00187. You work for...

While Otto was a little arrogant when you challenged him or questioned his skill. He was actually very easy to talk to and Ezekiel found he really liked the man. After chatting for a while, Ezekiel agreed to do all the programming work for the man going forward. Since programming was his main skill set and he could easily use clones to get all of the work done. Besides he didn't want Otto to become his super villain counterpart, so he would keep a closer eye on him going forward.

Once he finished up his business with Otto and his wife, Ezekiel headed back to the medical lab to check in with Dr. Connors. He found Connors engrossed in a conversation with Orochimaru, Tobirama and a few other people about his research. Since that was the case Ezekiel headed home until he needed to portal the man back to his laboratory.

A little while after Ezekiel arrived back home he received a phone call, but it wasn't for Connors. Wilson Fisk finally called and wanted to talk with Ezekiel in person again. Ezekiel agreed on a time and place before he hung up the phone and went to go train until it was time for the meeting.

Hours later Ezekiel portaled to one of the tallest buildings in Hell's Kitchen where Fisk wanted to meet him. He stepped out onto the roof of the building to find Fisk. Fisk stood alone near the edge of the roof with his hands behind his back as he looked out over the city. As Ezekiel approached Fisk he asked, "So what did you want to talk about?"

Fisk didn't turn around as he said, "You said you could see the future… So you must know what I planned to do for this city."

"I know your overall goal was to help the city. But the actions you planned to take would hurt a lot of innocent people along the way."

"But it would help more people than it would harm." Fisk said as he glanced towards Ezekiel for a moment.

"The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few."

Fisk nodded in response as he said, "Exactly."

Ezekiel shook his head slightly before he said, "That's only acceptable when you have no other choice… But you currently have other options, Mr. Fisk."

Fisk stared out over the city for about a minute before he asked, "I looked into you after our first meeting. Do you know what I found?"

Ezekiel looked out over the edge of the building at the neighborhood below as he said, "No idea."

Fisk glanced down towards Ezekiel as he said, "Practically nothing. You appeared out of nowhere a few years ago. No formal ID, no birth records, no records at all from what I've gathered and only a handful of photos and video clips scattered around online…"

Fisk turned to face Ezekiel before he said, "And yet as far as I can tell you are the sole owner of Vibe Media Corporation. One of the most talked about companies in the world since the launch of Stark's phone."

Ezekiel shrugged as he asked, "And your point is?"

"You're a ghost that popped up out of nowhere and now you want me to work with you."

Ezekiel turned to face Fisk as he chuckled before he said, "You're wrong. You won't be working with me. You'll be working for me."

Before Fisk could respond, Ezekiel held up a hand and said, "You would be like an independent contractor and I would only give you a general goal of what I would like for you to accomplish. If you're able to do it, you'll be rewarded and get more work."

Ezekiel turned back to looking out over the city as he said, "All of the goals I give you should be easy to do. They will just take effort on your part to accomplish. That being said, I expect whatever it is to be done correctly. I don't need or want anything done quickly, I just need it done right the first time."

After Ezekiel stopped talking for a few moments Fisk asked, "And what exactly do you plan to have me do?"

"Are you accepting my offer?"

"You can consider me interested, but I want to know more before I commit to anything." Fisk said.

Ezekiel nodded in understanding before he said, "I want you to do exactly what you already planned to do, but you need to change one thing about it. I want you to focus on better housing for lower income families instead of the rich."

Fisk frowned as he said, "There's barely any money to be made in that sector and it would hold back my other plans."

"You're right. But you wouldn't be doing this to make money. The goal is to help people in need. Besides I already told you, if you do everything right, you'll never have to worry about money."

Ezekiel turned back to Fisk as he said, "Besides you are missing out on what will happen if you do it correctly."

"And what exactly is that?"

"If you build something that is nice and also affordable for people with low income. You won't have any issue with keeping tenants. You do that enough and the slum lords in the area around your buildings might not be able to find renters anymore."

Fisk nodded along before he said, "And that's when I offer to buy up their building."

Ezekiel smiled as he said, "Exactly. Then you tear it down and build another low income focused property."

"It might work for some, but there are people out there who own their buildings and wouldn't want to sell it, even if I offered to pay double what it is worth."

