The Sage of the Mind

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 61 [September 2010]

–Bruce Banner–

Rage.

Looking back, that was the emotion he was most familiar with. Throughout his shitty childhood, then his very bad schooling experience, then towards the end, where he ended up working for the most stereotypical bully there could be, Rage-Anger were emotions he was most familiar with.

Anger at the unfairness of the situation. Anger at the unfairness of his life. Anger at the inability to understand others.

Sometimes he wondered, there was no wonder he turned into a raging monster capable of destroying entire cities. It must be due to the sheer rage he held within himself.

And yet, the same rage that had turned advanced reinforced military equipment into scraps without even thinking about it, the same rage that felt like a burning inferno at the time, felt so small.

It felt so small, like a barely burning ember of fire, when compared to the rage he was feeling right now. Oh, he was not green. Oh, that would not be a good thing and somehow, this time, the Other Guy seemed to agree as well, silently mirroring his rage.

As he was now, he had two options. He could rage at the world, the unfairness of trying to snatch away someone who had just now entered his life, or, he could be there for her.

"Bruce! Snap out of it!" The Invisible Man had said to him, clearly worried for the city he held so dear but the Invisible Man had nothing to worry about, for he would not be turning into a raging monster today.

Not today.

"Good Morning, Honey. I made your favourite pancakes. The first batch burned but why don't we just ignore them, huh?" He said with what he hoped was the appropriate amount of cheer before placing the breakfast table on Betty's lap as she woke up.

He would have to break the news to her, one way or another. He had already informed the Invisible Man, who was his only help at this point. The good news was that man was a powerhouse for whom most of the world's richest and most powerful would bend over backwards for. So, he was sure that if it existed in the world in any form, the Invisible Man could get it for him.

But no matter how resourceful and all present the Invisible Man might be, this was an entirely new problem, something that had never happened before. Part of him berated himself for not realising it sooner. It would never work out between someone like him and a normal human being, and yet….he lost himself in the moment.

He was just so happy to finally have someone he could call his own, and that too, without being called a monster because of the Other Guy.

"Honey, these are delicious,"

"Thank you,"

"So, what's up?"

He looked at Betty, "Nothing,"

"Oh please, Bruce Rober Banner, I know you better than that. Now, spill, what's up?" Betty asked him in between mouthfuls of pancakes.

"So, you know how we have that clock that can measure gamma radiation coming off of a person?"

"Oh yeah, that was a fun project. It looks so much better and goes with the look of the apartment now, instead of being a cheap plastic-looking thing. What about it?" She asked him with those big beautiful eyes and he had to consciously remind himself that he would have to tell her about it anyway, so there was no point in prolonging the inevitable.

"So, I was just going through the logs when…."

……

…..

"So, you think that I am pregnant with our child?" She asked him, all serious, pancakes all but forgotten.

He gulped as his mouth suddenly felt way too dry, "Yes, that is my belief as well as the Invisible Man's but we will still be taking another look. I don't know what is happening but the Invisible Man has assured me that…"

"Bruce! Ohmygod!" Betty hugged him as she gushed about the baby and how happy she was about everything. And how it was perfect that they were already in the safest place imaginable. They also had access to the best doctors and schools anyway, and so on and so forth.

"So, why the mopey face? Gasp! Don't tell me, you don't want our child, the sign of our love? Oh Bruce Robert Banner, thou art a heartless bitch!" She mockingly gasped as she pointed an accusing finger at him.

He chuckled at her antics, a tear escaping his eyes as his mind finally started to relax from the high tension it had wound itself into.

"Listen, you know about my situation and the gamma radiation coming off of you is increasing exponentially. I just want to make sure that it is safe before we get our hopes up. I'll make something with Randall that will help identify the signs of the baby,"

"Can I come? Come on, what will I even do here? I get so bored when you leave for your boys' meetup and I have to look at daily soap, like a housewife,"

"Hey, I seem to recall someone in the labs telling me that they would prefer being a housewife if lab work was all they had to do for the rest of their life," He teased her as he got out of bed, getting ready to head to the Lab, or rather, the Lair of the invisible Man where he kept his team locked up. It was a huge load off his shoulders that Betty was not freaking out like him. She was so calm and composed, as opposed to him.

That gave him more than enough strength to go to the lab and work his damndest hard to make sure that Betty gets what she wants. After all, isn't that was love is all about?

GASP!

"Bruce Robert Banner, how dare you accuse me of saying something I totally did?"

Both of them looked at each other for a moment before he burst out laughing.

"Play, that one was good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with another gamma genius extraordinaire,"

"Oh. Give Randall my regards. I am having some pregnancy cravings for French baked goods right now,"

"Honey, it is too early for you to be having pregnancy cravings -err, you know what, I will make sure that it is delivered to you within the hour," He amended himself after being subjected to her glare.

"That's more like the Bruce Robert Banner I know. Have fun, bye!"

He deadpanned at the liberal use of his middle name to mock him and waved back at her as he left his apartment.

Now, all that was left was to make sure that a Gamma Baby came safely out of a normal human whose body was woefully inadequately prepared for such circumstances.

Easy peasy, right?

Come on Bruce, you have always had a big head. If it is not useful at such times, what even is it useful for?

….

Soon, he reached the house in which the seven hulks were living. It was fairly large and it was also reinforced multiple times because the Hulks were not known to live delicately, at all.

"Hey Samuel, I just came to meet Randall," He greeted Samuel who opened the door for him. Even though it would be the height of foolishness for someone to try and rob people who could bend steel, they still made sure to lock their doors.

"Yeah, he is down in the Cave, doing something. See you," Samuel said and left for the kitchen where the rest of the Hulks were doing their preferred activities. One was reading, one was on a gaming console, one was reading a newspaper, and one was cooking for all of them.

All in all, a very odd but still functional family the seven brothers made.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 62 [October 2010]

–Axle Riddle–

"So, you mean to say that if we didn't pull Baby Bruce out of there in 2 more months, the chances of Betty surviving would drop sharply?" He asked Bruce who looked heartbroken at the news. Bruce and Randall had been hard at work the past month, taking notes and resources from SHIELD and whats-his-face Billionaire to build anything that could help BEtty survive.

Fury had pulled in all the resources he could. Axle was somewhat surprised in the beginning when Fury didn't make any unreasonable, or any demands really when he agreed to help Banner. He brought in the best people from his organisation and from outside his organisation.

Helen Cho. He didn't expect her to be here considering her field was not really pregnancy related but she was apparently a licensed doctor and had some interesting ideas for making sure that Betty made it out of the experience.

Tony Stark had been called in as well but the man took one look at the setup, talked a bit with Bruce, and had immediately flown back to bring something. As it turned out, Tony had been hard at work, Tony was the one who built most of the equipment that was being used in one of the warehouses he had taken over, for the express purpose of fortifying it for Betty's pregnancy.

So far, combining the geniuses of all these three people, they had built machines and procedures that could work but nothing concrete at all. The baby was growing exponentially, estimated to pop out of Betty at just 5 months old, fully formed.

The problem was not the baby's size or anything, it was going to be normal sized, at 5 months anyway. The problem was the gamma radiation. Betty was being constantly subjected to it from inside for months.

He had still now shown Tony the subterranean Lair but the warehouse had a direct underground line built straight to the Highway tunnel. From the tunnel, they had a direct line to the Lair as well.

When he first showed Tony the huge tunnel he had built underground, his reaction was expected. After all, the man regularly hacked sensitive databases and his tunnel was hardly a secret so Tony knew about it but once he scanned the entire thing and realised the precision with which he had built a miles long tunnel without any outside help, he had been dumbfounded, not at the tunnel but the potential applications of his power.

"What does Betty have to say about this?" he asked Bruce who slumped even further.

"She wants to keep the baby, even if it does cost her own life," Bruce whispered. Welp, that complicated things.

"A C-Section? We have world class surgeons in New York," he offered, even though he had a hunch why that would not be feasible in Betty's case.

"Wouldn't work. The issue is not the baby, it would be irradiated tissue in Betty's body. We need something to purge all that radiation and nothing has been found that could absorb the radiation from inside Betty," Bruce said, frustrated at his failures.

"What about Vibranium?" He was just pulling at straws here, his limited mental capacity unable to think of anything else that could help.

Bruce's neck snapped up as his face, along with Randall's, gained that thoughtful look when they were doing some intense thinking.

"Micro fibers woven from Vibranium, carefully injected into various parts around Betty might help slow down the radiation poisoning," Randall said out loud.

"And once the baby is delivered, they could absorb the remaining radiation, leaving Betty's cells slightly damaged but nothing that can be immediately fatal," Bruce replied in turn.

Oh. So Vibranium could work then. But….

"But where would we even get Vibranium? That stuff was the rarest metal on the planet," Bruce whispered in defeat.

"Oh, don't you worry about that, Brucie bear. What am I here for then, huh? We SCIENCE! Bros gotta stick together, you know. I'll make a couple of calls and get us the Vibranium we need. If we weave it thin enough, we might be able to get by with a couple hundred grams as well. If the properties of Vibranium are as miraculous as I know they are, we can even siphon off the radiation from Betty accordingly," Tony said as he swooped in on the two geniuses discussing things with Axle.

"Oh. Heya Invisible Man. Kinda creepy of you to listen in on our conversation, don't you think?" Tony snarked at him as he looked straight up.

"Oh, like you haven't been trying to listen in with all the bugs you dropped around the place, Stark? You do realise why I didn't take you to the real base then?" He snarked back, his mind working in the background as he realised that the Vibranium plan might actually work.

…If they could utilise it properly. He had no doubt that Tony would be able to source the Vibranium, especially since they needed so little of it but he should be able to use it properly.

Howard Stark had no other way of using the Vibranium so he built a shield with it, not understanding the miraculous properties of the cosmic metal. In fact, he had a hunch that the only reason Captain was allowed to keep the shield by the Wakandans was due to the fact that it was nothing but an over glorified frisbee, capable of devastating acts in the right hands but a frisbee nonetheless.

The only other people on the planet who knew best how to use Vibranium were Wakandans and lucky for him, for some reason probably related to him, Wakanda had opened a new embassy in New York, a little further away from Manhattan.

Now he was sure that it should have been at least a little suspicious that a tiny African country, which was poor by all measures, should not have been able to afford an embassy in New York of all places, especially with all the real estate inflation that had occurred ever since he became active in the area. And yet, there it was the Wakanda Embassy.

It was completely normal, as far as he could sense. Sure, it had all the digital doodads and everything but it was nowhere near as advanced as Wakanda could be. It made sense because they wouldn't want the outside world to know but he had a hunch that Wakanda specifically kept this place clean to avoid his gaze.

Well, if this idea of Tony was going to work, he needed additional information about Vibranium and how to better use it in this scenario.

Now all that was left was to approach the Wakandas and see if they were willing to help him out or if they were going to prove their stereotype that had formed in Fanon over the years.

He just hoped that T'Chaka didn't dismiss him outright. After all, he was landlocked to an area that was halfway across the world from Wakanda.

He would not be a threat anytime soon. But he didn't really have to go to Wakanda to threaten them, now did he?

Information was just as deadly as physical force these days.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 63 [October 2010]

–Axle Riddle–

He created his paper avatar in front of the Wakanda Embassy and had it slowly approach the gates of the Embassy. The guards in front of the embassy were understandably startled as they saw something straight out of a movie walking towards them.

One of them began speaking into his comms and the other one began approaching his paper avatar. He made sure that the paper avatar appeared as nonthreatening as possible. Just as the guard came into listening range, he activated the phone speaker inside the head of the avatar, speaking, "Greetings. I am the Invisible Man. This is a temporary avatar I have created to interact with you. Can you take me to meet the head of the Embassy?"

The guard who was speaking in the comms looked like he had heard something surprising and came running toward the paper avatar.

"Yes. She will meet you now. This way, please," The guards then escorted him inside the embassy. It looked quite ordinary with loads of diplomats walking around, handling paperwork. Of course, he could see them for what they really were instead of the facade they were trying to build around him.

The calluses on their hands, the musculature, and the hidden weapons all pointed towards most of the Embassy being actually warriors, instead of diplomats. One such clue was one of the so-called diplomats actually holding the paper upside down as they discussed with each other the Wakandan Textile policy and import agreements with some private corporations in the US.

He wouldn't be surprised if said private company in the US was owned by Wakanda itself. Honesty, with the amount of power they had, they could have easily pervaded every single hall of power in the world, be it through soft power, military strength, or just by providing information.

There were a lot of ways that Wakanda must have involved themselves in the world economy. He actually refused to believe that an advanced civilisation actually just closed themselves from the world, not even deigning to maintain an active presence in key industries of the outside world.

If he was the head of Wakanda, he would, firstly, control the Oil trades, and then control the demographic population of the most powerful democracy on the planet. Those two things alone would have allowed Wakanda to subtly direct any entity that came too close to Wakanda, and that too with ease.

Some country uncovering their involvement? Bomb Them. Drop WMD accusations and flatten the country, then extract their resources.

Now, this was heinous but it was not as if Wakanda was above such acts if it suited them just fine. Murdering scientists who came too close to them in technological superiority, just rubbed him the wrong way.

If he had it his way, he would not interact with Wakanda, not unless T'Challa himself had become King. The business with Killmonger was nasty business but that was what convinced T'Challa to open up Wakanda to the rest of the world, something that was sorely needed because if T'Challa didn't do it, Wakanda as a nation would not have existed in a century at most.

At most, it would have remained as the name of the Vibtranium mine on the planet.

So, he watched as the Embassy head, an unassuming black woman cleared her desk and waited for his avatar to arrive, even though she must know that he could sense her at this moment as well.

Now, he knew that she was a warrior through and through as well. The Wig told him that she was probably a part of the Dora Milaje but he had no way of confirming that.

Well, all of that could be done later on. He was here for help and might as well go along with the charade. Othersei, he would have just flexed his powers, and then the information he had on Wakanda and then gotten things done.

That was still not out of the picture though. Depends on the attitude and stubbornness of the Embassy head. If T'Chaka himself had placed her here, she must have some level of authority to promise something. Vibranium distribution would be out of her hands, undoubtedly, but knowledge on how to use Vibranium might be a little in reach of her.

"Greetings. I am the Invisible Man, as you must know. I am here for something that only Wakanda can provide,"

His statement tensed a lot of people in the building. Well, it was clear that everyone in the building was hearing his conversation, ready to do..what exactly?

Did they not know he was not here in person at all? Nothing their Vibranium weapons could hurt was here. His physical body, enhanced as it was, would also be instantly punctured by Vibteranium spears but that was a question for later.

"What can I do for the illustrious hero of New York?"

He had to hand it to the woman. She was tense, that much was obvious from the increased heart rate but outwardly? Nothing could be seen on her face or even in her body language.

For this, he dismantled the phone entirely. What if SHIELD was listening in and in trying to get Wakanda as an ally, he ended up revealing its existence to SHIELD, or worse, SHIELDRA.

"I know about the hidden city. The Birnin Zana," The much deeper voice spoke in the office of the Embassy and this time, there was a number of stiffenings in the Embassy before all of them began rushing towards the top floor, only to be stopped by somebody ordering them.

"I see. Can I ask how you came in possession of such dangerous knowledge?" She asked him as she leaned forward at her desk.

"That is not of importance as of now. As I am sure you know from your WarDog channels, Bruce Banner, along with Betty Ross, are having a baby,"

"Yes, I have heard of the Gamma-baby. Give them my congratulations,"

"Yeah, I guess. For that to happen, we need to deliver the baby safely. Now, Gamma Radiation is tricky to work with, especially since Betty wants to have the baby. For safe removal of the Gamma radiation, we need the one miracle metal that can absorb any and all types of energies safely,"

"Vibranium. You want our Vibranium?"

Now that triggered her for some reason. Well, it must be genetically encoded in them by now. NO VIBRANIUM TO OUTSIDERS.

Especially to the people who looked like the colonisers.

"No, we will get the Vibranium on our own. I just need to know how to mould the Vibranium into thin enough fibres so that the excess Gamma radiation given off by the baby can be absorbed by the Vibtranium instead of Betty's body."

"....That…is certainly better than Vibraniumm but I cannot make that decision just now,"

'That's fine. You can tell me in a week's time. Tell T'Chaka that I have some information about his long lost Brother. I am willing to trade it for the information," He said his piece and dismantled his paper avatar.

Then he watched her calmly look around the room and tell her assistant to schedule a flight straight to Wakanda.

Well, he expected more panicking and running around like a headless chicken from her but she was made of sterner stuff.

_______xx______

He knew something was wrong when Fury didn't say anything but just did what was required when he was informed about the possibility of a baby Hulk roaming around. Tony, he could understand, the man had no fear of consequences, especially since he knew that the majority of the blame was going to be dumped on top of a single head.

Him. The Invisible Man.

So, as Helen Cho, along with Bruce and an armada of SHIELD scientists worked on the cradle that would eventually house Betty and then give birth to the gamma baby, he was called into a meeting with Fury and Tony, of all people.

The meeting was deliberately kept away from Bruce and everyone else, for reasons he was about to come to know.

"Well, I was wondering when you would call me, Director Fury," He, or rather his paper avatar said as they sat down in the SHIELD safehouse in Manhattan, the Random Beautiful Agent given reprieve for the day. He could spy her drinking very sugary drinks in one of the cafes just a couple blocks from the SHIELD safehouse.

Well…good for her?

"Uh-huh. Now, can either one of you tell me, the actual chances of the Hulk having a baby and not rampaging around the most prosperous area in the world," Fury asked as he pinned Stark down with a glare. Of course, Tony looked as unphased as ever as he removed his phone and placed it down on the table in front of him.

Now this is where things got a little tricky for him. He could sense holograms as objects but it took a little more focus to interpret them. So, he had to flood his presence in the safe house for him to accurately get all the inputs.

Tony's phone projected a hologram about the cradle they were building. Vibranium, as was expected, was taking longer than expected to secure. Tony had a small cache of his own but he was understandably loathe to take it out of his experiments. He would use it if the leads didn't pan out though.

"If the cradle works properly, and it will, Betty will survive the pregnancy, as well the child but the long term damages are still unknown. As such, we cannot be sure for how long Betty will be alive but she will be alive to see the baby,"

"I see. Have you told Banner that?"

"No, but he knows. I can tell," Tony said in a serious voice, the gravity of the situation dawning on him as well.

"And you," Fury rounded on the phone floating in mid air.

"Yes?"

"Sigh, Nothing. Just tell me what you need. Also, there is a rally next month in New York. The President's coming. He wants to meet,"

Oh?
"Sure, just tell him he will receive the same paper treatment,"

"...Fine.."

Ah, frustrating Fury was a very good hobby of his, in his opinion.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 64.1 [August 2010]

Birnin Zana, Wakanda

–King T'Chaka–

For months, it has been like this.

Ever since T'Challa came back from his education in the United States, he had been confessing having some ideas that he wanted to implement when he became King. Ideas that were dangerously similar to what his brother had.

That brought another pang of sadness in his heart as he thought of ways he could have handled that night differently. The brother in him mourned the loss of the one who he grew up with but the King in him would have done the exact same thing, given the chance. It was actually the most practical option.

No chances of any civil war, no chances of that dangerous ideology spreading to the higher ups in Wakanda, and no chances of the outside world coming to know about them. Just kill his brother, plain and simple.

However, similar words were now coming out of T'Challa's mouth as he recounted the plans he wanted to enact to help the outside population, irrespective of their race, creed, religion, etc. He didn't think that his son would be so naive but he consoled himself by telling himself that once the burden of becoming King was transferred to T'Challa, he would eventually learn the perils that came with such naive ideas.

For the time being though, he was an old man barely clinging to his post with the help of his old loyal followers, one who didn't want to sour his relationship with his eldest son, so he began humouring T'Challa.

"So, what would be the first step for this? Baby step, I mean," He asked T'Challa who gained a thoughtful look at the question, Little Shuri looking curiously at her elder brother and then her father, the mere sight of that enough to melt his heart.

"An Embassy."

He raised an eyebrow and gestured for T'Challa to continue explaining.

"An embassy, right in New York. A Wakandan Embassy would allow us to establish a legitimate foothold in the heart of the American Economy. This would allow us to learn more and adapt our plans accordingly," T'Chlla said with passion in his voice as he dug into his food with gusto.

He internally mulled the idea and wasn't really opposed to it that much.

"Oh? New York? Is that the same one where the Invisible Man resides, brother?" Shuri asked T'Challa, always having been interested in the special anomaly of New York that was the Invisible Man.

"Yes, little Shuri. The Invisible Man operates in most of New York, with MAnhattan being his base of operations for some reason. We will not be opening the embassy there anyway so that should be fine," T'Challa immediately began peppering Shuri with all the little anecdotes he had about the rise of the Invisible Man in New York and the subsequent fall of crimes, hunger in the same area.

When they had first learned about this person, more than two years back, his WarDogs had dismissed it as nothing but the ramblings of crazy people, not allowing themselves to believe in someone outside Wakanda possessing such powers.

Only for that misconception to fade away over time as more and more incidents kept happening, eventually leading to the entirety of Manhattan being sealed away, for criminals.

Aside from white collar criminals making that place their secure base of operations, no crime of any sort happened in that place anymore, so much so that people began leaving their babies unattended for short periods of time, something that would have been unthinkable a short few years back.

"So, Father, who will go as the Embassy head? Because we don't actually have any need for the Embassy, we can just make a sham one, without any of our technology and send in some WarDogs to pose as embassy staff. No need to tip off the Invisible Man about our existence, right?"

He nodded, pleased that T'Challa was at least aware of the dangers that would befall Wakanda should the world come to know about their true civilization.

"Still, the Invisible Man, huh? Father, what are the chances of some other god aside from Base having blessed someone who went on to become this Invisible Man?"

He looked up from his meal, suddenly not having the appetite as T'Challa's question fully registered in his mind.

What if that really was the truth?

No. he couldn't think like that. It was almost blasphemy in his opinion.

"No need to think of such things. It is most likely another American science experiment that went wrong, just like the Hulk," He told T'Challa and gestured for the attendant to begin cleaning the table.

"Yeah, you could be right. Still, the sheer strength that Dr.Banner wields in that form, I don't think there is anything that I can do to harm his alter ego." T'Challa admitted to him, making him feel proud at seeing him admit that even the Black Panther had its own limits.

"Relax, T'Challa. You will be King. You will never be alone. The might of the entire country will be standing behind you, nothing and no one should be able to phase you,"

"You are right, Father. Thank you for that,"

Still, T'Challa's thoughts were correct. The sheer destruction the beast caused was a sight to behold. He was akin to a force of nature, not slowed down by anything that man could throw at it. Just drop the best in an active war zone and just see the slaughter happen. No gun, no missile, no grenade, and nothing was able to stop the Hulk's charge as he escaped through the base and then settled down in Manhattan, under the protection of an even bigger Monster.

The thought of someone being able to maintain near omnipresence in a city the size of New York while also actively acting using telekinetic powers, was bone chilling.

He had already ordered this Invisible Man to be properly investigated but aside from some people he regularly interacted with, there was nothing that could determine the identity of the Invisible Man or if he even had an identity or not.

For all they knew, the Invisible Man, while a very stupid name, might actually be incorporeal.

"Alright, I have a meeting. I will see you all at dinner," He said and then headed straight to the Throne Room.

Sigh, he couldn't wait to hand over this burden to T'Challa and then watch, relaxed, from the sidelines.

[October 2010]

This was a disaster.

The Stark Expo, that is.

Now he was glad that he didn't send T'Challa or Bast forbid, Shuri who was pestering him to get tickets for the Stark Expo, the biggest Tech Expo that the outside world had hosted in years.

The Expo also gave them a lot of intel on how the Invisible Man operates. The WarDogs already had a theory but it is now confirmed that there are some limits as to how much power the Invisible Man could exert over a specific area.

According to the theory proposed by his team, one that he was inclined to believe, the Invisible Man was actually somehow geo constrained, meaning he had a fixed range of influence.

While they believed it was still growing, the outermost edges would be the areas where he would be able to exert the least amount of power.

Basically, the closer the area is to Manhattan, the more power he could exert.

For example, in the Stark Expo, at the calculated edge of his range, he was unable to directly crush the robots that were attacking people. No, he had to fling around some enhanced people that could crush the robots with ease.

On the opposite end of this spectrum was a building that was scheduled for demolition. For some reason, the demolition didn't happen properly and the building was about to tip over to the building next to it.

It almost happened when as if an Invisible Hand held it, the crash stopped, the building was then turned to fine powder and then that same powder was deposited at the base of the building, showcasing the sheer power and fine control the Invisible Man had in areas.

The Council was abuzz with the display of power and how to deal with the new threat when a guard walked into the room with an official message.

"My King, we have a message from the Embassy in New York,"

His eyebrows rose as a hologram appeared with her on it.

The second most troublesome figure in all of Wakanda, after the Jabari.

Jeda.

Sister of Ramnoda, and the fiercest warrior in all of Wakanda.



If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 64.2 [October 2010]

Birnin Zana, Wakanda

–King T'Chaka–

When he thought of Jega, he thought of the one person who could even best the Black Panther in one to one combat, purely on the basis of her skills alone. In fact, it had not even been months since she was in the Royal Academy, handling T'Challa's ass to him every other day without even being enhanced by the Heart-Shaped Herb.

In fact, she was a very strong contender to become the Black Panther as well. Traditionally, the Black Panther was always a man but they had evolved past such petty gender discrimination. No, the discrimination was not because she was a woman, but because she was not the King or a member of the direct line of the King.

Since history has been recorded in Wakanda, the Black Panther has either been the King or the King's son, or brother. That's it. It made sense because the Black Panther was supposed to be the pinnacle of the Kingdom's fighting power and the way each King wanted to keep that power in their control meant that there was little chance of someone not from the King's family becoming the Black Panther.

