Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00099. Everyone gets a body!

The day after Tao transferred to her new body, Peggy and Steve were asked to come over to the medical facility. Theo again wanted to be there personally, so he took over for his clone today. After Peggy and Steve arrived at the base, Ezekiel greeted them. Before he led them to where their new bodies were.

As they stepped into the room both of them froze in place as they looked at younger versions of themselves sleeping peacefully. Peggy was the most shocked as it had been decades since she last saw herself without aged features.

Steve glanced between the two people on beds before he asked, "What exactly is going on here?"

"Project Lazarus was a success. These are your new bodies."

Peggy turned around to look directly at Ezekiel as she asked, "I thought Lazarus was so your clones would have permanent bodies?"

Ezekiel nodded as he said, "That's in phase two."

Ezekiel moved towards the bodies as he said, "These bodies are part of phase one."

Ezekiel turned around to face Steve as he said, "When I asked for your DNA, you made me promise not to look into the super soldier formula."

Ezekiel pointed at the clones of Steve and Peggy as he said, "I kept my promise but at the same time stumbled upon something better."

Steve looked a little upset as he asked, "If you kept your promises, how did you come up with something better than the super soldier formula?"

Ezekiel pointed at himself as he said, "Using my DNA."

Both of them looked at the bodies in concern as Steve asked, "So those are clones of you that look like us?"

"No, those are about forty percent me, one part Logan's x-gene and the rest is from both of you. While it should make you look different, my DNA was altered to not show any outward signs. So physically you still look the same, but under the hood is where my genetics take over. We've done extensive testing and this ended up being the best mix without any side effects."

Ezekiel smiled as he said, "We never did look into the super soldiers formula itself like I promised. I had planned to just clone your powers into Peggy and a few other people instead. But Sarah was never able to get far in the project though since we made the discovery about my DNA."

Steve frowned as he said, "So what, these are like a stronger version of a super soldier?"

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "No, these are like a weaker version of me. They should be a little weaker than you are currently. But with proper training you could lift mountains. Plus you will be able to use my skills with practice and dedication.”

Ezekiel smiled again as he said, “But that’s not all, Logan’s x-gene increases your body's healing factor. You won’t be like Logan, but you shouldn’t really get sick anymore. You will heal from most injuries faster than normal and even regrow limbs. Oh and you should be able to live past five hundred years old, if you don’t get killed or something.”

“Five hundred years?!?!”

Ezekiel nodded as his smile grew before he said, “From our testing it was mostly from my DNA, but Logan’s x-gene did help out.”

While they took in the information, the door to the room opened and in walked Tao. Tao looked to be around sixteen with fiery red hair tied into a braid that hung down past her butt. Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “I’m still not a fan of the long hair. Maybe a pixie cut?”

Tao gave Ezekiel a look that made him go quiet before she smiled at the other two people in the room. As she asked, “So did Ezekiel finish explaining what was going on?”

“Kinda, but not really. He also didn’t ask if we wanted new bodies.” Peggy finished with a frown at Ezekiel.

Ezekiel shrugged as he asked, “What? You don’t want the chance to live a full life with lover boy here?”

“I do, but five hundred years? Isn’t that too long? How would we enjoy our lives when we are that old?” 

Steve nodded as he said, “I have to agree. I appreciate what you are trying to do for both of us, but that just doesn’t seem right to me. All of our friends and family would die long before us. Not like I have much of that anyway, but you get the point.”

Tao let out a sigh as she said, “Both of you are overthinking this too much. Just enjoy the second chance at life and deal with everything else as it comes. That’s what I’ve done for the past eight hundred years.”

Ezekiel nodded as he said, “Plus we are already working on a life extension treatment. We are shooting for it to add at least three hundred years to a normal person's life. So that should take care of one of your concerns.”

Ezekiel then pointed at the bodies again as he said, “These bodies will look like this for the next four hundred years or so. Then they will slowly age over the last thirty years of your life. You will be just like elves are depicted in most books.”

Peggy shared a glance with Steve that acted as a whole conversation before she turned to look at Ezekiel and said, “Thank you, for doing this for us.”

Steve nodded as he asked, “So what do we do now?”

Tao pointed at the extra beds as she said, “You will need to lay down on those beds, then I’ll transfer you over to your new bodies. It will be a weird, but completely painless experience.”

They both nodded before moving to one of the beds. After they laid down, Tao moved to Peggy first and gently tapped her head, forcefully removing her astral projection from her body. It only took a few moments as she guided it into the new body. Peggy in her new body shot up as she took in a deep breath of air.

The first thing she did was glance over to her old body and then looked at her new hands in wonder. It felt a little weird to her at first, her mind was telling her it wasn’t real. But as she studied and flexed her fingers that feeling went away and was replaced with joy. Tears of joy slid down her face at the thought of spending the next few centuries with Steve.

Steve for his part just smiled as he watched Peggy adjusting to her new body. Tao moved next to him and said, “Lay back, this will only take a moment.”

Once Steve’s head touched the pillow, Tao tapped his head. After his astral projection was ejected, she moved it towards the new body and anchored it into place. Steve slowly opened his eyes and then sat up. It took him only a few moments before he swung his legs over the bed and stood up. He moved to Peggy’s bed and then asked, “How do you feel?”

