00149. Phone launch event. 1/2

Kurt glanced in the mirror for the hundredth time, he still wasn't sure if he looked okay. He tugged at the dark blue tie around his neck to adjust it again as he heard a knock on his door. He fiddled with the cuff of his jacket as he said, "It's open."

The door didn't open up, but instead a beautiful young girl in a red dress phased right through the door. She glanced at Kurt for a moment before she asked, "What are you doing? It's almost time to leave."

Kurt looked at himself in the mirror again before he said, "I'm not sure if this looks good on me, Kitty."

Kitty glanced over Kurt's outfit for a few moments before she said, "What are you talking about? The suit fits you perfectly and highlights your eyes and hair."

Kurt glanced into the mirror again to double check his outfit. He wore a fitted black suit with yellow stitching and a yellow handkerchief in his breast pocket. His tie was the same dark blue as his hair, which was cut short and stylish. Kitty grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the door a moment later as she said, "Stop wasting time."

Within a few moments Kurt and Kitty joined the other kids who were invited to the party tonight. Kurt pulled the invitation out of his pants pocket and looked at it again as he asked, "Don't you think it's strange we were invited to this?"

"A little, but Ezekiel's the one who invited us." Kitty said as she glanced at her own invitation.

Dazzler who stood close by with the rest of her band said, "It'll be fine, it's just a party."

"I'm nervous, a lot of famous people will be there." Kurt said as his tail unconsciously wrapped around his midsection.

Dazzler chuckled before she said, "News flash blue berry, you're also famous."

Kurt glanced at Dazzler as he asked, "Really?"

Dazzler glanced at Kitty as she said, "I have no idea how you deal with this idiot all the time."

Kitty frowned slightly as she said, "Kurt can be an idiot, but that doesn't mean you need to call him one. Now apologize to him."

"I don't know whether I should feel insulted or not." Kurt said as he glanced between the girls.

Dazzler crossed her arms over her chest as she said, "Why should I? He just proved the point when he questioned if he was famous or not. When he clearly is famous."

A man cleared his throat before he said, "You should apologize because it's not polite to call people names."

Everyone turned around to see Professor Xavier dressed up in a lite gray suit with a silver tie. He stood next to Magneto who was dressed up in an elegant black suit with red tie. Storm was next to them both and wore a gorgeous form fitting purple dress that draped to her ankles. It hugged her figure perfectly and the side slit ran up to her thighs highlighted the curves of her legs perfectly. Ezekiel also stood next to them and was dressed up in a pair of black dress pants and black buttoned up short sleeved shirt which made him stand out compared to everyone else.

Ezekiel smiled at everyone as he said, "What your Professor said is correct."

Ezekiel moved next to Kurt and rubbed the top of his head which ruined his hairstyle a little as he said, "While Kurt might be oblivious to his own stardom and even do foolish actions sometimes. That still doesn't make him an idiot."

While Kurt tried to fix his hair, Dazzler let out a sigh before she said, "Sorry I called you an idiot, Kurt."

Kurt smiled as he said, "Thanks, I accept your apology."

Ezekiel nodded as he turned to Kitty and said, "Now you apologize."

Kitty wanted to argue before she said, "Sorry for calling you an idiot Kurt."

"It's fine. I know you didn't mean it." Kurt said with another smile as Kitty avoided eye contact.

Before anything else could happen Ezekiel clapped his hands together and said, "With that out of the way, is everyone ready to go?"

Ezekiel didn't wait for anyone to respond as he opened a portal next to himself and ushered everyone to move through it. They exited the portal to the backstage area of the event venue where Dazzler and her bandmates could double check their equipment before they joined the event itself. While the others moved to the main area of the party.

Another band was also backstage and was the first act for the night that was planned to start in the next half an hour. They already finished with their preparations and were just waiting for the signal to move onto the stage to perform. Afterwards they would be able to enjoy the rest of the party too.

As the group exited out of the back, Kurt and the others could see that other guests were just entering the main hall. Where they stood was the main stage and in front of them was a dance floor. A lot of tables surrounded the dance floor area in a horseshoe shape, while to the far right side of the room was a buffet. On the left side sat an open bar, along with an area that was partially hidden behind some panels and security guards.

Ezekiel glanced at his group before he said, "I need to go meet up with Tony. You guys go mingle with the other guests and have fun."

As Ezekiel walked away Kurt shared a glance with Kitty who shrugged back. Magneto also shared a glance with Xavier as he said, "I think I'll eat before I get swarmed by people asking to visit Genosha."

Xavier nodded in agreement as he said, "That sounds like a great idea."

That acted as a sign and everyone in the group ended up deciding to get food first. Kurt arrived first with Kitty since he grabbed her hand and teleported them next to the buffet. It would have startled the staff there if they were normal.

But almost all of the staff was made up of Ezekiel's clones, while security was a mix of valkyries and his clones henged to look like different people. Ezekiel wanted everything to go smoothly with the event, so he controlled every aspect of it he could.

As Kurt and the others started to get food, Ezekiel moved to the front entrance to find Tony. Normally Tony wouldn't be up front to greet the guests as they entered, but Ezekiel bribed him with alien technology. So Tony was forced to be up front for the first half an hour as the majority of people arrived.

As Ezekiel walked towards the entrance most people who passed by ignored him, since he still wasn't that famous. It didn't help that Ezekiel was dressed rather plainly and looked almost like the security personal or a server for the event.

