Marvel: 1900

Latveria, Austro-Hungary, July 1900:

Despite himself, Howlett had to admit that the sight before him and the group was pretty damn impressive. The Castle of Doom was an overwhelming sight indeed. A mighty structure, built with stone and the strongest steel to support the weight. The sheer scale of the building was magnificent, even when he had been studying it for the last few months and knew the interior inside out; Howlett had to admit that the castle was fairly breath taking. The fact that they were viewing it by Moonlight added to the atmosphere, a large full Moon hung in the air beside the castle, adding an eerie glow to it. Perched on a cliff, there was only one real way up, a straight path that offered the minimum of cover to the inexperienced. The other three sides were sheer cliff face that was impossible to climb, at least in the time limit they had.

Beside Howlett, the rest of the team stood silent, he had been designated team leader and what it was up to him to give the orders. They were in the forest surrounding the castle, a thick collection of trees that allowed them to approach the secluded castle largely unnoticed. He gave them one last look, noting that the black khaki uniforms were better than his usual thrown together outfit although maybe a symbol on them would improve the general feel. Howlett brought himself back to reality and discarded the thought, wondering where it had come from before going back to the task at hand "Ok, you all know the drill, we go in, kill Doom and get out. If you want to turn back… well, you're too late anyway."

The comment didn't seem to have any effect on anyone, Creed looked bored, figuring it was largely business as usual, Ororo had a scowl etched on her face, having to remind herself just why she was doing this, Huanxin looked quite ill as if the reality of the situation had just truly hit her while Wagner had a look of grim determination on his face "We can not turn back." The German muttered "For the sake of Europe, we have to stop this madman. But…" He stopped, these words having been spoken many times over the last few months and it seemed redundant to bring them up again at this point.

Much to Wagner's surprise, Howlett placed a hand on his shoulder as a gesture of solidarity "Don't worry Kurt, we ain't gonna ask you to do this. Me and Creed have got enough blood on our hands. One more ain't gonna matter much." The tone was low and sad, Howlett knowing the truth of those words far too well.

With a sad little sigh, Wagner let his shoulders droop as he replied "In a better World, that wouldn't be needed."

"In a better World, me and Howlett wouldn't be around." Creed said bluntly, not wanting to delay anymore "We all know what to do, let's do it." He started to walk ahead towards the castle before pausing a moment and looking over his shoulder "And good luck." He said before walking through the forest, the group quickly following behind him in silence.

XxX

Even from a few feet back, Ororo could still smell the blood on Howlett and Creed's hands. The two had killed five men between then, guards that had got in the way of their path. The others hadn't said anything although Huanxin had buried her face in her hands all five times at the kills. They had been swift, silent and almost instantaneous; Ororo could see now why the British Government valued these two so much. They were killers, cool and precise. She knew that they were much more than that but when it came to doing unpleasant things; they were the best at it. Since they had infiltrated the castle using a window at the front, no guard had had time to even speak before they had been killed, the efficiency being eerie in every way.

The group moved silently through the castle, heading towards Doom's private chambers. None spoke as they walked through the corridors of power until they reached the doors of Doom's bedroom. It was at the end of a long corridor and two guards stood on both side of the two doors, alert and wary. The group paused behind the corridor, Howlett acting as their eyes as he looked down to their targets "Think you can make that distance Wagner?" He whispered to the German.

Peering out slowly, his eyes squinted to avoid showing the yellow in the low light; Wagner carefully glanced down the corridor, wondering just why Doom used flaming torches to light his castle when he was so advanced in weaponry. He saw the two guards despite the disadvantages though and whispered back "I can. But I shall handle this Howlett. Enough have died this night; one more is all we have to do."

With those words, Wagner suddenly teleported from one end of the corridor to the other, right between the guards. Neither had time to even process the sight before them before both were dealt incapacitating blows to their heads that sent both to the ground, unconscious. Despite his slim frame, Wagner knew how to deal a punch when needed. Making a murmur of approval, Howlett quickly followed up the corridor, the rest staying hidden; it was up to Howlett and Wagner now to complete the mission.

