[The X Mansion a week after the Sentinel Raid]
"She's not waking up. It's been a week, Ororo!" Scott could be seen in a room with his head held between his hands while looking haggard and weary with a very pale countenance.
"It's going to be alright Scott. Hank said there was nothing wrong with her and she most likely just acclimating to her new powers." Ororo consoled the panicked young man.
"But she hasn't so much as twitched a brow or flexed a finger. It's like she's just frozen." Scott was distraught. They had tried all they could to try and wake her up but she was unresponsive. In his nervousness, he had asked the Professor to see if he could wake her up from within her mind. It was all going good before the Professor screamed out like he was being burned. He was even under the impression that he was in an oven at that moment and the looks they all shared was proof that they all felt it.
It had been a form of psychic attack and the Professor had taken the full brunt of it. He was hospitalized for a few days before he regained consciousness which was yesterday.
The atmosphere had been tense as even the children were able to pick up on the atmosphere surrounding the teachers and went with it.
Logan was not around.
Jean was asleep with no one knowing when she would wake.
Scott was worried that it had started affecting his health.
Piotr had never been one for conversation.
Kitty and Kurt had been solemn and not their usual fun and outgoing self since that day.
Hank was a nerd through and through and he was overseeing both Jean's and the Professor's health.
Although the Professor had regained consciousness, he was still slipping in and out of it. According to Hank, the Professor was the strongest psychic he's ever seen so he was bound to be fine after a while and would probably come out stronger for it.
Although John was still around, he was too affected by the Professor's moral breach that he was seriously reconsidering everything that have happened since he came to the Mansion and the worst part was that he couldn't trust himself. Although he believed the Professor didn't tamper with his mind or his personality there was still that little doubt whispering into his ears.
Only she was left alone in making sure that the academy functioned as properly as was intended.
The recent events really opened her eyes on who the lynchpin of the academy was and she wasn't happy about it. No organization or gathering should be focused around a sole person.
She had to pick up the slack left by the others and although she could tell that they were affected by the aftermath of their last fight, she still found them too pitiful.
She could sympathize with Jean and the Professor's incident but the others had to know that they also had a whole multitude of lost children who were looking up to them for guidance. Save for Kitty and Kurt who saw what they shouldn't have that day, the others heavily disappointed her.
She was really hurt and felt betrayed by what the Professor had done but that wasn't enough of an excuse for them to drown in sadness and distrust that they forgot the other children at the Mansion.
Logan she could somehow understand because he was chasing the Sabretooth's trail hoping to sniff out what the Brotherhood was up to since they couldn't count on Xavier when the Professor woke up since 'Charles went offline', according to his words.
She would have to wait until either Jean or the Professor was with them before she told them what she thought. She couldn't risk straining the already tension-held atmosphere surrounding the Mansion.
She left Scott who was still beside stricken with worry that he was neglecting himself to harmful degrees. Although she could somehow understand that his worry was founded since his lover had been in a coma for over a week and may come off as hard-edged and apathetic but Scott's behavior only left her more disappointed.
He had people who were trying to assure him that it would be alright but all he did was sit there in that chair all day and berate himself with self-hate. Ororo would say that since his significant other was not around, it was his responsibility to be strong and act as a supporting pillar and not as a crumbling bridge.
Many might not believe her when she said this, maybe due to the way she carried herself and her lack of voiced emotion but she was the most affected when she heard that the Professor had suppressed Jean's powers.
Maybe he really did so because he thought there was no other way to protect both her and others around her for her power… but then he swore.
He swore he had not done such a thing to any of the teachers or students in the Mansion after he was confronted by them after Draul left the first time. He had promised.
She had believed him then although some part of her still felt betrayed. She felt betrayed not because of what he had tried to do but the nature of what his intentions entailed.
He had tried to change the entire personality of someone he had just met for a few hours just for the fact that he felt that Draul's abilities was very dangerous.
Although it really was, that wasn't enough of a reason to have warranted such an action on the Professor's part.
Candidly speaking, if the Professor had put in mental blocks to prevent him from using the full potential of his destructive abilities, then although she would have been angry, she would still have found a way to forget that and lie to herself that it was necessary.
She would have done all that if not for the fact that they had once again met Draul in Moscow when they were pursuing the Brotherhood and although he didn't look as terrifying as that night, he was just as powerful.
She could still feel the traces of his anger when he warned Scott but compared to what he felt like that night, it was nothing.
They had wanted to help them fight against the Brotherhood but then they had seen Draul facing Magneto and winning while the other two men with him were also very prominent fighters despite not having abilities.
She and Logan had tracked them down after the fight where she had a talk with Draul and she could say that he was different from the first time they met.
The first time she had met him, she could describe him as a brash and arrogant person who didn't care much about what others thought and just did what he liked. The second time however, he was calm and his voice was not as strained as it was when they first met. He definitely wasn't smiling the first time she met him.
