"Should we try to help them? It's been a while now and their fight hasn't ended." Steve suggested after they had enough rest and even hit up one of the stores for food.
"You can if you want to, I'll just sit back and enjoy the show." Draul made no action of moving from the spot they all sat, watching the X-Men fighting some metas who used to be part of Magneto's Brotherhood.
Even with that, no one moved from their spot and watched the students of Xavier battle it out with their foes.
"You weren't kidding when you said some of them could kill us if they learned how to use their abilities." Bucky remarked as he watched some of the kids he'd seen before use impressive abilities that he would say were a pain to deal with.
"Impressive as they may be, they are still a long way before they can truly manifest the true scope of their abilities. Oh… If you would excuse me, I think I just found something interesting." Draul said before flying towards a particular part of the beach where a real fight was happening.
He arrived just in time to see the Juggernaut ramming the body of Logan to the side as he made way to Storm who hovered mid-air. The moment he stopped his unstoppable momentum, he was given a dash to the head by Colossus which only shook him for a bit which gave the already running Logan the time to slice at the leg of the behemoth only to scowl as his claws didn't do it, a first.
The only reason Draul came here was to see if this was the Cytorrak-empowered Juggernaut and looking from the way he was tossing the Wolverine and Colossus all through the field gave him his answer.
He couldn't be injured as his durability was one of the highest there ever was and not even Draul could boast otherwise. He didn't even fancy himself as someone with a high enough durability.
He watched as the Juggernaut picked up Colossus for a slam only for a bolt of lightning to throw him off.
"Bitch come down here so I can squeeze your tiny little neck. I'mma knock ya breaths out." The man touted as unstoppable roared at Storm who wisely remained floating above.
Seeing the man stopping his momentum, she created a dome of frigid air around him and electrified it leaving the man trapped within in a crying fit.
Unfortunately it wasn't enough to stop Cain Marko who left her in shock as he forced his way out of the dome before breaking out into a sprint as he headed towards where Storm who didn't look all too much worried but that was before the man took off from the ground with a mighty leap that caused a crater to appear. If it were anyone else then Storm would have struck them down for trying to fight her in the air but unfortunately her opponent was Juggernaut… and he was in motion.
He was almost near her legs even as she tried to move back before a huge axe with red lightning struck the Juggernaut directly to the face which caused him to shift midair, missing Storm by a breadth.
The giant axe, as if having a mind of its own, spun in a curve before going back to the direction it came from.
"That would have been too bloody for a PG-15 drama." The axe landed in the hands of the still seated Draul who just held it lazily despite its size.
"Who the fuck are you pal? Want a bruisin' or some'n? Cause the Juggernaut will give it to ya!" Cain Marko shouted angrily at the man who made him miss the sparky bitch.
"Oh sorry about that. I'll try my best not to interfere. Just wanted to watch a nice fight that I wasn't participating in." Draul waved at the fuming man who was still cussing at him. "You might want to focus back on your fight."
Before Cain Marko could figure out what he meant, he found his balance uprooted as the Wolverine lifted him a few centimeters above the ground in an impressive display of strength which was complimented with a superman punch straight to the Juggernaut's head by Colossus.
It finally ended with a lightning strike from a scowling Storm who vented her frustrations on the man because of that close mistake.
It was an impressive display of teamwork but the Juggernaut still proved a daunting foe as he groaned for a moment before getting up and his eyes flashed red for a second.
"NOW I'M PISSED!" He blocked Colossus' punch easily this time before charging into the metal man and carried him on his shoulders as he made his sights on the rock the bastard with the axe sat on as he munched on some pretentious fruit… most likely a pear.
"Oi! Oi! Turn around! You're going the wrong way!" The man pointed his hands at the direction of his other enemies but something in him just wanted him to crush that bastard who thought his fighting prowess was some sort of reality TV show.
He rammed Colossus into the rock and through it but the bastard managed to escape at the last second.
"What gives man?" Draul floated a distance away from the Juggernaut as he finished his pear before chiding the man. He truly wanted to just watch the fight. And also to see what he could glimpse from the energy that Cain Marko was exuding.
