39 00038. Fixing Laura's issue and a job offer.

As Sarah and Laura came out of the portal, Laura instantly stepped in front of her mother with her claws out. Ezekiel was the first to react and said, "The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?"

They had stepped out of the portal into the loading dock area of the facility. In front of them was the entire staff of the base, all the guards were bound and on the ground in front of them. The higher ups, Stryker, Sutter, Rice, Kimura and all of the scientists were bound up away from the guards. Standing in front of Laura and Sarah was Logan, Magneto, Xavier, Kaecilius along with Ezekiel who was smiling at them. A few feet behind Ezekiel was a random set of chairs.

Ezekiel stepped forward as he said, "Please stand down, we will not harm you."

Laura quickly glanced at her mother who nodded her head, before she looked back at Ezekiel and said as her claws retracted, "You don't smell like anything."

Logan spoke up and said, "I told him the same thing, he said it has something to do with him being a clone of the original or something. Doesn't make sense if you ask me, everything has a smell."

Laura stepped a little closer to Logan and began to sniff him. As she did, he stepped forward a little and sniffed her also. They walked in a circle around each other for a moment before they stopped almost where they started. After another pause, they both nodded to each other. As Laura started to move back to her mother she said, "You smell like smoke."

Logan grunted before he said, "Helps to dull the senses."

Ezekiel stepped forward as he clapped his hands and said, "Congratulations are in order, you rescued the princess successfully."

Sarah looked a little confused as she asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Ezekiel spread his hands out gesturing to the area around them, "This place is like a dungeon."

He pointed to the guards before he then pointed at the other people and said, "Evil minions here, and boss monsters over there."

He then pointed at Laura and said, "The little princess who was trapped in the bottom of the dungeon and needed to be rescued."

Everyone waited for a moment before Sarah asked, "What does that make me?"

"Ehhh, you can be the princess's hand maiden I guess. I just had you marked as a hostage before."

Ezekiel turned around quickly and said, "Speaking of which you still have five more hostages to recuse."

Sarah was left speechless for a few moments as another portal opened up and Logan and Kaecilius went through it. She finally spoke up and asked, "Is this just all some kinda game to you?"

Before Ezekiel could speak Xavier held up the tablet he was holding and said, "Well he did make it like a game."

Sarah walked closer to look at it as Laura followed closely guarding her mother. Sarah picked up the tablet, looking at it for a few moments before she handed it back to Xavier and then looked at Ezekiel as she asked, "What is wrong with you? You really made this into a game?"

"Well how else can I justify giving them each a reward if they didn't do anything to earn it?"

Sarah wanted to reply but was too stunned to think of anything. After a few moments, Logan carried out a closed container filled with silver liquid. When he set it down next to Ezekiel he said, "We could use a hand with the others."

Magneto said nothing but just closed his eyes for a few moments before the hospital gurneys came out of the portal one by one and came to rest next to the container Logan sat down.

At this point Sarah finally asked, "Do we have to stay here or can we leave?"

"Unfortunately we still need to sort some things out, fix Laura's trigger scent issue so she doesn't kill someone by accident. We also need to collect the hidden agents who are watching people's families."

Laura and Sarah immediately looked at Ezekiel as Sarah asked, "What do you mean by agents watching people's families?"

Ezekiel laughed and asked, "You did such a great job of sneaking Laura in and out of here. Did you ever stop to wonder how you were caught?"

Sarah thought quietly for a few moments as Kaecilius came back through the portal and closed it. She spoke up and said, "I thought I missed something when I was covering up everything."

Ezekiel shook his head and said, "No you did everything perfectly, you just didn't account for your sister's boyfriend. He is a sleeper agent meant to watch your sister in case you share something you shouldn't be. He reported what you did to Stryker."

All the color drained from Sarah's face as Ezekiel talked. When he finished she quickly said, "We need to help my sister!"

"She will be fine, she is not currently in danger and we will collect him and everyone else next."

Sarah calmed down slightly but still looked worried. Laura reached over and clasped her mother's hand. When she did, Sarah let out a breath and then smiled slightly as she looked down at Laura.

Ezekiel smiled and said, "Alright first thing first, let's fix Laura's issue."

Ezekiel looked at Laura and asked, "Would you be comfortable with me or Professor Xavier here going into your mind and removing everything to do with your trigger scent training? It should fix any future problems if you ever smell it again."

Laura looked at her mother, who leaned over and whispered into her ear for a few moments. Laura listened for over a minute before she nodded her head and looked at Ezekiel as she said, "Okay, do it."

Ezekiel looked at Xavier and said, "Please point Kaecilius to the next targets. I made sure all the targets are alone. I sent each of them a coded message to go to their safe houses and wait for an important information packet."

Kaecilius nodded in understanding and walked next to Xavier and Magneto. As the first portal opened, Ezekiel looked at Laura and said, "Alright, let's sit over there and take care of your issue."

Laura and Sarah followed Ezekiel over to the random set of chairs. Ezekiel sat in one chair and Laura sat in the other chair with Sarah standing behind her. Ezekiel smiled and asked, "Would you mind if we restrain you while I do this? There is a chance that you will go berserk when we do this and I don't want anyone hurt."

Laura looked up at her mother for a moment who nodded her head in reply. She looked back at Ezekiel and said, "Okay."

"Magneto, could you please make some restraints for Laura please."

Magneto didn't reply, but some metal flew over and wrapped around Laura's arms, legs and chest, locking her into the chair. Ezekiel leaned forward and said, "Sorry if this is uncomfortable, it should be over soon."

Ezekiel quickly did some hand signs and said something low under his breath before he reached over and touched her forehead. Laura's head dropped forward a little and Ezekiel's face went blank.

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Laura appeared in a blank white space with Ezekiel and someone else next to her. She immediately went on the defensive because of the unknown person next to them.

