The wolf panted as she stumbled around an overturned car and into the shaded area between the buildings. She was taking shelter within an alleyway hidden decently well from the main stretches of road, retreating for the moment to recover her energy and magic.
She was exhausted. Her powers had diminished greatly since she had last been active. At the height of her power, she had been a force of nature, a true divine being that could shift the world around her, manipulate nature for good, and create miracles to help people. Now she was… Weak. Frail. Struggling to keep up with beings that existed purely within the physical realm. The creatures she used to battle easily would be able to throw her around as she is now.
She gave a soft whine and shifted her attention to her side, looking at the gash in her leg. She used her powers, pausing reality for a brief moment to paint over her leg with her divine gifts, making the wound vanish when she released her grip on reality, leaving the cut in her leg sealed up.
Now she was being forced to take a break, lest her exhaustion send her into an early grave. Her earlier stunt in front of that blue red and white human had netted her a mode of transportation, which unfortunately was shot down minutes later as she found herself in a ground fight with a trio of the alien soldiers.
The wolf sat for a long moment, breathing softly, leaning up against the brick wall of the alleyway as she recovered. She could hear the sounds of the battle continuing throughout the city, every blast worrying her further. The wolf growled under her breath. She had to wait. If she died now, then how would she help everyone?
The large wolf gave a huff and pushed her magic through herself to recover. Feeling a rush of power running through her body, she tensed up her legs and launched herself from the asphalt, bounding off of one side of the alleyway, and then leaping higher, her paws contacting the wall on the opposite side. She leapt from side to side, working higher and higher, paws briefly contacting the walls and then springing away, leaving little flower petals behind from the contact. When she completed six back-and-forth jumps, she pushed hard one final time, performing a front flip as she landed herself on the gravel rooftop of the building, looking out upon the disaster of the city.
A shrill scream sounded out off to her left, and she whipped to face the street, bolting forward and leaping off the roof without hesitation, dropping to the streets below to continue her assistance in battle. A light buzzing in the back of her head was completely forgotten about as she darted forward, intent on helping as many as she could.
~{O}~{O}~{O}~
"Stupid aliens and their stupid giant sky assholes…" Clint Barton had not been having a great last few days. "Couldn't have been happy unleashing an army in the middle of the desert. Nooo, Loki has to show off…" He continued grumbling to himself as he notched another arrow, drawing the string to his cheek and taking aim, before releasing his shot.
The arrow flew true, streaking through the sky and impaling one of the Chitauri flying around right through the face plate. The vehicle it was piloting turned sharply to the left, cutting through another five of the flying speeders, sending aliens scrap and limbs falling to the street below.
"Nice shot, Legolas," Stark quipped as he raced past. He flared the thrusters on his palms and took a sharp turn around a corner, causing the pursuing Chitauri speeder to slam into the side of an office building, shattering glass and exploding into a plume of fire and metal.
"Might wanna pick up the pace, sky is getting a little crowded," the billionaire spoke, and was out of the archer's sight again, leaving Barton alone on the roof as he notched another arrow, scanning through the sky for a solid shot to take.
"Hey, I've just got arrows, I have to make 'em count," Clint huffed in reply, releasing his shot, the steel-tipped arrow severing the wrist of one of the flying invaders and causing it to lose control, spinning out and slamming into the side of one of the Leviathans. The arrow continued, impacting another alien that had been climbing the side of the Chrysler building right in the chest, pinning it to the wall.
Unfortunately, Tony was right. The sky was filling with more and more of those Chitauri, though Thor and Stark were doing an admirable job thinning their numbers before another dozen came streaking through the portal.
Hawkeye notched another arrow, drawing it back and aiming, before suddenly dropping to his hands and knees with a startled "Woah!" He ducked as a speeder flew right overhead and just grazed by the building, pelleting the archer with little pieces of concrete. He quickly leapt to his feet, pulling back his arrow and taking aim at the soldier who had targeted him, just to pause, relaxing the tension on the bowstring.
"Hey, Cap? You, uh, said something about a big white wolf-dog thing?" Clint asked, watching the alien vehicle race away in a wobbly, jerking fashion, somehow evading several blasts from Chitauri soldiers. He watched as the white canine shifted its focus toward a squadron of alien speeders racing toward it's position, intersecting it at another city block. Hawkeye drew his bow back and aimed, hoping to catch several of the bastards with one shot.
"I did. Are you alright?" Steve replied over the comms, followed by a grunt of exertion through the communications system as he engaged in battle with more foot soldiers.
