Don't Own anything.
'thought'
"Speech"
"Tvs, Radios, and Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."
"Wait... so... all of the scientists were fused into a single tentacle beast with razor sharp claws that could carve into stone?!" I mutter, eyes wide as I look between Bucky and Cap. "That is..."
"Insane? Demented? Utterly impossible sounding." Bucky frowns. "Believe me. Getting grabbed by that thing had me questioning every single decision I had made in my life up to that point."
"You do realize you are talking to a man who drinks cyanide to grow stronger and can mind control snakes, right?" I frown.
"Ah. Yeah." The non-super human hums.
"I just can't really understand how commandeering a submarine managed to lead to fighting 'Giga Octopus'." I sigh as I shake my head.
"The tentacles regrew as they were cut as well... plus sometimes they split into two." Steve explains.
"Like a hydra?" I question. "Ugh. That sounds horrifying. How'd they even manage to make something like that?! There's not like a 'turn your body to goo and fuse it with others' chemical. There should be ZERO percent chance that what they did was even possible!"
I shake my head with a short huff of annoyance. "Anyways, my month was much tamer. I just spent my time curing diseases and mixing chemicals.
"Oh? Is the outbreak of malaria finally dealt with?" Steve questions.
"Dealt with as it can be." I note. "I can't really kill all mosquitos in a ten-mile radius of our trenches, sadly."
"You don't have to deal with them, right?" Bucky asks.
"Pfft. No. They take at my good looks, my charming smile and muscular figure and are all 'fuck that. I can't mess with perfection. I don't really 'get' bugs in general. They tend to give me my space."
"Ah. So, if we ever have to march through a swamp, stay with the living mosquito repellant." The brown haired man huffs in amusement as he looks to Steve. "Hey, Cap. If a mosquito manages to drink your blood, you think we'd be forced to deal with super mosquitos? Twice the size as normal and can pick up a man and fly away?"
"Now that I think about it... mosquitos don't really bother me either." The man mutters.
"Maybe you just stink." Bucky snort.
"I bet it's the fact that he can sort of just more or less walk off shots from low-caliber guns. Good luck piercing his thick hide as a mosquito."
"Hey!" Our heads turn to see Dugan running over a smile on his face like he had just won the lottery. "Cap! Dragon! Bucky!"
"Yeah, Dugan?" Steve asks.
"They've got a new flavor of MRE!" He exclaims.
"What?!" I gasp.
Bucky's eyes widen slightly. "Seriously?!"
We both stand at exactly the same time.
I look over. "It wouldn't exactly be sporting to just rush right over there. Ten second head start?"
"Does that offer extend to me?" Cap questions.
"Do you need it?" I snort. "You'd probably be finished eating by the time we get over there."
Bucky rushes off, a grin on his face.
Ten. Nine. Eight..
"Hey, Buck. We've got no missions for a while. What do you say I make you super human real quick?"
"Make me superhuman?" He echoes.
"Yeah. I noticed there's something strange about you... you were experimented on, right?" I question.
His expression dies, taking on a cold frown. "Yeah?"
"How about I make it so you are never put in that position again?" I grin. "How about... you use some of my methods to get stronger?"
"Use your methods? That Chinese punchy stuff?" He asks.
"Exactly." I nod once. "Admittedly, my methods certainly won't work for you after you awaken to step one, as you don't gain any power from consuming poisons... but it is reasonably easy to get anyone to stage one."
"So... why haven't you told the military this?" He asks.
"You want me to tell the fucking government?! Are you out of your mind?!" I gasp.
"Wh- it could save a lot of people!"
"Not everyone is a cheery goodie two shoes like cap... this is Pandora's box, Bucky." I narrow my eyes slightly, my voice losing its normal cheer. "A lot of people could get hurt by this, Buck. Even more than we'd save. Sometimes... the government doesn't have its people's best interests at heart. If you tell the army about this... the spies in the army will gain access to it. If the spies in the army get access to it... the people they work for get it. In one fell swoop... you have just made the next war... one not fought by men... but super soldiers. How does a common person even compare... it would be a genocide. And how many people would take advantage of their new strength? How many innocent people would die if they went against their new 'gods'… that is why I will not be telling you how to make this stuff... I'm just going to teach you how to harness it and give you some future pointers... after this war, I'll probably do the same with Cap, but honestly, I don't think his body can be any more 'tempered'."
"So. Are you ready to learn?" I state.
"I guess. We can be the three superpowered amigos."
