The World I Knew [Discontinued]

Not the Same Anymore

Bucky lowered his gun, Hope and the others filtering into the room after him.

"Vision?" Natasha asked, eyebrows knitting together.

"Miss Romanoff," Vision greeted. "It appears you've caught me in a rather awkward position, if that would be the right word for this meeting."

"Right, yeah. What are you doing?"

"I'm afraid that is a rather... complicated and long story."

"We have time."

"But make it quick," Hope said, earning a look from Natasha.

"To summarize it as best I can, I figured out that this stone in my head, from Loki's staff, was the source of a power that those infected with the virus disliked."

"Yeah, we noticed that too," Bucky said, scoping the room out and prowling the perimeter of the room, clicking on a flashlight and shining it in corners for one thing or another.

"For the past week, I have been running tests on it, any that I could think of, and I found that I could cure the virus, though I have only had time to test it on small animals, like rodents and such. Once I found out that I had the ability to cure, I thought that maybe there was a way to get the stone out of my head, and I could use it to cure everyone."

"So you had the same idea as us?" Okoye asked, eyeing the technology that blinked and flashed on the wall, creating a half circle around the table Vision was currently laying on.

"Yes, only I just now figured out how to extract the Stone without destroying myself in the process. The only thing I do not know is how I will distribute the cure to everyone, as the ideal way to do so would be to cure everyone instantaneously."

"Wait--" Okoye turned, "--we have the technology necessary to do such a thing in Wakanda. We have the tools to create a beam of power that would cover the whole Earth."

"So what are you doing right now?" Bruce asked. He, too, was looking around at the technology, though with a sort of wonder.

"This is the process I have conceded is the best way to extract the Stone."

"You mean you thought it wouldn't work before?"

"I had my doubts, as at first, I didn't think I had what was necessary. Then I created what was necessary." Vision lifted his hand, gesturing at the machines surrounding him, "What you see here, I created, and though it may be crude, it is as efficient as I can possible make it."

"Does it hurt?" Hope blurted, standing around uselessly, mostly because she wasn't sure what she could do without breaking something important.

"My pain receptors are synthetic, so... no, I do not believe it does hurt."

"You 'do not believe it does hurt?'" Hope furrowed her brows. How was that supposed to make any sort of sense at all?

"I cannot feel as others can, so anything you might find excruciating may just have a tiny, ticklish effect on me, and I know to stop whatever it is I am doing."

"Oh, okay. Cool." She shook her head. "Totally understand that."

Totally do not understand that.

"Doctor, I would not touch that if I were you," Vision said abruptly, stopping Bruce from touching a computer. "This is a very delicate process, and it has come to my knowledge that a single misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures."

Bruce frowned. "But I'm not... misaligning anything."

"I know you are not, but the computer is programmed to be re-aligning my synopses to work collectively, so that the extraction process is much easier."