Crossing the space between them in record time, Howlett rushed up to Wagner, mildly impressed at the speed of his strike. He ignored the two guards and gave Wagner a pat on the shoulder "Good hits, they're not going to be happy when they wake up though."

"Then we should finish our mission and leave before they do so." Wagner retorted, wrapping an arm around Howlett's shoulders "Let's finish this." He sad, his voice tinged with some sadness at the knowledge of what he was helping to accomplish. Before Howlett could respond, his vision went black for an instant as the teleportation took place, the disorienting affect of the power still lingered even after a few months of getting used to it. Managing to bring his thoughts away from the teleportation, Howlett looked round the room and instantly knew something was wrong. It was the air itself, Howlett's instincts screaming at him that the while situation was wrong at that they needed to leave.

As his eyes caught up with his instincts and brain, he realised all the warnings were coming from the fact that there were ten guards, all with guns pointed directly at him and Wagner. Both paused in shock at the sight, this was something entirely out of the blue and with horror, both knew that they'd been trapped, Doom had discovered them.

"Stay right there." One guard said in thickly accented English while motioning with one hand towards the door. A second guard rushed open and opened them, leaving the path to the corridor open and revealing that the corridor was lined with soldiers, the walls having concealed secret passages. Literally dozens of dark green clad guards with Doom's newly designed automatic guns stood, pointing them at both him and Wagner or the others at the end of the corridor, Huanxin looking scared, the girl was suddenly even more out of her depth. Howlett inwardly cursed that he hadn't fought harder to make her stay at England, last resort indeed…

The guard who seemed to be in charge motioned with his gun to the end of the corridor towards the rest of the group "Go with them, we will take you to Doom. Do not use your powers or the girl will die first." And with that many men with so many guns, it was obvious that even with Wagner's teleportation, resistance was useless… for now at least. Slowly and with their hands raised, Wagner and Howlett started to walk towards the end of the corridor towards the rest of the group, both seeing that the walls had been opened up, revealing passages behind them where the guards had managed to sneak up on them. Two sudden shots from behind made Howlett twist around to see that the two guards who had been felled by Wagner's blows were being finished off. Apparently, Doom cared little for failure even when success was impossible.

"Move! This way!" The man in command ordered, the group looking sullen as they trudged forward. If he had been by himself or even with Creed, he might have managed to pull something off although he doubted that even he'd manage to pull through that amount of bullets. The armed guard led them through the passages of the castle as each member of the group wondered just what was going to happen apart from one, only Howlett noticed that Ororo was sweating quite badly, her eyes glazed over. With a sudden realisation, Howlett edged slightly away from her, knowing that was coming certainly wasn't going to benefit his health at all if he got too close.

After some time being escorted through the castle, the group was led through a huge set of double doors and finally, Doom's own Throne Room. It said a lot about the man that his own Throne Room was supposed to be that of a Prince but easily outclassed that of a true Emperor. It was truly a gargantuan room, big enough to fit a house in at the least. At the opposite end of the room, the largest collection of stained glass windows Howlett had ever seen, they literally made up the wall, each image displaying a glorious moment throughout the family history of the Doom lineage.

In front of the windows there sat a Throne, with such design and decoration that it bordered on tacky. The golden gild that lined the Throne was covered with sublime patterns and decorations that it must have taken several master craftsmen to bring it all together. On the seat of the Throne however, was the person who took up everyone's attention. He looked upon them in silence as the group was brought before him, his eyes cool and unwavering, sizing them up. Not liking how he looked at them, Creed gave the Prince a sneer and broke the silence "What in the name of Hell are you wearing?"

Doom's gaze flickered over to Creed and he waved idly to a guard who used the butt of his gun to smack Creed across the face with full force. Creed merely flinched in reply and smirked, ignoring the blood trickling down his lip "Take away these guards Doom and then we'll see if you can hit any harder."

Ignoring Creed for now, Doom rose from his Throne and gazed down upon the group, his outfit definitely warranting Creed's earlier question. He was clad in a full suit of armour, quite unlike anything that the others had ever seen. It fitted around his skin, crafted to be tight around his body and with three small openings on his face, two for his eyes and one for his mouth. Over the armour there was a hood and cape as well as a robe, cut short to end at his thighs and shoulders, all of which were coloured a dark green. Howlett and Creed shared a glance at this appearance before Howlett growled "Let me guess, we interrupted you on the way to a costume party?"

