Life for Theo was mostly a blur over the next few months as he focused on hanging out with friends and family. He had numerous projects going at the same time, but at this point he used JARVIS as a project manager and even increased his processing power with alien technology as a form of compensation. It took a large load off of Theo and allowed him to relax slightly compared to before as he needed to make less clones for certain things each day.
Improving JARVIS also helped to speed up finding Hydra and other unsavory elements. While they weren't completely finished, they were now around an estimated seventy percent by JARVIS's calculations. Within the next year or so they planned to finally launch an attack against Hydra and completely destroy them.
As for other projects, Theo only had one he specifically cared about and had his medical researchers working full time on. They even put the meta human cure which wasn't a cure but gave them a way for meta humans to easily turn their powers on and off. That project was put on hold to work on Theo's custom project so it would be finished by Christmas.
Luckily with the people Theo had at his disposal and the amount of genetic research they already completed. The project was finished ahead of schedule and tested thoroughly, Theo and Tao even used the time stone to make sure there were no issues. Once finished and ready, Theo had the project sealed in stasis until Christmas.
As for the Latveria situation, it was coming along smoothly as Doom and Tony worked together. They still clashed some times, but overall they seemed to be getting along. Maybe not as well as Theo got along with each of them, but it was expected with how they were. Tony also made another announcement about the Stark Expo which would open up on January first of next year. Most of it was already set up and ready to go along with all twelve months of special attractions.
Besides the scientific, research and technology focused attractions, there was an entire theme park with rides set up. Theo even installed similar copies of some of the Genosha theme park rides including the go karts and laser tag. Both of them were toned down slightly but overall functional the same. As for the expo itself, Theo also had a special booth setup for Vibe and throughout the expo, people could meet and greet with popular creators. The entire year was filled with creators changing each week and the whole list was already posted online.
When Christmas rolled around, Theo switched into Ezekiel and took Hela, Hulk and Gabby to deliver presents again which was basically their Christmas Eve tradition now. After delivering presents they shared a midnight snack together before they separated. The next morning Theo woke up to his alarm for once and after getting ready for the day, found his siblings in the kitchen making coffee for his parents.
"Merry Christmas you two."
"Merry Christmas, Theo." The two greeted back before his dad stepped into the kitchen a few moments later and said, "Merry Christmas everyone."
Their mom was only a few seconds behind and after a few minutes of small talk, they all headed next door to Ben and May's. When they arrived Theo let out a helpless sigh when he saw everyone in ugly Christmas sweaters and a pile of wrapped presents on the coffee table waiting for them. He really wanted to refuse like always, but he knew it wouldn't matter, they would get him in the sweater eventually. With the Christmas sweater on, Theo greeted his family and guests which included Hulk, Tao, Agatha and Hela.
Afterwards they all sat down for breakfast together and just before everyone started to eat, Ben stopped everyone as he said, "Before we eat, May and I have an announcement to make."
Everyone turned to give them attention before Ben put his arm over May's shoulder as he said, "May's pregnant."
The table erupted into congratulations as the moms at the table all moved over to May to give her hugs and talk. While the two dads moved to congratulate Ben as Hulk, Milly, and Isaac decided food was more important. Theo was also in that camp and he quickly joined them so they wouldn't eat all the pancakes. The rest of the day was spent in celebration as they celebrated Christmas and the parents chatted with Ben and May. After dinner and as everyone headed home for the night, Theo finally took off his sweater and hid it in his closet before he portaled to Hela's.
When Hela opened her door to find Ezekiel she asked in a surprised tone, "Is something wrong?"
"No, but I wanted to give you your real present."
"Real present?"
Ezekiel nodded as he waved for her to follow him towards the portal area and said, "Come on, you're gonna love it."
Hela followed Ezekiel to the hidden medical facility and to a special storage area before he started to work on a computer. The room was mostly empty besides the area where they stood which had a computer terminal that came out of the floor. Hela watched for a few moments before the floor let out a hiss and opened up. From the floor raised a small platform with a red cloth and a bow tie covering it.