Even if the candidate was as deserving, if not more so than T'Challa himself. There was no doubt in his mind whether Bast would accept Jeda or not and yet, he could not bring himself to give her the permission to undergo the trial.

While it would throw some of the priests into disarray at seeing two Black Panthers alive at the same, he could have worded it so that it could provide more protection to Wakanda in these changing times, citing the Hulk and the Invisible Man as reasons.

It could have been done, with little political backlash and a bit more cultural backlash, not that the Priests had much power in how the country was run and who was made King.

But there was a single reason why she was not made Black Panther and was instead sent off to New York to head the so-called Embassy project of T'Challa.

Her mindset.

When she had begun her stint in the WarDogs to go see the outside world and serve her country, she had been of the same mind as him, and most of the other WarDogs. She knew that Wakanda needed to hide itself from the world, lest human greed destroy Wakanda as they knew it.

And yet…

As she went on mission after mission, saw the plight of the world, and saw the state of the Continent they were living in, her thoughts began changing. The change didn't happen overnight but over the years, as she performed admirably in the WarDods, successfully carrying out missions in all the countries they maintained a presence in.

Thankfully, nothing as extreme as his brother but she began voicing out her thoughts, of helping the suffering people openly, to create a solid presence that would deter the evildoers of the world from committing any more atrocities on their people. She wanted Wakanda to take over the African Continent and form a new power bloc over the most resource rich place that was still mostly unexplored and completely governmentless.

He had to actually take her off the roster for her own safety as the higher ups of the WarDogs had begun taking notice of her rebellious thoughts. He had to do something before some of the elders on the council did.

That was two years ago, when she had been relieved of her duty and had chosen to take teaching at the Royal Academy where she regularly humbled all the top students with contemptuous ease, including T'Challa who came to visit sometimes and was the only one capable of holding his own against the dreaded Combat Instructor at the Royal Academy.

Even there, she did not stop expressing her borderline treasonous thoughts to anybody who would listen. She understood her position as the only sister to the Queen and thus did not abuse the privileges that came with that by trying to enact any official changes with her authority but she did try to spread her dangerous ideology in the Academy as well, irking many of the seniors at the Academy.

This prompted him to move her to the outside. The Embassy idea from T'Challa simply came at the right time.

Now, it would seem that the decision to do so, hoping that nothing important would happen and she would be safe and sound outside the Kingdom was naive then, as he watched the hologram of her appear.

"My King, I was just contacted with the elusive Invisible Man," SHe began and the entire council, which had not paid attention to her, snapped to attention. It was natural as the Invisible Man was a point of quiet interest in the Kingdom as whole.

The scientists had found out that the sphere of influence of the Invisible Man continued to expand, day by day. In small incremental amounts, they calculated that he would be able to cover the entire city of New York and then eventually its surrounding areas in less than a decade.

There was a chance that his reach might expand beyond the country as well, though that was assuming that he didn't have any real limits, and even the most optimistic of the scientists said that it was almost impossible for the invisible Man to reach Wakanda.

Still, they had begun researching ways on how to hide Wakanda from the prying gaze of the Invisible Man, should he come near Wakanda, even if by accident because nobody really knew how the Invisible Man looked or who he really was.

"Speak," He ordered her, understanding the gravity of the situation.

'Yes, he alluded to knowing about Birnin Zana. He knew about the Vibranium and about the country,"

The entire council erupted in loud noises at that. The mere thought of an outsider, much less one of the most dangerous ones at that, was disturbing on so many levels, that it weighed heavily on his heart.

"Quiet!" He told the council before turning to the hologram.

"Get yourself out of there as soon as you can. We cannot risk you with–"

"Already done, My King. I am in the car, heading to the airport. I have already scheduled pickup from Johannesburg airport," She said as she sent him multiple reports about the whole encounter.

He sighed in relief when she told him that she had removed herself from the dangerous situation.

"Very well. What did he want?"

"I assume you know about Bruce Banner and his baby?"

He nodded at that piece of information. It was surprisingly easy to maintain tabs on Bruce Banner as well as the seven brothers, even with the WarDogs residing inside Manhattan. All they had to do was not perform violent acts and not be over the top in their surveillance efforts, to safeguard themselves from the wrath of the Invisible Man. As long as they didn't break any laws, like breaking and entering or stealing, they were fine.

"Well, the baby, as the nerds had predicted, is already showing signs of complications. Apparently, they have figured out a solution to deal with all the Gamma Radiation, one that involved Vibranium,"

There was a pin drop silence in the room as he processed the information. So, they needed Vibtranium then? The question was, did he cooperate to not only save a innocent life but also gain the favour of the two undisputedly strongest beings on the planet?

'Maybe even as strong as Bast herself' he didn't let his treasonous thoughts appear on his face.

"And no, they don't need the Vibranium," His neck snapped up at that, "--they need the Vibranium to be woven into thin enough strands that they can absorb all that Gamma Radiation from the woman's body without harming her or the baby. They need to know how to do that," She finished.

Well, that certainly made things easier. Still wouldn't get past the council but it was for good reason then that they were not King. Before he could tell her that he was Agreeing to it though, she dropped another bomb.

"The Invisible Man said that he had information on Prince N'Jobu. He was willing to trade that information for the knowledge," She finished her report.

He maintained a facade of calm on the outside even though he was freaking out inside, his mind reeling from the fact that this person somehow had information about his dead brother. Out of love and hoping that Wakanda didn't remember his brother as a traitor to the country, he had just labelled his brother as Missing in Action, and never really bothered to declare him dead, even though it was common consensus that after all this time, his brother was most probably dead.

Could this Invisible Man be bluffing? Hoping that he would take the bait and give the information?

There was only one way to know..

"Jeda, return to Wakanada. I will have someone else deliver the information. Your safety is paramount,"

"Yes, my King," She took the dismissal and shut down the video call.

The moment the hologram faded away, the council turned to him, no doubt ready to voice out their complaints about the decision but the memories of that tragic night made him lose his already sparse patience.

"Enough! I am King and this is my decision. Sacrificing a little bit of information in exchange for the possible favour of two of the strongest beings on the planet is a profitable deal, no matter how you look at it. We will speak no more about this, that is an order!" His outburst clearly left them unbalanced.

"Dismissed!" He said as the council, although shaken, left the room, and the Dora Milaje followed later on.

His shoulders slumped in defeat as he leaned into his uncomfortable throne, as soon as the room was empty and he had some privacy.

By Bast, he was too old for this shit.

---

If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 65 [October 2010]

–Axle Riddle–

"So, are you completely and utterly sure that you want to have this baby, even with all the risks attached?" He asked Betty who was currently busy gorging on all kinds of cheeses. Apparently, the pregnancy cravings had arrived early on this one.

"What? Are you kidding? I love this kid already. Plus, I get to eat so much foooood," Betty said as she dove right back into the cheese platter.

"Disturbing comparison aside. Betty, you know the risks, right? I am sure Bruce didn't have the stomach to do so but you can actually die while doing this, Betty. I am not a hundred percent sure of being able to save you if the need arises," He said, trying to convey the risks associated with the pregnancy.

The woman barely paused at the news, as if it was something that happened on the daily.

"Oh relax, nothing is going to happen to me. I can feel it, the baby will save me if anything happens," Betty said, and he actually fell into deep thought at that.

If Bruce could be considered a Gamma God of some sort, having divinity associated with the feeling of Rage, then his baby would be considered a godling. Huh, maybe there is some truth to this theory but he might have to consult with the Ancient One about this.

"Hey Randall, how far along are we with the Vibranium?" He asked Randall, who was working in the warehouse with none other than Helen Cho, in order to create emergency tissue just in case they needed to do an emergency C-Section. Apparently, the chances of that happening are very high because if they let the pregnancy come to term, Betty's body might not handle it very well.

"..Uh, Tony said that it will arrive in about two more days. He had Vibtranium stashed in different parts of the country and some of it was hidden very well so he had to send out his suits to recover it."

Okay, he did not know Tony was this paranoid. He should have had this level of caution when it came to Obadiah, probably would have saved him the trip to Afghanistan.

"Okay. And is Vibranium going to be enough?"

"Oh yeah, more than enough. Our primary concern at the moment is being able to actually use the Vibranium in any meaningful way."

"Oh, I am working on that as well."

"Dr.Cho, Good Afternoon,"

"Good Afternoon, Mr.Invisible Man," She bowed at him slightly then turned back to her work.

"What can you tell me about the Gamam fetus?"

"It is advancing very fast, faster than what Ms.Ross' body can keep up with. You can see her body requiring much more nutrients than usual to sustain all the activity happening in her body. Mr.Stark and Mr.Randall here were able to build the live scanner that is now installed in her bedroom, giving us real time updates about her body,"

Wow, talk about violation of privacy.

"We are figuring out alternative methods of providing the energy necessary but so far, any energy dense source of food we have given her, has ended up in her emptying the contents of her stomach," Cho replied.

"I still believe that we should be able to do what Mr.Stark told me about the Vibranium but the fact remains that we don't know how the baby might react to the Vibranium. We must proceed with caution. We only have about 2 more months until the baby is born,"

"Very well, Continue your work. Thank you for coming on such short notice. You are being paid, right?" He asked her the last question when he remembered that he was not really paying any of the people present here. He might have to rectify that.

Oh, he was more than certain that all the SHIELD personnel here were mining all the information, and that information was probably worth more than any amount of money that SHIELD could get but he didn't really like them working without being compensated.

"Oh? Oh yes, I am on the direct payroll of SHIELD. I am getting 30% more than my emergency rate. Also, this work is very interesting, I would have done it for free anyway," Cho replied.

Well, he might have to compensate Fury for all the work he must have done in keeping not just General Ross from coming but also from the WSC getting their paws on Bruce and his baby.

Aside from this emergency Gamma situation, things were running smoothly in the city. Crime was being handled properly.

He had now hashed out proper procedures for different crimes, how to apply appropriate amount of force and how to better subdue the perps until the police arrived, that sort of stuff. He had an official understanding with the NYPD and the City of New York now.

The soup kitchens were running perfectly, with no deviation in funds, and no mistreatment of the people arriving there.

Hell, he considered it his personal achievement when normal people who couldn't, or rather, didn't want to cook and just wanted a hot hygienic meal, arrived at his kitchens and had their meals in silence.

Well, time to get to the Ancient One now, he thought to himself while eating the pizza slice, walking towards the New York Sanctum.

Dealing with the Ancient One was one of the few things that he had to do in person,instead of using his powers. For one, his awareness was instantly sensed by her, due to his sheer presence in the Astral Realm.

She once told him that if he were to ever wander deeper into the Astral Realm while someone severed the connection from his body, he would be the biggest snack for all the creatures that lived in the Astral Realm, including some non corporeal Gods.

That did the trick and he no longer tried to explore the Astral Realm willy nilly.

After disposing of the coffee cup and the paper napkins, he went up to the Sanctum building and waited for the doors to open. The last time he came here, he almost fell through because he was about to knock and ended up with his hand hovering right in front of the face of Master Drumm who looked very bemused at the act.

"Oh come on," He said while he knocked on the door, not just with his body, but also with his mind, and this time, he did not hold back, as much. The resulting force would have probably blasted any door and created a hole in the wall behind it but as a result of the wards that he could now sense properly, the door didn't even budge.

"What the hell! Are you trying to destroy the Sanctum, you brute!" The door opened and the irate face of Master Drumm entered his vision who didn't waste a single moment as he shoved him into the Sanctum and then closed the doors.

"Hey, I just knocked. It's not my fault you didn't open the door even though you knew I was coming," He complained as he looked around the layout of the Sanctum. Seriously, this place changes every time he comes to visit.

"Hi, Master Drumm, I was wondering if the Ancient One is free. I have a certain Gamma Problem that we need to deal with,"

Daniel narrowed his eyes at him, "I am well aware of the Gamma problem you are referring to. Bruce Banner is a volatile being and unless he settles down, he cannot be given access to Kamar Taj in any way, you know that,"

"Yeah yeah, I know but I am not here for Bruce Banner, I am here for–"

"--the godling, I assume?" The crisp clear voice of the Ancient One made them both look up as she descended from the stairs, her hands clasped behind her back.

Honestly, she had such a penchant for dramatic entrances but then again, what did he know about old people and what they do in their spare time?

He nodded at her, "Yes, Bruce's baby is about to be born and while I do trust Stark in having the technology side of things handled, I am not so sure about the mystical aspect that probably comes with having Bruce Banner as their father,"

He was even fearful that the Guy Below could have a hand in the entire process or that he would steal the baby in some manner, setting off the Hulk.

"Hmm, this is certainly interesting. The baby of an unrealised God, born as a fully realised Godling. Very well, I will be there when the time comes. Now, please leave because I have some preparations to do," She said and waved her hands.

His vision blurred as he found himself back on the same street, facing the same dustbin where he dumped the coffee mug.

Damn her shenanigans, he fumed to himself as he started his walk back to his office, his sweet sweet air conditioned office.

He was not sure if Wakanda would respond to his request because he had sensed the Embassy Head all but fleeing the country after he had submitted his request but he would reserve his judgement on the matter. Worst case scenario, he could just threaten them with complete exposure if they refused to budge on the matter.

He was all for being honest but a life, an objectively more important life, was at stake and he honestly did not have the time for Wakanda's Xenophobia at the moment.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 66 [October 2010]

–Chris Lang–

His eyes snapped open as the alarm that his father had gotten him when he went to college rang, waking him but not his sweetheart because her brain was wired to a different frequency of alarm clocks.

It was actually quite a nifty thing because it meant that she would only wake up with her alarm clocks and he would only wake up with his. The kids were a whole other thing though. They needed to be woken up by their parents and if they woke up on their own, well, then god have mercy on him and Anna's soul.

"Good Morning, Chris!" He made finger guns at himself while brushing his teeth. Nowadays, due to the electric toothbrushes, all the fun was taken out of the process. Also, since he was approaching middle age, he was not allowed to brush like he used to, in college. Gone are the days of brash brushing, uncaring if any sensitive gum was hit or not.

Now, he had to do skincare, in the morning and even before sleeping.

Ugh, that sucked.

In the words of a famous actor in an equally famous movie, "Good Morning, Good evening, and Good night. I am Chris Lang,"

Ugh, that sucked, he thought to himself in his mind as his intrusive thoughts began forming dialogues on their own, the first thing in the morning.

Once he got ready, he put on some casual clothes, and greeted his still very much sleepy wife, "Hey, honey!" "Ugh,", and then went on to make breakfast for himself, because it was a Friday.

On Fridays, the kids wake themselves up and go out to play in the Central Park, since their school didn't start till late in the afternoon, something about too many kids being enrolled in the nearby schools. The only reason he allowed them to do so was that they knew better than to leave Manhattan, to leave the safety umbrella that the Invisible Man provided.

He whistled to himself as he made himself some breadbutter jam, some cereal, and a freshly squeezed glass of Orange juice.

Now, one might ask, how is Chris able to afford all of this?

A house in Manhattan, Two kids in private schools, a totally unnecessary car, house help, and more.

Well, the answer to that was one name - Wu Enterprises.

See, he was in college, a very third tier college but still a college nonetheless. He was interested in money, no matter which field brought him the money, he just wanted to make a lot of money.

And wouldn't you know, there was a field especially dedicated to the science of money making?

Finance.

He just dove into that then. He worked hard for a couple of years, spending his days filling spreadsheets, doing analyst stuff, and getting by on his salary when BAM! He met Mr.Wu, the ex-CEO of Wu Enterprises, a giant firm from China, dating back to the 50s.

While his salary as an analyst was above average according to the market, he also had to support his girlfriend through medical school, so he didn't exactly live at par with his salary. All that changed when he met Mr.Wu at one of the many many conferences that he attended in the name of networking, and after talking with him for a couple of minutes, Mr.Wu offered him a job as a Junior Analyst.

Now the title was the same, but the pay was 2X of what he was making then. He could not have accepted the deal faster.

That was how he joined Wu Enterprises, a coalition of companies operating out of Asia. He also realised why the salary was so high because the entire bloody hedge fund was being managed by less than a dozen people, all working from China.

He had to build the entire team from the ground up, hiring people from the US, entering the US Markets, and making sure that everything was compliant on both ends of the company. Comply with US Laws, comply with Chinese laws, and more.

That was a very exhausting 3 years of his life, the period where he probably lost most of his hair but eh, it was worth it. He was promoted to Head of Department after that and he never looked back after.

He bought a house for himself in Manhattan. He had multiple commercial properties in Manhattan. He had a couple of apartments on rent in Manhattan, two office floors that he rented out.

For some reason, his real estate portfolio never really ventured out of Manhattan, and for good reason. He got really good rental yields as well as the ease with which he could manage all the properties by himself.

He purchased the space where his wife practiced as well, so they had, overall, very nice finances.

Life was going good, great even.

Then it became even better, when the Invisible Man began operating in Manhattan. Crimes went down, rentals went up. His wife's business boomed because of the influx of rich people in the city.

His kids became safer in the neighbourhood. He could actually let them wander around, and explore Manhattan because it was actually safe to do so now. It was heartening to watch the change around the city.

It was equally disheartening to see the number of threats that the original property owners got to sell their properties at dirt cheap rates before the Invisible Man found out, and shut them down, hard.

The Invisible Man teamed up with the Mayor, he didn't know how, but he did that and enacted a law that helped protect the original owners from predators.

Still, he was working from the same office he did way back when he started. Only now it occupied the entire floor instead of a small section of the floor.

The work was nice, he knew where everything was, he was paid handsomely, and he was his own boss, all in all, a pretty cozy job.

Then came him.

Axle Riddle.

Even after years of asking the current CEO and even his father, the ex-CEO about the mystery that was Axle Riddle, he was nowhere near the truth of his identity. The man had somehow waltzed into the office and was granted a totally useless title, but with all the benefits that came with a C-suite title.

Chief of Strategic Bets.

What kind of nonsensical title was that?

The thing was, that he could have accepted it if Axle was some hot shot from the industry with decades of experience under his belt but Noooo…

Axle was just 20 20-something young adult who had somehow wormed his way into the executive structure of a 300 billion dollar fund.

The perks would have been one thing, he could have consoled himself by telling himself that this Axle fellow was simply some relative who got in due to nepotism but no, that was not the case.

He looked into this Axle and he had no prior history with Finance at all. The bastard was an English Major for god's sake.

He had just about resolved himself to call a board of directors meeting when they just handed over control of the free flowing funds of the hedge fund straight to him, over 20 billion dollars of it.

And then, that bastard went and put that money, no, burned that money by dumping it all into Stark Industries Stock, a failing Stock, at the time.

He had just about strangled the fellow when his wife called him and reminded him about their anniversary.

That call from his wife was the only thing that saved his job, and created his confusion.

He went on a week-long vacation with his wife after that, to cool off a bit. When he came back...

Well, it was pandemonium.

Axle's bets had actually paid off, netting the company with so much money but more importantly, they actually had a seat on the decision making Board of Stark Industries now.

Something that was much more valuable than mere money, according to Axle that is.

Ever since that day, he had been watching Axle. How he worked, what he did, and who he talked to.

But aside from spending an inordinately long time with his Secretary in his office, Axle did nothing that would indicate him doing his job.

The thing had haunted him for weeks when he had simply resolved to ask the man about it.

Until now, he had never really interacted with the man, not even once.

The day he tried to schedule a meeting, was the day Tony Stark appeared in the office, threatening Axle with something.

After that, Axle came out of his office, dolled out donuts as apology, and went back inside.

He expected some backlash from upper management but no.

Nothing came Axle's way even after weeks of waiting.

So, he resigned.

Not the way he wanted his career to end but the stress of the uncertain situation at the office was taking a toll on his body, as well as his marriage.

Anna was the one who suggested that, especially since their rental portfolio was now making more money in a month than they needed in a year.

So, he quit and took on a consulting role in the industry. Well, he said consulting but mostly, it was just meetings with senior Analysts, telling them what they did wrong.

All in all, quite an unexpected career he had with Wu Enterprises.

"Oh, that looks delicious," Anna said as she finally arrived in the kitchen.

"Oh, it is," He said as they ate their breakfast in silence.

Ah, what a blissful life.

But Damn Axle Riddle.

---

If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

A/N - I–I..I have no idea why I just wrote this. Brain gave this to me and I delivered it to you. Hey! Don't shoot the messenger.

Thank you for reading (and sorry, just in case)

Toodles!

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 67 [October 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

It was nice that the Ancient One was offering her support. It was also very anxiety inducing because of her exact words when he left.

"A fully realised godling born from an unrealised god," The words from the Ancient One still reverbed in his mind as he readied himself to meet POTUS.

What did those words mean, he did not exactly know but it was worrying all the same. It meant that Bruce's child would be strong, much stronger than most humans, probably even at birth itself.

Those words did not bode well for the delivery of the baby. If it was just a science problem, he wholeheartedly trusted the combined genius of Tony and Bruce in that regard. Armed with Randall as well as Helen Cbho meant that the Science Side was as good as covered completely.

The problem lies in the mystical side of things. The very existence of Bruce was shrouded in cosmic machinations. His patron was not someone who could be described as anything close to kind or merciful.

No, the guy below will take every chance he gets at hurting Bruce or stealing Baby Banner. The worst thing was that he wouldn't be able to do much if that guy actively tries to stir shit up.

They were very vulnerable and all the Guy Below had to do was nudge a few things here and there, and voila, he had either Baby Hulk, or a very angry Papa Hulk.

He shuddered as he tried to imagine a situation with A World War Hulk level Bruce rampaging around, without anyone around to stop him.

As powerful as he was, he knew that he was nowhere close enough to Bruce's strength levels, someone who could, theoretically, build enough power to sink even the Eastern or Western coast as well.

No, that was an absolute nightmare scenario. They didn't have access to Thor, at all, and, without someone on the same level as Thor holding down Hulk, the chances of defeating Hulk were almost nil.

"Alright, no use worrying about it now. I'll just have to trust the Ancient One and her mystical experience with all things eldritch," He muttered to himself as he kept a close eye on the convoy that POTUS was using at his rally.

He could see FUry already waiting in the SHIELD safehouse with an entire STRIKE team outside, for his protection. He didn't know why they did all those convoluted preparations when they knew that nothing would happen to either of them in Manhattan.

If something unfortunately does happen, he would be unanimously hated by the entire country for it. He doubted even he could make it if the US Military, along with its advanced spy complex began searching for him. The sheer manpower they could deploy for him was no joke and it was not as if he could flee the city, not with the limitations imposed on him.

Well, no time like the present, he psyched himself up and then….snuggled into the covers, with the AC on Full blast.

What was he gonna do? Put on a tuxedo and then sit in his living room, while using his powers to communicate with the POTUS? Now, that would just be the height of stupidity.

So, with a warm cup of tea that just floated out of the kitchen and straight into his hand, he began prepping the avatar that he would use for this meeting.

A vortex formed on top of the building where Fury was staying, drawing in small pieces of paper that were shredded out of a newspaper that was lying around, and then culminated in a small burner phone that was prepared with the text to speech software already installed by a nearby vendor.

He had a deal with the vendor, giving him 200% of the cost of the burner phone in exchange for setting everything up. The money was leftover gang money anyway so no sweat off his back because he broke off every burner phone after it was used only once.

He mostly used the burner phone only when he interacted with Fury, so it did not happen often but when it did, having a stash of prepared burner phones that could be swiped off at his convenience was incredibly nice.

The paper avatar began slowly floating down the side of the building. The avatar then turned a bit and then waved at the 6 snipers perched on top of different buildings. He could see the sweat running off their foreheads as the action seemed to scare them a bit.

Hmmm, he wondered why.

Slowly, he came to the window of the safe house. The very much bulletproof window that was a chore and a half just to open so it always remained closed by the Random Beautiful Agent, since she did not like to exert any effort that was not explicitly required as part of her job.

The same window's lock mechanisms were opened from the inside as the paper avatar slipped in the small gap he had created, the window being locked behind him.

"Top of the morning to you laddies," he shouted out cheerfully using his air manipulation voice, creating a horrible deep tone.

"Jesus Christ," Fury exclaimed as he re-hostered the gun into his Trench Coat, a look that not anyone could quite pull off. As usual, the Random beautiful Agent lay unconscious near Fury, presumably because she was startled by his voice.

"You sure everything is fine with her? No anxiety issues? Anything that could explain her fainting fit?" He asked Fury who continued to glare at the paper avatar a moment longer before finally turning to the unconscious agent sprawled on the ground.

He slowly lifted her and deposited her on the utility bed with pink sheets and pink pillows, likely decoration from the Random Beautiful Agent who had begun living in the safehouse for a very long time now.

It was a very cushy job since she was in a safe environment and now she also had the Internet, or at least whatever SHIELD has allowed her to access, the sanitised version of the Internet, if you will.

"Yeah, she'll be fine. POTUS will be meeting you in a couple of hours, and I want to know just what you are going to talk to him about. I want some heads up regarding any harebrained scheme that you might have cooked up," Fury asked him.

He thought about the problems he wanted to address with POTUS.

There were many he wanted to address but the prime of which was Bruce's situation. He was not yet declared a fugitive, officially, but he knew that the moment Bruce stepped out of his protection, they would spare no expense in getting him captured.

Now, a Bruce who was down on life, depressed, and unwilling to harm anyone whilst actively suicidal? The Army might have a chance at taking the Hulk down then.

But if Bruce was actually angry and had a family, something to return to, something worth fighting for, well, then let's just say that even the strongest of weapons that Stark could whip up, would not be able to contend with the Hulk's sheer raw strength.

In fact, he knew from his comic lore that even Nukes would not be able to completely wipe off the Hulk from the face of the planet. He would survive even that with ease, and more.

