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Chapter 101: 101
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The air in New York's media ecosystem tasted of chaos and anticipation.
Today was a feeding day.
Adam Cypher, the reclusive, controversial wunderkind owner of Cypher Enterprises, had announced a press conference.
For the pundits, gossipmongers, and business sharks, it was a feast laid out on a silver platter.
The controversies were a tangled, thorny bouquet. His outing as a mutant. The footage of him in a six-armed suit leaping between buildings.
Accusations of collusion with the terrorist Magneto, unproven, but the whispers were poisonous.
The truly bizarre, heartbreaking spectacle of his own parents publicly disowning him on national news, branding him a "monstrous disappointment" and a terrorist sympathizer.
The narrative, meticulously curated by unseen hands, was a symphony of downfall.
The brilliant boy-genius, corrupted by power and his own freakish nature, abandoning his family, his empire crumbling under the weight of his sins.
It was a beautiful lie. And for a while, Adam had loved it.
Hydra wanted him broken for the damage he'd inflicted on their operations.
Mephisto wanted him desperate, pliable, ready to sign on any dotted line after his carefully constructed world fell apart.
Other third parties; rival tech conglomerates, defense contractors salivating over the six-armed suit, but most importantly, Oracle AI.
Then there were political opportunists; saw blood in the water and moved in for a piece of the carcass.
What they didn't understand was that Adam wasn't drowning. He was doing the backstroke.
The leaked photo of him in the suit? His own drone's work. The constant, toxic news cycle? He was feeding that shit, the negative energy of millions of eyes upon him, judging him, feeding his secret engine.
He wanted to rule the news, to be the specter haunting every screen. Infamy, for a time, was just as nourishing as fame.
But Mephisto, ancient and cunning, managed to notice something. The stupid bastard was too preceptive.
Adam had felt the shift. The orchestrated backlash was dying down, the media storms calming not because he'd fought them, but because someone was pulling the strings in reverse.
The demon was retracting his claws, opting for observation over annihilation. He no longer wanted Adam infamous. He wanted to uncover his secrets.
It didn't matter. Adam had a thousand ways to shake the world and have his name shouted from the rooftops. He was just deciding which would be the most entertaining.
Survival was never in question. Not for him, and not for Cypher Enterprises. The products were simply too good.
Pulse, his short-form video app, was a cultural juggernaut, following the tracks of TikTok from a past life but fueled by something far more potent; Adam's own verified account.
Videos that were initially dismissed as masterful CGI; optic blasters, show of telekenesis, ice wonders; now held a terrifying new context. Mutant powers.
They never see who is behind the powers, but still a fascinating show nonetheless.
The fascination was morbid, addictive. Coupled with slick, near-future tech demos, his channel was a drug.
And Oracle AI had launched. It was his version of ChatGPT, but appearing much sooner.
Sure, the Marvel universe is much more advanced than his previous world, but nothing like Oracle AI is available to the public yet.
Its explosive success was the real reason for the corporate and political knives coming out.
He was sitting on a gold mine, and the other miners wanted to either own the claim or collapse the tunnel.
But it also made him untouchable in conventional ways. Trying to pressure cloud providers to cut him off was a non-starter; his influence, and his newest ally; Tony Stark; made that a war no one wanted to start.
[He's literally farming negativity for power. Mephisto figuring it out is a great twist.]
[Pulse is basically supernatural TikTok, and it's the most popular thing ever. Of course.]
[Fuck man, he's introducing brainrot to Marvel.]
[Trust, Marvel is already brainrotted to the core, but he's an ADHD manufacturer now.]
[Is TikTok that bad? I have an account but I never bother.]
[Dude, serious? You're winning in life, man, but delete the account for your sanity.]
[Respect ++] [+1] [+1] [Man, TikTok's got me hooked, I can't fucking escape.] [I believe in you!]
[Hey, I know the tech, just like every furry post in there, and you'll end up seeing the most disgusting, vile shit it'll force u out!]
