Chp. 92 An Intellectual Gathering

After the incident in Asgard, Loki Odinson was faced with the same punishment of that of his brother. Banishment on Midgard as a mortal, but things were much more different for the young Prince as he was faced with the great cruel reality of finding a job.

Now the once proud and noble prince of Asgard is toiling away in the busy workplace of the establishment called, Wafflehouse.

Right now Loki was totally confused as he looked at the mayhem in front of him. At the moment he is watching a young teenage boy fighting against drunk customers and was even winning in a 3 v 1 battle.

'I must admit, midgardians have a knack for battle. Too bad they are weaker than most other beings in the universe, such grit and bravery would have gained them my favor should I have been king of Asgard.' Loki thought as he manned the waffle maker.

The Scuffle was brief as the troublesome customers were thrown out in a minute or so.

"Man, these frat dudes don't care about decorum at all in these parts." The young man said as he wiped the sweat on his forehead as he returned to being the cahier like nothing happened.

"I must say young Richard, your skills in battle surely would have been appreciated in the halls of Asgard. You fight like an Einherjar with great ferocity, those brutes would have loved you." Loki said not caring about the weird looks given to him by the other employees but they did not mind.

A weird co-worker tends to appear every once in a while at work. Loki being recently accepted was not much of a bother to them, it was just he was really weird since he did not have much when they first saw him.

"Man, you've really got hit in the head hard huh? Not only do you have Amnesia but also a bit wonky in the head too." The young man, called Richard looked at Loki with pity since they all thought that this guy might just have been mugged and lost all his items including his ID.

"Hit with a hammer most likely… my brother has quite a mean swing." Loki said but only murmured the last part as he served the newly cooked waffles.

"We haven't introduced each other properly, I'm Richard by the way, Richard Rider. I still go to the nearby highschool." Richard said as he nodded at Loki.

"Loki Odins… just Loki, I am still not sure who I am." Loki was still conflicted about his true nature so he hesitated in speaking his full name, but his co-workers thought that this was just confirmation this guy has amnesia.

So throughout the time he was here they did not bother him much about it, they were all struggling in life anyways so they feel a bit of camaraderie to the brooding Asgardian prince.

Loki has been on Earth for a few days already and was lucky enough to get a job when a rather kind manager of wafflehouse found him in an alleyway seemingly delirious and approached him suddenly that made the manager punch Loki in reflex.

Apologetic that he hurt the guy, that manager helped Loki by giving him a job as he thought as well that Loki has amnesia as well, also helped him in finding a nearby cheap place to rent.

Though he still finds Loki's manner of speech weird, he felt that maybe it was just a side effect of getting his brain jogged from being hit hard.

Though he had a hard time teaching Loki the ropes at first, he found that the guy had a sort of perfectionist mind when they let him handle the waffle makers.

They discovered that the waffles they sell were gaining them more customers so the manager was glad and even gave Loki a slight raise.

So customers lined up but this also caused more trouble makers to appear, but somehow the manager was not worried.

Loki still brooding just did what he could to survive and since he could at least get enough to even pay rent made him stay in this place called a fast food restaurant.

Even brief, his time here made him experience many things that he never had when he was a prince in Asgard. Good things, Bad as well but it calmed him down a bit.

What he did not know was Paul was watching over him as well but he did not interfere or anything, just made sure the prince was fine and is living a normal life.

He is just one of the people Paul has placed a watch on, as he had found many mystical and interesting things when he had scanned the planet.

Yet right now Paul has much dire matters to attend as he has with him a being he could not detect until he had the help of another being that could see what was gnawing at his mind for days.

Now he sat at the Man-cave where he received the weekly report of the Ai he had built to monitor the situation within the Underground City.

In his hands was a bronze Celtic Torc necklace where a dark starry gem was adorned, this was what the Watcher has given him to lock in that being that had been attaching to him.

As much as he is thankful that he got the powers he has, learning that this guy might have enemies and might be looking for him which also seems to be the ones responsible for the death of his world, made Paul a bit apprehensive.