So, getting an official pardon, or a "BACK OFF" notice for Hulk, straight from the White House would be good. Next would be a pardon for the Seven Hulk brother but that is down on the priority list since they don't seem willing to get out of Manhattan anytime soon and by the time 2012 rolls around, he will go and meet Jiaying on his own.

Having an un-brainwashed village of enhanced people would go swimmingly, especially if the groundwork he will be trying to lay down with the President works out or not.

For the experiment to get off the ground and actually work, he might have to actually physically present himself and while that tickled his brains in all the wrong ways, the idea of revealing himself to the world, he might just have to do it one day.

Now, they do not know what he looks like so something to disguise his true face would work out best, since he would be able to assume his normal civilian identity if things ever went south.

So, let's see what he had in mind for the agenda.

1. Getting Bruce an official Pardon.
2. Getting the Seven Brothers' official status in the country
3. Setting up the groundwork to have the participation of enhanced people in the workforce.
4. Plant seeds for eventual legislation that would protect the rights of, and recognise enhanced people as the same as normal vanilla humans.

So, after thinking long and hard about the meeting, he said to Fury who was patiently waiting, or rather, fuming all this time.

"Nah, nothing special. I'll figure it out when the time comes. Now, why don't we go the warehouse that I am sure you are dying to see," He said and before Fury could mount any sort of defense against that statement, he was swooped in and enveloped by a wind cushion and then thrown in the direction of the warehouse, screaming profanities at the Invisible Man, all the way.

Man, the reaction of the snipers and the STRIKE team was legendary.

Now, he could have just gently picked him up and dropped him into the warehouse on the outskirts of the city but where was the fun in that?

Fury's screams were heard by him as he deliberately made him take the route in front of his building, the screams sounding like music to his ears.

Man, he loved bullying the so called badass characters of this universe.

He couldn't wait to troll Hawkeye, that man had the signature trollable personality in all of MCU, at least from the movies.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 68 [October 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

Now, that was enough, he decided as he gently took hold of the SHIELD Director, and placed him down on the sidewalk in front of the warehouse, drawing surprised looks from the people in the adjacent warehouses. He did so because….

"Blarghhh"

Yeah, that. Fury emptied the contents of his stomach. Guess even his hardened body was not prepared for the joyride through the city he was just subjected to. Well, what can you do?

"Now, Director Fury, if you are done, shall we?" The paper avatar gestured at Fury and then began walking deliberately towards the warehouse. He paused but the paper avatar didn't when Fury whirled around, removed his gun, and shot the paper avatar in the back of its head.

The shots were silent too, it would seem that SHIELD had guns that didn't require external silencers to mask the gunshot. Obviously, Fury knew that this was not going to do anything but the man probably just wanted to express his frustration at the helpness of the whole situation. For a man who has been in control of a world spanning organisation like SHIELD, feeling so out of depth must be an entirely new feeling.

Yeah, he could not sympathize with that, at all.

"Now, now, Fury. I know you are angry but that is no way to kill someone. You have to actually hit their bodies for the bullets to do their job," The paper avatar creepily turned its neck around, with the body still facing the warehouse, and then spit out the two bullets that Fury had fired at the paper avatar.

Obviously, he was not going to let it go anywhere near the warehouse, Fury probably already knew that.

"Now, shall we?" The paper avatar gestured and he made sure to give FUry a little nudge from behind to make him behave.

"Now, I know you want to meet Banner and give him the "I am Fury, Director of SHIELD" talk along with whatever pitch you might have for him to come to work for you as a consultant but I am only going to tell you this once, save it! Banner is already stressed enough as is. I am going to talk to POTUS about his situation as well. I believe his warrant is still issued somewhere, only not in use because of their inability to enforce it," The paper avatar said as the doors to the warehouse opened up, revealing a warehouse full of technology and people that most governments could only dream of bringing together for a common cause.

"Fine…wait! You are going to ask the President to pardon Banner? You have to run things like that through me first," Fury rolled his eyes at the paper avatar, his expressions a lot more visual than what he thought would be. Then the sense of shock on his face was incredible as they walked into the warehouse, the center of innovation dedicated to one thing and one thing only.

The safe birth of Bruce Banner's child, along with the continued survival of the mother, Betty Ross.

'I think Bruce should tie the knot now. At Least get engaged or something. It was not nice, living in sin like this. What would Stan Lee say?'

There was a sense of urgency in the movements of every single person in the warehouse, even in Tony's when he was working from here. Rest of the time, he worked from either the Stark Facility upstate or from his Residence in LA. The only times he came here was if he needed to deliver some critical component or to make some custom component that only they required.

So far, things have gone pretty well. Stark was able to source the Vibranium from questionable sources, according to his words. He was not able to get the entirety of the amount requested but whatever amount he got, plus the Vibranium he already had in his stash was more than enough for the operation to be successful.

Now the most peculiar thing happened the other day when he noticed a Wakanda Raptor entering the edge of his range before flying away, depositing a single drone that was only about the size of a sparrow which then promptly began flying straight to the warehouse where Bruce and the others were working.

He didn't intercept the drone because, well, mainly he was curious as to what Wakanda was trying to do. He knew there weren't any explosives in the device so he didn't exactly stop it but he took all the necessary precautions at the warehouse, which was already fortified to hell and back by both SHIELD and Tony Stark's personal recommended private contractors.

The small drone slowly landed on the rooftop of the warehouse or rather, it tried to but he stopped it from completely landing. The drone seemed to be confused about its situation for a moment there but then abruptly, the drone's entire body unfurled to reveal a small USB.

That moment was a relief for him which meant that Wakanda had agreed to hand over the information required to build the Vibranium fibres, without much fuss on their end. Oh, he completely expected them to come at him later on with some inane demands but for now, this was more than enough for him.

That was how Tony got the necessary push to make the final design changes and today was going to be the day, once his meeting with POTUS was over that is, the Vibranium fibres were going to be created. The USB also had data on how to effectively recycle Vibranium with no loss in its properties, creating an infinitely recyclable loop in their hands. So, if the first try wasn't successful, they could just melt it down, or dismantle it down using the specific frequencies that Wakanda had graciously provided them, and then begin anew.

What wasn't going to be possible to restart was the process of inserting them into Betty's body once it had started. So, they were going to be running countless simulations before even thinking of doing anything to Betty.

The scenery that greeted them was of what would happen when a bunch of scientists, all extremely proud of their work, were put together in a project with hastily drawn up, unnegotiable, deadlines.

"And I am telling you that Betty will not be subjected to something so painful. Not if I have any say in it," Bruce could be heard arguing passionately with both of the female scientists on the other hand.

"Excuse me? Did you just assume what could or couldn't be done to Betty without her express consent?" The wildly offended voice of Simmons could be heard as she berated

"Besides, this will only be mildly painful compared to the delivery where she will have to pop out your child, Dr.Banner. Ever thought of that before coming here to argue with us on Pain factors?"

Ooh. That particular burn from Dr.Cho was quite a firecracker. He didn't think Bruce had anything in his arsenal that he could retaliate with. His guess was confirmed when Bruce's shoulders sagged.

As Bruce was probably about to announce his defeat to the female scientists/doctor cabal, he interrupted their lovely moment of SCIENCE!

"Dr.Banner, Dr.Cho, Dr/Simmons, I trust work has been going well?" He addressed the three lead scientists, sans Tony, discussing animatedly in front of a hologram showing the human body.

All three of them turned around. Bruce stiffened at the sight of Nick Fury, already aware of the legendary Director's reputation and the extent of his powers.

"Director Fury,"

"Doctors, I am here to get the progress report about the entire operation. I have been told that not only has Stark procured the required Vibtranum but also devised a method to use it according to your requirements and then recycle it infinitely as well?" Fury asked the doctors.

He rolled his eyes back into his apartment. This was a power play of sorts, loud and clear. Fury was telling him that he had eyes in the operation.

Oh. Wasn't that a shocker? Scientists and analysts provided exclusively by SHIELD, who wore SHIELD uniforms on the daily, reported every single thing that happened in the warehouse to their superiors.

Oh, what a catastrophic information leak this was!

"Yes, Dr.Stark was certainly instrumental in making sure the project was finished before time. With his genius, we will be able to start the VIbranium fiber production today itself, once Mr.Invisible Man is free to monitor the process of course," Helen Cho piped up.

"Yes, Dr.Stark's methods are truly revolutionary. We have already tested them and the results are as expected. VIbranium can be recycled, infinitely, at least that is what we have observed. Dr.Stark has also made it clear that the methods will be patented by Stark Industries so any attempt by SHIELD to use his technology will result in a lawsuit," Simmons reported to Fury.

"Yes, Repeatedly," Helen CHo said, exasperated.

This was Tony's payment in return for keeping hush about the source of the methods. Now, it was nothing for him and once Wakanda opened up its birders, if could contest that method in court but Tony had assured him that it would not be used for any commercial activity, only for his suit once the Vibranium was done being used by Betty and was ready to be recycled to be incorporated into his suits.

He had been holding on to a fortune's worth of Vibranium but was always hesitant to use such a precious metal, in fear of destroying it since it was common consensus that Vibranium, once set, could not be used again.

Probably didn't want to end up making a frisbee out of the most versatile metal on the planet, like his father did.

Maybe, Ultron was right in that regard.

But Howard Stark did end up making one hell of a legendary frisbee.

He was sure that the mere mention of recycling Captain America's shield would have the entire branches of the US Military in arms.

Huh, wonder what that would be like?



If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 69 [October 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

"Now that this is done, Fury. I will be going to meet the President. He has already finished his rally and the scheduled time is near so I will just go and wait in the lobby. I hope you have already informed them about my paper avatar, otherwise, there might just be a big scene because of you!" The paper avatar said and essentially exploded as the chunks of paper, along with a small burner phone traversed through the door that opened and closed on its own.

The "WAIT!" of Fury registered to his senses but quietly ignored as well.

The paper avatar reformed on top of Waldorf Astoria, the President, and his team keeping a constant vigil on the surroundings of the hotel as well as its internals.

That was how they probably found him. As he stopped three different sniper bullets from hitting him, he realised that Fury did not inform them about his paper avatar. That, or they were startled at the moment and just shot the first suspicious thing that appeared mid air. It was totally understandable since they were probably already nervous, being in proximity to a being capable of powdering buildings instead of people.

The paper avatar raised its hands up in the stereotypical harmless pose, and then slowly lowered itself right up until it landed right in front of the lobby, all the while the Secret Service continued to pour out of the hotel in droves.

He could see that POTUS was about to be escorted outside and was wondering if the prank had gone too far when he saw the President take a call and after doing a literal double take, ordered the Secret Service to stand down and escort the "Paper Man" Inside.

Seriously, Fury? Paper Man? That was such a lame name.

Soon after, the Secret Service lowered their weapons as they gently escorted him inside the hotel. He was taken to the penthouse suite after going through no less than six security checks wherein they ran him through a metal detector, which obviously pinged because of the burner phone.

They also tried to frisk him which was just ridiculous in his opinion. After going through all of that, where they no doubt tried to gather all the data they could, he finally came face to the face with the President's Secretary, an uppity looking woman who just turned her nose up at him as she just gestured at him to follow, not deigning to utter a single word.

Rude.

Did she not know he could just dismantle her body from the inside? Or just nudge a few things here and there, leading to total organ collapse a few months later with none being the wiser?

Oh, he was the Hero here. He was not supposed to think of such things.

He cleared his thoughts as POTUS finally came into view.

"Mr.President,"

"Invisible Man? I am sorry, that name is atrocious. Is there anything else I can call you?" The President said as he sipped on what seemed to be a glass of whiskey. Damn, he could really hold his liquor then. He thought it was some sort of non alcoholic beverage since he didn't think the President would want his mental faculties impaired on such an occasion.

But apparently, he was wrong.

"Actually, you can just call me IM then. Shortened. I am sorry but I can't really tell you my real name, if that's what you were hoping for," The paper avatar said since the burner phone was unable to get any signal for the text to speech software to work properly. It had an offline only mode but that was so bad, it might as well not have existed.

"Very well, IM. Let's talk. I believe this is the first time I have ever interacted with someone…."

"Enhanced?" He prompted the President, having the paper avatar sit leaned back into the no doubt comfortable chair provided to him.

"...Um, let's go with…. different," The President said after a moment of introspection. This was good. Good thing there was no mutant hating nonsense here. That word itself invoked negative emotions since mutations were seen as an inherently bad thing, mainly because of the widespread proliferation of mutations being one of the side effects of nuclear radiation.

God, he wished he had empathy at long range just like he did with his TK. Oh yeah, the book that the Ancient One gave him about Spiritual contracts for Dummies, also somehow unlocked some of his powers that he definitely should not have, according to his contract with the ROB.

He can now sense people's emotions, but only within like three feet of him. So, peak time Subway rush, a great time to practice his power, a bad time to be hungover for sure. God, the sheer amount of hate, and horniness he felt in that subway train was nauseating.

"Alright," The paper avatar nodded. "You arranged this meeting, Mr.President. Please tell me what you would like to know," He said straightforwardly because he did not want to think too hard about these conversations later on. It was always better to have an honest straightforward conversation.

The posture changed, and so did his face, as it slowly began setting into stone, no sign of any emotion leaking from his face or his body. Wow, that change was impressive, especially with liquor in his system.

"So, IM, I would like to ask you, who, or what are you, really?"

Well, that question was not totally generic, "Well, for starters, I am human. Not a regular human, by any stretch but a human nonetheless. I have extraordinary powers but I did not get them from an experiment,"

"So you got them naturally?"

"Yes, you could say that."

"Alright, I will take what I can get. Next question, why New York?"

This was beginning to sound like an interrogation of some sort but it was fine as long as he didn't feel bored.

"Well, when I woke up, I was in this place. So, I guess you could call this place my home. But don't worry, I will be moving soon, in a couple of years," He dropped the bomb on POTUS' lap, taking delight in the way that his heartbeat quickened and his left finger twitched.

It had probably been a general consensus to leave the Invisible Man, the monster alone, because he was just operating from a single city, no matter how rich or prosperous it might be. Now that they were going to be aware that he was going to move or rather, he could move, it was probably going to light a fire under their asses.

"...I see. Well, I will be happy to see another city become a safe beacon just like Manhattan has become for…people." POTUS said after a beat passed.

"The Billionaires, IM. The people residing under your umbrella are some of the richest and consequently, most powerful men on the planet. Having influence on so many people at once makes you stronger than most countries. I can say that many people at the White House have been getting antsy seeing the amount of influence you, or rather, your name is collecting as time passes by,"

Oh. Well, it was true. But it was not as if he used his influence to do anything bad. Even he punished the rich or poor the same when it came to crimes being committed.

As if reading his thoughts from miles away, POTUS continued, "I know you haven't used your influence to do anything bad but the fact remains, as of right now, if what you say about your movement is true, you are probably the most powerful person in all of America,"

Wow. That was kind of a disastrous move to make, especially when engaging who is, by all rights, a rival of sorts, not in terms of politics but in terms of power.

"Also, the cult, the congregations. While you have done an admirable job in suppressing them and giving them healthier outlets, some people in the government are still worried about the cult spreading,"

"That is one of my concerns as well. I have tried my best but the people believe I am some sort of God or something, hoping that I would be able to solve their problems, but I am not. I have told them numerous times but they refuse to listen so I just tasked them with maintaining the kitchens and organising exercise, yoga-sports, camps that anyone can participate in."

"Yes, I am aware of those initiatives. As I said, you have done a great job in diverting their motivations. Now, I would like to know, what are your future plans?"

"Future plans?"

"Yes. Your Future Plans. What are you going to do later? Which city will you move to? What will happen to the power vacuum you will undoubtedly leave behind? Each and every one of your moves will be monitored by thousands of people. A single step in the wrong direction can have catastrophic consequences, simply because of the sheer power you have in your hands. You have to think carefully about everything and inform us because in case you forgot, it is our job to take care of our citizens."

Wow, that was kind of an unexpected outburst.

"Admittedly, we will not be able to do the job as good as you but realistically, no one can. What is it like anyway? To be able to feel an entire city's worth all at once. Stopping crime in some other place whilst simultaneously having a conversation with me?"

Wow, this was inching dangerously close to Nerd Alert and he did not know what to do here.

One thing was for certain though, this conversation was heading in uncharted territory.

He blamed the Alcohol.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

A/N - Updates about my demise have been greatly exaggerated!
So, I had a little oopsie moment with my laptop and it spent about 3 days in the service centre before it was repaired right in front of me in little more than 30 minutes. The pressure of me standing there, just waiting for my laptop must have gotten to the poor guy.
Anywho, let the updates BEGIN!!

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 70 [October 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

"Uhh," His mind faltered as he looked at the eager and genuinely curious expression on the President's face. He did not know if this was some attempt at information gathering because they had exhausted all their other means or if it was just genuinely nerdiness that the President was infected with.

Guess he would never know.

"So, my mind doesn't work in normal ways, as you can probably guess. I have multiple "partitions" you could call them, working on different things. So, they are still a part of me but are fragmented enough that they can carry out their own tasks,"

"Fascinating. So your mind essentially creates dumbed down bots that do the job that is assigned to them and just that job, nothing more. What is your information retrieval mechanism because I believe that handling all that information, let alone memorising it, would be fatal, even for someone like you?" The President asked him and he was taken aback at the fairly technical and on point question.

He looked for any hidden speakers, comms, or anything of the sort that the President could use to communicate with his analytical team but he found none. So either he had memorised all these questions or he was genuinely interested.

He didn't know which answer he preferred.

"With all due respect, I don't believe we are here to discuss the mechanisms of my powers, some of which even I don't fully understand yet," He interrupted the flow of the conversation and watched as the President seemingly blinked in realisation and straightened up.

"Ah, yeah, you are right, obviously. Now, as I have said before, you have to understand the sheer impact you make on entire cities so please give us a heads up before you up and leave Manhattan, so that we can double-no triple the law enforcement presence in the city," He said before stowing away the Whiskey glass, along with coaster.

"Ofcourse, even that might not be enough," He muttered later on, probably referring to the triple manpower required to maintain some semblance of law and order in the city once the Invisible Man is gone.

"Very well. I promise you that when or if I have to leave Manhattan, even for a short period of time, the government will be informed. Now, I have some thoughts of my own that I wanted to share with you."

"Please, by all means,"

"Very well, it is on the topic of the Enhanced,"

He carefully watched as the President's face went blank at the mention of the Enhanced. He knew that this was a sensitive topic, one that was very favourable for the President to ignore, because by the time it became too big to ignore, he would long be out of the White House and enjoying his paid off retirement on some tropical island.

"I was afraid that this would come up so I have made some prior preparations," POTUS said before he opened one of the drawers and removed a set of files, and threw them on the desk.

"Those are all the reports that Ross sent his superiors who sent them to me when we were first informed that Ross had already moved on to human experiments and actually had one that had escaped," He chuckled sardonically.

"You will find that nowhere in the reports, was it mentioned that the experiment was a complete accident, a repeat of which is almost impossible, and the now fugitive was none other than Bruce Banner who was being hunted down like an animal,"

He gained a thoughtful look back in his apartment but then shook his head. POTUS was lying. There was no way he did not know, or at least Ross' superiors did not know the extent to which Thaddeus Thunderbolt Ross would go, to complete his experiments. And the thing about the manhunt would have been more believable if all of Bruce's civilian identities, and accounts, were not frozen.

As things stood, he had two choices in his hands.

Call out POTUS on his blatant lie, and then watch as any chance of an amicable partnership is washed away.

OR.

Go along with the POTUS' act and then get some benefits in return.

The choice was easy.

"I understand. But that still doesn't make it alright. If Bruce hadn't found his way into Manhattan, he would have been hunted down by the Army who, by the way, would not have been successful, at all. I know how much power Bruce has and he could, with ease, dismantle even Tony Stark's suit, let alone anything that the Army could throw at him," His paper avatar said.

Before the POTUS could get a word in, he interrupted, "I want a full pardon for Bruce Banner as well as the Hulk if the Hulk is registered as a separate entity, to avoid any future pitfalls. Also, the seven brothers, as I told you beforehand, need official citizenship. I will have the details sent to Fury later on but please make sure that they at least have some official protection,"

POTUS looked like he was about to reject when he finally made his statement.

"Otherwise, I would have to intervene myself and I am sure that nobody in the government wants to go against the combined influence of all the Billionaires I have in Manhattan, along with the earned enmity of myself,"

He watched as POTUS paled and then shakily nodded.

"Very well. You will have both of these requests granted by the end of the month. I will personally see to it that everything is fast tracked,"

"Now, onto even more stressful matters. About the baby that is currently in—-Ack…"

The entire hotel shook as he made his presence known to everybody nearby. Cars began slowing down, their engines working against an inexplicable pressure, all the Secret Service Agents who were rushing inside felt as if they were wading through water instead of air as they felt their breaths getting constricted.

The table in front of his paper avatar began cracking, creating fractures on the surface of it.

Then, as if the pressure was not there at all, it disappeared. He watched as the Secret Service began tumbling into the room, the cars on the street jerking forward as the pressure on the car disappeared.

POTUS was completely shaken as was evidenced by his pale face and sweaty demeanour but he was made of much sterner stuff than he had expected because he just waved off the Secret Service out of the office. As soon as the office doors locked up, "

"The baby that is in Betty Ross will remain just as it is now, out of reach of anybody that would wish it harm. In fact, anybody who will not see the baby as just a baby, will never be allowed to lay their eyes on him, no matter who it is." He said sternly because the thought of the government stooges exploiting even babies for their own agenda disgusted him to no end.

He realised that he went a bit too far today but he had to make sure that they knew the consequences of doing something that would lead to Bruce rampaging all over. He was not kidding when he told FUry about Bruce actively hamstringing the Hulk from killing too many people.

No, if the WORLD WAR HULK scenario ever came to be, he would just have to join in on the suicidal fight against the Strongest There is.

"You have to understand that as things stand now, Bruce Banner, or rather, the Hulk can be somewhat controlled, restrained. But if something were to happen to someone Bruce loved, be it Betty or the baby, then all bets are off. The Hulk turns into something that you could not even dream of. Capable of shattering islands with a single footstep, parting clouds with a single swipe of his hand, and more importantly, leaving behind just molten irradiated places even if he merely walks through the area,"

The more he detailed the consequences of Bruce turning into his most dangerous form, the paler the President got. The same must be true for all the people listening in on this conversation.

He'd hate to have to remind another set of people once again.

"..I-Is all that true?"

"Do you want to risk finding out?" He countered back, knowing the answer.

"Very well. I must admit, the meeting is going in a different manner than I had expected it to,"

He scoffed back in his room, like no shit Sherlock.

"It is against my nature to let innocents be harmed and babies are the most innocent of them all, so forgive me if I don't allow anybody from the government, the same government who was about to chase Bruce into oblivion, anywhere close to Bruce's child,"

"Still, you have to understand why everyone is concerned right? Fury's report just told us that the baby's nature is "undocumented" and he cannot say anything until he has more information but I know that the Baby will most likely be born enhanced, due to the gamma energy,"

Of Course, the man has spies in SHIELD. Someone high up as well.

"I have also heard about the complications and all the resources that are being poured into it. I can have all of the scientists we have on hand take a look at –"

"I don't think that will be necessary, Mr.President. Between Stark, my own team, Bruce Banner, and Helen Cho, along with the support staff from SHIELD, I believe we have everything sorted out." He refused any help from them, knowing the taint that would come from it.

He had already informed Randall and Stark about it, no data from the final stages will make it out of that warehouse, save for what was already stored in their brains.

"Very well, I can see that you will not budge on this. Let's move on to something else that I am sure you have a lot to talk about,"

"The official inclusion of Enhanced people in the workforce,"

Hmm. His paper avatar leaned forward, to showcase his interest.

The President smiled as he began speaking.

"So, I know that getting the public to recognise…."


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 71 [October 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

All in all, quite a fruitful meeting, he must say. POTUS was not like the usual snivelling politician he had expected him to be. He was firm when he needed to be, and compliant in the face of a force that could level blocks on its own, i.e., the Invisible Man.

What a stupid name that is but alas, the media gave it to him and unfortunately for most people, the media is the one that runs the things that everybody's eyeballs are attached to nowadays.

He could see Fury pacing about in the warehouse, torn between going back to the safehouse to check in on the progress of the POTUS meeting and staying at the warehouse to monitor the work that was actually important.

Stark was absent but Dr.Banner, Dr.Cho, and Randall (doctorate pending) were working in tandem on something that would undoubtedly be the greatest medical invention of the year, at least when it came to the very niche field of natural Gamma pregnancies. According to his rough estimates, ones that have been corroborated by the good doctors, Betty had almost 40 days left until the pregnancy became too dangerous for her body to sustain.

He didn't know what she was thinking, being all carefree, gorging on anything and everything in her sight as she waited for Bruce to come back from work. The stereotypical role of a housewife, unless you count the housewife being an accomplished doctor herself and growing the strongest baby that would ever be born.

He was currently on a walk outside the city to get himself a Taco, he was somehow craving them these days. One of the few foods that Betty has not yet set her sights on. Due to her sensitive situation, privacy has been suspended for Betty Ross as long as the baby is not born. So, he had to witness the, although quite natural, unfortunate scene of Betty feasting on anything and everything, all at once, all by herself.

Bruce was obviously unable to say no to her and they already had an unlimited budget that was sponsored by the various billionaires that stayed under his protection.

Though, he did have to boot one of the newer billionaires that had taken refuge in the city for some reason, and was trying to take advantage of the housekeeping staff that was working in his penthouse. Apparently, the young Russian scion thought that things worked the same as his hometown here and was putting his disgusting paws on the housekeeper.

Well, safe to say that his exit from Manhattan was swift and precise. Precisely straight into the most filled dumpster he could find, which was not easy anymore because of the regular cleaning drives he initiated monthly now.

