The Doctor's Take

By Michael Weyer

Another scene inspired by "Civil War." Just hit me suddenly, all comments welcomed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He wanted a drink.

He knew it wasn't right, of course. He knew it was the absolute last thing he needed. But it didn't change anything. He still wanted a drink. Hell, he almost always wanted a drink. But lately, that feeling had intensified.

Tony Stark figured it was natural. After the mess of the War, Steve's death and taking over SHIELD, the pressure was greater than he'd ever felt before. Even knowing that it was all for the best, that it was good for everyone…it still felt so intense that he longed for the release a good bottle of whiskey could bring.

But he knew he couldn't put up with it. He had to keep on going. It was the only way to prove that this was for the best and honor the memory of those fallen. And at least he didn't have to handle it alone.

"Reed, Hank, good to see you make it." He extended a hand to shake first Hank Pym, then Reed Richards. Both men were out of their usual super-hero outfits, Hank in a white lab coat while Reed wore a nice tweed suit. They were both tired from the events of the last few months but smiled as the new director met them.

"Tony," Hank said, glancing at his suit. "What, don't want to wear those fancy SHIELD jumpsuits?"

"I tried once," Tony said with a smile. "Honestly, no idea how you did all those spandex suits over the years." He motioned down the long hallway. "Come on, we can talk in the lab." As they began to walk, he looked to Reed. "Sue upset you decided to come back from your vacation so fast?"

"Well, actually, I'm hoping to be back before she notices," Reed explained. "She was busy checking out some of the city on Titan so I thought it'd be best she just not know about this. She's still a bit bothered by the way everything turned out."

Hank sighed. "She's not the only one. We're doing our best at the Initiative camp, Tony, but I have to tell you…we're still getting some heat for how it turned out with Steve."

"I know," Tony said. "But we knew it wasn't going to be easy. At least you two don't have to deal with Congressional oversight committees. I swear, I'd rather be taking on the Mandarin again than some of those guys."

They came to a large door, Tony placing his hand onto a scanner at its surface. It flashed and the door unsealed with a hiss to let out a blast of cool air. "That's why I think we need to get our Thor cyborg back online. I've had our techs going at it and I think we've solved the problems so------"

He, Hank and Reed stopped as the door sealed behind them. The lab was mostly intact save for the large chamber where "Clor" (as some of the SHIELD techs had nicknamed him) had been sealed away since Hercules smashed its head to pieces. Now, only a pile of shredded metal and pseudo-flesh remained on the floor, the rest in melted pieces all around.

"What the hell?" Hank started. "How…who could have…"

"Gentlemen," a deep voice echoed in the room. "My apologies for not making an appointment."

They turned to see a figure step forward. One metallic boot crushed a piece of advanced cybernetics under its heel. The green cape billowed behind him. The eyes behind that infamous metal mask were as cold and hidden as ever.

"Doom," Tony hissed, his eyes narrowing and his fingers clutching tight as Hank and Reed immediately tensed.

"Don't even bother summoning your security forces, Stark," Doctor Victor Von Doom stated. "I can assure you, we are sealed quite tight and by the time they arrive, I shall be gone. Oh, and do not even bother attempting to use your new abilities to attack me. I have taken precautions."

"What do you want, Victor?" Reed said, a hand on Tony's shoulder as he tried to play peacemaker.

Doom crossed his arms, his eyes sweeping over the trio. "I merely wanted to see what the architects of the upcoming age of chaos looked like up close."

Tony snorted. "Don't even try to play this game, Doom. We know what we did was right. We're making this country safer and the world for that matter."

"Safe," Doom repeated. "Conscripting super-humans to become a massive police force, regardless of how they might feel about the matter is making the world safe?" He shook his head. "I never thought I'd hear those beliefs from you, Stark."

"I hear you have some new ways of thinking too, Doom," Hank said. "Black Panther was telling us about your recent meeting where you went on about how inferior he was as a black man."

Doom seemed confused before he nodded. "Ah, yes, that. Evidentially, that particular Doombot had a peculiar glitch in its programming. I had to destroy it afterward. But Panther did think it was truly me?" A smile filled under his mask. "The pheromone emitters worked then. I must remember that…"

"Victor, I'm extremely busy," Stark said, doing his best to appear completely unimpressed. "Is there a point to this little meeting besides destroying SHIELD property?"

