CHAPTER 89

Draul frowned as he felt something washing over his senses but didn't pay it any mind and sent out jets of flames at Doom.

His frown deepened as he saw how the images flickered and how the flames completely missed Doom who was still flying.

'Sense warping magic?'

He could feel that the edge of his vision was stretched more than normal but other than that nothing else was wrong. 

'Fool.'

He grinned inwardly at the thought of how victorious Doom might be feeling now and rushed at him. He punched at the air with a bang as his frown became more pronounced as his fist completely missed Doom. 

He didn't just use his senses when he attacked but also the bioelectricity he could sense which was bolstered up by his brain waves. If it were magic that affected an illusion of senses, then his application of power would have bypassed it since he did not use his senses but rather something like echolocation. It was like him biting the bait of Doom's bioelectricity and using it to reel himself in but that wasn't what happened. 

He crashed back to the ground and did a flip to escape the spells that were sent his way. He thought he had dodged all of them but one he thought was missing him by inches, defied the laws of space and hit him square in the chest. He had to force himself from coughing out blood as the spell wrecked his innards. Magic really was cheat stuff. 

It was bypassing 80% of his durability to cause him damage. 

Something was definitely fishy with whatever spell Doom had cast as it was not only messing with his senses but also with space. 

Meanwhile, Doom, seeing as how his spell was having the intended effect, rushed at Draul as he sent out blasts of energy and spells, alternating between them so as not to give Draul the edge he had. 

Midway through his attack, his sensors told him of an incoming projectile but he didn't relent as he knew who sent it. The metal hit Draul and pinned him down for a second while Doom sent out a lethal spell that was used for cutting things that were 'hard to cut'. 

That spell would have taken a limb from the mutant had he not dodged it at the last second and sent out those omnidirectional lasers of his which caused both of them to retreat. 

One of Doom's fears became real as he saw Draul dodging attacks one after another which made him know that the young man had somehow adapted to the space discrepancy. 

They had to find a way to kill him now or he would be way too strong if he ever decides to hunt them down and Doom is no hunted prey. 

With a rageful shout of indignance, Doom powered up his spells to an absurd degree that he hadn't mastered yet and Magneto seeing the level of importance his teammate took, decided to follow. 

The earth cracked as dust rose in the air around Magneto while sparks of power and symbols of runes shone on Doom's armor. 

Draul wasn't left in this show of dominance as his red pupils changed in flares as wisps of red flames covered his entire eye socket. 

His body also grew an additional foot as new cracks came into being looking more like writing than cracks. Red lightning coursed through his entire body as he stared as his two biggest foes yet. 

"Round 3. Start!"

KRAKOOOOM! 

… 

[Nick Fury POV] 

Nick Fury was not a happy camper most of the time but thankfully he could at least spare a day to unhinge tomorrow. 

He had few friends in his line of work that he could relax with… scratch that – he didn't have a friend that he could relax with so the invitation that Draul sent was one he would gladly accept, not that he would let the cunt know of it. 

He reviewed most of the papers on his desk with extra scrutiny just in case the council wanted to pull one over his eye. Wouldn't be the first time either. 

He was reviewing the reports on some missions he had his agents on when someone barged into his office. 

In the name of whoever was Most High, there was not a soul that could step inside his office with such impunity and the scowl on his face increased when he saw a disheveled Coulson – that was when he started to panic. 

He had never before seen such a Coulson. His partner's game face was so strong that not even him, Nicholas Fury, could compare and to see such a face being broken, Fury was prepared to push the big red button – Global Warfare. 

"Sir it's an emergency!" Coulson practically screamed. 

"Calm down Agent Coulson. Now tell me the reason for such franticness." Fury asked with his custom deadpan nonchalant expression even though his heartbeat was doing reps. 

"Sir they've been reports coming in from Nauticals about irregular wave activities." Coulson spoke as he regained his calm but even Fury could see the twitch every now and then. 

"Is that another crap about climate change? Could be one of the different activities that caused it, why should we be worried?" Fury asked. 

"If it were just the waves then there'd be no need for worry sir, but NASA, NOAA, and even ESA are picking up these irregularities."

Fury immediately stood up and left his office while Coulson shadowed him and continued giving his report. 

"…Homeland's report just came in and they said that the… plates were shifting, causing typhoons at sea and underwater eruptions. We believe it to be artificial… or the work of a mutant. The magnetic fields around the coast of New York and the neighboring states are in a constant state of flux, heavily changing the weather patterns."

Fury's face became hard as he realized that the situation was worse than what he expected. Bells were ringing in his head and it wasn't jingles.

He asked Coulson, "Have we been able to pinpoint the cause?"

"We were able to locate the general location… It's here in New York, but we haven't been able to get the precise location due to the magnetic interference. Electricity and network is down in a quarter of New York and counting. It's like the end of the world out there sir."

Fury grimaced at the irony of what Coulson just said and made his way inside the room full of screaming and shouting geeks hacking away at their screens. 

"Talk to me." A simple order was what he put forth before Hill and Barton came to him to deliver their reports. 

"Sir, tech picked up the anomaly 15 minutes ago but it was just negligible as it could have been anything so it wasn't reviewed on time." Hill said. 

Fury snarled at that and asked with a dangerous edge to his tone, "And how long did it take to devolve into this mess?"

"Less than 5 minutes sir, and the effect is still rising."

