I’d been training myself for a while in getting my alien forms to work together much better, in getting the timing right to take advantage. And now, facing a bunch of robots, I had no better reason to go all-in with that training.

As the pink robots came towards us, I was flying forward at insane speeds as Astrodactyl. The second before we clashed with the army, I tapped the Omnitrix.

In a flash of green light, I shifted, gaining hundreds of pounds, two extra limbs, and red armored skin.

Astrodactyl flew towards them. Four Arms met them at sniper round speeds, slamming into the one in front.

My fists sank into its chest. The spongy material folded under the combination of brute force and momentum. I grinned for a moment.

Then the material of the robot flexed outward like a damn rubber ball, sending me flying back.

“FUUUUU-” I screamed in shock as I flew past Wanda, who stopped in surprise to watch me land on my back on the street, I spun back to my feet and faced the robots, thinking furiously.

Rubber ball robots? Who in Marvel made rubber ball robots!? Damnit, times like this the Marvel wiki would have been nice!

I clenched four fists as three robots came in at me, one throwing a punch at me with a clumsy move. I raised my top right arm and parried the punch, using bottom right and top left to pull the robot into my grasp, where I pulled, trying to rip it in half. The robot let out a metallic sound as it stretched under the force of my pulling.

“Damn, like it’s made of Putty,” I grumbled.

Then another robot punched me in the face. It hurt. Not as much as Thor or the Hulk punching me, but it hurt. My yellow eyes flashed before another punch hit me, forcing me to let go of one of the robots. Okay. Brute force wasn’t going to work. I’d have to get creative.

Me and the three robots brawled through the streets, crashing through a glass window and into a bodega. My head scratched against the ceiling to send plumes of dust down as I tried my best to survive the onslaught.

The robots weren’t good fighters. I soon found myself fighting using the martial arts skills Natasha and Ares had taught me. I parried with my top right arm, blocked with my bottom left, caught a wrist in my top left hand that I used to toss my opponent. But nothing was sticking. Every hit I threw back, if only to get some extra room to maneuver, was only reflected back at me.

We smashed our way through the bodega. I took care to guide the group away from people, trying to force them to follow me to the river only a short distance away.

As I reached for the Omnitrix, Wanda and Nat were fighting as well.

------

Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch

Wanda had only a moment to adjust to the sight of a 14-foot titan being sent flying like a child in a storm before a robot was attempting to attack her. Of the six robots, three had come after her, with the others running for Dial. Having seen his attempt to attack them, she floated above them and raised her hands to block one punch with a red barrier, hissing in pain at the psychic backlash the force of the attack caused.

She wrapped her power around the offending robot’s arm, pulling at it, only for the arm to stretch like putty as a red line of power pulled at it. Wanda let out a gasp of frustration when another punch landed against her barrier, forcing her to fly upwards as it began to shatter.

The instant she lifted up, the robots tried to jump after her. She dodged one and tossed a ball of red energy at it, sending it flying back. Whatever their strength and durability, they still needed to follow the laws of physics, so she could at least toss them around while they were in the air.

The one she smacked out of the sky smashed into a car, then bounced back to its feet, body snapping back to its original form. She thought for a moment as she dodged another pink humanoid. They were like rubbermen, made to bounce from every injury and just return to normal after every blow. She had to be creative. Efficient, like Agatha had taught her…

Thinking of her mentor brought her a few ideas.

She dived down to the ground, dodging around a pink fist, raised a red wall of energy to block a tackle, then dropped to her knees to slide under her last attacker before spinning on the ground and hopping to her feet to face her three attackers. The pink humanoids rushed after her. For a moment, despite the difference in appearance, she was reminded of the Rakshasa demons. The same relentless need to attack. The pink humanoids, however, were almost eerily silent as they rushed for her, the only sound they made being when their feet ran over the asphalt, like foam slapping against stone. In some ways, she preferred the roaring tiger demons.

