Earth's Mightiest Heroes
This story is a reboot of the "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" animated series with added elements and storylines, most cherry-picked from other Marvel animated series, and crossed over with one of my favorite fandoms: Firebreather! What if Duncan was one of the original line-up? Let's find out!
Chapter 1: Viva Las Vegas
The Hulkbuster units attracted A LOT of attention as they rumbled down the Vegas Strip. How could they not? A phalanx of specially designed and built tanks, with Gen. Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross' special mobile armored command post in the center.
After years on the run, Banner had made a mistake: surfaced in a heavily populated area, and Ross was determined to get him! He wanted it so bad, he could taste it! Banner and the Hulk had not only cost him his fourth star, but also the love of his daughter Betty. Her foolish devotion to Banner blinded her to the truth, and the love of a far better man in his second-in-command Maj. Glenn Talbott.
That love for Banner and sympathy for the Hulk eventually landed his precious Betty in a coma from injuries during a clash between the Hulk and another gamma monster; the Abomination, a coma from which she had yet to wake. A later battle between the two behemoths landed the Abomination in the Cube, but Ross was determined to lock up Banner right there next to him. Then Dr. Samson can unlock all of Banner's gamma secrets for the greater good of the country. Either way, he would make certain that Banner never saw Betty ever again! When she finally woke up, he would make sure she would see the Hulk for the monster he truly was!
Suddenly his transport jerked to a halt, throwing him and his subordinates to the floor!
"ROSS! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ARE YOUR TOY SOLDIERS DOING IN MY TOWN?!", a voice roared from the front. Picking himself up, Ross looked out the windshield and recognized the young man who had stopped his command vehicle with one hand on the grill! Growling, he ordered an "all stop" to his convoy, he stepped out with Maj. Talbot and several armored soldiers who all aimed their weapons at the individual.
"Duncan Rosenblatt! How dare you interfere in a military operation!", Ross roared. "We got a report of Banner in this area! And the LVPD had a sighting in this very neighborhood not fifteen minutes ago!"
"So?", the desert-red scaled young man replied snidely.
""SO?"! So he's a wanted fugitive, you punk!", Talbott snapped.
"Ah, still pissed that my parents' deal with MEGTAF and the U.N. blocked your sorry attempt to draft me into your Hulkbusters, thinking it takes a monster to catch a monster?", Duncan smirked. "Or still sore from the smackdown I handed you in that modified Mandroid armor when you tried personally, Major Talbot?"
"Why you firebreathing little…!", the Major started, only for the General to cut him off.
"Regardless, Rosenblatt, we are here on official business and you have no right to…."
"If you morons find and start something with Banner here in the city, he'll transform and it will cause major collateral damage and risk a lot of lives!", Duncan cut him off. "You want to hunt Banner or the Hulk, you take it outside the city! In case you've forgotten, you're using the same tanks MEGTAF does to fight kaiju! Besides, use your brain for something other than rusting your helmet! There's nothing Banner could want or use here, so he would only be passing through! Knowing you've arrived, given how noisy you are; he's probably already gone! Now, GET OUTTA MY TOWN!"
"You have no authority to give me orders!", Ross barked.
"Maybe he doesn't, but I do", another voice stated.
"Col. Barnes!", Ross coffed when he saw the MEGTAF officer. MEGTAF possessed authority equal to SHIELD, thus over him and his Hulkbusters. Plus Barnes was well-known to be Rosenblatt's 'watchdog' at MEGTAF, though he had been less active as such since the boy graduated high school a year earlier.
"I have here an official request from the Mayor of Las Vegas to order you and your Hulkbusters to exit the city limits forthwith", Barnes handed the order to Ross, who read it and scoffed, crumpling it up.
"Let's move out!", he ordered, then re-entered his transport with Talbot, grumbling about draft-dodging liberals and bureaucratic fools.
"Buh-bye! And don't let the door hit you in the brains on your way out!", Duncan called sarcastically.
"Wow, you really don't like them do ya, Kid?", Barnes said.
"Well what do you expect?", Duncan snarked. "They've been relentlessly hunting Dr. Banner for years for something that happened to him by accident on their watch. Those efforts foiled several of his own attempts to cure himself. Then they try to reinstate the draft in order to conscript me into their ranks and use me in their efforts to hunt him down; hoping I could beat the Hulk. That 'draft-notice' was not a pleasant graduation gift!"
"Yeah well your mom, my MEGTAF superiors and the U.N. shut that down real quick", Barnes added.
"Yeah, but while you were all cutting through all the red-tape, Ross sent Talbot in that second-rate Iron Man zoot suit to try and force my compliance", Duncan growled, then he smiled. "Though it was kinda fun kicking his can across the dunes."
"I would've paid money ta see that", Barnes chuckled. "Talbot was always a tool, all the way back to the academy. I'm not surprised he ended up as dog for Ross. But enough with those clowns. Aren't you and your mom due in New York tomorrow?"
"Yeah!", Duncan perked up. "I'm gonna check out ESU. I've completed all my prerequisite college courses here online…."
