Ultimate Cypher Marvel - Chapter 101

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After Jean had gone over everything about her lost time. I moved the ship into high orbit for a little while, so we could watch the sunrise coming up over the horizon.

Switching off the gravity and turning off the cabin lights, we watched the world and the greater universe from the cockpit.

As we sat there in silence and watched one of the most beautiful moments of my life, I pulled Jean close as we shared the moment.

Fighting down the urge to put on the 2001 theme song, I could feel her emotions calm as she watched the light racing across Asia and heading towards Europe.

As the world turned beneath us, the stars and the earth slowly moved below us. I mulled over contacting Atilan now.

Dismissing the idea almost straight away, it was too soon and I would need to sit down and try and figure out a few things I could bargain with.

I remember how much of a xenophobic/isolationist society they had become, stranded up there on the moon.

I was pretty sure they would want nothing to do with me unless I could bring something big to the table.

I needed to make sure they would listen to me and not attack me on sight. Mulling over a few ideas, nothing sprang to mind. They were already pretty advanced with the Kree tech base they started from. But, I seemed to remember something about them having problems with acquiring Terra Gensis crystals for their awakening.

A beep from the console broke my train of thought, showing that we needed to head back down to Earth.

Letting go of Jean, we floated back to our seats and strapped ourselves in, for the trip home. I flicked a few switches and aimed the ship toward home.

As I was landing the ship, I could see Dr. Pym and several of the scientists and engineers that had worked on the ship waiting for us as we came into land.

With a gentle bump, we landed back home. Shutting everything down, I could see Jean was still worried about the time she was losing. If I was being honest, so was I.

This was the Phoenix we were talking about; I knew how powerful it could truly be. And had no idea what could be making it act like this.

Running through a few ideas as we walked towards the exit ramp, I paused, before I lowered the ramp.

I leaned in for a kiss and reassured her that everything would be alright.

Jean slightly tensed, before she melted into the kiss, we both stood there for a minute just feeling each other’s presence.

When we separated, I could feel that her thoughts were a bit calmer, but the worry was still there bubbling away underneath. Taking her hand, I hit the button to lower the ramp, and walked to Dr Pym and the waiting scientists.

As soon as we were off the ramp, the engineers rushed onto the ship, and started running diagnostic and system checks. I couldn’t help but smile at their enthusiasm.

Pym fell in beside us as we walked towards the locker room.

“Run into any issues? ”

I shook my head. “None, she handled it like a dream. I can’t wait to take her back up. She could use a name though, bad luck for a ship not to have a name and maybe a bit of decorating in the personal areas.”

“I will be sure to put my best guys on it.” Pym said dryly.

“What about you Ms. Grey? I hope you found everything to your liking.”Dr. Pym said.

“It’s a bit cramped. I mean if it’s just the two of us, then I guess it’s fine?” I chuckled.

“I wouldn’t worry about that,”Dr. Pym said, as she regarded him curiously.

“What do you mean?”

Dr. Pym took a small device out of his pocket, which looked quite similar to a small remote, and handed it over to Jean.

“Why don’t you try pressing the red button over there? “She frowns, regarding him curiously for a moment. Not sure where he’s going with this. Looking at me and noticing my amusement, she gingerly took the remote.

Pressing the button. A flash of light filled the hanger bay for a moment. I could see Jean blinking away the spots for a moment. Trying to not burst out laughing, I could see the look of surprise on her face as she looked around the hanger bay.

The spaceship had seemingly disappeared. The engineers outside the ship cried out in surprise, alarmed by the ship’s sudden disappearance.

Dr. Pym ambles towards the ship’s previous location, bends down to pick something up, and then walks back over to us.

He opens his palm, causing Jean’s eyes to widen in surprise, as she slowly reaches out to his hand and picks up the ship, which had shrunk to the size of a match box.

