//------------------------------//
// Mare-Vel Adventures #8: Big Trouble in Little China 
// Story: Rainbow Dash: Aerial Avenger 
// by The Bricklayer 
//------------------------------//

“Horror washed over Hollywood today, as this image was played…”

Rainbow couldn’t tear her eyes away, even as she rewatched the scene play itself out.

The Mandarin had grabbed her, slamming her into a wall with the force of a hurricane. And then he did it again, and then again her body sparking with a golden glow as cosmic forces attempted to defend her. Three times he beat her, her head now bruised and probably close to bleeding.

“And with you gone…” said Xin in a dark tone, gesturing all around them to where people with smartphones had gathered as the battle lent itself to a public display. “I can lead the world to a new and brighter age. A better age.”

“You have no idea what a real leader is. A leader has to project confidence. Fight for what she believes in. But never stop questioning, wondering how to be better,” Rainbow spat in his face, wheezing out her words. “You’re nothing but a maniac.”

“Believe what you want,” said Xin, slamming her into the earth. Her energy crackled and faded away, its owner beaten. As he began to fly up into the sky, cameras followed him as he looked down at his broken opponent. “I have a new world to shape, you won’t be part of it. And I doubt the old one will miss you. You’ve been broken, shattered. Your spirit is now beyond repair. And now the whole world knows it.”

Yes, this was true and due to her own hubris and pride she’d failed to see it coming. A random interview flickered onto the screen, a civilian’s thoughts on the matter. 

“I dunno man, before I thought she could save us. Now though… It’s like reality just hit me square in the face. The Mandarin’s powerful, and she’s… just not. I don’t want to welcome our new overlord, but it looks like I just might have to.”

Rainbow had dragged herself out of bed, unable to watch this any longer. Her fist trembled, in it the remote which sparkled with that same cosmic energy from before. 

“Yeeeeeeeeeah,” said Spitfire, her base commander leaning up against the doorway. “It is pretty disgusting to watch, isn’t it? How quickly the crowd turns, eh? One defeat, and suddenly you’re worth nothing.”

With a sigh, she watched the tv and shook her head. “They’ll probably be repeating that same story for a week, while they… do nothing I guess. Fret and worry while The Mandarin? He’s still out there. Forgive me for sounding like a cynic, but some people would do nothing while they wait for a hero to save them.”

She sat down in a nearby chair, placing her now famous sunglasses on a table. 

“Well, what can they do?” Rainbow had to ask. “The Mandarin’s too powerful to take on in single combat, even by me.”

“Because you hold yourself back,” Spitfire said, poking her in the chest. “You’re one of the best and brightest of us, sure you make mistakes and you stumble but then you soar. It just takes a few false starts before you’re ready to fly.”

“So that’s what this is?” Rainbow said, looking to the TV where another citizen criticized her very public failure. “A false start? A sputter on the runway, my engine not quite ready to take off?”

“Mhmmm, basically,” Spitfire said. “I know it seems bad right now, but honestly? It gets better.”

“Why do I have a feeling you’re not talking about my prospective life as a superhero?” Rainbow asked, the thought niggling at the back of her mind. Like Spitfire had something else to say.

Her superior laughed, almost in bitter fashion. “Of course I’m not. Life in the military for the fairer sex… it’s much harder. We’re judged a lot harsher for our mistakes. I’ve had to fight just to get where I am, just as you’ve had to. So what, are you going to give up, lie down in the mud and watch the world trample all over you?”

She turned to give Rainbow a serious, yet admiring look.

“Or are you going to soar?” Spitfire asked. “Your whole life, you’ve looked up to Captain America. Great role model, can’t say I blame you. But it’s time to ask yourself a question. Forget what Captain America would do… What would Captain Rainbow Dash of the United States Air Force do?”

Rainbow sputtered out, her words having a few false starts before the reality broke through. “Captain? I’m a Captain now?”

Spitfire smiled proudly as she pinned the rank medal to her chest.