"I believed it was time I took a close look at what the United Kennel of America and its chief agents are doing," Doom explained as he looked around the lab. "After all, you three affect much on the world stage and thus it becomes cause for Doom's concern."

"Oh, great, he's going into the third person talk," Hank muttered.

Reed kept his gaze on Doom. "Our actions aren't a secret, Victor."

"Not these, no," Doom said. "But I do believe I know more of the secret moves you've made. Including ones I daresay even Dr. Pym is unaware of."

As Hank frowned, Tony quickly spoke up. "What happened doesn't matter."

"Oh?" Doom asked. "I believe Bill Foster would argue that point." Before any of them could respond, he went on. "From the start of this entire affair, you three have pushed your own ideas and your own plans without even bothering to talk to anyone outside yourselves. You put all your faith in predictions based on inconclusive data."

"I did those calculations, Doom," Reed said. "I know they're right."

A mocking light came to Doom's eyes. "Richards…it behooves me to point out that if your vaunted calculations were always infallible, you and your brood would not have gained your powers in the first place."

"And if your calculations were always right," Reed fired back. "You wouldn't wear that mask."

Doom's hand automatically rose to his face and he was visibly controlling his anger. "The past is past, Richards…and Doom shall still have his due for that. But what matters now is that you three are spearheading a drive to turn all superhumans in this country into government agents. And by doing so, you are setting the stage for possible disaster."

"We've run the variables," Reed argued. "We know the risks and this is the only way to stave off disaster." Tony and Hank nodded in agreement.

Doom crossed his arms as he looked at the men. "Amazing. None of you see it. None of you truly even contemplate it at all, do you?"

"Contemplate what?" Reed said.

"That, in essence, you have become exactly what you long thought of me. Tyrants."

All three were upset, Tony pointing at Doom. "We're nothing like you, Victor."

Doom considered that and nodded. "Yes…yes, you are right, Stark. Because I have honor. And you do not."

"Listen, you son of a-----"

Doom held out a gauntlet and cut him off. "Using a War to make more millions for yourself? Deciding that those who do not conform the SHRA deserve imprisonment in the Negative Zone?" He turned to Reed. "I must admit, Richards, hearing you using the Negative Zone for a prison after all your long speeches on how this race has no right to infringe upon another realm struck me as hypocrisy of the highest order. Of course, you have company in that regard," he said, glaring at Hank and Tony.

He turned first to Hank. "'Man of the Year.' Doom is still attempting to understand what earned you that honor. A man whose most noteworthy achievements as a superhero were a series of mental breakdowns and beating your own wife, a move even Doom would not stoop to."

"Oh, so you'd kill a woman but not beat one?" Hank snorted. "I just love your internal logic, Doom."

"It makes more logic than what you all believe," Doom snapped. "You cling to this idea that a War is inevitable and thus seek to begin one yourselves? You are now attempting to exert your will upon the people of this nation, using an army to do so and under the guise of being benevolent and for the good of all." He crossed his arms. "If I am not mistaken, Richards, such are the charges you have long hurled at me."

Reed looked down but Tony was not willing to budge. "You have no right or place to judge us, Doom."

"I am Doom, Stark. That is all the right I need." He waved at the debris at his feet. "And what right do you have to create a cyborg clone of one you once called friend just to give your side more strength? And then to send him back out after he killed Goliath?" Doom snorted. "I believe the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again, assuming it will have a different result."

"Sounds like you and your feud with Reed," Hank muttered.

Doom glared and raised his hand. A blast of sonic energy ripped out, smacking Hank off his feet and sending him sailing across the lab. Reed lashed out with a stretching fist but it bounced off Doom's personal force field.

Doom remained calm as he looked to Tony, who was wishing like hell he had his armor close at hand. "I know of this secret cabal you and Richards began with the others long ago, Stark." At their surprised looks, he nodded. "Oh, yes. I let it go one because I knew it would end in folly sooner or later. But I must admit, it amused me that you long battle myself and other self-professed dictators, yet see nothing wrong in assuming only your group has the right to make decisions for the rest of the world."

"You could never understand, Doom," Stark snapped. "You do what you do because you're an egomaniac who lusts for power. We're doing this to safeguard this country and the world."

