Someone

Megatron. A massive engine of destruction, one of the scariest beings in the galaxy. Not scary in the sense of the SCPs, most of them anyway. That was more of a horror movie fear. Something kind of abstract, so unbelievable that it couldn't be one hundred percent imagined. Megatron, on the other hand, had a solidity to him.

A giant that fired weapons and could become a tank. Simple. And a different kind of terrifying. After all, it's hard to imagine some things. It's horrifically easy to imagine getting ripped in half by a big-ass robot, feeling the tearing of skin and muscle right before bonesnaps.

Strucker flew through an alleyway. I chased after him, my armored shoulders destroying the buildings on either side of me as they ripped out huge chunks of cement and steel. He twisted in mid-air, firing shot after shot from Loki's Scepter.

"Damn you, you short-sighted bastard!" Strucker landed on the street and lifted two fuzzy memories of Volkswagens into the air, tossing them at me. I blew one apart with my cannon, then swatted the other aside. "Do you understand what you, what the Avengers, tried to stop?"

"A world of fascists ruling over humanity and preventing any growth?" I scoffed in Frank Welker's voice.

"Preventing chaos. Madness!" he dodged the giant fist that tried to squish him, my clawed hand tearing through the concrete. Strucker raised a hand. "I have seen what the future holds. Let me show you."

There was a ripple in reality. All around us, my memories of random citizens in the streets, foggy remnants of my past, stilled.

Then they turned to face me.

One of them transformed, becoming a monster of stone flesh. Another raised hands covered in strange pale white energy. A young woman began to grow in size, her clothes shredding as she growled.

They came at me. A bolt of lightning splashed across my chest. I grit my teeth, firing my fusion cannon just before the giant woman punched me in the face. I stumbled back from the superhuman blow, buildings shattering under my bulk. I grabbed her head and pushed her back as I snapped my other hand out, an ax of energy forming in my palm.

I almost, for just a moment, hesitated. Something about this woman was so… human. Not just some fake being Strucker created, but a memory of a person he'd seen. She looked like she was in pain. Radiated it on a spiritual level, such that it seemed to echo in the world around me. Strucker's memories of this person were of a woman suffering.

I embedded the ax in her skull. I fired a blast at the stone man. I stomped on the man who was firing lightning at me.

But there were more. More and more. People from all walks of life, attacking in waves.

"This is the world to come," Strucker said, his voice echoing. "I've seen dozens of people, of all races, creeds, and countries. Gaining the power of gods."

A man with eyes of yellow turned into a small sun and smashed into me, the extreme heat burning against my skin and destroying a city block before I could grab into him and rip his head off.

"It has different triggers. Strange chemicals. Radiation. Genes within their DNA activating under stress, or even puberty. I've discovered many of them. Hydra and SHIELD discovered more."

An Asian man landed on a building across from me. He looked familiar. Someone from Coulson's mission reports?

My memory of him was a mistake. Fed by Strucker and me, the form of the man sharpened, his eyes coming alive with more intelligence than before. He ignited into flame and blasted me with them, the white-hot plasma turning the asphalt beneath me to liquid. I grit my teeth under the burst of flame as above me, a tornado controlled by a young woman began to circle.

"This is what I wanted to stop. You call me a tyrant!? Is it tyranny to fight for peace? For a world where men, women, and children don't have to worry about monsters among them, killing thousands on a whim! Hydra could have stopped them. Contained them. Prevented some new despot from destroying the world!"

A blast of energy sent me flying back. I flew over Grand Central Terminal's green tiles, crashing into a street a moment later. I rolled to my feet and faced Strucker with hard eyes as he flew over to face me. An army of men and women followed in his wake, flying, jumping, and running.

"You see," Strucker raised his hands. "I am not a monster. I am trying to save the world! From the superhuman threats among us. The aliens above! I-"

"Hey, you recognize this place?" I asked, cutting off Strucker.

"...What?" he asked, startled.

"Here. This spot," I rose to my feet. As I did, I shifted slowly. My body shrunk and shrunk until I was back to human form. "The street in front of Grand Central Terminal."

