The scene I was welcomed with was not what I had been expecting, nevertheless it was one I wholly accepted.
I would have been happy had it not been for the tense atmosphere between the four sorcerers I met.
"Hey, what's up?" I inquired as I made my way to them. We were getting a lot of views from people seeing as I had somehow appeared out of nowhere. "Let's get out of here for the time being." Taking their silence as approval, I opened another portal that took us straight back to Kamar-Taj.
"Okay, someone tell me what's up and why the stare down?"
"Dark magic." Mordo was the first.
"Like Keacilius, she too also draws power from the dark dimension… from Dormammu." Wong clarified.
"It's the source of her immortality, why she had been able to live through the centuries without the erosion of time." Even Strange had something to say
The room went silent as the three sorcerers stared at their master while I conjured a wrap of cloth for Doom's dead body.
"You have something to say to me too, Mr. Cross?" The Ancient One turned to me with an expression on her face that I couldn't quite tell.
"Me? Nah I'm good."
"Cross!"
"What?" I turned to look at Mordo at the shout of my name.
"You don't have anything to say? She taught us that drawing powers from the dark dimension was a vile act, and yet it was exactly what she did, what she had been doing… for centuries even. It was her folly that drove Keacilius to Dormammu and almost destroyed the earth.
Do you really have nothing to say?"
Now everyone turned to look at me except for the Ancient One who had been looking at me for a while.
"Right, because I'm the best advocate for what is morally correct." I quipped sarcastically. "I don't know what you expect me to say because while I don't agree with the use of taboo practices for personal gain, I don't think I'm in any position to judge her for what she did."
"So you side with her then? You seriously think that her actions' debt are considered squared with what just happened."
"Normally I would avoid situations like this since I tend to be a solo party but given as to how she could be called my master in a sense, then yes, I side with her." Mordo looked shocked as I said that but that was something I couldn't understand. What did he expect me to do? Condemn her to death?
She was more knowledgeable about the multiverse than anyone I know and also one of the people I didn't hate, on the contrary I quite liked her. Her eccentrics ways of teaching were the reason why I was able to learn about the arts as much as I could in these past 6 months.
"I think you are the one who don't understand, Mordo. Everything is not always black and white. Sure what she did was morally wrong, but you forget that we are in no position to judge her."
"Why?"
"One: We were all her students at one point in time, even the oldest master in Kamar-Taj was once her student.
Two: She's stronger than us… of that I have no doubt." Even now I could feel the minute tell of her magic fluctuating. She was weak as far as I could tell, but I had no doubt that if it wasn't because of whatever backlash she suffered from Dormammu, she would be far stronger than all of us put together. Even now I had the slight feeling that she could still whoop my ass if she wanted to. Weak or not. Hmm, maybe not, but I wasn't willing to find out.
I was never a stickler for the rules which made me a direct opposite to Mordo. He was all about the righteousness while I took things as I saw them and how they responded to me which made me a lot like Strange in that regard.
"Can we drop this here? We just survived certain death and I don't know about y'all but I need a bath… a long one. The debate on morality and right and wrong can continue another day." And without hearing what anyone wanted to say, I portaled myself back home only for me to look up and find three muzzles pointed at me.
"That thing is freaky!" Yelena and Nat lowered their guns after seeing that it was me.
"Hey Draul, can you teach me magic?" Urghh! I need a bath. I ignored the adolescent girl and made my way towards the bathroom where I proceeded to spend the next few hours submerging myself in a tub full of frozen water… just how I like it.
….
The following days went by with me doing nothing other than micromanaging the company and being lazy.
So bored in fact that I opened the mirror dimension just so I could train.
With my abilities getting more destructive, it was getting harder for me to train to my current limits without wrecking a part of the city. The mirror dimension became my new training ground as nothing I did there affected the material world.
It was because of my abilities that made me turn to my weapon in case I needed to fight in the human world. Sure, I had an astonishing degree of control when it came to it but destruction was destruction. An explosion was an explosion, no two ways about it.
