"Part of the journey is the end"

The man whispered shakily, fear taking over his teary eyes as he focused on my burning eyes and not his hand that was currently in between my maw. I was so close to tearing him apart, I could almost feel the skin under my razor sharp teeth.

I hesitated. Atlas, seventeen.

Tony? 

"Atlas, buddy, step away from the man will you?" I did, as if it was Master himself who told me to do it, my body had listended in a heart beat, without a doubt I let the man go, watching carefully as he pushed himself away from me, looking injured and weak.

Stark groaned and rolled up, glaring at the intruder. "Couldn't you have come faster, dragon whisperer?" he said, but I could hear the hint of gratitude in his shaky and annoyance filled tone. "Get back to the jet, Stark. You're injured badly, be reasonable for once and get back." the man said with tone as calm as the deepest parts of the forest, a quiet calm washed over me.

"You don't tell me what to do, grandpa." Stark said, trying to fly into the sky, but failed as sparks flew from his suit and he fell back on the ground, nearly stumbling and falling in his mess of a suit. I quickly raised my tail, letting him lean on it before he could bash his face in. Startled by the spiky tail that kept him up, he stared up at me.

I had no idea why I did that.

"Go on Stark, I think we can count this battle won."

I felt as if those words weren't spoken to Tony specifically, but to me.

I looked at Bucky, truly looked and wondered.

How could I have forgotten about him so fast, so easily? How could I have seen only red while looking at him just minutes ago in the middle of the fight?

I felt angry at him and he must have seen it too as he raised his hands as I puffed at him. "I'm so sorry, buddy. I truly, honestly did my best to get you back to safe. Back to me." he said gently, I searched his eyes. He didn't hide anything from me as I looked deeper, ignoring the distant call of Budnikov.

It was Bucky Barnes, my mentor and the man who had given me comfort at the time of need, it was the same man who had looked after me in Hell. I groaned and tackled the man in a hug, forgetting about Tony who had been leaning om my tail, now laying on the ground, cussing at me.

"It's fine buddy, it's okay." the Winter Soldier said to me as I curled my tail around him and pressed my blood covered head into his broad chest, letting out an unfamiliar, purring sound as he stroked my scaly cheek. He whispered comforting words to me, and even Tony Stark didn't say anything witty as I complained Bucky about everything.

It was Bucky, he was back, not just for the fight, but for me too. It truly was him.

"Get here Agent. Jetzt sofort!" Budnikov demanded, I could feel his words pierce throught my skin, flesh and bone.

But not throught my mind. Never throught my mind ever again. I snapped my glowing eyes open, feeling my whole body tense as the calloused fingers on my rough cheek held on stronger. "Budnikov." Bucky growled under his breath, glaring at the man across the field, standing calmly. I hissed at him, not caring about the disappointment that swimmed in his dark, dangerous eyes.

"Good day Soldat. I was afraid something like that would happen." the man who had ruined my life said, clicking his tongue.

I wasn't in the best shape, but I knew that for my friends to win hydra, I needed to end Hydra. I knew at this point, I was their strongest weapon.

"That's why we have a plan B." he smiled and I could swear the devil himself was visible in his eyes. I tilted my head, curling the dip of my tail around Bucky's leg firmly. I sensed Steve jogging closer to us, but he was not a threat.

"Too bad you abandoned your creators, Beast. But I guess as we were to eliminate--" in a flash of blue, the man was thrown couple of feet in the air, he landed with a cry of pain as his shoulder went out of its socket. Crossing his arms as he turned towards me. He was panting, his suit had part of dirty patches and tears in them, but he still looked as if he wanted to beat everyone up. 

His stoic facade cracked as he sped over to me and Bucky, patting my nose in the way that reminded me Clint when he stroked his dog and said good-boy. I grunted and snapped my teeth at Pietro, who just chuckled and pulled away.  "Nice to have you back little dude! You look as dashing as ever, however , I think you could use a shower dude, you stink" Piero said, speeding off as his amused laughter still ringed in my ears. 

