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Chapter 136: Intelligence Above All
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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.
The teleportation circle that had brought them here; Adam was able to see its code. Seen its architecture. Seen that it was meant to take them somewhere else entirely, somewhere far less pleasant.
But something had interrupted it. Something had redirected them here, to this beautiful valley, at this precise moment.
Guardian Angel? Adam wondered. Lovely.
He blinked, pain lancing through his skull. Pushing Information Vision this hard hurts. But the pain was worth it, because in that moment of perception, he had seen through them.
The two mysterious individuals from the Hellfire Club. And one of them was very special...
Adam's expression twitched. Shock. Amusement. And something that might have been delightful.
Shaw's voice cut through the silence, sharp with confusion. "What is the meaning of this? Why are we here?"
This wasn't the intended location. Shaw's carefully laid trap had gone sideways, and he didn't know why.
Selene hadn't followed; She had never really given them her word, and she was never to be trusted, so Shaw never trusted her, but why were they teleported here?
And Adam's eye; what was wrong with it? He's read Adam's file, and there was no such thing in it. Is it something new?
But Shaw pushed aside his questions. It didn't matter where they were. Victory was still certain.
Adam had made too many enemies, too many powerful enemies. And two of those enemies stood with him now.
The first masked figure reached up and tore away his disguise.
Victor Creed. Sabertooth.
He was massive, built like a prehistoric wolf, his face a mask of feral hairy anticipation.
Yellow eyes gleamed above a cruel smile filled with pointed teeth. He began to circle, unhurried, savoring the hunt before it began.
The second figure remained masked, standing motionless, watching.
Adam's gaze flicked between them, Information Vision still processing, still glimpsing.
Shaw's question received no answer, slipping into the void, making him frown, but it seemed that the unexpected location wasn't unforeseen.
Thus, Adam answered instead, his voice carrying a strange certainty. "I knew this would happen eventually. But I didn't expect it so soon."
He looked directly at Shaw. "You made a deal with Mephisto. Just what did he give you?"
[Tf? Gojo hair and eyes! So fucking cool!]
[Damn, he's rocking the Gojo look better than Gojo.]
[Damn, the glazing's getting out of hand.]
[I'd glaze that dick all day long, without consent.]
[???] [???] [???] [...] [...]
[Sabertooth? Tf is he doing here? He's working for Shaw?]
[Shaw made a deal with MEPHISTO. Of course he did.]
[Who is the second figure?]
[I think I know, but I won't say.] [F u.] [+1] [+1]
[Mephisto is becoming very annoying. When is Adam gonna deal with him?]
Shaw's voice was ice. "A deal I couldn't refuse."
Indeed, that's the only thing that makes sense for someone as suspicious as Shaw wouldn't be convinced so easily.
The masked figure spoke, his voice modulated, almost eerie. "We must end this quickly. We are too close to New York. Delay is improper."
Adam's hand dropped from his eye. The blue code still raced across his iris, but now it was visible to all; a window into data no human could perceive.
He raised his arm, pointing directly at the masked figure.
"You." His voice was soft, odd. "I see you."
And then he acted.
Prime Envy. The last empty slot. Prime Stupefy.
Half of the masked figure's intelligence; ripped away in an instant, flowing into Adam like water into a waiting vessel.
The effect was instantaneous. Adam's mind expanded, absorbing intellect, processing capacity, and cognitive architecture that shouldn't exist in a human brain.
He felt it so hard; the stolen intellect integrating, becoming his. And he felt something else; certainty about what his information vision.
This intelligence was almost equal to Reed Richards'. Almost. There were very few beings in existence whose minds approached that level. Very few whose theft would yield this much power.
The masked figure stumbled back, one hand flying to his head. He staggered, disoriented, confused; feeling something missing, something essential, without understanding what.
His eyes, the only visible feature behind the mask, had been ordinary before.
Now they blazed crimson red.
The remaining half of his intelligence was potent enough to slowly understand what occurred.
Then he attacked.
Concussive blasts erupted from his hands, waves of force so overwhelming that even the air started screaming.
The blasts caught Adam and sent him flying like a ragdoll, tumbling through trees, through underbrush, through a hillside, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.