“We only had it be that size, since it was just the two you. The ship can be turned into almost any size, but its molecular stability decreases the bigger it becomes. At this size, the ship is tough enough, to take a nuclear blast without any damage.”Dr. Pym said, as Jean carefully examined the shrunken spaceship.

“This is really impressive. Do you know what this could mean for the medical field? How small can you shrink things?” I could see Jean almost vibrating on the spot.

I didn’t have to guess were her thoughts were going, probably to the movie, Fantastic Voyage. It was one of her favorite old-time movies.

“Pretty small. But things tend to get dangerous, if you try and go subatomic.” He admitted.

” Why? What happens If you do?”Jean asked. Dr. Pym visibly frowned, probably remembering what happened to his wife. I fake cough, interrupting their conversation.

” We should probably get going. Kitty called and said she wanted to talk to me about something.”

Jean getting the hint dropped it. I turn towards Dr. Pym, shaking his hand with a smile.” Doctor you’ve done some incredible work here, I’ll have Sage contact you later about going over the results of the diagnostics. ”

Jean carefully handed the tiny ship back. With a smile I pulled Jean close and, with a flash we were both gone.

Clark’s Bar – Manhattan

Kitty regarded me dispassionately for a moment, then turned back to the barkeeper.

“Make it a double.”

“So…?”

Keeping her attention on the barkeep as he poured her drink, she raised her left hand towards me.

I waited patiently as the barkeep finished pouring and put the glass down in front of Kitty. She picks it up with her right hand and raises it to her lips. And tipped back the drink in one go.

She carefully puts the glass back down on the bar still looking at the empty glass, but… Her hand hadn’t gone down yet. So, I keep waiting.

Closing her eyes, I could see Kitty taking slow controlled breathes in and then holds it. One, two, three and out slowly.

Lowering her hand and turns towards me.

“Okay.”

I frown.”Should you be drinking on a school night?”

“So, are we going to talk about the fact, that you’ve been avoiding me?”She says, ignoring my question.

” I haven’t been…” I start.

She interrupts. “Doug. It’s been two months, since we’ve talked to each other. And even then, the last time we spoke was only ten minutes in between you running from one project to the next. I would barely call that a conversation.”

I sighed. “Look. I know I’ve been busy, but I’m trying to prepare for an alien invasion, you saw how bad the last one was. And that’s nothing to what’s coming next. Trust me it isn’t my idea of a good time either. ”

Kitty looked at me long and hard, I could see her mulling it over in her head. “I’m not trying to give you a hard time, but I really do miss you. We were friends before all of this craziness came into our lives. But I’m beginning to think you don’t want to be friends any more. I can tell your avoiding me. ”

My thoughts drifted back, too two months ago. It was Kitty’s birthday, and we decided to celebrate at her family’s place.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, up until Jean dragged me to the side and told me that Kitty had feelings for me.

How did she know you ask? Apparently, Jean’s empathic powers picked up on it throughout the day. She told me it was best to address it, since it could hurt my relationship with Kitty.

I kept putting it off not wanting to have that conversation, worried that it would ruin my friendship with her. In the end I realized I had stopped talking to her all together.

I was relieved when I found out her and Piotr had started dating a few weeks ago.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course, I want to remain friends. I just have a bad habit of shutting everything out, when I’m focused on a goal you know that. ”

Snorting she waved over to the barman for another shot, but I could see her relaxing into her chair. ” Yeah, I’ve noticed. ”

Grinning I sipped my beer. ” So, now that we’ve got the awkward part of the evening out of the way. How are things with you and Piotr? ”

I asked, trying to change the subject. Rolling her eyes kitty gave a deadpan look, as another drink was poured for her.” Real subtle. ”

I look at her and raise my eyebrow. ” Fine. Things have been fine. He’s really sweet, and surprisingly romantic. But he’s been busy taking care of his brother Mikael, and I don’t think he’s making much progress.”

“He’s still having issues with his memories? ” I asked.

