Black Bolt waved his hand, and a barrier conjured behind the man pulled it towards himself. The barrier phased right through the man, who laughed at his attempt.
"You really think they wouldn't have thought about an attack from behind," mocked the man, turning around to reveal an eye on his back. "I hope that wasn't your only idea," added the man.
Black Bolt started to think. 'He claims to be able to move through matter, so how does he breathe? Oxygen has a state of matter just like anything else; does that mean when he uses his powers he can't breathe, or is his ventilation system different from normal?' he questioned.
Black Bolt started to send a barrage of shots through the man, and as they all phased through, the man just smiled. He just slowly walked towards Black Bolt with no visible change or struggle. Black Bolt could see clearly that there was no sign he was breathing.
"Your assumption was correct. I may not be able to breathe while using my powers, but you think I didn't train my lung capacity for situations like this? I can hold my breath for 30 minutes, and I doubt you have enough energy to last that long," stated the man now in front of Black Bolt.
Black Bolt started to charge up his legs to which the man sprinted towards him, faster than normal.
"Since all matters passes through I don't have to deal with air resistance and other forces that slow us down." He yelled grinning.
As Black Bolt started to fly a huge pain in his leg, took him back to the ground. The man had his hand inside his leg before pulling it out causing Black Boots muscles and blood to spill out.
The man placed his hand in Black Bolt's head. "I can kill you in a milisecond," he said. Black Bolt moved his fingers in a weird gesture.
"Try it!" Black Bolt replied.
"Intresting," stated the man.
"If you kill me, I'll take you down with me. As soon as I die, the nerve holding the cluster of electrons in your body will release, causing an explosion inside your body and killing you from the inside," smiled Black Bolt.
"A stalemate. Let's see what happens first—do I run out of breath or do I run out of energy?" replied the man.
"Either way, you die," replied Black Bolt, confused.
"A noble sacrifice for the cause, as I'll be taking you with me. As soon as that explosion happens, I'll die, and my body will revert back to normal, killing you right after," claimed the man. "Oh, and even the tiniest movement from you and I kills us both," added the man.
Black Bolt didn't respond and instead began to think, 'He can phase through states of matter, but can he phase through energy itself? If I generate an electric current, can the electrical energy affect him?' he wondered, using his antenna to form a stream of electrons.
The man continued to grin, showing no reaction to the electrical energy passing through him.
'Maybe heat? If I bash enough particles together, maybe the heat could affect him? No, he can just phase through the molecules that contain the thermal energy!' he thought.
"You can't figure out a way, can you?" asked the man.
"I still have some time," replied Black Bolt.
"Just accept your fate like I have. One day I was bound to die, as were you. The only reason I can stand on the ground when using my powers is thanks to a dear friend of mine who cast a spell to make me levitate. But the spell won't last forever, so one day, when I turn on my power, I'll fall to the centre of the earth, trapped in its core. Forever, until I die of old age," replied the man. "This death will be a lot more blissful than the fate that awaits me!" he added.
"Your circumstances are unfortunate," replied Black Bolt.
"I didn't ask to be a superhero or villain. I just wanted to live a normal life like everyone else, but in the end, I wasn't even given a choice." The man responded.
"Did Vulcan treat you well?" asked Black Bolt.
"Better than anyone. He was my saviour as well as my friend, and if my curse can at all help him, I'll gladly use it. No matter what side affects!" replied the man.
"You claim to want a normal life, but here you are instead of hiding with your friends. If they're your world, why does anything else matter? Why couldn't you just live your life with the people you care for so much?" asked Black Bolt.
"I tried to convince Vulcan to stop with what I thought was simple revenge, but he wouldn't listen. At the time, I was angry, but I realised that he wasn't doing this for selfish motives but to free others who went through the same thing as us. There are others, just like me, who never found a saviour or people to care for them. He wants to change that, and I can't think of any better way to die," replied the man.
"I understand. Your cause is a noble one, but with the extremes you went through, I'm afraid we can't let you go through with this. Just like you claim to be ready for death, so am I, if it means I can save just one more person," replied Black Bolt.
"If it makes people listen and the projects stop, then it was worth all of it," replied the man.
"Will the loved ones of the families of those who died agree with you? You wanted to find people who cared for you, but you'll take the very same thing from others." asked Black Bolt.
"In exchange for ending continuous suffering, I believe it to be worth it. You don't know what it's like, as your powers are manufactured and simply a piece of equipment; we are made organically through misery. I respect all of you, but to continue fighting against us when you could join us and stop future pain, you take the government's side," replied the man.
"Once this is over, if we win, we'll make sure others don't go through what you have to," stated Black Bolt.
"At least you listen to me, even if you really have no choice. Sadly, you won't be able to spread our cause since you'll be dead and your teammates will continue to exterminate us, not listening to a single word we say," replied the man.
"I believe at least one of us will listen; just like you, we aren't perfect and we are prone to mistakes. You may think of us as pure good, but that isn't the case for everyone; some people go to extremes to protect the people, just like you went to an extreme to save your own," replied Black Bolt.
"I'm sorry it had to be this way; you aren't as bad as I thought," replied the man sincerely.
Black Bolt started to tear up. "I have many regrets, and I hope that my actions make up for them. I don't want to die just yet, but that's just life; like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get," replied Black Bolt.
"I love that move," replied the man.
"I never caught your name," said Black Bolt.
"I never received one, but the others call me Matt," replied Matt.
"It's been a pleasure," said Black Bolt.
"Same for me," replied Matt before turning back to normal, his hand now etched into Black Bolt's skull. Matt exploded from within his guts and painted across the ground as they both fell to the floor, lifeless.
Now it was just silent.