I turned to face the street. Strucker watched as, in the center of the street, an image formed.

"The whole world remembers this spot. Aliens pouring out of the sky. A mad god flying about on his chariot. The death toll is listed as 75. A miraculously small number, some people said. But the families don't agree on that."

"Why are you bringing this up?" Strucker landed before me, striding forward confidently. "Are you agreeing with me? Because that is my point," his left eye had some popped blood vessels. So did his nose, based on the red dripping there. "If Hydra had been able to spread the Iron Man technology amongst our forces. Or Hulk powers. If we could have made more super soldiers. No one could have stopped us. We would have saved everyone."

"Someone did save everyone."

An image appeared. The Avengers. This image was oddly clear. As though I'd seen it for years. But I only remembered it from one appearance. Captain America hefting his shield. Black Widow reloading a pistol. Hawkeye pulling back on his bow. Iron Man floating on jets of fire. Thor twirling Mjolnir. And the Hulk, his hands clenched in fury. All in a circle, back to back. Facing a sky of aliens.

They didn't notice the random future Avenger and Hydra leader, or the army of superhumans. But I smiled at the sight. It was a clear image. Very clear.

"The Avengers…" Strucker glared at them.

"Everyone remembers what they did here. How they showed up as a team and saved the world…" I grinned as the memory sharpened further. They were breathing evenly. Iron Man's armor seemed to glow a bit brighter.

"The way that affects history has a sort of weight to it. It carries a concept to it even. This day, right here? This place? Here's where, when the world was in danger. When a mad despot carrying a scepter showed up with an army of superhuman monsters under his control. The Avengers formed into a team to save the day."

Strucker stared at me. Then down at the scepter in his hand. The army around him. His mouth gaped open as the pieces came together.

See, in a battle of the mind, symbolism is everything. The Avengers had formed here in New York City. It was an image both Strucker and I had in the depths of our minds. For a specific purpose, in a specific way. And that gave me a way to open the door.

In that circle of heroes, Hulk blinked. Then he smiled slowly. Black Widow, Hawkeye, Captain America, and Iron Man's suits all flowed with color, shifting and changing to match their recent 'updates'. Thor turned to face Strucker with a smile.

"Verily, Strucker. You have made a mistake," he said slowly.

In the center of that circle, a hole ripped open in time and space. Jen came out of it, her hair waving behind her. Creel cracked vibranium fists together. Quicksilver sped out of the portal. Fantasma and Scarlet Witch flew upwards, while Marian Pouncy smashed into the ground next to Hulk, who smiled at her. The roar of a bear was followed by the Winter Guard flooding in. Black Panther flipped his way into the battlefield, while the Punisher strolled in with a shotgun raised.

"Symbols have power in here," I said to Strucker, grinning as the minds of Avengers, BRIDGE Agents, and our heroic allies across the world entered. "That's true. And it's what I was trying to guide you to all along. To make you dance to the right sort of thought. I'm lucky though. This plan wouldn't have worked if you weren't a genius."

Strucker snarled. "Get them!"

I lifted my arm and touched my hand to it. "Avengers Assemble!"

In a flash, I was in the Ethereal form within my mind. Cap tossed his shield, while Tony laughed. "Ohhh, this is gonna be good!"

We charged as one. I flew upwards, sending out beams of psi-energy, the power rippling through the air as it ripped one of Strucker's simulacrum in half.

"This is familiar," Black Widow said as she landed next to me and Clint, firing her pistol into the head of a man in escaped prisoner garb.

"I think that's the point, wasn't it?" Clint asked me as he fired his bow.

"Hey kid," Tony dropped next to me, firing both repulsors. "I can make anything I want in here, right?"

"As long as you believe it, it's true," I made my voice echo. "You hear that!? As long as you want it, you can make it!"

I could feel the emotions that followed that. The way everyone grinned. Tony's armor flowed as it changed again. And became something out of a lunatic future. He laughed like a madman as dozens of ports opened across his armor, then fired out dozens of repulsors across the crowd.

War Machine flew forward as a giant tank/armor hybrid. Creel shifted colors in a flash of light, changing over and over as he smashed through the army. Natasha and Punisher started shifting guns so fast it was hard to figure out what they were shooting next.

