Draul's plan for taking care of Sublime was simple.
All he had to do was try and get inside the bacteria's head(or nucleus… or mitochondria) and use its hive-like mind to connect to his other proxies and destroy them from the inside while he'll incinerate the virus like every good doctor would. Nothing a little UV ray can't fix… on the chance that UV can fix it, then he'd have no choice but to use gamma. Everything becomes simple when gamma is involved in this universe. Either you die or you become super-powered.
He had thought of pointing the X-Men to Sublime but given how he played them for years in the comics, he wasn't taking any chances.
From what he could gather, thanks to Clint actually doing some spy work, the man known as John Sublime had some kind of dealings with some of the human members of the Hellfire Club, Edward Buckman.
If Draul was to be honest with himself, he didn't remember much from the comics. His memories before his transmigration were harder to remember for some reason and due to the fact that he read those comics when he was a kid and through his teenage years, he had forgotten most characters except those major ones.
For one, he didn't know who the fuck was Edward Buckman but given that he was in the Hellfire Club, the man had to be somewhat capable either in politics, wealth, or personal abilities.
He did a little digging on Edward Buckman and he was irked by the fact that he wasn't surprised when he saw the guy's name for those who sponsored the SENTINEL project. He couldn't be since John Sublime's name was among that list too.
He had to admit the fact that HYDRA was too competent at what they did that they even had piles of dirt on their seemingly allies.
The files they had on Sublime was that of a human who funded some of their works that they put out as joint project which wasn't much.
Although his target was only Sublime, he had the feeling that he would fighting more than Sublime and his goons, possibly knocking heads with the Club's high ranking members.
He contemplated whether to go in stealthily and take out Sublime or just walk in and cleave off the neck of the fool and no matter how he thought hard about subtlety, the idea of seeing someone's head flying and spinning in the air somehow appealed to him.
He hoped he wasn't becoming sociopathic, he had his brain to make sure.
"You sure you want to get out there after what happened last year." Steve asked concerned about his mental state.
Sure he might have acted indifferent and nonchalant about what happened on Christmas Eve, but the rerolls of the death tolls on Christmas day got to him more than he cared to admit. Those deaths were, over 2 million, directly connected to him. It could be argued on a losing ground that both Doom and Magneto were the primary cause of the tragedy, but the truth was that he wasn't a victim of the disaster as the victims of it were.
He was in top shape minutes after the fight ended, the pain and injuries gone before he even could figure out how to calm himself down.
Steve and the others had been concerned about how he'd react when they watched the news at Charlie's since our home was gone. It was the first time he cursed himself for how much control he had over his emotions and expressions.
For people who didn't know he could do that, which the exception was just Clint, Bucky and Fury, maybe even Steve, he came off as unsympathetic and cold. Even Ororo had been put off a bit by his seemingly nonchalant attitude towards the deaths caused by our fight.
"Yeah don't worry about me. I promise I'll be good~." Draul said in a sing-song tone which made the captain sigh in exasperation.
"Just keep whatever you are going to do in moderation." His voice had a blurry edge to it that Draul couldn't interpret if it were concern or regret and tapped his shoulders before he started getting ready to go help out in the city.
"C'mon, I can be stealthy if I want." The awkward atmosphere around us bled out with that statement as Steve waved and went his way.
With every step Draul took, he remembered the hate he held for Doom. He lost a lot of things because of the untold amount of destruction their three-way battle caused.
'My car, my pool, my bar, my couch, my imported pillows, my ties, my imported coffee and most importantly, my eggnog. No one could say I didn't have my priorities straight.'
Everyone of those things was enough to make best friends hate each other while the last was more than enough to cause bloodline enemies.
Not to mention since he hadn't been able to procure a new Shelby GT5000, he settled for a Lamborghini Murcielargo. He bought two Lamborghinis and had to make extra payments for two Aston Martin Vanquish S.