“Yeah. He doesn’t seem to remember the last 15 years. He barely even remembers Piotr. Illyana wasn’t even born when Mikael disappeared. ”

” Is it because I…”I trail off.

“Do you mean when you shot him? ” She bluntly says. I nod.

Kitty looks thoughtful, but ends up shaking her head.” I don’t think so. There isn’t anything wrong with him physically. Jean says it’s probably dissociative amnesia. ”

” Did she try using telepathy?”I asked.

“We tried. She says he has several very strong mental blocks in his mind. Every time she tries to touch them, he has a strong reaction, and starts convulsing. She’s powerful but I don’t think she has enough experience with this sort of thing to disable them.”

“Is there anything I could do to help?”

She nods.” Whenever Mikael goes into convulsions he starts speaking in some foreign language, constantly crying out for something called Tamaria? Jean has another session with him tomorrow. I wanted to ask you to come, and observe, see if you can figure out what it means.”

I nod. ” I’ll be there. You know If Piotr or Illyana had asked, I wouldn’t have refused. ”

“It was my idea. Besides, Piotr and Illyana don’t really know how your powers work.” She admitted.

Our conversation was suddenly interrupted by my phone ringing.

“I should probably get this, I told Sophie to hold off any calls except for emergencies.”

” Doug. I just sensed a Meta activate their powers. We need to find them. I think they’re in pain, someone or something is hurting them.” Jean’s distressed voice came through the speaker.

” Do you have a location?”I asked, as I got up putting my coat on.

“Alberta, Canada. But, something is blocking me I can’t pinpoint a specific location.”She said.

“Of course, it had to be fucking Canada.”I muttered, under my breath.

“I’ll meet you there.” I said, before ending the call.

Kitty frowns.” What’s wrong?”

” Suit up. We’re going on a rescue mission. Jean sensed a Meta activate, and by the sound of it, there either being tortured or experimented on.”

I hold up my wrist. “Sophie. What can you tell me about the area Jean managed to narrow our search to?”

” There are several facilities, and possible points of interest. My records traced several facilities that belong to Roxxon Industries.”

I sighed. ” Evil Corporate Organizations are such a pain in the ass.”

Great. Those guys. Ever since that fiasco in the savage lands. I told Sophie to keep tabs on them, since if Roxxon is anything like I read about in the comics then I knew I would have to deal with them at some point. I felt it would be prudent to keep an eye on them.

“Did you manage to find anything that looks like an evil experimentation facility?”I hopefully asked.

“I have several possible locations. But, nothing definitive.”Sophie replied.

“Tell Diana to send in the stealth drones to the possible locations for recon.”

Weirdly enough, Canada is where the most of the evil laboratories, super-soldier programs, Mutant death camps, and other bad shit seemed to be located in this reality I could never figure out why everyone seemed to build them there.

The X-Gene could be activated in various ways. When going through puberty was the most common, or in times of great stress or peril, or even for no seeming reason at all. But all those ways counted as natural activations.

The only way to forcefully activate someone’s X-Gene without using Magic or some other kind of exotic energy is by putting the Mutant’s body through as much hardship as they can endure until their X-Gene activates to save their life. Which means they were being experimented on.

” Where are we heading?”Kitty asked, as we got up to leave.

” Alberta, Canda.”I said. Putting down a hundred for the drinks as we both moved out of the bar.

“Of course, it had to be Canada.” Kitty muttered, as we left the bar. I couldn’t help but laugh.

Camp Lehigh

Steve and Natasha pull up to outside an abandoned military base where they had managed to back trace the signal to.

“This is it? “Steve asked.

“The file came from these coordinates.”She confirmed.

“This is a dead end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off.” Widow said as she looked around.

Steve notices a building ahead of them that wasn’t there originally when he first came here.

“What is it?” Natasha asked, as she followed him as he walked over to the building with a frown on his face.

“Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place.”

Steve walks up to the barrack’s door and slams the edge of his shield onto the lock, shattering it. He quietly opens the door, and they slip inside.

