my heart clenching painfully as he did. "It's too bad. But you should be proud, Mahmoud Schahed. You are now first on my list of people to visit in the United States. Just above the Bald Mountains and Disneyland."
I walked away as fast as possible as he laughed behind me. Yep. Not gonna miss that guy. And I was damn tempted to destroy the slip of paper he'd given me with his email address on it.
I went as fast as I could, headed to a location I'd found last night. I had sort of a… thing, that I'd been doing lately. And if I had the chance to keep it going, might as well extend it in a different direction.
I walked into the more public section of the base. While it wasn't exactly a tourist trap, it was made to accept those deemed safe by the government. And considering the skill they had with public relations, the Russian government had ironically embraced one of the best parts of capitalism.
And so I found myself in the gift shop, grabbing as many Winter Guard shirts of different types as I could.
As I was comparing a chibi Chernobog shirt and a heroic Vanguard one, Creel walked into the gift shop as well, quirking an eyebrow at me. "Of course you're grabbing more nerd gear."
"I have a style now man, I have to contribute to it," I said with a shrug. "Granted, it's mostly Tony's fault, but it's still my style now," I looked up at him. "How are you man? You scared the shit out of me."
Creel reached for the shirts I was looking at on the shelf, flipping through them. He was clearly not really seeing the clothes though. He was looking through the smalls, or the Russian equivalent anyway. The women's smalls at that.
"I'm all right," he said at last.
"Creel-"
"I said I'm all right," he looked at me with a scowl. "I got hit hard, I'll admit it. But I've been knocked down. And I've always gotten up again."
"Yeah, you have man," I scowled back at him. "I'm your friend, dude. I was worried about you. Sorry, damn."
Creel gave me a glare. Then he looked back at the shirts and finally realized what he was doing when he picked up a shirt that was clearly designed to reflect Fantasma's outfit. He stared at it, eyes wide. "Uh…" he said in confusion. Then my phone flashed.
When he turned my way I was chuckling as I sent the photo off. "Yeah, you'd look good in that. Hope Izzy agrees."
"You little-!" I ducked under Creel's outstretched arm, still laughing. Creel grumbled as he tossed the shirt back on the shelf. He walked over to another bunch of shirts. "Yeah. It sucked."
"I guessed."
"But I'll get over it. I'll figure out someway to get used to it, or maybe a way to cool down fast when I need to. I'll get stronger," he looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "Thanks though. For worrying, man."
I gave him a manly punch to the shoulder, then grabbed my manly chibi Winter Guard shirt and went to purchase a few extras.
------
"...What is this?" Coulson asked later. He was staring at the same thing we were. A plane. A big ass plane that actually put the currently destroyed Bus to shame in size. This thing was just stupid huge. Bright white with a blue stripe, it stood on the tarmac of the Russian airport like a dragon come to life, our group staring at it with wide eyes.
"This, is one Antonov An-124 Ruslan," Boris said proudly. He waved at it. "One of the largest and most powerful planes in the world! A marvel of engineering, a true testament to the craft."
"...There are cameras again," I noted, looking around at the media. There was a huge audience as well. Which kinda made sense, considering what an important goodbye this was. They weren't taking much more than some token photos, but the fact they were there was annoying. There was also a big stand nearby with a podium that had dozens of microphones on it. "I don't think we're going to like where this is headed."
Skye nodded next to me. "I can hack the cameras, maybe? Unless their tech is too old."
"I can always shoot them," May sounded a lot more ready to do that than I would have expected. Guess even the most stoic person had her limits.
Creel and Fitz-Simmons seemed to share our thoughts on the matter.
"Yep, really not going to like this," I decided.
"You won't," a female voice said. We turned to see Fantasma and Mikhail walking up to us. Mikhail was back in his military gear. Fantasma, on the other hand, surprised me by coming up with a blue blouse and blue jeans, carrying a large bag over her shoulder. I'd gotten used to her purple outfit and tall boots.
"Hey, Fantasma, Mikhail," Coulson said politely.
"Hey," I said with a small smile. "Kind of expected you in your superhero costume."
"I've been told I tend to distract in that uniform," she said with a smirk.
"Yeah you do," Skye said huskily. She blinked when we turned to look at her. "What? She's hot, I can accept that."
Fantasma opened and closed her mouth while blushing heavily, though she looked amused as well.
"Okay, Boris," Coulson turned to look at the badass politician. "You're going to pull another publicity stunt. Just go for it."
Boris had the good grace to look a little embarrassed. Politics. What are ya going to do?
...I got the Omnitrix ready.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Boris stepped forward to stand on the red stand, walking up to the podium, Fantasma and Mikhail giving us a look before walking up to us, his voice projected through the speakers. "Our dear Fantasma, hero of the Winter Guard, will now be leaving us!"
There were some sad calls out, several members of the media talking into their mics. I looked over at Fantasma. She was smiling sadly, waving at the audience of people.
"She will be joining the Avengers, representing the glory of Russia across the world! Fighting alongside the heroes of the world to defend our great nation overseas!"
Creel and I looked over at Coulson in shock. Skye and Fitz-Simmons did the same. Coulson looked over at us blithely, then smirked. May chuckled.
"What? You didn't think she was just coming with us for a trip to the states, did you?" Coulson asked casually.
"Do all superspies just love having more info than the rest of us?" was the best response I could give.
"It's one of the perks of the job," he chuckled.
In the meantime, Boris had been continuing his speech. "But as we say goodbye to Fantasma, we also greet two new heroes!"
He gestured to Mikhail. With a step forward, he began to grow. His muscles inflated, his Ivan Drago features became Smokey the Bear features. His military uniform was apparently made with easy tear away velcro or something, because it came apart everywhere. His pants stretched to match him. Soon, a big shirtless bearman stood and roared. The audience gasped in fear and awe. His fur shone in the sunlight as he posed proudly over everyone. Apparently Mikhail had a hell of a good conditioner.
"Ursa Major! A skilled warrior and esteemed soldier of our nation, now joining us to continue that fight!" Boris said proudly, Mikhail roaring, as though to punctuate the statement.
Coulson and May, meanwhile, shared a look. "Two?" Coulson asked.
From above us, she came. Surrounded in an aura like a starlit sky in the shape of a star around her body, the young woman slowly came down toward us. Dressed in a black leather armor with a yellow star in the center of her chest, her blonde hair flowing behind her. With the starlit aura around her and her eyes glowing with colorless energy, she looked like an avenging angel. Dark and powerful.
The blonde landed to a series of flashing cameras, walking up to shake Boris' hand and give a hug to a happy Fantasma, Mikhail speaking to her fondly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Darkstar!" Boris cheered, the blonde stepping forward to wave happily at the crowd.
"Oh hey, new frenemy!" Simmons chirped. When I gave her a look she explained. "Fantasma said you kept calling the Winter Guard that."
Yeah, that was probably appropriate.
"And, last but not least," Boris continued once the cheering died down. "As a gift to our brave American friends for the aid they supplied the Winter Guard, we have decided to gift them this!" he gestured to the plane behind him.
So that was their game. And apparently the crowd was loving it. Good way to look good, giving a free plane to the Americans for the 'aid provided'. Instead of, you know, some of us almost dying to try and help.
Say what you will about the Russians politicians, they are really good at public relations.
As the cheering died down, Boris and the Winter Guard walked over to us. Boris looked apologetic as he clasped hands with Coulson. "I'm sorry Coulson, but it was the only way I could convince them to let it go."
"I understand," Coulson said. He didn't sound like he meant it. Boris didn't seem to mind that. He gestured to Darkstar, who was eyeing Creel and I curiously.
"Oh, this is Laynia Petrovna."
"Hello! It is very nice to meet you all!" Laynia said in heavily accented English. She sounded like a Russian Fluttershy.
"Petrovna?" May asked.
"Like Vanguard?" I asked.
"He is my brother," Laynia said with pride. She looked at Creel in particular. "He… say, that you saved his life. Thank you."
Creel looked surprised. When he smiled, I've never seen the big lug look more pleased than at that moment. Except for when he was with Isabelle.
"Well, we had better head out," Coulson said, looking closely at Laynia. "But I think BRIDGE will want to speak with you soon."
Boris was unfazed. "Coulson. Despite what others may say, the Winter Guard is thankful to you all. We know what you risked for us. So thank you."
Coulson seemed pleased by that. "Thank you for saying so Boris… now, we've got a hell of an exit to make. Ms. Petrovna, it was good to meet you."
"And you!" Laynia said.
Huh. Pretty chirpy young woman.
Fantasma and Mikhail were saying their goodbyes when Coulson pulled me aside.
"...Mahmoud," Coulson said icily.
"Yeah, Coulson?"
"Any chance you can change the paint job on this thing?"
I grinned slowly. "Sure. Just say the word.."
"Great," Coulson looked over at Boris, who had for some reason brought everyone to the front of the plane. "Now, I really want to get Lola into this thing. But Boris is wasting time at this point. What is he doing at the front of this thing? Is there a door we… missed?"
As Coulson and I watched silently, the front split open. Coulson and I walked slowly outward until we could see what was happening. The entire nosecone of the plane rose up, spitting out a long cargo ramp. Coulson and I shared a look.
"Dude… Russia has been really weird."
"It always is," the older agent said while we watched Lola the beat up convertible get gently placed inside the plane.
With that little statement, I raised the Omnitrix. "You know what though. We Americans can go all out too."
Coulson smiled at that.
------
I got to see the footage later. While the others entered the Antonov through it's weird nose ramp, I waited outside, some cameras focusing in on me. The second everyone was secure, Coulson let me know on comms, so the cameras caught me reaching a hand up to my head to reply. Then I pushed down the Omnitrix.
"Upgrade!"
The second I had turned into that giant mass of nanotechnology, I merged with the Antonov, the sounds of surprise filling the air as I did so. As always, it looked like black liquid metal with green circuitry running through it encapsulated the entire surface of the vehicle until it was colored exactly the same color as me. I connected my body to the plane and took it over. In a matter of seconds I took control of the entire plane. Cameras flashed as the now super-advanced cargo plane turned it's engine to face the tarmac and fired up.
Hundreds of tons of steel floated upward. On the side of the plane, a massive logo appeared. The symbol of SHIELD. Not BRIDGE. SHIELD. I figured it was only appropriate.
"Peace out, Russia!" I crowed through the planes speakers. "It's been fun!"
I twisted the engines around again and blasted off towards home.
------
Author's Note:
Okay, gonna try to make this brief. As those of you on my discord may know, due to issues with money and the lack thereof, I have no internet at home, so I am not able to reply to messages and stuff. Thanks to those of you who have supported me on patreon, I've been able to take steps to fix that, but it'll take a bit longer. Until then, replies to these stories will take a bit.
That said, the next chapter of anyting with be one of my other stories, Saiyan In Brockton.
In the meantime, I hope you guys like this chapter. I especially loved writing the interaction between Fantasma and Dial, but I hope you guys liked it overall.
Let me know what you think, and I hope ya'll have a great day!
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Akatsunami
The Bonetatoist
- Location
- Brazil
Dial coopted Russia's statement and made it his own.
Oh you gave us your plane right? How about I make it mine on live television in like thirty seconds .
Oh you gave us your plane right? How about I make it mine on live television in like thirty seconds .
robopanda
My avatar is the original Avatar!
- Location
- The Northern Air Temple
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Are they surprised that a plane can do that in general, or that the Russians have a plane that can do that? If it's the first, I don't know why they're surprised, since the C-5 Galaxy, which has been used by the US Air Force since 1969, can do that.
Cover Art
Cover Art was commissioned with the help of a fan named KingsFun! And it looks AMAZING
It was done by the artist emmshin on DeviantArt . And no, I don't know why Dial looks like he can box Thanos without transforming through sheer buff muscle. Emmshin just drew him that way. Guess I have a new workout goal?
It was done by the artist emmshin on DeviantArt . And no, I don't know why Dial looks like he can box Thanos without transforming through sheer buff muscle. Emmshin just drew him that way. Guess I have a new workout goal?
- Location
- Argentina
Probably he is in his Asgardian form and the armor was included due to bullshit Asgardian science?
- Location
- Home
He needs a theme song nowCover Art was commissioned with the help of a fan named KingsFun! And it looks AMAZING
It was done by the artist emmshin on DeviantArt . And no, I don't know why Dial looks like he can box Thanos without transforming through sheer buff muscle. Emmshin just drew him that way. Guess I have a new workout goal?
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
He just makes the Armor shape itself like that so he *looks* buff.
I'm working on it. I'd like a hip hip or rock style one, maybe a combo of the two. I'll figure it out.
I'm pretty sure I haven't written Dial as being that... Vain, I guess would be the word?
That, or the armor just does that by default due to Tony having been involved in some of it's programming, and nobody really complains because it makes everyone look more badass?
78: Interlude
Ivan Kragoff
Ivan watched from his secondary base on a small tv as his decayed nation celebrated the efforts of their new circus clowns, the Winter Guard. The old communist clenched at the arms of his chair, scowling angrily at the tiny screen before him, the tv illuminating his face in blue. The damned fools even rewarded the Americans with a plane!
But that was Ivan's fault. He had failed. He had underestimated them all. Not just the Winter Guard, with their false god and witch. He had underestimated BRIDGE.
And Dial. Dial, who had devoured a NUCLEAR BOMB. Such power in that watch. Ivan had paid the Avenger little mind at first, believing him to be nothing but brute force in battle. But enough brute force had overwhelmed his forces.
