June 3, 2014

Carl Creel/Alloy

Creel was sitting in the labs of the tower, frowning at a computer screen as he clicked on file after file. Ever since he began his training, he’d been thinking of ways to improve his combat potential. He felt pretty good about his boxing training currently. Slowly but surely, he was getting back to the shape he’d been in before his powers and mind. But while he was getting better in terms of skill, he didn’t feel like he was improving in any meaningful way compared to… well, compared to Dial and Fantasma.

They’d gone on a patrol recently together. It was humbling, seeing Dial shift between forms at insane speeds to take down gangsters, while Fantasma pulled herself and a group into that Mirror Dimension and came out with unconscious bodies.

Creel knew that comparing himself to those two powerhouses was doing bad things to his psyche. But he couldn’t help it. He spent more time with them on missions than anyone else. And whenever they fought, he always felt… lacking.

Then he managed to see Matt Murdock practicing with a pair of sticks one night in the gym, flipping and striking at the air with incredible speed. It was then that he got an idea. One so simple he was disappointed it took him this long to think of it.

Weapons. That was the way all men had equalized every threat they’d ever faced. And he had a way to make every weapon he could use useful. All he needed was the right ones.

“Creel?” a voice said from behind him. When he turned around, X was standing there. The large robot was giving him a curious look. “I received a notification that someone was accessing restricted weapons files in this room.”

“Restricted?” Creel said, surprised. “I mean, I was looking at some of them. I thought my Avengers ID let me in all the systems.”

“Except the suicidal ones,” X said. He clanked over to Creel, blue eyes spinning briefly as he blinked. “Those shotguns were developed for my android form.”

“That makes sense,” Creel noted. “Considering the recoil on these things.”

“They would rip a normal person's arm off… but not you,” X gave Creel a look. “Your powers, much like my body, would make you largely immune to the recoil. Interesting. You are attempting to increase your combat capabilities.”

“Figure that out, huh?” Creel said with a hesitant look at the android.

“I am an AI. I tend to think fast.”

“Yeah, well, I’m a boxer. My brain needs time to catch up with things,” Creel said with a smirk.

“Then allow me to aid you,” X said while crossing his arms, the sound of steel rubbing on steel filling the air. “You are in need of weaponry. I have been designing weapons of my own. Most of them are quite simple, but they are unusable by anyone who is not superhuman. I had hoped to speak with Dial or Dr. Banner about such weapons, but you are actively looking for them. Would you like to try some?”

Creel gave him a surprised look. “You’d do that for me?”

“We are teammates, Mr. Creel. We aid each other in our endeavors. Or so I’ve been led to believe. I could, of course, be doing this in a circuitous plan that leads to the eventual rule of machines over the organics.”

Creel stared at X, jaw slowly dropping in horror.

“...That was a joke.”

“Not a very good one,” Creel mumbled. Shaking his head, he focused. “Well, there’s this gun, the big ass rifle?”

“The one with bullets that are forty dollars a round?” X asked. “Or the one that shoots rocket-propelled grenades at full-auto?”

“...the first one?” Creel said with some trepidation.

“That one will likely require your vibranium form. And it’ll be quite effective on your target. Are you sure you don’t want to test one of the directed energy weapons as well?”

“Maybe later,” Creel said a little nervously. He’d once seen War Machine and Iron Man use their Uni-beams in tandem. He didn’t want to be in front of that sort of firepower, and was almost as nervous about being in control of it. Then again… “Well, not too much later,” Creel amended.

“Very well. I would also like to request we spar,” when Creel didn’t reply beyond a silent raised eyebrow, X continued. “As you must realize, beyond our origins, our powerset is very similar. Durability and strength are what make us threats on the battlefield. But if I am to enhance my combat ability, I will need to battle those who can survive my blows. Who can give them back in equal measure. When I was in the Savage Land, I battled a being named Bronto, who was the closest I have fought to a true warrior. While I did beat him, it revealed several issues in my fighting style that I would like to correct.”

Huh. Creel could emphasize with that. Quite a lot, actually. “Hey, if you wanna go a few rounds, that’s fine. I can even teach you a couple of things, like I do with Dial.”

