CHAPTER 95

"My name is Sebastian Shaw, the President of the Hellfire Club, New York branch."

By this time everyone on the ship had scooted to the side of the yacht to watch the confrontation between the Club President and what was clearly as mutant or metahuman as the news had started calling them nowadays. 

Some bold ones had taken their phones out to record the confrontation as well as the view for their anti-mutant campaign only for their phones to blow up in their hands, injuring some of them. 

Shaw was thankful for the Draugr's intervention but that was besides the current point. 

"Pray tell, who are you looking for?" He wanted to curse under his breath as he had some ideas as to who would be the Draugr's targets. He knew most, if not all, of the secret dealings of the members, both Inner and Outer, of the Club and he had found some tangents that brought their dealings sometimes crossing paths with the Draugr. 

"Now that's how gentlemen such as we, converse." The harmless looking man, if you minus his rippling physique, and the stupid strawhat on his head said. "I'm looking for a dude named John Sublime… Let's just say we have a bit of a small difference in opinion, nothing much."

Shaw visibly frowned at that. The man Buckman had introduced as Sublime wasn't that impressive if you looked at him from the standard Hellfire Club criteria. Sure he had money but so did everyone of them, the Club even boasted of two members who were in the world's top ten richest. 

John Sublime has some type of weapons company that Shaw had looked at and it was nothing revolutionary. It couldn't compare to Stark, Hammer or Reed Richard, though the last didn't focus on weapons but more privately owned tech with the first dominating the weapons industry. 

The monarch of Latveria was the top most contender of weapons if it were to be debated but everyone was of the silent agreement not to bring his name at such discussions. It was not a surprise how the entire world reacted when his home was destroyed with a warning letter posted on it. 

Shaw felt a chill down his spine as he looked at the man who he believed was the one to wreck the home ground of Dr. Doom. 

"Is there a reason why you are looking for Mr. Sublime. I have to tell you that he is a guest under my banner and I'm not in any business of selling my associates." Shaw lied through his teeth. He wanted to fish for more information from the Draugr about Sublime and this little Q&A presented the perfect chance. 

"Yeah sorry bub. But I wasn't asking if you were okay with it." 

Unfortunately Shaw's plan failed spectacularly as the atmosphere tensed. 

"I would suggest you think twice about what you plan on doing and let us settle this cordially… Draugr." He called the man his publicly assigned codename to show him that he knew who he was hoping it would at least make him prone to more peaceful talks but he was bound to be frustrated as Draul didn't even bat an eyelid as his name was mentioned. 

Seeing as how the Draugr still remained unfazed Shaw signaled his men to get ready for any confrontation. He started wondering what Emma Frost was doing. She was supposed to find out what the deal with this guy was but as she hadn't given him a word, it stood to reason that the Draugr had some sort of mental shield keeping her at bay. 

He looked at the small crowd at the edge of the yacht looking at them like they were acting some sort of drama. The people that weren't part of the Hellfire Club and were in attendance were less than ten. Even in the Hellfire Club, most of them didn't know that they had mutants in their midst and Shaw would have like to keep it that way but the current situation was proving that unlikely. Well he had a plan in respect to the Club if such a thing happened, he'll just have to push it forward is all. 

"To be honest I don't want to fight your Club, so if you just hand over Sublime or better still, wash your hands off this as a private matter then I'd happily leave after my task is done."

The gears in Shaw's head started spinning and he nodded after coming to the conclusion that such a proposal was indeed the best. The Hellfire Club was all about personal interest and he saw no interest in fighting the Draugr and becoming enemies with him just for an acquaintance. 

"I see then." With that, he made way for the Draugr who just floated up to the elevated yacht. 

He frowned at that as none of his reports ever mentioned anything about the man's ability to fly. 

On Draul's part, he was quite happy that he had no reason to annihilate the Hellfire Club because that would be the only outcome if there were to fight and while he didn't like Shaw as a character, the guy had the X-Men to deal with in the near future. And neither was he in the business of looking for a rogue gallery. 

Draul had his senses locked on Sublime the moment he hit the shore. His senses had improved to the point that he could see psionic waves. The mental probe of Emma Frost and the kid with Shaw was a test to that new nifty ability of his. He kept 'a' sight on Sublime incase he pulled any of his mind stuff and happy that the stupid cell was more intent in watching than taking any action. 

He landed in the yacht and the people in it gave him a wide berth. 

"Get out." 

The ice that elevated the yacht started melting at a visible rate and in less than fifteen seconds the yacht was leveled with the part of the frozen sea. 

The people in it didn't waste a second and bolted the fuck out of the yacht and ran on ice to the shore. 

Not everyone did as one still remained on the yacht. 

The only one Draul could identify, not due to her face which he have seen before, but due to her blond hair, signature white corset and a long trousers that reached her feet, a ridiculously set of high heeled shoes and some sort of scarf that hanged loosed from her shoulders – all white. 

Emma Frost – The White Queen of the Hellfire Club. 

