“That. Was. Awesome!”

Everyone in the room turned around to look at the door, peeking into the room were four kids. The youngest was currently covering her mouth, while the other kids looked shocked. Steve was the first to react and said, “Shouldn’t all of you be doing your school work?”

A boy with mahogany colored skin stood up straight and said, “We finished early sir, we came to visit Ava.”

Steve smiled and said, “Well then knock on the door next time and don’t eavesdrop. Also you don’t need to be so formal Erik.”

Erik nodded his head, but said nothing else. The youngest spoke up and asked, “Mr. Rogers, can we come in and hang out with Ava?”

Ezekiel laughed before he said, “Mr. Rogers? Want me to get you a sweater?”

Steve looked confused, but Bill and Hank both chuckled for a moment. Even The Ancient One smirked a little. Ezekiel smirked as he said, “Just something you missed while you were asleep. Do you have a computer yet?”

Steve shook his head and said, “It’s on the list of things I need to get.”

“You can have one of the ones I asked Sam for and I will show you how to use it properly.”

Steve nodded his head as he said, “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

Steve looked back at the kids as the young girl at the door asked, “Can we get computers also? We only have school books right now. It's not that fun here, we can’t even go outside to play.”

Steve was about to say something when Ezekiel said, “I will tell you what, how about all of you come inside and introduce yourselves to me first. Then we can talk about getting you some things to make this place less boring.”

The young girl was the first in the room as she ran to stand in front of Ezekiel. The others were quick to follow and line up next to her. The young girl was the first to speak and frowned a little as she said, “My name is Mary Sue Poots.”

Ezekiel laughed and asked, “Don’t like your name?”

“No.”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “Then change it. You don’t have to keep a name you don’t like.”

Mary grinned wide as she asked, “I can do that?”

“Yup. If you think of a new name, just tell people that is your name. When you are older you can get it legally changed to it, if you really like it.”

Ezekiel pointed to The Ancient One and said, “This lady here is called, The Ancient One. That’s not her real name though. It’s just what everyone calls her. Kinda helps though, since she is a master of magic, she needs a cool sounding name, so it adds to her aura of mystery.”

The kids looked at The Ancient One in awe as Steve, Hank and Bill tried not to smile. The Ancient One smiled a little at the kids, before she glared at Ezekiel for a second. Ezekiel ignored The Ancient One and looked to the next kid as he asked, “What is your name?”

“I am Erik Stevens, sir.”

Ezekiel shook his head and said, “My name is Ezekiel and you don’t have to be formal around me, Erik.”

Erik nodded his head but said nothing else. The next boy spoke up and said, “My name is Grant Ward, it’s nice to meet you sir.”

Ezekiel let out a sigh before he looked at the last kid, she smiled at Ezekiel as she said, “It’s nice to meet you Ezekiel, my name is Hope Van Dyne.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hope.”

Ezekiel looked over all the kids once more and then asked, “So what would make your stay here more enjoyable?”

Mary spoke first and said, “A computer!”

The other kids all nodded in agreement, even Ava. Ezekiel asked, “Only a computer? What else do you think will make your time here more enjoyable?”

Hope spoke up next and said, “My own room.”

Grant followed up with and said, “A better bed with sheets and blankets.”

Mary was next and said, “Better food!”

All of the kids nodded at that and it was like a flood gate was opened. All of them had ideas for what would make their stay in the base better. It took a little while for all of them to get through what they thought would make the base better. But one thing they all agreed on was going outside, even Ava wanted to go outside.

Ezekiel smiled at them all as he said, “I don’t think we can do all of those ideas, but a good part of them are doable. It will just take a little while. As for going outside of the base, I don’t think that is possible. But I have an idea if The Ancient One wants to be nice, she could probably take you to the beach.”

The Ancient One looked at Ezekiel and asked, “Do you take me for a taxi service?”

Ezekiel nodded his head as he said, “You were the one who offered to bring me over from now on.”

Ezekiel then swept his arm towards all the kids and said, “Plus look at them, they really wanna go outside and you are their only hope.”

The Ancient One sighed, before she said, “Fine, I can take them to a hidden island that we use to practice magic on sometimes. But someone will need to watch them while they are playing, I am only providing transport.”

The kids all smiled except for Mary who yelled, “YES!”

Ezekiel turned around to them and said, “If you are going to the beach you better go change into some different clothes.”

Mary was running to the door before Ezekiel finished talking. Grant, Erik and Hope all said, “Thank you.” Before they left to go change.

The Ancient One looked at everyone else in the room and asked, “So who is going with me to watch the kids?”

Bill and Hank looked at each other before they nodded and said almost in sync, “We will watch the kids.”

“Good. How much longer does Ava need to stay in her stabilizing tank?”

Bill answered, “About twenty minutes.”

