Clones... For any Pro-Isekaier these are either their key to ultimate power or the bane of their existence... *Sigh* Sometimes even I feel the need for some shadow jutsu. But imagine finding out that some pale fucker probably has several clones of you, yeah not a nice picture.
"Essex normally operates off the grid, so it's hard to track him down, but any of his operations that are on the grid are fully "legal". Like, for example, taking blood samples of the patients imprisoned in the Essex Clinic. Did they ever take blood samples from you?"- Am I dealing with the cuckoos, I think there were five out of a thousand or something like that.
"... I... I was not fully conscious all of the time."- She said with apparent worry.- Shit, How many clones will we have to deal with?
"I'm sorry Head Maid, there's a big chance that there are some clones of yours running around under Sebastian's care."- The problem is that I don't know where they are.
"...What... What do I do now?"- The sadness in those eyes is hurtful, sadness and disgust.
"Worry not Head Maid! I will take you to my place, I have the whole world under surveillance from there, it shouldn't take us long to get a clue about their location."- I said trying to let her know that I could help her.
"...Really?... I honestly don't know what to do next, I don't know if I should march to Xavier's and beat his cripple ass down for what he did or if I should hide in a hole from Shaw, or fight..*Sigh*... I... I don't know."
"Well head maid, if you work under me they won't ever be able to do anything to you, What do you want to do first? We could deal with the clones situation first and then you could beat the crap out of the baldie."- A sound plan to me, It will be fun to see his looks when he is confronted by an enraged omega mutant HAHAHHAHAAHA... I think I'm starting to harbor some animosity towards Xavier.
"...Ok, let's do that."- After her confirmation, I removed the barrier surrounding the room, and all the thoughts that she could never feel before, started to flood her all at once.- Yikes! I forgot that I enhanced her mind!
"AHHHHHH MAKE IT STOP!"- I immediately enclosed us with another barrier.
"Sorry! I'm sorry Emma! I enhanced your mind to the omega level. I forgot to tell you! You need to hold back your telepathy."- I said with worry in my eyes.
"..Arghh! Shit! It felt like my head was bursting apart. *Phew*... You will compensate me for this!"- Compensate? But I gave you powers? Isn't she taking it too far? I'm starting to miss the void, this stuff is complicated, the void was... void?
"I... We can talk about it later! Are you ready? I will open the barrier now."- Yes, better to ignore what's unreasonable.
"*Humph* I'm ready!"- I opened the barrier and warped us away to Halo.
Things happened similarly to when I brought the fire padawan. She just stared in a daze at the view, said nothing for about 10 minutes, then looked at me and said:
"This... is yours?... What even is this place?"- Signaling with her arms at the entire view.
"Yes! I'm proud of it! I created it on my own! It's called The Halo, or Halo, It's completely self-sufficient for the next two millennium or so, fully weaponized, cloaked, can travel at FTL, soon capable of warping and the only things lacking are nature and people. Currently, there's only you, my apprentice, and me, not counting the inorganics."
"... Are you some kind of alien, or god?"
"No! I'm a Shine Dragon!"-I channel some of my energy to my horns to make them shine even brighter.
"That answers nothing!"
"Well... mmmmmh... I'm different than a god, something close to a cosmic entity."
"Cosmic entity? Pray tell, What's a cosmic entity?"- She looked like she was about to lose her patience.
"Think of cosmic entities as beings of power, normally ruling over a concept of existence, like death, time, space, rebirth... concepts that makeup existence. I rule no concept so I'm not a cosmic entity, but I'm strong enough to share some blows with them and then escape... So, like a cosmic entity but not."- Yeah, I could probably escape from anybody except The Aniki, I could trade a few blows but that's it.
"...Why would you even need me then? What am I supposed to do here?"
"Initially I planned to manage the Halo only with the help of my AI, but in the future, I will bring some people here to take care of nature, and possibly some friends or people that I could shelter that won't cause any problems. So I need someone to take care of the people, to serve as a bridge between the future population and the AI managing this place. That would be your role, of course at the moment that's not needed, what I need is a head maid. What do you think? You'll get my backup and I'm not short on resources you'll get those as well."- Hopefully I won't have to wipe her memory of this place.
"That's a lot to take in. Can I have some time to decide? I will work as your head maid for the moment and make a decision in the future."- Good enough for me, I won't have to men in black you.
"No problem! Let's go to the living room. Spark is probably there waiting for us."- I said while walking inside with Emma following.
"Spark?"
"It is my AI, it is in charge of managing this place. It is a bright fellow!"- I made it, of course, it's bright.
