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Chapter 102: It's All True
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"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."
He ended the call.
[Play whack-a-mole with Congress? Villain arc finally??]
[Fury could definitely help him, but he wants to pressure Adam into giving up information.]
[I think he knows that Adam knows a lot more about Hydra than he's letting on, and he doesn't trust him at all.]
["Pressure is something I no longer feel." CHILLS. Literal chills.]
[He's playing Natalie like a fiddle while she thinks she's observing him.]
Adam let out a soft, delighted laugh, as if he'd just heard the punchline to a private joke. He looked at Natalie. "You look confused."
Natalie blinked, her professional mask slipping into one of genuine, artful bewilderment. She chuckled, a light, musical sound.
"A little. The level of… roleplay going on is confusing. Unless you're actually some sort of anti-hero from a graphic novel. The kind with a tragic past and a dark sense of humor."
Adam stood, smoothing his suit jacket over his missing arm. He shook his head, a fond, amused smile on his lips.
"Natalie, Natalie. Reality, in this case, is so much stranger than fiction. You're thinking in panels and speech bubbles. You're thinking too small."
He walked around the desk, stopping close to her. "But I don't want to be the one to break your worldview. It's so… fragile. So quaint. You should live your life in blissful ignorance. It's safer."
Internally, Natasha Romanoff; the Black Widow buried under the Natalie Rushman persona; seethed in annoyance.
Fragile? Quaint? Fury had sent her in to unravel the enigma of Adam Cypher, to find his levers and his secrets.
Instead, she was being condescended to by a man who treated world-altering events like a stand-up comedy routine.
I fucking want my worldview to change! She screamed in her mind. That's the whole point! His concern was the perfect cover, working perfectly against her mission.
She had to remind herself he didn't know who she was. This was just his bizarre personality.
The problem was that he's just being kind, but she wanted him to be like the rest of the fucking targets that spill the beans out of ego and desire to show off.
The reality was, despite her proximity, she'd learned pitifully little. The company was run by the silent, omnipresent AI Alice.
Adam's true secrets; the [Information] panel, how Envy truly works, his plans; were locked in his brain, destined never to leave.
But she was the Black Widow. She began her subtle probe as they walked from the office toward the backstage area of the conference hall.
"What did you mean, though?" She asked, her voice laced with innocent, curious confusion.
"About the world being strange? Is it… is it about the mutant rumors? And what really happened in Romania? It sounds so… dramatic."
Adam played along beautifully. He laughed, a bright, open sound. "Let's do some more roleplay!"
He held up a finger. "One: Yes, I'm a mutant. My power is that I can make bureaucrats spontaneously combust with boredom. It's why I avoid meetings."
A second finger. "Two; Romania. We found a nest of particularly aggressive, rights-infringing bats. Had to perform a… pest removal. Used some experimental sonic technology."
"The crater is just where we buried the giant, radioactive queen bat. Her name was Brenda. She loved show tunes."
Natasha kept her smile perfectly in place, her mind filing away the sheer, unhinged confidence of the lies.
"Wonderful, no? My life is truly exquisite. Also, what did you think about the line 'Pressure is something I no longer feel'?"
"Was it cool? Force? Should I tone it down or be even more extreme for the audience's entertainment?" He would wonder.
Natalie's mouth twitched. What fucking audience? Oh, right. Nick did tell her Adam isn't right in the head, "I'd say it's fitting, considering you have that sci-fi suit. I'm starting to believe you are a superhero."
"Hmm, the audience seems to agree with you, and being a superhero does fit my World Domination agenda, hahaha," Adam chuckled as if amused by himself.
Black Widow was not amused because she wasn't sure if he was actually joking. Fuck, she hates his jesting nature.
They reached the bustling backstage area. Adam's demeanor shifted again.
He touched his ear, connecting to Alice. "Alice, status check. Feed ready? Translations live? Good."
He took a deep, unnecessary breath, a serene, almost beatific smile settling on his face. He turned to Natalie, his eyes shining with an inner, brilliant light.
"I must ask, Do you truly want me to change your worldview, Natalie?" He asked, his voice soft.
Caught off guard by the intensity, Natasha could only nod, her curiosity now genuine and edged with sudden wariness.