The sarcastic question earned a small and frightened giggle from Huanxin while Doom regarded the man with a cool gaze. Slowly and with menace, he walked over to the group, standing right in front of Howlett as he glared down at the shorter man, Howlett giving no ground as he glared back. Finally, Doom raised his hand and struck Howlett across the face with such force that he stumbled backwards as Doom finally spoke "You presumptuous little idiot. You dare mock Doom?"

Howlett managed to steady himself, not saying anything but instead spitting at Doom's feet, the phlegm marked with blood "If it weren't for your lackeys here, I'd do a lot worse tin man." He snarled, fighting the urge to leap at Doom and kill him where he stood. Howlett desperately hoped that whatever Ororo was planning to do, she'd do it soon.

"If not for your simple-mindedness, you would know that this is the ancestral armour of the Doom family!" Doom turned away from the group and back to his Throne and from the high-back, took a crown from the top before displaying it towards them "And this is the Crown which shall herald forth a new age for Doom!" As much as the Throne was beautifully designed, the Crown was even more so, gold laden and with jewels lined across it, the thing practically screamed Royalty.

A snort of contempt was the only answer Doom received for this reveal "Great, we came all this way simply so you could show off your wardrobe." Creed sneered, his voice laced with sarcasm "Can we just skip to the part where I kill you?"

Taking the Crown in his hands, Doom lowered it onto his head before saying "And kill the Emperor of Austro-Hungary?"

"You're not Emperor." Wagner said, the outrage in his voice showing. He had been silent up till now but this display of arrogance had snapped him down to reality with a bump "You're a tyrant! A modern day Nero! We saw what you did to that village! How could you?!"

For the first time, Doom actually looked at Wagner before dismissing him with a wave of his hand "They were my subjects and if I command that they should die, then they die. And soon, the entire World will do likewise." He stood before the group, dressed in the armour with the Crown upon his head, visions of grandeur and glory swimming through his mind. Doom forced himself to think of the moment however, this problem still needed to be dealt with "And as for your kind, Adapts is the word they've given you isn't it? Well you five shall be the test subjects to see just what makes the Adapts so special, cutting you open should be of little difficulty." Doom actually laughed at a sudden thought "This shall be my first proclamation as Emperor! This honour should be of some comfort to you during your sacrifice!"

An animalistic growl came from Howlett's throat, his patience long since worn thin "We haven't come here to die and you ain't Emperor. I'm gonna make sure of that." He itched to unleash his claws and stick them into Doom's face but with over forty guards, all with guns pointed at the group, the action was out of the question for now.

Another laugh came from Doom's mouth, his eyes glittering as he spoke, victory spurring on his pride "Wrong on both counts. You shall all die, and you shall do so knowing that you've failed. All of those whose claim to the Throne came before mine are all dead. I gave the order the moment you stepped into Latveria."

A dreadful silence descended across the room as the news sunk in as well as the realisation that they had failed in their mission "You're lying." Wagner said hoarsely, refusing to believe that they had come so far for nothing.

"My agents have already seen to the demise of the Emperor and all those below him. It's amazing how natural deaths can appear to be with certain poisons. There are two who will be killed by terrorists of course. An advantage with this Empire is that there are so many groups to blame for a bomb placed or a gun shot (1) quite remarkable." He smiled through his mask, allowing himself to bask in his own genius for a moment before continuing "And with the Royal Family dead, the nation shall need a new leader, a great man who will guide them into this century and beyond. This armour is merely a reflection of what my reign shall be like. Uncompromising, unblemished and as strong as iron. The World shall be mine and you can do nothing to stop me! I shall reign supreme!" Doom raised his arms in victory and the soldiers, as if they'd been through this before, started to cheer at his speech, as much out of fear as actually enjoying it.

Through the noise, one voice was heard. Ororo finally spoke, her breath short and voice quiet as she said "You made one mistake Doom…"

With a growl, Doom looked down at Ororo, contempt oozing from him as he said "And just what is that?"