"So... this Zola guy." I begin as I crouch on the edge of a snowy cliff, a frown on my face as I glare out across a chasm leading to a set of train tracks. Bucky crouches to my left, glaring through a pair of binoculars. "We capture him. Then the army does this whole 'join us' shpiel? I get that right?"
"We are in no position to question what the government says." Steve sighs.
"Well, maybe we should." I growl. "Oh, sure, let's just grab thousands of nazi scientists and bring them over. I sure hope that they don't rebuild the nazi regime in the shadows. That's suuuure be bad."
"I'm with Venom on this one, Cap." Bucky sighs. "Zola is a guy who was completely fine with human experimentation. That sort of person isn't to be trusted."
"It would be soooo easy just to kill him here and now... or it would have thirty minutes ago. Just zipline down, chop into the railway lines and bend them off the cliff?" I sigh.
"In this scenario... we need to be the better men." He begins.
"Alright, Cap." I scoff. "I'll be the better man, but in sixty years, when hydra comes back after built back up in the shadows... after it has infiltrated basically all walks of life from bartender to vice president. I am going to look you in the eyes and say, 'I told you so'."
I look to Bucky. "Buck, if you keep doing the things I told you, hell, you might even be around then."
"I'm satisfied with a normal lifespan, thanks." He replies.
"I'm not. After this damned war... I'm going on a soul-searching journey through China. See if I can find me anything interesting. I might finally ascend beyond stage one."
I let out a whistle sigh. "Y'know. I wonder how far I'll manage to go in my life. I'll certainly make it to stage two. It's only a matter of time. But after that. The world itself tends to strike you with lightning or whatever every time you try to go to the next level... and I mean that literally, Bucky. they're called Tribulations. I'll probably get to stage five fairly easily, just depends on luck, really."
"How tough would you say a level five is?" Bucky asks.
"Well, to put it into perspective... we currently live to about one hundred and twenty... a level five? They live to one thousand... and keep in mind. Stage one only gets super strength, speed, and all that jazz... stage two and beyond? They basically get superpowers. Breathing fire. Exploding punches. Energy shields. It gets a little crazy."
"Plus there's a huge gap in between the abilities of one level and the next." I continue as I tilt my head, hearing a quiet blaring horn in the distance, making use of my newly unlocked Ear Acupoint sadly, no skills unlocked here, either. "Also, if I remember correctly... all stage fives gain the ability to fly... so, there's that."
"If I had to take a guess at their strength... I'd say a stage five could fight the entirety of the US military at once and come out on top." I nod once.
"And you said you could reach that level fairly easily?" The brown haired man scoffs.
I give him a small shrug. "Train's coming. All who's coming with, get your gear ready."
I grab my zipline and crack my neck.
A red serpentine head pokes up out of my jacket, but I reach up and push her back down.
"Let's do this shit."
The train comes into view as I hop off the cliff.
I clear the chasm fairly quickly, letting go of the zipline just as the train passes underfoot.
I roll briefly along the roof, but manage to correct myself as I reach up and grab Steve's forearm as he jumps off.
He is rooted to the rooftop as my fingers tightly wrap around the edge of the roof.
I let him go as he appears to have acclimated to the sudden forwards momentum, he then turns and watches as Bucky and a fourth man, Gabe Jones land slightly further down.
Bucky quickly makes his way over to us as we hop down in between the cars.
The door in front of me slowly creaks open.
I freeze as I see something I didn't expect. On the far side of the room, three men sit around a table in the darkness... it appears that they are playing some sort of tile game.
One of them men look up with a small grin. "Xiǎng qù wán?"
Panic floods my body as I lash out with a punch.
A blade narrowly passes my shoulder as I turn my body, a fourth man appearing just in front of me, my punch narrowly deflecting his attack just enough to miss me.
It's not that he appeared... it's that I didn't notice him up until that point.
I kick forwards, but my attack is caught with one hand.
'WH-'
Steve is quick on the uptake and punches towards the man's face, but he releases me and backflips several times, showing off far more agility than someone his age should have.
Bucky lifts his pistol and squeezes off three shots towards the man, but he kicks the ground, knocking an open umbrella into the air, which he catches with his free hand, holding it out towards us with a twirl, the lead flattening against it.
"…"
"Cultivators." I lowly growl, eyes narrowing.
"You must be Venom Dragon." The umbrella wielding man notes.
My eyes stray the train car as I let out a low hum. Taking a single step forwards as I narrow my eyes. "Cap. Buck. Go around, I'll handle this."
"What?!" The brown haired man snarls.
"I'm going all out. You'll be in the way. There's probably two... no... three more of these guys on the train. Be on your guard."
