Twinkle in Sweet Repose

[The Vision]

The Vision stared, mouth agape at the woman in front of him. Next to him, Ironheart was having a similar reaction.

“Willa!” the old man cried out, struggling against his ethereal bonds, “Willa, listen to me!”

Vision glanced at Agent Ironheart, whose cheeks were already somehow stained with tears.

Floating menacingly, the woman named Willa seemed to just notice that her head was now a giant pyramid. Distressed, she gripped at the rusty, blunted edges of the pyramid, pushing it upwards as if she was trying to remove a helmet. She shrieked, the sound unhindered by the large metallic structure that replaced her head.

“Query: do you know what happened to her head?”

“No,” Ironheart mourned, “Oh God, darling...”

“Darling,” the Vision repeated, his face strife with confusion.

Ironheart looked back at the android. “This is my daughter. Or maybe was.”

The woman screamed again, and the same crimson energy surrounding the Vision and Agent Ironheart wrapped around the pyramid, trying to wrench it off. The energy shivered and trembled, which the Vision recognized as the efforts of his ex-wife using her telekinetic abilities. But the pyramid did not budge. It did not even show signs of resisting movement. It simply did not move.

But if this woman was Ironheart’s daughter...

“Agent Ironheart,” the Vision shouted, panicked, “Query: what is your name?”

“This doesn’t seem to be the time to discuss-”

“Please.”

The soldier glared at the android. “It’s Ironheart.”

“Error. Expected value: your real name.”

“Ironheart is my real name,” the old soldier replied, “My name is Magnus Ironheart.”

> ls /Documents/actor_archives/earth616/hostiles
Files found
Ultron.txt
BaronZemo.txt
...
> print(“Magneto.txt”)
Magneto
Given Name: Max
Family Name: Eisenhardt
Superhuman Abilities?: #true:: generation and control of magnetic fields

Vision skipped all of the unnecessary information, noting that “Eisenhardt” meant “Ironheart” in German. Then he found the information which he wished to confirm.

Related Files:
ProfessorXavier.txt
Cyclops.txt
...

Vision scrolled down in his head.

...
ScarletWitch.txt
> print(relation(“Magneto.txt”, “ScarletWitch.txt”)
“Magneto.txt” = biological.father(“ScarletWitch.txt”)

Agent Ironheart struggled further against his bonds. In the process, the chain-link fence behind them seemed to bend slightly, making a large bowl surrounding the soldier. The metal seemed to quiver spontaneously, but Ironheart’s brow was furrowed in concentration, an expression he had once seen on the face of...

“Expletive censored,” the Vision muttered.

The fence ripped itself out of the ground, folding as fingers do over a hand. Agent Ironheart peered around in horror.

“What the-”

“Query: how could you be doing this?”

“What do you mean?” Agent Ironheart shouted, “I’m not doing anything!”

“Query: are you a mutant?”

“A what?”

Willa Ironheart flexed her arms, then pointed her palms at the two men. She pushed the tips of her middle and ring fingers into the base of her palms, straightening her thumb along with her index and pinky fingers. This was what masters of the arcane did back in Vision’s homeworld. The android predicted this to be the sign of another magical attack.

> run “unibeam.exe”
Running...

The center of the Vision’s chest transformed once more into the arc reactor. The Vision charged whatever energy he had remaining and released it through the glowing disc, blasting Willa Ironheart backwards. The woman shrieked once more and crossed her arms, wrapping herself in a cocoon of crimson light. Then, just as quickly as she appeared, she vanished.

The Vision and Agent Ironheart collapsed to their hands and knees, their magical bonds fading. Magnus spent some time recovering, but Vision stood up almost immediately, seizing Magnus’ bulletproof jacket and shoving him against the fence.

“You’re Magneto,” the android snarled.

“What is a Magneto?” Ironheart gasped, “Unhand me!”

“You’re Magneto,” Vision repeated, “Query: have you used your abilities prior to today?”

“What abilities?” grunted Magnus.

“You can generate and control magnetic fields,” the Vision replied, “Query: have you used these abilities prior to today?”

“What are you talking-” Ironheart paused. “Are you telling me I can make magnets?”

“To the average viewer, it would appear as if you could move metal with your mind,” the Vision replied, hands still pressed against Ironheart’s chest, “As you did when under great duress from your daughter, Willia Ironheart. Query: have you used these abilities prior to today?”

“No!” Ironheart shouted, “I didn’t even know I could do this until you told me.”

> run “lie_detector.exe”
Running...
Results: #true

The Vision hesitantly released the soldier, stepping back and looking around once more. There was no sign of Willa. She must have fled after the attack.