Of course, the BRIDGE members had managed to hack his superior technology, destroying his wonderful super-apes. Ivan needed to be more prepared. Even with all the enhancements he'd made to the apes, all the deals he made with HYDRA… with that new American organization, to test their technology in combat. He'd made deals, compromised where he wouldn't have otherwise, all out of his impatience. And now, here he was. A failure!
The tv was suddenly broken. Ivan blinked at the culprit. Large black knuckles had slammed down on the Soviet era technology, shattering it apart while Ivan had been slowly stewing. For a moment, he wanted to shout. Then he sighed.
"Miklho. I understand you're upset on my behalf, but the tv was not the issue."
From the shadows, a gorilla stepped forward. A gorilla that was untouched by cybernetics, and unlike the 'Miklho' that Chernobog had fought, this gorilla was normal sized. But he carried himself… differently. More intelligently. More confidently.
"Ohoh," Miklho walked up, shaking his head. His hands flicker between different signs for a few moments, then shrugged.
"Yes… I suppose I have been rather foolish old friend," Ivan sighed.
The gorilla was joined by an orangutan and baboon. Same as Miklho, they looked normal. Same as him, they carried themselves with intelligence. They swung down from the rafters to land before Ivan, eyes filled with concern.
"I rushed things," Ivan said forlornly. "I compromised my morals, forced myself to work with monsters. To create rush jobs. And now? My enemies are celebrated by the country I love…" Ivan swallowed. Tears fell down from his eyes before he could stop them. The apes looked at each other, worried looks on their faces. Mikhlo sighed, nudging at the baboon, Igor. Igor rolled his eyes and stepped toward Ivan to comfort him.
Then the orangutan hissed, spinning to face the door to the large room. The gorilla and baboon turned as well in alarm, while Ivan snapped to his feet.
"Peotor!?" Ivan snapped toward the orangutan. "What is it?"
There was a knock on the door. Ivan stared at it. No one knew about this place. That was the point of a secondary base, that even when the primary one was compromised you could still have somewhere no one could find.
"Excuse me?" someone said through the door in very rough Russian. "Dr. Kragoff? My big headed asshole of a boss wanted to speak with ya."
"...Mikhlo. Get the door."
The gorilla nodded, walking up to the door. With surprising gentleness, he opened it.
"Jesus, you're even hairier than I expected," the man behind the door said. "Been hitting the Bowflex too, eh? I mean, I try, but I'm a lazy fuck, to be honest."
"Urgh?" Mikhlo said in confusion.
"Yeah, I have that effect on people," before Ivan could say anything, the man slipped around the gorilla.
The man was rough looking. His hair was shaved at the sides and spiky on top, a tattoo on the right side of his head. His beard was rough, peppered with salt, and his eyes were wide, filled with glee. As though he was always in on some joke no one else had heard yet. He was wearing a warm grey jacket lined with fur and a ballistic vest made of some material Ivan didn't recognize on top of that. He had a large futuristic rifle on his back that had some sort of sea-green crystal where the barrel should have been.
He was also familiar to him.
"Klaue?" Kragoff asked, surprised.
"Hey, Terrible," Klaue teased happily. "You look good."
Ivan scowled. "That nickname was never funny."
"Ah come on," Ullyses Klaue grinned. "Ivan the Terrible doesn't like his name?"
"What do you want, Klaue?" Kragoff scowled. "What does a dead man want with me?"
"I come with gifts, Terrible," Klaue grinned, reaching for his pocket. Mikhol growled, Klaue stopping the motion for his pocket with a frown. "Hey. Can you call off Joe Young over here? I come in peace and all that shit."
Ivan thought about that. He thought about that for a very, very long moment. Klaue's smile widened and widened, his fingers flickering. Mikhol, Igor, and Peotor glared at him. Violence seemed to tinge the air.
"...Klaue. If you kill me. You will face horrors unimaginable," three apes growled, filling the room with the sounds until they seemed to bounce off the walls and reverberate off the bones.
"Fair enough," Klaue continued to reach into his pocket and pulled out a round device. He flipped it open. "My boss said you would appreciate this. The big headed bastard is usually right about that."
A hologram floated in front of Ivan. And his jaw dropped. "Where… how did you do this?"
Klaue laughed. "Oh, you think that's good! Just wait, Terrible! We're about to have a hell of a time!"
All the while, the sea-green crystal in Klaue's rifle continued to hum.
------
Antoine 'Trip' Triplett
Walking through the halls of a base in a secret location in Siberia, Trip led Sharon and Laura to a room in the center of the base. He ignored the various scientists and guards that lived in the base. None of them mattered.
He soon strode down a set of metal stairs in a room with monitors and machinery all over, scientists looking up at him as he entered. Then they met eyes with Laura and quickly looked away again.
Laura had that effect on people. The young woman was always eyeing people in a hostile manner, always looking as though she was moments from embedding a sea-green blade deep into your throat. For some reason, Trip had never seen her giving Sharon and him similar looks. But the fact was that the leather-clad woman was anti-social, to understate things massively.
Trip stopped before the man at the center of the room.
"Sir," Trip said slowly.
Wolfgang Von Strucker looked up from what he'd been doing, which was typing at a computer while listening to music apparently. He was standing while doing so. As always, the Scepter was at his right hip in a holster. On his left was a small table holding a red glove. Once used only to let him use the Scepter without worrying about being manipulated in turn, the glove was larger now, more armored. Behind his back, it had gained a name of it's own. The Satan Glove. He smiled when he saw Trip. "Ah. Agent Triplett. It is good to see you are well."
Trip eyed him. One punch to the larynx. That's all he wanted. Just the chance to do it would be worth the whole world to him.
Von Strucker seemed to notice the intensity of Trip's gaze. He didn't seem to mind at all. Instead he lifted up his glove and put it on his left hand, then gestured for the three warriors to follow him, walking toward a dark hallway with Trip, Sharon, and Laura in tow.
"How did your mission go?"
"Successfully," Trip said as coldly as he could. The image of the helpful Chinese scientist he'd killed flashed into his mind.
"I see you were forced to kill innocents again," when Trip gave Von Strucker a startled look, the scientist smiled. "I have been inside your head, Agent Triplett. I daresay I know you better than you know yourself by now."
That was… galling, to hear. Still, Trip couldn't even deny that. Deep within him, in a sunken place where the last of himself fought to be heard, he tried to scream. But he did not. He breathed while drowning, staring out from eyes that weren't his own. He tried to speak his true thoughts. To raise his gun as they walked, fire it into the leader of HYDRA's face, and find his way home to the people he loved.
Nothing. He was only able to follow silently.
"That is what I like about you, Agent Triplett," Von Strucker said in satisfaction. "Even with the conditioning we've done, you still manage to hold onto your will. It is impressive. But it is also valuable to me," Von Strucker sighed sadly. "I am surrounded by sycophants. Once, I might have liked that, before the events of last year. Now I find your naked hatred rather fulfilling. It keeps me from being arrogant. What is it the youths say? 'My haters are my motivators'?"
He chuckled at the look he got from that. "It is true. I find you enjoyable, Agent Triplett. Funny, even."
Trip tried to reach for his gun. Von Strucker smiled when Trip continued to follow him obediently instead. "You have the chip?"
"Yes, sir," Trip patted the pouch on his left hip.
"Then we can complete the Project," they entered a room that was strangely empty. There was only a table, a large metal armchair, and a tarp covered object resting in the chair. There were dozens of wires stretching from it's back and into the wall. The room was extremely chilly, tinged with a bit of frost. Von Strucker held out his hand. "The chip, please."
Trip opened the pouch, reached into it, and pulled out the computer chip. Von Strucker stared at the innocuous device as though it was made of gold. In many ways, it might as well have been. He took it into this gloved hand and walked around to the tarp covered objects back.
"Months of research, thievery, and work. All to recover what we lost. HYDRA's greatest weapon has always been science. Not the worship of dead deities or dependance on alien powers. Always the science we could use," he slipped the computer chip under the tarp. A small click could be heard. He pulled his hand back out sans the computer chip and nodded when a green light shone from under the tarp. The wires quivered for a moment.
Then the tarp shifted slowly as the object underneath rose up. The sound of fans filled the room, moving the chill air around them.
Snickt!
The sound of Laura's claws popping out of her knuckles filled the room.
"Don't you dare!" Von Strucker shouted angrily.
"..." Laura's claws slowly slipped back into her hands as she stared at Von Strucker. He glared at her, then looked back at the object.
The tarp slipped off, revealing black metal underneath. Gears twisted around, wires curled, and the being beneath rose completely. It was shaped like a man, but instead of a face, it had a metal block with a red lens that glowed. It lifted hands of steel and twisted the fingers around, staring at them through the red lens. Then it reached for it's 'stomach' with it's right hand. It's cool metal fingers met a screen.
It hesitated before speakers on the machine spoke. "What… is, this?"
"Your return," Von Strucker said in satisfaction. "After 42 years your mind truly lives again...... Doctor Zola!"
Trip watched the screen in the center of the robot, flashing the green image of a confused Arnim Zola. Then the robot stared at its own hands again. And Arnim Zola slowly smiled.
------
Luke Cage/Bartender
"Back again," Luke walked up to the woman who was lying her head on his bar counter. He smirked at the growling sound she gave him as she lifted her head to look at him.
Jessica Jones was gorgeous. It was the first thing someone would notice about her, the long black hair, big eyes, and general beauty. She was also-
"What, you wanna send me to an AA meeting?" Jessica growled.
Abrasive as hell.
Luke chuckled. "No, just noting a fact."
"I'm pretty sure your job is to pass be drinks," Jessica drawled.
Not one to be put off by rudeness, Luke only smiled. "Only when someone actually orders a drink, as opposed to using my bar as a pillow to sleep on."
Jessica scowled, but Luke thought he could note a hint of humor in her eyes. She pointed at a random bottle on the shelf lazily. Taking that as a request, he took the whiskey down and poured a shot, passing it to her. She downed it immediately and gestured. Chuckling slightly, he passed her the bottle, watching with some fondness as she started to drink.
With no one else in the bar, he was able to lazily walk around the bar and enjoy the quiet.
Then a vehicle outside went spinning past with a squeal. Luke and Jessica both looked out at it. The red van was speeding with no regard for any rules of traffic. They both watched curiously as it spun around the corner. Then another squealing sound filled the air. Luke turned to look at it.
A man was leaning out of a lowrider from the back passenger seat. In slow motion, Luke got a good look at him. He was a big man, with skin as dark as Luke's, and a smile filled with gold. He was clearly laughing as he hefted the weapon in his arms.
For a moment, Luke stared at the weapon the man was leveling. A rocket launcher. An honest to god rocket launcher. Pointed right at them.
"Down!" Luke dived over the bar to pull Jessica to the ground. She rolled with the movement and yelled out indignantly when he shielded her with his body. He ignored her, closing his eyes as he braced himself.
The rocket flew in and exploded against the bar. Fire and shockwaves surrounded them. Luke roared as the building fell on top of him. He could hear Jessica doing the same in his ear.
When the shaking stopped, Luke opened his eyes. He was surrounded by rubble, gray dust falling about their heads. He could smell smoke beyond the debris. Rising slightly, he looked down at Jessica.
"You okay?"
"Fuck no I'm not okay!" she shouted. "What the hell happened!?"
Luke scowled. "Someone was trying to blow up that van."
"Well they fucking missed!" Jessica shouted. She stopped moving. "Do I smell smoke?"
"I think a fire started," Luke looked around again. The rubble had fallen around them in a small pocket. He gently pushed upward and felt the building above him move. "...I think I can move this."
"You?" Jessica scoffed. "Yeah, no. Move out of the way, I can get us out."
"You?" Luke replied right back. "Jessica, let me-"
She raised a fist and punched upward. Her fist embedded into the rock behind his head like a nail into wood. Luke stared at her as she smiled smugly. "See? I got this. Just move out of the way and I'll-"
Luke pushed upward, his large palms on either side of her. Slowly, tons of weight was lifted up in a complete disregard of reality. Jessica stared at Luke's face a few inches from her as he smirked. "Yeah. I think I can't help you there."
She continued to eye him. Then a slow smile came to her lips. Together, the pair began to push together. Stone, wood, metal, and glass were moved with little to no effort by the two superhumans. Soon they had dug their way out of the rubble. The pair rose to their feet, Luke's yellow shirt and Jessica's black leather clothes covered in dust.
"Goddamnit," Luke stumbled as he walked off the pieces of what had once been his friends bar. "This is just-"
He stopped speaking, clenching a fist in anger. Jessica was standing behind him, watching silently as he stared at the remains of his workplace. All gone. Burning to nothing. Along with everything that had mattered about it. The time he'd spent making sure it was clean and cared for. Wasted.
"I'm sorry," Jessica said, drawing his attention. When he looked over at her she looked away but continued to speak. "I-I know it meant a lot to you."
...For some reason, he could believe that.
The sound of someone laughing drew his attention. He froze.
Further down the block, he could see the red van had been overturned. He could also see that his wasn't the only building hit. Four more had the signs of an explosion, a window high on one billowing out flames, another shuddering, people screaming. The man laughing was tossing aside his rocket launcher as more men were rummaging in the red van. Six men grabbing boxes from the van, two carrying guns, and one insane lunatic laughing as he stood on the roof of a lowrider, another one parked nearby.
"Come on boys, get a move on!" the large man in a gray tank top laughed from the roof of his car. "Avengers ain't going to be distracted for long!"
