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 34 [December 2008]

–Axle Riddle–

Well, that smile was not good. If there was anything he knew about Stark, as he was now, fresh out of the trauma factory that was his initiation into the superhero world, he was, let’s just say, assertive. 

Ruthless would be a much better term but it was all in the economic sense, so that would not be apt. Tony would have to be. There were vested interests in making sure that clean green, unlimited, energy never made it to the open market. That was probably the reason Howard Stark didn’t pursue it that much, despite having the holy mother of all golden geese in his hands, in the form of the Arc Reactor.

Probably also the reason why there have not been that many advancements in the nuclear energy sector, despite this world being more advanced than his previous one in all the measurable metrics.

To that note, “What sort of deal, Mr.Stark?” He sighed, leaned back in his chair, and asked Tony. Since he had been outed anyway, there was really no point in making some false persona of being timid in front of Tony anyway. Not only would he figure it out within seconds, but it would also create a wrong image of him, especially since he was in Tony’s camp.

Tony blinked at the sudden change in his attitude but then soldered on and sat down on one of the chairs, Happy staying outside his office, standing guard and most likely, preventing anyone else from coming into his office. 

He was, of course, not worried in the slightest. While he could not exactly squish the suit that Jarvis must be piloting right on the edge of his awareness, he was more than capable of destroying it and every single weapon that Stark’s bodyguards have on them, within the span of a second.

All of that was contingent on Tony acting out, and using weapons in his city, which was next to impossible unless the truly worst happened because, well, the reputation of the Invisible Man preceded him.

“I know the money has to come from somewhere and while I have tracked some of it back to parts of Asia and Europe, the trail goes dark there. So, why don’t you tell me the people you are working for and I can make sure that you don’t go to jail or just disappear because you misused a lot of money from some truly powerful people? Trust me, kid–”

Tony stopped as he scoffed out loud at his statement. So, that was how he was going to do this. He was disappointed. Tony expected him to just be some patsy, a scapegoat for when the government or the almighty Iron Man came knocking, to shove all their crimes on a single person. Man, that was the farthest from the truth.

“Oh, Mr.Stark, I am not some patsy that my patrons have installed in this place. I built this place and as of now, I own over 10% of your company and not my patrons. At least, that much you can confirm using your superior skills,”

Tony’s eyes narrowed at that blatant provocation.

“Besides, I am not your enemy, Mr.Stark. With you holding on to the lion’s share of Stark Industries, the company will go in the direction you want it to, anyway. I, for one, happen to agree that, despite your myriad flaws, you happen to be the best person to decide how your company runs. So, I am not in it to impede you in any way.”

“Then what are you in for? Did you know about my kidnapping? Why else would you be buying stocks in a company that has been declining and was, for all intents and purposes, doomed to fail,” Stark asked him scathingly.

Well, wasn't that a loaded question? One that he had no answer for. All he could do was deflect then.

“Look, Stark, your company was valuable enough as is. With you back, I am sure it will reach even greater heights. Especially since you haven’t done anything to remedy the fall your stocks have been taking since you shuttered the weapons division, your bread and butter. You must have something on your mind to— Oh, excuse me, I have to take this,” He was howling inside at the prank he was about to pull on Tony Stark himself.

“Hello? Yes. Yeah, I told you, grab all the lots you can find, and empty the balance if you have to. I don’t care, today might be the last day we get it all for cheap. Yeah, text me when it’s done. Already done? Great. Bye.” He made a show of talking to someone on the other side of the phone and then after hanging up, he turned to Stark, who was also looking at his phone.

Oh boy, the smile on his face was very strained. He must have gotten Jarvis’ notification of another round of stocks being bought by him. He was sure that SHIELD must have picked up some stocks as well, especially since Tony came back. HE was of the opinion that he might have to deal with SHIELD, down the road, if they wanted Stark Industries to make them weaponry that he didn’t personally want to make.

Obviously, that plan was doomed since Tony himself must have taken measures against someone else to gain control over his family’s legacy.

“Ahem, so as I was saying, I am sure you have something to turn everything around so let me ask you, once again, why are you here? I am not going to just hand over the shares, just so you know,” He said with a completely straight face. He didn't know he did it but he managed to hold it in long enough for Tony to give him a truly venomous look before he stormed out of his office.

As soon as the door closed behind him, he howled in laughter. Ah, it was so fun messing with Tony Stark of all people, the quintessential hard to deal with person in the entirety of the MCU.

He could see Tony fuming as he entered his line of SUVs and furiously typing on the holographic keyboard that popped out of his phone. Man, he sure had all the good toys. Having that phone would be tempting but it would probably take ages for something like that to hit the open market and something tells him that Tony Stark would not be amenable to make a custom phone for someone who he believed was somehow involved in his kidnapping.

It was the logical conclusion. When the entire world was selling SI stocks, even Obadiah apparently, to later buy them at a lower price, he and his firm were the only people who were picking up the stocks in bulk, which slowed the fall but didn’t stop it. The only reason someone would waste tens of billions of dollars like that would be because they knew something others didn’t.

In this case, Tony’s kidnapping and his eventual escape. But what Tony maybe failed to realise was that Tony was supposed to die there, at least according to the offshoot of the Ten Rings that had taken him, hostage.

He was sure that the real, the Wenwu led, Ten Rings had nothing to do with the kidnapping, otherwise, Suit or no suit, Tony would not have been able to get out of that cave in one piece.

He tracked Tony at the edge of his awareness range, continuously typing on his phone before he left his range. As soon as that happened, the suit Jarvis was remotely piloting left the area as well, heading somewhere he did not know; it was out of his range.

In the meantime, he had scanned the entirety of Stark’s suit with such pinpoint precision that he could draw even the smallest of parts with ease. But what would be the point of that if someone didn’t have the means of powering it, The Arc Reactor?

He had read in the news that yesterday was the day there was a huge explosion, commotion, and spark of lightning, that took out most of the city’s power and the source was traced back to an experiment gone wrong at Stark Industries. That was probably Obadiah Stane dying.

This meant that any day now, Tony would go up on stage and declare himself as Iron Man. That was when he would finally turn a profit on his investment and it was not as if he would allow the old fogies to ever exit the company. They were bored in their high-up exiled abode and he was all too excited to hold a position of power in the company that would probably shape the future of Earth. 

Convincing them with some grandiose visions would not be hard and it wouldn't even be false assurances. Tony would make that come true, one way or another. All they had to do was wait, and time was something they had plenty of, considering they didn’t work, like, at all.

Only a couple of years left now, to the time he would be free from this city.

Now, let’s see what the love birds have been up to, for all the time he had left them alone and even given them privacy, deliberately not scanning that area.

It had been hours, their reunion must be done by now.

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