Chapter 7: The Anomaly's Price
The red emergency lights of Schloss Klessheim pulsed like a dying heart, casting long, distorted shadows across the central laboratory. Arthur stood his ground, the weight of Bucky's rescue still heavy in his muscles, but his focus was entirely on the man—the thing—standing before him.
Johann Schmidt didn't look like the defeated villain from the history books. He looked like a predator that had finally found a challenge worthy of his intellect.
The Face of the Enemy
"An anomaly," Schmidt's voice rasped, vibrating with a cold, intellectual curiosity. He stepped away from the Tesseract, his leather coat creaking. "Erskine always spoke of the 'perfect man.' But you... you are something else entirely. You are a ghost that has stepped out of the fog of time."
Arthur gripped his Kinetic Conductor staff, the blue sparks dancing along the metal casing. "I'm the guy who's going to make sure your name is a footnote in a history book no one wants to read, Schmidt."
[ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ]
BOSS ENCOUNTER: The Red Skull (Enhanced)
Threat Level: High
Current Objective: Prevent the Tesseract's premature extraction.
The Clash of Steel and Science
The Red Skull moved. It wasn't the clumsy charge of a soldier; it was a blur of enhanced reflexes. He drew a Luger modified with Tesseract technology, firing a bolt of pure, disintegrating energy.
Arthur threw himself to the side, the [Blackout Predator] perk kicking in. In the dim, flickering light, his agility felt boosted by the very darkness itself. He moved through the shadows of the lab equipment, closing the gap.
He lunged. The staff whistled through the air, aimed at Schmidt's neck. The Red Skull parried the blow with a combat knife forged from experimental Hydra alloys, the impact sending a shockwave through Arthur's arms.
"You fight with such desperation," Schmidt hissed, their faces inches apart. The smell of ozone and raw, skinless flesh was overpowering. "Do you truly think one man can stop the tide of the future?"
"I'm not just a man," Arthur gritted out, his [Vita-Cell Overload] beginning to hum. "I'm the Archivist."
The Divergence Spike
Arthur kicked off the wall, using the momentum to swing the staff in a wide arc, discharging a burst of bio-electricity. The explosion of blue light forced Schmidt back, but the Red Skull didn't fall. Instead, he reached for the Tesseract's housing, his eyes wild with a fanatic's light.
"If I cannot have this world," Schmidt roared, "I will burn the path to the next!"
[ SYSTEM WARNING ]
Divergence: 14.8% —> 15.2%
Critical Event Detected: The Tesseract is reacting to your Mercury Catalyst signature.
Probability of 'Temporal Fracture': 30%
The cube began to hum, a high-pitched whine that vibrated in Arthur's teeth. The air around them began to ripple. Arthur realized with a jolt of ice in his chest that by being here—by fighting this battle too early—he was pulling the Tesseract out of its fixed timeline.
"Arthur!" Steve's voice echoed from the far end of the hall. The Captain was coming back, shield raised, but he was too far.
Arthur had a choice. He could retreat and let Schmidt take the cube, preserving the core timeline but losing the war, or he could touch the cube and risk a total system collapse.
He didn't hesitate. He reached into the glowing blue light.
[ ARCHIVIST PROTOCOL: 25% REACHED ]
Initiating Emergency Sync...
The world didn't just go dark; it vanished.
Current Status:
DP Balance: 1,200 (Bonus for Boss Interaction)
New Perk Progress: Tesseract Attunement (5%)
Relationship: Steve Rogers (Brother-in-arms: 65/100 - Witnessed your sacrifice)