The talk they had about metahuman, a term she had come to adopt since she came back, how he viewed them, how he as an outsider viewed them two years ago before he had his ability, how the public as a whole viewed them which was something she already know and how the truly powerful metas weren't actively helping or how they were making it worst.
That talk had been like a breath of fresh forest air to her and then he told her about what happened to him and why he didn't have any plan of reconciliation with the Professor.
She had been pretty doubtful of what he said but she couldn't say anything when she couldn't answer the question he put forth.
The days went by after their talk and although she called a few times they didn't talk about much.
She had been the first to agree to help him during the Sentinel Raid and was fully supported by Logan. Though the others also agreed to help, they weren't very sure about working together with him.
The raid had been nothing like the one that happened in Moscow and she dreaded what would happen to the metahuman populace if such abominations were released into the public like what in Russia.
The fight hadn't been easy and they had to give all they could to push them back and outright destroy them and them she had seen how strong Draul truly was.
She believed he had some kind of copying ability since she saw him use four different abilities to ridiculous proportions. Some were not as strong as their original, like his electricity was nowhere near her lighting but his lasers and ice were stronger than that of both Scott's and Bobby's.
It was both thanks to him and Jean's effort that they were able to escape from having the dam collapse on them. And like Draul had said, she had overdrawn the limits of her ability and had drawn from what the Professor had kept locked deep within her psyche.
She had seen him fight the masked man who called himself Doom and although she didn't know how the fight went, the fact that he had cut off his arm was enough of a proof for everyone to know he won. But then Scott had angered him and for a brief second she had seen the flash of red anger across his eyes and immediately prepared to attack him but not before he had already hurt Scott.
She could see that he sometimes lost his sense of self to anger and maybe that was why he was always calm and took most things lightly.
It was these myriad of events that made her reaffirm her focus and directive. She would forever dedicate herself to helping others like her and she didn't need someone to tell her when to do it.
She was grateful to the Professor but she didn't think she could fully trust him like she used to do. Just the fact that the teaching body was in shambles the moment the Professor was out of commission didn't sit well with her.
For an organization like theirs which focused on charity and shelter for the less privileged metahuman, having just a man to hold them together wasn't a good thing. And given the way the Professor acts had been barbaric and morally foul recently, the faith she once had on his leadership had been severely shaken, and she was sure the others felt the same if their actions were anything to go by.
With those thoughts, Ororo walked into the classroom full of waiting youngsters.
…
[In an undisclosed location]
A man in armor and a corresponding full facemask. Around him, green energy flowed as he floated in the air with legs crossed but all of a sudden the energy around him fizzled out and he floated down before his feet landed on the ground.
"Doom already knows you are there so show yourself before Doom strikes you down." His voice reverberated through the quiet room he was in.
In response to his command a man in dark blood-red armor with a corresponding helmet floated in.
"The man known as Eric Lensher. What does such a presumptuous person like you have to do looking for Doom?" The ground behind Doom was covered in a faint green glow before it formed a throne behind him as he sat.
To Doom's show of power, the man identified as Magneto did not have any noticeable reaction but still made to speak. "A person of interest."
Doom gritted his teeth at that and glared at the man with his iris that was seen through the mask glowed in ruthlessness. "And who might be this person that you speak of. Think carefully of your next words because it might be your last."
Magneto scoffed but his anger was shown as the room vibrated. "Given that you still lost to him and not only did you lose to him you also gifted him your arm." The moment Magneto uttered those words, he was flung back so hard that he cracked the brick wall through before he fell on the ground.
"It looks like your false bravado of king has gone to your head, mutant." Doom raised his hand and Magneto was bound in yellow energy as a circle manifested before his hands. "Speak or forever lose the right to do so." He threatened… promised.
"Draul St. Cross." Magneto spat out the name of the man Doom viewed as a stain on his legacy.
"Doom has no need for you in killing such a small bug. Be gone from Doom's presence or risk your death." The energy around Doom's hand fizzled out and Magneto was freed. But instead of leaving, he floated a drive over to Doom who had sat on his train watching the mutants every move.
Doom took it but didn't say anything as he continued staring at Magneto.
"In that folder is all the information about what we know of the mutant known as Draul St. Cross… including his abilities and past."
Doom's eyes glimmered with interest before he asked Magneto. "What do you want by proposing this to me?"
"I want him dead and also to suffer the slight he caused me." Magneto gnashed his teeth as the thought of the injuries and broken bones he had to perform a personal surgery on just to be able to control those broken limbs. He had to continuously hold all the bones with metal to be able to move once more.
"For someone who parades himself as a king, you are pathetic to seek out aide to carry out your retribution." Doom mocked him but the anger within him was higher than that of the pitiful mutant before him.
