Chapter 137

Tony Stark/Iron Man

Tony fired another repulsor shot, ducking around a laser blast, then flying upwards to zoom around a pillar, firing another pair of blasts. “Now I know guys, you come to Earth, see what we’ve done with politics, food, and porn, and you get convinced we’re gonna be easy to beat, right?”

He got hit by two blasts of energy, sending him back. He winced at the scars that left in his armor, but kept moving, shooting another repulsor blast.

“But the thing is about us Avengers, we’re all dumb. Even a genius like me. We’re just too stupid to quit when we should know better!”

He punctuated that comment by blasting one more Kree soldier, then crouching under an errant blade coming for his head.

While fighting the blue man group, Tony heard a sound like thunder in the distance. An explosion followed that immense sound, shaking the ship around them.

But he was WAY more interested in the sight of his HUD suddenly coming to life.

“Mr. Stark. You are back online.”

Tony smirked. “How bout that?”

His suit came alive. And he clenched his fists as the software connected to it read his intent and fired.

A massive blast left his chest, smashing into the ceiling. He clenched his teeth and directed the unibeam as best as he could, forcing it to come down. The ship shook. Someone screamed. He ignored them, forcing more and more power out until his chest began to heat. Warning signs began to shout inside his suit as the unibeam ripped through the alien ship.

“Jarvis!”

“Ready when you are, sir!”

The back of his suit opened. Tony leaped out of it, spinning and rushing for the window, leaping into the open air.

Behind him, the Iron Man suit began to glow as it continued to fire its chest repulsor. The suit exploded into a small supernova when it finally overloaded, the Kree ship tearing itself apart as the combination of all the damage it had sustained finally caught up to it.

Tony continued to drop towards the forest below, wind blowing in his ears.

“Hey, uh, Tony?” the voice of Rhodey came to his ears. “Need some help?”

“No, I’m good,” Tony watched as a suit came flying from the Enterprise. The red and gold flash was followed by the suit zooming over to him. Tony slipped into the suit, the familiar feeling of powerful robotics surrounding him once more. “So, what did I miss while I was killing the giant ship?”

“Godzilla,” Rhodey said with a hint of exasperation in his voice.

“...Is that like, a euphemism, or-”

“SKREEEEEOOOOONK!!!”

Tony spun in the air, hovering on his boots. Then he gaped at the sight before him.

A giant monster stood over the battlefield, sending out a blast of sound towards an Ubertank, turning it to scrap metal. It glared across the battlefield. A contingent of fighter ships went buzzing towards it, hitting his crystalline spines with laser blasts, releasing bombs that exploded around his feet. The..., Tony didn’t know what to call it, a Gemzilla? It released a short blast of sound that destroyed one of the fighters, his claws snapping out to smash another. Quinjets flew in to support him.

That was when Tony saw the giant glowing symbol of the Omnitrix on the front of his chest. “Fuck me, the toy division is going to love this…”

“You’re thinking of merchandise now!?” Rhodey said, flying over to join his fellow powersuit user.

“They pay your bills, Mister,” Tony joked. The pair zoomed towards Dial, who was making his way towards the Hydra Base. The rest of BRIDGE and their allies converged on him, using the giant Kaiju as a figurehead to rally on. Tony flew over to Dial’s head, the monster giving him some side-eye. "Dial I don't know how to tell you this but if you put on any more weight you are going to have your own gravitational pull!"

“Grrrr,” the sound of his growl echoed through Tony’s suit, vibrating in his chest.

“Oh, this ain’t one of the talkative ones?” Tony chuckled. “Then again, looks like you have your own way to win conversations!”

Hydra gathered before the base, rushing towards them. Alien fighters, tanks, soldiers, Gamma-Hydras, flying soldiers in Chitauri armor, all rushing towards them.

Tony and Rhodey took up positions alongside Dial. Quinjets dropped in alongside them. A trio of building-size tanks with Chinese Flags on them took point, M1-Abrams with laser weapons and Russian tanks with Tesla coils strapped to them joining their large counterparts, while jeeps followed behind. Sam Wilson came swooping in. Hulk and She-Hulk landed on the shoulders of Dial, while Thor zoomed past.

Tony took stock of the two armies and those who were a part of it, noting the sight of Chenobog laughing while running next to Captain America. He turned on a private line.

“This is turning into ‘World War Weird’ huh Steve?” Tony snarked.

In an amused tone, Steve replied. “I don’t know. Seems like all the others when you get down to it.”

