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Chapter 106: Hydra, Suffering From Adam's Kindness
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"See?" He said, his voice barely above a whisper, yet carrying to every corner. "When it comes to evil… Humanity was never lacking."
"No race has ever lacked evil," Adam stressed, letting the stark truth of the names he'd invoked hang in the air like gun smoke.
"And that list… I only touched the tip of the iceberg. It's infinitely long. But I've never once believed that humans; or mutants; are inherently evil."
"Humans and mutants are the same in that way. It's our experiences, our circumstances, the… Random configuration of our spawning that makes us who we are."
He shrugged, a fluid motion of his single biological shoulder. "That's why I never truly perceived mutants as another 'kind.' Honestly, I feel very different from even other mutants. Magneto included."
"I sometimes feel like mutants are the result of some grand, unfinished science experiment. Can't prove it yet, of course."
He flashed a grin. "But in a world where aliens and literal demons are on the guest list, anything's possible."
[Holy fuck, he's exposing everything, including mutants' origins!]
[Oh, right, Mutants are a result of Celestial experimentation, aren't they.]
[And casually confirmed aliens and demons exist! He's just dropping universe-altering facts like it's the weather!]
["Random configuration of our spawning," what a bleak, hilarious way to describe existence.]
[But that makes him look insane, right? Not many will believe it straight away, especially since he included demons. He just sounds unhinged.]
[Maybe, but their worldview is different there. They're used to supernatural existences like mutants after all.]
[Yeah, yea. You're right. They must be more accepting of insane shit.]
"Anyway," Adam continued, his tone shifting to practical, "the way I and Magneto see things… very, very different. To illustrate…"
He snapped his fingers.
The screen behind him changed again. This time, it played a video. High-definition, drone-captured footage that instantly captivated the globe.
It showed a scene of urban devastation. In the center, hovering atop a platform of twisted rebar and concrete, was Magneto.
His cape billowed, his helmet gleamed. He was the picture of mutant supremacy and terrifying power.
Before him, trapped in cruel cages of warped metal, were two figures; a bloodied, snarling Wolverine, and a bruised but shockingly calm Adam Cypher, his clothes torn, bleeding all over.
The audio was crisp.
Magneto's voice was a resonant baritone of conviction and scorn. "You do not belong with them, child. Their path is one of delusion and slow death. You… you belong with me. With the Brotherhood. Join us."
The on-screen Adam remained silent, his face a mask of utter calmness, seemingly ignorant of the pain.
"Look behind you!" Magneto commanded, his passion rising. "Behold the fruits of human 'tolerance'! Do you still believe in their fairy tale of coexistence? It is impossible!"
"They will always fear us, hunt us, and cage us! We are not villains. We are freedom fighters! We are Homo superior! We are merely claiming our rightful place!"
Still, silence from the trapped Adam.
Magneto's expression hardened with impatience. "I do not care for your answer. You will see reason."
He made a subtle grasping motion. On screen, the metal encasing Adam and Logan constricted violently, drawing winces from the conference audience.
The video mercifully cut away from the worst of the torture, focusing on Magneto's face.
"Without power, nothing else matters. Very well, you don't want to join, but you must tell me, how did you find this place? Are there similar facilities you've found?"
Magneto pressed, his tone demanding.
The Adam on screen, despite his predicament, managed a bloody, unsettling smile. "How did I find this place?" He mused, his voice raspy but clear.
"I've been investigating an organization called Hydra. Their goals seem to be world destruction and mutant extermination. My investigation led me here."
Magneto's regal brow furrowed in genuine confusion. "How would you know of them?"
A dry chuckle escaped Adam's lips. "I should know better than most. I was their lab rat for over a decade until recently. The reason you haven't heard of them is because they don't want to be known."
He tilted his head, a mocking glint in his eyes. "Though I must admit, I'm surprised Professor X hasn't mentioned them. Given the… bromance you two have going, I thought he would have told you."
He laughed, a genuine sound of pained amusement. Then his expression sharpened. "Consider this a bonus," He rasped.
"Hydra has mentioned your name more than once. They spoke of manipulating you to achieve their goals. From their records, it seems they've succeeded more than once, all without your awareness."
He met Magneto's livid gaze. "I'm not sure how or what they did, but that's… fucking hilarious. Hahahaha!"
The video progressed faster, and then showed Magneto's eyes widen. He staggered slightly, his magnificent control wavering.
A tiny, nearly invisible mechanical spider; one of Adam's toys; was shown in a quick inset, firing a micro-injector.
Magneto slapped a hand to his neck, his words slurring. "You… Damn…" His eyes rolled back. The Master of Magnetism, the terrorist who held cities hostage, plummeted unconscious from his perch.
The screen froze on the image of Adam's bloody, triumphant smile as Magneto fell, then faded to black.
In the conference hall, the real Adam chuckled. "That was cool, no? As you can see, my relationship with Magneto isn't exactly friendly. And the authorities know all about it, because I'm already working with them. Against Hydra."