Regular occurrences of rich people being schooled made sure that most rich people in Manhattan behaved, no matter how rich they were. It served as a reminder that the one who was keeping them safe and sound in the city was also the one who could instantaneously serve an eviction notice and then act on it, with zero regard for their so-called power.

When he first began, he used to do daily cleaning of every piece of garbage across the city, to make sure that the city remained clean but then he realised that he was taking the sweepers' jobs from them. So, he made sure to only do thorough cleaning once a month, gave them the day off on that particular day of the month, and let them work the rest of the month.

The same couldn't be said for the subway though, since the subway had to be cleaned the moment it entered Manhattan. The things he had seen and had to clean from the subway stations were appalling, to say the least.

Did people not know that there were public toilets in New York that they could use? And it was not as if he could stop them from doing that.

He shook his head, trying to get rid of the intrusive thoughts, and focused on the delicious taco that arrived in front of him.

He rubbed his hands in glee, and dove into the Taco, making sure to enjoy it.

Food was one of the few things that still drove him, you know. Sex was good and all but due to the lack of enhanced females around the city, he couldn't really perform the activity without hurting the other party.

Times like these made him remember She-Hulk. She was enhanced and also very active if he remembered correctly. But even he was not that pent up to let the MCU atrocity of the She-Hulk arrive in his life.

No, that honor remained to the producers and directors of that godforsaken series.

Back in the warehouse, he could see that Bruce and the others had taken a lunch break. Aww, Bruce was facetimeting his wife as they both had lunch, just different sizes of servings on both sides.

Honestly, Betty might be enjoying the eat as much as you can part of the pregnancy more than she or Bruce realises. Her body was metabolising so many calories that she could eat and eat, and it wouldn't be enough, according to the radiation that she was emitting.

Bruce and the others were confused as to where all that energy was coming from because no matter how much food Betty ate, it would not be anywhere close enough. That is where his past lore came to mind.

He informed them that Betty was not in any danger, at least from all her energy being sucked by the baby to be born because the baby was generating its own energy, just like Bruce does when he generates his own mass and continues to regenerate without absorbing an ounce of energy or food from his surroundings.

The explanation had not mollified any of them but without subjecting Bruce to the experience of turning into the Hulk repeatedly, under lab conditions, they could not bring anything to the table that could disprove his theory.

They had scheduled the vibranium fibre production for today, once his meeting with the President was done and while he was ready, Tony Stark, as usual, was fashionably late.

Well, they were significantly ahead of schedule anyway. So, he could afford to slowly savour the delicious explosion of flavours in this Taco.

God, Mexican food was so delicious.

Huh, random Beautiful Agent was back. Well, he hoped she had her brain checked out, she did have a habit of fainting at the most inopportune times.

_____xx_____

Random HYDRA base somewhere

–Random HYDRA Analyst 1–

God, he hated this job.

"HAIL-HYDRA"

He was overworked and underpaid, the colleagues were unpleasant, and most of all, performance reviews resulted in actual bloodbaths.

"HAIL-HYDRA"

If he had any choice, he would not have joined this cult disguised as a company. Alas, he was fresh out of college, no place was hiring without experience and he desperately needed to work. He just needed a chance to prove himself, and his skills so that he could eventually move on to better companies.

"HAIL-HYDRA"

Like Stark Industries, Rand Enterprises, Pym Foundation, and more.

It was not even remote, which might have justified the low pay and extra workload but no, they needed every one of their little zealots to be in the office so that they could monitor everyone and reward good behaviour. This cold, damp, underlit dungeon of an Office.

"HAIL-HYDRA"

Ha! Like good behaviour was anything other than licking their master's assholes.

He didn't even care that HYDRA as an organisation was somehow still active. He just had to keep his head down for a few more years, state this experience on his resume, and then get back to work in the actual industry, where he didn't have to maintain the infrastructure that had to be hidden as games for them to actually work.

"HAIL-HYDRA"

Yes, yes, he loved HYDRA, said the average red eyed, energy drink infused, computer monkey while being continuously subjected to the horrendous voice that kept saying….

"HAIL-HYDRA"


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 72 [October 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

"Now, where is Tony?" His paper avatar asked Bruce and the other gathered scientists as they stood in front of a furnace type machine that was actually twice as deep underground as it was above it. There was a chimney attached to it, which blew smoke into one of the prepared containers.

He did not want to pollute the air himself when he had advocated for clean air many times. Rapid advancement should not come at the cost of the environment that made it possible in the first place.

"Jarvis says that he is on his way, probably stuck somewhere in traffic. You know how LA traffic is," Bruce said absentmindedly as he continued to look through the specs of the monstrosity built in front of them for the hundredth time.

"Uh-huh, and would you mind telling me who has a suit capable of flight and also has private jets to store said suit?" He asked Bruce who just waved at the paper avatar.

Wow, people really had lost their fear of him. He didn't know if that was a good sign or not.

In the meantime, on the other side of the equation was Betty who was laughing while watching some TV, having a bag of cheetos in her hand?

"Bruce, are you sure that Cheetos is the right snack for your pregnant girlfriend?" He asked Bruce who sighed and looked at him as if telling him :'What do you want me to do?'

Well, fair enough. She was putting her own life in danger so that baby Gamma Godling could be born. A pack, or three, of Cheetos, was hardly worth a mention when compared to the amount of processed cheese she had guzzled down in the past week alone.

Seriously, if it were not for the whole life threatening pregnancy thing, women around the world would have been thrilled to realise that they could eat anything and everything in their pregnancy days, simply because of the calorific requirements.

Betty's case was unique in the sense no amount of consumed calories would be enough for the Baby because of its unique nature but things were looking out for the good now. They had run more than enough simulations on the whole vibranium fibers.

They had already taken deep scans of Betty with a portable one that Tony flew over from his workshop and installed in the warehouse. He was the one who was tasked with handling the precious cargo, making sure that nothing in her body was disturbed as she was transported miles away, to the warehouse, without even feeling the wind hitting her face. That precise and smooth was the journey on the Invisible Man commute services.

The deep scan allowed them to pinpoint the locations in which the Vibranium fibers would be inserted. There would be some bleeding but nothing major.

Once they were manufactured today, once Stark decided to show up, Bruce and the others were going to be testing the fibre effectiveness on the irradiated lab rats. Oh, he hated this but Bruce told him that he would have to test it on someone alive.

He had also, privately of course, told him that Tony and he were in talks of developing a similar version of the fibers, to subdue the Hulk, if the need ever arose. And he had to say, both of them really had no idea what they were doing or talking of.

The Hulk was not dependent on Gamma Energy to wreak havoc everywhere. Yes, he was saturated with Gamma Energy but it was not as if he had a limited store of it.

The hulk could endlessly generate Gamma Energy. That is because he had a direct line of connection to the Guy Below. Some measly Vibranium fibers woven into his skin that could absorb Gamma Radiation are certainly not going to be able to stop him.

"Finally!" he let the paper avatar exclaim, making Bruce jump as he was the closest. When everyone looked at him, including Fury, who was still here for some reason, he replied.

"Stark's jet just landed. Once he is in range, I'll just pick him up," He said and–oh my god, Stark had this entire place bugged because Stark just froze for a second as he said that he will pick Tony up.

Tony probably knew his way of picking people up, as he was the one who was laughing endlessly at the footage of Fury screaming while flying through the air.

Well of course, Tony would have done that, bugging a project that was literally of national interest and paramount to national security as well, especially if Tony and Bruce could spin it off as developing something to help subdue the Hulk.

Tony then came out of the airport, entered the nearest parking lot, and entered his suit, rocketing his way towards Manhattan.

Well, that was no fun.

"He should be here in a minute," The paper avatar said, which was probably heard by Tony as well because the bastard purposefully steered away from the path, taking a much longer path of flight, resulting in a 2 minute delay. Just how petty can that man be?

And right on his schedule, the man of the hour arrived.

"Look who's here," His paper avatar said as Tony Stark's suit walked into the warehouse before the suit opened up, revealing Tony in all of his three piece suit glory.

"Hey, Paper cut machine. Hi, Bruce, how are things holding up? Betty fine? Great,"

He watched as Tony rizzed the crowd, for lack of a better term as he seamlessly switched from social butterfly to nerd engineer as he began looking over the machine as the holograms began blurring together at a dizzying pace, for a normal human anyway.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road," Tony said as Jarvis, piloting the Iron Man suit, carefully unpackaged a custom Arc Reactor built for the machine and slotted it in the deepest part, something that no human could do, and hence, the wait for Tony and his advanced exo suit.

Everybody, including Fury, watched the process with a hawkish gaze as Tony simply flicked a few digital switches, and then stepped back, with his arms crossed, and an inquisitive look on his face.

"Now?"

Tony turned around to meet everyone's gazes and then grinned, "Now? Now, we wait. For approximately 13 hours,"

Oh, come on.

_____xx_____

"Pierce! Is there any way to stop that menace from expanding further? According to the reports from WHite House, he is planning to up and leave the city, do you have any idea what that could mean for our operations?"

Alexander Pierce, the World Security Council Secretary, could do nothing but sigh in exhaustion.

What else could he do when he had already exhausted every manner of help that he had at his disposal. That man simply had a chokehold on the city and nothing they did, no matter how much money they threw at the sensor team, could find the person responsible fro much of the chatter that has been happening with Whitehall and Strucker.

Both of them have been obsessed with the existence of the Invisible Man and he doesn't blame them, at all. The thought of having a platoon of such people, ready to be deployed on a battlefield where the space itself would become their weapon, was tantalizing.

Alas, dreams often fade away, instead of turning into reality.

The reality was that nothing that he, or SHIELD, could do, was enough to identity the man. Sure, the man had some form of official relationship with SHIELD but that is only a one way line. He just informed SHIELD or asked for help, nothing from their end ever reached him.

They couldn't get him to reveal his identity because why would he? They had no leverage on him, aside from the city where he could effectively turn all his men into bloody mists if he so desired.

The incident with Banner and his lover did present a slight window of opportunity if they could have exploited Ross to get his daughter out of that fortress but apparently, the woman had no lost love for her biological father anymore.

Then came his influence. The sheer number of billionaires, domestic and foreign that had taken refuge under his umbrella was staggering. It would be safe to say that even HYDRA had to tread carefully around someone capable of rallying almost a third of the world's wealth.

In fact, in the privacy of his mind, he was glad that WHitehall and Strucker did not have access to Bruce BAnner and his child because he knew the amount of damage the Hulk would do, especially in light of recent information being revealed by the Invisible Man.

He did not want that chaotic power in his organisation. He wanted power, yes, but uncontrollable power was as good as no power.

No, something like the Winter Soldier was infinitely preferable to a Gamma soldier like Blonsky.

"Gentlemen, I have a plan. It is long term but HYDRA has not survived so long by being impatient. We will be….."

He began explaining to them the bare bones of a plan, the first phase of which will only be executed once the Invisible Man actually leaves the place in the first place.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 73 [October 2010]

Manhattan [13 hours later ~~Spongebob Style~~]

–Axle Riddle–

So that is what Vibranium fibers looked like, looked kind of the same as regular steel, but that was just his spatial senses talking. It might be different if he could actually lay his eyes on it but that was not a security risk he was willing to take.

"So, I assume you guys need some sleep or should we begin the testing right away?" He asked the small group of scientists that had chosen to stay for the procedure, to see the final strands being spat out by the machine in real time. Apparently, all they needed was a specific frequency of vibration hit at specific times, the times which would be decided by the sample of Vibranium you have on hand.

And that frequency and timing between sonic treatments could only be determined once you can scan the Vibranium sample on hand, since apparently Vibranium constantly shifts its internal structure, for some reason.

Another mystery ability that makes it the most versatile metal on the planet.

"Hmm? Yeah, we should all begin tomorrow. Get some good night's sleep. I'll make sure the fingers are properly guarded," Tony said as he snapped his fingers, causing the Iron Man suit to come walking towards him, and open its back for him to walk into, then the machine that wove the fibers began shutting down, along with two Iron Men suit emerging from the pods that Tony had transported to the warehouse earlier.

"They will remain on guard until we return in the morning. Combined with Peeper over here, I am reasonably certain that the Vibranium will be safe." Tony said before taking off through the ceiling.

Oh yeah, the madlad had specially installed a ceiling that could rapidly open up and then close off just in case he needed to make a vertical take-off.

Show-off.

He watched as all of them filtered out of the room, slowly until only the SHIELD guards and Jarvis in the suit were left, keeping guard over the machine. He wondered if the SHIELD agents present were HYDRA or not but it was not as if they could do much, if anything, with Jarvis around.

"See you tomorrow, Jarvis,"

So, he dissipated the paper avatar and then snuggled up into his bed, back in his apartment, after having a nice crisp beer, that did absolutely nothing to his body due to his metabolism.

He might just need Space Viking Alcohol to actually get drunk these days but he could not complain, what with the added immunity to most poisons coming with the metabolism.

He was about to go to sleep when..

"Ah!" He softly exclaimed as a portal opened in his living room, and the Ancient One stepped through, her signature yellow cloak gleaming against the orange fiery glow of the portal.

The fuck?

"What happened?"

"We need to talk, Mr.Riddle,"

Well, that wasn't ominous at all, he grumbled to himself as he got out of the bed.

"What is it? I was just about to go to sleep, you know?"

"This is related to the godling that Ms.Ross carries in her stomach,"

Her words had him sitting upright and out of the bed in a second, following her into the portal, only for the portal to bounce him back.

"Ah, my apologies. I assumed that you could get through,"

She said and he peered at her in confusion because there was no way she did not know about….

He stiffened as he immediately jumped back, the area he was standing in, jagged Green spikes ran through, making his head hurt from just looking at them.

In a split second, his mind ran through all the possible conclusions as he jumped out of the apartment window.

One, THis was not the Ancient One. Some kind of illusion, judging by the dark portal that was now visible instead of the standard orange.

Two, He could not differentiate between him, at all, only stopping because the Ancient One knew that he could not use portals that led him outside the city.

Three, they knew his identity, and had chosen to attack him on his home turf.

They would….rue the day they tried this.

In a single leap, he was outside his apartment window. In the second beat, he had already scanned the building, confirmed the 37 living residents, and had already mapped out a path for them to get out of the collapsing building.

Because there was no way the building would remain standing after this. The third beat, he whipped his hand forward, bringing forth an avalanche of sharp matter that hit the misty face of the intruder with the force of hundreds of tons.

"AA!" "Ugh!"

Amidst the screams of the residents being forcefully evacuated, he floated with his entire body covered in a blanket stolen from a nearby store, he watched as the building floor collapsed due to the sheer weight of the attack.

Even then, he ducked as another volley of dark green spikes attacked him. His eyes went to the small piece of blanket that immediately began turning grey as soon as it came into contact with those spikes. Without hesitation, he cut that part of the blanket and stored it in a groove near the sidewalk, lest some unsuspecting person stumble upon it.

A series of other clothing items surged around him as he floated on top of the building, waiting for either Master Drumm or the Ancient One to make a move. In the meantime, he made sure that Bruce and Betty, along with the Vibranium were fine.

Vibranium could be procured once again but Betty's safety was of paramount importance. He could see Bruce twisting and turning, his face showing unease.

He once again had to duck between the spikes, their pure energy nature meaning that he could not accurately predict them using his spatial awareness, only able to track the impact they have on the surrounding air and then track them that way.

Alternatively, his sight was faster in doing so because the spikes were right in front of him.

The portal was still open but he could not sense anything past that because the portal probably led to someplace very very far away, hindering his investigative powers.

Whoever had done this, they had come prepared, if their goal was just to out him. If they wanted to kill him, they had to do better than this.

Shit!

He exclaimed internally as the spikes then began running through the building and then into the passerby.

He hastily mapped all the people and just flash evacuated the entire block, and also finally knocked on the Sanctum Wards along with doing it with enough intensity that even the Ancient One should have realised by now that something had happened.

His form was now visible to any passerby looking for it, or through the hundreds of satellites pointed at Manhattan or through the CCTV cameras, it mattered not. What mattered was this MF'er just exposed his identity and he was going to get his pound of flesh in return.

His sentiments were apparently returned because the entire building seemingly exploded, revealing a huge monstrosity of tentacles that burned Green to his eyes.

"Alright, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight, you will get," He cracked his neck as the entire block they were standing in began vibrating because he had unlocked his limitations.

He had already warned Bruce about the danger and advised him to the warehouse where an underground bunker had been built. He was in the process of packing things up when he just packed everything for him and then lifted both of them and straight into the warehouse.

He then locked the warehouse from any outside intrusion.

Did the same for all the SHIELD doctors who were staying in the city.

Then once everyone was accounted for, he simply shut down his second mind.

In one moment, he was standing in front of the monster that was still growing by the second, the next moment, he was floating with a blue corona surrounding his body, empowering him to heights he previously thought unreachable.

When he first gained the second mind ability, he was able to offload most of his psychic prowess into the second mind, allowing it to essentially run a city as huge and complex as Manhattan.

But now that the second mind was shut down, for the first time since he had discovered it, he now had access to everything.

He could now sense the energy of the being in front of him and realised that it was nothing more than an extension, something that could be regenerated over and over again by the energy of the portal.

So, he had to make sure the portal was closed but that was not his expertise at the moment.

His expertise at the moment was….

"Let's dance," He said as the entire block seemingly fractured in the middle before the entirety of the matter of the block turning into a huge monstrosity, on par with the monster.

It was time to finally let loose…..


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 74 [October 2010]

Kamar Taj

–Karl Mordo–

"Are you sure about this, Wong?" He asked one of the strongest Masters of Kamar Taj, on par with himself, and as much as it pained him to admit it, Kaecilius as well. Three of them were seemingly on the same step as each other but even then, the gulf between them and the Ancient One was more of a chasm than a step.

That was why he had chosen to faithfully follow the Ancient One. Because she was the one who kept the realm safe and without chaos.

"Yes, those were the orders straight from the Ancient One. If you want, we can go and confirm them," Wong suggested and he gave him a look. There was no need to go that far when he was just asking a question.

Still, the requirements for this ritual were somewhat odd. Then again, rituals themselves were odd, not odd in the sense that they were out of order because the principle of equivalent exchange was still followed in most of the rituals. Odd because the ritual also took into account esoteric properties, like the love for an object, feelings held towards an object, memories, etc.

That was why he was shocked when the Ancient One asked the Staff of the Living Tribunal to be borrowed, so that she could conduct some kind of ritual.

"No, if these are the orders, then, by all means," He said as he parted with the relic that had saved his life more times than he could count.

"Thank you. Now, come, we need to draw the ritual circles once again," Wong hurried back to the massive underground ritual room that was situated right below the training grounds of Kamar Taj.

"What? Why again?" He found himself asking Wong as they sped towards the ritual room, the urgency in Wong's movement evident.

"Because, I forgot to connect a line before I sneezed, alright?" Wong said to him as he continued walking. Meanwhile, he almost tripped at the reason.

"Very well. What is the ritual for? And why is the Ancient One doing it herself? Last I remembered, the only time she did something–"

"Was when one of the leylines under the Hong Kong Sanctum had misaligned due to some foolish Atlantean mages, I know. But, if I am not wrong, this has the potential to turn into nearly the same level of tragedy, so we better hurry,"

Wong's words shocked him. He could still remember the state of panic that Kamar Taj had fallen into when one of the major ley lines, out of the seven that criss crossed the planet, one of them had been thrown out of natural alignment by the actions of a supposedly rouge mage of Atlantis.

The Ancient One had to go personally to Atlantis to school the people there and then had to conduct a massive ritual, over the course of an entire week, where she communed with Gaia to restore the natural alignment of the leylines, allowing the planetary shield to function at its full strength.

Soon, they had drawn the entire ritual circle, the complexity of which was mind boggling.

Just as he had stood up from the ritual, he heard her speaking.

"Great work, Master Mordo, Master Wong."

The Ancient One had arrived in the ritual room.

"Now, please guard the ritual room. There are nefarious entities that will stop at nothing to hamper our efforts," with those ominous words, she snapped her fingers and he found himself outside the ritual room, facing the closed door which glowed orange for a moment, then seamlessly melded right into the wall, such that there was no viable entry point into the ritual room now.

A small part of him wanted to question her on what the hell was going on but the larger part of him was glad that he had his orders that he could follow.

A rigid structure. Order.

Some of the favourite things in his life.

So, he stood guard.

For hours on end.

After the fifth hour, there was an alarm that rang throughout Kamar Taj, a shrill voice echoing throughout the complex. He exchanged alarmed looks with Wong as they both realised something had gone wrong with one of the Sanctums.

This was a specific alarm that could only be raised by a Sanctum Master and should only be raised when the Sanctum itself was in danger of being destroyed.

"We need to go, now!" Wong said as he snapped at him incredulously.

"Are you foolish? The Ancient One has given us clear orders. We need to guard the Ritual Room. IT could be a ploy to get us to leave her here. Besides, Master Drumm is a capable Master, and no doubt, other Masters of Kamar Taj must be rushing to help him. What we need to do is follow orders," He said and then stood guard, his wary gaze inspecting every corner of the surroundings.

He knew that he came off a little rigid in his ways but that was the only way he knew how to live his life now. He was broken when he came to Kamar Taj and Order, that was the one thing that he clung to as he tried to rebuild himself, resulting in this semi broken person known as Mordo.

Oh, he knew that he was not healed, not by any stretch of the imagination, but at least he had a purpose now. At least, he could rest easy knowing that he did all he could for his family. He now knew that there was no feasible way of bringing back his family, not without desecrating their memory in ways most foul.

Multiple Masters approached them after they had realised their location but they were under express orders to not leave, so they ordered all the available forces to reinforce the New York Sanctum and then told the rest to stand vigil over Kamar Taj itself.

______xx_____

Meanwhile, in Manhattan, things had heated up.

Axle Riddle, having finally released all the blockers, or rather, limitations of his powers, stood atop a towering beast made up of material scavenged from the surroundings, standing in front of an eldritch monstrosity made up of dark green and purple tentacles.

The Monster was still growing but Axle had had enough of this farce. He flooded his presence on the avatar that he had created and to his visible surprise, his entire body along with the entire avatar gained a blue hue as he could now feel as if the avatar he had created was an extension of his limb.

"Well, that was new," Axle muttered to himself as he experimentally punched the monstrosity. He did not know if this was the right approach or not, especially since all his attempts at closing the portal or sending in enough barrage of things to overwhelm the caster of the portal had gone unsuccessful.

But since all the surrounding areas had been evacuated, with thousands of people finding themselves standing in Central Park with his COngregation having standing orders to help the people there, he didn't have to worry much about collateral damage.

All he was worried about were the people…and Bruce.

The timing was completely suspicious and his mind wandered to BRuce and his connection to the Guy Below.

A chill ran down his spine when he realised that if he was involved in this, then he was way out of his league. It was a small mercy that he was unable to enter that portal. Who knew where it led to?

He probably would have been dead now. He was powerful, yes, but it was his mind that was more powerful. His body, while still stronger than most, was woefully inadequate when it came to foes such as the ones he was fighting with.

His punch had clearly pushed the tentacled monstrosity through a couple of buildings behind him but there was no visible damage done.

He winced as he saw the portal had disappeared as well.

Due to his newfound powers, it was as if he had teleported, when he came to the warehouse with Jarvis' suit along with the SHIELD guards, standing guard over a room that housed the scientists as well as Bruce and Betty.

He was just in time too because a small green mist had appeared in front of the warehouse, out of which a long green limb came out, followed by more and more of the same limb.

He didn't wait around for the portal to open even wider, as he took the excess vibranium that they had, and infused it with his power. His eyes revealed a surprised look as he could feel some sort of connection with the small piece of Vibranium before it too began glowing blue.

He thrust the Vibranium at the portal's limbs, the sharp edge of the Vibranium shedding through every little piece of it, throwing dark green blood all over the warehouse floor. The blood melted through the flooring as he threw all the SHIELD security inside the warehouse into another room, separate, from Bruce and Betty.

"Jarvis? Where is Tony?"

"Sir, is in LA. He has sent an additional two suits to assist you and is in the process of convincing Ms.Potts to let him go," Jarvis' voice filtered through one of the suits which continued to fire beam after beam at the limbs, doing some damage but not enough.

Meanwhile, he was piloting the avatar on the other side of the city, both giants duking it out in one corner of the city. He couldn't let the eldritch monstrosity further into the city but he also couldn't let it get out of his range. So, he was in a stalemate, at least until the masters arrived.

"Oh, come on!" He shouted in frustration as the limb seemed to go on forever. In a fit of frustration, he threw the vibranium at the edge of the portal itself, the green mist giving way to the blue celestial material.

He blinked in shock as the vibranium seemed to do some real damage to the portal.

Well, it would seem that he had a new weapon now.

Not wasting time, he threw the vibranium at the edges, making sure that the limb stopped using his powers, even though it was gaining ground slowly due to the sheer power behind the limb.

He could feel the limb fracturing as it hit a wall made out of pure psionic energy but even then, it seemed to push.

Thankfully, the vibranium came in clutch as it seemingly cut through the portal, destroying it slowly until the portal became too unstable to maintain and winked out of existence.

His shoulders slumped as he relaxed. But the fight was not over yet, he thought to himself as he watched another portal open on top of the eldritch monstrosity, another series of purple tentacles coming through the portal.

Just where in the hell were the Masters of the Mystic Arts?

"Jarvis, stay here. Make sure that only Bruce and Betty are in a single room. Once those two suits arrive, task them to Bruce and BEtty only. They are the priority, understand?"

"Yes, Mr.Invisble Man,"

He nodded at Jarvis and then set off towards the tentacle monster, resolved to end it now, armed with his newfound crude albeit effective weapon.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 75 [October 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

Damn, that is huge. He looked at the three tentacle monsters now standing in front of the lone trash monster that his powers had conjured up. Chunks of it were missing but that was not a big problem.

