Twinkle in Sweet Repose

[The Vision]

Meanwhile, in Old Silent Hill, Agent Ironheart turned the corner into the alleyway where he left the Vision. A fresh arm wound colored his black uniform red.

“Now, Vision, I hope you are still-”

He looked down, and noticed Agent Salvador collapsed on the ground. Ironheart rushed to her side, checking her pulse. He stopped checking when he noticed how pale her skin was, and came to a logical conclusion when he saw the hole in her forehead.

“What did you do?” he trembled.

The Vision could not respond.

“Did you...” Ironheart stood up. “Did you kill her?”

The Vision could not respond.

“She was one of my oldest friends,” the soldier mourned, “And closest. She saved my life more times than I can count. She was a... And you... You killed her. Somehow. I froze everything-” He looked into the Vision’s eyes, his own eyes teary. “But you still killed her. You Primes are all the same. You think you’re better than us, don’t you?”

The Vision could not respond.

Agent Ironheart picked up Salvador’s pistol and pressed it against the Vision’s Solar Gem. The android once more felt the tingle of danger on his head.

The Vision could not respond.

“Show me,” Ironheart shuddered, “Show me what you did to her. Show me how you killed Joan Connor.”

The Vision could not respond.

The pistol quivered and Ironheart’s knuckles flared as he gripped the gun tightly. His lips were pressed tightly.

“You killed the one family I had left!” Ironheart shouted, tears pouring into his mouth, “You took it away from me!”

The Vision could not respond.

A crimson mist wrapped around Ironheart’s shoulders and neck. It yanked him backwards, making him float in the alleyway. Willa floated downwards once more, like a pyramid-headed and bloody guardian angel. Ironheart then seemed to fly straight into a wall, as if a strong hand was bashing his head into the bricks. The mist bashed the head many more times into the wall, recoloring the grey bricks red. His head was moving so quickly, the Vision thought he might break his neck, if not shattering his skull.

The Vision twitched a finger in horror, then in fascination. He could move his body again, now that Ironheart was being brained.

“You...” Willa Ironheart wept, speaking words for the first time, “You... took it... You... away from... me...”

Vision threw his body forward, tackling Willa Ironheart in mid-air. He increased the density of his fist to five times its previous density, then pummeled at the woman’s chest. Willa crossed her forearms. The mist this time swirled around the Vision as well. Willa shrieked again, the sound piercing the Vision’s ears. Recognizing the signs, the android tried to fly back, but the mist persisted around him. He reached a hand towards Agent Ironheart.

“Agent Ironheart!” he shouted.

Reality warped around him. Everything was red. Not the color. Every “scan” function returned the string value “red”. Every calculation returned the string value “red”. The Vision attempted to recall memories; it returned the string value “red”. Internal damage reports returned the string value “red”. Everything returned the string value “red”. Reality was gone. Only red.

After a red number of seconds, the Red awoke in red redness, his red in the red red.

Shaking off the effects of Willa’s redness, the Vision managed to make his red programs return values other than the red value “red”.

He looked around. Visual scanners still returned shades of red now and again, turning the world bizarrely crimson every few seconds. But as all of the Vision’s programs stabilized, it became clearer and clearer that Willa Ironheart had disappeared, and that he had been transported into an entirely new location.

In front of him was a large building that used to be white but had been turned green by the years. The mossy granite stretched far into the distance, beyond the fog. One block of granite displayed the words “Alchemilla Hospital.”

The Vision would have immediately moved away if a certain flash of light did not distract him. He glanced up, alarmed at the development. On the first floor, the crimson fog that enveloped Willa Ironheart was pouring around the corner, as if a vacuum was sucking it in. The Vision glared and floated through the front door.

“Ms. Ironheart?”

He looked at the lobby. The whole room was musty and smelled of rotting driftwood in seawater. There was a black marble floor, which lead around the corner. To his right, he could see a long coffee table with several magazines dating back to 1983.

“Ms. Ironheart?”

The Vision walked forward, noticing that the entire hospital seemed that it had been flooded many years ago. There were signs of rotting wood, still damp for some reason. The carpet still squelched seawater with every step. Any paper here was ruined, water having drenched it completely and washing off the ink. Figuratively holding his breath, the Vision turned the corner.

There were four corpses in the hallway. The Vision assumed, given many of the tropes in the horror genre, this would mean that the Vision had to fight some undead. What was significant was the way these corpses were splayed in the hall. They floated, as if they were underwater. The color of their burnt skin shimmered as if light was trickling through water. Their clothes and hair floated and moved rhythmically, comparable to seaweed in a strong ocean current. They appeared to have been seared by a current of the electric variant prior to their drowning.

The Vision flinched as he observed their hands and the white residue in their gripped fingers.

> scan(336,501)
Scanning...
> match(last_scan, Documents/material/Narcotics/Sugarcane.txt)
#true

The Vision stooped down and lifted one of the rotting hands, flies hovering around the fingers unceremoniously. These were the victims of Sugarcane on Rando le Terz Island. They... Perhaps they failed to evacuate the island? It would be nothing short of a miracle if every citizen had escaped, after all.

Vision stood woefully, his body unwilling to move for a few minutes. Suddenly, he heard a voice shout.

“If you come any closer to me, I’ll... I’ll... I’ll break every bone in your body!”

Another muffled voice replied.

> self.setvalue hearing.multiplier 500%

The slightest sound became painful to the Vision, but now he could hear the other voice upstairs. It was the groan of a man who could not move his jaw.

“No, I don’t want it! Leave me alone!”

> self.setvalue hearing.multiplier 100%
> self.setvalue density 10.1055%
Shifting...

The Vision kicked off with his legs, gliding upwards and straight through the floor. He warped through the concrete.

> self.setvalue density 100%
Shifting...

He felt his body regain weight and landed on his knee. Glaring at his surroundings, he blinked twice.

A man in a hospital gown was curled up in the fetal position on the moldy concrete floor. He was gripping the back of his head, terrified by his opponents despite his powerful, muscular frame. The man’s hair was unruly and long, black hair pointing every which direction in large spikes.

“No... please... no needles...”

In front of the man were two more of the corpses from downstairs, but these were moving and approaching the man. It was clear that they had hostile intentions.

> run “gazerbeam.exe”
Running...

The Vision’s eyes flared red and beams of heat burned into the undead assailants. They screamed in pain.

> self(333410).setvalue density 3000%
Shifting...

The Vision kicked forward, letting his fist fly. The heavy fist launched into the cheek of the male walking corpse, setting its head to flight.

> self(333410).setvalue density 100%
Shifting...
> run “unibeam.exe”
Running...

The center of the Vision’s chest transformed into a blue luminescent disc. After a quick whir, the arc reactor fired, blasting powerful energy at the other zombie’s chest. The zombie flew back, various limbs tearing off from whiplash.

The Vision stood up, scanning the two individuals.

> scan(for_(tag:hostiles))
Scanning...
(14) similar objects located within (30) meters.
(2) neutralized.

The Vision reached out his hand to the man lying on his side.

“Hello,” the android greeted, his cool voice hiding his nervousness, “My name is the Vision. I am here to help.”

12380 words out of 13000.
Hear about the beacon in the fog.
Opt to cooperate with the guild.
Get lost in the fog.
Find my way into the suburbs.
Get lost in the fog again.