We arrived at the living room where Spark was waiting for us showing a satellite view of a few bases belonging probably to the Hellfire Club.
"Hi Spark! Is my padawan still napping?"
"She woke up about 45 minutes ago, she was in the gaming room, she is on her way here now, Master Chief."- Yeah I bet she sensed me arriving... Yeah, I can feel her coming this way.
"Wait just a minute Emma, my apprentice is on her way."- It didn't take long for Jean to arrive, she looked at me with happiness and at Emma with some curiosity but on guard.- I guess she knows how not to follow strangers to their vans.
"Hi, Jean! How are you feeling?"- She definitely looks perky.
"Hi, Aragorn! I'm fine now, but... Who is this?"
"I'm glad to hear that, this is Emma Frost, she is my head maid. It's her first day on the job so you can imagine how confused she must be."- She looked at Emma with some camaraderie.
"Emma this is Jean Grey, she is one of Xavier's students but for the foreseeable future you can think of her as my apprentice."- She perked up at the mention of Xavier's name, but she regarded Jean as one of my own instead of one of his.
"Hello Jean, nice to meet you! Were you kidnapped from your home as well?"- Woman!!! What are you saying? Look at the disgust on my padawan's face! All of the respect that I was building was thrown at the edge of the Halo!!!
"...I'm sorry about that Ms. Frost! He is not bad, just misguided!"- What?! Look at what you did!!
"No Jean! She is not telling the truth!... Well... At least not the full truth, I offered her a job, which she accepted!"
"Hehehehe *chuckling*"-I saw Emma looking at me with mirth as if she just avenged her fallen brother in battle.- Maybe it was not a good idea to have her as my head maid, I just remember that she tends to play with men's feelings.
"Sorry Ms. Grey, I was just messing with him, a little payback after the way we met. It's a pleasure to meet you."- Is this revenge for the "leaking" incident?
"Oh! Our first meeting was not the best either. I understand, we destroyed his bike as payback after all."- *GASP* The outrage! That was a tragedy of an unsuspecting victim! Not a matter of payback!
"I feel like maybe you should have not met."- I really should visit Noona to heal my bleeding pride.
"Master Chief, I have the location of "The Butler"."- Thank you Spark, you're my only ally.
"Nice! Where is he?"-I will go get my butler to be on my side, like Alfred.
"He is in an old URSS military base, currently owned by Hydra, he is currently inactive, last registered mission was six years ago. Elimination of Howard and Maria Stark. After that a few training assignments"- Probably his work as a trainer for the red room.
"Aragorn is Hydra still a thing?"- asked Jean with uncertainty.
"Yes Fire Padawan, they are definitely a thing, actually Hydra is probably stronger now than during the time of WWII. Those guys are responsible in grand part for the shape of our society."- She looked at me with worry and fear.- I bet that all that propaganda about how terrifying they "were" must be playing in the back of her mind.
"You don't have to worry about them, although they are annoyingly stubborn and hard to kill, once you have your powers fully mastered you can kill them all on your own if you want."- After all once she has mastered her powers she should be able to telepathically scry the planet without being detected, different from my "crude" telepathy, at least compared to the Phoenix's.
"Spark show me the area I will go there and get myself a butler! Also, prepare the med-bay."- This should be an easy warp, grab, warp, and heal.
"Jean, Can you give Emma a tour around the house, please? Spark give Emma Staff rights! I should be back within the hour."- This is a masterful move to avoid harassment from the psychic power girl tag team.
"Acknowledged Master Chief."
"Sure! You can count on me!"- She definitely looks happy, maybe I shouldn't have left the padawan all alone.
_____________________________________________
I exited the portal above what looked like a snow-capped mountain. But it couldn't fool my eyes, I could see the structure, the squids working about their business, and my butler among the other super popsicles.
I should take a look at those guys, I think almost all of them were Hydra agents who volunteered for the procedure, but maybe I will find more staff.
I focused my eyesight on the room where the supersoldiers were found, I waited for 20 minutes for the room to clear and then manipulated the electricity to cause a shortcut in the security room, effectively blinding the whole complex.
I wrapped the cryogenic pods in my barriers, opened a portal, and brought the pods to my side, kept afloat by my TK.
I manipulated the electricity again and started a massive electrical fire in the cryo-room. The alarm rang and the guard in charge of the cryo-room tried to barge in, but I held the doors shut with my TK.
I quickly scanned the minds of the winter soldiers one by one, they were human trash, not on the level of Shou Tucker but still trash. I disrupted their brain signals, effectively rendering them brain dead, I saw their soul move on, 100% guaranteed to some hell.
