Fractured but Not Broken
"How do you end up like this every time you go out to fight lately?" Wanda said when she saw him in that state.
Owen was lying on a bed in the base's infirmary, surrounded by what looked like needles piercing different parts of his body. Meanwhile, Hellen, who had become the main doctor for the members of V.I.T.A.E., watched a screen showing how each fragment of Owen's bones was being guided back into place.
"Hey, you say that like it's my fault," Owen complained, making a face full of pain. As always, painkillers had no effect on him, so right now it felt like hundreds of fire ants were biting every part of his body.
"Stay still for a moment. I know we can't sedate you, but it'll hurt less if you don't move," Hellen said seriously.
"Yeah, yeah…" Owen replied, feeling like everyone seemed to be in the mood to yell at him today while he could barely handle the pain.
"How is he?" Wanda asked the doctor, shooting Owen a sharp look. Though really, this wasn't the time to keep scolding him like that.
"Mmm… he seems fairly fine. Aside from cracks in every single one of his bones, but it's strange… they're all still connected," Hellen said while watching the screen. In reality, her instruments were only repositioning a few fragments that, even if out of place, were still attached to the rest of the bone.
His bones were so fragmented that it should've been impossible for someone to stay alive… or at least be able to move.
But this was Owen.
Even so, it was still strange that the fragments held their structure in that state.
"This is quite odd," she murmured. Out of curiosity, she moved one of the instruments and slightly displaced a fragment.
The bone slid back into place.
As if it had memory.
"Could you not run experiments on my body?" Owen said, noticing what she was doing as he looked at her.
"Oh, sorry," Hellen replied, a little embarrassed by her scientific curiosity. "Can you move your arms?"
Owen raised his hands and moved them easily, though every motion sent a sharp wave of pain through him.
Hellen watched that with a faint gleam in her eyes.
"Truly as monstrous as ever… though I'm not as informed about your abilities as Banner, I can assume your body has changed again. You'll have to run some tests," she said seriously.
"But for now, it's better if you rest… again."
"Well… that's going to be difficult. There's still a lot of work with the creation of—"
"Don't worry, doctor. I'll make sure he rests… or his bones will stop being fragments and turn into soup," Wanda said suddenly, cutting him off, looking at him with a smile that clearly wasn't a smile.
Owen swallowed lightly.
"Yeah… right. I guess Tony can handle that. It'll just be a few weeks," Owen said, looking away.
"Months," Hellen corrected. "Though if we align your whole body properly, it'll probably be one or two months, considering your regeneration."
"I'll pass," Owen replied immediately. He didn't want to be stuck in bed for that long. Not even being able to move while others carried him around would be… comically awful.
"Don't worry. Tony can handle what's left. Besides, with V.I.T.A.E. declaring its dissolution, the group needs to keep a low profile so everyone believes they really retired. That way, it'll look like the only ones who can protect civilians are the heroes," Wanda said calmly.
Even if she didn't like the idea of scaring people with the thought that they would have no one to save them, it was the fastest way to make them accept the creation of the hero association.
And it wasn't like they would ignore danger.
They would just act… from the shadows.
"Aaah… I guess," Owen said, letting his head rest. Even so, he felt like he was missing something.
"By the way… what about the brats?" he asked suddenly.
"Don't worry. Nicolás will take care of Kamala. And Tony seems to enjoy annoying Peter, so I suppose he'll keep an eye on him," Wanda said with a slight smile.
"Peter and Tony?" Owen repeated, thinking as something started to click. "Ah… I see. Well, then maybe I can rest a bit. With Doctor Strange gone… I guess two stories are about to begin," he said calmly, knowing what was coming didn't really depend on him.
Suddenly, Wanda's phone started ringing.
She answered calmly.
"Emma?" she said as she listened. Her expression tightened slightly.
"T'Challa died?" she said at last, her face turning serious.
Meanwhile, Owen looked at her for a moment, just as serious.
T'Challa couldn't die now.
But then he remembered something else.
"Oh… shit. I forgot about that," he muttered, bringing a hand to his head as a sharp pain struck him. After all, T'Challa was actually very important at this point.
And if he remembered correctly… he shouldn't be dead.
But even his supposed death was about to become a huge problem right now.
Owen looked at Wanda.
But of course, he knew she wouldn't let him get involved.
"Tell Tony he needs to stall for time," he said at last, resigning himself.
"How long?" Wanda asked.
"Until T'Challa comes back from the dead," he replied, letting the doctor's machine keep working.
He had said he was going to rest.
So that's what he would do.
The world was supposed to be able to function without him…
yet every time he tried to step away, something changed.
As if the world corrected itself… but always in the worst possible way.
This time, he should be able to trust that… right?
Even so, the unease didn't go away.
Because this world worked the same…
and at the same time, different.
And that was what really bothered him.
"Tsk… just in case, send Nicolás to Wakanda," he added suddenly.
He couldn't shake the feeling of that discomfort growing.
Ever since Sentry appeared…
For some reason, he had this constant sense that something wasn't right with this world.
Because Sentry… or rather, Robert Reynolds…
also existed in this world.
And right now, he was in some kind of rehabilitation farm.
After finally finding him, they discovered something strange.
That Robert Reynolds…
was not the same Sentry they had faced before.
He was another one.
And that made no sense.