Unfortunately the Juggernaut was not the best listener on his best day.
"You plan on helping out?" Logan asked the floating man. At this point he would not be surprised if the man grew Adamantium claws from his knuckles.
"No. You guys got this. I'm just satiating my curiosity." The man shrugged before turning to Ororo. "When I said you should go out and have some fun, though visiting the beach was a nice idea, I didn't mean visiting it in your uniform and hurling lightning as some dude who spent way too much time at the gym."
Ororo just grunted and ignored the guy but the intensity of the lightning around her form increased. Logan only raised an eyebrow at the two of them before turning back to the headache that just would not go down.
"Any reason why you guys are fighting this dude?" Now sitting on a higher rock, Draul asked.
"Since you don't want to help, then we can't think of any." Ororo cut off whatever Logan wanted to say but even with the bite in her tone Draul still remained sitting with an apple in hand as he bit into it with a loud crunch.
"Look at Piotr go." Draul took on a commentating role as he watched the living metal and the human boulder smash their way at each other.
The Juggernaut was a frightening foe to face… if he wasn't standing still. While it has been proven that there was no known force to stop him once he started moving, having his two legs planted as the ground at the same time made him easier to deal with. That was the reason why Draul didn't want to fight him. Though the possibility of killing the Juggernaut was almost in the negatives, the possibility of winning on the other hand was over 90%.
"So what's the deal this time?" Draul looked towards Ororo who stayed behind, leaving Logan and Piotr to face off against Cain Marko.
In a rare show of emotion, Ororo scowled before reverting back to her calm face. "They were trying to abduct a family of mutants at the beach."
"Apple?" Draul offered as she sat beside him.
"Where are you taking those from?" He was too scantily dressed for him to be able to hide fruits in his pockets without anyone knowing. Regardless, she accepted the fruity offer.
"Magic."
"Oh. Not everyone has the talents for the lost arts. Congratulations." She seemed surprised, not at the knowledge of magic, but the fact that Draul could learn it.
"You've seen people using magic?"
"Yes, druids actually. They practiced a rather unorthodox way of magic."
"Oh oh watch this!" Draul interrupted Ororo causing her to turn back to the fight to witness the scene of Juggernaut delivering a spine buster to Logan. "Hss. That's gotta hurt." Even the stoic Ororo winced at the scene.
"Are you seriously not gonna help?"
"The kind of help I could offer is the lethal kind…which I don't think is gonna do anything to him."
"Can you guys flirt later? 'Ro we really need some help with the big guy." And that was Logan being flung towards Colossus who in a rare I-don't-give-a-fuck moment, batted his incoming teammate aside and released a beastly shout before tackling the Juggernaut to the ground and rained heavy punches to his head.
"We really need to help them out or I'm afraid they would not be able to knock him out any time soon." Ororo stood up and left to accompany her teammates while Draul remained behind… munching on a banana.
From the looks of things, Ororo was able to hurt him more than Colossus and Wolverine as proven by the fact that he immediately hurled a rock at her as she got nearer. That and calling her a sparky bitch showed his extreme displeasure at the presence of the weather goddess.
As it turns out, ganging up on the Juggernaut was an easy way to disrupt his momentum as long as you are fast on your feet. The theory was considered true as Logan always went for his legs while Colossus went for his head every time they got the chance.
"Now it's just getting sad to watch." Draul muttered to himself as he finished his guava. The current scene of Logan latching onto one of the Juggernaut's legs while Colossus tried to choke him was disturbing. They looked like two children trying to prevent their favorite uncle from leaving the house.
Having had enough, he took out his sling ring from his pockets and wore it. Giving it a once over before nodding to himself, he turned his sights back to the fight, if it could be called that by this point and conjured up a magic circle around his hands.
The ground around the Juggernaut started sinking in which made Logan immediately stop hugging the leg of the overgrown man. To stop the man from lashing out and gaining momentum, ropes shot out from the ground and bound his entire body, sinking him faster into the ground until only his head remained.
"Annnnd done. You guys might want to remove that helmet from his head." Draul dusted his hands and jumped down from the rock and started leaving.