Searching around for a minute looking for a light switch, they both quickly realized after looking about that it seemed to be an old S.H.I.E.L.D office.

“This is S.H.I.E.L.D? “Natasha asks.

“Maybe where it started.” Steve replied, as they looked around the old office.

They entered one of the offices to find an old black and white picture of Howard Stark, with Peggy Carter and Col. Chester Phillips, standing in front of this building.

” There’s Stark’s father.”

“Howard.” Steve said pointing to him.

“Who’s the girl?”Natasha asked?

Steve stares at the picture for a minute with a blank face. Natasha can see that he’s struggling with some deep feelings and says nothing as he stares at the picture.

“Someone. I broke a promise to.”Carefully putting the picture back down on the desk. They left the office.

Another five minutes searching the offices brought them both to an old bookshelf at the back of the room. Looking at the old bookcase, Steve quickly noted the slight breeze coming from behind the book case.

” If you’re already working in a secret office…” Steve said.

“Why have a secret door in it”Natasha replied, catching on to what he was saying.

Steve pushed the books shelf and it slid open to revealing an elevator behind it.

Both entering the lift, there was only one button. Steve pushed the button, and the lift smoothly went down. When the door opened again, they stepped out into an huge room full of ancient computers that stretched of out of sight.

“This can’t be the origin of the data. This technology is ancient.” Natasha said as they moved cautiously into the room.

Steve had to agree. He couldn’t always tell what technology was new or cutting-edge since it was all new to him, but dust lay inches thick on every component of this hidden computer lab, showing that it had been a long time since anyone had been here.

Everywhere, that is, except for a small row of slots that looked like they would fit the kind of flash drive they found in Fury’s apartment.

It had obviously been placed there recently, disturbing the thick layer of dust on the desktop.

After considering for a moment, Natasha plugged the flash drive in. letters and numbers started immediately scrolling across the screen in the middle of the desk: Initiate system?

“Y-E-S spells ‘yes.”Natasha, said in a robotic voice as she typed in the word. As the computer whirled to life, she smirked.

“‘Shall we play a game?’ It’s from a movie that was real pop—”

“I know, I saw it.” Steve interrupted. He was more interested in the rows upon rows of computer equipment that had just come to life, whirring and spinning.

Some kind of camera mounted on top of the computer screen slowly turned towards them.

Something vaguely resembling a face appeared on the green computer screen—two enormous, bug-like eyes and a sound wave for a mouth.

“Rogers, Steven Born 1918.” A voice with a pronounced German accent said over the loudspeaker, echoing all throughout the room.

“Romanoff, Natalia Born 1984.”

Natasha frowned.”It’s some kind of recording.”

“I am not a recording, Fraulein.”The voice said immediately.

“I may not be the man I was when the captain took me prisoner in 1945. But. I. Am.”

Dread pooled in the pit of Steve’s stomach. He knew that voice with its German accent.

He knew the face that appeared on a smaller screen to the side, much easier to distinguish than the outline on the main screen.

“You know this thing?”

Natasha asked him in a low voice. Steve began to pace around behind the computer, too restless to stay in one place.

“Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He’s been dead for years.”

“Correction, I am Swiss.” The voice sounded quite pleased with itself.

“Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972, I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My mind, however—that was worth saving. Two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain.”

Steve’s pacing took him behind the machine, where he could see the data banks that held Zola’s brain stretching into the darkness. “How did you get here?” He demanded, returning to the front of the computer. He could see the camera following his movements.

“Invited.” Zola said.

“Operation Paperclip.After World War II, S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited German scientists with strategic value.” Natasha supplied.

“They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own” Zola said.

“Hydra died with the Red Skull.”Steve said, his hands curling into fists.

“Cut off one head, two more shall take its place.”

Steve glared at the face on the screen, which had split into two.

“Prove it.” Steve said.