As though by some unknown signal, both armies started firing en masse. Thor released a blast of lightning that crackled across the front-line. Tony let loose with his repulsors while Rhodey joined in with the addition of bullets

As the armies met in war the center, the sound of a monster roaring overshadowed everything.

------

T’Challa/Black Panther

In a Royal Talon Fighter, swooping in over the battlefield, T’Challa stared at the sight of a giant monster made of crystals roaring as it ripped a tank in half with his claws.

“When you told me we would be helping BRIDGE with a war, this is not what I expected,” Okoye, the leader of the Dora Milaje and one of his oldest friends, mumbled.

“What did you expect?” T’Challa asked, noting the giant tanks that were destroying large portions of the battlefield.

“Well, not this!” she said weakly.

“You think you’re surprised?” Ares, the Greek God of War, leaned his head in between them. “I’m trying to decide what sort of training would work with a Titan.”

Okoye gave T’Challa a pointed look that made him smile.

In her defense, the day had been full of surprises. Natasha Romanov and Maria Hill had reached out to his father requesting a small portion of Wakanda’s forces to aid them, with hopes that their advanced technology and resources could come in during the battle and turn the tide if need be. As part of that, Okoye and T’Challa had picked up a group of ‘Reserve Avengers’.

So T’Challa was surprised when one of those was a giant of a man who greeted him as ‘Bast’s New Chosen! How is that sexy Goddess?’

“There,” Ares pointed at a point just to the left of where the armies were clashing. “We can flank the Hydra there.”

“My prince?” Okoyo asked him.

“He is the God of War,” T’Challa said with an easy smile. “Do as he says. Have the other fighters join the battle in the sky.”

“And me?” Okoye asked.

“I need you to act as my eyes in the sky,” T’Challa told her.

She didn’t seem happy with that, but only let out a small ‘tsh’ sound to show her displeasure.

T’Challa rose to his feet, holding the helmet of his armor under his arm. Ares moved aside to let him pass, joining him in the back.

There, two more people were waiting. Luna Snow, someone T’Challa had been surprised to see was joining them. He knew her of course, but only as a musician whose loud pop beats were often playing in his sister's laboratory when he would visit. Not as a warrior. But a quick search showed she had some renown as a superheroine.

She didn’t look it. While Ares was carrying himself with simple confidence, she was biting her lip as she stared at a hologram displaying the battle below. The black and white-haired pop idol was wearing her ‘battle suit’, but looked as though she was controlling her breathing.

“Nervous?” T’Challa asked her.

“No. I’m scared,” Luna smiled up at him briefly. “I’ve been nervous before concerts. I know I can fight. I’m just scared someone will kill me.”

“Then you are smarter than I am,” they looked at the last person. He was an 8-foot tall man with red scaled skin, kind golden eyes, dressed in the armor of a knight from medieval times.

It was still stranger to meet a pop idol.

“My first battle, I went in believing I was invincible,” he said with amusement. “Until Lancelot sent me flying back with a single thrust of his spear.”

“Heh,” Ares said with a chuckle. “I remember that.”

“Fear is okay,” Sir Benedict rose to his feet. “But use it to fuel you. To sharpen your resolve and senses. Bolster it with drive. And with the knowledge of a righteous cause. Such a thing is a rare wonder in today’s world. We are lucky. To be fighting with the side of good.”

T’Challa and Luna smiled, nodding. Ares only grunted, looking a bit dismissive but not disagreeing.

“I suppose we’ll drop now,” T’Challa said after a moment. “Okoye! I will see you after the battle!”

“You better,” she looked back at him from the pilot seat. “Your sister would be an insufferable Black Panther.”

He grinned as he placed his helmet on.

Then, holes appeared under their feet. T’Challa, Luna, Ares, and Benedict fell for several feet. T’Challa landed with ease, his enhanced power and vibranium suit allowing him a panther’s grace. Luna created an ice pillar that she went sliding down.

Ares and Benedict landed with twin booms of noise, rising up with weapons raised.

A group of Hydra soldiers noticed them. T’Challa flashed his claws, while Ares grinned.

“Come then,” Ares laughed. “It has been too long since I’ve killed men and women like this!”

A Gamma-Hydra, misshapen and ugly, roared and charged him. Ares ducked under his clumsy punch, slicing into the giant green woman’s Achilles Heel by treating a table-sized sword like a baton, then cutting her throat when her lack of balance put her into position for the dagger.

Benedict charged in alongside him, flames belching from the dragon knight’s throat as he smashed into a contingent of soldiers.

