When we got to the base again, Creel and Steve had shown up, and the Graveyard survivors had come out of the APC that had brought them so they could start their testing. Creel was standing by the door waiting for us when Thor and I dropped in. Thor put me down gently on the ground and we walked up to him. I looked between Thor and Creel for a moment, noting that Hulk was speaking with Marian nearby. In another universe, Creel: The Absorbing Man would be a bitter enemy of both Hulk and Thor. Here, Creel, known as the hero Alloy, was their ally. Heh. Alloy the Ally.

Creel nodded at Thor, then looked at me. “You guys caused a hell of a ruckus.”

It was true. The once clean base was kind of a mess. Sand was everywhere, piled up in corners, soaked from the rain that had been falling, while bits of hail melted in the heat of the desert and turned the sand into mud.

“Sorry,” Thor and I said in unison, both of us looking contrite.

Creel snorted, then turned and walked towards the section of the base set aside for the survivors.

The survivors who had volunteered that is.

Of the group the Omnitrix had healed, most of them had simply wanted to go home, to find some semblance of safety and peace after years of torture. Director Maria Hill had those people put into a program being developed just for that. For people who suddenly got powers and never wanted them, or wanted to make a life of their own. It was... complicated. A lot of the group were enhanced to be almost as strong as Steve and Bucky while others had limited versions of Creel's powers. The idea of them out in the world and causing trouble, or using their abilities for profit in unfair ways, was something that worried the people in charge. After all, what's the point of sports if you know the other team has a guy who can lift trucks over their shoulders and treat 10K's like light warmups?

That was still being discussed, but here on the base were those few who had decided they wanted to use their powers to join BRIDGE in one way or another. The section set aside for them was formerly the school for the children on the base, using the gymnasium for the main testing, the classrooms to organize everyone, and the locker rooms to give them somewhere to change into some sweats. Creel walked us into the gymnasium and everyone stopped to look over at us. For a moment, things were awkward.

Then, like something out of a movie, one guy started clapping. A few others joined in until a large portion of the room was clapping while looking over at us. Four of them, all wearing BRIDGE-issued workout clothes, walked over as Thor and I blinked in confusion, though he was apparently more used to applause than I was.

The people walking toward us were showing signs of their powers in some ways.

The oldest one was a tall and well-built black man, with piercing eyes and a steady confidence, his muscles piled on muscles as he walked towards us. He strode towards us and smiled at me.

“Surprised?” when I didn't say anything, he chuckled. “I figured. Not every day you get a standing ovation from the people you saved.

Well... shit. What was I supposed to say to that? That was a hell of an honor to be given. I kind of shuffled awkwardly, not knowing what I should do.

The younger black man behind him gave me a brooding look. He looked like the older man, if lither in size, but still built like an armored truck. He nodded respectfully but said nothing else.

A teenage girl waved timidly at us. She was tall and almost alarmingly skinny, right on the edge of looking unhealthy. Her purple hair had the look of someone who had recently dyed it.

The final woman looked like someone's mom, with white streaks in her hair, some wrinkles on her skin, and a slightly too big smile. She reminded me of a Korean woman I'd known on my world, with a similar nose and eyes with the same kindness.

“I'm Jamal,” the older man introduced himself. “This is Mike,” the young man nodded. “Abigail,” purple hair shuffled nervously. “And Jung Moon,” the oldest woman smiled at us. “We were the ones chosen to represent our little group.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Thor said kindly.

“Same from me,” I added weakly as the clapping died down. I noted that none of their names were familiar. Not people from the comics. Civilians, who would have died nameless otherwise. Thank you, Omnitrix.

Creel spoke next. “So far, it looks like only the absorbers like me and the super-soldiers like Steve have powers. Only one gamma-enhanced being kept its powers, and it's an animal,” I blinked at that, but he continued before I could question him. “Jung Moon, show them what you got?”

The older woman reached into a pocket and pulled out a piece of red stone. She clenched her hand around it and immediately shifted into a rock statue in a kaleidoscope of random colors. Jung Moon chuckled her lips the color of emeralds, and spoke in Korean. Thor chuckled as well.

“Indeed, my lady, you are quite beautiful in this form,” he said kindly, getting the older woman to blush.

“You speak Korean?” Jamal asked curiously.

“A benefit of being Asgardian. I am gifted with the ability to speak in all Midgardian languages, as well as those of other realms,” the God of Thunder explained.

I didn't say anything. I mean, the Omnitrix worked the same way with its universal translator, but it wasn't information I threw around. Never know when you might need to overhear something after all.

