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Chapter 43: Backshots For The Greater Good
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The furious, digitally-filtered roar of Nick Fury echoed through the brownstone's living room.
"CYPHER! WHY THE FUCK DID YOU INVOLVE MAGNETO?! WHY ARE YOU WORKING WITH MAGNETO?!?!"
Domino froze, the sterilized tweezers hovering a millimeter from the ruined socket of Adam's left eye.
Frank, who had been watching the procedure with a detached interest, raised a brow.
He wanted to know the answer to that, too. As far as he knows, Magneto is a terrorist with a knack for violence and no care for innocent lives. Why involve him?
Adam, however, didn't even flinch. His one good eye remained fixed on the middle distance, his breathing even.
He let the Director's fury hang in the air for a beat, a chef letting a fine wine breathe, before he responded with a calm that was itself a provocation.
"Director," Adam began, his voice a dry rasp. "Take a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Your blood pressure must be competing with a rocket launch."
[Okay, he's just trolling.]
[While having his eye socket cleaned out. He's a madman.]
[Lmao.]
[Fury is having an aneurysm, and Adam is his chill-pill dealer.]
"Don't you fucking dare..." Fury snarled.
"I had no choice," Adam interrupted, his tone shifting to one of pragmatic reason. "The helmet was a liability. I couldn't keep it without risking Magneto unearthing the word for it."
"He would have torn the planet apart layer by layer to find it. So, I turned a liability into an asset. I made a deal."
He paused, letting Domino resume her macabre work. She carefully extracted a small, charred fragment of what was once his eyeball, her face a mask of concentration.
"And might I add," Adam continued, his voice tightening only slightly from the sensation.
"It served us rather well, did it not? Had Magneto not been there playing aerial catch, your beloved Hell's Kitchen would currently be a smoldering crater, along with maybe several city blocks and a significant portion of your field agents. Myself included. You're welcome."
[He's not wrong. Magneto was the unexpected anti-air defense system.]
[Fury's pissed about the method, but the results are undeniable.]
[But he's gotta be exaggerating, right? No way Hydra would try to cause so much destruction.]
[I mean, it's Hydra, but I get what you mean, that would get too many eyes on them.]
[It's Hydra, though.]
There was a long, staticky silence on the other end of the line.
They could almost hear the gears turning in Fury's head, the cold calculus of espionage warring with his visceral hatred for the Master of Magnetism.
"The reasoning is… sound," Fury finally conceded, each word tasting like ash.
"But understand this, Cypher. Magneto is a terrorist. A revolutionary. An existential threat to world stability in the eyes of every world government."
"If your connection to him becomes public knowledge, the entire world will turn against you. S.H.I.E.L.D. won't be able to protect you. We've buried as much as we could from last night."
"Your little digital ghosting helped, I'll admit. But nothing stays buried forever. Not a body, and certainly not a secret of this magnitude. You are playing with fire."
Adam gave a slight, careless shrug, a gesture Domino had to compensate for with a sharp, "Hold still, damn it!"
"So, we're best friends now, right?" Adam said, a teasing lilt in his voice. "I'm sure you'll figure something out to protect your favorite asset. A new identity, a cozy safehouse in the Alps…"
The response was instant and absolute. "No."
[Fury's got no jokes.]
[Adam: "We're besties!" Fury: "I will end you."]
[I feel like without the existence of Hydra, Adam and Fury would be enemies.]
[Think so too, they won't see eye to eye, especially since they're both missing an eye, hahaha.]
[...]
"I will protect you from Hydra, and I will call in the favors you owe me for that protection," Fury stated, his voice like grinding stones. "Nothing more. You are a useful, unhinged weapon in my arsenal against a greater enemy. Do not mistake a temporary alliance for friendship."
He genuinely didn't want Adam to float and cause chaos and trouble due to their connections because he doesn't trust him at all.
Adam clicked his tongue, a soft tch of mock disappointment. "As expected," He said with a clearly fake pained laugh.
"You're a hard man, Fury. Too bad, was looking for another sugar daddy, but oh well. Speaking of our common enemy… I gave you quite the opportunity last night."
"A whole nest of Hydra rats scurried into the light. Did you uncover anything useful? Any clues for me to pursue? I'm feeling… proactive."
