"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.
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