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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,”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

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…..

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