章 21: BESTFRIEND
There are three organizations that Stray dreads— Kamar-Taj, Toussaint's Illuminati, and the nation of Wakanda. Stray didn't care much about SHIELD, and that has been an oversight on his part.
SHIELD is Stray's nearest threat, yet he didn't mind them much… What can he do when in the past months, these SHIELD guys keep on failing to catch him, the one and only Stray, himself?
Stray's main objective is to protect his 'Stray' identity. So, he will do just that.
After blasting off his arm, and accidentally getting his face, Stray makes sure to maintain his face in a disfigured state. He assumes Morgan wasn't able to make her escape as the person who is interrogating him is Black Widow.
"So, are you really not Stray?" She asks, but Stray remains silent.
If they didn't catch Morgan, it would be Nick Fury who is doing the interrogating. Stray imagines the one-eyed director interrogating Morgan somewhere else but not here.
Stray tries to activate his Extremis powers, however, he can't. It appears that the SHIELD guys did something. Stray feels this cooling sensation in his veins.
Black Widow playfully reveals a syringe with a light blue liquid in it. "This is a very special coolant. Once injected into the veins of a normal person, they would feel the excruciating torture of freezing from the inside to the outside. You did well on maintaining your handsome look, but sooner or later, you'd give up control of whatever Extremis powers you have left…"
Stray wasn't surprised by her mentioning 'Extremis' as that much is obvious. What he can't let Black Widow know is that the people who stole Extremis are from Stray's people.
Meanwhile, on another confinement, Morgan who is in cuffs is terribly making a tantrum. "I don't want to be here! Let me out! I have rights! Get me, my, lawyer!"
She was doing this on purpose because her crying have splendid results. Nick Fury is going crazy as Morgan won't let him talk. Moreover, the crying is so ear-piercing it is tempting him to just be done with it and leave the room. He reckons this 'enemy' would even stump Natasha.
To Morgan, however, her throat is slowly getting parched. This crying tactic is very effective for her mom no matter how old she becomes, but Nick Fury isn't his mom.
"Go get me water! I am thirsty!" She demands still shouting.
"We'll get you water, please, just shut up!"
"You are shouting at me! Why!? Is it because I am just a girl!?"
"I am an advocate of Gender Equality! You are shouting at me, so I am shouting at you too!"
"Give me my water!
…
Just outside the two adjacent confinement rooms, the trio gathers at a table. Nick, Clint, and Natasha are silent. In front of the three is Maria Hill who is as cool as ice.
"The LSD or any truth=telling serum didn't work on them. The assumption is it didn't work on the Disfigured, because of his Extremis physiology. On the character 'Maguna Morgan' however, it seems that she has nanites in her blood. We didn't find anything in this 'Maguna Morgan' except she is working in Stark Industries as an intern."
Nick massages his forehead. It has been some time since the emergence of the 'Stray', and now they have a 'Gravity Girl', not to mention the Ironman incident. Nick drags the newspaper detailing the story of Ironman. They plan on stopping the flow of this news, but they cannot for some reason.
Maria continues with her report.
"We manage to stop news of the Disfigured and Maguna Morgan from spreading, but the witnesses at the scene would still tell of the stories of what happened. That aside, we can minimize the damage as long as we have the resources. Also… Coulson is currently in pursuit of the 'Ironman,' which we believe is Tony Stark…"
Maria halts midsentence, and then she voices her doubts.
"Sir, what do you think are the chances that Stark Industries is trying to create a super soldier? The nanites are also another avenue to unlock human potential, is it not?"
"Tell me Hill, what did you find out?" Nick coldly asks.
Maria takes a cold breath and then with hesitant eyes, she disperses the news. "We did the blood tests and even the biometrics, and we found out… that Maguna Morgan is a Stark. And is maybe even the closest kin of Tony Stark."
A silent wordless gasp among them, and they immediately know… that there is more to the story than what lets on the eyes.
"What is the current theory?"
Natasha asks, and Nick offers his own deductions.