“Dial!” I turned to see Jennifer yelling towards me, the tall Gammazon attracting attention from the people working out. A guy who was bench pressing around five hundred pounds of weight near her started going really fast, probably to impress her, only to go faster when she rewarded his efforts with a wink. She turned back to me, ignoring the guy currently burning out. “Hulk wants you to see this!”

Steve walked up to join us from a group of people doing squats with car engines, sweating a bit.

“Any idea what that is about?” He asked.

“Who knows?” I ran towards She-Hulk, leaving the awkwardness of everyone staring at me. Technically, I had saved them. But only because I had a really cool watch. When you boiled things down, all of my victories were often the Omnitrix's victories with an assist from me. Getting treated as though I'd done something great when I did the alien tech equivalent of pressing a button just made me feel as though I was cheating everyone.

She-Hulk led me outside to a dirt field covered in sand and hail, with a series of pens set up. The place looked like a hastily set up zoo, the pens made of all thick metal and plastic spaced evenly to keep those within from escaping.

“Huh,” I said as the cacophony of sounds surrounded me. “I forgot how many there were.”

Dogs and cats were the common ones. One was familiar, and apparently, he remembered me, because the little guy started barking loudly and wagging his tail as I passed. I remembered him when he changed into a steel form, grinning brightly at me with sunlight reflecting off metal fur. We walked past him, and I noted a cat that was about twice as large as a normal house cat, with corded muscle underneath it's gray fur. A lady in a lab coat was in his pen trying to get the guy to do something with a rubber ball. With the typical sassy attitude all cats have, he cocked an eyebrow, rolled over on his muscular stomach, and went to sleep, the lady in his pen sagging in disappointment.

Past those 'normal' animals were the more wild fare. Monkeys with abs or the ability to change into different materials, a rhino with enhanced eyesight (according to a scientist studying the massive animal), and more.

We ended up at an eighteen-wheeler truck, where a large group was waiting nervously outside of it. Hulk stood nearby, his arms crossed and gaze steadily on the being within. The large truck was open at the back, with a familiar being within.

I walked over next to Hulk, who turned to look down at me. He nodded towards the truck, walking forward with me.

As men with guns watched us walk up, the being inside looked up at me. I reached for the Omnitrix and began flipping through the menu before smiling at the guy within. “Hey, buddy. I guess you're the only one who kept those gamma powers, aren't you?”

The tiger inside looked at me, green eyes blinking lazily. He rested in a massive pen with by far the thickest bars of any of the other cages. Even then, I could see that they had been bent outward by some powerful force. Clearly, that was the fault of the green and black furred guy inside. He was about as big as a small car and... you know what, let's not mince words.

“You look like Battle Cat,” I said, moving deeper into the truck. The tiger blinked at me, then at Hulk when he joined me. “So what's going on?”

A scientist about thirty feet behind me yelled. “It doesn't want to move! Every time we get near him he freaks out!”

“Haven't you tried a steak or something to attract him?” I called back.

“He has enhanced intelligence! He stopped taking bribes about three days in, and he hasn't changed into a normal tiger since!” the scientist sounded like he was at the end of his rope. “We need to get him into one of the other pens so we can scan it properly! He's the only one who kept gamma powers, but he was recorded as lacking the Gamma gene!” the scientist yelled. He yelped when the tiger lazily yawned.

She-Hulk hopped in as well, looking over us. “So, what's the plan?”

“Hulk help kitty,” goddamn, how did he manage to make that sound tough? He strode forward and the tiger slowly backed away as the shadow of the Hulk went over the cage. He reached out and grabbed the door to the cage.

“Uh, buddy, maybe we should-” I started to say.

“Raagh!” With a single pull, Hulk ripped the door off the cage.

“Or, sure, let's do that,” I weakly reached for the Omnitrix, ready to transform as the tiger stared between the three of us.

“Is this a good idea?” She-Hulk asked as she stepped in front of me.

“I don't know, this whole thing took a direction I didn't expect at all,” I admitted.

The tiger moved forward slowly. I began to press on the Omnitrix, ready for any random action that followed. If someone had sneezed, I'd have changed into Diamondhead immediately.

She-Hulk raised her hands up. Hulk was unmoved, his back to us as the tiger began to walk out.

Soon, a tiger about as big as the rhino outside was out of the cage. It looked around at us, focusing on me. Then it strode towards me. I reached for the watch.

“Stop,” Hulk said calmly (well, as calmly as Hulk could), raising a hand.“Wait.”