His powers worked as another few tons of matter were added to the trash robot, which then began marching towards the tentacle monsters when it became clear that all three of them were about to take off in different directions.

Could not have that in his city, now could he?

Well, things were going to be rough after this. The existence of this Cthulhu like monster was going to give many of the organisations worldwide, cult like organisations, more ammunition. And that didn't even take into account what the response of his cult, no- the people who follow him would be. God, things just couldn't be nice and peaceful until he could get Bruce and Betty a nice cozy beach retirement set up somewhere.

He winced as one of the tentacles missed his avatar and ended up slamming into a nearby street, puncturing a high pressure water line and also sewer lines as both of these things began pooling in the street.

That smell is going to take ages to wear off.

The good news was that his avatar was doing reasonably well…as well as it could, in holding off the monsters from rampaging through the city. Meanwhile, he was floating in front of the standoff, pouring more and more of his "amped up" energy as he liked to call his new form, into the Vibranium cutting tool he had on hand because the last stunt of cutting through that portal somehow drained the weapon of its energy.

He still could not sense any portal opening but Jarvis had assured him that he would be warned that in the millisecond a portal of any sort opens within a mile's radius of Bruce and Betty.

He had also spotted two afterburner marks, signalling the arrival of two more drones but no sign of Tony or his stupid smug voice and face anywhere. So, it would be safe to say that the man had not arrived yet.

Huh, Pepper really has him whipped then. No way was Tony Stark going to miss this sort of action but to be fair, he was really far away, and getting all the way here in just his suit was illogical and by the time his private jet made it here, the issue will most likely have resolved itself.

Seeing that the Vibranium block, which was now beginning to change shape, he had noticed, could not take any more of his psionic energy, he used his powers to create vines made up of building material and held off all the three tentacle monstrosities that the Guy Below had made for some reason.

For some reason, probably due to the high energy being generated over their skin, his powers could not "hold" the monsters as he would for normal people. It was as if his powers were trying to latch onto something that would just pass through the net that his powers were trying to cast.

So, he had to improvise. Destroy surrounding infrastructure to create giant hands and ropes to restrain monsters that would most likely irradiate and destroy that part of the city once they were destroyed.

Another option was to catapult them out of his range but he had noticed the way they shrugged off his glancing blows, capable of duking it out with his avatar, even in his amped up mode. He was not going to risk them getting out of Manhattan, where his powers would be even weaker.

Seeing the three monsters weakened and the giant avatar from before, crumbling due to the damage done to it, he let the Vibranium block which had now changed shape and turned into a ninja star, for some reason, into the air in front of him.

The reason was not important at the moment but the timing of the shape being formed was a very nice touch.

He could not hold the star conventionally using his powers either but it was as if the Vibranium had bonded to him and he could control it with a thought, without ever having to use his powers to do so.

He willed the star to begin spinning, creating a small localised star that gave off blue stars. The star then created a trail of energy as it whizzed towards the tentacled monsters. As if realising their demise was near, the monsters renewed their struggles but it was not meant to be for them.

He knew that because he was not there in front of them anymore. No, he was already recalling the ninja star that had already created hundreds of holes in the bodies of those monsters, because he was standing in front of Bruce who was standing in front of a heavily pregnant Betty, already turning faint shades of green.

All because of a small portal that had appeared right in the room where they were stashed away safely. He had a hunch something was wrong when the monsters were not healing their wounds nearly as fast as before and were also unable to exert much power on the vines imprisoning them.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw the two scrapped Iron Man suits and the hole in the door, and yet, if it were not for him seeing the portal with his own two eyes, he would have thought that everything in the warehouse was normal.

Even now, he could see all the other scientists in the other room, huddled together, with all the Guards. Jarvis piloted all three suits and kept a close eye on the entry, exit, and interior of the staff room where bEtty was kept.

Even as his powers continued to feed him that information, he ordered the ninja star to start cutting through this portal as well but the moment the star came into close vicinity of the portal, the unthinkable happened.

Like lightning, a hand shot out of the portal and grabbed the star and then, with a thunderous crack, broke the fucking Vibranium with its bare hands. The backlash of that happening was immense to him as he began bleeding through his ears and mouth, his vision dizzy and his ears ringing as the hand grasped the edge of the portal and pushed.

He staggered back and actually had to be held upright by Bruce as he saw the portal slowly expanding.

While this was happening, he could see the blood of the tentacled monsters flowing deliberately into the sewers without anything there to stop him. His mind felt so weak and fuzzy, that he could not muster up enough force to stop that blood from contaminating everything in the city.

The portal was clearly unstable now because there were fissures of lightning occurring around the portal but the hand seemed to be determined in widening the portal for some reason. He didn't know why because at this point, even the Hulk could have walked through that portal, provided he hunched his back and walked.

He slowly straightened himself as his somewhat enhanced body began repairing itself. His mind was still shaken from the link between the ninja star, which was probably some sort of bonded weapon at that point, and his mind being broken so abruptly.

He took a step forward as blue flashes of barriers appeared on his body but he was evidently unable to sustain it as he dropped down to his knees within the next moment. He was about to try again, not knowing what else to do to save Betty, but as if his prayers had been answered, orange filled his vision as he saw some squiggly lines on the ground and then happily passed out, uncaring of the fact that he was still covered in only a flimsy piece of blanket.

That cheap blanket being the only thing stopping people from outing his hidden identity. But at that point, he was way too injured, dazed, confused, and out of fucks to give, to care about that. He just welcomed the darkness that claimed his vision, the last scene that he managed to see was a giant orange circle to light up underneath the portal, as pure white chains wrapped themselves around the hand as well as the portal.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 76 [October 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

With a gasp, he came to consciousness, as his mind returned to awareness of its surroundings. As soon as it happened though, he winced.

"Ow…" He had to forcibly control his power and wind it tightly within his mind for his head to stop hurting.

"Ow indeed. I assume you are finally feeling the effects of the stunt you pulled earlier?" He looked to the side as an invisible pressure forced him back on the bed, with the Ancient One reading a book while nonchalantly sipping tea.

"W-What happened?" He croaked out, his mouth feeling completely dry. He muttered a quick thank you as a glass of water slowly flew over to him. He ignored how it continued to be full despite him chugging down most of it within moments.

"What happened Mr.Riddle is that within a span of an hour, you managed to tangle yourself with one of the most dangerous beings in the universe, pulled off a ridiculous move of combining your latent potential with your partitioned mind which granted you phenomenal levels of power, proceed to battle his avatar using your own avatar, bonded with a block of Vibranium using your powers, and then suffered a backlash from said weapon being destroyed, and then still managed to reach Bruce Banner and Betty Ross to help defend them, where in we found you collapsed,"

"When you put it like that, anything will sound stupid. Where were you, anyway? I had to fight with that guy who was not even taking me seriously and winning, and that was with my shiny new upgrades, you know,"

He conveniently left out the part where he could not really use his powers right now. His head felt bloated as if it was filled with way too much water and was about to spill out of it. He didn't have the courage to use his TK, that was how intensive the damage was. The shiny new powers did not come without a cost then.

"That, Mr.Riddle, is someone who can suppress the Vishanti all by himself if there was not someone else of equal power stopping him. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do about him. He has a vested interest in Dr.Banner and more importantly, in his unborn progeny."

"But he is restricted in how he can act so he pulled that stunt. Wait, are you telling me that was him at his weak point?" He asked her incredulously. While he was more than aware of the existence of the One Below All, *chills*, he was of the opinion that the One Above All *Stan Lee Flashes by* was the one keeping him contained.

If this was his fractional power then….

"What happened to Betty?" He asked her urgently, his mind fighting the urge to just let his powers go and find out for himself since he was pretty sure this was the New York Sanctum and the warehouse was not that far away from here.

"Ms.Ross is fine. You have been unconscious for three days now. Full recovery will take at least a month," She said, calm as a cucumber.

"A month?! We don't have a month. Betty is due in a month and a half. What if something happens until then? And what about the city? Oh, dear god, there must be pandemonium in the city," He panicked and began blubbering.

It had been years since he had felt this blinded, this helpless. Without his powers, he was unable to keep an eye on the city or keep them safe from the dangers by instilling the fear of god in the minds of criminals.

Oh, Shit!

"What about the city? Those tentacled monsters? Their blood was acting as if it was alive and was deliberately spreading to the sewers. I couldn't do much about it because I had to save Betty and Bruce but did you find out anything?" He asked her, his heart sinking as he saw her brows furrowed as she leaned forward, the cup of tea and her book disappearing as if it was never there at all.

"No, Mr.Riddle. The remnants have been taken into custody by the government and we have purged as much as we could of the mystical influence of those foot soldiers but nothing is permanent. I am afraid that some of the blood that you are talking about, which is cosmic ichor, must have escaped." She said before snapping her fingers.

He blinked as he found himself sleeping in his clothes and not the medical PJs from before.

"Here," He looked up to see an armour floating towards him. He yelped a bit as it seemed to sink into his body and then sighed in relief as a warm pleasant sensation spread throughout his body.

"That is the armour of the Vishanti. It will help you against dark influences, be it from the Astral Realm or the real world."

Why would he need to go to the Astral Realm all of a sudden? He was not even that good at it. As if answering his question, another book appeared in front of him. He took hold of it and read the title of the book, and deadpanned at the Ancient One who looked just as serene as before, as if this situation meant nothing to her and did not affect her one bit.

"A Dummies guide to safe passage in the Astral Realm and the ways to heal one's spirit"

"That was a mouthful, wasn't it?"

"The author of that book is not human, Mr.Riddle. The Astral Realm is home to many species, and while the material universe has found itself devoid of most dragons for eons now, there are some species of dragons that evolved to survive in the Astral Realm, as psionic entities. One of those dragons, quite an eccentric one, managed to inhabit one of the homunculus that we had in possession at the time. That dragon is the reason we know so much about the Astral Realm."

"You will do well to respect Master Jin'ya as he is the only reason you will recover your soul within the span of a week. In the meantime, I assume you will come to appreciate the struggles of being an ordinary person. I have taken the liberty to inform all of your minions, as you like to call them, that you will be out of commission for a month."

He opened his mouth to argue when she forestalled him, "Do not worry about them. They will be fine. Just in case, I have also assigned one of the newer Masters to shadow them at all times. Nobody is going to come in and take them from the city,"

He sighed in relief. His existence was really the only thing stopping the vultures from descending into Manhattan, or Bruce and even Betty herself. He liked to think that Ross would not stoop so low so as to hurt his own daughter or his own grandchild for power but he could never be sure with that man.

For all he knew, Ross could consider the baby as an abomination, a monster, and in his mind, he could be doing Betty a favour by getting rid of the monster in her belly.

He shook his head to get rid of those dark thoughts. Nothing he can do about them other than heal up and get back to work.

"I suppose I will have to learn this by myself?" He asked her, smiling weakly when she nodded. It was not as if he did not understand the books, the books related to mind and Astral Realm were surprisingly easy to understand. IT was just that the books were really boring and mostly relied on the user's mind's imagination to function properly.

"You will be fine, Mr.Riddle. Now, I have a lot of work to do to strengthen the shields to make sure nothing of this sort happens near one of the Sanctums so…off you go," She made a shooing gesture and he found himself standing outside the Sanctum once again, holding onto the book with one hand, and his wallet with the other.

Well, time to live life like a normal human.

_____xx____

–Nick Fury–

"Yes, Mr.President, we have taken all the samples into our custody,"

"Yes, Mr.President, multiple blood samples have been found at all the locations of the battle but we are yet to find anything concrete."

"Yes, sir, I have tasked my best men on it."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," He hung up the phone and had the urge to just throw the phone and disappear from the world for a month.

"Fucking Invisible Man. Not so invisible, are you now?" he muttered as a series of photos, clicked using both SHIELD as well as US Government satellites were laid on his table. All of them were from different angles, the darkness making the photo blurry, but it was unmistakable.

The Invisible Man was a human and had to come out of his hidey hole to fight something of that calibre.

But then again, it was understandable, he thought to himself as he came out of the makeshift tent office and looked at the now pulverised six blocks worth of an area, filled with nothing but rubble.

It was good that the Billionaire army that the Invisible Man had raised, along with his cult, had taken all responsibility to rebuilt everything, down to the last brick. Money had already poured in, permits were being granted at an expedited pace, and construction crew had already begun working on the areas that SHIELD had cleared, and declared safe from contamination.

Contamination from what exactly? He did not know.

SHIELD Was supposed to be the first line of defense against motherfucking aliens and they somehow entered their backyard without anyone noticing.

It was their luck that they came to Manhattan, and just Manhattan, where the powers of the guy were the strongest. Otherwise, who knows what kind of death and destruction they would have had to face.

Well, he had received the news from Banner and Tony. The Invisible Man was injured in the fight and will not be back for atleast a week. That news will never make it into any of the reports because that was just begging for another disaster to occur.

What was important was that the Invisible Man was just healing, he was not gone. HE will be back and things will turn to normal. In the meantime, he had this headache to deal with.

How did the fucker do it anyway?

According to the records, there was a giant ass orange magical circle that appeared all around the island, and then white chains came out of those circles and restrained the tentacles.

Then, just as they came, they were gone, leaving behind dead husks of those monsters. They had testimonies of the Invisible Man falling unconscious just before the whole white chains came out of the magic circle thing but he did not have access to either the Invisible Man or his closest people to interrogate.

And even if he did have a brain the size of a pea to try and strongarm his people into an interrogation, he would not do so because he could not do so.

Everyone had gone underground, save for Banner and Tony, both of whom were individually capable of wrecking anything he sent their way.

So, there he was, standing amidst the rubble, waiting for the main guests to arrive so that he could finally understand what the fuck had happened!

"Ow, Motherfucker," He cursed as he almost tripped over a piece of rock.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 77 [November 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

Okay, this was incredibly unsettling.

He was walking back towards his home, and yet, it felt more like he was walking through a warzone instead of a normal sidewalk. The ability to always be aware of one's surroundings in advance was not something that could be taken for granted then.

He had bumped into no less than 7 people in the 15 minutes he had been walking on the sidewalk, it was maddening. People just kept walking, sparing no attention to whom they were walking into. It was as if the prerogative to move was on the other party, not them.

He couldn't keep track of the cars, and people running into the cars' tracks. Nothing.

All he could do was keep his head down and head back into his apartment. He had already called in sick and told them that he would not be coming to work for atleast a week because he just did not have time for Corporate work right now.

"Thank you," He said to the hot dog stand owner as he bit into the first real food he had eaten since he woke up from that power overuse coma.

Apparently, getting yourself a fancy little spirit weapon is all nice and good, only until someone vastly stronger than you gets hold of the spirit weapon and crushes it to bits. He didn't even know it was possible to crush Vibreanium like that. Break it, bend it? Sure.

But that hand did not even flinch as his Baby Ninja Star, only half formed, was crushed in its grasp. The soul injury was not affecting his normal cognitive functions since he could think just fine, it was only inhibiting him from using his powers, even in their lowest state.

He had never been without his awareness for so long. Even when asleep, his second mind continued to work in the background, making sure that he knew where everyone and everything was.

If needed, the second mind automatically intervened on his behalf, allowing him to take it slow or fast, or focus on other tasks, or not work at all, all without the guilt of having to use his powers for the common good, all the time.

Soon, his apartment building came into view….or lack thereof.

"Shit," He paced around in front of the yellow tape that cordoned off the area around his building and a very large area around it as well.

How could he forget?

After all, he himself brought down his apartment building while attacking that hand that came through the portal.

"Well, so much for not going to the office," He said and then turned around. He always kept a go bag in the office handy in case he needed to secure his identity or just grab that bag and run away from this place since it was so freaking scary!

Good Lord, how did people even function in this chaos without having something like his powers? He was only now coming to realise the huge gift he had, that allowed him to perform well even in mundane day to day tasks.

"Hey!" He had just taken a step when his enhanced senses allowed him to hear the heavy bounding footsteps of someone running towards him.

"Hello?" He asked the SHIELD Agent, trying his best to look harmless, which he probably was, just not to her. He might not have his mind powers but he had his body which was more than enough for him to barrel through whatever they had on hand, unless they managed to shoot him in the head multiple times.

"Hi, I am Special Agent Paige from SHIELD. Are you one of the tenants of the buildings that were collapsed yesterday?" She asked him as she took out her tablet and began going through a list.

"Ahem, yes, I lived in building C-3, Apartment 204, Axle Riddle," He told her all the information she needed and her face brightened a little as she opened a series of documents about something, he did not know.

Man, not having his eyes everywhere was really jarring for him. He could not wait for the healing to be done.

"Ah! Yes, you are on the list. Mr.Riddle, the attack on Manhattan was unfortunate and your situation is even more so. So, until the reconstruction work is done, the government will foot the bill for your stay. Please wait here, I will have someone escort you to possible rental locations so that you can choose one from your–"

"No." His reply made her freeze as she looked at him in confusion.

"Ah, thank you Agent but I will find alternative arrangements. I only lived here because of nostalgia. Thank you for the good work though. I was only a tenant, please compensate the other people fairly. Farewell," He bid her goodbye and left the place.

"That's weird," he heard her whisper before she put him on the list of Person of Interest for some reason. Well, let them come and investigate.

As of right now, he was actually just some normie and not the S-class mind combatant that the entire city's criminals feared. Speaking of criminals, how was the crime rate doing anyway?

In the hour that he had been walking the streets of Manhattan, he had not noticed any significant change but this was the first day itself. Who knows what could happen in the span of a week?

He couldn't even contact Tony or Bruce or even the Seven Hulks because he had not met any of them. The perks of keeping one's identity completely secret were many but there were cons as well, as he came to realise right now.

"Good Morning, Mr.Riddle, I heard what happened to your building, are you alright?" The employees at the firm asked him well intentioned.

"Yeah, I was not there last night. Thankfully." He assured them that he was safe and entered his office. Opening the safe, he found the documents, one of his credit cars that he kept here for safety along with a bundle of cash.

Welp, time to experience luxury then, he thought to himself as he shoved the "Dummies Guide to Astral Realm" into one of the backpacks he had in the office, along with the office laptop, and then headed to the nearest Five Star Hotel.

He had less than a week to make sure that the fear of the Invisible Man was not reduced in any way, making sure that Manhattan did not turn into a crime den, especially because of all the rich people who might begin indulging themselves.

'Anyway, I will be off, Shaun. I will be back next week. The events of yesterday….I have a lot to think about, just don't call or text me even if anything happens because I will be unreachable," He told Shaun, the person who sat right in front of his office.

He did not actually know what Shaun did just like nobody knew what he did for a living but Shaun nodded and smiled brightly at the notice.

As he checked into his hotel room for the next week, he couldn't help but notice that he had no real friends.

Just acquaintances.

In his bid to maintain his secret identity, he had detached himself from the people of this world. He had not cultivated interpersonal relationships, and while he did show up at work regularly, he never really talked with anyone there.

He was just so focused on making sure that he did his "duties" with his powers while being on the other side of the city, miles away, that he forgot to have an actual life as well.

He could have had a vibrant outgoing life with all the resources he had available to him. Money, Time, Youth, Energy.

He had it all, and not much responsibility as well due to his second mind being the one that did most of the heavy lifting, and yet, all he did was stay cooped up in his apartment or his office, cook good food, train his body, and then sleep.

Ah, who was he kidding? That was a great life too!

It's just that…"I should probably look into getting friends as well," He said before he dove into the book that Master Jin'ya had written for Kamar Taj who was apparently a psionic dragon who lived in the Astral Realm.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 78 [November 2010]

Manhattan

–Bruce Banner–

His mind was still reeling from yesterday's events that he was all jittery and unable to sleep. In the meantime, to ward off his incoming panic attack, he had taken to cleaning and cooking for Betty. So far, he had been able to make everything she wanted him to make, courtesy of the grocery number given to him by the Invisible Man and online cookbooks.

Thank god for Betty's pregnancy because some of the food that he had made, he couldn't eat himself, let alone feed it to another person. He thought at first that Betty was probably only eating all that stuff so that he wouldn't feel bad but nobody would be able to eat all that food without uttering a word of complaint, even if it was someone they loved dearly.

"Oh God," He muttered to himself as he realised something, his movements freezing entirely.

He hadn't even proposed to Betty yet.

Good Lord, what a rookie mistake. He should have done that the moment he found out she was pregnant with his child, instead of floundering about.

But in his defense, he had some expectations of how his marriage would go. How it would be a small but private ceremony with some of his closest friends. It was another thing entirely, that the people he could call his closest friends at the moment were either eccentric Billionaires, God like people whose face nobody had seen, or enhanced Gamma mutates like himself, like Randall and company.

He chuckled self deprecatingly as he realised that he was thinking like someone who lived in a fair world. In a fair world, he wouldn't have to watch all his work being thrown down the drain by someone who was so much more powerful than himself that he couldn't even be touched, politically speaking.

Sure, he could turn into the Hulk and overpower anything they could throw at him, but that was not controlled. When he transformed, he let everything loose, nothing was off limits. Anything in sight could be a target and he hated himself for doing that because the moment he was jerked back into the driver's seat of his body, he could instantly memorise all the things that the Other Guy had done.

All the soldiers he killed, all the buildings and cars that were destroyed.

And now?

Now that he had finally found someone who was willing to be with him, long term, and in an environment that was undoubtedly safe, life had to go ahead and put that in jeopardy as well.

"Bruce, how are you holding up?" He almost jumped at Tony's voice but by now, he had gotten used to the Eccentric Billionaire's casual but wildly illegal invasion of his privacy.

He had somehow hacked everything, or rather, Jarvis had somehow hacked everything. Every phone, computer, even the Refrigerator was somehow hacked by Jarvis. He didn't even know why Fridges even had computers inside them, especially ones that could connect to the Internet.

"I am fine, Tony. I am just worried about our work flowing down the drain." He alluded to the manufactured Vibranium fibers along with the machine that made them.

Tony made an "Ah," Noise in understanding.

"Do not worry, My Friend. The machine is in complete lockdown, the schematics of which can only be found in my head. Any sign of intrusion, the machine will kill itself, making sure that the designs do not fall into–"

"I don't care about that!" His voice took on a guttural hue as green blazed in his vision, and he almost snarled at Tony.

"Oo-kay. Look, Bruce, we are all tense about the situation. But unless and until we can get confirmation from the Invisible Man, we cannot proceed any further, you both know that,"

His words brought clarity to his mind. Yes, that was true.

Unless and until the Invisible Man was back from wherever he went after that huge fight, they could not proceed with anything. No, it would be too risky, for both Betty as well as the Baby, The less said about the collateral damage to the city, the better.

"Any leads on him?" He asked Tony after taking in several deep breaths, hating the pitying look in Tony's eyes.

"Noo. I have been looking for him for ages, and still no luck. I don't see why it would be any different right now. Besides, the fighting back there was intense, there was no way it did not drain the big guy, despite his powers," Tony said as multiple videos of the aforementioned fight appeared on the huge screen of the Refrigerator.

"Also," He looked up at Tony as he replied, "In the end, when both of my suits were instantly torn apart by whatever came through that portal, he seemed to be trying his best but was apparently too exhausted to make any difference. And that was when the weirdness began…" Even Tony was disturbed by what he saw, and the entire world saw.

Huge orange circles, spanning the majority of the city had appeared, and the white ethereal chains that shot out of the circle had taken hold of all the three tentacle monsters that were about to go loose rampaging throughout the city. The chains only appeared for a second or two before they disappeared with the magic circle as well, leaving behind the monsters but the monsters did not move and only collapsed on the spot.

"Yeah, you think it was the work of Invisible Man?" He rolled his eyes and flipped the sandwich, as Randall inserted himself into the call as well, his face looking visibly shaken from the entire ordeal.

"Could be," Tony shrugged, not even phased by his hacked call being hijacked by someone else, "But if he could have done all of that, couldn't he have done that at the beginning?"

'Some sort of last resort, then? Something that leaves him so exhausted that he would end up falling down to his knees, like he collapsed in front of Dr.Banner here," Randall added his two cents.

His mind went back to the nightmarish scene. They were safe and protected, so they thought, what with both the Invisible Man looking out and Tony's Iron Man suits being remotely piloted by Jarvis but they were wrong.

A mist appeared in the middle of the room, throwing out a shockwave that seemingly burst apart the Iron Man suits, and then shot out a hand that was reaching for Betty.

At the first sign of trouble, he had already shielded her with his body, ready to let go of the control to let the Other Guy out because he knew that if there was one thing common between both of them, it was the fact that both of them would never do anything that could hurt Betty.

That was unneeded as the Invisible Man appeared in front of him in a flash, clad in blue, just in time to stop the hand. It had worked as well but the hand, even after bending in grotesque ways, seemed to go on.

The Invisible Man threw something at the portal but the hand had somehow caught it and crushed it.

After that, the Invisible Man crashed on the ground.

He was still too shocked to see the white chains and the portal itself closing, too busy in making sure that Betty was safe, that he completely missed how the invisible Man left the complex.

"Yeah, I think the Invisible Man is not alone. I went through the available footage and the only working camera at the end was one of the infrared ones on one of my suits."

He and Randall both looked on curiously as video footage of the attack was played and in the end, it looked as if…

"Yeah, it looks like the land itself swallowed him and it is possible if the Invisible Man used his power, but I checked the sil and it is completely undisturbed. That means that there is a high chance that a portal was involved."

"...."

"Very Impressive, Mr.Stark. No Wonder he speaks so highly of you," A voice interjected in between as he watched Tony's face cycle through a number of emotions as a fourth member was added to the conversation.

"Who is this? How are you doing this?" Tony's face morphed into one of intense concentration and he too dropped the spatula and grabbed his computer, Randall probably doing the same off screen.

