Marvel: My Life Is A TV SHOW!-Chapter 135: I’m charming. Charismatic. Handsome. Intelligent
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Chapter 135: I'm charming. Charismatic. Handsome. Intelligent
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"The power of words, Shaw. Never underestimate it."
What Adam didn't say; what he kept locked behind that brilliant smile; was the full extent of his manipulation.
Emma had been busy organizing mutant groups, providing resources, pointing them at targets.
All it had taken was a push. The files had done the rest. And every mutant saved from an M.R.D. facility, every life liberated, every grateful soul; they were joining Emma's banner, who is saving them under his name.
Swelling her ranks. Building a union, an army.
An army that, through Emma, belonged to Adam.
Selene's giggle cut through the silence. It was a sound like crystal breaking, beautiful and treacherous.
"You're fascinating," She said, her voice a velvet purr. "Would you become my companion? All you need is to say yes, and I'm yours."
Adam raised an eyebrow. He studied her for a long moment, then spoke; not directly to her, but at her, in a cadence that felt almost like poetry:
"Bright the flame that draws the moth,
Black the ink that writes the oath.
Say the word and seal the fate,
But know the cost may come too late."
He smiled. "Believe it or not, but I'm no poet. That was a revelation from God, basically telling you, Selene, that your future depends entirely on how today goes. Very bright, or black as ink."
Selene's eyes narrowed, but her smile remained.
Her words, he doesn't believe at all. She's one of the competitors of one of the least trustworthy individuals ever to exist.
And the way she made that offer, it sounded like a trap, like a temptation, and he knows she's a dark sorcerer, so that is most certainly a trap, and maybe even saying the word yes might cause trouble.
Selene blew him a kiss, unbothered.
Shaw stood abruptly, his composure cracking. "This is the problem with you, Cypher. You're too unhinged. Too insane. Too rude. You've made enemies of half the powerful people on the planet."
"You know no bounds. You've compromised the interests of this club beyond repair. What did you think would happen?"
Adam rose to meet him, his expression shifting from playful to utter serenity.
"I disagree." His voice was calm, "I'm charming. Charismatic. Handsome. Intelligent. That's why my influence grew beyond your expectations."
"That's why my influence in this club rose so quickly. That's why plenty within these walls have already thrown themselves at me. Dozens of deals made."
"Cypher Enterprise becoming Cypher Corp; expanding, growing, consuming." He smiled. "That's why you fear me, Shaw. And that's why I'm here."
Shaw's eyes burned with barely contained irritation.
Adam leaned in, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Let's start. Don't keep me waiting, for I'm already erect for what's to come."
The room erupted in light.
A magical circle blazed to life around them; ancient symbols, crackling energy, all happening in a moment.
It was a teleportation spell, powerful enough to tear through space and deposit its targets somewhere far less pleasant.
Adam didn't have time to move. To flee. He just stood there, as if expecting it all.
Selene watched from the edge, her expression itching a frown as she finally decided not to participate. She'd seen and felt something that finally convinced her.
The circle erupted, and they all vanished.
He had known. Of course he had known. He knew exactly where Emma was. He knew the invitation was fake. He knew Shaw was planning something.
But he came anyway.
Because he had a vision. Because he wanted to meet his Guardian Angel. It's all part of the plan.
But even if it hadn't, he would've still done it.
He would do it for the show.
He was the main character. The audience was watching. And Adam Cypher doesn't want to disappoint his audience.
Hopefully... Hopefully, they've prepared so much for him that they would be able to force him to use the nuclear option.
["Let's start. Don't keep me waiting." CHILLS.]
[WHO IS THE GUARDIAN ANGEL?!]
[And what the fuck is the nuclear option?!]
[Cap! I'm calling cap! He's doing this cause he's a masochist! Cause he misses pain!]
[True, don't let him gaslight you into thinking this is for us, it's for him cause his brain is malfunctioning.]
[Really? He allowed a teleportation magic bullshit to take him wherever? Is that not stupid?]
[He has half of I, Doom's intellect, and half of Reed's, who, while not comparable to me, is still decent. Thus, he must've seen something, something to do with the nuclear option and the guardian angel.]
