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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.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“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.
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