"Don't bother tracking this call. It is beyond your means, just like the Invisible Man is beyond your means. I am his acquaintance, you could say. He is currently healing from the injuries of the fight. I was also the one who was responsible for disposing of the foul monsters. The Invisible Man will be back in a week's time, that is all I can say about that,"

"What the hell…" Tony muttered, probably because he could not find any link going to anyplace other than the three nodes that he, Randall, and Tony was using.

"How are you doing this, lady? There is no code for this," Randall exclaimed.

"The How is not important, Mr.Randall. What is important is the fact that Ms.Ross' pregnancy has advanced into its final stage and the birth of such a powerful being has attracted quite the attention. That was the reason for last night's fight."

His face sank as his fears were confirmed.

Millions in property damage, thousands of people homeless, all because of him.

"Do not fret, Dr.Banner, for no lives were lost. Also, I will be working round the clock until your baby is delivered, to make sure nothing of this sort happens again. In the meantime, please continue working on your approach."

"Holy hell!" Tony exclaimed just as the mysterious fourth part left the chat.

"I just received a data packet and you are not going to believe it…."


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 79 [November 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

Okay. Good news.

The city had not gone to the shitter yet although he was already seeing the signs of his absence. Traffic jams were more common, and theft was on the rise but as far as he could see, there was nothing that signified that Violent crimes were on the rise.

Then again, it had only been two days since he was cooped up in this hotel room, just waiting for his mind to heal so that he could go back and do what he loved best.

Eating Good Food and enjoying life without the guilt of not having used his powers for the greater good.

His second mind partition was perfect for that, allowing him to not overly fixate on the areas of maintaining near constant surveillance on the city so that most crimes could be stopped before they were committed or were in the process of being committed.

Alas, he had a hunch that his latest stunt in assimilating every single bit of his powers and consolidating it had removed the possibility of ever getting the second mind back.

It did make him supremely powerful though. Powerful enough that he could affect beings with high energy auras around them

See, ever since he had encountered the Sorcerers using his spatial awareness, he had noticed something around them. For lack of a better term, he called it aura.

After observing the Sorcerers, Ancient One, the Hulk, and the Seven Hulks, he could confidently say that Aura was an expression of the energy of a being, be it internal or what they could wield through outer means.

Whenever he tried to use his powers on beings with substantial auras around them, it just slid right off them. The only way to breach that aura is to simply have more power than the other party.

Now, that was not an issue when it came to most people, save for the Ancient One and the Hulk.

For the life of him, he had this mental block that he knew he would not be able to breach the Hulk's energy aura, making him fear the possibility of the Hulk rampaging in his city and him being helpless to stop said rampage.

The only way he could deescalate that situation, according to his calculations, would be to overwhelm the Hulk with sheer mass and then punt that mass, either into space, which was unlikely, or straight into the Ocean, very far away.

Now though? Now, he could feel the sheer power in his mind and could actually breach through the Hulk's aura this time, allowing him to do all sorts of grisly stuff to his insides should he ever act out.

He took a step out of the study that was also present in the suite, and looked down at the hustle and bustle of the city, and then at the skyscrapers that littered the skyline.

He wondered what the seven brothers were doing. He knew that Tony was making rounds around the city because of the nearly constant coverage of Iron Man flying through the buildings of Manhattan, being shown on TV.

Good, that meant that the work had not stopped yet. Betty's pregnancy was very important, especially after the events that transpired recently.

He could not believe his shitty luck when he saw that One Below All *Chills*, one of the supreme bad fuckers of this universe had decided to ambush him. He counted himself lucky that he could not actually get into the portal.

He could only imagine the grisly fate that would have awaited him on the other side of that portal.

Also, he could accept the complete failure of his spatial awareness if it was that person on the other side. The guy was the de-facto reality warper of the setting, it would be a piece of cake for him to somehow bypass his powers, especially since he had not fully grown to his full potential yet.

Still, the guys knew everything. His identity, not that it was hard for someone like him to locate him.

But also his interpersonal relationship with the Ancient One, along with his connection to the birth of the golding.

Seriously, Bruce's life was fucked up and he was glad that he did not have that power. All the power in the world, which the Hulk technically has, would not be enough for him to get involved with the Guy Below.

His powers were the best, in his humble and totally impartial opinion.

Speaking of his powers, he was making steady progress towards his eventual unlocking of his spirit.

See, his injury was not an injury of the soul, not in the traditional sense anyway. It was not as if his soul was damaged and he had to heal the soul itself to use his powers.

No, his soul was fine. It was the delivery of the powers that was the problem.

The pipeline between his soul which had the power, and his mind which could effectively use that power was effectively unwound, by his act of brute forcing everything.

At least, that was what the book told him. Very insightful stuff written in the book though.

Now, all he had to do was either mend the connection or create a new one. He chose to create a new one, which was less hassle and also better for future powerups if there were any.

He had made steady progress and would actually be done ahead of schedule, because it should not take more than three days to get the connection done and once the connection was slotted into place, he would be the almighty Invisible Man once again.

Ah, he missed having supreme power over millions of people and one of the largest cities on the planet.

Guess it is true, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Well, better make sure that he doesn't have absolute power then. He would have to leave the city in 2012 anyway so it was all for the better.

'Alright, time for some ~~Room Service," He giddily rubbed his hands as he was about to partake in, in his opinion, the best thing about good hotels.

Good, round the clock, Room Service.

Just as his hand took hold of the landline to place the order, he flinched as he heard a gunshot go off. His shoulders slumped as the gunshots kept going as if multiple people were firing rounds.

He tried to ignore the cries and screams of help from the people, unused to needing protection in Manhattan but alas, there was not much he could do at the moment.

Didn't mean that it still didn't hurt like a bitch though.

He stopped from putting on his headphones as he heard…cheering?

He ran to the window and his jaw hung agape at what he was seeing.

Right there, on the edge of the street, were three people standing, waving at the nearby people, standing next to a crumpled up car with multiple police cars behind them.

"Minions!" He cheered as he saw the heroes of the day.

It was the seven brothers. Well, three of the seven brothers.

He sighed in relief once he realised that they were helping protect the city in his absence. The costumes were a bit tacky especially since all law enforcement must have some idea about who they were and where they lived but it was the thought that counts, he thought to himself.

Well, seeing that everyone else was stepping up to the task, he should see to it that he is not left behind in any possible way.

"Time to grind," He muttered to himself and entered the study room, the sound treatment in the room was the only way he could actually concentrate without having to enter the Astral Realm.

Another skill that he was still in the process of mastering.

Once that was done, he wanted to see if he could still use his powers in the Astral Realm. Now, that would be quite cool. Not much would change considering his current powerset but it would be nice to take another step in the direction of the mind and soul.

He hoped to one day hone his skills to such a level that he could at least get some rudimentary telepathy. Sorcerers could train to get that ability but he, with all his vast psionic energy, could not do that on his own.

He had to learn, and for him to learn properly, he would have to remove all limiters on his powers, both from the ROBs and his own mental blocks.

So much to do, and so little time.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 80 [November 2010]

Manhattan

–Tony Stark–

"So, how goes SCIENCE! My boys?" He added after seeing the deadpan stare from Dr.Cho and Dr.Simmons, "--and ladies?"

The ladies turned around without addressing him, seriously his charisma had dropped dangerously ever since everyone in the lab came to know that the reason he was unable to come to the Manhattan Tentacle Fest was because Pepper didn't let him.

It was BLASPHEMY! It was a huge spot on his otherwise clean sheet of honor but alas, the lady sayeth and he do as the lady sayeth.

"Ah, Mr.Stark, you are on time. We are just about to process the fibres, once again," Bruce emphasised on the once again did not go unnoticed by him.

Yeah, they were redoing the entire thing from scratch. That is, they were taking the already made vibranium fibres, melting them down, and then recreating them exactly, except with just one difference. The time difference in getting all that done was getting on Bruce's already frayed nerves.

That one thing would, if successful, make all the difference in the world.

"I am not sure if the hocus pocus liquid will even work, Mr.Stark," He deadpanned at Cho who actually used those words in a professional setting. It meant that his unique brand of snark was being imprinted on her.

Nice!

"I don't know about you guys but Bruce and I were there to see it, and we know that it should be something." He said, not knowing how to explain the call hijacking that was done, with no trace whatsoever. The real kicker was the small bottle, made from nearly indestructible glass (Jarvis was still trying to break, shatter, melt, dent, or otherwise change the shape of the bottle in any meaningful way), containing a yellow and white liquid.

One would think that those two colours would mix and give rise to light yellow but now, it was as if the liquid itself was completely mixed with each other, but the liquid sometimes emitted yellow light and sometimes white light.

"Did you get anything from your reports?" Bruce asked him and his mind went back to the weird behaviour he noticed, from himself. He had immediately asked Jarvis to get him checked out, his paranoia meant that he had a full medical suite installed in his workspace down in the basement in LA.

State of the art, top of the line equipment with custom code written for everything meant that the chances of failure were pretty low. So, he had been feeling extremely peppy when he had gotten himself checked out, and apparently….

"Yup, Bruce. That lady just gave us some sort of miracle liquid. I am sure that if I drink that, I will become 20 years younger, back to my peak."

And that was true. Bruce nodded back in confirmation.

After all, Bruce was the one who received the documentation about the liquid and how to use it properly. He just received the liquid itself.

Why the segregation he did not know but after seeing the information about the liquid, he was sold on the fact that the Invisible Man was not alone and was probably working with some sort of organisation, in a bid to do something but becoming the de-facto King of Manhattan must slot into their plans somehow.

He had noted it down in his head because apparently, they could hack anything and everything, going through painfully built and rebuilt firewalls as if they were not even there, and then leaving no trace behind whatsoever of their intrusion.

God, what a nightmare from a cybersecurity perspective. That lady could probably just go into a bank's systems, or log into hundreds of banks worldwide, and get herself a small amount, like a million dollars, and then fuck right off, as the banks scrambled to find the data.

"I know that. I was there when we conducted the experiment. What I want to know is did you get anything negative from your reports? And just because it worked properly with you does not mean it will work well for Betty. She is also pregnant," Bruce began pacing around in front of him, something that he did when he was nervous, which was always nowadays.

Especially since the attack on him. He still did not know who that was, and how they got past the all encompassing presence of the Invisible Man, and how that tentacle monster was able to overwhelm the Invisible Man enough for him to actually come out and fight him, with his powers.

He had seen footage of entire buildings being dissolved into dust just because of a wrong demolition somewhere. The tentacle monsters were big but not too much on the scale of things that the Invisible Man could handle.

Then there was the blue glowlight he became and how he disappeared just as fast, after doing honest to god magic. Well, sufficiently advanced science would be just as indistinguishable from the normal person.

It galled him to admit that for the person capable of maintaining awareness over an entire city, he must really look like a caveman in comparison.

"Bruce, have some faith. We will be conducting tests before we do anything. And the Invisible Man should be back in just three more days. Everything is going to be fine," He reassured Bruce even though he himself was facing some of the heat right now.

The presence of NYPD in Manhattan had to be quadrupled after the news of the Invisible Man coming back in a week reached the seedy underbelly of New York.

The criminals who had avoided Manhattan like the plague had come back in droves. Jarvis was currently out there, piloting two remote suits and busting drug rackets, day after day.

People were scared to come out. Thankfully, the Congregation of the Invisible Man was also somewhat armed and they had taken it upon themselves to guard the city in their patron's absence as well.

So, that was good. The kitchens were working fine, nobody wanted to hit that.

Jarvis predicted that if the Invisible Man did not return on the exact specified day, crime would skyrocket on top of the rates they had right now. Right now, they are just risking it and taking advantage of a rare window that had opened for them.

If they think that the city is completely devoid of protection. Well, then, let's just say the government coming in and trying to take away Betty would be the least of their concerns.

Oh yeah, Betty. Bruce and Betty found themselves being the very first semi permanent residents of the warehouse they were in. Both were pretty shaken and having an Iron Man suit on hand, along with SHIELD security gave them have a peace of mind.

"Alright," Bruce muttered to himself and then turned around to look at the beauty of a machine making the fibres. Damn, just where in the hell did the Invisible Man get the data for that machine, he would love to know.

Only if they had the means and the Vibranium to actually study, experiment, and waste the metal, could they make such a sophisticated piece of machinery. Nobody in the world wanted to waste what little Vibranium one could find on hand. Hell, last he heard, he had the second biggest stockpile in all of America, outside of the US government.

"Oh, there we go," He said as the machine began glowing yellow. The machine was supposed to be completely isolated from the rest of the world, only opening when the fibres were done but the solution that lady had given him did not conform to the standards of the world, so what did he know?

"What?"

Oh right, he hadn't told anyone else of the why of today's process.

"Oh, Dr.Cho, this is a special process developed for some truly phenomenal effects. Please, once it is done, you will be the first to test it." He told the bewildered doctor and then went back to watching the machine do its work.

The light seemed to brighten and brighten, until most of his vision was just a big splotch of light, even after wearing sunglasses.

"GLORIOUS!" He didn't know what overtook him at the moment but he ended up shouting that out as he flipped the switch on the sunglasses, turning them into goggles that covered his entire face from the nose up.

And yet, despite the intense heat that should be followed by such bright lights, all he could feel was….

"Oh, this is so gooood," He almost moaned out in relief as the light hit every part of his body, and reduced pains that he didn't even know existed. It was as if the light was healing everything about him.

Unfortunately, the light soon reached its crescendo and began dimming down. The glow was then concentrated on a single location that was moving.

The fibres, he realised. They were done.

With the entire rest of the team still in shock, and a shocking number of the scientists now sporting guns in their hands, he walked forward, Bruce right behind him, as they unloaded the machine, and had to immediately stop looking as the fibres were bright.

Immensely so.

After a moment, the glow died down and as he looked at the fibres, the difference was night and day.

It was completely yellow and white, interchanging colours at the drop of a hat.

"Son of a bitch, it worked," His neck snapped to the side as he heard Bruce swear. Bruce never swore!

"Yeah, it did." He giddily said as he entered the suit that had silently reached behind him. Why would he need tongs or industrial safety equipment when he had the safest suit of them all?

He gingerly took the fibres and dipped them into a specialised container made, just for this. Once the container was nicely sealed, he looked to the warehouse and saw that everyone was looking at him, probably for some sort of explanation.

"What are you looking at? Get back to work!"

Ah, he always wanted to say that.

And look at them, they scrambled back to work even. Did they not know that they were employed by Fury and not him?

"Anywho, let's begin the testing, Dr.Cho. I assume you have suitable mutilated animals on hand to test their healing effects?" He asked Cho who looked very bewildered and confused about the whole thing.

Ah, he forgot she was not from around here.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 81 [November 2010]

Experimental Warehouse, Manhattan

–Tony Stark–

"Right, I forgot you don't know what is happening here," Tony told Dr. Cho who looked highly interested in the totally exotic looking fibers he had in a container on hand. The container was expressly transparent as well, for this exact purpose.

Even now, as he held the container in his hand, the suit having returned to its patrolling duty around the warehouse, he could feel the effects of the fiber on his body. Whatever liquid that woman had given him, it had miraculous properties.

He couldn't believe that they had been somewhat skeptical of the woman's tall claim.

"This, Dr.Cho, is the vibranium that we are going to use for the operation of Dr.Betty. Also–" He scrambled around, and took out a piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it over to Dr.Cho,"--this is the way we are going to do it. The insertion points and the optimal depth, along with how the fibers should be connected to each other are perfectly mentioned in that,"

She took one look at the paper and her face instantly fell for some reason, "Dr.Stark, this is completely baseless. For one, this fiber position will mean that we might puncture the umbilical cord. Also, we agreed that we have to calibrate everything while we are taking real time scans from the womb so that we don't risk anything happening to the natural support system of the baby."

He sighed internally. He knew how it looked but the proof of that woman's words was literally in his hands, sending soothing energy all over his body.

God, this was an addictive feeling. He might just ask the Invisible Man to sell him some, if he had some more.

"I realise your concerns, Dr.Cho but please, just….Look, you'll know once you test this," He reluctantly handed over the plastic container holding the fibers.

"Dr.Stark, my ethics will not allow me—Ooh," Her tirade was stopped mid way as she held on to the container.

"Yes, Dr.Cho. That is correct. The fibers are now literally life giving. I want you to test it on every single animal you have on hand. Please be careful and use them on smaller animals only, because this is all we have and I don't know how to get into contact with the original supplier," He said, making sure that his hands were in motion and he was concentrating on something else otherwise he would have just snatched the container right out of her hands and done the testing himself.

God, that stuff was strong and addictive. Especially so for Tony because his body had already been going through the ringer for a couple of years. With the suit, the palladium poisoning, all the alcohol, some drugs, and even the caffeine he consumes on a daily basis. Not to mention the processed food that he inhales every day.

It was inevitable that he would find something that literally begins healing someone, addictive.

"Tony, are we sure about this?" Bruce asked him, still worried about the consequences of using technology that was clearly so far ahead of the rest of the world, and even him, that it might as well be magic.

"Well, Bruce, even if we can't believe her words, we should be able to confirm them, right? After all, that is our job as scientists," He couldn't believe he had to tell this to Bruce of all people but he could understand. Becoming a father, and especially the father to a very special case baby like the one they were about to have.

The baby had a very thick energy layer around it, so most modern machines wouldn't even be able to take a scan of Betty. Fortunately, he was able to make something that could give them the rough positioning of the baby but even that was enough to create so detailed of a map that had arrived in his email, most probably from that woman herself.

The email was odd too. "Dontlookintothis@magic.com"

Probably some practical joke that he couldn't get. Who knew what went through the minds of people who could make portals, create literal panaceas, and simultaneously stretch their minds across an entire city?

It was, quite literally, out of his comprehension which was still limited to the normality that he was so used to.

The plan was so detailed, it was as if the woman had seen the future and told them the exact details of the baby at the exact time and place, even with the minor changes that might happen because of the position of the mother.

"..Yeah, yeah, you are right. I'll go help Helen with the tests," Bruce all but ran after Helen into the bio lab, specifically made to hold any biological material coming from the baby or the mother.

Eww.

"Alright, My work here is done, for the moment. Jarvis?"

'Yes, sir," A suit arrived behind him and opened up. He took a step in and grinned as the familiar pain of the back plate latching onto his waist and spine for safeguarding, did not elicit the same level of discomfort as before.

So, it was true then. The health benefits of that fibre were not temporary. Well well well, it would look like the Invisible Man was hiding so many more secrets than he had thought before.

It would seem that he would have to track the man down, now that he knew that it was most definitely a human behind all that power, courtesy of the tentacled monster attack on the city.

If he had any more things like that miracle liquid lying around, well, then it would be in his best interest to track him down, not to like soup himself up but because that stuff was really revolutionary, and in the wrong hands, really dangerous.

Now, he wasn't saying that his hands were the right ones but he was really curious. Just so, so curious.

"Hey! No shoplifting!" He slowly floated in front of a woman who was running from a store manager, with goodies in her hands with his index finger pointed at her.

She promptly dropped all the stuff and then raised her hands up. The store manager finally caught up, thanked him, collected the items, and then ran back once again, not even waiting for the police to come.

So, that is how things worked around here. They just trusted the always watching man to just solve the problem for them. To hold the system accountable and make sure that the perpetrators did not get off scot free.

In his early days, that would translate to him breaking the thugs' body in such a way that it would keep them alive and nothing more, and everyone knew the back breaking burden of using any healthcare system in all of America.

Nowadays though? No thug or even organised crime across America did not have any designs on the wealthiest, most influential, with the least threat of law enforcement, a city in the wealthiest country on the planet.

All because of the actions of a single person. He had probably retired many people just based on their rental portfolios alone, and had also driven out corporations from buying out all the single family, or double units so that they could charge a bomb for any rental.

Even Stark Industries was unable to buy any apartments en masse for its; employees. They had to resort to dealing with an owners association who then allowed them to negotiate leases for entire buildings so that the employees that would eventually go on to work in Stark Tower, would have someplace to stay.

God, the real estate in this place was beyond expensive but it was also worth it. Clean water, air, and food, along with guaranteed zero crime and express problem solving by none other than the de facto strongest entity on the planet.

Or so they had thought. As it turns out, there is someone out there, it could be the tentacle monsters, or whoever had sent them through the portal, that could actually rival or even defeat the Invisible Man.

That single act of absence meant that the rats had started coming out of their hidey hole. In conjunction with the NYPD, he had already recovered and burned off tons of hard drugs, let alone Weed and the other soft drugs.

Things were rapidly devolving and he did not know if the city could take another two days before a major incident happened.

For one, the Mayor, who had taken some harsh decisions regarding many things, affecting multiple communities, based on the expected backing of the Invisible Man, was currently scrambling for protection.

That was a person of interest for Jarvis. The NYPD was scrambling because crime across all areas was increasing. Not skyrocketing yet, but increasing nonetheless.

Shoplifting had increased dramatically, mainly because all the shops in Manhattan had simply not invested in their security. Years of safety meant that they had probably already forgotten the basic safety measures that everyone in the rest of the parts of the world practiced, like security staff for high end stores.

He shook his head as he had to intervene in yet another cop chase that was disturbing the overall traffic environment of the city. The traffic was yet another thing that he had never thought of the Invisible Man interfering in.

Now it made sense why the traffic in the city was completely manageable despite every millionaire in town owning some sort of luxury vehicle because the Invisible Man had built underground multi level car parking near every major destination, with the permission of the city.

The proceeds, ofcourse, went to charity.

So far, he has deployed 7 of his suits to this city alone. That was more effective than a small army in terms of the sheer firepower he had on hand but the suits were built with modern warfare in mind, not urban law enforcement. Otherwise, he would have built them to have much friendlier faces, instead of faceless masks that were badass but could be scary to the children.



If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 82 [November 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

Ah, that was the stuff, he thought to himself as he had a 5 star in house spa treatment at the hotel he was staying. It was really nice to be able to use his functionally unlimited cash reserves to finally do something nice to his body.

Now, he was sure that he was not getting the full treatment because his body was simply not built the normal way, which would be evident if one took a look at the effort the masseuse was having to expend just so that he could feel something.

Also, his control over his body meant that he could soften the tissue or muscle at the point where she was working, and even then, it must be an uphill battle for her.

How did he end up in a spa instead of his hotel room, where he should be cooped up, working to remove the blockage on his powers?

Ah, yes.

Boredom.

Yes, Boredom was the simple one word answer to the question as to why he was not prioritising the work that could end up restoring order to a city housing millions. Yeah, he felt guilty and terrible but the thing was, he was only human, even if a vastly overpowered one.

That meant that his mind was human as well, at least he liked to think so. So, it wandered off, unheeding of its own priorities. It led to stagnation, where he couldn't think of the book and its solutions and how to better use the psionic energy within oneself, resonate it with the Astral Realm, and then use that amalgamation to soothe one's spirit. In his case, heal his soul from the backlash of his bonded weapon being destroyed.

Good lord, how stupid was he to just think that he could tangle with the One Below All *chills* There it was, once again, even thinking that name would bring him chills.

There was probably a reason why he was so strong and he had an active interest in Bruce and his child. For now, he was assured that the Ancient One was protecting the city from undue interferences like that and Tony was having a field day in the city, already having deployed at least 7 Iron Men suits to help fend off the growing wave of crime.

Yeah, he had noticed the crime.

From the day that Randall and Co had to stop that car chase to today, it had been 4 days. There was only a single day left until the deadline given to the city by the Ancient One ends.

And even now, he was not sure if his solution would work or not. See, the Astral Realm was not like a tangible place that one could mark and then go to the same address.

It doesn't work like tha…. "Ah, yes, that's the spot," He almost moaned as the masseuse finally started working on his neck muscles, which he had to consciously soften to make it possible for her to work on.

So, where was he?

Ah, yes. The Bullshit that was the Astral Realm.

Everyone had an imprint in the Astral Realm. Even non sentient animals, they too had much smaller imprints in the Astral Realm. The way to heal the spirit was to look for that imprint, which was very hard, considering that the Astral Realm was shared by the entire universe, and as he said earlier, there was no definitive address to the Astral Realm.

Then use the psionic energy that every being had in minute quantities, resonate with your own imprint which was now filled with energy from the Astral Realm, and then use the mixture of energies from both sides to bring both the imprints to equilibrium, i.e., a healed state.

To do that, however, he had to locate his imprint, which he did. Quite easily, in fact, because his imprint was just that much brighter than the rest of them. He also found out that there were other Astral Dragons in the Astral Realm, just like Master Jin'Ya but far more bloodthirsty or rather, soulthirsty, because he had to fend off three dragons like that.

And it was not fun, because while he could use his psionic powers in the Astral Realm, and even manipulate the surrounding energies to augment his soul, the dragons were that much more used to the energy, trying to eat him up.

He won, obviously but that whole encounter left him more exhausted than he would care to admit.

Now, he had found his imprint in the Astral Realm, learned all there was to learn about this healing method, had gotten into a fight with Astral Dragons, and more importantly, won.

Now, all there was left to do was complete the resonation process, and then the Astral Realm would do the needful. There was no complicated soul surgery procedure or anything. The Astral Realm will precisely heal as much as can be healed.

The process was almost done, ahead of schedule. He was overjoyed and was about to dive into it when he realised that he had done nothing but read, work, and eat all the past 5 days, and he was exhausted a bit, mentally speaking.

Being of the opinion that anything related to the soul should be handled with extreme caution, he decided to unwind for the rest of the day, and then work on the resonation in the morning, after a good night's sleep.

Ofcourse, for him, a good night's sleep is barely more than two hours so he will be up in the very early morning and hopefully, healed up by noon, so he could make his huge debut.

"Alright, Trisha. Thanks, but I think, for now, this is enough," He said out loud and Trisha let out a quiet sigh of relief that she didn't think he could hear.

