May 23rd 2010, Monaco
The weather was perfect for the Formula One race scheduled for later in the day. The sun was just starting to rise over the horizon with only a handful of clouds in the sky and a cool, gentle breeze from the Mediterranean Sea. Even before the city truly woke up it was busy with preparations for the race as people moved about the city. Theo watched everything from the hotel room he was staying in as he ate breakfast with his family.
He arrived a couple days before with everyone and was staying for the week. It was part of their summer vacation plans and Theo also had a small surprise lined up for his dad and uncles while they were here. As they finished up breakfast Jacob said, "I can't believe you got us a box over the harbor, we'll be able to see at least two of the turns and the finish line from there."
Theo shrugged as he said, "I figured since we were already here, we might as well enjoy the race. Plus it was free since Vibe is one of the sponsors for the race."
"Well free or not, I know everyone appreciates it."
"You said there's going to be free food and desserts too, right?" Milly asked in an excited tone as Isaac's eyes lit up.
"Yes, there's an entire mini buffet set up for the race and you can also order off the menu too." Theo replied as he rolled his eyes as his two sweet obsessed siblings.
After the family finished eating, everyone split up to relax before heading over to the race. Theo was in his room checking out his tablet when a black haired person with a cheshire type cat mask appeared and said, "We found the target, what are your orders?"
"Capture him and use the standard protocols for our enemies. If he can be useful contact me and I'll handle it, otherwise dispose of him. Also make sure you track down everyone who helped him and clear them out if needed." Theo said without even looking up and the man disappeared a moment later.
Theo pulled up some information on his tablet and it showed the picture of a heavily tattooed man with a scowl on his face. Theo glanced over everything his team had gathered before he let out a sigh and mumbled to himself, " Let's see if you're actually worth saving Vanko… But I doubt it."
Ivan Vanko, the son of Anton Vanko and discredited Soviet physicist who once researched arc reactor technology with Howard Stark. If Anton wasn't greedy and tried to sell research results and other information, he would probably be a wealthy man living in America right now. Instead he was caught and deported back to the U.S.S.R. where he suffered greatly and blamed everything on Howard Stark. That resentment was imparted onto his own son through drunk filled beatings which shaped Ivan into a man who spent half his life in and out of prison.
Theo went back to the other information he was reading before he was interrupted and frowned slightly. It was an article about an approaching cosmic storm and how the Baxter Foundation was sending a team into space led by Reed Richard to study it. He was debating if he should interfere or not, but after a few minutes of thought he decided against it. This should be the moment they gained their powers and he didn't want to mess with it. Well maybe he could improve the space suit Ben Grimm would use so his powers weren't always on…
Then again if he did that, Ben wouldn't meet his future wife Alicia Masters. Theo thought it over a little longer and decided not to interfere since he could help Ben out afterwards with magic, seals or just clone him a new body in the worst case scenario.
After checking a few more things, Theo got up and stretched before he created a shadow clone and then transformed into Ezekiel. They shared a glance before Ezekiel created a portal and disappeared while his clone went off to meet his family. Ezekiel portaled to check on something at his personal base before he asked, "JARVIS, where is Tony currently at?"
"Mr. Stark is currently on his jet and about to land at a private Monaco airport."
"Cutting it a little close, the race starts in about two hours. Didn't Tony want to drive in the race?"
"I believe those are Mr. Stark's intentions, but I don't believe he plans to compete in the entire race." JARVIS said as Ezekiel opened up a new portal to go meet Tony.
Ezekiel stepped out of the portal next to a black car and a couple of people who were watching an airplane taxi down the runway towards them. The people noticed Ezekiel but didn't react as he stepped next to the car and waited with them. About a minute later the airplane parked in front of them and the door was lowered before Happy stepped off first. Tony followed a moment later and instantly started walking towards Ezekiel as he said, "If you were gonna be here, you should have portaled us over too."
Ezekiel shrugged as he shook hands with Tony and said, "I was busy and you didn't ask."
Ezekiel turned towards Happy and shook his hand afterwards as he asked, "How's Anna and the little rug rat?"
"They're doing great and we're already trying for another one!" Happy excitedly said as he quickly pulled out his phone and started showing Ezekiel pictures of Anna and his daughter as he gushed about both of them.
Tony rolled his eyes as he watched, already used to how Happy acted about his family but couldn't stop the small smile that graced his mouth. After a minute one of the waiting people finally cleared their throat and Happy remembered he had a job to do. After a quick hand off of the car, Happy took the driver seat and drove Tony and Ezekiel towards the event venue. During the ride Happy talked with Ezekiel some more about his daughter and bragged about how cute she was.
When they arrived at the race venue for VIP's it was packed with people and reporters at the entrance. Happy handed the keys to a valet attendant before he opened the door for Tony and Ezekiel. He didn't lead them inside or walk behind them, but instead walked next to Ezekiel as he showed him some more pictures of his daughter. Tony was even getting a little jealous because he couldn't do the same since no one knew about her yet.