"That they are siblings, and the two might have tech that is hidden from the world. And possibly, the Disfigured is Obadiah's grunt… Wait, where is Obadiah?"
"He has gone missing since the Ironman incident. Must've scared him shitless." Clit offhandedly comments.
Maria opines. "We believe that Obadiah must've fled overseas. To where? We don't know. We can use more high-handed torture methods to the Disfigured if it comes to it, sir… No, I suggest we should do it. We cannot get any blood samples from him. The Extremis physiology is just that weird. Getting his biometrics was possible, however, we still didn't find any information about him… He is like a ghost… Maybe, he is Stray…"
Clint who had plenty of missions relating to Stray scratches the back of his head unsure whether he should share his piece or not. "The 'Stray' is more of an organization using a single identity called 'Stray' as their persona. I think the 'Stray' wouldn't go so low as to subordinate himself to one. We aren't even sure if the 'Stray' is a guy." In the end, he denies that the Disfigured is Stray.
Nick nods his head. "I agree with Clint's words. Hmmm… Let's exclude torturing him first, I am afraid that might accidentally reawaken his Extremis abilities. Let's confine the two of them in the same rooms first… and from there, let's see what will happen."
Immediately, they plan a new action.
…
In a confinement room, Stray and Morgan look at each other with their own versions of poker faces.
Stray was the first one who breaks the silence. "Hey, do you want to get out of here?"
Morgan replies in a deadpan manner not letting out a single emotion on her face. "Are you not afraid they will do something? We are being monitored…"
Stray smugly replies. "It would be too late for them anyway…" Stray mouths in his lips. 'Blind them.'
Morgan similarly smiles, and with one last look at the hidden monitoring cameras, she activates her nano-cuboid and turns it into a jammer.
Meanwhile on the other end of the camera is Nick who has a smile on his face. "They sure did something… Alert the teams, we'd teach these young fellows to never underestimate SHIELD."
…
Back in the confinement room, Morgan is puking blood. "~Uk… Shaping a tech while in your blood is so deadly, it would risk my death. If only you know the pain of bursting a vein… Fuck. I can only use a fifth of my nano-tech now… I have to leave the other fourth in my bloodstream to fix the damage." She explains in a mumbling manner in an attempt to inform Stray of her state.
Stray was able to hear the gist of it just fine.
Morgan is lying on the floor, taking her time to adjust her breath. "What is the plan now?" Morgan asks still gasping for her breath.
Stray answers confidently. "We escape."
Stray cannot easily remove the cuff in his wrists. Judging its unique designs, he assumes using his Extremis powers would similarly have difficulty unlocking the curious cuffs. But who needs Extremis, when you have something else more perfectly apt to this situation?
[Superpower Sublimation at 100%]
[Superpower: Omniheist!]
[Omniheist— Also famous as Absolute Thievery! You can steal anything at a supernatural level that surpasses cause and effect! Your success in stealing depends on your mastery and state of thinking! With this power, you can declare yourself as the god of thieves!]
With satisfying clicking sounds, the high-tech cuffs come undone. Stray feels his limbs. "Morgan, can you make a knife?"
Morgan easily shapes a knife with her nano-tech. Stray cuts his palm forcing the activation of his Extremis powers starting with his healing factor. He returns the knife to Morgan. Stray touches her cuffs and with the same satisfying click, it undoes itself on its own.
After that, Stray uses his Extremis powers to heat and disfigure the cuffs creating an assumption that Stray was only able to escape by destroying the cuffs with his Extremis powers. He cannot have anything relating to 'stealing' involved with his 'Disfigured' identity.
"Morgan, can you stand up?" Stray offers one shoulder to Morgan. "Do you know where we can find your suit? We cannot let them have their way with that thing… That tech has so much tech to it, it is dangerous…"
Morgan nods, and with a snicker, tells Stray that it will be fine. "I activated that thing's self-destruction button the instant I jammed the cameras. The explosion would buy us just enough time to scurry off."
Morgan looks at Stray, and with a naughty smirk, she calls out his ugly face. "Hey, my fugly best friend… Shall we make our escape already?"
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