"For this information, I want you to help me bring him down while I watch him die… slowly." Magneto proposed but Doom shook his head.
"Doom works with no one but for your service, Doom promises you his death. Now be gone before my patience runs out." With a wave of his hands a circle manifested in front of Magneto and went around and over him before he found himself somewhere else.
"I'll promise you your death, Draul!"
[Draul St. Cross POV]
I uploaded the ViewTube app yesterday and people on social media were clamoring to it.
From the streams and number of uploaded videos in less than 24 hours, I reckon that it wouldn't take up to a month before we are besieged with partnerships from news and media outlets for exclusive rights and anything else they would want to get their hands on.
That wasn't my problem as it was Marky's. It was only when something was really important that I would be called in, like maybe a lucrative business deal with Facebook or any of the apps on its chain, then Marky would have no choice but to call me as my decision making power was higher than his, although not by much as it was still just the both of us holding it down.
Marky had called me a few days ago in regards to renting an office for the business and maybe hiring a few people to help with complaints and any other issues customers had been facing when using the apps and also scouring for any virus or bug trying to interfere with our systems which was highly impossible.
Sure they are people who could break into our servers with ease but then either Marky or I would be notified and besides even if they did break in, there would be nothing to steal from the archives of data except the personal information provided to us by our customers.
Hell, we have up to ten attempts at break-in every week so that made for a twenty four hour check on the systems mandatory and now I could see why Marky was losing his shit.
The first time our monthly profits from Facebook crossed over a million dollars, Marky immediately dropped out of school officially, obviously, given that he had stopped going for a while now.
While I sympathized with what Marky had going on and sometimes he'd call me to get a few things done, I couldn't drop what I was doing just because of some company. For all I would never know, it could be that Facebook would've never existed in this universe because Marky choked on soya milk and died prematurely or he started playing COD on Playstation and forgot about being a programmer.
Right now money was the least of my problems, and while I wasn't a millionaire by any stretch of the word, money was quickly losing its appeal to me. Sure I very much needed it, but if it was placed on a list of my priorities, it would rate second to last on whatever was on that list. The last thing on that list would be wearing a superhero costume.
As I had far reaching goals, so did Marky. Even though I bought more than half of his company due to his greed and ignorance, it was still his job to take care of the company while I ran around trying to save my life for whoever was coming for it.
It was the last week of November and the snow was already kicking in while the temperature fell with each passing day. I was looking forward to my first Christmas on the Marvel-verse which was taking me three years to experience. I wasn't the only one in festive spirits; Steve and Bucky were too. I could feel their tensions loosen each day as the holiday came closer.
I was already thinking of where to spend the holidays when my phone rang.
"Hello Draul, we need your help… Jean just woke up."
I tried. I really tried, but the words still came out of my mouth.
"Fuck."
…
It was only me this time as I drove to the Mansion.
Why was I putting myself in this scenario again? It was for the simple reason that it might have been my fault that the Phoenix came out too early.
If it had gone according to whatever timeline was considered canon, then I was pretty sure that I would not have been part of that event.
Well the second reason was for this not to be any of those timelines where the raging Phoenix destroyed earth.
I didn't know what I could do to help but Ororo and Logan answered my calls when I called, that alone was enough reason to do my best to help, even if it might have been meagre.
I got to the Mansion and drove to the front of the building and immediately I entered I could feel some sort of prickling sensation around my body which went as soon as it came.
I passed through the kids who were clamoring through the halls and ignored even the ones who were pointing at me and saying something about a nightmare.
The closer I got to where they directed me, the more I saw some signs of damage which just made my gut sink deeper already knowing that this kind of action was already what I was expecting and hoping not to come through.
I saw Ororo and the others with a Charles who was bandaged all over with drips and whatnot around him.
"What happened?" I asked Lagan who was leading against the wall with a deep scowl on his face.
"Thought you got the news: Redhead woke up."
"I'm asking what happened 'after' she woke up." I specified.
"Nothing much. Just flung Chucks over a wall, flung the boyfriend over a table, broke my neck and when I came to I found out that she blew a hole in the ceiling and left."
I could already feel the headache this was giving me and immediately started scrubbing my mind for anywhere she might be.
"Is Charles awake?" I asked him.
"Yeah… but.. *sigh*" They all looked tired as if they were running a marathon at full speed.
"But what?"
"Things are kind of hot right now and everyone is still out of it." Logan said to me with a look that he wasn't going to talk about the issue anymore which made me seek out the one who called me over.
"Can you tell me what happened here, Ororo?" She had left the med when I was talking to Logan and I had to catch up with her to know what happened.
"As you can already tell, Jean woke up… and she tried to kill the Professor." She revealed but I wasn't shocked since that was the normal course of action that any person would want to take against Charles for what he did. "What happened after?"
"Do you have any idea where she might be now?" It was a long shot but I had to try, unfortunately the response was one that I fully expected. "No, unfortunately."
