Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00117. Something more important than a soul sphere.

A few weeks passed by as Theo's clones worked on making a clone of the Valkyrie’s leader. How did they know which body was from the leader? The armor had small decorations for the person's rank.

They used the information they gathered from Asgard to cross check with and figured out what rank was what. Once they found the leader, Tobirama and Orochimaru started working on making a clone. That is where they were now, with a body almost fully formed.

Now Theo needed to figure out a way to get their souls from Hela…

He could only really offer her two things, her freedom and what might happen to her in the future. But he already offered that if she let him in her mind…

Maybe he could offer her the chance at freedom…

Theo shook his head to clear it, he would have to discuss the idea with Tao and Agatha. Maybe they could think of something else that would be worth trading for. But that could wait for now, Theo needed to focus on his current task.

Theo double checked the little booklet in front of himself. It was one of his birthday presents he was finally going to use. It was a booklet that detailed how to make a go-kart from scratch. His mom wasn't a big fan of the idea, but Jacob was able to talk her into letting Theo make one.

Well, it would be Theo and Peter making go-karts. Luckily Milly ended up not being interested in the idea of making her own go-kart, which might have been why Daniel agreed to the idea in the first place.

Theo looked over what was required to make a go-kart one more time before he placed the booklet down and glanced over to Peter as he asked, “Are you ready to go find stuff?”

“Yup. Uncle Ben even said he would help and pay for anything we're able to pull out from the scrap yard.”

Theo smiled as he said, “Awesome. Let's bring some tools so we can break things down easily.”

Peter nodded his head and they walked over to the community tool box. While everyone who worked in the shop had their own tools. There was also the community toolbox anyone could use. It was mostly filled with extra tools that were collected over the years.

You could find pretty much anything you would need inside it. The only issue was the tools weren't in the best shape and they weren't arranged in any type of order. So you would have to dig around for a while to find what you were looking for.

Theo and Peter spent half an hour collecting tools they thought they would need. Some hammers, a hacksaw, crescent wrenches, a couple screwdrivers along with a few other things. They loaded all of the tools into a wagon and pulled it over to Ben who was talking with Jacob.

Both men smiled at the boys as Jacob asked, “You ready to check out the scrap yard?”

“Ya. Hopefully we can find everything to make two carts.”

Jacob rubbed the top of Theo’s head as he said, “Don’t worry, if Aleksei’s scrap yard doesn’t have it.”

“You don’t need it.” Ben finished with a laugh.

Ben picked up the tools in the little red wagon the boys used and placed it in an extra large custom made wagon. It was something he made with Jacob. It was designed to be pushed and pulled around the shop. But if the load was too heavy to move, it had a small lawn mower engine that could help move it around. 

They mostly used it to transport stuff to and from the scrap yard. While they normally liked to fabricate or use new parts in their projects. A lot of older cars could only be fixed with used parts. They would make sure to get the best condition parts possible, but they were still used.

Ben double checked everything in the wagon before he took the handle and said, “Alright, let's go. We’ll take care of the heavy lifting for you boys.”

Theo looked up at his dad as he asked, “You're coming too?”

“Yup. I need to talk with Aleksei and don't wanna miss your first trip to the scrapyard.”

Ben and Jacob led the boys out of the warehouse and down the road a couple of blocks to a large open gate. A large dump truck drove through the gate as they approached and Theo couldn’t help but notice it looked filled to the brim with junk. Metal pipes, wire, a fridge door, tires, and wood were the handful of things he saw sticking out of the bin before it drove out of sight.

Ben paused at the gate for a few moments making sure another vehicle wasn’t coming, before he pulled the wagon into the scrap yard. As Theo walked past the gate he was impressed by what he saw. From what he could see the scrapyard seemed to be organized. At least the large piles of tires, metal, wood and other stuff made it seem like it was.

They moved away from the main area where dump trucks were dumping their loads and went towards a trailer off to the right side of the gate. On top of the trailer was a sign that read. ‘Aleksei Scrapyard. If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.’

As they walked up to the trailer, the larger than average door swung open and a giant of a man stepped outside as he asked in a heavy Russian accent, “My friends! What brings you to my humble scrap yard today?”

Jacob placed his hand on Theo and Peter’s shoulder as he walked the boys forward and said, “The boys are going to make go-karts and need some parts to do it. I figured this would be the best place to find what they need.”

The man smiled widely as he walked in front of Jacob as he said, “Of course! If they can’t find it here.”

“Then they don’t need it.” Ben and Jacob finished with a laugh.

Aleksei nodded before he knelt down next to the boys and said, “You must be Peter and Theo. Tis’ nice to finally meet you both.” before he stretched out his large hand and engulfed the boy's hands as he shook each one.

Aleksei smiled at the boys as he said, “I’ve heard so much about you, I almost feel like you’re my nephews. You call me uncle Aleksei from now on, dah?”

Peter said, “Yes, uncle Aleksei.”

As Theo nodded and asked, “Does that mean we get a family discount uncle Aleksei?”

Aleksei’s laugh was loud and came from deep in his chest before he said, “Just as quick witted as your father said.”

Aleksei patted Theo’s head as he stood back up and said, “Of course I’ll give you a discount, little Theo. You get same discount as your father.”

“Thanks, uncle Aleksei. You're the best.”

Aleksei laughed again before he said, “Come into my office, I’ll get you set up to explore the scrap yard.”

Within ten minutes they were back outside the office with bright yellow vests and hardhats. Well Theo and Peter’s hats were oversized for them, but they made it work with some extra padding. The vests were also oversized for the boys and just looked comical on them, as they almost touched the ground. Theo was pretty sure his dad picked the largest vests there, so he could take pictures of them like that.

