Bucky enfolded him in his arms and kissed him. Drugs didn't affect Steve but now something flowed through him as if someone had injected something into his veins This was ecstasy. It was all he ever wanted, a beautiful, beautiful dream. Gold light surrounded them and nothing else mattered, not this place or these people but he and Bucky, together, shutting out the universe.
"I'll do anything you want, Steve, be anything. I'm yours." The embrace grew tighter, everything intensified when he realized what Bucky was offering. They, whoever they were, had been watching them and thought they understood their story. They assumed Steve wanted this, a Bucky willing to deny who he was for Steve's pleasure. It was a logical assumption but they didn't realize he already had what he wanted. Loving Bucky, keeping him safe and close to him was enough and all that mattered.
He pulled back. So this was how they operated. They showed you what they thought you wanted and if you gave in, they somehow absorbed you into their system.
"I can't ask you to go against what you are," Steve said. "Or do anything you wouldn't enjoy, for any reason."
Bucky vanished, replaced by Regina. An old Regina. Her face was still humanoid, but elongated, a pale red complexion, not repulsive but different enough for him to stare.
"What did you offer them?" He asked, waving a hand at the walls. "Are they still dreaming?"
"You are too good!" She said. "But no matter. You are here. We need your energy!" She reached out, grabbing his arm. He could no longer breath, his heart ceased to beat…
And he was in the room again, facing his friends. They gathered around him. The room was the same as when he left it. The golden data stream was still there, spinning around in the air.
"Steve, it is you, isn't it?" Bruce asked.
"Yes, it's me. This is strange."
"Of course it's strange. Congratulations. You're a hologram. Peter's described the control room to us. Did you see Regina?" Bruce asked. Adjusting to the sight of them was hard. His eyes didn't want to focus.
"Yes, just a minute ago. She said she needed our energy." Something passed through his mind like a shadow. "Something's in there, in my head. It's trying to take over. Why have you not brought them back?" He demanded, holding out his hands. Long streams of energy shot out only to meet with Wanda's retaliation. He was back, in the room with Regina. Gone was the young woman who reminded Steve of ancient Greece. In her place was an elderly pink skinned woman.
"You are spending energy each time you do that," Steve said. "Why not stop?"
"Why are you resisting? No one else resisted," she said. His refusal to give in was obviously a new scenario for her. Her programming wasn't able to handle this.
"We can't help you. We can't bring anyone back. I'm sorry. We can try to help you, but let these other people go.."
"It's too late. I have spent their energy."
"And after you use up our energy? What then? That's really why you brought us here, isn't it? It wasn't just about being strong enough to make the trip. You searched through your portals, bringing people here, telling them your story and they tried to help but it wasn't enough. Then you found us. We are stronger, we will live longer, we will give you more energy by simply existing. That's what you needed…"
"My people need me!" She snapped. "Why can't you understand that? I had to shut myself off from them for their own salvation. I saw you, with him. You love him. Stay here, and lose yourself in dreams."
Her eyes focused on something past him but she was looking at something in her own mind. Did she have a mind? Could she reason? Was she like a computer, unable to function outside her programming? Was she even sentient?
"Regina, the person who was Regina isn't here. You're are some kind of ghost. Let us go. We can't help you." He knew what he had to do. He had to get out of this golden bubble and back to the control room and find her. Disconnect her from the rest of the network.
He turned away from her to take stock of his immediate surroundings. The gold light surrounded him. He aimed at one spot and threw himself against it. A shock moved through his system but he quickly recovered. Another and another. Behind him, she was grabbing at him, screaming at him, but he shook her off. He concentrated on getting back to Bucky, his friends, home. He came in of his own free will and he should be able to exit the same way. Again and again, pounding against the glowing barrier until he was through. He expected to land on the floor but he stayed suspended in mid-air, held in place by pulsating bright gold cables. The network had barely started to work its way around him. Remembering how he had released Peter he tore the sensor patches away until he was free, dropping to the floor. He looked up at the huge room, with its myriad of pathways weaving around it.
"Can you hear me?" He asked.
"We can hear you!" Bruce said, relief in his voice. Steve took a long breath. His hand went right to his chest to feel for his heartbeat.
"I'm me again. I freed myself. I have to find Regina and break her free from the network but it will be almost impossible for one person alone. I need all of you to come and help me. Peter will tell you what to do."
It was an eternity before his four friends entered the room. They all looked as if they had been through a war. Steve didn't ask them what they saw. All except Peter stared agape at the height of the walls.
"This will be a little disconcerting but there are people buried underneath all that circuitry. I don't know if they are alive or not, but the person we are looking for is humanoid but with a long face and…"
"Her skin was pink!" Peter added. "And she had long hair. It was red, bright red. Wanda and I can check out what's up top." He let loose a piece of his webbing, pulling himself upward. Wanda's hands extended and with a flourish levitated to join him.
"Yes," Steve called up. "Try not to hurt them. They might still be alive."
T'Challa immediately transformed into his cat-like posture, found a foothold and climbed up the nearest wall. He stared deep into the webbing. "I will take the mid levels. It looks like there are many different species here."
"Yes. Bucky and I suspected they must have done this before."
"I don't want to call the other guy out unless it's necessary, so why don't we stay here below?" Bruce suggested. Steve nodded, and they immediately inspected the network closer to the ground. The sight of the people being used like this was revolting. Staring into their empty eyes he realized that if they were still alive, he might pull them out of a beautiful illusion.
At one point Wanda called Peter over, but he shook his head. "We found one that looks like her, but it's not!" He called out. "It doesn't look like there's that many here like that."
"Make our job a little easier. Here," Steve pointed one out to Bruce. "Like this, that's not her either," Steve said. "Hair's too short. That might be a male. I wonder if its Regulus?" Bruce stared at the being for a moment then moved onto the next panel.
It was a team effort. Peter swinging, Wanda flying, T'Challa more like a cat than ever, finding footholds in the mesh and swinging himself around. Steve and Bruce were fast, surveying one portion of the wall in less than a minute before moving on to the next.
"I would think she'd be in a central location,'' Bruce said. "We entered from that direction. She supposed to be a Queen so I would assume her throne or seat of power would be over there." He stared at the middle of the far wall then made his way across the room. Steve followed him and they looked into the system. It was deeper here. Steve's eyes focused, and he saw the glint of something buried deeper than the others. Pink skin. Eyes. He recognized them."
"Over here!" He shouted. All the team joined him and together they worked on dismantling the network to get to the person underneath. Steve, Bruce, and T'Challa pulled on the heavy cables, Peter on the smaller wires. Wanda moved things out of the way with her mind as the others pulled them away, dropping them gently to the floor, careful to not tear anything apart. Even with all of them helping the work was labor intensive. Eventually, they exposed her face.
"That's her!" Peter said. Steve nodded in confirmation.
"Let's get to work!" Steve said. "Careful. We don't want to destroy the system until we are sure if those other people are alive or not." They tore away at it, removing more large cables, then the thinner wires, moving onto the micro cables then down to the small sensors.
With the removal of the last one, her eyes came to life. She blinked, and the room flooded with light.