Without any form of augmentation, I was fast enough to react to bullets and other high speeding projectiles then with added augmentation, I could easily go over 7000 km/h by my mental calculations which would put me faster than Quicksilver and yet Doom had manage to keep up with me, barely, though he had somehow managed to turn himself into a magical being.
He could use that form to power his most dangerous spells but I felt something was holding him back. It could either be that it was drawing his life for every second he fought or that he was hindered by a prerequisite. And yet, somehow, I had absorbed every magic he had left after his death.
What I wanted to see was the scale of destruction I could bring when I try to push my abilities to the limit without going into overdrive.
The Ancient One had easily established that my abilities had destructive properties to them – what she termed as chaos energy. An energy form that was as deceptive as it was dangerous. Chaos energy could be used to power the most simplest of spells and make them lethal.
So it came as no surprise to me that everywhere around me ends up being destroyed, one way or the other, when I have literal chaos running through my skin. Whatever brought me here was no benevolent being, that I was sure of.
The mirror dimension gained a red hue as my hands turned black with red accents on it. The next thing I wanted to try in this form was my magic.
I drew a magic circle and confirmed once again that it was red, signifying its corrupt and ominous nature. I wonder what Mordo would say if he saw this.
Strange, I knew, wouldn't care so much as I know for a fact that he had practiced some of the dark arts in secret, but Mordo definitely didn't. Mordo was an orthodox practitioner, never straying for his chosen path.
As for me, as long as it didn't leave a bad thirst in my mouth or introduce me into the ways of a megalomaniac, then I was fine with whatever avenue of power came my way.
I figured out quickly that adding my magic power and chi, fueling them together with my meta abilities increased its potency almost five folds but I couldn't keep it up for long unless I was in either of my augmented or chaotic form, which was what I was calling my two advanced forms respectively.
The reason for the strain was that for some reason, I could not channel dark energy through my base form. If felt like I was missing a crutch which was what the broken symbols on my body gave me.
Speaking of symbols, the more I looked at them, the more they resembled something like a map, joined together by cracked lines. I could tell that the symbols, or letters, or whatever they represented were mostly on my limbs and back while the rest were just jagged lines, making me look like a broken sculpted doll.
I had tried researching what they were, even looking through dark tomes but I came up with nothing. Not even a similar symbol. Even the Ancient One couldn't tell what they were other than a link to something, probably the dark dimension I got my powers from.
I took my mind off the dark thoughts that were swimming through it. What I knew for sure was that it wasn't any of the dark gods of the Marvel-verse that brought me here for the simple reason that there are nowhere powerful enough to bring me here.
The Phoenix knew who it was and didn't want to interfere meaning that whoever it was, they were definitely high up the ladder. The top ten probably.
But then again, the top ten were… Well they were the top ten.
I had a feeling that number 1 to 3 were out as they had no reason to do this, except maybe the Beyonder, and that brought me to a startling thought that for the first time had to occurred to me:
Was this universe pre or post-retcon?
'Shit! Stop thinking about it, Draul!'
I swear I almost had a heart attack at that realization because that meant that…. It's better I stop this train of thought for my own good.
Somethings were not for me to know at this time and I was content with being ignorant for now. I need the peace of mind that comes with it after all.
I stopped my training as it seems that my mind was really active anytime I de-stressed.
Breaking out of the mirror dimension, I arrived on time for dinner to be greeted with takeouts. The peaceful atmosphere that came with dinner in the living room among laughs soothed my burning mind into tranquility.
"So quack, where have you been since morning?"
"Oh, training."
Bucky stood up from his chair and went to check the backyard before coming back to plop back into his seat.
"Stop lying. You are too old for that." Sometimes I felt that Doom didn't do a very good job of taking Bucky's arm. He should have taken the two of them and a limb because I swear Bucky knew how to piss me off with the slightest things.
I had to explain within bites about the mirror dimension and made it clear how I couldn't train anywhere near the house, anywhere near civilization in fact.
"Was that the reason why no one knew about the fight you guys had in Hong Kong? I'm pretty sure it would have made the news if you were there." Steve asked.
