CHAPTER 107

[Draul St. Cross POV]

I've been gone for almost six months, although I'd learned how to make a portal early enough, I still postponed coming home. Not for anything else other than the fact that the Ancient One told me I needed discipline.

And given the fact that I talk with those at home almost every week, I saw no reason to portal there. Which was also the reason why I was currently on my plane going home instead of just ripping a hole in space and going through to land on my couch. 

'I hope Yelena hasn't wrecked my car or else I'm taking Bucky's.'

The flight back home was quiet as I enjoyed my tea which I sold for 5% of my Facebook stock. It was definitely worth it. 

'I always win.'

I didn't bring anything with me of worth to Nepal and the only thing I took with me was my sorcerers' robe which I transfigured into my tie. 

'She got lucky.'

I saw my car exactly at the hangar I left it when I took the plane to Nepal months ago with no sign of scratch or damage repair. 

The ride back home was quick, which between my weaving through traffic and driving at 150 mph was a piece of cake. 

I got home and the first thing I smelled was blood but I wasn't panicked as I could clearly feel everyone at home and they were alive with no limbs missing so that was good.

"You all look like crap."

"Draul!"

"Oof!" Yelena crashed into me with a hug which I returned before I went to the others. 

Everyone was suddenly all hugey so I just went along with it before I told them of most of the things I did. Granted they already knew a lot about what I was learning since I talked to them every week. 

"Sabretooth and a guy who could make things explode and also a dude who could shapeshift? Sounds like you guys had a rough week." I said after listening to the group they had been fighting. 

Sabretooth I understood as he could give any of these enhanced super soldiers a fight, not in pure physical strength but a no-holds barred fight. But Gambit and Mystique? How the hell were they able to fight off Steve? 

Steve saw the blatant incomprehension on my face and scratched his head in embarrassment. "The dude turned into a nude woman okay? How the hell was I supposed to fight a nude woman and then be ambushed by a dude who can make things explode?"

"By punching the 'supposedly' naked 'woman' in the face. Bucky would have done that." Steve lowered his head in perverse shame. 

"Yeah, I would." And trust Bucky to bring the pain. 

"So have you guys managed to figure out who these guys were working for?" 'Because there's no way Sabretooth, Gambit and Mystique were working together without someone at the helm. Well it's their problem now.'

"Not yet. We've been able to identify the Sabretooth and Gambit's profiles but the shape shifter is an almost impossible task and they are good. Being able to somehow keep up with Steve's strength is proof of that." Nat said. 

"Her name is Mystique, probably." 'She was the only shapeshifter who I could remember that Gambit had some history with.'

"Who's Mystique? It is a somewhat apt name by the way."

"She used to work with Magneto and given that she knows he's dead, I think she allied herself with someone else. Who that is, is the real question." I stopped there and dropped the garbage on them. It was their mess so as the responsible adults they were, they should fix it. 

Why not me? Whoever said I was the Sanitary Prefect of the Marvel-verse? As long as it had nothing to do with me, they could bomb America for all I care. 

The injuries Steve had were mostly on his lips which were almost healed since his cowl didn't protect it like Bucky's did. 

I had a feeling that I should look into this matter more but I snuffed it out knowing fully well that it was the hero-syndrome taking rise, so I delegated it to the real heroes. 

I had gods and shit to worry about since it was an inevitability that I would fight them later on the line and I couldn't involve myself with every meta or enhanced case now, could I? 

"So why are you back? You said you weren't finished with your magical training so why come back now?" Steve asked. 

"Well other than the fact that Obadiah Stane is trying to buy the stocks of my company and Marky is being tempted and my personal weapons are here, I figured a change of pace was needed." I sipped from my tea and noticed the suddenly quiet room. "What?"

"Where did that tea come from?"

"The kitchen."

"But that's hot tea. No one made tea."

"I know. I was making it while we were talking." Magic was bullshit like that. 

"And I thought you being almost unkillable was ridiculous, and now there's this." Yelena was disgruntled. 

I wanted to work some runes inside my weapons, basic runes for now and also on Steve's shield. Nothing like Thor's Mjolnïr but a simple 'come' would suffice to make his shield come back even when it's knocked off course. 

I shelved that for later and spent the rest of the day chatting with everyone about what had happened when I was gone. It was a fuckfest and boy was I glad I was gone. 

First of all was the Fantastic Four going public and stopping crimes and newly termed 'villains' and all that comic bullshit. Then there was the X-Men who were doing the same but for some fucked up reason, the had more hate than the FF group. Maybe it was the publicity? 

The Fantastic Four were very transparent about what they did, even going as far as showing their abilities in public, which could be unavoidable in Ben's case and Johnny being as flameboyant as ever. 

Maybe that was the reason why the Fantastic Four could go in and swoop a police case and then get thanked but when the X-Men do it, they get the mouth of a gun pointed at them. 

If I had to choose between the two groups then I'd go for the X-Men for the simple reason that they go for the bad guys, as in mutants who want to cause trouble and wreck the planet while the Fantastic Four were poster boys. For now at least.