“Accessing archive.”Zola brought up a series of news clips to illustrate as he spoke—many of the same news clips Steve had looked up to learn what had happened since the war.

“Hydra was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded and I was recruited.”

He showed them a picture of the first S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists, with Zola smiling serenely in the background.

“The new Hydra grew, a beautiful parasite inside S.H.I.E.L.D. For seventy years, Hydra has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate…history was changed.”

“That’s impossible.”Steve could hear the fear behind the confidence in Natasha’s words.

“S.H.I.E.L.D. would have stopped you.”

“Accidents will happen.” He showed a picture of Howard Stark, his eyes blacked out. Then a picture of Fury, followed by dozens more agents from over the years that Steve didn’t know, all of them eliminated in suspicious ‘accidents.’

“Hydra created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, Hydra’s new world order—”

“Wait!” Among all of the pictures gloatingly showing them how Hydra had gotten rid of all obstacles, Steve had seen a blurry photograph of a sniper seen from a distance. A sniper with a metal arm that had a red star on the shoulder.

“That man—who is he?”

“Ahh, that is my greatest creation,” Zola said, a smug smile evident even over the old, crackly speakers.

“And it is very fitting that you should be so curious about the Winter Soldier, Captain. You see, you were his inspiration.”

His insides went cold.”What do you mean?”

“Once I discovered that Dr. Erskine’s serum was a success, I set out to recreate the serum myself. Alas, it was not a perfect copy, but I could make no more progress after the Winter Soldier. Every subject after him rejected the serum and perished mere hours after injection. So we had to preserve our Asset. We perfected cryogenic stasis, and now we only bring the Winter Soldier out when it is necessary. Unfortunately, though the serum has given the Winter Soldier strength, speed, and stamina equal to yours, what he lacks is your conviction. You and Johann Schmidt believed in your cause, and that gave you potency. Focus. Resolve. We have had to go to much trouble to give the same to our Asset.”

Steve’s mouth was dry. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer to his question, but he asked it anyway. “How?”

“Oh…brainwashing. Drugs. Physical…incentives. We have found that a combination of techniques brings about the best results.”

As he spoke, pictures flashed across the screen—chemical formulas and diagrams of what looked like a modified electric chair. Natasha glanced at him, then took over the interrogation, demanding to know what was on the drive.

Though he listened to what they were saying, Steve’s mind seemed to be stuck on that blurry image of Bucky.

In anger Steve suddenly smashed the computer screen. He couldn’t even imagine what horrors that he endured over seventy years, forced to do Hydra’s bidding. And it was all his fault.

” What’s on this drive?!”Steve shouted.

“Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm.”Zola answered.

“What kind of algorithm? What does it do?”

“The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it.”

Suddenly the doors start to close, without missing a beat Steve threw his shield trying to jam the doors open. But it was too late, and the shield bounced off the reinforced door returning to his arm.

“Steve, we got a bogey! Short range ballistic missile. twenty seconds tops.” Natasha’s panicked voice sounded out.

“Who fired it?”He asked.

“S.H.I.E.L.D.”Natasha replied with a look of surprise on her face.

“I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain. Admit it, it’s better this way. We’re both of us…out of time.” Screeched Zola.

Steve quickly scanned the room noticing a grate of some sort in the middle of the room. Grabbing Natasha he raced across the room, heaving the heavy grate to one side and dragged Natasha into the opening under the floor just as the place exploded around them.

Throwing himself on top of Natasha and covering them both with his shield, as the explosion washed over them both.

Twenty minute later STRIKE agents arrive to search the area for them. One of the agents notices a footprint in the dust leading into the forest. Opening his phone, he calls it in.

“Call in the asset. Targets are still at large.”

(Chapter End)

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Big shout out to my friend PhotoStorm Photography. He helped immensely with this chapter, and I wanted to thank him for his contributions to this chapter.

Thank you buddy, you are the best.. I really hope we keep collabing, I had so much fun writing this chapter.