“He does incorporate around fifteen percent of his human fighting-style with your techniques.”

“Fifteen?” Creel chuckled. “What’s the rest of it?”

“Fifty-seven percent is Natasha Romanov’s training. Three percent is him preparing to transform.”

“Wait, that leaves,” Creel took a moment to think. “25 percent? What’s that part?”

“From what I can tell, wrestling moves and anime techniques. Usually while yelling the names of those moves.”

“...”

“As the saying goes, ‘if it works, it’s not stupid.’”

“Nope. It’s still stupid. But whatever,” Creel got up with a smirk. “Show me the big guns.”

“Right this way, Mr. Creel,” X said.

The two men of metal walked off together, off to shoot giant weapons.

------

Fantasma

At the same time Creel was making a new friend, Fantasma was running through the halls of a castle with Wanda by her side. The two witches were wearing their full costumes, magic swirling around them as they ran through a hall of ancient stone. At the end of the hall was a dead end. Despite this, both continued at full speed.

Behind them came a crowd. They all looked exactly the same. Around eight feet tall, they each carried a scimitar in both hands, and wore black skirts of human skin, one with a screaming face staring eyelessly from his ‘belt’. They also all had orange and black striped fur covering their bodies, with the faces of tigers. It should have looked ridiculous. The blood mixed into their fur, the roars echoing off the walls, and the way one nearly ignored an errant blast Wanda hit him in the chest with like a water balloon, made them into a horrendous threat.

“Ready!?” Fantasma shouted.

“Ready!” Wanda shouted back.

The witches faces were set with determination as they raised their hands, Fantasma’s fists projecting twin violet mandalas while Wanda’s fingers sent scarlet energy spinning into the air. They both thrust forward.

A screaming skull flew from Fantasma, while a chaotic blast of red energy danced from Wanda. They crashed into the wall ahead of them and exploded, destroying the wall ahead. They ran through the rubble and into the next room, a massive space as large as a stadium.

The tiger demons tried to follow. Fantasma and Wanda spun to face them. No more running. They raised their hands and unleashed hell.

Red lights flew from Wanda with insane speed, ripping rubble from the ground to smash bones and crush flesh. Fantasma’s mandalas began to unleash flames that burned the stones to lava in mere seconds, forcing the tiger demons to trudge through ankle-deep lava to get to them. As the rubble melted, Wanda brought her hands to her chest, clenched them into fists, then swung her arms wide.

The melted stone Fantasma created came to life with the red energy. It rose up in a dome around the tiger demons, who released a chorus of cries before they disappeared. Wanda opened her fists. The red energy flickered into a burst of starlight, and the molten stone fell to the ground. The tiger demons, even as they were scorched through, kept trying to reach the duo. The smell of burning fur and flesh filled the air, the demons surviving under temperatures that melted the scimitars in their hands and turned their skin skirts to ash. Fantasma grimaced in disgust at the face of a tiger burning alive, still roaring it’s hunger as it reached a clawed hand towards her. She kept her flames burning, while Wanda lifted more molten stone to splash over the group.

It took far too long for the group to die. Long enough for the smell of their burning bodies to fill the air, and smoke to billow from them and fill the room. Finally, Fantasma and Wanda were done. The group was dead.

Fantasma released her magic, leaning down to place her hands on her knees while gasping in great gulps of air. Wanda sat down on her butt with little grace, staring at the melting bones of the demons with wide eyes.

“You both are entirely inefficient.”

Wanda spun to look at Agatha. The prim and proper older woman was looking down at them with some disapproval. Ebony was wrapped around Agatha’s shoulders, giving Fantasma and Wanda the same look. “They were immune to magic! We nearly died!”

“You would not have died, first of all,” Agatha walked forward and stopped between the two young women, raising her cane before slamming the tip into the ground. The world around them shifted and spun, the lava pit falling away, the walls and roof opening up until they were standing on a platform above a grass covered countryside.

“We were in the Mirror Dimension…” Fantasma gasped, shocked.