"I'LL BE IN YOUR WAY?!" Bucky snarls.
Steve places a hand on his shoulder. "Bucky. He's right. Be careful Arthur."
He closes the door as I slowly walk forwards. Stopping just a short ten feet away from the man as the other men rise from the table, grasping sheathed blades from nearby as grins split their faces.
He is more powerful than I am... I can at the very least tell that. Probably a stage two cultivator.
And those three behind him? They're about on par with me.
"So. You know me... but I don't know you. It's only fair that you tell me your name before we fight, right?"
"Hn. Very well. You may call me Moon Thread. I am the leader of the Emerald Thread sect... and to send your two friends away... you are courting death, Venom Dragon."
"Oh wow. That's another checkmark on my cultivator bingo card. All I need is to discover some sort of secret heavenly demonic dragonlord divine art... then regress... and I'll get bingo!" I cup my chin. "Though, I could just as easily get bingo through 'angering a young master' and 'Mount Hua'. You. Quick. Say something about Mount Hua."
The balding man gives me a flat stare, he looks thoroughly unimpressed, he gestures back with one hand. "You all... go assist the other three. I will handle this."
I lunge forwards, hurling two little bottles forwards as I do so.
He looks as if he is going to block the two bottles, but he seems to decide that would leave him open.
I narrowly duck the lazy swipe of his blade, a few strands of my hair being sheared off and am forced to duck back as he swings his now closed umbrella upwards, the tip narrowly passing by my nose.
The wall at the far side of the train car blows up as the bottles shatter, a cloud of smoke is quickly whipped up as a few stray boxes ignite.
The tree cultivators seem mostly unharmed. A little injured, but that's it.
One of them shakes their head, letting out a weak groan as he wipes soot from his forehead.
They as a group quickly rush out of the room as I exhale deeply.
They'll probably get around one hundred feet before they die.
"It looks like your little gambit failed..." The older man condescendingly smirks.
"Damn it." I growl as I take let out another long breath.
I narrowly avoid another stab, then a slash, and finally a swat from the man's bamboo umbrella.
This fight was seemingly impossible before... but his increased range? That makes things far more difficult.
I hop back, my hand reaching into my overcoat, pulling out a simple revolver a moment later.
I squeeze off a single shot in an instant, but the man ducks to the side and blurs forwards, running along the wall for a brief moment.
The metal of the gun is irreversibly dented and cut into by his sword as I am forced to use it to block. His heel smashing into my jaw and launching me to the side.
My back roughly collides with the wall as a small hiss escapes my lips as I am bounces forwards slightly.
A lance of pain explodes from my shoulder as Moon Thread lunges forwards and pins me to the wall with his sword. It sounds like his weapon even pierces the metal behind me.
I let out a couple of panting breaths as he leans close.
"Aww... What's wrong?" He questions with a sadistic grin. "Could it be that you are out of breath? Already?"
My other arm, which had fallen limp to my side suddenly snaps upwards, like a striking viper, my knuckle cracking into his throat hard enough to force him to stagger back with a surprised gurgle, his sword being pulled free from my body.
His slip-on Chinese martial arts shoes slide on the steel floor as he rubs his throat, a cautious glare piercing into me.
I take another deep breath then slowly exhale as blood drips down my wounded arm. "What's wrong? You look winded."
His eyebrow twitches.
"YOUR DEATH WILL BE PAINFUL!" He screams
With great speed, I meet the man head on, grasping his wrist before he can complete his swipe and hammering my other hand into his stomach. The wind is knocked from his lungs as I grab his shirt and hurl him.
He bounces off the wall with a grunt, flipping briefly and landing on his feet.
He jabs the closed umbrella forwards, but I manage to catch it with my palm, staggering back from the force of the blow.
"I could have sword that you were merely a stage one cultivator..." He growls. "But you are a true master, like myself? At such an age? It's a shame... but I will be forced to remove a prodigy from this world!"
Three more slashes are avoided. I am getting more and more used to fighting at this skill level.
As he goes for a fourth attack, the combat knife that was concealed within my sleeve makes its way to my hand, with a perfectly timed parry, Moon Thread's sword is freed from his grasp. In his brief stunned silence, I manage to land an absolutely brutal open palm strike that sends my foe sliding backwards yet again.
He stares down at his now empty hand, sword stuck into some boxes a short distance away... his eyes widen abruptly at the slight shake to his fingertips.
"I..." He begins quietly. "I see."
"You have fooled me... Venom Dragon." The man frowns. "Tch. I knew you used poisons... yet.. I never imagined that you, a filthy American from that Chi-deprived continent... had managed to create something that could affect me. You have my praise... for this at the very least."