"You stood next to a window."

There was a second of silence as Doom looked at Ororo, went to speak and that's when the lightning struck. The amount of time Ororo had spent gathering the forces in order to make such a strike could clearly be shown, the force of the lightning shattering the window and tearing the masonry around it from its place. The noise of the destruction, followed by the thunder clap afterwards was deafening, causing many to almost collapse as they covered their ears. Doom received the worst of it, being closest to the noise and being struck by his Throne as the force of the blast from the lightning made it leap into the air and hit him in the back, knocking him to the ground, dazed and confused.

The team itself managed to take advantage of this to an extent, Howlett had jumped in front of Huanxin to shield her from the worst of the blast, wincing at the sound of the thunder clap on his acute hearing. Creed simply jumped into action, leaping at the disorientated guards and taking a bloody tool, his claw like hands becoming deadly weapons as he struck one after another before they could recover. Wagner was unsteady, he hadn't realised what Ororo had been planning and had been knocked on his back in shock. He scrambled to his feet and instead of joining Creed, rushed over to Ororo, his face etched with worry when he saw her fall to the ground. He got a hold of her before her head hit the ground, concern filling him as he saw she was barely conscious, her eyelids drooping from exhaustion "Ororo! Are you alright?!"

A smile slowly spread across Ororo's face at the question, seemingly touched by it "Never… going to do anything… that big again." She mumbled quietly, shaking her head to drive the weariness away.

"Wagner! Come on!" Came an order behind Wagner, he turned and saw that Howlett had unsheathed his claws and was preparing to attack "She'll be fine! We've got to finish these off before they can recover!" With that, he launched himself at one guard and stabbed him in the chest with his claws, withdrawing them as he quickly moved onto another, not ever blinking as he killed men in rapid succession.

Hesitating, Wagner felt a tug at his hands and saw Ororo was pushing herself up, grimacing as she fought her tiredness "Go with him Kurt." She hissed, struggling to get to her feet "We've got to finish this now!" Realising she was right, Wagner gently let her go so she wouldn't tumble and joined the fight, teleporting to over the head of one guard, landing on his back and striking him across the head with his fist after he fell to the ground. He was willing to fight, but he would not kill like Creed and Howlett. With that out of the way, he teleported once more into a group of three men, letting out a series of punches and kicks to their heads which sent them to the floor. Wagner's yellow eyes flashing as he delved into battle.

But, despite his powers, Wagner was still inexperienced and lacked the instincts that Creed and Howlett took had honed over the years. As he dealt a blow to one guard, another who had finally recovered managed to grab his gun and bring it up to aim "Die you Demon!" He called out, his finger preparing to shoot when a bolt of energy struck him in the face. The guard collapsed to his knees, howling in agony as he covered his eyes with his hands, the smell of burnt flesh suddenly in the air. Wagner turned to the other side to see Huanxin give him a critical look, as if scorning him for his lack of focus.

Summoning another spark of energy, Huanxin let it fly, striking a guard in the groin. A high pitched scream was heard as the man hit the ground "Was aiming for the face." Huanxin said, looking somewhat sheepish before dealing with the matter at hand, letting loose with a series of blasts to their foes. Taking a cue from the young girl, Wagner resolved to go back to battle, sticking by Ororo as she leaned against a wall to help her get back on her feet. The fight was much easier going now however, Creed and Howlett had taken out the bulk of the guards, the floor stained with blood from those who had fallen. They had not gotten off free however; Creed had been shot several times, his body bleeding from several places and movement now sluggish while Howlett also limped quite badly, his right knee having suffered under a barrage of bullets.

By now, only a few guards remained alive, either the victim of an incapacitating blow by Wagner or a blinding attack from Huanxin that left them too injured to carry on. Creed moved to finish one off but a warning spark struck in front of his feet, looking up he saw Huanxin give him a severe look, the man was out of the fight, that was good enough for her. Raising his hands in submission, Creed merely booted the man across the head, knocking him out before looking round the room, the floor littered with the injured and dead. Howlett was leaning against a wall, waiting for his knee to recover while Wagner was fussing over Ororo, much to her annoyance.