I moved their bodies back to their previous place inside the cryo-room, brought Bucky out of his chamber, and portal him to my med-bay.
Now I just have to cover my tracks, I haven't decided how I will take care of Hydra so I don't want a desperate Hydra messing things up further.
I knocked out the guard still trying to breach the cryo-room, portal him to Bucky's "room", and portal the pod back to its former place. I opened a bunch of portals connecting me to the cryo-room and moved pure oxygen through them en masse flooding the room, until... *BOOOOOM* about a quarter of the base blew up.
I bet it's not the best way to cover my tracks and they will still be suspicious for a while, but never assured of a third party's involvement. After all, this was a terrible tragedy caused by old and outdated circuitry, combined with the dangerous weapons and chemicals kept in the base and that's how you lose your supersoldiers, you need to follow security regulations.
I portal myself to the med-bay where I could feel Jean's and Emma's presence already. Jean looked at Bucky with worry and then back at me with relief. Even with her botched powers, she could tell that there was something abnormally wrong with Bucky's mind.
"Don't worry too much Fire Padawan, he will be fine in a minute."-I said while patting her head. Emma knew that it wouldn't take a minute but kept her silence when she saw the emotional state of Jean.
"Spark! Prepare for the removal of cybertronic implants, as well as the removal of the prosthesis. A bath in the regen chamber for previous wounds will do just fine, oh! but don't regen his arm back. I'll ask him if he wants his old feeble arm back or a cool one."- Of course, my butler will pick the cool one. No questions asked.
"You can watch what I will do with his mind little bird, It'll be a great example of how to fix brainwashing for you. You'll be able to do it in a snap when you get a hold of your powers in the future."- She moved to my side with a face full of seriousness, while I placed my left hand on his head, then used my link with the padawan to let her "see" what I was doing.
"Emma, I can't link us because you will be lost in my mind again, but if you use your telepathy on him you should be able to see some of what I will be doing."- Of course, I use a combination of my dragon eyes and telepathy to find what's what and what goes where. Probably she won't be able to see that, but with her powers, she should be able to grasp the essence of what I will do.
His mind was a jigsaw puzzle... after being passed through a shredder.
Sometimes you would find personality traits mixed with his memories, some other times pieces of his sense of self glued to 'his' core values of serving Hydra.
I bet that this was not the type of brainwashing that Wakanda fixed in the movies I know of.
The whole process took about one hour of my accelerated time, mind you my brain operates in a different time frame than normal humans, or gods for that matter, so one hour probably felt to Jean and Emma like one month and a half.
But they endured, they paid attention to every single action I took in Bucky's mind, they studied all fixes I did, and asked questions when either of them didn't understand what I was fixing. Emma should be able to replicate something like this soon in the future, Jean will need some practice first, but once she is free from Xavier's seals it will become easier.
After 'gluing' back the last piece of Bucky together I placed a temporal seal on his memories during his times on missions, this way he will know that he was under the 'care of Hydra, but won't have the memories of the missions themselves.
This should help him deal on his own time with the scars left.
I pulled us all out of Bucky's mind and I could see both of them trembling in anger, disgust, and tiredness. Given that they just spent over a "month" focusing their all on a single task. They could barely stand up due to the mental fatigue.
I lifted both of them with my TK and brought them to their rooms. On the way, Jean asked:
"Will he be okay? His mind looked really scarred..."- She said with sorrow.
"Yes Jean, he will have some difficulties for the first week, but the scars will fade, not completely but he will be able to work as a "normal" human being eventually. The trauma will follow him for the rest of his life, but I suppose that when the time comes to get rid of Hydra it will do him wonders."
"I'm glad Aragorn... Thank you for showing me what you did in there."- I looked at my apprentice with a sly smile and said:
"I'm your master after all... Maybe you should start to refer to me as Master Abner from now on!"- Hehehe this is on my list of things to do, "Have an apprentice call me master".
"You can keep dreaming Aragorn. I can feel your mood and I don't like where you are going with this delusion of yours."- *Humph* Just wait my fire padawan, you will fall to the dark side. If not I will find another padawan that appreciates my teachings. Kitty is a good option, I could feel The Culture energy from her.
After walking for a while I arrived at Emma's new room first.
"Emma this is your room, it was prepared by Spark, so thank it later. Everything in there is yours, if you're hungry later you can ask for Spark to take you to the fabricators in the kitchen, or you could just cook something else. There's a bathroom in there but there's also a main bathroom in this section of the house."- She looked half asleep and half surprised, what a weird combination... still all sweaty...Noona I miss you!... the mortal world is filled with temptation.
