Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00132. Ezekiel has a fan club?

As Ezekiel and his group finished up dinner at a restaurant with an amazing cliff side view of the ocean. A new portal opened up in the same portal room Ezekiel used. A few seconds later it was filled with a group of teens and kids. As they started to move towards the door a young girl stopped and sniffed the air a few times. A girl that looked like an older copy of the sniffing girl turned around and asked, “What’s wrong Gabby?”

Gabby sniffed the air a few more times before she grinned wide and said, “Ezekiel’s here!”

Skye, who was standing close to Gabby said, “We just saw Ezekiel at the base.”

“No, that was one of his clones. The real Ezekiel is here.” Gabby said as she started to move towards the door.

Cessily smiled and said, “Let's go find him!”

Leach who was holding Cessily’s hand said. “I wanna see Ezekiel too.”

“Yeah! Let's go find him!” Ava said as she followed after Gabby.

“I thought we were going to the amusement park?” Yelena asked as she looked at her sister.

Natasha shrugged as she said, “We can go after we find Ezekiel. Maybe he’ll join us at the amusement park.”

Grant, who was holding his little brother's hand said, “Well let's get going, Gabby is gonna leave us behind.”

The group of kids all followed behind Gabby as she slowly led them towards the restaurant. Inside the restaurant Ezekiel finished paying the bill as he asked, “How about I give you a tour of the island before we leave?”

Doris looked at her watch to check the time, it was getting close to Liz’s bed time. So she thought about going home now, to get Liz ready for bed. But when she looked at the smile on her daughter's face as she finished her cake, she decided to take the tour around the island first. Today was special, Liz could stay up a little later tonight. 

After everyone agreed, Ezekiel led his group out of the restaurant where someone yelled out, “Ezekiel!” Before a young girl with black hair ran towards him at full speed. Ezekiel was able to catch the girl in a hug as he said, “It’s good to see you too Gabby.”

As she squeezed Ezekiel in a tight hug Gabby said, “You never visit me!”

“What are you talking about, I see you everyday.”

Gabby sniffed Ezekiel before she said, “Those things aren’t you. They don’t even smell.”

“While my clones might not be the real me, they’re still a copy of me. So whenever we talk, you're still talking to me.” Ezekiel said as he patted Gabby’s head with one hand.

Gabby looked up as she asked, “Really?”

Ezekiel nodded as he said, “Yup. But if it makes you happy, I’ll try and visit you in person when I have free time.”

Gabby narrowed her eyes as she asked, “You promise?”

Ezekiel held out a pinky and wiggled it as he said, “Pinky promise.”

Gabby let go of her hug then reached up and locked pinkies with Ezekiel as she said, “Pinky promise.”

While Ezekiel’s group watched his interaction with Gabby, another group of almost twenty kids ran up to Ezekiel. Most of them looked like normal kids, but Leech and Cessily, who stopped holding hands while they ran after Gabby, stood out. Laura was the first one who reached them as she wasn’t in the main group and said, “You took off Gabby, mom told you to stay close when we go out.”

Gabby fidgeted with a smile on her face as she said, “Sorry, I was just excited.”

Laura karate chopped Gabby’s head as she said, “I know, but you always take off.”

Gabby rubbed her head as she said, “Sorry!”

Laura ignored her sister as she moved a little closer to Ezekiel and sniffed him a few times. When she finished she stepped back and said, “You do smell nice.”

Tony, wondering what was going on, moved next to Ezekiel as he asked, “What’s up with the fan club of kids?”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “Just some friends I’ve helped out over the years.”

The main group of kids finally arrived and Leech moved to hug Ezekiel as he said, “Friend Ezekiel!”

Ezekiel returned the hug as he said, “It’s good to see you too Leech.”

After Ezekiel released his hug with Leech he said, “You slipped back to your old speech habit.”

Leech rubbed the back of his head as he said, “It happens when I get excited.”

Ezekiel patted the boy's head as he said, “It’s fine buddy. You're doing a good job with your lessons.”

Cessily stepped close to Ezekiel and went in for a hug as she said, “He’s put in a lot of effort.”

Ezekiel returned the hug before he said, “Well he has a good teacher, so keep up the good work, both of you.”

After that Ezekiel greeted the other kids and gave a quick introduction to both groups before Gabby tugged on Ezekiel’s hand and asked, “Can you come with us to the amusement park?!”

Ezekiel wanted to refuse but most of the other kids asked the same thing right afterwards. When Ezekiel looked at his group he saw Liz’s eyes light up at the mention of the amusement park so he asked, “You guys wanna check out the amusement park?”

Liz looked at her parents with puppy dog eyes and it made Adrian share a look with his wife before he said, “We’re just along for the ride, so we’ll go wherever.”

Tony smirked as he said, “The amusement park sounds good to me. If I take some videos there it will probably get me more followers on Vibe.”

Ezekiel shook his head before he said, “Alright let's head to the amusement park then.”

As the kids quickly celebrated, Gabby held on to Ezekiel’s hand and said, “Come on let’s go. I wanna ride the coasters with you.”

As the new, larger group moved towards the amusement park Tony, who was walking besides Ezekiel asked, “You said you helped all these kids out? Are they all meta-humans?”

