Chapter 188: The One-Eyed Man's Speech
Magneto's helmet.
That was the answer.
Lynn silently reconstructed the design inside his mind.
Not the original version.
The original helmet had been designed specifically to interfere with powerful telepaths such as Professor X. Its electromagnetic shielding disrupted psionic intrusion but had never been intended to oppose an Infinity Stone.
Against the Mind Stone...
The original design would be insufficient.
But after replacing its structural framework with quantum electromagnetic control...
Using vibranium as the conductive substrate...
Integrating the Mind Stone's energy spectrum that Lynn had already analyzed...
And redesigning the resonance matrix from the ground up...
The result would be entirely different.
Not merely resistant.
Completely immune.
At least against the type of psionic assault Ultron had demonstrated.
Lynn mentally completed the final calculations.
The design was finished.
His eyes drifted toward Clark Kent.
Superman was still massaging his temples, the lingering neurological interference plainly visible.
A faint smile appeared on Lynn's face.
Tony noticed immediately.
"What are you smiling about?"
The smile disappeared.
"Nothing."
"I just thought of an interesting patient."
Tony narrowed his eyes.
He knew Lynn well enough to recognize when he was hiding something.
Unfortunately...
There was no point asking.
If Lynn wished to speak, he would.
If not...
No amount of questioning mattered.
Tony quietly returned to the discussion.
...
Another twenty minutes passed.
Tony.
Banner.
Bruce.
Every proposed solution reached the same conclusion.
Physical shielding failed.
Electromagnetic shielding failed.
Neural reinforcement failed.
Artificial counter-signals failed.
Every model collapsed before completion.
The room reached another dead end.
Lynn calmly drank another sip of Longjing.
Almost there.
A little more desperation...
Then the quotation becomes much easier.
Just then...
Footsteps echoed outside.
Measured.
Steady.
Authoritative.
The conference room door opened.
Nick Fury entered.
His black trench coat carried traces of rain.
His familiar eyepatch concealed the left eye.
Years spent directing S.H.I.E.L.D. operations had given him an unmistakable presence.
The atmosphere shifted.
Not lighter.
Simply...
Different.
Some people visibly relaxed.
Others frowned.
Several remained expressionless.
Fury's lone eye immediately swept across the room.
It stopped briefly in one corner.
Lynn sat there quietly with a teacup in hand.
The two men exchanged a brief look.
Fury gave a slight nod.
Lynn returned one equally small.
Nothing more needed saying.
Fury walked to the center of the room.
"I heard today's operation ended badly."
Tony looked away.
Fury ignored the reaction.
"For six months..."
"I've watched every one of you."
"I watched fear drive your decisions."
He looked directly at Tony.
"Tony feared another invasion."
"So he built Ultron."
His gaze shifted.
"Bruce feared losing control."
"So he prepared contingencies against everyone."
"The two smartest men on Earth worked together."
"And their first joint achievement..."
"...was nearly ending civilization."
Tony stopped tapping the table.
Bruce remained perfectly still.
Fury continued.
"But that's already happened."
"We don't waste time wishing yesterday had gone differently."
"What matters..."
"...is that every one of you is still sitting in this room."
"You're still thinking."
"Still planning."
"Still refusing to surrender."
He paused.
"I said something during the Battle of New York."
At that exact moment...
Lynn quietly stood.
The movement was almost silent.
He placed the teacup upon the armrest of the folding chair.
Fury noticed.
But continued speaking.
"...The Avengers Initiative was created to bring together extraordinary individuals..."
Golden sparks quietly blossomed behind Lynn.
A circular portal unfolded.
"...so they could accomplish what no one else could..."
Without interrupting anyone...
Without offering any explanation...
Lynn simply turned.
Stepped into the portal.
His white coat disappeared into the golden light.
The portal closed.
Only drifting sparks remained.
For perhaps half a second...
Fury almost stopped speaking.
His next sentence caught slightly in his throat.
Then, without changing his expression...
He continued.
"...and become something greater together."
Only his eye lingered for the briefest moment where Lynn had vanished.
Most of the room never noticed.
There were too many people present.
One quiet departure attracted little attention.
A few did notice.
Tony watched the portal disappear.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Said nothing.
Bruce observed the fading golden particles for two seconds.
Then calmly returned his attention to Fury.
Clark noticed something else entirely.
His Kryptonian senses detected the spatial distortion instantly.
The energy signature...
The dimensional folding...
Those distinctive golden magical particles...
He had encountered that exact phenomenon once before.
Metropolis.
Immediately after the masked man disappeared.
Clark's fingers tightened around the chair.
His heartbeat accelerated slightly.
He remained silent.
...
Fury continued speaking.
"We lost today."
"So what?"
"Losing isn't failure."
"Giving up after losing..."
"That's failure."
"Ultron knocked you down."
"So you stand back up."
"You adapt."
"You improve."
"And then you tear that machine apart."
His voice carried throughout the room.
He surveyed everyone again.
Tony.
Bruce.
Steve.
Thor.
Clark.
Banner.
Finally...
His gaze landed on the empty folding chair.
A half-finished cup of Longjing tea still rested there.
Steam slowly drifted upward.
Fury almost laughed.
Typical Lynn.
The moment someone started delivering an inspirational speech...
He simply left.
No interruption.
No excuse.
Just...
Gone.
Fury had long accepted one reality.
Lynn had never belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Never belonged to the Avengers.
Never belonged to anyone.
Trying to command him would accomplish nothing.
So Fury continued motivating everyone else.
...
New York.
Miracle Clinic.
Lynn stepped out of another portal.
The familiar atmosphere of the underground facility greeted him.
Precisely regulated temperature.
Controlled humidity.
The faint metallic scent produced by advanced laboratory equipment.
He placed the unfinished Longjing tea onto the laboratory counter.
Walked upstairs.
Locked the clinic entrance.
Turned the sign.
Closed.
He lowered every blind.
The television remained on.
International news filled the screen.
The BBC reported that the Sokovia crisis continued to escalate while the United Nations Security Council convened an emergency session.
CNN covered Ultron's worldwide transmission and confirmed expanding mechanical activity beyond Sokovia.
Fox News repeatedly broadcast footage of Superman being overwhelmed by the Mind Stone, fueling worldwide anxiety.
Lynn watched for several seconds.
Then switched the television off.
None of it required his attention.
He had more important work.
Another portal opened.
Its destination lay beneath western Manhattan.
The underground research facility illuminated automatically.
Laboratory District One.
Tony Stark's quantum precision fabrication platform.
Wayne Technologies' gene-analysis system.
Rows of carefully organized materials.
Every workstation exactly where Lynn preferred it.
He walked to the third storage cabinet.
Opened the third drawer.
Inside rested several vibranium alloy blanks.
Leftover material from Tony's previous equipment upgrades.
Or...
As Lynn preferred to think of them...
Borrowed indefinitely.
He selected a palm-sized piece of vibranium.
Placed it carefully upon the fabrication platform.
Then slowly closed his eyes.
The complete structure of the upgraded anti-psionic helmet emerged inside his consciousness.
Every circuit.
Every quantum resonance pathway.
Every electromagnetic lattice.
Perfectly clear.
Visit /ShiroTL for more chapters.