It could be considered a miracle for Fury to wake up to his alarm. The world didn’t sleep, so it was rare when he didn’t receive a call in the middle of the night about some type of issue. Until six months ago, he never slept deep enough to even need an alarm in the first place. It was hard to sleep comfortably when you changed your sleeping location every day. Well, if he even had time to sleep in the first place. But now he could portal wherever he wanted. So he made a secret little place to call his own and made sure to visit it at least once a day.
He would still act like he was using a different place each night, he had to keep up appearances after all. But after he locked down the safe house he picked to use, he would portal to his little slice of heaven. It took about a month and he needed Tao and Ezekiel's clones to help him build it. But they were able to build him a nice little home that only a handful of people could even reach. Even he would have issues reaching the place if Tao hadn’t set up the portal room for him.
Fury reached over to his alarm and turned it off before he pushed a button on his night stand. The thing he loved most about his home was the view. It was something he could never get tired of and he designed the house to have floor to ceiling windows on every part not hidden underground. Every room except the bathroom had the same breathtaking view.
Fury stretched and looked out his bedroom window as the glass changed from opaque to clear. Before him was the gray rim of a crater and beyond that, the earth in all its glory. Even now after six months it was breathtaking and he would be hard pressed trying to describe it if someone asked. Waking up to his alarm and seeing this view… It seemed like today was going to be a good day.
Fury went about his early morning routine and before long he was checking his email and enjoying a cup of coffee in his living room. While he listened to the morning news on TV. He didn't pay attention to the news until a special report came on.
"We have some interesting news for you this morning. There are reports that billionaire Tony Stark was detained around three AM this morning along with part of his security team in Las Vegas."
It cut to show a generic picture of Tony as the reporter continued, "Normally that's about all the information we would have. But it looks like someone leaked a video of the incident online to the Vibe media platform and we were able to get a copy."
The video changed to show the inside of a casino before the video zoomed in to show Tony, a blonde woman, Happy, and a few other people in nice suits around a craps table.
The video began to play as the reporter said, "It seems the start of the incident occurred when a yet to be named man tried to touch the woman in Stark's entourage."
It showed the man say something to the woman before he went to grab her ass. Just before he reached her ass, she caught his hand. Then she twisted his arm forcing him to kneel on the ground. After which she spoke down to him before she spat in his face and pushed him away.
The female anchor followed up with, "I have no idea who that lady is, but I think I speak for all women when I say, 'You go girl, show that creep who's boss.'
The video sped up a little as the man and a few other people left. While Tony and his group stayed to continue playing craps.
The news anchor chimed back in as she said, "Now we’ll skip some of the footage, this is from about an hour later."
The video showed the area where Tony and his group were playing craps. But the area around them seemed to have a lot less people now. One of the people with Tony could be seen saying something before they pointed off to the side. After about ten seconds people began to pour into the room from off screen.
Tony stepped away from the table with his group as a man came forward from the other group. It was easy to see it was the same man who was humiliated early. He started to yell something at Tony and his group before he pointed at them. The people with him started to move out and surround Tony's group.
The video paused for a moment as the news anchor said, "We actually have the audio from the rest of the video. I would caution viewers, there is crass language and violence ahead. You've been warned."
The video resumed as the man was heard saying, "I want that bitch to get on her knees in front of me and apologize!"
Tony smirked at the man as he asked, "And what're you gonna do if she doesn't."
"She better, or all of you will face the consequences for her disrespect. Not even you, will be spared from my wrath Stark."
The blonde woman moved to the front next to Tony as she said, "You want an apology? Come over here and I’ll beat one into your ugly face!"
The man pointed at the woman as he said, "Bring her to me on her knees. If anyone gets in the way, break some of their bones."
As the men closed in on Tony’s group, someone from Tony's group stepped forward and said, "Hold on just a moment, I need to set the mood."
Tony glanced over as he asked, "Set the mood?"
Happy moved into a protective stance in front of Tony as he said, "How about you just get us out of here instead of setting the mood, Ezekiel."
The man now named Ezekiel smirked and pulled up a tablet that hung from his side. He typed on it for a moment as the men moved closer to his group. After a moment he let the tablet fall back to his side as piano music filled the room.
'Tonight I'm gonna have myseeelllllff a real good time.'
Tony and Happy turned to glance at Ezekiel as Tony asked, "Really?"
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
'I feel aaaaaaa aaaaaa aaaaalive.'
Ezekiel smirked and punched forward a couple of times, losing up his joints as he said, "These people wanted to dance, it’s only right to provide music."
'And the worlddddddd, I'll turn it inside ooooooout, yeah!'
One of the approaching men broke from the group and rushed forward to punch Ezekiel. Ezekiel easily dodged the punch by tilting his head and twisting his body. As the man finished the punch, Ezekiel's right arm shot out and caught the man in his throat. Which made him drop to the floor clutching his throat as he tried to breathe.
'I'm floating around, in ecstasy.'
At the same time the blonde woman smiled as she rushed forward into the group of approaching men. She body checked the person in front which sent him flying back into a couple other men who all fell into a heap on the ground.
