Ezekiel was in Tony's lab a few days later as he watched Pepper and Tony arguing while Tony worked on building a mini arc reactor. Pepper paced in front of Tony's workbench as she said, "Please Tony, don't do this… Just let Ezekiel handle it."
"It doesn't work like that Pep, I need to become Ironman."
Pepper frowned as she asked, "Why? Why are you so determined to do this? What if you get hurt or killed? What about Morgan? What would I tell her?"
Tony set down the tools in his hands as he stood before he took Pepper into his arms and said, "I can't help it. If I don't do it, something will happen that will make me become Ironman…"
"I still think it's stupid… You shouldn't have to risk your life."
"I know, but you heard Ezekiel. He's gonna help me out with the suit and add safety features." Tony said as he gently stroked her back.
Pepper hugged Tony a little tighter as she said, "Promise me that no matter what you'll always prioritize your safety no matter what."
"I promise."
Pepper pulled back and locked eyes with Tony as she said, "JARVIS, you heard him. Make sure he keeps that promise."
"Of course Mrs. Stark."
Ezekiel chuckled as he said, "You don't need to worry so much Pepper, I'll personally make sure Tony doesn't do anything stupid."
Pepper turned towards Ezekiel with slightly narrowed eyes as she said, "This is all your fault to begin with, so you better keep him safe."
"What?!? No way this is my fault." Ezekiel said as he shook his head in denial.
"You're the one who told Tony about all this stuff to begin with!"
"I had to, an entire organization is mobilizing just to kidnap him…" Ezekiel said with a helpless shrug.
"Exactly! All you had to do is go take them out and none of this would be happening right now. Instead you filled Tony's head with all of these ideas about being some kinda hero!" Pepper said in a disgruntled tone.
"Come on Pep, you know that's not fair. If Ezekiel stopped this one, another one would appear soon after to do something similar." Tony said as he pulled Pepper back into his arms.
"You don't know that for sure… What if Ezekiel's wrong and this isn't some kind of nexus point or whatever?"
Tony pulled back from Pepper a little and tilted her head up so he could look her in the eyes before he said, "Even if it's not, I still wanna do this… I wanna help make the world a better place."
"Bullshit, you just wanna increase your social media presence and become the person with the most followers." Ezekiel said with a chuckle.
Pepper frowned again as Tony avoided looking her in the eyes as he said, "That's not it at all, I just feel like I could do a lot of good and-"
Pepper smacked his chest as she asked in an exasperated tone, "Are you seriously doing this just for social media clout?"
"I mean that would be one of the positive benefits from it…" Tony said as Pepper narrowed her eyes before he turned to focus on her and added, "But that's not the main reason I wanna do it."
Ezekiel and Pepper both stared at Tony and waited for almost a minute before Tony finally said, "I just want you and Morgan to be proud of me."
Pepper smacked Tony's chest again as she said, "We're already proud of you. Hell, Morgan adores you and probably likes you more than me!"
Tony slowly shook his head as he said, "Don't say that, Morgan loves us both equally… But the point I'm trying to make is different from that…"
"I spent so much of my life just being a dirt bag and I don't wanna be remembered for that or for being the son of Howard Stark…" Tony said as he let out a sigh before his eyes lit up and he gazed into Pepper's eyes and added, "Ezekiel showed me who I could be, a person people looked up to and respected. Not because I was rich, famous or good looking… No, they looked up to me because I was a hero."
Ezekiel burst into laughter which caused Pepper and Tony to frown as they turned towards him. It took a moment for him to finally stop before he said, "Sorry, I just couldn't help it when you said you were rich, famous and good looking…"
Pepper cracked a smile a moment later before she started to laugh too as Tony said, "Hey, I was just speaking the truth."
"Your ego never ceases to amaze me."
Tony tilted his head back slightly as he said, "I know."
"Fuck off, you're not Han Solo."
Pepper burst into more laughter before she said in a serious tone, "I know I can't stop you once you set your mind to something… But I still want you to be safe."
Tony leaned forward slightly and pressed his forehead against Pepper's as he said, "I will."
"Good."
They held that position for a few moments before Pepper pulled back and turned towards Ezekiel and said, "And you better keep him safe too."
Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "I promise to keep him alive, but I can't guarantee that he won't be injured. Even with his suit and my help he can still be hurt…"
Pepper frowned and after a few moments finally nodded as she asked, "As long as he's alive, you should be able to heal him… Right?"
Ezekiel nodded before he said, "Yes."
"Fine…" Pepper said as she turned back towards Tony and said, "You can go play hero, but make sure you don't neglect your family."
"I won't."
Pepper hugged Tony again as she said, "I'll hold you to that."
After they hugged, Pepper finally left the basement and let them get back to work. Tony continued working on building an arc reactor as Ezekiel worked on programming an operating system for Tony's suit. While JARVIS would obviously help out, the suit still needed a basic operating system to start with. After that was finished and installed, JARVIS would be able to enter the suit and optimize it for his use from there.
It was only a day later when Tony finished his first mini arc reactor and started testing it with some of his equipment as he said, "By using a slightly bigger version of this I could power my car and it wouldn't need to be refueled…"
"True, but that's just the prototype right? When do you plan to make that new element?"
