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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.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
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.
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