No-One But You (The Mystic Consultant) - Part 1

Chapter 63: Headspace (Part 3)

"Ok now... hold up."

...

Easy does it. Bucky Barnes spoke out loud first, because Tony Stark suddenly disappeared and something bizarre started happening to the space around the sparring ring.

Natasha was already standing beside Bucky. She seemed ready to move in and defend herself, while Ezekiel stood in front of Victor's "friendly roommate"...

Bucky positioned himself more or less in the middle. He glanced at Clint for a moment, but then he locked his eyes back on Ezekiel.

His white armor slipped over his skin as soon as the room changed. They all knew he was looking for Tony.

Natasha suddenly changed her focus. Bucky saw her attention turn toward Ezekiel. Nat had always been the one hell bent on bringing him in, so it also felt like a duel between them was about to go down.

Natasha would lose against Ezekiel, so Bucky stood in her way.

"Tony's trying to confuse us, or whatever. So let's talk this out."

...

Clint Barton watched Ezekiel's suit as it revealed itself. He also heard Bucky, and it made him change his focus more toward the other agents that worked for S.H.I.E.L.D..

Nick Fury was, where? It seemed like he disappeared, like Tony, and the temperature in the room started warming up.

"I'm not confused. This also has Stephen Strange written all over it."

Ezekiel's quiet voice cut through the space. He could tell the situation was orchestrated by Stephen Strange, Tony Stark and possibly Steve Rogers.

The three of them pulled similar stunts while he was away, so Ezekiel started feeling cornered.

He didn't play very well when he felt cornered. Last time he felt that way, he almost broke his own arms so he could escape.

Steve Rogers saved the day last time, but that sentiment was very lost in the moment. Ezekiel also held the thought that Nick Fury's precious "blood dancer" would die if she stepped any closer toward him.

He was done.

He was already sick of S.H.I.E.L.D. and sick of seeing Natasha's face. Ezekiel wanted her dead, and everyone in the situation kinda felt it. The feeling was mutual, so the Black Widow maintained a scowl.

"Ok, well, I'm super confused. This is just supposed to be a sparring session."

Right? What the fuck? Bucky explained his side of the story, and he started looking more toward the area around them. If Stephen was involved, then cool. Bucky was good with that.

He had a great deal of trust built up with Stephen, so he figured it had to do with some sort of a grand plan.

The baby archer still seemed a bit distracted. He was looking at Bucky, but then his eyes wandered back over in Ezekiel's direction.

"This is Stephen's doing, right Barton? Ask your roommate if they've got some clever trick going on around us."

Bucky tried to get the baby archer to focus. Everyone was suddenly on edge, and the not-so-winter-soldier wasn't in the mood for a confrontation. He continued standing in front of Natasha, but she didn't like that.

Clint heard the extremely random questions. Was it Stephen's doing? Some clever trick? As if he would know. The archer inwardly thought about how he wasn't keeping tabs on Victor Strange for any reason...

He felt around a bit for his cellphone, but the archer didn't have it and the sparring gloves blocked his hands.

"Tony is the only one here."

Ezekiel spoke again because Bucky's random talk broke his concentration. He felt the presence of something called "Hoggoth" more in that moment.

Ezekiel wasn't wrong about Stephen's name being written all over the situation, but Tony was currently pulling the strings.

"Tony. Great. So what are we doing, and how do we leave?"

Bucky's tone went cold. He definitely wasn't in the mood to dance around any more of Tony's drama. He started looking around the entire group. His eyes always journeyed up, because Tony could have been floating about anywhere above them.

"Can you see anything?"

Bucky looked over at Ezekiel. He figured that the person in the fancy suit was far more useful than he was in that moment. His tech could provide an answer or two, if he felt like sharing.

Ezekiel didn't feel like sharing anything with the traitors from S.H.I.E.L.D... and he didn't stand down his defense at all.

Chapter: END

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