From the words he heard he could tell that he has not yet reach the limits of the strength that should have been granted to him by the thing called the 'Wishing Well.'

Yet even then there were entities out there that seemed to be much dangerous and stronger than he had ever imagined, so he did not want to get rid of this stow-away on his body yet.

But he cannot keep him too near as well since he did not like being peeped on in any of his activities, not being able to tell if the person was lying or not was making Paul uneasy.

He had the mind to let go of his past already but it seemed that it might haunt him even when he is here in his new life.

"*Sigh* Why am I fussing over this matter? It might be a long time till then before I could ever hope to have a chance in getting payback for what happened to my home…" Paul laid back on his chair as he looked at the various screens showing various possible metahuman sightings in public.

But even then his minds were on a few keywords he heard from the so called Djinn. The 'Wishing Well', The Multiversal God, existence of the Many-angled ones similar to the one he met before and that it was not one God who was responsible for his home's destruction.

'Old man of theirs… that's what he said which means that there were a lot of beings involved in that matter.' Paul closed his eyes and remembered Uatu's words.

{This is what is left of a Universe, it was once a battle field of certain beings since no life exist in this world anymore. Though it used to be a dark land, pure powers were used to defeat the one that caused all the deaths in this Universe, so this being here powered by Sin would have a hard time gaining his powers back…} Uatu's eyes were a bit unsure then but he helped in forging this Torc in Paul's hands.

He even said that no energies of any kind from outside would get in without Paul allowing it. Paul thanked him a lot and even said he'll help him in a problem he needs his help with in the future if needs be.

*Knock2x*

"You can come in Ying Li…" Paul waved his hands and the large stone door slowly opened letting Ying Li, the mother of Shang Chi, walk inside and serve Tea to Paul.

"Lady Natasha has left sir, she said she'll be gone for a few days due to a mission." Ying Li still felt Paul could be considered a God as she had recently found something mind boggling.

"Thanks, what about Shanna? Did she say something before she went back to the wildlife reserve?" Paul sipped on the tea brewed for him while still looking at the screen.

"Nothing much, she just asked if she could have one of the terrariums for some animals she wanted to repopulate. It seems some poaching has happened and a few white rhinoceroses were killed. It made her a bit mad so she left in a hurry…" Ying Li liked Shanna since her affinity with wildlife would totally be liked by the beast of Talo.

"Really? Good luck to those guys then…" Paul pitied the poachers, he knew that Shanna now could be considered some sort of a Super Soldier because other than his 'care' there was also a special diet he placed Shanna and Natasha that they did not know about.

Other than the Super Soldier Serum, there was another method that enables a human to become somewhat of a super soldier.

Doctor Erskine had proposed this before, a special lifestyle with a monitored diet and proper exercise that would bring out the potential within the human body.

But the US government did not want this since they thought it was time consuming and preferred making instant Super Soldiers, so when Erskine was assassinated the government thought the method was inconsequential and let it get passed down to his family.

Now it finally ended up to his Grandson Brain Van Patrick who used the notes to develop a successful organic food business.

Now Paul was made aware that Brian was trying out the method on his son as he let him adhere to the diet since birth and results made the man want to raise his son into a super soldier.

The boy was only three but he can run as fast as a normal adult already, though not eye catching yet but from the statistics Brian recorded, one day his son would be as strong as Captain America.

And this was without any enhancements whatsoever, which means human kind could have become this strong if they did live their lives as to what was stated in the notes of Doctor Erskine.

But Paul just made a mental note on this family, but as he watched the screens he noticed Ying Li has not left the room.

"Is there a problem you wish to address?" Paul looked at the hesitating woman who was weirdly looking at her palm.

"Huh?" Paul took a peak and found a mark making him scan it a bit and realize it was a gift from Smaug, the dragon might be in a cat form but he can still use his mystical nature as long as it is not destructive.

"Sir, the cat Smaug, he doesn't happen to be the same Smaug Thorin and the others were talking about is it?" Ying Li was conflicted on the inside since she of all people know that there also exist other types of dragons but she cannot fathom how a dragon is staying in a form like that of a cat.

