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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hello there! Do you need any help?”

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

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

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

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

Once at the cashier, the problems started.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

------

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

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

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

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

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

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

“There you are!”

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

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

I grinned. “Rude!” Then I lifted my gun.

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

"Eat it!" Then I ran.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Rath!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then Creel punched me in mine.

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

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

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

“Polaris Piledriver!”

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

I tossed him aside.

A gunshot echoed in the store. A brief impact jostled my arm, a mere pinprick compared to Creel's punches, which had barely hurt me in the first place.

I turned around. A bunch of guys were coming towards me, all dressed in police uniforms or familiar black military gear. I scowled. “Rath is real annoyed with you idiots!” I roared. I reached for the Omnitrix symbol on my chest, tapping it.

Orange fur became brown reptilian skin.

“Astrodactyl!”

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

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

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

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

“Coooool, squawk!”

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

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

“Oh, squawk.”

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

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

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

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

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

All you women who want a man of the street

But you don't know which way you want to turn

Just keep a coming and put your hand out to me

'Cause I'm the one who's gonna make you burn

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

------

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

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

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

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

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

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

With that, I was off into the sky.