"Yeah, just making—" Hawkeye paused in both his motion to fire an arrow at the perfectly lined up soldiers, and in his speech, an odd feeling washing over him as he watched the air distort slightly, and then a line of destruction carve straight through nine of the twelve alien speeders.
There had been no indication of an attack, nothing fired or crashed into them, just a cut slicing through a majority of the attackers. Several heads and torsos were cut through sending vehicles spiralling, while other vehicles had the bottoms gashed or damaged, exploding or losing control enough to slam into their surrounding squadmates.
"Barton? Respond," Captain America insisted over the comms, sounding winded and out of breath, yet still concerned for his teammates.
"Yeah, the dog's on our side. It just took out a group of 'em," he stated bluntly. He dropped his aim and glanced over to where he had seen the dog moments prior, only to splutter in confusion.
The big white dog was still flying away on the alien speeder, heading toward Bryant Park at a fairly quick if wobbly pace. But, with its paws on the front "handles" of the vehicle, it had its back arched, head tilted backwards and was giving him the goofiest grin, its tongue out and teeth showing. Its tail was wagging happily despite the situation, the vehicle dipping lower and lower toward the ground.
Hawkeye blinked and looked away, focusing on the fight once more as he drew back another arrow and fired. He raised his hand to his ear and spoke again, even while keeping his attention out on the streets below, trying to help guide the team of Avengers as well as he could.
"Hey, Nat? Can I keep it-"
"Absolutely not."
~{O}~{O}~{O}~
The wolf was enjoying herself, oddly enough. As time progressed she found herself feeling more and more comfortable with the situation she was in, using her gifts and powers as well as she could to defeat the enemies and rescue the humans. She could feel their thanks and strength invigorating her, her spirit soaring as enemies fell at her feet, her powers cutting through them.
She had spotted a group of people in a decently sized park when she had been flying overhead, struggling to control the odd piece of technology. She gave an excited back as the speeder she was on fell to the ground, skittering along the concrete. She was aiming for the trio of soldiers advancing toward the group of people, who screamed and attempted to run, only to get cut off as another four cornered them from the other side of the park, aiming their weaponry at the innocent humans.
She coiled her muscles and sprang from the sparking platform of the speeder she was riding, performing a backflip in the air and landing on all four paws. Her aim was true, and the speeding vehicle slammed into the trio of aliens, immediately ending their lives as they were thrown bodily in all directions by the heavy mass of metal. She whipped her attention around to the other soldiers advancing toward the group of humans, though they had a new target.
Her.
She gave a quiet yelp of surprise and ducked as an energy bolt raced over her head, singing her fur slightly, her body compressed tight to the concrete. The wolf huffed silently at the feeling of her drained magic, unable to use her powers right now due to that large strike that she had used on that squadron that caught her by surprise. And she had been saving up for a while too…
She leapt to her feet and lunged forward, pushing off the street and racing toward the advancing Chitauri soldiers without hesitation, ducking under another shot and then leaping over a third. She twisted herself in mid-air, spinning herself around to avoid another shot that singed the fur on her belly, just barely clipping her tail. She landed and saw one of the aliens take a step back, and she gave a feral snarl of excitement in response, energy coursing through her, putting on another burst of speed.
She focused and pumped that slight amount of magic energy she had left into her body, further enhancing herself. Time seemed to slow slightly, the next bolt of energy whizzing passed her easily avoided, her paws digging into the grass below, hurling herself forward. Her magic was low, she knew in the back of her mind that she had mere seconds of this, and she had to make it count.
She launched herself at a blistering speed towards the first of the alien foot soldiers, leaping into the air and making contact with its' chest, all four paws hitting it dead on. She pushed off forcefully and launched the soldier 20 feet back, bodily rolling across the grass and dirt, before hitting a bench with a sickening crunch, wrapping itself around the metal structure.
As she landed, she focused her attention on the next closest Chitauri. The alien raised its weapon in an attempt to jab at her, but she twisted herself to the side, the energized blade grazing her fur as she evaded. She clamped her jaws around the wrist of the alien soldier with a crunch, causing it to drop its weapon. She dug her claws into the earth, shifting her weight to the side and heaving, performing a full roll while launching the invader towards one of its companions, sending the pair into a tangled heap, attempting to extract themselves from their situation.
She lunged for the energized spear and grabbed it between her jaws, turning to leap into the air and land on the pair of aliens with a growl, driving the spear through both of the invaders in a single strike.
