Chapter : Shadows of Truth
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The first time Jay saw Nolan Grayson in person, it felt like standing near a live wire wrapped in human skin.
He was power disguised as patience, violence camouflaged in a smile.
Jay had known it was coming. This meeting. This confrontation. It had lingered on the horizon for weeks, like a storm he couldn't outpace.
Now, it was here.
They met on the roof of a quiet city library, late evening, stars blurred by city light. Nolan didn't descend in fire or fury—he simply floated down, casual, like gravity bent to him out of politeness.
"Jay," Nolan said with a warmth that didn't reach his eyes.
"Mr. Grayson."
A beat.
Then a smile.
"You've made quite an impression."
Jay kept his posture loose, relaxed. Not defensive, not aggressive. Neutral. Calculated.
"Just trying to make a difference."
"And interfering with GDA operations?" Nolan's tone didn't change, but his aura thickened.
Jay shrugged. "Sometimes their version of 'help' looks a lot like exploitation."
Silence.
Nolan looked up at the stars.
"Do you know how many civilizations I've watched tear themselves apart because their people couldn't follow? Because they clung to weakness disguised as morality?"
Jay's breath caught. It wasn't what he said. It was how he said it.
This wasn't the Nolan the world knew.
This was a glimpse of Omni-Man.
Jay spoke carefully. "Maybe they needed something more than strength. Something worth protecting."
Nolan turned back to him.
"Strength is what protects."
Jay let the silence settle before he responded.
"Not always. Sometimes strength is the thing you protect others from."
A flicker. Just for a second. In Nolan's expression. Discomfort? Doubt?
Jay pressed forward.
"I know who you are."
Nolan's face didn't change, but the air around him did.
"You're a smart young man."
"I try."
"You know what's coming?"
Jay nodded. "I know what your people want. I know what you were sent to do."
"And yet here you are."
"Trying to change the ending."
Nolan studied him, gaze sharp.
"You think you can stop it?"
Jay met his eyes. "No. But maybe I can delay it. Redirect it. Long enough to prepare the people who will."
A strange thing happened then.
Nolan… chuckled.
Not mockingly. Not threatening. Just… tired.
"You remind me of someone," he said. "A long time ago."
Jay didn't ask who.
He already knew it wasn't someone Nolan had let live.
---
Later, Jay found himself sitting on a bench at the edge of a quiet park. The city still buzzed around him, uncaring, oblivious.
Eve arrived without fanfare, plopping down beside him, a smoothie in hand.
"How bad was it?" she asked.
Jay blinked. "Worse than I expected. Not as bad as it could've been."
"Cryptic." She sipped. "So, business as usual."
Jay allowed a small grin.
"He knows. Or suspects."
"Knows what?"
"That I'm not from here."
Eve stilled. "You think he'd tell Cecil?"
"No. Not yet. He's testing me. Trying to see if I'm useful. Or dangerous."
"Well, he's not wrong."
Jay raised an eyebrow.
"You are dangerous," she said. "Just… in the right direction."
He chuckled softly.
They sat in silence for a moment.
Then Eve added, "You're not alone in this, Jay. Whatever's coming—we face it together."
He looked at her then.
And the weight of the world felt just a little lighter.
---
Back at his safehouse, Jay poured over surveillance feeds. He watched Nolan fly away from their meeting spot, straight and unhurried. Like a man with infinite time.
But Jay knew better.
The Viltrumites weren't patient. They were strategic.
And the moment Nolan decided he was a threat… the real fight would begin.
---
---
The wind howled through the abandoned warehouse district like a warning. Jay stood alone in the shadow of rusted scaffolding, cloaked in darkness, listening.
The GDA wanted a meeting. Not with him directly, of course—they didn't extend official invites to wildcards. But they did leak just enough data, just enough surveillance breadcrumbs, to let Jay know they were watching.
And waiting.
He showed up first, as expected. He always did. Part of the game.
Then the doors opened.