"It's all good Steve." Bucky told the man in red and blue suit who was holding his shield high enough to protect himself should anything happen. He lowered it, offering me a smile as I pulled away from the Winter Soldier, still keeping close. 

Before  he could utter another word, a loud crash made the ground shook, Steve raised his shield above his head to keep the pullets from hitting him, I pushed the Winter Soldier behind me as I looked at the gigantic metal box that had been carried by the aircrafts. I realized it was a cage, it was large and I could see it shake as whoever was in it was trying to break out, the sound it let out was like wiling, high pitched voice that made me growl in annoyance as it hurt my ears. "What is that!" Steve yelled, punching down some of the agents that had started coming at us.  

"I think-" Bucky said, shooting down the Hydra agent who had snuck closer to our destination "-that we are about to find out!" 

And we did find out who was in it seconds later.

The door of the cage was lowered, the inside of it was dark. But the creature who walked out was even worse.

It had sleek black body, I couldn't tell if it was skin or scales but he seemed to move like a snake. It's talons were longer and thinner than mine, and he had no wings. The creatures body was robust and chest large.

It had two heads, the eyes were small and on the sides, its sharp teeth poking out from the lips.

It was a whole lot bigger than I. But somehow, I felt familiar to that creature. I felt as if I knew it.

Whatever it was, looked monstrous and untamable. One of the heads kept killing every person who got on its way, the other one however, spotted me immediately. The white eyes looked at me with interest and suspicion.

It was sizing me up, I knew he was looking for my weak spots. Considering how much larger it was, and how badly I was injured, it didn't seem to think much of me.

I briefly glanced down at Bucky whose eyes were filled with determination and longing, longing for peace. It was odd look on a Soldiers face. I raised my head higher, ignoring Bucky's calls of protest as I pushed myself in the air, facing the two headed creature. “Atlas, Atlas get back here!”

I had wings, they didn't, I had to use that to my advantage.

Suddenly it dawned to me, that was Project Alpha, the project that had been introduced to me some time ago. But how come it's so big already?

I roared at Project Alpha, accepting the challenge.

The clash between us was immediate. Their necks were longer, thinner. But I soon came to realize that they had no scales to protect them, but skin. My teeth pierced them briefly, but I had to pull away fast. They were agile and surprisingly fast, I flew higher as much as my tired wing sallowed me to, but they wouldn't have it as they jumped, stretching their long necks to bite my tail. I hissed in pain as they pulled me back towards the ground.

We were a mess of limbs, blood and flashing teeth. I lost count of all the times they managed to sink their teeth into me, but I would not give up without a fight.

I was starting to doubt my chances when the Project Alpha came stalking towards, heads lowered to the ground as its small, white eyes saw me nothing but prey. I opened my jaws and growled at it, making it halt and hiss back.

The agents had been long forgotten as they did not want to be trampled to death by us. I knew I just had to weaken it enough so they could finish him off.

No matter the consequences. At least, not anymore. Now, I had something to fight for, someone to fight for.

I locked my jaw around one of its head, pushing it on the ground with the last of my energy as it wailed and screamed under my steady hold. Its blood covered my face and eventually my eyes. But I didn't even want to see as the second head kept trying to push the body up while injuring me. The sound it made was the call of death and peace.

In my mind, I kept begging for someone to end it and save both of us, the monsters.

And someone did. I could feel the ground shook as we were hit with something, a bomb. I could see a bright light behind my closed eyelids and for a second, I heard someone scream my name throught the rush of my own blood.

I'm not sure what exactly happened after silence.

***

A/N

First of all, hey.

Second of all, I love you.

And thrid, if you want anyone to talk with, hit me up. I'm not gonna bite.

Fourthly, your feedback would mean the world to me.

And fifthly, here you go Rick. You wanted to see my horse haha ShockerGuardian1731 (sorry I couldn't decide which pic)

Thank you all for reading my story and putting up with my pictures of animals.

I'm very greatful for you all.