"..." Luke stared at the mess before him. People were screaming, running out of burning buildings. The group of men were still working on robbing the truck. The man on the lowrider saw the running people. He smiled, a gold tinged, deranged smile, and gestured to one of his men, who tossed him an SMG. The man raised the gun to aim at those running away.
"Hey!" Luke heard. It took him a moment to realize he was the one who had yelled. The man heard him, looking over at Luke.
"Luke," Jessica protested, moving to stand next to him. "What are you doing?"
"...I can't let them hurt anymore people," Luke said slowly.
He wasn't a hero. He'd never claimed to be.
But apparently, there weren't any Avengers coming just yet. So how could he stand aside while others might die? How could he not step up?
"Well, lookie here now!" the man hopped off the lowrider and grinned at Luke. "What is this nigga!? You wanna piece of this with yer white girl there? Maybe let us have a piece of her too?"
Luke scowled at of one of his most despised words being used, then strode forward. He was surprised to find Jessica joining him. "You don't have to do this," he whispered to her.
"Yeah, I do," Jessica sounded positively enraged. She pointed down the street, where two more buildings a long way down had been hit by more fire. "I'm pretty sure that fuck hit my building."
...Well shit, what were the chances of that?
"Get behind me if they start shooting. I'm bulletproof."
God bless Jessica for not being as fazed by that as he would have expected.
"Oh now look at this," the man sounded almost polite as he strode forward with his men. "Muthafucka, what exactly do you think you're doing?"
"No one has to get hurt!" Luke called as he and Jessica strode toward the group. "Just leave these people alone!"
The man blinked. "Fuck man, you serious? New York's changed since last time. Used to be muthafucka's ran from Barracuda! And explosions, come to think of it," he grinned. "Well fuck, I like you! Hey, how fast can you dodge!?"
He raised his gun and started shooting. Jessica ducked behind him as the bullets started hitting him.
Small bits of metal rained down on the asphalt along with bits of yellow cloth. For a long moment, the sound of gunfire filled the air.
When it was over, the man was staring in shock at Luke. His men lowered their weapons in sheer awe as Luke wiped at his chest, more bullets falling on the ground. "What the fuck is this nig-?"
Before he could complete that sentence, Jessica spun out of cover and grabbed the hood of a car. With a twist and an ear-wrenching pull, she ripped the hood off, then spun to toss it at the group.
The hood spun like a disk across the space between them, then hit two of the men like a giant frisbee, both men screaming as they were sent flying.
"Shit, light 'em up!" the man yelled, his gold teeth flashing as he spoke. The other men, who hadn't been knocked down by an enraged woman with a car hood, unleashed hell.
Luke ignored the bullets, instead running toward the group. Jessica ducked behind the car, only to come back up and toss a piece of the engine, shattering one of the men's legs.
The leader of the group ran for one of the crates, opening it up. As Luke ran toward him, he came up with a large RPG, one with the words 'Hammer Tech' written on the side. "All right you tough muthafucka, lets see what you got!" he screamed as he pulled the trigger.
The RPG flew towards Luke before he could make a response. He tried to dodge. But contrary to what some thought, dodging a rocket-propelled grenade was impossible. It hit him hard and exploded in a burst of fire, sending him flying. Luke rolled after his airborne flight, shouting as he bounced off the pavement before slamming into a parked car with the sound of shattering glass and steel.
"You fuck!" Jessica, enraged, pulled out the engine block from the car she'd been using as ammo.
"Oh damn," one of the men said in awe as the small woman lifted 300+ pounds of steel over her head.
"Raaagh!" Jessica tossed the block. It flew with baseball pitcher speed, bouncing once on the ground.
"Oh goddamn!" the leader shouted as the engine block barely tagged one of his mens arm, then hit the red van, sending it skidding across the pavement.
"GRAH!" Luke roared as he exploded out of the car he'd been embedded in. Soot rested on his pectorals from the recent explosion. He stared at the leader of the man who had shot him, who was hopping into his car. The leader smiled a gold toothed smile.
"Damn, muthafucka, you tough as shit!" he said jovially. He laughed while revving up his engine. Jessica and Luke rushed toward to try and chase him. "Catch you later, bulletproof muthafucka! HAHA!"
Jessica poured on the speed, outpacing Luke by a wide margin, but she still was unable to catch up as the car began to speed away. She stopped to crouch, then exploded upwards. She cleared thirty feet, reaching out for the car as she fell towards it. The leader gunned the engine further. Her fingers stretched out.
And barely smacked the back of the car. The strength of the impact ripped off a chunk off the trunk. Jessica hit the ground hard, cursing loudly as she rolled with the impact but still scraped her cheek against the asphalt.
"Damn, that girl is hot!" Luke could barely hear the driver say over the roar of the engine and Jessica's caustic cursing.
She looked up at him she rose to her feet, her eyes flashing with rage, blood dripping slightly from the scrape on her cheek, an ugly thing that had him wincing in sympathy at the sight of a patch the size of a round playing card that had been scraped to the muscle.
"...So, you can fly, huh?" he said as she glared at him.
Her glare faded just a bit before she could control it. Luke would have said more, but the sounds of sirens in the distance drew his attention.
"God damnit," Jessica said as the sirens came closer. She turned to walk away.
"Where you headed?" Luke asked.
"Well," Jessica glowered. "I was going to head to my apartment. But now I need to see what the hell is left of it."
"Let me help," Luke immediately said, following her.
"Don't need it."
Luke chuckled, his eyes following her. "No, you don't. But I still want to."
She didn't turn to acknowledge that. But that was fine. He could live with that.
------
Author's Note: Yeah, I know. An Interlude of all things? But it is necessary to the story, and does continue some serious plotlines.
In the meantime, I'll be posting the next chapter on my Patreon later today, and it'll come out a few days later on the various sites. So have a good day everyone, and I hope you guys had fun reading
Ivan watched from his secondary base on a small tv as his decayed nation celebrated the efforts of their new circus clowns, the Winter Guard. The old communist clenched at the arms of his chair, scowling angrily at the tiny screen before him, the tv illuminating his face in blue. The damned fools even rewarded the Americans with a plane!
But that was Ivan's fault. He had failed. He had underestimated them all. Not just the Winter Guard, with their false god and witch. He had underestimated BRIDGE.
And Dial. Dial, who had devoured a NUCLEAR BOMB. Such power in that watch. Ivan had paid the Avenger little mind at first, believing him to be nothing but brute force in battle. But enough brute force had overwhelmed his forces.
Of course, the BRIDGE members had managed to hack his superior technology, destroying his wonderful super-apes. Ivan needed to be more prepared. Even with all the enhancements he'd made to the apes, all the deals he made with HYDRA… with that new American organization, to test their technology in combat. He'd made deals, compromised where he wouldn't have otherwise, all out of his impatience. And now, here he was. A failure!
The tv was suddenly broken. Ivan blinked at the culprit. Large black knuckles had slammed down on the Soviet era technology, shattering it apart while Ivan had been slowly stewing. For a moment, he wanted to shout. Then he sighed.
"Miklho. I understand you're upset on my behalf, but the tv was not the issue."
From the shadows, a gorilla stepped forward. A gorilla that was untouched by cybernetics, and unlike the 'Miklho' that Chernobog had fought, this gorilla was normal sized. But he carried himself… differently. More intelligently. More confidently.
"Ohoh," Miklho walked up, shaking his head. His hands flicker between different signs for a few moments, then shrugged.
"Yes… I suppose I have been rather foolish old friend," Ivan sighed.
The gorilla was joined by an orangutan and baboon. Same as Miklho, they looked normal. Same as him, they carried themselves with intelligence. They swung down from the rafters to land before Ivan, eyes filled with concern.
"I rushed things," Ivan said forlornly. "I compromised my morals, forced myself to work with monsters. To create rush jobs. And now? My enemies are celebrated by the country I love…" Ivan swallowed. Tears fell down from his eyes before he could stop them. The apes looked at each other, worried looks on their faces. Mikhlo sighed, nudging at the baboon, Igor. Igor rolled his eyes and stepped toward Ivan to comfort him.
Then the orangutan hissed, spinning to face the door to the large room. The gorilla and baboon turned as well in alarm, while Ivan snapped to his feet.
"Peotor!?" Ivan snapped toward the orangutan. "What is it?"
There was a knock on the door. Ivan stared at it. No one knew about this place. That was the point of a secondary base, that even when the primary one was compromised you could still have somewhere no one could find.
"Excuse me?" someone said through the door in very rough Russian. "Dr. Kragoff? My big headed asshole of a boss wanted to speak with ya."
"...Mikhlo. Get the door."
The gorilla nodded, walking up to the door. With surprising gentleness, he opened it.
"Jesus, you're even hairier than I expected," the man behind the door said. "Been hitting the Bowflex too, eh? I mean, I try, but I'm a lazy fuck, to be honest."
"Urgh?" Mikhlo said in confusion.
"Yeah, I have that effect on people," before Ivan could say anything, the man slipped around the gorilla.
The man was rough looking. His hair was shaved at the sides and spiky on top, a tattoo on the right side of his head. His beard was rough, peppered with salt, and his eyes were wide, filled with glee. As though he was always in on some joke no one else had heard yet. He was wearing a warm grey jacket lined with fur and a ballistic vest made of some material Ivan didn't recognize on top of that. He had a large futuristic rifle on his back that had some sort of sea-green crystal where the barrel should have been.
He was also familiar to him.
"Klaue?" Kragoff asked, surprised.
"Hey, Terrible," Klaue teased happily. "You look good."
Ivan scowled. "That nickname was never funny."
"Ah come on," Ullyses Klaue grinned. "Ivan the Terrible doesn't like his name?"
"What do you want, Klaue?" Kragoff scowled. "What does a dead man want with me?"
"I come with gifts, Terrible," Klaue grinned, reaching for his pocket. Mikhol growled, Klaue stopping the motion for his pocket with a frown. "Hey. Can you call off Joe Young over here? I come in peace and all that shit."
Ivan thought about that. He thought about that for a very, very long moment. Klaue's smile widened and widened, his fingers flickering. Mikhol, Igor, and Peotor glared at him. Violence seemed to tinge the air.
"...Klaue. If you kill me. You will face horrors unimaginable," three apes growled, filling the room with the sounds until they seemed to bounce off the walls and reverberate off the bones.
"Fair enough," Klaue continued to reach into his pocket and pulled out a round device. He flipped it open. "My boss said you would appreciate this. The big headed bastard is usually right about that."
A hologram floated in front of Ivan. And his jaw dropped. "Where… how did you do this?"
Klaue laughed. "Oh, you think that's good! Just wait, Terrible! We're about to have a hell of a time!"
All the while, the sea-green crystal in Klaue's rifle continued to hum.
------
Antoine 'Trip' Triplett
Walking through the halls of a base in a secret location in Siberia, Trip led Sharon and Laura to a room in the center of the base. He ignored the various scientists and guards that lived in the base. None of them mattered.
He soon strode down a set of metal stairs in a room with monitors and machinery all over, scientists looking up at him as he entered. Then they met eyes with Laura and quickly looked away again.
Laura had that effect on people. The young woman was always eyeing people in a hostile manner, always looking as though she was moments from embedding a sea-green blade deep into your throat. For some reason, Trip had never seen her giving Sharon and him similar looks. But the fact was that the leather-clad woman was anti-social, to understate things massively.
Trip stopped before the man at the center of the room.
"Sir," Trip said slowly.
Wolfgang Von Strucker looked up from what he'd been doing, which was typing at a computer while listening to music apparently. He was standing while doing so. As always, the Scepter was at his right hip in a holster. On his left was a small table holding a red glove. Once used only to let him use the Scepter without worrying about being manipulated in turn, the glove was larger now, more armored. Behind his back, it had gained a name of it's own. The Satan Glove. He smiled when he saw Trip. "Ah. Agent Triplett. It is good to see you are well."
Trip eyed him. One punch to the larynx. That's all he wanted. Just the chance to do it would be worth the whole world to him.
Von Strucker seemed to notice the intensity of Trip's gaze. He didn't seem to mind at all. Instead he lifted up his glove and put it on his left hand, then gestured for the three warriors to follow him, walking toward a dark hallway with Trip, Sharon, and Laura in tow.
"How did your mission go?"
"Successfully," Trip said as coldly as he could. The image of the helpful Chinese scientist he'd killed flashed into his mind.
"I see you were forced to kill innocents again," when Trip gave Von Strucker a startled look, the scientist smiled. "I have been inside your head, Agent Triplett. I daresay I know you better than you know yourself by now."
That was… galling, to hear. Still, Trip couldn't even deny that. Deep within him, in a sunken place where the last of himself fought to be heard, he tried to scream. But he did not. He breathed while drowning, staring out from eyes that weren't his own. He tried to speak his true thoughts. To raise his gun as they walked, fire it into the leader of HYDRA's face, and find his way home to the people he loved.
Nothing. He was only able to follow silently.
"That is what I like about you, Agent Triplett," Von Strucker said in satisfaction. "Even with the conditioning we've done, you still manage to hold onto your will. It is impressive. But it is also valuable to me," Von Strucker sighed sadly. "I am surrounded by sycophants. Once, I might have liked that, before the events of last year. Now I find your naked hatred rather fulfilling. It keeps me from being arrogant. What is it the youths say? 'My haters are my motivators'?"
He chuckled at the look he got from that. "It is true. I find you enjoyable, Agent Triplett. Funny, even."
