CHAPTER 175

I NEED STONES!! 🤧

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The night at Draul's residence was like the countless others the occupants of its spatially warded halls have slept through except for one little detail…

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

A second later was all it took Bucky to rip the doors off it hinges only to find Draul's hands in his chest, trying to dig out his own heart.

Though they were alarmed at the scene, they immediately acted, as Bucky and Steve being the physically strongest of them, tried to pull out Draul's arm from his chest.

Bucky, acting on his vast experience, used an Adamantium blade to tear through Draul's shoulders, dislocating his arm, making Steve able to pull the arm out before it healed immediately after Bucky withdrew the blade. 

Before they could try and calm Draul down, the screaming man flung Steve away causing the Captain to smash through walls before he landed halfway through the house. 

Natasha and Yelena weren't idle as they worked together and cuffed Draul's hands with Vibranium cuffs, restricting his limbs to some degree. 

Before they could try and restrain Draul, they found themselves held against the ceiling due to Draul's telekinesis. 

"Yelena, will he survive?" Bucky shouted out, seeing as how the situation was devolving with every passing moment of Draul's outburst. 

"I don't know!" Yelena immediately understood what it was that Bucky meant seeing the blade the Winter Soldier held. 

"He'll heal, right?!" Bucky asked once more, resolving himself since there was no way they could hold Draul down.

"I think so… probably… maybe… yes!" 

Hearing Yelena's reply, Bucky no longer hesitated and lunged at Draul and almost cursed as he felt himself coming to a grinding halt as Draul stopped his momentum. 

Luckily for the soldier, Steve had already arrived and tried to choke Draul using his shield which made Draul release his focus on Bucky. Normally such a slight could never have happened if he were in his right senses, but his rattled and wailing mind couldn't keep its focus on too many things and resorted to its basic reactions. 

Landing on his feet, Bucky immediately appeared behind Draul and stabbed the blade through his head, causing the man to pause his actions to a grinding halt, but as if not taking any chances, Bucky fired a sonic wave directly through the blade to his brain, causing his brain activities to cease for a moment, effectively knocking Draul out. 

Natasha and Yelena dropped from their position on the ceiling, both landing gracefully on their feet with worried expressions on their faces as they looked at the knocked out form of Draul. 

"Is… is he okay?" Yelena asked. 

"He should be. He already healed up which means he's probably asleep. We'll watch over him until he wakes up, you guys should probably get some rest." Bucky said as he picked up Draul and laid him on his bed, his voice leaving no room for excuse. 

Even if they didn't like it, there was very little they could do if Draul were to go on a rampage so with that reasoning Natasha took Yelena by her hands and walked her younger sister out of the room to get some sleep they both felt they really needed. 

… 

Draul opened his eyes groggily, taking in the familiar sight of his room along with some unfamiliar details like the two human sized dent on his ceiling and there was also a hole from his room and through numerous walls in his house. 

'Weird.'

He was still coming to terms with this new change before he abruptly jumped out of bed, magic circles appearing around him as he spun around, expanding his senses through his entire estate. 

"Calm down will ya?" Bucky came into the room with two cups of coffee, not even bothered to comment on the multitude of magic circles around Draul's form. "Had a rough night? No? Well I had one if you are interested in asking."

"What the hell happened?" Seeing as there was nothing amiss apart from the telling signs of a fight scene which probably originated from his room, the magic circles started flickering out. 

"I have a better one. What the fuck happened to you, quack?" Bucky asked with an unnatural edge to his voice which made Draul confused. 

"What do you mean?" Draul was now really confused, looking around the room and trying to piece together what might have happened. 

It was when he tried accessing his memories that it hit him like a brick – the screams, the shouts, the gnashing of teeth… and the palpitating fear. 

It all came back to him. 

That being, his dream, if he could even call it that, and then the overwhelming dread that made him lash out against all of them. 

Bucky looked at Draul and his frown deepened as he saw the minute trembling of Draul's body. Not once had he ever seen Draul show an expression of fear. The man was many things, but fearful was not one of them. 

"Hey quack, what the hell is happening?" Bucky held Draul's shoulders which made the other man to stop trembling. 

"Hell if I know, Bucky." Draul pulled himself together and took one mug of the black Bucky brought. "What did I do?" He asked after taking a sip. 

"No serious damage if that is what you are wondering, except maybe flinging us around but I doubt that counts. I think you scared Yelena, so that's something you need to take care of."

Draul ran a hand through his hair as he listened to what Bucky said, really holding the urge to curse. "That's really bad." If there was one thing Draul hated more than anything, it was losing control. 

His abilities weren't exactly user friendly and there was bound to be casualties on any occasion if he lost control. 