Who said he couldn't live life fast in the Marvel-verse? Bucky had taken the other Murcielargo as soon as it hit the new garage while Nat and Steve had to settle for the Aston Martin.
Nat was cool with it but Steve looked as if he'd rather drive a Camry than whatever the car he bought was. Sometimes his straightness could be annoying.
He took his ride and hit the road. He could still feel the change as the ever moving city of New York had a fast traffic which was very rare at this time of the day.
From his tracking of Sublime's and Buckman's location, he found out that the Upper echelons of the Club were holding a party on a yacht. The details of the party wasn't known but there were invited guests who had a certain degree of opulence which was what the Hellfire Club looked like from the outside.
He parked his car half a mile away from the shore and this time just walked, enjoying the scent and feel of the sea breeze.
He wasn't in a hurry since there was no getting off the yacht unless someone had a boat or mutant powers such as flight or teleportation.
When he neared the shore, he noticed bodyguards walking around, quarantining the entire shore against visitors of any kind.
He looked like a tourist given the Hawaiian shirt and shorts he had on coupled with the straw hat which solidifies the look of someone looking for a good time at the beach.
He was spotted as soon as he entered the restricted area which prompted some of the bodyguards to bar his path with an advice to turn back as the entire shore was rented for private purposes.
He didn't even deign to reply the guards which immediately put them on alert as some of them reached for their weapons. Without a change in his expression Draul walked forward towards the shore even as the guards called up warnings.
The more the tourist looking man came forward the more the guards felt a sense of danger. This feeling was so thick that one of the younger guards who couldn't take the pressure any longer and fired his bullet.
His heart went into his throat as his panic rose not because of his accidental discharge but because of the floating bullet that stopped inches before the face of the intruder.
"What do you know? Now I don't have to worry about my clothes being riddled with lead." The intruder spoke with an unfazed expression in his face with only a slight tone of amusement in his voice.
"M-mutant!" No one knew who said that but the moment the term registered in the heads of all the guards, regardless of who the intruder was, they all opened fire and let the bullets defend them against whatever ability this mutant had.
They however were destined to be disappointed as the intruder, without moving an inch from where he was, stopped all their bullets that looked like swarms of bees in front of him.
"Guess I'm able to hold objects travelling at a mile per second without any effort. I feel like I could push it more but that's up for future trial." The intruder said, more like he was talking to himself. "Now then, how about we get to the main reason for today's meeting."
Draul waved his hands and before any of his assaulters could react, each received a bullet straight through their vest and into their hearts, giving them a swift but choking death.
The yacht was already making its way to a part of the shore a distance away from Draul's location meaning that they had already been contacted by the disturbance ashore and also most likely have heard the sounds of gunshots which clued them that whatever intruder they were facing meant business.
Draul, still having the carefree expression on his face walked forward towards the sea and stepped on it.
He, since the first confrontation, finally exerted force in one of his hands and the meaning of the gesture was explained as a part of the sea, which was where the yacht was, started rising.
He continued exerting force on his hands pointed towards the yacht in an upward manner as the sea carried the yacht higher.
He felt two attacks on his brain but his shield deflected them with ease even as the second was more sophisticated but the end result was still the same.
Feeling content with the height of the yacht, his foot submerged in the sea emitted frost as an entire 2km from his location on shore to the sea froze over.
The ice around his feet swirled and formed a board which he stepped on and surfed towards the ice-risen yacht.
He could see some people sliding down the ice he created and stood in a formation waiting for him without putting much of a combat ready stance.
He came to a halt as he faced the five individuals who stood waiting for him.
"A rather crude way of making your presence known, don't you think?" Said a man wearing all-black with his permed hair going backwards and an impressive beard if Draul's opinion were to be taken.
Draul didn't need anyone to help him identify the Black King of the Hellfire Club – Sebastian Shaw. The man stood in front of the others with his face set into a cold frown that would have terrified the weak willed if they had been in Draul's shoes.
Behind him were two people wearing some sort of spandex uniform; one had an easygoing smile on his face that looked Spanish and the other, a male too, stood rigid as his eyes never left Draul.
