Mahmoud Schahed/Dial:

It wasn’t often that I got to meet the Grapplers. After all, whatever the good they had done over the last few months, they were still former criminals, assassins, and mercs working on a path to redemption. Not exactly people who showed up often to hang out, as much as I wished it.

Today was different. Victoria Hand had apparently worked with Maria Hill to give her team a day off, under supervision of course.

Deathlok, AKA Mike Peterson, had gone with Skye and Coulson to visit his son. Pietro was with Wanda, Steve, and Bruce in Sokovia. Davida and Helen went with Jen and Natasha to visit old friends they’d apparently made in Texas during their mercenary work. Ava Starr, aka Ghost, was in the tower with Bill Foster, the two apparently deciding to just enjoy the night as father and daughter.

I, meanwhile, had decided to hang out with a couple of the Grapplers I didn’t really hang out with often.

Thankfully, we all shared a few interests.

“It’s so cute!” a small pig plushie was raised up to a cheek. Melissa Gold, aka Songbird, hugged the anime toy to her happily for a moment. I let out a small chuckle as I watched her hug the toy. It was a good representation of the pig named Hawk, from Seven Deadly Sins.

“I can’t believe they have this here!” the pixie-like superhero said, still cuddling the small plushie. “The anime isn’t even out yet.”

“Well, Forbidden Planet has been updating their stock, and the anime is supposed to come out in October. So they ended up picking up some of the merchandise early.”

“Cool,” Melissa looked around the store.

Just like when I’d gone in with Steve, the place was nerd haven. The store only had a few people around right now, one or two pretending they weren’t staring at us while we shopped. I couldn’t blame them.

“I’m going to buy this too,” Mellisa picked up a plastic replica of a dagger with a green coloration and five holes set into it. As she playfully twisted it around, I noticed something awesome.

“I’m probably going to buy this,” I said with a chuckle, picking up a Bowser toy that was about a foot tall. “He’s my favorite Mario character.”

“Mine’s Yoshi,” someone said behind us. Melissa and I turned to see Marian Pouncy walk up to us. The giant of a woman gave us a bashful look. “Yoshi’s Island was my favorite game when I was a girl.”

“I hear it was a good one,” I noted the figure Marian was holding. “What’s that?”

“Oh, it’s a Hajime No Ippo statue,” she held it up while doing a small dance in place. It was a black-haired anime character with boxing gloves and shorts doing a jab with a determined look on his face. “Ippo Makunouchi’s my favorite character.”

The last was said very shyly. It was very cute.

“Well, let’s go buy this stuff,” I said while looking around. “Before twitter gets word that superheroes are in here again.”

At that, Marian and Melissa looked around. Around six guys were staring at them almost creepily, while a few others had their eyes on me. Marian blushed, while her shorter friend rolled her eyes. “Yeah, let’s-”

My phone rang. The emergency line. I immediately ripped it from my pocket, Marian biting her lip as she watched and Melissa placing the pig and dagger down.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“News from the Hudson!” A BRIDGE operator’s voice came through the speaker. “Some sort of, I don’t know, dragon monster? It came out of the river and started rampaging! An unidentified individual has been keeping it away from the populace, but we need Avenger-level support! It’s headed for Times Square!”

I was already running for the door. It was with some surprise that I realized that Melissa and Marian were running along with me. “You coming?”

“People need help,” Marian said immediately.

I couldn’t help the rush of pride I felt when she said that.

As soon as we were out, I activated the Omnitrix.

“Fasttrack!”

In my blue-furred form, I looked at Marian and Melissa. “I can carry you guys there at super-speed.”

Marian stared at me, confused. “Aren’t I too heavy?”

“You kidding? You’re light as a feather,” I scoffed at the giant woman. She may have been large, but I was pretty damn strong in Fasttrack form.

