CHAPTER 64

A/N: Where am I supposed to begin with this shit? Webnovel just decided to pull the wedgies on lot of asses..

Due to some of you asking me to post this on other platforms, I updated the Fan*fiction.net post to recent chapters so those of you who use that platform can go there: DraulTheOminous is the name.

I'm still debating posting of Royal Road... But let me know what you think. I'll still be posting on Webnovel anyway.

Pa*treon.com/Draul_TheOminous

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[A certain redhead's POV]

When was the last time she had hoped, was something even she didn't know.

It was such a long time ago to her that looking back at it now made it seem like a lost memory. She had promised herself that they wouldn't break her and that was what made her held on even until this point when it looked like giving in was the best choice.

She tried as much as possible to hold on to hope that something might happen and she would be able to one day meet her sister and reunite with their family once again but this damned place took it upon itself to laugh at her at every turn.

She tried as much as possible to stay away from the interest of the Proprietress but at the end it was useless. No matter how many times she failed or even faked it, all it did was garner more interest in her. 

And that was when despair set in. 

She was chosen for the next Widow and was made to undergo the graduation ceremony. She would have cried if she could but with what had been happening to her so far, she didn't think it was a good idea. She couldn't even remember when last she cried, she had always been the strong one unlike her sister. 

The first few months after the ceremony was spent bringing her to form and having her understand how the world worked. She had been in a few missions since then and she would like to believe that she still had something they had yet to take from her, she knew it was only a matter of time before she lost it too. 

They took her family, they took her name, they took her being. She had nothing except who they had made her to be; their best weapon. 

She was the world's best assassin and it was all thanks to them. 

She still held that hope that maybe they failed to take everything from her, like her sister for example. Maybe she survived. 

But as the day went on, even that small hope was destroyed. She saw girls die, either by her hands or those of the others. Some were killed because they couldn't continue the program and were deemed as useless. The hope of one day meeting her sister was killed like those unfortunate girls were – the story of her life. 

It was all just one big irony. 

She had just gotten back from a mission, the target was an arms dealer from Czech, a fairly easy one at that. All she did was flirt here, bat an eyelid there and the moment he invited her to his room and started taking off his trousers was the moment she slashed a knife through his jugular. 

She returned immediately after the mission and went to her room to await the next one. She had a few days of rest before she was called and told that they spotted three intruders making their way here. 

They had all gotten ready since Dreykov was adamant that those three were a threat. 

She recalled the information that had been given to her a few months back. It was supposed to one of her targets. 

The man called the Draugr. He was made by an organization to be the most unkillable soldier they had but he rebelled and killed them instead. If only that was her. 

From the files, she knew that he had some type of enhanced physique which was as higher as that of super soldiers but she didn't pay it any mind since there were a lot of mutants who had such abilities and some were even more impressive. 

From what she also knew, he could control fire and ice to a certain degree but it didn't delve into his limits and known weakness but as Dreykov always said, 'every man has a general weakness – a woman'. She didn't know how true that was but if she had been sent on a mission with him as a target, then she would do her best to kill him. One more name on her ledger was nothing new. 

But this situation wasn't what she expected, he came and also brought with him two people of interest. 

The Winter Soldier. 

She hadn't known about him until HYDRA fell and only then was she told that the Red Room was born due to him and Captain America's success as engineered soldiers so she didn't know how to feel about the man. The other one bore a striking resemblance to the Captain but instead of the iconic stripes of red and white, his was black with light-grey stripes. Even his shield was the same with that of Steve Rogers except that it still followed the same color tone. 

He and the Winter Soldier had matching color theme except for the Draugr who had a white shirt, black trousers and a red tie, looking the same as he looked in his profile data. 

It wasn't even a surprise to her that the Americans had engineered another super soldier and from the looks of it, they had given him the mantle of Captain America. 

Her thoughts were cut short when the front door was blown apart by an explosion from the Draugr. 

She had expected them to come in and start killing but the words that came out of his mouth surprised her, well not just her but pretty much everyone. 

"You have two choices. Those who want to fight on one side and those who want to be saved on the other!"

If it was before then she would have been tempted by such an offer, and while she still did, she was not foolish enough to believe it. Even if she was desperate. 

She watched as the man and Dreykov talked before Dreykov commanded them to attack. She knew instinctively that she might not be a match for the Draugr due to his abilities but she was sure she could take down one of the super soldiers, the Winter Soldier, with help but she was proven wrong. 

While they went in for the kill, she could tell that the intruders were holding back in order not to harm them too much as they fought to quickly immobilize them but even with such a handicap, the Winter Soldier was still stronger and held an upper hand in the confrontation. 

The other one with the shield was the same. They held their ground until the Draugr killed Dreykov and that was when she knew that this might be a chance for her. Even if it was worse, it couldn't be as worse as the Red Room. 

