5 Chapter 5 (1/2)

It took some stops to catch up with them. I had to keep landing to give the Omnitrix a break and check my CapWatch program. But soon, I was flying over I-95. And after that, I saw them.

Captain America was driving. Black Widow was in shotgun. They were talking about something.

I swooped in above their truck, staying high so they wouldn't see me. The truck was a big, brand new one. I didn't know Captain America owned a truck. I wasn't sure if it mattered, but it seemed funny somehow.

I followed them like that for a bit, trying to figure out how to make contact. Flying was fun, but I could feel exhaustion coming in with all of the constant Omnitrix use today. I could keep going for a bit longer. But I needed a nap tonight.

With no end to their driving in sight, I followed them by leapfrogging. I would land once the Omnitrix timed out, watch their progress on CapWatch, then take off again to catch up. Like stalking taken to the next level, something I tried not to think about. I had to stay high, using my insane eyesight to see them, so I wouldn't freak them out by flying in close. A giant pterodactyl with rockets wasn't something they'd find comfort in.

Slowly, I flew. They drove. For over an hour, we went like that.

Finally, while I was just wondering if I should cut my losses and take a nap, they turned off the interstate. I sighed in relief and followed them. They drove through the city streets, then down country roads. Until they were driving on one road, an overgrown one that hadn't been used in a long time. A military base was in the distance. It was empty, rundown. After some thought, I flew ahead of Cap and Black Widow.

Once I got to the base, I dropped to land at the gate, turning human once more. I walked up to it, reading the sign hanging on the chain fence. ”Camp Lehigh...” The whole fence was brown with rust. A beat up old stop sign rested on it as well. In the light of the sinking sun, I could see that the rest of the base was much the same, a relic of a bygone age. All red brick buildings and rusted railings everywhere.

I turned when the truck slowly rode up to me. I raised my hands up, smiling as best as I could. Captain America stopped the truck about twelve feet from me and stepped out with Black Widow. They'd clearly seen me and, because Cap's shield was on his arm, and Black Widow had her gun out and pointed. I took a deep breath as they came closer. I reached for my waist and turned off the music that had been with me all day.

”Hi!” I said, as brightly as I could. ”My name's Mahmoud. I want to help.”

The two shared a glance. Captain America walked up to me. There was an incredible grace to him. For all his size, he walked like he was half a second from simply lifting off into the air. Black Widow was different. Where he was grace, she was subtlety. As he came forward, she stepped behind him, almost hiding in his shadow. I tried not be unnerved by that.

But then, I was also trying not to geek out.

Captain America was holding his shield. THE Shield! Made of vibranium in this universe, rather than a vibranium-iron alloy, it was still able to take hit from inconceivably powerful things, including Thor.

And Captain America and Black Widow. I was looking at superheroes.

As they stopped in front of me, I couldn't stop smiling.

”How did you find us?” Black Widow asked.

”SHIELD,” they stiffened. I quickly continued. ”I mean because I hacked SHIELD. I used their satellites and database to find you, then kept anyone from finding you. Here, see?” I reached into my pocket.

”Ah, careful,” Black Widow said in warning, pointing her gun at my face. I flinched. After a moment, I slowly pulled out my phone, raising it for them to see. I switched on the CapWatch app, then tossed it to Cap, who caught it in his right hand. He turned it look, then blinked.

”CapWatch?”

I winced. ”I... like my programs to have fun names.”

Black Widow's lips twitched upwards.

”And you can follow us with this?” he asked, looking up at me. ”Why? What do you want?”

I spoke fast. ”Back in October, I was given this,” I lifted a hand up, displaying the Omnitrix. ”I don't know why I was given it. But it gave me powers. So I started using those powers to help people, traveling around Manhattan and saving anyone I found. It was good work.”

”Speed it up,” Black Widow said. ”It's cute you like playing the superhero, but we're on a timetable.”

