The green light was still flashing, every 1.5 seconds, like a heartbeat, or a countdown. Ye Mo knelt on the ground, blood dripping from his nose down his chin, leaving dark red dots on the concrete. His vision blurred, his ears rang, and the red-hot wire in his mind tightened more and more. Captain America's hand was still outstretched, only ten centimeters from Bucky's face. The long blade hovered, not falling. Emma Frost knelt on one knee, a crack appearing in the Diamond Form on her right arm, cold sweat streaming down her forehead.
Just then, Ye Mo saw it— Bucky blinked twice.
It's not the kind of mechanical blinking that's programmed; it's the kind of blinking that a person does, the kind that involves a bit of struggle and hesitation.
"He can still hear," Ye Mo squeezed out through gritted teeth, his voice hoarse.
He braced himself with his left hand and slammed his right hand on the ground, as if pulled back from the brink of collapse. The moment his palm hit the ground, a surge of heat shot up his spine and rushed to his head. He gritted his teeth and growled, "System! Now is not the time to play dead!"
A cold, robotic voice echoed in his mind, "Immediate life-threatening situation detected. Permission granted to activate the unnamed ability at the 9th level of the Gene Spiral Tower —'Wide -Wide-Area Force Field Generation '."
"Damn, finally you're willing to give me something?" Ye Mo breathed a sigh of relief, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You should have said so earlier, I was almost done for."
As soon as he finished speaking, a ring of transparent ripples exploded from his palm, rapidly expanding in a hemispherical shape and emitting a low-frequency hum. When the shield swept past Emma Frost, the freezing net on her body snapped open, as if it had hit an invisible wall; when it swept past Captain America, the alloy longsword suspended in the air was blocked, unable to advance any further. The entire central area of the power distribution room was enveloped, with Ye Mo, Emma Frost, and Captain America: Civil War all inside, along with the half-collapsed partition wall and scattered cable debris next to them.
The three tactical units outside reacted extremely quickly, immediately focusing their fire. Electromagnetic pulse guns blasted at the shield, concussion bats slammed down, and the freezing net was thrown out again—but all of them were blocked. Ripples of energy spread across the surface of the shield, causing it to tremble slightly, but it didn't break. The EMPs were deflected, hitting the side wall and sending sparks flying; the Shockwave were absorbed, only causing the shield to shake twice; the freezing net was bounced off the edge as soon as it touched the edge, hanging on the exposed steel bars of the ceiling, dripping ice crystals.
The enemy stopped fighting and stood outside staring at the invisible shell, clearly stunned.
Ye Mo ignored them, looking down at his hands, which were trembling violently. Cold sweat streamed down his forehead, his temples throbbed, and his vision began to blur at the edges. Leaning against the wall, he slowly slid down to the ground, muttering, "Three minutes? Ten minutes? System, give me a definite time."
"Are you still holding on?" Emma Frost staggered over, her right shoulder once again covered in Diamond Form, her movements still a little stiff.
Ye Mo smiled wryly, "The system said this thing can only last three minutes—that's what I said."
Emma Frost glanced at him but didn't call him out. She knew that this guy always used the system as a shield when he got nervous, just like last time in the underground of Wakanda, saying "the system told me not to move," but then he was the first to rush in.
She stood to the left of the shield, her back against the wall, her gaze sweeping outside. Three tactical units were repositioning themselves; one had taken two steps back, seemingly making contact with someone. The Winter Soldier remained still, her robotic arm dangling, the red frame flashing in sync with the green light on the UPS mainframe, lighting up once every 1.5 seconds.
"He just stopped." Captain America walked over, his voice low, but his eyes remained fixed on Bucky. "It wasn't a program glitch; he stopped on his own."
"I saw it too." Ye Mo wiped the blood from his nose and looked up. "He heard you call his name, and his consciousness wavered. The problem is, these people are spamming the screen with signals, forcibly suppressing his spontaneous reactions."
"Then cut off the signal," Emma Frost said.
"Easier said than done." Ye Mo shook his head. "The UPS main unit is outside. If the shield is deactivated, the three of us will immediately become sitting ducks. And..." He paused, "In my current state, if the shield is activated again, I might just die on the spot."
The three of them were silent for a moment.
It was eerily quiet outside. The tactical units stopped attacking, as if waiting for orders. The Winter Soldier stood still, but the flashing rhythm of the red rim around his left eye changed, from a regular 1.5 seconds to fluctuating speed, as if the signal was unstable.
"He's struggling," Captain America suddenly said.
Ye Mo squinted and looked. "It's not him, it's the programs fighting. The external control signals and his own memory data are conflicting."
"So if we can just give him a little more time, a little more time to hear reality clearly..." Emma Frost continued.
