Ezekiel portaled from Mars and headed to Hela's instead of going back to training. Before he could even reach her door his phone started ringing as it played, Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell.
"I always feel like, somebody's watchin' me."
"And I have no privacy. (Oh-oh-oh)"
Ezekiel picked it up as he knocked on Hela's door and asked, "What do you need Fury?"
Fury's tone was low and filled with annoyance as he asked, "Do you have any idea what kinda shit show that little joyride caused?"
"What joyride? What are you talking about?" Ezekiel asked as Hela opened the door.
Hela didn't wanna interrupt his call so she just moved out of the way and waved Ezekiel inside as Fury asked, "So you weren't in a flying car that disappeared off the coast of Mexico within the past half an hour?"
"Oh, you mean the test drive Tony took me on… Or would test flight be more appropriate since we were flying?" Ezekiel asked after he put the phone on speaker mode.
Fury let out a frustrated sigh before he said, "It doesn't matter what it's called… What matters is the problems it caused."
Ezekiel sat down on Hela's couch while she walked over to the kitchen as Ezekiel said, "It shouldn't be a big deal and if there are some problems, it's Tony's fault. He was the one who made the car and wanted to test it. I was just dragged along for the ride. So go talk to him about it…"
"Besides not responding to any type of communication as you both cruised over LA and some restricted air space. The main problem is the speed of that car, it was clocked at almost mach three before you both disappeared."
Hela returned and handed Ezekiel a glass of lemonade before she took a seat next to him. Ezekiel mouthed 'Thank you' before he said to Fury, "Tony reverse engineered some alien technology and that's what was powering the car. If there's an problem, take it up with him. As for the communication issue, Tony didn't install a radio, because he said it was a car and not a plane…"
"How the hell did he get his hands on… You gave him alien technology?!?" Fury asked in a raised tone of voice filled with annoyance.
"I had a bunch of it I collected from Sakaar and Tony is always bored. I figured I'd help him out and get something useful at the same time." Ezekiel said before he took a sip from his lemonade.
"If you're giving him alien technology now, isn't that gonna mess up the timeline? Will he even become Ironman? What about the rest of the world? What if he starts selling some of the technology that he figures out?"
"Why do you think I gave it to him in the first place? The goal is to make the world a better place for everyone. The current cell phone infrastructure we are using is partially based on alien technology and my software… As for Tony becoming Ironman, it happens no matter what we change. I've already confirmed it with Tao." Ezekiel said as he placed his drink down and glanced towards Hela who was playing on her phone.
"You shouldn't be making these types of decisions without informing the rest of the council first."
"This was a personal matter. I have no reason to discuss personal matters with the council. Just like I don't expect them to bring up personal matters when we meet." Ezekiel said as he pulled out his tablet to pull up some information.
"Giving Tony access to alien technology is something that should be considered council business. It will affect the whole world and if not controlled properly could be dangerous."
Ezekiel found the information he was looking for on his tablet before he said, "I'll tell you what, we can bring it up at the next meeting. But then we'll have to talk about the little project you've been working on."
The phone went silent for a few moments before Fury asked in a caution tone, "What project?"
"The one you've been spending millions of dollars on and recruited people outside of the group to help you with. The one that definitely wouldn't pass a council vote if they found out about it…"
"How did you find out about it? I've been doing almost everything old school to get around your electronics monitoring." Fury said with a hint of confusion.
"It doesn't matter. The same as it doesn't matter that Xavier has his own project that would have a fifty percent shot of passing a council vote… Or the project Melina and Alexei are running that definitely wouldn't pass."
"I knew about Charles's project, but what are Melina and Alexei doing?"
Ezekiel chuckled before he said, "It's a personal project, same as yours and the same as mine. If you want to find out, just ask them."
"Fine, I'll drop it. But what about the joyride you guys took?" Fury asked after taking a minute to think.
"Get a hold of Tony, it's his fault after all. He can deal with all the fallout of his own actions… But if it gets out of control I'll do something about it."
"Speaking of fallout, that senate meeting you were at is still giving me issues. I have half the world council asking me to do something about you."
Ezekiel chuckled as he said, "Those idiots are only upset because they're deep in the pockets of the companies I'm fucking over."
"I could kill them if that would help." Hela said as she played a game on her phone.
"Do you have me on speaker phone?" Fury asked in an incredulous tone.
"Yup. But I'm with a close friend I trust." Ezekiel said which made Hela smile the tiniest bit.
"But I don't know who they are…"
"It's Hela, Thor's older sister." Ezekiel said which caused Fury to instantly ask, "But isn't she…"
Ezekiel cut off Fury as he said in a tone that booked no argument, "A friend and that's all that matters."
Hela's slight smile grew the tiniest bit as she glanced at Ezekiel from the corner of her eye as he worked on his tablet. Fury was quiet for a few moments before he said, "If that's the case… I won't worry about her then."
