The Buchanan Effect

The Strange Path Of Time

The Raft--March 2023--2:39 pm:

I am lying in my bed staring at the ceiling wondering what James is doing right now. I wish he would visit me, though I know why he doesn't visit. I put him through hell. I sigh and sit up. I glance out of the glass wall that is sealing me in and nearly piss myself when I see a man with undereye circles, messy curly hair, and a translucent complexion just staring at me smiling a smile that stretches his lips so thin I'm afraid that they'd fall off. I study him unsure of what to say or do. The man seems vaguely familiar, but I can't put a name to the face.

I sigh, stand up and go to the glass barrier separating us. I cross my arms and halfheartedly muse, "Who might you be and why are you smiling like you have a nefarious motive?"

The man relaxes his face a bit, leans against the glass, and utters, "I just made a breakthrough and I need a certain ingredient to bring it all together." he gently taps the glass where I am standing.

I adjust my weight, uncross my arms, lean against the glass, and mutter, "You didn't answer my question. Who are you and want do you want?" 

The man sighs and mutters, "My name is unimportant and what I want is to further my breakthrough in my experimentation with Time Travel, and you, Zemo, are the perfect guinea pig to further my research," he pauses a moment before continuing, "that is, if you want to escape your cell in this facility called The Raft or you can stay here and rot for the next 30 years or so. It's your choice, Zemo."

I squint at the man unsure if this is some sort of prank or trap to bait me into an attempted prison escape. Did he think I would fall for this 'time travel' story? I grunt, stand up, cross my arms in defense, and muse "Do you think I'd fall for this whole 'time travel' shtick? I'm not that daft. Besides, I doubt time travel is even remotely possible, or if it is possible, it's not useful. I highly doubt any serious scientific inquiry went into studying the possibility of time travel." I turn my back on the guy and just stand there staring at my small, cramped cell. 

I hear a soft grumble from the guy before the sound of my cell opening alerts me and I turn around. I notice that the man is gone and my cell is open. I sigh and mutter to myself, "Well, there's no point in wasting this opportunity to escape." 

I slowly approach the open cell door and carefully stick my head out and peer around The Raft. I notice that it's eerily quiet and there's not a soul in sight. The strangeness of the situation unsettles me to the point that I retreat into my cell to mill over the situation. Where are the guards? Who opened my cell? Where is the strange man fascinated with time travel? I rack my brain for possible answers and come up empty. As I stand there in my cell unsure how to proceed or process what's going on, I feel a needle prick my neck and a cool liquid entering my bloodstream. A few seconds later, I collapsed on the floor of my cell unconscious. 

Six Hours Later--Unknown Location:

I slowly come back to consciousness and find myself strapped down to a table unable to move or think. I find that I am only able to move my eyes. I slowly look around me trying to see anything that identifies where I am and find that I don't see anything except the bland, off-white walls covered in an ashy residue. The aroma of burning steel combined with acidic chemical reactions assaulted my nose. I try to breathe through my mouth only for my lungs to become irritated and scratchy from the pollutants in the air. The air is thick and heavy. The room I am in must not be properly ventilated. As I lay on the table processing my current situation, A soft screech of metal on stone alerts me to the occupant of the room. Before I see his face, I know who it is. It is the man who visited me when I was still locked in my cell. 

A few moments later, his ghastly, sleep-deprived face fills my field of vision, and I am forced to look at that thin, gaunt smile once more. I see him lift his hand and reveal a needle with a weird, opaque green fluorescent liquid in it.