Marvel-ous Ninjutsu
00225. Tony still doesn’t believe…

Theo let Tao and Agatha handle everything with Jean over the next week. They had a long talk with her parents and also set up a minor spell to help block out people's thoughts while she learned to control her powers. Other than that Jean was back at school after the weekend like nothing happened. As for telling her friends about what happened, she explained her new situation to Theo and the others who were there, but no one else.

As far as training went, Tao picked Jean up each night for personalized training with her and Agatha. She would also train on the weekends for a few hours each day. Otherwise life was pretty normal for Jean after she awakened her powers and Theo didn't interfere. He really didn't want to deal with any of that and he trusted Tao to handle any issue that popped up.

As for the accident itself, Theo investigated it himself and found no foul play at all. It looked like all the lug nuts failed at the same time, but even after material analysis Theo couldn't find a reason why. Even with magic and consulting with Tao they found nothing wrong or any trace of power. Which made Theo concerned because that meant it was a “canon event” and others could happen. Theo wanted to figure out a way to stop it from happening, but knew he would drive himself crazy doing it. So instead he just double checked his failsafes for his family and increased the ANBU who watched over them.

Two weeks passed by after the incident and Theo received good news from Tony, the healing pods were finished. When Theo received the news, he changed into Ezekiel and portaled over to Tony's workshop. As he stepped out of the portal Tony called out, “Did you bring any food?”

Tony was in his typical shop uniform which mainly consisted of coveralls that were tied around his waist and a black tank top. Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “No, but we can go eat after I check out the prototypes and you change.”

“If we're going out to eat, we'll need to take Pepper and Morgan.”

Ezekiel nodded as JARVIS said, “Welcome back Ezekiel.”

“Thanks, JARVIS.” Ezekiel said as he approached the healing pods to check them out.

“They still need to be properly tested, but they should function within ten percent of the projected numbers.” Tony said as he pulled up some information on his tablet and showed it to Ezekiel as he added, “After a couple test runs I should be able to calibrate them to be within two or three percent of expected results.”

Ezekiel examined the three pods for a few moments before he said, “Alright, I'll have someone pick them up while we go eat and you can calibrate them in a couple weeks.”

Tony placed his tablet down and headed towards the door leading upstairs as he said, “Sounds good to me.”

Ezekiel pulled out his tablet and sent out a message before he followed Tony upstairs. When we walked out into the living room he found Pepper playing with Morgan. Pepper glanced over and smiled as she asked, “Good to see you Ezekiel… Tony said you were taking us to eat?”

“Yup, wherever you want to go.” Ezekiel said as he approached Pepper and Morgan.

Ezekiel sat down next to them as he said, “She's getting big… It's getting close to her birthday huh?”

Pepper gently picked up Morgan and snuggled her close as she asked, “In just over two months… You're gonna come to the party, right?”

“Of course, I've already prepared gifts.” Ezekiel said with a smile before he asked, “Who else is coming?”

“We invited Rhodey, Happy and Anna… But besides a couple of your friends, no one else knows about Morgan.”

Ezekiel nodded before he asked, “When are you guys planning to announce anything?”

Pepper bounced Morgan on her knee gently as she said, “We have no idea… It's so complicated that anything we do at this point will probably tank the stock price.”

“That's a fair point, but honestly you guys should do it sooner rather than later… Morgan is gonna need friends her own age sooner or later.”

“That's exactly why I've been encouraging Happy to marry Anna. If they do it quickly enough and have a kid, Morgan could have a friend in no time.” Tony said as he stepped out into the living room from the stairs.

“Tony, that's not a proper solution!” Pepper said with a frown.

“What else can we do at this point?”

“You could have another kid together.” Ezekiel said with a smirk.

Pepper shook her head slightly as she said, “That would just make things worse… Besides I still have another ten pounds that don't wanna go away since I've had Morgan.”

Ezekiel waved off her comment as he said, “Don't worry about the weight, I can easily put you in an upgraded clone body… Almost perfect health, better healing, super fast metabolism so it's almost impossible to gain weight and some other perks.”

Tony and Pepper both shared a glance before Tony turned towards Ezekiel and asked, “I think I just misheard you… Did you say upgraded clone bodies?”

Ezekiel smirked at the look on Tony and Pepper’s face before he asked, “How do you think Revival's been able to heal so many people with terminal cancer?”

“Wasn't Tsunade doing it with her skills?”

“Tsunade and the others help with the easier stuff, but people with advanced forms or aggressive strains get cloned bodies. The cloned bodies are in perfect health, but they don't get much else.” Ezekiel said with a slight shrug.

“What the…” Tony started to say before Pepper cut him off as she said, “Language!... But seriously, what he was about to say.”

Ezekiel chuckled slightly before he stood up and asked, “You're helping me terraform Mars and you think cloning people perfect bodies is hard?”

“Cloning a body isn't the issue… It's transferring someone into it that's the issue. I mean, how is that even possible? Do you transplant the person's brain?” Tony asked as Pepper nodded in agreement.

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “I can show you the process next week if you like, we have a new batch of recruits getting bodies at that time.”

“Yes!” Tony said instantly as Pepper seemed unsure about the whole thing.

“Anyways let's go eat, we can talk more about this later.”