“For what, my throat to get ripped out?” I asked tensely.

The tiger went up to me and started sniffing. If you've ever had a giant super muscular tiger sniff at you, I'm sorry. Because damn, there is nothing like seeing the fangs of a tiger shine in your face as it's sniffing blows your hair back. It was that kind of primal fear deep down in your brain that stretched all the way back from the beginning of man dodging large predators in Africa.

After a bit, it surprised me by licking my arm, then moving to wrap around me and lie on the ground, going to sleep.

Hulk grinned as She-Hulk and I shared a look.

“I...I don't understand,” I said slowly. I took a moment to try and remember if there was a precedent for a gamma tiger in the comics. Nothing came to mind. Guess even meta-knowledge isn't perfect. “Am...”

“Hulk good with animals,” the big guys said in a satisfied tone.

I hesitantly stepped away. The tiger woke immediately and stood up, walking along with me. Trying something out, I moved out of the truck.

Walking out of the truck with the super tiger placidly following me was a weird experience. The personnel stared at him as he hopped out, his green fur almost glowing in the sunlight. Hulk and Jennifer followed, Hulk looking satisfied and Jennifer like she was seconds from laughing but couldn't because of how confused she was.

“Uh, sir,” one of the scientists called out to me. “We need to study it! Do you think we can do some more invasive procedures if you can control him?”

I looked over at the tiger. He blinked lazily at me, looked over at the scientist who'd spoken, then back to me, his muzzle twitching. I rubbed the back of my neck. “Dude, I don't know what to tell you. He's kind of doing his own thing right now. Uh, Battle Cat, do you want to...?”

He growled in the back of his throat, the sound rumbling the ground.

“He says no,” Hulk added helpfully.

“Cats. What are you gonna do?” She-Hulk said helplessly.

Not much else we could say to that I suppose. I walked towards the pens.

“Sir, we can't let you-” a soldier began to say.

I reached for the Omnitrix and pressed down on it. In a flash of green light, red armored skin grew across my body along with a pair of extra arms and eyes as I towered over all present.

“FOUR ARMS!”

The echo of my voice shook the area, the cacophony of animals petering out.

“Don't worry. I'll keep my eyes on the big guy. I think we need to figure out what the hell to do with him.”

“Holy shit, you are big,” She-Hulk mumbled, looking up at me with wide eyes.

I grinned. “You're one to talk, Shulkie.”

“Yeah, I am, Rulk,” she said with a grin.

I barked out a laugh for more reasons than one as we walked over to a pen with more soldiers surrounding us. Hulk gestured to the tiger, who walked inside with the austere grace of an emperor. Once inside, the pen closed up, and the tiger sat back on its haunches, tail sweeping back and forth across the ground.

Once inside, the scientists began tapping at screens, and Hand walked over, her eyes widening at the sight of my towering form, before looking at the tiger.

“What happened?” Victoria asked, crossing her arms.

“I think,” I said hesitantly. “The Pet Avengers got their first member.”

“...the what,” Victoria said in the tone of voice a woman uses when she's slowly going insane.

“We've got a bunch of animals with superpowers, a lot of them more intelligent than they should be. I think people were going to talk about that soon enough anyway.”

As Victoria sighed in annoyance at what she thought was a joke, I thought about the moon and a certain founding member of the Pet Avengers.

Going to have to look into that soon.

Even as I thought that Thor came out of the doors of the gymnasium and head towards us, apparently wondering about the commotion. "What-" he stopped, staring up at me. He noted the Omnitrix symbol and blinked.

"My. You're a big one."

"That's what she said," I noted, thinking of She-Hulk's reaction.

When the tittering laughter followed, I realized what that sounding like and groaned slightly, putting my lower right hand to my face. "That was an accident, I swear."

"That's what she said!" She-Hulk responded, laughing all the harder at the annoyed look I gave her.

"Stil. Fought bigger," Thor added with a smirk, not noticing all the tittering laughs. "How strong are you in a fight?" Thor asked, rubbing his chin with a look in his eyes the Tetramand form I was borrowing knew all too well as the look of challenge.

"Don't," Victoria mumbled. "You two can spar later. Right now I need to rest."

Testing went well after that.

------

Ulysses Klaue

In another part of the world, a man by the name of Klaue walked through the bowels of his base, a shipwrecked and beat up old tanker.

He liked it for several reasons. First, because he liked the word 'bowels' under most circumstances. Heh. Bowels.