"Something like that." I wasn't interested in explaining what had happened since I didn't know what really happened except for the fact that Strange might have pulled the time loop move he did in the movie on Dormammu. Only God knew how they would react to time manipulation and their thoughts if they knew time travel was real. That was not a conversation I was interested in having with anybody. While I cared for them, I was strictly for the notion that time should never be messed with. Half and a quarter of the shit that happened in DC was because the Flash always found a way and excuse to mess up the time stream, if it wasn't him then it was another time travelling fucker. That coupled with all the time travel movies clearly supported the claim of leaving the pouting bitch known as time to itself.
"How is your case going?" I asked in an attempt to change the subject.
"Fury had some breakthrough in tracking some of their bases down. Hopefully with you satellite launch we'll be able to dig up all their tracks." Nat supplied.
My satellite launch was just around the corner, though it was the first one as we needed to set a base first before another launch. It would be the first fully automated satellite in the world. The materials and money I poured into building it would make it the first of a kind.
"You guys have anything doing tomorrow?"
"No. Got something in mind?"
"Figured we could use the day to let off some steam and tension. We definitely need it." I spoke my reason. I needed a distraction and they had been running around for the last few days with leads and fighting metas so a day off sounded nice. And besides, no heroes allowed in the house. We were a selfish bunch, only doing things when we wanted to. I'll admit that I rubbed off way too much on them, though they still had their heroic streak, it was somehow timid compared to the image I had of them.
"Where to?" Case in point.
"We could hit some fancy restaurant and then the beach. In any order you guys want."
"Sounds fun."
"After that we'll go shopping."
Fuck!
The look on mine, Bucky and Steve's face were pale as Yelena said that and Natasha agreed.
The next day saw the group of five out of the house and inside a clothing line as Nat and Yelena went around their way while the three men they brought along sat awkwardly on one end as they became the recipient of the stares of hungry eyes that even made someone as stoic as Bucky's skin crawl.
It said a lot about them given their physique and masculine gait that it was obvious they would be in the top 1% of female attraction. It was for this reason alone that they didn't want to come with the two ladies but unfortunately today was a family day out of sorts, which meant they had to stick together for the whole day.
Draul had it better than the two enhanced soldiers as he had learnt a trick during his study.
Killing intent.
This particular intent was something that could be exuded by anyone, even normal humans. A milder form of it was that sort of instinct of danger that someone sometimes feels when he sees a particularly dangerous man. A baser sixth sense that all living things had.
What Draul did was just release some of his dark magic aura in smaller quantities and that was enough to keep some of the married women that came to bother him away…. Unfortunately it wasn't enough as some, those who could be called as clueless or having no sense of danger, still flocked to him.
Steve was a natural at this as he was a naturally easygoing person even when he was in a fight. Though the fake smile on his face still told of his trial.
The person who had it worst was Bucky as even his unapproachable stoic expression couldn't keep the army of cougars away from him as he was the one flocked the most among the ill-fated trio. His scowl did nothing but increase his misfortune as the older women seemed to take a shine to his hard to get nature.
They had to remain hanging for the short-but-long hours that Natasha and Yelena spent shopping. It was probably their fault that they came in exotic cars and spotted the figure of ideal masculine men. Since this was an outing they all wore simple clothes with Steve sporting a white t-shirt and shorts, the same with Bucky, showing off their body. Bucky was able to go out like this because his arm had some sort of camouflage built into it making it look like a normal hand. For Draul, he had a palm-tree print shirt with matching shorts.
Thankfully they were saved as Natasha and Yelena finally came out from the inner section with someone pushing the trolley of clothes behind them.
"That would be enough, thanks." Bucky wrestled his way from the claws of the women holding him captive and made his way to the trolley and yanked it out from the hands of the dude pushing it. He didn't say another word to any of the others and trolleyed his way to the cars parked outside.
Taking that as a preemptive, Draul and Steve copied him and managed to escape successfully but not before sending the stink eye to the two female assassins who just laughed the reprimand away.
"The next time either of you want to go shopping, do it alone." Bucky snarled before getting into his car with Natasha and Yelena while Steve rode with Draul since they opted for only two cars.
