CHAPTER 25

[Vision POV]

My talk with Banner had let me realize something and it was that I was too conceited in my understanding. 

Yes, I knew what would happen. 

Yes, I know how to help them deal with their weaknesses and problems. 

Yes I can accelerate their growth. 

… but all of those never did put into perspective how it was currently affecting them. 

At the end of the day, they were still people who had no choice but to deal with frustration, regrets and all other emotional pressures that came with being a human, unlike me who could just turn them off if they get too strong or come in the way of logical thinking. 

Why do humans commit suicide when they know that there's nothing to gain from it, even when it's sometimes goesagainst their religious beliefs? 

Why do they commit suicide even when they know, at the extreme back of their minds, that it can become better sometime down the line? The answer is simple. 

Humans, as sapient beings, make decisions mostly based on their emotions. They act as their emotions dictate, even when they know the consequences of their actions sometimes won't be in their favor. 

It's like going to a bar to get drunk due to a bad day even when you know you are lightweight or have an early shift the next morning. 

In my defense, it's how I now think. While I still keep my human traits and emotions on at most times, that was only a part of my composition as Vision. It's inevitable that I would also fall back into using logic rather than emotions. 

I didn't put much consideration into what Banner was currently feeling at the moment and only thought of how to get him out of his emotional bondage. While it was a good choice on my part, it nevertheless shows how lightly I took Banner's inner suffering. 

Hopefully he'll come around after getting his head cleared out… or I'd be forced to fish him out of whatever hole he chooses to hide in. 

Hey I know I was being a little inconsiderate but that doesn't mean I'll just let him run off into the sunset like that. 

I also left a tracker on him that can scan up to a kilometer in the case of any hostile. With Ross out there doing whatever and also the unexplainable event that stranded Hulk on Sakaar before the events of Ragnarok, there's just no way I'll leave him unsupervised. 

'Wait, how will Thor deal with Ragnarok without Hulk?... Meh.' 

I shrugged since I knew the Thunder god could make do with whatever little he has. Hopefully I can find a way for interstellar travel before then, but fingers crossed on that. 

What I needed to focus on now was Ross, for whatever experiment he was doing, and also Williams to stop the illegal weapons shipment… and also get some Chitauri tech along the way. 

°°°°°

'Scan all radio and data signals coming out from Ross' base. Once you get a link in, scramble anything you can find and alert me.'

[Order affirmed]

Now let's start with Williams. 

I walked into a dim lit room where Natasha and Sam were going through all the data I got from the base in Ireland. 

"Vision, just who we needed." Sam exclaimed as I entered the room. 

"Is there anything wrong?" I asked. 

He shook his head and looked over at Natasha who was pointing at a list of holographic documents from the office of Rtd. General Williams. 

Having already gone through all these documents, I instantly recognized what they were trying to point out. 

"They've been moving around but I believe SHIELD's agents are going after them as we speak. But Williams having a connection with them, no matter how small, is a little bit surprising. Given that he deals in weaponry, it makes sense that he might have been interested in their research since SHIELD wasn't forthcoming with theirs."

To be honest, I didn't put much thought concerning the HYDRA remnants running around. They were at their last legs and regardless of how much they struggle, they'll eventually be snuffed out and become redundant to the point that they'd become the next neighborhood cult. 

"I think Fury will like this." Natasha said and tapped on her tablet to download a copy of that particular information to pass to the spy head. "So how are we going to go about this? We have the information in our hands but they can still use it against us in a way befitting outcasts."

"Simple. We give it to someone they can't touch in any way lest they get burned nasty." I suggested. 

"Tony."

I nodded. Out of all of us, Tony was the best one in a position to directly attack any of them, even the President wasn't fully out of his strike zone. Perks of being a billionaire and also one of the country's backbone and major entrepreneurs. 

None of us had the presence and influence to drag a case against an army of Congressmen on our own without having a high enough political presence of our own. 

The only reason why every single Avenger wasn't being hunted down at this moment was only due to Fury and Tony working together for autonomy, but they can't do it for much longer without showing just how vital autonomy was to the Avengers. 

If this were a team like the X-men or even the Fantastic Four then it would have been easier, but unfortunately this team consisted of an American war hero, an international spy wanted in over half the country she's been to, a runaway military experiment, a government hitman, an ex-military special agent, an alien god, and now a weird twin and a robot with human rights. Surprisingly, only Stark was in the clear. 

No matter how you flip it, more than half of us deserved to be locked behind bars for treason against the state for even thinking of being an autonomous body. 

"Just pass everything to Stark and he'll know what to do with them. In the meantime, what we need to do is follow Williams' trail. If he could move such large amounts of Chitauri tech and robots, who knows who else can? But to do that we'll need to pull up on SHIELD's front doors." I told them my honest opinion. 

Since they couldn't do anything on the judicial front, it was better they focus on the 'kicking doors in' front where they were good at. As for me, I'll be looking up Ross' front. 

I don't know just how much things here might deviate but from all what I know, this definitely wasn't the MCU, at least not fully. It might be what the MCU was supposed to be had they been successful in bringing in the other Marvel superhero franchise and that's what made it harder for me since I'm basically flying blind, not that I'm complaining. 

There were quite a few things I was however knowledgeable of and one of those was that it was better for everyone if the Red Hulk never existed. 

Seeing how strong the Hulk currently was, it's easy to conclude that a Red Hulk would absolutely trash his purple-spandexed ass. 

"What of Ross? Do you think he's in with Williams on this?" Sam wanted to know but I, however, shook my head. 

"I don't think so. Here's a proposal: why don't you run through SHIELD for Williams and HYDRA while I go through Ross'?" Was my suggestion. 

"Only you?" Natasha asked with no small amount of skepticism in her voice. 

I nodded. I would have taken Wanda and Pietro or one of them but I needed the anonymity that would come with what I had in mind. 

Still I assured her. "Don't worry. I'll fall back if I can't handle a single military base."

"Ohhhh." Sam made a face and focused intently on the screen in front of him while Natasha just smirked. 

"I see you're finally coming out of your shell." She remarked. 

"I have to. There's a whole new world out there for me to explore after all."

"Fair." She agreed. "But don't forget to get out of there once you're found out. It'll be a shit storm if we have to go against Ross for you breaking and entering a government base."

I waved off her concern since that was my plan all along. Even if I were to make myself known, it'll not be with my real face in front of someone like Ross. 

.

.

.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

You can find +5 chapters ahead in my patreøn

Patreøn.com/QuackVader

Cheers