I took Jean to her room after her and went back to the med-bay to make sure that the cybertronic and prosthesis removal went without a hitch. After the removal was done Bucky was bathed for 2 hours in the regen bath. He came out like new, except for the missing arm, and now it was only a matter of time for him to wake up.
_______________________________________________
It wasn't long before he woke up, and as one might expect, he tried to jump at my neck shouting:
"DIE! DEMON BASTARD!!"- Did he think that I was a demon working for Hydra? Or just a regular demon fucking with him? Did he even know demons? Either way, he was unsuccessful, after all as soon as he leaned to support his weight on his left arm to jump at me he fell off the bed.- Hehehehe he looked so stupid leaning on his missing limb.
"I'm not a demon Mr. Barnes. This not Hydra either."- I said looking at him trying not to laugh at him. Not good! He is technically a disabled veteran, but then again I'm also technically a veteran, even though I look like a 20-year-old.
After standing up and checking his surroundings, the super high-spec med-bay, he looked at me utterly confused and said:
"Who or what are you?"- I guess that if you have memories of moving around with Hydra for years your first question won't be to question your surroundings, but your new captor.
"I'm Aragorn Abner, I'm a dragon!"- I said pointing at my eyes, clearly draconic eyes.
"Dragons are real?"-Hoho first person who doesn't ignore me. Nice one future butler! After all, I bet even still my head maid and padawan think that I might be some human-shaped monster.
"Yes, very real. But I'm the only one of my kind that I know of. There are some eastern dragons somewhere in a pocket dimension in China, but those and I are different types of dragons."
"The closest one of my kind would be the Anti-All, a draconic cosmic entity formed from living darkness that embodied destruction, darkness, chaos, and non-existence. Though the Anti-All was defeated a few iterations ago, so I'm probably the only active dragon within my scale of power. I don't represent any concepts but if I did I would probably represent Soul, Void, and Creation."-I looked at him with my gold-colored eyes. Indeed my butler should get to know his young master. So far he hasn't let me down.
'Why is this... kid... dragon?... looking at me like that? What the heck am I getting into?'-Bucky.
"Ermmm... Nice to meet you? I'm Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes."
"Nice to meet you Mr. Barnes."- Hohoho! A nice calm and composed answer.
"Earlier today I stole you from Hydra, I also removed the brainwashing, cybertronic implants in your spine and brain, and your prosthesis. You were in the regen bath for 2 hours, so all old wounds should have been fixed. I stalled the regeneration of your missing limb to get your opinion on that."
"Do you want to regen your arm back... or... do you want a state of the art, all included, full extras, technogenic, military armed, Spark certified new prosthesis?"- I know you won't disappoint me! My Butler!
'There's so much that I want to say before worrying about my arm, Why did he save me? Did he even save me? Or am I changing captors? But all of that will have to wait for later, the intensity of that look that he is giving me is something else... If the color of his eyes is any indicator to go by I think the only option here is the robot arm. Do I even have a choice? Everybody knows that red is bad. I will take my chances with gold.'- The traumatized, swimming out of his depth, soldier.
"Hahaha yes of course the prosthesis." He said while nervously scratching his head.
"HAHAHAHA Yes! I knew it, Mr. Barnes! You were the one! Excellent choice!"-Eyes shining like the Sun.
"Spark! Bring the MK-7OP."- This baby was completed during the day, all the tech was done during my time on the void, but I needed to graft the organic components.
It will look and feel like his other arm, except it will be so much better. It will fully integrate with his body, comes with a plasma armor-piercing cannon, rapid-fire energy blast, lightsaber, its own deposit of nanobots for self-repair and hacking, connected to Spark but running independently, it has a miniature version of The Orb, so it's been programmed with barriers like the ones in the Halo and once I'm done with the new update for Spark it will be capable of opening portals. Technopathy and Magneto proofed.
A minute later Spark came to the room before one of my robots followed, Escanor, who was carrying a glass container with something like an ever-shifting wriggling ball of metal-organic tentacles inside, you could even find the mini-Orb shining in the middle of the mass.
"What the heck is that?"- Said an even more traumatized soldier.
"Your new arm, it will fuse with you and adopt the shape, form, texture, and configuration required for your body. It will also upload the Instruction manual to your mind, and connect with Spark for the last software update."- I said looking at him proudly of my creation.
'What the Fuck! What the Fuck! WHAT THE FUCK! What's with the tentacles!? No no no no no no no... Don't displease the terrifying existence, Don't displease the terrifying existence, Don't displease the terrifying existence...OK BUCKY YOU CAN DO THIS, YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH WORSE!... Have I?... Not like I have any choice! He said that it was an arm so it IS an arm... I will probably need it in the upcoming cosmic battles that I will have to fight under him... Yes, it is for my survival...'-...-...-Severely traumatized and confused soldier about the purpose of his "employment".
