Control through Compassion - MCU/Lantern Corps

[the RED and the BLUE]

No, the construct was giving the honest thoughts and views of the real* Zola.

*Well, the uploaded/copied version of Zola, anyway.

It wants what she wants. She wanted it to be honest there, so it was literally incapable of expressing anything but its honest thoughts and opinions.

Click to shrink...

I'm contesting that that's a false premise, because that's not how the orange light of avarice works. It isn't so convenient as to convince people of your side or give you butlers. It doesn't really do anything except take things. This chapter kind of reminds me of some fanfic I saw years ago where a guy managed to power an orange ring by his desire to not experience the side effects that come from wielding it, and it's not a really flattering comparison.

 

[JeckJack]

I'm contesting that that's a false premise, because that's not how the orange light of avarice works. It isn't so convenient as to convince people of your side or give you butlers. It doesn't really do anything except take things. This chapter kind of reminds me of some fanfic I saw years ago where a guy managed to power an orange ring by his desire to not experience the side effects that come from wielding it, and it's not a really flattering comparison.

Click to shrink...

Atika wants to pretend that he's still alive, just with reordered priorities, so that's how he acts. If she didn't want him to act that way, he wouldn't. She doesn't expect anything from the fish, so they pretty much act mindless. If she expected Zola to be a mindless greed zombie, he would act like a mindless greed zombie.

But that doesn't mean she's just using him as a sock puppet. She's not putting words in his mouth, just desires. The construct-lantern does in fact contain the full life experience of Zola, and it can use that experience to help fulfil her desires. In this case, the desire for a minion. So, Zola is able to use his own personality and his own memories to talk to her and help her, but his reasons for wanting to help her and talk to her is that she wants him to.

When Larfleeze' construct-lanterns are left on their own without direct control for long enough, they go back to the patterns they had in life. Blume would go around eating things, Glomulus made friends, which proves they remember who they used to be, and don't necessarily act like orange zombies when not forced to by a completely creativity-less master (like Larfleeze).

Edit: Also, this is my free fanfiction that I wrote because I want to and if I want orange light to make you pets and butlers then it can. I did put "self-indulgent" in the tags.

 

[the RED and the BLUE]

When Larfleeze' construct-lanterns are left on their own without direct control for long enough, they go back to the patterns they had in life.

Click to shrink...

Is that so? Do you happen to remember when that was?

 

[JeckJack]

Is that so? Do you happen to remember when that was?

Click to shrink...

So, I looked it up, and it turns out that Blume was still acting under the watch of Larfleeze during the time I was first thinking of, so he's not a good example.

But Glomulus, when sent away from Larfleeze, does start acting creativity, asserting his independence and sense of self, and befriended Kyle Rayner in Green Lantern New Guardians. When Glomulus entered the Orrery, he was cut off from all attempts by Larfleeze to control or command him, so he started thinking for himself.

 

[JeckJack]

I could just do what they did in Winter Soldier, and reveal everything- but I know that doing that doesn't end the organization for good. More than that, it ends up causing Shield to go down, and for people like Black Widow to go to prison. More than that, they pop up in Ultron and in Ant-Man as well, so it doesn't even kill the organization.

Which means we need to do something better.

I've already gone through a few ideas- the first is a variation on my plan with the invasive fish. I create a construct-lantern out of one Hydra operative, order it to find every other Hydra operative it can find. Have it pass on the order to do the same to those.

With immortal, flying, utterly driven orange-zombies hunting them down one by one, I should eventually be able to grab all of them.

The problem is I don't want an army of immortal Hydra-zombies. Zola was literally the worst of the worst, and will also be very useful to me due to his AI nature. These guys... most of them deserve prison, not an eternity of paying back what they owe. None of them created Hydra, very few of them oversaw it. They helped make the world a worse place, and should be punished for that, but not to such an extreme degree.

I'd maybe consider Alexander Pierce and Wolfgang von Strucker and any other top brass I don't know about as being deserving of it, but then the problem comes that I don't really want to be followed around forever by a bunch of old white guys. Zola is a robot, which is inherently cool. Even if he used to be an awful old white guy, now he's simply my formerly-evil swiss robot. Something a lot more palatable as an eternal servant.

And if I don't want something, it's hard to do with the orange light.

But it's not like usurpation is the only weapon in my arsenal. There's the indigo ring, which I could slip onto someone- a thought which makes me feel gross, but it's still an option. But that at best only helps with one person. It might get me an extra helper, though, which could be useful. A sincerely remorseful von Strucker or Pierce might be able to help manipulate Hydra into staying where I want it while we arrest them. The pink light can be used for brainwashing as well, filling whoever I encase in a crystal with the power of love, so I could follow the initial plan of taking over a lot of Hydra, and having them hunt down and capture the rest of their own.

Although the comics kind of varied on how long stuff like that took. If I blasted a lot of Hydra with pink, and then nothing happened for weeks or even months, that doesn't really help me.