“From the moment we entered the castle, I brought you and the rakshasas here. I will have to teach you how to fight the subtler forms of entry into the Mirror Dimension. And how to better sense when you are in the Mirror Dimension,” Agatha gave them both a look. “Not all your opponents will make a song and dance out of entry into this realm. You, and the demons within, were always within my power. And if you had realized you were within it, you could have turned the world around us into a weapon, rather than that little song and dance.”

“Then we will simply do better next time,” Fantasma said firmly, hiding her exhaustion as best she could. “Tell us how to do that. How we can be more efficient.”

Wanda rose as well, looking just as determined as Fantasma.

Agatha smirked. “A good attitude to have. For now, we will head home.”

Agatha slammed her staff into the ground again. Ebony let out a little meow, an orange ring spinning to life in front of her. She walked through without hesitation. Then the portal closed behind her.

Wanda sighed. “This is that ‘tough love’ the Americans talk about, right?”

“I do not think it is love,” Fantasma grumbled.

The two reached into their pockets and pulled out their focuses. Created under Agatha’s tutelage, they were meant to channel their powers for more complex magical maneuvers. In this case, Fantasma pulled out a long rod of metal as thick asboth her thumbs, inscribed with runes the color of blood, and long as her arm. Wanda took out a red piece of ceramic material, similar in shape to the letter ‘M’, and placed it on her head.

Fantasma twirled the blasting rod in her hand before spinning it in a circle in front of her. Wanda brought her hands forwards in a clawing motion.

Two holes in space appeared before them. Fantasma’s portal glowed violet, spinning into existence to reveal Agatha’s room, emitting darkness as it flowed as a perfect circle. Wanda’s, on the other hand, was a scarlet scar in space-time, shaking and jittering as Agatha waited patiently.

And they did indeed need to create two portals. Agatha would never settle for one of them depending on the other for something so basic in magic.

They stepped through the portals, Agatha’s face unmoving as they joined her in New York City once more.

“Good. I believe that will be enough for today. Tomorrow we will work on your meditation once more. The last thing we need is some dark spirit attempting to manipulate your minds.”

“Other than you?” Wanda mumbled, only to blush when she realized she’d said it aloud.

“Other than me, yes,” Agatha said, her chin up and shoulders back. “Good day to you both.”

“Yes, Mrs. Harkness,” Fantasma and Wanda said in unison. The pair of students turned and left, while Ebony the cat hopped off of Agatha’s shoulders. To their surprise, the cat joined the pair in the elevator. The doors of the elevator shut behind Ebony, leaving the cat to stand between them with her tail waving regally behind her.

“...Are we supposed to do something?” Fantasma asked Wanda with a furrowed brow.

“I think she knows what she wants better than we ever will,” Wanda said, fidgeting a bit.

The elevator began to move downwards. Fantasma finally decided to ignore Ebony, who was certainly ignoring them, and looked up at Wanda with a smile. “Despite everything, I’m very happy we have a new teacher!”

Wanda nodded while crinkling her eyes and nose. “It’s not what I expected. But I’m having a lot of fun. I didn’t think what I did was related to magic before.”

“It took me sometime to realize it as well,” Fantasma said. “I thought I was some sort of… freak when I was a child in the orphanages. When I read my first magic book, it was like… I found myself.”

Wanda furrowed her brow. “I never had to deal with that as a child. I only got my powers for revenge. And I always had my brother,” Wanda gave Fantasma a long look. “I’m sorry you dealt with that.”

Fantasma brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, thinking of what to say.

Just then, the doors opened into the rec room. And Fantasma and Wanda looked out the elevator, taking in the sight in front of them.

The Hulk sat cross legged on the floor, chuckling. Natasha and Dial were sitting with him, Natasha smirking and Dial watching something while humming gently.

A small fuzzy head poked out around Hulk. As Fantasma and Wanda watched, a tiny redish puppy tumbled away from the Hulk, coming to a stop in front of them. She panted happily, staring up at Wanda and Fantasma, then yipped happily.

Fantasma’s heart melted into goo. “Awwww!” she dropped down to her knees and looked at the puppy. “She’s so cute!”