"We'll have to rely on this shell to hold it together." Ye Mo patted the inner wall of the shield, feeling a slight vibration in his palm. "Alright, I'll continue installing the humanoid power bank. You two discuss tactics, I'll just listen."
Captain America nodded, moved closer to the center, and lowered his voice. "We can't go all out next. Once Bucky completely loses control, his attack patterns will escalate. What we need to do now is remind him who he is."
"Are you going to shout something?" Emma Frost asked.
"Not only." Captain America's eyes darkened. "I want him to see things—things he recognizes, childhood photos, the old streets of Brooklyn, that run-down coffee shop we used to drink at... These memories are more powerful than any words."
"The problem is how to get it in," Ye Mo interjected. "It's not a cell phone; we can't remotely push photos from the album."
"You can," Emma Frost, looking at Ye Mo. "You have Telepathy. Although you suffered a backlash before, if you only transmit images and don't delve into the level of consciousness, the risk will be much smaller."
Ye Mo frowned. "Theoretically, it's feasible. But my mental energy bar is almost depleted right now, and I might accidentally kill myself in one fell swoop."
"Then don't move," Captain America said. "Let's stabilize the situation first. When the signal fluctuates, that's our opportunity."
As we were talking, the green light on the UPS suddenly paused—the rapid 1.5-second interval became 2.3 seconds, the interval lengthened, as if the power supply was unstable.
Outside the shield, the Winter Soldier's body swayed slightly, and his mechanical arm twitched for half a second.
"It's here!" Ye Mo whispered, "The signal was interrupted for 0.8 seconds, that's the gap!"
Emma Frost immediately focused her mind, constructing a mental network to scan the surrounding enemy movements. Two of the three tactical units began moving towards the main unit, seemingly to check the wiring. The Winter Soldier stood still; the red frame went out for a few seconds, and when it lit up again, the flashing frequency became erratic.
"Now." Captain America took a deep breath, took two steps forward, and looked at Bucky through the shield. " Bucky, look closely, it's me, Steve Rogers. We enlisted in Brooklyn in 1943, and you laughed at me for being skinny like a stick in your ill-fitting uniform. Later, you took a bullet for me in the trench, your shoulder was pierced, and I still called you stupid."
As he spoke, he pulled an old photograph from his pocket and tucked it into the edge of the shield, making sure Bucky could see it.
The photo shows two young soldiers standing in front of the barracks, smiling and making peace signs. One is tall and thin, the other is muscular, and the background is a faded American flag.
The Winter Soldier tilted his head slightly.
"Do you remember?" Captain America's voice was hoarse. "You said that after the war, we'd open a restaurant together, you'd make pancakes and I'd serve the food. You said you hated rainy days because when you were a kid, you didn't have an umbrella and always got soaked on the way home and caught a fever..."
Watching this scene, Ye Mo quietly mobilized his remaining spiritual energy, preparing to provide support at any moment. Emma Frost stood beside him and whispered, "Are you going to join in?"
"Wait until his eyes are truly focused," Ye Mo, staring into Bucky's eyes. "Right now, the program is in control; intervening rashly could backfire."
Before the words were finished, the red frame around the Winter Soldier suddenly went out for a moment.
Then, he slowly raised his left hand, not in an attacking stance, but... as if he wanted to touch the photograph.
Captain America's eyes welled up with tears, and his voice softened even more. " Bucky... come back."
Inside the shield, the three held their breath.
Outside the shield, the Winter Soldier's hand froze in mid-air, his fingertips trembling slightly.
The green light on the UPS main unit suddenly flashed wildly, the frequency dropping sharply to once every 0.8 seconds, accompanied by a piercing beeping sound.
The red frame lit up again, the robotic arm instantly retracted, and the alloy blade rose once more.
"Damn it!" Ye Mo roared, "Level 2 protocol restarted! They've increased the power!"
He shoved Captain America aside, pressed his hands to the ground, and forcefully stabilized the shield structure. Energy ripples vibrated violently, and dense waves appeared on the surface of the shield, as if it would shatter at any moment. Blood flowed from his nose again, trickling down his neck and into his collar.
Emma Frost quickly stepped in front of them, her diamond-encrusted skin fully covered, watching the outside warily.
The Winter Soldier took a half step back, re-locked onto the target, and the red frame locked onto Captain America's throat.
The three tactical units regrouped and once again approached the edge of the shield.
Inside the power distribution room, the air was frozen.
Ye Mo leaned against the wall, his forehead covered in cold sweat, his fingers digging into the cracks in the ground, desperately trying to maintain the Force Field. He knew this shield wouldn't last long, and he knew the next wave of attack could come at any moment.
But he also saw it—just a second before the red frame lit up again, Bucky's eyes seemed to wet slightly.