"And since as 'Crown Prince' of the Kaiju you have to start stepping up diplomatically, you're going to major in Political Sciences while also building a position at the U.N. speaking for your father", Barnes grinned, killing the mood by reminding Duncan of the bigger picture for the trip. The man from MEGTAF smirked as Duncan growled at him, sprouted his wings, and took off.
xxXXxx
Duncan was flying low, nearly to the suburban neighborhood where he lived with his mom since they moved after he graduated from Herbert Hoover High. Between taking online college courses and combat training with his father; the Kaiju King Belloc, out in the desert, he had also sought out Shang-Chi for martial arts and chi training for several months to better control his growing powers. For a man with no 'super-powers', the "Master of Kung-Fu" was well respected, wise far beyond his years, and more than earned his title. Duncan learned a lot from him.
And against his mom's initial wishes, Duncan adopted the hero persona of Red Dragon, and started fighting crime and the occasional super-villain that hit Vegas. He won her over by saying it was good for his image and for that of kaiju in general if he was seen doing good. As a result, his presence on social media had exploded the past year or so, resulting in his home needing a state-of-the-art security system designed and installed by Stark Industries. At least his mom was safe.
He lowered his altitude more as his home came into view….when he was struck by a blast of intense cold, encasing him in ice! Falling to the ground, his prison shattered on impact with the pavement.
"The hell..?!"
"BEEN A LONG TIME, FREAK!", a voice yelled out. "NOW YER GONNA PAY FOR RUINING MY LIFE!"
Duncan looked to see a guy maybe 3 or 4 years older than him with pale skin, ice-blue eyes, and white hair resembling icicles with an athletic build whom he had never seen in his life!
"I don't even know you, dude!", Duncan yelled. "What are you talking talking about?!"
"HOW CAN YOU NOT REMEMBER?! SHERMER HIGH SCHOOL, 5 YEARS AGO, YOU COST ME MY FULL RIDE TO MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY!"
Duncan thought back. He and his mom were moving around a lot back then. He was fourteen, started his freshman year of high school in Shermer Illinois in a very clique-y school, and the campus King was…
"Trent? Trent Mathews?"
"Now you remember me, Freak? And what you did to me?!"
"I didn't do anything!", Duncan snapped. "You did it to yourself! Trying to be a big man and a bully! You had sooooo many victims just rolling over for you, and the coach protecting you from the school and parents, that you couldn't handle it that I wouldn't be pushed, and you just couldn't let it go no matter how many times I made it clear you and your boys were no match for me! I just wanted to be left alone!"
"YOU SHOULD'VE JUST FALLEN IN LINE LIKE THE REST, YOU SCALY FREAK!", Trent snarled, shooting sharp icicles at Duncan, who dodged easily. "BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T, I LOST MY SHOT! I COULD'VE GONE ALL THE WAY TO THE NFL! I was special! I had scouts from all the major colleges trying to recruit me because I was ambidextrous; I could throw a football perfect with either arm! But because of you, I got hurt; I wasn't 'special' anymore, so Michigan chose someone else and all the other scouts disappeared!"
"You tried to run me over with your SUV, you moron!", Duncan roared, blocking another ice blast with his forearms. "YOU injured your left arm in the crash! That is NOT my fault! What happened to you? How did you become a walking snowcone?"
"Because you ruined my life, I ended up working one dead-end job after another for years", Trent growled, having paused his icy assault to look for an opening. "Watching you in the media whenever you appeared, just hoping and waiting for a way to get even. Then…..it happened. I was working security at a Roxxon R& D facility and was caught in an accident with a terrigen crystal they had acquired for experimentation. When I emerged from my cocoon, I learned one of my ancestors must have been an Inhuman, because now I was too; and as luck would have it, I got the perfect powers to counter YOURS!"
"You don't wanna do this, Trent", Duncan warned his former bully.
"DON'T call me that!", he shouted. "Trent Mathews was weak! Call me GLACIER!"
Glacier launched a sustained blast of icy cold, Red Dragon countered with firebreath. The colliding elemental forces created a massive cloud of steam, abscuring the vision of all the bystanders. No longer able to see his opponent, Glacier stopped.
"Show yourself, you freak!", the icy inhuman taunted. Then he felt a hard, sharp blow from behind, slamming him to the ground! Dazed, he looked up to see Duncan, albeit several of him through his blurred vision.
"H-how?"
"I'm a firebreather, nimrod. I can see through smoke and steam."
xxXXxx
Author's notes: Hey, everyone. My old dinosaur of a laptop finally went extinct, so I had to get a new one. At the same time, I had a personal tragedy in my life, but I won't go into that here.
"Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" is my fav of Marvels Avengers animated series, tho I will cherry-pick elements from others for this work. The series started with 'character-episodes' to lead-in to the series proper, so this chapter is that for Duncan/Red Dragon, plus he will appear in Iron Man's episode as well. Other that that, I recommend watching those episodes to get the feel of the series, and the series itself if you haven't already; it is available on Disney+ and BluRay/DVD. I hope I can do justice in adding Duncan to the team!
As all of you are aware, I already have several works in-progress at present, and I had intended not to start any more until a few of them were finished. However, I found that in trying to force updates, I was actually contributing to my writers block, which only fed my frustration and yours. So, from now on, I will write and post as my inspiration strikes and comes. Rest assured that I will NEVER abandon ANY of my works. However, pressuring me to update specific stories will not help your cause nor mine, so don't bother. In fact, it only serves to irritate me.
That said, I am always open to receive reviews or PM's with ideas or suggestions to possibly help move along any stories I may have waiting for a while. I'm always happy to get and read such, just be aware that final judgement is mine, and just saying "plez update (such&such)" will not help.