“I can...” Ironheart gasped, “I can move metal with my mind?”

The Vision turned, watching him warily. “Perhaps.”

Magnus stood up with some effort, examining the bent and snapped fence behind him. “I did that?”

The Vision stepped back. “Perhaps.”

Ironheart glared at the Vision.

WARNING!
Magnetic anomalies detected

“Query: what are you-”

The Vision’s mouth froze mid-sentence. He tried to step back, but his legs refused to move. His body was completely frozen. The servos under his skin spun furiously to break Magnus’ control, but they too were put to a stop.

Vision watched helplessly at the furious Ironheart.

“You attacked my daughter,” he snarled. “Even if she was some sort of... scarlet witch. And then you attacked me!”

Vision felt his body lift from the ground, as if chains were tugging him skyward.

“Silent Hill has unhinged you,” Ironheart said, his face contorted into one of angry sorrow, “The safe thing to do would be to kill you, and make sure you cannot hurt anyone.”

The Vision struggled to open his mouth, but nothing save for his inner computers were operational.

“It’d be a pity killing,” Magnus muttered, “But I won’t.” The soldier leaned back. “Out of respect for you.”

He grabbed his shotgun and departed without another word. The Vision did not feel the new Magneto release his grip on the android’s body. For twenty-two minutes, the Vision floated in the air, his body unmoving.

***

On the twenty-third minute, the Vision thankfully felt his energy levels returning to normal. But the magnetic prison of Magnus was unrelenting. During this time, he examined his surroundings as much as he could while calculating his next actions.

It was a dark alleyway, puddles of rust and ash forming by the wall. The fence lay on the ground behind him, where the corpses of the canine monsters lay. Flies hovered around them. The walls on either side of the floating Vision were bricks. They were once brown-red, but time and exposure to the fog turned them a sickly grey, the color of a suffocated corpse. Mold and moisture morphed the mortar and pushed bricks from their place.

The asphalt below him was stained brown-red, as if the bricks had bled their color onto the street. Where the stains faded, it turned the same shade of grey of the walls. It glistened with wetness, the fog crawling and rolling their moisture onto the pavement. An incredibly rusty garbage can stood about 3 meters ahead on the Vision’s left side. It leaned against a wall, as if it was exhausted by standing there for years. The same grime covering the walls and floor climbed onto the back of the aluminum bin.

“Well, well, well,” a voice spoke, breaking the utter silence of the area, “If it isn’t the green boyfriend.”

The Vision couldn’t move his eyes either, but the speaker stepped into his eyeshot. It was Agent Salvador. She carried her pack and a pistol, her assault rifle slung in front of her. She wore a grim grin.

“I’m not sure what happened to you,” she continued, “But this is probably for the best.”

WARNING!
Hostile intentions detected
Origin: “Salvador.txt”

The soldier raised her pistol, fingering the trigger. “Can you speak?”

The Vision could not speak.

“Ah, well,” Salvador sighed, “I’ll find the others on my own.”

Salvador pressed the tip of her pistol against the Vision’s Solar Gem. “When I find that other machine, I hope it’ll be as easy to kill him as it was to kill you.”

The Vision wanted to squirm. His forehead tingled, the immediate danger of the gun sending signals to his instincts. But he could not move. His whole body wanted to squirm.

Salvador’s hand jerked, and a large crack resounded and echoed up and down the alley. The Vision could not close his eyes, so he saw what happened next, as Salvador did.

Salvador leaned in and examined the floating bullet wrapped in a quivering scarlet energy.

“Still got tricks up your sleeves, robot?” the soldier groaned, “Whatever. I have plenty of bullets.”

Suddenly, the bullet spun abruptly. It shot forward, embedding itself into Salvador’s forehead. The hole it left spewed blood and grey matter, flesh pouring from it. Salvador collapsed on the ground in a heap.

Willa Ironheart floated down from above, her gown still billowing in the non-existent wind. The Vision now noticed that her body seemed to be deceased. Her rotting fingernails reached forward and her rough, cold fingers caressed his face. The Vision wanted to cringe, but he was still paralyzed. Willa leaned in for a kiss, but the pyramid on her neck collided into the Vision’s nose.

Realizing again that her head was a pyramid, Willa screamed again and gripped the pyramid. She surrounded herself with crimson energy and vanished again, leaving Salvador’s corpse on the ground in front of him, eyes somehow staring at the Vision and her mouth frozen in a silent scream.

The android, too, screamed. His mouth did not.