"You could have done that from the start, why didn't you?" An irritated Logan asked. If only the overpowered prick had done that from the beginning then he wouldn't have had to be tossed and kicked around like a ball.
"Like I said, it was entertaining watching someone other than me fighting. Though that sentiment got lost pretty quickly with all the hugs you guys were exchanging."
BAMM!
The Colossus looked pissed if given the way he knocked out the depowered Juggernaut was any tell. Draul took one look at the helmet and turned away.
'Yeah, no way in hell am I going anywhere near Cytorrak's relic. You don't get the title of 'strongest' magical being for just being strong.' Though he was tempted to take the helmet, the rational part of his mind told him that going near any nigh-omnipotent being was the wrong choice at this point in time.
They left their battlefield with Cain Marko and made their way to where the younger X-Men were fighting.
Draul saw some new additions to their team which included Sunspot, Rouge – who was easily identified by the small white tuft on her head and… was that Pyro? Guess he joined the X-Men huh?
From what Draul could see and what he knew about their current abilities, Sunspot was easily the strongest out of the bunch.
"Got some strong kids." He complimented.
"Who are just as troublesome." Ororo remarked.
Some of the assailants were quick to escape with a portal, most likely the ability of one of them, as soon as they saw the teachers coming with a fainted Juggernaut. The only ones who remained were the ones who had been slow to act or were prevented from doing so by the students.
"Eep!" Everyone's attention was drawn to a frightened Sunspot who just caught sight of Draul.
"Hey kid, how you doing?" It came as a surprise to the others that the usually strong and arrogant Sunspot could be afraid of anyone. It was only the few older students present that nodded in understanding at Sunspot's reactions.
"Uhm, who is he?"
"That Rogue, is someone you don't want to know. Trust me." Came the advice from Bobby.
"Why?" The southern belle further inquired.
"Just ask Logan. I'm sure he'll tell you why." Bobby escaped the interrogation because he wasn't feeling comfortable talking about the man.
The man in question just walked by and left them without saying a word other than his initial greeting.
"So, had some fun?" Steve asked Draul as he made his way towards them.
Draul just shrugged at the question. "Yeah. Though it ended too quickly for my taste."
"Did you manage to get anything from them about the recent abductions?" Steve asked but Draul shook his head.
"Not yet. There are currently making their way towards us so you can ask them." And truly like Draul said, Ororo and Logan were making their way to the group.
"Never took you for a beach guy." Was the first thing that came out of Logan's mouth, the second thing he did was grab a bottle of beer from the cooler before chugging it down.
"Easy there big guy."
"I needed that after all that fighting." Logan as the brute he was picked another bottle of beer but went slower with the chugging this time.
"So what brought you guys out here?" Ororo opened up the conversation as she took a nearby seat.
"I was bored."
"We were bored." Came the reply from both Draul and Natasha.
"We thought a change of pace would be nice every once in a while. Can't spend the whole week fighting metas after all." Bucky said and clinked his bottle with Logan's who shared the same sentiment.
"Do you guys have any idea who these people are? They seem to only go for unsuspecting metahumans." Steve finally asked after a while of contemplation.
At Steve's question, the look on Ororo and Logan's face changed considerably.
"Something happened, didn't it?" Draul asked seeing their countenance.
It took a while before Logan growled out an answer. "John died." Everyone's ears perked up at that.
"Which John? Thunderbird?" This time around Draul was truly shocked.
"Who do you think I was talking about?!" Logan shouted back before he calmed down. "A mission gone wrong. It was an ambush, they were aiming for Scott but John got in the way. I tried to kill them all but some of them managed to escape with his body through a portal."
The more Draul heard the story, the more he got a clearer picture of what was happening, although the story differed a lot from the comics he knew, the key points all remained.
Scott.
John Proudstar.
Abductions.
Mystique.
Gambit.
Sabretooth.
And now, Juggernaut.
Sure all these had more than a few things in common, but when you remove Magneto, Sublime, the Sentinels, Charles and the Hellfire Club, there were only a few things they had in the comics. And when you factor in the kidnappings and if what Logan said was true, Scott's attempted abductions and Thunderbird's death, then the list narrows down further to only a few individuals.
