Chapter 5: Echoes of the Past, Seeds of the Future
The humming was a constant presence, a background noise that Adam had learned to live with. He was in the heart of New York, but not the New York he knew. He was in a bustling, paranoid city that was buzzing with news of the "mutant threat." It was late 2009, and the events of Days of Future Past were playing out in the background, a silent, chaotic ballet of which he was a key observer. He had his nascent Finex organization, his three recruits, who were now on a simple mission: to watch, to learn, and to report.
He had sent them to discreet locations, giving them simple, un-mutant-like tasks. Mark, with his new strength and durability, was a bouncer at a club, a perfect place to overhear whispers and rumors. Sarah, with her quick wits, was in a financial firm, a place where she could see the shifts in the market, the subtle movements of money toward companies like Trask Industries. Lily, with her electrical manipulation, was an IT consultant, a ghost in the machine, a silent observer of the digital world.
Adam, meanwhile, was at the center of it all, a silent, unblinking eye. He was in a cafe near a major government building, watching a news report about the Paris Peace Summit. The news anchor was talking about the rising tensions between mutant and human factions, a classic prologue to the chaos he knew was coming.
He watched as Wolverine, a man he knew was a living myth, a hero of his past life, walked past the cafe, a grim look on his face. The system flared. [DETECTING: WOLVERINE. X-GENES: ADAMANTIUM SKELETON, ACCELERATED HEALING FACTOR, ENHANCED SENSES.] The text was an unblinking, objective summary of a man who was a legend. Adam resisted the urge to do anything. He was a survivor, not a superhero. He was building his own thing, his own future, and interfering with the timeline now would be a catastrophic mistake.
"They're the heroes. Or villains. I don't know. They're a whole lot of mess and spandex. I'm just… the guy with the plan. Let them have their fight. I'll just be over here, picking up the pieces and making a profit," he thought, sipping his coffee, a sarcastic smile on his face.
The events of Days of Future Past unfolded like a movie he was watching from behind the scenes. He saw the reports of the Pentagon breakout, the chaos at the Paris Summit, the fear and paranoia that gripped the world. While Wolverine and the X-Men were fighting a desperate battle for the future, Adam and Finex were operating in the shadows, a silent, opportunistic parasite, growing fat on the chaos.
During the Pentagon breakout, Lily, his computer expert, managed to subtly siphon off some non-classified but valuable data on Trask's funding sources, using her newfound power to make it look like a minor glitch in the system. Mark, at his club, overheard a man bragging about his "mutant-proof security" at his home, and Lily, with a quick scan of the man's public records, found his address. Sarah, meanwhile, tracked the money, following the trail of fear and paranoia to a few key players who were funding the anti-mutant sentiment. They were not just watching. They were learning, adapting, and gathering intelligence.
Adam's finest moment in the chaos came during the Paris Summit. As the world was watching Mystique's assassination attempt on Trask, he was a few blocks away, in a large crowd. He felt a minor mutant signature, a street vendor who could make things sparkle. The system described his power as [MINOR X-GENE: AESTHETIC ENHANCEMENT. ABILITY: CAN MAKE INANIMATE OBJECTS SPARKLE.] It was useless, but it was a power he could store. He activated his domain, focused on the vendor, and initiated the "steal" function. It wasn't a permanent acquisition, just a temporary one, enough to store it in his system. The system flashed: [X-GENE STOLEN. TEMPORARY STORAGE INITIATED. COOLDOWN: 1 HOUR.] The vendor looked around, confused, his glittering hot dogs suddenly dull and unappealing.
Adam, meanwhile, felt a surge of triumph. He was not a fighter. He was a scavenger. He was a survivor. And he was getting stronger. His system now had two permanent X-genes, and a small library of minor ones he could use to empower his members. He had money, he had intelligence, and he had a growing family, a small, loyal organization that was built on his own cold, ruthless pragmatism. The world could have its heroes and its villains. He would be the architect.