I realized that I didn't really know how I could start going around hunting Hydra in a way that wouldn't scare off the rest. But then I remembered a bit of common sense my Dad had passed on to me: If you need to do something you don't know how to do, the first thing you should do is ask someone who does.

"Hey, Zola?" the floating orange television turned to face me.

"Yes, Madam?"

"Do you know Nick Fury's personal number?"

---

Nick Fury glared down at his phone, and the 'Unknown Number' label on it.

Shit like this wasn't supposed to happen.

He opened another app on his phone, and began to trace the call, only to find that the search failed. He was being contacted, but the number wasn't on record. Which meant that this wasn't likely to be some company calling random numbers to advertise on or something. This was meant to be a private SHIELD line.

It continued to vibrate.

He hit answer, and lifted it up to his ear, "Who is this?" he asked, narrowing his eye.

"Um. Shit. I didn't think of a name. Hold on." she hung up.

She hung up on him.

Dread began to build up inside of him. Not because the voice was intimidating, but because he had a feeling that he was just about to be pulled into something stupid. Nothing, nothing good could come of some unknown incompetent person having access to restricted SHIELD information.

His phone began to vibrate again. He sighed, held it up to his ear, "Do you have a name now?"

"I am Lady Rainb- no. No, that's awful. Sorry, I'll just-"

"Don't hang up on me again." he snapped, "Do you know who I am?"

"Nick Fury?"

"Just Fury. Or better yet, Director Fury. You don't know me."

"Right. Sorry."

"So. You know who I am. Did you know that this is a restricted line? That the number of people who have this number is quite small?" his voice got even harder, somehow, "If you have killed or tortured any of the few people I trust with this number to get it, I hope you know your days are numbered. Not a big number, either."

"I didn't kill anyone!" she protested, "I- look. I'm sorry. But I have something I need to tell you."

"Then tell me."

"Hydra has infiltrated Shield."

Well. He wasn't expecting that to be the direction this would go in. "Oh?"

"It's been going on since the beginning of Shield, actually. Um, Operation Paperclip. Arnim Zola, a Swiss scientist working with the Red Skull, was recruited, and was there basically since Shield started. He re-created the organization in secret, from inside Shield."

"And how do you know this?"

"Arnim Zola told me."

"Zola's been dead since the seventies."

"Not quite." the voice speaking was different, now, male for one thing, with a Swiss accent, "Greetings, Fury, Nicolas J. Born July 4th, 1950."

"I'm supposed to believe you're Zola?"

"Yes. Although I'm not sure how I can prove that to your satisfaction over a telephone conversation. But there may be something of interest to you, few hours ago a SHIELD missile strike on Camp Lehigh in Virginia was approved. You were not involved in this process"

"I didn't approve any missile strike." Fury said, going with one hand to his computer, looking up information on Camp Lehigh. His eye narrowed as it told him his access wasn't high enough. That never happened. He was the Director of SHIELD. He instead began looking for any signs that a missile was fired. There was an alert, a signal meant to let SHIELD devices know to warn their agents that there was an incoming strike.

"The reason that this happened is that I was being threatened, and sent out a distress call. Hydra operatives within Shield responded, and attempted to kill me before I could spill my secrets. They failed."

"You don't sound like you're over a hundred."

"Neither does Rogers."

"Hm." Fury tapped his finger on the monitor, the 'Access Denied' taunting him. This... had come completely out of left field.

"I am giving you access to a list of all Hydra operatives, and all ongoing operations. Of note are the STRIKE team, and Alexander Pierce."

He froze, "I've known Pierce for years." he spoke, almost in a growl, "If he had something else planned- I would know. The man turned down a Nobel prize."

"I'm sorry." it was the female voice again, "But it's true."

His computer suddenly shifted, taken control of by an outside source. Suddenly, the 'access denied' vanished, credentials that weren't his own entered in. Credentials that thus, were ranked higher than his own. Something that shouldn't be possible.

And then he got access to the lists.

He read only a little of it- but he was trained in information gathering and extrapolation for years. Already he was seeing a picture he didn't like the look of at all. One that pointed towards his mystery caller being right. Which... was awful. More than awful. It meant the organization he had been fighting for, killing for, leading, was being used as a tool by what- Nazis?

Was Pierce a Nazi? Fury respected him. He supported him every step of the way. And he thought he had received the same level of respect and support. But considering the things Pierce has ordered done behind his back... a large part of him didn't want to believe it. Wanted to accuse the girl of forging all of this somehow- but it explained too much. Suddenly so many awful and unfortunate and chaotic events actually made sense.

It filled in a missing puzzle piece that Fury had until now labeled coincidence.

Which was strange, considering he didn't believe in coincidence.

He didn't even know where to begin. He looked back over the data, and started copying it over to some of his own records, as well as uploading as much as possible to a few physical sources. He would need to secure as much of this as possible, to prove it later.

