CHAPTER 40

I'll be leaving the X-Men scene for a while to wrap up the HYDRA arc, might as well rush it out if the way before focusing back on the X-Men side of things.

All I can say is that a few people of interest will get what coming to them in due time, but not yet. MC wouldn't be able to deal with both the mutants and HYDRA all at once.

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[Draul St. Cross POV]

I left the meeting room and made way to my room. The only thing of value to me was the burner Fury gave me… and my shirt given that I was topless.

I was prepared to leave the room, this entire Mansion when Storm met me halfway out.

"You need something?"

"Nothing much, but I just wanted to apologize for how you might feel about what the Professor did."

"Then you shouldn't be the one doing it should you?" I walked out of the room leaving her by the door side.

"Wait!" She called out to me.

"What now?" I asked with an edge to my voice.

"I understand you might be angry at what the Professor did." She started but I stopped her. Anger didn't come close to what I was feeling, there was downright murder on my mind.

"I just wanted to tell you not to view others with the same prejudice you view Charles with." I raised my brows at that because I didn't understand where she was going with it.

"You said you haven't met many other mutants, what Charles did was a mistake. Don't try to take your anger on them and while was he did was wrong, we really did wanted to help you."

To be honest I didn't know what she worried about for. Did she think I would go all-hate on mutants just because of what Charles did, sorry but I am not about to be the alter-ego of Eric. One was already enough.

"I appreciate the concern but there is no need for you to worry, I am not that unreasonable." She smiled at that and stretched out her hand for a shake which I took after a few seconds. No use making this harder on her than it already is.

"I never did fully introduce myself, my name is Ororo Munroe." Now that I look back at it, she never really did tell me her name not I really cared if she did. For all I know, I could have been Carlos and it wouldn't have mattered.

I left the estate of Charles's Mansion and this time. It's time for this hermit to go back home.

…

Right, I didn't have one.

Well then, I think I'll take a trip to Massachusetts. More specifically Harvard University.

I think it's time I had a talk with Zuckerberg.

…

My first thought when I arrived at Harvard was 'Woah'. The place was overflowing with opulence.

With snobby nerd kids walking up and down with their thick books and bags. I forgot how education was still a thing in the early 21st century what with how serious they all looked. 'Sorry to burst your imaginative bubbles, but 70% of you have an unlikely chance to get your dream job.'

Turns out I never really like school all that much.

I walked around Harvard for a while, just taking in the sights and architecture before I went and looked for a nerd in a sea of nerds.

With a little question here and there, I found someone who was willing to give me a tour of the place. What? Who said I couldn't enjoy my time. I mean it's not like I have anything else to do other than hunt down HYDRA.

Speaking of HYDRA, I really needed to get a life outside of the Frontline Commando vendetta that I had going on.

But then again, I doubt I could get back the semblance of normalcy I once had, I doubt I could just laze around all day eating food and watching TV.

Damn! I really missed them days. It felt like it's been forever since I just did nothing but lazed around. These past few months since I escaped HYDRA has been one thing after another. From stake outs to take outs, from Hulk to X-Men.

My current life was not a stable slope.

After an hour or two of moping around I started asking around for a sophomore named Mark Zuckerberg.

It didn't take me thirty minutes before they pointed me to his dorm.

Time to meet my money maker.

I could do all of this by myself, I doubt learning how to code would take me much time, but the fact was I would still at one point need someone at the helm, since I won't always be around, if that business venture was to flourish and who other than a future multimillionaire to hire as my goffer.

…

I got to Mark's dorm after a few points to his room, turns out he's a total shut-in. Who knew.

So now I'm in front of a lanky Zuckerberg who looks confused as fuck about why a total stranger was looking for him and not saying anything after he let him in.

I stared at Mark for a while, not even relenting as he squirmed in discomfort, wanting to see if he was actually an alien… maybe a Skrull, or an inhuman maybe.

Ain't gonna lie, the dude looked sus as fuck. I used both my senses and X-ray vision to check out if his organs were misplaced or in the wrong place.

Unfortunately he looked human, what a letdown.

"U-uhm excuse me sir, but can I help you with something?"

Guess he couldn't bear the stare any longer.

"Yes you can Marky." I heard him say that something about not being a Marky but I didn't pay him any mind before I told the reason for my visit.

I hard a long thought about how to break it to him and have him spill about where he was with Facebook's creation and the only thing that came to mind was to be a con. So that's what I went with.

"So I heard from a little bird that you had an innovative idea about erasing the distance between communication between people and connecting them together. Mind letting me in on your idea?"

Before anyone says I suck in interrogation and negotiations, I'll have them know that I have never done this before.

Evidence to that, it looked like I came on too hard and he immediately grew cautious.

"Would you mind me asking why you are interested in my idea?" Kid was a nervous wreck but he didn't seem like a fool. This makes it a lot easier for me.

If this venture fail then I'll just invest and buy up all the little suckers stock when he uploads the damn platform.

Facebook wasn't my only money maker, I was prepared to wring out everything the media industry had to offer.