”Yeah, got it. So anyway, I hacked into Stark Industries and SHIELD,” the two shared a surprised glance at that. ”I was doing that to make sure the next time a Battle of New York or a Convergence happens, I'd be there to help. And when they announced that Captain America was enemy of the state out of nowhere, I wanted to do something. So I did one big hack, grabbing all the info I could so I could find you. And the next thing I know, SHIELD is tossing a grenade at my door.”

”Yeah, there's a lot of that going around,” Captain America noted with a smirk.

”That watch,” Black Widow stared at the Omnitrix. ”I've seen the symbol on it. You're the guy who's been running around Manhattan the last few months. The one who can turn into all those creatures.”

The fact Black Widow knew about me wasn't much of a surprise. Even with all I'd done to try and keep off the grid, there was no way someone hadn't discovered my presence in New York, especially considering the people I'd saved had a perfect view of me. I nodded towards Black Widow and she gave me a smile. More of an amused one, rather than a kind one, but still a smile. ”Fury was going to send someone to try and make contact with you. You were going to be investigated soon.”

”Hopefully without a grenade thrown at me,” I said with a grimace.

”Well, it wouldn't have been my first choice,” she said. ”So you what, wanted to help us out of the goodness of your heart?”

”...yes?” I said. ”I mean, I kinda destroyed a Best Buy to find you guys. Which, I gotta be honest, I'm feeling kinda guilty about.”

Captain America stepped forward, motioning towards the Omnitrix. ”And you said that watch lets you hack things?”

”No,” I lifted my wrist to show it to him. ”This isn't a watch. This is the Omnitrix. And it lets me turn into aliens.”

”Asgardian?” Captain America asked.

”Not from what I've heard,” Black Widow answered. ”So you were a superhero in New York, found out Captain America was being chased by SHIELD, and you were such a fanboy you decided to come and help.”

”Yes,” I sighed in relief. ”That is exactly it.”

Black Widow and Captain America shared a look. After a moment, she put her gun down and Captain America came over to grab my shoulder. He smiled at me, and I found myself grinning back.

”I'm not sure I can trust you... But I'd like to.”

”He's naive like that,” Black Widow said. She holstered her gun and stepped towards the gate. ”I'm still going to shoot you if you turn out to be working for SHIELD.”

”Not likely,” I said as Captain America stepped around me and used his shield to shatter the lock on the gate with one smooth strike. ”Grenade's thrown at me tend to make me an enemy.”

”You're really stuck on that grenade thing, aren't you?” Black Widow said.

We entered the camp together. ”Yeah well, I'm sensitive like that. So uh, what exactly are you guys here for? What is this place?”

”It's where I was trained,” Captain America said. ”We're following a lead.”

We walked through the camp, looking around the place. ”Trained before or after you started punching Hitler?”

Captain America chuckled. ”Actually, I never met the real Hitler. I mostly dealt with his soldiers and the Red Skull. But this was before all that,” He looked around. For a moment, he looked a thousand yards away. ”I was still just a skinny kid from Brooklyn, trying to be a soldier.”

”And now you're Captain America,” I said, watching as Black Widow moved over to look into one of the windows.

”Call me Steve,” he gave me a smile, then turned to look at a nearby flagpole. Once again, it looked like he was somewhere else. When I looked at Black Widow, she was eyeing me. Even as we walked around, she was still eyeing me. She had some sort of scanner in her hand, and it was beeping as she held it up. I looked at it thoughtfully, scratching my chin.

”This is a dead end,” Black Widow said. She put down her scanner and put it in her pocket. ”Zero heat signatures, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the files must have must have used a router to throw people off.” She looked over at Steve, who was staring at a bunker. ”What is it?”

I looked at him as well. He seemed to have an epiphany. He started moving towards the bunker, I went to follow, and Black Widow hopped over a railing to join us.

”Army regulations forbid storing munitions within five hundred yards of the barracks,” he said as we walked up to the bunker. He gave us a look. ”This building's in the wrong place.”