Doom stared at him before shaking his head. "I see you are not going to accept the truth. A pity." He glanced toward Reed. "And you, Richards. You honestly believe your family can ever be the same after what you put them through? I thought you more intelligent than that. But then, when it comes to understanding people, your instincts have ever failed."

Reed held his head up. "We made mistakes, yes. But they were small sacrifices and----"

"Like Banner?"

Tony and Reed both started in shock. "Yes, I know what you did," Doom says. "While the idea of that green-skinned ignoramus brute off this planet is not unappealing to Doom, it is disturbing."

"It had to be done," Tony softly said. "He was out of control, causing deaths----"

He and Reed were both startled when Doom actually threw back his head and laughed loudly. "And you profess to be his friends? Please. I have met Banner myself. If that man believed he caused the deaths of innocents, he'd have taken his own life years ago."

"SHIELD said…"

"And you believed them," Doom responded. "You never wondered if maybe they didn't want you to do what they couldn't and deal with him yourselves." At their glances to each other, he chuckled. "Ah, Richards, I can always count on you discovering new and more amazing ways to be shown as a fool."

"Regardless of whether or not it's true," Reed said. "At least we tried to give him a place where he'd be happy------"

"And who is next?" Doom interrupted. "Who else will you determine to be a danger to this world and need to be dealt with? The Sentry? She-Hulk?" His eyes narrowed at Reed. "Or perhaps Ben Grimm?"

"I would never do that to Ben!" Reed snapped in a rare burst of anger. "He's my friend!"

"And so was Banner. And yet, you are content with banishing him." Doom shook his head. "Again, hypocrisy runs rampant."

Tony crossed his arms. "Think what you want, Doom. But we'll see who's right in the end."

"Who's right?" Doom scoffed. "I had thought better than that of you, Stark. But I would point out that you have gone from another businessman to head of the most powerful spy organization on the planet and a billionaire idolized by your nation. So which of us is the power-grabber?"

Before Tony could reply, Doom waved a gauntlet at him. "Doom has come to say his piece, Stark. He has to come to warn you that your actions are causing much unrest among the international community, more than you suspect. For now, they are content letting you keep policing your own states and borders. But should you attempt to spread this 'Initiative' of yours beyond America…and you will see severe repercussions."

"Such as?" Tony asked.

Doom smirked under his mask. "Really, Stark…do you truly believe yours is the only nation with plans to amass superhumans under a government banner? Others will not be as…courteous as you are in their treatment. Such anger creates powerful fighters, Stark. And someday they may show you that."

He turned and started to walk toward the large doors. He stopped as his eyes focused on a circular object in a case by the wall. He stared at it for a long moment before lunging forward with a fist to smash the case. He reached in, plucked it out and hefted it into his hands.

"Put it down," Stark hissed as he saw Captain America's shield held in Doom's gauntlets. "I mean it, Doom."

Doom just stared at it, then up at Stark. "Put it down," Stark repeated. "I'm not letting you take that to hang as a trophy or melt down or-----"

"You think that of Doom, Stark?" The man's voice was softer now, almost as if hurt by Tony's words. "I am taking this to give to someone who deserves it. Perhaps that Smithsonian of yours."

Reed and Tony just stared as Doom pointed at the shield. "This…was the most cherished keepsake of a hero. A man who believed wholeheartedly in his convictions and fought for them without question. A man of honor. A man who had that most highest of honors which is the respect of Doom." He shook his head. "He deserved better than to let this be kept by those who helped lead him to his death."

As Tony bit his lip, Reed stepped forward. "Victor, we are attempting-----"

Doom held up a hand. "Spare me more of your hypocritical ramblings, Richards. Doom has said what he came to say. He has done what he meant to do. You will find all data about your pet cyborg has been erased and the DNA obliterated."

Doom placed the shield under his arm and glared at the two men. "Two heroes who you both considered good friends and even icons…and yet I am the one who cares more for the honor of their memory. Think on that, both of you. And then tell yourselves you are still doing what is right." He reached to his gauntlet and pressed down. A shimmering glow covered his body and then he vanished out of sight.

A groan came as Hank got to his feet rubbing his head. "What happened?"

Neither Tony nor Reed could answer. They simply stared at the lab as the words of Doom echoed in their minds.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This turned out a bit longer than I had planned. Guess I had a lot to get out and Doom always manages to turn things a bit more grandiose. All comments welcomed.