The Winter Guard, Ares, Luna Snow, the Grapplers, everyone started letting loose with their imaginations, ripping apart the New York City we fought in. They tore havoc. Buildings fell. Soldiers died. Strucker screamed as he blasted the Hulk, only for the superhuman to grab him out of the sky and toss him through the Avengers Tower.

"I gotta say, sweetie, you throw a hell of a party," Jen joked as she wrestled with a man who had grown to match her in height, smashing him into the ground.

"I aim to please," I said with a grin.

"This won't be enough!" Strucker shouted in the distance. "You want to bring in allies? Then I'll bring your worst enemies to life!"

All around me, the heroes I knew began to glow yellow. Jen stared at herself. "What the hell is this!?"

Flashes of gold across the battlefield.

Tony was suddenly tackled by an Iron Man suit. For a moment, I thought that Rhodey had smashed into him. Then I realized this suit was so much larger. An armored tank of steel, with a round glowing port in the center. The helmet pulled back to reveal-

Jeff Bridges!?

"Hello again, Tony!" he said in a smug voice.

"Obadiah!?" Tony rose to his feet, glaring. "Ah. So this is what he meant."

A redheaded woman taller than Jen fell out of the sky towards my girlfriend, who met her in the center. Natasha stabbed an older fat man in the stomach with a lot more joy than I would have expected. Hulk and Abomination smashed into each other with explosive force. Thor blocked a blow from the Destroyer armor.

I grabbed a robotic monkey servitor out of the air with my telekinesis as it attacked Fantasma, ducking under a Chitauri soldier (As in the alien, not the armored Hydra guys). "Seriously, with this shit again!?"

"I like it," Ares said as he boxed with Ulik with a wide grin. "We'll need to incorporate this into our training sessions."

"I was thinking the same thing," Nat said behind.

God save me from my mentors.

It was an insane grouping, powers, and abilities flying about at high speed. All of our oldest enemies, rushing in waves.

Creel and Davida punching Rath in the face made me blink as my tiger alien form fell. They shared an embarrassed look when they saw me staring.

"You kinda kicked my ass in that form," Creel said with some trepidation.

"Same," Davida added.

La Vent and Quicksilver smashed into waves of dinosaurs from the Rio De Janeiro incident. War Machine destroyed a series of robotic drones shaped like his own suit.

Chernobog laughed as he ran past chewing on… Was that SCP-106'shead!?Where the hell did he find that!?

Have you ever had a dream where it felt like you'd lost control? That all you could do was make the best of it? This was like that times a thousand. Heroes used their imagination to become the most powerful versions of themselves. Villains from the past kept attacking us. Hulk and Bruce split into two separate beings to dodge an attack from Abomination, then recombined for an insane haymaker that turned Grand Central Terminal to ash.

But in the center of it all was Captain America. He didn't change. He was the same person, down to the smallest detail. But he shone brighter than anyone in there. Red Skull appeared for a moment and tried to attack him.

Steve shattered him into pieces.

Outside, in the real world, Steve was a super-soldier. Powerful, but not invincible.

In the stage of the mind? He was unbeatable.

We all gravitated towards him. He broke Strucker's mental projections with cold ease, he flipped through the air, he tossed the shield even as his fists landed like small bombs. We were all pretty strong mentally. Thor and Ares turned the Chrysler Building into a crater as they smashed it apart.

But none of us were Captain America.

That helped. I used him as an anchor point. A way to nail this insanity to some form of reality. Then I focused on business.

"I'm going after Strucker," I wrapped four arms around Jen, pulling her in for a brief kiss. As I pulled away, I smiled. "No making fun of me for what you find in my mind."

"No promises," she said right back, teeth flashing. She spun around and leaped away, an emerald in the smoke and chaos. I flew towards Strucker as my friends and allies continued to wreak havoc.

In the Avengers Tower, Strucker was sitting against a wall. His body looked broken. Arms and legs bent, groaning in pain. He gazed at me as I approached.

"...They came for you," he whispered.

