A/N: Hey, guys, and welcome to Chapter Ten! Sorry this took so long to post, I was busy with Thanksgiving. Anyway, please read and review, as it helps me immensely! Thanks for the support!
Disclaimer: All characters owned by Marvel.
Chapter Ten
The first corridor Spider-Man crawled down was empty. So was the second. They were also complete dead ends. He smacked his fist into the ceiling, knocking free some of stone. Owww… He shook his wrist to ease some of the stinging, then swung back into the central chamber. As he approached, Spider-Man heard the sounds of vibranium humming through the air, striking metal and rock.
"Ah, finally," he said, swinging down the passage Steve had taken. "You're playing my song, Cap!"
When he arrived at the end of the hall, Spider-Man found Captain America surrounded by the scrap remains of six Doombots, who appeared to have been guarding a terminal set into the curve of the wall. "Bad guys!" Spider-Man said, plopping down next to Cap. "Perfect! That means we're going the right way."
Cap dropped the metal arm he was holding and turned around. "What?"
"You know, it's like when you're raiding a dungeon," Spider-Man said, tip-toeing over the broken robots. "You're lost, then you find some bad guys. Bad guys mean you're going in the right direction."
The look he received told Peter that Steve might actually be concerned for his sanity.
"Never mind," Spider-Man said, turning to face the wall terminal. "So, the Doombots were guarding this thing?" he asked. "Did they set off any alarms or anything?"
"Not that I heard," Cap replied, turning to the computer.
Spider-Man's fingers started flying across the keys. "That doesn't mean they didn't have some kind of internal wireless network," he said. "But if they were guarding this thing, that must mean Doom didn't want us to get to it, right?"
Cap shook his head. "Think about it. Everything is empty until we find it. Just enough guards to maybe keep us from being suspicious, but not enough that would actually be protecting vital information. No, Doom wanted us to find this. It's part of the trap."
Spider-Man nodded, focusing his attention back on the screen. "Well, just because he wanted us to find the computer doesn't mean he wanted us to have all the information that's on it," he said. "So let's see what the easiest thing for me to find is…" he pushed one more button and a video feed appeared on the screen, showing a Doombot walking into what looked like a basement dungeon, carrying the files Doom had stolen. Webbed gloves pulled into fists as Peter looked at those papers, and fire burned behind his ribcage.
A hand fell on his shoulder, and Spider-Man shook his head, clearing it. "Ok," he said, stepping back up to the computer. "Let's do a little bit more digging." The clicking gained tempo as Peter worked his magic, fighting past Doom's firewalls. After a few minutes, and more than a few grunts of frustration from Spider-Man, he howled in triumph. "And," he said, lifting his thumb with a flourish, "Boom goes the dynamite."
The screen lit up with information, and Peter's mind was racing trying to remember it all. They saw maps, layouts of the building, plans for new inventions; it was too much. But the piece that stuck with them was the final one: a camera in the castle's throne room, where Doom sat in exactly the same position he had been before. He was staring straight at them, and the camera was of a high enough quality that Peter could see eyes behind the metal mask: real, human eyes. This would not be like the other times he'd faced Doom here. This was not a Doombot taking its master's place.
Doom raised a hand, his palm upturned, and the light glinted off the armor as two fingers told them to come to him. Then the screen died.
"And now the image of Doom giving me the 'come hither' is forever burned into the terror center of my brain," Spider-Man said, shaking his head. "I guess that means the element of surprise is gone."
Steve rubbed his chin. "Maybe not," he said. "He might only be expecting you."
"Me?" Peter said, his hand over the spider on his chest like a Southern belle. "Why little ol' me?"
"You threatened him," Steve replied. "Something about 'God help you,' and tossing his van in the East River?"
Spider-Man scoffed. "Oh, no, his insurance premiums," he said. "But you might have a point. What should we do?"
"Well," Cap said. "If he's only expecting you, then he'll probably assume you'll go for the direct confrontation. Hence him challenging you on the screen. Most likely the Doombot carrying the papers was a fake. Doom intended for you to dig deeper into the computer."
"And I would figure that Doom was keeping the pages himself," Spider-Man said. "But what if that's a red herring, too? What if the robot did have the files?"
Steve was still for a moment. "Then let's give him what he wants," he said finally. "Just backwards."
Beneath the mask, Peter cocked an eyebrow. "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Captain?"
Cap sighed and shook his head. "We'll split up," he said. "I'll head to the throne room and keep Doom occupied, you go find that Doombot and look for the pages. That'll cover all the bases."
They started heading further down the corridor, Spider-Man on the ceiling above Cap's head. "Are you sure you wanna take Doom on by yourself?" Peter said.
Steve looked up at Spider-Man, his eyes narrowed.
"Never mind," Peter said, crawling through the open door at the end of the hall.
They came to another convergence of corridors, with several that branched off in separate directions, and one each with stairs going up and down. The large chamber was again empty, though this time there was a large statue of Doctor Doom standing in the middle of the room, his arms crossed over his chest, his right foot pressing down on a sphere that looked suspiciously like a planet Earth.
"Well, in my experience," Spider-Man said, lowering himself on a web-line to be upside down and eye-level with Cap, "Dungeon-type rooms are usually down. Y'know, in the dungeon."
Steve looked skeptical. "Are you sure about that?"
"The only thing I'm sure about is Doom's body odor," Peter said, waving a hand in front of his mask. "It's seeping through the stones in here." He grabbed his shirt and pulled it up to his nose. "Or did I forget to wash this suit after that Lizard thing a few weeks ago?"