He smashed the lock on the door to the uh, the munition bunker, I guess? I couldn't help but stare at the shield as it turned steel into scrap. That thing was seriously awesome.

We walked down a flight of stairs and found what looked like a large office space. ”I'm not a soldier, but this doesn't look like munitions,” I said, stepping down to the place.

”It's not,” Black Widow was looking at a wall nearby. ”It's SHIELD.”

”Or maybe where it started,” Steve added.

We were all looking at a massive symbol on the wall, the centerpiece of the room. An eagle, surrounded by the words, 'Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division'.

”That's probably your fault,” I said without thinking.

Steve looked at me, surprised. ”What was?”

”Uh,” I chuckled, waving at his right arm, still holding the shield. ”I mean, they worked really hard to make up a name that spelled SHIELD, right.”

Steve looked down, surprised. He held it up. After a moment, he gave his weapon a warm smile. ”Yeah. I guess they did.”

”I can sense anything that might be in here if you guys let me?”

”How?” Natasha asked.

I responded by waving the Omnitrix at her. ”If someone other than us has been in here in recent years, I'll be able to follow their trail.”

Steve and Natasha shared another look.

”Do it,” Steve told me.

” All right. Keep in mind, I won't be able to talk in this form, so just follow my lead.” I opened up the Omnitrix, flipping through my menu. I needed to sense things human eyes couldn't Blitzwolfer was great because he had a good range of powers, including his senses. But when I really needed to track something or someone down even after years...

I pressed the face. And the change came in a millisecond.

I went from biped to quadruped. Orange fur sprouted across my body, covering me in a thick armored coat. My eyes sank away and disappeared, and new sensory organs grew at the nape of my neck. Fingernails became claws. A shoulder brace appeared, with the Omnitrix glowing brightly on it.

I didn't speak English in this form, but if the snarl I barked out when I finished could be translated, I knew what it would be.

”Wildmutt!”

”Well that's new,” Steve said. His voice was different now. It was as though he was so much clearer. Like my human ears were only hearing him on the tiniest level. Now, I could hear every bounce and quiver in his voice.

That's just how being Wildmutt felt in general. Every scent in the air, every sound, singing to me. There was no sense of color beyond heat, and photographs would be blank rectangles to me. But I didn't feel blind. How could I, when the world was so much more vivid now? When I could hear heartbeats, smell sweat, feel the primal part of the world in my heart. Being Wildmutt was like becoming something simpler than a human. But it also felt purer somehow. As though the complications of sight was replaced by a roaring world of beautiful scents and sound.

I sniffed the air with my gills, listened to it all.

”He said he can't talk like this,” Black Widow said. There was a smell coming from her mouth I had to think to recognize. Bubblegum? A lot of it, too. She had some more in her pocket. ”How's he supposed to tell us anything?”

I snarled moving about the room for a moment. I smelled something else, beyond Steve, Nat, the spiders and the concrete. Someone else had been here, months back. He smelled like airline fuel. I moved over to the stairs, following his trail. He'd walked over to an office. I turned, growling at the two.

”What, over there?” Steve walked over to join me, and I pushed the door, smashing it off its hinges and into the ground. Steve cocked an eyebrow. ”Huh. Strong.”

”Showoff,” was Black Widow's opinion.

The two followed me in as I sniffed my way up to some shelves. There were three big blank rectangles up on the wall, which I ignored to follow the scent. Captain America and Natasha walked up the rectangles behind me, talking about them in a way that made me realized they were photos. Cap apparently knew them. His heartbeat skipped a little when he saw them. Time to ask about that later. I followed the smell of the man from before to some shelves. There was a gap in between the shelves where I could smell metal and plastic beyond it, a bit of ozone to indicate electricity, and Steve noticed it as well. ”If you're already working in a secret office,” I gripped the gap in between the shelves, shoving them apart. Even after all the years, the right shelf easily slid on its rails. ”Why do you need to hide the elevator?”

