ThatOneSpirit: Thanks! :D Do you really think so? (That's okay :P I get it.)

Jewel Moonstone: Thanks! Glad you like it!

Time skip! Erika time!

Chapter 8

Erika cowered behind the boulder, not crying, because dragons didn't have tear ducts. So she resorted to the dragon version: curling in on herself and shaking. Her tail swished in agitation. Then the voice of the Alpha entered her mind.

"See?" he asked.

"See what?" she hissed. "You're a monster."

"Am I? You are the one who killed your teammate!'

"You made me!" she roared.

He chuckled darkly. "Yes, I did, but you could have resisted. Like now." The buzzing noise returned, with much more ferocity than before. Erika was so exhausted from resisting the first time, and burdened with so much guilt, she didn't even try to resist. She knew it was pointless, anyway. So she let the Bewilderdeath take her, flying up toward him.

Something hooked on her wing and pulled her down onto the fearsome dragon himself. She looked around. Everything was red and fuzzy. She was eventually allowed to fly again, but there was a weight on her back. She ignored it, following the Alpha. Time was fast- or slow, she couldn't really tell. She only knew what the Alpha allowed her to know.

A fuzzy thing flew up in front of her. She snorted. It had three heads! Then the Alpha, who had been mostly ignoring her, spoke again. "Ah, yes, another one of your teammates. This will be fun to watch. Kill him slowly."

Teammate? she thought. A voice, faint and echoing, entered her mind.

"Sorry...You...to..."

She opened her mouth slowly, ready to toast the man on the Zippleback.

"You'd never...hurt..."

Clint?

"Please."

The red started leaving her vision slowly, revealing his face. She saw how concerned he was.

"...Friend."

That made the fuzzy red completely dissapear. "Clint!" she cried joyfully.

"Yeah!" he yelled in victory.

A staff hit her scaled side, hard. "NO!" Loki yelled.

"I hate you." she growled plainly, twisting her neck and grabbing the staff in her teeth. She tried to pull the staff out of his hands, but instead, she pulled him off of her with it, so he was dangling, clutching his staff for dear life. Erika chortled. "Oh, this is too good."

Loki looked up in fear. She shook her head violently back and forth; but he still hung on. Then she let go. Loki plummeted toward the ground like a meteor, spinning and flailing. The two-headed dragon that the archer was on dove down to catch him, causing Clint to fall as well. Erika immedeately dove after him, catching him just before he hit the water.

Back to the team!

After explaining about Erika to Tony, the radio had conked out, replaced by static. Natasha called Clint with the earpeices. "Clint?"

"Yeah? Kinda busy, I got her to snap out of it." the woman assasin heard the strong beat of wings and a gasp from the captain. She looked out the window to see Erika, still in full dragon form, with the archer himself mounted on her.

Erika gave them a silly, toothless smile, tounge lolling out. Falcon, who was flying past, laughed. "What have you got?" Barton asked.

"Tony managed to call us before the radio went bonkers, but I got some information. Mind control is part eye contact, part hearing. If you can cover her eyes and ears, you can-"

"What?" broke in Spiderman, who had landed on the quinjet's roof. "She'll be flying blind! And deaf!"

Erika rumbled in agreement. Clint took a deep breath, heart pounding. If he didn't pull this off, then... he shuddered. But he pulled a long strip of purple cloth from his utility belt, holding it over her head, the ends fluttering in the wind and turbulence caused by many wingbeats. "Do you trust me?" he asked slowly.

The black dragon looked at him. She shut her eyes, and gave a firm nod. Clint swept the blindfold over her eyes, tying it behind her ear plates. He put his right hand on the top of the cloth, fingers spread. "We can do this." he said, determined. "You, and me, as one." He spurred her forward, toward the Bewilderdeath. It inhaled, ready to shoot ice out of it's throat. She seemed to sense it, wings ready to pull up.

"Not yet... not yet..." the ice came shooting forward. Erika shrieked. "Not yet..." the ice was almost to them. "NOW!" she instantly pulled up, wings pumping in almost a straight ascent. The ice sailed harmlessly below them, and splattered against a cliff. People screamed from below.

They flew up, seeing the laughing Loki on top of a tusk. His smile fell when the purple cloth fluttered down at his feet. He looked up to see that Erika's back was bare! Panicked, he looked around. Then he was sent flying by a kick to the side. As he sailed through the air toward the beach, he got a glimpse of Clint on Spiderman's back, whooping. They all landed on the beach.

"It's over." said the archer firmly, leaping off of Spidey. Erika landed, gliding in so that her wing dragged on the ground, creating a smokescreen, of sorts. She hissed at him, eyes nearly slitted in anger. Natasha climbed out of the quinjet. The sand started settling, revealing the Red Bewilderdeath in the background.

Loki grinned devilishly. "Or is it?" he asked. Everyone frowned, then looked back, to see it's head rearing up, aiming at Natasha.

"NO!" yelled Cap, but the ice was rapidly approaching her. She ducked, covering her head. They heard a shriek, and barely saw a black dragon pouncing on the assasin right bafore the ice hit.

WOW! I am evil, aren't I?! Yeesh; another cliffhanger!