I reach into my satchel and take out a vial and drink it as he pointedly glares.
"With this... you have set me back decades." He snarls.
"If you survive at all, that is." I point out.
"Indeed." He whispers. "That is indeed a possibility... which is why... if I am going to die."
He blurs forwards, arm cocked back. "I'LL MAKE SURE THIS POISON KILLS YOU AS WELL!"
I cross my arms above my head, blocking the downwards chop. The bones in my arms creak dangerously as I spin in place and slam a kick to the gut of the man.
He takes it like a champ. Flipping back and using the momentum of my attack to kick me in the chin hard enough to lift my feet from the ground.
I bend back, placing a hand on the ground and back handspring-ing to my feet.
I dart to the side, avoiding a jumping kick and moving back to lessen the impact of a swing from the guy's clenched fist.
My own finds purchase in his lower ribs as I narrowly duck around a jumping knee-kick that would have probably broken my nose, but... that was amistake. The knife in my offhand flashes through the air, cutting deeply into the man's abdomen... but my blade cracks and snaps off before it can slide all the way through... his skin is durable.
However, this knife had been poisoned with Diablo's concentrated venom... he is already dead.
His body seems to spark and crackle with poorly contained energy.
He seems to expend all of his remaining ki in this one singular attack. Resigning himself to his fate of dying to poison.
The attack is too quick to get out of the way of completely, but I can take something that was meant for the center of my chest... to the shoulder instead.
The remainder of the power shoots past me as my bones snap and pop, the metal wall is blown outwards as I am hurled into it, and, as it fails, hurled outside.
Blood spews from my mouth as I am shunted off the train. an attack that would normally blow up my heart... now merely shattered my shoulder and damaged my left lung.
My eyes narrow slightly as I feel a weightless sensation cross my body. I fall from the cliff, my eyes nearly drifting shut as I let out a long slow breath. 'is this the end? Is this all I could amount to?'
Fuck.
If I didn't have the shittiest luck imaginable. If I had manged to start cultivating two years- no... a year earlier.
Would this outcome have been different?
I find my thoughts drawn to Steve and Bucky.
I've changed the story...
Bucky is officially superhuman... and, well... goodbye Winter Soldier.
Am I about to become the Winter Soldier?
Nothing more than a pawn for fucking hydra?
No. I will fucking survive.
My body impacts the snow and I lose consciousness.
My entire body aches. Lances of pain explode down my left arm.
My eyes crack open, revealing a cavernous ceiling. 'wh- where am I?'
I don't even dare to sit up yet.
While that potion I drank might have given me a slight healing factor. By no means should it have been able to completely heal me in the time it had left. Honestly, it probably would have been struggling to keep my lung from collapsing.
I have a few more health potions... I can use that.
I let out a small groan as I sit up, my eyes flicking around as I make sure to not move much at all.
I weakly reach down with my right hand and open my bag.
Fuck. All of the bottles are broken. The poison, potions, and other assorted chemicals mixing as one.
Luckily, I didn't have any more of that explosive elixir, otherwise I probably would have exploded as I hit the ground.
Regardless... this is bad.
I take a deep breath, even as my chest aches- wait... ki?
This area is extremely rich in natural chi... I-
I am ready to break through the mouth acupoint?!
How long was I unconscious? Where is Diablo?
I silence my wild thoughts after a moment as I consider my next course of action.
I should wait. That would mean I have to send my chi back towards my heart... and that will activate the 'Fish leaping through the dragon gate' trial... something I am in no way prepared for... if only my skin was a bit tougher... then I could have-
Wait...
Skin?
The acupoints seem to target each and every important sense and body part in my body... Eyes. Nose. Mouth. Ears. And finally Heart.
Sight, Smell, Taste, Hearing... and then heart, the heart is the origin of all of this. It transmits my blood and chi throughout my body.
But... I am missing a sense.
Touch.
Actually, I am missing more than just one thing... there are numerous vitally important things to my cultivation that I just don't have yet.
The nose Acupoint gathers chi and guides it into your body... yet the air and energy it gathers travels to the lungs, does it not?
There is no acupoint for the lungs?! Ridiculous! Then... there's the matter of the most important organ in the body... the one who makes me, well, me. The brain.
You are telling me IT has no acupoint? Ridiculous!
I can...
I can see a way.
But I am already so far along my current path... do I abandon it? Do I leave it behind and attempt this new method I have devised?
Cast aside all that I have gained throughout my life and start again at the heart Acupoint?
"…"
If I had done this from the beginning... perhaps I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.