Still looking skeptical, she nodded her assent. I lifted her into my arms in a bridal carry. I’m sure it looked ridiculous, my blue form carrying a woman almost three feet and several dozen pounds of muscle larger than me, but I ignored it for simple practicality. I began running. The ambient sound faded briefly as Songbird forced it into solid form behind her as a pair of wings, taking off into the air and following me at the literal speed of sound.

We charged across the city, Marian in my arms. I dodged around cars and food stands, avoiding the people along the way, with Songbird flying high over me.

The sounds of chaos became very clear in the distance. The sound of buildings being hit by something massive, of explosions filling the air. I narrowed my eyes, trying to understand what was happening.

“This is Dial, heading in, can you give me any information?”

“The, I don’t know, the tar dragon, is almost at Times Square. The boys in blue and our operatives have evacuated everyone we could, and the Mayor has announced a state of emergency!”

“Tell him to hold off on the tanks and assault rifles. We’ve got something bigger.”

I spun around the corner, putting down Marian as I took in the sight ahead of me. Behind us was Times Square, the place completely empty, an eerie thing to see. Before us, the reason for today’s problem came towards us.

“What the hell is that!?” Songbird yelled, dropping down next to us.

“A BP Oil Spill brought to life?” I said hesitantly.

A claw as large as I was slammed into a building, slashing through the concrete with ease. A roar split the air, Songbird glowing brighter as the sound hit us with physical force. Black tar dripped from its body, splashing across the ground and landing on a tree to pool on the asphalt. A tail as long as a bus lashed out, smashing into an SUV and sending it bouncing into a storefront, sending glass and metal everywhere.

It was shaped like a dragon, sure, but it was also covered in a thick black tar substance that kept pouring off of it. Spikes all down the length of its 160-foot long body, the spikes coming together on his head to form a horn. It had six limbs, with the front two doubling as both arms and wings. Eyes the color of blood glowed as it walked. Its jaw opened. Another loud roar split the air. And a tiny figure answered the call. As the three of us watched, a seventh story window shattered. And a man came leaping forth, carrying something that looked like a giant spear made of pink dragon scales as he roared.

As we watched in shock, he came down and slammed the spear into the head of the dragon, ignoring the fact he was about as tall as the dragon’s head. The tip of the spear exploded on impact, sending the dragons head bouncing onto the asphalt. He landed on the ground as the dragon roared, rolling to his feet and facing the dragon, lifting a shield made of the same pink material as the spear.

He wasn’t a tall man, about my height, but his armor gave him an intimidating appearance, covering him head to toe in grey and violet armor. He looked over his shoulder at us. Even with his helmet covering his entire face, I could see his eyes panning across us.

The dragon roared. He spun to focus on it, raising his giant spear. As I watched, he set his feet and fired off a shot from the hole at the end, just above the pink blade at the end of the spear.

For some reason, that triggered my memory. I hadn’t played the games in my world, but I’d seen a few Let’s Plays of it. As the realization hit, I spoke it aloud.

“Monster Hunter?” the guy in the armor flinched in surprise, but kept himself still as the dragon glared at him. The dragon shook, sending tar splashing everywhere. Before the guy could dodge, the black tar landed on him. It acted like a thick adhesive, keeping him trapped as he struggled against the stuff. The dragon stabbed forward with its horn, and the Monster Hunter braced himself. He didn’t see the flash of green light behind him.

BOOM!

When he opened his eyes, it was to see two massive backs holding onto the head of the dragon. One had orange and black fur. The other wore a black tank-top that stretched over taut muscle.

“Listen here, giant-gooey-dragon-who-keeps-attacking-Rath’s-city!” I roared, teeth grit as Marian and I stood side-by-side, holding back a dragon. “The only way anyone gets crushed, is if RATH DOES THE CRUSHING!”

Marian grit her teeth. “What he said!”

The dragon’s eyes widened as we reared back a fist. As one, we punched. My claw let out a shockwave as it smashed into hardened tar and scales, while Poundcakes fist smashed right next to it, sending the massive titan back a step.

