The wind was cold, the rain pouring down as though it was the last rain for a thousand years. As Erik stood there, just underneath the awning of a liquor store, his coat wrapped tight around him while his long, auburn hair blew in the wind. It had been a long time since Erik had been to New York, a long time since he had anything in his body except vodka, a long time since he had felt something as inviting as rain on his skin. He enjoyed it almost too much. Allowing himself just one small pleasure, Erik took a step forward and allowed the warm, friendly rain to drench his hair and his beard, coating him in water. Shaking his head madly in attempt to dry himself, Erik finally saw the man he was looking for across the street.
Running across the street quickly, Erik shook hands with the round-bellied man he was sent here to meet. The man was older, with white hair that was high on his forehead and wrinkles sprayed over his face. "Dr. Selvig, I presume?" Erik asked, shaking hands with the man.
"And you must be Magnus," Dr. Selvig replied, licking his lips. "I'm glad we could meet, Magnus."
"As am I, doctor," Erik confessed. Dr. Selvig gestured towards the restaurant behind him, and the two of them walked in. It was a pub, Erik thought, or maybe a new chain he had never heard of. Whatever it was, it was loud, with televisions displaying various sports games all over.
"Table for two," Dr. Selvig told the hostess. He turned to Erik and said, "You look wet and tired, Magnus. Where are you coming from?"
"I just spent some time abroad," Erik replied simply. "I've only just gotten home."
Dr. Selvig smiled. "Well, Magnus, I'm glad to be the one to take you out on your first night home. For that, I'll even buy you a second round."
"Selvig for two," the hostess shouted, and Dr. Selvig lightly hit Erik's shoulder before the both of them followed the hostess to a small circular table. The two gentlemen sat down.
"I'll take a Guinness," Dr. Selvig told the hostess.
"Krombacher," Erik replied.
The hostess gave a confused look.
"Um," Erik struggled, "just, um, whatever my comrade ordered."
Nodding, the hostess left, leaving the men alone. "So, where have you been abroad?" Dr. Selvig asked. "I'll admit that I was more than curious to receive a phone call from someone like you."
"Someone like me?" Erik asked.
Shifting in his chair a little bit, Dr. Selvig licked his lips and said, "We were not sure if anyone had survived the experiments after most of us left."
Erik's eyes lowered. "Just jumping straight into it then, eh?"
"My parents were both born in Norway," Dr. Selvig admitted. "Neither were known for their ability to, let's say, beat around the bush."
"I was born in Poland," Erik shared. "I too have a lack of that sort of skill."
Dr. Selvig nodded. "So, look, Magnus. I want you to know first off, I had no idea of what the consequences of what we were doing would have, nor did I know about the secondary project until much later into the research."
"Secondary project?" Erik asked, frowning.
Grunting, Dr. Selvig replied, "You see, there was a big team brought in. Something like nine financiers were involved. It was a massive project for genetic research, see? They brought in the biggest guns with the largest bank accounts to fund everything. CEOs and Presidents and such brought in their biggest brains, but it was all kept off-the-books, and none of us knew."
"What exactly was happening?" Erik asked.
"There were two teams of scientists. One team worked almost entirely with mutating genes, which was the one I was a part of. We were told the other team was working on testing the mutated genes in animals."
Erik's jaw tightened. "That makes sense. But you never checked?"
"Our labs were in different sections of the building," Dr. Selvig admitted. "We rarely saw anyone from the experiments team, other than the guy in charge. What was his name? Professor Nathaniel…something."
"Richards," Erik finished. "His name was Professor Nathaniel R. Richards, from MIT."
After a second, Dr. Selvig nodded. "Yes, it was. He was the only one who went back in forth, checking the progress. He was officially in charge of the entire thing."
"Officially?"
"Well, you see, the financiers, they were the ones who were really pulling the strings. Even though Richards was a member, he was still only their puppet."
The hostess returned finally, setting both of their beverages on the table, before giving a friendly smile and walking away.
"Do you know the names of any of the financiers? Or the scientists?" Erik asked, picking up his drink.
"I told you Richards already," Dr. Selvig admitted. "I don't know many of the rest of the money-lovers. I think someone from all the big corporations was involved. OsCorp, Rand, Stark, the whole thing."
"Why?"
Frowning, Dr. Selvig remarked, "I don't know what the project was for, Magnus. You see, I thought we were just doing research, figuring out if these were things that might help cure diseases and such. After we found out what was happening in the X-Labs, we…well, most of my team quit. But we never learned their true intentions."
"They were trying to-"
"May I get you guys an appetizer or something?" a young waiter asked.
"I'm all good for now, thank you," Dr. Selvig admitted.
"Do you guys need a few minutes to look at the menu, or…?"
"I would like the best burger you have," Erik replied icily.
"Just the broccoli cheddar soup, please," Dr. Selvig answered. The waiter nodded, smiled, and walked away.