Once he was near the entrance, Tony spotted him easily. After he finished greeting someone, he quickly waved Ezekiel to come over. Once Ezekiel was close enough Tony asked, "Do I really need to stay here and greet everyone?"

"Only for half an hour or no tech." Ezekiel said with a smile.

Tony pouted slightly before another person moved towards them and he was forced to greet them and usher them inside. Once they left Tony said, "This sucks. I should be in there partying with the guests."

"You just want to drink."

Tony nodded before he frowned and said, "I would love to, but some jerk said I can't."

Ezekiel patted Tony on the shoulder before he said, "You can drink after you give the presentation. This thing is being streamed to the world and I don't want you to be a drunk mess."

Tony pushed Ezekiel away and was about to say something back, when he froze. His eyes were locked on to the figure of a red haired woman in a green dress further inside the venue. She stood facing the opposite direction from him as she talked with someone, so he couldn't see her face, but Ezekiel knew who she was.

Ezekiel smirked, then snapped his fingers in front of Tony's face as he said, "You can ogle women later. Right now you have guests to greet."

Tony glanced at Ezekiel as he said, "I wasn't ogling, I was appreciating… Even though she looks kinda familiar, I don't remember greeting any redheads in a green dress at the door tonight."

"Ogling and appreciating is basically the same thing for you. Now get back to work, you have guests to greet, slave." Ezekiel said with a smile.

Tony let out a sigh as Ezekiel turned around and walked back into the main area. Once there he moved towards Sanhildr who was in charge of security for the night. She was off to one side as she talked with Happy and Sakumo. Sakumo seemed to be listening as Happy complained about something.

Sakumo noticed Ezekiel's approach first and pointed it out to the other two with a nod of his head in his direction before he greeted him.

Happy frowned slightly as he asked, "Why wasn't I put incharge of security?"

"I thought you could use a break for the night. So just relax, eat some good food and hang out. Maybe even talk to a lady or two." Ezekiel said as he rested his arm over Happy's shoulder.

Before Happy could complain, Ezekiel watched one of the people who just entered the main hall and said, "Look, isn't that the movie star you have a crush on? Why don't you go talk with her, I heard she's single."

Happy lit up for a moment before he frowned again slightly as he said, "How could I even talk with her? I'm just Tony's bodyguard. Even when I go to events with Tony, people ignore me."

Ezekiel patted Happy's shoulder as he said, "Don't sell yourself short Happy. You're a tall and pretty decent looking guy since you lost weight. Just go over to her and pretend you're talking to Tony… Actually that's a terrible idea… Just pretend she's a normal person and be yourself."

"And say what? Hi, I'm Happy, Tony Stark's personal bodyguard?" Happy asked with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "First off that's a terrible opener, second don't just go up to her and try to start a conversation. She's a movie star, I am sure random people do that all the time and it's probably annoying."

"Also don't call yourself Tony Stark's personal bodyguard, you are the head of Tony's personal security. But if someone asks what you do for a living, you should tell them you run a private security company." Ezekiel said with a smile.

"But I don't run a private security company." Happy said.

"Actually you do. While you might not own it and the only client is Tony, you do run his personal security company."

Happy nodded in understanding as he said, "I guess that's true."

Ezekiel watched as the person they were talking about moved towards the buffet line to get some food. Ezekiel smirked as he said, "I have an idea, let's go grab some food at the buffet line."

Before he left he turned to Sanhildr and Sakumo as he said, "Let me know if anything important happens."

Both of them nodded before Ezekiel moved to the buffet line with Happy. After they picked up some food Ezekiel headed to the table where the movie star sat down at and when they arrived he asked, "Since the seating isn't arranged, do you mind if we join you?"

The woman glanced up at Ezekiel and Happy as she studied them for a moment before she said, "Not at all, be my guest."

Ezekiel took a seat along with Happy as he said, "Thank you. I'm Ezekiel by the way and this is Happy."

"Anna."

After they started to eat, Ezekiel glanced at Happy who seemed a little nervous and asked, "You're still planning to take your vacation in a couple of months right?"

Happy nodded as he said, "Yeah."

"Did you plan your trip yet?" Ezekiel asked.

"No, but I was thinking about visiting Genosha for most of it." Happy said.

"You've been cleared to visit Genosha?" Anna asked.

Happy looked at Anna as he said, "Yeah. I had the chance to visit it recently and really wanna go back."

"I'm so jealous, all the pictures online make the place look beautiful."

"I thought the same thing until I went there. The pictures don't do it justice at all." Happy said as his nervousness started to disappear.

"You must have some really good luck. I'm still on the waiting list just for the interview portion and have at least a six month wait." Anna said with a pout.

Happy almost glanced at Ezekiel as he smiled and asked, "Yeah I was pretty lucky. Do you wanna see some of the pictures I took while I was there?"

Before Anna replied, Ezekiel picked up his half empty plate as he said, "If you'll excuse me, I just saw someone I need to talk with."

"It was nice meeting you Anna." Ezekiel said before he turned to Happy and said, "I'll catch you later Happy."

"It was nice to meet you too Ezekiel." Anna said.

Happy smiled as he said, "Sounds good."

As Ezekiel walked off, Anna continued to talk with Happy and asked him more about Genosha as he shared pictures with her from his phone. Ezekiel smiled to himself as he thought, 'I can't give you a better opener than that.'