Chapter 6 – When You Wish Upon a Ring

"A Dragon Ring," Rat repeated. "Legend says that when you make a wish while wearin' one a' these rings, said wish will actually come true."

"Actually come true?" Armie repeated.

"Yeah," Rat replied. "You can even wish for a dead person ta' be brought back ta' life."

Armie put on the ring but had a rather-doubtful look on his face.

"Well," he began, "if that's the case, I would wish for Brandon Breyer to be brought back to life, but as a powerless human being with no knowledge of his lineage or how he got his powers." He sighed, shrugging. "But who are we kiddin'? Nobody believes on wishes made on these knockoffs."

But Armie spoke too soon, as Brandon started glowing, floating in the air. This startled the duo. The shrapnel that pierced his chest disintegrated into nothingness. Strangely, the wound on his chest quickly healed. A glowing mist entered Brandon's nostrils, and he opened his eyes, gasping—Brandon had just been resurrected. The two got to Brandon's side as he slowly descended in front of them. The glowing subsided.

Brandon looked at Armie and Rat with a peculiar look on his face.

"What are you two looking at me like that for?" he asked them.

Armie looked at the ring on his fingers, then he smiled, happy that his wish came true. He then looked at Brandon.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told ya'," he said.

Author's Note: How a Dragon Ring works is based on the concept of how seven Dragon Balls gathered together work. In Akira Toriyama's hit manga series Dragon Ball, when seven of the manga's namesakes are gathered together on Earth, the Eternal Dragon Shenron appears, and he grants one wish per summon.

And so, the next day, after Armie learned the waiting period for making each wish on the ring, he wished for both Erica Connor and Noah McNichol—those who Brandon had killed—to be brought back to life and fully healed. Erica's left eye and Noah's lower jaw were restored, as if nothing had happened to them. And after the waiting period from that wish, Armie wished that nobody in Brightburn, both the lucky and unfortunate halves of the Snap, would know about Brandon's powers, the day after. At last, Brandon was cleared of his crimes.

But still pained over the losses of those who were taken away, Armie and Rat did their best to help Brandon back to sanity. Of course, Brandon had no knowledge of ever killing Erica or Noah.

After a few days, one morning, Armie and Rat, in human form, drove Brandon to the middle school, where, thanks to the last wish Armie made on his ring so far, nobody feared Brandon, as if nothing had happened.

"Have a good day, Brandon," Armie said to him.

"Thanks, Armand," Brandon replied, waving to him. "See you after school."

As the car drove off, Armie and Rat had one thing on their minds. They nodded to each other.

Pulling into the driveway of the Breyer farmhouse, near the newly-built barn (thanks to Rat's speed and expertise), Armie and Rat held their hands.

"Monster form," they said, reverting to their monster forms.

After hopping out of the car, Armie put his ring on and placed his hands together.

"I wish that all those Thanos had killed were to be brought back to life," he prayed.

And so, they stood still. Within the next few minutes, they've heard nothing so far.

Armie looked at his ringed hand.

"Huh," he said. "Something's wrong. Why isn't the wish working?"

Rat realized something.

"I think maybe the Infinity Stones were created before the Dragon Rings," Rat guessed. "So maybe only the Infinity Stones can bring back half of the universe."

"That could be it," Armie replied. "We gotta find the Avengers, what's left of 'em anyway, and ask 'em for help."

"Good call," Rat agreed. "Hop aboard, lil' feller."

And with that, using the latter's super speed, Armie and Rat dashed off.

Armadillamingkat Berkowitz, a hero in one universe, almost became a fallen angel in this one, but did an act of redemption by undoing the one horrible thing he did and became a former monster's savior. Little did he know that he may have to wait five years to bring the universe back into balance.

At S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters in Washington, D.C., a pager left behind by Nick Fury, a victim of the Snap, was on a display case. The pager showed Carol Danvers' (Captain Marvel) symbol before its battery ran out. Numbers rapidly rose on a screen, and both Steve Rogers (Captain America) and Natasha Romanov (Black Widow) stared blankly.

"This is a nightmare," Rogers feared.

"I had better nightmares," Romanov added.

James Rhodes (War Machine) entered the room where Rogers and Romanov were.

"Hey," he said, getting their attention. "So, that thing just stopped doing whatever the hell it was doing."

They were both distraught.

In another room, Dr. Bruce Banner (Hulk) looked at the display case.

"What have we got?" Romanov sighed, coming in with Rogers and Rhodes.

"Whatever signal it was sending," Dr. Banner began, "finally crapped out."

"I thought we bypassed the battery," said Rogers.

"Well, we did," Rhodes replied. "It's still plugged in. It just stopped."

"Reboot it," Rogers suggested. "Send the signal again."

"Yeah," Dr. Banner replied, "but we don't know what this is."

"Fury did," Romanov replied. "Just do it, please. You tell me the second you get a signal. I wanna know who's on the other end of that thing."

She turned around and found herself facing Danvers, who suddenly appeared in HQ.

"Where's Fury?" she asked in a rather distraught voice.

"He's dead," Rat's voice got everyone's attention. He and Armie have suddenly appeared, like Danvers. "He was part a' the unfortunate half."

"Who the hell are you?" Rogers asked them.

"Armadillamingkat Berkowitz," Armie introduced. "You can call me 'Armie'."

"Warratduck Smith," Rat added. "'Rat'."

"Don't be afraid of us," Armie said. "We wanna help."

To Be Continued…

Armie and Rat will return.

Author's Note: This last scene is adapted from a mid-credits scene in Captain Marvel, also an MCU film. It takes place chronologically after the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Ant Man and the Wasp.