The Wanderer - 183 (Patreon)

Chapter 183 – Truth

[2009 – October]

Fury froze for a moment as he faced the young mutant, Elijah's actions clearly shocking him. He didn't stop for long though and pushed aside his trepidation.

He knew that the young man had powers that were simply beyond his comprehension, which didn't necessarily make it easier when he was faced with such power but as a man tempered by blood and battle, Fury had the strength to accept his own weakness.

Resolving himself, he decided to be direct, after having understood from the young Frost's words and actions up until now that he was not someone that enjoyed 'games' and cunning schemes.

"Why are you here, Mr. Frost? To explain your actions?", he asked, purposefully phrasing the question in a pressuring way even though his tone was calm and even, to gain back some initiative in this encounter.

Fury had never been a man that could just sit back and do nothing, even when the situation seemed bleak.

Instead, he had always opted to rather take crazy risks that might backfire in a grave manner, like questioning a young man that could turn whole cities to ruin if displeased.

Elijah though didn't answer at first, his eyes gazing at him almost curiously as he paused for a few moments, before parting his lips and asking calmly: “As a master of secrets, do you think that knowing the reason behind my attacks will help set your mind at ease, Director? That the truth will free you?”

Fury was taken aback for a moment as he faced the young mutant whose eyes were a strange mixture of verdant serenity and dark malevolence. It was one of the strangest pairs of eyes that he had ever been looked at with.

He didn't know if the threat in them was the dominant force in the young Frost's mind or if the peaceful tranquility was.

And it had him on the edge even if he tried to not let himself be intimidated.

Calming himself, the Director thought a moment about his answer before he voiced it out: “I think the question of you being a threat to this world's safety could be answered if we knew the reason for your attack.”

The only response he got though was a faint smile as the young man added: “You are a good liar.”

Moving off the table, the young mutant walked around it and stepped in front of one of the large windows at the side of the room, which were part of the glass front of the building.

He wore casual clothes, a pair of slim black sweatpants and a burgundy hoodie with a thick vest on top, but the way he moved, he could have just as easily worn battle gear or a ten-thousand-dollar suit.

There was a strange grace to his movements, a rhythm that seemingly made him harmoniously blend into the world around him.

It was akin to watching a tiger stalk through the forest. Its aura as an apex predator was impossible to hide but the way it moved almost silently with traceless steps made it blend in, which only increased the lethality of its next attack.

It was impossible to explain the sensations that welled up in Fury's mind as he watched the young man.

But with every moment that Fury continued to be around the young Frost, he started to understand more and more why Logan had warned him, and why Natasha had been traumatized by the younger mutant.

Elijah Frost seemed unpredictable but not in an erratic sense.

Instead, his unpredictability stemmed from his ability to hide his intentions flawlessly, his emotions concealed beneath an unbreachable veil of ethereal calm.

“You hope the truth with give you power over me.”, he continued, “You hope that the knowledge about my intentions will give you the ability to understand me and predict my actions, which will either allow you to find a weakness that you can exploit to keep me under control, or it will hopefully enable to manipulate me into being cooperative.”

"You are not interested in understanding if I am a threat or not, you are only interested in the answer to one question

- 'can you control me?'"

Turning back his head to look at the Director over his shoulder, Fury was faced by a pair of blazing white eyes that sat in a sea of abyssal darkness.

His muscles tensing, Fury almost expected to be struck down, his hand twitching as he violently suppressed the urge to draw his gun while being stared at by a rather demonic pair of eyes.

“The truth will not set you free, Director.”

"Don't try to control me as I would much rather rip apart this whole planet than to subordinate myself to the likes of you. And believe me, I can.", the young mutant ended lightly, his presence changing into something absolutely heart-chilling and inhuman for a moment before he turned back forward.

“Still, you are lucky as I am not someone that takes enjoyment from enacting senseless violence. So, if you don't make me an enemy, I will not act like one.”, the young Frost continued with his back facing Fury, “But if you do, don't expect mercy or leniency.”

“This warning is as far as my kindness goes.”

And from one moment to another, Elijah Frost was gone, vanishing without a trace as if his presence had been nothing but an illusion in the first place.

Though as soon as the young man left, the transparent glass screen on the side of his desk lit up with dozens of messages while his office door slid open with a soft 'whoosh', allowing Agent Hill and half a dozen other agents to step into the room hurriedly.

“Sir, are you alright? The system seemed to have malfunctioned and communications with this room were down.”, Hill questioned, her gaze passing over the room to look for possible threats instinctively.

Frowning, Fury noticed a few scattered tools on the floor just outside his office door, realizing that his subordinates had tried to forcefully enter his office without him even noticing it.

Still, the conversation with the young Frost hadn't taken more than a few short minutes, so he was a bit surprised at their urgency and how fast they had noticed that something was amiss.

His experience though told him that there was most likely something else at play here too, so he replied with a deep voice while waving off the Agent: “I'm fine.”

His frown deepening as he noticed the restlessness of his agents, he continued: “What happened?”

“It happened again.”, Agent Hill stated, her tone grave while hints of fear lurked in the depths of her eyes.

“What happened again?”, he inquired.

“Another bird-shaped mark just appeared, this time on Earth.”, the normally calm Agent answered with nervousness.

“Where?”, Fury asked darkly. He had hoped that encountering Elijah Frost was the end of this rather horrible day but already, a new problem required his attention.

The answer he received though wasn't anything like he could have imagined.

Looking at the tablet that Hill had passed to him, his single eye couldn't help but widen as he stared at the image captured by a drone of the exact place where Elijah Frost had overturned half a mountain range to dig up the whole underground base of the Facility.

It was a recording that was made with different scanning devices as the place was slightly dark since the sun had just started setting there.

Abruptly turning around, the Director walked to the window in front of which Elijah Frost had just disappeared.

Looking outside, he could see the moon high up in the dark firmament, a minute mark on its surface, which he knew looked like a bird under a telescope.

And just as he was about to turn away again with turbulent thoughts in his mind, he noticed a faint scratch in the glass.

Tracing it with his eyes, Fury understood that it wasn't a scratch but a pattern. To be more specific, it was a mark in the shape of a bird.

And what accompanied this discovery was a deep chill that went straight down his spine.

Carving a canyon into the surface of this planet from a thousand miles away with such apparent ease, what kind of horrible monster was Elijah Frost?

It seemed the young mutant was right after all as the truth behind those mysterious marks didn't set him free, instead, it felt as if he could hardly breathe, a pair of dark blazing eyes staring at him from the void.