It was just before summer break when Ezekiel received a short message from Fury that read, 'We need to talk.'
Theo had a couple of ideas of what it could be about, but he wasn't completely sure since he had so many projects going on. Since Fury didn't say when, Theo finished up what he was doing at his family's shop before he transformed into Ezekiel and portaled to the main base. Once there Ezekiel found Fury, Maria Hill and Phil Coulson in a meeting room waiting for him.
Fury didn't look up from the tablet he was using as he said, "Took you long enough."
"You never specified a time and I was in the middle of something." Ezekiel said as he took a seat and nodded towards the other two in the room.
Fury frowned slightly as he said, "I don't contact you often but when I do, I would at least expect you to at least consider the matter urgent."
"I'll keep that in mind for next time, so what's the issue?"
Maria handed Ezekiel a tablet with satellite footage of something flying through the air quickly. Then it changed to shaky camera footage of something flying through the sky incredibly fast. The last clip actually showed decent footage of Tony in his suit flying around and fighting people somewhere in the desert. Ezekiel nodded slightly as he watched and when he handed the tablet back he asked, "Okay, so what's the problem?"
"When and how did Tony make a suit? Wasn't he supposed to be captured and taken hostage for months in Afghanistan?"
Ezekiel shrugged as he said, "Me being here changed to many things and Stane never started his back market weapon deals."
Fury nodded slightly before he said, "That's a given, but it doesn't explain why Tony has a suit and is running around fighting terrorists."
Ezekiel pulled out his personal tablet and pulled up some files before he sent them to everyone in the room. Fury started to go through everything as he asked, "Why didn't you inform me of this when it happened?"
"Because we agreed to stay out of each other's business."
Fury looked up at Ezekiel before he asked, "Tony is supposed to be part of the Avengers, that would fall under part of my business don't you think?."
"True, but I've never liked the idea of the Avengers, they always seemed to be on the back foot." Ezekiel said as he shook his head before he added, "You know how I am, I would rather be proactive than reactive when it comes to threats involving Earth. So I've been thinking of making an entirely new super hero team instead. One that will target and go after threats before they harm us."
The others focused on Ezekiel who smiled as he asked, "What, you thought I was just gonna let everything happen and not try to change it?"
Fury set down his tablet and focused on Ezekiel as he asked, "What else have you changed?"
"A lot, but stuff you don't know about. I'm honestly pretty sure you know about all of it, at least I think you do..." Ezekiel said as he rubbed his chin in thought.
"Just send me a list."
Ezekiel typed on his tablet and pulled up all the projects he either completed or was still working on before he shot it to Fury. Fury started to look through it before he paused and opened a file and froze. His right eye started to twitch before he looked up at Ezekiel and said, "You split up Banner and The Hulk?"
"Weird, I thought you knew about that… Didn't you see me with Hulk a few times?"
"I thought that was Banner and you were helping him control his powers."
"He didn't even want to try, so Tao and Agatha helped me split up him and Hulk into separate bodies." Ezekiel said with a shrug before he added, "But Banner and his wife Betty now work for me at Revival and help out in the medical facility sometimes with research."
Fury nodded as he kept reading before he asked in an incredulous tone, "Wait, you're terraforming Mars too?!?"
"Already fifty percent done and working on flora and fauna seeding. We are also hand crafting parts of the environment to make it completely unique. Did you watch the wedding for Anna and Happy? That was held on Mars at one of the places we created."
Fury pinched the bridge of his nose as he asked, "Do you have any idea what kind of issues this will cause among the world powers if that information gets out?"
"What can they even do? Only Wakanda has the technology to send people to Mars and they are too concerned with hiding… Sure maybe if the WSC pooled resources they could make something within a year or two, but even then so what?"
"What if they place sanctions on Vibe and Revival? They could ruin your Earth based businesses." Maria said as she glanced over the data Fury shared with her and Coulson.
"It wasn't me." Ezekiel said before everyone looked up at him and he smirked and added, "How can they prove I have anything to do with Mars being terraformed?"
"The wedding video you posted showing off Mars?"
Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "That just proves I was there, but nothing else. Plus I could easily spin the narrative and say some powerful meta human is doing it alone. Then post a fake documentary about it on Vibe to back it up."
Fury nodded his head slightly as he said, "With your current reach, that would easily work…"
"Since you freed Hela, does that mean Thor won't be coming to Earth?" Coulson asked as he looked at the information on his tablet.
"No clue… There's a possibility he might show up like in the original time line, or he might not. I'm basically blind when it comes to the Asgardians, just like they're blind to the things I'm doing on Earth and Mars."
Ezekiel leaned back in his chair before he added, "Even though I don't have surveillance on Asgard, there is still a good chance Thor will show up to check if Hela is here… Well if Odin told him about her that is."
Coulson nodded slightly before Fury asked, "When is Tony going to come out as Ironman or is he planning to?"