"You're wondering why he is a cat or is he really a dragon? Well yes he is one but also he is a cat because I made him one, I can't have his very large body lumber around my place." Paul did not put it to mind as he explained.

"I see, then thank you for clarifying it to me sir." Ying Li bowed and took the tray with her as she walked towards the doors.

"Ying Li…" Paul looked back towards the door and saw the woman stop to look back waiting for his words. "…you can use his magic as you will it, just don't accept the exorbitant demands from him if you can. Keep feeding him like it's normal."

"I will Sir." Ying Li nodded and took a small peek at the mark on her palm.

"Well, it seems the meeting is about to commence." Paul laid back again on his chair as he monitored the various activities in the world as well as that of his clones.

[????]

"Whoa, what was all that light show?" Tony Stark said as soon as he appeared on a rather dim hallway.

"Hello? Anybody in this creepy empty place?" Tony pressed a button on his watch and it transformed into a metallic hand glove.

"…"

"Okay creepy, why did I even agree in trying to meet this so called 'consultant'?" Tony walked on the hallway towards the end as he felt that maybe there might be someone at the end.

"Jarvis are you there?" Tony asked as his glasses glowed a bit.

"I'm still here sir." Jarvis' voice sounded out in Tony's ears.

"Can you tell me where I am right now?" Tony found himself at the end and looked at the turn where he can see a light at the end.

"I cannot sir, somehow I am still connected to the Satellites but I cannot pinpoint where you are sir." Jarvis said making Tony raise his brows.

"Great, did I just get kidnapped again? Well at least we are not in some dusty cave, wait am I underground?" Tony said as he walked towards the light source but it was then he heard music making him pause.

"Also it seems our host is quite welcoming, in a weird sort of way." Tony said but it was then he looked properly at the walls making him realize they were all metallic but his glasses seems to be not able to scan the materials used in it.

"Weird, seems like an old Star Wars movie set. Jarvis use deep scans on Earth maybe I am really underground, first they beam me up and now film set props are used." Tony looked at the walls and noticed the wirings and pipes on it making him more inclined that he is underground.

Tony slowly walked towards the light and saw that it was a large double door where some classical music can be heard.

"Something tells me this might be a bad idea, but also think that this is a surprise party just for me…" Tony ever the inquisitive one was a bit giddy as he wanted to know what was behind the doors.

"Alright I'm opening it…" Tony's hands reached out but as he pushed he received a report from Jarvis.

"Sir, the scans show that you are not in Earth sir but rather much more higher, sir I believe you are in…"

"Space." Tony finished the sentence as he looked at the view outside the window of the room he just entered.

"Exactly sir, you are currently in Space." Jarvis said as an image was shown in Tony's glasses on where he is right now.

"Above the South Pole?" Tony was so dazed he walked towards the window and looked down where he can see the Icy tundra of the South.

"Amazing isn't it? It got me as well when I arrived earlier." A voice sounded out making Tony flinch but when he looked back he saw a rather unassuming man who seemed a bit uncomfortable at the moment.

"Wait, I know you…" Tony said as he found the face familiar. "… ah I know! You're Bruce Banner, just had a talk with Ross recently about you."

Tony's words made Banner flinch a bit but he calmed down soon after as he was still skeptical as well as why was he invited here, but the offer was really tempting being that he'll be protected from Ross as long as he participated in this meet.

"Oh there's people here already." Another voice sounded out as a rather healthy looking middleaged man arrived.

"My word, you're Tony Stark! I'm a great fan of the Arc reactor technology, you might not know me but I am…" the man was excited as he looked at Tony who also recognized the man.

"Otto Octavius, fellow clean energy enthusiast. Of course I know you, your notes in nuclear fission helped me in maximizing this thingy here in my chest." Tony knocked the arc reactor on his chest as he looked at the rather chubby man.

"Hi there, I'm Doctor Bruce Banner. I've also read some notes in your book that helped me in my Gamma radiation research." Bruce was getting confused as to what this meeting was for but to have three renowned intellects in a room was already making him see the direction where this is going.

