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The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 37 [December 2009]
–Axle Riddle–
It had been over a year since the day he offered Bruce a place to stay. It had gone swimmingly since then.
For one reason and one reason only, Betty Ross had agreed to stay with Bruce, for however long it took for Bruce's condition to get better. Now, he was aware that Betty Ross was in occasional contact with her father but she had never hinted at anything that could lead back to Bruce but the thing was, the General might be brash and stubborn, but he was not a fool, well, not that much of a fool. The man also contacted her, once a month, on the 15th day, like clockwork.
So, General Ross probably knew that Bruce was in the one city where he couldn't reach him. Not just him, but no police, no FBI, and nothing will be able to reach him. The only way someone could capture Bruce was to bring him out of the safe zone he had built around Manhattan.
And for that, they needed leverage. And where would they bring said leverage from?
General Ross and his allies made no mistake in destroying Bruce's life's work. He had no academia left, no family left, no friends left, nothing.
The man had nothing to lose…except Betty. And that was the only card that Ross had to lure Banner into a trap.
And he had made sure to hammer that into their minds, the only reason Ross could contact Betty and ask her to come out of the city, would be to lure Bruce out as well. So no matter how rough things would become, he had all but ordered them to stay put and not step one foot out of his range.
And so far, things have been going pretty smoothly. They had relocated Bruce to a bigger duplex, instead of just a two-bedroom apartment. The duplex also had lots of windows, so lots of natural light in the room, making it not dreary.
Bruce didn't step out much, even though he could guarantee this safety. BRuce's reasoning was that he could not risk it. Betty was the one who did all the outside chores and Bruce was the one who maintained the house.
Yeah, they had turned into the stereotypical white family, only living in a house that 99% of families would not be able to afford. It was a huge duplex penthouse, with all the amenities imaginable, with its own patio, gym, sauna, theatre room..everything.
Once again, his dubious billionaire friend who is afraid of heart failures, came in handy when he needed a very nice home for his friend to move into. The expanded space gave Bruce some form of freedom as he moved about his apartment.
As you can imagine, the task of maintaining such a huge place was humongous but apparently, Bruce was all too happy to do it. His body had gained some characteristics from his Hulk form, as was evident by simply scanning his body.
Denser muscles, Denser bones, increasing muscle mass, greater lung capacity, lower heartbeat.
Somehow, Bruce was shaping into a pretty decent-ish enhanced person, even without transforming into the Hulk. Well, that was a surprise and a half. He was also gaining height somehow.
Now, Axle assumed that it would be good news for Bruce, considering that he was getting some of the enhancements he had as the Hulk, without all the mental changes.
Turns out, not so much. Bruce had pretty much freaked out the moment he was told that his base form was starting to gain characteristics similar to that of the Hulk. Maybe, he should have worded it better but Bruce had taken that as him becoming the Hulk permanently, losing his mind and identity in the process.
Safe to say, Betty had glared at a screen very hard, as she had furiously typed expletives at him, warning him to put all information through her first, before telling anything to Bruce.
He had backed off immediately, obviously. It had taken almost a month for Bruce to come out of his shell. The man had serious mental health issues that needed to be resolved yesterday but who could he consult?
There was no therapist that focused on the trauma of super powered individuals, as far as he knew. And even if someone like that did exist, Bruce would not have gone there.
All in all, Bruce was happy where he was, doing what he was doing. He had never had an episode for the entire year he had been living in that apartment, wanted for nothing, and didn't have to work for a living.
He had even abandoned his research regarding creating a cure for the Hulk. That was good, in the sense that he was not afraid of the Hulk anymore.
Now, onto other things.
He had expanded his range, a lot, in the past year alone. He could now cover part of Brooklyn and Queens, the majority of the Bronx but nothing on Staten Island.
That was quite an increase in a year and he was proud of all the work he had put into it. He wagered that by this time next year, all five boroughs will be in his range. With an increase in his range, came an increase in the amount of force he could exert outside the Orange curtain that surrounded Manhattan.
He could now finally throw around cars, outside of his range as well. Well, only in the periphery of Manhattan but even that was a win.
As one could imagine, the crime rate had dropped drastically across the areas he had access to. Organised crime, in particular, was down to historic lows.
His second mind could somehow process all of that extra information without even breaking a sweat, at least he thought so. He didn't feel any extra strain on his mind even when he tried to increase his range further.
His body had come along swimmingly as well. He could now bend metal.
Yup, he had bent the rebar with his bare hands. He could run very fast and go without sleep for days now. Not that he did the last thing.
He needed his beauty sleep.
He had half expected Tony to just drop in for a talk, especially since he had not met the man even once during the board meetings, but he had not made a peep in his direction. Obviously, he was more than aware that Jarvis was probably constantly spying on him but that was fine as well.
It acted as an exercise for him, to not show any outward reaction while doing all sorts of stuff with his mind. He was sure that he had the AI fooled for now, mainly because of the greater control he had over his body language.
Really, books were such a cheat once you knew that you could literally shape your mind and body with the knowledge found within.
Tony would probably leave him alone as long as his stooges continued to say yes to every plan that Tony would bring to the table.
That would change though, once Tony showed signs of the madness brought about by the knowledge of his impending death. That was when he would make the motion to have him ousted and have Pepper Potts become CEO. He was unsure if it would have any impact on their eventual romance so he had held things off.
From the looks of it, the Monaco Grand Prix was scheduled for early next year, so he had a bit of time before he could make the motion.
He had not heard from the Ancient One or from Master Drumm who had gone to, get this, vocational school for the Masters of the Mystic Arts.
Yeah, apparently there was this whole other world of magic where one could learn obscure magical languages, arts, and lessons for certain fees.
That was something that was never covered in the movies but it makes sense. The magical history of Earth itself was vast and rich, so there was no way that Kamar Taj, being the single oldest human founded organisation on the planet, did not have connections with lost magical civilizations.
"Hmm?" He perked up as he pretended to look at the street below, from his balcony when, in fact, his mind was focused on the man that just entered the edge of his range, in the Bronx.
The person's physical characteristics were off the charts, and somehow, he was radiating some sort of energy field around him as he walked through the sewers underneath. He failed to recognise the face but he could identify similar markers in Bruce as well.
So, Ross sent someone then. Time to see if this is Blonsky or not.
But before that, he had to let him come closer, in his range, so he could hold him still and then decide if he was worthy of being spared or just being ripped apart.
It was a good thing that Fury left Random Beautiful Agent 1 in the safehouse. He could contact Fury once again through her and this time, he hoped that she would not faint at the sight of a floating pen.
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