Donald Ferguson entered with his usual stiff-backed posture and low, professional frown. Two agents flanked him, both nondescript in that trained-and-dangerous sort of way. Jay didn't tense. But his vectors stirred beneath his skin like phantom muscles.
Donald stopped several feet away, hands visible, nonthreatening.
"Drift," he said.
Jay nodded. "Donald."
"You've caused quite a few ripples."
"Ripples are better than waves."
Donald gave a slight smirk. "Depends on where you're standing."
A tense pause stretched between them.
"We want to know what you're doing," Donald continued. "Why you're interfering with operations. Who you're working with."
Jay tilted his head. "I thought you were supposed to be the intelligence agency."
That got a twitch out of one of the agents.
Donald didn't rise to the bait.
"We want the same things: stability, safety, order. You could be an asset. If you cooperate."
Jay's eyes narrowed. "And if I don't?"
Donald's gaze sharpened. "Then you're a variable. And variables get solved."
Jay didn't respond right away. He let the weight of the moment hang, let the threat echo.
Then he said, "Tell Cecil I'm not the one he should be worried about. And if he plays this wrong, I won't be the one bleeding."
He turned and left. Didn't look back. The vectors flared briefly as he stepped into the night.
---
Eve waited on a rooftop two blocks away, her eyes scanning the skyline.
"You okay?" she asked as he landed beside her.
Jay exhaled slowly. "They want to recruit me. Or neutralize me."
"Standard GDA playbook."
He nodded. "It's going to get worse. They're cornered. Cecil doesn't like what he can't control."
Eve folded her arms. "Neither does Nolan."
Jay's expression hardened. "That's what I'm counting on. Their paranoia. It'll blind them. Make them desperate. I just need to survive it long enough to push them in the right direction."
Eve gave him a long look. "You really believe you can balance all this?"
"No," Jay admitted. "But I have to try."
---
Meanwhile, deep within a secured GDA bunker, Cecil watched the encounter unfold on a dozen screens. He chewed on his cigar, face unreadable.
"He's too clever for his own good," Donald said from beside him.
Cecil didn't respond. Just rewound the footage. Zoomed in on Jay's face. Watched the flicker of tension in his jaw, the glint in his eyes.
"I want surveillance doubled," he said finally. "And cross-reference all known vector anomalies. I want to know exactly what he can do."
"And when we find out?" Donald asked.
"Then we decide whether to keep him… or put him down."
---
Jay's network of allies was growing, if unevenly. He'd made contact with several underground tech developers, a few disillusioned ex-heroes, and even one or two alien smugglers.
But trust was harder to come by.
He met with Titan in a back alley near the industrial sector. The man's rocky exterior glistened under a weak security light.
"You want info on Omni-Man?" Titan asked, crossing his arms.
"I want leverage," Jay corrected. "Something solid. A reason for the others to start asking questions before he starts punching holes in people."
Titan shook his head. "I've got ears in the underworld, not in the clouds. That kind of intel? That's above my paygrade."
Jay handed him a flash drive. "Then consider this a raise."
Titan checked the drive, paused. "This is…"
"Blueprints for kinetic resonance shielding. Enough to keep your family safe from... almost anything."
Titan looked up, stone brow furrowed. "What's the catch?"
"Just pass me what you hear. And if things go south—run."
Titan grunted. "You're a weird kind of hero."
"I'm not a hero," Jay said. "I'm a survivor."
---
Back at Eve's apartment, they pored over data on a smart screen. The apartment was warm, cluttered in a lived-in way. It smelled like cinnamon and ozone.
"You've been busy," she said, scrolling through compiled files.
Jay leaned back on the couch, fingers steepled. "Can't afford not to be."
She glanced at him. "Do you ever rest?"
"Only when I'm dead."
"Not funny."
Jay smiled slightly. "Then don't laugh."
Eve rolled her eyes, but the concern stayed.
"Jay… I know you want to change things. But you're burning through yourself like there's no tomorrow."
He looked at her, eyes tired but focused.
"Because tomorrow's the part I'm trying to save."
---
End of chapter 7