Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

An Ethereal. From X-COM.

That’s who I’d become. I could tell based on the way I looked. I could see it through Clint’s eyes, through Laura’s eyes. I had the same type robes and build, the same psychic powers.

What. The hell.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t the exact form. For one thing, I was buff. Well, more buff than those skinny bastards were. Then again, the Omnitrix always made its forms as healthy as possible. So I wasn’t just an Ethereal. I was a HEALTHY Ethereal. All of the power, none of the weakness. Damn dude.

I didn’t know how it happened. How the Omnitrix had given me a form I didn’t recognize from Marvel or Ben 10. But it couldn’t have come at a better time.

I looked down at my hands. All four of them. Then I looked up at Strucker. All the power I had… and the Mind Stone still outstripped me by a wide degree.

I could feel it there. A presence pressing against my mind. It was just… daunting. Like standing at the foot of a cliff, ready to climb it. Facing a lion across sandy terrain. Watching a hurricane approach from a distant horizon. No matter how ready you are, how geared, you still know you’re fighting something that isn’t meant to be fought.

Strucker was staring at the stone in his gauntlet’s palm. His look was almost rapturous. Worshipful.

“Falling in love, Strucker?” I said snarkily. Despite not having vocal cords, I was able to speak with telepathy, sending my mental presence outward to stimulate sound.

He spoke in a sort of dual voice in turn, using his voice and his own telepathy. Cause that’s what I needed, a Hydra asshole with telepathy.

“I suppose I am. This stone… I can feel your mind now. You know what it is.”

Well, the jig was up. No need to keep it a secret anyways. “The Mind Stone. Or Mind Gem, depending on who you’re asking. A fundamental part of the universe and a device that can turn any random idiot into a genius telepath. Well, within reason.”

“...There it is again,” Strucker slowly lowered his hand, staring at me now. “You know so much… How is that, exactly?”

His mind pressed against mine. He raised the stone, and I felt like icy fingers were digging into my skull. I raised my own right hands and blasted out a psychic lance of violet power. He raised a golden shield of energy in response. When violet hit gold, it sent him skidding back several feet until the energy finally dissipated.

Even as I attacked on the physical plane however, Strucker scraped against my mind, struggling to enter. I built up wall after wall, using the old trick of using a mental image to create a stronger defense. In my case, huddled my thoughts under the a star spangled shield.

“Of course,” Strucker scoffed. He blocked another psychic lance, only to be forced to duck when the rubble behind him rose up and launched at him like dozens of tiny bullets. He floated up into the air, flying on waves of gold energy. I flew up after him, gathering energy into my palms until they became orbs. “That damned shield.”

“It’s the best defense I know,” I fired another blast at him, then ducked around a returning golden ball of energy that smashed into the ceiling, smashing through it. I brought my hands together in front of me and unleashed the gathered psychic energy within me.

Strucker raised the Mind Stone and blasted it back at me. Purple and gold smashed in between us, spinning around each other to create an orb of energy before it exploded apart, ripping the room around us apart. I was sent flying back through what remained of the wall, and found myself in the guts of those shifting rooms Laura and I had been fighting in.

While I was winded, Strucker dived down at me. His monocle reflected my alien features just before I rolled aside, dodging the blade of psychic energy he attacked with. I raised a shield as he slashed at me, the energy bouncing off, then felt his mental claws dig into my mind once more. I snapped the image of the most invincible shield I knew upwards in my mind, while firing blast after blast at him.

“I must say, you are standing up well to my power!” Strucker said smugly, blocking another blast from me. “This new form of yours is quite the counter to the Mind Stone… But I wonder if the other Avengers have the same defenses.”

My eyes widened as I felt his presence reach out. Searching. Looking for a way into the minds of the others. He pressed against Steve, finding no purchase. But I could read him. There were others. Others whose minds he could enter. Could corrupt. Clint. Clint was running through the base, carrying Laura in his arms. I think he felt us then. Our mental presences, looking at him. His fear echoed even as Strucker and I smashed into each other with psychic force.

