Interlude #7 (Patreon)

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Interlude VII

Technomancer in MCU

The Asterisk

–Helen Cho–

When she first felt herself coming back to consciousness after the debacle with Alfred’s body, she found herself nearly drowning in panic when she realised that she could not feel anything in her body and feared the worst.

Then, she realised the place that she was in was the advanced regenerative nutrient solution that she had read about during her early days in the organisation. She calmed down when she recalled the fact that the nutrient solution also acted as a powerful anesthetic that helped calm the entire body down and prevent the patient from panicking inside the pod filled with liquid that could drown them.

During her time in the tube, as the doctors called it, she faded in and out of consciousness but the one thing that remained in her mind was the fact that she had survived and she had not done anything wrong by helping Alfred.

Judging by the fact that she was being looked after by the most helpful Maria Castle herself who could not stop apologizing for the huge misunderstanding that had occurred during times of high emotions it still made her chuckle, even after being out of the tube and into the mandatory observation wards.

Something like that pesky observation time stuck around, even after having surpassed every possible metric when it came to advancement in the medical field.

“Hey, are you doing alright? Once again, I am so so sorry for the way we treated you that day,” Maria said while coming into her medical room, a tray of food and medicines floating along behind her.

Her face took on an exasperated look as she took Maria’s hand into her own, “Oh, come on. I forgive you now. I understand the circumstances of that time were extremely dire and I was somehow caught in the middle of it all so while I was definitely upset that I was punished, it is behind me now, and besides, I have been duly compensated, as you very well know.”

Maria gently clapped her shoulders and said, “Oh, nonsense. That body tune-up is nothing compared to what we owe you. I don't know what was going through our minds, practically sentencing you to imprisonment without even listening to your side of the story, I am truly sorry. And don't you worry, if anything and I do mean anything like this happens again, you tell me and I’ll make it straight. Helping Alfred the way you did, you are one of us now. And don't you worry, you are next in line for the highest tier of enhancement we have now.”

Helen smiled at her repeated reassurances and after a while, finally said bitterly, “It's my spine, isn't it?”

“Wh-What?” Maria asked her nervously.

“The damage done. It is to my spine, isn't it? That is why you have me on exo skeleton support, why I am getting multiple tune-ups and enhancements without even asking even though I know for a fact that the procedures are only done on people after borderline mind raping them to ascertain their true allegiances?”

“Dr.Cho, you have to calm down. It is not as bad as you think. The exoskeleton is just a precaut-”

“I am a doctor and I have been here for over a year now and I know what the procedures are in case of advanced spinal damage. For God's sake, I wrote some of those procedures myself so stop LYING TO ME!” She took a deep breath to calm down her nerves but it was hard to do so.

When Maria didn't reply, tears gathered in her eyes as she raised her hand towards Maria, “Just give me my file and leave, please. I am not in the mood to talk. You can tell Ed that I’m done working for him. I don't want any more of my life ruined because of him and his precious son. I don't want any more favours from you people.”

Maria nodded silently and after giving her the necessary temporary clearance to access her files, left the ward silently.

Slowly, she lifted her trembling hands, trembling due to the fear of what she could find inside the file or trembling due to the damage done to her fucking spine, she was not aware and she didn’t want to find out as well, and tapped on the holo screen that had popped up in front of her with a mental ping.

Her trembling finger hovered in front of the file icon for a long while before she gathered her courage and pressed Open. Immediately, the file opened and displayed a rather long list of tests and results that had been done on her while she was asleep.

At the beginning of the result list though, was a note from Alfred of all people. Curious as to what he had to say about that, she opened it and a note popped out of the file. It read - “Dr.Cho has experienced severe genetic and mental overdraw due to the properties of enriched celestial brain fluid that was injected into her spine to help stimulate her brain to the required levels that were necessary in making my body in the reduced timeframe. Further tests show adverse effects on the soul as well. Possible remedies include the supersoldier procedure but due to the weakness of Dr.Cho’s soul, it nullifies any possible solution that would involve directly upgrading or ascending Dr.Cho as a whole. Possible solutions would be back-to-back procedures with increasing intensity to make her body and soul stronger gradually but then it is not guaranteed to return her body back to her normal lifespan. All signs indicate to Dr.Cho’s lifespan being reduced to a mere decade, even after enhancements and as such, Mystical procedures are the only option left to lengthen her life span….”

On and On it went, hundreds of logs depicting all the options along with the simulations that Alfred performed to help her body, mind, and soul heal.

“In conclusion, further research is necessary but current knowledge indicates that the Sovereign race possesses the knowledge to help Dr.Cho, and along with lost Mystic knowledge that can be found in the old hotspots of magic deep in space, Dr.Cho’s lifespan can be reversed back to her normal human one but anything beyond that remains to be the domain of either the Celestials or the Infinity Stones,” she whispered the last part, slumping back in her bed as the reality of her situation kicked in for her.

