Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00208. A new Stark is born.

The impromptu hot springs trip turned out pretty good. Even though Gabby and Ava treated the place like a swimming pool. Afterwards they all went to eat before Gabby and Ava went back home. Ezekiel headed back home himself to get more rest before he woke up the next day to join Tao for more training.

Theo was in his training room getting worked over by Tao when his phone started ringing. One of his clones picked it up and after a few moments it hung up the phone and said, “Pepper's water broke and Tony is freaking out.”

Theo defended against another attack before he said to Tao, “I need to go.”

Tao focused another attack that slammed into Theo’s defenses before it broke through them and sent Theo flying across the room. Theo was barely able to recover and flip so he hit the wall with his feet. He jumped off of the wall a moment later as he said, “Can you not end all of our training sessions by breaking past my shields and sending me into the wall?”

As Theo henged into Ezekiel, Tao said, “What? You're no longer slamming into the wall, so that means you're improving.”

Ezekiel shook his head as he created a portal to go pick up Tsunade and just before he stepped through it Tao said, “We'll finish training when you get back, you still owe me three more hours.”

Ezekiel arrived at the medical facility to find Tsunade, Sakura and Shizune ready and waiting for him. Without a word he created another portal to Tony's house where he found Tony and Happy rushing around as Pepper sat on one of the couches in the living room.

As Tsunade and the others headed to Pepper to check on her, JARVIS said, “Mr. Stark, Ezekiel has arrived.”

Tony glanced up from filling a pot with water and relief washed over his face as he said, “I called the doctor we hired, they should be here in half an hour.”

Ezekiel pointed towards Tsunade as he said, “My team will handle it.”

Tony hesitated for a moment before he said, “JARVIS let Dr. Mitchell know that his services won't be needed, but he will still be paid in full for today.”

“Understood, sir.”

Ezekiel glanced towards the pot as he asked, “What are you doing with that pot?”

“I have the towels!” Happy said as he carried a large bundle of towels into the kitchen.

“JARVIS said we needed warm water and towels for a home birth along with a bunch of other stuff.”

“Who said you guys were gonna do a home birth?” Ezekiel asked in confusion.

“Where else would we do it? We can't do it in a hospital.”

Ezekiel chuckled as he said, “I already have a place set up, we are taking her there once Tsunade assesses Pepper’s condition.”

Tony glanced over to the couch to see Tsunade with glowing mist coming out of her hands as she checked on Pepper. He turned off the water a moment later as he said, “That makes me feel better. I kept worrying about if something went wrong.”

Happy, who placed all the towels down on the kitchen counter, nodded in agreement before Tsunade said, “She's stable and we can transport her over.”

Ezekiel turned around to find Pepper was now in a wheelchair with Tsunade and the others next to her. Ezekiel glanced towards Tony as he said, “Need anything before we leave?”

Tony shook his head as he said, “No… At least I don't think we do.”

“Worst case I'll just portal you back or pick it up myself.” Ezekiel said as he created a new portal to the medical base.

Before they stepped through the portal Ezekiel glanced at Happy and asked, “Are you coming or do you want to go visit Anna?”

“Send him to go visit Anna.” Pepper said as she was pushed towards the portal.

Ezekiel nodded as he created another portal to Anna's trailer on the movie she was currently shooting. After Happy left, he stepped through the first portal he created and followed behind the others. When he caught up to the others Tony asked, “Where are we?”

“A hidden research and medical center I own.”

“Research? What kinda research?” Tony asked as he looked around the intersection they arrived at.

Ezekiel pointed to the left as he said, “Cloning and viral research is that way.”

“The cloning program is that way.” Ezekiel said as he pointed forward before he pointed to the left and added, “Medical research and the hospital are this way.”

Tony froze in place as he looked at the large metallic vault door in front of them. He stared at it for a few moments before he turned to Ezekiel and asked, “Clones? You are cloning people?”