Peggy turned to Steve with a radiant smile on her face as she said, “Great. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this good in my whole life.”

Steve held out his hand to her, which she took as he said, “I feel the same. Even after the original experiment, I didn’t feel this good. I feel all warm inside.”

Ezekiel smirked as he said, “You're making me blush, that thing you're feeling? That's all me baby, I’m inside of both of you.”

Peggy turned to glare at Ezekiel as she said, “Don’t ever say something like that again.” Steve looked a little grossed out as he nodded in agreement.

Ezekiel held up his hands in front of himself as he said, “What, it’s true. That nice warm feeling inside? That’s chakra. That’s all from your dear old dad.” Ezekiel finished by twisting his hands and pointing his thumbs at himself as a large smile broke out on his face.

Tao smacked the back of Ezekiel's head as she said, “I told you not to say stuff like that.”

Ezekiel rubbed the back of his head as he said, "Hey! That’s no way to treat your father, show me some respect."

"Maybe scientifically you have a point, but it doesn't make it true. Don't bring it up again or I’ll increase your training load."

Ezekiel looked horrified as he clamped his mouth shut on the retort he was about to fire off. Tao smiled in victory as she said, "For now just adept to your new bodies, in about six months Ezekiel will teach you about chakra."

Peggy swung her feet out of the bed and stood up with Steve's help. She smiled at both Tao and Ezekiel as she said, "If you don't need us for anything else, we’ll go test out our new bodies."

Ezekiel smiled again as he glanced at Tao and said, "Make sure you do that thing we talked about."

"I almost forgot, that could have been bad." Tao said as she started to weave her hands around in a pattern. Everyone watched as a small spell matrix formed in the air and then moved towards Peggy's belly button.

After it entered her body and disappeared, Peggy asked, "What was that?'

Ezekiel smirked as he said, "Magical contraceptive. Just a precaution since the normal stuff isn't completely effective."

Tao nodded as she said, "Whenever you're ready to have kids just let me know. Till then you kids are free to have as much fun as you like without worries."

Ezekiel laughed before he said, "Ya, and now you don't have to worry about Peggy walking with a limp afterwards."

Steve and even Peggy looked a little embarrassed before Ezekiel added, "Oh I almost forgot the most important part."

Ezekiel stepped next to Steve and went to whisper in his ear. But instead he spoke in his normal voice as he said, "She's a virgin again, so go easy on her."

Steve just shook his head as Tao smacked him again. Peggy also smacked him as she asked, "Are you done playing around? Is there anything important we need to know or are we done here?"

Ezekiel rubbed the back of his head as he said, "No, that should be all…"

"Good. Come on Steve, let's go to the gym. I have the sudden urge to punch something." Peggy said as she moved out of the room.

Steve shook his head again and flashed a smile as he said, "I would say thanks for the new body, but I think I am going to be the one getting punched."

Ezekiel smiled back as Steve walked towards the door. As Steve was walking out, Ezekiel added, "By the way, I added a couple inches where it counts."

Steve stumbled and turned back to see Ezekiel hold up his hands like he was showing someone the largest fish he ever caught. Tao smacked the back of his head again as she said, "You need to grow up."

Steve just shook his head before he disappeared completely from the door frame. Ezekiel huffed as he said, "What's wrong with helping a guy out… I mean he didn't really need it. But I thought, "What the heck, everyone could use an extra inch or two."

Ezekiel rubbed the back of his head as he said, "At least I held back and didn't make you and Peggy look like Tsunade…"

Tao gave Ezekiel a flat look as she said, "I think we will double your training load. You're also banned from visiting Stark for three months."

"But we’re still working on the mobile phone project."

"He should be able to finish everything himself. But you can stop by his place today and let him know you'll be busy for the next three months."

Ezekiel shook his head as he mumbled, "Should have just kept my mouth shut."

During the next three months while Theo was going through what most people would consider child abuse. Tao, Theo and his clones were able to swap everyone in their group into new bodies. Almost everyone was given the weaker of the bodies. 

Robert Gonzales and his wife Dawn were also brought in. It turned out during his retirement, his wife came down with a very aggressive form of cancer. It was caught early thanks to Theo’s warning, but it was still cancer and not even Tsunade had a direct way to cure it. Cancer wasn't something that was common in their original world. Not when most people didn't live past forty.

Since they didn't have a cure for it currently, Theo offered Robert and his wife a deal. New bodies for both of them, but he and his wife would have to disappear. It wasn’t a hard choice for either of them, they both didn’t have much of an extended family and no kids. So they packed up some essentials and then moved into the base. Once they were given new bodies, Robert came back to work for the group and his wife became another person to help out with the kids.

The kids were the only ones who didn’t receive new bodies. Mainly because Theo wanted to wait till they were older. They could easily do it now, but if they didn’t want to join the group and work as agents it would be a waste. So a rule was made, until someone turned eighteen, they weren’t allowed to upgrade their bodies.

Another rule was a loyalty clause. If someone had a weaker body but were extremely loyal to the cause. After twenty five years they could upgrade to the better body type. The downside would be they would have to start training all over. The plus side would be their skills wouldn’t be affected, just their chakra pool size. In theory with body transferring they figured out a limited type of immortality.