Chapter 47: Adam's Counter

Arriving back into his body aboard the Prometheus, Adam was determined, the future he witnessed must not come about. Adam knew of Yelena's thoughts towards him, even without the Mind Gem he could tell how she felt, but Adam honestly hasn't had time for much private time for himself. If he wasn't planning the next move, he was training, or meditating on how to control the stones, especially the Mind Gem.

He has tried to curb the ability granted by the Mind Gem, although being able to read the minds of others was beneficial, it was a difficult power to control.

If you answered peoples thought's, thinking they spoke them, can create a new host of problems for Adam. Who would want to be around someone who can peer into their thoughts? Whether it was accidental or not.

No matter who you are, you have bad thoughts. Good people just have the thought for a moment and move on, while the bad ones take those thoughts and put them into action.

Adam knew it was foolish to avoid a power, the soldier within him called to use it more, it's what soldiers are trained to do, use everything at your disposal to accomplish your mission. Soldiers are trained to think outside the box, no matter how much you plan, things can go awry very quickly on a battlefield.

Supplies and tools can get lost in transition, the transport carrying what's needed to build a base could be attacked or have mechanical failure, delaying crucially needed supplies or material needed onsite. Soldiers may complain, but they don't let it stop them, they get their jobs done. Their lives and the lives of their fellow soldiers depend on it.

It was something Adam needed to work on, being connected to an AI did help, Eve was able to assist in curbing most of the accidental use. Eve was connected to Adam, almost a part of himself, to the point that many of Adam's concerns had almost completely vanished.

He always had a fear Eve would become another Cortana, he still held that fear because he knew that the main cause of Cortana going all Sky-Net was thanks to the corruption caused by her kidnapping by the Covenant. It was the timing, when she was captured, she was already beginning to start the process of rampancy. It also didn't help that she was also continuously tortured by the Gravemind during her captivity.

After Master Chief rescued her back, they were stranded for over four years, all this time Cortana continued to worsen, then they had to chase Didact which led to Cortana fragmenting herself. This was her attempt to rid herself of her rampancy, but this was the defining moment that ultimately changed her into what she became.

Adam felt the only danger Eve faced was external sources, so he knew the Mind Gem was key to protecting Eve as well. He also knew the Time Gem would be needed. He could use it to effectively speed up or slow down the built in safeguards, effectively bypassing the recovery stages after resets.

Then once he has the Soul Gem, he would have even more abilities, he could give her life if she so wished it. But that would be a choice for later, now Adam had more pressing matters to attend to, mainly the Darkhold.

Mentally Adam had to thank Kaecilius, he made his acquisition of the book that much easier, although a bit more dangerous as well. Magic was something outside his expertise, although he knew of magic, from what he had read, he only knew the ranges that magics of this universe held. A general idea of what it can and can't do, not a very deep understanding of how it worked.

So the safest way to approach the situation was to engage immediately, before the ritual or spell could be completed. Adam wanted to leave nothing to chance, even if he had four Infinity Gems, he hasn't had them long. His skill, although increasing the longer he has them, was improving but he was still dealing with more experienced people.

It's like an MMA fighter going into a boxing match, although the MMA fighter is a fighter just like the boxer, they are still fighting under boxer rules. Adam was similar to this, he was the MMA fighter about to enter the boxing ring of magic. Just because he knew the rules, his lack of experience in dealing with magic made things difficult to know exactly what to expect when such a match begins.

Rather than feel afraid, Adam felt his adrenaline and endorphins kick into high gear, as if his body relished in the challenge. The more Adam fought, the more his body would evolve, mutate. Becoming more and more into what it was designed for, a weapon made of flesh and bone, a symbol of hope for humanity in its most desperate time. A weapon that the UNSC could unleash upon it's enemies.

Adam knew the battle with Malekith was all but won and he wouldn't be needed, although Malekith himself may be a problem, Adam knew who to send in to deal with him.

Adam assigned all SPARTAN soldiers, besides Frank who was still stationed on Xandar along with Tony and Pepper, Tony was on a vacation to spend time with Pepper and see a new civilization for himself, and for Taskmaster. She was assigned to take out Malekith, her ability to adapt and learn mid fight was uncanny, especially after going through the procedures making her into a SPARTAN.

Adam likened her to a Saiyan, you may kick her ass in the beginning, but as the fight progressed, eventually she would be able to not only counter, but press an advantage. Learning their fighting style and adapting a counter, all SPARTAN soldiers had their own AI assistant built into their suits, so Taskmaster's capabilities to copy fighting styles while sacrificing memories became null.

It was a unexpected side effect, any memories that were destroyed by her ability could be now returned by the AI within her suit. Although her previous memories before she became Taskmaster still couldn't be recovered, and possibly never would, any memories moving forward, from after becoming Taskmaster up till after the SPARTAN procedure, would never be lost again.

She had become a valuable asset to Adam, she could train others as she herself improved, the more she gained, so too would her fellow soldiers. Adam planned to send her after Malekith, have her grow stronger, then teach the others. Adam's version of a Hive collective, what Taskmaster can do, so too could the other SPARTAN soldiers. Just not as quickly as Taskmaster.

After ensuring the trap was set, the EMP in place, Infinity and her fleet were already tracking Malekith's retreat on Asgard, Adam told the others he would be watching and assess their performance without him. He didn't want to risk the vision coming true, had he said what he was truly going to do, he knew a certain someone would try their best to join, so he would do this alone.