"We want to help."

"You and Zola?"

"Yes." she said, "Um. Zola really did die in the seventies, but they made an AI based off of him before he did. But I used my powers and turned him into a- well, I call them construct-lanterns. The point is, he's loyal to me, now."

...

When did his life become a never-ending stream of Sci-Fi bullshit?

Oh right, the 1990s.

"Powers?" he asked.

"Oh! Um. I still haven't thought of a good name yet, but you probably know me as the healing lady from Minnesota! But I can do other things besides heal. Like create energy constructs, and fly."

"You an Asgardian? Kree? Skrull?"

"No, but I think I'm going to keep what I am private for now."

He opened his mouth, but decided against saying anything. Aliens were another matter entirely. He could deal with that later, for the moment, he should focus on the problems in his own backyard.

"Fine." well, it was a useful set of abilities. Flying, healing, whatever the hell energy constructs were. He could put them to use, sure enough. "When we're ready to make our move, I'll be sure to let you know. Do you have a way to make contact-"

"Ready to make your move?"

The dread got worse, somehow, "Yes."

"So you're not doing anything about it?!"

"Don't insult me, Lady Rainbow. Of course I'm going to do something about it." he snapped, "But this will require preparation if it's going to have any real effect. Cut off one head, two more will rise in its place, remember? We have to be thorough, and we have to be careful, so that none of them see it coming." he said, before looking down at his own computer, "Put Zola back on. He's the technical wizard, right? Am I going to be hunted down and killed because they can see a record somewhere that I have access to this data?"

"No."

"How?" Fury asked.

"I wrote the algorithm that hides HYDRA activities from the normal logs. I have simply altered it so that if you are using a flagged HYDRA file, it hides that from even the HYDRA logs."

"Any way you can prove that to me?"

"You are not currently being hunted down."

"I suppose that works."

"But people are getting hurt right now!"

"Then go help them." Fury said, "You know where HYDRA is attacking, has attacked. Go do your healing thing. Undo whatever hurt they deal. But don't go after HYDRA itself until we're ready for it."

She was silent for a time.

"That's... reasonable, I suppose. You have until 2012." she said, sighing.

"What do you mean?"

"If Hydra is still a thing by 2012, I'll stop being subtle about it and just publish everything we know about them, and hunt them all down myself."

"You're expecting me to destroy a hidden terrorist network so secret I didn't know about it in three months?" he asked sarcastically, "And if you could hunt them all down, why come to me?"

"It's your planet, your organization, that they hurt. I thought you would know best how to handle things. If you need any help, or anyone gets hurt, don't be afraid to call me at this number. Zola will pick it up. I guess I'll... go ahead and start trying to heal the damage they've done. Thanks for reminding me of that. Oh! I just remembered something important. Speaking of damage they've done, do you know anyone who has the ability to undo brainwashing?"

"HYDRA are mind-controlling people now?" he asked, cautiously, looking back at the files still open to him.

"Not that many. Um. You know Captain America's partner, Bucky? He's still alive too. But Hydra have been using him as a super-assassin, and they put some commands in his head he can't disobey, and keep wiping his memory. I'm going to go get him now, do you know anybody that might be able to help him with what happened?"

"You can't just magic the brainwashing away?"

"...I probably could, now that you mention it. But only if that's what he wants to happen- ah! Thanks Fury, I just realized how I could fix that. Where's Steve Rogers? I need to kidnap him for a bit."

"Don't you dare mess around with Steve Rogers. That man needs time to-"

"Never mind, Zola knows! Bye!"

She hung up on him again.

Fury looked to his watch. Huh. Less than five minutes ago, the world still made sense. His first thought was that he should probably get in contact with Rogers, but-

This could be good for him, if it meant reconnecting with Bucky. The Captain had been aimless and lost ever since being unfrozen, completely unconnected from the current time period. A familiar face, no matter how tragic the circumstances, might do him good.

And Fury legitimately had bigger problems at the moment. He looked back over the information, and then began to scroll through, reading, and trying to memorize, every name and face that he could no longer trust. Once he knew that- he would know who he could turn to to start building a plan.

 

[Jaina Chaosweaver of Fate]

Fury looked to his watch. Huh. Less than five minutes ago, the world still made sense.

Click to shrink...

Buddy, if you thought the world made sense, what kind of shit were you smoking?

 

[MadMarx420]

Realy enjoyed this chapter, looking forward to more. I do wish we had more chapters and that they were longer but that just might be because I'm not very patient. I do wonder though, since this is on the NSFW section, it seems tame so far. Have you considered doing two versions one on here and an edition version that's SFW. I'm enjoying this so far but there are plenty of people who won't touch this story because of potential NSFW.

Also without her Indigo lantern powers is the MC just a regular healthy human or does she have other powers?

 

[Mogget]

As long as the Hulk never gets his hands on a red ring, you're probably fine.