“Congratulations Captain,” Spitfire said before there was a ‘look’ in her eyes, something that Rainbow couldn’t quite place. “Alas, now you must retire from the pilot’s seat.”

“R-Retire?” Rainbow asked, angrily as a fury overtook her. “E-Excuse me? I’ve worked my whole life to sit in one of those chairs!”

“Ah, but now you don’t need to, do you?” Spitfire pointed out. “You can fly on your own, I let you go because something tells me that you’ve got bigger and better things ahead of you. It’s not just your country that needs you now. It’s the world. So go get him, girl. Crash?”

Here, she put a firm hand on her shoulder. “Make me proud okay?”

“Y-Yeah,” Rainbow stammered, still caught a little off guard. “But… but he’s so powerful, how do I stop him?”

A new voice joined them.

“Rainbow, in all of my years as a Xenobioligist for the Kree Empire,” said Mar-Vehl, back in his Lawson disguise. “I’ve seen some truly amazing species, I’ve explored galaxies hoping to expand the Empire. But that was before I crash landed on Earth. Humanity has some of the greatest potential I’ve ever seen, maybe one day they could impress the rest of my kind as they impressed me. They can do anything they set their minds to, and that includes you. Now sure, you’ve stumbled but I know you can fly. Now let me help you take off, okay?”

He stretched out his hand, and Rainbow took it.





Far across the world, tall skyscrapers rose up from a maze of concrete and hidden amongst them was a secret. One that must never be told, but was about to come to light.

“It’s been in my private collection for years,” Xi-Wang Khan, head of a banking conglomerate said to his newest guest. “It’s been passed down from generation to generation in my family, you understand. Some say it was found by Ghengis Khan himself. Myth and rumor, you must understand. But I’ve seen the news coming out of America. This… Mandarin as he calls himself -disgusting name by the way, he advises no king- has nine rings. Nine of ten. I fear this is the last one he seeks.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Khan,” Coulson nodded as S.H.I.E.L.D agents locked the ring away in a specially sealed box. “We won’t let anything happen to it.”

“I’ve heard the rumors,” Xi-Wang said fearfully, pressing his fingers together nervously. “...if you collected all ten rings, you could reshape the world.”

“Myth and rumor,” Coulson said calmly, in an attempt to reassure him though truthfully he was beginning to believe such things. After all, with all of the power the Mandarin had displayed nobody had apparently seen his upper limits… “The Mandarin is just a power mad terrorist. You know what we do with terrorists?”

“I assume you deal with-” Xi-Wang started before Coulson finished for him.

He cocked his gun. “Yes, we do. We put them in the ground.”

Then, the door exploded outwards as smoke poured into the room like a thick encompassing smog. Shouting was coming from somewhere behind it as red dots lit up the wall.

Gunfire thundered as two agents failed to draw their guns in time and golden casings littered the floor as blood began to pool on the wood below. Xi-Wang and Coulson had dropped to the floor just as the shooting started, taking cover under a table. 

Peering out from under the table, they could see boots rushing by and making their way towards the case. 

“We have to get out of here!” Xi-Wang whispered frantically, over the shouting. “That case though… the ring’s in it and we can’t let those men have it!”

“Not to worry,” Coulson said, pressing a button on his lapel and little jets sprouted from the case making it fly towards his hand. “I got this.”

“Get down to the garage,” said his new best friend, handing him a collection of keys. “There’s some cars down there. Fast ones. Perfect for what you Americans call a ‘clean getaway’.”

They ran and hid behind one of the room’s many display cases, the lead mercenary shouting orders to search the room in Hispanic. 

“Unfortunately,” Coulson shook his head, shooting down one of the mercenaries with a blue bolt of energy from his gun. He then deadpanned: “I doubt anything about this will be clean.”

“Fancy gun,” Xi-Wang remarked, studying the blue crackling energy at its tip. “You Americans and your toys.”

“It’s called an I.C.E.R. Incapacitating Cartridge Emitting-” Coulson started before thinking the better of it as the mercs crowded around their incapacited comrade. “Oh, never mind.”