The other two men Draul didn't know but he could tell they were somehow strong. Somehow because of the way they posture.
"Sorry for crashing your party but I'm looking for someone. I'll be on my merry way once my business with him is concluded." The chilling breeze of the current atmosphere blew against the six men who stood in confrontation.
Draul had the small smile on his face that he had since the beginning, hoping that they'd just let him go through with his business and leave him be.
"I think you should introduce yourself first before asking for such absurd requests. Someone like you should at least be refined in etiquettes to do such small greetings." Shaw spoke in the same no-quarter-taken tone.
"Sorry for that. Name's… Draul." Draul contemplated on whether it was worth telling them his name but considered that given their influence, it would be easy if they wanted to find out anything about him. His personal information was still in the system after all.
Sebastian Shaw to his credit didn't show any reaction at all to that name even as the thoughts inside his head worked otherwise. He had recognized the young man as soon as he saw his face and couldn't help but wonder what the Draugr was doing here.
He wasn't ignorant of what happened in Moscow which was the first place he'd seen the Draugr in action. He had wanted to recruit him to his ranks but had to give up on that thought when he found out that he had some connections to S.H.I.E.L.D. Wouldn't do good to have a double agent inside the inner part of the Club, even if they had multiple ways to ensure he didn't betray them, there was no telling that those in S.H.I.E.L.D would not be able to sense the subtle difference. In the end he had decided against it.
The Draugr was impressive in terms of ability but based on what Shaw knew, his attacks were mostly energy based with enhanced physique though the way he froze the yacht and not to mention control that part of the sea at such distance made him weary.
Despite his thoughts, he made to introduce himself hoping that it wouldn't devolve into a fight as there were some people in attendance that he'd rather them not knowing the full scope of his abilities. One of such persons was the White Queen. "My name is Sebastian Shaw, the President of the Hellfire Club, New York branch."
"My name is Sebastian Shaw, the President of the Hellfire Club, New York branch."
By this time everyone on the ship had scooted to the side of the yacht to watch the confrontation between the Club President and what was clearly as mutant or metahuman as the news had started calling them nowadays.
Some bold ones had taken their phones out to record the confrontation as well as the view for their anti-mutant campaign only for their phones to blow up in their hands, injuring some of them.
Shaw was thankful for the Draugr's intervention but that was besides the current point.
"Pray tell, who are you looking for?" He wanted to curse under his breath as he had some ideas as to who would be the Draugr's targets. He knew most, if not all, of the secret dealings of the members, both Inner and Outer, of the Club and he had found some tangents that brought their dealings sometimes crossing paths with the Draugr.
"Now that's how gentlemen such as we, converse." The harmless looking man, if you minus his rippling physique, and the stupid strawhat on his head said. "I'm looking for a dude named John Sublime… Let's just say we have a bit of a small difference in opinion, nothing much."
Shaw visibly frowned at that. The man Buckman had introduced as Sublime wasn't that impressive if you looked at him from the standard Hellfire Club criteria. Sure he had money but so did everyone of them, the Club even boasted of two members who were in the world's top ten richest.
John Sublime has some type of weapons company that Shaw had looked at and it was nothing revolutionary. It couldn't compare to Stark, Hammer or Reed Richard, though the last didn't focus on weapons but more privately owned tech with the first dominating the weapons industry.
The monarch of Latveria was the top most contender of weapons if it were to be debated but everyone was of the silent agreement not to bring his name at such discussions. It was not a surprise how the entire world reacted when his home was destroyed with a warning letter posted on it.
Shaw felt a chill down his spine as he looked at the man who he believed was the one to wreck the home ground of Dr. Doom.
"Is there a reason why you are looking for Mr. Sublime. I have to tell you that he is a guest under my banner and I'm not in any business of selling my associates." Shaw lied through his teeth. He wanted to fish for more information from the Draugr about Sublime and this little QA presented the perfect chance.
