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 104[May 2012]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

Welp, there it was. He knew something was wrong when even nearing the end of the month, he hadn't heard anything about the invasion. Now, Coulson had come flying, actually, in a car, into Manhattan, a car that was almost completely battered and full of tech that should have been proprietary.

He was wondering what had gone wrong because Coulson's body was run ragged for some reason and then Coulson opened his mouth and rambled on information about just what had happened in the past 24 hours. He needed more information but more importantly, he needed to make sure that all the critical people were fine.

"Tony? We need to talk," His voice boomed right next to Tony's ears as he was doing something in his workshop.

"Jesus. How many times have I told you not to do that?" Tony said while patting his chest.

"Now is not the time, Tony. Be ready in 15 minutes. I will pull you out in 15,"

"Bruce, be ready in 15,"

He obviously excluded Betty and Bellina but he already had plans for them to be completely covered in a metallic shell with enough resources to last them a month with ease. He couldn't really risk either of them, Brucve might destroy Manhattan as a result.

The brothers were already assembled in the lab and were just waiting for the others to arrive before sliding into the tunnel below. Randall had given Coulson a booster shot, something that Bruce and Betty had developed after studying the stem cells and whatnot of Bellina and the overall body processes of Betty.

He was asleep for now but when he woke up, he would be very much healed and energised.

He scanned every single thing in New York, as far as his range could get and yet, could not find any anomaly. Even the SHIELD agents in New York showed no anomalies, as if an emergency has not been declared for the entire planet right now. They were being kept out of the loop, he realised.

The WSC.

Shaking his head, he chose to focus on the one thing that mattered the most, the one thing that would dictate whether Loki would be able to open a portal in New York or not. He took a giant risk doing this but times were such that he couldn't exactly give much of a fuck, as his form was wrapped in so many dark clothes, that he must have looked like a caterpillar, with even his eyes closed since he saw so much better with his senses.

With his powers, he was able to get himself to the edge of the barreri in seconds, the orange curtain still present, a reminder of the nerf that was placed on him, for some reason. He slowly lifted his arm and pressed against the curtain.

He sighed when the curtain barely budged.

Well, there goes the plan then.

He blasted away from the curtain, into the waters, and from there, right back into his apartment within a minute. Well, he won't be able to help much since Loki is still outside Manhattan.

"Alright, everyone, as of 24 hours ago, Loki attacked and killed Director Fury, and took along with him a certain artifact-"

"The Tesseract," He interrupted Coulson who looked surprised at his knowledge but didn't deny it.

"The tesseract is a source of unlimited fucking energy. SHIELD must be using it to create WMDs and Loki somehow found it. Now, we have a Norse God loose on the planet, with mind control capabilities, capable of turning our best men into yes men." He informed everyone.

"Now, Tony, Dr.Banner, Coulson has access to all SHIELD databases. There must be something about the energy signature of the Tesseract in SHIELD's books. It gives out trace amounts of gamma radiation. I want you both to figure out a way to track it down. In the meantime, Randall, piggyback on SHIELD's facial recognition systems and see if any improvements can be made to the process." 

He could tell Tony and Bruce had a lot of questions but they didn't have a lot of time so they complied and went away, into deeper sections of the base, to work on their tasks. For the time being, for everyone's safety, he had mandated stay in the subterranean base, with Pepper and Betty keeping Bellina company.

"Randall, I believe we have a hotline directly to the President?" He asked Randall who immediately began setting things up, with data being thrown around in so many different directions and into all the undersea fibre cables, making it impossible for them to track them down.

The call rang for a few moments before it was picked up by the President, "hello? Is this the Invisible Man?"

"Yes, Mr. president. We have something very important to inform you. I assume you have already been informed about Director Fury's death and the subsequent takeover of SHIELD?"

"Yes, it is indeed regrettable. I assume you are here to tell me about the terrorist attack?"

Those bastards. They didn't tell him about Loki?

"Um, sir. The Tesseract, it was stolen. Not by some terrorist but by Loki, brother of Thor, the one who arrived on Earth a while ago."

"What, that's nonsense. How did you come to know about the Tesseract anyway? That is only for the President's eyes and ears."

"That doesn't matter, Mr.President. I want you to call Pierce and ask him calmly, where is the Tesseract and get all the details about Loki's attack on the planet. In the meantime, also prepare the military for attacks at key locations. I would suggest you either bunker down or come to Manhattan. Either way, please go underground."

"Why? What does this Loki have that has you so worried, Invisible Man? With your powers, you should be able to easily handle him."

"It is not just about power, Mr.President. Loki can control minds. He has taken control of some SHIELD agents with startling ease. We don't know anything about that particularly dangerous ability, so I would, once again, advise you to stay isolated and stay safe. Please, make sure that every agency is informed to be prepared."

The President nodded, too shaken and pale after being told that someone with mind control powers might be aiming for him.

Alright, with that out of the way, he had to figure out how to break the news to the Captain, or if he even wanted to break the news to him. He didn't have his shield with him. He was just now getting into a regular routine with Peggy's niece being his handler.

Pierce couldn't move either of them without tipping him off which is probably why they would be much safer here.

"We have a hit," Randall shouted.

"We have an 80% match in Stuttgart, Germany."

"Get Stark, tell him to use the Jet he has been building in secret. Take Bruce with you guys. I can't leave Manhattan yet. Make sure that you use ranged attacks first and at the first sign of mind control, unload all ordinance and leave. Alright?"

Randall nodded and ran to the labs.

In the meantime, he was making sure that the underground tunnel was in perfect condition, with no irregularities on the surface of the road. It was made completely of concrete, but they had mats in regular intervals for people to relax in. He just hoped that it was used by the elderly, the pregnant, the children instead of the entitled.

Something to think about later on.

Tony and Bruce, along with Randall, were express transported to the basement levels of the Stark Tower within seconds by the fastest transport service in all of Manhattan, i.e., by yours truly.

They should be up in the air in less than 30 minutes and then about 2 hours in Tony's new repulsor tech jet.

Hopefully, Loki will still be there by then.

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