Second, because the atmosphere just fit so perfectly with what he was doing, damn it! He was an arms dealer, not some namby-pamby wanna-be mob boss. Who gave a shit if he was making more money than most kings off of the business, he was still selling guns. Why idiots like Sonny Burch worked out of fancy restaurants and penthouse apartments, Klaue never understood. If something did the job and did the job well, why spend extra money off expensive crap to replace that?

The tanker was solid, in the middle of nowhere, easy to defend, and cheap as hell, since, well, no one gave a crap about it. Which made it perfect to hide things like missiles and vibranium in, funnily enough.

Klaue strode through the tanker, walking past his men as they organized things for sale and storage. He had good guys, even if they were a little stiff sometimes. No taste for fun on the job.

He grinned with a flash of silver teeth as he walked into his office and looked out over his crappy little base, feeling a hint of pride at what he saw. Yep. Today was going to be a good day.

...Oh crap, he'd tempted fate.

Klaue waited for a moment. When nothing happened, he relaxed, going over to his desk and grabbing a piece of candy from a bowl.

Then the power in the boat suddenly shut off, leaving them in darkness. That's when the screaming began to echo through the boat.

“Fuck, I knew it!” Klaue grabbed the gun on his desk and ran out the door. Outside, his men were panicking. “Oh come on idiots, are you kidding!? Grab guns and shoot something!” Klaue grinned. “Get the big ones too, have some fun!”

Some of his men in the shadows yelled out affirmatives, and soon the sound of bullets filled the air.

Until another sound responded. The familiar sound of a sonic weapon finally made Klaue's grin fall away.

“Wakanda. Fuck,” he turned and ran as more sounds filled the air, the darkness lit up with blue lights. Worse was the quiet sections. The moments when someone shooting a gun suddenly disappeared in the shadows without a sound. That could not have been good.

Klaue went deeper into the tanker, aiming for the back where a way out had been built. Except that as he ran across the catwalks, the sounds seemed to follow him with relentless ease.

“Damn it, damn it, had to happen today of all days!” Klaue spat out running along with his pistol tight in hand. He got to a door and grabbed at the wheel to unlock it, twisting hard and pushing it open with a bit of trouble. “Come on you damn... gragh!”

Pushing his way through, he cursed aloud when a sonic weapon hit a wall nearby. Adrenaline pushed him forward. He aimed his gun back as he ran through the halls, shooting his gun behind him at whoever it was that was following him. The bullet bounced off of the blue light, but he continued running despite that, his legs pumping. He could see the exit now, an opening leading to the 'garage' full of cars in the boat. Just needed to get in there, hop into one of the SUV's, then head to Johannesburg and meet with one of his people.

Klaue entered the garage and slapped a button on the wall, the gate at the end opening up and ran past some vehicles towards the SUV in question. Once inside of it, he grabbed the keys out of the middle compartment and put it in the ignition.

“Okay, no horror movie shit, got it?” Klaue twisted the key and grinned at the instantaneous sound of the car engine roaring to life. “There's a good girl!”

Pressing on the accelerator, the car rushed forward, heading to the gate. He passed through it at about fifty miles an hour-

Something ran at him from the side, slamming into the car like a missile. The car twisted at the hit, slamming into the edge of the gate as it left the tanker. The car spun out of control. Whatever had hit the SUV spun upward and grabbed the hood, a round object landing on the black metal. Whatever it was, the disc seemed to cause the car to lose power, leaving Klaue twisting at a useless steering wheel. The SUV rolled to a weak stop on the dirt. Klaue cursed, getting out of the car, only to have a black shadow separate from the SUV and rise in front of him.

“...Well, you're a sight better looking than your dah was, boy,” Klaue said weakly.

Black Panther stood before him in the sunlight, dressed in the black armor and catlike helmet the represented the Panther Habit. He stepped forward and grabbed Klaue by the lapel, pushing him into the SUV. Behind him, explosions came from the tanker that had once been Klaue's home, a group of woman in red armor moving towards them from it.

“Damn it, you all really caught me at a bad moment,” Klaue said to the Amazonian women striding towards him, giving them a roguish grin. “Tell you what ladies, let me get my makeup kit and my nice suit, you come back when I'm a bit prettier?”

The five women stopped and gave him looks like stone. Black Panther reached a hand back and received a syringe from one of the women.

“Okay, can you not?” Klaue said with a grimace. “I promised I'd stop with the hard stuff, took a program and everything.”

Black Panther injected the syringe into his neck.

“Damn... I was going to get my three year... chip...”

As Klaue passed out, Black Panther let out a sigh of relief. “I wish my father had warned me he would talk that much.”