When the floor closed and locked the platform in place, Ezekiel gestured towards the cloth as he said, "Merry Christmas."
Hela glanced at the cloth that rested about chest high for a second before she stepped forward and pulled it off the platform. When she saw what was underneath her eyes widened and a hand flew over her mouth as she stared down at it in stunned silence. After a few moments she said in a quiet voice, "This isn't-"
"It is." Ezekiel said as he stepped next to her and added, "She was one of the things I asked your brothers for. Well, this isn't the original body obviously, but a cloned and improved version."
"Improved?"
"This body should basically be immortal this time with a massively improved healing factor, increased intelligence and a few other improvements from genetic modifications I had implemented." Ezekiel said as he patted Hela on back and continued, "She is only missing one thing which you have."
Hela froze for a few moments as she stared down at a very familiar form before she hesitantly reached out with a trembling hand that glowed green. A small green ball formed in her hand which disappeared a moment later as it shot into the object she was reaching for. As Hela touched its head and felt familiar fur under her hand, silent tears started to streak down her face. Within moments of the green ball entering it, Hela's closest companion in life slowly stirred as its soul settled into its new body. A choked sob broke from Hela's throat as she felt Fenris stir and lean into her hand.
Ezekiel quietly stepped back as Hela bonded with her wolf for the first time in millennia. While she carried Fenris's soul with her everywhere, she couldn't interact with it till now. Even when she was back in Asgard and could have used it to empower Fenris's corpse, she didn't do it because Fenris would feel pain from the damaged body. But now, Fenris has a completely new body…
Hela snuggled with her companion as it settled into its new body and whispered to it words Ezekiel ignored. After a while Hela finally turned around with puffy red eyes and pulled Ezekiel into a death grip like hug as she said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you…"
Ezekiel returned a lighter hug and patted her back as he said, "You're welcome."
After a while Hela finally relaxed and released Ezekiel from her hug and they both found Fenris looking at them with her head tilted to one side. Hela smiled at Fenris and reached out to scratch behind her ear as she said, "Fenris, this is Ezekiel a… Close friend of mine. Ezekiel, this is Fenris."
Ezekiel smiled at the wolf and waited while it jumped off the platform before it moved around him as it sniffed. After a lap around him it stopped in front of him and looked at Hela who smiled and reached out to rub her head as she said, "Good girl."
Fenris leaned her head into Hela's hand as it closed its eyes as Ezekiel said, "This is her default size for now, but she can grow or shrink at will."
Hela glanced down at Fenris who was slightly bigger than a wolf as she asked, "How big?"
"Once she learns how to do it, she should be able to go from the size of a house cat to over double what her original size was."
Hela moved her hand under Fenris's muzzle and scratched there as she said, "You hear that girl? You can change size now."
"Woof."
Ezekiel smiled as he watched Hela and Fenris together again before he said, "Come on, I'll take you two home so you can catch up."
Hela nodded before she raised her free hand up and quickly used a spell to fix her appearance. Once finished she followed Ezekiel back to the teleportation room where he took them back to Hela's home. Once there, Ezekiel walked her to her door and after Fenris disappeared inside, Hela turned towards Ezekiel and said, "Thank you for this…"
"As long as you're happy."
"More than you could ever know." Hela said before she pulled Ezekiel into another tight hug which he returned.
When Hela released Ezekiel from the hug, she reached up and grabbed him by the face before she pulled him close and kissed him hard on the lips. Ezekiel froze in place as Hela gave him a searing kiss before she let go, ran into her house and slammed the door which echoed throughout the hallway. Ezekiel stood in front of the door in stunned silence for almost a minute before someone said, "You okay? You're just standing there smiling like an idiot."
Ezekiel turned to find Tao standing at her door looking at him before he said, "She kissed me."
"Oh… Yeah, you can deal with that yourself." Tao said before she closed her door and left Ezekiel alone again.