Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00024. Setting up a work area.

Sam was seated at his desk, working on his computer when Steve walked in followed by Ezekiel. Sam was so engrossed in his work that when he noticed them, Steve was standing in front of his desk and he jumped a little as he looked up at them.

Steve smiled down at Sam and said, "Sorry, I thought you heard us come in."

Sam looked from Steve to the person on his right and jumped out of his chair as he exclaimed, "Ezekiel actually came here?! Does Fury know? Never mind, of course Fury would know. But how were you able to get in the base? It's currently locked down and only I can let people in or out."

Ezekiel smiled as he put out his hand and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you Sam, and I got here through a magic portal."

Sam laughed as he reached out and shook Ezekiel’s hand and said, "A magic portal, that was pretty good. I bet Fury was the one who let you inside, through some secret entrance only he knows about."

Steve shook his head and said, "He was being serious, The Sorcerer Supreme is here in the base and she brought Ezekiel here. She also said she could teach a few people the mystic arts, Coulson already volunteered to learn."

Sam's eyes lit up as he looked back and forth from Steve to Ezekiel as he asked, "Really? I could learn actual magic? You're not joking about this are you?"

Ezekiel smiled as he said, "Not at all, I am sure you learning magic would be a boon for the base. But you will have to double check with Fury on that."

Sam nodded his head a few times before he asked, "So what can I do for both of you? I assume you came all the way here for a reason?"

Ezekiel smiled again as he said, "You are correct, I need some things. I am going to be setting up a small study area first. After that I will need to set up a laboratory. But that can wait till later."

Sam sat back down at his computer and opened up a new file, before he looked up at Ezekiel and asked, "Tell me everything you want. It might take a few weeks to get everything here though, since we are trying to hide this place."

"If we had it sent to a different location, how long would that take?"

Sam opened up a program, after he typed a few things into it he looked up at Ezekiel and said, "It depends on what it is, but I could probably get most items sent to a storage facility or warehouse pretty quickly. Within a day or so at most, depending upon how rare the item is."

Ezekiel grinned as he said, "Perfect, everything I want should be easily accessible. I need standard office desks and chairs, like yours. Ten of them should work. Then I want ten copies of school books from first grade all the way to college level and I want everything. Medical, science, engineering, chemistry, biology, coding. If there is a degree for it, I want all the current books for it."

Both Steve and Sam looked at Ezekiel in confusion as Sam asked, "That is a lot of books to find. I don't think I can get them all by tomorrow. Do you mind if I ask why you need all of those?"

Ezekiel smirked and said, "I am not the real Ezekiel, but a copy of him. Everything that I learn will be sent back to him. His plan is to use clones to learn as much as he can as fast as possible."

Sam sat back in his chair in awe as Steve asked, "Is that really gonna work? Will you learn everything you need just from reading books?"

Ezekiel laughed as he shook his head and said, "No, not at all. Knowledge without experience will only get me so far. Once I have finished book learning I will switch to actual hands-on experience and will need to make some labs for each subject I want experience in. I am sure Hank, Bill and the other scientists we gather can give me some pointers along the way. It will take a while but I have some ideas that might be extremely helpful to us in the future."

Sam nodded his head in understanding as he leaned forward and started to type again he said, "Okay I will prioritize the first grade and up books. The college level and all the supplemental books would take the longest to gather anyways."

Ezekiel responded and said, "I will need twenty of the newest and best computers on the market, along with a few top of the line computer servers and all the extra equipment to set them up as a network. I am not in a rush for those, but I will additionally need art supplies. Mostly paper of different sizes, you can also get me some plain printer paper. I will need black ink, brush sets and different types of black paints. But you can get me a full range of color too and stuff to clean up the brushes with."

Sam typed away on his keyboard as Steve looked at Ezekiel and asked, "What's the art supplies for?"

"I have some skills I need to learn and practice with and their main requirements are paper and black ink. The other stuff is to test out if it works or not."

Sam looked up from his keyboard and asked, "Anything else you might need?"

Ezekiel shook his head and said, "No, that should do it for me, for now. But The Sorcerer Supreme will give me a list of items they need tomorrow, I will forward it to you once I have it. You can do the same thing for their items and place them in a secure warehouse."

Sam nodded in reply as he said, "Will do."

Ezekiel looked at Steve and said, "Alright, let's take that tour around the base."