"What do I have to do Mr. Abner?"-HA! You can't find any doubts in the face of my butler! As expected of him! Anybody not up to standard to be my butler would have had some reservations upon seeing the mass of organic matter and nanobots; but not him! Not my butler!
"It's very simple! We will connect the container to your residual limb, the prosthesis will merge with you, you will feel a few pricks where the limb will connect, a little discomfort, and then it will use your DNA to shape itself, after that, you will get a spike of pain for about one to two seconds when the construct links with your nervous system. Finally, you will get a light migraine which is the result of the upload of the prosthesis abilities to your mind. The upload and software upgrade along with the fusion should take no longer than fifteen minutes and you will be done."
"Alright I'm ready!"- He said while looking like he was ready to disembark in Normandy during D-Day.
Escanor moved the container on my command to his left and removed the lid. The metal-organic mass extended its tentacles and grabbed hold of Bucky. Escanor removed the container and got out of the room. Spark was left with us to complete the software upgrade. And just like described it fused with him, he held his own when the spike of pain hit him and then it was done, a brand new normal looking fully functional military armed arm was left in place of the mass of tentacles.
"How are you feeling?"- I asked while grabbing his forearm to make sure that he had sensation back on the limb.
"Except for the migraine and the slightly metallic taste in my mouth... It's great to be able to feel again with my hand."- He opened and closed his hand while fascinated with his new limb.
"Mr. Abner you were not kidding when you said that this was military armed."- It looks like the upload is done, given the lost look on his eyes.
"Yes! It's a project that I'm proud of. Now you just need to touch Spark for the update, next time unless it's a really heavy update you can do it wirelessly but this first one it's contact base."- I said while pointing to my floating Spark.
"Emmh Yes! Hello Spark!"- I included some information about Spark on the upload.
Spark floated down to his palm. His palm opened up, technomorphed, and created a circular cradle with its built-in nanobots, Spark laid on the cradle for a few minutes while pulsing with light.
"Update Completed Successfully"
"Thank you Spark!"- I thanked Spark before he flew away to continue with his work on the Skynet and Brother Eye. After a minute of playing with his new limb, Bucky looked at me and said:
"Mr. Abner... Why did you save me?"-... Oh! I forgot to explain to him about the job offer.
"Right! Sorry about Mr. Barnes... I need a butler."- I looked at him with determination.
'... What? What would I need this fully weaponized arm for if not for war?'- The confused soldier.
"Emmm I don't know anything about being a butler. Why would you pick me for that?"- I took a second to answer his query, but this second allowed me to formulate a better hiring pitch than the one I used with Emma. After all, I'm a dragon that learns.
"The thing is that I need a highly capable butler, one that will help me complete the combat training of the remaining staff. One with varied skills and an adaptable profile, one that I would be 100% sure was not a spy, indebted to me and my people, one that would lose more by 'gaining' freedom than by staying by my side."- He was left looking at me while searching for any falsehood.
"Your rescue also helped with some of my goals of weakening Hydra just enough to cause some damage but not enough to send them on a path of mutual destruction. As an added benefit you are somewhat related to my future staff. About once every 3 years or so, you were sent to the red room to train their child spies. I plan to free the girls and destroy the red room for good. The ones that have nowhere to go will work as my staff and since their training will be unfinished I wanted you to train them. Of course, only the ones that want it, and it will be only survival and combat training, no killing by snu snu training."
'I was honestly preparing for a battle with some cosmic abominations.'- A very relieved soldier.
"Mr. Abner, will I be able to fight Hydra under you?"
"Yes, and much more, but all at its given time, so you won't have your fight soon. We lack information, If we fight them now they will back out into hiding."- I will need to take down about 100% of the upper management members and 70% of the lower operational members to ensure that no other heads grow back.
"I'm in Mr. Abner!"- Butler Get!
"Alright, Mr. Barnes! But now you will need to rest for at least one week. The procedure to remove your brainwashing left some scars in your psyche that will need about a week of full rest and healing. You will start to get the memories of your missions after that week, slowly while you dream. This was to prevent different types of psychological complications. I did leave you the memories of your time before and after missions. Did you realize?"
"Yes, Mr. Abner, thank you very much!"-He said trying to hide the pain after the realization of the atrocities that he did while brainwashed.