The stronger a foundation... the taller the building can climb into the sky...
But I can't just cast aside my cultivation as I am now... I am far too frail. It is probably the only thing keeping me stable right now... to even consider doing so I would need something that could grant me tremendous energy... something-
I spy an ethereally beautiful flower perched on a ledge just a short distance away. It is black and purple in color and seems to radiate barely contained power.
Something like... that...
I slowly shimmy forwards, gritting my teeth as my body aches.
I must get that flower... once I have it... I can be reborn... and after that? I can worry about getting out of this place.
In a normal cultivator. Blood and faux chi travels from the heart, to the eyes, to the nose, then to the ears and finally to the mouth before returning down to the heart.
That, is when they will face the final challenge of the first tier... and it is at that point they will awaken their faux chi into true chi.
Item reinforcement. stepping techniques. Pill forging. Talisman creation.
That. Is where the world of cultivation truly opens up.
However... I have taken a different path.
One that feels... better. More complete.
From the heart, my chi travels upwards, collecting in my mouth. The first acupoint in my revised formation of acupoints.
My teeth harden, canines sharpen.
After that. The path of chi splits into two... both coming to a stop right behind my eyes.
My Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils reawaken. Becoming even stronger before.
Next. Brain. The two separate paths of chi stab directly into my brain... one to my left hemisphere, and the other to my right.
The first of my experimental acupoints...
The results were not quite what I expected. My mind sharpened to a razor's edge. Every breath I take causes the surroundings to shift and change. The aches in my body begin to lessen as my consciousness expands.
Next... the paths go in opposite directions. My enhanced hearing returning full force as the chi rests within my ear drums.
A mental map of the area around me is steadily being carved out the longer I sit here.
A tumbling pebble here. The gentle breeze of my breath there. Each and every change further defining the surrounding world as I sit within deep meditation.
Next, from my ears, my chi extends outwards, becoming a bunch of little threads that nourish and infuse themselves with my skin and flesh. Tempering and quenching my body like a master blacksmith would a sword. My skin becoming like the scales of a dragon... making my name even more fitting, I suppose.
Next... they all gather at my nose, then, after re-awakening my tremendous sense of smell... the energy of the consumed plant finally dies out.
I take a deep breath then exhale, rising to my feet.
There is a stiffness to my body as my hands lightly shake.
I throw a few quick jabs, my left shoulder feeling rather tight.
I prod the bones with a finger, looking over my body with a frown.
I am completely healed.
I can feel dried blood clinging to my body, so I take off my shirt and gently fold it before looking to my shoulder where I can see a small line of lighter flesh.
I scratch off my dried blood. It coming off in fairly satisfying chunks as I nod slowly.
I pause as I realize something.
'my hair...'
I reach back, wrangling my now lower-back length hair with one hand.
'what the hell? Did that plant have hair growing properties? Or...'
How long have I been down here?
"Diablo..." I call out, my throat scratchy and my voice sounding... different.
"Diablo!" I call out, louder this time.
I am on guard instantly as a large figure moves in the corner, I turn to face it, fists raised.
A large serpent slithers from the darkness. It has red and black scales that are lightly spikey, the lightly grey underbelly... the onyx black eyes...
"Diablo?" I whisper.
The serpent lets out a quiet hiss.
'holy shit.'
"You have... grown..." I observe.
"Wait... did... you carry me here?"
The snake shows surprising intellect and nods its head once.
I bow my head to her, letting out a quiet whisper. "Thank you."
"You saved my life." I continue.
I look over her new body.
She really has grown... what once was around six feet, now towers at around... perhaps twenty? How did she get this big? Carrying her around is going to become a real hassle.
As if sensing my thoughts, the snake reducing in size, returning to what she was beforehand.
I crouch down, offering out a hand. "Diablo... I know you didn't have much choice to serve me due to my eyes... but, at this moment... you have saved my life. I will free you... you are free to do as you wish. You are clearly smart enough to understand me... so I don't feel good about using my eyes on you."
I close my eyes, and with a gentle tug, it's as if a piece of myself returns.
I crack open my eyes again, staring at the serpent looking up at me. I can't read her expression, but...
She slithers up my arm, making her way up my bicep... where she then coils around my shoulders like she had been before.
I gently place my hand on the side of her head which she seems to lean into. "Thank you. It means a lot to me that you have decided to stay."
I slip my shirt back on, frowning at the hole that goes completely through the shoulder. "Let's go, Diablo... let's see just what has changed in this world."
Well, looks like Arthur has found his own way to do things. This should tilt any future conflicts into his favor.