The Sage of the Mind

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The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 97 [March 2012]

Wakanda [Time till Chitauri Invasion - 2 months]

–T'Chaka–

He sat in front of the Royal Council, waiting for the same thing that they were waiting for, desperately, for over 3 months now.

When the news had first reached them about Vibranium being used by the Invisible Man, they were not that shocked, since the man had practically demanded the proper methods to mould Vibranium from them.

It was also not that shocking to know what the Vibranium was going to be used for. What was shocking was the ease with which their scientists adapted to methods that had been refined over centuries and built some of the most accurate Vibranium fibres they had ever seen, well, if you took into consideration the primitive technology that they had access to.

The scientists at the Royal lab had gone over their plans dozens of times before presenting their conclusion to them.

Betty Ross would not survive the child's birth, and he had been, not quite devastated, but sad that a mother's life had to be traded for her child's, something that he knew that most mothers would do in a heartbeat.

Bearing the child of Dr.Banner, someone who was so strong that the Royal Lab theorized the Shield surrounding Wakanda to be the only option for reliably stopping him, was not something that could be done lightly, and yet, the couple had decided to go through with it.

The Vibranium fibres were a nice enough option if they just wanted to stop the Gamma Radiation from poisoning her systems. But that was not the only complication that Ms.Ross had at that point.

The baby's energy would be so bright, so strong that the internal organs of Ms.Ross would be damaged even before delivery and even more during the delivery. The amount of energy the baby must have consumed from his mother meant that Ms.Ross' body would be running itself ragged, as was evident by the quite frankly, abnormal, amount of food that Ms.Ross consumed on a daily basis.

They could not risk getting in depth scans aside from what they could take from their databases, because they were all under the umbrella of the Invisible Man but even from that data, his scientists were all but sure that the baby would be born, it would be hard for such a resilient creature to die, but the mother would not survive the operation.

Imagine his surprise when something out of the blue happened. Tony Stark somehow chanced upon a liquid that when he put on the Vibranium fibres and re-processed them using the sonic frequency formula that Wakanda had given to the Invisible Man, created fibres that did not look like natural Vibranium.

No, they were all glowing with white and yellow lights, the glow brightening and dimming.

His council had all but ordered the sample to be confiscated when the results of Dr.Cho's experiments with animals were revealed to them but he had silenced them all with one question.

"How?"

How indeed. That had silenced them all. After all, who wouldn't want to have something that could heal everything, even limb loss could be healed by the fibres at that point.

He was sorely tempted, as was every single old person in the room with him, but he was also realistic. What was the point in antagonising someone who was, very soon, not going to be limited to just one small part of the world, and could most certainly bypass all their shields?

The Invisible Man's conversation with the President of America had been most enlightening in that regard. He could just imagine the scrambling that the government and all their shady organisations were doing in preparation for what would most certainly be their end if the invisible Man chanced upon their activities.

Then, the operation happened. His agents had already been pulled out of Manhattan by that point because there was no point in endangering the WarDogs in an area that might sono turn into a warzone if Dr.Banner began rampaging.

They had been daring and had hijacked every single packet of data that came out of Manhattan at that point, by tapping into the satellites as well as the undersea cables. It was risky and bold but he wanted, no, needed to see the fibres in action.

And see in action, he did.

It was eye opening, what had happened that day.

With his own two eyes, he had seen someone turn from a normal baseline human into someone that not even the Black Panther could defeat. He also made the mistake of letting the Council be with him when the footage was being relayed.

That had almost caused a rebellion as the Council now deemed those fibres an important Wakandan artefact that had to be rescued immediately. And he would have agreed but once again, not possible for them, especially now since they knew that Ms.Ross had survived and was now capable of throwing around T'Challa and himself as if they were misbehaving kids.

The detailed reports had come in a month later and he could only lament at the events as it was stated that Ms.Ross would be mostly immune to the standard blasters they used on their raptors, along with bulletproof. She would also be impossibly fast and receptive to changes around her, so ambushing her was out of the question.

And without even taking into consideration the above facts, the most important fact was that they still lived in Manhattan, albeit they were much more outgoing now.

The live footage of the Fibres being all blackened when they were pulled out of Ms.Ross and then withering into thin air, not even dust, into thin air, was what finally calmed the Council down.

Further investigation revealed that the Invisible Man had a teacher who had given the liquid to Tony Stark at the Invisible Man's request, something that had put him right on the edge of a heart attack.

So, he had declared Invisible Man and Manhattan at large, a no activity zone. No Wakandan activity would be carried out in that city without his express permission.

Still, they had to know, the Lab had to know just how and why the Vibranium had withered as if it was rusted metal and not the strongest metal in existence.

So, they had been hounding the Invisible Man, almost begging for a meeting with the man personally so that they could discuss the incident and also, to see if the liquid could be procured at any cost.

Something like that could be like a second life given to the Black Panther whenever needed, even if it was a one use item.

Unfortunately, the man had been non responsive, even if they went through the so-called congregation that worshipped the man and manned his initiatives throughout the city.

It was the building of a whole new embassy in Manhattan and the rather sizable anonymous donation of over a 100 million dollars to his food safety initiatives that had the man finally responding to their calls.

He was sure that the new embassy would increase the scrutiny on their country but that was a risk he was willing to take, especially if he could secure something that might just make someone stronger than even the Black Panther.

And that was what they were gathered here to watch. He was supposed to have arrived 30 minutes ago but he was sure that the meeting would not be blown off.

"My King," He was brought out of his ruminations as the screen finally showed a paper avatar appearing on top of the Wakandan embassy flag. The paper then shredded itself and arrived in the office of the only person present in the building.

They had many questions and he had already forwarded them to the most capable negotiator they had on hand, something of a rarity since Wakanda did not negotiate with anyone. 

It was simply not needed before.

If they could not get the liquid, which was most probable, he alteast needed some information regarding the Invisible Man and his future plans.

He was even willing to let the man visit Brinin Zana if he proved to be amicable.

T'Chalal would surely benefit from the support and benefit of such a person in the future.

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