"You're welcome! You are one of us from now on so don't worry too much! You can use your connection with Spark through your arm to learn about our era and society, but only one hour a day, any more than that and you will risk 'Psych Overheating', once you're up to date, whenever you have the time, I recommend you to study about any profession of your liking."- This should help him with the trauma.
"Now come, I will give you a tour around the house before introducing you to the head maid and my apprentice."- I gave him the same tour as Jean, I showed him the room Spark had selected and modified for him as well.
Then I moved to the gaming room where we found Jean and Emma playing my own version of Just Dance!
Oh! That's one of the latest hits 'LeAnn Rimes - How Do I Live?' Nice! Spark has already downloaded new content from the web!
"We can wait for them to finish this round."- I said looking at Bucky who looks stupefied, though I don't know if it's about the scene or the technology...
Damn! how can you make sexy moves to a slow romantic song like that?! What is the head maid teaching my fire padawan?!
"Sir is this normal now?"- That's a cultural shock for you. HAHAHAHAH!
"Mmmm, I think! I came to the planet not so long ago, but yes it's sort of normal. I was still doing my reconnaissance when one of the cosmic entities that I work for roped me with a certain task, so I might not be the most reliable source of information... Well, the game is my invention so you can only get that here, but society is now more... free?"- After all, this society is different from the one I lived through. There are some similarities but it's like I traveled through time to the era of my grandparents while keeping the technology of my parents.
After a few minutes, the song ended with Emma obliterating Jean, but I guess Emma did work for some time as a stripper so it's not exactly a fair comparison.
"Hi Emma, Padawan. As you know this is Sgt. James Buchanan Barnes my new Butler. Mr. Barnes this is Emma Grace Frost my new Head Maid and your coworker and this is my apprentice Jean Elaine Grey."- They both looked at Bucky with some pain in their eyes after a moment of realization.
"They know about me?"- Asked Bucky.
"They both are similar to me, telepaths. While I was fixing the mess that Hydra left on your mind they both were helping me...mmmmmh... more like learning from me. So they inevitably saw some of what you went through."- He looks slightly afraid after remembering the missions' reports that I left in his memory, he is probably afraid of what the girls will think of him. But he will eventually learn that this girls are not ones to judge.
"Hello Mr. Barnes, I'm Jean Grey, Aragorn is helping me with my powers."-Said the ever-friendly padawan.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Emma Frost, the same as you I'm also one of Aragorn's kidnapping victims."-This brought out a chuckle from Bucky.
"*Chuckle*...Nice to meet you ma'am."- He was supposed to take my side!
"Ha Ha Ha, so funny. But I will leave you guys be, I'm a busy dragon after all. I need to plan the acquisition of your future underlings."-No rest for the wicked!... But with Bucky's condition I think is best to wait for him to acclimate. So I might not be able to get my staff today. Maybe I should ask Emma for her opinion.
"Emma, on that matter. Bucky will take some time to get up to date. So if I get the girls now you will probably have to take care of them on your own. Do you prefer to wait until both of you are available?"
"Yes, I can do the psychic screening on my own but if I have to take care of the other needs they will have, I prefer to do so with help."
"Ok, no problem! We can wait... Since that's the case during this week you can use the learning room with Spark's help. You can use it for about 6 hours a day since you're a psychic but you should follow Spark's instructions in there, for your safety."
"What's a learning room Aragorn?- Asked the ever-curious bird.
"Basically you're plugged into a cyber-psionic space where you can learn at an accelerated pace. For example with a normal human mind you should be able to become a medical doctor in about a year, with Emma's in about 2 months."- Mine in about an instance. However learning knowledge is different from acquiring practice.
"Can I use it too?!"- Of course you'll ask that.
"No. Not now at least... We need to remove your seals before that, so hopefully by next week, you should be able to use it, but not now."-At first she looked dispirited, but her eyes shone with motivation when she heard the last part.
"Why Padawan? Is there anything that you want to learn about?"- I honestly don't remember much about the personal information of people in the comics.
"I wanted to be a doctor before my powers awakened, after that, I wanted to be a geneticist."- Yeah if I were a mutant who couldn't control his powers I would also like to be a geneticist.
"Well the medic and genetic knowledge that I have is above the current level on Earth, so once you become the best at said fields you should be careful about how you use your knowledge."- If shit hits the fan I will help her but it's best to prevent that.
"You won't stop me from learning about it?"-She was surprised by my remark with her eyes wider than usual.
"No Fire Padawan. I'm just concerned that someone will try to kidnap you for your knowledge, but after our training is done, chances are that they would be lit on with cosmic fire before they are able to touch you."- Yes, chances are she will claim vengeance for all my teasing once she is able to put up a fight against me. At least she is an Avatar and not the Phoenix itself.