Strucker smiled as the Mind Stones glow began to pulse. He reached for Clint’s mind. Clint froze. I knew what would happen next. He would take over Clint. Use him to kill Laura. Then move onto the other Avengers. If they took Clint down, he’d move to the next one. Then the next. Maybe he wouldn’t kill them all. But he’d kill enough. Even one dead friend was non-negotiable.

With no time to think, I lowered my shield. As Strucker gasped in shock, I mentally grabbed onto him and pulled him into my mind.

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Steve Rogers/Captain America

Steve felt it when it happened. Something at the edge of his senses, pressing against him. He pushed back against it mentally, driving it off with a single blast of willpower.

But that single moment of distraction cost him. Trip kicked him in the stomach, sending him sailing back into the wall behind him, air leaving his lungs on impact. Steve recovered in time to dodge the punch that cracked the concrete where his head had been. He blocked a kick by raising his leg to intercept it, returned with an uppercut that was parried aside, then swung his shield outward, forcing Trip back as the vibranium edge sang through the air.

Behind Trip, Bucky and Sharon were dueling, her right escrima stick bouncing off of his robotic arm. The two eyed each other over his arm. Bucky’s other arm clenched then snapped upwards, hitting her in the stomach. Sharon didn’t flinch as her lower ribs broke. She only brought her stick around to hit him in the face, blood spurting from his nose. Bucky didn’t flinch either.

Steve grit his teeth. That had been how the fight went the whole time. Four super-soldiers hitting each other at high speeds, trying to bring the others down. They’d traded dance partners a few times. Traded wounds as well. But they needed to finish this.

He stared at Trip. The young brainwashed SHIELD agent hadn’t moved. He was only staring at him. And Steve took a moment. A moment to have faith in someone he trusted. “Trip… I’m going to hit you now. With everything I have. Hard enough to knock you out. All you need to do is stand still. That’s it. Stand still. And when you wake up, you’ll be back home.”

Trip raised his hands, stepping forward. Then he froze. His eyes widened. His whole body began to shake, beads of sweat raising across his brow. Veins popped up across his arms and legs as his strain built. “Do… it-”

Steve was already moving. He crossed the distance between them. Trip tried to dodge, moving a foot to the left. He let out a sound of agony, muscles tensing like armored cables as they simultaneously tried to move and stand still at the same time. He only managed to hold for a moment.

Then Steve’s shield hit him in the head. Trip fell to a knee, allowing Steve to get behind him and wrap an arm around his neck. He pulled tight, choking the younger man as he struggled despite his concussion. “Ugh! Unh!”

Steve squeezed brutally, holding Trip close. “I promise. Your family will be there when you wake. We’ll free you from this. Just fall asleep!”

Trip brought his elbow around to hit Steve in the nose. There was an explosion of pain. Blood spilled down onto Steve’s lips, his helmet not preventing the breakage of his nose. Steve didn’t let go. He choked Trip out, leaving him to finally pass out, a last gasp of air leaving his lungs. Steve didn’t have the luxury to gently place him on the ground. Instead he dropped him and ran over to Sharon and Bucky.

“About time!” Bucky shouted as Steve joined him. “She lost her mind when she saw you taking down Trip!”

Sharon’s face didn’t show it. She still had the same blank face as before. But she struck faster with those batons of hers, her movements had a fierceness they hadn’t before.

Steve blocked her next strike on his shield, then shoved with all his power, forcing her up into the air. Bucky’s boot landed on Steve’s shoulder, pushing off to leap into the air. As Sharon twisted, trying to get herself back on the ground, Steve tossed his shield, the red, white, and blue flash hitting Sharon in mid-air and bouncing upwards.

Bucky caught the shield in the air, spinning around to toss it downwards at Sharon. She landed on the floor, barely rolling out of the way before her chest could get hit by the shield. The vibranium disc bounced off the concrete.

And landed back in Steve’s hands as he was in mid-spin. He tossed it at the apex of his twist, the shield smashing into Sharon’s batons with brutal force, shattering them before hitting her in the chest. She stumbled back, gasping in pain.