 

[MadMarx420]

As long as the Hulk never gets his hands on a red ring, you're probably fine.

Click to shrink...

This is how the universe BSOD, infinite rage.

 

[JeckJack]

Realy enjoyed this chapter, looking forward to more. I do wish we had more chapters and that they were longer but that just might be because I'm not very patient. I do wonder though, since this is on the NSFW section, it seems tame so far. Have you considered doing two versions one on here and an edition version that's SFW. I'm enjoying this so far but there are plenty of people who won't touch this story because of potential NSFW.

Also without her Indigo lantern powers is the MC just a regular healthy human or does she have other powers?

Click to shrink...

Do you think so?

In all likelihood, there probably won't be too many NSFW scenes, and only a small portion of the story. Do you think it would be worth it to just make the thread SFW, and then create another thread for the NSFW scenes when it does get to them?

Edit: Oh, and she doesn't have any powers besides the staff and ring.

 

[Breadnaught]

Suddenly so many awful and unfortunate and chaotic events actually made sense.

It filled in a missing puzzle piece that Fury had until now labeled coincidence.

Which was strange, considering he didn't believe in coincidence.

Click to shrink...

Ah, that old spy line- "I don't believe in coincidence."

I'm sure Fury's used that line a few times, but no way he ever actually believed it. That way lies madness.

Coincidences do happen, sometime people just get unlucky. Shit happens, deal with it.

That's something a spy would need to keep in mind just to stay healthy and sane. The alternative leads to a rabbit hole of obsession and tin foil hats.

.... then he learns all this shit out of the blue. And it turns out a lot of the 'coincidence' and 'misfortune' was actually cover for enemy action all along, for multiple decades.

Damn, that's going to play some head games with the poor guy.

 

[Tempist]

My opinion is that the best NSFW scenes are integral to the plot and advance the narrative. Basically, if you remove the NSFW content then the story doesn't make sense. Admittedly, this is not an easy thing to pull off effectively even for professional authors, much less fanfic authors. Nonetheless, it's something I think is worth striving for.

So basically, if the scenes you were thinking of meet the above criteria, include them. If they don't and you just wanted to tack on a few scenes to titillate but that aren't required reading, go ahead and make the story SFW with some bonus content.

 

[Belenus]

Buddy, if you thought the world made sense, what kind of shit were you smoking?

Click to shrink...

The human mind is a wonder of adaptability.

 

[JeckJack]

My opinion is that the best NSFW scenes are integral to the plot and advance the narrative. Basically, if you remove the NSFW content then the story doesn't make sense. Admittedly, this is not an easy thing to pull off effectively even for professional authors, much less fanfic authors. Nonetheless, it's something I think is worth striving for.

So basically, if the scenes you were thinking of meet the above criteria, include them. If they don't and you just wanted to tack on a few scenes to titillate but that aren't required reading, go ahead and make the story SFW with some bonus content.

Click to shrink...

Alright, I think I'm gonna do that, then.

 

[Flashbunny]

He hit answer, and lifted it up to his ear, "Who is this?" he asked, narrowing his eye.

"Um. Shit. I didn't think of a name. Hold on." she hung up.

She hung up on him.

Dread began to build up inside of him. Not because the voice was intimidating, but because he had a feeling that he was just about to be pulled into something stupid. Nothing, nothing good could come of some unknown incompetent person having access to restricted SHIELD information.

Click to shrink...

This was great. I'm very much looking forward to reading more!

 

[MadMarx420]

Do you think so?

In all likelihood, there probably won't be too many NSFW scenes, and only a small portion of the story. Do you think it would be worth it to just make the thread SFW, and then create another thread for the NSFW scenes when it does get to them?

Edit: Oh, and she doesn't have any powers besides the staff and ring.

Click to shrink...

I think you should, as you've stated you're not planning on too many NSFW scenes so other then that the fic should be SFW. I've enjoyed this so far and I think a lot of people who don't read NSFW would be too. My reccomendation would be to write the fic as is and then post an edited version for SFW audiences.

Since a Power ring is capable of scanning pretty much anything and doing high-level biokinisis does the MC plan on improving themselves? I.e. Scanning Jessica Jones/Luke Cage/Steve Rogers and trying to have that because there are ways of getting around a lantern ring in the MCU and if you lose yours, you're fucked.

 

[JeckJack]

I think you should, as you've stated you're not planning on too many NSFW scenes so other then that the fic should be SFW. I've enjoyed this so far and I think a lot of people who don't read NSFW would be too. My reccomendation would be to write the fic as is and then post an edited version for SFW audiences.

Since a Power ring is capable of scanning pretty much anything and doing high-level biokinisis does the MC plan on improving themselves? I.e. Scanning Jessica Jones/Luke Cage/Steve Rogers and trying to have that because there are ways of getting around a lantern ring in the MCU and if you lose yours, you're fucked.

Click to shrink...

The MC will be empowering herself later on.