"So don't worry Padawan, if you even want to learn how to build a nuclear bomb you can. Learn and study whatever you want, but you will not be allowed on the street without an escort until you can handle yourself out there."- Yeah, nobody will be able to touch my people again. I will reset this world if needed, but no more unneeded sacrifices.- She stayed there looking at my red eyes with both anxiety and solace.
"Okay Aragorn!"-She said.
"Jean, when is your curfew due?"-I did so much today that I forgot that I needed to return the padawan.
"I need to be back by 9 pm Aragorn"- Alright so we have a few hours more.
"Ok, you can just chill for the rest of the day let me know when you are ready to go back home, I will be in my lab working on the portal tech for Spark and Mr. Barnes's arm."- I left the three of them to their own devices.- It's time to get the warping upgrade online.
________________________
The energy of the void can be highly corrosive and unstable, dangerous to work with; but when you mix the energy of the void with a drop of mine you get a really malleable form of energy. That's the energy that I used in The Orb.
A superior form of energy that is 100% clean and safe... Well... Don't get me wrong, mixing that with the infinity stones is still a recipe for disaster, that's something that I will have to fix in the future, I can't have a universe-ending disaster instant formula laying around out in the open.
I have two possible solutions.
#1 I built a separate dimension with the Space and Time Stones where I will store the stones. The advantages are that I can do it now, since I can see the tesseract in SHIELD's possession and the time stone is in Yao's, and that it is a no-brainer, just some energy manipulation and done.
#2 I use the Soul, Mind, and Reality Stones, technorganic tech, and some of my 'DNA' to build some highly adaptable bodies for each stone, capable of withstanding the energy of the stones and growing up; the bodies need to be able to grow up along with the universe and to adapt to their respective energy, hence the need for my 'DNA' and possibly something else, or else you'll end up with a useless android that basically exists to get clapped around and trigger the unstable red witch with his inability to perform.
Honestly, this is the most fool-proof choice; even though the new beings will be, mentally, babies, they can be kept in The Halo without the stones being affected by my energy, safely protected by their bodies, until they grow up, ergo under my protection, then they can go about their business and each stone will have itself as a bodyguard.
Aside from me and a few other beings, who have no use for the stones, no one will pose a threat to them.
The only thing is that I will have to wait for Loki to bring me the mind stone, so I can't touch the tesseract yet. But that's okay, I can get the Power Stone now, and leave a "clone" of it for Ronan the Accuser and Thanos if I don't want to intervene that much with the development of the Guardians of The Galaxy.
Normally the Soul Stone is available only after a sacrifice, but I can get 2 samples of human trash use my telepathy on both of them into loving the other, and then have them do the sacrifice, after that I kill the remaining one and am done! Free stone.
I will probably have to strand them for a few months together on a deserted island so that they genuinely love each other, from the 'soul'. I think I should start soon so that I can complete that plan as soon as Loki or Jane delivers the last stone. The Reality Stone is just another matter of waiting, Jane Foster will also bring it for me.
Regarding the 'original' timeline, I only care about Thor 1, Thor 2 and Avengers. Because Thor 1 will lead to Loki bringing the stone to Earth. Thor 2 leads to Jane bringing her stone. But I don't think Thanos will be stupid enough to send only Loki to Earth once my presence is known across the galaxies.
After I get my staff settled I will begin the operation "Let's save Gamora", not a fixed name. But for now, I should concentrate on my current task. So as I was thinking before getting distracted, the energy of The Orb is malleable, so fixing some tech up to work with my new portals is not that hard. It took me about an hour and a half to get it ready, but now Spark and Bucky can portal like me.
"Spark run some stability and security tests for the upgrade please!"- My cutie Spark's main body floated next to me the whole time I worked on the upgrade. I think it wanted the upgrade more than me. Hehehe cute!
"Acknowledge!"- After that, I left Spark alone to play with his new toy and went to check on the girls and Bucky.
I found them in the kitchen transfixed by the fabricators.- What's wrong with these people? or perhaps... Is there something wrong with the fabricator?
"Hello, girls and James! Why are you looking at the fabricator like that?"- They jumped a little when they heard me ask.
"Sir... What's the food made of?"- Asked Bucky, afraid of the answer I might give. While the other two looked at me with the same look, like expecting the news on the death of a relative.
"Is that what has you all so transfixed about the fabricators?"