He took an escape out a side exit, rushing down fire escape steps and avoiding elevators. One hand was on his weapon, ready to draw it again at a moment’s notice and the other wrapped tightly around the case handle.

Fast and frantic, he traversed levels well aware of the stomping of footsteps somewhere above and the shouts of anger. Every so often, he whirled around to check behind him.

But nobody had apparently caught up to him, and so he hurried down. Then, from out of nowhere several mercenaries burst from another room. Through a door they came, two handcuffing him to the wall via magnets.

Coulson acted fast, kicking the third in the stomach and making him smash up against the railing. He strained, rushing to free himself even as one dude drew a knife.

Kicking the man in the arm with his knee, the trained agent watched the knife fly through the air, It landed in between wall and hand-cuff, and with a little bit of effort Coulson pulled free.

The first guy recovered, and drew back his fist for a punch with Coulson ducking under it. He shoved the first merc into the second making them both crumple to the floor with one rolling down some steps.

The third and final henchmen rushed with a baton in hand, slamming it into Coulson’s shin. The agent let out a cry of pain before smashing the briefcase into the third’s skull. The henchman crumpled to the floor, after landing against the wall. 

So the escape continued, Coulson smashing a door down with a shoulder charge as he ran into what looked to be a parking garage.

There was the squeal of tires from somewhere behind him. He dared not look back, though he could see a reflection in a car’s window. A big black BMW, ominous and menacing as it prowled onto the scene like a big cat.

“There he is!” someone else shouted. “Get him!” 

Bullets flew as Coulson ducked behind another car, glass windows shattering even as the side was riddled with bullets. 

“Rich guy, couldn’t even afford his own private garage?” the agent uttered with a roll of his eyes. “What am I even looking for...? What, is it all decked out in gold or something?”

Then he spotted what he was looking for, a crimson-colored Aston Martin. The latest model even! A spy’s car for getting to the latest martini, for a secret agent in the real world. It wasn’t Lola, but it’d do in a pinch.

“That’ll do!” he decides, getting in and gunning it. Two gunmen dived out of the way as Coulson pulled out into the busy city streets with a roar of the engine. The radio played, astonishingly apt in music choice for the scenario.

“This is Agent Coulson!” the agent shouted into his comms, seeing several cars rush out of nowhere from behind. “I am surrounded and I need assistance. I have a package in transport, the Mandarin must not get his hands on it. This goes out to all cars, do you read me?”

The roar of an engine, even as an armored car pulled up beside him. Wisely, Coulson smashed into it sending it driving into a building wall. 

“That’ll buff out,” the agent muttered, wincing at the damage to his own car. “...right?”

The tires squealed in protest as he swerved down a corner into another street, the back end flying out spitting up smoke as Coulson wrestled with the wheel. Eventually, he managed to get the snarling beast back under control. Under the hood, 715 horses snarled and whinnied in protest, Coulson trying to reign them in as $304,995 worth of metal rushed through the streets.

Buildings flew by in a blur as the garnet-red sports car, skin like wine raced over the pavement sticking to it like hot glue with white eyes peering out in almost demonic fashion. The steel beast would not give in so easily and was just barely tamed.

It ate up the road like it was for breakfast, even as predators closed in to seal it’s fate.

Swerving left, the Aston pounded the pavement hugging the road. From either side, two cars closed in.

Corvettes came from either side, exhausts spitting hot orange flame as vibrant as the paint job. Like lightning, they raced to the Aston’s side. Coulson was sweating, knowing he was boxed in.

Slamming a foot hard on the break, he fell back before doing a perfect J-Turn and heading the other way in a cloud of smoke. Swerving down a side street, the walls closed in. No room to maneuver, but that also applied to them.

Smashing into a market stall as he swerved onto another street, wood flew everywhere and fruits splattered his windshield. Coulson honked the horn screaming out an alarm as shoppers ducked for cover.

“This is definitely not Lola,” the agent thought to himself as he searched the dashboard on reflex, realizing that there were no hidden buttons on this car. “What I wouldn’t give for an oil slick right about now…”

He looked behind him, doubling down on that thought as one of the flame-orange Corvettes emerged from where he had been just several seconds before.