“Thanks,” Dial said with a grin. “I found her in Chernobyl.”

Wanda cocked her head to the side. “Isn’t she irradiated?”

Fantasma, curious, released a pulse of magic, a spell she’d learned a long time ago. On sensing no radiation, she let loose the affection.

“Who’s a good girl? You are! Aw, you are!” Fantasma said while rubbing the puppies head, who rolled over to show her belly while sticking a tiny tongue out. Fantasma eagerly began rubbing the puppy's belly.

“Nah, Nezuko is perfectly clean now thanks to NRG. I just gave her a bath and StarkVet’s people gave her a once over,” Dial said.

“Nezuko?” Fantasma asked, letting out a little whine of disappointment when the red puppy rolled away, the ball of fluff flopping over to Hulk. The massive green mountain of muscle lifted the puppy in a single hand, the tiny creature licking his face. Hulk laughed happily, gently petting her.

“I named her after one of my favorite characters in fiction,” Dial said. Ebony strolled past him, heading over to Hulk and Nezuko. “I was going to name her Natasha for a hot second though.”

“I wouldn’t have minded,” Natasha brushed back her red hair, very similar in shade to the puppy's hair. “I’ve done pretty well with it, don’t you think?” Natasha winked at Fantasma, who couldn’t help her blush. “You’re gonna need to get ready for her to get really big though. Caucasian Ovcharka get pretty big.”

“How big?” Wanda asked, watching as Ebony stopped in front of Hulk, looking up. Nezuko poked her head out from her perch on Hulk’s shoulder to look curiously at the other animal. Cat and puppy met eyes for a moment.

“About 200 pounds and 28 inches in height,” Natasha said while watching Ebony and Nezuko curiously. Nezuko almost fell out of Hulk’s hand, the green giant gently placing her on the ground. Nezuko toddled over to Ebony, tripping over her own feet. She hesitantly leaned forward to try and sniff Ebony, only for the black cat to press a paw to Nezuko’s forehead. “She’s already pretty big for what the vet said her age was though.”

As Natasha was speaking, Ebony meowed at the small puppy. Nezuko blinked. Then, hesitant, she rolled over. Ebony meowed again. Nezuko sat.

“...Is she training her?” Wanda asked, eyes wide.

“Like Mister and Mouse,” Fantasma said, only to realize Dial had said the same thing. Fantasma shared a surprised look with her best friend before she giggled, Dial shaking his head with a chuckle.

Ebony gave Dial and her an arched eyebrow, before turning back to Nezuko. She meowed once more, and Nezuko barked happily. Apparently pleased, Ebony turned and ran towards the kitchen, where someone had placed a bowl for her at some point.

Nezuko panted happily, then ran over to Hulk, who began teasingly wrestling with her with one hand, Nezuko rising to the challenge as best as she could against a hand bigger than a dinner plate.

“Nezuko is a good girl,” Hulk said wisely. “She should meet Battle Cat.”

“...Maybe when she’s bigger,” Dial said, coughing into his hand. “I have a patrol session with Nat, can you guys watch Nezuko while we head out into the city?”

Fantasma nodded quickly, rushing over to watch the puppy playing with Hulk.

“Can I come along, actually?” Wanda asked Dial. “I haven’t done patrols often.”

“Sure, more the merrier. Come on!”

The three of them headed out. Fantasma watched them go, before turning her attention fully on Nezuko. The puppy went to her and licked her hand, eliciting another giggle from the witch.

Strange. Most dogs hated her. Nezuko was the first to be an absolute sweetheart. Fantasma decided not to question it. Today was becoming great.

------

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

Natasha sent out a metal line from her right arm, latching onto a building with the adhesive tip of the line. As it went taught, she went spinning up into the sky like another spider based hero, coming to a landing on a rooftop. I flew past her in Big Chill form as she ran across the roof, then leaped off, releasing two lines to slingshot across the city, flying alongside me for a bit.

Wanda came along our right, floating on waves of scarlet power. The young Sokovian woman was laughing as she flew. I couldn’t hide my own happiness, my wings fluttering on the wind. Something about traveling the city superhero style just never got old.