“Ṡ̸̗̫́̍͐Ć̸̱̳̪̻͓͙̋̓͆̎͋̿͐̚͝R̶͚̳̥͇͍̋̌͋̈́́̎͛̚ͅE̷̜̫͌́̋͌̇͠E̴̛̗̝͔̟̗͓̒̈̅͐̐̉͝C̴̩̖̣̹̳͓͔̒̾̈́̍͂H̵̡̡̨̤̱̬̺́̉̔̆͌̀͛ͅ!!!” From above us, Songbird let out a burst of pure sound energy, the pink blast slamming into the dragon. The thing was tougher than it looked, because it’s response was to glare up at her and spit a blast of black tar from it’s mouth. Songbird sang, blocking the tar with a forcefield. The dragon used that brief time to lash out at me.

I blocked it’s arm with my body, the Monster Hunter running in to stab the same arm with his gunlance, which fired a blast at the same time. The dragon roared angrily, a section of it’s throat beginning to glow as it got madder. On a second look, it looked kinda like a demon face.

Then the tar across the dragons body exploded, sending up blasts like grenades all around it.

I was sent back by the force, twisting around to land on my feet. I reached out to grab the Monster Hunter as he flew past, while Marian crashed into a van, getting out of it with scorch marks on her body. My own fur was on fire. I patted out the flames, put down the Monster Hunter, and the three of us rushed in.

The dragon roared it’s challenge, running down the street towards us.

“Rath wants a fight!” I roared, undaunted by the train of tar and flesh bearing down on me. That was the great thing about Rath. The sheer confidence I felt as strength overwhelming flowed through my muscles, the wind rushing through my fur. “I’m not crouching, but you’ll be sleeping!”

Also, Rath had the best insults, and no I’m not delusional.

Just before we could get to the dragon, it jumped over us.

Let me repeat that. It JUMPED over us, ignoring all physics that decided how giant monsters should move, to bound over us like a damn cat. I clawed up at it’s belly as it passed, Marian punched upwards, and the Monster Hunter shot at it.

Tar dripped down from it’s passing form, splashing onto my fur. I stared in horror as the sticky adhesive dripped down my body, clumping up my fur in bunches.

“...I’m going to kill you.”

I ripped my way out of the tar just before the dragon, his mouth full of fire, blasted me in the chest. I roared in rage as the tar on my body, apparently made of some kind of explosive substance ignited and blew me back. My back hit a building, and I landed on my feet with a growl.

Marian smashed the dragon with a right cross, and the tar beast responded by trying to crush her with a claw. Marian caught the claw, asphalt cracking under her feet, her sneakers ripping apart under the force as she held up a giant claw with both her hands. The claw closed around her, lifting her off the ground and throwing her up into the air.

A pink platform caught Marian just before she could fall again. Marian gave Songbird a smile. “Thanks!”

“No problem!” Songbird sang. As she did, pink ribbons came from her back to wrap around the dragons front two legs. The thing struggled, trying to escape the bonds. Marian leaped from the platform to crash onto the dragons back.

The Monster Hunter hadn’t stopped attacking in the meanwhile. He slid underneath the dragon, his weird gun-lance thing raised high, and began smashing the tip into the dragon, firing blasts as he went. The dragon turned, trying to get at him, only for the hunter to roll with the movement of the dragon, attacking like a relentless mosquito.

“Ungh! RATH HAS HAD ENOUGH!” I snapped up to my feet and pointed at the dragon. “LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, STUPID-FUR-RUINING-OVERGROWN-LIZARD! YOU WILL PAY FOR MESSING WITH THE GLOSSY AND WONDERFUL SHEEN OF RATH’S BEAUTIFUL FUR!”

I lunged forward, running towards the dragon. It sprayed it’s oily tar at me. I dodged it and kept running, ducking under a claw to land next to the Monster Hunter.

