Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00029. An earnest meeting or a trap?

The location was a set of Geo coordinates to a remote forested area in South America. The place was so remote that without the ability to fly or teleport yourself, it would take a week of intense hiking to reach. You could probably parachute in, but the forest canopy was so thick you would probably get stuck in a tree or worse.

Ezekiel and The Ancient One traveled to the meeting area six hours early through the mirror dimension. Ezekiel was a little surprised that no one was there yet, but still combed the surrounding area for any type of trap or ambush. When he didn't find anything he had The Ancient One send him out of the mirror dimension.

Once he was in the forest he decided to get some practice in, he did some hand signs and said, ", earth wave!" Slamming his hand down on the ground it distorted and moved out in a wave around Ezekiel and pushed all of the trees outwards in a perfect circle.

Ezekiel double checked his work, the dirt was completely level and the closest tree was about fifty feet from the middle of the clearing he just made. The trees were so big and full of growth that even with this change you still couldn't see the sky properly. Next he used another earth technique to make a five foot deep hole that was about ten feet in diameter off to one side of the clearing. Afterwards he used a to fill it with water.

Once it was finished he started to practice water walking. It took a bit to get used to, but his chakra control was one of the things he practiced the most. Once he had the ability down he walked to the middle of the water and sat down on the water in the lotus position and began to practice sensing universal energy while at the same time controlling his chakra to not fall in.

The Ancient One watched Ezekiel in fascination as he used his abilities, it reminded her a little of magic with the hand movements and words. But when the ability was used it didn't use universal energy, but energy from within his body.

Ezekiel sat there for almost four hours before the first group for the meeting appeared, they floated down to the ground riding on air currents. Xavier, Logan and Storm landed about thirty feet from Ezekiel, who kept his eyes closed as he said, "Greetings professor, I hope you don't mind I came early."

Logan took up a position slightly in front of the professor and said, "I can't smell him, it’s like he isn’t real."

"Your words hurt more than your claws, Mr. Howlett.

Logan stepped forward as his claws started to come out of his hands as he asked, “You wanna find out which really hurts more, bub?”

Storm put a hand on Logan’s shoulder and said, “Logan, I know you are on edge. But we came here to talk, not start a fight.”

Logan grunted before he stepped back as his claws retracted into his hands. Xavier and his group moved a little closer to Ezekiel before he said, “I thank you for coming, I wasn’t sure if you would come alone or not.”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “Honestly I wasn’t sure if this would be a trap or just a waste of my time.”

Another voice spoke up from the air and said, “I don’t need to resort to simple traps, my own power is more than enough to handle most people.” As a man dressed in red armor floated through the treetops into the clearing with a blue skinned woman next to him. After they landed on the ground about twenty feet from Ezekiel who quickly did some single handed signs behind his back. The man looked at Ezekiel for a few moments before he turned to Xavier and asked, “Have you found out anything from him?”

Xavier shook his head and said, “I can’t sense his mind at all, and Logan said he can not smell him. He might be some type of illusion, but it could just be his powers at work.”

Ezekiel stood up slowly and said, “I can assure you, I am very real. But I took measures against unwanted advances from Professor Xavier’s powers. Now…”

Before he could finish talking, metal burst from the ground around the clearing and formed a cage around Ezekiel, who quickly did a few single handed signs and mouthed one word before anyone noticed. The cage with Ezekiel floated over and landed in front of Magneto as he said, “Since you are real, that means you can be captured. Now you know a lot of things that my friend has worked hard to keep hidden, I wanna know everything you know and anyone else you have told about it.”

“Erik! I thought we agreed we would talk with him and hear him out?”

Magneto sneered as he looked at Xavier and said, “You are too trusting Charles, this man knows your secrets! A man you know nothing about, who was able to hack the security at your school. We need to find out what he knows about both of us before we do anything else, before we can even think about trusting him.”

Ezekiel laughed before he said, “All these trust issues? Your ex girlfriends really did a number on you, didn’t they?”

Storm smirked slightly at that, while Logan actually let out a laugh as Magneto glared at Ezekiel and said, “I am going to ask you some questions, and you are going to answer them truthfully.”

Ezekiel smirked and asked, “How are you gonna know it’s the truth when Xavier can’t read my mind?”

The bars around the cage shrank a little and tiny needles formed floating around the cage as Magneto said, “I am sure I can make you talk if I apply the right amount of incentives.”

