Chapter 7: Dawn of Justice

[The Vision]

A red and white shield abruptly crashed in through a window, flying harmlessly through the Dementors. Captain America promptly followed the shield into the building. The shield rebounded from a wall into Bellatrix's face, then into Captain America's hand.

"What the bloody-" Harry exclaimed.

"Don't worry, son, I got you," Captain America smiled.

Harry could only think this definitely didn't happen on the night of his parents' death, so apparently this obnoxiously red, white and blue man wasn't a hallucination. Bellatrix swung the beam of light emanating from her wand at the man, who raised his shield. The clash spat sparks and bright lights, and Harry feared the room might burn.

"Vision?" Captain Rogers cried out.

Harry blinked. "I wear glasses, but I don't see how that's-"

Another man rose from the ground, this time obnoxiously green and red, arms latching onto Bellatrix's neck from behind. The figure suddenly dropped, pulling the witch down and phasing through the floor afterwards. As a result, the figure had effectively slammed Bellatrix on the floor, leaving her sprawled on her back. The witch grunted, her arm-stump twitching and spilling blood on the carpet.

The green-and-red man rose from the floor again, directly behind the blue-and-red man.

"Who are you?" Harry groaned.

"We're the Avengers, son," the shield-bearer said, "We're here to help."

Bellatrix had now recovered from the Vision's attack, waving her wand like a maniac.

"Accio!"

Captain Rogers felt his shield suddenly pulling on his arm, as if a huge magnet was pulling it in. His combat instincts from years of fighting telekinetic villains told him what to do next. He gripped the shield tighter, letting it carry his body to the summoner. He threw a spinning kick in the air, barely missing the crazed witch.

"Oh, for- Avada KedACK!"

The Vision unknowingly halted the Killing Curse, firing a laser at Bellatrix.

"Protego" the witch hollered, shielding herself from the incendiary attack.

Spitting blood, Bellatrix bellowed, "Avada Kedavra!"

Time slowed down. The familiar and dreaded green bolt fired from the wand, grasping to end the life of the next victim. Harry wanted to stop it somehow, but he was barely conscious. Captain Rogers knew something was going to happen, but unsure of what.

The Vision raised one eyebrow very slowly.

The green light washed over the Vision's body, doing absolutely nothing.

Bellatrix's eyes almost popped out in frustration. "WHAT?"

"Query: was that the Killing Curse?" Vision smirked, "Presumably only effective against living entities. Unfortunately for you, I am a highly advanced android designed to emulate the human body-"

"What he's trying to say," Captain Rogers said, swinging his shield upwards into Bellatrix's chin, "is he's a robot."

The Vision frowned. "That was quite rude, Captain Rogers."

"Was I? Sorry," the soldier grinned, "Just translating."

"Fine," the witch muttered, "Dementors!"

Captain Rogers grit his teeth and glanced around for whatever Bellatrix just called for. Suddenly, the super-soldier fell to his knee as a black ghost appeared out of nowhere and leaned in, as if to kiss him.

The Vision saw the Dementor drain the star-spangled soldier. Its hollow mouth was gulping as much of his soul as it could, and this time it was quite the feast.

Bellatrix saw the Vision being completely unaffected by the Dementors.

"You INSUFFERABLE- INCENDI-"

> open adaptoid.zip
> scan hostile_entity("Bellatrix")
Scanning...
(2) valid abilities found
wand.exe
darkmark.exe
> run "wand.exe"
Running...

In a split second, the Vision's right hand tessellated and pulsed, eventually spawning a wooden stick in his palm.

"-IO!"

"Run: Protego."

The wand emitted a faint force field, shielding the Vision from the incendiary attack.

Bellatrix snarled. "You know MAGIC!?"

"You're an excellent teacher," Vision replied, "Run: Accio."

Captain Rogers' shield flung towards him, and Vision super-densified his left fist. With one swift motion, the android smacked the shield at Bellatrix, who crumpled over the metal disc.

The Vision hovered towards the Dementor harassing Harry and tried to grab it in vain. This was to be expected.

"Run: Expecto Patronum."

Error: file not found.

The Vision turned to Harry, picked him up, and tried to pull him from the Dementor's grasp. Harry gasped and breathed shallow breaths, eyes wide in alarm.

"Show me," the android said simply.

Harry snatched the wand from the android's hand and pointed it at his assailant.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry bellowed.

An explosion of light threw the Dementor back, causing it to flee out the window. A stag chased it, galloping in the air out of the apartment. Harry, exhausted from the prolonged exposure to the Dementor, collapsed.

Vision grabbed the wand back and pointed it at the Dementor draining Cap.

"Run: Expecto Patronum."

Error: insufficient emote.114402

The Vision sighed. Of course. The Patronus Charm, according to the books, required intense happy memories. He opened his memory of being accepted into the Avengers.

"Run: Expecto Patronum."

Error: insufficient emote.114402

Captain Rogers barely had any life left, his arm wobbling under the weight of his body. Perhaps the moment when he met Captain America in the Omniverse? There was a significant amount of relief resulting from that event.

"Run: Expecto Patronum."

Error:insufficient emote.114402
Warning: power levels below 30%
Largest energy usage: AdaptoidCompensator.app
Close program?
> Decline

One more shot. Vision knew what memory he needed. Always did, perhaps, but too afraid to admit it.

***

"Then you were captured, even as I was!?"

Wanda avoided the android's gaze. Their arms were bound but this was so much less important. Her breath was shaky, and Vision registered it.

"Yes," she replied, "but it... it doesn't matter. Nothing does, as..."

Wanda raised her eyes to meet the Vision's.

"As long as you weren't harmed. I... I know that now."

The Vision felt his synthesized heart beat 2.34% faster. Programs closed to make way for a new one, which was burning through 34.56% of his CPU. Another strange and unwelcome root program caused his logic processors to crash.

"Wanda," the android struggled, "I-I-"

His proximity sensors detected a presence alarmingly close to his exoskeleton. Though the presence was that of an ally, the alarms in the android's head were blaring, leaving his ears ringing. There was... a... desire? A desire to be... be closer... the expected result? A preferable outcome? Error: unknown. Error... a good error.

In that moment, the Vision knew love.

***

Yes. His happiest memory, despite the circumstances and his initial rejection of those feelings. Wanda.

"EXPECTO!" a voice within him surged, as memories of Wanda flooded his mind.

"PATRONUM!"

With those words, the wand summoned a giant octopus, writhing in the air. It was being pushed forward by the Vision's will, pulsing as the tentacles reached forward to strangle the Dementor draining Captain Rogers. The Dementor smartly gave one glance and fled immediately.

Captain Rogers gasped for air, and Vision followed suit as he tried to repackage the memories. The soldier snatched his shield from Bellatrix's limp body and stumbled over to the android.

"So you do magic now, too?" he said amusedly.

"Negative. This was merely an emulation of-"

"I know, bud," Rogers chuckled, patting the android's shoulder, "But it was close enough."

"How?" a raspy voice growled.

The two Avengers glanced at Bellatrix, who was slowly pulling herself back up. The light-saber/wand was fizzling back into commission and the witch herself was still going.

"That much of the Kiss..." the witch gasped, "...should have KILLED you!"

"Lady..." Captain Rogers tucked his arm into the straps of his shield. "We can do this all day."

"Error: I am low on power. I cannot do this all day."

Captain Rogers gave the android an exasperated glance. "It was an expression."

The soldier stepped forward. "Alright. My turn."