CHAPTER 97

COLD CHRONICLES I

…

[Steve Rogers POV]

The world sure was different that everything I ever thought it could be. 

When I woke up and was told about people being born with superpowers, I was surprised beyond all honesty but it wasn't something I couldn't get around. 

Then I was told that them having superpowers meant that there were people who could literally turn to fire and some could control the weather. The scope of superpowers I understood was shattered and rearranged at that moment. 

That I could also deal with. 

Then there were some who could control metals. 

Like where do I even begin with this sh- garbage? Half of the earth was covered in metals and then there were the classifications. 

Epsilon. 

Beta. 

Alpha. 

Omega. 

And it turns out that the dude who could control metals was among the few of the highest classification. 

But even then, I had still been ignorant of what it truly meant. 

Even when Draul told us about the girl, or entity, who could destroy the Earth, I had still been doubtful. 

But then everything changed. 

The night of Christmas Eve changed everything I ever thought was possible. Draul had once said offhandedly that there were some children with the X-Men that could very well destroy continents if their abilities continued growing, and although I trusted him, I mentally scoffed at that. 

I believed I had seen what 99% of humans could not even begin to comprehend back during my time but Draul showed me that there was still the 1% that even I would not be able to comprehend even if I saw it or was told about it. 

The very city of New York shook that night when Bucky and I were hitting the shots. We rushed outside but what we saw in the sky sent chills down my spine. 

We tried to help as many as we could because the fights to be had were close to none and our gears were left at home. 

It was during that time that some kids, metahuman kids, came along and started causing trouble despite the disaster that was already happening.

Bucky and I quickly put most of them out of commission until some of the X-Men and Fantastic Four came and helped us in fending off most of the stronger members of what I then identified as the Brotherhood. 

Clint found us during that time and told us the overview of what was happening. 

The tectonic plates were shifting as well as the earth's polarities around New York, which Clint told us was currently 7% elevated. 

The timely arrival of the Brotherhood members and the current disaster was too coincidental a timing that all of us were quick to realize. 

After taking three shots to the knee from a gun Bucky always had on him, the crippled meta told us what I feared. 

Someone was behind this. 

Something that could affect the entire city of New York and from the reports Clint was getting continuously, it was spreading to the seas and neighboring states. 

All of this was done by the confrontation of three people, mostly coming from someone specific: Magneto. 

Someone who could control the polarities on not just metal's but that of the earth. The odds of facing off against such a person and powers, even though I never admitted it, had me scared. The amount of destruction they could cause was… exactly like what I was currently witnessing and more. 

And not to mention the other individuals who could survive such fights – Draul, and the last person who Clint was guessing was Dr. Doom. 

I knew Draul was strong, hell he made it a daily mission before we left for Russia to beat up me and Bucky daily. I thought I had seen the upper strata of what Draul could do. I thought I had a handle of what the bulk of his abilities entailed. But this? This was inhuman. 

As if it wasn't enough, the storms that their confrontation caused had claimed hundreds of lives at sea and a few thousands in neighboring cities. Even though we had Ms. Munroe helping calm most of the storms, it still wasn't enough. Lives were being lost by the second and I had never felt so useless like I felt at that moment. 

With the responsible departments making their way through the disaster and a few volunteers working to save others, Bucky and I, along with Clint and an agent named Hill, we made our way to where our house was located but even then we still couldn't come close to it. 

We were still more than a kilometer away from it but the evident destruction we saw made us unable to continue. 

We saw magma spewing out from the ground, ice freezing the entire land only for it to be melted the next second. Rocks flew on their own as if defying gravity and the ground seemed to discourage their feet from moving even as the air became hard to breathe. 

We could see the flashes from a fight we knew we would die the second we entered and I was pretty sure I was not the only one who felt like shit at that moment. 

Lightning rained from the clouds above only for it to be sent back. The earth broke apart and flew up in the air defying gravity, so did the ice and magma, all flowing upwards. 

The fight continued for almost an hour before it stopped with a red light blinding the first hours of Christmas with crimson. 

That light was the proof I needed to know Draul had won as minutes later everything started falling back down. The storms had started seizing, the booms stopped but the red flames flowing through the ground continued. 

The air became lighter as it was before while the ground released it hold on them. We obviously couldn't drive through such terrain so we made use of our feet and raced to wear we knew Draul was and once again I was speechless. 

If the landscape of a kilometer and a few out could be ascribed to that of natural disasters. Randomly happening natural disasters, then the scene they came upon could only be called destruction. It was as if they entered another place that was entirely cut off from the human world – hell. 

As if their surprise wasn't alone, they found a huge hulking man in the form of Draul, sitting at the side while Ms. Munroe came to meet them, giving them the news of the ended battle. 

I wanted to ask how my friend was doing but the lady gave us an instruction from Draul himself. 

He sat there, head held down, over the course of two days while we did all we could to stop anyone, military or civilian, from getting even as far as 5 km from Draul's ground zero. 

The next few days saw us helping out around the city along with the Romanoff sisters, who thankfully came out of the disaster with a few scratches. 