Just a light on the wall and a pair of doors with windows in them. We walked towards it, me sniffing at the air, and Black Widow went up to the keypad next to it. She lifted a device over the keypad, and it created a hologram over the device, showing the numbers on the pad. The hologram shuffled the numbers and quickly came up with the code, which she pressed into the pad. The elevator doors slid open, and we walked inside. As the elevator dropped, Cap looked at me.

”You uh, gonna change back?” I looked up at him. ”I mean, is there a time limit, or, do you have to press a button?”

I growled in annoyance, reaching for my shoulder to tap the Omnitrix. In a flash of light, I was back in my white and black shirt and blue jeans. I sighed in disappointment. Ironically, changing from Wildmutt always made me feel blind as a human.

”What does that feel like, anyway?” Captain America asked.

”Remember the day you became a superhuman?” I said. ”That sudden feeling of becoming stronger, faster, having better senses?”

Steve nodded.

”Like that, but I can change back.”

”God, I wish we had time for me to interrogate you.” Black Widow muttered.

I looked over at her. ”I mean, you could just ask me questions.”

”I prefer interrogation, lets me get the real story.” She replied.

”You never talk to people over coffee?” I had no idea why I was talking the way I was. For some reason, it was really easy to talk to her. She was funny.

”I do, but not when they can suddenly turn into giant dogs.”

”What, you don't like Tony Stark?” We shared a grin, and Steve chuckled.

”Any chance you guys can tell me about what's going on?” The elevator was still lowering. ”I mean, why is SHIELD attacking you guys?”

”We aren't sure,” Steve said. ”As far as we know, the answers are here.”

”What about Nick Fury?” I asked. ”I mean, he's the head of SHIELD, why didn't he stop this?”

The two shared a look, then faced the doors again. Steve answered. ”He was killed by the Winter Soldier.”

I stared at him. Then at Black Widow. She looked back at me. And I scratched at my wrist, near the Omnitrix, trying to think.

”That look on your face,” Black Widow said knowingly. ”That's why I want to interrogate you.”

The doors opened then. I swallowed, and we all walked out of the elevator and into a dark room. It was hard to see anything. But as we walked up lights began to turn on, revealing the space to us.

”Whoa,” I looked around. Hundreds of rectangular towers surrounded us, each with reels that could be seen inside through windows. Some ”What, they couldn't upgrade to a laptop? This is an inefficient use of space.”

”You always talk this much?” Black Widow asked.

”Dialogue is important for relationships,” I said as we followed Steve towards several monitors. ”Plus, I'm nervous when I meet superheroes.”

”Children,” Steve said gently. ”We have work to do.”

When we got to the monitors, there was a desk in front of them. There were a couple of camera on top of the monitors. ”Well that's new,” I said when I saw a USB port station on the desk. ”And I mean that literally.”

Natasha took something out of her pocket and plugged it into the port. More lights turned on, clearing things up further. The reels in the towers began to spin. As we stood there, the center monitor turned on over the desk, and two words appeared as the speakers in the station spoke.

”Initiate, System.” The voice was robotic.

Natasha moved over to the ancient keyboard and tapped away at it. ”Y-E-S, spells yes...” She smirked as the computers hummed. ”Shall we play a game?” She intoned in a deep voice. I grinned at that, and she turned to Steve. ”It's from a movie-”

”I know,” he cut her off, bemused. ”I saw it.”

”Oh yeah,” I said, realizing. ”You have a lot of pop culture to catch up on.”

”I'm doing my best,” he replied, clearly focused on the task at hand.

Suddenly the center monitor lit up. Lines of green codes went down the screen, and a voice spoke.

”Rogers, Steven.” Said a voice with a German accent. ”Born, 1918.”

”What the...” I said in confusion. A camera on top of the monitors turned to look at Black Widow.