Mr. Sinister.
If there was ever a person that was very hard to kill that it even bordered on the realms of impossibility, that person was Mr. Sinister.
Draul could feel the headache that was coming from this revelation though outwardly, his face didn't change.
"What did Charles do about that?" Though Draul had an inkling, he still wanted to know and the answer was just as he thought.
"Nothing. He said he couldn't find who killed John, even searching the minds of those we managed to capture didn't help a bit… He wouldn't even allow us revenge, to kill them like they did one of us." Logan's voice fell low as he spoke.
"I've already said my piece. Speaking more on that matter would just be sounding my own horn, so I'd rather refrain from that topic." Was all Draul could say. "Though I have to ask: What would you do if you found the person that killed John?"
"He'll die." Simpler words have never been said and Ororo said it. There was no need describe your path of revenge when it all lead to an inevitable end.
Draul nodded and made a mental note to find out about Sinister when they were true with their day. "What of the kids?"
"They wanted to take the time to enjoy themselves on the beach so we said yes." Ororo answered.
"And then pray tell why you are still wearing your uniforms?" Logan just shrugged at the question while Ororo pondered on it before shrugging too. "We didn't plan for it."
"Then how come the kids get to go to the beach but you don't?" Natasha asked.
"Da Costa offered to pay so they went flash shopping." Bucky snorted at Ororo's statement.
"Flash shopping she said."
"Don't mind Bucky, he's just being his usual grumpy self." Yelena just waved off their concerns ignoring the hard stare the soldier shot her.
"Well we still got some hours to burn so why don't you guys go hit the store and enjoy your unplanned day at the beach. It's all on me." Draul offered the two teachers.
"Sure." Logan immediately agreed
"I don't think that's appropriate. We-" Ororo who was trying to refuse was immediately cut off by Draul.
"Ororo…. Please, I'm begging you. Try and have some fun. You're way too serious. This way you're going to stay single without as much as one boyfriend for the next decade at least." The man was not having it. "Nat, please be a dear and help her out." Ignoring the frosty look the storm goddess was giving him, he implored the red head for help.
Natasha laughed at Draul's antics before leading the white haired woman away.
"So.. Do you know who it is, Draul?" Logan suddenly asked which took everyone by surprise.
"And what makes you think I know?" Draul didn't bother denying anything but rather asked back a question.
"Nothing, just that my instincts says so." Logan didn't press the issue any longer and got up after finishing his third bottle. "If you'll excuse me for now, I think I have a few appointments with some single beauties in the vicinity." He said and went on to chase the finer things in life.
Everyone remained silent for a while before Bucky spoke. "Do you truly know who responsible for the abductions?"
"I think so. Honestly, I just figured it out when he mentioned John's death."
"What's special about John's death?" asked Yelena, curiously.
"Nothing. But a thought occurred to me. 'What if it's not just a random abduction?'. What if all the victims' abductions were planned due to the nature of their abilities? It's a far stretch, I know, but it gave me a lead on who I think might be our suspect."
"And you know this person how?" Steve asked.
"Oh I don't know him per se, but know of him. I don't know which name he goes by currently but you'll be the first to know if I find him." With that, Draul waved off the concerns of Steve.
So far, Draul would say the day had been going pretty well if you minus the few hiccups here and there.
The knowledge of Mr. Sinister was unexpected but Draul was almost entirety sure that it was the Dracula wannabe that was behind the recent rise in metahuman abductions.
Draul didn't remember much but Sinister had something to do with Scott and Jean… Clones.
'Fuck. Oh God, please let there not be a baby Phoenix in that lab.' It truly was hard to get some quality time away from stress in such a universe unless you were one of the bad guys. By some unknown rule or work of some higher powers, bad guys tend to get more off days than the good guys.
"Well you guys have fun doing whatever it is you do while I'll try to have fun the normal way." And with that, Yelena was gone to mingle with some girls on the beach and left the three lazy bums on the same chair they've been sitting on since the beginning.
"She didn't take her gun." Bucky made an idle observation.
"I don't think she needs a gun to have fun on the beach, Bucks." Steve chided.