She focused herself, watching the three robots rush for her. Just before they could get to her, she ripped open a hole in space in front of her. Two of the robots ran into the hole, unable to stop themselves. The last one tried to stop himself. Then Wanda created a large wall of energy behind him and moved it forward, shoving him bodily through the hole.

She walked around the scar in space-time to stare at where the robots had landed. A single pink hand was still reaching up towards her. From a pool of lava.

She was looking down at the Erta Ale volcano in Ethiopia, a place she’d heard had an active lake of lava. She’d kept the place in mind for sometime after. It looked like it had become useful now.

Three pink humanoids swam in the lake of lava, sloshing around and trying to reach for her. She stared at them.

“How much heat can you take?” she asked, dumbfounded.

Apparently, not an impossible amount. Even as she watched, the pink robots forms began to slough and melt, mixing into the magma. She continued watching them, keeping her head on a swivel in case another tried to attack her. But when one spoke, her head snapped around.

“Well, this was unexpected,” the center robot stilled. Then it looked up at her with an awareness that it hadn’t had before. “Quite an elegant solution you’ve found for defeating my humanoids. I had no idea that magic was capable of creating portals between New York City and… hmm, Ethiopia?”

“Who are you?” Wanda said immediately, raising a hand surrounded in power. “The creator of these things?”

“That and so much more, my dear Ms. Maximoff,” the male voice said from the robot as it continued to melt into the lava. “But we’ll leave that conversation for another time! Ta-ta!”

Then the robots exploded in an instant, sending pieces flying about and lava spraying upward. Wanda hurriedly shut the portal before a wave of molten liquid could hit her in the face, grimacing.

She looked around, a scowl on her young features. “What a pretentious… Gah!”

Then she created a wave of red energy under her feet, launching into the air.

------

Natasha Romanov/Black Widow

Natasha jumped off a hot dog cart and flipped through the air, landing on an awning. The hot dog cart was blown apart by a blast, sending pork-based products and hot dog water flying about. She unleashed a grappling hook to a nearby roof while in mid-flip, a small motor on her waist pulling her up into the air. As she lifted upwards, she twisted until she was upside-down, hooking her legs around the wire, then shooting the handgun as she was brought higher and higher while upside-down.

“Jesus!” Klaue ducked behind a brick wall, laughing as bullets hit a nearby wall. “That was one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen!”

“Thank you!” Natasha said, twisting to land on top of a flagpole as her wire ran out of line. “How about you come out and I’ll show you something better!”

“Oh, promises, promises!” Klaue crowed, spinning out of cover to shoot at Natasha again. She jumped off the flagpole in the instant before he pulled the trigger, somersaulting through the air as the blast exploded. She unleashed a grappling hook to swing down into the now empty streets to land in a roll. More shots flew in her general direction, and she returned them with her handgun.

“You aren’t feeling a little underequipped, are you?” Klaue teased, firing another blast from the futuristic rifle in his hands.

Natasha smirked as she ducked behind a car. “Not at all! I once held off the Hulk with this thing.”

“...Huh. Maybe I should have brought the tank.”

The two were fighting in the middle of a street, surrounded by small stores and apartments, the street still occupied by empty cars. Natasha rolled behind a truck, crept over to a mailbox, and poked her head out. Thus far, Klaue’s rifle had been able to erase anything that it hit, so cover was only good for concealment. In practice, steel wall had the same usefulness to protect her as a plywood wall. Still, she could at least keep out of sight.

Klaue was prowling down the street, poking his head around corners. He never kept still long enough for her to get a real shot. At one point, she had to duck and change cover from the mailbox she’d chosen when he seemed to notice her. She was proven right when the mailbox disappeared under another blast.

“You like it?” Klaue asked loudly. “Some kind of resonance something or other. Turns sound into a laser!”

“You brag this way to all your dates?” Natasha said. The instant she spoke, she stood still. Klaue hesitated. He was obviously trying to decide whether to head in the direction of her voice or if she was moving to another location. She used that moment of hesitation to aim and shoot. He ducked out of instinct, barely missing getting shot.