They left for the beach after a light breakfast since they were going to eat a lot today at all the different pit stops they planned for.
"Apparently someone froze this beach a few months ago. The news said it was due to some metahumans fighting." Steve spoke as they came out of the car and surveyed the beach while Draul had a wry smile on his face the entire time.
"They had to close it for up to a month so that the ice defreeze and to make sure that there were no lingering effects on the aquatic life ecology."
They made their way to a secluded corner of the beach with less people and made their stand while Draul and Yelena went for the surfing boards.
The tide wasn't as impressive as Draul would have wanted it for a thrilling surfing experience but since he was here, that would be no problem.
It took less than three minutes before the life guards sent out a call for a high tide incoming which prompted the kids playing at the shore to go back to land and also to those swimming away from the shore, leaving only a few people who were readily anticipating the incoming wave including which were Draul, Yelena and Bucky. It came as a surprise to the two men, mostly to Draul, that Yelena could surf not until she told him that she spent most of her free time moving from hobby to hobby, which at one time included surfing.
The first sight of the wave sent the dozen surfers swimming towards it, each wanting the first experience of the thrill.
"Draul, you're cheating!" Yelena shouted seeing as fast he was moving ahead of everyone and didn't need a reminder to know that Draul was controlling the water for aid just as how he called forth a tide.
The smug laughter of the metahuman was the only thing she heard before he plunged in first only to resurface a moment later as he surfed the tide like he was born with it.
The scene of Draul effortlessly surfing the waves created a spark of competition for the fellow thrill lovers and they tried to emulate the daunting and reckless way of surfing of the cheating meta.
The appearance of another dangerous wave sent them cheering as they plunged forth into it seemingly not caring about the possible danger, even Bucky was affected by it given how he sent out small air blasts from his hands without no one knowing, to send himself speeding on the top of a wave before flying into the air with an impressive display of acrobatics. Poor Yelena was left pouting as she surfed with the other surfers while her two uncle-like figures cheated their way to the admiration and cheers of everybody watching.
They surfed for a while before the currents receded leaving them no other option but to go back to land.
"You guys had your fun?"
"Yeah. I was kinda getting carried away with the waves there." Draul said as they rested from the exercise on the reclined chairs they rented with bottles of wine near them. Looking from afar, you could tell that they were people of opulence and power with the way they carried themselves and the things around them.
"Where's Yelena?"
"I think she's talking to some boy around there." Natasha shrugged.
"I already feel sorry for the poor sap." Bucky chuckled.
"Why's that? I think it's a good thing that she's being social with other people. I don't think she has any friends or anyone else to talk to other than us, and I don't think I need to point it out but we are not actually ideal role models for any adolescent child. Having friends or even a boyfriend would be good for her, I mean she's already 16." Steve said in a thoughtful tone which made the others think deeper on what he said.
"Where's my gun?" Natasha said abruptly only for Bucky to pass her a Ruger LCP he kept hidden in his shorts that somehow made Steve and Draul sigh.
"Don't you think you are overreacting?" Draul said while he basked in the warmth of the sun.
"Yelena knows better so I'm not that worried about her. But if any guy thinks they can hit on my sister then they have another thing coming." Natasha didn't listen to reason.
Steve only laughed awkwardly at the overprotective sister mode that Natasha went into. "Isn't that the complete opposite of leaving her to do her thing if you chase away any prospective boyfriend away with a gun?"
"You guys are taking this too seriously. Just let Yelena do her thing. One or two heart breaks is not going to kill her." The ever nonchalant Draul drawled out.
"It's due to times like these that makes me think you have an astronomically low EQ."
"C'mon it's her life. It's something she's bound to experience down the line. The chances of your first relationship being the one that leads into marriage is almost impossible. She's got at least a decade to experience life however she wants to. She's strong. She'll only come out stronger after it."
"There he goes again with the philosophy. Guess the quack now has love doctor to his title." Bucky said sarcastically. "Oh there she is. Calling it now: 10 bucks says she shot the guy."