Trip tried to reach for his gun. Von Strucker smiled when Trip continued to follow him obediently instead. "You have the chip?"
"Yes, sir," Trip patted the pouch on his left hip.
"Then we can complete the Project," they entered a room that was strangely empty. There was only a table, a large metal armchair, and a tarp covered object resting in the chair. There were dozens of wires stretching from it's back and into the wall. The room was extremely chilly, tinged with a bit of frost. Von Strucker held out his hand. "The chip, please."
Trip opened the pouch, reached into it, and pulled out the computer chip. Von Strucker stared at the innocuous device as though it was made of gold. In many ways, it might as well have been. He took it into this gloved hand and walked around to the tarp covered objects back.
"Months of research, thievery, and work. All to recover what we lost. HYDRA's greatest weapon has always been science. Not the worship of dead deities or dependance on alien powers. Always the science we could use," he slipped the computer chip under the tarp. A small click could be heard. He pulled his hand back out sans the computer chip and nodded when a green light shone from under the tarp. The wires quivered for a moment.
Then the tarp shifted slowly as the object underneath rose up. The sound of fans filled the room, moving the chill air around them.
Snickt!
The sound of Laura's claws popping out of her knuckles filled the room.
"Don't you dare!" Von Strucker shouted angrily.
"..." Laura's claws slowly slipped back into her hands as she stared at Von Strucker. He glared at her, then looked back at the object.
The tarp slipped off, revealing black metal underneath. Gears twisted around, wires curled, and the being beneath rose completely. It was shaped like a man, but instead of a face, it had a metal block with a red lens that glowed. It lifted hands of steel and twisted the fingers around, staring at them through the red lens. Then it reached for it's 'stomach' with it's right hand. It's cool metal fingers met a screen.
It hesitated before speakers on the machine spoke. "What… is, this?"
"Your return," Von Strucker said in satisfaction. "After 42 years your mind truly lives again...... Doctor Zola!"
Trip watched the screen in the center of the robot, flashing the green image of a confused Arnim Zola. Then the robot stared at its own hands again. And Arnim Zola slowly smiled.
------
Luke Cage/Bartender
"Back again," Luke walked up to the woman who was lying her head on his bar counter. He smirked at the growling sound she gave him as she lifted her head to look at him.
Jessica Jones was gorgeous. It was the first thing someone would notice about her, the long black hair, big eyes, and general beauty. She was also-
"What, you wanna send me to an AA meeting?" Jessica growled.
Abrasive as hell.
Luke chuckled. "No, just noting a fact."
"I'm pretty sure your job is to pass be drinks," Jessica drawled.
Not one to be put off by rudeness, Luke only smiled. "Only when someone actually orders a drink, as opposed to using my bar as a pillow to sleep on."
Jessica scowled, but Luke thought he could note a hint of humor in her eyes. She pointed at a random bottle on the shelf lazily. Taking that as a request, he took the whiskey down and poured a shot, passing it to her. She downed it immediately and gestured. Chuckling slightly, he passed her the bottle, watching with some fondness as she started to drink.
With no one else in the bar, he was able to lazily walk around the bar and enjoy the quiet.
Then a vehicle outside went spinning past with a squeal. Luke and Jessica both looked out at it. The red van was speeding with no regard for any rules of traffic. They both watched curiously as it spun around the corner. Then another squealing sound filled the air. Luke turned to look at it.
A man was leaning out of a lowrider from the back passenger seat. In slow motion, Luke got a good look at him. He was a big man, with skin as dark as Luke's, and a smile filled with gold. He was clearly laughing as he hefted the weapon in his arms.
For a moment, Luke stared at the weapon the man was leveling. A rocket launcher. An honest to god rocket launcher. Pointed right at them.
"Down!" Luke dived over the bar to pull Jessica to the ground. She rolled with the movement and yelled out indignantly when he shielded her with his body. He ignored her, closing his eyes as he braced himself.
The rocket flew in and exploded against the bar. Fire and shockwaves surrounded them. Luke roared as the building fell on top of him. He could hear Jessica doing the same in his ear.
When the shaking stopped, Luke opened his eyes. He was surrounded by rubble, gray dust falling about their heads. He could smell smoke beyond the debris. Rising slightly, he looked down at Jessica.
"You okay?"
"Fuck no I'm not okay!" she shouted. "What the hell happened!?"
Luke scowled. "Someone was trying to blow up that van."
"Well they fucking missed!" Jessica shouted. She stopped moving. "Do I smell smoke?"
"I think a fire started," Luke looked around again. The rubble had fallen around them in a small pocket. He gently pushed upward and felt the building above him move. "...I think I can move this."
"You?" Jessica scoffed. "Yeah, no. Move out of the way, I can get us out."
"You?" Luke replied right back. "Jessica, let me-"
She raised a fist and punched upward. Her fist embedded into the rock behind his head like a nail into wood. Luke stared at her as she smiled smugly. "See? I got this. Just move out of the way and I'll-"
Luke pushed upward, his large palms on either side of her. Slowly, tons of weight was lifted up in a complete disregard of reality. Jessica stared at Luke's face a few inches from her as he smirked. "Yeah. I think I can't help you there."
She continued to eye him. Then a slow smile came to her lips. Together, the pair began to push together. Stone, wood, metal, and glass were moved with little to no effort by the two superhumans. Soon they had dug their way out of the rubble. The pair rose to their feet, Luke's yellow shirt and Jessica's black leather clothes covered in dust.
"Goddamnit," Luke stumbled as he walked off the pieces of what had once been his friends bar. "This is just-"
He stopped speaking, clenching a fist in anger. Jessica was standing behind him, watching silently as he stared at the remains of his workplace. All gone. Burning to nothing. Along with everything that had mattered about it. The time he'd spent making sure it was clean and cared for. Wasted.
"I'm sorry," Jessica said, drawing his attention. When he looked over at her she looked away but continued to speak. "I-I know it meant a lot to you."
...For some reason, he could believe that.
The sound of someone laughing drew his attention. He froze.
Further down the block, he could see the red van had been overturned. He could also see that his wasn't the only building hit. Four more had the signs of an explosion, a window high on one billowing out flames, another shuddering, people screaming. The man laughing was tossing aside his rocket launcher as more men were rummaging in the red van. Six men grabbing boxes from the van, two carrying guns, and one insane lunatic laughing as he stood on the roof of a lowrider, another one parked nearby.
"Come on boys, get a move on!" the large man in a gray tank top laughed from the roof of his car. "Avengers ain't going to be distracted for long!"
"..." Luke stared at the mess before him. People were screaming, running out of burning buildings. The group of men were still working on robbing the truck. The man on the lowrider saw the running people. He smiled, a gold tinged, deranged smile, and gestured to one of his men, who tossed him an SMG. The man raised the gun to aim at those running away.
"Hey!" Luke heard. It took him a moment to realize he was the one who had yelled. The man heard him, looking over at Luke.
"Luke," Jessica protested, moving to stand next to him. "What are you doing?"
"...I can't let them hurt anymore people," Luke said slowly.
He wasn't a hero. He'd never claimed to be.
But apparently, there weren't any Avengers coming just yet. So how could he stand aside while others might die? How could he not step up?
"Well, lookie here now!" the man hopped off the lowrider and grinned at Luke. "What is this nigga!? You wanna piece of this with yer white girl there? Maybe let us have a piece of her too?"
Luke scowled at of one of his most despised words being used, then strode forward. He was surprised to find Jessica joining him. "You don't have to do this," he whispered to her.
"Yeah, I do," Jessica sounded positively enraged. She pointed down the street, where two more buildings a long way down had been hit by more fire. "I'm pretty sure that fuck hit my building."
...Well shit, what were the chances of that?
"Get behind me if they start shooting. I'm bulletproof."
God bless Jessica for not being as fazed by that as he would have expected.
"Oh now look at this," the man sounded almost polite as he strode forward with his men. "Muthafucka, what exactly do you think you're doing?"
"No one has to get hurt!" Luke called as he and Jessica strode toward the group. "Just leave these people alone!"
The man blinked. "Fuck man, you serious? New York's changed since last time. Used to be muthafucka's ran from Barracuda! And explosions, come to think of it," he grinned. "Well fuck, I like you! Hey, how fast can you dodge!?"
He raised his gun and started shooting. Jessica ducked behind him as the bullets started hitting him.
Small bits of metal rained down on the asphalt along with bits of yellow cloth. For a long moment, the sound of gunfire filled the air.
When it was over, the man was staring in shock at Luke. His men lowered their weapons in sheer awe as Luke wiped at his chest, more bullets falling on the ground. "What the fuck is this nig-?"
Before he could complete that sentence, Jessica spun out of cover and grabbed the hood of a car. With a twist and an ear-wrenching pull, she ripped the hood off, then spun to toss it at the group.
The hood spun like a disk across the space between them, then hit two of the men like a giant frisbee, both men screaming as they were sent flying.
"Shit, light 'em up!" the man yelled, his gold teeth flashing as he spoke. The other men, who hadn't been knocked down by an enraged woman with a car hood, unleashed hell.
Luke ignored the bullets, instead running toward the group. Jessica ducked behind the car, only to come back up and toss a piece of the engine, shattering one of the men's legs.
The leader of the group ran for one of the crates, opening it up. As Luke ran toward him, he came up with a large RPG, one with the words 'Hammer Tech' written on the side. "All right you tough muthafucka, lets see what you got!" he screamed as he pulled the trigger.
The RPG flew towards Luke before he could make a response. He tried to dodge. But contrary to what some thought, dodging a rocket-propelled grenade was impossible. It hit him hard and exploded in a burst of fire, sending him flying. Luke rolled after his airborne flight, shouting as he bounced off the pavement before slamming into a parked car with the sound of shattering glass and steel.
"You fuck!" Jessica, enraged, pulled out the engine block from the car she'd been using as ammo.
"Oh damn," one of the men said in awe as the small woman lifted 300+ pounds of steel over her head.
"Raaagh!" Jessica tossed the block. It flew with baseball pitcher speed, bouncing once on the ground.
"Oh goddamn!" the leader shouted as the engine block barely tagged one of his mens arm, then hit the red van, sending it skidding across the pavement.
"GRAH!" Luke roared as he exploded out of the car he'd been embedded in. Soot rested on his pectorals from the recent explosion. He stared at the leader of the man who had shot him, who was hopping into his car. The leader smiled a gold toothed smile.
"Damn, muthafucka, you tough as shit!" he said jovially. He laughed while revving up his engine. Jessica and Luke rushed toward to try and chase him. "Catch you later, bulletproof muthafucka! HAHA!"
Jessica poured on the speed, outpacing Luke by a wide margin, but she still was unable to catch up as the car began to speed away. She stopped to crouch, then exploded upwards. She cleared thirty feet, reaching out for the car as she fell towards it. The leader gunned the engine further. Her fingers stretched out.
And barely smacked the back of the car. The strength of the impact ripped off a chunk off the trunk. Jessica hit the ground hard, cursing loudly as she rolled with the impact but still scraped her cheek against the asphalt.
"Damn, that girl is hot!" Luke could barely hear the driver say over the roar of the engine and Jessica's caustic cursing.
She looked up at him she rose to her feet, her eyes flashing with rage, blood dripping slightly from the scrape on her cheek, an ugly thing that had him wincing in sympathy at the sight of a patch the size of a round playing card that had been scraped to the muscle.
"...So, you can fly, huh?" he said as she glared at him.
Her glare faded just a bit before she could control it. Luke would have said more, but the sounds of sirens in the distance drew his attention.
"God damnit," Jessica said as the sirens came closer. She turned to walk away.
"Where you headed?" Luke asked.
"Well," Jessica glowered. "I was going to head to my apartment. But now I need to see what the hell is left of it."
"Let me help," Luke immediately said, following her.
"Don't need it."
Luke chuckled, his eyes following her. "No, you don't. But I still want to."
She didn't turn to acknowledge that. But that was fine. He could live with that.
------
Author's Note: Yeah, I know. An Interlude of all things? But it is necessary to the story, and does continue some serious plotlines.
In the meantime, I'll be posting the next chapter on my Patreon later today, and it'll come out a few days later on the various sites. So have a good day everyone, and I hope you guys had fun reading
- Location
- Argentina
Well, that's one way to start the Defenders.
Yeah, my teams tend to meet in explosive manners.
True. I will say that Jessica has shown to be rather lackadaisical when it comes to other peoples property
79
Author's Note: Patreons got to read this and comment on it June 28th!
------
The second we'd lifted off, I put some work into the plane itself. I couldn't do much since, despite Upgrade being able to live up to his name, I still needed to work damn hard to make sure my changes were permanent, and even that was optimization, repairs or other superficial stuff. Later I might work to get some more interesting stuff done, but based on what I could see of Coulson as he wandered around inside me, a new plane might be better. I also shut off several trackers that had been left inside the Antonov, repaired some smaller issues that would have been missed by a human mechanic, and added little things to make the plane more fuel efficient and faster. Not as good as Tony or Jury Rigg, but damn good for a few seconds of work.
Then May twisted the controls. I spun in a little daredevil maneuver in accordance with that. Curious, I sprouted my head in the cockpit. "Hey May. Everything okay?"
"Hm?" May looked at me idly, as though random heads sprouting out of the wall was an everyday thing. I swear, we're all getting so jaded on this job. "Oh, sorry. I was just testing her out."
"I get that," I said thoughtfully. "Tell ya what. What about I manipulate the gravity in the rest of the plane so they don't get affected, and I let you go nuts."