"Okay, Axle,"

The sound of the door closing had him hopping into the shower and changing into a fresh pair of clothing, delivered by the hotel itself. Seriously, five star hotel concierge, combined with an Amex Card, meant that he could have anything he wanted, hand delivered to him at his room.

That was how he got any clothing for the past week. Everything he had, was burned down in the fire.

Thank goodness that he kept all his LEGO collectibles in a fire resistant, flood resistant storage container in the center of the city. It cost a pretty penny but hey, NOTHING is too expensive to safeguard his Death Star.

"Your finest wine and anything the chef recommends for the day. Surprise me," He said to the waiter when he was about to give him the menu. The waiter nodded mutely and left the table.

He looked around and really looked, not just use his eyes to fill in the colour with the data he was getting from his powers. He saw various people, mostly very rich ones with their families, girlfriends, and second girlfriends, having fun in the hotel.

Well, he knew this was coming when he created a safe haven for everyone. Rich people, indulging in their vices, with girls half their age, well, that was to be expected.

He couldn't really stop them from making bad choices. The girls were adults, that much he could confirm and that was that.

Also, he had a standing no crime policy anywhere in the city, it didn't matter if you were a billionaire or a hundred billionaire, or a humble taxi driver.

So, that probably helps the girl in making sure that least they won't be killed and the matter hushed by the obviously rich and powerful.

Shaking his head to get rid of what old unethical men do with their money and power, he instead focused on the steak that had arrived in front of him.

It looked delicious.

"Thank you,"

"Enjoy your meal,"

Pleasant interaction aside, the wine was great. And the steak was immaculate.

Unfortunately, even after drinking an entire bottle, something that drew strange gazes from the waiter assigned to him, he could feel no buzz.

So, that was 10k down the drain.

He came back to his room and sighed as he saw the book, exactly where he kept it, its deceptively small size hiding the gargantuan number of pages inside the book and the even more exhaustive amount of information inside.

Well, he couldn't exactly fault Master Jin'Ya for being thorough with his information. This was a book about the soul and anything missing can, and will, result in shredded souls.

"Ah, this sucks!" He grumbled as he changed into his pyjamas, manually, and entered the sheets, the heavy comfy sheets.

"Nighty night!" he mumbled to himself as sleep finally claimed him.

_____xx_____

His eyes snapped open as he looked out of the window. It was still dark. His eyes went to the bedside clock.

4:00 AM. Good.

He got up and got ready which took a lot more time than it would have taken if he still had his powers.

"Yeah, I need a cab. Yeah? To 177A Bleecker Street. Great." He called the room service and booked himself a premium cab.

Grabbed everything that he felt he needed, and went down to the receptionist.

"Mr.Riddle, thank you for staying with us. We hope to host you soon in the future."

"Yeah, me too." The pretty receptionist smiled at him as she gestured him towards a person waiting at the entrance.

The person was the driver who drove a black limousine, probably from the hotel itself. He saw a nice charge being added to the bill for chaperone services, but that was fine.

He was loaded anyway.

"Mr.Riddle, I have been instructed by the Ancient One to provide you access to the ritual room. Please, this way." Master Drumm said as he was ushered to the ritual room, a room strengthened by the best wards so that any outside influence doesn't exceed the ritual room's premises.

Perfect for his purpose today.

"Alright, let's begin," He muttered as he began the ritual that would change everything he knew about the limitations imposed on him.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 83 [November 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

"So, where did it go? Ah-hah! There it is, the restructuring of a standard ritual room to better manifest one's own psionic form without leaking into the Astral Realm…" He muttered to himself as he held the book in one hand, and followed Master Jin'Ya's explicit instructions with the other.

Because while the ritual room was standardised for a number of reasons, it did not offer the best efficiency when it came to dealing with psionic energy as well as the Astral Realm. So, he was altering the symbols etched on the ground with a tool that was present inside the ritual rooms as a standard etching tool, mystical one with orange and red accents as well.

Really went well with the theme of the room.

"Alright, here goes nothing," He safely stored the book inside one of the book vaults in the ritual room, sat down in the center of the ritual circle, took out a bottle pre filled with his blood this morning, taken out with a syringe of course. He was not crass so as to cut his finger open and then draw blood from it.

Not only was it unsanitary and did not guarantee an accurate drop location, in his case, it would not be enough because his healing factor would close the wound so fast that there would barely be a few drops of the material.

So, he had to use extra pressure on his skin, on top of using the strongest syringe he could find, to actually penetrate his skin, and then take out his blood. Which was very precious, by the way, because the blood of a being could be used for a number of nefarious rituals.

Come to think of it, rituals as a field itself leaned heavily to the dark than the light. And in his case, it was willingly given blood, which could be used to even more devastating effects.

Thankfully, almost all of Blood Rituals had been purged from every single library on the planet, save for some in Romania along with whatever personal collection Dracula has. That limited the usage of such vile rituals but as you can see him mutter gibberish that he knew not the meaning of, some Blood Rituals still remain within Kamar Taj's library.

He closed his eyes as his body seemed to continue muttering the gibberish he learned inside Master Jin'Ya's book, as he found himself floating in a space that was oddly familiar to him.

He could feel that his powers were still not back so the ritual was not entirely done. Unfortunately, the process of unlocking one's spirit blockade was unique to every single person out there, so there was not much the book would help him beyond this point.

He was currently barefoot, wearing a simple T-shirt and Jeans, along with a cap, overlooking a vast expanse of grasslands that led to a huge mountain. The sun was overhead and yet, there was a cool breeze with the sunlight being gentle on his skin.

It was nice. It was nice to know that he had such a pleasant soul scape.

With nothing else to do, but reach the mountains, since that was the defining character of this picture, he started walking towards the giant range of mountains.

In the meantime, he could feel his body slowly heat up, not from the sun, he would know that because he was feeling the same under the shade of a nearby tree as well.

No, it was as if some sort of pressure was being built up.

"No!" His eyes widened as he booked it towards the mountain with all his might. The pressure was building up but it was not in his body.

No, he was feeling it in his current avatar but he was a soul projection. The psionic pressure was building up right in his soul and if he did not find a way to unshackle his soul before the pressure reached its peak, well, then, bye bye Axle Riddle.

Mid way through his sprint, he found himself jumping higher and higher, the land going farther away in every jump. It was kinda scary especially since he did not have his powers to fall back upon but time was of the essence and he could be a pussy later on.

Taking wide jumps, like the Hulk, he soon found himself at the base of the mountain, after crossing over a river of crocs that looked oddly translucent, with the same colour of energy as his empowered self when he combined his second mind with his primary one, granting himself a phenomenal boost in power.

The pressure was quite literally visible now in his avatar as he looked at the huge blue door etched on the side of the mountain, its silhouette visible from afar. Looking at the shiny and very slippery sides of the mountains, he abandoned any plans of climbing it and decided to try his luck jumping straight at it.

"1…2…3…Jump!" He backed up a bit and after taking a bit of a run, jumped with all his might. He did not know what he was expecting but face planting on the side of the mountain was not it.

He tried to gain leverage of any sort but the mountain was bare, as if someone had drawn it without taking into account any natural crevices or depression that mountains get when they are formed, naturally, that is.

"Alright…Once more," He tried to psych himself up but that was a bit hard with the ever increasing pressure in his body. It was bearable now but he did not know how long he could hold on.

With each jump, he could feel himself getting closer but with each jump, the pressure also increased. He did not know what to do when he saw his hand carved through the ground as if it was butter, because of the blue hue that now surrounded his body, courtesy of the ever increasing Psionic pressure in his body.

He looked back at the trees and had a brilliant, possibly stupid and suicidal, but brilliant idea.

His hands worked like an axe, as he mowed down trees after trees. If he could not reach the door on his own, he would build something that would take him there.

Midway through skinning one of the trees, he froze and slapped his head as he forgot to try one thing. If his aura, as he liked to call it now since he could not direct the flow of that energy anywhere, could carve through stone, sand, and trees, maybe it could do the same for the mountain over there.

He jumped as far as he could, reaching the mountain in an instant, and then jabbed his fingers at the mountain, hoping to at least create some leverage so that he could slow down his descent.

Nope, no such thing. Instead, he felt his fingers hitting blocks of steel that refused to so much as ripple, as he plummeted down to the ground.

Thankfully, this was his soul world and as such, no physical damage occurred to him but the blow to his ego was another thing.

Seeing that his conjecture was wrong and there was no way the universe would let him take the easy way out, he set out to build a seesaw. Well, originally, he wanted to build a trebuchet so that he could take practice runs, really aim it right at the door, and then do the deed but as it turned out, in the real world, there is only time for fast and barely working, not perfectly working and slow.

So, he had to mimic the deadlines that corporate overlords set for their employees and stand on one side of the tree, holding a huge rock he took out from the river, after batting away the translucent crocs ofcourse. They were no match for his mighty aura, as he dug out the rock and flopped to the side of the river like a dying fish, the pressure now almost too much to bear.

"Alright…let's fucking GOOOOO!" His voice echoed in the distance as he threw the rock on the other end of the seesaw and found himself being flung at the mountain at breakneck speeds. Now, he had done some rough aiming of the seesaw but there were bound to be some irregularities with such crude applications.

"AAA—Ack!" As such, he found his glorious jump over the grasslands, culminating in face planting on the side of the mountain, once again. The shiny surface made sure that he slid right down.

Thankfully, he had the presence of mind to hold onto the handle of the door as he slid on top of the door. Atleast his jump led him above the door.

He pulled himself up using one hand, balancing his entire body weight on a single hand, holding onto the door handle which was decidedly human sized while the door itself looked as if it was made for Surtur.

How the hell was he supposed to open something like that without his powers?

"Hmm…..Oh! What the hell." He just shoved his blue auar-ed hand into the lock of the door, his hand easily swallowed by the giant lock on the door.

Thankfully, his gambit worked as he could feel the pressure in his body being sucked by the door, the door itself lighting up in a blazing blue as he felt his hand get sucked in.

He panicked a bit as he found his body being pulled in an inky black substance but there was nothing he could do as he found himself swallowed whole.

______xx____

Information.

Information all around.

His eyes snapped open, if they could even be called "eyes" at the moment as he took in the mountain of information available to him at all times.

His mind had expanded to such a level that he could process trillions of data nodes simultaneously, all the while pondering upon his life upto this moment and how he would achieve what he wanted to achieve in the near future.

He couldn't really be called Axle Riddle at this point. No, that was just someone who was playing around with the powers that were given to them.

Not much of a plan, somewhat of a wuss because he did not even fight against the restrictions that were imposed on him.

Incompetent enough that he believed that he could not master Telepathy, even after having so much psionic energy at one's disposal. A baby could have learned Telepathy if given the right instructions.

Instructions that were within reach, if only the fool asked.

But NO! The restrictions are absolute. The ROB's word was absolute.

He was only a partial avatar of the Sage Force.

Bullshit!

There was no such thing as a partial avatar.

There was the Sage Force and all it encompassed.

And he, somehow, had found himself in one of the most dangerous multiverses, with a broken down power. But no, the power itself was not broken, it was just muted…subdued by an outside force.

He sneered as his mind immediately ran a million simulations and found a multitude of answers as to why the ROB would do that.

Entertainment being the most likely answer.

Unfortunately, his current enlightened state was only sustained because of the blockade that allowed the Sage Force to force open the gate for a few moments.

Once the blockade was cleared and his powers returned, he would return to being the dumb old Axle Riddle.

No, this was a travesty.

The sheer amount of power he could wield now, even for a few moments, dwarfed whatever he had thought of the Sage Force before.

"I understand now. Thank you," He bowed to the unseen all encompassing force that had facilitated this exchange.

"Now, how to fuck over the bastard that put me in this position?" He asked himself the question and with the Sage Force fully accessible to him, he received hundreds of answers instantly.

His eyes lit up as his mind read, comprehended, and chose the option most fun for him.

Because while he might be an intellectual in this state, his base state was still Axle Riddle and that asshole loved to mess with people, especially those in positions of authority.

Downloading the plans into Axle Riddle's subconscious because his puny mind would not be able to comprehend the vastness of the plan, he cut the connection and sadly…returned to being Axle Riddle.

____xx____

GASP!

He awoke with a gasp, his throat dry, his heart pounding as he looked around him. He sighed in relief once he felt his powers return, much stronger than before.

No, not stronger, just easier to use somehow. He did not need the second mind now to process the sheer amount of background information.

Also, his TK felt much more powerful than before. He had to be careful, uncalibrated TK would just tear apart people.

He floated over a pitcher of water tailor made for such situations and gulped down all the water he could.

His mind whirled with new possibilities as he took hold of the city.

Drug dealers found themselves flung outside the city, one or two major limbs broken depending on the drugs they were peddling.

Subways found themselves clean again.

Thieves, shoplifters were brought gently to the nearest NYPD officer.

All guns, save for law enforcement, were confiscated and crushed to form a large ball, which was then deposited in front of the nearest precinct.

Seven active rapists had their balls crushed.

Six murderers had their offending limbs crushed.

All in all, quite a nice way to declare his return.

Then why did he still have that emptiness in his heart when he did all that? As if he was supposed to do something else, something greater?

---

If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

A/N - Whoa Boy! This was a doozy and a half to write. Also, probably the longest because my fingers just refused to stop.

Anywho, enjoy!

Spooky ENLIGHTENED Axle Riddle!

More messing to come!

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 84 [November 2010]

Manhattan

–Random Beautiful Agent–

Well, this was scary. And also odd.

Oddly scary, actually.

She was currently clad in the skintight jumpsuit given to her as standard SHIELD gear, with enough pockets to fit in the entire contents of her purse, which was a true achievement but it also meant that it was supremely…displaying.

Now, don't get her wrong. She loves the attention her body gets but only when she demands it. Consent was a big thing.

Unfortunately, the suit was also one of the few things capable of protecting her from any fucker who had the guts to take on a SHIELD agent. Now granted, she was not the highest ranked SHIELD agent around but she would like to think that her training, however brief it might have been in the SHIELD academy, was not in vain.

She tried to get some sparring partners but due to her near permanent posting up here in Manhattan, she did not get any interaction with the rest of the SHIELD agents. Oh, she knew that it was just an excuse.

In the beginning, the higher ups might have tried it as a honey pot exercise but seeing that it had failed utterly, mostly because of her own inability to stop herself from fainting at the slightest shock, but also because the Invisible Man had shown no interest in her.

Also, what were they thinking? He was THE Invisible Man. The man could have any girl he wanted in the entire country, or even the world, so long as he demanded it.

She knew her friends would jump at the chance, even the Mormon ones, just so they could have the clout of sleeping with a godlike entity.

Later on, once it was established that the Invisible Man had no interest in her, she was only given to stay here because they had all thought she was compromised. So, this was just a long experiment to see what would happen to an individual who spent a long time under the Invisible Man.

That is why the SHIELD HQ had to be moved, because of the man's influence potentially tampering with SHIELD agents.

That was weeks ago, when SHIELD wasn't even sure if the man was even a human or not.

Now? After the Tentacle fiasco, they knew for certain that it was a man. And quite a powerful one at that too.

She shivered as she could still feel the energy from that night, the overwhelming white and orange still made her tingle.

While the official wait time for him to recover from his injuries was given to be a week, all SHIELD agents along with most of the law enforcement of the city were warned beforehand to be ready, in case he doesn't show up.

Crime was already up drastically but still manageable, atleast the ones that could be traced. But if the criminals came to know that the Invisible Man was not coming, it would be pandemonium.

For one, most of the rich people lived in the city. They also loved the fact that they could roam out and about at three in the morning with no security in sight and with all the freedom they could want for themselves, without ever having to worry about their kids and families.

And now that same safety was taken away from them, even temporary as it was.

As a result, private security companies were having their own windfall as thousands of security personnel flooded the city to create a security detail for all the VVIPs of the city.

The crime hit the stores the hardest. Now, the stores themselves were more than secure financially, perks of being in Manhattan before the Invisible Man began his operations, but their security was not upto the mark.

It would have been an issue before but with the greatest surveillance system in the world guarding them at all times, people had grown complacent with their security, allowing even a single slightly armed thief to rob mid sized stores.

With the NYPD already stretched thin, it was only a matter of time before SHIELD had to move in to secure the high priority assets in the city.

She was currently on her break, as she was allowed to patrol the city along with her seniors from the academy under the garb of US Homeland Security, helping bolster the safety net of the NYPD.

The members of NYPD themselves were working very hard, to the bones actually, because the higher ups of NYPD were pressuring everyone to prove that NYPD was the actual protector of the city.

Oh yeah, she was sure that it had nothing to do with the consecutively falling budgets for the NYPD, for every quarter since the Invisible Man came on the scene.

"*Sigh* That's the stuff," She sighed in relief as the hot cocoa hit her, warding off the sleep that was threatening to creep in after a grueling 4 hour patrol.

What? It might not sound much but for the past year or so, all she had done was some light cardio in the safehouse, and ordered all the food she wanted from any restaurant, all paid for by SHIELD, ofcourse.

Her next patrol was scheduled in less than 2 hours.

Well…"Time for a nap then," She muttered to herself as she shed off the uncomfortable uniform, on top of which she had to wear the Homeland Security suit as well, and then sunk into the comfy bed that she had ordered for herself from the SHIELD canteen.

It was ridiculously cheap in that store and she had not wasted a single moment as she splurged her entire monthly salary on a mattress.

Well, she had not used a penny from her salary for years now, courtesy of SHIELD paying for everything.

Her eyes grew heavy as she thought of the city and what would happen to it if the Invisible Man didn't come back.

Sure, the rich and the powerful would be more than alright. It was the little people she was worried about, like herself.

She was not super spy agent material. She was just some lateral hire, who managed to be both beautiful enough for the honey pot trap, and also athletic and morally flexible enough that she could pass the rigorous training course of the SHIELD academy.

____xx___

When she woke up, it was already dark.

"Shit!" She swore as she sat upright and then immediately regretted it. Damn her iron deficiency.

She looked outside and saw that it was completely dark, took her phone and sighed as she realised that it had been 2 hours since the patrolling had already begun.

Why did she have to oversleep at such a critical moment?

Her job was in jeopardy, if anybody had not been clued in on that yet.

If the Invisible Man did not return on schedule, she gave herself a week, maybe two before she was transferred somewhere else but she knew she would not survive that.

So, the moment SHIELD tried to transfer her, she would quit. Now, she had substantial savings but that did not mean that she was not afraid to lose her current job.

She unlocked her phone as a barrage of notifications hit her phone all at once, as soon as it was removed from aeroplane mode.

Her eyes widened as she saw a series of Instagram posts about the events that transpired while she was asleep.

"YES!" She cheered as she threw herself back into the mattress as she began reading through the series of articles that had since been published.

The Invisible Man was back!

She wouldn't have to move now!

She squealed into the pillow as she felt an invisible load finally lift from her shoulders.

"Oh crap." She muttered as she saw her immediate supervisor calling her.

She was so busted…..


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 85 [November 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

Alright, it was the last week of November.

Things had almost totally spiraled out of control but somehow, this wild train had been brought back on track. He had never expected his powers to fail him that day, even against a foe like the Guy Below.

In his defense, he had simply never expected the guy to be able to influence the material plane so drastically, but that was just his folly as he expected one of the strongest beings of the Marvel Multiverse to not have a way past all the defenses that must have been created in his name.

After his announcement of return yesterday, in the form of a crime free Manhattan, the general public had gathered for a short speech by the Mayor who had been over the moon that the Invisible Man was back, on time as well. People gathered for the short speech that the Mayor gave about fighting crime, rising incomes as well as prosperity for all of New York, as the economic benefits of Manhattan continued to spread to other boroughs as well.

Well, that was pretty much the truth. Manhattan these days was filled with millionaires, multi millionaires, hundred millionaires and billionaires.

These people were not going to work in shops, or as cooks, or as waiters, or do any work really. The millionaires were mostly because of their property rates shooting up, but many of them had also emigrated to Manhattan because it was the number one safest country in the world, especially with the generous Immigration policy that the country had.

New York's tax coffers had never been full. But that came at a cost, as he had his congregation hackers (yes, they also hackers between them) make sure that every penny was accounted for, as he did the same for the account books of the soup kitchens. Then, whenever he found an anomaly, he went to the Mayor, who immediately sweated buckets and fired someone.

This back and forth went on for a while before the Mayor himself stopped any such attempts happening on his side, at which point, he gave the Mayor a body tune up, cleared his blockages, reoriented his muscles and bones, cleaned out the tar from his lungs, the standard clean up.

That, along with the stick in the form of an uber powerful person chasing after you, had been enough to ensure the Mayor's cooperation in making sure that the vision he had for the city was fulfilled.

It was ridiculously easy to lay down infrastructure for the city, for him anyway but he had never really expected to take the jobs from the blue collar workers. No, nowadays, he just made their jobs easier.

Safety was paramount and he had seen some of the workers joke around on skyscraper cranes because they knew that the Invisible Man would catch them, even if they fell down from such fatal heights. He made sure to only grab them at the last moment so that they knew the value of precautionary safety.

The same abilities also made sure that Manhattan also had a vibrant Warehousing zoning section. It was just a large empty space with large warehouses with nothing in it. He had made sure that all the warehouses were connected, the space was clean, and companies came pouring in to store their stuff so that their rich clientele in MAnhattan could get everything they wanted as soon as possible.

That was also where the Warehouse housing the experiment was.

Betty and Bruce also used to live here, until the day before when he just licked them up and deposited them back into their, now cleaned, apartment, along with some Chinese takeout.

The couple had been very thankful, and it looked as if an invisible load from Bruce's shoulders was lifted as both of them snuggled to sleep.

Ofcourse, this was only done after he had received confirmation from the Ancient One about the seal's total closure and the loophole that the Guy Below used to enter the material world was closed up, courtesy of the Vishanti.

Also, according to the Vishanti, the Guy Below was unlikely to try again so soon but they would have to maintain a certain level of vigil even after Baby Banner was born.

Also, regarding the experiment, he could see that they had some sort of breakthrough because he was getting confused about the testing that Dr.Cho was doing.

So, he made his trusty paper avatar and had it manifest right outside the Warehouse doors. THe much more reinforced warehouse doors. Hmm, they must have improved security in the week he was gone.

But to be honest, it might as well not exist in the face of someone as powerful as the Guy Below but it was okay if the extra perceived security made them feel safer inside the office.

The doors beeped and then opened up, revealing three layers of doors, all reinforced, as Tony stood in front of his paper avatar with a smirk on his face.

"What are you laughing at? You couldn't even join the fight because your girlfriend didn't let you come." He laughed his ass off as he saw the smirk being wiped off Tony's face in real time.

"Alright, someone is grumpy. Mood swings?" Tony mumbled as they entered the warehouse, the sounds of the heavy door closing up behind him as Jarvis was probably coordinating everything in the warehouse.

"I am surprised SHIELD allowed you and Jarvis anywhere near their classified and probably stolen technology." That drew odd looks from the nearby SHIELD agents as well as scientists but that was true and he didn't really care about their opinions all that much.

"Yeah, they were reluctant at first but then, in a surprising turn of events, Bruce actually put his foot down and made them see that it was beneficial to listen to someone who could curp stomp buildings." Tony's face was so happy at the mention of the aforementioned curb stomping that Bruce did on SHIELD's security protocols.

Fury must have been pissed.

Ah, Chaos, he could just smell it.

"That's great. I was just wondering what the hell Dr.Cho is doing. I don't remember testing anything on animals being scheduled." He wondered out loud and if it was even possible, Tony's smirk widened even further.

"Ah! Let me show you." Tony said mysteriously before leading his paper avatar to the lab where Dr.Cho was currently slicing off a tail of a mouse before inserting the Vibranium fibres inside the mouse.

"Dr.Cho, the boss is here to check on your work." Tony obnoxiously announced before making a mocking bow at the paper avatar that followed him inside.

"Ah, the Invisible Man, I am glad to see that you have recovered in time. We will be commencing the operation soon enough. I suppose you want to see the test results. Just a moment." Dr.Cho said before she took another pair of fibers and inserted them right above the stump of a three legged dog.

That poor thing.

Atleast he knew that Dr.CHo did not cutoff that limb, otherwise they would be having some real problems in the lab, especially with what he knew about South Korea and their choice of meats.

Then, as if a spell had been cast, and the dog had suddenly gained a healing factor, he could see the stump bursting apart in real time. It was obviously painful but he could see the healing process happening, beginning from the area where the fibre was inserted.

"How did that happen?"

"Oh, so your lady friend didn't tell you? Huh, wonder why." Tony commented from the side.

Obviously, he realised that the Bald headed Sorcerer did something but didn't tell him about it.

"Yes, the fibres now possess life giving properties. This is revolutionary. With just these fibres, we could upend the entire healthcare system. Imagine the amount of lives you could save if you just distributed these.."

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa! Slow down there, Doctor. Firstly, it is made of VIbranium, that stuff is as rare as I am. Also, we are not going to go around trying to upend the US healthcare system. That is a fast track way to get yourself killed." Tony warned her darkly, and it was true.

Unless you had someone backing you with the power of an entire nation behind you, US conglomerates could not be fought. Not in their own game though.

He realised that it had something to do with CHI. Also, the Ancient One had already told him that the delivery would be successful.

Was it because of this?

"Also, how did your friend know what the baby's position will be at the exact moment of the delivery? It is as if she can see the future." Dr.Cho continued to gush about the marvellous abilities of the Ancient One.

Ofcourse, she would be awesome because she was the bloody Sorcerer Supreme.

The silence in the wake of Dr.Cho's statement was deafening as Tony immediately whirled around on him.

"What! She can see the future? What. THE. FUCK!" Tony swore as he immediately dissolved into fits of babbling scientific terms that he had no knowledge of.