"Are those robots playing as the band?" Otto said making Stark take note of the things within the room, he looked around and saw a few tables being cleaned and prepared by robots who seemed to act like real humans as they even seemed to gossip around looking at the three.

"Really? That's the first you notice? Not the vast dark space in the window indicating we are in outer space." Stark looked at the doctor who also got to notice the window view.

"Teleportation, we got here through teleportation!" Otto exclaimed as he noticed this part and came up with this thought by putting things together.

"Yeah, figured as much seeing we're out of the Earth's atmosphere." Bruce said as he down the window to see what was below, whereas two more people got inside the room.

"Oh newcomers, Hi there we're your seniors and this is an initiation to join this secret mickey mouse club only for nerds like us." Tony not missing a beat made himself at home as he acted like he was the host.

The two arrivals were Jane Foster and Erik Selvig as they too were dazzled at the view of the outside.

"Were we brought here like how Thor did? But it seems very different from the Bifrost…" Jane murmured but she was tapped by Erik as he looked at the people present already.

"That's the billionaire, Iron man." Selvig said as he looked at Stark's face but he changed his attention to Bruce who was walked towards him.

"Professor Selvig, you were invited too? I don't know if you still remember me but I also worked in Culver University some time before." Banner looked at Selvig seemingly glad a familiar face was not present.

"You're Doctor Banner, I remember you along with Doctor Ross. I thought you were dead when you vanished with no explanation at all and even had soldiers stop us from inquiring further about you." Selvig walked towards Banner and gave him a firm hand shake as he seemed to also find some calm meeting someone familiar.

"Hello? Am I in the right place?" a voice sounded out as a head peaked at another door making those present look at who arrived.

"Hello there, you seem familiar. Have we met before?" Stark squinted his eyes as he looked at the tall black man that arrived.

"You're Tony Stark, I'm Doctor William Foster, biochemist." Doctor Foster, or also known as Bill Foster greeted Stark.

"Oh another Doctor Foster, Doctor Foster meet Doctor Jane Foster. She's an Astrophysicist like me, are you two related any chance?" Selvig asked as he looked at Jane who shook Bill's hands.

"Not that I know of, nice to meet you Dr. Foster." Jane greeted Bill who responded kindly.

"You too as well Dr. Foster, so anybody knows why we are here? All I know is that there suddenly was a group of Agents from where I used to work fetching me because somebody important was inviting me…" Bill said as he looked at those present.

"…and seeing even the famous Iron Man himself, Anthony Stark was also invited means whoever this guy is then he is some big man up top… oh shit…" Bill just realized the view of space outside.

"Yeah, oh shit. We all thought that when we saw the view, Dr. Octavius, nuclear physicist." Otto greeted Bill who was just recovering from the view.

"Come on, we are all thinking it. We might be inside a real life spaceship, robots serving food, a window showing outer space, beaming up here and what else? Some of the great minds of the planet means whoever called us here needs some big brains to his hands." Tony said as he fearlessly knocked the glasses and looked to the sides to see if there are things that are visible by the window.

"Astrophysicist I can understand as well as great Engineers, but what does Biochemists and nuclear Physicists need to do up here?" Banner asked as he felt that there was no need for him to be here.

"Whoa! What a place this is, Otto didn't know you were also invited here. Do you know where this place is perchance?" another person arrived which made the people present look at the smiling face that was present in many Magazines as much as Tony Stark did before being Iron Man.

Difference is Tony used to be featured in Playboy as well as magazines of similar nature while this person was in rather high reputation magazines such as Forbes.

"Norman, so you were given a letter as well like me?" Otto greeted his current Boss who also noticed the view outside.

"Yes, I got a letter that made me very curious to come. Anyways nice view, I want a screen like this back in my office. Is this yours Stark?" being a Billionaire himself he is already acquainted with Tony who shook his head.