The second blast followed, and the third, each one designed to obliterate.
"KILL HIM!" The figure growled, his modulated voice cracking with agitation. "Don't Give Him Time To Rest!!"
Sabertooth grinned and leaped after Adam's trajectory, claws extended. Shaw followed, his kinetic absorption power ready to show just how broken it is.
Adam crashed into a hillside, the impact carving a shallow crater in the earth. For a moment, there was silence.
Then, faintly, something drifted through the clearing.
Laughter.
It started low, almost inaudible; a chuckle, a wheeze, a sound of pure, unadulterated joy.
It grew, building in intensity, until it filled the valley with the most unhinged, manic, insane laughter anyone had ever heard.
Adam lay in his crater, not moving, not fleeing, not fighting. Just laughing.
Because he knew.
The intelligence flooding his mind; the theft he had just committed; it belonged to someone specific. Someone whose brilliance almost rivals that of Reed Richards.
Nathaniel Essex. Mister Sinister.
One of Marvel's greatest villains. A geneticist of unparalleled genius. A being who had experimented on generations of mutants in pursuit of his twisted vision of perfection.
And Adam had just taken half his mind.
He was still assimilating it, still feeling his consciousness expand into dimensions he had never imagined. His thoughts accelerated. His perceptions transformed.
The world rearranged itself into patterns he could now see, his imagination and creativity reaching a new high.
He felt ideas, too many of them running through his mind. He couldn't quite describe the level he's reached, and he hadn't even finished assimilating the intelligence.
And in that moment of transcendent clarity, Adam understood something fundamental.
He had been right all along.
Intelligence above all.
[Wait? Mr. Sinister? Adam's fucked!]
[Sinister is so OP, how the fuck does he win this?]
[Plot Armor, watch and learn.]
[Adam is laughing because he just became even MORE broken, dude.]
[Wait wait wait, half of Reed, Doom, and Sinister's intelligence. What in the actual fuck?]
[Adam's ability is quickly becoming too broken, like, if he continues to harvest intelligence, then what will he become?]
[Just look at what Reed and Doom were capable of; now he's surpassed them, no?]
[I don't think he surpasses Reed yet cause he can increase his intelligence by stretching his brain, but not sure.]
[I think he's equal or has already surpassed stretched brain Reed, because the way I see it is that Adam steals more than just processing power, his Envy steals everything that makes the word Intelligence.]
[Now that you say it, I see it... So fucking broken.]
[Now I'm really looking forward to what he will accomplish.]
Adam rose from the crater, his white suit now a ruin of crimson and torn fabric.
Blood trickled down his face from a gash on his forehead, but his smile; that terrible, beautiful smile; only widened.
He was facing three of the most dangerous beings on the planet.
Sebastian Shaw alone would be a nightmare for most opponents.
His mutant ability, Kinetic Absorption, allowed him to convert any impact into pure energy, fueling his strength and rendering him virtually invulnerable.
Punch him, and he grew stronger. Blast him, and he absorbed the force. He was a tank that thrived on aggression.
Victor Creed, Sabertooth, was not so much of a problem, but still a beast. Enhanced senses.
Regeneration that healed almost any wound in moments. Claws and fangs that could shred steel. Centuries of combat experience.
He was less a man and more a force of nature, a beast who had been perfecting the art of killing since before Adam's grandparents were born.
And then there was Nathaniel Essex. Mister Sinister.
Even crippled by Adam's theft, Sinister was a horror beyond comprehension.
His powers were numerous and terrifying; Telepathy of considerable strength. Telekinesis.
Superhuman strength, speed, and durability augmented by centuries of genetic tinkering.
Immortality achieved through consciousness transfer and cloned bodies.
Energy projection capable of leveling buildings.
Also, Endopathy, the ability to control every molecule of his body, allowing him to deviate his own genetic structure in a slew of incredible ways.
And a mind that, even halved, remained one of the most brilliant on Earth; a genius who had unlocked secrets of genetics that would take humanity centuries to discover.
Adam had cut that mind in half. He had made Sinister dumber.
But dumb for Sinister was still genius for anyone else. And now, all three were coming for him.
Time to dance.