"Yeah sorry bub. But I wasn't asking if you were okay with it."
Unfortunately Shaw's plan failed spectacularly as the atmosphere tensed.
"I would suggest you think twice about what you plan on doing and let us settle this cordially… Draugr." He called the man his publicly assigned codename to show him that he knew who he was hoping it would at least make him prone to more peaceful talks but he was bound to be frustrated as Draul didn't even bat an eyelid as his name was mentioned.
Seeing as how the Draugr still remained unfazed Shaw signaled his men to get ready for any confrontation. He started wondering what Emma Frost was doing. She was supposed to find out what the deal with this guy was but as she hadn't given him a word, it stood to reason that the Draugr had some sort of mental shield keeping her at bay.
He looked at the small crowd at the edge of the yacht looking at them like they were acting some sort of drama. The people that weren't part of the Hellfire Club and were in attendance were less than ten. Even in the Hellfire Club, most of them didn't know that they had mutants in their midst and Shaw would have like to keep it that way but the current situation was proving that unlikely. Well he had a plan in respect to the Club if such a thing happened, he'll just have to push it forward is all.
"To be honest I don't want to fight your Club, so if you just hand over Sublime or better still, wash your hands off this as a private matter then I'd happily leave after my task is done."
The gears in Shaw's head started spinning and he nodded after coming to the conclusion that such a proposal was indeed the best. The Hellfire Club was all about personal interest and he saw no interest in fighting the Draugr and becoming enemies with him just for an acquaintance.
"I see then." With that, he made way for the Draugr who just floated up to the elevated yacht.
He frowned at that as none of his reports ever mentioned anything about the man's ability to fly.
On Draul's part, he was quite happy that he had no reason to annihilate the Hellfire Club because that would be the only outcome if there were to fight and while he didn't like Shaw as a character, the guy had the X-Men to deal with in the near future. And neither was he in the business of looking for a rogue gallery.
Draul had his senses locked on Sublime the moment he hit the shore. His senses had improved to the point that he could see psionic waves. The mental probe of Emma Frost and the kid with Shaw was a test to that new nifty ability of his. He kept 'a' sight on Sublime incase he pulled any of his mind stuff and happy that the stupid cell was more intent in watching than taking any action.
He landed in the yacht and the people in it gave him a wide berth.
"Get out."
The ice that elevated the yacht started melting at a visible rate and in less than fifteen seconds the yacht was leveled with the part of the frozen sea.
The people in it didn't waste a second and bolted the fuck out of the yacht and ran on ice to the shore.
Not everyone did as one still remained on the yacht.
The only one Draul could identify, not due to her face which he have seen before, but due to her blond hair, signature white corset and a long trousers that reached her feet, a ridiculously set of high heeled shoes and some sort of scarf that hanged loosed from her shoulders – all white.
Emma Frost – The White Queen of the Hellfire Club.
The others he couldn't identify mostly, with the exception of Buckman and Sublime, sure he could have done his research but he wasn't about to go checking other people's woodwork. It's a syndrome every superhero suffers from but not him. To each his own. It would be pretty ungrateful if he took the X-Men's villains away without their express permission wouldn't it? He'll just have to settle for less in that regard.
He didn't look at any of them except the initial glance and made him way to Sublime who wanted to leave but had his path frozen.
"Who are you? What do you want with me?" John Sublime asked as he looked at HYDRA's famed soldier. Oh what he would have loved to have grafted his organs and use them for his experiments.
He had an inkling why the man was here as he was a shadow sponsor of some of HYDRA's projects. Maybe he found out and was cutting off loose ends.
He wasn't worried about that as he could use this chance to go under and work on increasing the hate towards those infected species. He had some few key targets in the parliament that he could control to impose laws that were heavily against mutants. All he needed was a mutant to cause trouble and the Draugr fitted the bill to a 'T'. All he had to do was play it simple and efficient.
"Nothing much, just needed to sanitize some massively propagating bacteria."
