Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00199. Clown show.

It was early in the morning as Theo prepared for the day ahead. He created a clone that would cover for him at school since today he had to go meet a bunch of idiots and have his time wasted. He could have probably sent a clone to take care of it, but his mom was going to be there and he figured he might as well tag along.

After he created his clone he headed to his training room to get ready. Well he didn't really need to do anything to get ready besides henge into Ezekiel. But after he did that he portaled to the building he currently used as Vibe's headquarters to wait for his mom to arrive.

It was about half an hour later that Daniel stepped out of the elevator dressed in a sleek business suit. Ezekiel on the other hand wore his normal henge attire which consisted of black dress slacks, and a gray and blue patterned button up shirt.

Once Daniel was closer and looked over Ezekiel, she said, “You should probably change into something a little nicer for this.”

Ezekiel stood up from his desk as he asked, “You really don't think this is fine?”

“You're dressed in something my son would wear.” Daniel said with a flat look.

“Then it sounds like he has good taste.” Ezekiel said with a smirk.

“He does… But he's also a kid. You should be better dressed than him.”

Ezekiel let out a sigh before he changed his henge into better looking clothes. He now wore an elegant three piece suit in all black, with gray stitching, a gray vest, white undershirt and a blood red tie. Daniel looked him over for a few moments before she said, “That's better… If you're ready, let's head over there.”

Ezekiel nodded before he created a portal and stepped through it followed by Daniel. They stepped out onto the sidewalk outside of a building in Capitol Hill which caused a bit of a commotion from the people nearby. After the portal closed Ezekiel walked up to the building with Daniel who asked, “Was that really necessary?”

Ezekiel glanced around at everyone staring at them as he said, “If I didn't make a portal, we wouldn’t have gotten here on time.”

“I only agreed to take a portal because I thought you would make one in a discreet location… Not right in front of the building.” Daniel said in a slightly annoyed tone.

Ezekiel smirked as he asked, “Have I ever made a portal in a discreet location before?”

After a few moments Daniel let out a sigh before she said, “No… No, you haven't.”

Ezekiel opened the door to the senate building as he said, “Exactly. If I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it flashy.”

After getting inside, checking in and going through security, they were led through the building to the room for the hearing. The room they entered was pretty empty compared to its capacity and none of the senators that called the hearing were in the room yet. The aid that was their guide led them to the front of the room where a table was set up for them to use, before they excused themselves to take care of other duties. Ezekiel glanced around the room for a moment and the few people in the room before he said, “I kind of expected the room to be filled with people and news crews.”

Daniel was in the middle of pulling out documents from her briefcase as she said, “I didn’t see it posted on the website this morning, so they might be trying to keep this hearing out of the public eye.”

Ezekiel nodded in understanding before he smirked as he said, “I wonder what they’ll do when they realize the whole thing is being live streamed on Vibe?”

“I still don’t think that’s a good idea. It could cause issues down the line for you and the company.” Daniel said as she finished putting all of her documents out on the table.

“Something already happened, that’s why we're here in the first place. People don’t like it when you mess with their free meal.” Ezekiel said as he relaxed in his chair.

Daniel let out a sigh before she said, “That’s true… I still can’t believe they think calling you in for this isn’t going to backfire on them.”

Ezekiel smirked again as he said, “That’s why this place is empty and I am pretty sure no one is gonna be in here taking minutes for this clown show… Which means live streaming it is the last thing they will want.”

Ezekiel and Daniel chatted for a little while until people started to enter the room and fill up the seats in the gallery area. Ezekiel glanced at them for a moment surprised that people were showing up before he pulled his tablet out of his storage seal and started to type on it. After a few moments he said, “Well that’s a little bit of a surprise.”

Daniel glanced at Ezekiel’s tablet as she asked, “What is?”

“Everyone filling up the room are competitors… Well they at least work for them in one way or another. This is gonna be a lot more fun than I thought.”

Daniel cast a quick glance at the audience section before she turned around in her seat and said, “You sure know how to make enemies.”

“These people aren’t my enemies, just misguided fools at best. They think this is going to stop me or scare me into backing down, when all it’s really doing is wasting my time.” Ezekiel said as he typed away on his tablet.

