Downtime at the Avengers Tower

[The Vision]

The Vision's room was empty. It always was, except for one lone plug that connected Vision into the Avengers mainframe. He never felt the need for furniture or clothes, though occasionally he indulged his materialistic urges. Such urges had not arisen since his arrival in the Omniverse. They were certainly the last thing on his mind now.

Frisk, with the help of Marcus, had carried the android's stiff body into the room, as per his instructions before every mission. Soon after, Marcus left for the Danger Room. Frisk hesitated, but also left to receive medical attention. Vision could repair himself naturally, even if his consciousness was somehow damaged. This was how he recovered from the Skynet attack. Luckily, his consciousness was not damaged... at least, not "physically".

Now that Vision closed the emergency programs, he had to "meditate" on several things. Meditation, he was told, was the human equivalent of data compiling, though Mr. Rand had told him meditation was significantly more difficult. Vision wasn't so sure.

A good place to begin was presumably Hellboy. Vision wished to analyze his emotional reactions to the demon's death. Obviously, it was largely due to relatability - Hellboy was ashamed and afraid of his heritage, a sentiment Vision often shared. And their conversation in Starbucks was a welcome opportunity to discuss the emotional turmoil Vision faced everyday. But his actions when Hellboy was shot were irrational and unjustifiable. These were the disadvantages of sentimentality, to be sure, one that the Vision was ready to accept and compensate for.

Nonetheless, he feared that such reactions would one day cause serious harm to the rest of his team. So the android once more delved into the memory of his interactions with Hellboy.

Unlike humans, Vision was able to sustain a memory almost perfectly, feeling everything he felt at that moment. Thus, "going down memory lane" could be several degrees more pleasant for the Vision than it was for regular humans. However, in cases such as these, it could also be several degrees more painful. He felt that as he watched Hellboy get shot once more, this time his emotional suppressors recording their data. Unfortunately, human emotion, even emulated emotion, was too complex to measure in concise data packets. The suppressors that pushed back against them, however, were very simple and measurable, and thus he used them to measure his reactions. And this time, they were going overdrive.

It was not all bad news. The chart that laid out inside his eyes demonstrated emotional stress prior to Hellboy's death, even prior to the mission on Rando Island. Though the implications were worrying, at the very least Vision now knew his mind still followed a chain of cause and effect and thus could be predicted. He replayed all of the corresponding memories. The panic and disorganization of the Pokemon rescue mission, resulting in substantial damage to the Vision. The Skynet attack, resulting in substantial damage to the Vision. And finally, the mission on Rando Island, once more resulting in substantial damage to the Vision. Not all of the damage was physical, Vision noted. He was hurt, physically and emotionally, by the inadequacy of the Avengers.

Time and time again, the Omniverse Avengers faced a threat that could have been neutralized quickly and efficiently by the Avengers-616 and nearly perished. He could not blame the individuals - the Avengers-616 were many times broken, and his current teammates were more capable than the Avengers-616 were at times. Only a few factors for this severe incompetence remained, and one of them was the Vision's leadership. Captain Rogers was an excellent leader in combat situations, but perhaps if the Vision had better foresight he could have warned Captain Rogers of the risks. Perhaps he would have realized that Frisk would inevitably engage in combat, despite being a child with a stubborn pacifist outlook. Perhaps he would have piloted the Quinjet, the plane that he not only flew regularly, but created, and piloted it in a way that Ms. Williams never could from first glance. What was he thinking? No matter how good a pilot she was (and clearly she was excellent), she needed time to learn how to pilot the plane. The Vision recounted all of these mistakes with intense guilt.

He missed Wanda. She would know what to say, even if she was an insane, genocidal and traitorous mutant. She always did.

Vision considered amplifying the power of his emotional suppressors, but decided against it.

As he reorganized these memories, he recalled the summoning of Mjolnir. It felt real. It was unlikely that Mjolnir was brought into the Omniverse, and further unlikely that the Vision was deemed worthy of Thor's power. The console archives noted a compressed file called the "AdaptoidDatabase.zip". This was presumably referring to the Super-Adaptoid.

With a mental shrug, the Vision opened the file.

He found a compilation of the various skills and talents of the Avengers that the Adaptoid gathered over the years, as well as how to emulate them with his current physical body. The sheer number of files were dizzying. He saw flashes of Dr. Banner's rage state, Agent Barton's impeccable aim, Spider-Man's customized web-shooters... Unfortunately, the slideshow of nostalgic snapshots were accompanied by a back-up personality of the original Super-Adaptoid.

"Destr-Destr-Destr-Destr-"

The Vision fought with all his might, installing the files he wanted before running the next command.

> compress "AdaptoidDatabase.dat"

The effect was a digital equivalent of shoving the evils back into Pandora's Box and struggling to lock it.

"This is my body. My mind," the android bellowed inside his head, "And you do NOT belong!"

In an explosion of sparks, the Vision unplugged from the mainframe and landed on his knees, fiery energy shivering over his skin. Edwin Jarvis was standing outside his door.

"Mr. Vision," Mr. Jarvis calmly reported, "It appears the Super-Adaptoid has arrived and is attempting to hack our database."

"Yes. That was me." 

Mr. Jarvis frowned. "Mr. Vision, if you are still inside-"

The Vision laughed. "Negative. Allow me to explain. I am the Vision..."

With a swift motion of his hand, Mjolnir once more formed in his right hand, digital blue grid-like holograms pulsing and printing the legendary hammer.

"...and I am the next Adaptoid."