That reminds me, I have to meet Ororo. Apparently Charles wanted to speak with me and he used Ororo as a medium so I'll have to go and see what the baldy is up to. 

After our little get together, I went to my workshop and immediately got started on my weapon. 

It was hard carving a rune into an Adamantium-Vibranium weapon. 

The axe was segmented into two parts – the skeletal segment and the outer skin. The skeleton of the axe was mostly Adamantium, from the head down to halfway through the handle which I made from pure Vibranium so as to absorb whatever shock would travel through it to my hands. 

The outer layer consisted of the head being part Adamantium and part Vibranium. While I wasn't able to make Proto-adamantium, I was however able to synthesize the two ores in a way that didn't neglect their special properties. 

This weapon was a masterpiece and while I could not find the cheating ore known as Anti-Metal, I believe that my axe was easily in the top three weapons made by humans. I don't even know the limits of the axe but I would have to find that out. Unfortunately, it wasn't something I could use every time as it would just cleave through most people and while I enjoyed splitting God's children in two, it would make most fights boring. 

The rune I etched into the axe was a simple 'come' rune. 'Come' as in walk back or fly towards me and not the 'defy space and sometimes time' rune. 

With that done, I transfigured the axe into a red tie. Transfiguration magic was weird. Weird in the fact that with enough magical power and understanding, you could transfigure anything even living things and the soul, but that part of transfiguration was branched as Necromancy and while there were some books and spells on it back in Kamar-Taj, the practice of it was one that was strictly forbidden unless you wanted to be cast out or hunted and killed. 

For the most part, Kamar-Taj was a pretty easily chilled place. The constricting rules there were pretty nonexistent and even the sparse few that were were actually implemented for the benefits of those studying the arts. Heck there was a library full of time spells that although the practice was forbidden due to the valid fear of messing with the time streams and creating paradoxes and time loops, the knowledge of it was freely given. 

And while I was as much of a Magic Encyclopedia as much as Strange was, I wasn't interested in being the second Reed Richards of magic. 

I practiced what I wanted and what I felt I needed, not like Strange who actually experimented with the Eye of Agamotto AND the Time Stone just because he saw a spell in one of the books. 

One thing I also avoided doing partly due to an advice from the Ancient One was that I should in no way practice dark arts and practicing such arts usually creates a link to the being under which that arts was schooled. 

It was something I had considered when I remembered characters like Wanda and Strange from the older day comics who sometimes used dark arts from beings like Chthon, Cytorrak, Dormammu etc. She was pretty skeptical of me after our first spar, which was our only spar, when something attacked her from outside of the mirror dimension. According to her, it was more like a warning than an attack and even she couldn't tell what it was. 

So with that warning and my cautiousness in play, I steered clear of any dark arts, not that I didn't read, but I didn't as much as weaved a spark of energy in that direction. 

Talking about dark energy, that dude, Master Kaecilius, had been getting pretty sketchy with his movements lately. I wasn't sure if I was the only one who noticed but lately I've been seeing most of his students in the library skimming through texts with forbidden practices. I didn't bother with them as by the books and Stan Lee's words, that was Strange's problem to deal with. 

There were a lot of things on my plate and one of them was finally launching my satellite after the big break of the company. I had thought that Facebook would be more popular but I severely underestimated the might of an app that was the combination of YouTube and TikTok. 

I needed multiple satellites to further progress the data traffic on those apps and not to mention the things that I would be having Nat and the others do with it. I had talked to Fury a while back and he had given me word that the government wouldn't shoot down any of my satellites and I couldn't help but laugh at that ridiculous poorly veiled threat. The moment, the second, I had a satellite up in the sky was the moment I won earth's networking and digital warfare. 

I could hack into S.H.I.E.L.D and the Pentagon in less than ten minutes and they thought that they would have some kind of sway over me when I could finally control the network of over three continents. If I was the typical megalomaniac who was obsessed with conquering the earth then I would be laughing my ass out, but the reason I wanted my satellite up there was for a few things: 

25% - my company. 

30% - to propagate memes. 

30% - access to any digital information I wanted. 

15% - because Steve and the others would need it. 

So with that okay from Fury, I had called my team of engineers who would be responsible for building it. 

Sure I could build the damn thing, but that was three satellites and not to mention that I had other things on my plate and they were equally important. I had given them the blueprints and the money was there so all I had to do was wait for the launch. Whoever said having money can't solve all your problems? That was pure cap. 

As long as it wasn't a time or health problem, money was sure to solve it. And if it can't solve it, then you simply don't have enough of it. 

Since my weapon was good to go, I focused on Steve, Bucky and Nat's combat suit. What I wanted to experiment was if I could somehow etch in a bioelectricity-to-magic rune on their transfigured super suit. It would save them the awkward moment of being someplace bad by chance and not bringing their suit or weapons. It was an idea that was inspired by the Flash's ring that stored his suit, but with magic in the mix. 

I think I could use a belt as Steve's item as that would be inconspicuous given the way he dressed while Bucky would be a simple compartment on his arm. Nat would be a piece of jewelry if she wore any, or something else. I would need to ask her about that. 

All work and no play makes Draul a… magician? 

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