------

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

On returning to New York City, after all the rounds of testing had been done, I was left in my room, where I made a phone call. After ringing for a bit, the line picked up.

“Matt Murdock speaking,” the man on the other end said.

“Hey Matt, it’s Mahmoud. I got your email. You said you wanted me to call?”

“Yes… How do you know?” he said, as though he was asking a casual question and not one loaded with C4.

I took a moment to tap the back of my phone, a beeping signaling that X was keeping anyone from listening in. “About the fact that your sight was replaced with… I don’t know, just insanely powerful everything else? Am I close?”

Matt was quiet on the other end for a bit. When he spoke, his tone was somewhat like Bucky’s when he was seconds from punching a punk. “And?”

“I lived in Hell’s Kitchen for a few, so I did hear about a ‘Man in Black Mask’ beating up thugs. I’m guessing that was you. Combined with working with a worldwide spy organization with access to every camera in existence...”

“Makes sense,” Matt said. “So what do you want?”

“More good guys in the world,” I said simply. “That’s it. I’m a superhero now, I guess, but my powers mean I’m going to be called to help on a worldwide scale. I won’t be able to always patrol in New York like I used to. So if there are some people willing to do the same, I want to help. That’s all.”

“...Who else knows?” Matt asked.

“Me… maybe some people in BRIDGE,” I thought of a certain redhead who had mentioned Matt to me the other day. “But doesn’t look like it for the most part, since your abilities aren’t exactly flashy. But I’m not going to tell anyone. Anyone finds out, it’s on their own.”

He sighed in annoyance. I walked around my apartment in the Avengers Tower, going over to a window and looking over the city quietly.

“Well, your deal seems legit,” Matt said at last. “And you say you want to help me?”

“How about we meet up and talk about it?” I asked. “We can make some initial plans, maybe show you that working together is the best way to protect New York? Beat up some assholes on patrol a few times together?”

Matt chuckled. “Sure, let’s, uh, let’s meet tonight.”

After making plans, I looked out into New York again, thinking. I was personally one of the most powerful beings on Earth… when given the chance to press down on the Omnitrix. But I could still be killed. And Hell’s Kitchen was dangerous before I became a household name, people might shoot from the distance to prove a point. Might need some protection.

Luckily, I had a friend with a room down the hall from mine.

------

Later that night, Natasha and I were walking through New York City together. She was wearing a leather jacket and red shirt, her red hair curly and long around her neck. I was wearing a Black Widow shirt, just to be funny, the sleeves golden and the rest of it black, with a red logo in the center sort of reminding me of the one I had on the Omnitrix, a red backpack swinging as I walked with the super-assassin. We were walking down West 44th street in Hell's Kitchen. If you've never been, I don't recommend it as a tourist site. It's basically every seedy part of New York all bundled into a couple of blocks, complete with a bunch of guys on all the street corner leering at people and making threats or crooning promises to 'show you a good time' to any girl with legs and a face. That wasn't to say there weren't any good people there, in fact there were more of those than there were assholes. It was a good town, at its core.

Even then, I don't think either Natasha or I were surprised when a trio of guys walked over towards us from down the street, ambling our way with a lazy confidence. Right up until Natasha carelessly flipped her hair and opened her jacket a bit.

The two small pistols revealed by the action were a mistake on her part, I'm sure, as was the long blade at her waist. Note my sarcasm of course, since I doubt much Natasha did was ever by ‘mistake’. Same with the way her walk went from casual stride of a woman going from point A to point B, to the long and dangerous catwalk of a killer. The difference was subtle. See, the first was walking. The second was walking while seconds away from stabbing a punk in the heart with a smile on your face.

The three guys quickly found something else to look at, the vicious smiles turning into carefully neutral looks on their faces.

“I really need to learn how to do that,” I told Natasha as we walked down the road, passing our would-be attackers.

“It's all in the hips,” Natasha said with a smirk. “I'll teach you one day.”

“Yeah, but I don't have hips as nice as yours,” I quipped.

Natasha chuckled. “Should I tell Skye and Jen you're hitting on me?”

“If you want to, but I'll tell everyone about all the weird sexual encounters your alternate universe selves had,” I nudged her with an elbow. “Like the one where you had sex with Tony.”

“At least I had high standards,” Natasha smiled before she frowned a bit. “Wait, is this the one where I turned out to be a traitor?”

“That's a stone every person we know can't throw,” I admitted. “Even Steve had a HYDRA moment in one universe.”