“Let’s do this!” I yelled at the hunter. He gave me a nod, and we stabbed forward together. I jumped onto a claw when it came slashing at me, then up into the air. “FROM THE TOP ROPE! URSA MAJOR BODY SLAM!”

I slashed with my claws as I hit the dragon's neck with my body weight, sending him back a step. The dragon twisted to roll over on top of me and Marian. I scowled. “Okay, dragon! You can act like you’re the biggest, but Rath is the biggest, and anything bigger is gonna be not bigger when I take it and make it smaller! THEN RATH IS BIGGEST! BY DEFAULT!”

“...So this alien is dumb,” Marian said thoughtfully.

“I like to think it’s part of Rath’s charm,” I said calmly.

The Monster Hunter yelled out. The Omnitrix beeped, and midway through his talking, I could understand him. His voice was somehow higher than expected, but with a guttural undertone. “-getting angry!”

“Rath is always a little angry,” I said, confused.

“No, Gogmazios!” the Monster Hunter pointed at the dragon, which was still struggling to fight out of the giant pink ribbons wrapped around it even as it’s other limbs forced it to move.

“Guys!” Songbird landed next to us, clenching her throat. She looked pained. “I can’t hold it for much longer!”

“Then-” Marian was interrupted by the dragon, Gogmazios apparently. Because he exploded again. But with even more force. Across his body, the tar that had been dripping off him ignited as the enraged beast let out a roar.

The ribbons shattered apart in a burst of light, the explosion sent us flying. I grabbed Songbird out of the air and hugged her to my chest as we twisted in the air. Gogmazios lifted his winged arms and roared triumphantly.

I twisted around and let Songbird go. She unleashed her wings and grabbed my arm, turning our tumble into a glide. Gogmazios’ eyes landed on us floating in the air. Before we could do anything, he reared his head back. The weird demon face on his throat began to glow. Songbird raised a shield of pink energy. The dragon fired a blast of oil at us from its mouth. The moment it left its mouth, the oil was superheated, igniting into boiling firebeam that slammed into the wall of solid sound. Songbird screamed, trying to hold the shield, but it was beginning to crack. Gogmazios’ beam exploded. And the sound of repulsors filled the air.

Iron Man flew around us and thrust his chest out. “UNIBEAM!”

At his voice command, his arc reactor lit up. A blue-white repulsor beam as tall as Songbird came from his chest, hitting the superheated oil moments before it could hit us. The two beams clashed and exploded, leaving us with a view of Tony’s back while he faced a dragon in the streets of New York.

“Can’t leave you alone for two minutes, huh Fanboy?” Tony looked over his shoulder at us. “Always getting in trouble.”

“Rath is a trouble-solver!” I said with a laugh.

The dragon raised his head. His wings rose. Then they beat downward. A massive gust was sent out, sending debris and tar spraying everywhere, soaking buildings windows in the stuff. Tony hit one large ball of tar with his repulsor before it could hit him.

Then, the dragon froze. Something rose from the center of it’s back. I stared uncomprehendingly as a white hooded figure rose through him, dropped two round objects on the same spot Marian had punched earlier, then ran along his back. The round objects exploded as the white armored figure leaped off the head of the dragon.

A massive cracking noise filled the air, and the dragon roared in anger. His back spikes shattered in an ugly rending sound. The white figure landed and rolled on the ground as Songbird dropped me down.

“Ava?” I asked, surprised.

Ghost stared at us through the red eyes on her mask. Then she looked over at the Monster Hunter, who joined us as the dragon staggered in the background. “You the owner of that guy?”

Running up to us, came a small… cat. Its fur was a dark black, and its eyes were a beautiful green. It was also wearing clothes. An adorable blue and white hoodie with fur lining. It came to us and stood up on two legs before me.

“It’s so cute,” Marian said, clenching her fists under her chin at the sight of the little thing, Songbird looking similarly surprised.