The smile on Adam's face widened into something radiant, triumphant. "Good. You've convinced me. I was on the fence, but your sincere, wide-eyed wonder… It's decided me."
He reached out with his single hand and patted her shoulder. "Thank you. I might as well change the whole world while I'm at it."
Before she could process the words, before she could ask what he meant, he turned.
Without a glance back, without hesitation, Adam Cypher pushed through the heavy curtain and walked out into the blinding lights and the roaring sea of the waiting press conference.
Natasha Romanoff was left standing in the semi-darkness, the murmur of the crowd a distant wave.
Confusion, then a cold, sinking dread settled in her stomach. Spoke too much. I spoke too much.
She had asked, she had prodded, and she had, in his twisted logic, convinced him. Convinced him of what? To do something… monumental. Something bad.
What the fuck did he mean by 'change the whole world'?
A spy's nightmare scenario; inadvertently triggering the very event you were sent to prevent.
God, she thought, a prayer to a deity she didn't believe in, please don't let him fuck this up. And a more desperate, personal plea followed; And if he does, Fury must never, ever know it was my fault.
[He's fucking with her, I just fucking know it!]
["Change the whole world." OH MY GOD WHAT IS HE ABOUT TO DO?!]
[Oh, poor Black Widow. I bet he already wanted to do that, but it never hurt to make her believe she's the catalyst.]
[Damn, he's really here destroying more minds than holes.]
[Tf does that mean??]
[Do What? What does he want to do? I'm confused]
[To be continued...] [Fuck u!] [+1] [+1] [+1] [+1]
Adam Cypher walked into the maelstrom of light and sound.
They had set up the largest hall in the HQ for a reason. He knew the spectacle would draw a crowd, and he craved the attention with a hunger that went beyond vanity.
Every seat was filled, a wall of expectant, predatory faces; journalists, industry analysts, competitors in expensive suits, and a smattering of bewildered civilians who'd won a lottery.
The flashes from professional cameras were a continuous, strobing whiteout, while the glow of countless smartphone screens lit the room like a galaxy of terrestrial stars.
It was all being livestreamed. Across Pulse, featured prominently. On every major news network hungry for the train wreck. On obscure conspiracy forums on the dark web.
The viewership counter that Adam made sure to keep an eye on through his technopathy was already climbing past fifteen million concurrent viewers globally, a number swelling by the second.
By the end of the day, it would be in the hundreds of millions. The world was watching.
It's all the negativity and controversies that ended up shedding light on him so much that the conference attracted the attention of many.
If there is something the world is always thirsty for, it's news about the supernatural, and mutants belong in that category.
Hell, Hydra, and Mephisto had made sure all eyes were on him. Mephisto may be regretting that right now, but it served Adam well. He felt like the concurrent viewership would only go up.
Eitherway, the attention was a physical warmth against his skin, a nourishing river flowing into the hidden well of his [Information].
He smiled, a brilliant, unforced expression of pure joy, and walked to the center of the stark, empty stage.
The smile was the first dissonant note. A man in his position; besieged, defamed, a prey of many; should be grim, defiant, apologetic. Not… delighted.
He let out a soft, genuine chuckle into the microphone as he adjusted it, the sound echoing through the suddenly hushed hall.
He coughed lightly. Silence fell, thick and anticipatory.
He placed his hands behind his back. Both hands.
The left was gloved in fine black leather, matching the right, but it was no longer a pinned, empty sleeve.
It rested naturally against the small of his back. He stood with perfect, easy balance.
"The world," He began, his voice amplified, clear, and tinged with amusement.
"It's truly a strange place. Populated by creatures of profound selfishness and greed. Like vultures circling, always waiting for the next meal."
He paused, his gaze; one eye a cool grey, the other hidden crimson behind a hazel contact lens; traveling slowly over the rows, measuring the reaction. He saw avarice, schadenfreude, morbid curiosity.
"And today," He concluded with another soft chuckle, "It seems I am the main course."
Then, his face changed. The amusement drained away, replaced by a chilling, stone-cold neutrality. His eyes seemed to darken, pinning the audience in their seats. "It's all true."
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