CHAPTER 71 - LADY LUCK

[Vision POV]

With Buckman having no way to escape the multitudes of allegations made against him, it was time for Raven to step forward and fit her place into the empty seat in the Inner Circle.

I was a little surprised that she chose to impersonate Buckman's wife but I didn't say anything to judge her way of doing things. It's not as if the woman in question was some sort of saint either.

Since someone's seat could be inherited by a family member, no one would say anything about Buckman's wife taking up his seat and some might even think Buckman was just using her as some sort of figurehead in a bid to secure the influence that came with being the White King.

I guess the best thing about being a polymorph is being able to imitate the entire aspect of any living being so things like Buckman's fingerprint, signatures, and even eye scan were all easily accessible to Raven.

As for his hidden caches and safe houses, as it was yet to be revealed that Buckman was putting his 'wife' in his seat, the other seat holders at the table were going to do whatever they could to acquire as much as they could once they get the confirmation greenlight of Buckman's sentence.

Luckily I foresaw that and already have Wanda and Pietro once I got their location.

The twins were the only obvious choice I had to get the job done quickly and with less complications which were all solved with Pietro's speed and Wanda's allround and all-purpose magic. I thought it wouldn't be bad to check out whatever he hid in those storages.

While going through the files Raven and Emma procured from Buckman, I could not help but rub my temple as I was once again left wondering what was with Marvel's bad guys and cloning and genetic mutation in general.

The first thing was obviously the Project: Armageddon which Buckman was pumping a large part of his wealth into. This Project: Armageddon however did not just focus on genetic mutation but also had the bony framework of what would be the Sentinels in the future.

"Now I'm seriously wondering if maybe I let Buckman off too easily."

This guy was clearly bordering on the realms of obsession and madness with the way he became transfixed with the idea and wholeheartedly supported it, but when I know who was behind the push that made him stumble till his eventual fall I can't say I'm that surprised.

Sublime.

I mean come on. Not to mention that this guy just up and disappeared after Buckman's fall so my virus containment plan will have to wait for later.

'But before all that, there's something I need to do.'

I was about to get moving but I thought this might be the best time to gauge Steve's mental fortitude and also his most likely thought processes so I went ahead and grabbed him for my little sightseeing. That and me and my dear old captain needed a heart to heart? Man to man?

Anyway I shot off towards the Main Coast where the island that housed the research and experimental facility for Project: Armageddon.

Steve just remained quiet while I had him under an electromagnetic field to prevent him from having a whiplash while I kept breaking machs after machs, shortening the time I would need to get there.

"We are here now so do you mind filling me in on what you dragged me all this way for?" Steve asked as we hovered above the island.

I shook my head at him and just gestured towards the longest building on the island. "You'll find out soon, let's go."

With his shield strapped tightly to his arms, we dropped down on a tall building and phased directly through the roof and landed on one of the higher level floors which was thankfully empty when we entered.

"Our destination isn't too far from here. Hold on for a second." I walked towards the door and touched the keypad and from there I gained access to the digital network coverage of the entire island. I walked towards Steve and put my hand on his shoulders. "Let's speed this up a bit."

Before he could say anything else, the world around him spun and this time we were standing in a very large warehouse-like space with people walking around but none of them reacted to our appearance because we were currently invisible.

"Seeing the look on your face, I'd say you already know what is going on or perhaps even familiar with it, no?"

"Biologically engineered soldiers?" His bland voice inquired.

"Biologically engineered mutant soldiers." I corrected. "Congratulations Cap. The super soldier serum is no longer a prime coveted scientific miracle. After all, why settle for a strong soldier when you can have a stronger super-powered super soldier"

He surveyed the room and the people walking around, scientists and soldiers alike, before lastly turning to face me. "Why did you bring me here, Vision? Tell me what you wanted to achieve by showing me this."

"It's simple, Steve. This cannot go on for much longer. Nor can the people who would do this."

He frowned at my words and asked. "You want to kill them all?"

A soft despondent laugh escaped me but my gaze didn't move away from Steve for a minute. "I only make sure to kill those directly involved with cases like these, and also the armed personnels. But no, I'm not talking about killing."

He expressed his confusion with a straight how and my answer to that was something I've been trying to make clear to him since day one.

"It's no longer about putting them behind bars. Killing is inevitable in our line of work but the only caveat is as long as we know who to kill. We'll start laying everything bare for the world to see and even if they escape using money or connections, we will put them back there regardless of what anyone says. We are past the point of caring about how they spin their words, as long as things like this continue, we'll do whatever we will to stop it. Public opinion be damned. We don't call ourselves heroes because we listen to what they say, we do because we know what we are doing is right, necessary if we want to enforce the kind of change we envision."

We continued staring at each other but none of us budged a muscle under the stare of the other.

"Who'll keep us in check then in the unlikely event that one of us goes rogue." He asked without withdrawing the intensity of his stare and my reply to that as a smirk.

"You have me, don't you? I think I'm more than enough to beat any of the others back in line." We both stared at each other before breaking off into a brief moment of laughter.

His posture was a lot more relaxed and the heavy air around him seems to have lessened by a lot. Obviously he had also been thinking of something along the same lines as what I just said.

"That's quite the claim, but I'll hold you to it." He turned around and looked at the view playing right in front of us with a hurt expression. "We need the others to make the same decisions as we do if we want for this to work."

"Of course, and on that note the case is temporarily adjourned. We don't have an operation to destroy after all." And this was just the prelude before all hell broke loose.

The sudden appearance of two people in the middle of the most guarded place on the island spooked everyone as none of them knew they did it.

"Care to do the honors, Captain?"

"Sure." He stepped forward a few steps and cleared his voice before making an announcement. "Everyone please, for your own good and for my peace of mind, surrender."

His words were replied with bullets pelting against his entire body but none of them inflicted any amount of damage as the empty shells all fell to the ground.

"Well, at least no one can say I didn't try."

I think I might have made Steve a mobile tank because of the suit I made for him with the way he jumped right into the frey and just started pummeling his way through unimpeded without caring for how much he hurt them. And why should he in the first place? He was righteously angry and if anyone who knew anything about him saw him now they would feel it too.

"If it's about making a statement then I guess we really need to make it memorable."

Unlike Steve who was going berserk, I was calmly walking to the other side of his huge ass floor. I found something really interesting so I wanted to verify it with my own eyes.

I did not bother with the people that were trying to attack me as they were quickly dealt pierced through with the electricity that was dancing around my body while also being as thick as a fist.

Upon getting to the place, I smiled a little and ruffled the raven black hair of the pale girl sleeping on a medical bed with different pipes inserted inside her body.

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