T’Challa spun into the general, backflipping into the air to claw through the heart of a Chitauri-armored soldier, spinning around to dodge a blast of lasers, landing on the shoulders of a man, gripping his head with his feet and snapping the Hydra goon’s neck in a spinning leap, jumping forward with claws out once more.

Then, Luna struck. And as impressive as the others were, they didn’t compare.

A wave of cold was followed by a wave of icicles the size of a man snapping forward, turning the soldiers near them into frozen statues. Luna leaped up, arms forward, and three icicles smashed into the center of more soldiers, flash-freezing them. When Benedict ran through them, she grit her teeth, horrified, but still fighting.

That was when allies joined them in battle.

“Luna!” a red and white shield flew past her, smashing into a soldier.

“Steve!” she called back happily as Captain America got to her side, blocking a laser blast on his shield.

“Panther,” Bucky Barnes landed next to T’Challa, who clawed out the face of a Hydra soldier.

“Barnes,” the two black-armored men ran side by side, Barnes shooting wildly while T’Challa used his invulnerable armor to act as cover.

“ARES!” the God of War froze, still holding a soldier by the neck. He slowly looked down at the ground.

“Oh...Oh no.”

Benedict looked over at him. “Are you okay?” he asked while stabbing through a Gamma-Hydra.

“No. My old drinking buddy is here.”

“Ares, buddy!” a shadow fell into the crowd of enemies, slicing apart three soldiers, while a tank exploded. From it, came a giant shadow man. “Good to see you! I hear you have a kid now!”

“Chernobog,” Ares sighed, looking over at Benedict. “This is Benedict. Now, can we go kill things?”

“Shiiiiit, Grecian!” Chernobog turned, joining Benedict and Ares. “That’s all you had to say!”

Then, before they could move, a shadow passed over their heads. They looked up to see Dial, in that giant monster form, pass by. T’Challa stopped by them.

“This war is very strange,” T’Challa said to the trio.

“Actually, this makes me feel nostalgic,” Ares said idly.

“Same/Indeed,” Chernobog and Benedict said in unison.

T’Challa thought about that for just a moment. That wars like this, with monsters of such size, had once been commonplace. And were returning.

That was worrying. Very worrying.

He turned his focus to the battle, but the thought remained.

------

Sam Wilson/The Falcon

Sam surveyed the battlefield below him as he cartwheeled through the air, firing his submachine gun with his right hand and his repulsor beam with his other. A fighter zoomed past, which he ducked around to shoot in the engines in back.

“Goddamn, this is crazy!” he shouted, dropping down and snapping his wings open to shoot back up, ducking under a giant arm as he did. “Someone tell Dial to warn us next time stuff like this happens!”

The giant monster in question let out a growl of annoyance that Sam felt vibrating in his bones. He grinned, then twisted to survey the battle again.

That was when he saw a group of 3 alien fighters flying down towards a clear section of the battlefield. He looked in the direction they were flying towards.

In that battlefield, a group of Chinese and American troopers were fighting Hydra and Kree soldiers on foot. They were outgunned but sticking to their guns, ducking behind boulders for cover. And they didn’t see the fighters coming for them in an airstrike.

Sam moved without thinking, twisting in the air to fly down towards the trio of fighters. He clenched his teeth, pulling in his wings and letting loose with his jets. “Come on, come on!” he roared. As he flew down towards the trio, a port opened up on his shoulder armor, unleashing a single drone. The red bird-like drone flew ahead of him, attaching to the backmost fighter before exploding. The fighter shuddered, a hole now in it’s main engine. Sam grabbed a grenade off his belt, dropping it into that hole as he flew past, the ship blowing apart.

The two fighters left noticed that. One twisted, moving towards him, while the other kept flying towards the soldiers.

“Fuck!” Sam twisted out of the way of a green beam of energy but forced himself to keep moving forward, aiming for the front-most fighter now. “Come on, come on!”

The fighter shooting at him followed. Sam felt the hairs on his body shrivel whenever those immensely hot beams flew past him. He screamed when one of them got close enough to his left arm to burn his skin, the smell of cooked flesh following. But he ignored it.

The lead fighter was getting close enough that it had begun to fire on the soldiers. Sam saw one Chinese woman get torn in half. He screamed in rage.

Sam raised his hands, forcing them to aim correctly. He fired a repulsor and bullets in tandem. The hardened shells hit wherever the repulsors did, the beams of power tearing through the metal shell of the ship before the bullets pierced into those weakened sections.

“Raaaaaagh!” Sam screamed as the wet snow falling down stung across his face. He felt another beam fly past. The ground below was a blur. He kept firing at the engine of the ship. Another soldier died.

