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The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 33 [December 2008]

–Axle Riddle–

Argh, This made no sense to him. How could he solve Banner’s problems if the only two ways he knows how to refuse to do it at this point in time? Banner didn’t need their help ten years down the line when he would already be somewhat well adjusted.

No, they needed to help him now and by now, he meant yesterday because that man was fraying at the edges. He could tell from the way he kept moving and muttering to himself erratically.

It was as if he had lost his anchor point, as his mental being was slowly being dragged straight down. He didn’t even know what to do with the other problem that had taken root in his city. One that refused to leave, no matter how many times he made her coffee spill or the number of inconveniences he had subjected her to.

No, Betty Ross was exactly someone General Ross could have sired. Headstrong, stubborn, fiercely persistent, and somehow, still good enough that he was still considering letting them meet.

Ah, what the hell, it was not as if Ross would try and use his own daughter as bait, right?

Right?

….

…

Ah, if he found them, he found them. He would have to go through him first and what was better than stopping the stereotypical villain from breaking up two lovebirds, one of whom had some incurable oddity that was trying to break them apart from each other?

He saw that Ms.Betty was having a New York style pizza slice and walking around Central Park. No, she was not walking around Central Park, she was walking towards something and that was the daily congregation they held in his name.

Oh god, please not that damned thing again. He had flat out told them that he was just a human who gained these powers by happenstance and he would not be taking any personal requests, not that most of the requests were ever in his power to fulfill anyway.

He gently nudged Betty to stop and stop she did, her eyes widening as she looked all around her, trying to spot the person who might have poked her. Her eyes then widened to saucer like proportions as she must have realised what had happened to her.

He kept nudging her, showing her the direction to walk to, eventually leading her into a not crowded part of CEntral Park. He then cocooned her entire body and just for safety, enclosed her in a curtain of silence as well, subduing all her sonic attacks in the form of the scared screams everybody would have heard, as he flew her to Bruce’s apartment. Now, someone might say that flying an entire human being through the air at breakneck speeds was bound to catch attention, right?

To them, he would say: Wrong! It would have caught attention if it hadn't already happened all the time in the city. He checked in on his second mind and what do you know, they were lifting another thing in the air right now.

Only right now, it was a chopper with a failed engine making an emergency landing nearby, with both the pilot and the reporter being very excited about the entire thing for some reason. God, it was as if people did not care about their safety at all, so assured in his presence.

May the Vishanti help this city once he leaves. Well, something for future Axle to think about. God, the reporter was even reporting live on her camera about the entire thing.

Ugh, he disengaged from his second mind and focused on Betty as she landed right into Bruce’s apartment through the window that had opened up just in time for her to make the surprise entry into her lover’s home and then closed up after she was safely inside.

The look on Bruce’s face as he looked at Betty and confirmed that she was real was equal parts sad and happy. He must have been so alone, so lonely. At Least he was safe here.

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“Well, time to give them the privacy,” He thought to himself before getting the bagel and leaving for his office, whistling a jaunty tone. He was oddly full of confidence today.

He didn’t know why and didn’t particularly care about it but he was of the opinion that today was going to go swimmingly, mostly because he had done the good deed of the day, in addition to the hundreds of good deeds that he does on the go.

Ross was a concern, yes, but not as much of a concern as the Ancient One was concerned about something happening due to Bruce’s mental health.

Stark International stock was still plummeting. He didn't know what TOny was doing but he had not yet made the announcement regarding being Iron Man, even after he had already seen the news yesterday about an accident at the Arc Reactor facility back in LA.

That meant, presumably, that Stane was dead and Iron Man was already born. Tony had gone through his first betrayal and had learned some lessons, hopefully. It also meant that Tony was now going to be using the poisoning Palladium in his Arc Reactor. Well, he might have tried to help or warn him about it only that Tony Stark lived all the way over to the West Coast, which was far out of his….range.

Good Lord, speak of the devil and the devil is here.

Tony Stark, along with Happy Hogan, had somehow entered Manhattan in a limousine, followed by two SUVs full of armed bodyguards.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Iron Man suit, hollow as it may be, was hovering right at the edge of his boundary. Not the boundary of Manhattan but the boundary of his Spatial awareness.

That was scarily accurate and he was sure that Jarvis must have played a crucial role in it, predicting the rate at which his awareness range grew and staying just out of it by just that much. He was somewhat off but he could not be faulted for that.

Even he himself didn't know how his powers advanced, just that they came with practice, and due to his second mind working all the time in the background, he couldn’t really predict the rate at which his powers grew.

His pace quickened as he hastily made for his office and then promptly stumbled on himself as he watched Tony’s convoy, after making a quick stop to get Tony a cheeseburger, headed straight towards his office. Well, it could be something else but he didn’t want anything to look suspicious so he slowly, normally, made his way to his office.

“Hi! Good morning. Morning, Steve. Morning, Scarlet. Morning, Sarah,” He greeted everyone and headed straight into his office. Most of them waved back at him, their smiles tinged with hesitation and uncertainty.

Well, since most of them didn’t exactly know what he did in the office and he was given a corner office to boot, they were very curious but since he was mostly out of reach for them, they had resorted to his secretary but even she didn’t know what he did so they were all kind of awkward around him. He tried to mingle but now was not the time to do that because, Tony Stark just alighted from his car and was entering the lobby of his office building, with his entourage behind him.

God, he was here because of the shares, wasn’t he?

Oh yeah, he, or rather, his backers, collectively owned about 10% of Stark International’s stocks right now. While it would not be visible to someone who was doing a cursory search since it was all held in different trusts, financial entities, and even in different countries but for someone like Stark? It was child’s play to figure out who was behind all the buying up of his company’s shares.

The only reason they were able to buy so much was because for one, SI’s stock had been tumbling for a while now and two, he had more investors now. As it turned out, a lot of the old fogies had families worth billions just hiding away in that exiled mountain. He had made generous use of that money to buy up even more of SI’s stock and Tony, as busy as he was, was never the wiser about it.

Yup, Tony just exited the elevator and was heading straight towards him. Well, he is probably wiser now.

His entourage stayed outside but Happy Hogan led Tony straight to his office. He stood up from his chair, trying his best to portray a surprised expression when Tony Stark, all but barged into his office.

Tony’s face was bruised in places and his entire body felt as if he had just come out of a warzone, technically, he had but that was months ago.

“Mr.Stark, what can I do for you?” He put his best smile forward and greeted him, but not with a handshake, he did not want to put it back down awkwardly while Tony ignored it.

That would be….uncool.

“Uh-huh. Axle, was it? Mind telling me how some wet behind the ears kid somehow controls a tenth of my company?”

Well, so much for subtlety. It was his fault, really, to expect something as subtle as small talk before getting to the big part from someone like Tony Stark who represented more of a hammer than a scalpel.

He sighed, “What do you want, MR. Stark? I can assure you that I have not broken any law in acquiring your company’s shares. So, what warrants this personal visit?”

Tony’s smile was all teeth as he replied, “Well, Mr.Axle, how about we make a deal, right here and now?”

Well, that was not good.

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