Chương 10: Stabby Stab
Author here. Some of you seem to really dislike the name, Savant. Sorry, I can't change it this far into the story though. If it helps, think of it as the superhero codename for him. That was my initial idea for naming him Savant, based on his abilities just like the X-men naming schemes lol. I even referenced it a bit in a chapter. Also, I wanted a matching name with Sage because why not?
Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to throw stones at me for my terrible naming sense.
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In the face of benefits, people tend to become more attentive and focused. And after hearing my claims of making their nation a powerhouse rivaling others, everyone shut up and gave me their full attention.
"Let me ask you this first, what do you think of the mutants?"
"God's grace." "Powerful beings."
"Uncontrollable citizens."
"Danger to national security"
"Saviors of mankind."
All kinds of answers could be heard. Unlike in the US, there were quite a few positive answers. Which was surprising to me. Despite the differing opinions of the public, the considerations of the leaders are always from a higher point of view.
The leaders have to consider their own interests, the stability of their rule, the future as well as the continuation of their legacy and country. So when there are multiple voices of support for the mutants from the leaders of a nation, it is a big deal.
After taking their opinions, I spoke, "How I view mutants is a little different from you all. For me, mutants are a unique resource, an opportunity even. If we can utilize this resource well, what we can achieve as a civilization is a giant leap into the future."
My thoughts might've sounded radical to them. They probably thought I was some crazy scientist who wants to buy mutants or something. Their voices of dissatisfaction were growing.
"Let me finish before you draw conclusions, please. What I mean is, we can use mutants as human resources and integrate them into society and maximize the utility of their powers.
I'll give you some examples. Mutants that can manipulate energy are literal sources of clean energy. Mutants with mental abilities are geniuses who can advance scientific research. Mutants with power over nature can regulate the climate and even revive forests.
Mutants with space-related powers could make transportation convenient or even aid in mining asteroids. The applications and possibilities are limitless. And you guys hold the key to this power."
The national leaders had already drifted off into imagination, dreams of prosperity playing in their minds.
At this moment PM Rao brought everyone back to reality with a question, "What you say does sound amazing but Mr. Savant, how will you make these beings with great powers willingly work for us?"
"That's right, just getting some of them into the army and national defense needs us to exhaust all the moral rhetoric."
"Yeah, we can't possibly use morality on all of them."
"Why would someone of such power bow their heads to others?"
Some people echoed the Prime Minister's thoughts. I could understand their thoughts, not everyone had a righteous heart to use their powers for good. Much less use them for others' benefit.
"I have a two-pronged approach for this. First is education. Use education as your tool. Set up government-sanctioned schools for mutant children to train their powers and indoctrinate them with the idea of contributing to society.
Instead of separating them, incorporate them into normal society. Use religion to proclaim them as god's favored, promote the cultural values of family."
PM Rao nodded, "If we could integrate them into normal society and indoctrinate them through early education, we might be able to get a large portion of them to work for us. But still, that doesn't solve the problem that as they grow up with those powers they will also grow out of those teachings."
"Yes, and that brings us to the second part of my plan. Make them celebrities, and give them a large salary. If moral entrapment doesn't work, then why can't we have common interests to tie them up? They get vanity and luxury, we get the use of their powers. We make use of their powers to generate more money and a prosperous future." I answered.
While everyone was discussing the feasibility, one of the older leaders raised an issue, "While the education plan can offset some of it, won't making the mutants into celebrities increase the contradictions with humans in the long run?"
"It's impossible to remove those contradictions. Even if you do nothing, the differences will continue to increase. My plan will only delay it long enough until hopefully when the mutant population is fully integrated into the society."
The people present in this room weren't stupid. They knew the situation in the US where mutant supremacists led my Magneto still continue to harass the government. They grimaced at not having a solution.
I gave them another idea, "I suggest you adopt and groom some young and powerful mutants along with those righteous and patriotic ones to create a mutant law enforcement agency. This should also help deter any mutants with unnecessary ambitions.
I even suggest you let the mutants into the parliament. Give them the assurance that they have some say in the decision-making of the country."
My last statement caught the attention of everyone in the room. Although more tolerant than those in the West, these guys were equally paranoid about mutants ruling over mankind.
"Gentlemen, it's inevitable that more people will continue to evolve into mutants. Maybe you're thinking that if you let mutants in the parliament then by your grandson's time, mutants will rule over humans. But believe it or not, among you, at least one-third of your great-grandchildren are going to be mutants."
Helpless sighs filled the room. Someone said out loud, "Is the fate of mankind really coming to an end?"
This time it was the Prime Minister who answered, "The natural state of the universe is constant change. We humans evolved from Homo Erectus, the mutants evolved from humans and maybe someday there will be another species that evolves from the mutants. We can only adapt to the changes and move forward or be left behind times."
"But I don't understand how all this benefits you, Mr. Savant. I don't think you are doing this just out of goodwill."
I smiled, "Firstly, this would make India a safe and stable country where I can grow my business with ease of mind. If you know about the number of random acts of terrorism throughout the US, you would understand this point.
