Chapter 21: The Mandarin Meets Tabuu
A few days after receiving the location of the Mandarin.
'Okay, time to get ready to fly over to the Mandarin's home.'
I slowly drop my human form, I grow longer, and then a horn starts growing out of my forehead. After the horn, I drop to all fours and my clothes melt into my body as dark blue feathers start to grow from my back. My face elongates and my eyes grow larger. My hair grows longer and a tail sprouts from the tailbone. After the transformation is over what is left is a dark blue Alicorn with a black mane and tail. I stand around 6 feet tall from front hoof to horn.
Rio: "Ah, it always feels nicer to be in this form. No stuffy clothes and the wings that allow me to feel the freedom of flight. Let's check to make sure the Mandarin is home."
I pull out the Palantir and begin scrying the Mandarin's location. I see him sleeping in his bed with his wife next to him. I begin by transporting myself from my base to Tibet via the Astral Realm. Once I arrive in Tibet I begin flying to the Mandarin's home. Once I arrive I approach the outskirts of the property and sneak close enough to deposit the Subspace Bomb. Once the bomb is in place and I confirm the Mandarin is still asleep I activate the bomb and it begins its 3-minute countdown.
'That's my cue. Let's get out of here.'
I teleport into and out of the Astral Realm to my base where I use the Palantir to watch what happens. A little under three minutes pass and the bomb activates. The Mandarin doesn't even have time to wake up before he is swallowed up by the bomb. I watch the massive Subspace bubble and shudder at what is probably on the other side of that.
'I never want to use a Subspace Bomb again. I can't risk something like Tabuu entering this realm or something even worse than him. It sucks I couldn't get the rings for myself but I always thought they were a little tacky looking. Sauron knew how to make a nice-looking ring. Simple yet with fine details and most importantly unless you knew what the ring was you would just ignore it as a simple gold ring. My ring is similar just a simple silver ring design.'
Meanwhile In The Subspace Bubble...
The Mandarin wakes up with a start as he looks around and sees nothing strange but feels that something is wrong. He looks out the window and sees a blue human-like giant with a black orb in his chest. All around this man is a swirl of black, red, purple, and blue.
Mandarin: "Why have you brought me here?"
The man doesn't say anything but seems to have been awakened by the Mandarin's words. I look down at him, grow 2 butterfly-like wings, and close in on himself before exploding in a flash of red.
Mandarin: "Wha-"
The Mandarin dies before even realizing what happened or being able to activate his rings. This attack also erases everything inside the Subspace.
Outside The Subspace Bubble...
The bubble begins to recede and then pops out of existence and with it so does the mountain top disappear. I look on with my Palantir for a while to make sure nothing escapes. After a bit of watching I see an orange portal open and through it, the Ancient One appears. I simply watch as this is my first time seeing who the Ancient One is.
'I can at least confirm it is the one from the MCU so they are going to die soon. So I guess they felt the disturbance caused by the bomb.'
The Ancient One casts a few spells then stops and leaves.
'Hmm, I don't know their way of spellcraft perfectly but I can gleam that the spell she just cast was some sort of dimensions-related spell. I guess she was making sure that this wouldn't happen again. The other spell was a life-detecting spell or at least I think it was. The last one was a counter-scrying spell, or maybe a notice-me-not-kind of spell. If she has left I can confirm there are no survivors so I can move on. Now that I think about it can I spy on the Kool-Aid Man with the Palantir? Only one way to find out.'
I use the Palantir to find the Kool-Aid man. Once it locks on to his location I am confused as it shows a prison with a massive hole in the wall.
A Few Minutes Prior...
Prisoner 1: "Trust me this will work."
Prisoner 2: "Yeah but why would we escape, statistically every successful prison escapee gets caught within a week and then gets more time in jail for escaping."
Prisoner 1 knocks Prisoner 2 out and looks at the others.
Prisoner 1: "Does anyone else have anything to say about my plan?"
The other prisoners shake their heads.
Prisoner 1: "Good now let's start. You over there say it."
Prisoner 3: "Kool-Aid."
SMASH
Kool-Aid Man: "OH YEAH!"
All the prisoners start to make a run for it as Prisoner 3 stays behind as the Kool-Aid Man gives him Kool-Aid. In a cup, he now has somehow.
Present Time...
I look on as multiple prisoners are running out of the hole in the prison wall. I then see the Kool-Aid Man walk out of the hole and vanish right in front of my view. The Palantir then switches views to a nice home. Sitting in a recliner chair is the Kool-Aid Man.
'Huh, I didn't think he had a house he lives in.'
As I was thinking of how nice the house looked a car smashes through the wall with a passed-out driver.
Kool-Aid Man: "Oh, yeah I see how that can be annoying from the other side of things."
'Wait did the Kool-Aid Man just speak words other than Oh yeah. I thought he was basically a Pokemon and that was just how he talked.'
I look back and the Palanir is blank.
'The only reason it would do that was if he was in another dimension. Whatever I guess I just got to see more into what the Kool-Aid Man does on his time off.'