"You can do that?" May asked in surprise.
"May, Upgrade is stupidly overpowered sometimes," I said, my round green eye turning up in an Upgrade smile. "Seriously you wanna have some fun?"
She smirked. Then she pulled back on the controls, bringing the Antonov into an insanely fast climb, before spinning at high speed. I manipulated the gravity in every room except the cockpit to keep the others from feeling the sudden speed and spin, then let out a whoop of joy, May smirking just a bit wider.
"Mahmoud!" Someone yelled inside the section of the plane that could be called the lounge. I pulled my head from the cockpit and sprouted it in there. Coulson was standing in the center of the black and green space, while Skye and Fitz were sitting nearby.
Coulson looked at me as I rose out of the floor in front of him. "What's up?"
"Are you responsible for that?" He pointed at the window. Outside, one could see just how much fun May was having.
"Uh… yeah?" I said with a small chuckle. "May wanted to go all out."
"Can you at least change the view? Some of us are feeling a bit queasy seeing the world twist outside while we're all standing still," Coulson looked over at Simmons, who was holding a hand over her mouth as Fitz rubbed her back.
"Ohhhh, ohhhhh," she said weakly.
"Sure thing!" I manipulated the windows to show a normal sky.
"Thank you very much," Coulson smirked. "Now, can you check on our Russian guests? I'll join you in a moment."
I nodded my tendril head, then flowed through to the ship to where Mikhail and Fantasma were. Then I stopped when I realized they weren't the only ones there.
Creel and Skye were with them, the foursome sitting around a large metal barrel with a spigot on the side. They all had some clear drinks in small shot glasses, apparently coming from the metal barrel.
"Where did that come from?" I asked as soon as I saw the barrel.
Mikhail cursed in surprise when he noticed my head popping from the floor, then looked me over. "Dial? What in god's name?"
I blinked a circular eye. "Yeah, what's up?"
"You're a head," Fantasma said weakly. Mikhail tried to poke at me in fascination, recoiling when I shifted my form back.
"Don't do that," I said, twisting my eye to stimulate a frown.
"That is so… strange," Mikhail mumbled.
"Yeah, he does this sometimes," Skye sipped her drink, giving me a fond smile.
"Where did you guys get the vodka?" I asked, cocking my head tendril.
"This?" Mikhail looked down at it. "Oh. I requested it," he tapped it with a chuckle. "I figured it would be a while before I got real Russian drink."
"He means," Fantasma grumbled. "He's the drunkest bear in Russia and he loves proving it."
"You want me to take that back?" Mikhail pointed at her drink. Fantasma took another lazy sip, smiling at him. "Also, what was that earlier?" he pointed at the window. "I know I didn't drink that much-"
"Could have fooled me," Creel mumbled.
"So why was the world twisting?" Mikhail continued.
"May wanted to have fun," I tried my best to shrug, Fantasma and Mikhail staring at the odd image of a head 'shrugging'.
"May?" Skye said in sheer disbelief.
"She can be pretty fun sometimes."
"We aren't talking about the same May, are we?" Skye said again.
Coulson came in right about then carrying a bunch of files. He stopped when he saw the barrel. "...I'm going to just assume that's your fault," he said to Mikhail. The part-time bear grinned, chugging back his drink and pouring himself another.
The leader of Team SHIELD smiled, walking up to join us. "First, pour me a glass," Creel politely reached for a glass. "Second, I have your papers," he held out the papers to Fantasma, who rose and took them.
"About that," I said. "She's an Avenger now?"
"Yeah, when were we getting the memo?" Creel added. He looked over at Fantasma. "I mean, I like you. And I'm the last person to judge how ready someone is to be an Avenger. But it's unexpected, ya know?"
"Zat is understandable," Fantasma said in slightly accented English. She was once again sitting as calmly as a queen in her court, one leg draped over the other as she lifted her lips just a bit. "It was a surprise to me as well."
"Apparently, the Russian government was always planning on doing this," Coulson added. "They weren't sure of who would go, but the decision to send a Winter Guard member to BRIDGE was in motion for awhile. But recent events accelerated that."
"Kragoff," Fantasma needlessly explained.
"And you're okay with that?" Skye asked incredulously. "Just being traded off like a baseball card or something?"
Fantasma glared at her. "Of course not! ...I finally found a home. And now I must leave it…" she looked over at Mikhail. He gave her a sad, but proud, smile. Skye looked over at Coulson, who I noticed gave her the same smile.
"However, it is for my country, and the world," Fantasma continued firmly. "I will work as hard as any other Avenger, this I promise."
"And spy on us on the side," Coulson added wryly. While Fantasma looked offended at the insinuation, Mikhail nodded.
"That is side benefit, true."
"Mikhail!" Fantasma seemed aghast.
The part-time bear chuckled. "Do not worry. It is a mark of respect among spymasters to acknowledge the fact we spy on one another. I imagine that you left a few bugs in our base?" he added to Coulson.
Coulson shrugged. "Felt rude not to," was his shameless reply, the older man smirking.
"As well it would have," Mikhail chuckled. "As well it would have!"
"...You guys are weird," I said, at last, Creel, Skye, and Fantasma all nodding in agreement.
------
Phil Coulson
Coulson strode through the Antonov, trying to get used to the makeup of the plane. Despite Dial mixing together with the plane and making some changes to the interior, like SHIELD symbols on a few of the walls and a shiny black finish with green circuitry lines, the Upgrade trademark, the plane still didn't feel right. Granted, he'd only been there for a couple of hours. But this little gift from the Russian government wouldn't feel like home for a while.
For one thing, it was ninety percent cargo bay. Felt like it, at least. There were some thin walls, sure, but there was still a lot less privacy here than there had been on the Bus.
And that was the crux of the matter. No matter how long he walked through the ship, he couldn't help but remember his former home. Best to get used to it. The Bus wasn't coming back. Better to move on.
Of course, the old plane hadn't been the only casualty of the little war in Russia.
Coulson stopped near the back of the plane and eyed Lola for a moment before sighing. She'd been secured nice and tight toward the right. She was also still covered in pits from where plasma had melted the car across her surface. The wheels had also been melted, the windshield shattered, and the upholstery covered in bear fur and large scratches. She'd had much better days.
"I'm sorry about Lola, sir," someone said behind Coulson. He turned to see Fitz standing there, the young man looking more than a little nervous.
"She'll be all right," Coulson said sadly. "You know, these old SHIELD vehicles… they were made to fight in an emergency. To save the day at the last minute," he patted Lola's red hood, careful to avoid one of the holes that had been burned into her. "I think she appreciated the chance to do it again."
"We'll get her up and running again soon, sir," Fitz said kindly. "Just like new."
"Thank you, Fitz," Coulson looked over at him. "So, did you need to speak with me about something?"
Fitz winced. "Y-Yeah. It's just… I've been thinking, I mean, Simmons and me were thinking, ever since we started this, we love working for you," Fitz was now speaking a mile a minute, crossing his arms nervously. "So we wanted to talk to you, but then all that stuff with Kragoff and Russia, and we didn't want to-"
"Fitz," Coulson said kindly. He smiled at the way Fitz cut himself off immediately. "I already know."
Fitz's arms fell to his sides. His eyes widened as the rest of him stilled. "You do?"
"How could I not?" Coulson chuckled. "I've known you for this long, haven't I? It's not like I can blame you. You've been doing a lot of good work with Stark, of course you'd want to continue that. I want you to be happy, both you and Simmons. If you have to leave to do it, I don't think I'd mind that too much."
The British young man sighed in relief. "Thank you for understanding sir… Can we still come on missions with you, every once in a while?"
"Well, that's up to the director," Coulson shrugged. "But if it was up to me, absolutely."
Fitz's face lit up happily. "Thank you, sir!" Then he let out a little sound. "Oh, right! I uh, I have some recommendations for replacing us! Would you like to go over them with Simmons and I?"
"Sure thing," Coulson said.
"Great!" Fitz rushed off, turning to run backwards so he could face Coulson. "I promise, the people we've picked are the best, perfect- oop," he stumbled back into a crate and nearly feel, righting himself to continue his sentence. "They'll be perfect replacements, I promise!"
Fitz ran further in excitedly. As he did, Coulson's smile sank away. He turned to Lola, resting his palms against her. "I doubt that… I really doubt that."
New plane, new team members, new organization… Phil Coulson was really tired of losing things.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
We got home in record time, considering our plane was late Soviet era tech. Wonders of alien nanotechnology enhancements. When we got there we landed on the Enterprise, the Helicarrier in it's usual spot floating high above New York with her camouflage panels on.
The second that the front of the plane rose up, Director Maria Hill was there to greet us along Nick Fury, both dressed in their best clothes. As we walked down to greet them, Fury was the first to speak over the winds of the skies around us.
"I hear you broke my plane!" he said to Coulson.
"Take it up with Kragoff!" Coulson smirked.
"And whose fault was it that crazy monkey-fucker destroyed it?" Fury said grumpily. "Had a full superhero team and you couldn't keep the damn plane intact? She had a bar!"
Director Maria rolled her eyes. "Fury, if we can get to the important part?" Fury gave Coulson another cyclops glare then nodded. Honestly, he looked sadder about the Bus than Coulson.
"Fantasma, Mr. Ursus, it's a pleasure to meet you both," she said with a smile. "Fantasma, I believe you already know about the rules that have been set in place for provisional members of the Avengers?"
"Yes, Director Hill," Fantasma put her hands together in front of her and nodded with a serene smile. "I promise to follow all those rules for the duration of my time as an Avenger."
Maria seemed satisfied with that. "Then I'll have Dial show you and Mikhail to your rooms on the Tower for the time being. Welcome to America."
------
After a quick trip to the roof involving Fantasma floating us down to the tower, I led my Russian friends into the elevator. As the doors closed, Mikhail hummed to himself thoughtfully. "Things have changed. Once there would have been many security checks before I would have been let on American soil. I had assumed some security protocols at least to make sure we are who we say we are."
"What makes you think there aren't?" I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Hey, X, you guys still at it?"
Over the speakers, X replied. "Yes, sir. It is good to see you, by the way."
"X?" Fantasma asked curiously.
"One of my best friends," I replied with a shrug. "Right now, the first thing he's doing is reading the Omnitrix's unique signature to make sure I'm me, while also comparing my weight, gait, DNA, and brain scans all match what we have on file. He's also tracking any other energy signatures."
"That I am, sir," X said politely. "I wanted to mention that Fantasma has a strange energy around her. Her 'magic' perhaps?"
"You don't believe in magic?" Fantasma asked as though the idea was no surprise to her.
"I have no opinion on the matter, ma'am," X said politely. "I reckon trying to make assumptions without any proof would be a mistake on my part. Pleasure to meet you by the by."
"See, yer making friends already," I said to Fantasma with a grin while still facing the doors. "But yeah, this place has more safety protocols than most any building on Earth. We've been working on everything from Quantum physics to superhuman genetics, stuff lots of people would like to steal."
"Don't you get uncomfortable with that?" Fantasma asked while quirking her ruby red lips in a frown. "Being under constant watch?"
"I do. But then I think of all the assholes in the world who would want to sneak in here just to touch Black Widow's hair or try to steal an Iron Man suit, and suddenly I'm a lot less worried about it," I snarked.
"...her hair?" Fantasma asked worriedly. "You don't think, now that I'm an Avenger-"
"No," I said reflexively, narrowing my eyes. "You're one of us now. I was mostly exaggerating, but if anyone thinks of messing with ya, we're kicking their asses either literally or metaphorically in all the ways possible."
"...That is comforting to hear," Mikhail said softly. "I admit, I was-" the elevator came to a stop. When the doors opened, all three of us were surprised to see who was standing there. "Natasha?"
"Nat?" I asked at the same time. Then I looked over at Mikhail, who was looking a little… I don't know. You ever see someone you cared about years after the last time, but your last memories of them are connected to something you'd rather forget? The combination of sadness and fondness, where your eyes narrow but a smile comes to your face all the same?
That was the face Mikhail had.
And Natasha Romanov had the same look on her face. "Mikhail. It's been a long time."
"...yes, it has," he said softly.
We all stepped aside to let Nat inside. As we did, I gave Fantasma a confused look. She returned it, apparently just as lost. The doors closed behind my redhead mentor. For a moment, Mikhail looked down at her with that look. "You look good, young one."
"Not so young, these days," Nat said with a smirk.
"Oh please," I gave the buxom redhead a sarcastic look, the kind I'd learned from her. "You'll outlive us all and look damn good doing it."
Nat gave me a smile.
"So… you've taken on students?" Mikhail said, eyeing me.
"Yes," her gaze on me became thoughtful as I started to wonder if there was something much deeper going on here. "Him and another."
"That is good," the rough man said. "The Red Room… it should be forgotten. But to see it's teaching being used to help the world seems a fitting vengeance."
"You know about the Red Room?" I asked in confusion.
Mikhail's teeth showed, his eyes flashing the same color as his bear forms. "Oh yes… I destroyed them, in the end."
Oh damn. There really was something way deeper going on here.
"You never talk about it," Fantasma said softly.
"...It was a monstrous place," Mikhail said softly.
Nat seemed to agree.
"You," Mikhail eyed me again. "You have taken on a legacy that you may not have realized… I hope you are ready for it."
I looked over at Nat. "I don't know. I don't think I mind taking on Nat's legacy. After all," I lifted the Omnitrix, the green hourglass symbol glowing. "We do have the same symbol."