The others he couldn't identify mostly, with the exception of Buckman and Sublime, sure he could have done his research but he wasn't about to go checking other people's woodwork. It's a syndrome every superhero suffers from but not him. To each his own. It would be pretty ungrateful if he took the X-Men's villains away without their express permission wouldn't it? He'll just have to settle for less in that regard. 

He didn't look at any of them except the initial glance and made him way to Sublime who wanted to leave but had his path frozen. 

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" John Sublime asked as he looked at HYDRA's famed soldier. Oh what he would have loved to have grafted his organs and use them for his experiments. 

He had an inkling why the man was here as he was a shadow sponsor of some of HYDRA's projects. Maybe he found out and was cutting off loose ends. 

He wasn't worried about that as he could use this chance to go under and work on increasing the hate towards those infected species. He had some few key targets in the parliament that he could control to impose laws that were heavily against mutants. All he needed was a mutant to cause trouble and the Draugr fitted the bill to a 'T'. All he had to do was play it simple and efficient. 

"Nothing much, just needed to sanitize some massively propagating bacteria."

Sublime's heart almost went towards his anal cavity as he heard what came out of the Draugr's mouth. 

"What are you saying?" He felt that something was wrong with the way the Draugr came to him but he was still confident escape. He had some of the Hellfire Club's human members under his control after all. 

Before Sublime could react, the ice blocking his path dissolved into water and covered him before freezing once again, trapping him frozen inside the ball. 

The other members of the Club moved backwards, spooked by the outrageous control and manipulative prowess the man showcased without even moving an inch. 

Shaw and the others had frigid faces as they saw they ease at which he incapacitated Sublime but were happy that now he'd leave. 

Draul worked forward with the ball encasing Sublime floating near him to the edge and of the yacht looking to jump off before he remembered something. 

"Oh before I go." Draul turned around with a somewhat embarrassed smile on his face. "I'm taking someone else with me."

Immediately he felt another pulse slam against his mental shield, this one however held more attack potency to it. He felt the pulse gaining in power as it tried to break past his mental shields. 

He lost the smile on his face and directed his gaze at Emma Frost who had a slight frown on her face as her psychic attack kept getting disrupted. 

Before she could warn the others about his mental shields, the ice surrounding the yacht rose up like tendrils and wrapped around her limbs and neck. She wanted to try another method of attack when the tendrils suddenly grew spikes which sent a chilling feeling down her spine which wasn't caused by the ice steeping up her limbs. 

"Don't, well you can try but you'd be risking your head if you do so." Draul warned. 

He sidestepped in time to dodge the punch of an all-black young man with some sort of flare around his body. 

As the punch traveled through his side, he grabbed the arm to the young man who widened his eyes in surprise and yeeted him the fuck off the yacht into the distance and watched his crash into the ice, through it and into the water underneath. 

He frowned as he felt another psychic wave but although this one was milder, it targeted another part of his brain – his emotions. 

He waved his hands and some of the tendrils holding Emma Frost shot towards the man who tried to control his emotions and pierced his chest.

He had already restrained Buckman since the start of the fight so he turned around holding the strawhat in place and was met with the confusing sight of Shaw holding a bomb in his hands.

He had wanted to question the man's mental ability for a second before he remembered his mutant ability but even then he did nothing even as the bomb exploded in close range. The shrapnel that made their way towards him were all stopped. 

Shaw on the other hand walked out of the smoke with a relaxed expression on his face. "I'm afraid we can no longer be cordial."

Draul was tempted to say something but Shaw was already on his face throwing his super enhanced punched only for it to be stopped by a low 'thump' as it was held back by Draul. 

Instead of being surprised Shaw grinned as he felt more power flowing into his body after absorbing the force of Draul's block. 

He didn't have the chance to exercise his new augmented strength before he was sent flying out of the yacht by a back hand from Draul. 

"Shh. Don't spoil it for him."

He turned to the still restrained White Queen and brought a finger to his lips in a silencing fashion. He held his haze for a second before she nodded. 

He jumped down the yacht, still restraining Sublime and Buckman since the initial exchange. 

Shaw got up from the ice and was joined by the boy whose skin lacked any color except the slight heat flare around him. 

"Sunspot, be careful. He has a high amount of resistance to heat energy. We'll have to fight him in close range." Shaw spoke to the decolorized boy beside him. 

"Normally I'd drop a sarcastic comeback at that joke but… take your best shot. I really want to see how my strength keeps up with yours." The man with the strawhat came forth with that relaxed smile still on his face that was doing wonders in peeling the ever cold expression of Shaw off his face. 

Shaw scowled but he wasn't a fool. The report said he had super soldier level strength and the worst part was that all those who fought the Draugr are mostly all reported dead… shit. 

Sunspot rushed at the man with Shaw right behind him as both of them clashed with him. 

The battle, if it could be called that, was just Draul blocking and deflecting all the attacks that came his way, giving both Shaw and Sunspot enough time to augment themselves to the limit. 

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