“Damn it!” he scowled, firing at her. The car she’d been using for cover evaporated in fire, and Natasha winced as the shockwave hit her just a bit.

“You tricky little…” Klaue scowled, raising his laser rifle high and aiming around slowly. “Where are you?”

Natasha ran across the street. Klaeu spun at the sound of footsteps, getting nothing but an empty street for his troubles. He scowled, lowering his rifle and glaring around. Then he saw a nearby window, reflecting something. Natasha, hiding behind a truck, clutching a handgun with a worried look on her face. Klaue smirked, raising his rifle and aiming at the truck in question. Natasha glanced at the window. Then her eyes widened in horror. Klaue was about to laugh.

Then the image of Natasha flickered like static.

A fist landed on his right ear. Klaue swore in pain, staggering. The image of Natasha in the mirror shut off, revealing a small device projecting the image. The real Natasha ducked under an errant fist from Klaue and kicked him in the thigh.

“Damn!” Klaue spun out a knife and slashed at Natasha. She ducked it, rolling on the ground and spin-kicking him in the face. “That was so bloody cool! They teach you that shit in spy school?”

“I learned that in a brothel actually,” Natasha said, blocking his knife arm by grabbing his wrist and pulling him around.

“Hah! Then we’ve got the same alma mater!” Klaue shot his rifle at a nearby wall, blowing up the bricks and spraying the pair in debris, forcing Natasha to let him go or be brained by a brick. She back-flipped over a knife slash and smacked his rifle away with the flat of her palm, only to cover her face with her arms when he used his knife to cut a flashbang grenade off of his own belt. He grabbed the pin by his pinkie in mid-air, and spun around as the grenade went off a few seconds later. The burst of sound and light made Natasha disorientated. She’d managed to avoid the worst by covering her eyes, but Klaue’s move had been done skillfully. She staggered back, unable to hear anything.

“Too bad, love,” Klaue rubbed his eyes, aiming his rifle at her. “The Leader has a list of people he wants to survive for his new world bollocks. You ain’t on it.”

He pulled the trigger of his rifle. Only to get nothing but a loud whining noise from it.

“What the-” Klaue stared at the gun.

A black object sat on the side. On the same spot where Natasha had slapped it away.

He had only a moment to comprehend that. Then another to realize he had yet to let go of the trigger, and the gun was whining louder and louder. He shouted, throwing the rifle away-

A sound like rubber gloves soaked in grease squeaking on glass filled the air when the rifle exploded in Klaue’s hand. The rifle’s explosion ripped his right arm apart in waves of energy, metal and crystal slicing into his skin.

“AHHHHHHHH!” Klaue screamed his throat raw. Blood dripped from his arm, pouring over chunks of flesh, bones and metal dug into his forearm, crystals shining in the light. “What the fuck?!”

“...If it helps, that was only supposed to jam the gun,” Natasha said as her vision returned.

“That doesn’t help!” Klaue shouted, staring at the remains of his hand.

Natasha raised her gun, ready to force him to surrender. Klaue, apparently still at least able to fight, threw his knife at her. Natasha caught it an inch before it could stab her in the eye and tossed it back at him, getting Klaue in the shoulder as he ran. He cursed, but jumped forward into an alleyway, getting shot in the arm. Natasha cursed. That flashbang was still throwing off her aim. She ran forward, a loud banging sound coming from the alleyway, just out of her view, and ran around the corner with her handgun raised.

Klaue was gone.

“...” Natasha looked around, holding her gun out, keeping her senses open. She carefully walked down the alley, noting the slightest things she could. Nothing.

“Black Widow to Jarvis, do we have eyes on Klaue?” Natasha asked.

“Negative, Miss Romanov,” Jarvis sounded confused. Not a good sign. “...Miss Romanov. Can you take a scan of your immediate area?”

