CHAPTER 98

[Draul St. Cross POV]

So….? 

Sebastian Shaw – Dead. 

Edward Buckman – Dead. 

John Sublime – Dead. 

Empath – Dead. 

Roberto Da Costa – Joining the X-Men. 

Emma Frost – Probably taking over the Hellfire Club. 

Damn! The number of people dead doubled that of those alive. 

I had been tempted to just end the Hellfire Club, hunt that all their members and set them ablaze but a memory stopped me. 

I was no longer on my own. I had people, slightly regular but still regular humans living with me. 

I couldn't always act with caution because even if I wasn't vulnerable to most conventional means, the same could not be said for those around me. 

Something that came to my mind during these passing months was, 'what if Steve and Bucky had been at home? Or what if Nat and Yelena decided against going out?', the circumstances of that happenstance terrified me to no end. 

It wasn't as if I was been too laid back or been ignorant, no. I was fully aware and did my best to prepare for any surprises that sprung up but the inevitability of consequences rear its ugly head once again. 

All it could have taken was a joke and maybe they would have stayed or maybe I would have joined them in their outings and then that incident would triple in casualties. 

It was for these fears that I stayed behind for the past three months when I should have been doing my best looking for Kamar-Taj. I had driven through New York looking for the Sanctum shown in the Marvel movies but I couldn't find it. 

I had spent the rest of my time working on the Super Soldier Serum Research that I restarted after I got my new house. I had made strides in it but it still wasn't viable for live testing and there was no way I was using any of my roommates(or was it housemates?) as experimental guinea pigs. 

I was hoping about completing my work on the Serum before the end of April and wrapping up anymore business I had before leaving to hopefully learn magic. 

I had gotten a lead on Klaue which I would be working on this week, the next few days specifically. I already had a small or rather sizeable amount of Adamantium that would be enough for limited use and unless I want to raid the US government for the formula of Adamantium. 

I had sent a message to Ororo about the kid who was with Shaw so things were fine on his end, and… I might have left Emma Frost on the frozen sea along with her… former associates. Hopefully she won't be traumatized. 

What I did to Sublime was not pretty, aesthetically speaking. Turns out that having a hive mind was not a good idea for him. Though he did have some insane level of mental defense, what put against the likes of a mind which was more adaptable and flexible, being able to switch between offensive and defensive. 

The moment I won the mental battle, Sublime was as good as dead. I use the same link he had with his numerous bacteria spread throughout the eons and had to actually overpower my psychic abilities by a huge margin just so I could kill them with the link they had to Sublime's main consciousness. 

… 

The next day saw me on a flight to Cairo as that was the last place Fury had said the search for Klaue pinged. According to Fury, he was holing down in a place called Manial. 

I arrived in the early hours of the day at the International Airport in Heliopolis and since I didn't want anyone knowing what I wanted to do with Klaue, I refused Fury's help for an aide. 

Hopefully it was a quick work with Klaue as I didn't want to waste more time than I should after I finally exercised the day before. 

Though Sunspot was strong for his age, and also the edge he had in me in speed, the feeling I got was that he wouldn't be able to fight me at all if I augmented myself. He had a lot of a hard time keeping up with me in my base form. 

Searching for Klaue was harder than I thought even with the location Fury had given me. The dude was very good at keeping low that he managed to escape not only the technologically advanced Wakadans but even that of different countries of the world. 

I didn't know if he was still in Manial or even Cairo but this was the only lead I had. I spent the entire day going from place to place, looking at spots from the images Fury sent me. 

'Hmm, Egypt would make a nice vacation spot.'

Unfortunately I didn't come for the amazing view. 

I had to spend the next few days casing the city of Cairo while also taking the few hours I could afford to enjoy the place. 

I had been prepared to call it quits when I heard about some arms deal going down. I was bored so I tracked down a drug syndicate, which were at an all time low, almost nonexistent, in Cairo. 

I refrained from using my powers since these guys were just normal humans and settled for the old ways. Guns in hands.

It had rather been easy, boring even, as I never seemed to miss my shot. It had gotten boring to the point that I even started counting the numbers of bullets I used and the numbers of criminals killed trying my best to use one bullet to kill two people. It was hard, yes, but it wasn't impossible by any stretch of the word. All I had to do was aim for the throat. 

Some started crying and begging, thinking I was a hitter from some rivaling international gang, sent to wipe them out to make way for the bidding war that was to go down in a few days. 

I made quick work of them after they gave me everything I needed. 

Just the fact that would be a bidding war for arms already had me convinced of Klaue's presence still in the city. 

I left the now quiet base and went for another one as I was still bored. 

… 

The location for the auction was an underground establishment which was directly under the stool I sat on, peacefully sipping the Irish ale this wonderful bar had. 

The bar was a front if it wasn't already obvious for the arms auction which was currently happening. I had already identified Klaue and his men and then went ahead with identifying the weapons that were to be sold. 

Most of the weapons weren't present which was obvious the moment I saw a submarine listed on their menu. 

I wasn't even the least bit surprised when I saw some missiles with the bold emblazon of STARK INDUSTRIES. Stark's weapons were impressive, which was a truth everyone agreed with, but even his weapons lost out to a submarine and fucking nuclear codes. 

Where the hell do these guys get stuff like this? 

I mean, fuck, someone had a chemical mixture that could dissolve both skin and bones in less than 30 freaking seconds. Oh, and there was also half a kilo of Vibranium being sold. 