Nat's Black Widow symbol, a red hourglass in a black circle, was resting in the center of her belt. She looked down at it and tapped at it, a little 'clink-clink' following the motion. "Yeah. Guess we do," she said softly.
"Natasha," Mikhail said. "There is something we must discuss in private."
The doors opened then. I stepped out and gestured. "This is our stop. Who's coming?"
Fantasma, Mikhail, and Natasha all filed out. Then Nat took a hold of my left arm with a grin. Before I could say anything, she twisted my arm and twisted around, sending me stumbling with a kick to the butt.
"Nat, what the hell!?" I yelped as she sent me through an open door. I stumbled into one of the empty conference rooms that were set up through the tower and turned to look at my grinning mentor/friend.
"Sorry, Mahmoud," Nat chuckled. "But I doubt you'll mind too much."
I gave her a confused look as she shut the door, Mikhail and Fantasma looking just as startled behind her. Then I looked to my left. I suddenly realized what was happening.
"...Jen," I said softly.
Jennifer Walters, the Incredible She-Hulk, was standing before me with her arms crossed. She walked up to stand very close, nearly a head taller than me, and smirked. "Hey. Heard you had a hell of a trip to Russia."
I didn't say anything. I just looked up at her for a moment. Her green hair was loose around her shoulders, her eyes flashing that familiar emerald. It's weird, ya know? Trying to figure out if how gorgeous she was had to do with her in general, or if I just kept thinking of good moments we had together when she smiled.
"Nice shirt," I said at last.
She uncrossed her arms and cocked a hip confidently, letting me get a good look at it. The Omnitrix symbol rested across her chest, the black shirt stretched very tightly across her form. "Thanks."
Before I could say anything else, she rested a hand on my chest and pushed me back against the wall behind me, biting her bottom lip. I let her do it, still looking up at her. "You know, you've been getting pretty big. All that time in the gym has been working for ya."
Her right hand flattened against my chest. For all her strength, the way she curled her fingers to stroke her palm against me was gentle. And possessive as well. I didn't say anything as she stepped closer, stooping down toward me. She smiled just a bit as our foreheads touched. Her hand moved from my chest to my back.
I'd like to say I was confident and cool. That as Jen held me there, I managed to be as suave as Tony was around women. But I could feel my heartbeat speed up in my chest as my eyes widened, my palms getting sweaty. God, how sad that Jen being so close to me made more nervous than armies of HYDRA and super-apes ever had.
But there was more to it
She didn't move any further, just keeping me against the wall. Her left hand wrapped up in mine. "So. You going to do anything?" she asked confidently. Her gaze was so steady on me that I almost didn't catch the slight catch in her breath. She pulled me closer. "Or just keep waiting?"
I couldn't take my eyes off hers. They were green with flecks of brown like chocolate chips floating in mint ice cream. Right up until my eyes closed and I leaned in, wrapping my arms around her waist, my brown skin resting against emerald. Our lips met slowly. She sank down towards me, pressing me against the wall.
We held each other close. After a long moment, she pulled back, panting heavily with a grin on her face. "Took ya long enough, you dummy."
"Sorry," I was breathing slowly. I leaned my head forward to touch my forehead back to hers. "I was… scared. Hard feeling like I was worthy of ya."
"Isn't that up to me?" she whispered softly.
I pressed a hand to her cheek and went for her lips again. She met me in the middle, and we slowly sank to the floor.
------
Natasha Romanov/Black Widow
"What was that about?" Fantasma asked curiously as Natasha led Mikhail and her away.
Natasha smirked. "Nothing too crazy. Just Dial working on the interpersonal relationships of the team."
Fantasma didn't seem to know what that meant, while Mikhail didn't seem to care. Natasha led her fellow Russians down the halls of the Avengers Tower, ignoring the sound of something heavy falling behind her.
"I believe Dial already mentioned our security measures, so you can be assured of your safety while in the tower," Natasha said. "Your room is going to be in-between Alloy and Hawkeye's. And don't worry. Tony Stark doesn't skimp on rooms."
Natasha stopped in front of a door and opened it.
"I am sure it will be-" Fantasma stopped short to stare in awe.
The room was massive, like the others in the tower, large enough to be a penthouse suite. The kitchen was well made and shone with new hardware, the living room had an entertainment system and couch all set up. The big surprise was the library set up in the near center, just behind the living room. Bookshelves made of some sort of wood that had a purple sheen surrounded the center, which had a soft looking carpet with Arabian style designs sewn across it. A large desk stood in the center as well and on it sat-
"Harry Potter," Fantasma narrowed her eyes at the books that were stacked on the top of the desk. She strode across the room to glare down at the books as though they had personally offended her. Then she looked at the paraphernalia surrounding the books. "A fake wand. A 'time turner'. A snitch. And wizarding robes…"
Natasha smirked at the annoyed look on Fantasma's face. "I think he left a note."
Fantasma lifted the piece of paper on the desk and read it silently. Then she burned it with a pulse of purple flames. "I have yet to meet Stark, but I do not like him."
"He called you Hermione, didn't he?" Mikhail said with a sigh.
The violet witch growled in a perfect imitation of Mikhail's bear form.
Natasha, still hiding her amusement, gestured to the bedroom. "Go ahead and leave your bags in the bedroom so we can continue the tour. In the meantime, let me show you where you will be staying Mikhail and then some of the important areas."
Fantasma, still scowling, went into the bedroom and left her bags, coming back out with another glare. "I prefer Dresden Files," she grumbled under her breath.
Natasha led them to Mikhail's room, which was more of a generic but very nice hotel room than anything, then toward the laboratories.
It was there that Fantasma met another Avenger.
"Bruce," Natasha said as they met the scientist in the hall directly outside the various labs, which could be seen through the glass walls all around them.
Bruce, dressed in a lab coat and warm looking hoodie, gave Natasha a smile, then nodded toward Fantasma and Mikhail. "Hey Nat. You giving the tour?"
"I did pull the short straw," she joked. "I believe I don't need to make any introductions?"
That was true. All the Avengers had watched the Winter Guard's introduction and read the files BRIDGE had immediately created on every member so that they could learn about their new 'counterparts'.
"It's good to meet you both," Bruce said, eyes slightly wider than normal as he smiled just a bit crookedly.
"It is good to meet you as well," Fantasma responded with a bit more enthusiasm. "I've heard good things about you."
"That all you've heard?" Bruce asked, giving Natasha a bit of Deja Vu.
Fantasma paused for a moment, biting her bottom lip before speaking. "It was all that mattered."
A chuckle from behind the Russians drew their attention. They turned to see Steve Rogers walk up to them with mirth in his eyes. "Now that sounds familiar."
Bruce and Nat shared a pleased grin as Steve walked up to hold a hand out to Mikhail. "Good to meet you. I'm-"
"Steve, everyone on Earth knows who you are," Nat interrupted. It was cute that Steve didn't realize how famous he was, because he honestly looked a bit befuddled.
"She is right," Mikhail shook Steve's hand with a bit of an awed look on his face. "I am a fan of your work, Captain."
"You are?" Fantasma, Nat, Bruce, and Steve said in surprised unison.
"Of course! I have his collectible cards!" Mikhail chuckled.
Well, Nat was getting some serious flashbacks now.
Fantasma gave the older man an odd look as she shook hands with Steve, who seemed both touched and slightly uncomfortable all at once.
"Well, I'm honored. And it's a pleasure to meet you both," Steve looked Fantasma in the eyes. "I'd also like to welcome you to the Avengers. While it might take some time for everyone to get used to the idea, I want you to know we're at your disposal. If you need anything we'll all pitch in. All we ask is that you fight alongside us honorably."
Fantasma straightened up, her face firming with determination. "Do not worry. I will comport myself as a valued member of your team."
Steve looked down at her a moment longer. He towered over the shorter girl, looking almost gigantic in front of her. Despite that, Fantasma continued to glare up at him with pride, not shifting her stance at all. Steve seemed to note this. He nodded firmly. "Great. Good to have you on the team."
"Same here," Bruce chuckled. "Well, half, anyway. The Other Guy might feel different down the road, but I'll keep him as calm as I can," he joked.
Nobody seemed to know how to take that. Bruce's amusement faded at the awkward silence and he coughed awkwardly. "Well uh, I got to get back to work. It was uh, nice meeting you all."
He turned and walked into his lab as fast as he could, Nat smiling at him. Bruce being able to joke about the Hulk was good, even if he wasn't a natural comedian.
"Anyways, let me show you to the-" Nat stopped when a loud clanking sound drew nearer. They all turned to look.
Jarvis and X, both in their android forms, slowly approached them. Jarvis was still dressed in a suit, looking very dapper, while X was wearing a BRIDGE t-shirt and some blue jeans.
"Mornin," X said politely, passing the group as they watched.
"Morning X, morning Jarvis," Natasha responded calmly.
Jarvis's eyes turned off and on in a simulation of a blink. "Good morning. Apologies for the briefness of our greeting, but we must attend to our duties. Mr. Uriokovitch, Mrs. Fantasma, welcome to the United States," with that, Jarvis continued on, leaving Fantasma and Mikhail staring after X and Jarvis.
"...Are they in suits?" Fantasma asked.
"I don't believe they are," Mikhail looked over at Natasha.
"No, they're androids," Natasha said easily. "They built themselves bodies so they could help the team. Don't worry, they're officially employees and quite friendly."
Mikhail and Fantasma didn't seem to know what to think of that, while Steve rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.
Natasha hid her own feelings on the subject. She knew Tony had some countermeasures on the back burner just in case some non-friendly AI showed up, and she'd long since made him promise to share. She spun on her heel and started walking. "Come on. Let me show you the recreation area."
------
After showing them around for the next few minutes, Mikhail and Nat finally got a chance to speak in private. Or at least as private as things could be in the Avengers Tower. While Natasha liked Mikhail all right, he was still technically a superhuman capable of turning into a massive bear that worked for a government that had pulled a rather duplicitous stunt recently. Hard to have complete trust without having the naivety of a child.
So they stood in a large and empty room made of black material with computer systems connected to X and Jarvis' network, one set up to bring out automatic turrets in case brown fur started to fly.
"I was not lying earlier. You look good, Natasha. Happy," Mikhail said fondly in Russian.
Natasha eyed him. She wasn't exactly the cuddly type, so having Mikhail looking down at her like an uncle proud of his favorite niece was an odd experience. She didn't like it much. Considering what they had gone through together, she was willing to let it go.
"Thank you, Mikhail," she said magnanimously, using her home language as well.
He seemed to realize she wasn't feeling it and changed tactics. "So… have you taken any other students?"
"Does that matter?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
To her surprise, he frowned. "...It might. The Red Room may be better off left in the past."
"I'm not using their methods," Natasha scowled. "Beyond the morality of it, it's also damn wasteful."
"Natasha, I know that," Mikhail crossed his arms. "The problem isn't you training them. I am not the only one who recognizes how Red Room recruits look in a fight. Dial has little to nothing of the instincts of a true killer and I still recognized it."
She rolled her eyes. "You recognized it because you've seen it up close. He uses more boxing than anything else."
To her displeasure. He was willing to learn everything else but he never seemed to absorb the more athletic moves that could have helped him in combat. Then again, she may have been biased in that regard.
"And the other students?"
Natasha thought of Ruby. The former HYDRA student was coming along very well, absorbing every lesson she was taught with impressive speed. It wasn't as though she hadn't shared a few of her skills with SHIELD operatives. But Ruby and Dial were the only ones she'd put real work into, and Ruby was the one who took to her lessons.
"Mikhail… what are you so worried about?" Natasha asked at last.
"I'm not sure… there have been some-" he cut himself off, worry creasing his brow. "Let me think on this for now. I don't want to overly worry you."
Mikhail turned around.
"Mikhail," Natasha snapped.
He stopped immediately. "...Not today, Natasha. Today, my Fantasma is joining you. This is a good day. We have time for worries later."
He left her with that.
Natasha crossed her arms and turned to look at the wall behind her. The Red Room… That place was never going to loosen its grip of her, was it?
She walked out of the room a few moments later, walking aimlessly toward the labs. As she passed, Bruce popped his head out. "Hey, Nat? Have you seen Jen?"
"..." Natasha felt a mischievous smile grow on her face. "Oh, yeah. She might still be busy. You want to see her?"
Bruce nodded, sighing in relief. "Yes, thank you. I just wanted to ask her about her dad coming over soon."
Her smile widened a bit more. "Well, let me lead you to her!"
What do you know? Looked like the day was going to end on a high note!
------
Author's Note: Natasha... you're mean.
Well, Dial, dating a superhero has its risks mate. Good thing you've improved your cardio. Still... worth it.
Anyway, hope you guys liked this chapter! It was fun to write! Let me know what you think, and please update the TVTropes page, because seeing it grow is so damn cool.
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------
The second we'd lifted off, I put some work into the plane itself. I couldn't do much since, despite Upgrade being able to live up to his name, I still needed to work damn hard to make sure my changes were permanent, and even that was optimization, repairs or other superficial stuff. Later I might work to get some more interesting stuff done, but based on what I could see of Coulson as he wandered around inside me, a new plane might be better. I also shut off several trackers that had been left inside the Antonov, repaired some smaller issues that would have been missed by a human mechanic, and added little things to make the plane more fuel efficient and faster. Not as good as Tony or Jury Rigg, but damn good for a few seconds of work.
Then May twisted the controls. I spun in a little daredevil maneuver in accordance with that. Curious, I sprouted my head in the cockpit. "Hey May. Everything okay?"