[...] [???] [Tf?] [...]
In his sleek, minimalist office atop the Cypher Enterprises tower, Adam was nurturing one of those crucial connections. Or, more accurately, managing it.
He leaned back in his chair, the phone pressed to his ear, his mismatched eyes not on the less-than-stunning Hell's Kitchen skyline, but on the woman seated across from his desk.
Natalie Rushman, his impeccably professional, lethally efficient, and devastatingly beautiful secretary.
She was taking notes, but her green eyes were fixed on him, watching the play of expressions on his face with keen interest.
The voice on the other end of the line was a gravelly baritone of pure exasperation.
"...A ghost town, Cypher! The Romanian authorities are calling it an 'Unprecedented act of ecoterrorism and suspected supernatural cult activity'!"
"And you and Stark just waltzed in, didn't even bother with masks! They can't touch Stark, not really. But you? You're the shiny new mutant target."
"They're gonna come for your suit, for your company, and they're gonna drag you in front of a Senate committee so fast your head will spin."
Adam was silent for a few seconds, his gaze tracing the line of Natalie's jaw, the fall of her fiery red hair. He looked utterly captivated, as if admiring a fascinating piece of art.
Then he spoke, his voice light. "I can't go into details, Nick. Operational security. Let's just say it was for the greater good." A beat.
"You know, the greater good… like a really efficient, multi-purpose cemetery. Saves space, brings the community together. Quiet neighbors."
Nick Fury's sigh was a hurricane over the line. "This isn't a joke! Congress is drafting subpoenas as we speak."
"They have the power, Cypher. They can make your life a living hell, freeze assets, tie you up in litigation until you're a skeleton in a three-piece suit."
Adam raised an eyebrow, a slow smile spreading. "They have all the power? That's surprising. I was under the impression power was a bit more… distributed these days. Invisible men in shadows, that sort of thing."
He chuckled. "I'm sure you'll take care of it, Nick. You always do. And if the worst happens and they do haul me in… Well, I'll just have to demonstrate the suit's crowd-control protocols."
"Maybe turn the hearing into the world's first live-streamed, bipartisan game of whack-a-mole. For the greater good, of course."
"No," Fury's voice crackled, sharp and final. "You will not turn a Senate hearing into a damn circus. And I can't help you on this one, not openly."
"Not unless you help me understand what the hell you were doing in the Carpathian Mountains that required leveling a forest and leaving a crater that glows in the dark!"
"Hmm," Adam hummed, his eyes still on Natalie, who was pretending to be fascinated by her stylus.
"Interesting. Very interesting how you're phrasing that. 'Can't help me on this one.' It's almost as if you… already know something." He let the accusation hang. "It's alright, Director. I don't need your help. I know how to solve everything myself."
That, Fury knew, was the worst possible news. "Solving things your way, I feel, would involve explosions, psychological warfare, and property damage on an international scale. What do you want to do?"
Adam's expression shifted. The playful glint vanished, replaced by an eerie, preternatural calm.
He was still looking at Natalie, but his gaze seemed to see through her, into some vast, dark calculus.
"Oh, my friend," He said, his voice dropping to an intimate, chilling register. "We both know the world is stranger than fiction. We both know there are… things out there. Things that would curdle your one good eye."
"They spike the paranoia in most people. In me… I must admit, it's more like dopamine. To deal with such existential darkness, you have to take risks."
"You have to make use of every tool, every advantage, no matter how unorthodox or… morally flexible. For the greater good."
He didn't let Fury interrupt. "Until you're ready for full, transparent cooperation; sharing all your little secrets about the world, and drop these theatrical little games, the most you'll get from me are silly bad jokes and half-truths."
"So let's keep our current arrangement to matters directly related to Hydra. Because right now, all I perceive from you, Director, is deception. An attempt to pressure me into your box, onto your chessboard."
Adam's smile was amused. "But pressure… is something I no longer feel."
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