“How do you think Revival saves some of the worst people? Sometimes it's easier to clone a new body instead of trying to cure everything wrong with it.”

Tony's eyes lit up as he asked, “Can I see the cloning area?”

Ezekiel pointed towards Pepper who was being pushed towards the medical wing as he said, “No, you're here for Pepper. Besides, that area is highly restricted and you don't have clearance.”

Tony put his arm over Ezekiel's shoulder as they moved to catch up to the others and said, “Of course, I was talking about afterwards. Or maybe another time.”

“Sure you were.”

As they walked through the hall leading into the medical area Tony noticed all the doors on each side of the hallway and asked, “What's with all these doors? Storage or something?”

“Prison cells.”

“Prison cells?!?” Tony asked as his head whipped back and forth between the two walls with about fifty doors along their length.

“Yup. We only have like twenty people though. All of which are kept in medically induced comas, so we don't have to worry about them causing any issues.”

“Why the hell do you have prisoners here?” Tony asked as he cautiously looked at the doors again.

“Because some of them are too important to kill currently and others are kept for a potential trade in the future.”

“What did they do to get locked up here?”

Ezekiel shrugged as he said, “Name a capital crime and they've probably done it.”

“That bad?”

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “Some of them are even worse than that.”

Tony went quiet as they finished walking through the entrance hallway and after they entered the main medical wing Tony looked back as he asked, “Why is that hallway used as a prison? Wouldn't it be safer to place the prisoners somewhere else?”

“The prison cells were already there when we took this place over, so we just incorporated it into the design. Besides, even if they somehow woke up from the drugs, escaped from the physical and magical restraints.”

“Magic isn't real.” Tony said as he cut off Ezekiel.

Ezekiel rolled his eyes at the comment before he continued and said, “They would still have to get out of the room itself which is surrounded in a five inch thick metallic alloy and also magically sealed.”

Ezekiel held up his hand to stop Tony from talking as he said, “If for some crazy reason one of those people were able to do it… They will also have to contend with everyone who works here.”

“Isn't it just a bunch of doctors and scientists?”

“Remember how strong Tsunade is? Everyone here is like her except for a couple of people.” Ezekiel said as he mentioned towards the people around them in the medical department.

Tony's eyes widened slightly as he took another look at the people around them before he asked, “They can all punch a hole through a concrete wall?”

“Something like that.”

Their conversation died out as they made it to the room Tsunade prepared for Pepper. Ezekiel stopped at the door and patted Tony on the shoulder as he said, “Good luck.”

“You're not coming?” Tony asked as he stopped at the doorway.

Ezekiel gave Tony a flat look as he said, “Your possible future wife is about to give birth and you want me in there to watch?”

“That's a good point… So what are you gonna do? Hang out here and wait?”

“No, I have other things I need to do. I'll be back once I'm finished though, to check in on you guys.” Ezekiel said with a smile.

Ezekiel quickly left and headed back to finish his training with Tao before he cleaned up. After confirming the baby wasn't out yet, Ezekiel headed to Hela’s where he relaxed on her couch as they chatted. After he recovered enough, they went to eat together before he picked up some food for Tony.

After he arrived back at the base and made it to the medical area, Ezekiel stopped at the door leading to Pepper's room when he heard, “It was one time Tony! We slept together one time without protection and this is what happened!”

“I know, but… Ouch! Don't squeeze my hand so hard Pepper and just relax.”

“You want me to relax when you did this to me!?!” Pepper said through labored breathing.

Ezekiel decided to not hang around and would wait for Tony to text him when everything was done. Instead he went to visit Hulk and see how he was doing. He sent a clone there each day so he already knew, but visiting in person was nice to do once in a while.

Ezekiel portaled to just outside Hulk's home where he knocked on the door. Before the door even opened Ezekiel smiled as he heard Hulk's distinct stomping as he approached the door. Hulk opened the door a moment later and said, “Hello.”

