Chương 63: AIM

Sorry for not posting yesterday. Was kinda down and off the internet. Also, it feels like the comments and interactions with this story are decreasing recently. Are you guys not enjoying the story? Let me know what you think.

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"In other news, Earth Academy of Sciences, aka EAS has been recruiting scientists from all over the world in hundreds of disciplines. According to Chancellor Doom, this organization will have sub-branches in every country and major cities with the best minds being filtered through to the top at EAS headquarters where they will work with other scientists to further the human knowledge and scientific exploration…"

The news was playing on the TV on the wall. It was the kind of wall-mounted TV in the late 90s where you only saw the screen and not the bulk of the large TVs of the time. The TV was surrounded by various small statues and trinkets placed on the open showcase.

The room itself was just an executive office, standard for any American managerial position at the top. Lavish wood furniture, large windows, squeaky leathery sofas, and the small mini-golf set at the side.

"See that? How great does that sound? It's like what we have been doing for sports but for scientists now. The best ones keep getting promoted to higher platforms until all of them find colleagues with similar aptitudes to work with. Of course, there will be exchanges across all the levels."

Savant sounded like a door-to-door salesman trying to sell vacuum cleaners as he explained how the new policy and the EAS worked. The room though was mostly silent except for the background noise from the TV.

Finally, one of the well-dressed men in suits decided to break the silence, "Impressive. But what has that got to do with us?"

Savant slowly shifted on the sofa, this made everyone in the room flinch and some even had their hands on their weirdly shaped weapons. It was kind of funny if someone walked into the room without knowing who these well-dressed men and women were and what the weapons that looked like movie props were capable of.

After adjusting himself on the squeaky sofa, Savant answered, "You see, I admire the brains of you guys. Advanced Idea Mechanics, AIM, the name sounds so futuristic. But at your cores, you are just scientists who need therapy misguiding other scientists into trying and failing at taking over the world over and over again."

There were audible noises of gritting teeth and even some angry grunts and growls in the room. "Are you here just to insult us? Don't think for a second that having Dr. Doom to support you doesn't mean we won't kill you."

"But you won't, you can't. Scientists fear Doom more than anyone. Let's face it, that silly title of Scientist Supreme you guys use, you know it belongs either to Reed or Doom. But Doom doesn't matter in this conversation.

What matters is that AIM was created by Hydra as a sister organization to support them. And now you have two choices, either submit to the new order or be wiped out like the guys who created your little organization."

While the people in the room went silent and were in thought, a rhythmic noise of something whizzing sounded as a voice drifted into the room. "And who are you to make us choose?" Modok, the giant floating head had crashed through the doors.

There was a collective sigh of relief in the room. As the scientists who had created Modok and were now being ruled by him, they had a lot of trust in the ugly giant head. If they had Modok to help them, they didn't think fighting off the heroes or Dr. Doom was too bad.

"Oh, right! Where are my manners?" Savant stood up and extended his hand to Modok, "My name is Savant Smith. It's nice to meet you."

Modok's already ugly face got uglier at Savant's attitude of not taking him seriously and even making fun of him. To scare off Savant, Modok fired a laser blast right at the feet of Savant. However, the reaction he had been waiting for never came, Savant just stood there with an extended hand as if the smoking floor in front of him didn't bother him.

"You have the courage required to be Doom's lackey, I'll give you that. But your threats don't mean anything to us. You might have wiped out those idiots, but we are not Hydra, we will not go down without a fight." Modok scoffed. He was trying his best to sound as haughty as possible.

"I would say, Doom and my relationship is more like a summoner and a summoned hero or maybe business partners. As for not being threatened by me, I apologize again. I seem to keep forgetting that a lot of people aren't aware." Savant shook his head a little in disappointment.

"Aware of what?" Modok asked involuntarily.

"This," Savant said as his eyes shone a brilliant gold color and he started levitating in the air. "I am quite threatening when I need to be. I just choose not to. I was taught to use words to resolve issues whenever I can, you see."

The moment Savant displayed his powers, alarm bells rang in Modok's mind as he started to throw laser attacks at Savant immediately. The other scientists in the room also ducked for cover before firing a few shots of their own.

Laser beams, freezing rays, molecular deconstructors, ion blasts, and all kinds of energy attacks were heading toward Savant all at once. Savant on the other hand just waved his hand and all the energy beams started to change forms and turned into different flowers of the same color as the energy beams.

To the absolute horror of the scientists, Savant was only showered with flowers instead of the massive explosions they had expected. "I love doing that. It always brings out the best reaction from people. How do you like my little trick?"

"You did instantaneous molecular reconstruction on all those different energy particles! How? That wasn't magic! You aren't a mutant. What kind of power is that? How can you even do that?" Modok's mind was going on overdrive trying to calculate how Savant did all that.

Savant chuckled, "I might not have a small car-sized head but my mind is technically the size of a star system. It is just simple calculations for me."

Although Modok didn't get the answer he wanted, he still got an answer. And Modok knew that answer was a threat issued by Savant.

The human part of Modok's brain wanted to flee, but mostly Modok held only deep curiosity about the powers of Savant. If he could capture and study Savant, he might be able to create an army to take over the world.

Modok sent out mental attacks and energy attacks at the same time to take down Savant as efficiently as he could but unfortunately for Modok, Savant just stood there without moving and let the attacks hit himself. The mental attacks didn't do anything but the energy attacks burned the torso of the designer black three-piece suit that Savant was wearing.

But even that was reforming right after the attack ended. And as his suit reformed, Savant floated toward the giant head that was Modok. Modok wanted to back off, but he tried to but a force was holding him in place.

Modok could feel it in his soul, the way Savant stared at him, there was nothing about himself that Savant didn't know, and he was as transparent as glass in front of that stare. Modok desperately attacked Savant who continued to brush them off with golden shields.

"Interesting. The way you were mutated and programmed might be a subject worth studying for those who are into biological computers." Savant was indeed seeing through Modok. With his information perception, Savant was studying every aspect of Modok.

"Let me see. To reverse the mutation, I'd need to rearrange the extra information in the DNA and remove the energy channels here. Oh, the brain is quite complex. I'd not try it on myself or anyone else really but I don't see why I can't use you as a training dummy." Savant mumbled and played around with the Modok as if he were just a toy.

Modok knew the look on Savant's face, he had seen it countless times on himself, it was the face of a mad scientist preparing to do something crazy. But no matter how Modok screamed, fought back, or tried to escape, he just couldn't.

"Now hold still. This might hurt more if you move around too much." Savant said severely with a serious look on his face that was rarely seen on him.

From their hiding places, all the top scientists and leaders of AIM looked at the horrific scene that was unfolding in the room. Savant had both his hands on Modok's temples and was focused completely while Modok was screaming out in pain.

Then they saw Modok's flesh begin to squirm and flex. His body started to twist at weird angles and the screams just kept on going. One of the braver scientists tried attacking Savant when he was distracted but all they managed was to burn Savant's clothes. After a few more shots, they gave up too.

And so, the scientists had to sit through a couple of hours of Modok's painful screams before something miraculous happened and instead of the giant head, there stood a man. It was George Tarleton, the guy who had been turned into MODOK.

"That was tough. Reversing something changed by the cosmic cube is not easy. It almost drained me completely." Savant complained and wiped off the sweat on his forehead.