"Nope, we're in outer space Norman. I already had my AI do a deep space scan and we are above the South Pole currently. So not mine, I haven't reached this kind of tech, yet." Stark had a rather sour tone as he said this because he thought he would have been the one to have built spaceship that would bring people safely in space.

"Space? You're joking…" Norman laughed a bit but seeing the serious faces of the others made him walk towards the window and Marvel at the sights, it was then he looked down and saw Earth below making him gulp audibly.

"You said letters, I got one but the contents were an offer to give me protection from people chasing after me. What was inside yours?" Bruce was curious as he looked at Otto.

"My letter said that I'll get help in developing the device I designed to harness the power of the Sun. I'm being pressured lately since Stark pulled this…" Otto pointed at Stark's chest who realized that Otto was developing another form of clean energy.

"Mine was rather a private matter that I did not think would be known by others. So forgive me if I do not disclose the contents of my letter." Norman was a bit dazed as he looked below at Earth.

"We've got two Billionaires and a couple of eggheads, wonder what does this Host of ours wants that needs this type of roster." Erik Selvig said making those present thoughtful.

"I think this is more of a Smart people convention kind of thing, being rich is just a side piece in this matter." Tony didn't want to be called just a rich guy since he still has some pride being a very Smart person.

"I think so too, you know I'm sort of a scientist myself." Norman said as he too has some pride being quite knowledgeable.

 "Yet what kind of matter needs this much intellectuals to gather then?" Jane asked as she looked at those present who started thinking about it.

Soon the room were filled with theories of why there were here and a few more arrived at the room like Holden Radcliffe, Walter Newell, Curt Connors, Franklin Hall and Henry Philip 'Hank' McCoy(In his human form).

Also Cate Caldwell was also called in which the others did not find suspicious since some of them read her notes on mutations as well as Cancer Cells.

Her name just recently popped up but they did not think she was out of place since as Paul promised he forged an identity about her and placed some small memories in specific people's mind that they know of her.

Those mostly interested were Bruce Banner, Norman Osborne, Bill Foster and Curt Connors who were interested in the field or branch of biology.

Norman especially who seemed enthusiastic about Cate which drew the curiosity of the ones nearby him.

Stark, Radcliffe and Octavius on the other hand were looking up the robots up and down as they moved about the room. They found that the AI in these robots were quite advanced since they reacted on their blatant approach towards them as well as some inquiries that the robots answered.

It was then two women arrived which made Cate and Jane glad since there was at least a few more feminine presence in the meeting.

They were Maya Hansen who was currently developing the Extremis Serum and Melina Vostokoff who was the adoptive mother of Natasha Romanoff.

Due to the tip off given by Paul the Red Room was dismantled earlier and Natasha was able to save the Widows who some started to work for Fury while others were given a place for now until they relocate at a reserved terrarium in the Man-cave.

Paul promised to give a 100kmx100km space for them to build a small village if they want since Natasha asked him quite 'nicely'.

Stark the playboy did not disappoint but stopped when Maya Hansen called out their past and even joked about a 10 year old boy making Stark reel back.

"You really are easy to read as my daughter said." Melina said making Stark raise his brows at the comment.

"Your daughter? Who again is your daughter?" Stark looked at Melina's mature face who smiled and said.

"Natasha, she's my kid. She said other than your eccentric behavior as well as erratic thinking, you wear your emotions on your sleeve." Melina said making Stark do a double take at her and raised his brows as he looked closer.

"Tell me, what's your secret? Because I want to look that great in the future, you having a daughter as old as Nat yet till look this young, it is totally making me jealous." Stark sat close to Melina and crossed his legs ready to hear the secrets of this young looking woman.

"Hello? Am I in the right… place." Another arrived but this one paused as her eyes locked at the figure of Bruce who was also stunned at the face that arrived.

"Betty?" Bruce said but before he could ask for why she was here, he received a fast and large hug from Betty Ross.

"Whoa, this is getting sappy here. Now that I remember it how do you keep yourself in check Bruce? I'm a big fan of big raging green guy yet I'm curious as to how you keep it all in you." Stark being a social butterfly did not care if he ruined the romantic reunion of the two.