Bucky landed as Steve sprinted past. The two World War 2 veterans ran forward as one. Sharon, currently falling backwards, stared as they approached, fists drawn back. Then, slowly, she smiled.

Captain America and Nomad hit her with a right and a left, sending her spinning to the ground. She passed out immediately, whatever durability she had gained from Hydra’s experiments incapable of withstanding the calculated blows.

As bruises grew across Sharon’s face, Steve breathed a brief and small sigh of relief. They weren’t out of the woods yet. But…

“This is Nomad,” Bucky said in his radio. “Captain America and I have captured agents Carter and Triplett. We’re coming home… All of us.”

That was when the explosions began. Bucky and Steve shared a look before Steve grabbed Sharon while Bucky ran for Trip, the room falling apart around them as they prepared to run.

Tony Stark/Iron Man

When Tony had first met Dial, he’d started designing countermeasures for him. Nothing too crazy, not at first. It had started with some idle thoughts. How to stop Feedback from pulling out his energy, fight back against Diamondhead with sonic weapons, keep Upgrade from forcibly taking over his suit. He had come up with a few counters, some which worked, others that were kind of shit.

Two aliens he’d come up with some ways to fight though were Goop and Snare-Oh. They’d been a challenge. Amorphous, shifting, regenerating, beings that could become as fluid as water or tough as stone. But they had their weaknesses.

The first step though, was locking down his own weaknesses. Goop and Snare-Oh could both enter the smallest spaces in machinery, filling up every crevice before exploding outward to destroy it. So Tony locked down his suits, making sure there was no chance anything could enter his suit if he could help it, making them even more airtight without sacrificing flexibility. He was still working on it. It wasn’t quite up to par.

But as he fought the dough monster, it came in handy. It wrapped around him at one point, the freaky ass material of the thing trying to slip into the gaps of his armor.

“Jarvis, fry me some dough.” Tony said smugly.

Underneath the metal shell, a burst of electricity ran along a carbon lining running through his suit. As the dough came in contact with it, the thousands of bolts running through the Iron Man suit repelled the attacker.

Tony’s smugness ended when the grimy creature responded by just lifting him up and tossing him through a wall.

“Gah, piece of-” Tony ducked around a tentacle arm, then flew upwards to avoid the car-sized mass that tried to crush him, the dough creature splattered on the wall behind him before it gathered into that creepy smiling face again. “Seriously, what is the point of giving it a face!?”

Tony fired repulsors at it. It didn’t kill the thing, but it turned that stupid smile into a bunch of goop again. Right up until it regenerated. Damnit. “Jarvis, what do you got for me?”

“I’ve almost completed calculations on the architecture of the room,” Tony fired an array of mini-rockets from his shoulders. The tiny explosives were blocked by dozens of tentacles floating out of the main mass to intercept each one, the tentacles exploding. “What would you like me to do once I compile a complete blueprint?”

Tony’s arm was wrapped by a long tentacle. Tony struggled against it’s pull, raising his other arm to blast it off. “Ping the comms, map out the locations of the other Avengers around us. Send me the map when you’re done!”

Tony ducked around another tentacle, cursing. “What about the ultra-freon? Is it good to go?”

“Ready when you are sir,” Jarvis said calmly.

And with that, all the pieces were in place. Tony’s lips quirked upwards. “Okay then. Let’s finish this up.”

As though it could hear him, the gelatinous creature started spinning, it’s body turning into dozens and dozens of chunks that it tossed at him. Tony lifted into the air and began flying through the air, dodging chunks. The rooms around them opened up, giving him more room for him to move.

As each chunk landed, they formed into miniatures of the creature, with the same wide grinning smile. They began jumping after Tony, chasing him in small groups. Tony began firing.

At the walls around him. The repulsor blasts pierced through, slicing at seemingly random areas.

And the explosions began in the distance.

“This is Iron Man, I’m tearing this place apart,” he shouted, ducking another mini-blob. “All units in the Hydra Facility, Jarvis is going to walk you through our escape.”

“Got it Tony, we’ll move on your command!” Steve shouted as the explosions continued.