“This thing showed up in the tower,” Tony said. “Came out of some sort of portal.”

“Yeah, and he kept wanting to head over her,” Ghost said, sounding annoyed.

For a minute, we stared at each other, one cat at another. As we did, the Omnitrix beeped, glowing yellow with the light of a newly scanned alien.

Then, Gogmazios was hit by dozens of arrows, which exploded across its body. Hawkeye glided down towards us, coming to a stop and staring at the small cat. “Who brought a kids toy along?”

The cat hissed at him. Before we could say anything, Gogmazios demanded our attention.

“SCREEEEEAACH!” dripping hot tar splashed out around us. His mouth glowed, the ‘face’ under his throat lighting up. Songbird made a pink barrier. I leaped out with Marian and Tony, the three of us ready to take the blow. The dragon unleashed a long stream of orange-white burning tar, the sheer heat of the attack melting tires as it passed before slamming into Songbird’s barrier. Hawkeye let off a grappling line to one of the buildings, shooting up into the air, letting the line go and gliding on his cloak, firing shot after shot at the dragon as it continued to blast at us. The Monster Hunter and his cat ran along the ground, the Monster Hunter shooting at the dragon while his cat pulled out a rapier and started rushing along the dragon, stabbing at it over and over again as his master unleashed hell with that Gunlance of his.

Songbird’s barrier shattered. Marian, Tony, and I were hit by a massive boiling hot blast, which exploded and sent us flying back like dust in a storm. Tony spun around in the air and flew up, joining Hawkeye in aerial bombardment. Songbird flew up and caught Marian on a pink barrier. Poundcakes jumped back into battle, ignoring the black oil burning on her to punch the dragon in the head, cracking the scales there apart.

I, in the meantime, hit a building again. I groaned in pain, spinning up to face the dragon.

Songbird had joined Hawkeye and Iron Man in fighting the dragon from the air, using her powers to bind it as best as she could in pink ribbons. Iron Man hit it with repulsor blasts, sending chunks flying about, while Hawkeye continued to switch between gliding and grappling his way around the air while unleashing as many arrows as he could at the thing. Ghost ran through the dragon, avoiding the monster's attacks with careful application of her intangibility, then dropping grenades. The cat kept stabbing at the dragon with it’s rapier, sending pieces of hardened tar up.

On the ground, Marian was hitting the dragon with everything she had, sending shockwaves with each landing of her fists. The Monster Hunter rolled around a claw, took a tail swipe on his shield, and stabbed the tail as it passed. His gunlance exploded into the tail, and a massive piece of tail was ripped off.

Gogmazios beat his wings. The last pieces of tar flew off his form. And he lifted upwards.

As I stared at him, the dragon flew up and up, moving into Times Square, ripping apart the pink bonds Songbird had made. It was running away!

I reached for the Omnitrix and tapped it. I needed a flying form, something that could bring this thing down! Something to match it. Astrodactyl or Big Chill would do.

I turned into neither one of those.

Instead, Rath’s fur gave way to green scales. My body grew outwards, my front arms becoming legs, while two wings grew from my back. My eyes began to glow a bright green. I grew out and out until I was half the length of Gogmazios. I flared my wings out, eyes glaring at Gogmazios.

“Didn’t you just get this form?” Hawkeye asked as he glided past.

“I did… let’s test it out,” I beat my wings, lifting into the air. Together, we rushed for the flying dragon.

Gogmazios had enough time to glance upward before I tackled him in the chest. He screamed, clawing at me as we twisted in the air.

“Somebody get me some damn popcorn!” Tony yelled with glee as we slammed into the red steps in the center of Times Square. A news helicopter flew overhead, the Times Square screens around us displaying our fight. Gogmazios rolled on top of me as we shatter the concrete under us, blasting me. An explosion with me at the center went up several stories.