“Hi Hulk, may I come in?”

Hulk stepped back and gestured into the house as he asked, “Gonna play game, want join?”

“Not bad Hulk, you're getting better. But you should have said, "We're about to play a game, would you like to join us?”

Hulk mumbled to himself once before he asked, "We about to play game, would you like to join?”

“Better… What game are you going to play?” Ezekiel asked as he stepped into the house.

“Scrabble.”

Ezekiel looked towards his clone with a raised eyebrow as he said, “You really think that's a good game for him? You remember what happened when we tried to play Monopoly…”

“Monopoly is stupid like Banner. Hulk want play Scrabble.”

“Alright… But you better not get upset if we start winning. You almost broke the enchantments on the table last time.” Ezekiel said as he sat down at the kitchen table where the board was already placed.

“Hulk be good. Hulk no get mad.”

Ezekiel held back slightly as the game started, but his clone didn't seem to care as it racked up points. As the first game finished, Hulk was in last place while Ezekiel’s clone was first with over double his point score. Ezekiel was slightly ahead of Hulk but only by a few points.

To Ezekiel’s surprise, Hulk didn't seem upset about being in last place and was even having fun. Ezekiel still decided to keep his score close to Hulk's though, since sandbagging to make sure Hulk didn't smash the table again seemed like a good idea.

After they started their fifth game, Ezekiel’s phone went off as it played Ironman. As he answered his phone he heard a baby crying before Tony asked, “Hey, where are you at?”

“I'm playing Scrabble at a friend's house while I waited on the delivery to finish. How did it go?” Ezekiel asked as he started to place down a new word.

“Everything went well and they just finished a few minutes ago. Go grab Happy and Rhodey, then come join us. I want her to meet her uncles.”

“You want me to bring Happy and Rhodey to a top secret facility?” Ezekiel asked as he counted his points.

“Well when you put it like that… How about for just a few minutes.”

Ezekiel rolled his eyes as he said, “You owe me for this.”

“Thanks!” Tony said before he hung up the phone.

Ezekiel glanced at it for a moment before he shook his head and then sent a text to Happy and Rhodey telling them he would pick them both up in a few minutes. Happy was easy to find, he was with Anna in her trailer snuggled up on a couch chatting. Rhodey on the other hand was on an Air Force base in the middle of teaching a class. Ezekiel opened a portal to the front of the classroom Rhodey was in and stepped through it before he said, “Yo, I tried texting you, but you didn’t respond. Tony asked me to pick you up, he wants you to meet someone.”

Rhodey frowned slightly as he said, “I’m kinda in the middle of something and can’t exactly leave.”

Ezekiel glanced over the class room filled with pilots all looking at him with wide eyes before he asked, “How much longer are you supposed to be here for?”

“This is scheduled to last for another four hours.”

Ezekiel glanced over the classroom and said, “All of you go take a lunch break or something. Rhodey will be back in half an hour at the most.”

“We’re not taking a lunch break.” Rhodey said.

“Remember that special craft Tony told you about, the last time you visited his place?” Ezekiel asked.

“You mean the…”

Ezekiel cut him off as he said, “You send them to lunch and I’ll let you fly it for a day.”

Rhodey’s eyes lit up as he turned to the class and said, “Take an hour lunch and we’ll finish this when I get back.”

As Rhodey walked towards the portal and the class started to stand up, Ezekiel glanced over them all before he pulled out some money from his storage seal and counted out a certain amount as he said, “Lunch is on me guys.”

Ezekiel held up a stack of cash and ended up giving each person a couple hundred dollars before he left through the portal. About five minutes later Ezekiel, Rhodey, Happy and Anna were all in the hospital wing and entered Pepper’s room to find her and Tony. Pepper was on her bed holding her newborn as Tony stood next to her with a slight smile on his face.

Tony looked up first and smiled wider as he said, “You guys made it! Let me introduce you to our daughter, Morgan Howard Stark.”