Secondly and most importantly, I want to recruit the graduated mutants from this program to my company. It's almost impossible to employ a mutant workforce back in America."
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"Yes, we reached an initial agreement. They need to discuss policies and laws before setting up all the departments and budgets. So the plan should be launched within a year or at most two. They are planning to overhaul the education system nationwide by applying the Teaching Assistant AI that I proposed." I reported the progress to Sage over a phone call.
"What about the proposals for the satellites and the manufacturing plants? Did they get approved?"
"Yeah, we can begin construction by next month. By the way, did Doug decide to join? We need him for the Internet project and for programming the AI teaching assistant." I was concerned. He was a genius that I really wanted on my team.
"Yeah, he came by a few days ago. But apparently, he just turned 16, so he can't sign a contract with us yet. I talked to his parents and they let him work on the condition that he continues his study and gets a college degree." Sage chuckled at the misfortune of Doug.
"With his powers, getting a college degree in Linguistics or Computer should be a piece of cake for him. So we don't have to worry about that. By the way Miss. Sage, missing me yet?" I teased.
Sage not to be outdone replied, "Why would I miss my boss who went on a trip while leaving all the work to me?"
"Well, I need you to be here by next week so I hope you can settle things on that side and make time for a couple of days."
Sage replied in a smiling tone, "I can hear it in your voice, you're planning something devilish aren't you?"
"You will find out when you get here." I smirked.
Just as our conversation came to an end, a gunshot rang outside my hotel room. I calmly took cover behind the bed while waiting.
Gunshots rang out for a while, with screams and sounds of things crashing and breaking mixed in intermittently. A few minutes after the sounds stopped, I got up and fixed my suit while a man in a dog mask walked in strapped with at least half a dozen guns.
"It seems your reputation is not unwarranted, Mr. Doga. Have all the tails been caught?" I asked the Indian crime-fighting hero whom I had hired as a mercenary to take out the tails put on me by the different organizations to observe me.
He grunted in affirmation to my question. It seems that the brooding, crime-fighting types like Punisher and Batman all love to speak in grunts.
I found that my activities were being monitored by Hydra, Hellfire Club, CIA, and SHIELD. To my surprise, I also seem to be in the line of sight of Hand.
So I laid a bait. I intentionally leaked the news that I hired a mercenary to move the technological blueprints related to cooperation with India. The operation began without giving them time to think, and I had jammed the signals within the area.
One mercenary carrying one briefcase, and multiple parties who wanted to get their hands on it. A little mental suggestion through telepathy and they jumped out right away outside my room.
It was a good thing I hired a reliable guy at the top of his game. His moniker and mask don't have a dog for no reason, the man was a hound. The agents tailing me were eliminated by him within a span of a few minutes.
"The payment is in the bag over there. Now, would you please be kind enough to stab me in a non-lethal way before leaving? The security should be arriving any second."
Right as I was done instructing him, he didn't even question it and brought out a short knife and proceeded to stab me. Then he casually walked away with the bag of money.
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In the Indian PM office, the Ambassador of America Rob Hendricks, was frantically trying to calm the enraged Indian ministers.
"Calm down Mr. Rao. As I said earlier, those assailants had nothing to do with our government. They were not acting on our orders, they must be some terrorist group. Besides, Mr. Savant is a US citizen and renowned genius, why would we harm him."
At this point, the head of the Indian intelligence agency R.A.W., Kumar Nathan, threw a bunch of photos in front of the US Ambassador Hendricks. "Of the eight assailants found dead at the scene of the incident, at least four of them had been spotted going in and out of your embassy frequently from the time Mr. Savant met the Honorable PM."
Just when Hendricks was about to explain, the head of RAW added, "Our agency isn't dumb Mr. Hendricks, we know a CIA agent when we see one. While we don't know which other organizations are involved, you should know the optics of a blatant attack on Mr. Savant right when we were planning to sign a massive cooperation plan with him."
Hendricks was sweating bullets, "We don't restrict our citizens to make business deals with other countries, much less assassinate them over it. You can see the examples of Oscorp and Stark Industries. They have been doing business internationally for years."
The Defence Minister of India interjected, "Don't feign ignorance, Mr. Hendricks. We have already caught the spy who sent you the details of our cooperation with Savant Smith. It is exactly the style of Americans to try and eliminate anyone who could become a threat to your dominance on the world stage.
Savant proposed helping us get ahead in communication and education technology and he was assassinated days before the formal signing was held. Do you want me to list the known scientists you've offed like that in the last half-century?"
Hendricks couldn't refute it because assassinations like those were a norm for the US. But he couldn't just tell the Indians that the mission was never to kill but to let Savant do his thing while spies are used to steal the technology from the Indians.
No matter what he said, it would cause an international issue so he could only firmly deny that the assailants had anything to do with the US government.
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Note: I feel like I rushed the politics till here. I'm thinking I should flesh out the politics more in later chapters. Let me know if you guys want something like that.
Also, is the pacing too fast? Should I slow it down?
Would you guys like chapters from the POV of other characters like the Indian OC mutants and the heroes I included?
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PyteWriter
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