Chapter 320: Arc Eleven. Chapter Three-Hundred Twelve. Soul Searching

Lennox looked at Peter, at the small orange gem in his hand, and shrugged,

“I don’t know what that is.” but as he stretched out a hand to take it from Peter, Peter shook his head and moved back.

“Oh no, this is too dangerous to leave here.” Peter knew from Stephen that multiple Stones amplified and multiplied each other's powers and he had moved one of the harness tendrils down his arm and was holding the Soul Stone in a pincer of Vibranium. 

He had no idea what would happen if both stones came into contact with each other. If the Soul Stone could create mindless life, then accidentally making everything in the base not just sentient but sapient as well was a disaster waiting to happen, especially if they were all violent like the phone.

He also had no idea what would happen if he touched that with his bare skin. Vibranuim would absorb the energy, but if Lennox was right, and everyone else who touched the cube had died, would the Soul Stone kill him?

Damn, I need Stephen. Of everyone who knew about the Stones, Stephen was the only one who seemed qualified to deal with them, but handing over another stone to the Sorcerer Supreme seemed like a really bad idea, and for now, Peter would make sure it was kept safe.

Friday, he thought to himself, and he realised, Ultron was a mix of an alien program but also Max and Flint, they had sentience because of the Mind Stone, but sapience due to their two human donors. With the Soul Stone, he could make Friday a soul, and if Vision and Jocasta behaved, them as well. She would be truly alive, an artificial life form, and not just a robot with an incredibly complicated human/AI hybrid running it.

First, though, he had to get out of the dam complex and get home. He had a thought though, and swapping the Mind Stone to another Vibranium pocket he tried to connect to the power of the Soul Stone and as he did the world flashed around him. He could see the strange wisps of energy coming from Lennox, who was shouting something but as the power flowed through him his other senses began to shut off. He could see each of the soldiers around him, rushing madly, and he figured he was about to be arrested, or at least detained. It was the bright glow from one of the sidewalls that made him more curious, as it was massive but vaguely humanoid in shape, Ice Man, he thought and swapped back, gasping for breath as the power of the Soul Stone left him.

Holding up a finger Peter took a breath and let his senses envelop the base. Even without the Stone, he could feel the guards, and Lennox’s apprehension at what had just happened. and taking a proper look around he saw several guards with MP armbands. Yeah, arrested, he thought and unleashed the power of the Mind Stone. He was sure Liv and the others would forgive him for using it on such a large scale, but this was no longer experiments on dead aliens, this was inhumane torture of an unknown species.

“You won't arrest me, as the device closed by itself. You have orders to show me Ice Man, and anything else you found relating to him.” Lennox nodded. “I am to be given full access, and nobody will question me or phone for confirmation. Once I am done I will leave and you will forget I was ever here. The machine was empty, there was nothing inside and you will have no memory of an orange gem or anything called the Soul Stone”

This was wrong, if they had been creating life and then arbitrarily destroying it, it went beyond inhuman. No wonder whatever was controlling the Sentinels was angry, they had been unknowingly torturing it for what could be almost seventy years. The problem was it unknowingly? 

Nobody had taken the time to sit down and investigate what exactly they were doing. Had they broken the ice, maybe the creature would have been able to explain what had happened, and why it had an infinity stone. 

There were so many ways it could have gone wrong, but keeping it frozen and experimenting on it was definitely wrong.

Creating homicidal toys was funny, creating a larger machine based on that was stupid but was ignorance enough to excuse them? 

Peter decided that would wait until he saw this Ice Man, and what else was stored here. If he decided they deserved freedom, he would make sure they got it. He would deal with the consequences, and Coulson later.

“Take me through there,” Peter commanded and the Captain nodded, unwinding a large wheel and then pulling back on the large steel door. Two guards on either side stood to attention as the Captain unbarred the door, but Peter could see they were ready to fire if given the order. Even with the Mind Stone, he had to be careful, unless he wanted to just wipe out a day’s worth of memories and the military was too careful to let a gap that big go uninvestigated.

“We realised that Ice Man had a unique energy signature, a type of radiation we’d never seen before, and we used a satellite to scan for it. We began to collect anything with the same signal, and there were a lot of them. Seems anything from the ‘50s up could be part of the machine.” and before Peter was what looked like a parking garage. It was full of rusted and scrap vehicles, some from what looked like as far back as world war two. Jeeps, sports cars, tanks, helicopters. There was even a replica of the space shuttle.

