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 90 [May 2011]

Manhattan

–Axle Riddle–

It was nice to see Tony trying to get little Bellina's attention who was doing her best not to let her focus waver from the piece of pizza that Tony was dangling in front of her. Now, normally, doing that would be frowned upon, since babies can't exactly digest processed cheese or he should say, shouldn't digest processed cheese.

But the thing with Bellina was that she wasn't exactly a normal kid. Even at just over six months old, her development was comparable to that of 4 year olds, when it came to walking, talking, understanding stuff, etc.

But if one looks inside, they would find something totally alien. It was an entirely new biology set that has baffled more than one scientist. In fact, Dr.Cho was going to set up a permanent laboratory here in Manhattan, just for the chance to study Bellina, non invasively, ofcourse.

If anything even came close to hurting her, well then, he would be the first one to shred anybody who did that, to pieces, but by chance, if he missed (which he wouldn't), Tony would come swooping down, not just in his regular armours but in his "FUNUNCLE" armour, something that he built with extra space to house Bellina, just in case something happened.

It was quite cute, Tony trying to be the fun but equally responsible uncle, and Pepper's encouragement of that was a message in and of itself that Tony should probably get the act going faster.

Then there were the parents of little Bellina, Bruce, and Betty, both of whom were capable of individually wrecking apart cars with their bare hands, Betty with less screaming and shouting.

It was quite a chaotic delivery which he, unfortunately, was witness to, as little Bellina came into the world screaming, to make sure every person in the six block radius knew that she was born. It was so loud that a PSA had to be made the next day, telling the city about Bellina, which was quite a shocker, he had to be honest.

It was equal parts shocking and hilarious to see Betty just pulverize Bruce's hands during the delivery and to see Bruce actively control himself from Hulking out, which was only partially successful because Bruce's body continued to bulge and bubble with green mass but he never let his hand change, even if it must have been extremely painful to let Betty hold his already destroyed hand.

After all, Bruce could heal from pretty much everything and he did but the next day, he asked Dr.Cho, if Vasectomy was something that his body could regenerate from. Dr.Cho's reaction was equally funny as well.

After that, it was as if a switch had been flipped in their life, turning them from a couple who didn't see the sun for days at a time to a couple that went to two different public group activities in a day. Bruce built himself a small laboratory, with Tony being a personal investor and Betty occasionally worked there as well.

Last he heard, both of them were going to move into one of the floors into the Stark Tower once it was finished, as Tony had promised them lab space along with personal living arrangements, with special accomodation for Bellina and her very public status.

Oh yeah, Bellina was a social icon of America. Cute videos of her were made and circulated all over the internet in droves by her fans. 

It was equal parts adorable and equal parts disturbing because social media was being used as a weapon right in front of his eyes in ways that the normal person wouldn't even understand.

He wouldn't even let his children be in the public domain in the first place.

He had not expected Bruce and Betty to have such a public facing attitude when it came to their daughter and the fact that they did so just because of the trust they placed in the Invisible Man just melted his heart.

It was actually Tony's idea and thus, a dedicated social media team came once a week with ideas that Bruce and Betty either approved or rejected with Bellina required to be in Manhattan at all times, so that nothing untoward would happen to her.

Now, the entire world knew who Bellina was, her super strength, her absurd physical and mental growth with her ability to cry so loudly, that it would echo into the other part of the city, even though she would be far gentler with animals who somehow are attracted to her as if she was a disney princess.

And she might actually be one, because of the sheer light focused aura that she puts out at every moment. Due to the circumstances of her birth, Bellina constantly releases a stream of low powered CHI that helps with stress. Long Term exposure will lead to most health related issues being cleared, atleast that is what the Ancient One told him and Bruce.

Yeah, obviously, he had the little angel checked out by the Ancient One who told him that, even without any training or tapping into her father's lineage, she would grow up to become stronger than all the previous Iron Fists, which was not much of a compliment if one thought of the realm of power the Hulk usually operated in, but it was something that cemented something in his mind. 

Bellina was born as an evolved human. Her body could be used as a blueprint to see what the next evolution in human genetics will be. Her body was a "work of art" according to Dr.Cho and Tony because Bellina had some redundant organs, two hearts, a stronger nervous system, and an overly fortified spine. Some organs were doubled while some were outright missing.

It was quite bizarre if one didn't know the truth about her conception. 

Betty's body had not really evolved per se, it was only enhanced because she was already fully grown when the CHI infusion happened.

"Alright, little Bellina, it's time to go home." His paper avatar muttered as Bellina continued to giggle as she flew around in the air, donning the Superman pose while he used his phenomenal cosmic powers to entertain a child.

Sigh, what has his life come to?

She began laughing even more once he created a small air bubble around her and sped her directly to the incoming Banner and Ross couple who were holding a couple of shopping bags while on their way to their penthouse apartment.

Oh yeah, the couple had come a long way from their bank accounts frozen days.

They were raking in handsome paychecks from Stark Industries because of the work they were doing with Toyn on advanced sensors and life sciences, and the penthouse was a gift to them by What's-his-face Russian Billionaire once it became abundantly clear to him that the Invisible Man was much closer to this couple for some reason.

"Oh! Hi, Baby!" They didn't so much as flinch as Betty flung the ocean of bags she had in her hand on poor Bruce's body as she stepped forward to catch the missile that was her baby.

It was a common scene now, him pulling babysitter duties while the couple went on dates, worked on new technologies, made new friends, or just roamed around the city that they had begun to call home.

It was heartening to witness.

Which is why he rejected SHIELD's request for an extended medical scan of Bellina for the tenth time this month itself. There was no way in hell that he was going to let it fly and Fury probably knew that, that is why he must have green lit the request.

Probably was being oppressed by the World Security Council for it because previously, it was just about one Hulk, who, while powerful, could not be controlled.

Now though? It was about Betty, who was a very strong, bulletproof person who looked and thought just like a baseline human, which was basically a stronger super soldier, the wet dream of the American Military.

Not to mention Bellina, who would surely grow up to surpass even Betty, Tony had said so himself. Bellina was probably much easier to brainwash as well.

After all, they needed something to show for their contribution to the whole Betty pregnancy situation.

The Vibranium fibres, when they were pulled out of Betty after the pregnancy was done, came out blackened and then simply withered away after the operation, dashing many people's dreams about reusing them.

He still had a meeting with Wakanda over that. They must be curious about their invincible metal breaking apart at the seams.

He looked at his computer, sitting in his office, and thought, things would be very different in about a year or so.

2012 was fast approaching and he was ready.

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