Bucky took the other mug and sipped from it. "We need an explanation rather than an apology. Come on, let's go. They are waiting for you downstairs." Bucky led Draul down the stairs, the latter wincing as he saw the damage he had done to his house as he saw the holes and crumbling pillars that he flung Steve through. 

The rest of the crew were going about their day with practiced ease, with Steve cleaning the debris from his flight and Yelena helping him out while Natasha was in the kitchen. 

The group stopped what they were doing as they saw Draul coming down the stairs with a wince on his face. 

"Yikes! Sorry about that, guys." Draul said before sitting down and giving them a little briefing of what had happened to him. 

None of them felt as if he was joking, maybe there would have before Draul had started collecting the Infinity Stones, but now they knew that their universe was just one of many. 

"A hostile?" Natasha asked. 

"I doubt if you could even describe it with that. It was powerful, much more powerful… admittedly even more than I would be if I fused with all six stones." It was really hard to explain something you didn't understand, and that was what Draul was currently going through. 

That being wasn't strong… he completely surpassed what 'strong' meant. Draul had no doubt, not a single one, that whatever that thing was, it could completely wipe out this universe, without moving so much as a finger. That thing was unreal. 

"I mean, we know some uber strong dudes are going to come for us eventually, heck there were even Gods holding a meeting on how to deal with us, specifically you. What makes this guy any different?" Steve asked. 

"Well, for one, none of the guys coming for my head, at least the ones on our current menu, can destroy the universe. This 'guy' can." Everyone could see how rattled Draul was and whether they admitted it or not, they too were scared, though not as much as Draul currently was. The reason for their fear was mostly due to Draul since if a dream could rattle his mind this much, then what would happen if whatever that thing was actually came for him. 

Normal people wouldn't put much importance on a dream, definitely not one about a scary thing that can destroy any universe if it wanted, but Natasha, Steve, Bucky and Yelena weren't normal by any stretch of the word. Normal wasn't a part of their daily schedule. 

"I think my mind is still under pressure from what I saw, which ironically was nothing, and doing all it can to stop me from descending into a fit of madness. In the meanwhile, I should hurry up and fuse with the damn Power Stone already. I no longer have the luxury of picking my route and going for the safer path. It's all in or nothing." Draul currently had the Power, Soul and Mind Stone gathering dust in his magically protected cabinet. He would be meeting the Ancient One soon for another help in fusing with the stones. 

Though he didn't say anything about it, he knew exactly what that thing was, or putting it more aptly, where it came from. 

The Cthulhu Mythos. 

They were referenced a few times during the days of Marvel Comics, even going as far as having iterations of them in the Marvel multiverse. 

That Mythology was a downright nightmare and given what Draul just saw, he would agree that the stories lived up to the actual Myths. 

He didn't know which one he talked to but at this point he didn't care. The Great Old Ones weren't exactly benevolent beings, sure some of them did have their moments but on a regular scale, they were true monsters who actually lived up to the legends and surpassed it. 

And then there were the Ultimate Gods. 

Did he just meet an Ultimate God? He didn't know. 

But what he did know was that just for it to mention its titles and then the name he couldn't remember, or couldn't comprehend, none of which mattered at this point, drove him to a fit of madness. His mental shields were the strongest he had seen of everyone he came across, even completely dwarfing the likes of Charles Xavier and Emma Frost, but that same shield meant little as he would have gone mad if Bucky had not stabbed and jolted his brain. 

After explaining all he could and helping Steve with cleaning the debris, which only took a wave of his hand, Draul left to have a talk with the Ancient One. 

"I believe I know the reason for your visit, Mr. Cross." She said as Draul appeared before her, gesturing to a seat to make himself comfortable. 

"Really?"

"I think every magical person and psychic felt that… wrongness last night. It was the most oozing feeling of pure evil I've ever felt." She said, all forms of genial warmth gone from her expression. 

Draul on the other hand had a hand to his head, massaging his temple as a brief flash of fear coursed through his body once more. "Well, you wouldn't be wrong about that but that's not why I'm here today… What do you know about the Great Old Ones and the Gods who birthed them?"

"Like everybody else, not much. While the Elders Gods were the first beings to walk out from the void, some stories said that there already existed some entities that lived and thrived in the void. Their very existence was the cause of nightmares throughout the entire multiverse. Like I said, I know nothing concerning them but what I do know is that if they were to crawl back into the multiverse, it could as well be the end of times for all realities." The Ancient One spoke slowly, making sure her message fell into the ears of Draul. 

"Well ain't that ominous. Guess I have to speed things up with the stones… and also give Ororo a phone call."

Whether they liked it or not, someone just upped the ante and they had to play if they wanted to survive. 

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