"Yes... after playing Let's Dance! we got hungry and we asked Spark for some food, so we came to the kitchen and Spark told us how to use the fabricators, but when we asked about where the food came from it said that it's something you call "The OrgMass". Bucky told us that the name reminded him of his new arm and... well... Can you tell us what "The OrgMass" is?"- I see that they are more comfortable with each other now, since they are using nicknames and look relaxed in each other's company. But I also eat from the food made by the fabricators, Why would I want to eat tentacles? Maybe some squid or octopus, but not some xeno-tentacles.
"OrgMass is something I made, it's basically every organic and inorganic edible molecule mixed in an energized yet stable mix. Technically you can eat some and get all the nutrition you need plus all the ailments that you don't want. It's a mix of all, so it tastes inedible, the fabricators can manipulate said molecules and rearrange them in an edible way. Normally a piece of meat from the fabricators is better than the same naturally grown cut... So no tentacles. Let's eat together before I have to take Jean home!"- Really! These guys probably think that I eat some Cthulhu for breakfast.
After that, we ate together a very hearty and Earthly meal. Very wholesome, it made me think about my parents. It's been about two eons since I was reminded of them. My memory works like a record of everything I've ever witnessed, so it's not like I will ever forget anything I've ever lived through after my memory was perfected, but I don't normally think about memories I don't want or need to, or else I would exist through life only on my memories, absent, but there are sometimes when I my associative memory makes really predictable associations, like eating with people I care about and my family.
*Sigh* Sometimes the only consolation is that, in a somewhat sweet and morbid way, my family is part of me now since I absorbed them. I also have my Noona, I should visit her once I have my maids ready.
After our meal Emma and Bucky decided to go back to their rooms for the rest of the night, and I took Jean back home.
"Hey Jean let's go! Did you bring your lightsaber?"
"Yes! I will always have it with me!"- I'm glad you're appreciating my genius now.
"Ok good!"- I said before pulling a marble with a little necklace box and showing it to her.
"Aragorn I don't think we have that sort of relationship."-She said with a shit-eating grin.
"You misguided padawan! This a P-Link to Spark, or personal link, with this, you can link to Spark, pretty self-explanatory. It's better than the smartphones that are coming out in the market. like a century or two better."- I said while showing her the necklace with a one-inch golden phoenix and a small green trilliant cut gem on its chest.
It works based on holographic projection, and it fundamentally is a supercomputer instead of a smartphone. This one was one of my original works as well.
"You can talk to Spark through it or simply tap on the gem once and you will get the interface to pop up. Among the myriad of skills Spark has, it can open portals now; so if you need to portal somewhere just ask for it and Spark will take care of it. It has a bunch of other functions so tomorrow morning before our training just ask Spark for some help with the different functions available. I will pick you up at 10 am again, please remind Kitty to come with you since we might need her help, depending on how stable you are after I attempt to remove the seals. The help of a normal mind, not Emma's, Bucky's, or mine."- She can ask Spark for a portal as well but she will probably need some time to get used to that.
"Thank you Aragorn!"- She said while taking the P-Link from my hands and chuckling a little while looking at it and having the interface pop up.
"Ok glad you liked it! Let's go"-I opened a portal and we arrived at the front door of the X-Men's mansion.
*Knock* *Knock*
We waited for a minute and the one that opened the door was Ororo.
"Hello Ms. Munroe, I bring Jean back to you!"- I can feel that most of the kids are already in their bed, but a few teenagers are up, as well as the teaching staff.
"Hello, Mr. Abner...*Sigh*... Kitty has been playing with her light stick all day long."- She said accusatorially.
"Ermmmh... I'm glad she's been having fun?"- Based on her looks it appears that that was not the correct answer.
"She cut a tree, a glass of water, and an outdoor bench and fought Scott's laser to a standstill."- Well I always wondered what would happen if you clashed a lightsaber with an energy beam, I guess that Kitty indeed is a man(?) of Culture.
"Yes?... If you want I can foot the bill for the property damage."- I mean, I bet that all of these kids broke something at least once when they were playing with the powers; so I don't feel that much guilt.
"... Never mind, Mr. Abner, she will be under your care tomorrow."- She then looked at Jean, who was laughing about our interaction.
"Did you have fun, Jean? You look happy."- She obviously wasn't happy about being made fun of.
"Sorry Teacher Ororo... Yes, I had fun, I will tell you about it later."
"Well, I have to go! I want to sleep after a long day! Good night both of you!"- I escaped that place and decided to sleep in my bed on The Halo tonight!
{A/N:
Hello Readers!
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The next one is going to be about breaking Jean's seals.
If there's enough time I will probably do a few POVs from different characters. But no promises.
Chapter rewritten on 12/26/2023}