“Steve?!” Natasha said, sounding genuinely shocked. “That doesn't even sound real!”

“Yeah, it took a bunch of weird cosmic mumbo-jumbo for that to go down,” I shrugged. Natasha was basically one of the few people I could talk about other universes without her going existential on me every few minutes. The others would likely spend a few days looking at the horizon, rethinking existence. Natasha rolled with it. The world was the world, and Natasha wasn’t going to waste it comparing herself to other versions of herself. I had no idea if that was a healthy attitude, but I had to admire it. Considering I’d had a nightmare once of an Evil Ben tracking me down I mean. I focused on the street around us. “Where did they say we should turn?”

“Let's see...” Natasha looked around. “Bawdy, right down there,” she nodded down towards a street a couple of blocks away.

“Right. Hey, thanks for this, Nat. I mean, keeping it secret and everything,” I said gratefully.

“No problem,” she looked at me. “You know you'll owe me after this though?”

“Owing the Black Widow seems like a dangerous prospect. By the way, how come you kept that name? Isn't it kind of... edgy?”

She laughed. “Yeah, I guess so. But apparently, the marketing people said that the image works for me.”

We turned around the corner, walking down Bawdy. “Yeah, the whole dangerous super-spy thing must have been a stretch.”

“You mention that a lot,” Nat said, giving me a look. “Does it bother you? My history? I mean, you said you've seen everything all the alternate versions of me did. Do you worry about it?”

“I think we had this conversation before,” I noted. “Come on, Nat. You're one of my mentors now. You know what I think of you.”

We walked for a bit longer.

“You're painfully naive sometimes... Getting better. But still naive,” she smiled at me. “Okay, Mahmoud. One thing I need to ask you as your 'mentor'. Did you even notice Ruby over there?”

I blinked, then turned. The petite teenager waved at me from where she was walking, an irritating smirk on her face. She was wearing a small black jacket and yoga pants that were slightly big on her, eyes glittering in the light as she twirled a small throwing knife in her fingers before throwing it. I had enough time to blink before Natasha caught it an inch from my right eye. “Holy shit!”

“You're fine,” Natasha said with a grin as she put away the knife, nodding at Ruby, who turned into an alley. “We're going to be training you on counter-espionage soon though.”

Heart still in my throat, I followed Natasha towards our destination. It was a bar called Josie's as the red neon sign on the right window and the gold lettering on the left window said proudly. A bunch of motorcycles were parked out in front, a few tough guys standing around the front wearing their gang's colors on the jackets, or sewn onto their jeans. Nat calmly walked up and opened the door, the bikers ignoring us, and we stepped in.

The place was full of people, from all walks of life. They were drinking. Because I mean, it was a bar after all. The place smelled like piss and alcohol, with a slight aroma of vomit joining in. Someone had hung an air freshener near the door, like a drop of water added to the desert in terms of usefulness.

“Hey, Dial!” Foggy yelled from the back, coming up to grin at me. He was wearing his shirt and tie, the sleeves rolled up and a pool cue in his hand. “How's it-urk?” he stopped, blinking at the sight of Natasha, then smiling. “Black Widow?”

“Nat, actually,” she said with a smile. “And you're Mr. Nelson, right?”

“Foggy, please,” the pudgy and good-natured man said with that wide grin of his. “I can't call an Avenger by her name and have her call me 'Mr. Nelson.'”

Natasha blinked at that, then smiled that lazy and smooth smile she seemed to save for the right moments.

Foggy coughed, then waved at the back. “Ah, right this way, 'Nat'.”

She walked past him, leaving Foggy to look over at me. “You couldn't have warned me?”

“That I was bringing her along?” I said with a cocked eyebrow. “Well, things are sort of getting crazy in New York City. She's acting as my bodyguard.”

We joined Matt in the back, who was hesitantly feeling at a pool table, gently making sure of the placement of each ball on the green felt, dressed much the same as Foggy was at the moment, sleeves rolled up and all.

“Matt,” Foggy said as we joined him. “He's here. And he brought a friend.”

“Oh?” Matt cocked his head, not looking at us. “Hello, Mr. Schahed. And your friend is...”

“Natasha Romanov,” the Black Widow told the future Daredevil.

Matt smiled. “Matthew Murdock. You're an Avenger, right?”

“And a few other things,” Natasha responded.

Matt chuckled. “Mr. Schahed, you could have warned us you were bringing company, we would have met somewhere more... classy.”

“This place is plenty classy!” Foggy said. “I mean, look, my drink has something alive in it!” he raised a beer, showing the shadowy shape in the dark yellow liquid. “You can't get that sort of exotic flavor anywhere else!”