[...] [Wow, that's so accurate, thumbs up, man.]
[Is he actually Doom?] [I mean, everything is possible.]
The Shaw Industries headquarters towered over Manhattan's business district like a monument to corporate ambition; sleek lines of glass and steel, reeking of corporate scents.
Inside, far below the polished executive suites and gleaming laboratories, lay secrets Sebastian Shaw had spent fortunes fostering.
Emma Frost strode through the lobby with the usual confidence of a Queen, her white ensemble a stark contrast to the building's grey minimalism.
Behind her walked several of her loyal operatives, but one figure drew the eye; a woman with dark hair and a familiar grace, her expression troubled.
Lourdes Chantel. The previous Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. The woman Adam had been told was dead.
She was very much alive.
Lourdes had been Shaw's lover once, before his ambition consumed him. She had watched the man she loved transform into something monstrous, had tried to pull him back, had failed.
When she finally wanted out, she confided in Emma. And Emma, ever the pragmatist with a hidden well of loyalty, had arranged an "incident."
Shaw believed Lourdes dead. In truth, she had been alive and well, working for Emma, kind of.
She was rather working for the mutant cause.
And she's quite important because her powers are one of the most useful abilities one could have, Teleportation.
Emma's lips curved as she approached the secure elevator that would take them deep underground, having bypassed all of Shaw's usual security; the team behind her were all here for that reason.
"Darling said I would find some very interesting things here. Things we won't like." She glanced at Lourdes. "It seems your ex has been a naughty boy."
Lourdes sighed, the sound heavy with old pain. "I knew it would end like this."
She met Emma's eyes. "Will he be okay? Adam? Shaw is too dangerous. The people he surrounds himself with too are..."
Emma's laugh was soft, genuine. "I'd fear for God's safety before I'd fear for Adam's. He'll probably enjoy whatever they throw at him."
She stepped into the elevator. "Now, let's get this over with quickly. Just in case."
The doors closed, and they began their descent into Shaw's forbidden domain.
[Shaw's secret laboratory... what HORRORS await?]
[Some spoilers, it's definitely the Sentinel project.]
[Oh, right, there was that unending Sentinel bullshit.]
["Fear for God's safety before Adam's." Emma knows him SO well.]
[Adam definitely knew she's alive from the start, cause we told him!]
[Goddamn, we a spoiler machine!]
[It's unfair. We're like unpaid interns. We do so much but... Well, I guess we're entertained.]
[Trust me. Adam has done a lot more than that for humanity, but a few can see it.]
[Shush. Don't go talking too much.]
[????] [...] [What's happening?] [Is there some secret we don't know about?]
[Is it the Illuminati again? The mysterious organization?]
[Wasn't that just a group chat? How did it become so big?]
[Maybe they've existed long before and it's some big conspiracy.]
Far from Manhattan's corporate canyons, the Hudson Valley spread in autumnal splendor; rolling hills painted in gold and crimson.
The river was a ribbon of silver winding through forests just beginning to shed their leaves.
It was postcard beautiful, utterly serene, and completely at odds with the scene unfolding in a hidden clearing.
Adam Cypher stood at the center of that clearing, his white suit immaculate despite the dimensional journey that had deposited him here.
But it was his eyes that commanded attention; specifically, his biological eye.
It was no longer crimson.
Vibrant blue blazed from that socket, so intensely beautiful it seemed to glow.
But the color wasn't static; it was moving, and what was moving rapidly was what resulted in that vibrant blue color.
Lines of code, symbols unknown, fragments of information too fast to read raced across the iris like data streams on a monitor.
It was an eye that could see the world differently.
Adam's hand covered that eye, fingers spread to allow a narrow gap.
Through that crack, he observed. Through that crack, he comprehended.
His experimentation with [Information] had yielded conclusions both thrilling and unnerving.
His A-rank abilities had reached a threshold comparable to lower Omega-level mutants; at least, that's the approximate conclusion he came to, but he found it to be somewhat inaccurate for some abilities.
And Information Vision(A), pushed to its limits, could do things that defied conventional explanation.
Like reading magic.