He turned back to Sam and said, "It was a pleasure to meet you, I will see you tomorrow sometime."

Sam looked up from his computer screen and said, "Same to you Ezekiel."

Ezekiel and Steve left the room and started to make their way around the base. About eighty-five percent of the base was underground, and the part that was above ground was old and abandoned. Water for the base came from an underground aquifer, filtered through a water purifier system. The internet and power come from the old part of the base, but all of the infrastructure for it was upgraded. All of the old entrances to the underground base were sealed completely.

The only actual entrance to the underground portion of the base was new and hidden completely under the road leading to the base. You had to be in contact with the base to gain access, then a portion of the road would open up, so someone could drive down into the tunnel. That tunnel was about a mile long and led to the only opening into the underground base. It could be considered cramped if it was being used at one hundred percent capacity, but currently only a handful of people and some kids called it their full time home.

Most of the base was currently unused and in need of repair. Only a handful of rooms had already been retrofitted and were in working order. Steve and Ezekiel made their way to one of the unfinished rooms and stopped at an open door with thick power cables running inside it. Steve knocked on it and asked, "Would you like a little more company?"

Hank could be heard from inside the room as he said, "Sure, come on in."

Steve walked in first followed by Ezekiel, inside the room was The Ancient One sitting at a table next to Hank and Bill Foster. Next to them inside a beehive looking glass container was a young girl sitting on a bed. There wasn't much else currently inside the room, besides a bed, a couple of steamer trunks and the table and chairs they were using.

Bill stood up when they were close and reached out a hand to Ezekiel as he said, "It's good to put a face to the name, Ezekiel. I am Bill Foster and the young lady in there is Ava Starr."

Ezekiel smiled at both Ava and Bill as he said, "It's great to meet you both in person. Have you been able to help stabilize Ava yet?"

Bill shook his head and said, "The chamber here helps her stay stable. But she needs to stay inside it for at least twelve hours so she can be outside of it and not in pain for about five hours. It's not a great trade, but it is our first attempt."

"It's a step in the right direction though and that is all that matters."

Bill and Hank nodded their heads in agreement as Ezekiel looked at The Ancient One and asked, "Did you ask them yet?"

"I did, Mr. Foster is on the fence about it and young Ava hasn't shown an interest in it."

Ezekiel nodded as he walked over to the glass beehive and stood in front of Ava. She looked at him curiously, as he smiled at her and said, "Ava, my name is Ezekiel. Can I talk to you for a few minutes?"

Ava glanced at Bill first who nodded his head, before she looked at Ezekiel and said, "Hello, Mr. Ezekiel."

"Just Ezekiel is fine, Ava."

She nodded her head as Ezekiel pointed towards The Ancient One and asked, "Did she ask you, if you would like to learn magic?"

Ava nodded her head again, so Ezekiel asked, "Did she show you what you can do with magic?"

Ava shook her head no, Ezekiel chuckled as he turned to The Ancient One and said, "You need to know your audience, give her a show. But I don't think it needs to be like the one you will give to Strange."

The Ancient One let out a sigh and said, “You know it’s real magic, not the slight of hand most people expect.”

Ezekiel just smiled, but said nothing else. The Ancient One shook her head and stood up, before she walked close to the beehive and stood next to Ezekiel. She looked down at Ava and said, “I already told you, that if you learn magic it can help you to no longer hurt. But let me show you what else it can do.”

The Ancient One started to move both her hands in front of herself and orange lines began to appear in the air as it followed her hands around. As she moved them a pattern of a flower appeared, the flower then shifted into a cat which ran around the glass beehive Ava was inside. The cat then stopped in front of Ezekiel, before using his head as a landing pad for a big leap. While perched on his head, the orange construct transformed into a bird. The bird then opened it’s wings and took off into the air and flew around the room for a few moments before it disappeared into a fireworks like explosion of colors. The Ancient One then made a portal to somewhere covered in snow, she stepped inside and closed the portal. A few moments later she opened another portal and she walked out of it, behind her you could see a white sandy beach.

She looked down at Ava again and as the portal closed she said, “You can do those things and so much more if you learn the mystic arts. Would you like to learn?”

Ava still looked a little uncertain so she looked at Bill who smiled as he said, “I am still going to help you no matter what you want to do Ava. No matter what, I will always be here for you.”

Ava smiled brightly before she looked at The Ancient One and said, “I would like to learn magic, please.”

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