The four of us, including the young Yelena, had a talk about what type of plans we had going forward. It didn't take a fool to know that from now on, with such calamity as a prelude, the world as a whole would dive into a search for higher powers. 

Nukes wouldn't do it anymore, nor would they act as the perfect deterrent, and for such frenzied search for powers above what they could possibly control, those with such powers who don't want to be under any sort of authority will come together and then, a whole new meaning of war will start anew. 

… 

"I don't like this one bit guys." 

"What are we supposed to do then Steve? Like Draul sometimes says, 'not everyone is lucky enough to win the cosmic lottery. It's all a gamble you never knew you had stakes on'." Bucky said as he hit the punching bag, sending it flying across the new gym. 

Natasha too had a look of frustration on her face as she swung her knives. "He is right Steve. No one likes it, but the truth is that we are just as powerless as most of the people in this country when it comes to the big fights more than we would like to admit."

The fact that what she said was a glaring and painful truth made me bend the barbell I was pressing in an overhead press unconsciously. I scowled as I threw the deformed barbell to the flow and went for a dumbbell. "It doesn't mean I'm going to like it one bit."

"Why don't you guys… I don't know, ask Draul for help? He was researching the Super Soldier Serum before that whole shindig with Magneto and Dr. Doom and I think he recently found a lead on this Klaue guy he's been looking for since last year. I don't think he'll be against anything you guys ask him." Yelena spoke from where she was sparring with her sister. "Seriously, I'm the only one not getting the special treatment despite being the youngest. I want to drive a supercar too, you know? But no! He had the gall to suggest highschool." She huffed as an elbow was delivered to her midriff. 

What she said, the part about asking Draul, not the supercar obviously, had some merit to it but I don't think it's the right way. Asking someone for empowerment of any kind, especially considering the world we currently live in, was never a good idea, definitely not to the scale of this. 

"I don't think that's a wise idea. Asking for someth-" 

"Gah! Boys! Why do you guys always have to make it harder than it already is?" Nat groaned out whole ducking under a swipe from her sister and swinging her knives for the exposed underarm of said sister. Why they always went for such lethal training was something I'd never understand. 

I ignored the latter part of what she said since that was not a discussion I would wisely argue with a girl over and focused on the important part. "What?!"

By now, all of us had already stopped what we were doing and were now staring at three different pairs of eyes each. 

At my question, Nat looked at her younger sister and looked at her with what I would call exasperation. "You want to go first or should I spell it out for them Nat?"

"Go first. I think the impact would sink in better." Nat shrugged. 

Bucky and I shared a questionable look before turning to the younger girl who just rolled her eyes. "What makes you guys think he's researching the Super Soldier Serum? Why do you think he didn't just whip out a new arm for Bucky and insisted on going for something better?"

I don't understand where they were going with this line of questioning when they could have just given us their answers straight. 

Seeing us not answering, Yelena threw her hands up in the air, indicating she was giving up which made us turn our attention to Nat. 

"Draul doesn't need the Super Soldier Serum, I think that's a point we all agree on." We nodded as she said that as it was true. "Then why do you think he's working on it?"

Realization hit me and Bucky at the same time but I frowned the more I thought about it. "It could just be that he's trying to research it." I think that was a pretty good valid reason. 

"For what? Do you really see Draul as something of a scientist? This is the same person who complains all the time about there being too many components inside a cell. Yeah no."

Now that she said it like that, Draul, although with his questionable wisdom, didn't seem like an intellectual. Definitely not how I would imagine other scientists. 

"So….?"

"So there's really no need for you to get your panties in a twist. Despite all the savagery and axe swinging kink he's got going on, which personally I think is hot," I rolled my eyes at that, "is a big softie inside."

That I could agree he was, though in confusing ways. But… 

"But why would he do such a thing without any sort of prompt?" 

"I think you should ask him that when the time comes, and given his bluntness, I think you'll find the answer… mundane." She said. 

"Do you know why he's doing it?" Bucky asked. 

"I have an idea. Which is why I think he's a big softie." She chuckled to herself before dropping her knives at the nearby rack. "Gentlemen, don't think too much about it. If you still have doubts, then just ask him. It's as simple as that." With that she left the gym. 

Maybe I was thinking too much about this. She's right. If there was ever anything about Draul I had doubts on, the best way to clear them would be to ask. He was just as simple as that, that no one would know how truly terrifying he really was. Even after all this time, even after what happened last year, I was not confident enough to say that I knew what his upper limits were. 

I was brought out of my thoughts as I saw Yelena standing in front of me with an expression I didn't know what to call. 

"So… Uhm… Can I like, borrow your car for a ride?"

While I didn't know what was the point of having an Aston Martin… there was no way in hell I was letting her drive my baby anytime soon. 

"Hell naw!"

"Come on Steve! Just this once. I promise Draul wouldn't know."

I laughed at that. It was weird how despite what she said about not receiving special treatment, she was the one who had Draul's eye on. I wonder how he'd be when he's finally a father. If the way he's like a hawk when it comes to Yelena is any given indication, then he'll be like their second shadow. 

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