Well not entirely alone.

"Eve, how is your progress on deciphering the symbols within the book?" Adam asked as he began locking the space slowly around Kaecilius and his group using the Space Gem.

"85% completed Adam. You should hurry, the spell they are using is quite dangerous, although if you had the Soul Gem then you wouldn't need to worry. This Kaecilius is very intelligent, he knows you hold multiple stones, thus he chose this spell specifically knowing the ones in your possession couldn't defend against it. Not even the Reality Gem can defend against an attack on the soul." Eve appeared within Adam's HUD and began showing him what she has learned after continuing to monitor Kaecilius.

Just like Ancient One who had split herself during their conversation, Adam had Eve monitor Kaecilius and get a head start on translating the book, which was also how Ancient One was able to get her detection spell on Adam unnoticed, Eve was distracted within the realm too.

"Well, then its now or never." Adam said as his suit fully enveloped his body. He wasn't going to go in unprepared, he didn't want to take unnecessary risks with his life. Adam wanted full access to his abilities going in, he knew the moment he showed himself the battle would begin, there was no diplomatic option in this one.

Adam knew exactly what to do, Extractor rifles formed in each hand. The Extractor was a variant of the ARC-920, or Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine-920, more widely known as a railgun. It used a pair of parallel conducting rails to accelerate its projectiles to uncanny speeds.

The ARC-920 was regarded the best in its class, it's only downfall was the weight, the standard weight of the gun was 33 pounds without ammo. Depending on the type of ordinance you wished to fire, the weight would increase. Normally the ARC-920 only had one round, a 16x65mm M645 Ferric-Tungsten Projectile High Explosive round, which is more than enough to do serious damage.

Adam's was customized, he wasn't limited by only large railgun rounds normally used, thanks to the nanotechnology he could fire what he needed. The smaller the ordinance the faster the next round is made, but their was still a little charge time needed for the gun which also varied depending on the size of the projectiles he wished to fire.

'The only sure way to win would be to have Kaecilius suffer a backlash from the interruption in the spell, to accomplish this I will need to kill most of the five drawing the outer part of the spell, and destroy enough of the completed runes and symbols they have set up already. Only then would the backlash be harsh enough to buy me enough time to kill the remaining before they can begin to counter.' Adam thought as he began to think of which ammunition to use.

"Eve, as soon as we arrive I want you to active the suits own weapon system. I will target the spell circle itself, I need you on targeting the wizards or whatever they call themselves." Adam ordered as he began to ready himself, although prepared, he still had a bad feeling about this.

"Adam, are you sure about this? I am sensing your hesitation. I have activated all primary and secondary weapon systems, thanks to the Pym Particle the amount of nanobots that can be stored within the suit has been dramatically increased so killing any in the vicinity would be simple." Eve responded, being connected to Adam she had felt his thoughts.

"No. If we kill them all the backlash would have nowhere to go but into the surroundings. The Darkhold is extremely dangerous, had I not needed something from it, I wouldn't involve myself with it at all. Hell if I didn't know it was indestructible, I would've destroyed it after getting the spell I need against the Vampires. I know this is the right way, it's just I have a feeling it just won't end simply like how I want it." Adam explained as he ran various possible outcomes.

This wasn't the Book of Cagliostro like what Kaecilius had originally stolen from the library in the original timeline, Dormammu was a toddler compared to Chthon. So Adam knew there were a few ways things could go south, if the backlash opened a portal and fully connected to Chthon's dimension, unless Adam had all six gems, his chances were slim in winning over such a being.

Even the Sorcerer Supremes were weary of Chthon, most chose to keep their distance from any involvement other than safeguarding the Darkhold as best as possible. He was an Elder God of Chaos, Scarlet Witch was thought to be a Avatar of Chthon himself since her powers also originated from the power of chaos.

It was also why once Scarlet Witch came into contact with the Darkhold, the original book, made from the flesh of unknown creatures, was absorbed into her body. Wanda and the book became one.

Although in Multiverse of Madness they don't show her become one with the book, as she did in the comics, it did show her extraordinary ability to easily use the spells within. She was even better at it then all the versions of Doctor Strange combined, it was as if she herself wrote the book.

In the comics it only temporarily took her over, while in the MCU she was completely gone. The MCU version was mentally scarred by loss, more so than her comic counterpart.

She lost her brother, caused the Hero Registration Act to be implemented which caused the Civil War, fell in love with Vision, then had to kill him to try to save the world, but even after doing so, Thanos undid her act of killing her lover using the Time Stone, then murdered her lover again in front of her. All this broke Wanda, the Darkhold used this mental instability to turn her into its puppet.

This was Adam's fear, through the backlash, Kaecilius would become an Avatar of Chthon or Chthon himself would be brought back to this realm. His only defense would be the Gems, even so the risks were great but also so too would be the reward.

A definitive solution to the Vampire problems, as well as other information regarding the multiverse, there was a lot of useful information contained within the Darkhold. Information that Adam would need if he wished to explore the multiverse inside and outside of Marvel.

There was only one big worry for Adam, the one universe he knew that was but a single change from the current universe he was in, an event involving the one and only Janet Van Dyne.

'God, or whoever is listening, please dont bring in the Marvel Zombie universe into this one. I really really don't like that universe.'