Chapter 12: The Archivist's Cage
The sky above the Ardennes bled a sickly violet as the 'Valkyrie' containment unit hissed, its magnetic locks disengaging before it even hit the ground. Arthur didn't run; he couldn't. The Tesseract fragment in his staff was resonating with the falling canister, pinning him to the spot like a moth to a needle.
The Extraction Protocol
The canister slammed into the bridge, but there was no explosion. Instead, a wall of pressurized white light erupted, creating a localized dampening field that neutralized Arthur's [Spatial Anchor].
[ SYSTEM ALERT ]
Condition Detected: Spatial Interference (High Intensity).
Effect: Blink and Event Horizon skills are locked.
Warning: You are being synchronized with a remote laboratory frequency.
A squad of Hydra soldiers emerged from the tree line—not the usual grunts, but 'Stalkers' wearing heavy, lead-lined suits designed to resist energy signatures. They moved with a clinical, terrifying efficiency that suggested they had been trained specifically for this "anomaly."
"Arthur! Get out of there!" Steve's voice was distant, muffled by the humming field. He and Bucky were charging down the ridge, but they were hitting an invisible wall of force that rippled with every shield strike.
The New Mastermind
From the shadows of the forest, a figure stepped into the light of the containment unit. He wasn't Red Skull, and he wasn't Arnim Zola. He was younger, his face scarred by a chemical fire, wearing a lab coat reinforced with the same midnight-navy fibers Arthur had been trying to craft.
"Arthur... the Archivist," the man said, his voice amplified by a collar-mic. "I am Doctor Aris Thorne. You were supposed to be a myth—a ghost stories the Red Skull told to justify his failures. But you are far more interesting than a ghost. You are a repository of a future that has yet to be written."
Thorne raised a remote trigger. "The Skull wanted to rule the world. I simply want to edit it."
The Capture
Before Arthur could swing his staff, the containment unit's internal pulse hit 100%. The Tesseract shard in his weapon didn't fight the pull; it accepted it. Arthur felt his atoms being pulled toward the canister, his vision fracturing into a thousand different timelines.
[ DIVERGENCE WARNING ]
Divergence: 17.9% —> 20.1%
Status: The Archivist is being removed from the frontline.
"I'll see you in the lab, Arthur," Thorne whispered as the world turned into a blur of transport-light. "Don't worry about your friends. Without you, they'll be dead by Christmas."
As the light took him, the last thing Arthur saw was Steve Rogers slamming his fist against the energy barrier, his face a mask of pure, helpless rage.
Current Status:
Location: Redacted (Hydra Mobile Laboratory - 'The Needle')
DP Balance: 3,200.
Archivist Combat Shroud: 100% Complete (Auto-equipped during transport).
Equipment Status: Kinetic Conductor Staff (Locked).