“These all had the same energy as the Ice Man?“ and Lennox nodded,

“The energy fades though, some of them don't register anymore. We kept them contained here, but nothing we ever did registered. Even exposing them to the cube only caused the radiation to fade faster.” A chilling thought went through Peter. “We took some of them for samples, but nothing ever reacted the same way Ice Man did. They just rust and fall apart.”

Of course, they did you asshole, Peter thought, It wasn't strange energy, it was their lifeforce. 

Even humans gave off a faith bioelectrical charge, he would know as it held his cells together when he changed them, and if he was right. They had captured whatever strange living metal was used to make these vehicles and left it to die.

The Mind Stone pulsed with power, and Lennox and everyone else in the room paused. Peter had made sure nobody would stop him this time, and allowing the Mind Stone to come free he sat it on the ground and instead tapped into the power of the Soul Stone.

Lennox was right, and to his new senses, Peter could see the wisps of orange energy that filled each vehicle. Some were so faint he didn't know if they were still alive or not. As he walked through the garage he saw a strange ball of energy on the seat of one of the smaller motorcycles and as he reached out for it, it zipped forwards and through him, but as he turned it dissipated and bled into nothingness. He felt a stab in his chest, whatever these things are he had just watched one die. 

As he looked properly, only one of the vehicles still had the glowing orange ball within its frame. It was the only one, and whatever these machines were, only it had survived captivity

It was a pastel pink and white motorcycle, sleek but Peter had no idea what kind it was, even with the badge. But the orange glow pulsed faintly within the front of its chassis. Reaching forward as he touched the seat and as he ran his hand across the front of the bike he let his technopathic senses connect. 

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Peter had never been into vehicle repair, but he knew it must have an engine. It was definitely still a bike, even if it was an alien one. 

He lifted his hand in surprise though, as when he connected to it to try and find any kind of on switch, it responded,

Hunger,

He heard from the machine,

Want it so bad,

And he frowned, it was intelligent enough to construct sentences,

Driving me mad,

Peter held his hand down and found the core of the bike. He let his symbskin pour over the fuel tank and found what was a power core of some kind. And while it held the faintest of power, it was still enough that this machine was hanging on. 

With only the harness to hand, he disconnected the small reactor on the back and holding it in one hand, used the other to construct a symbcell holder over the cap for the gas can.

As the faint trickle of energy bled into the bike he heard the same faint mechanical noise from the bike as from the phone in the testing chamber and he saw the tank transform itself into a more suitable adapter. As the Arcstar pulsed the energy flowed into the bike and the orange globe in its centre began to brighten, pulsing with life.

As he stepped back the bike began to shake, and parted, moving with the strange noise, it shuddered and failed. Slowly, the front mudguard split in two, and the engine block slid down. Revealing a head, the back seat and wheel spun and split, forming two legs and the wheel deflated and folded in on itself, forming a chest. Lying on the ground, struggling to get up was a large humanoid robot. Peter noticed it seemed to be quite delicate in its features, and almost had what looked like an armoured plate over its chest, mimicking the angular curve of breasts.

Wait, is this female? He thought, shit, I hope not, considering what I just did. The robot struggled to rise, and gave up, letting its body fall, and holding its head up with a strained effort.

“Can you understand me?” he asked, and he crouched down in front of the machine. It looked at him and from the configuration of its facial features, smaller eyes, thin cheekbones and small pointed chin, yup definitely a female, “I can interface with you again, so we can talk.” but the look he got was etched into his soul. It was the standard ‘don't you dare.’

Laughing, he held up his hand, “okay, I know I know,” and he swapped out the Soul Stone and sent his power through the Mind Stone once more.

This better?

You! How do you? and the machine curled up its legs and held a hand to its chest. Help, please, I need Energon. She shuddered, and curled herself into  a ball, help, she asked weakly, 

I don't know what that is, I only have my reactor.

It helps, but it is not enough, more, dying, I need more.

Peter cursed, He had come alone, that was the condition that he even got to be here. He needed more arc reactors or a bigger one to save more of the robot creatures.

How long do I have?

The energy is enough to stave off permanent shutdown, but several systems remain in critical condition. I will not be able to transform again.

Again? But shaking his head he had more important things to worry about. 

He grabbed his phone and tapped out a message. He had thought to contact Wanda, but revealing the existence of magic to the US military was not a risk he was willing to take, even if it meant leaving the machine to suffer.

Liv, get Fury, load the quinjet with several of the largest reactors you have and get to my location ASAP, and bring clean underwear, you’re gonna love this.

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