Ch 25: Deceit

                                    

                                          
~Adria~
How did Adam find my mother? I could have asked, but I had other questions in mind. 
"Adam, the big monsters— the underwater mutants; How did that happen?"
I couldn't bring myself to call him father. We didn't even look alike. There was no connection between us whatsoever. 
"It was a mistake. An accident. Thankfully, Adrian came up with a plan which can often control them."
"It's not working. They cause chaos. One of them even ended up in Wakanda's river. There's no connection between the ocean and the river and it still ended up there."
Adam stared blankly at me, his smile faded for a second, but his lips curled up just as fast. 
"We have lost control of a few of them. They are generally in a hypnotized state. As to why one of them ended up there... it must have filtered when it was very small and eventually the mutation caused it to grow."
That brought me to my next question, but I was afraid of the answer. I took a deep breath and braced for whatever the answer might be.
"Why did I... turn out to be like this?"
"How?"
"Pointy ears. Wings on my ankles. Mutations don't happen twice and..."
I looked at Adrian. He had similar features.
"There's already three of us—"
"Four if we count B'alam."
He cut me off. There was a silence between us that made my hair raise. Yes, B'alam resembled his father, but he is related to Namor in blood. Why did Adrian and I turn out differently if we weren't related? Was it simply a coincidence?
"I do not know why you two look the way you do. Now tell me, how is life in Wakanda?"
He tried to take the conversation elsewhere, but I wasn't done.
"It does not make sense and much less if my characteristics mutated out of nowhere. There must have been a cause because this... all of this is the effect. When your son made those sounds, trying to control his animals, it awoke something within me."
Adam's monsters listened to Adrian and strangely enough, I did so too.
"You are a mutant. If you think that K'uk'ulkan is the only one, you are wrong.'
"I know there are many mutants, but not two are the same. Adrian, were you born looking like that?"
"Yes."
He answered. Adam looked at him with a raised eyebrow, then softened his expression as he turned back to me.
"I do not have an answer to all of those questions, but what I do know is that your mother was a warrior. Perhaps her bloodline had something to do with it."
Adrian stared at me with worry, then leaned forwards and lightly tapped on the table.
"Adria, I might have a partial answer to one of your questions. You see, Talokanilex sing and hypnotize people, yes? But we are not pure-blooded, which means we might be influenced. I think that's why your characteristics appeared when I was nearby."
"You knew I was nearby."
Adam tightened his jaw and cleared his throat.
"I ordered him to look for you. We knew you were in Miami."
Adam answered. 
"How?"
"The news. We might live away from people but we still have access to the outside world."