There was something in his territory. Not a beast, not a man, the thing intruding on his land smelled of oil and metal. He stalked the unnatural thing, observing it, trying to determine what it was, trying to determine why it was there, trying to determine how best to tear it to shreds.
The Beast was not fond of unwanted creatures in his territory.
It walked slowly, but confidently through his land, as if it had no idea where it was. It was tall and broad, though not nearly as much as him, and had a strange, black, layered covering over its body, leaving only its head exposed, the rest of it hidden in the folds. Its head was easily the most befuddling part of it, however, a shining orange dome with a strange silvery design on the front of it, seemingly in the shape of a grinning skull.
He continued to stalk it, even as the shadows grew larger, even when he knew that he should have attacked by now. Something about it set his teeth on edge. Not the scent, not the strange look, but a feeling that came off the figure in waves, leaving him confused and nervous. It was a feeling he was used to, but usually he was the one giving it off, not receiving it.
He knew, deep in his gut, that the figure was an apex predator. And that gave him pause. He hadn't had a proper challenge in many moons, but now... He was worried he might not be strong enough to destroy this strange thing.
Walking through the dense jungle, Dreadnought was, for perhaps the hundredth time, mentally praising his suit's climate control. The sweltering air around him was abuzz with insects, and so saturated with moisture that even he was feeling resistance as he strode through it. He was sure that he would be miserable were it not for his suit, despite the fact that the sun had long since dipped below the artificial horizon created by the dense jungle canopy, casting his surroundings in a dim light.
As the shadows lengthened around him, Dreadnought knew that the creature he had come here for would soon make itself known. It was stalking closer and closer, flitting between trees and crawling through the undergrowth.
Not soon enough, he thought to himself, a smirk growing on his face. Lets speed things up, shall we?
Growing tired of the beasts slow advance, Dreadnought stopped abruptly, standing completely still. Behind him, he heard the beast huff, before it began to approach at a far less cautious pace, quickly breaking into a sprint. When the creature was within 20 feet of him, it leapt, vicious claws and wicked teeth all bared to rip and tear.
His only response was to sink swiftly into the ground.
The beast was confused and tense, on edge. He had pounced, ready to rid his territory of the unnatural two-legged metal creature that had been moving through it for so many hours, but just before he could sink his claws and teeth into it, the thing had sunk into the ground as if it were water. The beast sat on his haunches, leaning forward on his hands, claws still fully extended and ready for anything.
He sniffed the air, casting his vision about the small clearing he found himself in, seeing nothing, and smelling only a lingering trace of the unnatural thing. Just then, his ears pricked up, swiveling back, trained for the slightest noise out of place. Breathing sounded behind him, slow and even. Instantly, he whirled around, claws slashing, a roar tearing from his throat almost involuntarily. But as his claws connected with the strange figure in front of him, his motion was instantly arrested, leaving the beast stunned.
Nothing had ever withstood his claws.
As if burned, he jumped back, cowering in front of the strange figure, bowing his head and letting out a low whine, keeping his eyes downcast.
Dreadnought took this opportunity to observe the creature in front of him. He had done his research, but was still mildly surprised. He had heard the stories, of course, of the predator that stalked this jungle, killing poachers and those who infringed on its territory, but he hadn't given much credence to the claims that it was ten feet tall and green. But here it was, in front of him, all green fur and muscles and teeth and claws.
If he weren't who he was, Dreadnought would be downright terrified of the creature.
Letting out a sigh and reaching into on of the many pockets on his jacket, he rooted around for a moment before pulling out a small photograph. It was a picture of a family, and though faded and worn, torn in several places, and with tattered edges, one could clearly see the subjects of the picture. A family; two adults and one child, standing in a jungle much like the one the two figures stood in now.
Stepping forward, Dreadnought fell to one knee, holding out the picture toward the cowering beast in front of him before quietly speaking, his voice thick and gravelly from disuse.
"Garfield Mark Logan. I've been looking for you."
The change was as immediate as it was drastic. The creature's eyes darted up to the figure before him, its words resonating around in his mind, gears that had long sat unused slowly grinding to motion. His eyes zeroed in on the picture in Dreadnought's hand, growing wide as soon as he saw it. Reaching forward slowly, he grasped the photo, his claws retracting has he did so.
Dreadnought simply watched, letting the beast take the photo from his hand.
"Marie. Mark. Your parents, if you can remember."
His words were no more than a whisper, but once again set off a chain reaction in the beast's mind, more and more memories starting to whirl through its head.
Mama. Papa. The monkey. The boat. The chief. The boat. The men who killed each other. The boat.
His simple mind unable to bear the anguish of the memories flooding through him, the beast shot up to his full height, throwing his head back and letting out a howl that shook the trees around them. He continued to cry his pain to the heavens, but a change slowly started to overtake him. The sound of muscles tearing, joints popping, bones breaking, cartilage dissolving filled the air, audible even over the sound of his slowly dwindling howl.
Dreadnought winced behind his helmet. That sounded entirely unpleasant to experience.
After no more than a few moments, the 'beast' fell to his knees, no longer a hulking monster, but a sobbing teenage boy. Dreadnought shifted from foot to foot, looking down uncomfortably at the emotional boy, before sighing and stepping forward to gather the green teen in a tight hug. Patting his back, he whispered what he hoped were comforting words, entirely out of his element.
"It'll uh, it'll be alright. Calm down. Calm down. Sun's gettin' real low, sun's goin' down. Calm down."
Soon, the green boy stopped crying, only occasionally sniffling. At this point, Dreadnought set him down, kneeling beside him. Reaching up and tapping a button on the side of his helmet, several sections that covered his mouth slid away, leaving him with his mouth exposed but keeping the rest of his face concealed behind the opaque orange material. Reaching a hand out, he rested it on the teen's shoulder, slowly asking in a low voice,
"Can you speak?"
The teen looked up, pushing his shaggy mane out of his face, trying to get a better look at the figure in front of him. Now free of the simple mind of his bestial form, he was able to piece more together. The 'covering' was a jacket, as far as he could tell; strange and large, with a wide circular collar nearly a foot across, with a latch in the front that, for the time being, was unbuckled. The coat extended down, stopping just short of the top of the heavy, metal plated boots on his feet. Around waist height, the jacket was layered, giving the appearance of two separate coverings worn simultaneously, one under the other.
His 'head' was in fact a helmet, a sinister smiling skull scratched into the surface of the orange face, an unbroken expanse of glass that stretched from his chin to the crown of his head. Solid looking metal made up the rest of the helmet, sprinkled with a few buttons and blinking lights. His arms were covered in light grey plates of metal, and as Garfield looked down at the hand resting on his shoulder, he saw that it was similarly armored, with the addition of several nasty looking protrusions on the knuckles.
His gaze darted back to the man in front of him, flitting between his now exposed mouth and the eyes of the carved skull. Clearing his throat, he nodded, letting out in a strained and raspy voice,
"I-I think s-so."
A grin split the man's mouth, revealing a row of pearly white teeth. He clapped Garfield on the shoulder, standing quickly to his full height, now towering over the young boy.
"Good. We've got a lot to discuss."
A/N: Thank you for reading, please review. More to come. Raven should be the next to encounter Dreadnought, perhaps with his new green changeling friend in tow.
Some notes about the slight AU-ness of this story; the team isn't together currently, and Dreadnought is an OC character who decides to bring them together to form a team. Dreadnought's powers will be explained as organically as possible, I'm not going to just have him say "oh yeah I can do x and y." That's lazy writing.