CHAPTER 58 - LEARNING TO EXERCISE CAUTION

[Vision POV]

[Updating Protocols…]

[Changes based on your actions on the existing timeline have been recorded in logs, as a result the prediction probability has further lowered]

After the much needed eye opener from Natasha, I was quick to realize what I was doing wrong. It wasn't something monumental but instead something like a subconscious behavior that would later on snowball into bad manners.

At least she gave me the heads up early on and not later down the line where I would have inevitably classified them as 'inefficient'.

'Maybe this is how Simon usually feels? Mhm, who knows?'

It wouldn't do me anything to be more human, now would it? Natasha's confrontation actually helped me answer a question that have been plaguing me ever since I came to terms that I was Vision.

'Is it alright for there to be mistakes in my actions?'

While I do endeavour to have fun here and there and be myself, when it comes to a mission it's like doing something mistakenly shouldn't happen. That is why I make sure it's always cleanly done. If they deserve to die, they die. No second guessing.

Maybe I am the one stressing about it too much. Protocols here and there, while I don't doubt their effectiveness maybe at some point it's just better to wing it.

'Let's just forget about it for now.'

Right now I was doing my nightly workout of decreasing crimes in New York which to my constipation, was proving inefficient.

I wasn't too much bothered with public scrutiny so I always use my normal(human) face and since I have no need for concealing my identity, I was already making a name for myself in the criminal underworld.

Normally I'd go with Wanda but I needed this one to safely drown in my thoughts and it's not as if we always go together, we do that most times but it's not that important, is it?

I think the best thing being Vision has ever done for me is finding out how useless money and most human needs really are. Or maybe it's not because of Vision but my point of view? I mean, I can see humanity's darkest and documented history anytime I want so most things have lost their value to me, which isn't that bad if I might say.

[Attempts to trace all contacts in Raven Darkholme's connected devices was unsuccessful]

[Unknown resistance identified]

'Hmm, that's new.' I thought as I saw the notification.

It took me less than a second to come to a conclusion about why that was given the evident lack of a digital stamp and IP address, even if a fake one, - a mutant. A technopath more specifically.

Fun facts about Technopathy, at least the powerful ones, was that the inner world of technology was like their own universe where they can be gods. Some can just hack through things just by touching a computer, while others can enter into the digital world and create their own domain of sorts. I was of the latter category, and even with that finding someone who was my match was, for lack of a more tame word, hard.

I could destroy whoever was blocking my access but doing that would clearly alert the other side and since I don't need them to be that rattled yet, I refrained from using the Mind Stone to destroy whatever defenses he had created.

'Put a tag on their digital signature so I can find them anywhere on the Internet whenever I'm ready.'

[Order affirmed]

'Now where was I? Hmm, that's right…'

I looked around the underground bunker I was in and sighed the result of my work which was some dead dealers, some with broken bones and limbs and some just restrained.

[Self generated task progression

Crime bases wiped out – 14/100]

That's progress if I've ever seen one.

Wanda and I first started it out as a game, most likely to her amusement after earning her moniker of the Witch so I mapped out 10 bases and we cleaned those up before moving to 50, also cleaning those up and now we started all over again with the limit being 100 this time.

[Incoming call from Natasha Romanoff]

"Natasha?"

~Is that you on the police feeds?~ She asked.

"Yeah, just figured I'd clear my head for a bit." I looked at the bunker and nodded to myself for a job well done. The police were only two minutes out so I better get going.

She snorted from her side and continued, ~So I did a little digging, reached a few of my old day contacts and turns out that they have been an almost even distribution of alien tech in key spot in America, Europe and Asia.~

"You know I could have just found that out if you'd let me know what you were looking into." I said offhandedly.

She sighed over the line and grumbled something incomprehensible. ~I thought we've already been over this?~

"I'm just saying." I shrugged as I turned invisible and started walking out of the base since the police had already surrounded it. Just because I don't care about my identity doesn't mean I, in any way, enjoy all the shenanigans that came with an exposed one.

~Okay, let's do this. How much money do you think Tony has?~ She suddenly asked out of the blue.

"Uhm, give or take $100 billion dollars, why?" I said after running the numbers.

~Well, you're wrong.~

"Huh?"

~It's closer to $150 billion.~

"How?" I mean, I'm currently seeing the numbers and it was a lot less than what Natasha was telling me so either she was blatantly lying or I was missing something.

~Well, as much as most people would like to believe, Tony isn't stupid, in any way possible. The numbers you're probably seeing, yeah that's just the accumulation of what everyone thinks he owns. All his semi-public investments and portfolio. There's this thing called proxy which I'm sure you've heard of and it basically means keeping your names out of certain things and places, even the digital world. He's already made sure that no one can make him broke again.~

I understood what Natasha was trying to say and remained silent. Whether I liked it or not, the internet could be manipulated in a way that leaves absolutely no trace.

~So while it's heart wrenchingly enviable how you can manipulate the Internet like putty in your hands, don't forget to build a social network too. Believe it or not, it's much more reliable than you might probably see online.~

Well, she's speaking facts right there so there's nothing I can say. I remember telling that to Simon all the time. "Duly noted. So about the weapons?"

~Well I did do a good job digging in on my part about the Hellfire Club and coincidentally some of their members' stocks in public companies went on during the timeframe when the weapons were being newly distributed.~ She informed me.

I was now walking along the streets of New York and thought for a bit before stopping at the library just to pass time doing something mundane.

"So you think that it's somewhat connected?"

~Stick around rookie and you'll be surprised how many companies profit off of gang violence and other sorts of illegal activities.~

I chuckled at the way she phrases the starting of the sentence but said nothing in my defense and just listened to how she narrated her findings. She once complained about how ignorant all the members sof the Avengers were streetwise so she usually takes on most of the hands-on job.

"So what's your angle?" I asked her as I picked up a book on human anatomy and started glancing through it.

~Nothing obvious for now, at least till Mystique reaches out any day now. We can also do a little poking here and there and watch who flinches.~

"Well, I'm game. Mhm, now that I think about it this is a good time to pay the Fantastic Four a visit." I said as the thought crossed my mind.

~And why is that?~ She asked in a curiously inquisitive tone.

I shrugged. "Just because." I heard her snort and I could practically feel her pressing me for more answers. "Why the skepticism?"

~You are someone whose motto is 'being efficient' to a sickening degree, and I don't remember you having any vested interest in them so what gives?~

If not for the fact that I was in a library I would burst out laughing at the way she said it. "Well you're not completely wrong there. I'm thinking it wouldn't be so bad to have some type of teleportation station with an interlocutor in space."

She remained silent for a few minutes before saying her last words and cut the call. ~… Just don't go overboard.~

"I never do." Whether I was telling her that it myself remained unknown.

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