'Inner dialogue/thoughts'
"Normal dialogue"
[System]
[Diary entries]
~ With Luke ~
"See? That wasn't too hard, was it? You're lucky you spoke up so quickly, I would have made you go through that for as long as it took to get my answers. Don't worry about dying though, I'll keep you alive just enough." Luke started.
"So, tell me, does anyone else know about Wanda and Pietro?" Luke asked. Not receiving any response from the attacker, Luke started forming swirling water spheres on his palms to appear intimidating.
"N- No, there is no contact until we have hold of the twins." The attacker replied, afraid of experiencing the same pain again.
"You're not playing me a fool, are you? You really think I'll believe that for a mission like this, you would not have sent word back that you have found the twins?" Luke intensified the sphere to test him.
At this, the attacker quickly spoke up, "I swear! It's what we were told by the higher ups!"
Hearing this response, Luke thought HYDRA, or at the very least his attacker, were fools.
'He should be telling me the truth. Being in excruciating pain is a motivating factor to not experience it again. Especially since I made it known that I could prolong that feeling for however long I wanted to.
If the attacker had informed the rest of HYDRA, then this would have been a problem. HYDRA would know the location of the twins and can send for henchmen reinforcements, or worse, Bucky himself.'
Thinking of the different scenarios that could have played out, Luke thanked his guardian angel for once again bringing luck upon him. Seeing that he was finished getting the answers he wanted, he turned back to look at the attacker, who recoiled at Luke's gaze.
"Since you've been so cooperative with me, I guess I'll let you go." Luke began with a smile, as he released the water that was holding the attacker.
Surprised at being let go, the attacker stood up and began limping away, thinking to himself to report this incident and the location of the twins as soon as he got out of sight of Luke.
However, just before he could take a second step, the attacker felt his body changing. At the first stage, the attacker had felt a sudden thirst, a thirst that was akin to an all-consuming fire. He tried to swallow his saliva but found that he could not do so.
The attacker's skin then turned loose and shrivelled, mirroring his body's sudden desperate dehydration. He felt a sudden yet agonizing pain spreading throughout his entire body. Each blink was like a stab of pain to his eyes. His muscles spasmed, twisting his limbs in knots.
A thick fog of confusion surrounded his thoughts, hallucinations dancing before his eyes with ghostly apparitions flickering at the edge of his vision. Faces and voices tormenting him.
With each breath a shallow rasp, the world began to sway to the attacker. He did not know what was happening to him, but he knew that his organs were beginning to fail. Turning around painfully, he was met with the cold gaze from Luke.
Staggering towards Luke, the attacker's legs gave out, sending him sprawling onto the ground. His world narrowed to darkness as his vision dimmed ever so quickly.
At the final stages, the attacker's body felt numb throughout. As his consciousness slipped away in his final moments, the attacker was embraced by the darkness, forever in the clutches of eternal sleep.
'Tsk. I knew it would get ugly, but to see it happen right in front of me as I dried out the fluids is disgusting.'
Luke thought as he saw the now withered shell of the attacker's body, lying motionless on the ground beneath him. The desiccation was complete, leaving a gruesome reminder of what had just happened.
As the adrenaline faded off and his simulated experience receding into the recesses of his mind, Luke felt like he was poured an ice-cold bucket by reality.
'In this world, one wrong move can lead to my instant death. Before coming here, I was a normal human being who thought the Marvel Universe was just a fictional one. And even with the simulation's assimilation, I am still actively suppressing most of it because I fear I would lose touch between what's real and what's a simulation.
But the earlier mental breakdown and tonight's assassination attempt has woken me up to reality. This is not a fictional universe, this is not even a simulation. This is the real world, where I live and breathe.
So what if I have a system? It does not make me omnipotent nor omnipresent. And my knowledge from my previous life? It can be a good guide but will certainly not qualify me as omniscient. Hell, some things are beginning to change now too.
Fury now suspects SHIELD and both Wanda and Pietro are released from the clutches of HYDRA too early. The domino effect will only keep chaining from this point forward. I have to start grounding myself to reality during my meditation sessions now.'
Luke began to walk back towards where he was first attacked while scanning the surroundings. 'It seems the attacker chose the optimum location to carry out his assassination, none of the CCTV at the main street would point towards the direction of the fight, and the area where the attacker ran towards is out of sight of the main street and into a secondary street without any CCTV coverage.
This would be convenient for me. There would be no clear evidence that can point toward me, and the only ones who would suspect me would be Fury or Natasha. And since I have no clue how to cover this up, I'll just have Fury do it for me.' Luke decided internally. He may have been a SHIELD agent, however, he was a field agent. Any cleaning up was done by the clean-up crew.
Resuming his walk back to his apartment, Luke continued planning on how to write his fourth entry.
- End of Chapter 35 -