Although I should note that in this story, only the MCU movies are canon to this. I haven't really watched or followed any of the tv series, so I'm going to mostly ignore them.

 

[MadMarx420]

The MC will be empowering herself later on.

Although I should note that in this story, only the MCU movies are canon to this. I haven't really watched or followed any of the tv series, so I'm going to mostly ignore them.

Click to shrink...

If you feel like you want to introduce some comic elements or elements from the TV show then do it, if not then don't. Plenty of fics expand on the MCU and I don't see why you can't. That is if you're well read on the comic counterparts that is.

 

[Breadnaught]

I let go of the staff, and then shriek as I fall five feet onto the roof below. I hit it mostly standing up, but I lose my balance immediately after, and begin sliding. I fight for balance for a few seconds, breathing hard, before looking back up at the staff floating in the air.

I don't really feel that different. Being out of contact with the staff didn't bring any sudden shift in the way my thoughts felt like it did when I let go of the ring.

A smile pulls at my face as I look back to the staff. I reach out to it- and sure enough, it drifts towards me.

Click to shrink...

Hmm, separating her from the Staff would be the obvious move when she actually gets in a fight with someone. The fact that it didn't automatically go to her- only came when she called to it - suggests it can actually be taken by another. Which would be bad.

Her Orange Constructs can turn into rings and take orders. Maybe put a ring on the staff, with standing orders to return to her if they're ever separated or someone tries to take it?

 

[dracklor]

My opinion is that the best NSFW scenes are integral to the plot and advance the narrative. Basically, if you remove the NSFW content then the story doesn't make sense. Admittedly, this is not an easy thing to pull off effectively even for professional authors, much less fanfic authors. Nonetheless, it's something I think is worth striving for.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, real life doesn't have that many times where removing NSFW content would impact the overall description or narrative of a person's life.

Lurid details wouldn't tend to impact a life story generally, barring things like a deep obsession, conceiving children, or something like working in the porn industry.

 

[MadGreenSon]

"You can't just magic the brainwashing away?"

Click to shrink...

Well yeah, but that's a matter of knowing how to do it, which she might not. <shrug> Lucky thing that a lot of the stuff done to the Winter Soldier seems to be based in good old fashioned brute force brain damaging alterations rather than some kind of vague hoodoo. Proper healing, Blue Light healing, should be able to get him most of the way there.

 

[alethiophile]

That was an amusing conversation.

 

[SotF]

As long as the Hulk never gets his hands on a red ring, you're probably fine.

Click to shrink...

Nah, it'll be fine, just chuck them at Thanos and stand back to watch the fireworks.

 

[Vigilante14]

As long as the Hulk never gets his hands on a red ring, you're probably fine.

Click to shrink...

There is a video about it from Comics Explained

 

[JeckJack]

I'm floating over the bank, and for some reason, this is the firs time it gets to me. I know that trapped underneath it there's a brainwashed cyborg World War II vet inside a freezer, but it... it just looks like an ordinary bank. People are going in and out in order to put in or take out money.

I robbed an electronics store, and a gas station, and I kind of had the same feelings then, but not as strong.

I'm not normal any more, and I might never be again. I'm now a kind of person, a kind of creature, who flies everywhere she goes, who is willing to enslave and mind control others for the greater good, and who isn't, cannot be, bound to normal social convention. Fury thought I was an alien. Looking up footage of myself from when I was in the blur, I could see it.

In the videos, I was just... bizarre. Barely talking, my tattoos blazing, going from person to person while they were injured, and just... undoing whatever ailed them, ignoring their gratitude and thanks and just moving on to the next person while onlookers trailed behind me at a distance held more by awe than genuine respect.

My clothes were the only thing that stood out as human in the slightest.

I'm going to enter the Ideal Federal Service Bank. I don't know if it's one that existed in my world, too, but it wouldn't have looked out of place. It's also pretty damn close to the capitol building in the distance. I'm... pretty sure after I break into it and threaten everyone inside into leaving, that this might become the thing I'm most famous for, rather than my healing. I lower myself towards the entrance, and then focus on how I want to keep all the civilians out of the way by scaring them.

My staff's gem glows yellow, and I create a giant skeletal hand of yellow light from it. It shoves open the doors for me, and I float out. Security guards near the entrance turn to me, raising weapons, but my skeleton hand immediately interposes itself. Bullets crack out against it, but when it doesn't break, it simply becomes stronger. I pluck the guns from their hands in two quick motions, and then squeeze them until they shatter.

"Everybody out!" I announce, "Get out!"

People begin screaming, and go running outside, trying to stay away from me, or the giant menacing arm.

I change my construct into a drill, and begin to dig downwards. Not really feeling up to the Lagann face this time.

I lower myself down into the hole, Zola following after me, as I look out into the strange room with multiple cage doors set between the chamber containing Bucky and the stairwell.

More guards, these ones with actual assault rifles, immediately begin firing at me.

