Chapter 908
What exactly do you want?
Chapter 908 What exactly do you want?
Stern practically burst into the underground station. As soon as he entered, he saw Illari still fiddling with the puppets, while Brolin sat leisurely on the sofa, wiping a dagger in his hand.
Stern, suppressing his anger, asked, "Why send Abigail to contact Prometheus so quickly? We didn't even have a complete contingency plan! This is too risky!"
Brolin casually raised his eyes, his expression inscrutable:
“I have my reasons, Rolando. Time waits for no one, and we don’t have much time left.”
"Considerations? What considerations?"
Stern stepped forward and asked urgently, "Those guys are all lunatics. Cooperating with them will not end well! The purpose of our organization is purification, to eliminate the threat of wizards, not to sit at the same table with greater evil!"
His voice echoed across the empty platform, carrying an almost desperate tone.
The puppets that had been sleeping in the station seemed to be disturbed, and they all started to move and look at Stern.
"Don't worry, don't worry, it's alright!" Ilari hurriedly reassured them, "Stern isn't trying to hurt the leader, just stay put."
Most of the puppets slowly closed their eyes.
Brolin gave a cold laugh, slowly stood up, and said:
"Meaning? Evil?"
"Dumbledore and Grindelwald may have joined forces, and Wade Grey could appear at any moment with his army of puppets. Our peripheral forces are being wiped out by the IRS!"
"The organization's very survival is at stake right now, what are you talking to me about good and evil? Rolando, at this moment, ensuring the organization's survival is the most important thing!"
"Do you think I don't know that Prometheus's people are all crazy? But they have money and resources, and they can even influence the IRS! We need them!"
“But…” Stern, pale-faced, still refused to give up: “These crises can be weathered smoothly if we lie low for a while! Given Prometheus’s actions, I believe…”
"Rolando Stern!"
Brolin suddenly spoke sharply, but seeing Stern's voice abruptly stop, he changed to a gentle tone and asked:
“I’m puzzled, Rolando… When Cassius Thorne was in charge, you always obeyed his foolish orders. Why is it that now that I’m in charge, you repeatedly question my decisions?”
“Tell me,” he said coldly, “where exactly is your stance?”
"I……"
Stern felt a chill run down his spine, a feeling he couldn't quite place—whether it was disappointment or fear—and his voice trembled slightly:
"My stance... is, of course, for the organization!"
"For the organization?"
Brolin let out a short, cold laugh:
“I’ve always found it strange, Rolando…you have the blood of a true wizard flowing through your veins, so why do you…hate your own kind so much?”
Stern's face drained of all color instantly, as if he had been struck in the abdomen by an invisible fist.
“I already said…” Stern’s voice was dry and hoarse: “It was the wizard… who killed my mother.”
"Yeah, but don't Muggles kill people?"
Brolin astutely observed:
"You have magic and wisdom, yet instead of seeking revenge on the wizard who killed your mother, you believe all wizards deserve to die..."
He scoffed, "You, in your own words, accuse me of being wrong—of collaborating with those Prometheuses who experiment on wizards?"
These words were like salt sprinkled on Stern's unhealed wounds. He subconsciously took a step back, his fingers curling up unconsciously.
At that moment, his excitement and his persistence were shattered, leaving only a naked, inescapable embarrassment and pain.
Only close friends truly understand how a single sentence can strike at his weak point and inflict the greatest pain.
Seeing this, Brolin's suspicion and anger subsided slightly, replaced by a hint of indifference, and he sat down again.
“There’s no point in you stopping me now, Rolando,” Brolin said slowly. “To tell you the truth—the cooperation has already begun.” Stern looked up sharply, instinctively retorting, “Didn’t Sera just go out to make contact?”
Before he could finish speaking, he saw the meaningful, cold smile on Brolin's lips, and a terrible thought instantly popped into his mind.
“You…” he said in a trembling voice, “You lied to Sera… She didn’t go to inquire about cooperation; she herself was your ‘sincerity’ to Prometheus?!”
Brolin didn't answer, but Stern already knew the answer from his expression.
Without saying another word, he immediately turned around and was about to rush out to stop Sera Abigail from leaving the stronghold.
However, at that moment, Brolin's cold voice came from behind:
"Rolando, you are the most hypocritical person I have ever met."
Stern stopped abruptly and turned to look at his former friend in astonishment.
Brolin rested his chin on his hand, his voice like a poisoned dagger:
“You told me yourself that Sera is untrustworthy. You said that since she left the training base, she often seems absent-minded, and that her memory may be returning.”
Stern clenched his fist tightly.
"It was you who..." Brolin continued, "who repeatedly emphasized to me that in order to completely eliminate wizards and magic, we should stop at nothing."
Under his gaze, Stern unconsciously took another half step back.
“But now,” Brolin said sarcastically, “you want to stop me again, because I really will stop at nothing!”
In his other hand, he brandished a real dagger, and suddenly, the tip of the blade was pointed at Stern's throat from a distance.
Tell me, Stern—
Brolin slowly asked, "—What exactly do you want?"
……
Stern sat by the dying fire, Brolin's questions echoing in his mind like a curse.
"—What exactly do you want?"
His hands were clenched tightly, his expression pained, and his mother's frantic face kept flashing through his mind.
“Stern…Mr. Stern?”
A freckled girl with a ponytail stood timidly in the doorway and asked softly:
"I heard that Teacher Abigail has gone on an important mission. I... can I go with her?"
Her face was filled with anticipation and enthusiasm: "I also want to contribute to the organization. I already have a lot of spells!"
"no!"
Stern shouted, his voice unusually loud and shrill.
The girl was startled and looked at him helplessly.
Stern closed his eyes and said wearily:
“Abigail’s mission is dangerous. You haven’t graduated yet, so you can’t participate.”
"However... could you ask me something for me..."
Looking at the girl's bewildered face, he said, word by word, "She left in such a hurry, without taking what the other party wanted. How can they believe in the organization's sincerity?"
The girl, seemingly understanding but not quite, nodded and then ran off like a rabbit.
Stern listened to the receding footsteps, then bent over helplessly and buried his face in his hands.
(End of this chapter)