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Chapter 16: Annoying Motherfucker
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He met Fury halfway, the two men standing amid the subdued Hydra agents...
[Ohhh, didn't think Fury would appear so soon!]
[They're working together? How? When?]
[It's been the plan all along, I think.]
[Cinema!]
"Messy," Fury stated, his single eye scanning the scene, lingering on the dead officer inside the café.
"I'm immature, so he kinda easily got on my nerves," Adam chuckled, his voice calm, "Especially when he tried to show, I reflexively reacted... So, self-defense."
'Charles, what the fuck did you mean when you said he's just a traumatized kid hiding behind a calm facade? The trauma is hiding from him!' Fury inwardly complained, his mouth twitching.
Fury believes that he has a very good eye for people, which is why he's so weirded out meeting Adam face to face.
Charles told him some things about Adam, but now that he's taking a good look at him, he has realized that most of them are bullshit.
He's a fucking snake.
Hydra's evil has created one annoying motherfucker.
"Did he tell you something?" Fury asked, a grim satisfaction in his tone, but inwardly still complaining.
"Heard about someone named William Stryker?" Adam asked with curiosity.
Fury's expression would change, "Did he mention that name?"
"Oh, someone important?" Adam muttered, seemingly as a reaction to Fury's seriousness, "He did, saying he's expecting me. Should be one of Hydra, or at least a collaborator."
[Wait, he's doing the blame thing again. The police officer never mentioned William Stryker!]
[Actual Disinformation spiral. What the fuck, genius.]
[Illuminati! Assemble!! Bastion Trask! Blame him too!]
[Yeah! Trask is a mutant enemy too!]
[Come on, Cypher! Bring up Trask, too! And Hellfire Club? Take over it, maybe?]
[Wait! Do Friends of Humanity, too. They're a Human hate group targeting mutants.]
[The fuck are you guys doing? What's the Illuminati?]
Adam still paid attention to his audience while discussing a few more interesting things with Fury, and their behavior amused him.
He only receives filtered comments, only a few times, but he knows there are numerous comments typed at any given moment, something his brain wouldn't be able to handle, thus the filtering.
There are likely numerous comments from this Illuminati group, and that's what he wants.
Things are going according to plan, and he can't exactly disappoint them, could he?
They want to see if their suggestions would reach him... He'd answer.
"Ah, by the way. There are a few names that came up here and then. They're suspicious, but no proof... Trask, and Wilson Fisk."
Fury frowned, asking, "Where did you hear those names?"
"When I was in the labs. I heard them here and there, like Hydra wanted to invite them to their ranks. Want to investigate them myself, but I have a feeling you're better suited for that," Adam pointed out.
[Now I'm confused.]
[Did he see our suggestions? But he only brought up Trask, and also, why the Kingpin? Is he Hydra?]
[I remember he will be, but in the far future, I think?]
[I know he's seen our suggestions, but only took the one that served him well... I believe.]
[I believe.][+1][+1]
Indeed, Adam had to mention Trask because he's dangerous. The Sentinel program is a danger he must face in the future, so why not take the initiative?
For Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, Adam was just preparing, moving a few chess pieces in advance for some of his future plans.
Adam and Fury had much to talk about when it came to Hydra. After all, it's the former that brought Hydra's existence to light.
Fury had thought they were gone long ago, but to hear that they came back?
It was driving his paranoid mind insane, especially one of the things Adam had said, that Hydra wants to destroy Shield from within.
And it's not Hearsay. Charles had sent him most of the data that Adam got from the Hydra facility before its destruction.
That's how this collaboration came to be.
"Hey, if you get any leads, bring me in, even if dangerous... Me and Hydra, we don't see eye to eye." Adam's smile turned strange, and yeah, what followed was his weird sense of humor.
"So I'm down to be used like a fucking fleshlight if it means taking them down, hahaha," Adam amused himself, but Fury, the latter's temple twitching.
"Just go, please..."
Jean stood frozen amidst the wreckage, her shield dissipating, her mind reeling.
It had all been a plan.
The drive back to the mansion was steeped in a silence so heavy it felt like a physical presence.
Jean stared rigidly out the passenger window, her arms crossed, her dissatisfaction a palpable force in the confined space of the car.
Adam found her pouting more amusing than concerning as he drove the car.
He certainly wasn't an experienced driver, but he learns quickly, and driving is fun.
"I'm surprised Charles didn't tell you," He finally said, breaking the quiet. "But it was a simple plan. No real danger. You didn't need to know."
"That's not why I'm angry," Jean snapped, turning to face him, her eyes flashing with green fire.
"I'm angry that you killed that man. I saw his memories, Adam. He had a wife. Two young daughters. We could have handed him over to S.H.I.E.L.D. He could have been imprisoned, interrogated. Why did you have to kill him?"
[She has a point. Dude had a family.]
[But he was Hydra!]
[Does that mean his kids deserve to grow up without a father?]
[Also, he didn't really need to do it. I think he just released all his anger and hatred on him.]
[Well, it's clear from Adam's previous behavior that he's the type that's very carefree, giving no fuck, so it holds.]
[He was Hydra, and they sent him there to die. Like, their plan was for him to die and turn Adam into a criminal. It's just that they've been outplayed.]
[Correct. Moreover, the man knew that, yet still chose to sacrifice himself, even though he had a family. He's brainwashed.]
[Yeah, Hydra is scary. Like, he was ready to leave his daughters without a father for Hydra?]
Adam massaged his temples. A profound, throbbing ache pulsed behind his eyes.
The Prime Stupefy curse was still integrating; the influx of Doom's genius was a violent storm in his neural pathways.
It was the first curse to have such a prolonged and painful assimilation period.
He didn't have the bandwidth for this conversation, but perhaps that was for the best.
Filtered through pain, his words would be pure, unfiltered truth.
He turned his head slowly, his gaze unsettlingly calm. "Do you want my response to be gentle, or harsh?"
The shift in his demeanor, from casual to absolute calm, made Jean's breath catch.
She felt a prickle of unease but held her ground. "Both."
"Are you sure?"
She nodded, her jaw set.
"The gentle response, then," He began, his voice soft but devoid of warmth.
"I admire your ability to retain your innocence and empathy in a world that is, by its very nature, a garbage fire. But our codes are different. Our experiences have forged us in different trials."
"You see a spark of redemption in everyone. I see a potential future threat. Let's agree to respect that boundary."
Jean's frown deepened. That was the gentle response? Yet, she couldn't refute it.
Logan operated by a similar, lethal code, and while she disagreed with it, she understood its origins and didn't hound him constantly.
[Damn, that 'gentle' response was colder than Iceman.]
[He's not wrong. Their life experiences are worlds apart.]
[Jean has yet to experience something that traumatic, while Adam lived in a lab. Of course, their morality is different.]