And the engine for that ship exploded. Sam had a moment to feel glee at the sight of the ship tearing apart in mid-air.

Then. A piece of the engine was blown away. Sam tried to dodge. He felt something thump into his right leg, followed by immense pain. He gasped, the agony so strong he could barely breathe. He snapped his wings out, forcing himself to spin around and aim behind himself at the last enemy fighter. His right-wing was ripped into by a bolt of energy, melting a hole through it. He focused, firing at the windshield of the fighter. The repulsor blast shattered the glass. The bullets shattered the alien's face.

Then he was falling. Pain was still filling him, throbbing in his leg. He spun around and pressed a button on his chest. A parachute snapped out, sending him upwards, the fighter flying underneath him to crash into the forest. Then he crashed to the floor. When had he gotten so close? Why was everything going black, then clear? What was happening?

He was lying down. But he could hear voices. He struggled upwards, arms pushing on the ground. Then he fell.

“Ugh!” Sam tried to stand, but his right leg wasn’t working. He felt sweat . The enemy soldiers. They had to be stopped. He turned over, ready to fight.

A red and white shield flew over him. The sound of metal hitting something filled the air. And Sam relaxed.

They were here.

“Sam!” Steve was there. Looking down at him. “Sam, Sam, can you hear me!?”

“I killed the ships,” Sam whispered. “Are they okay?”

“Yes, yes they are!” Steve was staring over him, pausing. “God, Sam-”

The sounds of lasers were followed by Steve snapping to his feet to block blasts of light on his shield.

“Captain,” a thin and reedy voice said softly. Steve glanced over at the speaker. Then he staggered.

“Jesus! What are-”

Maria spoke. Ah, Maria. She was so pretty. Sam coughed, listening. She was screaming for some reason. “He’s an ally, Steve, let him help Sam!”

“Maria,” Steve mumbled, then grimaced. “Fine!”

“My thanks, Captain America,” that thin voice was followed by two arms coming into Sam’s view. One was holding a scalpel, while the other hand was cleaning with some sort of solution. Then, two more arms stretched out.

Sam’s eyes stared in horror as he began to blackout. “Now. Let us prepare my latest patient for surgery. For my Tonic.”

The last thing Sam saw before passing out was a single glowing eye set into a horrific face.

------

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

I roared. And things were destroyed. I walked. And the earth trembled.

I felt my lungs breathing out, and saw gusts of wind buffet the snow falling from above.

Was this how Godzilla always felt? Like he was walking in a world of fragility? In terms of scale, if this form had been as big as, say, Four Arms, then the Tetramand would be stronger. But it WASN’T that small. I was much more than that.

Hulk landed on my claw and used it as a platform to jump upwards and smash into a fighter ship. I raised a claw and slashed outwards, crystal blades slicing through a tank with ease.

Fantasma and Scarlet Witch zoomed past, throwing bolts of purple and red magic at a group of Chitauri soldiers before joining arms and spinning together as they flew forward, becoming a purple and red swirl of colors that smashed into their enemies.

We were almost at the base. I glared at it.

“Hey honey,” Jen landed on my head. “Bye honey!” she leaped off, landing feet first into a jeep.

“Gruh,” I couldn’t help a pleased noise before returning my focus.

“Dial,” Natasha’s voice filled my head. “We need to take down that shield. Hulk gave it his best shot, but we need a lot more force to take it out. Can you-”

I roared. The waves of sound smashed into the base’s shield. It flickered, but after a moment returned to normal. Good enough. I had a plan.

I looked around for the Hulk. After a moment, I saw Bruce’s other throwing a tree at something nearby. I reached out, my claw approaching him.

He spun at the shadow that approached, frowning in confusion when he saw my paw. “What Dial Doing?”

I didn’t have a way to tell him. Instead, I held my palm out. Confused, he hopped into it. I lifted him up, wincing when a bunch of lasers smacked into my head before Tony shot the offending soldier down. I gently pulled my hand back. Then, I raised my other claw. Slowly, I pointed at the base.

“...Heh. HEHEHEHAHAHAHA!!!!” Hulk roared loudly. “YES! DO IT!”

I reared back. My mouth opened. I roared, long and hard. The sound waves smashed into the shield around the Hydra base. Then I snapped forward.

“HUUUUUUUUULKKKK!” the green man zipped through the air like a bullet. Or a cannonball. His fists were clenched and his arms were thrust outwards into a Superman pose, a laugh following his path. “SMAAAAASH!”