Ezekiel typed away on his tablet for a few more minutes as members of the committee started to enter the room with their entourages. After half an hour the room was completely filled and an older man who sat in the middle of the committee's table banged a small gavel before he said, “It looks like everyone is here, I would like to call this meeting to order.”

“Before we begin, I would like to thank everyone for coming today to this senate oversight committee hearing on Revival’s potential monopoly on the insurance industry and the effects it has already made on its competitors.”

The older man looked towards Ezekiel as he said, “Thank you for accepting the summons Mr… Actually I don’t believe we have a last name for you on file.”

“Because I don’t have one.” Ezekiel said as he placed his tablet down on the table in front of him and looked up with a smile.

The man nodded slightly before he said, “Alright, Mr. Ezekiel.”

“Just Ezekiel is fine, Senator Klein.”

Klein nodded again before he turned to Daniel and said, “And I would like to thank you for also coming Mrs. Mercer, even though legal counsel wasn't needed for this hearing.”

“Thank you for inviting us, Senator.” Daniel said with a hint of a smile.

“Before we begin I would like to make my opening statement and then open the floor to my fellow committee chairs to make opening statements if they so wish.”

What followed was over half an hour of pure bullshit as each chair member made statements talking about how monopolies were bad and giving people options and choices was good for not only the consumer but America in general. Once all the roosters had their chance to shine and puff out their chests a roll call was held. Afterwards Klein turned to Ezekiel and Daniel and asked, “Pursuant to committee rule nine-G, can I ask you to stand and raise your right hand?”

After Ezekiel and Daniel stood up with their hands raised, Klein asked, “Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god?”

“I do.” Both Daniel and Ezekiel said at the same time.

“Thank you, you may take your seat now.”

Klein pulled out some papers and looked them over for a moment before he glanced at Ezekiel and asked, “Ezekiel can you tell me when you created Revival incorporated?”

“You’ll have to refer to my legal council for that information.”

Klein frowned slightly as he asked, “Surely you can answer something simple like this?”

Ezekiel shrugged as he said, “I have a lawyer with me who I pay a ridiculous amount of money to for just this type of situation, I might as well get my money’s worth.”

Klein tried to get Ezekiel to answer a few more questions but when he kept directing everything to Daniel, Klein gave up on asking him and started directing the questions to Daniel. Over the next two hours without any real break the committee members asked the most pointless questions over and over again. Sure they were phrased differently, or something was changed to make it seem a little different. But overall they were the same questions and it was getting annoying, even Daniel with all of her experience was getting annoyed. At least Ezekiel assumed she was because she would frown the tiniest bit whenever they repeated a question at this point.

The only thing keeping Ezekiel in check was the live stream chat that was making fun of all the senators as they kept trying to get Daniel with the same questions. Ezekiel had it pulled up on his tablet and would look at it from time to time and smile slightly. As for why no one in the room even knew about the live stream or were warned that it was happening? Ezekiel sealed the building from letting anyone else get cell service and also blocked the entrances to the room the committee was in. Anyone who moved towards the room with the intent to enter was placed under a genjutsu by the guards he posted and then placed to rest in an unoccupied room they borrowed.

Everything was going smooth so far until Klein asked, “Mrs. Mercer, don’t you think that with Revival’s current pricing structure, that it's completely unfair to other businesses in the insurance industry? A pricing structure so low that it's impossible for other companies to compete fairly with Revival?”

It was another repeated question just framed a little differently. Before Daniel could respond Ezekiel asked, “Sure it's low, but can you explain how it’s unfair? Can't they just lower prices to match it?”

Daniel glanced at Ezekiel with a questioning look as he shrugged and said, “They’ve asked this same question five times now like a broken record and didn’t like your response. I figured I would try something different this time.”

Klein took only a moment before he said, “Your company's pricing model is too low and if it doesn’t change, you will be the only insurance provider on the market. Which would turn it into a monopoly which we will not allow.”

“And I fail to see how that’s my problem. If anything, you should be telling the other companies to lower their prices to match mine so it doesn’t happen.”

