Capturing Pietro without revealing Jormungandr's identity was absurdly easy.
They found him in a nightclub, completely out of control and high out of his mind.
Blonsky walked straight up to him and knocked him unconscious with a single punch.
Then a group of n in black suits dragged Pietro out of the club by force.
Even dressed in civilian clothing, the Zoanoids couldn't hide what they were.
These were monsters who had spent years on battlefields drowning in blood and death. The murderous aura hanging around them was thick enough to suffocate the room. Ordinary people instinctively backed away the mont they got close.
No one dared interfere.
Not even the small gang running security for the club stepped forward. They weren't stupid enough to pick a fight with n who looked like they belonged in a mass grave rather than a nightclub.
Only after the black-suited n disappeared did Pietro's drinking buddies finally dare breathe again.
"What the hell did Pietro get involved in?"
"You idiots still talking about him? What if we get dragged into this too?"
"Pietro who? Never heard of him."
"Exactly. Drink up."
Pietro regained consciousness inside a warehouse.
The first thing he felt was agony.
A bucket of ice water had been dumped over him from head to toe, snapping him awake instantly. The weather outside was freezing already, and the water had literal chunks of ice floating in it.
Shivering violently, Pietro finally realized sothing was wrong.
n in black suits surrounded him from every direction.
Blonsky himself never appeared. He simply relayed Drex Valen's orders before leaving the rest to the Zoanoids.
Pietro barely had ti to ask where he was before a fist smashed into his face.
Then the beating started.
The Zoanoid showed absolutely no restraint. Punches and kicks hamred into Pietro over and over until he collapsed onto the concrete floor, too exhausted to even stand.
The attacker crouched beside him with a vicious grin.
"We'll co loosen your bones again tomorrow."
Then he left.
The warehouse doors slamd shut behind him.
Darkness swallowed the room completely.
Between the freezing cold, the soaked clothes, and the isolation, Pietro felt a kind of fear he had never experienced before.
Outside the warehouse, several Zoanoids watched the surveillance feed.
"Think the kid's gonna freeze to death?"
"He'll be fine," Blonsky said calmly. "Once he passes out later tonight, his body heat will stabilize."
Blonsky understood Drex's intentions perfectly.
This wasn't about killing Pietro.
It was discipline.
Honestly, Blonsky found it funny that Jormungandr had mobilized for sothing this minor. Using an organization like theirs to abduct and beat up a teenager felt like firing a missile at a stray dog.
Then again, maybe Drex simply thought Jormungandr had too much free ti lately.
Especially since their infiltration of HYDRA had accelerated dramatically.
After Emma Frost joined the operation, Drex inserted her directly into the ongoing takeover campaign. As for Silver Fox Kayla, Drex had already lost interest in her and never bothered bringing her in.
Emma's telepathy made dismantling HYDRA cells ridiculously efficient.
One after another, she ntally infiltrated entire bases, brainwashed the personnel inside, and delivered them straight to Jormungandr. Drex would then implant Thought Waves into their minds, slowly converting HYDRA operatives into loyal mbers of the World Serpent.
The terrifying thing about organizations like HYDRA was how interconnected they were.
Once you grabbed a single thread, the rest unraveled on its own.
And HYDRA had absolutely no defense against telepathy.
In a world where mutants and Inhumans hadn't publicly erged yet, the only widely known super soldiers were Captain Arica and the cosmic-powered woman Nick Fury once encountered years ago. Neither possessed psychic abilities.
Which ant Emma's power might as well have been magic.
"Boss," Emma said proudly one day, "I've been doing great work lately. Don't I deserve a reward?"
Drex glanced up at her.
"What kind of reward?"
He didn't mind indulging her a little.
Emma was genuinely useful, and unlike Jessica Campbell or Wanda Maximoff, she possessed the instincts of a natural villain. Jormungandr's operations didn't bother her in the slightest.
That was also why Drex kept Jessica and Wanda away from the organization itself.
Emma ca from wealth and privilege, so money or luxury ant very little to her. Especially since Drex already paid her extrely well.
So instead, she smiled brightly and said:
"Then be my boyfriend."
Drex stared at her calmly.
"I'm not interested in children."
Emma nearly choked.
"Children?"
She glanced down at herself in disbelief. Even by Arican standards, her figure was far ahead of most girls her age.
"Esdeath."
The mont Drex spoke the na, Esdeath appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
"She's right," Esdeath said lazily as she leaned over Drex's chair from behind, pressing her cheek against his before kissing him lightly. "You're still an unripe little fruit. He's not interested."
Emma's expression darkened instantly.
She fired a telepathic attack at Esdeath without hesitation.
Esdeath frowned.
The mont she sensed the intrusion into her mind, she retaliated imdiately.
Emma staggered backward with a sharp gasp, clutching her head in pain.
"You have telepathy too?!"
Shock flooded her voice.
She had always believed telepathy was uniquely hers, sothing special that set her apart from everyone else.
"This is Esdeath," Drex said calmly. "Jormungandr's White Queen. My right hand."
The mont Drex discovered Emma's mutation, he had imdiately extracted and modified her mutant genes for Esdeath.
He removed the diamond transformation ability entirely and strengthened the telepathic component instead, granting Esdeath psychic abilities powerful enough to rival Professor X himself.
Kryptonian soldier genetics.
Iceman mutant genetics.
Enhanced telepathic mutant genetics.
Combined with prolonged solar exposure, Esdeath had already evolved into sothing terrifying. At this point, she could probably beat the Hulk unconscious with her bare hands.
Emma looked at Esdeath, then back at herself.
Height.
Appearance.
Power.
She lost in every category.
And worst of all, the title White Queen had already caught Emma's attention the mont she heard it.
Only now did she realize soone already held it.
What Emma didn't know was that Drex never intended the Four Sovereigns of Jormungandr to belong to outsiders in the first place.
The Black Queen was a super artificial intelligence.
The White Queen was Esdeath.
As for the remaining positions of Black Emperor and White Emperor, Drex still hadn't finalized his choices. There were simply too many candidates.
Esdeath leaned closer to Drex and whispered into his ear:
"Want to train her for you?"
"No," Drex replied imdiately. "Emma's useful. Leave her alone."
Then he looked toward Emma again.
"Other than that reward, is there sothing else you want?"
Emma straightened slowly.
"This reward still counts," she declared firmly. "And one day, I'll beco Jormungandr's White Queen."
Her eyes locked onto Esdeath like a challenge.
Then she turned and walked out.
Drex watched her leave.
"I don't rember saying becoming White Queen would make agree to anything."
Esdeath smiled faintly.
"No. But I think I've beco her target now."
She tilted her head thoughtfully.
"So what do we do, Boss?"
Drex gave her a long look.
"You are absolutely not allowed to 'train' her."
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