846/When Stones Collide

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
When Stones Collide
Date of Scene: 29 March 2020
Location: Avengers Mansion - Back Yard
Synopsis: A conversation with Vision leads to much food for thought.
Cast of Characters: Daniel Hastings, Vision




Daniel Hastings has posed:
    It's just another pleasant Sunday afternoon in New York at the Avengers mansion. It's a sunny blue sky with the pidgeons flitting about and the odd peregrine hunting them. Light reflects from skyscrapers. The sound of nearby traffic and angry cabbies filters in now and again. But that's hardly the oddest thing around. What is strange is.. there's an odd feeling.. a tingling at Vision's forehead as if something were tickling the ivories of the mindstone. That's when the air around the pool shimmers and distorts and.. then there's a fellow standing there. His head is tilted slightly with a curious look on his face as he sweeps his gaze across the back yard until his eyes settle on Vision. Then he lifts a palm, "Relax now.. I'm a friend. At least.. a friend of Captain Rogers." Still, there's a wariness about his stance and mood. He also has an accent that places him as a Brit.. or.. more like a Quebecois who lived in London.. as his rapidly processing mind would determine.

Vision has posed:
The Vision's face uncreases from slight frown into politely welcoming after a microsecond's far off gaze. He unfolds his legs and stands up from the table where he is sitting. The Crimson and black covering of his face stands out in stark contrast to his light blue dress shirt, dark slacks and loafers.

"Yes, Agent Hastings. Of SHIELD," Vision says. He walks over and holds out a hand. "I don't believe we've met. Can I offer you some tea?"

A small robot comes out of the mansion with a teacup and saucer and sets it on the table Vision just left. There is already a teapot and an untouched cup of tea steaming away.

Daniel Hastings has posed:
    As Vision seems to have accepted his presence, Daniel relaxes a little, "Ahh.. tea would be lovely. Thank you." And so the Agent walks towards the indicated table where the pot and cup are placed. "I don't believe we have either. Yet you have me at a disadvantage." He takes a moment, looking Vision over, seeming to think on things with a raise of his finger to gesture at the synthetic human. "You are.. Vision. Yes? I apologize if that took me a moment. I've been rather pressing the brain to overload of late." He offers a wan sort of smile.

Vision has posed:
Vision takes his seat and pours from the teapot into Daniel's cup. "It's a relief actually," Vision says and folds one leg over the other after putting down the teapot. "I would be concerned if I was top of the mind at SHIELD."

The yellow stone in Vision's forehead glints in the sunlight when the synthezoid's head moves and seems to have its own life dancing in its facets.

"Are you recovering from arriving in our time?" he asks, looking genuinely concerned.

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel seats himself but he does so such that he can look more directly at the AI being in front of him. The glinting stone on his forehead seems to draw his attention. "Well enough, thank you." Sitting forward, he takes up the poured cup then settles back into his chair. "I think my largest strain is finding the balance between a 31st century technology and a 21st century one. Determining where the balance lies. In a lot of instances, Stark and others have technologies that are better.. but in some ways not.. than the Kree. Cell phones for instance.. the internet.. aside from cosmetic details they function in the same way so its just a matter of learning the interface." He shrugs then sips his tea.

"At the risk of being rude.. might I ask.. what is that." Daniel lowers his cup to his lap and indicates the mind stone on Vision's forehead with his free hand. "I came to visit Captain Rogers but felt myself.. drawn to it."

Vision has posed:
"That is a sensitive question, Agent Hastings," Vision says. He seems more intent on the SHIELD agent after the question. His tea sits neglected on the table, more decoration or prop than anything. "Especially since you have encountered similar objects in the past. Should I be concerned?"