From there they moved into the scrap yard and started to look for parts to build their go-karts. The first stop was the mountain of tires, since it was the closest to the gate and Aleksei’s trailer. It was luckily sorted into different groups of tires and they quickly found some used wheelbarrow tires. They weren’t the best thing they could use, but the size was decent enough and they were in good shape.

From there they moved towards an area of scrap metal. It was mostly filled with pipes, tubes and plates of metal. They were even separated into different types of metal. The most common type being plain steel. Stainless steel was the second largest pile, followed by aluminum and copper.

As they moved into the area, Jacob looked around as he asked, “Do you know what you want to build the karts body out of?”

“The booklet said steel tubing or pipe is best for strength, while aluminum is better for weight. But it also said something about the thickness of the metal needing to be a certain size or the kart could easily bend or break.”

Jacob smiled as he patted Theo’s head and said, “The wall thickness of the metal. The thicker it is, the stronger the metal can be.”

Peter looked at all the metal pipe and tubing before he pointed out a solid piece of steel and said, “Then shouldn’t we use that stuff, it’s completely solid. That should be good, right?”

Ben shook his head as he said, “You would think that, but let me show you something cool.”

Ben walked over and after a few minutes pulled out two pieces of metal. Both were about the same size and thickness, except one was a solid rod and the other was a tube. He brought them over to the group and placed them down before he said, “Try to pick each of those up, one at a time.”

Both Peter and Theo were barely able to lift up the rod, but easily picked up the tube. Once they finished Peter excitedly said, “The solid one is bad cause it weighs too much!”

Ben smiled as he picked up the rod and said, “That’s one reason. But there is another more important reason we don’t want to use the rod for the karts.”

Ben wedged the rod deep into a pipe covered by a bunch of other stuff and began to lift up on it. It took a few seconds but the rod started to bend. After the rod had a decent bend, Ben pulled it out and showed it to Peter as he asked, “You see how easy that was?”

Peter nodded as Ben took the tube and tried to repeat the process with it. After about a minute, Ben said, “Jacob, help me out with this real quick.”

Jacob moved close and tried to help Ben to bend the tube but nothing happened. Once they finished, Ben pulled the tube out and showed it to Peter. There was a tiny bend in the tube, but not much else. Peter glanced between the tube and the rod a few times before he asked, “The tube is stronger?”

“Yup.”

Peter looked at the tube again as he said, “But it’s hollow. Shouldn’t it be weaker?”

Ben tossed the tube and rod back into the scrap pile before he said, “You know what else is hollow and really strong?”

Peter shook his head before Ben said, “Your bones.”

Peter lifted his arm and looked at it as he asked, “My bones are hollow?”

Ben smiled as he said, “Yup, everyone's bones are hollow. It makes them stronger and lighter at the same time.”

Peter looked at his arm and then some of the tubes before he asked, “So we need to make the go-kart’s out of tubes, so it’s as strong as our bones? What about the square tubing? Will that be strong also?”

Ben shook his head as he said, “Yes and no. It’ll be lighter and stronger than the solid rods of steel. But not stronger than a piece of pipe or tubing of the same size, depending on how you use it.”

Peter looked up at Ben as he asked, “Why? What makes it different?”

Jacob rubbed the top of Peter’s head as he said, “You would have to ask your dad that, since he is smarter than both me and Ben.”

“He better be smarter than both of us, he's the one who went to college after all.” Ben said.

Jacob nodded in agreement before he said, “Yup. Now, how about we find some decent tubing we can use to make your go-kart frames.”

They spent the next hour digging through the piles of metal looking for tubing that was relatively the same size and thickness. Once they had what they thought was enough they moved to another area to look for more parts.

They found some passable seats to use from a couple busted up riding mowers. They also scavenged the pedals and steering wheels from them. Next they found some metal cable that could be used for the throttle cable to the engines. Along with some sprockets and chains to use for the karts drive chain.

Besides some other basic odds and ends the last piece they looked for were the engines. There was an area of the scrapyard that had tons of different engines. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, lawnmowers. Anything that used an engine could be found in this area. Mostly it was just the engine portion of the device or vehicle. But there were still a couple vehicles mostly intact, waiting for the engine to be removed.

As they were looking around, Jacob spotted some junked pressure washers and moved over to check them out. While Ben spotted some broken generators. Theo and Peter were also looking around at stuff, but mostly stuck close to Ben and Jacob.

Jacob wrestled one of the pressure washers out and looked it over before he said, “This should work for one of the engines. It’s nine horsepower and has a three quarters inch shaft. It also seems to be in good shape.”

Ben came over to check it out and nodded once he finished looking it over. He glanced at the other pressure washer as he asked, “That one looks to be the same, we should grab that for spare parts. Worst case we can make one working engine out of both of them.”

Jacob nodded and they hauled the two pressure washers to the cart and tossed them inside it. Then they went back to looking for another engine. It didn’t take long before they found a couple more engines with the same specs. After they were loaded into the kart, they made their way back to Aleksei’s office.

Once they paid, they headed back to the shop to start the process of mocking up the go-karts. The plan was to lay everything out and double check if they were missing anything. Then they would help the boys start with the engine teardowns. Once the engines were rebuilt and working, they would move on to building the karts frame from there.

As Theo was helping his dad unbolt the engine from the pressure washers frame, any background thoughts he had lingering in his mind faded away. He became lost in the moment and just soaked up everything his father was explaining to him. It was moments like these that made Theo happy he came to this world. Not to be a hero, but because of the loving family he had.

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