บท 102: Bustling Prisoner and new library project(chapter 102)
prevously in chapter 101
Electricity crackled through the air, an ominous herald of the chaos unfolding i. Helicopter blades whirred above, their rhythmic thumping underscoring the tension below. Sirens wailed, mingling with the cacophony of an explosion that echoed nearby, casting brief, eerie illumination against the cityscape. Amidst the turmoil, a man staggered, wide-eyed and frantic, desperately pleading with those who surrounded him. "Did you see what he did?!" he gasped, his voice rising above the din. Tires screeched on rain-slicked asphalt as another man, equally breathless and frantic, stumbled forward. "Sorry. I—I'm sorry," he panted, terror etched into his every feature. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's happening to me," he pleaded, his voice cracking with desperation. "I'm just trying to get to the hospital! Please!"
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Chapter 102
Commands cut through the chaos, sharp and unyielding. "Hands in the air! Now!" barked an officer, their voice a brittle note of authority amidst the storm of sounds. "We have the alien threat surrounded," came another voice, the words clipped and efficient, crackling over the comms. "5th, between Pike and Union. He's in our sights, ma'am." Rosalind's voice, cold and commanding, responded with decisive intent. "Contain the subject. Use lethal force if necessary."
The man—Joey—shook his head in frantic denial. "Lethal force? I'm not trying to do this! I need help!" he shouted, panic escalating with each word. An officer barked another order, "Stay right there, damn it! Hands up!" Compliant but confused, Joey slowly turned, his hands raised in surrender. "Okay, okay," he breathed, his voice a mix of fear and bewilderment. Pressing his hands against the hood of a nearby car, he pleaded, "I'll do whatever you say, but please don't hurt me. Honestly, I don't know what's happening to me."
Amidst the stand-off, a call to action erupted. "Hey, wait a minute! Freeze! Get down on the ground! Get him!" Gunshots rang out, a staccato rhythm of urgency. Joey, panting and desperate, broke into a run, his feet pounding against the pavement as officers shouted in pursuit. "Hey! I spot him in the alley!" an officer shouted, eyes fixed on Joey's retreating form. Beneath them, the ground trembled ominously, a physical manifestation of the chaos that Joey's fear had unleashed.
Amidst the confusion, a woman appeared, her presence a beacon of calm amidst the storm. "Hey. What's your name? Guy, what's your name?" she asked, her voice steady and reassuring. "Joey," he replied, the word tumbling out in a rush of breath. She nodded, her demeanor one of steady assurance. "Okay, my name's Daisy," she said, meeting his gaze with unwavering certainty. "I'm with S.H.I.E.L.D., and we're here for your protection."
As more units converged on their location, Daisy spoke urgently, her voice cutting through the chaos with clarity. "Joey, stay with me, okay?! I know you're scared and your world's being turned upside down," she said, her words a lifeline in the storm. "But believe it or not, I've been through this, okay? I can help. We'll get you out of here."
Nearby, a telltale beep pierced the air, a precursor to the chaos yet to come. "It's you who made the car, the people, and the thing... You're gonna want to stand well clear of that, mate," Daisy advised, her tone pragmatic and urgent. "Didn't I tell you? I know it's a lot to take in. But right now, you have very few options and zero time, so, please, just go with it. We'll be right there with you. It's not like this day can get any crazier, right?"
But even as hope flickered in Joey's eyes, the air thickened with foreboding. From the depths of the shadows, a figure materialized, their presence shrouded in darkness. Crow 3 emerged, silent and swift, his malevolent aura a tangible force. He didn't speak, didn't pause. Instead, he raised his hands, unleashing a tide of shadows that enveloped everything in their path. The world plunged into inky darkness, all sense of direction and place lost within the suffocating shroud.
Daisy's heart pounded in her chest, the abrupt shift leaving her momentarily disoriented. "No!" she shouted, her voice a futile protest against the encroaching void. When the shadows receded, their malevolent embrace lifting, Joey was gone, vanished into the ether along with Crow 3.
"Dammit!" Daisy cursed, the words laced with frustration and helplessness. She slammed her fist against the nearest surface, the metallic clang resonating with her anger. "We lost him," she muttered, teeth clenched against the tide of emotions threatening to overwhelm her. In the distance, the city lay dark and silent, the damage wrought by Joey's uncontrolled power and the Crows' intervention a stark reminder of the world they inhabited.
The mission was another failure, the Crows one step ahead yet again. As Daisy activated her comms, her voice was tight with barely restrained frustration. "It's another bust. The Crows got him," she reported, the admission bitter on her tongue. The silence on the other end of the line was heavy, punctuated only by the crackle of static.
"Alright, head to the Playground," Phil Coulson's voice finally responded, steady and reassuring despite the setback. The directive was clear, a path forward amidst the uncertainty.
With a resigned sight, Daisy and her team made their way back to the Quinjet, its engines already whirring in preparation for departure. The sleek craft lifted off, cutting through the night sky as it carried them away from the scene of chaos and missed opportunity.
-scene change-
Back in the prison, which was now filled with several more people, Henry could be seen walking among the prisoners, each wearing shackles designed to inhibit their powers. Each prisoner was having their blood drained, while a new solution was periodically being fed to them every 50 minutes. This potion allowed them to recover their blood quickly while their blood was individually poured into flasks and labeled. This process was mostly automatic, performed by functional items, so there was no chance of the prisoners gaining any hint of control. Watching as everything went according to his plan, Henry left and went back to his hideout.
The hideout looked quite different. Some of the staff were missing, but Henry didn't seem too concerned, which meant he was okay with it. After arriving, Henry went to his workshop, where several alchemical cubes glowed yellow slightly because they contained small pieces of the Mind Stone. There were 100 of these cubes, each containing a small essence of the Mind Stone, and 56 of them had a function. The rest, however, were still not given a function. "I still need to create more luck potion before I can attempt to give them a function," he sighed as he got to work. This was a big project that he suddenly had the idea to do after he completed the mobile base project, while he was working on the new project, which was Project Library. So he got to work on that.
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A/N: Hehe, the library. Anyways, Henry's collection of prisoners is growing.
P.S.: Random thought—what do you guys think of a blacksmith (a special kind of blacksmith, of course) in the Lord of the Rings universe, especially The Rings of Power?
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