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The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 75 [October 2010]
Manhattan
–Axle Riddle–
Damn, that is huge. He looked at the three tentacle monsters now standing in front of the lone trash monster that his powers had conjured up. Chunks of it were missing but that was not a big problem.
His powers worked as another few tons of matter were added to the trash robot, which then began marching towards the tentacle monsters when it became clear that all three of them were about to take off in different directions.
Could not have that in his city, now could he?
Well, things were going to be rough after this. The existence of this Cthulhu like monster was going to give many of the organisations worldwide, cult like organisations, more ammunition. And that didn't even take into account what the response of his cult, no- the people who follow him would be. God, things just couldn't be nice and peaceful until he could get Bruce and Betty a nice cozy beach retirement set up somewhere.
He winced as one of the tentacles missed his avatar and ended up slamming into a nearby street, puncturing a high pressure water line and also sewer lines as both of these things began pooling in the street.
That smell is going to take ages to wear off.
The good news was that his avatar was doing reasonably well…as well as it could, in holding off the monsters from rampaging through the city. Meanwhile, he was floating in front of the standoff, pouring more and more of his "amped up" energy as he liked to call his new form, into the Vibranium cutting tool he had on hand because the last stunt of cutting through that portal somehow drained the weapon of its energy.
He still could not sense any portal opening but Jarvis had assured him that he would be warned that in the millisecond a portal of any sort opens within a mile's radius of Bruce and Betty.
He had also spotted two afterburner marks, signalling the arrival of two more drones but no sign of Tony or his stupid smug voice and face anywhere. So, it would be safe to say that the man had not arrived yet.
Huh, Pepper really has him whipped then. No way was Tony Stark going to miss this sort of action but to be fair, he was really far away, and getting all the way here in just his suit was illogical and by the time his private jet made it here, the issue will most likely have resolved itself.
Seeing that the Vibranium block, which was now beginning to change shape, he had noticed, could not take any more of his psionic energy, he used his powers to create vines made up of building material and held off all the three tentacle monstrosities that the Guy Below had made for some reason.
For some reason, probably due to the high energy being generated over their skin, his powers could not "hold" the monsters as he would for normal people. It was as if his powers were trying to latch onto something that would just pass through the net that his powers were trying to cast.
So, he had to improvise. Destroy surrounding infrastructure to create giant hands and ropes to restrain monsters that would most likely irradiate and destroy that part of the city once they were destroyed.
Another option was to catapult them out of his range but he had noticed the way they shrugged off his glancing blows, capable of duking it out with his avatar, even in his amped up mode. He was not going to risk them getting out of Manhattan, where his powers would be even weaker.
Seeing the three monsters weakened and the giant avatar from before, crumbling due to the damage done to it, he let the Vibranium block which had now changed shape and turned into a ninja star, for some reason, into the air in front of him.
The reason was not important at the moment but the timing of the shape being formed was a very nice touch.
He could not hold the star conventionally using his powers either but it was as if the Vibranium had bonded to him and he could control it with a thought, without ever having to use his powers to do so.
He willed the star to begin spinning, creating a small localised star that gave off blue stars. The star then created a trail of energy as it whizzed towards the tentacled monsters. As if realising their demise was near, the monsters renewed their struggles but it was not meant to be for them.
He knew that because he was not there in front of them anymore. No, he was already recalling the ninja star that had already created hundreds of holes in the bodies of those monsters, because he was standing in front of Bruce who was standing in front of a heavily pregnant Betty, already turning faint shades of green.
All because of a small portal that had appeared right in the room where they were stashed away safely. He had a hunch something was wrong when the monsters were not healing their wounds nearly as fast as before and were also unable to exert much power on the vines imprisoning them.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw the two scrapped Iron Man suits and the hole in the door, and yet, if it were not for him seeing the portal with his own two eyes, he would have thought that everything in the warehouse was normal.
Even now, he could see all the other scientists in the other room, huddled together, with all the Guards. Jarvis piloted all three suits and kept a close eye on the entry, exit, and interior of the staff room where bEtty was kept.
Even as his powers continued to feed him that information, he ordered the ninja star to start cutting through this portal as well but the moment the star came into close vicinity of the portal, the unthinkable happened.
Like lightning, a hand shot out of the portal and grabbed the star and then, with a thunderous crack, broke the fucking Vibranium with its bare hands. The backlash of that happening was immense to him as he began bleeding through his ears and mouth, his vision dizzy and his ears ringing as the hand grasped the edge of the portal and pushed.
He staggered back and actually had to be held upright by Bruce as he saw the portal slowly expanding.
While this was happening, he could see the blood of the tentacled monsters flowing deliberately into the sewers without anything there to stop him. His mind felt so weak and fuzzy, that he could not muster up enough force to stop that blood from contaminating everything in the city.
The portal was clearly unstable now because there were fissures of lightning occurring around the portal but the hand seemed to be determined in widening the portal for some reason. He didn't know why because at this point, even the Hulk could have walked through that portal, provided he hunched his back and walked.
He slowly straightened himself as his somewhat enhanced body began repairing itself. His mind was still shaken from the link between the ninja star, which was probably some sort of bonded weapon at that point, and his mind being broken so abruptly.
He took a step forward as blue flashes of barriers appeared on his body but he was evidently unable to sustain it as he dropped down to his knees within the next moment. He was about to try again, not knowing what else to do to save Betty, but as if his prayers had been answered, orange filled his vision as he saw some squiggly lines on the ground and then happily passed out, uncaring of the fact that he was still covered in only a flimsy piece of blanket.
That cheap blanket being the only thing stopping people from outing his hidden identity. But at that point, he was way too injured, dazed, confused, and out of fucks to give, to care about that. He just welcomed the darkness that claimed his vision, the last scene that he managed to see was a giant orange circle to light up underneath the portal, as pure white chains wrapped themselves around the hand as well as the portal.
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