“You don't like it, get out!” a woman behind the bar yelled.

“It's all part of your charm, Josie!” Foggy yelled back. He turned back to us. “Seriously, I don't recommend drinking the water here.”

Natasha chuckled. “Don't worry, I've been in worse places. There was a bar in Budapest I can tell you stories about.”

“Okay, so,” Matt strolled around, carefully following the pool tables edge with his hands. Some of the patrons avoided him with what looked like practiced ease, one big biker moving a stool out of his way without a thought. “You said you wanted to hire us. We agree with your terms. We'll be your lawyers from now on, Mr. Schahed.”

I grinned. “Cool. Uh, there is one, unexpected thing. We recently got a new Avenger, a woman named Jennifer Walters. She's a damn good lawyer, just did some work on the West Coast. She's looking to continue her work in law, and she was hoping she could talk to you guys about it,” I held up my hands before they could speak. “I know how it looks, me adding a lawyer to your group right after I gave you my word that I wasn't going to interfere, but I swear, this is just me asking on her behalf. I told her what you guys want to do, and she wants to meet you.”

Foggy and Matt shared a look. After a bit, Matt sighed. “Mr. Schahed, you say she's already a lawyer, right? Why can't she simply rejoin her firm?”

I rubbed the back of my head. “Just take my word for it. Besides, she wants to move here, do some work in this city. Doing it on the side of being an Avenger of course. Just meet her?”

Natasha spoke up. “I do suggest it. She recently took down Nicholas Trask. It was a hell of a thing. We were going to have her join BRIDGE's group of attorneys, but she wants to work with you.”

Matt smiled. “That seems like a good idea. That said,” Matt walked over to a table with their jackets and bags resting there, taking a familiar folder out and walking over to me in a series of slow and careful movements. It was kind of annoying, considering I knew for a fact the guy was better without eyes than I was with them, but I still managed to wait patiently as he handed me the folder. “We've both signed. You are officially the first client of Nelson and Murdock.”

“I'm the first guy to give you money,” I corrected him, opening the folder and smiling at the signatures. In some worlds, I bet a signature from Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson would be worth a hell of a lot. I closed the folder again. “Your first client will be whatever person you guys actually help with a case.”

“Eh, you count,” Foggy said easily. “So, business is done, how about we play a game or two?”

Natasha cocked an eyebrow. “Two on two with a blind man on one team? Isn't that a little unfair? No offense, Mr. Murdock.”

“Uh, none taken, Mrs. Romanov,” Matt said.

“Nat,” she corrected.

“Nat,” Matt showed her a charming smile. “Tell you what, you can be on my team, and I might surprise you.”

“Oh come on,” Foggy grumbled under his breath, though he smiled good-naturedly.

“What?” Matt asked, sounding confused.

Foggy shrugged. “Oh nothing, just seeing a pattern in play. Ok, I'll take the other Avenger then. Rack 'em up!”

------

After thoroughly getting my ass kicked alongside Foggy in pool, the friendly lawyer said his goodbyes and walked off into the night. With him gone, Matt lost his good humor. We stepped out of Josie's, walked down the street until we got to 47th Street, then turned into a dark alley.

Once inside, Matt listened for a moment.

“Someone is coming,” he said.

“That's Ruby,” Natasha looked down the alley. “Come here. You should listen to this part.”

Soon, a short assassin teen came around the corner, flashing me a smirk. In retort, I carefully flashed the Omnitrix, and her smirk faded.

She looked over at Matt and scowled. “How the hell did you sense me?”

“He’s a special case,” Natasha explained. “I’ll train you to do better later.”

Matt looked uncertainly at her but listened again.

“Okay, we're in the clear,” he looked between us. “So. Does she…”

“I know,” Natasha said simply. “When Mahmoud asked me to bodyguard him, I checked up on you. You really are blind?”

Matt nodded.

“Then you have a lot more agility and spatial awareness than even most people with sight, even better than people in my profession. You hide it well. But every time I came close, you couldn’t quite hide the reaction you gave about knowing exactly where I was,” she mentioned, sounding honestly impressed.

Matt stared at us hesitantly. “Is this you asking me to become an Avenger?”

“Not really,” Natasha said. “This is Mahmoud's deal. He asked me to keep what I hear a secret and to back him up just in case.”

“You're his backup?” Matt asked, lips twitching. “No offense, but I've seen what you can do on the news, Mr. Schahed. What do you need backup from?”

