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 69 [October 2010]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

“Now that this is done, Fury. I will be going to meet the President. He has already finished his rally and the scheduled time is near so I will just go and wait in the lobby. I hope you have already informed them about my paper avatar, otherwise, there might just be a big scene because of you!” The paper avatar said and essentially exploded as the chunks of paper, along with a small burner phone traversed through the door that opened and closed on its own.

The “WAIT!” of Fury registered to his senses but quietly ignored as well. 

The paper avatar reformed on top of Waldorf Astoria, the President, and his team keeping a constant vigil on the surroundings of the hotel as well as its internals.

That was how they probably found him. As he stopped three different sniper bullets from hitting him, he realised that Fury did not inform them about his paper avatar. That, or they were startled at the moment and just shot the first suspicious thing that appeared mid air. It was totally understandable since they were probably already nervous, being in proximity to a being capable of powdering buildings instead of people.

The paper avatar raised its hands up in the stereotypical harmless pose, and then slowly lowered itself right up until it landed right in front of the lobby, all the while the Secret Service continued to pour out of the hotel in droves.

He could see that POTUS was about to be escorted outside and was wondering if the prank had gone too far when he saw the President take a call and after doing a literal double take, ordered the Secret Service to stand down and escort the “Paper Man” Inside.

Seriously, Fury? Paper Man? That was such a lame name.

Soon after, the Secret Service lowered their weapons as they gently escorted him inside the hotel. He was taken to the penthouse suite after going through no less than six security checks wherein they ran him through a metal detector, which obviously pinged because of the burner phone.

They also tried to frisk him which was just ridiculous in his opinion. After going through all of that, where they no doubt tried to gather all the data they could, he finally came face to the face with the President’s Secretary, an uppity looking woman who just turned her nose up at him as she just gestured at him to follow, not deigning to utter a single word.

Rude.

Did she not know he could just dismantle her body from the inside? Or just nudge a few things here and there, leading to total organ collapse a few months later with none being the wiser?

Oh, he was the Hero here. He was not supposed to think of such things.

He cleared his thoughts as POTUS finally came into view.

“Mr.President,”

“Invisible Man? I am sorry, that name is atrocious. Is there anything else I can call you?” The President said as he sipped on what seemed to be a glass of whiskey. Damn, he could really hold his liquor then. He thought it was some sort of non alcoholic beverage since he didn’t think the President would want his mental faculties impaired on such an occasion.

But apparently, he was wrong.

“Actually, you can just call me IM then. Shortened. I am sorry but I can't really tell you my real name, if that's what you were hoping for,” The paper avatar said since the burner phone was unable to get any signal for the text to speech software to work properly. It had an offline only mode but that was so bad, it might as well not have existed.

“Very well, IM. Let’s talk. I believe this is the first time I have ever interacted with someone….”

“Enhanced?” He prompted the President, having the paper avatar sit leaned back into the no doubt comfortable chair provided to him.

“...Um, let’s go with…. different,” The President said after a moment of introspection. This was good. Good thing there was no mutant hating nonsense here. That word itself invoked negative emotions since mutations were seen as an inherently bad thing, mainly because of the widespread proliferation of mutations being one of the side effects of nuclear radiation.

God, he wished he had empathy at long range just like he did with his TK. Oh yeah, the book that the Ancient One gave him about Spiritual contracts for Dummies, also somehow unlocked some of his powers that he definitely should not have, according to his contract with the ROB.

He can now sense people’s emotions, but only within like three feet of him. So, peak time Subway rush, a great time to practice his power, a bad time to be hungover for sure. God, the sheer amount of hate, and horniness he felt in that subway train was nauseating.

“Alright,” The paper avatar nodded. “You arranged this meeting, Mr.President. Please tell me what you would like to know,” He said straightforwardly because he did not want to think too hard about these conversations later on. It was always better to have an honest straightforward conversation.

The posture changed, and so did his face, as it slowly began setting into stone, no sign of any emotion leaking from his face or his body. Wow, that change was impressive, especially with liquor in his system.

“So, IM, I would like to ask you, who, or what are you, really?”

Well, that question was not totally generic, “Well, for starters, I am human. Not a regular human, by any stretch but a human nonetheless. I have extraordinary powers but I did not get them from an experiment,”

“So you got them naturally?” 

“Yes, you could say that.”

“Alright, I will take what I can get. Next question, why New York?” 

This was beginning to sound like an interrogation of some sort but it was fine as long as he didn't feel bored.

“Well, when I woke up, I was in this place. So, I guess you could call this place my home. But don’t worry, I will be moving soon, in a couple of years,” He dropped the bomb on POTUS’ lap, taking delight in the way that his heartbeat quickened and his left finger twitched.

It had probably been a general consensus to leave the Invisible Man, the monster alone, because he was just operating from a single city, no matter how rich or prosperous it might be. Now that they were going to be aware that he was going to move or rather, he could move, it was probably going to light a fire under their asses.

“...I see. Well, I will be happy to see another city become a safe beacon just like Manhattan has become for…people.” POTUS said after a beat passed.

“The Billionaires, IM. The people residing under your umbrella are some of the richest and consequently, most powerful men on the planet. Having influence on so many people at once makes you stronger than most countries. I can say that many people at the White House have been getting antsy seeing the amount of influence you, or rather, your name is collecting as time passes by,”

Oh. Well, it was true.  But it was not as if he used his influence to do anything bad. Even he punished the rich or poor the same when it came to crimes being committed.

As if reading his thoughts from miles away, POTUS continued, “I know you haven’t used your influence to do anything bad but the fact remains, as of right now, if what you say about your movement is true, you are probably the most powerful person in all of America,”

Wow. That was kind of a disastrous move to make, especially when engaging who is, by all rights, a rival of sorts, not in terms of politics but in terms of power.

“Also, the cult, the congregations. While you have done an admirable job in suppressing them and giving them healthier outlets, some people in the government are still worried about the cult spreading,”

“That is one of my concerns as well. I have tried my best but the people believe I am some sort of God or something, hoping that I would be able to solve their problems, but I am not. I have told them numerous times but they refuse to listen so I just tasked them with maintaining the kitchens and organising exercise, yoga-sports, camps that anyone can participate in.”

“Yes, I am aware of those initiatives. As I said, you have done a great job in diverting their motivations. Now, I would like to know, what are your future plans?” 

“Future plans?”

“Yes. Your Future Plans. What are you going to do later? Which city will you move to? What will happen to the power vacuum you will undoubtedly leave behind? Each and every one of your moves will be monitored by thousands of people. A single step in the wrong direction can have catastrophic consequences, simply because of the sheer power you have in your hands. You have to think carefully about everything and inform us because in case you forgot, it is our job to take care of our citizens.”

Wow, that was kind of an unexpected outburst.

“Admittedly, we will not be able to do the job as good as you but realistically, no one can. What is it like anyway? To be able to feel an entire city’s worth all at once. Stopping crime in some other place whilst simultaneously having a conversation with me?”

Wow, this was inching dangerously close to Nerd Alert and he did not know what to do here.

One thing was for certain though, this conversation was heading in uncharted territory. 

He blamed the Alcohol.

 

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