Sublime's heart almost went towards his anal cavity as he heard what came out of the Draugr's mouth.
"What are you saying?" He felt that something was wrong with the way the Draugr came to him but he was still confident escape. He had some of the Hellfire Club's human members under his control after all.
Before Sublime could react, the ice blocking his path dissolved into water and covered him before freezing once again, trapping him frozen inside the ball.
The other members of the Club moved backwards, spooked by the outrageous control and manipulative prowess the man showcased without even moving an inch.
Shaw and the others had frigid faces as they saw they ease at which he incapacitated Sublime but were happy that now he'd leave.
Draul worked forward with the ball encasing Sublime floating near him to the edge and of the yacht looking to jump off before he remembered something.
"Oh before I go." Draul turned around with a somewhat embarrassed smile on his face. "I'm taking someone else with me."
Immediately he felt another pulse slam against his mental shield, this one however held more attack potency to it. He felt the pulse gaining in power as it tried to break past his mental shields.
He lost the smile on his face and directed his gaze at Emma Frost who had a slight frown on her face as her psychic attack kept getting disrupted.
Before she could warn the others about his mental shields, the ice surrounding the yacht rose up like tendrils and wrapped around her limbs and neck. She wanted to try another method of attack when the tendrils suddenly grew spikes which sent a chilling feeling down her spine which wasn't caused by the ice steeping up her limbs.
"Don't, well you can try but you'd be risking your head if you do so." Draul warned.
He sidestepped in time to dodge the punch of an all-black young man with some sort of flare around his body.
As the punch traveled through his side, he grabbed the arm to the young man who widened his eyes in surprise and yeeted him the fuck off the yacht into the distance and watched his crash into the ice, through it and into the water underneath.
He frowned as he felt another psychic wave but although this one was milder, it targeted another part of his brain – his emotions.
He waved his hands and some of the tendrils holding Emma Frost shot towards the man who tried to control his emotions and pierced his chest.
He had already restrained Buckman since the start of the fight so he turned around holding the strawhat in place and was met with the confusing sight of Shaw holding a bomb in his hands.
He had wanted to question the man's mental ability for a second before he remembered his mutant ability but even then he did nothing even as the bomb exploded in close range. The shrapnel that made their way towards him were all stopped.
Shaw on the other hand walked out of the smoke with a relaxed expression on his face. "I'm afraid we can no longer be cordial."
Draul was tempted to say something but Shaw was already on his face throwing his super enhanced punched only for it to be stopped by a low 'thump' as it was held back by Draul.
Instead of being surprised Shaw grinned as he felt more power flowing into his body after absorbing the force of Draul's block.
He didn't have the chance to exercise his new augmented strength before he was sent flying out of the yacht by a back hand from Draul.
"Shh. Don't spoil it for him."
He turned to the still restrained White Queen and brought a finger to his lips in a silencing fashion. He held his haze for a second before she nodded.
He jumped down the yacht, still restraining Sublime and Buckman since the initial exchange.
Shaw got up from the ice and was joined by the boy whose skin lacked any color except the slight heat flare around him.
"Sunspot, be careful. He has a high amount of resistance to heat energy. We'll have to fight him in close range." Shaw spoke to the decolorized boy beside him.
"Normally I'd drop a sarcastic comeback at that joke but… take your best shot. I really want to see how my strength keeps up with yours." The man with the strawhat came forth with that relaxed smile still on his face that was doing wonders in peeling the ever cold expression of Shaw off his face.
Shaw scowled but he wasn't a fool. The report said he had super soldier level strength and the worst part was that all those who fought the Draugr are mostly all reported dead… shit.
Sunspot rushed at the man with Shaw right behind him as both of them clashed with him.
The battle, if it could be called that, was just Draul blocking and deflecting all the attacks that came his way, giving both Shaw and Sunspot enough time to augment themselves to the limit.
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Read up to 25 chapters ahead at pa*treon /Draul_TheOminous.