Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00152. An unexpected guest?

Theo was seated in the lotus position as he focused on the spell he was working on. It used his personalized spell matrix for the foundation and he was in the process of adding to it. Once he was satisfied, he would need to set it in place before he asked Tao and Agatha to test it.

It was the spell that acted as his main mental barrier and kept people out of his mind. After he learned the basics from Tao and Agatha, Theo spent at least an hour a day adding to the barrier, with the help of a dedicated clone. The clone was created everyday to help improve the spell matrix in theory. Once it is dispelled, Theo took that knowledge and used it to add to a new spell matrix. 

He basically took the twenty four hours of theory crafting his clone produced and added it into his spell matrix within an hour's time. He tried it a few times with more clones, but the results were about the same, so Theo only used one clone for the job now. While his spell matrix was currently nowhere close to Tao or Agatha's in strength. It was strong enough to keep most advanced masters of the mystic arts out of Theo's head.

Theo finished the final touches to the spell before he slowly brought it back inside himself and let it settle into place. Afterwards he glanced at Tao as he said, “You can begin whenever you’re ready.”

Tao raised up her tea cup as she said, “Alright, brace yourself.”

Theo only waited for a moment before he felt Tao probe his mental defenses. It was almost gentle at first, but quickly ramped up in power. Before long it felt like someone slammed a hammer into his mental barrier and Theo grimaced in pain. It happened a few more times before blood started to run out of Theo’s nose.

Tao's attack finally finished as she broke past his barrier and said, “Not bad, you lasted almost five minutes.”

Theo was completely pale and his face was contorted in pain as Agatha said, “You shouldn't break his spell matrix every time you test it.”

Tao waved off the concern as she said, “How will he learn properly if he doesn't rebuild it every time?”

“You could at least tone down your power a little. Look at him, he is still recovering.” Agatha said as she observed Theo.

Tao shook her head as she said, “Why should I show him mercy when an enemy won't? The more he gets used to having his barrier broken through, the better he'll be able to cope with it.”

“It's fine. I would rather it be this way in the first place.” Theo said as he started to create a new spell matrix.

As the new matrix formed he said, “While I might not enjoy it, the backlash is becoming a little less each time.”

Tao nodded in agreement as she said, “That's only natural. Once you stop being stunned by it, I will switch to single hits to break your barrier.”

Theo started to sweat a little as he continued his training for the night. After he was finished with his training and checked over a few things, he made a new batch of clones before he headed to bed after a quick shower. In the morning after he woke up and got ready for the day. He headed upstairs and was greeted by his father in the kitchen who said, “Just in time, help me prepare breakfast.”

“What’re we going to make?”

Jacob smirked as he said, “I thought pancakes sounded good. What do you think?”

Theo nodded in agreement as he said, “Of course!”

Jacob smiled slightly as he started to pull out ingredients and set them on the counter as he said, “Alright get me the large mixing bowl and pull out the big cast iron skillet.”

As Theo helped his father prepare breakfast, Jacob asked, “Are you ready for today?”

“Yeah, but not as much as Milly and Issac.” Theo said with a smile.

Jacob shook his head as he said, “Those two… I still don’t understand why they love sweets so much.”

Theo shrugged as he set out plates on the table and said, “It’s a little strange, since you and mom aren’t that big on sweets either.”

“It doesn’t help that you make some type of dessert every few days.” Daniel said as she walked into the kitchen.

Jacob winked at his wife as he said, “You bake stuff for the kids just as much as me, sometimes even more.”

“Speaking of my siblings, where are they?” Theo asked.

“Milly said she wanted to be a good big sister and is helping Issac get dressed.” Daniel said with a hint of a smile.

Theo shook his head as he said, “It must be because she is getting cake today.”

“Yup.” Both of his parents said at the same time before everyone laughed.

Breakfast went smoothly and afterwards they walked over to Peter's house to get him along with his family. From there, they took the subway downtown and went to a museum before they spent a few hours there as they explored the place. It was a science museum and had a lot of activities for kids to do.

Once they finished they had some pizza before they took the subway back to Brooklyn. Instead of heading back home, then detoured and went to the park instead. Once there it became obvious why they went there.

Setup inside the park near the picnic area were Ben, May, Johnathan, Sara and a bunch of other people. While a banner was hung up that said, ‘Happy Birthday Peter.’

Richard picked up his son as he said, “Happy birthday!” As everyone else joined in.

Peter blushed slightly while everyone congratulated him and wished him a happy birthday. As Richard and Mary hugged Peter before he was put back down and Richard said, “Go greet your friends and have fun.”

Peter nodded as he glanced at Milly and Theo before he said, “Come on.”