Logan growled as his claws started to come out and walk towards Magneto, who looked at him and said, “You know how this will end, back down boy.” He looked at Xavier and said, "Keep your dog on a leash Charles before he gets hurt."

Storm spread her hands out and prepared for a fight, before Xavier raised a hand and said, "Erik, please don't do this. We can still salvage the situation."

"No Charles, he knows too much. You told me he claimed to see the future, we need to know what he knows."

Xavier frowned as he asked, "Is this what you are really after? The possible info he has about the future? We don't know if he can really see the future or not."

The needles started to get a little closer to Ezekiel as Magneto said, "There is only one way to find out and if you aren't going to help, then leave."

Xavier let out a sigh and said, "Stand down both of you. I don't like it, but Erik is right. I am going to try and force my way into his mind if I can find it, hopefully it happens before Erik can use his methods…" Both Storm and Logan relaxed a little, but still looked ready to attack at any time if needed.

Magneto turned back to Ezekiel and asked, "Did you see that coming with your future sight?"

Ezekiel smirked and said, "No, but it doesn’t matter. I will die before I tell you anything."

"Then you will have a very painful death then."

Xavier concentrated as much as he could to reach out and make contact with Ezekiel's mind. But no matter what he did he couldn't find it. He made a decision and said, "Erik, I need to touch his head to make contact."

Magneto nodded his head and the cage closed in around Ezekiel and locked his body in place but left his head exposed. He then moved Ezekiel next to Xavier who placed his hand on Ezekiel's head and attempted to make contact with his mind. Xavier was quiet for a few moments before his face took on a slightly pained expression. Everyone was silent as they watched Xavier try to read Ezekiel's mind. Minutes passed and it was taking a toll on the man who had droplets of sweat starting to form around his forehead. Ezekiel's eyes were closed and he was gritting his teeth as some sweat was running down his face.

Xavier forced all his concentration on his task for almost thirty minutes before he mumbled, "Just a little more."

Ezekiel screamed as blood started to pour out of his eyes, nose and ears. Xavier let out a hollow laugh as he removed his hand and said, "His mental defense was the best I have ever seen. It took everything I had to break it. Give me a few minutes to rest and then we can get some answers."

Magneto nodded his head before he walked in front of Ezekiel and said, "Looks like you are going to talk before you die after all."

Ezekiel smiled wide, his teeth stained red while blood was running out of his mouth, before he spit out his tongue and blood all over the front of Magneto's suit. Logan was the first to react as he said, "That's definitely one way not to talk."

"Charles, you need to dig through his mind before he bleeds out!"

Xavier was shocked, but still reached out and put his hand on Ezekiel's head as the man stared back into his eyes with defiance. It took a few minutes but Xavier pulled everything he could from Ezekiel before he bled to death. Afterwards he let out a sigh and looked at the corpse of a once potential ally.

Xavier looked at Magneto and said, "I gathered what I could from him, most of it is just some sporadic bits and pieces. It will take me a while to go through everything and sort out the important things."

Magneto nodded his head before Xavier said, "I wish you would have trusted the man a little and at least listened to what he had to say. He could have been a powerful ally to have."

Magneto shook his head as he said, "Maybe, or he could have turned into one more enemy for us."

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Everyone watched as a cage formed up around Ezekiel, and then floated over and sat down in front of Magneto. After a few seconds, a puff of smoke and a log appeared in the cage. Everyone except for Magneto reacted, and took up a battle stance. Mystique looked at Magneto and asked, "Are you alright, Erik?"

Ezekiel's voice was heard from the edge of the clearing as he walked out of the forest. Ezekiel's pace was casual, while he had his hands behind his back and a smile on his face.

Everyone tensed at his statement but didn't attempt to make a move. Xavier was the first to speak and said, "I want to apologize, I should have warned you that Erik might try something. I hope this didn't ruin our potential future relationship."

Ezekiel chuckled as he said, "I expected him to try something. Honestly I would have been disappointed if he didn't try something. That being said…"

Ezekiel turned to look at Mystique who was trying to shake Magneto awake. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Ms. Darkholme."

Mystique froze and slowly turned to look at Ezekiel with a little bit of fear in her eyes. Ezekiel's smile dropped and he said, "Give Magneto a message for me. This was his only pass with me. The next time I extend an olive branch, he better come with peaceful intentions or not show up at all."

Ezekiel had a slightly feral smile as he said, "I want you and him to know that the world is already changing and whether or not you are part of that change is up to you. But if anyone gets in my way their corpse will be in the foundation of what I am building."

"Do. You. Understand?"

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