She saw someone finally give in and the rest followed. She was still on the fence but made her decision the moment she heard Madame B's shout of the kill order and that was when she made her decision and took a step she hoped she wouldn't regret. 

The next thing that happened was ice shielding them from the hails of bullets that were fired. 

The next thing that happened had her stunned. She watched as the organization that had been a source of her nightmares fall before her eyes. 

He had somehow gotten the information from Madame B and although what she heard almost gave her a heart attack she still held on to hope. She hadn't seen her sister for over 8 years now but she still hoped that she was okay. Even if her sister was a crybaby, she believed her to be strong. 

… 

[Draul St. Cross POV] 

The past two weeks had been hectic for me to say the least. 

Destroying HYDRA Russia and rescuing over fifty women, most of which were below the age of twenty, was a hard task. 

We had to move fast since letting the other facilities know that we were coming for them was not a good choice. 

We had help though. While some of the girls left on their own, which was a good decision by the way since I didn't know what else to do with them, I wasn't worried not that I had any business to be since they were spies and assassins. They could find their place in whatever part of the world they were thrown into. 

They others however wanted to help us free the other girls so that was what we were up to for the past few days. 

I met Natasha who had already taken on the moniker of Black Widow as she joined us in freeing the other girls. She was looking frantically for her sister who she found so there was that. 

Fury however had to stop us and I'm glad he did since I was already tired and needed to go home. According to Fury, Russia was hot news since the Sentinels and also the fact that there was someone who looked like Captain America fighting on international soil was creating diplomatic tensions. Fucking politics. 

While they couldn't sweep the Sentinel Massacre, which they started calling it, under the rug since it was all over the internet, they managed to downplay it and focused on the fact that American agents were acting on Russian soil without clearance. 

Since the world government didn't want to answer to the public about creating racial genocidal machines, they shifted the topic to other things. 

Bucky advised the other girls to leave the country since they could be hunted down easier on home soil which then made me call in my favor from Fury to give the girls safe passage out of the country when they needed it. 

Since I didn't trust Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D with having almost a hundred trained spies, and also due to Bucky and Steve's insistence, I gave them a way for them to contact me or Bucky since he was the one who wanted to do this. 

We sorted out all our things in Russia over the night and boarded the plane that was to take us out of Moscow. 

We weren't the only passengers though, figures Natasha and her sister would want to leave the first chance they got. All I had to do was call Fury and have him make extra reservations. 

Just how did hunting an HYDRA trail lead into this? From the Sentinels to the Red Room. It was not even a balanced slope. 

'I hate HYDRA.'

…

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!!" Was the first thing Fury said to us as we alighted the aircraft that brought us home. We were inside a private hanger, one of the many that S.H.I.E.L.D had when Fury stormed in and screamed in… fury. 

"Do you three know what I had to do just to ensure that the council didn't declare you rogue agents and have the Soviet-Russian government hunt you down?!"

"Nothing. That's what you did, or rather what you should have done." I just shrugged even as Fury gave me the stink eye. He was angry, that I knew but sometimes he fails to understand that I wasn't one of his agents. "You were the one who entertained the councils stupidity and decided that the Sentinel Massacre didn't happen, or it wasn't as important as TWO American civilians helping out the victims of a project you and your government green-lighted!" I ended up shouting at the top of my voice at the end of my statement. 

I never liked the government, not now, not ever. I may be as hypocritical as the next person but even I didn't have the shamelessness to waive off such actions. 

They knew what was coming, the barrel of gunpowder that was the metahumans had been exposed to the flames that were the Sentinels. It was only a matter of time before it all blows up and these fools were still playing games of profit. 

I wasn't someone that would go out of my way to care, nor was I someone that would fight injustice every time I saw it. I was selfish like that.

The Red Room mission was a prime example. I only did it because I remembered something about it not because of some misguided sympathy. It was all on a whim. While I would take care so that my actions doesn't hurt unconcerned people, if someone were to benefit from it, well kudos to them. 

"You know I couldn't do anything." Fury said in a low voice. 

"Bullshit! That's bullshit and you and I both know that. You are THE director of S.H.I.E.L.D for crying out loud and you seriously want me to be that there was absolutely nothing you could do? When will you understand that the council are nothing more but pack fools who sit in their chairs and do absolutely nothing but sip some wine and squirt around."

"I would ask you to take that back Mr. St. Cross." I was interrupted as some men and women came into view with a whole entourage. 

"Who are you?" I already had an idea of who they were but still. 

"We are the councilmen and women of S.H.I.E.L.D, and you Mr. St. Cross are under arrest until an interrogation has been carried out and until you are judged innocent, you will be under the supervision of our agents. Am I clear?" Said a man who looked like the leader of the group. 

I took in a deep breath and the soldiers and agents around all held their guns waiting for a signal to open fire but I didn't pay them any mind. 

I looked at the man in front of me and asked:

"What's your name?"

"My name is Senato-" 

"It doesn't matter what your name is!"