“Then get running, Popsicle!” Tony raised his arms. On the back of his gauntlets, a bright red light began to glow. He pointed his arms outwards, and a pair of high intensity lasers shot from each gauntlet. They sliced through the walls, floor, and ceiling, one beam splitting one of the dough creatures. Behind his mask, his face was twisted with concentration as he used the ‘map’ Jarvis had made for him to guide his attack. The beams sliced through the rooms beyond, cutting through arms that were shifting the whole place like an insane Rubix cube. The laser beams worked with mathematical precision. One sliced behind Izzy Hartley as she ran, her cussing echoing in the rooms around them.

The entire complex began to shake and rumble. Tony stood at the center of the chaos. Iron Man’s eyes glowed golden as crimson fire ripped through the air around him.

The dough creatures, eyes wide, rushed for him. The Iron Man watched them approach. On his hands, his gauntlets were beginning to overheat. He clenched his teeth under his emotionless mask, keeping one eye on the monsters, and the other on his lasers readout.

At the last second, just before two creatures could leap towards him with teeth outstretched, he triggered his next move. Within his armor, ultra-freon flowed through to his chest's Uni-Beam attachment. He stopped firing his lasers, power in his suit activating one of his newest weapons.

A blast of supercooled fluid carried on repulsors came out as a bright blue-white beam of energy. Or a freeze ray, to explain it simply.

The waves of cold washed over the group of attacking dough monsters, his gauntlets cracking at the sudden change from extreme heat to extreme cold. The dough monsters screamed before they froze in place, bodies cracking in place, one shattering in half as it’s forward momentum carried it into the wall behind Tony. The sudden switch from superheated to supercooled may have damaged Tony’s armor. But it had destroyed the cells of the dough creatures.

He smiled at the frozen faces before him, fog rolled through the room. “Nailed it.”

The room fell apart around him. Tony lifted into the air, watching as the corpses of the creatures fell down into the darkness.

“I’m good. How about the rest of you?” Tony said, lifting into the air. “We get eyes on Strucker?”

“Dial is fighting him!” Clint said, sounding like he was running.

“Dial? Wait, like one on one?” Tony blinked. “How is Strucker not a stain on a wall?”

“Because he suddenly has psychic powers!” Clint said back. “In Loki’s Scepter, there was some sort of, I don’t know, some kind of yellow stone, or jewel. It let him read our minds. I could feel him try to take over my thoughts!”

Tony’s blood chilled. A stone. One that could control minds.

He thought back to his brainstorming sessions with Dial. How they’d spoken about the various threats that could be on their way…

“Jarvis!”

“I’m already preparing sir!” Jarvis shouted, sounding worried. “Infinity Stone protocols are active, X is on his way.”

“Nat, you hear that?” Tony spun in the air, charging for the battlefield.

“I did! We’ll move on Jarvis and X’s command. If anyone gets mind controlled, we’ll shut them down.”

On some level, that gave Tony comfort. But there was a part of him that worried it wouldn’t be enough…

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Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

We stood in a blank white space within my mind. Strucker and I. I was in my human form again. We stared at each other. Slowly, Strucker smiled. “You let me in.”

“Didn’t have much choice,” I said back calmly.

Outside my mind, Strucker and I smashed into the forest floor. We charged each other, blasting psychic lances of energy at each other, our missed blasts tearing the trees apart, mud and ice lifting into the air.

Inside, I grit my teeth. “So… You ready?”

Strucker cracked his neck to the side. “Oh yes. I’m quite confident in my mental ability. How about you?”

“I gotta vivid imagination,” I looked around the space. A white space. A place of infinite possibilities. “And guns. Lots of guns.”

A massive line of shelves came zooming in towards us. Strucker spun out of the way of one. As he did, I ripped an assault rifle off a shelf as it passed, raising it to begin firing.

A boring start. But this was a battle of the mind. You don’t start with the strongest weapons in there.

And I had some ideas. Very VIVID ideas.

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Author’s Note:

Also, sorry. This chapter was LONG in the making. It was a challenge in so many ways, most of them real-life related. Hopefully the wait was worth it, but I’m going to buckle down and work to get the next one done asap. Once again, I apologize.