"Hm?" May looked at me idly, as though random heads sprouting out of the wall was an everyday thing. I swear, we're all getting so jaded on this job. "Oh, sorry. I was just testing her out."
"I get that," I said thoughtfully. "Tell ya what. What about I manipulate the gravity in the rest of the plane so they don't get affected, and I let you go nuts."
"You can do that?" May asked in surprise.
"May, Upgrade is stupidly overpowered sometimes," I said, my round green eye turning up in an Upgrade smile. "Seriously you wanna have some fun?"
She smirked. Then she pulled back on the controls, bringing the Antonov into an insanely fast climb, before spinning at high speed. I manipulated the gravity in every room except the cockpit to keep the others from feeling the sudden speed and spin, then let out a whoop of joy, May smirking just a bit wider.
"Mahmoud!" Someone yelled inside the section of the plane that could be called the lounge. I pulled my head from the cockpit and sprouted it in there. Coulson was standing in the center of the black and green space, while Skye and Fitz were sitting nearby.
Coulson looked at me as I rose out of the floor in front of him. "What's up?"
"Are you responsible for that?" He pointed at the window. Outside, one could see just how much fun May was having.
"Uh… yeah?" I said with a small chuckle. "May wanted to go all out."
"Can you at least change the view? Some of us are feeling a bit queasy seeing the world twist outside while we're all standing still," Coulson looked over at Simmons, who was holding a hand over her mouth as Fitz rubbed her back.
"Ohhhh, ohhhhh," she said weakly.
"Sure thing!" I manipulated the windows to show a normal sky.
"Thank you very much," Coulson smirked. "Now, can you check on our Russian guests? I'll join you in a moment."
I nodded my tendril head, then flowed through to the ship to where Mikhail and Fantasma were. Then I stopped when I realized they weren't the only ones there.
Creel and Skye were with them, the foursome sitting around a large metal barrel with a spigot on the side. They all had some clear drinks in small shot glasses, apparently coming from the metal barrel.
"Where did that come from?" I asked as soon as I saw the barrel.
Mikhail cursed in surprise when he noticed my head popping from the floor, then looked me over. "Dial? What in god's name?"
I blinked a circular eye. "Yeah, what's up?"
"You're a head," Fantasma said weakly. Mikhail tried to poke at me in fascination, recoiling when I shifted my form back.
"Don't do that," I said, twisting my eye to stimulate a frown.
"That is so… strange," Mikhail mumbled.
"Yeah, he does this sometimes," Skye sipped her drink, giving me a fond smile.
"Where did you guys get the vodka?" I asked, cocking my head tendril.
"This?" Mikhail looked down at it. "Oh. I requested it," he tapped it with a chuckle. "I figured it would be a while before I got real Russian drink."
"He means," Fantasma grumbled. "He's the drunkest bear in Russia and he loves proving it."
"You want me to take that back?" Mikhail pointed at her drink. Fantasma took another lazy sip, smiling at him. "Also, what was that earlier?" he pointed at the window. "I know I didn't drink that much-"
"Could have fooled me," Creel mumbled.
"So why was the world twisting?" Mikhail continued.
"May wanted to have fun," I tried my best to shrug, Fantasma and Mikhail staring at the odd image of a head 'shrugging'.
"May?" Skye said in sheer disbelief.
"She can be pretty fun sometimes."
"We aren't talking about the same May, are we?" Skye said again.
Coulson came in right about then carrying a bunch of files. He stopped when he saw the barrel. "...I'm going to just assume that's your fault," he said to Mikhail. The part-time bear grinned, chugging back his drink and pouring himself another.
The leader of Team SHIELD smiled, walking up to join us. "First, pour me a glass," Creel politely reached for a glass. "Second, I have your papers," he held out the papers to Fantasma, who rose and took them.
"About that," I said. "She's an Avenger now?"
"Yeah, when were we getting the memo?" Creel added. He looked over at Fantasma. "I mean, I like you. And I'm the last person to judge how ready someone is to be an Avenger. But it's unexpected, ya know?"
"Zat is understandable," Fantasma said in slightly accented English. She was once again sitting as calmly as a queen in her court, one leg draped over the other as she lifted her lips just a bit. "It was a surprise to me as well."
"Apparently, the Russian government was always planning on doing this," Coulson added. "They weren't sure of who would go, but the decision to send a Winter Guard member to BRIDGE was in motion for awhile. But recent events accelerated that."
"Kragoff," Fantasma needlessly explained.
"And you're okay with that?" Skye asked incredulously. "Just being traded off like a baseball card or something?"
Fantasma glared at her. "Of course not! ...I finally found a home. And now I must leave it…" she looked over at Mikhail. He gave her a sad, but proud, smile. Skye looked over at Coulson, who I noticed gave her the same smile.
"However, it is for my country, and the world," Fantasma continued firmly. "I will work as hard as any other Avenger, this I promise."
"And spy on us on the side," Coulson added wryly. While Fantasma looked offended at the insinuation, Mikhail nodded.
"That is side benefit, true."
"Mikhail!" Fantasma seemed aghast.
The part-time bear chuckled. "Do not worry. It is a mark of respect among spymasters to acknowledge the fact we spy on one another. I imagine that you left a few bugs in our base?" he added to Coulson.
Coulson shrugged. "Felt rude not to," was his shameless reply, the older man smirking.
"As well it would have," Mikhail chuckled. "As well it would have!"
"...You guys are weird," I said, at last, Creel, Skye, and Fantasma all nodding in agreement.
------
Phil Coulson
Coulson strode through the Antonov, trying to get used to the makeup of the plane. Despite Dial mixing together with the plane and making some changes to the interior, like SHIELD symbols on a few of the walls and a shiny black finish with green circuitry lines, the Upgrade trademark, the plane still didn't feel right. Granted, he'd only been there for a couple of hours. But this little gift from the Russian government wouldn't feel like home for a while.
For one thing, it was ninety percent cargo bay. Felt like it, at least. There were some thin walls, sure, but there was still a lot less privacy here than there had been on the Bus.
And that was the crux of the matter. No matter how long he walked through the ship, he couldn't help but remember his former home. Best to get used to it. The Bus wasn't coming back. Better to move on.
Of course, the old plane hadn't been the only casualty of the little war in Russia.
Coulson stopped near the back of the plane and eyed Lola for a moment before sighing. She'd been secured nice and tight toward the right. She was also still covered in pits from where plasma had melted the car across her surface. The wheels had also been melted, the windshield shattered, and the upholstery covered in bear fur and large scratches. She'd had much better days.
"I'm sorry about Lola, sir," someone said behind Coulson. He turned to see Fitz standing there, the young man looking more than a little nervous.
"She'll be all right," Coulson said sadly. "You know, these old SHIELD vehicles… they were made to fight in an emergency. To save the day at the last minute," he patted Lola's red hood, careful to avoid one of the holes that had been burned into her. "I think she appreciated the chance to do it again."
"We'll get her up and running again soon, sir," Fitz said kindly. "Just like new."
"Thank you, Fitz," Coulson looked over at him. "So, did you need to speak with me about something?"
Fitz winced. "Y-Yeah. It's just… I've been thinking, I mean, Simmons and me were thinking, ever since we started this, we love working for you," Fitz was now speaking a mile a minute, crossing his arms nervously. "So we wanted to talk to you, but then all that stuff with Kragoff and Russia, and we didn't want to-"
"Fitz," Coulson said kindly. He smiled at the way Fitz cut himself off immediately. "I already know."
Fitz's arms fell to his sides. His eyes widened as the rest of him stilled. "You do?"
"How could I not?" Coulson chuckled. "I've known you for this long, haven't I? It's not like I can blame you. You've been doing a lot of good work with Stark, of course you'd want to continue that. I want you to be happy, both you and Simmons. If you have to leave to do it, I don't think I'd mind that too much."
The British young man sighed in relief. "Thank you for understanding sir… Can we still come on missions with you, every once in a while?"
"Well, that's up to the director," Coulson shrugged. "But if it was up to me, absolutely."
Fitz's face lit up happily. "Thank you, sir!" Then he let out a little sound. "Oh, right! I uh, I have some recommendations for replacing us! Would you like to go over them with Simmons and I?"
"Sure thing," Coulson said.
"Great!" Fitz rushed off, turning to run backwards so he could face Coulson. "I promise, the people we've picked are the best, perfect- oop," he stumbled back into a crate and nearly feel, righting himself to continue his sentence. "They'll be perfect replacements, I promise!"
Fitz ran further in excitedly. As he did, Coulson's smile sank away. He turned to Lola, resting his palms against her. "I doubt that… I really doubt that."
New plane, new team members, new organization… Phil Coulson was really tired of losing things.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
We got home in record time, considering our plane was late Soviet era tech. Wonders of alien nanotechnology enhancements. When we got there we landed on the Enterprise, the Helicarrier in it's usual spot floating high above New York with her camouflage panels on.
The second that the front of the plane rose up, Director Maria Hill was there to greet us along Nick Fury, both dressed in their best clothes. As we walked down to greet them, Fury was the first to speak over the winds of the skies around us.
"I hear you broke my plane!" he said to Coulson.
"Take it up with Kragoff!" Coulson smirked.
"And whose fault was it that crazy monkey-fucker destroyed it?" Fury said grumpily. "Had a full superhero team and you couldn't keep the damn plane intact? She had a bar!"
Director Maria rolled her eyes. "Fury, if we can get to the important part?" Fury gave Coulson another cyclops glare then nodded. Honestly, he looked sadder about the Bus than Coulson.
"Fantasma, Mr. Ursus, it's a pleasure to meet you both," she said with a smile. "Fantasma, I believe you already know about the rules that have been set in place for provisional members of the Avengers?"
"Yes, Director Hill," Fantasma put her hands together in front of her and nodded with a serene smile. "I promise to follow all those rules for the duration of my time as an Avenger."
Maria seemed satisfied with that. "Then I'll have Dial show you and Mikhail to your rooms on the Tower for the time being. Welcome to America."
------
After a quick trip to the roof involving Fantasma floating us down to the tower, I led my Russian friends into the elevator. As the doors closed, Mikhail hummed to himself thoughtfully. "Things have changed. Once there would have been many security checks before I would have been let on American soil. I had assumed some security protocols at least to make sure we are who we say we are."
"What makes you think there aren't?" I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Hey, X, you guys still at it?"
Over the speakers, X replied. "Yes, sir. It is good to see you, by the way."
"X?" Fantasma asked curiously.
"One of my best friends," I replied with a shrug. "Right now, the first thing he's doing is reading the Omnitrix's unique signature to make sure I'm me, while also comparing my weight, gait, DNA, and brain scans all match what we have on file. He's also tracking any other energy signatures."
"That I am, sir," X said politely. "I wanted to mention that Fantasma has a strange energy around her. Her 'magic' perhaps?"
"You don't believe in magic?" Fantasma asked as though the idea was no surprise to her.
"I have no opinion on the matter, ma'am," X said politely. "I reckon trying to make assumptions without any proof would be a mistake on my part. Pleasure to meet you by the by."
"See, yer making friends already," I said to Fantasma with a grin while still facing the doors. "But yeah, this place has more safety protocols than most any building on Earth. We've been working on everything from Quantum physics to superhuman genetics, stuff lots of people would like to steal."
"Don't you get uncomfortable with that?" Fantasma asked while quirking her ruby red lips in a frown. "Being under constant watch?"
"I do. But then I think of all the assholes in the world who would want to sneak in here just to touch Black Widow's hair or try to steal an Iron Man suit, and suddenly I'm a lot less worried about it," I snarked.
"...her hair?" Fantasma asked worriedly. "You don't think, now that I'm an Avenger-"
"No," I said reflexively, narrowing my eyes. "You're one of us now. I was mostly exaggerating, but if anyone thinks of messing with ya, we're kicking their asses either literally or metaphorically in all the ways possible."
"...That is comforting to hear," Mikhail said softly. "I admit, I was-" the elevator came to a stop. When the doors opened, all three of us were surprised to see who was standing there. "Natasha?"
"Nat?" I asked at the same time. Then I looked over at Mikhail, who was looking a little… I don't know. You ever see someone you cared about years after the last time, but your last memories of them are connected to something you'd rather forget? The combination of sadness and fondness, where your eyes narrow but a smile comes to your face all the same?
That was the face Mikhail had.
And Natasha Romanov had the same look on her face. "Mikhail. It's been a long time."
"...yes, it has," he said softly.
We all stepped aside to let Nat inside. As we did, I gave Fantasma a confused look. She returned it, apparently just as lost. The doors closed behind my redhead mentor. For a moment, Mikhail looked down at her with that look. "You look good, young one."
"Not so young, these days," Nat said with a smirk.
"Oh please," I gave the buxom redhead a sarcastic look, the kind I'd learned from her. "You'll outlive us all and look damn good doing it."
Nat gave me a smile.
"So… you've taken on students?" Mikhail said, eyeing me.
"Yes," her gaze on me became thoughtful as I started to wonder if there was something much deeper going on here. "Him and another."
"That is good," the rough man said. "The Red Room… it should be forgotten. But to see it's teaching being used to help the world seems a fitting vengeance."
"You know about the Red Room?" I asked in confusion.
Mikhail's teeth showed, his eyes flashing the same color as his bear forms. "Oh yes… I destroyed them, in the end."
Oh damn. There really was something way deeper going on here.
"You never talk about it," Fantasma said softly.