Bruce did not mind Stark's actions at all since everybody seemed to realize Stark was totally a talkative person as well as narcissistic seemingly wants the focus on himself.

"Um, hello? Is this the venue for this event?" It was then another arrived, Reed Richards who changed into a suit but still wore his uniform underneath just in case as he still felt apprehensive about Paul.

He had arrived much earlier but he got dazed when he was teleported to this place that his mind went on overdrive thinking of making a similar machine.

"You… I just watched your fight earlier. How did you arrive here and where did you beam up from?" Stark asked as he was a bit disgruntled having to be absent in New York where some new Supes emerged but seeing one of their members made him realize something.

"Your Ironman, well since you said beam up you know how I arrived here but where I was beamed up well… somewhere around New Jersey." Reed said unsure as to why Stark was asking.

"Motherf… whoever this guy that called us here made me fly at the middle of the Pacific to land on an uninhibited island to get beamed up and you were just in New Jersey? Where did you all get picked up?" Stark asked the others but all he got were random places but his was by far the farthest.

This made Stark a bit pissed but he did get a warning from Fury, soon all these intellectuals were discussing many things as they waited. It hasn't been an hour since Bruce first arrived and the robots serving them entertained them enough for a bit.

Especially if you include the fact that they are in Outer Space, so they chatted between themselves since being renowned Scientist they tend to attend parties somewhat similar to this, except for the robots serving them of course.

The engineers in the group were amazed at the AIs being used by the robots as they even asked for special diets and such at the group.

It wasn't until Bruce Banner saw a rather different face present in the group but somehow nobody noticed him. Only a voice in his head was telling him of the person's presence, yet weirdly enough he did not call out to the others as he felt he should just keep quiet.

'Good, Banner don't speak.' A rather unfamiliar and familiar voice sounded out in Banner's mind as he looked at the person but he was brought back to the conversation as he was nudged by Betty.

"…ey Bruce, why are you spacing out like that?" Betty asked as she saw the direction where Bruce looked at and took a glance yet she did not seem to see anything from what Banner could tell.

"No, nothing. It was just nothing really, still feels surreal we are in Outer Space. Would have thought it was just a large screen but the billionaire with the high tech glasses says otherwise." Bruce looked at Stark who was quite in his Element as he socialized with the others.

What Banner did not know was that Paul was already there from the start and has been doing his great copy paste work of the new Knowledge these guys had in store in their minds.

And other than that Paul helped Banner a bit by building a mind space where if he willed it he can talked to Hulk in person. Paul even talked to the rather big angry green potato, he knew that Hulk was the manifestation of Bruce's need for someone to bear the pain he felt when he was a child.

So all he knew was anger, hate and pain. Paul talked to the big guy for quite a time in the mind space and even built a whole Island where Hulk can just hang out.

He also gave the guy a large house with various things to entertain him, Paul made the mindspace so intricate that it was almost similar to real life. Except that nothing ever gets destroyed here by Hulk.

Games, movies and even books were left by Paul, this caused him a bit of energy since he felt pity for the guy. Time worked differently here as well so Hulk had a lot of time to mellow down and even learn some words.

The TV was designed as to even show what Banner was seeing live as well as browse some past memories. Hulk had a great time here and even thought of Paul as a friend, but he wonders how Bruce would react once he discovers this place.

It was also a protective measure to ensure Bruce/Hulk would not get brainwashed by anyone so easily. Charles Xavier could possibly but he'll have to break down the various wards he placed in this Mind Space to even start to control Banner.

As much as far the future may be, Paul knew one day Hulk would have the capacity to even be a threat to him. And he does not want to be on the bad side of the Murder Giant.

Soon Paul was able to gather more knowledge than before as he finished getting what he wanted, so just in time a person arrived on a stage in the room.

"Ladies and Gentlemen may I have your attention please." Sofia Al Azwar in a red dress spoke on the mic as she looked over the various intellectuals on the room.

"Ororo?" Hank murmured as he found the face quite similar to his friend but somehow different yet it still caught him off guard.