I flinch back in surprise, before I hear something crack. And then I scream as bullets actually punch into me. Immediately, my yellow drill is there, smashing into the shooters. I change it into set of two hands, and set them to grabbing every gun in sight, but I'm already sinking, dropping from the air to the floor with a thud. What the hell!? What the hell!?

God it hurts it hurts it hurts!

"Madam! Heal yourself!" Zola shouts.

I... I... god, god, god.

I try for hope to heal with, but I'm too scared.

Zola moves in closer, and forms a construct band around my chest, where I was shot. It puts pressure on me, and I stop feeling so cold there. I think he's stopping the bleeding?

How did that even happen!? I'm a Lantern! Shit, my indigo constructs really are weak compared to everything else, aren't they?

More bullets start coming, but Zola tanks them. I reach out with the yellow skeleton hand, and smash aside anyone shooting at me, sending bodies flying at the walls, and then reaching down to snap each gun in half. Men start coming from the elevator, so I reach into the doorway, and squeeze, forcing the doors to stay shut.

"Madam." I turn to look at him, at his computer-generated face, "You can fix yourself. Easily. If you just focus."

I... he's right.

Am I safe?

I look around the room, but I... I got them all. God, some of them are in way more danger than I am. Did I... yeah, yeah I did do that.

My yellow hands fade away, my aura establishing itself again, and I float over to the nearest guard I smashed into a wall. He's... he's a mess. And I'm still not feeling very hopeful right now. I play indigo light over him, and his body starts getting pulled together. Its too slow going, so I just try to pour more into it. Should I use the ring? No. No, he's stabilizing now.

He also starts sobbing, and apologizing.

This is why I don't like healing with indigo.

I turn to heal the next person, but the pressure increases on my chest. Oh. Right.

"Thank you, Zola."

I turn the light on myself and... shudder, as I remember every horrible thing I've ever done. But right at the top of the list is what just happened. I just... lashed out. Broke limbs and bodies on instinct to protect myself. What kind of a person- no. No. They were shooting at me. I was surprised. But it was still awful. I wipe away the tears, now that I'm fully healed.

I turn back to the people I attacked, and continue to heal them, Zola carefully floating just behind me, over my shoulder. Every person I heal is left a sobbing, weeping, shell, so I just leave them for now. When I'm finished, I turn towards the reason I'm here.

I cut through the bars of the cage door, and then walk up to the freezer, looking briefly at the controls nearby. Zola floats over to them, and creates a construct USB cable that he inserts into the module. All of it starts to glow orange as he assumes control.

Then the chamber begins to whir, and release steam, as it switches from keeping Bucky cool, to warming him up.

I take the chance to lean on my staff, relax, and try to ignore the sobbing guards.

So.

I got shot! How about that.

I guess that's what happens when you fight people who have guns. My environmental shield wasn't nearly as durable as I thought it would be. But then I guess that construct strength is different for every color. Compassion is... not impossible to point inwards. I can and do care about myself. It's how I managed to heal myself. But it's a lot easier to point outwards. Indigo is the opposite on the emotional spectrum to orange, after all.

I guess that means that the construct that protects myself is a lot weaker than something I would make to protect someone else.

I should probably invest in armor, huh? The best stuff available would probably be vibranium. I think I could make a skin-tight catsuit made out of that work. Or whatever the hell Thanos' sword is made out of. Probably Uru.

My attention is drawn back to the present when the chamber opens, and a groggy-looking Bucky steps out.

I glance back at Zola. "Will he stay like this long enough for us to bring him to Captain America, or...?"

"If he does not receive the codewords, he will eventually begin to lash out, and go berserk."

"Right. Go ahead then."

Zola began intoning carefully each of the Russian codewords, and I watch Bucky's face as it goes from groggy, to pained, to... emotionless.

I shudder.

Hopefully, I'll be fixing that soon.

I look out across the room at the still-miserable men. Me flinging those guards aside in self defense was the most violent thing I had ever done, but all of them were aware of what they were doing to Bucky, and what they were using him for. They'd probably be in this state for a while. I hope that confronting their actions helped them.

"Winter Soldier. Your current mission is to accompany me to a place called the Retreat, where we will be meeting with important allies, who will help me to heal you. Understood?"

"Understood." he says simply.

"...Okay. I'm going to be flying us there, don't be alarmed." I hold out my hand, and spread my flight aura over him, "Zola? Map please?"

His display shifted from his face to a map of the United States. The Retreat was some ways away, but with as compassionate as I'm feeling right now, I'm betting we'll make good time.

Unless...

I have been meaning to try teleportation again.

I focus on my need to get where I'm needed. I focus on the image of stepping through a portal and being right where I need to be. Of just appearing in a burst of light and fixing everything.

And in this case, of getting Bucky to Captain America so I can heal him.

The staff hums with energy, and a circle of indigo light appears in the air before me- before abruptly fizzling out. Ow! That... that actually stung. The light in the gem of my staff flickers for a few moments before returning to a steady glow.