"I know. But the fact is she didn't take it. No one ever said you can't have fun without a gun." Bucky said with such sureness as if it was a fact of sorts.
Steve groaned. "Father Lord! It's like you are a papa bear or something." He just couldn't believe his best friend so he turned to the most sensible person he knew, only…
"You don't have to worry Steve. I've got it all under control. Just tried to drown the idiot who thought he could get a feel while swimming. I held his neck with vines underwater but… he'll live. Barely." Draul muttered the last part to himself
Captain America, the War Hero, the world's first superhero, the Vintage Soldier, the righteous man, the man who stopped World War II and prevented the prelude to World War III, Steve Rogers, stared in shock and disbelief as the two men he considered as brothers fist bumped each other while discussing heinous ways to traumatize the young boys in the beach who were unfortunate enough to think of nearing their ward. As smart and hard headed as they could be most of the time, there could also be childish the rest of the time.
"You guys are unbelievable, you know that?" Steve said. "How is she supposed to even get a boyfriend when one of you wants her to walk around with a gun while the other just resolves himself to eliminate any shadow of a boy near her?"
"I see you are still naïve, Steve. It's not just boys…" Draul chuckled darkly.
"You wouldn't dare…"
"Oh I do Steve, oh I do…. It's boys and girls. I can read their intentions from a mile away." Bucky's eyes shine at such brilliance that he couldn't stop himself from nodding. "You evil evil man."
"Okay that's it! I'm telling Nat." Steve got up to leave the psychotic duo and talk to the real voice of reason.
"Oh I wouldn't bother with that if I were you Steve." Draul said in a sing-song voice.
"And why is that?"
"Because she already knows." Steve stood rooted to a spot in shock… before he gave up. It was sad but she'll have to suffer in ignorance for a while longer.
Steve sat there between the two of them in silence before it was broken by Bucky.
"Speaking of relationships, when are going to get into another one Steve? You know you're gonna have to let go of Peggy one day and move on."
Steve sighed and looked at the sky. "I know… it's just.. Don't you think it's too soon?"
"Steve,… that has got to be the dumbest shit you've ever said. I'm sorry to say this but, you can't have your old love back. She's not coming back and you're gonna have to find another date for that dance." Draul spoke softly. "It's sad and unfortunate but you will have to move on someday, hopefully soon."
"You don't understand.. She waited for me, even as she got old she continued waiting. I-" Steve felt like crap at that moment.
"And you think that moving on so quickly would be unfair to her? That it shows that you didn't love her as well as she did? God, yours is one hell of a love story bro." Draul sighed and laid back into the chair and joined Steve in gazing at the sky.
"When last did you go talk to her?"
"Two weeks ago."
Even Bucky sighed.
"Listen, there is nothing wrong in moving on Steve and it couldn't be truer in your case." It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say Steve's love life was the most complicated in history.
The girl you all but promised everything to, a budding romance of the ages, only for you to wake up one day and realized that you are fifty years late. And while you didn't look a day over 25,she grew old enough to be your mother.
Complicated was understating it.
"And you, love guru, when are you going to get over your own complications, cause even I can tell you've got some." Bucky hit a curve to the resident meta who was all but expecting such a question.
"It less a complication but more of I don't know how to go around with dating a girl. No, I think it's more of I don't remember how or what it felt like to date a girl, so I'm just winging as is." Draul shrugged, not bothered a bit by the question.
"Bro… how long has it been since you last dated a girl?" Even Steve was curious about that answer.
"About ten years now. Give or take."
"In other words, excluding Yelena and Natasha, you've gone the longest while being single. At least from both I and Steve's perspective, it's been like two years since we last had a love interest or were in any type or relat-!... Well well well, what do you know? He turns out to be a quack after all." Smugness was practically radiating off Bucky's face.
Steve's face in a rare occasion, contorted into a schadenfreude expression.
"I just shot myself in the foot with that didn't I?" Draul did a mental face-palm. From now on, he was sure he would be on the receiving end of the endless teasing. Even Steve was looking smug, so he was sure it would be brutal.
=
Just thought I'll bring back an early reminder…
There will be no cloning.
Definitely not of the MC.