“"BA-REE-AAAARRRUUUURRNN!!!" I roared as I replied to his blast with my own attack, fire-like energy gathering in my mouth before hitting the other dragon in the chest. His chest cracked under the assault, while we kept hitting each other.

Tony flew up to my head and unleashed a unibeam attack, the blue of his arc reactors blast mixing with my fire-like attack to swirl and smash the dragon. Marian ran up with both fists and uppercut the dragon. It’s mouth shut from the force of her blow. In desperation, it slammed a claw into the ground and swept it outward, sending hot coal up in all directions, then beat its wings to rise again. Hawkeye, in an incredible move that would have made even the Russian judges give him a 10, flipped over the dragon and fired ten shots from his bow. They landed across its wings and blew up into balls of green goop that bubbled up, covering it in the synthetic foam. Gogmazios tried to explode again, but the foam kept him from igniting.

The Monster Hunter, seeing the opening, ran in and stabbed the dragon in the chest, blood and oil covering his armor. His gunlance exploded. For a moment, Gogmazios and the Monster Hunter met eyes, the dragon filled with hate, the hunter filled with determination.

His lance exploded again and again as he pushed deep into the dragon's chest, like he was drilling to its heart. Gogmazios reached to grab the Monster Hunter. I flew in, grabbed his head, then spun around to his back, pulling his head back. Marian grabbed his left wing claw and pulled it back with all her strength. Songbird went to the other arm and sang an area, surrounding that limb in pink spikes that stabbed deep into its winged arm then into the asphalt, keeping it still. The dragon tried to lift off, but Hawkeye shot dozens of arrows at the dragon's wings, until it was trapped under gooey green substance. Ghost grabbed the cat before it could be crushed under the dragon, rolling away.

Iron Man dropped from the sky. Catoms on his right arm flowed forward to form a four-foot-blade. He stabbed it into the dragon's chest, right next to the Monster Hunters lance. The Hunter and Tony yelled in unison, gunlance firing the biggest shot yet while Iron Man’s red blade let out a repulsor blast. The dragon screamed one last cry. Then it exploded.

We were all sent flying into the air, television screens cracking. I slid past Ghost, who ignored the buffeting storm as the shockwaves passed through her, and landed on my tail, bending it awkwardly. I hurried to my feet, staring at the dragon.

Gogmazios gurgled aloud, scratching at the asphalt underneath. I beat my wings and flew up and around, crouching in front of it. Gogmazios stared at us, breathing heavily, blood and tar dripping from it’s chest. The Monster Hunter stood before the dragon, his armor damaged, while his cat lifted his rapier into a ready stance. Tony aimed a repulsor at the dragon with his right arm, while his left arm stayed in blade form by his side. Marian stood in a boxing stance, Hawkeye landed on a lamppost, and Songbird floated to join us on the ground, rubbing her throat with a pained look on her face. Ghost went through a car to join us, bouncing another grenade in her palm (where was she keeping them all?)

Gogmazios raised his head high. Then, slowly, he lowered down, his head slamming into the earth. The bright glow of his eyes faded away.

I stared down at him. After a fight like that, where a single creature took on an Avenger’s level team, I felt a sense of solemness fill me. I wished we could have found a way to capture the creature, but with no real knowledge of how much power it had, our only choice had been to kill it. Necessary, but sad-

The sound of a knife going through flesh filled the air. I stared at the source of the sound.

“...That is so gross,” Tony said softly.

The Monster Hunter was slicing into the dragon, happily inspecting pieces of the dragon as he passed them to the cat, who cutely started placing them in piles. At one point, the Monster Hunter noted me. He eyed my dragon-like form, eyes panning across my tail, wings, and claws.

“...” I stepped back nervously, while Tony stepped in front of me.

“No. Bad… dragon killing… lance guy,” Tony said, confused.

“This has been such an odd day,” Marian said in the background as we watched the Monster Hunter continue cutting a truck-sized monster to small pieces.