Ezekiel rolled his eyes as he knew Fury was probably already coming up with plans for Hela in case she turned into an enemy. But then again Fury wouldn't be Fury if he didn't make plans on top of other plans that are hidden in other plans. Ezekiel shook his head before he asked, "How is your little project going anyway? Has it turned up anything useful?"
"Didn't you say you already knew about it?"
"Knowing about it and knowing information from it are two different things. I know a few of the people you targeted, but I have no idea what the results are." Ezekiel said with a slight chuckle.
Fury let out a little sigh before he said, "From the eleven people I captured for information so far, I've discovered over a hundred new Hydra agents. All of which are either in major corporations or in a government position."
"And you haven't been discovered?"
"As far as I can tell, no. After I use magic to scan their memories, I set up something so people won't ask questions."
"Then why did you hire those mercenaries and hackers? What are you doing with them?" Ezekiel asked as he looked over the data on his tablet.
"Plausible deniability and to throw off anyone who might come looking for anwsers."
Ezekiel typed a few things on his tablet as he said, "I'm sending you the contact information for a few people who specialize in spying and infiltration. You can use them to help root out more people, but don't go crazy. We don't want to spook Hydra."
"I know what I'm doing."
Ezekiel stored his tablet away before he asked, "Alright… Is that all? Or is their anything else you wanna complain about?"
"When is the neighborhood project going to finish?"
"About a year. It's taking longer to buy up everything than I originally thought. But pretty much everyone is agreeing after I race the purchase price. You should be able to move into your house within two months after the renovations are finished." Ezekiel said before he picked up his glass of lemonade and took a drink.
"It's almost finished?"
"Of course it is. I've been using clones nonstop to do everything. If you didn't ask Tao to reinforce everything with runic spells like some paranoid spy master, it would already be done." Ezekiel said as he shook his head slightly.
"You did the same thing to your family's homes and shop."
Ezekiel stopped himself from replying when he realized Fury was right. After a few moments of silence Fury said, "I have an incoming call I need to take… I'll talk to you later."
Before Ezekiel could respond the line was disconnected, so he put his phone away and turned to Hela as he asked, "Sorry about that. So what do you wanna do today?"
"A new model kit was released yesterday, do you wanna go with me to buy it?"
"Japan uh?... Do you wanna go to karaoke while we're at it? I'm pretty sure Tao and Agatha would wanna come too." Ezekiel said after a moment.
"I mostly just wanted the model kit since it's a limited run… But karaoke always sounds fun to me."
Ezekiel drank the rest of his lemonade before he stood up and said, "Great, let's go see if they wanna join us."
Hela stood up from the couch herself as she changed from house clothes to jeans and a t-shirt. They left the apartment and checked Agatha's apartment first. When she didn't answer they moved over to Tao's and knocked on the door. A couple moments later the door opened and a voice from the living room said, "Come inside."
Ezekiel entered the apartment followed by Hela and they found Tao and Agatha drinking tea as they watched over Ava and Gabby. Both girls were floating above the floor with their eyes closed. Gabby was the first to notice Ezekiel's presence in the room as her nose started to twitch. Within moments she lost concentration and fell to the ground with a soft thud. Her eyes snapped open a moment later before she jumped up and charged towards Ezekiel with a smile on her face.
Gabby only took a few steps then she froze in place before she was yenked back to her spot as Tao said, "Just because Ezekiel's here doesn't mean you can stop your lesson."
Gabby pouted as she sat back down and said, "Yes, master."
As Gabby went back to her lesson and started to float in the air again, Tao glanced at her new guests as she asked, "What brought you two by?"
"Hela wants to go buy some new model kits in Japan and I suggested going to karaoke while we're at it. We wanted to see if you both wanted to join us?"
Tao glanced towards Agatha who smiled slightly as she nodded. Tao turned back to Ezekiel as she said, "Give us another twenty minutes and we'll join you."
Ezekiel nodded before he sat down on one of the couches as he asked, "When did you start training Gabby?"
"A few months ago. She always came with Ava to practice, so I figured I'd give her something to do… She's actually pretty gifted, at least when she sits still to follow the lessons properly."
Ezekiel smiled slightly as he said, "That sounds like her alright."
They ended up chatting as Ava and Gabby finished their lessons for the day. Once finished Ava and Gabby were invited to join them for their trip to Japan. They first headed to get Hela her model kits before they sold out. Afterwards Gabby asked if she could get some stuff too, so Ezekiel ended up buying Gabby and Ava a couple things before they headed to Karaoke.
They ended up spending a few hours at the place hanging out and singing a bunch before they called it a day. After sending Ava and Gabby back home, Ezekiel went back to Tao's with Hela and Agatha. Once there they ate a late dinner together and watched a movie together before Ezekiel and the rest headed home for the night.