The Ancient One nodded and said, “I will be back in about thirty minutes. I am going to get a few things so the kids will have fun at the beach.”

A portal opened up and The Ancient One walked through it. As it closed Ezekiel looked at Steve and said, “What about you? You wanna go with them? You won’t have many chances to go out since we are trying to keep you hidden.”

Steve thought about it for a few seconds before he asked, “What about you? What are you going to do?”

“I am going to talk with Sam and make another order. Then I will borrow a computer and work on some more code for my next project.”

Steve nodded his head and said, “Alright, I am gonna go check with Peggy and see if she wants to join me for a walk on a beach.”

Ezekiel nodded his head and then turned to Hank and asked, “Can I borrow you for a few moments?”

Hank nodded and as he stood up he said, “Follow me.”

Hank led Ezekiel out of the room to the one next door. It was in the process of being worked on, it looked like it was going to be a laboratory. Hank stopped next to a work bench full of tools and asked, “What did you wanna talk about?”

“How is your relationship with Hope?”

Hank looked blindsided by the question, but recovered quickly as he said, “Strained, she only talks to me if she absolutely has to. Otherwise she ignores me.”

Ezekiel nodded and said, “Well you did send her away to school when you lost Janet. Have you tried to talk with her about it?”

“It’s hard, I have no idea what to say. I was never a good parent, Janet was the one who made our family work. Once she was gone I had no idea how to handle Hope or even myself for that matter. So I sent her away and dove into my work to keep myself busy. What do I even say to her, sorry? Sorry for treating her the way I did? Sorry for sending her away? Sorry for not talking to her at all? Tell her that her mother is still alive? That I am trying to find her?”

Ezekiel patted Hank’s shoulder and said, “Saying you are sorry would be a good start. Just be honest with her and everything should work out. She might hold a grudge for a while, but I think she will come around sooner or later.”

Hank stayed silent as he nodded his head. Ezekiel patted his shoulder one more time before he said, “Alright, enjoy your beach trip. I need to go talk with Sam again.”

--------------------------------------------------------------

Theo was laying in his crib, he had just been put to bed and was thinking about what had happened today. He had been noticing that clones would act out in weird ways sometimes. Like the clone today who attacked The Ancient One, that wasn't something he would have done. Yet that clone did it, and the feelings he received from the clone were eagerness and excitement. He closed his eyes and drifted off to his mindscape for the night.

He appeared in his normal place, inside a copy of the home office he used to use. This one he considered his real one, it was the first one he had made and all the copies were made from this one. He walked over to his chair, it was big, brown and made of some type of very soft leather. He actually found it in some CEO’s meeting room, when he went to hash out some finer points of a contract with some lawyers. It was added into the contract that the chair would be given to him as part of his payment.

Theo sat down in the chair and let out a contented sigh. While the chair and this place might only exist in his head, it felt more than real enough whenever he was here. The feeling of the chair as he sat in it. The smell of leather mixed with the slightly earthy smell from the garden outside. The slight hum of computer fans and the muffled sound of birds chirping in the trees. It was all from his memory but it felt real to him, every time he sat in this chair and closed his eyes.

As he sat in his chair, he started to go over everything again. Each time his clones would act up and do weird things, he himself wouldn’t do. He remembered from the story that Naruto’s clones could act up sometimes, but they always acted like Naruto himself. They never once acted against what Naruto himself would do. Could the issue be that shadow clones work differently in real life compared to how they were portrayed in the show and manga? It could make sense, he didn’t need to use hand signs or say anything to actually use his skills. He was currently using them to give people the illusion they were needed for his power to work and he would be lying if he didn’t think they looked cool when you could speed through them quickly like Kakashi. Plus saying the name of the attack was pretty cool and could be intimidating too. Yup that was it, it had nothing to do with the fact he was a big nerd, nope not at all.

Time passed slowly as Theo went over every memory of using a shadow clone. The more he looked over the memories the more confused he became. There was nothing different from the ones who acted weirdly, compared to the ones who didn't. Even the one from today there was nothing he could find that made it act the way it did. Theo let out a sigh before he opened his eyes and said, “It just doesn’t make any sense, it’s almost like they are different people. But I can’t find any reason why.”

“That’s because they are different people.”

Theo shot up out of his chair and stared at the person who just spoke. His mind froze for a few moments before he asked, “Sage of the Six Paths?”

The man before him nodded and said, “You are correct Theo, or should I call you by your original name?”

Theo shook his head and said, “No, Theo is my name now.”

Theo shook his head again as he said, “I must be going crazy or I am having some type of nervous breakdown and just talking to myself?”

“Yes and no.”

“Yes and no? It’s either I am going crazy or I am not.”

The man smiled and said, “It is a lot more complicated than that. It took me a while to figure it out myself. Can we chat for a while?”

Theo nodded his head and said, “Sure, why not?”