00031. Brain surgery?

00031. Brain surgery?

Fury was in his office and he couldn't control the smile he had, he couldn't help it. He was happy, the skill Ezekiel used to bring back Zola was impossible and yet it worked. The interrogation they performed, if they could even call it that, was one of the shortest he had ever done. Normally it takes days or weeks to break someone, sleep deprivation was the best way. Torture never worked well, people would say anything to make the torture stop. But when you take away someone's ability to sleep for an extended period of time? They easily talk, they tell you stuff you didn't even ask about. It just took time and if you weren't careful, you would kill them from lack of sleep. But now Fury had another option to use, Ezekiel warned him that they couldn't abuse the power because he didn’t know how the aspect of death would react to it. Fury didn't mind, if they used it only when they were sure they could get important information, like with Zola then it wouldn't matter.

Fury turned on his computer and started to go over all the information they had obtained from Zola. He now had more than one target and had to start planning. Ezekiel had said they still needed to wait, but Fury liked to be proactive. If he could take a few pieces off the board with some 'accidents' who would know?

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

Logan was sitting in a beach chair, relaxing in the backyard of the mansion. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, there was an ice chest of beer next to him and he had a cigar in his mouth. He reached up and removed the cigar from his mouth as he said, "What are you doing here?"

"Charles, Ezekiel is here."

Ezekiel had a smile on his face as he walked in front of Logan and said, "I came because a mutual friend of ours asked to see you."

"I know, he asked to talk to you about meeting someone."

Logan sat up and looked around, it was only him and Ezekiel in the backyard currently. He looked back at Ezekiel and said, "If they wanted to see me, they aren't making much of an effort."

Ezekiel shook his head and said, "Unfortunately he is currently living under special circumstances and can only travel to a handful of places. So unless you visit him, he won't be able to meet you."

Logan sits there for a few moments, as he talks to Xavier. "He wants me to go somewhere to meet this person."

"From all of our interaction with him, I don't think it is a trap. If you go, I will try to trace the location using Cerebro."

"Alright."

Logan stood up and said, "Alright, let's go."

Ezekiel smiled as he snapped his fingers and a portal appeared next to him. He started to walk through the portal and said, "You can bring your beer if you want, just make sure you collect your trash before you leave."

Logan grunted in response as he put the cigar back in his mouth, before he picked up his ice chest and followed Ezekiel into the portal. As the portal closed behind him, Logan looked around and was surprised that they were on a beach and it was early morning, with the sun coming up from the east side of the island. There were some beach chairs and lounge chairs set out under some lean-to’s, what looked like a tiki bar, a pit for a bonfire and a cooking pit next to that. Logan took a big inhale and asked, “So where are we? Some kinda beach resort? And where is this person who wants to talk with me?”

“Something like that. This island is hidden from the rest of the world and until recently it wasn’t used. I asked the owner if I could use it for a while and they agreed. As for our friend, he should be here in a bit.”

Ezekiel walked over to a chair and sat down, before he turned to look at Logan and asked, “If I could help you restore your memories, would you let me help you?”

Logan walked over to a lounge chair, set his ice chest next to it and then laid down on it. After a few minutes of silence he asked, “What makes you think you could help me where Charles wasn’t able too?”

“I would start by taking the bullet out of your head for starters.”

Logan looked over to Ezekiel and said, “My skull is coated in adamantium, there is no way a bullet made it inside of my head, much less that it is still there.”

Ezekiel shook his head and said, “You are wrong about that. A high caliber bullet was shot through your right eye and actually broke through the back of your eye socket at the weakest point. Once inside your head it bounced around a few times till your brain was mush and it rested there as your body healed around it. I am pretty sure just removing the bullet will help with a lot of your memory issues. But we won’t know unless we remove it.”

“How do you even know that is true?”

Ezekiel smiled and said, “I would like to say magic, but I found a report on you when it happened. The person who shot you made the report about your death, because they thought you died from the bullet to your brain. But you are made of sterner stuff and it only made you forget most of your life.”

Logan's hands clenched and his claws popped out as he asked in a growl, “Who was it that shot me? Who was trying to kill me?”

“A man named , a retired colonel, who ran the weapon plus program. The same program that made your bones indestructible with adamantium.”

Logan sat up at that, his breathing was getting a little heavy as he asked, “Where can I find him?”

Ezekiel shook his head and said, “I currently have no idea, but he is on a short list of people I am looking for.”

Logan was breathing hard for a few more minutes before he finally let out a deep breath, retracted his claws and leaned back into the chair. He was quiet for a few minutes before he said, “You can take the bullet out of my head, but only if you let me deal with this Stryker guy when you find him.”

Ezekiel smiled as he said “Deal.”

“So when do you wanna remove it from my head and how are you gonna do it?”

Ezekiel stood up and said, “I can probably do it now, but you might die when it happens. It will depend on where the bullet is sitting in your brain.”

“Figures, well let's just get it over with then.”

Ezekiel nodded and said, “Give me a few moments I need to grab someone and also grab our mutual friend.” A portal appeared next to Ezekiel and he walked through it without waiting for an answer and left Logan alone.

Ezekiel appeared in the hidden base and a second later Tao walked through a portal next to him. Ezekiel nodded his head and said, “Thanks for the help.”

Tao shook her head and said, “I still don’t like being used as a portal service.”

