Son of the Storm

New Rules

The Conclave was nervous. They were an assembly of the highest ranked members of HYDRA, or at least, those who still remained. They had been summoned by Lord Malfoy. Under normal circumstances, they would have ordered him killed for the insolence.

This, however, was not normal circumstances. HYDRA's power base had been utterly shattered. The ill-judged strike on MI6 and MI13 had given SHIELD the latitude to utterly savage HYDRA, breaking them one base at a time. The even more ill-judged response by Von Strucker to that had brought the Scarlet Witch back into the fray. Only this one remained.

And the simple fact was, Malfoy was dangerous. Even if one left aside his variety of superhuman abilities, which, while they did not put him all that far up the superhuman scale, meant that he was more than dangerous to most baseline humans, he was extremely intelligent. And ruthless. It did not do to forget the ruthlessness.

What made it all worse was that it was common knowledge that Von Strucker had, in his last debacle, attempted to seize Narcissa Malfoy, Lord Malfoy's much loved wife.

This was not normal circumstances. So who knew what was going to happen next.

Right on cue, the door opened and Malfoy strode in, his limp hardly hindering him. He exuded confidence in a manner that drew the eye. What drew the eye more, however, was who, or what – no one was quite sure which applied – was following him, like a guard dog called to heel.

The Winter Soldier.

"Gentlemen," Malfoy said, standing at the head of table. "Baron Von Strucker, my old friend and ally, has regrettably passed away."

"How did he die?" Zemo asked calmly. He was the only one who looked unshaken by Malfoy's entrance.

"Mysterious Circumstances, I believe," Malfoy said idly. "With his passing, I will honour his memory by taking over HYDRA and will do what he could not – lay low the Avengers and destroy SHIELD." He glanced around. "Are there any questions?"

One member of the Conclave, a short, thin man in his mid-fifties stood up and said, tone contemptuous. "Yes. Did you really think that we would fall for that? You are arrogant, wizard, and a fool." He looked at the Soldier. "Execute him."

A sharp retort echoed through the room and the man slumped face first onto the table, blood pooling around his head from a hole right between his eyes.

He hadn't even had the time to look surprised.

"As you can see," Malfoy said, into the stunned silence. "Mysterious Circumstances can be… catching."

Zemo smoothly got to his feet and met Malfoy's gaze with his own, blank one. With the mask over his face concealing even his irises, it was near impossible to tell what he was thinking. Now, Malfoy carefully relaxed, ready to bring his wand up if Zemo attacked. The man wasn't just a muggle, that much was obvious.

Indeed, Malfoy rather thought that he was one of the few people who could survive more than a few moments in combat with the Winter Soldier and he'd seen what the man was capable of with his own eyes. He'd beaten Greyback in three moves and about as many seconds. If he'd wanted to, he could have swiftly detached the werewolf's head from his body, and with very little effort.

Not only that, but his own observations had led him to conclude that Zemo was to HYDRA what he had been to the Death Eaters: the sane one who kept everything ticking, kept the minions in line and made sure that the leadership didn't do anything too stupid, occasionally steering their methods of thought when required. The power behind the throne, the Chancellor, one might say. Yes, he thought, an apt analogy. Kings, Emperors and Princes were all replaced. But the Chancellor, if they managed matters correctly, was eternal.