The wolf staggered slightly as she felt time return to its' normal pace, feeling the effects of adrenaline wear off. She turned to face the final alien, only to find it baring down on her, its spear raised, energy gathering at the tip. It was going to impale her with it and then fire, the resulting blast going to liquefy her organs and turn her into a smoking husk. She flexed her will, pausing time and trying to draw upon her natural powers, only to feel her heart drop, her magic hadn't recovered enough. She couldn't use her power slash, and with the spear only inches away, she didn't have time to dodge.
She grit her teeth and prepared herself to take the hit, planning out her next moves carefully.
Time resumed.
The spear fell upon her.
A sickening squelch sounded out through the air, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground.
The wolf blinked, jaw hanging open at the sight of the arrow having pierced straight through the Chitauri soldier's head, embedding itself in the ground. The spear lay stabbed into the ground, inches from her side, the hum of energy slowly fading from the weaponry as its user died.
She turned her head and cast her gaze upward, high up onto the buildings and metallic structures of the futuristic city she found herself in. She saw that human she had almost crashed into earlier, with one hand raised in what looked like a greeting. She sat on the ground, collecting herself, tail thumping happily on the ground as she gave a happy bark in reply.
"Puppy!"
The wolf's thoughts were broken by the excited shout of a little boy, the child running toward her as fast as his little legs could carry him, his frantic mother shouting and tripping over herself, breaking through the small group of people to chase after the tiny boy.
She sat still as the mother and the boy raced toward her, the smaller of the two impacting her chest with an excited squeal of happiness, burying his previously tear-streaked face into the fluffy coat of white. The mother came to a stop several feet away when she noticed that not only was her son not being mauled by a massive dog, but that the dog was wagging happily, its tail smacking into the ground with solid thwaps. The wolf tilted her head down and licked at the boy's head, nuzzling into his hair, letting the small human relax slightly against her fur.
"Thank you, puppy!" The small boy said into her neck floof, his voice muffled by her fur. The small boy pulled his head away from her fur, looking up at her with starstruck eyes. The wolf leaned down and gave a small lick to the boy's cheek, the child giggling in response.
"Alex… get back here, please," the mother spoke softly, only feet away from the large dog and her child. The white canine raised a paw and pressed it against the boy's chest, urging him back softly with a small push, guiding him back toward his mother.
The boy laughed and ran toward his mother, who knelt down and scooped up her son into her arms. She turned away and walked back toward the group of people who were still watching the large canine wearily, while her child leaned over her shoulder to wave goodbye to the "puppy" with a brilliant smile on his face. The mother paused, and turned around for a moment, eyeing the large white wolf.
"Thank you," she spoke. The wolf merely dipped its head in reply, nodding toward the mother, whose eyes widened from the gesture. The canine gave a happy little "wuff" toward the group of humans now safe.
The wolf blinked and paused for a moment as she felt a tug on what she assumed was her magical core, her being pulling her attention toward the city. She could see streaks of golden light lancing up into the sky and slicing straight through several of the flying vehicles, sending their remains to the streets. She narrowed her eyes a little, feeling an odd mixture of energies from the area, reminiscent of the magic she and the other brush gods has wielded, as well as something darker, reminding her of adversaries in a previous world.
Before she could ponder too hard on the feeling, an explosion caught her attention. Her eyes darted up once more, landing her vision at the top of the building where that archer had been previously. Where he had been was enveloped in flames as the rooftop was shattered, and she felt her heart drop. She looked slightly lower, following a length of cord that was falling from the roof among the rubble that clattered to the street, following its path up toward a shattered window high up on the building.
The wolf leapt to her feet, ran over to the arrow still embedded in the alien corpse, and tugged it free, before wheeling herself around, launching herself forward with a burst of speed. She ran by and grazed the alien spear still stuck in the ground, and felt a pull on her magic, but without an actual drain on her energy. The spear vanished suddenly, but she still knew she had it. She could feel it connected to her, not physically present but still available at a moment's notice.
Despite the situation, the wolf couldn't help but perk up slightly, feeling her magic slowly returning. She was regaining magic but not nearly as fast as she would have liked. Still, she called upon her remaining magic, feeling nearly a quarter of what she could store.
The white wolf focused and decided to try something new. She pushed the magic she held into her legs, focused on going faster. She was quick already, far beyond what any wolf should be capable of.
She needed to be more so.
To an outside observer, the wolf had simply turned into a blur of white as she dumped her remaining magic energy into going faster. For those few seconds, she raced down nearly a block and a half of battle-worn New York streets before her magic cut out, and trotted herself down to her normal speed, quickly rounding the building she had seen the Archer atop. She glanced at the metal front door, which was locked, and blinked, before turning her gaze to the window beside it and slashing at it with her natural powers, the window shattering.