Going into a drift, Coulson smashed through another market stall as he landed on a main street. Flooring it, the engine roared as all 715 horses galloped into another stampede. 

Dodging traffic, the agent maneuvered his car through openings as masses of metal surrounded him on every side. Through his rear view mirror, he could faintly see a flash of orange. Like hell itself was after him.

“Gotta keep moving, get to the docks,” Coulson reminded himself. “Your bus out of here is there.”

Now where was his backup?

A sleek silver BMW was next to him, and the driver was rolling down his windows. From the backseat, a gun was aimed squarely at him.

Coulson ducked even as bullets whistled over his head, some riddling the car with the clatter of metal.

The massive car closed in, grinding against his own vehicle’s side in a shower of sparks. There was the cock of a gun’s hammer, a pistol aimed squarely at his head.

Then, something whistled through the air and the BMW went up in a fireball and a cloud of smoke. From behind it, a big SUV was closing in and peering out the sunroof was someone in a dark leather coat.

“Yep, still got it,” the man smirked, addressing his fellow agent, and adjusting his sunglasses. In his hands was a bow, drawn back for the next shot. “Nat would say this is just like Budapest all over again, but between you and I, I remember it very differently!”

“There were a lot less casualties that day,” a second voice crackled in over Coulson’s comms, Asian-accented before the sounds of grunting and fighting joined it. “Sorry Coulson, but your ride from the docks is shot. No easy boat tour of the harbor for you.”

“Damn it, they were onto us,” Coulson sighed. “Their hackers are good, I’ll give them that. So, Melinda, do you have any other suggestions?”

“I’ve re-routed a chopper your way,” his fellow agent replied, and overhead came the whirl of propellers and the whine of an engine as a black helicopter rocketed overhead. “How do you feel about a bit of climbing?”

Coulson knew what she meant, having seen the chopper heading for the hills outside of the city. Taking a hard right, he jerked the wheel as the tires squealed out in protest. An arrow flew overhead, and one of the corvettes crackled with electricity pulling to a halt.

The driver inside was spitting and swearing even as Coulson passed him by.

“You’re home free!” Barton shouted even as the SUV he was in planted itself in the middle of the street, to hold back any other enemies. “You might say I have an eye for this sort of thing!”

“Hahaha, you’re very clever Clint,” Coulson returned. “You’re already starting on your dad jokes aren’t you?”

In any event, Coulson was soon swerving onto the highway and starting up the slow climb up the swerving hillside roads. Nobody seemed to be following him… for now at least. 

For how long this moment of peace would last… he wasn’t sure. Sparing a glance to the passenger seat, he saw the briefcase shaking. “So much trouble for so small an item. You’d have thought it was the One Ring I was carrying inside it!”

And the cars closing in from behind, engines shrieking out a warning as their lights peered out of the gloom were the Nazgul. Their master, the Mandarin, would be the Witchking.

And just like the One Ring, all would be lost if he were to get his hands on it.

With a roar, another car dared to pull up beside him. An Audi, midnight blue and closing in. It pressed him to the side of the wall, bricks ripping through metal in a shower of sparks. Coulson’s car was pinned.

“Come on…” the driver grunted, Coulson biting back a swear. “Oh, Xi-Wang is going to hate me for this. This… this will buff out right?”

He pushed back, the Audi pressed up against the guardrail and threatening to take a tumble. Below, sharp rocks and the unforgiving pavement awaited over the side. 

The Aston roared, swerving around another corner and climbing higher with the Audi nipping at its heels. 

Coulson’s eyes widened as he saw another car rocketing towards him. Pulling to the side, he watched as both this one and the one behind crashed into each other colliding in a massive fireball.

Blasting through the flames, his hood scorched and tires threatening to burst under the pressure he took another turn. 

“Another narrow escape!” Coulson thought to himself as the tires gripped the road before coming onto a long straight. The high rises of downtown broke through smog, evening turning to night as colorful neon lit up the dark.