I check the time time and see I need to be at that meeting at Oscorp in 30 minutes. I put away the Palantir transform back into a human and get dressed before heading to the pickup point. It only takes a few minutes after I arrive to see a car pull up and open its door. Inside is Lex. I get in without a word.
Lex: "Merry Christmas and thank you for your help with this. With this move, LexCorp is well on its way to being number one in the weapons trade."
Rio: "Merry Christmas and what we do today is for the betterment of the Earth."
Lex: "Yes all for the Earth. I have got the materials you needed from Seto. We agreed I should get them as it would be easier and draw less attention that way. They are in that brown briefcase."
Rio: "Thank you. I have been waiting to get these for some time. I will show you the end results when I am done constructing them. Also are you available on Christmas Eve I was planning a nice get-together with everyone."
Lex: "I should be free on Christmas Eve, and I would love to join you. I will need to think of a suitable gift as I heard your birthday is right before Christmas."
Rio: "Answer this riddle and you will find the perfect gift. The best gift is more precious than gold, but it cannot be sold. When it breaks, it's not ended, for quickly it's mended. It can never be bought yet is easily sought."
Lex: "Hmm, I haven't heard that one before. I will keep it in mind."
We chat about little things until we arrive and I stop saying anything to make it harder for anyone to notice me. We get to the meeting room and I slip to the back of the room to hopefully only subtly sway their thoughts.
Board Member 1: "Norman, I am confused as to why you called this meeting and invited Mr. Luthor here. No offense Mr. Luthor."
Lex: "None taken."
Norman: "I have called us all here to propose a sale of the company to Mr. Luthor."
Half of the Board shouts in shock.
Board Member 1: "Why weren't we made aware of this before coming here?"
Norman: "You are mistaken, over half of you already knew about this and have agreed to the sale. We are just looking for more signatures."
Board Member 1: "This is outrageous. Why would we sell the company to LexCorp they are smaller than us."
Board Member 2: "Exactly we should be buying his company, not the other way around."
I use the Force to subtly make the non-verbal members calm down and reconsider the deal. I then not to Lex.
Lex: "Then let's see if anyone else disagrees with the sale."
Norman: "All in favor of the sale raise your hands."
All but the 2 most outspoken raise their hands. Those 2 are shocked and realize they are now on their own.
Norman: "I believe with that the majority have it. 76% of the stocks to your 21% combined."
The 2 who refused to agree were surprised and confused allowing me to more easily influence them.
Board Member 2:" I change my mind I will sell."
Strangely the most outspoken seems to be absolutely unwilling to sell despite my influence. I would have to forcibly control him to sell and he would remember that. I couldn't leave a trace so I guess Lex will just have to do with what we get. I turn to Lex and shake my head. He just sighs.
Lex: "Very well. I believe these terms are acceptable to everyone. This will take at least a month to process. If you decide you want to sell your shares after all you know where to find me."
After discussing more things we eventually left and once we were in the car Lex sighed and talked to me.
Lex: "I never understood or cared for imbeciles with no vision of the future. That man was so blinded by his greed that he couldn't realize when to quit."
Rio: "I imagine he is hoping you will have to offer higher and higher prices to guarantee this sale goes through."
Lex: "Normally he would be right but that only applies if he isn't the only shareholder left. LexCorp is private so he will instead likely only get a small payout from Oscorp before it merges completely with LexCorp. Or rather it would be if he wouldn't be dead by tomorrow night. You see he apparently killed one of Kingpin's lieutenants and Kingpin doesn't let those kinds of disgraces go."
Rio: "Did he really kill the lieutenant?"
Lex: "Surprisingly yes. I was just as shocked when I learned about it. Apparently, he accidentally killed the lieutenant's wife and to keep things silent he had the husband killed as well. One of your droids recovered the info when they infiltrated his home. All I did was pass the information along to Kingpin."
Rio: "How can you be so certain Kingpin will get rid of him and so soon?"
Lex: "I know men like Kingpin, they can't allow any disrespect to their authority go. Kingpin can't bury this either or use a scapegoat as he already did as I released it to the entire underworld. He has to respond or he loses face. He will never allow that to happen if he can help it."
Rio: "Okay enough with this topic let's talk about my Christmas party. I have planned it for 2 pm on Christmas Eve. Bring anything you want to add to the party just clear it with Tex prior to coming as he is in charge of the security."
Lex: "Okay, if I bring anything I will let him know. I hope you don't mind me giving you a Christmas and Birthday present at the party. I will be busy on the 23rd so I can't deliver it then."
Rio: "No problem. Well, this is my stop so I will see you at the party unless we meet before then. Merry Christmas Lex."
Lex: "Merry Christmas to you as well Rio."
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Authors Note:
Credit to Raymond_Hall for the Prison break scene suggestion. I will probably never use a Subspace Bomb again and I have no particular plans to see Tabuu in the story again. Also, I know it isn't Christmas time at the time of writing this but Merry Christmas anyways, or whatever holiday you celebrate at that time of year. Until next time Ciao.
Also here is a picture of The Bewitching Bell
And One Of The New Alicorn Amulet
I forgot to add them in previous chapters.