"I assume you are all curious as to why you are all here. To answer that will be the host, who has been with you all since the beginning." Sofia did not like being a presenter but out of all those present it was either she or Koji since they were rather social and was used to entertaining guest.

But she got the short end of the stick so she was tasked to be the Emcee.

Her words made the people in the room look around and it was then they got to notice Paul sitting at a lone table in front drinking wine.

This was one of the wolf clones which means his hair color and body build is rather different from the one Reed Richards met in Baxter Building.

"Good evening." Paul smiled seeing the rather shocked faces of those present since they did not even notice him until now.

Yet they still somehow have this inkling of a feeling that he has indeed been there from the start. All of them can slightly recall his figure in their peripheral yet somehow did not notice him at all.

"So I was not hallucinating…" Bruce murmured.

"Did he have a Twin?" Reed on the other hand was thinking hard as he was sure he saw Paul as blonde and was more muscular earlier yet this one in front seemed much tame compared to the one he met earlier.

"I swear I still cannot wrap my head as why was I not able to notice you here." Stark said as he looked at Paul's face remembering it in his mind.

"Sir Esteban, how are you doing?" Hank McCoy on the other hand greeted Paul as he was rather thankful in his assistance in finding the hidden bases of HYDRA that housed kidnapped mutants.

"I feel that I saw him somewhere before." Jane said making Selvig nod as well.

"You seem to know him Bruce…" Betty looked at the confused face of Bruce as he found a familiarity in Paul's face.

'Friend…' a voice echoed in his mind as he looked at Paul's face.

The others were rather curious at their host as they still cannot understand how they did not notice him there sitting in such an obvious spot.

"You all must be famished…" as soon as Paul's words dropped, food was suddenly present in the tables in front of the guest.

The rest were shocked while a few was able to stay calm like Cate, Melina, Beast and Bruce Banner who was still thinking as to where he met Paul before.

(A/N: I am quite pewped trying to find the smart brains of Marvel and make this chapter about gathering them for a certain project of Paul that is nearing it's completion.

I tried real hard in making sure that those invited were ones that had a good moral compass, it's rather weird when Norman Osborn is present. This version was the one with Bully Maguire, the rather Good natured businessman, Father and scientist.

Comic version of Norman was an A-hole before the Serum, but the one Dafoe portrayed was a rather business minded and rather amoral but not psychotic and has some good mind on his head.

He only got bad because of the side effects of the Goblin Serum, Doctor Connors and Dr. Octavius were good people to being with as well.

I also pulled in some other characters which were in the MCU like Holden Radcliffe and Franklin Hall in Agents of SHIELD.

Maya Hansen was included too, she was smart enough to develop the Extremis Serum even though it is still unstable. She has not yet become cold and ruthless like the one in the movie.

She was introduced as an Optimistic and rather Idealistic sort of scientist who wanted to help the world with her Extremis project, yet when rejected by Stark she went to great lengths by working currently for Killian.

Since it was 2009 at the moment, I like to think that the Extremis Project has not reach to the point of human experimentation since that happened mostly at 2013 in the MCU timeline.

I did not make everyone to be some good natured smart people since there are still some that can be avoided going dark like Norman, Melina, Maya and Holden Radcliffe.

I don't know if it is obvious but those invited were present because MC has written them a letter each that made them come to the location written.

It might sound like being tempted by a devil... well they are being tempted by something that MC wrote so it kind off appear that he does act like the devil in some chapters.

Anyways, I am just paving a foothold for the plan of the MC which is hinted in a few chapters back. Unification of the Earth, but that would start once HYDRA is taken care off.

So expect some chapters that are at least 5K words long since I'll be making sure a lot will happen soon. Hope you enjoy this chap though even when it is just a bunch of dialogue between smart characters.

Still find it hard to try and make them sound smart enough when me myself only use a few couple braincells in real life. If you have tips on how to make their conversation appear much closer to sounding like real intellectuals please comment because searching real life scientific terms are burning the remaining neurons in my head. 😭😭😭

Sorry for the emojis...)