His car’s headlights lit up the road ahead, though more lights were joining them as the mercenaries closed in still in identical cars. From behind, engines howled out their songs as the prey began to be boxed in.

Twin cars were on either side of Coulson now, their drivers both pointing guns at him. He ducked, even as twin shots scythed through the air. Blood stained windscreens, both of the mercenaries shooting the other in the head. 

“I pity the people who have to wash out those rentals,” Coulson chuckled, in a dry joke. “How do you explain blood and brain matter on your seats and on your windows? It must be a nightmare to fill out those forms.”

Just a few minutes now, and he was a free man.

“Now, all we have to do is worry about stopping the Mandarin,” Coulson thought. “And prying those other rings off of his fingers. Easy peasy right? Something to figure out over a bowl of mac and cheese.”

A sole man was in front of him now, in the middle of the road and apparently suicidal.

Then his veins lit up, glowing like magma. From his mouth, came hot caustic death and the very road began to melt as Coulson’s car began sinking down into it. 

“Oh…” he thought as he took note of the situation. “Ohhhh shit!”

Coulson reacted fast, grabbed the briefcase and dived out of the car drawing his gun. He fired two shots. One in the knee, making the magma man stagger and another in the chest felling him.

Two more enhanced men, eyes glowing red with rage approached. Coulson ducked under a punch before making a run for it. Breaking into a sprint, he saw the helicopter just a short distance ahead.

“Let’s hope all of those cheeseburgers and ramen cups from all of those late night stakeouts won’t come back to haunt me!” Coulson said to himself as he ran.

There was a roar from somewhere behind him, one of the Mandarin’s agents no doubt. A burst of fire ripped through the sky, thrown in anger and frustration. 

“Well, let’s hope they rage quit,” Coulson mused to himself. “I don’t get paid enough to deal with enhanced!”

Then, right in front of him and to his horror the chopper began to sink into the earth in melting lava even as it’s atoms fell apart. It sliced in half, the two pieces disintegrating as a man stood behind it. His hands glowed with a rainbow of light, as he adjusted his suit.

“The Mandarin, I presume,” Coulson said. “How did you survive Rainbow kicking your ass?”

“I saw something different from where I stood,” the Mandarin drawled. “I believe I kicked her ass. But as to answer your question, nothing a little bit of Extremis couldn’t handle. You’ve seen it’s effects already, actually. I owe credit to Ms. McGowan. You’d be amazed what people can do once you offer them true freedom.”

“Or a big fat check.” Coulson returned.

“Keep your friends rich, and your enemies rich, and wait to find out which is which. That’s what Stark says right? It’s a wise quote, even if he’s part of the great American war machine,” the Mandarin admitted. “But I digress. I offer true freedom. Think, agent. Ms. McGowan would have been stifled under Hammer’s iron fist. I allow her to think what she wants to think, to build what she wants to build.”

“And what if she builds something that would kill the world?” Coulson asked.

“No, she won’t. You want to protect the world but you don't want it to change,” the Mandarin replied. “S.H.I.E.L.D, they’re like the rest of the governments of the world. Hell, they bow down to the World Security Council like a dog. You’re their bitch.”

“So who would you replace them with?” Coulson asked, aiming his gun at the Mandarin. “You?”

“If I must,” the Mandarin shrugged. “Out with the old, and in with the new as I always say.”

“You want to protect the world but you don't want it to be protected by anyone but yourself,” Coulson refuted. “This isn’t about safety, this is about your ego.”

“I’m a descendent of Ghengis Khan,” the Mandarin replied. “It is my right to rule.”

“So is Xi-Wang,” Coulson replied. “You don’t see him mounting a campaign.”

Coulson was blasted into a tree by cyclonic winds, before the Mandarin ripped open the briefcase and placed the final ring on his finger. He felt a rush of power surge through him. 

The Mandarin was now looming over Coulson, his veins glowing with the power of the Ten Rings, now united once more. “Well, we’ll find out who’s right soon enough, won’t we?”