"After he builds up enough hype. That's the only reason you even have those videos, Tony's been letting people see him."
Fury shook his head as he said, "I figured he was doing something stupid… He just can't help himself and needs to be the center of attention."
"His goal is to be the most popular Vibe user."
"That's childish." Maria said as Coulson nodded in agreement.
"So his appearances in the suit are going to become more frequent?" Fury asked as he continued down the list.
"Yeah, he's also looking for opportunities to show off and help people. I would expect the next time there is a natural disaster or something similar he will show up to help."
Ezekiel stored his tablet away as he said, "So was that it? If so, I have other things I need to do."
Fury looked up at Ezekiel as he said, "Can you at least keep me and everyone else in the loop going forward? I don't like surprises."
"Sure, but it will most likely be after it's already done. So don't complain about it after the fact." Ezekiel said as he stood up.
"I already figured as much."
Ezekiel waved as he walked out of the door and said, "See you next time."
After Ezekiel left, the room was completely silent for over a minute as everyone looked over the list Ezekiel gave them. Maria placed her tablet down first and let out a sigh before she asked, "What's the point of the council he set up if he's doing all of this and not informing everyone else about it?"
"Because the council was set up more as a peace offering to people like me, Steve and Peggy. Sure it gives us some power and he's followed the direction everyone votes on… But he's also stacked the council with people who are more willing to follow his lead."
Maria frowned slightly as she asked, "Then doesn't that make the whole thing pointless?"
Coulson nodded in agreement as he gestured towards his own tablet as he said, "Especially when he is doing a lot of this stuff that could be considered council issues. Like the private prison reforms he implemented in the US prisons he bought… I don't think we were even aware of it, at least I wasn't."
"Neither was I… But even if it was brought up at a council meeting, I'm sure it would have passed a vote." Maria said as she shook her head slightly.
"Exactly. Which is why Ezekiel just does what he wants most of the time. Calling the council would just be a waste of time for a pointless vote." Fury said with a sigh before he added, "While I don't like being kept in the dark… I also can't find anything he's done that I'm actually against."
"Me either." Maria said as Coulson nodded in agreement.
Fury started typing on his tablet as he said, "I'm sending a copy of this to Peggy, so she also knows. But besides being kept in the dark, I doubt she will be upset about all this stuff."
As Fury and the others continued going over the list Ezekiel gave them. Ezekiel stopped by to visit Gabby since he knew she would complain if he didn't. As he was hanging out with Gabby, Leech and some other people, his phone went off with a unique ringtone and Ezekiel quickly picked it up and said, "I honestly didn't expect you to call me."
"Neither did I…"
Ezekiel waited for over half a minute for the other person to continue but both of them were interrupted when Gabby yelled out, "Hey, it's your turn!"
"Oh, you're on the phone? Is it Hela? Can I talk to her?" Gabby asked as she reached for the phone when she came closer.
Ezekiel smirked as he handed off the phone and said, "It's not Hela, it's someone else."
As Ezekiel went over to pick up his bowling ball, Gabby put the phone to her ear and said, "Hi, this is Gabby! Who are you?"
An arrogant and slightly annoyed voice asked, "I'm Victor Von Doom… Where is Ezekiel?"
"He's bowling, it's his turn. So how do you know Ezekiel? Are you a new friend? Will you be coming to board game night this week?" Gabby asked rapid fire questions before Doom could even respond.
"Quiet, girl! Let me talk to Ezekiel."
"You don't have to be a jerk if you don't want to talk." Gabby said with a huff before she handed the phone back to Ezekiel on speaker and added, "He's rude and sounds like a grumpy old man."
"I'm not old!"
Ezekiel chuckled as switched the phone off speaker and asked, "How the hell did you upset Gabby?"
"I told her to be quiet… And why did you let me talk to a literal child?!?"
"It was my turn to bowl. Also, Gabby is a teenager and as for why… Gabby is a people person and likes to make friends." Ezekiel said as he watched Gabby happily chatting with Leech and the others while Ava took her turn.
"So you gonna tell me why you called or do I need to guess?"
Doom was quiet for a little while longer before he said, "I've studied all the books my mother left me… I now know the very basics of the mystic arts, but it's not enough."
"I'll send you the address of a place in New York city where you can learn more and even line up a teacher for you."
"Doom doesn't need a teacher."
"I'm sure you don't, but I happen to be friends with two of the strongest magic users on the planet who each have centuries of experience… Are you sure you wouldn't want one of them to help guide you?" Ezekiel said with a slight smile as he watched Gabby dance after she landed a strike.
"Centuries?"
"One of them is almost a thousand years old and the other is close to seventeen thousand years old. And both of them are incredibly powerful."
Doom is quiet for a few moments before he said, "I won't refuse if one of them wishes to instruct me."