A SON'S RESTITUTION

BOOK I: Prologue

(The day during the GREAT WAR of Tony Stark and Carol Danvers: Los Angeles, California)

   Allen Stroud went into a local bar as he wanted to have a drink. The patrons were playing billiards and some watched the TV news. An old bartender busied himself in serving drinks for his customers. He found a seat and smiled at the senior citizen. The dark haired mercenary ordered a bottle of beer and paid him. He slowly drank as he saw the news coverage of the battle between Danvers' faction and Stark's group. Allen sadly sighed and felt disappointed to see the war. The bartender's face turned gloomy and bowed his head as he never expected this one to happen. 

 " Heard of Captain Marvel? " he asked.

 " The famous hero who went from fame to zero?  " Allen nodded and replied.   "Yeah, I've heard of her." 

 " Look what happened at the Capitol, " he spoke. " A lot of things got  the worst. Then, Spider-Boy got into trouble. The Avengers and the rest made a big problem. Aren't they supposed to deal with it more civilizedly? "

 " She wanted to make a difference, but it divided them so to deal with it. Their war was the only way, but right now some of them might go their separate ways. It might not be avengers, no more. " 

 " Yeah, " the bartender frowned and nodded. " But I hope someone will step up and fix all these terrible mistakes. How about you? Will you do that? "

   " I'm just a mercenary. Maybe for the right pay and helping them might benefit me by owning me a favour. I  suppose I could try. " 

  " Well, anyway. Mind if I could ask, who are you looking for? "

  " Looking for a person who might have agenda with those heroes has a skull on his arm."

   " Hmmm, that's terrible, " he muttered. " You better check out on them. "

   " Thanks and I hope this goes smoothly,"  the merc replied and confidently grinned. 

   Suddenly, there were a group of men who entered casually at the establishment. Allen curiously looked at them. A tall being with a long brown hair and a sharp teeth walked along with them. His nails were too sharp to slash anyone as he had a long tail. The man was wearing a dark leather jacket matched with his other clothes. His companions signalled him to take a seat. The man nodded and turned to the bartender.

   " Hey, Bartender! " he called. " Give me and my buddies some bottles of beer! "

   " Okay, coming, " the old man blandly answered and followed the instructions. He approached the men and served their drink. " Sheesh! Here goes my favorite customer or should I say my lifetime unpaid debtor. " 

   The man was not an ordinary person, but a crocodile Faunus agent of HYDRA. He watched everyone and began sipping his bottle of beer. He and his companions were discussing of important things as well as those events transpired several days ago. Allen looked at the group while keeping himself unnoticed. 

  " That must be the leader of the group, "  the mercenary thought.

    The crocodile Faunus man ordered another bottle of beer as he asked. The people around him glared and the other ignored the man's buddies when they were loudly laughing and conversing. Allen felt annoyed to see their presence when he finished his drink. 

  " How many drinks does he take? " the merc wondered while looking at his other companions. The TV screen in the bar still showed Captain Marvel's umbrage and ruckus in Washington. Everyone got disturbed to see how she battled up with Tony Stark's larger grey armor.