Creed actually breathed out in a sigh of relief, this was much easier than he thought it would be. All they had to do now was make sure Doom was dead and then get out of Austro-Hungary before it really hit the fan. Creed turned round to look at where Doom had fallen and was promptly shot in the head, his head snapping backwards as he fell to the floor, blood falling down his head as hit the floor, not dead but with such a headache that it certainly looked like an attractive alternative. At the sound of the shot, everyone had followed to where Creed had looked and saw Doom had thrown the Throne off his body and was standing, his eyes blazing with fury and arm outstretched, a small gun on the wrist of his gauntlet pointing in front of him, some kind of mechanism built and hidden into his suit for just an occasion it seemed.

"YOU DARE DO THIS??!!" Doom screamed, his previous cool manner gone completely as he started to rave, Howlett seeing in him as someone who, for the first time in his entire life, had come across a difficulty in his plans that he had failed at beating. All his plans, schemes and calculations were in serious threat of failing for the first time and Doom was not taking it well "YOU DARE INVADE THE HOUSE OF DOOM AND TRY TO KILL ME?! YOU! WILL! DIE!!" Doom clenched his fist and it shot a bullet right at Howlett, hitting him dead in the chest. Howlett hit the wall with a crack and he slumped to the floor, eyes closed.

Just as Doom turned to aim his gun at another of the group, Wagner teleported on top of the Prince, grappling with him and trying to remove the gun from his wrist. Doom struggled with him and managed to grab Wagner's arm, pulling it at such an angle that a snap was heard as it was broken at the elbow. Wagner screamed in agony as Doom proceeded to twist the broken bones before throwing the German across the room where he landed in a heap. Snarling in fury, Doom raised his hand once again, aiming his gun at the crumpled man before him. He was interrupted once more by something leaping on top of him and saw fingers wrap around the helmet of his armour, Huanxin had leapt to action.

"Get off me you Manchu brat!" Doom yelled, trying to yank the girl off his back, not noticing at first the slowly building temperature around his face. His attempts to pull her off impeded by his armour limiting the movement of his arms, unable to pull her off his back completely while Doom refused to submit to the indignity of punching himself in the face in order to remove the grip of her fingers.

"Huanxin! Get off him now!" A voice that Huanxin recognised as Ororo's. As Doom had been distracted by both Wagner and Huanxin, Ororo had used the opportunity to grab one of the guns left on the floor, she wasn't an expert but you aimed and pulled the trigger, that was easy enough in the current situation. Aiming it at Doom, Ororo didn't dare fire as his thrashings threatened to bring Huanxin in the line of fire. Ororo scowled in frustration until she saw the glowing lights on Huanxin's hands and realised what the girl was up to, she was putting her energy into the metal of Doom's mask. With a growing sense of horror, Ororo realised that Huanxin was effectively trying to bake Doom where he stood.

Ororo was not the only one that realised what Huanxin was up to. Doom started to feel the heat steadily climb, his skin starting to sweat before the heat got worse and he felt blisters start to spread across his face. Doom's eyes opened wide before squeezing themselves shut as he heightened his attempts to get Huanxin off him, resorting to striking the side of his face where one of her wrists were. There was a snap and Huanxin screamed as she felt her wrist break from the pressure. Blinking back tears, Huanxin gripped even harder and put as much energy as she could into her task, blasting the metal with raw power, the heat of the helmet rocketing and blistering Huanxin's hands badly. Doom felt the area around his face feel as if it was bursting into flames from the heat and he let out an agonised roar.

Unable to withstand the pain anymore, Doom threw himself on his back, crushing Huanxin between the floor and his own heavy armour, the Crown on his head falling to the wayside. Huanxin screamed and let go, turning to her side and coughing up some blood from the pressure. Doom likewise turned on his side and started to crawl away, his breaths coming out in rasps as he tried to ignore his agony and wait for his helmet to cool down. Still pointing the gun at Doom, Ororo rushed over to Huanxin, ignoring the wooziness she suffered from "Can you hear me child?" She asked, worry lining her every word.