Ezekiel reacted right after and said, "Laura, this is a friend of mine, Inoichi Yamanaka. He is going to help you with modifying your memory."

Laura relaxed a little as she nodded towards Inoichi. He smiled back at her and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you Laura."

Inoichi spread his hands out and said, "This is your mindscape, it's currently blank because you have never been here before. I am going to give you a crash course on how to use it and help you remove some troublesome memories."

Inoichi looked at Ezekiel and asked, "Are you going to stay and help?"

Ezekiel looked at Laura and said, "Will you be fine if I leave you with Inoichi?"

Laura nodded her head yes, Ezekiel turned back to Inoichi and said, "You can handle this, I will make sure everything else goes smoothly."

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Ezekiel removed his hand from Laura's head and looked around. It had only been a few seconds since he touched Laura's forehead. Sarah looked surprised and asked, "You are done already?"

Ezekiel shook his head and pointed at Laura as he said, "She will be out for a little while, you can sit here with her till she wakes, if you like."

As Ezekiel stood up, Sarah sat down in the chair and watched Laura with concern on her face. Ezekiel smiled and asked, "What do you plan to do once we are done here?"

Sarah continued to look at Laura, but she looked a little lost as she said, "I don't really know, this is all happening so quickly. When you made the offer for freedom earlier I almost thought you were joking or it could take months."

She took a deep breath and looked at Ezekiel as she said, "Now we are pretty much free and I have no real idea what we're going to do. I know I can get a job pretty easily, but Laura has never interacted with other kids. I have no real idea what I am going to do for her, normal school won't work."

"How about I offer you a short term to possibly long term solution?"

Sarah looked at Laura as she asked, "I am not interested in playing games with you."

Ezekiel chuckled as he said, "I can assure you what I am offering is not going to be a game. I do admit that I like to have fun, but if you saw what was coming like I have. You would also take every chance you get to enjoy life a little and have some fun."

Sarah glanced back at Ezekiel and said, "That doesn't sound ominous at all. Are you trying to scare me into working with you or something?"

"Not at all, if I wanted to do that I would just show you a vision of the future. But the last person I did that to had a slight mental breakdown. So I am trying to hold off on doing that to people now."

Sarah said in a flat tone, "You are not very funny, you know that right?"

Logan moved a little closer as he said, "It wasn't a joke, Mystique the person who he is talking about. She has been seeing the Professor for a while now to help work through what she was shown. She still isn't fully one hundred percent back to normal and it's been well over six months since it happened."

Ezekiel had a small frown on his face as he said, "It was an honest mistake, I thought she could handle it. I am being careful now and don't plan to show anyone the possible future unless I absolutely have to."

Sarah still looked skeptical but asked, "Hypothetically what is your short term solution?"

Ezekiel smiled and said, "You could come work for me, while Laura could join a small group of kids who are currently being taught in a private school type of setting. As for the work you would be doing, I need some help and you are one of, if not the leading specialist in the field of genetics and cloning."

Ezekiel held up his hand as he finished and then said, "Or you and Laura can go to Xavier's school. I am sure he could give you a job teaching there and Laura would be around other kids with special powers."

Sarah watched Laura for a few moments before she asked, "So those are the only two options you have for us?"

Ezekiel nodded and said, "Well you could just leave and go do whatever you want. I would even give you money to live a decent life with Laura. But just so you are aware the people who funded this project are still out there and if you showed up somewhere. Well they would definitely come looking for you and Laura."

Sarah frowned slightly as she said, "I thought you were taking care of the people behind this place."

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "I am, but it will take time. This is just one of their operations and I currently don't have enough information or manpower to completely take them down. We targeted this place because of the technology it holds and because this operation is not part of the main group."

"So me and Laura would have to hide all the time if we don't pick one of the options you gave us?"

Ezekiel laughed and said, "No matter what, you will have to hide your identity. We plan to make it look like everyone involved here was killed. While the general public won't know about your involvement, the people who backed this place will."

Sarah let out a sigh before she said, "So carrot and the stick, or just the stick if we go out alone?"

"No, I would do my best to watch out for you both. I can hide your digital footprint easily, but your actual one I can't do much about. You would need to change your name, dye your hair, live in an out of the way place, you know spy movie type of stuff."

Sarah gave Ezekiel a flat look as she parroted, "Spy movie type of stuff, really?"

Ezekiel gave a cheesy smile as he said, "What? I am not a modern day spy so that is the best advice I can give you. If you want real advice I will let you talk to a spymaster for advice. But he might not help you because he is super paranoid and has issues making new friends. Plus that guy is a creep, he likes to show up at peoples homes and wait for them in the dark to make him look all mysterious and shit."

Sarah just stared harder at Ezekiel the longer he talked. Ezekiel smiled awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head. He let out a breath then said, "Alright maybe he wouldn't be the best person for you to talk with."

Logan, who was standing close by said, "You know, Peg could probably teach her the basics."

Ezekiel nodded a few times as he said, "Yeah… You're right, that could definitely work. I just thought she might be out of practice compared to modern day standards."

Sarah looked between the two of them and asked, "Who are you talking about and why would they be out of practice?"

Ezekiel smiled before he said, "Someone you will meet, depending on what you decide to do. I would like to mention that if you pick the first option, you will get to work with some of the smartest people on the planet. And I will also pay you ten million, when you finish the project I need help with."

"I will be working with Reed Richards?"

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "Someone just as smart and we will leave it at that."

Sarah looked back at Laura as she said, "Let me think about it for a while."

Ezekiel started to turn around as he said, "I will give you a few hours to think it over, by then we should be finished here."

Sarah didn't reply but nodded her head slightly as Ezekiel walked back over to Xavier and Magneto.