She leapt through the shattered window, feeling her magic power leaving her for a moment, but continued on anyways. She raced her way up the closest set of stairs and bounded off of walls, launching herself to another level, and then taking off again, loping up the stairs. Several startled screams sounded out as she raced by individuals hiding in the stairwell, before slamming herself into one of the wooden doors inside, shattering it and taking some minor damage as a result.
She raised her head and looked around, nose flaring for a moment, her ears swivelling forward, using her keen nose and ears to try and locate the Archer.
A quiet groan caught her attention, and she ran through the floor of the building, the scent of fresh air, blood, and the sound of wind and strained breathing guiding her toward her target. She rounded one final corner and came upon her Archer, a sharp whine leaving her as she spotted him laying on the floor in pain, amongst the broken glass, bleeding from several cuts and gashes.
She stepped forward cautiously to the injured man, pausing to stand in his line of sight, or what he should be able to see if he opened his eyes. He was laying there breathing deeply, and hissing out through his teeth, shifting to alleviate some of the pain in his body.
The large wolf whined quietly, causing him to open his eyes, fear flooding his system for a moment as he realized he was face-to-face with a massive canine and completely defenceless. That was, until the white wolf dropped an arrow in front of him, the object clattering to the ground.
Clint moved an arm underneath himself, grunting as he shifted and looked down at the arrow, and then up at the wolf who was tilting its head at him. The large creature leaned down and used its nose to push the arrow forward a little closer to the man.
"You… came all the way up here…. To play fetch?" Clint chuckled softly, grimacing slightly at the pain the movement put him through. He pushed himself up to his knees and hissed in pain, before reaching forward with one hand and offering it out to the wolf to smell.
The Archer laughed as a large, pink tongue dragged across his hand and forearm, and the canine gave a friendly little bark in response, its tail wagging hard and thumping against the ground hard enough for him to feel the vibrations through the floor. He shifted forward and moved his hand to press against the dog's neck, gently dragging his fingers through its fur and scratching softly at the canine's neck, much to its pleasure.
The wolf huffed happily and leaned into the scratches, and then shifted forward further, moving in to give a friendly and soft lick right at Clint's cheek. The man laughed and ducked his head a little, distracting him just enough for the wolf to flex her powers on the world, time coming to a halt.
She used her brush strokes to heal the archer, using the same magic that encouraged plant life to flourish. She pushed her magic into him, erasing the soreness and aching of his body, and lightly healing any bruises and small cuts he may have had from his time in the battle. She then shifted her attention to the glass window that was shattered, painting over it and willing the pane back to its previous form.
When Clint looked up, he gasped softly, feeling the energy rush through him, like a warm beam of sunlight washing over his body and relaxing him. He blinked and looked down, finding the bruises and scrapes he had acquired had vanished without a trace.
"Wait, what the—" the Archer glanced to the window. Whole and complete, as if he had never crashed through it in the first place. There was no glass on the floor, just a normal area as if he had just walked into the room to play with a massive dog.
He looked back toward the dog-wolf thing and raised an eyebrow. He swore the white canine was looking smug. He wasn't sure how, but it somehow managed to pull off the look, its gold eyes glittering with an intelligence that drew Clint in.
"Do I want to ask?" He asked the wolf. She only gave him a little huff in response and sneezed lightly, before lolling out her tongue and panting like she was a regular, if really big, dog. He laughed and brought both hands up to her head, cupping her cheeks and squishing the floof forward, ruffling her up a little. "You can't fool me, Wolfy, I know you're more than you're letting on, ya big furball."
The wolf pulled away and gave an indignant snort, raising a paw to rub at her face and work her fur back slightly, looking up and giving the Archer a half-hearted glare. She stepped forward and nudged his side, and pointed toward the door with her nose.
"Yeah yeah, let's get out of here. I think we should—" Clint stopped for a moment, listening, tilting his head a little to lean in the direction of the earpiece he was listening to. He grinned, and then laughed, punching at the air with an excited shout. "We did it! It's over! You hear that, Wolfy?"
The wolf gave a startled yelp as the Archer leaned down and scooped up her front half into his arms, holding her for a moment before releasing her again, dropping to all fours with a soft thump. The wolf cocked an ear and listened to the outside, finding it lacking the noise of destruction and the sounds of energy weapons firing and massive beasts roaring. It was quiet, save for a few sets of alarms going off.