"Easy, I wanted to invest in it. If it's as revolutionary as I want it to be then you'll be getting yourself a partner today." My words took him by surprise as he took a couple seconds to calm himself down.

"I don't mean to be rude but why would you want to? MySpace and Six degrees are renowned media platforms. Wouldn't it better to invest there than that of a sophomores pet project?" He asked genuinely curious.

"No it wouldn't." He seemed confused at my answer so I continued. "They already have a working platform and tenets of operation, introducing changes would be hard. Not to mention that I doubt they would survive the next ten years."

Now he was looking at me with doubt.

"To tell the truth, I didn't come here just to invest in your 'pet project' as you so put it, but also hire you. But before any of that, let's talk business."

Marky and I talked for a while, the boy was smart, a genius in business even.

"So what do you think?" He asked me after we went over his idea for the Facebook platform.

"It's a nice idea, would you want me to buy it off your hands?" I asked.

He had a thoughtful look on his face, weighing the pros and cons before he decided.

"I'm sorry but I don't want to sell my idea. I wasn't the only one working on it and selling it without their notice wouldn't sit well with them." He said.

I wasn't that letdown, nor was I counting on him to sell it in the first place.

"No problems. So let's talk investment." That however did seem to perk him up and he set his full attention on me.

"What do you say to 70 thousand dollars for 70% percent of the company." This was where information came in handy. If he knew he would be counting hundreds of billions in dollars from this ramshackle idea, he wouldn't even have let me finish that statement before he threw me out of his dorm.

Marky's face changed at that. He frowned at the money… or was it the percentage. "Don't you think 70% is too much?"

Looks like he didn't like the percentage all too much.

"Might be but not that much. How about the same amount for 65%."

He still refused the percentage. "45%." Was his offer.

"If it's for 45 then I won't be paying 70 thousand."

We argued for a while before he sold 57% of Facebook to me for 70 thousand dollars. If it wasn't because of my impenetrable poker face I would have been laughing like a loon when he did.

The feeling was exhilarating. I wonder if this was how those investors felt when their investments paid over.

I left Harvard with a light gait in my steps as I made more plans for the media takeover. Who ever said a billionaire couldn't fight aliens and monsters?

From what I knew Gmail hasn't been created yet, neither was YouTube and slew of other media platforms. Getting Mark's Facebook was just a first step since he would be releasing it early next year and I wanted a piece of it. Well from what we talked about, I don't think he would be releasing it next year but this year. In a few months actually.

With nothing else to do, I left to take care of the HYDRA base in Massachusetts. Just another Monday for me.

…

[2 Weeks Later]

Turns out HYDRA are starting to get pissed off because of the numbers of raids I conducted on them during the last two weeks.

10 bases wiped out.

That was one tenth of the number of HYDRA's settlement in the United States that I knew of.

So why did I say HYDRA was stating to get pissed off, other than the fact that they started chasing me through the city, to assassination attempts to bombing attempts, oh and snipers. Don't forget the snipers.

That one almost blew my head off. It was pure luck that I was able to survive that hit considering that I attempted to dodge it at the last second.

Thankfully the wound it gave me didn't incapacitate me for long and I was able to kill the fucker.

That was the closest I had been to death since I escaped HYDRA and it really painted how I still wasn't invulnerable to bullets yet.

I was able to rescue some people, children and adult alike, from two of the bases I raided.

All in all it was a successful week.

That it was, until Fury called me asking for a hand since according to him I decided to take my ill-gotten vacation and sight see across America, which told me that yes, Fury was tracking my movements. At least some it.

We didn't meet at the old safe house instead he directed me to a shop yard where Clint was waiting for me.

"You could've called you know." Clint said as soon as we met each other.

"I could've, but I didn't really had the time these past few weeks." I said.

"Yeah we figured." I was confused by what he said so when I asked him, he said due to my triumphant return, HYDRA went helter skelter and wriggled some tentacles which Fury like the hawk he was, latched on to them without letting go.

So while I was going to town with the raids on HYDRA, Fury and his clique were cleaning up all the scrubs inside S.H.I.E.L.D and taking down some ministers and politicians who were in bed with HYDRA.

So that caused them to move in a frenzy and made them increase their attacks on me.

"What of Bucky?" I asked only now remembering the brainwashed Winter Soldier. To be honest, he wasn't all that memorable.

"Yeah we haven't been able to make any headway with him yet." That's too bad, he would have been a nice asset for Fury.

He entered one of the vessels in the yard and after some bullshit password and scans, a compartment opened underground.

I sometimes forget how secret organizations love their underground base.

"Look who finally decided to show up." Came the sarcastic voice of the trench coated pirate.

"In my defense, you said you'll call." I said as I made my way to one of the seats in the room before I met the newest member of Fury's group.

"This is Agent Hill, I picked her up from the Armed Forces." He gave a small introduction.

I looked at Maria Hill, although younger, she didn't look all that different from the movies with the slim body and short hair.

"I'll be careful with her if I were you, she'll knock ya balls out if you keep staring." Fury said as Clint and Hill chuckled.

I turned to Fury, since he decided to call me and no matter how I look at it, he looked like he was laying low.

"What happened?"

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Happy Weekend y'all