Turning his attention back to Dr. Selvig, Erik continued, "They were going to attempt to weaponize the mutations and create children soldiers."
Dr. Selvig nearly dropped his glass. "Satan's ballsack! You can't be serious?"
"I spent enough time there to know what was happening, doctor," Erik growled. "I don't think you understand exactly what happened. Would you like me to describe it to you?"
"I'm quite alri-"
"No," Erik spat, "it's no problem. You see, what happened was that I was abducted from my uncle's house one night while I slept by a group of men dressed in black, who gagged me and tied my wrists and ankles together so I couldn't escape, and then they threw a bag on my head. Sound like fun? Because then I was put into a small, cramped room with forty-nine other children, each who had gone through the same thing. We got fed once a day if we were lucky and if the guard on duty remembered. That went on for a week before we got to leave the room at all. Then, in a single file line, we were lead down the metal hallway into a room with a friendly-looking man in a white lab coat, who took a piece of metal that had been burning for a good long while and he stuck it on our arms, each brand with a different number so they could keep track of us. Don't believe me?" Erik almost ripped his shirt as he pulled his sleeve up to his elbow and showed his forearm to Dr. Selvig; there was a number burned into his arm. "Two-one-four-seven-eight-two. Two-one-four-seven-eight-two. Two-one-four-seven-eight-two. That was me. For four years, Selvig! That was all I was known by. For four years while I was forced to undergo experiments that killed some of the only friends I had made in that hellhole, four years while I was barely fed, four years while I watched children on either side of me starve to death all in the name of science and the good of mankind, and for four goddamn years I was known was two-one-four-seven-eight-two. Imagine that. I almost forgot my name, Dr. Selvig. I forgot what my parents looked like, I forgot what my bedroom smelled like. All I knew was hatred and agony and pain. So imagine how it felt when one day, a group of men break into the room, a group of men who don't wear white coats and ID badges. And imagine the hope, Selvig, the pure uncorrupted hope we felt when you arrived. We thought we had been saved, we thought you and the others were our salvation. But you just angrily talked to them and left. We stayed there and suffered-"
"We quit after that!" Dr. Selvig shouted. "We all left, Magnus! We were through!"
"That didn't get me or the other twenty children who had been left alive out of that hell," Erik barked. "That didn't stop the experiments and that didn't get us out. No, we stayed there for another year after that incident, Selvig, we stayed there until we got ourselves out. And now I'm going to make sure that never happens to anyone else ever again. I'm going to protect the world from people like you."
"I didn't do anything wrong!" Dr. Selvig insisted, slamming his fist down on the table.
"You ignored a problem," Erik snarled. "You just turned a blind eye to the works of the evil. The act of refusing to work against an evil is the same as working for the evil."
Dr. Selvig went to speak, but Erik lifted his hand and suddenly, the watch around Dr. Selvig's wrist began to squeeze tighter and tighter.
"What on earth-"
"There was a benefit to the experiments of course," Erik admitted. "A silver lining, as it was. You see, me and the others who escaped, we got ourselves powers. Special powers. I will promise you now, Dr. Selvig, you will regret not having stopped them when you had the chance."
Attempting to take his watch off, the silverware on the table suddenly wrapped themselves around Dr. Selvig's neck and lifted his head to look Erik in the eyes. "Erik Selvig, you have been judged and deemed guilty of crimes against humanity. What do you have to say in your defense?"
Before he could speak, however, Dr. Selvig began to scream as the watch twisted itself and the left hand of the doctor fell onto the table, unattached to the arm. Dr. Selvig kept screaming until the silverware stabbed him in the throat. Blood poured onto the table, even spilling into the cups of beer. Erik flicked his fingers up and the silverware lifted Dr. Selvig's face up as well. Without a thought, Erik sent the spoons into his eyes and removed them.
Erik stood up and made his way towards the door when he heard someone behind him shout, "Freeze! I'm NYPD!"
Turning on his heel, Erik looked at the red-haired man who was standing with a gun in his hands. "Hello NYPD," Erik remarked calmly. "You can call me Magnus."
"Freeze, scumbag," the officer yelled.
"Are you off-duty?" Erik asked. He looked over at the table behind the cop, which had an older lady holding a young boy in her arms. "Is that your family?"
The cop's lip twitched.
"It is, isn't it?" Erik asked in a friendly manner. "Pull that trigger and I promise I will not hesitate to murder all three of you."
The cop swallowed hard and shouted again, "Freeze, and put your hands in the air."
Shrugging, Erik thrust his hands upwards, and the gun came up and smacked the police officer in the face. Falling onto his back, Erik turned and swung his arm, ripping the front of the building off as he walked out, his long coat, his messy hair and beard all flowing in the wind before he summoned a small slab of metal and jumped onto it and flew away.