Natasha turned around and brought up her wrist. A beam of light emitted from her watch, spinning slowly to scan the area for a moment. One section was highlighted. A brick wall, with a square just high enough for an adult crouching to match in height that was being highlighted in blue light for Natasha’s convenience.

“According to records of the area, this was one of a few places used during the prohibition to transport alcohol illegally through the city,” Jarvis said as Natasha walked up and ran her hands along the wall. “A shame. Master Stark always wanted to find a secret door like this.”

“I’ll have to show him the ones I made in the tower then,” Natasha teased as she pressed one of the bricks, the square section of wall opening up for her to look inside.

“Surely you’re joking.”

“First rule of spy work, Jarvis. Always leave an exit,” Natasha leaned down, staring at the empty tunnel. A drop of blood on the floor was all that was left of her target. “Klaue knew that lesson pretty well…”

------

Klaue rushed through the tunnels under New York City, his bloody arm wrapped in his shirt, leaving him bare-chested as he ran through rat-infested hallways, avoiding webs and muck as best he could even in his panic. Once he reached a crate placed in a doorway to one of the adjacent tunnels, he kicked it aside, revealing a bulky device hidden beneath the wooden crate. He slammed his remaining hand against a lever, holding tight as it shook under his grip. In the blink of an eye, he and the device disappeared.

They reappeared underground, but in a far cleaner area than the one he’d left. The area he stood in had clean floors of stone and several tunnels on the back wall going to other areas. In the center of the room was a large computer screen surrounded by smaller monitors, and a single holographic projection in the center of the space. It was currently displaying a woman Klaue recognized as Wanda Maximoff. Someone was speaking nearby.

“-portals to other planets possibly? That may take a practitioner of more skill, but the data we’ve learned from the Maximoff woman opens exciting possibilities. Whatever ‘magic’ this is, it is more than possible that it can be replicated. I’ll need to expand my occult studies of course-”

“Oy, Bighead!!” Klaue shouted, rising to his feet unsteadily.

The Leader turned around. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit with yellow boots and gloves, his head tall and bulbous as ever. His annoyed expression dropped as Klaue walked over to him, clutching at a stump covered in a bloody shirt.

“Fuck! Shit! Oy!” Klaue lifted his arm, dripping blood on the clean floor. “You owe me a new arm.”

Klaue stood silent for a moment, staring at the Leader. Then he began to laugh. “Hehehehe, how crazy is this?!” Klaue waved the stump around, still cackling. “Oh, can you make it a claw? Like my name?!”

“You’re in shock,” the Leader said calmly.

“No, I’ve lost my arm. Try to keep up,” Klaue said with a chuckle.

“Klaue,” the Leader and Klaue turned to look at Kragoff. The Red Ghost was dressed as always in a fine redcoat, and followed by his apes. He was giving Klaue a worried look. “You need medical attention.”

“And a new arm,” Klaue said very wisely indeed.

“...Come along you daft Belgian buffoon,” Kragoff scowled.

“I don’t want a monkey arm,” Klaue said as a gorilla walked up to help him away. “I cut my hair short so I don’t have to shampoo so much. I don’t want to add shaving a monkey arm to that.”

Kragoff gave the Leader a helpless look.

“If he can joke, then he will be fine,” the Leader turned from him to walk over to a table in front of the screens. “Take care of him. I will complete the plan, and get what you asked for.”

“...Very well, Dr. Sterns,” Kragoff said, his red cloak swirling as he spun and walked away.

“Four down…” the Leader mused. “Well, they did their job,” an errant thought entered his mind. “A new arm…” he looked over at a section of the table. There, hanging in a blue energy field that kept it floating in the air as constant scans were ran on it, hung a blue-green crystal. “That’s an idea.”

“Fucking Bighead!” a voice shouted in the distance.

The Leader slumped, trying to find his way back to the atmosphere he’d just been rebuilding a moment ago.