Vision's Crisis!

Avengers Tower, top-floor medical laboratory.

The air was so oppressive it had almost solidified.

Vision lay quietly on a specially designed medical bed. His body, made of vibranium and supposedly among the most indestructible in the universe, was trembling faintly. On his forehead, the Mind Stone shone yellow, flickering wildly at a dangerously unstable frequency.

"Hold on, Vision!"

The Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff, stood beside him with both hands extended, her eyes blazing red.

Streams of visible scarlet Chaos energy poured from her palms, forming pliant barriers around Vision as she desperately resisted a terrifying, invisible force from outside.

That force was precise, cold, and all-pervasive.

It bypassed every physical defense in the tower and ignored vibranium's hardness, acting directly on the Mind Stone itself. Like a pair of greedy hands, it tried to forcibly "gouge" the Stone out of Vision's forehead.

"Ugh... aaah!"

Vision roared in agony. Streams of data cascaded through his electronic eyes, countless warnings and error codes flooding his retinas.

[Warning: external higher-dimensional telekinetic intrusion!]

[Warning: structural tearing at the connection between intracranial biological tissue and the Stone!]

[Warning: life-support system nearing collapse!]

He could feel the Stone that had given him life, consciousness, and emotion being torn from his "soul" by a brutal force. The pain went far beyond any physical injury.

"Wanda..." he managed, his voice steeped in pain. "Stop... you'll... exhaust yourself."

"No!" Wanda's eyes filled with tears and resolve. "I won't ever let them hurt you! Never!"

She intensified her Chaos Magic, its scarlet radiance turning almost the entire laboratory red.

She remembered Sokovia, her brother, and everything she had lost. Vision was the last and only warmth she had left in this world. She would not let anyone take anything else from her!

"Oh? Still resisting?"

Ebony Maw's mocking