Relief flooded Ororo when Huanxin gave her a look and was able to smile "Felt… better." She mumbled and flinched as a spasm of pain went through her body. She was battered and bruised, but would live. Ororo looked back to Doom to see that he had managed to get back on his feet, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps, and then he turned round.

Several years ago, Ororo had once come across a dog that had spent several days out in the wild, starved and driven mad in the heat. The dog had attacked everything, a look of sheer ferocity in its eyes. As she looked into the eyes of Doom, Ororo saw everything she had seen with that dog, amplified by Doom's own brand of insanity. A smell of burnt flesh invaded her nose and she fought the urge to gag, whatever was under that helmet now was not the handsome visage that had once been. The pain Doom was feeling however only spurred on his actions, his iron will forcing him onwards "YOU DARE DO THIS??!" He screamed, his thoughts now only on vengeance "I SHALL KILL YOU ALL! YOU WILL NOT! LEAVE! HERE! ALIVE!!!"

Doom raised his hand, felling it shake a little before he steadied himself, showing outright control as he aimed it at Ororo who held her gun in place, pointing it at the Prince. Neither moved as Ororo didn't like the chances of actually penetrating his armour with the bullets and Doom hissed as the metal around his head cooled, the pain withdrawing slightly. His thoughts clearing somewhat, Doom allowed some of his previous pride to come back "I suppose your powers are spent after that one blast. Pathetic."

A grin slowly slid across Ororo's face just before she answered back "My powers might be exhausted for now, but theirs are not."

Doom spun around to his side to face the attack but was too late, both Howlett and Creed barrelled into him, barging into the Prince with their shoulders and sending him flying across the room from sheer force. Doom fell backwards near to where the stained glass had now stood, the opening leading to a gaping hole with only a cliff and the open air remaining. Doom rose and took the measure of the two facing him, both were bloodied and unsteady, Creed looking like he was ready to topple over from the shot to his head while Howlett was practically crouching, his knee unable to bear much weight. Doom himself was going on through sheer will power alone, his facial injuries would have brought down a lesser man but Doom was nothing if not driven by his own will.

Taking a breath and managing to rise to his feet in time to point the gun at the approaching two. Doom allowed himself to smile as he said "Now, do you honestly think…?" A noise to his side and a strangely formed hand gripping the gun before tearing it from the armour led Doom to realise he had completely forgotten about Wagner. With a scream borne of fury and frustration, Doom launched his fist to the side, hoping to take Wagner's head off with his blow. He managed only to see Wagner smirking at him before the German teleported out of reach, dropping the broken gun as he went, the clang it made as it hit the floor only adding to Doom's rage.

Barely having time to register Wagner's assault, Howlett and Creed were once more upon Doom, both using raw strength to knock him backwards. Doom felt blow after blow reign down upon him, the armour offering only protection from the pain, not the force. Wanting to finish this, Creed gave Doom an almighty uppercut using what reserves of strength he had left. The blow struck Doom square on the chin and sent him through the remains of the glass and out into the open air, a sheer drop awaited him as he feebly tried to grab onto any sort of grip, he failed.

With the sudden realisation that his fate was now sealed, Doom's anger increased to such levels that he was now surrounded by a red mist, an ocean of rage where he was a strange cool island. So furious that screaming would not convey how he felt. In the split second before gravity had its effect, Doom managed to speak one last time with five words "I… Will… Kill… You… All…" And then he plummeted downwards without making another sound. Creed watched as Doom fell silently, feeling unnerved by it. If the man had screamed as he fell, if he hadn't treated the plummet like some minor annoyance then Creed would have felt a lot better.

Creed watched as Doom fell, his body becoming little more than a dot before he finally hit the ground, obscured by the forest below. Silence reigned afterwards with Howlett and Creed looking down before it was broken with Creed asking "You think he's dead?" And then feeling quite stupid for saying so after.

Howlett looked at Creed in amazement, trying to see if he was joking "He just got his face melted and was punched down several hundred yards. I think we can put this down as a 'yes'."

