CHAPTER 69

[Draul St. Cross POV]

Today was the day we raided Lake Alkali, after a week of thorough preparation.

Our team consisted of me, Clint, Steve and Bucky. The lineup gave the feeling of fighting a lost battle. Very depressing.

I declined S.H.I.E.L.D, or rather Fury's help to send in agents as that would only be increasing the body count in their favor. What we needed for this battle was quality, not quantity as that would just complicate things since then we'd have to trust our sides to people who we know would lose. So it wasn't a feasible help. 

Apart from our courting death-crew, Logan said he was going to help and he'd bring in some of the X-Men so there was that, thankfully. 

Out of everybody, Logan was the one who could rake up the highest sentinel body count. His Adamantium claws was the antithesis to most things, Sentinels included. 

But even with the additional help, I still didn't see our chance of winning, but then again one can only hope for the best. 

"You sure you wanna come?" I asked the archer of our group. 

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can keep up." He said as he strapped an extra pair of quivers across his back while also fitting in some small projectiles around his wrists. 

I shrugged at his insistence. To me, Clint was worth more than 20 trained agents all rolled up in a bow and arrow. 

"You guys ready?" I asked the others who were in the room with me, which was just Steve and Bucky. 

"Yeah."

With that confirmation, we left the house for the chopper that was delivered to our backyard a few days back. 

Fury had been able to find some activity going under the lake, which he confirmed was an underwater base. 

"Do we know who else is coming apart from James?" Steve asked as we flew. 

"He didn't say. All he said was that he knew some group who would want to help." I said. Logan and I talked a few times during the week and it was during one of those calls that he told me he might be able to convince some people to help. Who they were I didn't know, but if Logan was the one who was vouching for them then I guess they would be fairly powerful. 

"So Draul, what are we supposed to expect?" Clint asked me while he flew the chopper. 

"If your imagination is very good then the least you should expect is an abomination child born out of an incest relationship between Skynet and the Terminator."

"I don't get it." We all turned to look at the confused Steve and Bucky. 

"If we get out of this alive, we'll have to spend a whole week catching you two up to speed on movies. It hurts when you try to say something and people don't understand the reference."

Steve looked exasperated while Bucky just shrugged. 

The flight continued for a few hours before we got to lake Alkali and waited for a few minutes before we saw the Blackbird. 

I was wondering who Logan brought with him but I definitely was surprised when I saw the entire lineup of the X-Men X2 movie including some others. I wasn't surprised by the X-Men being here but I didn't think they'll all be here. I at least expected Scott, maybe Jean and Thunderbird, and definitely Hank, to sit this one out. Heck, the only people I expected here were Logan and Storm since they told me they were coming. 

Hell, I half expected them to come here with a cab. 

Scott was outright glaring at me, while Jean had an helpless smile on her face but she seemed to be trying to stop him from doing something arguably stupid. Don't know what his problem is but I didn't have the time to stroke a butt hurt kid's ego. 

Another thing I noticed was that the people from Xavier's were giving me wary looks. But then again I would be stupid if I couldn't care less. 

I turned my focus away from them as I saw a new group of people coming out of the Blackbird. 

"Oh hell naw!" I didn't realize that I said that out loud but then again my reaction was an accurate one as the people who Logan brought were all wearing the same fashion of clothing, at least three of the four were. 

"Draul, meet Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four." Logan introduced me to the people he brought, who if I had known, would have told him not to bother. 

I knew Reed Richards was in this universe but I didn't know he and his crew had already been dimensionally juiced. 

They weren't juiced back in 2001 since I would have known, or maybe I wouldn't have, but then again I would have seen something about the Fantastic Four on the web, which I didn't, making it more plausible that they came into being during my two year incarceration. 

"Hi there, my name is Reed Richards and these are my friends; Ben, Susan and John-" Reed introduced us to his teammates only to be cut off by an excitable Johnny Storm.

"Hey man, name's Johnny, but I guess you already know that seeing as you look like you recognize us. But I'm sorry to say that the autograph will have to wait until after the job's done. Y'know, biz before pleasure kinda thing."

I for my part kept silent because their presence, unlike what others might think, brought nothing but headaches as I kept thinking about one thing. 

Von Doom. 

That mad man was already mad-e. 

"Hey, you doing okay pal? You just blanked out on me for a sec. Try to get yourself together since we got a job ahead of us an-" 

"Johnny!"

"Yes sis?"

"Keep quiet."

I was still wrapping my head about what it meant for Doom to show up when I remembered that we were going into an apocalyptic event while bringing along the Calamity Four and their leader – the living breathing embodiment of catastrophes. 

"Oh hell naw!" They flinched back as I gave them a hard stare, which was focused mostly on Reed. 

"I-is something wrong?" Susan asked me as she looked at me worriedly. 

I ignored her and turned to Logan who had his hands crossed as if he was watching a reality TV show. "Got something on your mind, bub?"

"Them?! Really?" I asked, pointing at the four of them which made them frown, seemingly taking offense at that. 

"Hey!"

Okay, maybe I was being a little too harsh on them, preconceived notions and all that, but in my defense, my reality was already as fucked up as it could get and I didn't want any dimensional hiccup anytime soon. And that was exactly what Reed Richards was. 