She could feel her excitement and joy rising alongside the Archer's. She gave an excited bark and stepped toward the exit, wagging excitedly and nudging through the shattered remains of the wooden door, looking behind herself to make sure the man was following her. When the duo made it to the stairwell, the wolf turned to face the archer, opening her maw in a dopey, happy, tongue-filled smile.
Before the man could even make an attempt to speak, the wolf crouched down, jumped, did a backflip, and plummeted straight down the center of the stairwell. She was amused at the Archer's startled shout as he looked down over the edge at her as she shot down floor after floor, landing on her feet in a crouch at the bottom floor.
She looked up the stairwell at him and gave a small blep of her tongue, before turning and trotting off toward the exit, tail waving happily. She hopped through the broken window and took in the city around her, listening once more, watching for any signs of attackers or threats.
Silence surrounded her.
She gazed at the still, lifeless forms of the Chitauri soldiers slumped over onto the ground, ears twitching this way and that, hearing nothing but crying and quiet murmurs from humans, and alarms going off in the distance.
She felt her heart soar and gave a soft huff, releasing the tension she didn't realize she had been carrying around since the moment she woke up. She built up a low, guttural growl in her throat, crouching down to the concrete, and then threw her head back, standing tall and letting out a deep, powerful howl in celebration. The sound reverberated through the city, bouncing off buildings and rolling through the city like thunder, carrying with it a wave of victory, warmth, and hope.
"Whew, I heard that from inside," Clint spoke, walking up to the large wolf, his bow holstered for the moment. He only had one arrow left, the one the large canine had returned to him as thanks. "You cheeky dog, you had to backflip and show off, didn't you?" He leaned in and cupped the wolf's face with both hands, ruffling up her fur. The wolf snorted and stepped back, shaking herself out from the Archer's messing with her fur.
"Roll call, everyone all right? Did anyone else hear that howl?" Captain America's voice came in through the earpiece in Clint's ear, the wolf cocking her head to listen in with her better hearing.
"Barton here. Yeah, I'm all right. Got a little hairy at the end there, literally. Wolfy got a little excited and decided to announce it to the city," Clint answered, giving the large wolf a look as if he were trying to embarrass her for showing off.
Why, she would never! She returned the look by sitting down and rolling her eyes, before looking up at him and poking out her tongue slightly.
"Wolfy? Clint, tell me you didn't—" Natasha came through the comms, sounding winded and slightly exasperated.
"Hey, hey, the dog found me, don't start blaming me for this," Clint replied, grinning. He felt relaxed, realizing it was over. Mostly over. "I was being all professional and someone decided to play fetch."
The wolf blinked and faced away from the archer, giving a soft huff and a flick of her tail, the limb smacking the man in the back of the legs and causing his knees to buckle slightly. She then shifted her gaze to look at him out of the corner of her eye, while still facing forward, giving the human a look.
"No, no, stop that. Whatever you're planning—" He didn't get to finish his sentence as the wolf lunged forward, clamping her teeth down around the Archer's belt and twisted her head, yanking the man toward her with a playful growl.
She shifted her stance and stepped herself toward Clint as he was mid-stumble, tripping him and leaving the man sprawled out on the wolf's back. Before he could even attempt to recover, she took off at a trot, carrying the confused human on her back as he sat up, sitting on the wolf like a horse as she loped her way toward the large tower at the center of all this.
"Don't worry Romanoff, Barton is just compensating for his pea shooter. Men usually get big dogs if they're insecure about—" Tony was cut off by an audible sigh from Steve, and the billionaire descended into soft cackles over the comms at his teammates' expense.
"I have seen this dog-wolf creature Barton has described. She seems to be magical in nature and is extraordinarily soft," Thor spoke. "She did not tell me her name before taking off, however. Both the Hulk and I encountered her after ending that Leviathan creature."
The wolf was confused. She absolutely had not run into the flying lighting man or the big green smashy creature. Hopefully, her questions would be answered when they reached the top.
Clint and the wolf both glanced up as they heard something flying overhead. Thor was grasping Captain America's wrist and flew up to the roof of the broken Stark Tower, while Iron Man flew up as well, both disappearing out of sight. A green blur launched itself up next, making an audible thump that could be heard even at the street level.
"Come on, Robin Hood, don't be late, you're making us look bad," Tony spoke over the communicators once more, earning a sigh from Steve.
The wolf and the archer entered the building and took the elevator as normal people would. Because they were definitely normal. Nothing weird like super spies or Goddess reincarnations. Nope. Just a normal dude riding on his massive wolf into the small lift.
The wolf leaned forward and pressed her nose against the button Clint had gestured to, the soft boop causing the doors to close and sending the pair upward.