I try again, but the backlash hurt even more that time. What's going on?

Never mind. I'll figure it out later. Flying it is.

Me and Bucky float up, Zola following, and we go through the hole I dug into the floor, before staring up at a bunch of police in full military gear, their guns aimed at me.

My flight aura falters, but Bucky is on top of things immediately. He swings himself forwards, metal-arm first, and wrenches a shield out of the hands of the nearest cop, and swinging it into another, smacking them backwards. When one open fires, I respond instantly, creating a shield around him. This one, at least, will stand up to bullets.

Bucky smashes apart the rest of the circle, and I quickly heal whatever damage he does, which has the added benefit of making the police break down sobbing just like the Hydra guards below.

Now that we've earned a moment of breathing space, I grab onto Bucky again, and this time fly straight up. Another drill opens the way into the floor above, and from there, I race for the nearest window, which I just burst through, letting my and Bucky's shields act like battering rams.

And then we're flying free.

---

"Zola, do you know a weapons dealer named Klaw?" I ask as we fly.

"Yes. Ulysses Klaue. European HYDRA operatives have made use of him before."

"He sells vibranium, right?"

"Yes. In fact, he possesses almost the entire world's supply. He deals it out a few grams at a time. They make for very effective weapons"

He really doesn't. But it's probably good for Wakanda and the world at large for everyone to think that. Heck, it's probably better for Klaw to think that.

"Once we're done here, let's track him down. I don't... I don't want to be caught off-guard like that again. I want some kind of armor" I'm going to have to look into other methods to make myself bullet-proof too. I mean, I don't think I'd look too bad in green.

Actually, I should probably do that first. If I decide to go through with it and become giant, it'd be a waste to need to have the world's most expensive armor refitted.

"Add Bruce Banner to the list, too."

"Of course."

Bucky hasn't said much during the whole trip, simply watching the two of us, the world passing below, or staring out at nothing at all.

"Madam. We're are coming up on the Retreat. Be aware that there is a high degree of surveillance on the area."

"Right. Tell me if a missile is coming, or something." for a good while, we've been going over open forest, only spotting the occasional road, "Is that it?" I ask, spotting a cabin in front of a very pretty lake.

"Yes."

"Right." I lower myself down, and Bucky and I start walking on foot towards the cabin. "Are you ready?" I ask him.

"What kind of healing do I need?" he asks, looking down at his metal arm, "Am I getting an upgrade?"

"You're getting as much healing as we can in every way I can provide." I answer, before hurrying a bit to the cabin door. I knock a few times, and after a minute, Steve Rogers opens the door. His eyes immediately go to my staff, and the glowing gem inside it. Then, to the glowing form of Zola, and finally the masked Bucky.

He tenses, and then relaxes again. "Who are you?" he asks, casually, "I didn't think anyone lived nearby." he leans back, and I'm sure he's reaching for something.

"My name is- never mind." I'll come up with an actual superhero name at some point, "I'm Atika. Um. I heard from Director Fury that this is where I'm supposed to leave people lost in time?"

He relaxes a bit more genuinely at Fury's namedrop, but not all the way. "What do you mean, lost in time?"

I look back at Bucky, "Winter Soldier, remove your mask, please."

He pulls it down, and Captain America takes a step back, his eyes going wide. "Bucky?"

Perfect.

My staff's gem glows blue, and I smile softly.

"Who the hell is Bucky?"

"Heh. Um. Mister Rogers? Barnes has been through... a lot, the last few decades."

"How are you alive?" he asks Bucky, stepping closer to him, and reaching out, only for Bucky to take a step back.

"Barnes was given a variation of the Super-Soldier serum by Arnim Zola. Not as effective of one as yours, but enough that he went into the same kind of stasis when he hit the frozen water." I explain, "He was captured by Hydra afterwards and... a lot of horrible things happened to him. I rescued him from where Hydra was keeping him earlier today. Part of what happened means that he can't remember much. But I think you can help him."

Captain America simply stares at Bucky for a few seconds, before breaking contact, and rubbing a hand through his hair, "...Okay." he says simply, "But I'm going to need more of an explanation than that. Do you... want to come in?"

"Thanks. Come on, Winter Soldier."

Bucky heads inside once I gesture to the door, brushing past Captain America and quickly looking around the cabin. I follow, as does Zola.

Once he closes the door behind us, I see that there was indeed a pistol near the door, where he was reaching.

"Winter Soldier, sit down."

Bucky sits, and Captain America tenses, "Why are you calling him that?"

"Bucky was brainwashed." I say simply, "He was... tortured, and conditioned, over and over again, to only respond to that name."

He turns to look at Bucky again, with a pained expression, "...How did you know about him?"