"...It was a monstrous place," Mikhail said softly.
Nat seemed to agree.
"You," Mikhail eyed me again. "You have taken on a legacy that you may not have realized… I hope you are ready for it."
I looked over at Nat. "I don't know. I don't think I mind taking on Nat's legacy. After all," I lifted the Omnitrix, the green hourglass symbol glowing. "We do have the same symbol."
Nat's Black Widow symbol, a red hourglass in a black circle, was resting in the center of her belt. She looked down at it and tapped at it, a little 'clink-clink' following the motion. "Yeah. Guess we do," she said softly.
"Natasha," Mikhail said. "There is something we must discuss in private."
The doors opened then. I stepped out and gestured. "This is our stop. Who's coming?"
Fantasma, Mikhail, and Natasha all filed out. Then Nat took a hold of my left arm with a grin. Before I could say anything, she twisted my arm and twisted around, sending me stumbling with a kick to the butt.
"Nat, what the hell!?" I yelped as she sent me through an open door. I stumbled into one of the empty conference rooms that were set up through the tower and turned to look at my grinning mentor/friend.
"Sorry, Mahmoud," Nat chuckled. "But I doubt you'll mind too much."
I gave her a confused look as she shut the door, Mikhail and Fantasma looking just as startled behind her. Then I looked to my left. I suddenly realized what was happening.
"...Jen," I said softly.
Jennifer Walters, the Incredible She-Hulk, was standing before me with her arms crossed. She walked up to stand very close, nearly a head taller than me, and smirked. "Hey. Heard you had a hell of a trip to Russia."
I didn't say anything. I just looked up at her for a moment. Her green hair was loose around her shoulders, her eyes flashing that familiar emerald. It's weird, ya know? Trying to figure out if how gorgeous she was had to do with her in general, or if I just kept thinking of good moments we had together when she smiled.
"Nice shirt," I said at last.
She uncrossed her arms and cocked a hip confidently, letting me get a good look at it. The Omnitrix symbol rested across her chest, the black shirt stretched very tightly across her form. "Thanks."
Before I could say anything else, she rested a hand on my chest and pushed me back against the wall behind me, biting her bottom lip. I let her do it, still looking up at her. "You know, you've been getting pretty big. All that time in the gym has been working for ya."
Her right hand flattened against my chest. For all her strength, the way she curled her fingers to stroke her palm against me was gentle. And possessive as well. I didn't say anything as she stepped closer, stooping down toward me. She smiled just a bit as our foreheads touched. Her hand moved from my chest to my back.
I'd like to say I was confident and cool. That as Jen held me there, I managed to be as suave as Tony was around women. But I could feel my heartbeat speed up in my chest as my eyes widened, my palms getting sweaty. God, how sad that Jen being so close to me made more nervous than armies of HYDRA and super-apes ever had.
But there was more to it
She didn't move any further, just keeping me against the wall. Her left hand wrapped up in mine. "So. You going to do anything?" she asked confidently. Her gaze was so steady on me that I almost didn't catch the slight catch in her breath. She pulled me closer. "Or just keep waiting?"
I couldn't take my eyes off hers. They were green with flecks of brown like chocolate chips floating in mint ice cream. Right up until my eyes closed and I leaned in, wrapping my arms around her waist, my brown skin resting against emerald. Our lips met slowly. She sank down towards me, pressing me against the wall.
We held each other close. After a long moment, she pulled back, panting heavily with a grin on her face. "Took ya long enough, you dummy."
"Sorry," I was breathing slowly. I leaned my head forward to touch my forehead back to hers. "I was… scared. Hard feeling like I was worthy of ya."
"Isn't that up to me?" she whispered softly.
I pressed a hand to her cheek and went for her lips again. She met me in the middle, and we slowly sank to the floor.
------
Natasha Romanov/Black Widow
"What was that about?" Fantasma asked curiously as Natasha led Mikhail and her away.
Natasha smirked. "Nothing too crazy. Just Dial working on the interpersonal relationships of the team."
Fantasma didn't seem to know what that meant, while Mikhail didn't seem to care. Natasha led her fellow Russians down the halls of the Avengers Tower, ignoring the sound of something heavy falling behind her.
"I believe Dial already mentioned our security measures, so you can be assured of your safety while in the tower," Natasha said. "Your room is going to be in-between Alloy and Hawkeye's. And don't worry. Tony Stark doesn't skimp on rooms."
Natasha stopped in front of a door and opened it.
"I am sure it will be-" Fantasma stopped short to stare in awe.
The room was massive, like the others in the tower, large enough to be a penthouse suite. The kitchen was well made and shone with new hardware, the living room had an entertainment system and couch all set up. The big surprise was the library set up in the near center, just behind the living room. Bookshelves made of some sort of wood that had a purple sheen surrounded the center, which had a soft looking carpet with Arabian style designs sewn across it. A large desk stood in the center as well and on it sat-
"Harry Potter," Fantasma narrowed her eyes at the books that were stacked on the top of the desk. She strode across the room to glare down at the books as though they had personally offended her. Then she looked at the paraphernalia surrounding the books. "A fake wand. A 'time turner'. A snitch. And wizarding robes…"
Natasha smirked at the annoyed look on Fantasma's face. "I think he left a note."
Fantasma lifted the piece of paper on the desk and read it silently. Then she burned it with a pulse of purple flames. "I have yet to meet Stark, but I do not like him."
"He called you Hermione, didn't he?" Mikhail said with a sigh.
The violet witch growled in a perfect imitation of Mikhail's bear form.
Natasha, still hiding her amusement, gestured to the bedroom. "Go ahead and leave your bags in the bedroom so we can continue the tour. In the meantime, let me show you where you will be staying Mikhail and then some of the important areas."
Fantasma, still scowling, went into the bedroom and left her bags, coming back out with another glare. "I prefer Dresden Files," she grumbled under her breath.
Natasha led them to Mikhail's room, which was more of a generic but very nice hotel room than anything, then toward the laboratories.
It was there that Fantasma met another Avenger.
"Bruce," Natasha said as they met the scientist in the hall directly outside the various labs, which could be seen through the glass walls all around them.
Bruce, dressed in a lab coat and warm looking hoodie, gave Natasha a smile, then nodded toward Fantasma and Mikhail. "Hey Nat. You giving the tour?"
"I did pull the short straw," she joked. "I believe I don't need to make any introductions?"
That was true. All the Avengers had watched the Winter Guard's introduction and read the files BRIDGE had immediately created on every member so that they could learn about their new 'counterparts'.
"It's good to meet you both," Bruce said, eyes slightly wider than normal as he smiled just a bit crookedly.
"It is good to meet you as well," Fantasma responded with a bit more enthusiasm. "I've heard good things about you."
"That all you've heard?" Bruce asked, giving Natasha a bit of Deja Vu.
Fantasma paused for a moment, biting her bottom lip before speaking. "It was all that mattered."
A chuckle from behind the Russians drew their attention. They turned to see Steve Rogers walk up to them with mirth in his eyes. "Now that sounds familiar."
Bruce and Nat shared a pleased grin as Steve walked up to hold a hand out to Mikhail. "Good to meet you. I'm-"
"Steve, everyone on Earth knows who you are," Nat interrupted. It was cute that Steve didn't realize how famous he was, because he honestly looked a bit befuddled.
"She is right," Mikhail shook Steve's hand with a bit of an awed look on his face. "I am a fan of your work, Captain."
"You are?" Fantasma, Nat, Bruce, and Steve said in surprised unison.
"Of course! I have his collectible cards!" Mikhail chuckled.
Well, Nat was getting some serious flashbacks now.
Fantasma gave the older man an odd look as she shook hands with Steve, who seemed both touched and slightly uncomfortable all at once.
"Well, I'm honored. And it's a pleasure to meet you both," Steve looked Fantasma in the eyes. "I'd also like to welcome you to the Avengers. While it might take some time for everyone to get used to the idea, I want you to know we're at your disposal. If you need anything we'll all pitch in. All we ask is that you fight alongside us honorably."
Fantasma straightened up, her face firming with determination. "Do not worry. I will comport myself as a valued member of your team."
Steve looked down at her a moment longer. He towered over the shorter girl, looking almost gigantic in front of her. Despite that, Fantasma continued to glare up at him with pride, not shifting her stance at all. Steve seemed to note this. He nodded firmly. "Great. Good to have you on the team."
"Same here," Bruce chuckled. "Well, half, anyway. The Other Guy might feel different down the road, but I'll keep him as calm as I can," he joked.
Nobody seemed to know how to take that. Bruce's amusement faded at the awkward silence and he coughed awkwardly. "Well uh, I got to get back to work. It was uh, nice meeting you all."
He turned and walked into his lab as fast as he could, Nat smiling at him. Bruce being able to joke about the Hulk was good, even if he wasn't a natural comedian.
"Anyways, let me show you to the-" Nat stopped when a loud clanking sound drew nearer. They all turned to look.
Jarvis and X, both in their android forms, slowly approached them. Jarvis was still dressed in a suit, looking very dapper, while X was wearing a BRIDGE t-shirt and some blue jeans.
"Mornin," X said politely, passing the group as they watched.
"Morning X, morning Jarvis," Natasha responded calmly.
Jarvis's eyes turned off and on in a simulation of a blink. "Good morning. Apologies for the briefness of our greeting, but we must attend to our duties. Mr. Uriokovitch, Mrs. Fantasma, welcome to the United States," with that, Jarvis continued on, leaving Fantasma and Mikhail staring after X and Jarvis.
"...Are they in suits?" Fantasma asked.
"I don't believe they are," Mikhail looked over at Natasha.
"No, they're androids," Natasha said easily. "They built themselves bodies so they could help the team. Don't worry, they're officially employees and quite friendly."
Mikhail and Fantasma didn't seem to know what to think of that, while Steve rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.
Natasha hid her own feelings on the subject. She knew Tony had some countermeasures on the back burner just in case some non-friendly AI showed up, and she'd long since made him promise to share. She spun on her heel and started walking. "Come on. Let me show you the recreation area."
------
After showing them around for the next few minutes, Mikhail and Nat finally got a chance to speak in private. Or at least as private as things could be in the Avengers Tower. While Natasha liked Mikhail all right, he was still technically a superhuman capable of turning into a massive bear that worked for a government that had pulled a rather duplicitous stunt recently. Hard to have complete trust without having the naivety of a child.
So they stood in a large and empty room made of black material with computer systems connected to X and Jarvis' network, one set up to bring out automatic turrets in case brown fur started to fly.
"I was not lying earlier. You look good, Natasha. Happy," Mikhail said fondly in Russian.
Natasha eyed him. She wasn't exactly the cuddly type, so having Mikhail looking down at her like an uncle proud of his favorite niece was an odd experience. She didn't like it much. Considering what they had gone through together, she was willing to let it go.
"Thank you, Mikhail," she said magnanimously, using her home language as well.
He seemed to realize she wasn't feeling it and changed tactics. "So… have you taken any other students?"
"Does that matter?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
To her surprise, he frowned. "...It might. The Red Room may be better off left in the past."
"I'm not using their methods," Natasha scowled. "Beyond the morality of it, it's also damn wasteful."
"Natasha, I know that," Mikhail crossed his arms. "The problem isn't you training them. I am not the only one who recognizes how Red Room recruits look in a fight. Dial has little to nothing of the instincts of a true killer and I still recognized it."
She rolled her eyes. "You recognized it because you've seen it up close. He uses more boxing than anything else."
To her displeasure. He was willing to learn everything else but he never seemed to absorb the more athletic moves that could have helped him in combat. Then again, she may have been biased in that regard.
"And the other students?"
Natasha thought of Ruby. The former HYDRA student was coming along very well, absorbing every lesson she was taught with impressive speed. It wasn't as though she hadn't shared a few of her skills with SHIELD operatives. But Ruby and Dial were the only ones she'd put real work into, and Ruby was the one who took to her lessons.
"Mikhail… what are you so worried about?" Natasha asked at last.
"I'm not sure… there have been some-" he cut himself off, worry creasing his brow. "Let me think on this for now. I don't want to overly worry you."
Mikhail turned around.
"Mikhail," Natasha snapped.
He stopped immediately. "...Not today, Natasha. Today, my Fantasma is joining you. This is a good day. We have time for worries later."
He left her with that.
Natasha crossed her arms and turned to look at the wall behind her. The Red Room… That place was never going to loosen its grip of her, was it?
She walked out of the room a few moments later, walking aimlessly toward the labs. As she passed, Bruce popped his head out. "Hey, Nat? Have you seen Jen?"
"..." Natasha felt a mischievous smile grow on her face. "Oh, yeah. She might still be busy. You want to see her?"
Bruce nodded, sighing in relief. "Yes, thank you. I just wanted to ask her about her dad coming over soon."
Her smile widened a bit more. "Well, let me lead you to her!"
What do you know? Looked like the day was going to end on a high note!
------
Author's Note: Natasha... you're mean.
Well, Dial, dating a superhero has its risks mate. Good thing you've improved your cardio. Still... worth it.
Anyway, hope you guys liked this chapter! It was fun to write! Let me know what you think, and please update the TVTropes page, because seeing it grow is so damn cool.
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- Location
- indonesia
Who do you think gonna be the most overprotective Bruce or Hulk
OutcastXC007
(A Light Upon the River's Gloom)
- Location
- 21° 23' 59.99", -89° 30' 59.99" W
Oddly enough, I think both of them would actually be ok with this. Especially considering what Dial did to get them working together to save Jen.