Daniel Hastings has posed:
There's a moment where Daniel rubs his thumb together with the forefinger that just pointed at the mind gem. "I.. see." He responds as if clarity has just come to him. Tapping his chin with the lifted hand, he lowers it back to his lap and lifts the other hand with the tea. "No.. I shant think so. Not intentionally. Certainly, not on my part. I have learned the lesson the hard way of.. not touching such things. Though I suppose I might survive again.. I don't know that I want to repeat the experience." Sipping his tea, he lowers the cup again, "As that is not the Tessaract.. I gather it is a twin or on a similar scale of power?"

Vision has posed:
"That is not reassuring, Agent Hastings. I think you should be less cryptic. Even at SHIELD, very few should know about the Tesseract. Perhaps you could explain, and where this is going?"

The Vision sends a priority query to SHIELD with an appropriately high classification asking if Agent Hastings is cleared to be discussing or asking about Infinity Stones. With that classification it goes very high up the food chain without stopping. "What is your experience with the Tesseract?"

Daniel Hastings has posed:
The immediate result is that Hastings was a member of the original laboratory team examining the Tessaract during the formation of SHIELD in the mid 1940s. A lab accident resulted in his making physical contact with the tessaract and immediately disappearing (presumed dead). He returned recently explaining how he'd been transported across the universe to the Andromeda galaxy where he found himself imbued with the ability to fold space and subsisting on a Kree colony world until effecting his escape. During that escape there was a mishap of his warp drive interacting with his powers and the resultant distortion of space-time placed him in 2020 at Earth.

"Going? Nowhere I would think. At least.. well let's just say I'm worried. Concerned? If there's another source of power on that scale that.. resonates differently.. and exists here.. on Earth." Daniel profers honestly. Maybe he hasn't made the connection to 'infinity stone' as yet but his profile shows him as a genius level intellect and 'infinity stone' is just a name. "If that is.. what that is.. then.. you'll find I am both impressed and deathly afraid. Not unlike if I were to be having a conversation with a fusion bomb."

Vision has posed:
The Vision's expression softens to saddened and reflexive at the same time.

"That is an interesting way of putting it," The Vision says with a slight sigh. "But accurate. The Tesseract is one of several similar objects, each with a different domain. And this is one of them," Vision confirms and taps the Mind Stone gently with one finger. He looks pensive for a moment.

"I... Share your concerns. The stones are frighteningly powerful."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Silence. At least for a moment. Daniel just breathes. "When I touched the Tessaract.. the power was unimaginable. There might have been pain for half an instant but anyone screaming from having been shot with one of Hydra's guns would have done so out of shock as their mind tried to comprehend an existence of being everywhere and nowhere all at once." He lifts the tea, drains it, and sets the cup next to the pot.

"Time.. ceased to have meaning." He continues. "I was simply a consciousness.. my particulate atoms held together by my will alone.. and that fleetingly. I saw.. creation. Stars collapsing. Forming. Birth. Death. A billion billion worlds. Species. Powers. Things that.. now.. are just flashes of visions of memories when I sleep." His eyes have drifted off to stare at nothing in particular. "Before I lost myself, I saw a planet I thought was Earth and willed myself to it. Appearing on a lakeside. Awash with vertigo. That was Kirit.. a Kree colony world." He blinks a few times and returns his attention to Vision.

"I tried to walk. Found I couldn't move my feet.. but rather the world moved around me. For two days, I struggled to find normalcy.. ravenously hungry.. drinking.. for thankfully water is still water.. and then.. the rest I'm sure you can find in my file." Daniel fell to silence then.. reaching to the pot to refill his tea. The familiarity seeming to breed comfort.

Vision has posed:
"I'm sorry for what happened to you," The Vision says gently after listening intently. "The Tesseract is more than the human mind was meant for. It may be small comfort, but it is a testament to your strength your mind held together," he adds with no small amount of respect.

The Vision waits until Daniel has poured his tea and had a moment. "Do you know what the Tesseract is?" The Vision asks. "And if not, would it help you to know?"