“I would have someone else help me, but you are the only person who can make portals in the real world while hiding in the mirror dimension.”

Ezekiel started to walk out of the room as Tao followed and said, “I still think you showing off my powers like they are yours won’t accomplish much.”

“Misdirection is a good skill to use while I am still weak, I want people to think I have more power then I actually do.”

Tao shook her head and said, “Be glad I currently have nothing else going on.”

Ezekiel chuckled and said, “You can admit you are having fun also, it won’t hurt you.”

Tao said nothing else as they made their way through the base to Ezekiel’s lab, the door was open and many people could be heard talking from inside. As Ezekiel walked into the room he stopped and looked around for a few moments. There were currently two batches of clones in the room, some working together, some rereading books, some of them coding on computers. Ezekiel found who he was looking for and went up to the person and said, “Logan agreed, do you think you can do it?”

The man looked up from the book he was reading and extended his hand out. A small bar of metal began to lift off the table next to him and hovered in the air for a few seconds before it floated back down to the table. Ezekiel smiled wide at that and said, “I still can’t believe that works, I have tested it a few times and it still doesn’t work for me.”

The man shrugged his shoulders as he said, “You have my memories and insights into it, I am still not sure why you and the others can’t use it.”

The man set the book he was reading down on the table and grabbed a metal tray from it as he stood up and said, “Let's get this over with, I will de-spawn in the next few hours. So we might only have one chance at this today, unless you grab also.”

“We won’t need Toroi, I believe you should be able to handle it.” Ezekiel shook his head as he talked. Before he walked out of the room followed by the man and Tao, they walked to the gym of the base. Steve was alone inside, working a punching bag over. Ezekiel didn’t walk in, but said from the door, “Steve, he agreed to meet you. Get cleaned up and then come meet us on the island. We are heading back there now to try and pull the bullet out of his head.”

Steve stopped punching the bag as he stepped back from it, he turned around and said, “Alright, I will see you in thirty minutes. Good luck on pulling the bullet out.”

Ezekiel nodded back, before he turned around and walked back to the teleportation room. When they reached the room, Tao opened up a portal and Ezekiel and the man walked through it before it closed.

Logan had a beer in his hand as he looked up at Ezekiel and the man beside him. He studied the man for a few moments before he said, "Is this the guy who wanted to meet me? He doesn't give off a smell, kinda like you don’t either."

The man stepped forward and placed a metal tray on the table as he said, "I am not the person who wanted to meet you, I am here to remove the bullet from your head."

"Alright doc, do whatever you need to and let's get this over with."

The man nodded his head and stepped close to Logan as he raised his right hand next to Logan's head, he said. "I can feel five bullets and a few other pieces of metal, they are mostly located in the frontal lobe. That would definitely explain the memory issues. Prepare yourself, if it doesn’t kill you. It will hurt a lot."

Before Logan could reply the man did a few hand signs with his left hand and then Logan’s head was pulled slightly forward. He gnashed his teeth and his claws popped out, before his eyes dimmed slightly. Logan’s breathing stopped and his body went limp, only being held up by the man’s power. After about a minute blood started to pour out of his nose and Logan’s right eye, until the eye popped out of the socket and five bullets floated out behind it, along with some tiny pieces of metal carrying some normal bone. Everything floated over and landed in a tray that was sitting on a table next to Logan.

Ezekiel looked into the eye socket and could see that the back of the eye socket had five circles overlapped in a tight grouping of less than an inch. They were starting to heal as bone slowly regrew to cover the opening. The man turned to Ezekiel and said, “That is everything, hopefully his memoirs return now.”

Ezekiel patted the man's shoulder and said, “Thanks for the help, .”

The man nodded in replay and then dispelled into a puff of smoke.

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

Theo was at the park having a picnic with his family when he received the memory packets from the Third Kazekage. He was seated next to his father and was currently watching Milly as she reached over for one of the homemade cookies their father had made. When she picked it up she brought it close to her mouth and held it with both of her hands, before she nibbled a small bite from it. When she finished the first bite, she took another small bite and began to chew again as she looked around the park at the other people who were there. Theo started to smile as he watched and then tapped his fathers leg before he pointed at Milly. Theo’s dad looked at Milly before he smirked and pulled up the camera he had hanging around his neck and started to take pictures. Theo’s mom noticed her husband's actions and looked over at Milly, before she started to smile as she watched Milly eat her cookie like a chipmunk.

Milly noticed everyone looking at her and stopped chewing, her head tilted slightly as she said, “Uh?” Her mouth still had some of her cookie in it.

Her father reached over and patted her head as he said, “Nothing is wrong, you can finish eating your cookie, chipmunk. We just thought you were being cute.”

Milly nodded her head as she swallowed her food and then said, “Of course, Milly is always cute. But Milly is Milly, not chipmunk.”

Theo started to laugh along with his parents, before he said, “I think Milly might be getting a big head.”

Milly used one hand and started to feel her head all around before she puffed out her cheeks and looked at Theo as she said, “Milly’s head is fine, it’s not getting bigger.”

Theo laughed a little harder before he said, “Never change Milly.”

“Why would Milly change? Milly is perfect!” Milly stuck her tongue out at Theo, before she put her hand back on the cookie and started to eat it again as she looked at her parents who both just smiled at her.