"And that's one of the reasons why I said you would be working for me, not with me. If you have any type of problem that you can't solve through normal, legal means… You contact me and I'll deal with it." Ezekiel said with a smile before he added, "I want you to keep your image clean along with how you do business."

"What's the other reason I would be working for you and not with you?"

"Because honestly, you don't matter in the grand scheme of things that I am working towards. I could easily replace you with anyone and get the same results. It's all just a matter of time for me really." Ezekiel said with a shrug.

"If I'm that disposable, then why did you come to me in the first place?" Fisk asked with a hint of frustration in his voice.

"Because you would get in the way of my plans eventually and things wouldn't have gone well for you when that happened. You are a very smart, capable and driven man, Mr. Fisk. A man I could use to do great things with and I want to give you a path forward. One where you are not limited in the future by being a criminal."

Ezekiel studied Fisk for a moment before he said, "If you work for me, I expect you to behave and keep your nose clean. I'll give you some chances, but not many… And if you do something really bad, don't expect to wind up in jail."

Fisk thought about it for a few more moments before he stuck out his hand and said, "I look forward to our first project together."

Ezekiel shook his hand as he said, "As do I."

vvvvv

A couple weeks passed by and Curt Connors was given a new body while Theo finished up all the current programming jobs Otto needed done. He also gave Fisk his first project and put him in touch with Adrian Toomes so his company could do the demolition of the building.

He also put another project into motion which involved the remnants of the Hand. While they were now focused on helping people and communities, Theo used the New York members as a test bed for the trade skill program he wanted to do. Since he already had Adrian and Fisk, he would use them to help move the project forward.

They would each get a handful of young people who would be taught to be craftsmen in different fields. It was almost like becoming an apprentice in a union, except Theo founded the whole thing himself and no one had to pay for it. If it worked well he planned to expand it to other cities where ex Hand members operated.

Besides that, Theo just got out of school for winter break and was heading to his dad's shop with Peter, Milly, Issac and Teresa. They almost always go there after school unless their parents pick them up. As they walked Milly was looking through a book on cakes she picked up from the library while Issac and Teresa chatted about when they should do their holiday homework.

Peter glanced over his shoulder at his little sister as he said, "Let's just do it once we get to the shop, that way we can have fun for the holidays and not have to worry about it."

Theo nodded in agreement as he said, "We can even help you with it if you get stuck."

Milly glanced up from her book and said, "But I wanna finish reading this book."

"You just wanna look at pictures of cakes." Theo said with a knowing smile.

Milly shook her head in denial before she said, "I am reading the recipes."

Theo quickly snatched the book from Milly's hands as she said, "Hey! Give that back!"

"I just wanna see if you learned anything." Theo said as he glanced at the recipe on the page Milly was just looking at and asked, "What are some of the ingredients for this double chocolate cake you were looking at."

Milly glanced at Theo for a few moments before she confidently said, "I don't know."

"I knew it! You were only looking at the pictures of cake because that's all you can think about… Your brain must be full of cake!"

"It is not!" Milly said as her cheeks puffed out and she placed her hands on her hips.

"It has to be, that's the only logical explanation for why you like cake so much."

"I just like cake! My brain isn't full of cake!" Milly said as she tried to grab her book back from Theo.

Theo dodged her and started to run away from her, so Milly started to chase him as she said, "Te-o, get back here!"

Theo just started to laugh as he kept just out of reach of Milly as they ran down the sidewalk before Milly said, "If you're brave, stop running!"

"If you stop chasing, I'll stop running!" Theo said with a smile on his face.

"If you didn't start running, I wouldn't have started chasing you!" Milly said with her cheeks puffed out.

"If you don't chase, why would I run?" Theo asked before he stuck out his tongue and kept running.

The chase lasted until they reached the shop where Theo finally placed the book down on a table but didn't stop running until Milly stopped chasing him. The others caught up about five minutes later before they all headed down to the basement where they could do homework.

Since part or the basement was turned into a private laboratory for Richard and Mary. They had a couple quiet offices that they kids could use to do homework in if they wanted. It was better than trying to do it in the upstairs office, since the sounds from the shop were pretty loud sometimes.