He hit with a booming explosion of sound, dust, then fire and electricity. The shield exploded in turn, the combination of hits finally overtaxing it, the sight of blue force fields cracking apart making me feel as giddy as a school child.

“Well… that works,” Natasha mumbled as I moved to the Hulk.

Once I’d gotten close enough, I tapped the Omnitrix, shrinking down into my human form. Being a Godzilla was probably going to be my opening move from now on. But only when it wouldn’t crush people. And as bad as Hydra was, they had hostages we wanted to help.

I landed near the crater he’d smashed into the building. On the inside was what looked like a hanger of sorts, empty except for a big pile of rubble.

“Hulk!? Buddy? You in there?”

“...” A green head of hair poked out of the rubble. Hulk grinned at me. “Hulk Flew!”

“Hell yeah, you did!” I said walking over the rubble and looking around, pulling my sword out of its sheath as I walked. “Okay. You ready for the next part of the plan?”

The Hulk nodded, coming out of the rubble and walking over to rub my head gently. “Hulk be back. Dial be careful.”

“Don’t worry bud,” I looked behind me. “Our friends will have our backs.”

“Always,” Steve said, smiling under his helmet. He was at the front of the crowd, his shield resting on his arm. He had blood on his blue and white armor but looked healthy. Though he also looked like… I don’t know. Like something bad had happened. But then, this was a war.

Bucky and the Punisher hefted their guns, Black Panther crouched between them on a piece of rubble, the three black armor-clad men looking dangerous as fuck.

Iron Man floated above, wearing his iconic red and gold. This version looked more advanced than the one he’d come in with though, with silver highlights across the arms and legs.

Warrior walked over to me, her helmet open to reveal her smile, looking more like Xena than ever before, while Mockingbird twirled her batons nearby.

“Time to bring down the castle,” I turned to look into the base, gritting my teeth. Time to beat the shit out of Hydra.

------

Maria Hill/Director of BRIDGE

Maria watched as the infiltration team slipped in, the main army beginning to circle the base. As she did, a message came in on another screen. She looked over at it.

Strucker. She scowled at the little Hydra symbol he sent her, a mockery in every way. She turned it on, ignoring Buckler walking over as well.

The man in question was smiling when the video call started. “Hill. Dial is a ridiculous bastard.”

“Is he? I haven’t noticed,” Maria said blandly.

Strucker smirked. “In point of fact, well. All of BRIDGE is becoming quite… over the top. You all have begun to represent a madness that has begun to take over the world.”

“Is there a point to this, or are you just trying to banter for the sake of it,” Maria snarked. “Because I’ll be honest. I just don’t care about your opinion.”

“Ohhh, these are not opinions,” Strucker slowly leaned into the camera. “Bridge. Everything it stands for? It is the beginning of something terrible. A world I will not allow.”

“Hard to prevent things from a death bed.”

“...It depends on how desperate one is,” Strucker said with a smile.

The video call shut off. Maria stared at the black screen. At the end there. Strucker’s confidence had become something… fragile. Broken. That could be good. But it was also worrying.

“Maria!” Natasha shouted behind her. She turned to look in her direction. Natasha had a panicked look to her. “Pepper Potts is sending us a distress call. Avengers Tower is being invaded!”

------

Avengers Tower, New York

They appeared in flashes of light. In the main lobby, through the various floors, around 40 people. They were covered in heavy black armor, sparks flashing across them as they showed up, screaming in agony. They bled in sections. Under their armor, metal had become fused to flesh. Three died as they arrived. But the rest forced themselves on, the Hydra symbol on their chest shining.

Before leaving, Tony and Jury Rigg had worked together to develop a shield that could prevent anyone from teleporting in, creating a series of cruel ways to punish those who would try. They had not expected that those who would try would be so far gone mentally they would force themselves to go anyways. The Fishhook device pushed them through. The armor was calibrated to defend them. And when both those things failed to protect them entirely from the effects of forcing the teleportation, Strucker’s Scepter gave them a horrific conviction.

When they appeared, the Tower immediately began to sound out the alarms. Security officers with pistols fired on them while people tried to run. Their bullets bounced off the Hydra Teleunits armor. A receptionist tried to run before a bullet drilled into her throat. Outside, fans of the Avengers gathered around the base of the building for a chance to see their heroes ran for their lives.

A black booted foot stepped into the blood of a young woman as she cried in a corner. She looked up. Her face was reflected in a helmet. A rifle raised and fired. The soldier moved on.

There were more targets waiting.