The change of subject was a welcome one, and Fury seized it, his voice shifting into a grim tone. "We traced the missile launch to an abandoned auxiliary facility upstate. Decommissioned in the 90s."
"They used our own infrastructure. The audacity." He took a sharp breath. "And yes, we moved on every Hydra agent that exposed themselves during the incident and tried to capture them. It was a massive sweep."
Adam's single eyebrow rose. "You said 'tried to capture.' What do you mean, 'tried'?"
Fury's sigh was the sound of a man with a migraine that had its own gravitational pull.
"The moment we moved in, the majority of them bit down on cyanide capsules. Professional grade. Fast-acting. We only managed to incapacitate a handful before they could follow through."
"The ones we did bag are in max-security cells, but they're low-level. The message is clear, Cypher. Hydra is fucking everywhere, and they'd rather die than be exposed."
[Oh shit. The instant-cyanide protocol. That's some hardcore cult behavior.]
[Hydra's infiltration is so deep it's terrifying. They have a suicide pact ready to go.]
[Hail Hydra!!] [+1] [+1] [+1] [+1]
[Cut off one head, two more shall take its place!!]
[Actual traitor festival in the chat.]
[Don't worry, the Illuminati's got them covered, we'll find them!]
[To dare betray the Cypher Cause, hmph!]
[Remember, we can see your usernames, and that's all the Illuminati needs to find you.]
[We are everywhere, and Hydra cannot save you!]
[...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [Mama, I'm scared, like, actually.]
[Tf is going on with chat these days? I see Cypher fanatics regularly, and even the Illuminati is getting very popular.]
[How popular is the Illuminati group? Does anyone have access?]
[If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.]
[Nvm.]
[Okay, I'm getting weirded out.]
[It's the supernatural nature of the Show that's creating this effect. All the oddities surrounding it.]
[It's making some believe it's a divine revelation, especially due to the main character's name, Adam.]
[Also, have you not seen the celebrities' tweets? Jon Bernthal already said he wasn't sure what's going too, but he definitely hadn't acted in the show.]
[So what's the explanation? It's impossible for this to still be a Disney masterclass in advertising, no?]
[Either everyone's lying, or the Show is made by Artificial Intelligence light years ahead of our current tech, or we're facing a supernatural event!]
[...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]
Adam clicked his tongue again, this time in genuine annoyance. "Useless. Absolutely useless. And here I was, ready to be your strongest, most dedicated soldier in this little shadow war. It seems I'll have to carry the team."
Through the phone, they could almost feel the throbbing vein in Fury's temple.
The infuriating part was that the little shit was right. Adam Cypher, for all his insanity, was the most effective weapon he had against the Hydra cancer.
He was unpredictable, utterly without conventional morality, and possessed a skillset that could bypass decades of Hydra's embedded security.
He was somehow always able to fuck over Hydra and make them mess up, despite he himself having tried many means through Shield, only for it all to be for naught.
Fury would take the backhanded comments and the sheer psychological whiplash of dealing with Adam over the silent, insidious rot of Hydra any day of the week.
Hell, he would take backshots if it meant getting rid of Hydra.
Non-sexually, of course, he thought to himself, immediately disgusted that Adam's particular brand of insanity was now infecting his internal monologue.
[FURY'S INTERNAL MONOLOGUE IS ASSIMILATING!]
["Non-sexually, of course" – I'M WHEEZING!]
[Adam's infectious.]
[I have a feeling they will be enemies soon.]
[How come everyone just moves on from the previous grim topic? I mean, we're facing a supernatural event for Christ's sake!!!]
[Yeah, I'm scared for my life here!!]
[I think you lack, what do they call it, ADHD. I just move on.]
[Trueee, my ADHD is killing me. Ma Grandma died, and my mind was snapping to how to defeat Malenia, she's fucking me up so bad!]
[Skill issue.] [+1] [+1] [+1] [+1] [+1] [+1]
[...]
[How do u guys just move on?]
[We're just enjoying the ride, bud. Don't overthink it.]
[This is a monumental event! A good thing!]
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[ 1000 Power Stones For An Extra Chapter!!! ]
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