"You really don't really believe she could do that… right? Well 10 says she turned him down nicely…. Fuck it, not even I am stupid enough to believe that. 20 bucks says she broke his bones." Steve uncharacteristically laid down his wager.
"10 bucks for the vote of confidence that my sister is not a brute and she turned him down nicely. Draul?" Natasha couldn't help but join in as she saw what her friends thought of her little sister before looking at the last person who still hadn't made his bet.
"Double the table says she did all three." Said man just laughed as he made his bet.
"Okay now I know you are just being mean." The elder sister huffed and waited for her sister to arrive to know who won from the atrocious bet they all made.
Before any of them had the chance to speak, Draul asked in the same sunny voice he used when he was cleaving necks off. "So? How was he? I can tell there were at least 10 guys who wanted to hit on you since we arrived."
Yelena scoffed at that obviously fake expression. "Well between you, Steve and Bucky, I don't think any of them were bold enough to try. As for the guy? He was meh."
"Ooh? What did he do?" Came the follow up.
"Well apparently he thought that he had a chance since my 'brothers' were no longer hovering over me and offered me a good time if I hung out with him. I turned him down politely at first but the idiot thought he could cop a feel as I was leaving which resulted in him breaking his wrist. He then proceeded to threaten me saying that he was part of some gang around here. I was pretty tempted to put a bullet through him had it not been for the fact that people would easily find out."
The entire group fell silent at what the younger girl said with disbelieving eyes. "What?"
"Oh my!"
"What? Why are you all looking at me like that?" Yelena was confused by the stares she was given.
"Guys, I think Steve might be right."
"Hey, if it's any consolation, I don't think it is any of our fault."
"Not now, Draul."
"That aside, who won the bet?"
"What bet?" Seeing the looks on their faces, there was no doubt in Yelena's mind that the four of them made some stupid bet that she no doubt would have wagered on if she were present.
"We had a bet on what you'll do to the guy and from the looks of it, Steve and Natasha won." Draul said but the irritation was clear in his voice.
"I don't know if I should be flattered or insulted that you guys won." Yelena said as she took her seat.
"If you had just put a shot through the guy, his hands or legs would have been okay, then we would all have won. Everyone would have been happy that way." Draul scoffed.
"I think we can see now who is the source of the bad influence." Steve jibed while the others nodded in accord.
"I think it wise I say for myself as the most pragmatic one among the lot of us." Draul argued.
"And you think shooting someone if they piss you off is a pragmatic decision? What am I saying, of course you do." The amusement in Bucky's tone was clear for all to see on how he thought of Draul's influence.
Their conversation was cut short when something shot towards them with a speed no one could react to before it was already too late… if a certain meta wasn't there.
The projectile in the form of a man paused midair before it crashed into them. The others already had their guns drawn but held fire as a light of cognizance flashed through their eyes as they saw the man.
"Piotr, mind telling me why you had to crash our little outing in such a way." Draul's tone was bored as he acquired from his acquaintance.
"Sorry about that. We are having a little scuffle at the moment so if don't mind letting me go…" Piotr of the X-Men scratched the back of his metal head in embarrassment at his current position.
"Okay." Draul shrugged and before Piotr could mutter a word of thanks, he found himself being flung back to from whence he came.
"What was that about?" Natasha asked with a raised brow as she surveyed the surroundings once more.
"Oh nothing important. Just the X-Men having a clash a couple of hundred meters away from us on the other side of those rocks. They've been at it for some minutes now." Draul said as he continued sipping his drink but his party didn't share his nonchalance nor amusement.
"And you know this because?"
"I've been keeping an eye on them for a while ever since they arrived on the beach."
"And you don't think of helping them out?" The only thing they received at that question was an expression on Draul's face that said, 'you're kidding right?'.
"To each his own." Was all he said before taking a deep breath and reclining further into his chair.
"…"
"…"
"To each his own."
"To each his own."
The others just reclined and let the X-Men battle their enemies away from their setup.
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Read up to 30 chapters ahead at pa*treon /Draul_TheOminous.