00182. It only takes once.

    A couple weeks passed after Theo visited Bruce Banner. While some more security was added to Banner''s lab nothing else was changed and they didn''t find the backdoor Theo planted in the servers. Ross didn''t even show up which surprised Theo the most since he figured that guy would have at least checked in and made sure the project wasn’t compromised. But Theo didn’t really waste much time on it, he just wanted to at least meet Banner and give him a warning.

    Since that goal was completed, Theo focused on his other projects instead. The first one he checked in on was his Mars project that was about to enter the next phase. Magneto already collected all the ice they would need and crashed them into the planet a month ago and now Theo wanted to test a theory that might make terraforming the atmosphere a lot easier.

    Theo arrived on Mars through a portal at the temporary base he created there. With him was the person who might be able to speed up the terraforming process. Theo glanced at Hashirama as he asked, “How big of a forest do you think you can create with your chakra reserves?”

    Hashirama laughed before he said, “Maybe a hundred feet if I''m lucky.”

    “What if you make smaller trees and not full grown ones?”

    Hashirama rubbed his chin in thought for a while before he said, “It’s doable, but would smaller trees be better?”

    “The more trees breathing in carbon dioxide the better. Our goal is to get a higher oxygen mix for the atmosphere. We also need to heat up the planet, but Tao was talking about doing that with some spells to save time.” Theo said.

    “Alright, with younger trees I could expand the size to a few hundred feet... Maybe.”

    Theo nodded in understanding as he said, “I''ll just send you here every time your chakra is full to create another patch of trees until this area is full.”

    Hashirama looked out over the desolate martian landscape as he asked, “You think the trees will survive here?”

    “Tao created a magic circle that keeps the temperature in this area for about ten miles at around seventy five degrees fahrenheit for this experiment. We also dropped a few ice asteroids in this area, so it has ground water for the trees.

    Hashirama nodded before he said, “Alright, I’ll give it a shot.”

    Hashirama walked off the platform and out onto the red martian soil before he did a few hand signs as he said, “Wood release secret technique: nativity of a world of trees.”

    Hashirama slammed his hands onto the ground and a moment later a pulse of chakra spread out to cover just over three hundred feet. After a few seconds trees started to sprout and shoot out of the ground all over the area. The trees weren’t that large, most of them only growing to seven or eight feet tall. As Theo watched he was surprised because not only did trees get created, but small bushes and other plants also grew up, all around the area. Once Hashirama was finished the area looked completely out of place with its greens and browns surrounded by red.

    Hashirama walked out of the forest he just created about a minute later and said, “I''m surprised it worked so well. I half expected it to fail because of how alien this planet is.”

    Theo smiled and patted Hashirama on the shoulder as he said, “If it wasn''t for chakra and how stupid it is, I would agree.”

    Theo glanced at the newly created forest one more time before he asked, “How long until your chakra pool is fully restored?”

    “I''ll need to eat and a few hours of rest, then I should be able to use that again.”

    Theo nodded in understanding as he created a portal back home and left to go train while Hashirama recovered. With the Mars project in its next phase, Theo turned his attention towards his next Vibe project. He already had his first video game created and was almost finished with two more.

    Both games were ones he knew would be extremely popular and planned to release around the same time as he launched a new service for Vibe. The service itself would be for video games mostly, but would also tie into the rest of Vibes platforms seamlessly.

    The game service was basically Theo''s own version of Steam and would function the same way once it was completely up and running. Theo already checked and as far as he could tell, no one was currently making Steam or the games he planned to release.

    As Ezekiel glanced around the room JARVIS said, “Welcome Ezekiel. You will find Mr. Stark upstairs along with Miss. Potts.”

    As Ezekiel walked towards the door he asked, “Where’s Happy?”

    “He was given the day off and I believe he is spending the day with his girlfriend.”

    Ezekiel opened the door and as he walked up stairs he heard Pepper as she yelled, “God damn it Tony... It was only once!”

    “I know...” Tony said, his voice low and hollow.

    “Well what the hell are we supposed to do now?”

    “I don''t know.” Tony said as Ezekiel walked out into the living room area to see it was also a mess.

    Pepper picked up one of the couch cushions and threw it at Tony as she said, “This is your fault, so you need to fix it!”

    Tony dodged the cushion and glanced at Pepper as he said, “We could get married.”

    “We aren''t even dating properly yet and you want to get married!?!” Pepper yelled as she picked up a flower vase and threw it towards Tony.

    “Ummmm. Maybe I should come back later.” Ezekiel said as the vase crashed against the wall behind Tony.

    Tony looked at Ezekiel like he found his savior and moved towards him as he said, “No, you''re perfect! Just the person we need.”

    Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “Not from what I heard. I think you guys should work this out yourselves.”

    Pepper frowned at Ezekiel as she said, “That idiot got me pregnant.”

    “Last I checked it takes two people to create a baby, so it''s not completely his fault.” Ezekiel said with a shrug.

    Tony nodded in agreement as he said, “See, he at least understands.”

    “Fine, we are both at fault... But that doesn''t solve the fact I am still pregnant and we aren''t married, let alone really dating!”

    “Then just get married.” Ezekiel said with a sigh.

    “I don''t know if I even like him that much!” Pepper said with a huff.

    Ezekiel shook his head as he created a portal in front of himself as he said, “You liked him enough to sleep with him, so figure it out.”

    Ezekiel quickly disappeared through the portal before they could respond and left them alone to work out their own mess. While he was happy they finally got together, he didn''t expect this mess... Well it didn''t matter too much, he was sure this would just force them together sooner or Tony would end up with another baby''s momma.