"Draul, do you know what might be happening to her? I'm sorry if I'm being intrusive in any way." She asked and I felt bad for the hope that her tone held. But then again what kind of help could I possibly have when facing the Phoenix.
I let out a breath. "Probably trying to come to terms with her new powers right about now."
"But then she wouldn't have been hostile to us if that was only the case right?"
"That should have been the case if only Charles' influence on her mind weren't so deep." I said as we branched into another path not even knowing where we were walking to.
"What do you mean by that?" Ororo was quick on the uptake so I elaborated.
"Charles didn't just lock away her personality and some minor memory change. What he did was actually divide her being into two and stuffed her powers in one of those personas and locked them up forever while throwing away the key. The only reason she didn't kill Charles the first moment she got was most likely because her other part, the Jean you know, stopped herself from doing that."
I could see how her eyes lit up at that straw I threw. "So that means there's really a way to save her right? Even if she has two personas, there has to be the Jean that we know in there right?" She asked.
"Hopefully what you are craving for is true." I nipped at her rising hope.
"What does that mean?"
"How would you feel if someone locked you in a dark room for over a decade? And not only that, he also created someone that wasn't you and let her take the wheel while you watched as your body and actions were controlled by his whims for the best part of your life?"
She had a thoughtful expression on her face before she visibly paled. "T-that means…"
"She is in a battle of dominance over herself… And from the looks of it, your Jean is losing as time goes on."
"T-then t-that means we have to hurry up! We need to help her!" Ororo was able to stay calm visibly but I could feel the panic in her tone. She must have had a lot going on as Logan had said.
"But we still don't know where she is." I reminded her of the main issue at hand which deflated her enthusiasm a bit.
"Sorry for calling you when we didn't have anything on her." She apologized.
"It's nothing really. You guys did help me when I asked, doing this much is nothing in comparison." I waved it off. "Is everything all right with you Ororo? Everyone seems tensed and I don't think the situation with Jean is the cause."
She paused as I said that before a self deprecating smile appeared on her face. "I guess you can say that. It's… just that with everything happening with you, the Sentinels, Magneto, and now Jean and the Professor's… I don't even know what to call it. It's just that everyone's mind is very occupied and I think it's affecting our focus. We haven't had a good time to unwind, is all I'm saying, but the holidays are upon us so that is a good thing as it provides us a chance to do so. Hopefully we are able to save Jean before the holidays kick in."
Wow. Just wow.
And here I was complaining that I was stumped full with issues ever arising. Sure I had a lot to deal with but small problems like these that poles up into something deteriorating isn't anything fun to deal with. On the contrary, they cause more damage than the monumental ones.
"Sorry about all that." It was the only thing I could say since I am pretty sure most of it came with and from me.
"I'll be out of your hair then. I'll try what I can to find her and if I have anything I'll let you know." I told her and after a small light talk, we went our separate ways.
As I drove, I thought of all the possibilities that came with the Phoenix. First of all was the epic destruction that came with its rebirth. That was my first worry.
This didn't go like the movies at all. Maybe it would have, given that Trask, Stryker and Lake Alkali were here, but that would have been like at least 5 years into the future but something happened that made it spiral into a fuckball.
Second of all was to look for Magneto. I didn't know why but Magneto was always able to find his way to collaborate with the midway-apotheosis Jean Grey. And I was the last person who wanted any sort of collaboration between Magneto and Jean Grey.
And the other was Doom. I was very much paranoid about this guy.
To be perfectly honest, Doom freaked me out just as much as a raging Phoenix did. My only saving grace was that I still had a little time before our next tango but the bad part was that I didn't know how soon that would be and also the fact that I didn't have a viable way to increase my strength in a short while.
I didn't want to distract Fury in whatever he was doing so I refrained from calling him and asking if he could help me in finding Magneto, which meant that I had to do this the hard way. Which admittedly was way harder than it sounds since I didn't have any idea where to believe.
I drove while I swerved through the traffic, completely ignoring the shouts of reckless driving from the other drivers I overtook.
It was during my immersion that a call to my phone broke me out of my thoughts. I looked at my phone and saw an unknown number but I didn't hesitate to pick it up, knowing fully well that there was a high chance that I wouldn't like what they were going to say.
"Who's this? And for both your sake and mine, please do not piss me off." Damn, the stress really was getting to me and I could very well feel the anger trying to rob me of my reasoning.
"Mr. Draul, it's me, Yelena! Some people just abducted Natasha and I need your help to save my sister." And just like that the anger bled out but the stress remained.
"Where are you? Can you meet me at the bar?" I asked her as I made a U-turn which drew more shouts that I ignored.
"Yes."
"Good. I'll be there in a few minutes."
Can this day get any worse?
…
..
Please don't bother answering that.
Read ahead at @ Draul_TheOminous.