Barton interjected at that point. "I sent a team to case and cordon the area around where we picked up as the source but our best reading gave us a 10km range. It's too wide, and also the fact that communication is down and the storm is picking up at an insane rate plus the people panicking… it's fuckfest eve sir."

Fury didn't waste anymore time and reached for his inner coat and brought out his burner and dialed the only number it connected to but the signal was cut before it even rang. 

He tried again but the signal was gone. Only he and those around him who knew who was on the other end of that call frowned as the situation was becoming more dire. 

"Has anyone got in touch with him yet?" Fury asked after trying again but failing before he stopped altogether. 

"I tried calling him to see if he could help check out what was going on in the city… but, it's like half of New York is dead, and the brewing storm is not helping." Barton said. 

"What of the others?" Fury said as he began to run scenarios inside his head and coming to conclusions he didn't like. 

"I think Bucky and Steve should be out since they invited me the last time we spoke but I don't know about the Widow sisters."

"Barton and Hill, I need you out there. Get to Draul or any of those around him asap. Something big is happening in the city and something tells me he's at the center of it. Move out." Fury commanded. 

"Sir, we finally have satellite imaging!" Someone called out to their attention. 

"Give me my eye." Fury tapped on some screens and enlarged the picture for all to see. 

"Oh my God!" Someone exclaimed. 

It was surprising and terrifying that even Fury paled as he saw the discrepancies of the satellite image and data while comparing it to what it was an hour ago. 

Three typhoons were heading towards New York and that was the least of the calamities that was coming for them. Multiple ships and vessels had already been sunk in a span of 20 minutes. 

Signs of earthquakes were appearing all over the city but what shocked everyone in the room was the reading that said that New York had an elevation of 5% and rising. 

Smaller magnitude earthquakes had already started appearing all over the state but that recent development would raise such scales to over 7.5 in less than an hour. 

"Everyone get off your asses now! New York is flying and unless today is the end of the world then I want it back on the ground… where it should be." Fury barked out his orders while Hill and Barton broke into a sprint as the situation just got way worse than anything they'd imagined. 

… 

[The X Mansion] 

Ororo stood at the balcony with a frown on her face as she watched the night sky. As someone who's domain was the sky, she was among the first of the few people who noticed such anomalies. 

She could feel it. 

This wasn't mother nature but someone else bending the natural laws to suit their needs. It felt wrong. 

Even from where she stood she could feel the anger, hate and other negative emotion that was being projected. There was nothing natural about this, someone forced such changes in the atmosphere and it made her feel uncomfortable. 

"So you can feel it too huh." She looked at her side and saw Logan with a tense expression on his face as he looked straight ahead even when there was nothing to see. "Do you know what's causing this?"

She shook her head and continued staring at the sky for a while before she closed her eyes. 

Calling forth the power of storms, she floated upwards as the night sky came alive with lightning. Using her connection with the elements of the sky, she spread her power and influence far and wide and used it to trace back the cause of the catastrophes that were happening. 

Her calm face fell into a frown as she felt the number of accidents and cause of deaths that the disasters had caused. It was monumental to say the least. 

She was able to find the exact direction it was coming from before she canceled her powers and flew down. 

"Got it?" Logan asked. 

"Yes. I believe it's someone's doing, we have to help." She said resolutely. The recent events had fueled her drive to help others. She didn't want to stand by and let someone suffer when she had the power to prevent that. 

"Let's go tell Chuck and the others."

They went inside to find the Professor and the other members of the team already in their combat gear which brought a small smile to Ororo's face. They were getting stronger with each experience. 

"Before you all go, I believe there's something you should know in regards to what I think is causing this… or rather who." The Professor said and gained their whole attention. 

Cerebro had lit up like Christmas lights on Christmas Eve which was an acute irony but one the Professor didn't want to use. 

He had identified three signatures at the eye of the storm and he was very familiar with two of them. The three signatures were powerful, extremely so, but one was at the top with the two others below. 

"I believe none of you would be unfamiliar with the three people I suspect are the cause of this tragedy." He said. 

"Who are they Charles?" The Beast asked. 

"I believe Dr. Von Doom and Magneto are having a rematch with Mr. St. Cross." Charles dropped the bomb. 

"… It's a city wide chaos outside."

"That it is."

"And you are saying three people are the cause of it?"

"That I am." Charles nodded. 

"Is Draul the one causing the earthquakes and storms?" Ororo asked, recalling the anger she felt through the connection. It wasn't like what she felt sometimes from Draul. This one felt like it was lacking… merely lashing out. 

"I don't think so. I believe this is Magneto's doing."

"Is that a joke Chuks? Since when could Mr. Oh-so-important create storms and quakes?" Logan asked not believing that one but. Why should he? 

"I don't believe he's exactly creating these phenomena per se. What I think he's doing is manipulating the magnetic field of the earth and the disruption from his actions are what are causing these tragedies."

The room fell quiet as they couldn't help but wonder if this was how strong Magneto truly was. None of them had personally fought Magneto as he always was quick to leave any confrontation. 

"If he's fighting Draul then he should be prepared to accept the chance of death because I know for a fact that Draul doesn't take prisoners." Logan said. His few running with Magneto had put the guy at the top of the list of people he hated. 

The Professor fell silent at that statement while the others left. 

"What have you done Eric?"

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