CHAPTER 179

This novel need your stones to stay afloat, so do spare a few Power Stones. Pweety please 😘

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[COLD CHRONICLES IV ] 

"Are you sure this will work?"

Draul had to suppress his sigh for the umpteenth time. "I find your wavering trust in me very concerning."

Despite the tone Bucky talked to Draul with, his heart beat didn't rise a single decibel even as the purple glow of the Power Stone surrounded Draul's form. 

"Remind me again how this is supposed to give me some crazy abilities?" Bucky asked… again. 

Others might think he was just being cautious but the slowly creeping grin on his face as time went on told another story. Who didn't fantasize about shooting energy blasts from their hands or flying? Seeing Draul able to travel the universe with just a thought was more than enough to sprout some envious feelings in Bucky. He wanted to do all that cool shit too dammit! 

Draul who could see all this as plain as day just chuckled at his long time friend's antics. "Well, the Power Stone, in a way, can be said to be the most basic of the Infinity Stones due to its natural simplicity. In essence, it governs all that is termed 'power' in the universe which also means any ability, meta, natural or supernatural, are all under the influence of the Power Stone. And that also means it possesses the power to both bestow and nullify any ability in this universe… Though there is a caveat that all Infinity Stones share – their abilities and might depend on the imagination of the wielder."

"In other words, give the stones to a child and we are fucked big time." Bucky laughed at his own joke which prompted giggles from the others. "Also is there any reason I'm currently sitting on a chair rather than strapped to a bed? You know, normal procedures?" The skepticism in Bucky's voice was clear for all of them to hear. 

"And pray tell why should you be strapped to a bed when arguably one of the best doctors on the planet is your best friend and is also the one overlooking this operation, and if he says there is no need to be strapped to a bed then there really is no need to be strapped to a bed." Draul said in a matter-of-factly tone. "And besides, sitting on a chair while getting a power up boosts the badass factor by 100."

None of them would lie and say that they didn't feel nervous about this, not for any sense of lacking security because they were in the best hands on the planet, but because doing this meant they were now part of the big leagues. What they were signing up for were things straight out of a child's fantasy or from a nightmarish horror tale. 

Fighting against Thanos' Black Order was just opening night. The prologue of what was to come, stressing the fact that they needed the boost if they were to continue fighting because Draul would never let them otherwise. 

"Well then, beam me up, quack." The others, which consisted of Steve, Natasha, Yelena and Ororo, stood back and gave Draul the space to begin his procedure on Bucky. 

"Now before I start, I have to remind you that the limits to the scale of your abilities are your imaginations. Let your thoughts flow free, unrestricted, but at the same time guide them to where you want them to. Abilities are never linear so even if I start the process, it is up to you to determine how it will grow further." Draul explained as the purple glow on his body intensified. 

Bucky took in deep breaths as his heart beat suddenly accelerated. This was way different than the Super Soldier Serum that Draul gave them a few years back, this was the real deal. He had made it clear back then that the Serum was a sort of base in case he needed to scientifically give them meta abilities as the Serum was a potential booster but he had to scrap the ideas the moment the Infinity Stones came into play. And who in their right mind would say no to being juiced by primordial cosmic energy of the universe? Not him, that's for sure. 

Bucky, after trying for a few moments to calm his beating heart down, finally gave Draul the 'go' order. 

If it was pain or pleasure he felt when the wave of energy hit him was not something he knew as he immediately lost control of every one of his senses. 

It was like they were overloaded to the point that he could feel everything around him but at the same time his brain couldn't comprehend the vast influx of information so everything just sort of stopped. 

He could see the particles in the air, he could feel the minute amount of heat in the room, a bee sucking on a flower in the garden outside… he could feel it all. 

"Focus Bucky."

Draul's voice in this frozen world was like an anchor he immediately latched on to 

"What you are currently experiencing is an evolution of what you once were to who you could be… the sky was never a limit, but a stepping stone – walk past it and reach for the wider universe and beyond."

It was as if his voice was power itself as Bucky was immediately hit with an epiphany and his immediate surroundings changed. 

Gone was the room that he had been familiar with for years, gone were the faces of his family, gone was the sky he saw everyday since his freedom; what greeted his sight was what could be conquered should he reach for it. 

The vast expanse of endless space. 

He saw stars being destroyed, galaxies snuffed out, planets being shattered… and within him a fire burned. One he had thought was tempered through the course of his impossible life. 

Draul had told him to let his imagination run wild and also showed him that what he thought was impossible was actually easy… 

… After all, he just saw the scene of Draul destroying a planet with a simple attack. 

'Was there such a thing as limits?' Bucky thought. 

