Chapter 10
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After those two hours of travel, he finally reaches a building that sort of reminds him of the one the Avengers had on the Endgame, just... different.

Okay, so he's not good at describing buildings. Sue him. He spends most of his time on top of them, jumping from roof to roof to clearly pay attention to their details. Also, his sense of orientation sucks. He's lucky there are virtual maps already on the market. And even with that, he mostly goes to the Hollows by feeling and when he returns to his house, he does it by changing Mashiro's template from active to passive mode.

He follows Coulson inside as he guides him to the director's office. Once he's in front of a door, he knocks twice before entering.

Inside, there's a woman with a tablet in one hand, looking serious and professional. For one second, he wants to shout 'Hey, Robin!' but restrains himself. He knows this woman is Maria Hill and not an actress who played a role in a series he once liked. He can see Fury sitting on a big chair behind a desk, body slightly turned towards the window, probably having been watching outside. With only a tilted his head to see them being the only thing that reveals his complete attention is on him.

"Hello, director. I'm Selim," he says with an honest smile, which makes Fury blink, probably not expecting him to be this cheerful when his clothing is all gloomy.

Sadly, he only blinks once slowly, and that's all. No more changes in his expression. "Name's Fury. Now, I'll get to the point, Mr. Selim. I take Coulson has already asked you, however as you have not given him an answer, I would have to ask again: Why did you approach us when before you had ignored us?"

His smile widens. "Well, if I had known you were the director before, I would have come sooner." At seeing his and Hill's eyebrows raised, he repeats the words in his head and adds quickly, "I'm not flirting. Not that you aren't a nice man or anything, you must be pretty nice and less intimidating deep, deep down, but, well, some other SHIELD people mentioned their boss being something-something Pierce and--"

"Mr. Selim." He shuts up. "The question."

"Right. So I would really like to answer all your questions, but I'm also pretty sure you have got this place full of recording devices out. Is there a way for you to turn all of them off? I know I'm asking a lot, but some of the information I have got is pretty sensitive, and I would not want for it to be known."

The director doesn't budge. "Only I am allowed to see the records and those I select to share."

He now raises an eyebrow as he walks closer to the seat in front of Fury's desk and sits on it. "Are you sure, though? Because I've got sources that say SHIELD has pretty loose security and many can see everything it happens in here."

He tries to use his expression alone to convey how serious he is. When Fury doesn't relent, he sighs. "Okay, first, know that I won't harm you. This I only do to maintain privacy."

At the end of his words, he uses his darkness manipulation and expands his shadow across the entire office, covering everything except the people in it. Hill and Coulson are the first to react, their hands going to their weapons. Fury, however, hasn't moved at all, still looking at him coolly.

He gives the new room a quick glance over and says, "Cute."

The Selim part of him bristles at his shadows being called cute, so without thinking, he opens the eyes and mouths inside the shadows. Then with all their mouths open, they say at the same time in his voice, "Do you still think me cute?"

Hill and Coulson seem pretty freaked out. Though their expressions remain stoic, he can somehow feel that it startled their souls. It's freaking weird.

"What were you going to say, Mr. Selim?"

At the continued indifference, he rolls his eyes. All his eyes. Then he closes them along the mouths.

"I approached you guys because I grew worried about the appearance of the Hollows. And by Hollows, I mean those monsters you probably have seen me battling. I wanted you to alert me when they appear to eliminate them."

"And why do you think we would need your help in eliminating them? It's true that you have killed the only four that have appeared, but you also have not given us the chance to try."

He snorts as he crosses his arms. "Yeah, unless you've got soul-based weapons, you won't be able to kill them. And even if you create them, which is completely unethical, by the way, you'll just kill them. You need someone like me to purify them."

"And why would we need to 'purify them'?"

Now he grows serious. "Because even if they look like monsters, they are still the souls of people. They just have let their despair consume them. That's what Hollows are: human souls that are overcome by their despair, so much so that their hearts are gone. With their hearts gone, they hunger for other souls to fill that void. Only someone like me, a soul reaper, can purify them so they can go through the reincarnation cycle once again. Along with the other souls they have eaten."

Fury seems to think it over as he rests both hands on his desk. "You're a soul reaper, then?"

He nods.

"Why have these hollows appeared when there has been no sight of them before?"

Now time to say some half-truths. "Yeah, about that. Soul reapers weren't supposed to exist in this world either, but somehow when I died in my world, I reincarnated here with all my powers and this made the souls near me go wonky."

Fury now glares. "So, it's your fault."

"Not really. I mean, I must have reincarnated here for some purpose, at this time. Blame The One Above All if you want," he throws the name out as if it wasn't important.

By Fury's slightly bewildered face, he knows he's doing a fine job so far.

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