“Snipers,” I admitted. “Ninjas as well, just in case.”

“Ninjas? In New York City?” Matt asked, disbelieving.

“Yes,” I said simply. Ignoring the look on his face, I removed the large red backpack I'd been carrying and put it on the ground between us. “So. I, officially, can tell you that BRIDGE is working with New York City on developing a program for superhumans to aid police officers on patrol, as part of a plan to make such programs more of a permanent thing, as well as upgrading officers to deal with superhuman threats on their own as needed. A group of secret warriors, if you will,” I need to stop stealing names from the main Marvel universe. “So you'll get an invite if you want it, and Maria Hill is going to make sure those who join can have the option to hide their identities.”

Matt seemed to sag in relief at that. “That... that would be really nice.”

“It's something we're still fighting for, but it should come soon,” I added. “There will be some rules, something you’ll have to do on the up and up, all in the name of letting you help people without worrying about cops shooting at you or guys getting out of prison by claiming they were beat up by a random vigilante on the street. But, until that time, you'll need something to protect you. Something better than a black shirt and scarf around your face.”

He laughed nervously, looking over at Nat and Ruby. The redhead and blonde smirked at him.

“They won't talk,” I said with a smile. “Trust me, Nat is good people. And Ruby won't do anything to piss Nat off.”

“Screw you,” Ruby said to me without looking.

“Gain a few feet first, midget,” I answered back, getting a disgusted scoff in return. Brat.

“Anyways, I made you this.”

I tapped the top of the red backpack. The catoms that made up the backpack flowed up my arm, revealing what was held within.

A costume lay on the pavement before Matt, folded neatly on the ground. He kneeled down and put his hand against the helmet, blinking. “Is this-?”

“A suit, custom made for you,” I answered. “I could give you any advanced gear you feel might be missing but of course nothing BRIDGE uses. But the suit is bullet, fire, and slash resistant. It'll take a lot of damage and leave you bruised at most, but it's also made to let you move with all the agility of, well, the three of you,” I gestured at the three badasses around me, Ruby smiling proudly. “It's also got a feature to let you close off your hearing in case anyone tries to use it against you. Like I said, it's not the best we've got, but-”

“No,” Matt smiled, lifting the suit to 'look' at it. The combination of dark yellow and red colors seemed to work well, a pair of small devil horns attached to the helmet. He briefly touched the clubs resting at the waist of the costume. “It's perfect. Thank you. And these clubs?”

“It’s all in here,” I tossed him a flash drive, which he snatched out of the air. “It’s got a manual to let you know everything they can do, even has a printable version in braille for yourself. It ain’t an Iron Man suit, but it’s damn good... Daredevil,” I started seriously. “There are some people, in Hell's Kitchen, that I want to check up on tomorrow night...”

“...Where should we meet?” Matt asked.

“In a minute, but before we go any further there is something I want to do and I think you would really appreciate it.” I started to say and couldn’t keep the huge grin off my face.

“Yeah? Any more toys for me? Sadly, state law says blind men can’t drive, so I will have to turn down a devilmobile,” he joked but still seemed interested.

“You’ll like this better, this wouldn’t be in the news but the forms I turn into are actually different kinds of aliens.” Natasha made a noise of annoyance at me casually sharing such ‘privileged’ information since BRIDGE was keeping it under wraps under the excuse of worrying the public, despite the fact these aliens don’t exist in this universe as far as I knew. I ignored her. “The one I’m about to use is one I think you will have an instant connection with,” I said, and before he could respond to that I quickly activated the Omnitrix and pressed down the selection I had set beforehand.

In a flash of green I was covered in orange fur, standing on four powerful legs, had an impressive set of teeth, and of course, my eyesight disappeared even as my vision expanded more fully than my human senses could ever achieve. While everyone else looked away from bright flash Matt obviously didn’t and was quick to ‘see’ the change I had undergone. He hesitated for a second before reaching his hands out and feeling around Wildmutt’s head where the eyes would be on most other creatures before pulling back.

“No eyes, so that means…” Matt worked it out quickly and Nat answered for him.

“Wildmutt seems to rely more on smell than echolocation like you, but that doesn’t mean his hearing is any lesser for it well,” Nat said with what I assumed was a smirk from Matt’s likely gobsmacked expression.

Ruby smelled annoyed as she spoke under her breath. “Why did my life get so weird lately…?”

Was it weird that Wildmutt seemed able to smell emotions? Likely worked better on other Vulpimancers, but I couldn’t help but let out a series of barks that would be laughs with human vocal cords.