HIATUS

ETHAN'S POV

Ethan can be seen busying himself in his office in the headquarters of Carter Pharmaceutical.

"Sir Ethan, I need you to sign these papers", Stella said as she handed me some documents.

Ethan began reading them and he eventually signed them.

"If I may be frank Ethan", Stella said.

"hmmm…I thought you are always frank", I responded as he signed more documents.

"Your actions in Smith & Smith are really devious", Stella said with a slight smile.

For the last couple of years after the founding of Carter Pharmaceutical, Smith & Smith had been making moves that undermined the interest of my company. I tried playing 'company politics' with them but I eventually got tired of it. So I gave the Phantoms, Sitwell, as well as Bucky some certain jobs. They were tasked to find any dirt they can about Smith & Smith. What they found were some illegal deals pertaining to multiple drug trials, some racist comments that were recorded, and multiple illegal activities done by the higher ranking members in the company. What followed after releasing those in the public was the sudden drop of their stocks and multiple lawsuits by both the state and some other parties.

In order to save their image from getting drag in the mud, I decided on a merger between the two companies. Upon more planning, the new company will give me 52% ownership rights. Some of their investors were willing to give me most of their shares due to me to blackmailing them or if not the genjutsu that was placed on them made them more amicable in that regard.

"Is it now?", I responded.

Right now the new company that will result in this merger will require a new name, I decided on the name 'Umbrella Corporation', just for fun. The documents still needed to be ironed out but everything will be signed by March of 2000 at the latest.

One thing that saddened me is that I wasn't able to make any business with Hank Pym. We met sometime after Howard's wake but after many negotiations, we failed to agree on the terms of our business deal. So, I decided to just not go through with it. Well, you win some, you lose some, I guess.

"Any plans for the New Year?", I asked Stella.

"Yes, my girlfriend and I are planning to adopt a baby together", Stella said with visible joy on her face.

"Congratulations, that's wonderful news. Finally taking the next step I see" I said.

"How about you? You will be 30 years old soon, last I check, you have not had a single girlfriend for the last 5 years"

"Well, it seems that love is something I'm not lucky in", I said as I check the time. It was already near noon and I said to her, "Excuse me, Stella, I have an appointment".

"But you have more papers to sign", Stella said dejectedly.

"I'll come back in 20 minutes", I said as I exited my office and went to my home in City.

Inside my bedroom was a flying thunder god v3 rune seal, I made a clone and told him to return to the office, while I use the portal to return to Kamar Taj.

In Kamar Taj training ground I could see Bucky meditating.

"Meditation has been extremely effective for his peace of mind", Master Kaecilius said as he went towards my side.

"Indeed, it has helped him keep his nightmares at bay", I responded.

Master Kaecilius is the Master of the Mystic Arts that will betray the Ancient One in Canon. I had on some occasions began talking with the man and as far as I can see, I'm no longer sure if he will do that in the future. The reason I believe that is that this Master Kaecilius went straight to the Ancient One and he asked her point-blank how she is able to live for so long. The outcome of the conversation led the Ancient One to promptly tell him the truth about the dark dimension, but the Ancient One also stated that she no longer used it after I gave her an alternative method. In fact, I totally believe that the Ancient One expresses her real emotions about that matter. For a while, Kaecilius remained to himself, only after a while did he slowly began talking to his fellow masters again as well with the Ancient One, but those situations are very rare.

The Kaecilius I see and had been interacting with had made me believe that he will no longer betray the Ancient One, he seems to be slowly making peace about his life, but only time will tell if he truly changes from his canon perspective.

"Are you going to meet with the Ancient One", Kaecilius asked.

"Partly, I came here due to my disciples. I have an event plan for them", I said.

After a while, Bucky opened his eyes, he saw me and he stood up from his meditating stance and went towards me and said, "I would like to watch this event. One can only do so much meditation".

I nodded and made a clone, "Go find my students, tell them to meet in the room of the Ancient One".

We soon met up in the room of the Ancient One. Kaecilius excused himself stating that he has some reading to do, it seems he doesn't want to meet the Ancient One today.

"Good day, Teacher", Grant said, the first student to greet me.

"Teacher, you have any snacks?", Ava said hoping to eat some sweets. I just smiled at this statement, while Erik just quietly bowed his head as a sign of greeting.

"Ancient One, if you would please", I said to the Ancient One. The Ancient One nodded and she opened a portal, on the other side of the portal is flat stony terrain in the middle of nowhere. All of us went into it.

"Okay, today the 3 of you will show me how powerful you three have become. It's your graduation day so to speak", I said as I look at my 3 students.

"I'm guessing the 3 of us will have to fight you, teacher", Erik stated.

"Yes, the 3 of you against me", I said to them. All three of my disciples had barely reached S-rank level skill as a shinobi. The first to reach this level was Ava, due to her being the youngest to train in chakra. While Grant and Erik were only able to reach the S-rank level in chakra capacity after undergoing the chakra expansion treatment.

I shushin a couple of distance away from Bucky and the Ancient One, my three disciples trailed behind me.

Deciding that we were far enough I said, "Okay, this will be your graduation exam, Your goal is to basically try to beat me". At first, I debated in doing the infamous bell exam of the naruto world with my 3 disciples, but the goal of that exam was to show them the benefit of teamwork. Teamwork was something I had ingrained in their training since day 1, so doing that exam would have been pointless.

"HAHAHAHA. Remember what you said, teacher. You allowed us to beat you up", Ava said with a smile.

'Is it just me or Ava really wants to beat me up', Ethan thought as she looks at her.

Hearing what the exam was about, both Grant Ward and Erik Stevens strengthen their resolve to win.

I took a coin in my back pocket and said, "I'm going to flip this coin. The very moment this coin touches the ground the exam officially begins".

My three disciples nodded, the atmosphere was tense, even Ava the most playful one among the three of them was showing signs of focus and determination. Each of them was already manipulating their chakra even before I flip the coin.

"Alright then, here we go", I said as I flip the coin in the air. My 3 disciples were like predators waiting to pounce on their prey. The moment the coin touch the ground my disciples showed no emotion.

Erik released a huge stream of pressurized wind at me.

Grant released a huge amount of oil at me.

Ava released an enormous fireball at me.

The 3 combined attacks resulted in a huge explosion.

"BOOM!"