As a preteen when I first watched the first Ironman movie, a nagging question had settled in my mind. How far can human science and technology go and what would a society in that stage look like?
When I found myself in the Marvel world, where extraordinary personal strength enough to warp reality exists, the pursuit of finding the answer to my question almost seemed futile. But this futility further strengthened my resolve to see it through in this Marvel world.
I wanted to see humanity go beyond Tony Stark and Reed Richards, even further than Kang who conquered multiverses, even beyond the Beyonders who remain outside the multiverse, and maybe beyond the One Above All as well.
I'm living proof that there are worlds beyond Marvel. So how far can humanity go? Where does science end? I wanted to be able to watch this and be a part of it.
Of course, I will not give up on a chance to become extraordinary. I need to be alive to be able to see all that after all. Thankfully, this is the Marvel world, there are multiple ways to gain extraordinary power here, and I happen to be someone who knows quite a few of them.
The door to my office was suddenly pushed open and Sage walked in, breaking me out of my thoughts.
"Find anything?" I asked her as she walked to my desk wearing a professional corporate suit and skirt.
"No. We have found 18 that match the age range and general description but we can't be sure if any of them is the one since there is no photo or any specific descriptions." Sage sighed in exhaustion.
"I should be able to find out. Let me see." I asked for the documents in her hand.
"How come so many kids go missing and nobody even cares? I had to shift through hundreds of files to filter out the ones in your hand you know?" Sage grumbled. It should've been a piece of cake with her abilities.
In a way, her powers are very similar to mine with her mind being faster than any computer and having a perfect memory. Additionally, she can see people's DNA and even activate the X-gene. So she is a walking strategic weapon in a way.
While thinking about Sage, I was flipping through the files until I felt a strong induction from cause and effect. Both the cause and the effect led to me. So I was sure this file was the identity of this body's prior owner.
Filed missing from an orphanage in Colorado, abandoned at the orphanage as an infant, Curly Red as he was called in the orphanage since he didn't have a name, was a mentally disabled child. He was sent to a psych ward at the age of 13 after showing violent tendencies.
Hydra should have picked him up a few years later and then he died under the experiments.
I could finally find out and let go of the past of this body. His parents should still be alive and I could probably find them if I wanted to, but I didn't. I don't know if I merged with him or replaced him but now, only Savant exists. And that's all that matters.
"You can stop looking into this now. We will continue with the plans that we have discussed earlier. Also, book my flight for tomorrow." I said to Sage as I threw away the files into the dustbin.
She craned her neck to see the files in the dustbin as she spoke, "Are you going alone? Don't you want to take me with you?"
"I need you here to handle the company until it is stable. Also, Doug Ramsey needs a familiar face when he arrives to join the company."
*******************
Arriving in New Delhi, the center of power in India, was a novel experience. It was different from Washington. Not in a bad way, the air here didn't feel as rotten as it did in Washington. This place had its problems too but it would take a decade or so to reach the level of Washington.
At the airport, I was picked up by a delegation sent by the prime minister's office. Being a rich guy has it perks, especially when you are going to invest billions in the country, the hospitality level rises sharply.
When most Westerners step into this country, they find poverty, social issues, spirituality, nature, and most importantly they find a sense of superiority over the 'backward Indians'. People in the West, especially in the US are blissfully ignorant that a world exists outside the bubble they live in.
But to me, this is the land of opportunity. A population of a billion with a large majority of them being youth below 25 years of age. This is a resource in itself. Then there is the fact that even with a conservative estimate, there are currently 3 million mutants in this country.
"If you play your cards right, you will be ahead of the US by a large margin within the next 15 years." I had just relayed the data and the possibilities to the Indian prime minister.
"Mr. Savant, I get the general gist of it but could you elaborate on what is it that you want to do exactly?" Prime Minister Rao inquired. But I could hear the impatience in his voice.
"I understand the norms of politics in your country Mr. Rao. I am going to draw a massive pie, enough to fill everyone up. But I need long-term cooperation so it'd be great if we could arrange a meeting in the presence of all the party leaders in opposition as well." I was blunt.
I didn't want my projects to be halted midway just because the ruling party of the country changed in a few years.
PM Rao frowned but nodded, "I will try my best to convince them."
I shook my head, "Mr. Rao, it's a pie worth hundreds of billions, even trillions of dollars. I could go to China as well, in fact, they have better conditions for my project. I just don't like their politics so I'm in India. As the Indian saying goes, you don't kick away the money that's rolling home right?"
PM Rao nodded and agreed. Whether he was looking out for the development of the people or for the pockets of the politicians, it didn't matter to me. With my current ability, money is just a tool for me.
On my way back to the hotel, I saw a guy showing off his levitation amidst a crowd of spectators. Not the fake kind, real levitation.
I asked my driver Rajeev in Hindi, which I had learned perfectly during the flight, "Rajeev, what do you think of the mutants?"
"Oh Sir, I was surprised you speak such good Hindi. By mutants you mean the Blessed? Oh, they are amazing, they have all kinds of powers from god's grace…"
It was interesting. Most Indians divided the mutants as Blessed and Cursed. Blessed were those who had extraordinary powers and Cursed were mostly the villainous ones but unfortunately the ones with visible deformities were counted among the cursed as well.
The highly religious nature of India along with its culture of prioritizing familial bonds ended up creating an environment where the mutant hate was way more muted in India than in the US. It probably helped that there wasn't anyone to stoke the flames of hate all the way across the Pacific.
I also learned about the Indian superheroes from Rajeev. Although there weren't any formal teams like the X-men, there were quite a few heroes who took up the fight for justice. Usually in the name of a certain god who resembles their powers.
Apparently, Rajeev's favorites are Shaktimaan whose name literally means powerful, and Doga, an interesting hero who wears a dog mask and mercilessly murders any criminals that happen to fall into his hands. Both of them allegedly were not mutants.
I was a little interested in this mercenary hero called Doga. He reminded me of Punisher somehow. As for Shaktimaan, he is supposed to harness chakra which I assume is similar to or the same as Chi.
That reminded me, there should be quite a lot of Chakra/Chi practitioners in India. I'm almost certain that the Indian government has a special task force comprised of these practitioners.
So much to explore, and so much to find out, makes me very excited. I asked Rajeev to take me around the most famous temples in Delhi right away. I wanted to see if I could find any chi masters. Although I don't plan to use it, it's always good to learn new skills.
But despite a long sightseeing tour of temples that I extended to the next day as well, I didn't find any chi masters.
I did feel stupid though. I was no different from the typical tourists who expect to find profound sages and spiritual enlightenment right after getting off the plane.
On my third day in India, in a grand conference room, there were about 25-30 men seated each forming their own cliques and discussing something.
When I walked into the room the noise died down but low murmurings could still be heard. I walked to the front of the table and cleared my throat to gain their attention.
Then I began my talk in fluent Hindi, "Greetings gentlemen. I'm Savant Smith and I'm here to paint a picture of a beautiful future for you. You might've already heard about my discussions with the PM. So, I'll get right to it.
I have a plan, a plan to turn India into a powerhouse in scientific and technological innovation within the next two decades."
***********************
Thank you for all the support guys. Send more stones and comments, I feel my creative juices flowing with all the encouragement!
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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."
***********************
"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.
******************
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.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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?
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Like it ? Add to library!
Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
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