Ezekiel shrugged as he said, “No. Just kids that were living in bad situations and I gave them a helping hand.”

“I used to live in the sewers.” Leech said as he was following behind Ezekiel and Tony.

Gabby cheerfully said next, “I was cloned in a lab with my sisters.”

Natasha who was walking close to Gabby and Laura said, “Me and my sister were being trained as assassins before Ezekiel found us.”

Cessily glanced back to see Skye, Ava, Grant and his little brother Thomas talking to Liz and her parents near the back of the group so she said, “I was kidnapped and my parents were killed before Ezekiel found me in a lab.”

Tony, Pepper, Happy and Rhodey all looked between the kids and couldn’t believe what they all just said, so Pepper glanced at Ezekiel as she asked, “Are they joking?”

“Unfortunately they aren’t.” Ezekiel said as he sadly shook his head.

Ezekiel glanced around at the kids next to him and said, “But that’s all in the past. Now stop making the adult depressed, you’re gonna make uncle Tony cry.”

“I’m not gonna cry. And I’m no one’s uncle.” Tony said as he punched Ezekiel’s shoulder.

The conversation changed to more normal topics as they continued to walk toward the amusement park. Along the way they ran into a bunch of different people who all stopped to greet Ezekiel, Ezekiel always returned the greeting and also seemed to know each person's name. After a while they finally arrived at the entrance of the amusement park and Tony said, “I'll pay this time since you bought dinner.”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “How generous of you, but the amusement park is currently free to the public.”

Tony raised an eyebrow as he asked, “Why would an amusement park be free?”

“Because it's still in the testing phase. Once we have everything dialed in, there will be a small fee to enter. The food, carnival games and arcade still cost money. But the entry, rides, go-karts, laser tag and other things are all free.” Ezekiel said as he led the group inside.

Once inside Ezekiel glanced down at Gabby who was still holding his hand and asked, “Where to?”

Gabby started to lead him by the hand as she said, “Rollercoaster!”

“Rollercoaster? But laser tag is more fun.” Natasha said as she followed along.

Cessily chuckled as she said, “You only say that because you always get the highest score.”

Natasha smiled as she said, “It’s not my fault if everyone else can't aim.”

Laura shook her head as she said, “It has nothing to do with aiming. It's just you and the other girls take laser tag too seriously.”

Ezekiel smirked as he asked Tony, “What about a friendly game of laser tag after the rollercoaster?”

“Laser tag with kids? That doesn't sound fun.”

Ezekiel chuckled as he asked, “What, you don't think you can beat some kids in laser tag?”

Tony glanced at the kids for a moment before he said, “No, I don't want them to be upset when I do.”

“You wish, old man. It’s a good thing you don’t wanna play, we wouldn’t want you to break a hip or something.” Natasha said with a smirk.

“Old man? I’m only thirty-two you little brat.” Tony said.

Natasha glanced at Tony as she said, “Whatever you say grandpa.”

“That’s it, I’ll show you who’s old. Where’s the laser tag at?” Tony asked with a frown on his face.

Natasha smirked and pointed to the left as she said, “It’s this way grandpa. Want me to hold your hand so you don’t get lost? I heard that happens to senior citizens.”

Tony smiled as he said, “Just wait, this old man is gonna humble you. Happy, Rhodey, come on, we need to teach this kid a lesson.”

“She was only calling you an old man, why do I need to help you out?” Rhodey asked.

Natasha glanced at Rhodey before she said, “At least the other grandpa knows he doesn’t stand a chance.”

Tony and Rhodey shared a glance before they nodded to each other, then Tony glanced back at Natasha as he said, “Alright, lets go.”

Natasta glanced back at her sister and asked, “Yelena, wanna go beat some old men in laser tag?”

“Ya! Let's go.” Yelena said before she took off running towards the laser tag area.

Natasha glanced at Laura and asked, “You in for some laser tag?”

Laura nodded before she looked at Ezekiel and asked, “Will you watch over Gabby for a while?”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “Yeah and we’ll come to laser tag after we ride the rollercoaster.”

“Thank you.” Laura said before she looked at Gabby and said, “Stay with Ezekiel and no running off, or I’ll tell mom.”

Gabby nodded her head and when Laura turned around to walk away, Gabby stuck out her tongue. As Tony’s new group started to leave and go towards the laser tag area Pepper said, “I’m gonna go with Tony. I’ll keep him in line so he isn’t too hard on those kids..”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “I’m more worried about Tony getting bullied by the kids. He’s in for a world of trouble.”

After that the group split up a bit more with about half the kids going to laser tag and the other half going to the rollercoaster. Ezekiel was left with Gabby, Cessily, Leech, the Toomes, Skye, Ava, Grant, Thomas and two other girls from the widow program. While everyone else went to play laser tag.

It took a few minutes for the smaller group to make it to the rollercoaster, which was massive and wrapped around most of the park. After looking at the rollercoaster for a few moments Adrian glanced at his daughter before he said, “This doesn’t look like it was made for kids.”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “Normally you're right, but this coaster was made with the help of magic, so anyone can ride it.”

Gabby pulled on Ezekiel’s hand as she said, “Come on, I wanna ride it at least twice!”