'So. (Don't stop me now) (Don't stop me)'
Some other men moved closer to Tony and Happy during the same time. As one of them went for Tony. Happy moved to intercept the man and blocked him from reaching Tony. But as he did, the other man targeted him from his blind spot. The man came up short though as Tony had used that same opportunity to kick that man's knee out.
'Cause I'm having a good time. Having a good time!”
As Happy threw out a punch combo on the man in front of him Tony said, “Alright, I admit. Music makes this better.”
Ezekiel tossed someone over his shoulder into another man as he said, “Told you, you can’t have a dance party without music.”
As the video played it became clear that while Tony’s group was outnumbered six to one. It didn’t matter at all, Tony’s group was wiping the floor with the other people. Tony was even in the thick of things, throwing punches and kicks at anyone who attempted to get close. Ezekiel, the blonde woman and another man with black hair, were doing the bulk of the work though. By the time the music stopped, only the man who started everything and a couple of his goons were still standing.
Casino security itself still had yet to arrive and it didn’t seem like it would anytime soon. The man looked at all of his men on the ground groaning in pain and said, “Look at all of you! All of you are fired for being useless!”
The man reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun with his right hand. As he lifted it up the black haired man in Tony’s group moved his left hand in a throwing motion. The other man screamed in pain as the gun clattered to the ground. He held up his hand to look at it, which now had a knife sticking through it. The man held his right hand as he yelled, “I’ll kill all of you! You have no idea who you’re fucking with!”
One second Ezekiel was on one side of the room, the next he was on the other side of the room in front of the man mid punch as he said, “No one cares!”
Ezekiel’s fist connected with the man’s jaw a split second later and bones could be heard breaking. The man himself was lifted off his feet and rocketed backwards to slam into a slot machine. The slot machine lit up like a jackpot was just hit which made Ezekiel turn around and ask, “Does that jackpot still count if I didn’t use any money?”
The video cut off after that and the anchor appeared back on the TV as she said, “Unfortunately that is all the video we have, but did you see that last punch? We talked to some experts and…”
Fury tuned out the TV as a thought flashed through his mind, ‘Today wasn’t going to be a good day at all.’
vvvvv
"You wanna tell me what the fuck you were thinking?"
Ezekiel let out a sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He knew something like this might happen once he agreed to join Tony in Vegas. Well maybe not exactly what happened. He even brought Shisui with him to act as extra security for Tony just in case something did happen.
Ezekiel glanced at Fury and Peggy who were seated on the other side of the table from him. Both of them requested a meeting with him after they found out what happened. For pretty much the same reason. Tony Stark being detained and Ezekiel himself being seen by the world.
He should have just used a henge to hide what he looked like… Well this isn’t what he looks like, so it doesn’t really matter. Tsunade on the other hand might be an issue, same with Shisui. Whatever, it didn’t really matter much. It wasn’t like they did much in the outside world anyways.
"Well?" Fury looked annoyed as he waited for the answer to his question.
Ezekiel shrugged as he said, "What can I say, Tony is persuasive and wanted to celebrate. He also made this sad look like I kicked a puppy. How could I say no?"
Fury frowned as he said, "That wasn’t what I was asking about. When did you make contact with Stark and why weren't we informed?"
Peggy nodded in agreement as she said, "I thought you weren't going to mess with the timeline any more?"
Ezekiel shrugged as he said. “In for a penny, in for a pound. Besides I'm not messing with the timeline, Tony always becomes Ironman.”
Peggy wasn't happy with the answer but Fury pushed again as he asked, "When did you first make contact with him? And why?"
Ezekiel let out another sigh before he said, "A few months ago. We made a contract and are going into business together."
"Why didn't you inform anyone else about this?"
Ezekiel shrugged as he said, "Because it's just a business partnership. Even though I told Tao and Agatha about it, since it cut into my training time with magic."
Fury raised his one good eyebrow as he said, "You should’ve informed us about it.”
Ezekiel looked at the empty room as he said, “Honestly it looks like you are the only two people who care about what happened.”
“That’s not the point and you know it. Something big like this should be shared with the group.”
Peggy nodded in agreement as she added, “Making contact with Tony in the first place is an issue. And you being all over the internet doesn’t really help with us being a secret organization.”
Fury shook his head as he said, “How in the hell have you not removed that video by now? Actually why did it even leak in the first place?”
Ezekiel laughed as he said, “I leaked it.”
Fury and Peggy stared at Ezekiel as if he was an idiot before Fury asked, “Why?”
“Why not?”
“Because now everyone knows what you look like!” Fury let out a sigh and rubbed his temple as he finished.
Ezekiel wore a smirk as he asked, “Just like you do?”
Both of them paused at that remark. It was something they took for granted and forgot about. They didn’t know what Ezekiel really looked like. They were so used to him with this face that it slipped their minds.
Ezekiel pointed to himself as he said, “My appearance doesn’t matter. I can change it anytime I want. In fact the only thing the world thinks about me at this point is I am part of Tony’s security team. Same thing for Shisui and Tsunade. As for exposing our group, how would that even happen? I’m not telling Tony or the rest of the world about it.”
Ezekiel’s smile grew as he asked, “As for leaking the video, it was awesome. I just had to share it. Have you seen how many views it has?”