If Alfred, even in his now enhanced form, could not find out a way to cure her completely of her affliction, she didn't think that there was any way she could do anything by herself. She was very well aware of just how advanced Alfred’s current body was and what he could do with it. In her drunk-on-power state, she had glimpsed on the notes that Alfred had made in preparation for his body and if even half of that was achieved, he was probably the strongest being on the planet right now.

But, what use was that of to her? Here she was, basically crippled for life and even if by some miracle, the procedures done on her didn't drive her crazy, all that would give her were a normal human lifespan with severely limited mental capacity to do anything.

Her whole academic life turned upside down in an instant. Alfred had basically used her and pumped her with enhancing drugs without her consent, made her help him build his body and all she was left with was a destroyed nervous system and worst of all, she didn't even know what the damage to her soul was and how it affected her life. It had all gone to shit in a few days time.

Honestly, the only thing stopping her from committing suicide was the fact that she could see her reports being updated in real-time, showing Alfred still working on a cure for her. Possible solutions were being updated, simulated, and rejected by Alfred all in the span of time it took her to blink.

Huh, so maybe the bastard felt something and was working on making it right.

But after she read the preceding reports, she realised why Alfred had said that it was basically impossible to cure her without literally warping reality.

Alfred had given her some part of a celestial and temporarily sustained her body by basically attaching her to a vibranium-brain mixture machine that helped her mind make proper use of the advanced hardware she had access to and accelerate her thinking processes and while it had worked, evidenced by Alfred’s otherworldly body, it had left its marks on her brain and soul.

According to the notes Alfred had left, while it was possible to repair the physical damage done to her brain, it was not possible to do the same for her soul. It had to heal naturally and to heal the biological damage done, they needed a healthy soul.

It was a vicious cycle that would just leave her dead in the end.\

She gave a strangled laugh at that. It was just her luck, the very process of healing her would take so much time that she would be long dead before the process actually reversed any damage done to her.

Still, not all hope was lost. She could see Alfred adding a design for a machine that could harness the power of the Infinity Stones and heal her but then saw something that made her blood boil.

It was a note left by Alfred that basically indicated that doing so would not just heal her but also elevate her to the same level of lifeform as a celestial and he was not sure if it was the right thing to do.

She just wanted to rip something apart at this point.

Her life had just become numbers to be simulated and manipulated by the Almighty Alfred.

Just then, she realised something and tapped another button to activate the TV. A stereotypical TV frame sprang to life in front of her, showing the conference that Ed was taking, and while she could not see the signs of it, she was sure that the damage done to him was also not healed.

She took deep calming breaths and aided by the CHI microinjections in her body, she soon calmed down and started thinking rationally of the entire scenario.

If the same sort of soul damage that was done to her was also the cause of Ed’d condition, then there was a chance that she could be healed. Especially since she knew that Alfred would rather destroy an entire civilisation than let Ed die so if Ed lived, there was a chance that she would as well.

Secondly, even if she wanted to, where could she go? She was literally in the best place there could be and the same place hurt her to the extent of nearly killing her.

The irony was not lost on her.

The only thing she could do right now was stay put and hope that Alfred comes up with something since she could clearly see him trying. She was going to be of no help to the organisation after this as her mental faculties were clearly damaged in some ways and even if she could, she would not want to.

After what she had gone through, retirement sounded nice.

It was a good thing that Ascendency’s retirement package sounded more like something that could be given to an Ex-President and not something to be given to a researcher

At Least she would not have to worry about money ever in her life.

That was good, was the last thought that went through her mind before the drugs began working and she went back to sleep.

________________________________________________________________Word Count - 1999

A / N - It is a truly sad scenario for Dr.Cho.

In Alfred’s defense, he was not truly thinking straight and somewhere in the back of his mind, nearly everybody except a select few are just numbers and tools to him. His morals, while solid, credit to Peggy and Ancient One, can be ignored due to his single minded dedication to Ed and his purpose. So, during the phase where his emotional logic driven centers had shut down, it seemed perfectly fine to dose a regular human with literal God-blood and use her enhanced brain to make a tool that would help save his creator. It didn't even cross his mind until after he had gotten the body that he had just nearly destroyed the life of Helen Cho. And yes, over the course of the entire conference, he has been looking for a way to heal Helen and the only way he has found that will work with reasonable certainty are the Infinity Stones, which would also turn her into a being possibly stronger than even Captain Marvel and he is understandably cautious about doing that to someone who has every right to hate him and Ed.

So, well see what happens next after Ed and the others return from the conference and Ed meets Cho.

Until then, stay tuned.

Thanks for reading!

Toodles!