He could just imagine that old woman, sipping tea, and enjoying his misery, not with a full blown out laughter but a subtle smirk on her lips.



If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 86 [November 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

"So, let me get this straight. You have a teacher–"

"A Mentor."

"--someone who can do reality bending stuff? Someone who can create liquids that can seemingly heal everything?"

"Well, not everything, I don't think the fibres could regrow organs, for example."

"--Actually, I believe that if we had any more of the concentrated liquid that was used to make the fibres, we could actually make someone regenerate entire limbs from scratch, provided enough nutrition was provided to the body," Cho interjected in between, which was really not helping.

"Not helping, Dr.Cho." He wished he could glare at people in this paper avatar, something to think of, for the next version.

He was currently in a shouting match with Tony, Bruce, and Nick Fury, the unholy trinity.

The second Fury had heard that I had finally "Shown my royal ass up", he marched into the city and into the warehouse without a second thought, and was now currently demanding to know everything that transpired that night in his apartment.

Well, a dozen block radius around his building was all rubble when he was done with the monsters, or more accurately, the Ancient One was done with the monsters, leaving them void of any energy after closing off their path to the Guy Below.

Good news was that his congregation, his soup kitchens, and even the rich guys staying under his protection had all pitched in, combined with his rep with the Mayor, it had resulted in expedited construction, for a complete reconstruction of the area, to be completed in less than a year.

Something that was hella impressive if one considered the average build times of the apartment buildings.

"Okay, let me get this straight. Not only is there someone out there who can do, honest to god, magic, but you are also telling me that she is stronger than you?" Oh boy, here comes the forehead vein. Fury might just have an aneurysm after this.

It was bad enough that he slipped under SHIELD's radar but to think there was someone out there with an even bigger impact than the Invisible Man. Well, he could already see memos being given to Fury about his Director position.

Still, he couldn't really lie and there was no reason to, anyway. It was not like he was outing the Masters of the Mystic Arts as a whole. No, letting them know about the Sorcerer Supreme was fine, as long as he did not unduly expose Kamar Taj to the mundane world.

"Yes. She is both stronger, and older than me. Actually, she is older than all of us…combined."

That was another bomb and his inner self cackled as he saw the pin drop silence in the room as Tony and Bruce both looked disbelieving at his statement.

"WHAT.DID.YOU.JUST.SAY." Oh boy, the vein was throbbing now.

"You know an IMMORTAL?!" Tony and Bruce both shouted at the same time, nearly shoving away Fury as they whirled upon his paper avatar.

He was not about to let them hit his avatar with their barrage of questions, so he dropped another bomb.

"Well, she is not absolutely immortal. Only unaging, she will die if her head is removed from her body."

Just as Tony and Bruce were about to sigh in relief, he added, "But I do know of people who can, and have survived being bisected in half, even vivisected actually."

Both of their faces twisted in disgust at the last statement with Fury glaring holes in his avatar. He was sure that if Fury were actually a mutant, and powers really did come from both the mindset and the DNA, he might just be capable of firing lasers from his eyes.

"What is the matter with you? Leaving aside the fact that we still don't know anything about those monsters, apart from them being aliens, what is up with all the information that you are suddenly being generous about?" Fury asked him, his voice breaking a bit, which had him snickering internally.

"Okay. Look, I understand that it doesn't look really good. But the good news is that the last incident had my mentor, a vastly stronger being than I am, take interest in Bruce's situation. She has assured me that nothing will happen, even going so far as to aid us in the delivery as well as any complications that might arise in the process."

Bruce and Tony both looked thoughtful at that.

Fury looked mutinous but well, he was done for the moment. So, his paper avatar turned to Bruce, "So, what is the progress with the operation?"

Bruce was surprised a bit but then he began speaking, "Frankly speaking, we have to do it now. We have maybe 2-3 days before there is a significant danger to Betty."

"What do you mean? Wouldn't the Vibranium help in making sure that the delivery is safe?" Fury asked Bruce and he had the same question as well.

The operation was not much of an operation because all they had to do was use a specialised arm that Tony had built with a very high sensitivity, and insert the fibers in the designated locations. Locations that had already been provided by the Ancient ONe.

That would help siphon off the excess gamma and now that the fibres were infused with CHI, it would also increase Betty's overall health, allowing for a potential natural birth to occur, which would occur in another month or two, according to the baby's growth rate.

He thought that was the whole point of the CHI infusion in the fibres. Why was Bruce still talking about an early delivery?

"...I, Look, the fibres might help but nothing is set in stone. I think we should use the fibres on the baby instead so that there is a chance that both of them would be alright." Bruce said with a resigned look on his face.

The silence in the room was deafening, as he could see Tony's throat make some noise but not a word coming out of his mouth. He could see Fury looking a bit shocked as well before he put on his blank mask.

Dr.Cho's reaction was the harshest one out of all the people present. She straight up walked up to Bruce and slapped him across the face…hard.

He winced as he saw her tearing into the poor man, who just wanted to be a bit selfish and get the best chances of both his baby and his lover surviving.

"Who are YOU to make that decision, huh? How dare you suggest such a vile thing even when you have an option in front of you?"

Dr.Cho then levelled such a potent look of disgust at the man that had him recoiling even more than the slap, and then she left the room.

Tony and Fury both looked quite uncomfortable to be in the room, even as tears slowly gathered in Bruce's eyes.

He could not even fathom the pressure he was putting himself under. Fury left the room soon after, probably having no words of comfort left in him.

Tony stayed and patted Bruce's shoulders as Bruce remained mum.

He could see Cho head directly toward Betty, after getting the SHIELD issue car for her, a team of SHIELD agents leaving right after her as well. She was one of the five people on base who was of priority.

He was really conflicted as to what should happen here. He knew Bruce was objectively wrong because the Ancient One had already told him that the delivery would be successful and both the mother and the son would survive.

But Bruce's trust in the Ancient One and more importantly, in the Time Stone was not as absolute as his. On the other hand, he didn't know if the Ancient One talked about delivery being natural or being in the middle with both of them surviving due to the CHI infused Vibranium.

Ah, this was all so confusing.

"Bruce," His voice boomed in the small room they were in.

"You may not trust me, or the words of my mentor but know this, we will both stop at nothing to save Betty and the baby. I will inform Betty of the same. In the end, it is her decision to make. I will see you in the evening," Saying so, his paper avatar dissolved with the burner phone slotting itself in its designated place in the warehouse.

Meanwhile, CHO was actually driving quite sedately, on her way to Betty's apartment. He thought she would be burning rubber, and he would have to step in but she was really rule abiding, it would seem.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 87 [November 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

So, it was the very next day. The atmosphere inside the room was awkward, which was astonishing since he was not even in the same room as those people.

Bruce, Tony, Cho and Betty were all seated in a room, one of the spare conference rooms created just in case, and were all just staring at each other, in silence.

Cho had reached Betty safely and informed her about everything that was going on and what the chances of every option were. Dr.Cho did not let her biases taint Betty's decision as she informed Betty about every possible decision and what it would lead to.

Betty had all heard it with a calm expression and told Dr.Cho to gather everyone relevant to her pregnancy, tomorrow morning for a meeting, and then she had just straight up looked up, "I will need your help getting there, Invisible Man,"

She had turned him into her chauffeur but oh well, anything for the demigod bearing lady.

He carefully transported her to the warehouse and then let her into the room itself, and here they were.

"So, I will only speak of this once, so make sure everyone understands this, alright?" He didn't know who she was speaking to, in particular, but everyone nodded anyway. Nobody wanted to anger the pregnant lady, especially since angering the pregnant lady meant angering Bruce, and whoo, if they thought an angry Hulk was scary, they should take a look at protective Hulk.

"--I am keeping the baby. I am telling you, nothing will happen to me or the baby. I have gone over the designs and they are brilliant. The lifeblood solution that we used on the Vibranium actually seems wasted on me. It has so many medical applications that I was ecstatic that we could use it again." Betty then went on a tirade about all the test results that she had read from Dr.Cho's experiments and how it would surely help her pregnancy.

And then, after delivering her speech, she flicked the controls on her wheelchair and rolled out of the conference room in style. Just before the door to the conference room closed, a series of paper shavings and a familiar phone entered the conference room and formed his paper avatar.

"Alright guys, this has gone on long enough. Just prep for the operation and insert the fibres today. We can collect test data today itself and see if any anomaly occurs, then decide on any further complications. Alright?" His paper avatar asked anyone even though everyone knew that it was more like an order.

Bruce nodded, lifeless, as they all shuffled out of the room to carry out their respective tasks. Betty had not spoken to Bruce ever since Dr.Cho informed her about his opinion about her safety and the baby's safety. Perhaps knowing that Bruce also had not left the warehouse, instead working himself to the bone on the operational procedures.

Ofcourse, knowing that he was active again, Bruce probably held no fear for her safety but even then, he made sure that the Master assigned for their protection focused on Betty more than Bruce. After all, The Hulk needed no protection, did he?

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Tony was the last one to get up and just as he was about to exit, he closed the door and looked at his paper avatar.

"Alright," His paper avatar nodded.

"Look, about that liquid that was given to me. How much?"

Tony Stark did not just ask him for CHI infused Holy Water, well, water from the Vishanti's pond, that is, in exchange for something as trivial as money.

"How much for what?"

"How much do you need for that liquid? I would like to take all I can get. Come on, who wouldn't like to get younger?" Tony asked him with a nervous smile. He could see it on his body, Tony was nervous about getting rejected.

Why though? Tony Stark never really cared much about Immortality in canon, even after having Extremis in his hand and having the expertise to get it fixed and working properly.

"Tony Stark, that liquid required the undivided attention of my mentor for hours at a time, and even then, only that amount was produced. It is not a commodity that can be mass produced. The only reason even I ever got to see it is because the situation is really concerning. Put any thoughts about that out of your mind. You would be lucky to see it once again, in your entire lifetime." Saying so, the paper avatar dispelled itself, the phone, once again, slotting back into its designated place.

They got out and saw that Bruce and Cho were prepping Betty, with the well placed anesthesia, custom made because Betty's metabolism had shot through the roof ever since she became pregnant.

Jarivs was already getting everything ready, and once Toyn broke out of his stupor, came out and joined Jarvis to get the final touches in. They had created a Captain America-esque pod that would house Betty and then insert the Vibranium fibres using a highly sophisticated hand that would be operated by Jarvis and supervised by both Dr.Cho and Tony about the exact positions of the fibres.

Even after Tony likely invented a higher spec MRI, they could not get past the radiation wall around the baby to get an accurate positioning of the baby, a problem that was solved by the data packet sent to Tony by the Ancient One.

So they were pretty confident about the data and were going to use that as a template, along with numerous close range scans.

Bruce was standing beside Betty, holding her hand as they all looked at Tony and Cho prepping the machine.

The news about the operation had likely reached FUry because he could see a cascading barrage of Blacked out SUVs, out of which SHIELD personnel poured out to secure the entire thing.

6 Iron Men suits hovered around the warehouse, keeping guard as they were finally about to move into the surgery state of the solution.

He grinned as he saw the large forces that had turned out, not to capture or hurt Bruce, but to protect him and his unborn child from outside influences.

It was heartening to witness and hopefully, seeing something like that would make Bruce understand the good that still existed in the world instead of the bad that he had encountered.

He could even see the Random beautiful agent being mobilised for this, which was a rarity and she probably understood that as well, judging by the tremor in her body as she held a pistol in her hand and armour on her body.

"Ready!" Tony gave out his confirmation as Betty finally went under.

Bruce reluctantly tore himself away from her as they all stood behind a thick glass barrier, designed to contain any stray radiation and create a sterilised environment for the operation.

Betty's vitals were stable as the robot arm picked up a single vibranium fibre, still glowing white and yellow, and carefully inserted it right above her belly button.

We all waited with bated breaths for something to happen…"Yes!"

Everyone flinched as Tony cheered. After he saw everyone looking at him, he gestured to the large screen where new information was being updated.

"The Radiation is being successfully absorbed by the fibres and is being dissipated outside at far faster rates than we expected."

"Any danger?" "no, her vital signs are all stable."

"Alright, Jarvis, proceed," Bruce ordered as the arm jerked back into motion.

Slowly, one by one, they inserted all the dozen Vibranium fibres they had on hand. Once the entire process was done, everyone saw the amount of Radiation inside Betty's body had dropped by over 90%, most of it being drawn away by the fibres.

The fibres now shone yellow, white, and green, as Betty was finally safe from danger.

"Alright, now we keep her under observation for a week, at the very least." Dr.Cho helpfully informed them as she continued to write notes after notes about the entire process.

Now that the process was successfully done, they could discuss the next step…

He stopped mid sip on his coffee, back in his apartment, as he saw Tony and Dr.Cho both tensing up for some reason.

Bruce too looked distressed and panicked as something was happening. Before he could voice out his question, Tony spoke, "The baby, it is sending out even more radiation."

What the hell?

"Quick, everyone, get out!" Bruce turned around and yelled at everyone, his muscles almost enlarging before they turned back to normal human size.

Something was wrong, he realised as he flung every single person inside the room, save for Dr.Cho and Tony, who were both in the process of entering a protected Iron Man suit, out of the warehouse.

He watched as the warehouse was now completely sealed, using Stark Tech, which probably sealed off the radiation. Even so, he gave the order to the SPOC they had on hand for SHIELD, "Evacuate the nearby areas, give a radiation warning. I have already warned the Mayor. We need to be ready if something happens."

The agent didn't think twice and scrambled away to follow the orders.

Huh, look at him, ordering around SHIELD agents.

He looked inside, and saw all three of them working furiously, even as Betty didn't so much as twitch during the entire process, her heart beating calmly and her vitals seeming normal to him.

Welp, time to make sure that the Ancient One was right in her predictions. Otherwise, he was going to have a Hulk sized problem on his hands.

Good thing that he just had a power up last month, it might just come in handy this time.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 88 [November 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

Okay, this has gone on long enough. He never expected the universe to throw this curve ball at him in the shape of a baby but he felt as if his entire attention was being taken by this one single problem for a long while now.

He was sick and tired of the universe not letting him take a breath in peace without having another problem thrown on top of his already large pile. It was bad enough that he got to see what the city would have to face if he ever left it, even for a small period of time, but now there was some sort of radiation warning, something that could devastate the entire city.

No, not on his watch.

"Okay, Tony, what is happening?" His paper avatar spoke even as he made sure that additional material was summoned from the nearby warehouses that had been stocked with solid lead, lead polymers, and more, just in case a radiation emergency occurred, just as it was happening right now.

The area around the warehouses was a ghost town right now and more were being evacuated, with him controlling the flow of traffic and making sure that no road was clogged, which made the process go much faster than normal.

A single SHIELD agent remained outside the premises but he was already in heavy radiation shielding gear so he let the agent be, but remained ready to fling him far into the city if the need arose.

"I-I don't know. One moment, it was fine, the radiation was being purged from Betty's body and was being harmlessly released into the air but then–" Tony spoke even as his hands continued to fly across the keyboard, his armoured hands making it very difficult but he had to make do with that.

"It's the baby. The baby is now releasing pulse after pulse of gamma radiation that are now being taken out into the air. The thing is, Ms.Betty is in an enclosed space with all that radiation in the air. The fibres are still doing their job, they are not near their limit but the sealed space will soon be at its limits." Dr.Cho informed him as she too, tried to find a solution to their problem.

Bruce was a complete nervous wreck, his fingers flying across the keyboard even as he saw Bruce's fingers twitch whenever he looked at the glass that speared both of them as if he was contemplating just breaking the glass.

The perks of already being Gamma enhanced meant that Bruce didn't exactly need any protection from any radiation that might spill over from the sealed space that Betty was in.

"Can we move them?" He ended up asking the question that he dreaded the most. If he could, he would not let them out of his sight, not until Bruce's child was strong enough to protect himself or Bruce himself was established as someone who was not to be trifled with, but if the choice was between possible risk to Betty and definite risk to the city, he would unflinchingly choose the former.

Unfortunately, Tony dashed all his hopes, "No. It is too late now. Moving them might jostle the fibres out of their place and we don't want Betty to suffer from catastrophic organ failure, which is what will happen if her body is flooded with that much gamma radiation, all at once."

Oh. Well, that complicated things. He could guarantee the non movement of the fibres until they remained in his range but after that, he would not be able to do anything.

"Wait!" Dr.Cho's shout turned everyone towards her as she continued to type across the hologram that was in front of her.

"Look, I've sent you the data." She said as Tony and Bruce both turned back to their displays.

"..What the.." Tony whispered as his hands seemingly froze at the information he was seeing, same with Bruce whose body trembled.

"What is happening?" his avatar asked, even as he noted that the signal integrity to the phone was being compromised, probably due to the cloud of solid lead that now surrounded the warehouse, ready to be deployed at a moment's notice.

It was Bruce who answered with a wide smile on his face, "I-It's a feedback loop."

A what now?

"The baby is sending out more gamma radiation which is then absorbed by the fibres and then part of that is released into the enclosed space and part of that is turned into the life force and pumped back into Betty's body," Bruce answered as he slumped down on one knee, the pressure finally being relieved from his mind.

"So, Betty is fine?" He asked them tentatively, the scientific jargon flowing above his head but he realised one thing. The Gamma radiation excess was creating CHI from the fibres which was pumped back into Betty, which healed Betty of all the damage.

But still.. "What about the gamma radiation? I mean staying in that saturated environment can't be healthy for Betty. I reckon the baby itself will be fine but…"

His worries were waved off by Tony, "Oh, don't worry about that. We have plenty of ways of flushing out the radiation from the enclosed space. What we were worried about was the way Betty's body would react negatively, if there was no additional healing done to her body. How were we supposed to know that the thing was so potent."

"Yes, and I can see her cell structure changing in real time. The Gamma radiation feedback along with the stem cells that the baby is undoubtedly sending its mother, combined with the life giving rays of the fibre, Betty's body is changing at a pace never seen before. I think..I think she will become a positively enhanced person before the pregnancy is over." Cho's words made sense to him but apparently, were like thunderclaps in the ears of both Bruce and Tony who immediately scrambled over to Cho's display which showed the latest scans being taken of Betty from the custom equipment that Tony and Bruce had built for this purpose.

It basically ignored Gamma Radiation in the air but still, no matter how much they tried, they could not get a completely accurate picture of the baby inside Betty.

"What the…" Tony whispered even as Bruce remained shell shocked at the piece of information.

"Latest DNA sample?" Tony prodded and Dr.Cho nodded at the same.

"...So, She-Hulk?" Everybody's necks robotically tuned to his paper avatar which shrugged at the accusing glares.

"So, is it safe to call everyone back? Or do we still need the lead lining around the warehouse because I gotta tell you guys, I have to actively hold back all the dust so that it doesn't poison the air and water around us and it is a chore."

"Dude, read the room." Tony of all people said to his paper avatar as he and Bruce both turned back to gawk at the changes that were happening in real time to Betty. THey even got scans of her muscles and bones which were changing near simultaneously.

It was not that hard to make the connection to him, having meta knowledge that all these peasants in front of him did not.

What made the first super soldier? Super Soldier Serum but without the Vita Rays.

Second Super Soldier? SSS and Vita Rays.

Hulk? Gamma Radiation and inherent Gamma gene. Some had even theorised that the mere existence of the Hulk in any future timeline was so powerful that its repercussions were felt across the timeline, essentially meaning that Bruce would turn into the Hulk in that Gamma Explosion simply because in some future, the Hulk existed.

Keeping that aside, Blonsky's creation needed the SSS and Bruce's blood.

Now, Betty had Gamma Radiation, Gamma gene (in the form of the baby and the stem cells), Vita Rays (Term coined by Erskine because he probably didn't know what CHI was), and Bruce's DNA.

All in all, quite the potent combination to become the super soldier serum because even if Betty's body couldn't handle the strain, the baby will ensure that its mother was given enough resources to be healed, along with the seemingly endless Gamma being absorbed by the fibres and being outputted as CHI straight into the vital organs in her body.

Damn, the Ancient One played very well when she wanted to.

It made him wonder why she fought like a pansy in the movie which led to her death, being killed by falling from all things. Fighting demon lords, Dormammu, Mephisto, and any number of reality altering threats and then dying to something as pedestrian as falling from a height, granted after being severely injured was the height of not going out with a bang.

"She's safe. Betty is safe." He didn't know if Bruce was telling it to the people in the room or reassuring himself.

It was probably the latter.

"Call everyone back, Mayor. The issue is resolved." He transmitted the news and assembled the solid lead back into one of the adjoining warehouses, along with the not insignificant amount of lead dust that was gathered by him and sealed in an airtight box.

It would not do to recreate the lead poisoning from the eras back. It led to a permanent decrease in American IQ that he would not like to be repeated.

There were enough dumb people as is, without some outside intervention.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 89 [May 2011]

Unfinished Stark Tower, Manhattan

–Tony Stark–

"You know Bruce when Pepper offered to babysit for little Bellina, I don't think she meant that I would babysit for you," He told Bruce, overlooking the robot who was in the process of changing Bellina's diaper, something that was not a task that he would do, in his lifetime, even if he was forced at gunpoint.

No. Just no.

"I know, Tony but on the plus side, you know Bellina likes you the most out of all her uncles," Bruce said in a mock attempt at placating him, especially since he knew that Bruce was with Randall, experimenting on something that he was not allowed to know. He was not a fool, he already knew about the random Gamma Bursts from the subterranean layers of Manhattan.

He could not physically go there but he knew something was afoot. Plus, somewhere in his mind, he really liked little Bellina, hellion that she was, otherwise Bruce would not have been able to dump her on him.

There was a reason he had an entire room chock full with Baby stuff and all manners of toys. Some were suitable for a 6 month old baby, some were suitable for a teenager. He just went to a toy store and bought them all.

"Diaper Extraction done, sir." Jarvis' voice pinged him as Bruce smiled apologetically at him and he resisted the urge to show him the middle finger as the video feed closed off, and he made baby noises as he went to pick up little Bellina, who was fast growing up to be the best baby this world has ever seen.

"Oh, who's a good girl? You are, you are the bestest best girl on the planet. Yes, you are! Yes!--"

"Wow!"

His frame froze as he glared at the remotely piloted robot in front of him. Jarvis didn't warn him, the little shit!

He turned around to see Pepper in her business suit with a smirk on her face, telling him exactly what she was thinking.

"No! NO babies. Nuh-uh, not until–"

"Relax! I was just going to say, atleast this means that you will love our babies the same way, whenever the time might come." Pepper said and then continued to disregard him completely once she had little Bellina in her arms.

Good god, that child was an attention hog. Everywhere she went, the world continued to adore her. All that was left was sunshine and rainbows everytime she so much as giggled.

"Wait! Pepper, not fair! I was assigned as the babysitter, I have it on record!" He rushed to get to Pepper who was undoubtedly going to the temporary living floor that was built.

It was temporary, but it was built according to his standards, so it was much better than what 99.9% people lived in.

"Relax, she just needs to sit down in a space that is not littered with robots." She looked at him reproachfully and he…had nothing to say to that, astonishingly.

"Wow, Tony Stark, speechless, something that one doesn't get many of," He whirled around with his finger already pointed at the surge of papers that came in through the AC vent and formed into the Invisible Man's favourite avatar.

"You! Get out!"

When the paper continued to stand there with its arm crossed, he looked up, "Jarvis! Remind me to make the tower entirely sealed. We wouldn't want to have strays-" He sneered at the paper avatar who shrugged at the insult, disregarding it entirely "--entering the building once it is done."

"Oh, come on, Tony. Hello, IM!" Pepper waved at the paper avatar cheerily.

"Hi Pepper, how are you doing? Did you have that blood clot checked out?"

"Yes, I did and thank you so much for telling me about that. You know, the doctor said…"

What the hell was going on?

He watched on, transfixed, as the paper avatar, which was just a remotely piloted construct, walked over and sat down on his couch, right next to his wife, yeah, wife and began chatting with her animatedly, with Pepper not even slowing down in the least even when she had to make sure that Bellina did not stray too far away from her.

Not that it was a concern in any way. It would be safe to say that in the entire city, the single most guarded individual would be little Bellina, what with her heterochromatic eyes, one green and one white, and her rather significant ancestry.

He and Bruce, both believed that the colour of her eyes signified the process through which she was born, with the gree signifying the Gamma from Bruce and the white signifying the CHI (as much as it pained him to use that term for the life giving rays, he was not the inventor of it so he didn't have much say in the naming process), that helped Betty not just survive but turn into a Super Mommy, capable of lifting cars and becoming bulletproof.

Oh yeah, Betty Ross was not someone who could protect Bruce and not the other way around, at least when Bruce was in non powered form, that is.

"Now, what do you want, you stalker?" He ended up taking up little Bellina from Pepper and asked the paper avatar.

Pepper looked at him with disappointment but he was made of sterner stuff than that.

"Nothing, I was just wondering what are you doing here, in this unfinished tower of yours. By the way, compensating much?"

Well, the answer to that was kinda complicated.

For one, he finally had a SCIENCE! Bro to tinker with. Bruce was nice, to talk to, to discuss ideas and also to talk about life as well.

Being a new father, Bruce had a newfound perspective on life and also it was really nice to see Bruce coming out of his shell, and becoming a very confident person.

That confidence was sort of contingent on Bellina remaining in Manhattan, under the Invisible Man's umbrella but Bruce was very much forward now.

He and Betty had become active in the academic community now and actually had a home office, courtesy of the Invisible Man's Russian Billionaire benefactor.

The government had actually rescinded all the decisions taken against BRuce and they were actually living a normal life in Manhattan, just landlocked into the island.

Bruce was more outgoing now, and nowadays, Bruce and Betty could be found on dates around the island, sometimes with him and Pepper as well.



If you guys would like to support my writing or just read ahead of the public release, you can head to my P*treon or Ko-fi, for upto 5 extra chapters.