Theo followed Peter to the other kids as their parents took their younger siblings with them to mingle with the adults. Once there, they were greeted by mostly classmates and a couple kids from the neighborhood. As the kids gathered around Peter to congratulate him and wish him a happy birthday, Theo noticed a few people approaching the party.

It took Theo only a moment to realize who they were and he frowned slightly to himself as he thought, ‘What the hell is he doing here?’

It was a man and woman along with a young boy. The woman and kid were fine, but the man who was with them Theo didn't trust. It was someone Theo looked into once before, but didn't do anything about because he had no connection with Peter's parents. But it looked like things changed for some reason and Theo wasn't happy about it.

Theo wanted to understand what was going on so he moved towards Richard and Mary. Since that was where the man was headed. While Theo could eavesdrop on them from where he was, he wanted to be closer to them just in case something strange happened.

As the group approached closer Richard smiled at the man as he said, “Mr. Osborne thanks for coming.”

“Please, just call me Norman. We're busy partners after all.” Norman said with a smile.

Richard reached out and shook the man's hand as he said, “Sorry, it's a force of habit.”

“It's fine, Richard.” The man said before he gestured to the pale skinned woman beside him and the little boy as he said, “This is my wife, Emily and my son Harry.”

After they greeted each other, Richard glanced over towards Peter but noticed Theo who was close by and said, “Theo, come over here for a moment. I want you to meet someone.”

Theo didn’t want to join them and instead watch them from a close distance but came over as he said, “Yes uncle Richard?”

Richard smiled as he pointed to Harry and said, “Theo this is Harry. Take him over and introduce him to Peter and the others.”

Theo nodded as he stretched out his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Theo it’s nice to meet you.”

Harry shook hands with Theo as he said, “It’s nice to meet you too.”

After they shook hands, Theo led Harry towards the group of kids and started to introduce him around to everyone as he focused his hearing on Osborne. It was a little bit of a pain to split his attention, but wasn’t an issue since the kids didn’t seem to notice he was slightly distracted.

As for what Osborne and Richard talked about, it all seemed to be normal. As the party went on, Theo always kept part of his focus on Osborne, but overall the party was fine and nothing happened. Theo didn’t think anything would, but he still didn’t let his guard down. After the party finished and Theo was back at home, his main priority was figuring out how and why Osborne was working with his uncle.

When he arrived in his training area he immediately made clones and then created a portal for them. After most of them left for the base, he created another portal for Shisui, Kakashi, and Itachi. After they left and the portal closed Tao asked, “Where did you send those three?”

“I ran into a potential enemy today. I sent them to scout and get me access to their computer systems.” Theo said as he moved towards the rock wall to practice.

“How much of a threat are they?” Agatha asked before she took a sip from her tea cup.

Theo frowned slightly as he said, “He is almost always evil and could turn into a powerful enemy if we do nothing. He wouldn’t be an issue for either of you, but you never know what could happen in this crazy world. I would rather kill him now then deal with him later in that case.”

“You really think he could become a major threat?” Tao asked.

Before Theo moved out onto his training wall he said, “I’ll show you what he might become and you tell me.”

Theo glanced over his shoulder before his red eyes captivated Tao and Agatha who relaxed into their chairs. He sent them all the information he knew on Norman Osborne and the type of monster he could become in the form of a memory genjutsu.

About an hour passed before Tao and Agatha came out of the genjutsu. Tao picked up her tea pot to refill her cup and frowned as she noticed it was cold. She glanced up to Theo who was currently near the top of the rock wall and said, “Come down here and make me some fresh tea like a good disciple.”

Theo glanced over his shoulder down at Tao a few hundred feet below as he said, “In a few minutes.”

After Theo completed his climb, he let go of the wall and fell into the water pit below him. Once he climbed out, he moved to Tao before he took the tea pot to the kitchen area and dumped the old tea into the sink. He then used a spell to fill it with water and took it back to its holder. Once he placed it down, he used another spell to heat the water to the perfect temperature.

Afterwards he pulled out a tea ball and filled it before he placed it inside another teapot and slowly poured the hot water over it. After he emptied the first pot into the other pot he let the tea steep as he asked, “So what do you think?”

“You’re right, he could become troublesome.”

Theo nodded as he took a seat between Tao and Agatha before he pulled out his tablet and checked it to see if he had access to Osborne’s computers yet. As he worked Agatha said, “Worst case we’ll just kill him.”

Theo glanced up at Agatha who smiled as she said, “Being proactive with people like that is always the best choice.”

Tao nodded in agreement as she said, “Just let us know what you plan to do. We’ll help you if it’s needed.”

Theo smirked slightly as he said, “Thanks, but I am pretty sure I can take care of the current version of him alone if it comes to that.”