After they made it into the venue itself, it was still packed with people, but most left them alone as they moved to a private table. Once seated they relaxed and talked for a little while as some drinks and snacks were served. As the race time approached closer, Ezekiel turned to Tony and asked, "You gonna head down to the race soon?"
"Yeah, it's about time."
"Did you even inform the race team about driving in the race?" Ezekiel asked in a slightly teasing tone as he knew Tony didn't do that at all.
"I'm the team owner, they won't complain."
Ezekiel shook his head as he stood up and said, "Figured… Well, whatever. I need to go do something, I'll catch you down there."
"Weren't we gonna race together?"
"We will, I just need to do something first." Ezekiel said with a wave as he disappeared into the crowd.
Ezekiel quickly moved towards the back exit that led to some private seating for the race before he headed towards one of the private boxes. When he entered he found his extended family along with his clone, after closing the door he moved towards his dad and said, "I have an extra surprise for you guys."
Jacob, who was standing next to Ben as they talked about the upcoming race, glanced back at Ezekiel and asked, "Extra surprise?"
"You and uncle Ben were the most excited when I said I was gonna race today. So I decided to buy a race team myself and you two are gonna join me."
"What?!?" Almost everyone in the room asked at the same time.
Ezekiel smirked as he said, "You've both been messing around on the simulator I set up for my own practice. Plus you have better eye sight and reflexes than normal people, racing a real F1 car shouldn't be an issue for either of you."
"Is that even allowed? Don't we need to be registered and tested before we're allowed in an actual race?"
Ezekiel waved off the question as he said, "Normally, but I offered to sponsor the rest of the race season if they accepted your simulator data as 'proper' testing so you both could race today."
Jacob laughed happily as he pulled Ezekiel into a tight hug and said, "This is great! I can't wait to drive a real F1 car!"
Ben smiled and patted Ezekiel on the shoulder before someone cleared their throat and the three of them turned to see Daniel and a pregnant May staring at them. May had a smile on her face and was resting one hand lightly on her growing baby bump while Daniel had her hands on her hips. She glanced over the three of them before her eyes focused on Ezekiel and asked, "Just how much money did you spend to let your father and uncle race once?"
"I'm not really sure, but sponsoring eighteen races at seventy to over one hundred million a piece… Probably one point five billion."
Daniel's eyes widened along with everyone else in the room as they stared at Ezekiel in shock. Ezekiel wasn't paying attention to their reactions as he rubbed his chin and said, "But since I'm the main sponsor that means I'll also take all the profit from the events which will range between one hundred to over two hundred million per race. So I'll probably make around five hundred million in profit in the worst case scenario."
Jacob burst into laughter again and patted Ezekiel on the shoulder as he said, "So they're technically paying you to let us race."
"Pretty much."
Daniel shook her head slightly as she recovered before she said, "Well at least you weren't wasting money… But is it really okay to let them race, won't it draw unwanted attention to the family?"
"Nope, I already set everything up and I have false identities for them. Put these on and channel chakra into them." Ezekiel said as he reached out and handed them seals he pulled from his pocket.
Jacob and Ben each placed the seals onto their arms and after a puff of smoke both of them looked completely different. While the same height and weight, they both looked drastically different from normal with different facial features, hair color, eyes and even skin tone. Ezekiel nodded in satisfaction after he studied them before he said, "Alright, let's go. We still have to change into our suits and run a couple test laps before the race starts."
Daniel grabbed Ezekiel and pulled him into a hug before she said, "Drive safe and you better not crash."
"Sheesh, way to jinx me…"
Daniel smacked his shoulder as she said, "I didn't jinx you… Just be safe."
"What about me? I don't get a hug?" Jacob asked in a joking tone.
Daniel looked at him and his changed appearance before she said, "I have no idea who you are, why would I hug a man that isn't my husband?"
The others broke out into laughter as Jacob's mouth dropped open before Daniel pulled him into a quick hug and said, "Good luck."
After saying goodbye Ezekiel portaled them to a trailer where they could change before they headed out to their pit area. Jacob and Ben were quickly led to their cars to start going over them while Ezekiel headed over to the next pit area and found Tony. Tony glanced towards the two people Ezekiel walked out with before he asked, "Those guys are new."
"They are back up racers, I had to go get them. The main drivers came down with food poisoning last night eating at the same restaurant."
Tony nodded slightly as he said, "You could race for your own team instead of mine if you want."
"And possibly tank my team's score? No way." Ezekiel said with a smile as he moved over towards the car he would be racing today.
"Dick! You better not lose on purpose…"
Ezekiel chuckled softly and said, "Don't worry, no matter what happens I'll definitely finish in front of you."
"You wanna bet?"
Ezekiel glanced up at Tony with a raised eyebrow as he said, "You realize you never won a bet against me, right? You're almost as bad as Tsunade when it comes to betting against me."
"Are you chicken?" Tony asked with narrowed eyes.
"Nope, I'll always take free stuff from you. What's the wager?"
"How about a custom car?"
"Custom car? Kinda boring, I'd rather build one myself." Ezekiel said dismissively before Tony quickly added, "Loser has to build it to the winners specifications."
"Deal!" Ezekiel said without a second thought.