Most of the sellers and buyers were listed under anonymous as it would be pretty stupid to have your personal name in books like these when they could use it against you someday. And not to mention being the victim of someone's target. 

From what I could see, there were different entrances to enter into the location of the auction which were spread through the underground networks of the city. 

Hotels which have hidden compartments that led directly to the auction, parks with secret passageways, even clothing stores with elevator booths, and then there was the bar. 

It was a spider web of connections, possibly one of the biggest arms deal in the world. I wonder if my former world had something like this. I highly doubt it. 

The auction for the most part was boring as people just threw in cash ranging from tens, to hundreds, to billions of dollars. These were definitely the rich and powerful of modern day society.

I was only focused on Klaue, waiting to see who would be buying his Vibranium that he put for sale. 

I had come here just to track Klaue down to his base but from what I was seeing, I was just being a fool. These guys were literally throwing away billions of dollars and while my need for money was pretty much nonexistent, since I doubt I'd ever get to spend it all in my lifetime. 

Quite hilarious how money had lost its meaning to me in less than a year when it was one of my top priorities 3 years ago. My net worth was approaching 50 million dollars in less than one year from all the apps I made last year. 

Suckerberg had looked at me as if I was an alien when he saw me raking in extra commas in months while his was just a few hundred thousands shy of 10 million. 

I contemplated my option and my priority was making sure that my identity wasn't known, wouldn't want whatever political power present here to be wrecking my home on a daily now, would I? 

I paid for my drink and left the bar and followed one of the underground pathways that led me to… the police station. 

Seriously? 

I did a sharp 45° and followed another, this one leading to an antiques shop. Good. 

I definitely couldn't go in looking like your regular salary man with the suit and tie, since that was a look that was quickly becoming associated with me, so with an irritated sigh, I turned back and made my way back to my hotel room. So much for an enhanced brain ay? 

My next outing had me in jogger pants, flip flops and a bathroom robe with a foxy helmet, or was it a mask? Dunno, all I knew was that I was wearing a fox head while receiving weird looks and some funny ones and also being taken pictures of. 

I walked into the antiques store like a loan shark, slamming the receptionist's head on his table before taking his guns away. 

'Old-school style.'

So with two guns, one in each hand, and a resolve to go John Wick on these motherfuckers, I kicked away the cliché pendulum clock that a hidden compartment behind it and ran towards the auction with a smiling foxy helmet, a bathrobe, jogger pants and flip flops. 

This right here is pure untapped badassery. What? Nick Fury? Pshh, as if! 

Headshot and headshot, all with a smile, as I downed the first two guards I came across. 

I holstered their guns to my waist without my pants sagging off and nodded to myself and began my sprint once again. 

One shot was all it took to fall any enemy I came across, sometimes two enemies as I aimed for their throats if they were aligned. 

I was a few hundred meters away for the auction when I heard the transmission about a fox-headed intruder. It must have been my subconscious but I felt the smile on foxy's face get wider as I heard that news. 

I raced downwards dancing through the bullets of the reinforcements as I returned fire. I was already a door away from the auction before I decided to do something dramatic. 

Since there were no cameras around, nor was there anybody to see me use my powers, I breathed out a huge amount of smoke so much that it filled over a hundred meters of the path I was on with nonvisible smoke. 

With the preparations, foxy, being me, kicked open the door and waited for exactly five seconds before walking in making sure my footsteps were loud enough to be heard. 

Someone tried shooting at me from what looks like a VIP room but a single bang from me dissuaded him… permanently.

The room went still, not for long as another bang from me ended another foolish attempt at assassination. 

Everyone stared at me before, bang! The auctioneer fell dead on the stage. 

Everyone was on edge as most of the men who had made their way inside the hall by now had their guns pointed at me. 

'It never ends, does it?'

We continued our stare down before someone finally had the courage to ask. Well seeing as how he was smoking a big fat ass cigar with a shining bald head, looking as if he was the Marvel version of an obese Top G, I could guess that he thought he was in no danger whatsoever. "Who are you?"

I contemplated answering or just wasting the fucker but I figured I had a game to play so I… played along. "You can call me the Joker."

"…I can definitely see that. I don't know which organization hired you to cause a ruckus here but that was a grave mistake you made, son."

"Tell me, are you part of any organization. If so, what do you go by? I should have heard of you if they had someone of your caliber. Before that, mind telling me who sent you?"

"Thomas Shelby did. Said you lot were running ground in his territory without paying him the proper respect." I answered coolly. 

"Thomas fucking Shelby huh? Never heard of him but now I do. Given as to how we are having this conversation, I guess this Thomas Shelby sent you here with a message." I could feel the call for blood as he sat there and conversed with me like real gentlemen do. 

"He does. He said when you all go to hell, tell the devil that 'Thomas Shelby sent you.'" I could feel the smile on foxy getting way wider than it should be. 

"I see…" The man said through gritted teeth. "Pray tell, what's the name of this organization of yours again?"

…

…

"We're the Peaky fucking Blinders."

...

A/N: Before all ask, let me just say I was high af when writing this chapter. Had the most wicked cases of hungovers when I woke up.

For those who are still pure of heart, let me give you a sincere advice:

STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM YOUR COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY FRIENDS. THEY ARE THE DEVIL.

Don't forget to vote.

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