But while it could be said that they were a walking time bomb, they, or more specifically Reed, was our best chance at stopping the Sentinels and shutting down the Master Mold. 

"Sorry about that. It's just that…" No matter how hard I tried to play it down, I couldn't help but grow cautious at their presence. The saying of the unknown being scary was never truer when it came to the Fantastic Four. 

But conversely, their presence here was also a boon. 

"As much as I appreciate your presence, please keep your boyfriend in line and wait till you get back to your lab before you blow up whatever the hell you want to whatever dimension you like. Cool? Cool." I left them with their stunned looks only to face the inquisitive gaze of my team. 

"*Cough cough* So, what is the plan? If we are raiding whatever base is down there then we need to be as quiet as much as possible." Susan asked. 

"Stealth would be useless since they already knew when we arrived." I informed them. The others were surprised before becoming alert as they watched their surroundings which at this point would have been stupid if the enemies had taken the chance to encircle us. 

"Then isn't us remaining where they can watch our every move a very bad idea." Scott grunted. 

"Normally it would be but since we already know that they do, all we have to do is force them to the same fighting field as us." Cap said before he looked at me. "Can you sense anything?"

"Yeah there is an entrance a few meters north of here. No sight of Sentinels yet."

"Good, then let's move." Steve said before he began walking towards the direction I pointed him. 

"Hey, why does he get to give the commands?" Johnny whined but still followed regardless, not like he had much of a choice. 

We didn't walk much before we felt the slight tremor on the ground. No one needed to ask what it was as they were all informed about what we were to face or had fought against them personally. 

"Oh boy." I  couldn't help but mutter as I saw the mechanical armored beings making their towards us. "We have incoming." I informed them. 

"How many?" Cap asked. 

"… Give or take… fifty." They were that many coming our way and I doubt this was all the Sentinels Stryker had. 

"They are probably here to stall us from getting inside the base. Draul, is there another way to get inside the base?" Steve thought for a moment before he turned to me. 

"Yeah, there are two other entrances to the east of the dam. What's the play?"

"We'll divide into three teams; one who'll have the task to spear-head the advancement of the rest of the team. 

The second would be the people who can shut down the Master Mold. They'll be right behind the spear headers. 

The last would be those holding the defensive line and keeping most of the heat to themselves." Steve explained as everybody listen attentively to him. "Everyone should know where they are good at so get to it."

The Sentinels were already in view and I could tell that most of them were nervous which was an accurate emotion. 

No one said anything as we started running towards the approaching Sentinels. I was a spear header, so like every good spear header worth his spear? Tip? Header? Doesn't matter, but I did carve out a path for us to go through while the others would take care of the scrubs. 

I formed a big ball of destructive energy which I sent out, the resultant explosion knocking back most of the Sentinels. 

"Hank, Reeds! Try to keep up!" I called out to the two who were fighting off a Sentinel. "Ben! Move with us." We had to get inside the base as soon as possible for Reed and Hank to work their magic. 

Since I couldn't get a strong enough axe for the event since I lost my Alices due to the last Sentinel fight in Moscow, I had to settle for my fist. 

I punched the ground as waves of ice rolled off my hand and made its way to the Sentinels, bursting out in spikes as it skewered some or just outright broke as it couldn't pierce their metal skin. 

I used the ice surrounding one of the Sentinels and trapped it inside an ice-like cocoon and flung him towards the base. 

The place was a mess. 

The resounding 'bangs' and 'booms' were enough to paint a picture of what was happening. I could see that slowly but surely, the Sentinels were pushing us back with their numbers. 

We had to break this stalemate. 

KRAKOOM! 

Lightning dance around, Storm pointed her hands downwards and the lightning flowed and struck down most of the Sentinels. 

I could see some of the fortunate Sentinels who weren't affected because they were fighting others, start using basic abilities such as laser beams, fire and ice and also changing their body to different kinds of weapons. 

I ran with the others as we got close to the base which made the attacks more frequent. 

I activated my X-rays and saw the second of batch of Sentinels coming our ways. Without waiting for anyone, I surfed through the ground with the ice I created and the used the small opening to get inside the building and immediately created an ice floor around me that the moment the Sentinels stepped inside its radius, it spewed out vines which froze parts of the Sentinels it touched, unfortunately this version of Sentinels just shrugged it off as their bodies turned blazing red with heat. 

Seeing as how my method of stopping their advancement wasn't working, I went full tilt as red cracks appeared on my body and my eyes turned red. 

As if my transformation was a signal, the other sentinels broke into a run while they kept glowing red because they were still in my freezing radius. 

The first sentinel that came up to me with a punch would have had a shocked expression on its face if it could feel, but the way its head turned in incomprehension was a little satisfying to me as its body lost most of the heat in it. 

Energy assimilation. 

It was something I haven't had the chance to use due to the fact that while I could use the energy I had assimilated, it took too much time to make it mine. 

It was like eating a full course meal. While I will undoubtedly be full, it would take a while for my body to break down the food into energy and other components, but… 

BOOOM! 

If it was throwing up the food? That was something I could do and more. 

Using the energies I assimilated and combining it with mine was a small-high temporary boost in strength. 

"Cowabunga motherfucker."

===========================

Read ahead at patreon.com/Draul_TheOminous.