I knew what he was thinking. "They always were. But if I wanted to make sure they all showed up in the right spot…"

"You had to use a place that we both had strong memories of. A place we thought of as the appearance of the Avengers. Creating an opening in the construct. Combined with me matching a basic description of Loki," Strucker laughed, raising his Scepter in a salute towards me. "I thought you were a lot dumber than this."

"I have my moments," I raised my four arms, each glowing with the full power of an Ethereal. "Shall we?"

Strucker nodded slowly. We faced each other. We raised our hands for the final fight.

The room shook then. For a moment, I thought Strucker was the cause, but he looked confused. Then I thought it was one of the others. But the room continued to quake.

Then I felt like a nail slammed into my forehead. I screamed, falling to my knees. Heat burned into the space between my eyes. "YAAAA!"

Strucker stared at me as the floor beneath me began to shake. Violet energy blew out from me, Strucker blocking it on a shield of gold. "What is this? Dial, what are you doing!?"

I couldn't speak. I could barely think. I just screamed.

Outside, the entire city began to shake. Tony stopped while kicking Raza, the Ten Rings leader that had kidnapped him all those years ago, in the face. "Hey uh, this seems bad? Is somebody shaking Dial out there?"

He flew up on his repulsors and marveled at the speed he could put on. Out in the real world, his crazy ideas could come to life. But slowly. They needed time for tech to catch up. The right materials, a huge amount of testing. But in here? He could make anything he'd ever imagined.

His armor was based on a design he was still coming up with. Not catoms. Not even nanomachines. Instead, dozens of wafer-thin 'scales' that came together in tandem. They could form into structures as thin as a layer of human skin, or become armored plating as thick as concrete. It could create all versions of his weapons, worked off his thoughts alone, and shapeshifted nearly instantaneously. The endpoint of his armor. Armor that was ALL his armor. An Iron Man suit for all occasions.

And completely impossible right now. But way cool.

Besides, if a man couldn't dream, what was the point? Even so, as he was flying around in the suit right out of his dreams… couldn't he make it better? Weren't there more advanced versions he could make, more efficient?

Even in the suit of his dreams, Tony Stark was always thinking of improvements.

His boots shifted into rockets that burst with intense power, sending up high enough to get a good view of the city. Thor flew up to join him, Scarlet Witch coming to his left. In the distance, he saw something begin to crack.

The sky. The literal SKY was shattering.

"That can't be good," Tony mumbled.

"It's not," Scarlet Witch said, her voice soft. "Something is coming."

"You can feel it, young Maximoff?" Thor said seriously.

"Feel what?" Tony said, turning from one to the other. "This a magic thing?"

"This is no magic," Thor said, his voice harsh. "I sense a presence beyond."

"He's right," Wanda raised her hands, red energy flowing to them. "I can feel another presence pressing against Mahmoud's mind. It's trying to break in… No, it's more like," she frowned, eyes flashing. "Like it's been pressing against his mind for some time? It's hurting him!"

Below, the ocean began to glow with white energy. The sky began to dissipate, becoming glowing shards of crystal, as though a diamond was shoving itself into reality.

"Can you stop it?" Tony asked, worry filling him.

"I don't know? I can try-"

The world shook. Then, Dial's voice filled his mind.

"I can't stop it! I'm pushing everyone out before it can hurt you guys!"

"Dial, stop, Wanda is going to hel-"

Suddenly, vertigo hit Tony like a tornado. He gasped.

And he was awake. He snapped his head around. He was sitting in a chair like many of the others around. It had been part of the plan. They would rest their bodies on the Enterprise as Dial pulled them in. He could see Nat rise to her feet, clutching her head. Thor was already standing, Ares joining him. "What was that!?"

"He forced us out," Wanda said, walking over with Quicksilver on her arm. She looked haunted. "Whatever is attacking him, he's on his own."

Tony's stomach dropped. On his own. With Strucker and that… whatever had been cracking his mind. The sound of crunching metal drew his attention to the right. Standing there, She-Hulk ripped a metal wall apart. She glowed with gamma radiation, Tony's suit counting the radiation before Hulk joined her as she raged, calming the superhuman.

"...Fuck.