Daniel Hastings has posed:
"I'm told that I am a mutant." Daniel offers dryly. "That whatever my mutation is.. helped me to survive the contact. To.. mirror or mimic or absorb.. the energies that flowed through me. Or, perhaps, it was simply a matter of will and intellect that allowed me to comprehend what was happening and not lose my mind." Picking up his cup again, he looks at the tea as if it holds great mysteries. "I am a scientist, Mister Vision. A physicist. Mathematician. My whole life has been dedicated to understanding the incomprehensible." He lifts his chin to look at the being before him. "Even answers bring new questions.. but yes.. it would help. If only to allow me to better.. heal? From the shock to my psyche."

Vision has posed:
The Vision nods in something that is not pity but also not quite understanding. "The Tesseract is called an Infinity Stone. I understand they were created at the instant our universe war born, or perhaps used to create it. And then scattered. Each stone controls a facet of reality. For instance, the Tesseract is also known as the Space Stone. So while some might have a teleportation or other ability to manipulate space, the Tesseract is /the/ ability to do so. Embodied. The other stones are time, reality, power, soul, and," Vision gestures to his forehead. "Mind."

"We are among a very few to ever use or experience one of stones directly. I don't think anyone who hasn't could understand the... Vastness. Fewer could harness one like Loki," The Vision says and considers. "I think about them a lot, Agent Hastings. And I marvel at them. If there is a divine they must have more than a touch of it. But I can't help wonder if it were better they did not exist."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel sits. The revelation Vision just offered to him.. is a lot to process. The implications are profound. He sips his tea then.. holds it out for Vision to see its contents as a stream of tea appears to fill it again. His free hand indicates the pot between them with a finger. "I.. intuitively.. understood this. I say I fold space but space itself..distance.. location.. it's all just a matter of what I perceive. Limited to human concepts. Understanding. My abilities.. perhaps not so limitless as if I held it in my hand. For instance, I can travel from here to the moon.. but I can also see the moon and conceptualize it. Travelling from Kirit to Earth? By simply.. stepping there. I couldn't wrap my head around it until I was desperate and reached out anyway. While within a vehicle that was using a warp gate technology. While under fire by Kree interdiction vessels. Even if I had the variables of the latter.. the stone.. makes mathematics seem.. moot." He puts the cup down and leans back into his chair.

"It is no wonder we could barely grasp what we were seeing." Daniel offers after a moment of silence. "Is it limitless energy? Or.. were we simply drawing upon energies found elsewhere.. and in so doing.. what energy was it? Solar? Wind? Just pure kinetics? And when you draw upon such simple impetus.. do you reduce the ambient universal temperature? Or is it more specific and you cause a transport on some world unknown to cease moving for an instant and fall from the sky in defiance of all logic?" There's a small shake of his head offered. "I.. am inclined to agree with you."

Vision has posed:
The Vision smiles a bit and watches the tea appear and pour with obvious curiousity and appreciation. He nods thoughtfully while listening to Daniel explain his experience and understanding. "That is fascinating. Your perspective is so unique," he says, almost as if savouring that fact. When Daniel finishes he nods in agreement.

"I think they are more than any of those things," The Vision offers.

"I can't explain why, but I feel none of those laws or limits apply to the stones. I'm not sure if any do. Do the laws of physics apply to the power that created them? Their domain is... Absolute. I wish I had answers, Agent Hastings. I just know the stones are important. Precious. There is purpose to them, somehow."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel snorts a laugh. "Give me time, Mister Vision. You have one embedded in your forehead and have.. well.. you've had longer to come to grips than I have." There's a faint smile that comes to his face as he rises to his feet. "I'm sure you are right but.. my life has been defined by math for a very long time. Now I'm being asked to.. go back to the proverbial drawing board." He takes a deep breath. "Do please tell Captain Rogers that I came to call. I found an original Benny Goodman record that I thought he'd appreciate." He holds out his hand and an lp with a worn jacket appears in his hand that is subsequently set to the table next to the tea pot. "I ahh.. I think I'm going to walkabout a moment. As the Aussies say."

There's a silence as Daniel loses himself in thought then refocuses upon Vision, smiles, then simply ceases to be present.