Cap groaned. "Spider-Man…"
"Yes, I'm sure," Peter said, flipping onto the ground. "I saw a map on the screen. Dungeon is down. Throne room is up."
Steve pulled the shield off his back and set it onto his forearm. The air around them felt heavy, almost like it was about to rain. "Ok, remember the plan," Steve said. "I'll keep Doom occupied while you check the basement. Find those papers, and we'll get out of here."
"You got it," Spider-Man said, swinging over to the down stairs. He waited on the ceiling for a minute, watching Steve run up the other staircase without hesitation. "Okay, Spidey," he said. "The enemy's gate is down."
XXXXXX
Steve walked up the staircase, moving slowly. He didn't want to be caught off guard in such a small space. Fighting in a circular stairwell wouldn't leave him with many options. His caution was unwarranted, however, as he exited into what appeared to be the main entryway into the castle. He remembered being here before, but at the time Castle Doom had been remodeled into a more modern home for a head of state. Once Doom had returned to power, he'd restored the building's original layout and medieval appearance, though Steve was sure that every inch of the building was laced with Von Doom's technological upgrades.
The main hall itself was as empty as the lower levels had been, though stone Doom statues stood before each of the columns that lined the room. The castle reminded him of the times he'd been to Asgard, the high ceilings and torchlight. Large wooden doors sat at the end of the hall, and Steve could see light cracking through the bottom.
Cap walked forward and pushed them open.
The creaking echoed in the stone room, where the only other sound was the crackling of the torches. Doctor Doom sat in his throne on a raised dais at the back of the room, the intricate carving of the wood rising behind his head and around his shoulders like horns jutting out of a great demon. His elbows sat on the armrests, and his fingers were interlaced before his chin. "Good evening, Captain," he said.
Steve walked into the chamber, and after a few seconds heard the echo of the massive doors shutting behind him. He quickly took in the remainder of the room. There were no windows, and the only other doors were in the corners behind the throne. More columns lined the two sides of the long corridor leading up to the dais, each with a torch set into it. The light of the flames glinting off Doom's armor, combined with the flickering shadows, gave the villain an image of being only half-there.
Stopping halfway between the door and the throne, Cap kept his shield on his arm. "Doom," he said.
The dictator motioned to Cap with his right hand. "It was kind of you to come to me yourself," he said. "I hope that the rest of our evening may transpire without bloodshed, however unlikely that might be."
"I'm actually a little insulted by the lack of welcoming party," Cap said.
Doom waved a hand at him. "They will soon be otherwise occupied," he said. "After all, you are Doom's guest. And I require you as unharmed as possible."
Cap straightened his back a bit in surprise. "You were expecting me?" he asked.
"Of course," Doom replied, standing from his throne and slowly walking down the stairs. "Doom knows what he took, Captain. It is who you are. You would need to be the one to retrieve it."
"And no one else?"
Doom scoffed as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Oh, Captain," he said, "I was prepared for the Avengers. A team with you, and a second downstairs." Doom stepped closer to Cap, and stared down at the hero. "And as Doom is as yet unable to maintain a physical presence in multiple locations simultaneously," he continued, "I was forced to take additional security measures."
Steve took a step back from Doom, and felt a bead of sweat dripping beneath his mask. He knew he should try to raise Peter on the radio, but it wouldn't matter. He was afraid that they had stepped into something far over their heads, that their goals had been whittled down to the essential "Survival."
"As it is," Doom said, "You have simply made it far easier to capture you, Captain."
XXXXXX
Spider-Man stood in front of what had to be the thickest and most ridiculous door he'd ever seen in his life. Especially considering that it was in the dungeon of a medieval castle. "That is a really big door," he said, hopping over to the console that sat next it. The clacking of the keys beneath his fingers was familiar, something to take his mind off the fact that his Spider-Sense was blaring like he was standing in a five-alarm fire. He wasn't great with computers, but he was competent enough to get past the nearly nonexistent firewalls Doom had placed on the door. He couldn't shake the feeling that it was all too easy. He's letting us in.
Still, he smiled beneath the mask with each piston he heard shoot back into the wall. The thought that with each one he was getting closer to Carol's cure reassured him. Even if it's not in here, I just have to smash up some robots, then go help Cap with Doom and find out where he put the files.
The last lock snapped back into the wall, and the door started to swing outward, the sections of massive steel becoming thinner and thinner as Peter looked at them. It was like a bank vault door, except three times bigger in every dimension. As soon as the door was fully open, Peter's Spider-Sense felt like the fire went from five alarms to five thousand, and he nearly fell to the ground from sensation.
Spider-Man looked up, trying to get a handle on his bearings, and saw into the room before him. "Oh, hell," he said.
XXXXXX
Jessica walked down the hallway toward the medical wing. She knew Carol wasn't happy with her situation. Hell, if the roles had been switched, Jessica was sure she would've snuck out by day three. But she really wished her best friend would understand how bad off things really were. Tony had done some checking, and the situation with Carol's DNA was getting worse. Her powers were still flipping on and off, with more frequency, and Tony took that as a bad sign. He was considering calling Reed in to hopefully find some way of putting her in stasis while they figured out what to do. Jessica was actually on her way down to Carol's room to see if she was awake, so they could talk about the options.
The doors hissed as Jessica walked in, and she opened her mouth to start speaking, but was stopped dead for a second. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think; she was fairly certain that her heart had stopped beating. She ran over to the wall and smashed in the button for the intercom. "Tony!" she screamed, hoping the broken button didn't mean the com didn't work. "Tony! Get down here, now!"