Tony glanced up from his computer screen with a slight frown as he asked, "New element?"
"The stupid one you called Badassium, so you don't have to deal with palladium blood poisoning…"
Tony's eyes lit up as he said, "Oh yeah… That was only in a handful of futures you showed me. I'll definitely make it soon, but honestly without the arc reactor inside my chest, I won't get blood poisoning this time."
"True, but the power output from the different element is supposed to make that thing look like a triple A battery…"
Tony's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open slightly for a few moments before he asked, "You're not joking about that, right?"
"I'm not exactly sure, but that's what a different version of you said after testing it." Ezekiel said with a slight shrug as he continued to type away.
"JARVIS, find out where the Stark expo model is and have people pack it up for us."
Ezekiel glanced up at Tony as he asked, "You don't want me to just open a portal?"
Tony pointed at Ezekiel as he said excitedly, "I knew I kept you around for a reason!"
"Fuck you!" Ezekiel said before they both started laughing.
Within half an hour the expo model was set up and JARVIS was in the process of scanning it as Tony watched. Another five minutes later a holographic image of the theoretical element was in front of Tony as he studied it with a slight frown. After a minute or so Tony let out a sigh and said, "I'll need to build a particle accelerator to even attempt to create this thing…"
"Wanna do it here or somewhere else?"
Tony glanced around his workshop for a few moments before he let out a sigh and said, "We don't have room here. I'll need to build it at the company…"
"I could build you a new work space under the house… We would have to order materials though."
Tony shook his head as he said, "No, that would take too much time. It would be faster to just empty out a warehouse and build it at Stark Industries."
Ezekiel made a few hand signs and ten clones appeared around him before he said, "You know what to do."
The clones moved towards one of the concrete walls as Tony asked, "What are they doing?"
"Building you a new sub basement to use as a lab… How big do you want it?" Ezekiel asked as his clones started to use earth based chakra skills to easily open up the wall.
Tony's eyes widened as a ten foot wide square appeared in his wall before he asked, "Won't that make the whole house unstable?"
Ezekiel waved off his concern as he said, "It'll be fine, just tell me how big a space you need."
Tony frowned slightly but decided to trust Ezekiel as he said, "At least twice the size of my current workshop… But I won't complain if it's bigger."
Ezekiel nodded as he glanced towards his clones and said, "Make the entrance bigger and then turn the entrance slowly back under the house."
One of the clones lazily saluted as he said, "Got it boss… But we'll need some light."
Ezekiel flicked his arm a few times and small glowing orbs appeared above each clone. Tony watched as the hole was expanded to almost the ceiling which was fifteen feet tall and easily doubled in width to over twenty feet wide. Within a few minutes Ezekiel's clones disappeared into the hole they created and within another ten minutes he could no longer hear them working or see the light they carried. Tony would still randomly glance at the tunnel sometimes as he worked on a list of items he would need to collect.
Over an hour later Ezekiel finally stopped typing as he said, "Alright, my clones are done with the excavation process and the initial reinforcement. I'm about to finish it myself if you wanna check it out."
"It's already done?"
Ezekiel stood before he moved towards the massive hole in the wall as he said, "Yeah… I'll need to run power, water and internet cables. But otherwise the basic structure is done."
Tony quickly followed Ezekiel to the entrance, where Ezekiel created a powerful light spell. Once Tony could inspect the inside of the tunnel up close he approached one of the walls and ran his hand over it. Tony frowned slightly as he touched the wall before he knocked on it with his fist and asked, "What exactly is this? It looks like dirt… But something is definitely off about it."
Ezekiel waved his arms around slightly and an intricate orange spell flashed on the ceiling and walls of the tunnel before it disappeared. Tony frowned more at what just happened before Ezekiel said, "The dirt was compressed into something similar to concrete. It's definitely weaker and not reinforced with rebar, but that's where magic helps."
Tony rolled his eyes at the magic comment but followed Ezekiel down into the new workshop. The tunnel slowly turned and after a few hundred feet and a very gentle slope they were about thirty feet under Tony's garage. When they reached the tunnel exit Tony stopped and let out a low whistle. The tunnel opened up into a massive empty chamber a few feet taller than the tunnel itself. As for the overall size, it was easily the same size as the land his house sat on, or at least it looked like it.
Tony just stopped in place for a few moments as Ezekiel continued to work on reinforcing everything. Within less than a minute though, Tony was back to normal and said, "This is… Way more than I needed."
Ezekiel shrugged as he said, "Maybe, but having extra space never hurts."
Tony nodded as he asked, "Ummm, how long till you can get the utilities hooked up… And maybe an elevator?"
"Do you want it to look nice or be functional?"
"Looking nice would be better. But being functional would probably be faster…" Tony said as he rubbed his chin slightly.
"Only by a day or two depending on how nice you want it to look and the layout."
"Then let's go with nice, then. I can wait an extra day or two…" Tony said as he glanced around the massive empty space before he asked, "How big is this place anyway?"
"It should be slightly over an acre or fifty thousand square feet… Worst case you just use it as extra space for your car collection."
Tony slowly nodded before he said, "Alright, you finish whatever you're doing and I'll go start designing the layout."
"Sounds good to me, I'll be done in half an hour or so." Ezekiel said as Tony headed back upstairs to work.