The Sage of the Mind

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.

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