I point towards Zola, "That glowing thing- I call it a construct-lantern, used to be a machine that was created by Arnim Zola. I took control of it, and now I know everything Zola knew. He knew where Barnes was kept, and how to release him from his freezer." no need to try and explain robots and AI to a guy who was in the 40s a few weeks ago from his perspective. Did they know about robots in the 40s? Probably.

Still would complicate things, though.

"Thank you." Captain America said, "You said I could help him? Should we try to... jog his memory?"

"That probably would help in the long term. But I have a simpler way." I gesture to my staff, "This is... lets call it an alien artifact."

"Like the Tesseract?"

"Not exactly in that class, but... pretty close." I say, "It lets me channel emotions into various abilities. If I'm angry, or someone nearby is, I can channel that anger into a destructive beam. If I really want something, I can turn it into a construct-lantern loyal to me." I gesture at Zola, "And if I'm- or someone nearby, is really hopeful, I can heal."

"You think you can heal Bucky?"

"I think I can enable you to heal Bucky." I say, smiling, "If you really, really hope for it, I can make it happen. I've cured cancer with it, helped bring back people who were on the verge of death. But I had to use their hopes, or their family's hopes, for recovery to restore them. I didn't know Bucky before this happened to him. But you did. So I need your help."

"How do I know for sure that I can trust you?"

I shrug, "I did heal a bunch of people up near the Great Lakes, yesterday. It might still be on the news. Do you have internet here?"

He shrugged. "Probably?" he pointed vaugely towards a computer. I walked over and turned it on, and then waited for everything to load. While I was focused on the computer, he went closer to Bucky, "Buck? Do you really not recognize me?"

Bucky narrows his eyes up at him, "I have my memory wiped after each mission." he says, "But you look familiar."

"Here." I say, bringing up a video I had already seen of myself in action during the blur.

He watches carefully for a few minutes, before looking down at the keyboard, confused. He really did only just wake up. "What are you trying to do?"

"There's a thing to make it stop, right?"

"Try hitting the big rectangular button on the bottom."

He taps it, and the video pauses. He runs his hand through his hair again, before looking over to me, and to Bucky. "Okay. Let's try it."



Edit: Originally, Bucky's speech was black in order to show that he was emotionless. Since this was hard to see, I changed it back to normal.

 

[MadMarx420]

I can just imagine loads of SHIELD agents going to Caps location in fear of what might be going on and all they see is the MC trying to teach him how to use the internet.

 

[Breadnaught]

"Bucky was brainwashed." I say simply, "He was... tortured, and conditioned, over and over again, to only respond to that name."

"Thank you." Captain America said, "You said I could help him? Should we try to... jog his memory?"

Click to shrink...

"Okay, so, I can heal him, including the mental damage. But when I snap him out of the brainwashing, he's ... probably going to need a friend. And a hug. Because, yeah, he's been through a lot."

"Ah, yes, of course. Don't worry Buck, I'm here for you buddy."




Pointless trivia for this chapter: The term 'brainwashing' was coined in the 50's, so it's a bit after Steve's time. That been said, while he might have been confused if you dropped the word without context, given how you included in a sentence with 'torture' and 'conditioning' I think the term would be self-explanatory enough to be obvious.

 

[MadGreenSon]

I can just imagine loads of SHIELD agents going to Caps location in fear of what might be going on and all they see is the MC trying to teach him how to use the internet.

Click to shrink...

Considering he spent more than a decade in the present and never truly adapted? I'm pretty sure SHIELD never bothered with any of that kind of basic shit.

 

[MadMarx420]

Considering he spent more than a decade in the present and never truly adapted? I'm pretty sure SHIELD never bothered with any of that kind of basic shit.

Click to shrink...

Ye that always bothered me, You got a man who is nearly 70 years out of time and who has missed so much that they might as well be an alien on a different planet and you don't bother to team him shit? Like I don't want to sound like some consipiracy theorist but that sounds like SHIELD/HYDRA wanted Cap to be naive and easy to manipulate/control.

Also figuring out how to give herself the same procedure that Cap/Bucky went through and the procedure Luke Cage went through might be a good way of getting a decent buff to her base body and to ensure she becomes bulletproof which tbh sounds very useful.

There's always trying to become a pseudo-she hulk but not sure if that's totally a good idea.

 

[MadGreenSon]

Ye that always bothered me, You got a man who is nearly 70 years out of time and who has missed so much that they might as well be an alien on a different planet and you don't bother to team him shit? Like I don't want to sound like some consipiracy theorist but that sounds like SHIELD/HYDRA wanted Cap to be naive and easy to manipulate/control.

Click to shrink...

It didn't really make him easy to control though, it just made him unhappy. So much so that he selfishly fucked with time to go back to the "good old days" first chance he got and abandoned everything and everyone he'd been a part of or close to in the present. Because he ultimately didn't care. Not even his old pal Bucky was enough to make him want to live in the now rather than playing God. So instead he either spawned a new timeline or retroactively murdered his crush's entire family just to be with her. Which is pretty fucked up.