Klein glanced at some papers in front of him for a few moments before he said, “No normal business can be expected to make any type of profit with the prices you charge, let alone pay out insurance claims properly.”

“It’s funny you mention that, since I wasn’t running this business for profit.”

Klein frowned slightly as he asked, “Why would you create a business if you aren’t looking to make it profitable?”

“Because no one has the right to profit off of human lives. And that’s exactly how the current insurance industry works.” Ezekiel glanced over his shoulder and jabbed a thumb towards the people seated in the guest area as he said, “How many of them sell insurance to people, but when something happens and they are supposed to pay out… They drag their feet and wait till the last moment to pay out a claim? Or better yet they just deny the claim out right or cancel the policy because they know a normal person can’t sue them? Or doesn’t have the time and money to sue them?”

Ezekiel turned back to the committee and said, “I created Revival Insurance with the people behind Revival after reaching an agreement with them and they feel the same way I do about the current insurance industry.”

"Revival Insurance was made with the sole purpose of putting people like them and the companies they work for out of business. If that somehow turns Revival into a monopoly, then that just means we did our job correctly.” Ezekiel said with a feral grin as he pointed to the people behind him.

Klein frowned slightly at that comment before he said, “Like I said before, we won’t allow that to happen. America doesn’t allow companies to form a monopoly. We will take you to court if you don’t change your pricing model and compete fairly with the other competitors in the industry.”

Ezekiel chuckled before he said, “If you want the majority of public opinion to be against you, go right ahead senator. I don’t think it will help you get reelected though.”

“Do you think this is a joke? I already have documents drafted to take you to court pending the outcome of this hearing. If you don’t comply, Revival will be forced to halt business until the court case is over.” Klein said with a hint of conceit in his voice.

“It is a joke. The fact you think the threat of going to court will make me back down is laughable at best.” Ezekiel was about to say something else when a man in anbu gear appeared next to him in a small flash of light with a red and white fox mask on. The man leaned down and whispered, “Code green is a go.”

“Who is that? How did they get in here?” Klein asked as everyone stared at the man and Ezekiel’s eyes widened slightly before he asked, “He already did it?”

“He just talked with Ross and is driving to the lab to do it now. We have half an hour at best.” Ezekiel nodded in understanding as he said, “Go get the others ready, I’ll be there in five.”

The man disappeared in another flash as Ezekiel stood up and said, “As much as I wanna stay here all day and waste time, an important matter came up and I need to go.”

Klein frowned as he said, “We’re not done here. If you leave we will take legal actions… And who was that person? How did they get inside?”

Daniel was already packing her things as Ezekiel glanced at Klein and said, “That was part of my security detail and as you saw, he teleported in and out of the room. It’s not hard to tell what happened.”

Klein shared some looks with other members on the committee as Ezekiel typed a few things on his tablet before he stored it away. Ezekiel’s eyes changed color and he swept his gaze over all the members of the committee before he did the same thing to everyone in the guest area. Everyone took on a slightly vacant expression as Ezekiel said, “I want each person here to be completely honest about what is going on here and disclose any involvement they have with it one at a time starting with Senator Klein. After you confess to any crimes you've committed in your life, you can leave the room.”

Daniel frowned as Klein started to talk about the bribes he received to call the committee hearing together before she said, “You shouldn't have done whatever this is… You just made a lot of powerful enemies.”

Ezekiel waved off her concern as he said, “I already told you, these people aren't strong enough to be my enemies. They’re an annoyance at most.”

“Besides after today, I doubt any of them will be able to keep their jobs after this… Good thing it’s an election year for the senate.” Ezekiel said before he created a portal to his offices for him and Daniel.

The live steam kept going after Ezekiel left as each person took turns and exposed themselves to the world. Klein, the first person to talk, left the room and once outside he headed to his office where his office phone was going crazy. His personal assistant was still at the committee meeting as she had yet to talk, so he answered the phone to find someone yelling at him to go back to the meeting room and stop whatever was happening there. Klein was still in a slight daze when he first picked up the phone, but as he listened to the person on the other end the color drained from his face. He dropped the phone in a panic as he rushed back to the meeting room only to be knocked out as he approached the room like everyone else who was trying to stop what was happening.