Tony and Pepper agreed and after packing Morgan's diaper bag and getting henged, Ezekiel took them to Genosha to eat. During the meal Tony came up with the idea of having Ezekiel act as an intermediary for them and have him drop Morgan off at a preschool in Genosha. It wasn't the perfect solution, but it would work for a while and give Morgan the chance to interact with kids her own age. But they wouldn't do it till next year at the earliest, till then they weren't that worried about it.

About a week later, Ezekiel picked up Tony and Pepper to show them the transfer process they used to give people new bodies. As for Morgan she was left with Happy and Anna who were more than happy to watch her. At the hidden medical facility Ezekiel took them on a little tour of the place before he took them to watch a soul transfer.

They were in a special room that used to be for observations of the medical lab below it. A large mirrored window shielded them from being seen by the people below. Before the procedure started, Ezekiel created a spell and placed it over the glass panel so Tony and Pepper could see exactly what was happening. As Tony watched Ezekiel cast his spell he asked, “What did you just do?”

“It's a spell that will allow both of you to see people's souls.”

Tony raised an eyebrow as he said, “Really? Magic and souls? Just give me the scientific explanation.”

Ezekiel pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment before he said, “I swear… Just because you don't believe in magic or souls, doesn't mean it's not real.”

Pepper placed a hand on Tony's shoulder as she said, “Let's just keep an open mind.”

“Fine… But I still think it's some kinda alien technology he won't share with me.” Tony said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Ezekiel shook his head slightly as people wheeled three bodies into the room on hospital beds. The bodies on the bed looked completely normal, but the people who brought them into the room had a strange glow around their bodies. Tony narrowed his eyes as he asked, “What's wrong with them? Why are they glowing?”

“That glow is their soul, the cloned bodies don't have souls.”

Tony looked skeptical but said nothing as three people were escorted into the room. Each one looked like one of the cloned bodies, except they were missing body parts and had a slight glow around them. Tony studied them for a few moments before he asked, “Are those soldiers?”

“Former soldiers… The first guy was a Navy Seal, the guy missing his leg was British SAS and the older guy with the burnt face is the most decorated Spatsnaz in history. He's the only person so far who's been awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation medal twice.”

As the men were checking out their new bodies Tony asked, “So what's going on here? Are governments paying you to help them fix up high quality soldiers?”

Ezekiel chuckled slightly before he said, “You really think governments would care that much? Even if I offered to do it for them, they would probably turn it down because it's cheaper to train a new soldier from scratch.”

“Really? How much does it cost to make a clone body?”

“We've perfected the process and it only takes about a week to produce an adult aged clone. As for the price, it's around twenty grand in materials… But if I charged someone for the service it would be at least a million dollars.” Ezekiel said as he watched the soldiers lay down on some beds.

“A million dollars for a completely new body with increased healing… That would be a steal.” Tony said as he rubbed his chin before he asked, “If you aren't doing this for a government agency… Then why did you pick these three guys in particular?”

“You heard about that new PMC group running around?”

Tony's eyes instantly widened before he asked, “The one being run by Emil Blonsky? You're working with them?”

Ezekiel smirked slightly before he said, “Come on Tony, you should know me better than that…”

“Wait, you're the one funding them?”

Ezekiel put his hand over Tony's shoulder as he said, “Emil is just the figurehead the world sees. I'm the one who started the whole thing and currently run it behind the scenes.”

“Why do you need a PMC group?”

Ezekiel smirked slightly before he said, “I'll tell you when the time's right.”

Pepper who was quietly watching everything down below asked, “Are you planning to take over a country?”

“I already did that with only a handful of people.” Ezekiel said with a slight chuckle.

Tony and Pepper both turned to look at Ezekiel who just smiled and asked, “Did you forget that I was one of the people who helped Magneto take over Genosha?”

Tony slowly nodded along with Pepper before Ezekiel pointed towards the lab below and said, “Look, they're starting.”

Tony and Pepper watched as the three men were put to sleep before one of the other people in the room did something to the first upset. A few moments later what looked like a ghostly copy of the upset was pulled out of his body and floated over to the new clone body. Tony narrowed his eyes as he asked, “What the hell is that?”

“That's his soul. It's the easiest way to transfer someone to a new body and also the easiest.”

“But souls aren't real…” Tony said as he watched the other two men get transferred to their new bodies.

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “I swear you do it on purpose at this point…”

“No I don't… Souls and magic aren't real, there is no scientific basis for them at all.”

As the men woke up in their new bodies and checked themselves over, Tony paused and slowly looked at Ezekiel before he asked, “If you can transfer someone to a new body whenever you want… Doesn't that mean you just unlocked a form of immortality?”

Ezekiel nodded as he said, “Yup… That doesn't mean I plan to abuse it though.”

“What? Why not?”

Pepper smacked Tony's shoulder as she said, “Not everyone wants to live forever… Think about how lonely that could be.”

“Lonely? Just do the same thing for your family and friends.” Tony said it like it wasn't a big deal.

“And what about them? They would also have people they would want kept alive and then those people would have their own people…” Ezekiel said with a sigh before he added, “In the end we would have to do it for everyone to make everyone happy and that would cause major issues.”

“I guess you have a slight point, but what if…” Tony started to say before Ezekiel cut him off and said, “I know you don't believe in magic and other things, but there are aspects of the universe that would be very upset if we made humans immortal. Aspects I would rather not mess with.”

“Aspects? What the hell are you even talking about?”

Ezekiel patted Tony's shoulder as he said, “I'll tell you one day when you grow up.”

“Fuck you!” Tony said as Pepper laughed.