This was a once in a lifetime choice that if he missed he would forever regret it because it would mean death in a bad scenario or worse, a tap-out when the fight came. Besides, why skimp on a delicacy when you have an infinite amount of supply? 

With that clarity, Bucky accepted everything and wished for more. A Vibranium arm would only hold him back so wished for a new arm, one more stronger and more durable. 

He was strong, but he could be stronger, like Draul. The idea of having no limits like the mad man somehow seemed more appealing. 

Though his body was superhuman, he was still on the evolution train of what a human could be. Trains only moved on a determined path so he discarded the human, although super, body and wished for a new one. One that could keep up with anything and everything. 

What abilities did he need? To be honest he didn't know so he left that as a blank space. The universe was a blank space that the Celestials painted creation on according to what Draul had said, but he could also paint his own part of the blank universe. 

He didn't need to be the smartest guy, that was reserved for Draul and Natasha and also Ororo, so he discarded that option too. 

He didn't need to change but he needed to be different in everything else that wasn't 'Bucky' and so he wished for that. 

He was a soldier, he still is and will always be. Growing stronger with every brawl was something that was expected from every soldier, and extensively every living sentient being. He needed to amp that up too. He didn't have time to grow at a comfortable pace so that was another part that he needed to change. 

Admittedly he wasn't the brightest in the house when it came to stuff like this but he was satisfied with what he already had. 

His immersion changed and he got the feeling that he needed to put a form of all what he thought and that was what he proceeded to do next. 

Building it up from the feet up, he continued giving shape to everything as if he was a child with an overly aggressive imagination. It was weird that he could see very vividly what he was imagining. 

It might have been an hour or an infinite amount of time that it took for him to sculpt out an image, an exact replica of himself, no changes, not even a strand of his hair was out of place… but it was what was within that was the real difference. 

Bucky had to admit that this was the weirdest power trip he had ever gone on but then again when one was smoking a blunt of wrapped up primordial universe juice, getting a universal experience high was the expected outcome.

Bucky had to be really high because the statue of him was really big, like really really big. 

"That's… surprising." Draul's voice caused Bucky to draw his transfixed gaze away from the statue of him and turn to him. 

"How are you here?.. Wherever here is." He asked. 

"We are within the Power Stone, or rather, a segmented part of my subconscious that governs Power. It's like a realm of its own." Draul explained while taking his time to inspect what Bucky created. 

"That's… understandable, somehow." Bucky muttered before throwing the craziness of the situation to one side. "So what now?"

"Now? Your evolution is almost over, Bucky. Time is trippy here and since you can't perceive the outside world you wouldn't know. I have to say, you are a special type of crazy, Bucks." With that Draul faded away from his subconscious. 

"You could have explained a bit mo-" Bucky's words were immediately silenced as everything around him started crumbling like glass, replacing his vision with the unmistakable purple hue of the Power Stone. 

It was like he was submerged in a viscous liquid of purple, like a baby breaking the encasing embryo, taking its first cry into the human world. 

Everything was… lacking. 

The air was lacking, the colors were lacking, even the chair he sat on was extremely lacking. It was like he was thrown away from paradise into a scorching desert with oil poured on him. It was extremely irritating. 

"Bucky, are you okay?" Natasha's voice broke his thoughts and brought his focus back to the people before him, none of them sporting a concerned look but one of anticipation. 

"I feel… different." He stuttered as even speaking felt somehow foreign to him. "This is going to take some getting used to."

"No shit man." Yelena pointed to where his left arm was and in its place was a pristine human arm, not the camouflaged illusion of what his Vibranium arm had been. 

Bucky brought the arm to his face with the same sense of foreign familiarity, flexing the fingers to really see if they were his. He touched his face and he could feel the warmness of his skin through his hands. "That was one hell of a power trip, quack." He said, still immersed in the novelty of his regained arm. 

"How do you feel, Bucky? Do you feel strong enough to tear the house down?" Yelena asked fervently, almost squealing at the prospect of someone else having superpowers. 

"Why would I want to tear the house down, and besides I could already do that before the power trip."

Yelena frowned at that and put a finger on her lips in thought. "Then how are we going to know what he can do? Throw him off a mountain? Yeet him to space? Strike him with lightning?"

"Hey!!"

Draul laughed at Yelena's suggestions but he had a simpler idea. "Heads up."

None of them knew what he meant until a sword was a few millimeters away from paying homage to Bucky's neck. 

Their words were stuck to their throats when the sword harmlessly bounced off Bucky's neck but that was not what truly caught them by surprise… no. 

What caught them by surprise was the purple glow on Bucky's neck that almost seemed to be building up. 

"Am I tripping, or is that Vibranium on Bucky's neck?"

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