We landed on a roof together, taking in view of the city before us. For a moment, the city seemed so peaceful. New York City, sm

Just then, our phones all rang at once. With the emergency number.

The group shared looks of surprise. Nat pulled out her phone first. “Jarvis?”

“Ulysses Klaue has been spotted in New York City.”

Natasha’s gaze hardened. “Klaue? What would he be doing here?”

“I am unsure. But an officer of the 78th precinct reported seeing someone matching his description leave a subway station and enter an eighteen wheeler with an unknown driver. He is currently headed to the Brooklyn Bridge Parks.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said immediately. “Klaue shows up in New York, hops in a truck, and just drives off? After he somehow managed to avoid the most advanced detection on the planet? What’s he doing!?”

“...We have to intercept him,” Natasha said, sounding annoyed. “He’s clearly trying to draw our attention, but we can’t just let him run free. Jarvis, have Fantasma and Hulk on stand-by in case something else pops up and get a message to the Wakandan Embassy. Dial, go Astrodactyl and take us to him.”

“On it,” I tapped the Omnitrix dial on my chest, shifting into my Astrodactyl form. “Squawk! Let’s go!”

I grabbed onto Wanda and Natasha’s hands, rocketing off. We dived through the cityscape, cars honking beneath us as we went.

Soon I could see the truck in the distance, rumbling through traffic. I flew down towards it, my alien biology giving me vision capable of seeing the truck from a mile away. “Almost there, squawk!”

“Wanda, get ready to-!” Natasha was about to say.

Then, in a single moment, someone stepped out of the truck. While it was still driving. In a move so smooth I could barely believe it, he came out, stepped forward as the truck continued to drive on behind him. I could see his mouth stretching from ear to ear, metal teeth glittering in his mouth as he raised something in his hands.

I twisted in the air, tossing Wanda and Natasha upwards while I dived towards him. Forced to pick targets, he chose me.

A bright beam of pink light lashed out in the shape of a drill. I blasted one of my arm cannons at it, green and pink smashing together and exploding on contact, sending me crashing to the ground. I raised myself to my feet as fast as I could, facing my opponent in time to catch a blast to my chest, sending me crashing into a car. The driver and passenger screamed, running out of the car as I laid inside the engine.

“WOO!” Klaue laughed, his Andy Serkis face twisted with glee. “I never caught a dinosaur before!”

“You’re going to be caught by one,” I snarled at him. Glass fell around me as I rose to my feet.

“I’m always up for new things, mate,” Klaue laughed, raising the shoulder mounted weapon he was carrying and aiming it at me. I raised a hand and fired at the same time he did, star power meeting whatever the hell he was shooting, sending a shockwave outwards. Wanda floated down on red energy and Nat landed behind me on a metal line, spinning two batons out that crackled with electricity.

“Awwww, you brought your girlfriends?” Klaue teased.

Nat scoffed. “If he had, you’d be done by now.”

“She’s not lying,” Wanda said honestly.

“Ah, that’s okay,” Klaue winked at us, lips stretched wide. The trailer behind him began to shake. “I brought enough friends for all of us!”

The trailer came apart into shards of steel. Behind the South African man, flashes of pink came at us. I had enough time to take them in.

They were tall, bipedal, shining a metallic pink. Their legs, arms, and chests were thick with false muscles. Their heads were almost boxy in shape. A pair of large circular depressions rested where their eyes would be. They wasted no time running past Klaue and heading towards us.

“What, really?” Klaue stared at them running past him, shaking his head. “Honestly, no sense of drama. Hey driver!”

A pink robot poked his head out from the cab of the trailer to look at Klaue as I reached for the Omnitrix.

“Play the song!”

The robot pressed on the radio. And a song began to play.

Robot Riot. From Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension…

Feeling like things had gotten extremely surreal, I jumped forward alongside Wanda, while Nat ran towards Klaue. The pink humanoid robots soundlessly ran through the streets towards us.

As I blasted forward, I heard an exuberant cry.

“This is going to be AWESOME!” Klaue roared happily.