CHAPTER 55

In this one month, Andrew was not idle. The first on the list was to let go of the Quinjet. He deserted the Quinjet in a location SHIELD would know, and he disappeared from there. He then began his next step of the plan, creating another ID for himself. He made changes to his face, like shortening his beard and hair, but for some reason, it grew faster than he thought. The name on the Fake ID was Corvo Attano.

He created all the required details, beginning with his parents, birth, schooling, friends, university degree, job, and more. It was solid, and no one will doubt this.

He had also communicated with Natasha through the mail she sent about Red Room. The amount of information was enormous, and she compiled them in a way anyone could understand by reading it just once. The Widows main base is Russia. They are everywhere in Russia. As he went through all the information she had given, the way they train, the way their missions are assigned, the way they take their life in case of failure, he hated the part where they recruit girls who have nothing and exploit them to do the worse of the worse. And now, they have found a drug that induces mind control and is using it on them. Andrew has no clue how to revert what has been injected into them. There was no data on the component they used, and even Natasha did not have that information.

He needed to find that, which was close to the top of his list. While he was researching, he came across Ten Rings. Ten Rings were the ones who kidnapped Tony Stark. Not all information was given to the world, and Natasha was the one who shared more about Tony's kidnapping. Even if Tony Stark keeps a secret about what happened to him, SHIELD will find it, and they did.

The interview that Tony Stark gave also shocked him. He shut down the Weapons Manufacturing Department completely after he witnessed what his weapons did. Andrew had to give this to him, which was a bold and brave move. But after that, Obadiah Stane, his uncle, stopped and took over from Stark. This was enough for him to know that Stane was somehow involved in Stark's kidnapping, as he previously said to Natasha and Barton. They also found some evidence but did not move forward due to pressure.

The Ten Rings have been going in and out of Sojourn Enterprises, but he needed help finding information about what was happening. He even went as far as kidnapping a few and torturing them. But nothing worked. They did not speak a word. They were very well trained for it. This did not stop Andrew. He proceeded to use the void through the Manifest ability. He covered them in the Void's darkness. The worst thing a human can ever encounter is the ability to feel no emotion; they only feel nothingness. The feeling of being useless, the feeling of being worthless, the absence of life, non-existence, and devoid of time and space. This is precisely what they felt, which Andrew was unaware of.

Andrew heard the cries of all of them, which soon died down. He removed the Void covering them only to see their eyes devoid of life itself. This just made him fear the use of Void. Andrew called out to them, and they did not answer him. He even cut off the ropes he tied on, but they were still not moving. With no other choice, Andrew killed them and put their bodies in the inventory, later burning them.

With all this happening and his newfound ability, his research into the Outsider and the Void needed to be increased. He chose Russia not because of Red Room but because he wanted to research more about the Outsider and the Void. The Red Room just gave a push for him. And this newfound discovery made him want to know more about the Outsider. On his journey to Russia, and while he is in Russia, Andrew has been researching libraries, churches, monasteries, and many books. But there was nothing. Nothing about the Outsider. Nothing about the Void. There were theories of what a Void could be, but nothing definitive. He has also collected close to 11 Runes and is yet to use them. However, he could not find a Shrine that contained Runes. Ever since he took the first step and liberated his family from the Heart, whenever he was close to a Rune, he could sense them. More likely, he could feel the Void where the Rune was. The closer he is, the more he can feel the Void. This was a new development, and he wanted to talk about this and many more with the Outsider.

[Present Time]

Andrew was looking into the inventory and ensuring he had everything required. He then turned to the Abilities and thought about what to upgrade. He has eleven Runes but did not use them till now to check whether they upgrade on their own, as it was mentioned and only Dark Vision rose to the next tier.

------------------------------

[Abilities]

[Greater Blink – Tier 2] [Greater Dark Vision – Tier 2] [Bend Time – Tier 4] [Domino – Tier 3] [Manifest] [Vortex – Tier 4] [Void Resurrect – Tier 1] [Void Walk – Tier 1] [Descend]

[Enhancements]

[Strength – Tier 4] [Agility – Tier 4] [Shadow Kill – Tier 2] [Reflexes – Tier 3] [Vitality – Tier 3] [Intelligence – Tier 3] [Regeneration – Tier 2]

-----------------------------

These were the current state of his Abilities and Enhancements. During that fated day, when his Mana had gone infinite, he used the Vortex Skill and sucked in the souls of many, which increased his Enhancements. He still didn't understand how every soul increased his enhancements as the chances of that happening were close to none as he did not unlock that Ability in the first place. He was in a dilemma about how that happened, but somehow all his abilities increased by a tier in that state. For all the Abilities, the Middle Tree was in Tier 2. The Middle Tree, where the amount of Mana required, remained the same for all of them, and the Right Tree was in the same situation, except for Vortex and Intelligence. Vortex was in Tier 4 in Left Tree and Right Tree. Intelligence was in Tier – 2 for the Right Tree and Tier 3 for the Left Tree.

Andrew looked through the Abilities first and decided to upgrade Domino to the next tier. Now he can link the minds of 6 people. He then looked through the Enhancements and went and upgraded the Right Tree of Intelligence which increased his thinking speed by three times, and upgraded the left tree, which increased his comprehension ability by 0.7 times.

He felt the void affecting his brain and focused on where it was occurring. He could feel the Void in the brain's center, close to the Primary Auditory and Wernicke's areas. He also felt the Void in the Frontal Lobe, and as he researched, these areas were important for Comprehension and Thinking. But he still doesn't know how to do it on his own. He still does not understand how to manipulate the Void to do so. And that's something that will take time.

Andrew opened his eyes and got up. He looked through the window of the Hotel's room and saw the bustling streets with people walking and vehicles driving.

A mask appeared in his hands. He looked at it and remembered everything he had done.

"It's time to make the world know more about this Mask."

A/N: 1273 Words.

[Vader apologizes as Work for this and the next few weeks is going to be hectic. Vader will release a chapter every week and if time permits, more will be released. Vader is editing previous chapters as well. Edited Chapters will have {EDITED} in the Title. Vader wants Powerstones.]