He leaned forward, his demeanor turning earnest. "I needn't 'cooperate' with the authorities more than I already do."
"They know what they need to know. Their silence is tactical; to bait out the criminal syndicate. Which brings me to the main course. Hydra."
His eyes chilled, narrowing. "I wouldn't be standing here, in this suit, with this arm, if not for them. Like most mutant childhoods, it starts normal."
"Then one day, you wake up different. For me, I ended up in the M.R.D. Then… somehow, I was transferred. By the age of eight, I was a lab rat for Hydra. I wasn't saved until I was twenty."
He said it plainly, no tremor in his voice, just cold fact. "It's safe to say my stay there wasn't pretty."
He adopted a lecturing tone. "I assume most of you don't know Hydra. Think of them as a world-ending cockroach infestation with a corporate hierarchy."
"They were responsible for World War II. Probably the first one, too, for good measure. Everyone thought they were squashed in '45. Wrong. They survived. They grew. Stronger. More… creatively evil."
"Even Mephisto; yes, the Mephisto, lord of a certain fiery basement; tips his hat to their sheer, commitment to being the worst."
"They're the guys who see a puppy and think biological component. They look at a sunrise and draft plans to blot it out with smog."
He was framing them in the darkest, most darkly humorous light possible, making them sound both utterly terrifying and patently ridiculous.
Admittedly, it wasn't difficult because Hydra is in every sense evil and has done some of the most heinous of things over its existence.
"Hydra has a special fondness for mutant children. And by fondness, I mean they love to mind-fuck them, torture them, take them apart to see what makes them tick."
"But they don't stop there. Their main hobby is trying to turn people into emotionless meat-robots or mutants."
"They infiltrate everything; governments, charities, tech firms; manufacture conflicts, start wars, all to collect more 'test subjects' and fund their operations."
He leaned into the microphone, his voice dropping. "Think of every major atrocity, every 'unsolved' mass disappearance, every senseless war of the past century. Hydra had a finger in it."
"If your loved one vanished without a trace… there's a non-zero chance they ended up on a Hydra slab."
He let that horrific thought sink in. The hall was deathly silent.
"So," Adam said, his voice regaining its steady calm. "A decade of that. Torture. Mind-fucking. Being a living pincushion for their 'science.' Is it any surprise my hatred for Hydra is infinite?"
"Is it any surprise that I want nothing more than to salt the earth they walk on? One of the first things I did after the X-Men pulled me out was leak everything I knew to the authorities."
"I've been working with them to bait Hydra out, hit their facilities, steal their data."
He smiled then, a wide, brilliant, and utterly unnerving smile. "I'm sure my friends at S.H.I.E.L.D. are going to hate what I do next. But Hydra thrives in darkness. So, I'm going to shed a little light on them."
"It feels like they've done so much, yet very few know of it. They have worse publicity than the X-Men, so I couldn't help but feel for them. The kindhearted person that I am, I must do their publicity for them, so..."
He snapped his fingers.
His expression cooled into something serene and final as he looked directly into the main camera.
"As of this moment, I have just leaked several terabytes of classified Hydra data; operational files, history, experiment logs, personnel lists, all their heinous actions; onto the public internet."
"It's all there. Their atrocities, in their own words. They've gone after the whole world. Now, hopefully, the whole world can go after them. For I can't do it alone."
[Fuck. I know he would do something insane!]
[No no no, it's something very sane, super sane. Well fucking done!]
[SHIELD IS GOING TO HAVE A COLLECTIVE MELTDOWN.]
[What in Hydra?! He's blaming everything on them!]
[So much truth with sprinkles of bullshit, and I bet the files also have some bullshit he introduced.]
The mechanical arms lowered Adam gently to his feet. He walked over, picked up his discarded shirt and jacket, and began dressing with deliberate slowness, as if giving the world time to catch up.
"That should clear a few things up," He said, buttoning his shirt. "I'm sure S.H.I.E.L.D. will corroborate my story, though they'll want to strangle me with my own tie for the leak. You don't have to take my word for anything. Read the files."
He finished with his jacket, smoothing the lapels. He let out a sigh, a performer after a demanding act.
"Unfortunately, my mutant power isn't as flashy as Magneto's. No magnetic fields, no weather control. My superpower is… decent, unfortunately or fortunately, surpassed by my intellect."
"That I intend to use to help the world. To advance it. So we're all a little more prepared for what's coming."
He paused, his gaze distant. "Because the world is stranger than fiction. You've heard me mention aliens... Well, I've heard through the grapevine that aliens are very much real. So who knows what else is out there?"
He flashed one last, brilliant smile at the camera. "And from now on, look forward to posts about my… Supernatural adventures… Across all Cypher social media. Be ready for your worldview to change."
He gave a small, gracious nod.
"Have a Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Good Night."
He turned and walked off the stage, leaving behind a hall in stunned, deafening silence, soon shattered by a cacophony of flashing cameras and journalists scrambling for their phones, their laptops, anything to access the data bomb he'd just detonated.