A shiver went up Creed's spine as he gave the forest below one last look "I hope you're right." He muttered before turning round. Despite Howlett's words, he honestly felt that if anyone could survive that, it was Doom. Just something about the man gave him the impression he'd storm the gates of Heaven if he had the option, and would probably win.

The two limped back over to the rest of the group, Howlett wincing as he felt his knuckles twinge. He looked down to them and saw they were pouring with blood, Doom's armour having made him unable to use his claws. He was supremely thankful (Not for the first and definitely not the last time) for his healing factor. He'd have largely recovered from his injuries within a few days, same as Creed although it often felt as much as a curse as it was a blessing, especially the morning afters they had…

By now Ororo had helped Huanxin to here feet, the young girl clutching her ribs and she desperately needed medical attention for her wrist and broken ribs. Wagner also looked the worse for wear, his arm jutting out at a weird angle and he looked severely shaken by the gore around him. Only Ororo looked somewhat healthy although she was tearing off the sleeves of her black uniform to use as makeshift slings "We'll need to bring a medical kit if we do this again in the future." She muttered as she helped tighten the material around Wagner's arm before moving onto Huanxin's wrist, wincing in sympathy at seeing the terrible burn scars on her palms before tying the wrist up with the her torn sleeve "So what now?"

"We get out of here, and fast." Howlett said, looking out of the gaping hole where once the windows had stood "If what Doom said is true then there'll be people coming to ask him to take the Empire soon. We don't want to be round when they do."

"And if he was telling the truth…" Wagner said slowly, thought being put into every word "The immediate Royal Family of the Empire is dead, the whole nation will explode. We failed." He sank down a little, his shoulders slumping in despair at the thought.

Recognising the encroaching signs of depression, Howlett growled loudly, getting Wagner's attention "That ain't our fault. Doom was two steps ahead of us the entire time. We put him out of action, that's what counts for now. We need to get back to England fast before we're discovered. Creed, you can carry Huanxin, we have to get back to Pula as soon as possible. I really don't want to be in here once news gets out of what's happened."

Picking up Huanxin tenderly, Creed tried to avoid touching his own wounds with the girl's body. Huanxin gave him an embarrassed smile, obviously wanting to walk on her own two feet but realising that it was impossible in her current condition. She noticed a gleam in the Moonlight over an abandoned object and pointed over to it. Creed walked over to wear she was pointing and grinned at her, bending over so she could pick up the Crown "Well we may as well get something from tonight." He said as Huanxin slipped the battered Crown into her jacket.

Wagner looked at Creed in amazement at his stamina, the wound on his head still visible "Are you sure you can walk Creed?" He asked, hardly able to believe his own eyes.

"You mean the head shot? Oh, I'll survive but I'll spend the new few days feeling like I'm really drunk and in the middle of a really bad hang over at the same time but I'll recover. Just don't speak too loudly for a week."

Howlett gave the two a wave with his hand to silence them "We've got to keep moving, come on." With that, he started to lead them out, wondering why Huanxin wanted the Crown of all things before resolving to ask her later. For now, the group moved quickly and silently out of the castle and into the forest, leaving behind them death and destruction from the battle.

Some time after they had left, a group of people from a nearby village approached the castle. They had seen the lightning strike and heard the gunfire and curiosity and hope overrode their need for survival. They entered the castle and at the scenes greeting them spurred them on as they grabbed as many items as they could and went on. Doom had been a tyrant and brutal leader; revenge for those wronged for so long was going to be sweet. The surviving guards didn't have time to plead or even protest before they were torn to pieces by the mob. When the desperate representatives of the Austro-Hungarian Government rushed to Latveria, they were horrified to see what seemed to be a rebellion against Prince Doom had taken his life.

No one looked at the bottom of the cliff at where Doom's body lay. When someone eventually did look several days later to make certain, all they found was a piece of torn dark green tunic. Nothing else.

To be continued…

1: The Austro-Hungarian Empire suffered from nationalistic strains which were to be a large factor in its demise in the aftermath of World War One.

I probably overdid it with the third person speaking but let's face it; Doom is very much a large ham. Justified though, his name is 'Doom' after all. Hope you enjoyed that chapter and let me know what you think.