Author's Note: Okay, I'm sorry but kudos to me for getting this next chapter out so soon! I'm impressed with myself. Also, a big part of this goes to Why so Sirius1236 because they've been great and are apparently having a rough time so here's hoping this helps. :) Let me know what you all think. This story's going to wrap up soon so I want to know what people think is going to happen or what they'd like to see happen. Thank you all so much!

Chapter 23

"Oh, my head," Niki moaned as she sat up. Or tried to. Moving far too quickly she slammed back into the table once her restraints pulled back. "Ow! Damn it, who the hell…" Everything came swimming back, everything except what had caused her to black out.

"What happened?"

"You made a foolish choice, little one." The voice came from behind, the same oily smooth voice that had come booming out to greet her friends when they had arrived. Niki had been close behind, managing to silently scramble down the rocks after them. "To be honest, Doom did not know you were there until you foolishly tried to sneak into Doom's lair."

"Ugh, you saw that?" Desperately trying to hide her fear Niki feigned confidence and nonchalance Tony Stark would have been proud of. "Not my smartest idea. But I thought I saw an opportunity and I took it. Apparently I was wrong."

Doom chuckled and paced into view. He was on the tall side of average, nowhere near as tall as Thor and Loki though. She had a hard time judging much else about the man since he was covered in a voluminous hooded green robe and wore some kind of metal mask over his face. The only thing she could see for certain was his eyes; cold brown eyes that left her feeling like a slab of meat, nothing more. "Very wrong. But Doom will give you this chance. You showed foolish bravery and cunning stealth, a walking contradiction. If Doom is not mistaken, you have wandered the world with a vampire and werewolf and yet have not become either yourself. This intrigues Doom. Doom wonders if you would be willing to become more than human, and yet still be human."

"What do you mean 'more than human and yet still human?' Like the Captain? Or Banner?"

"No, not quite but close."

She thought for a moment before asking, "How close?"

He leaned over her. "Very."

Another pause. "Very interesting, however I feel there's more you aren't telling me. With that thought in mind, plus the fact that you have me tied up, I'm going to have to say no."

The mask he wore made it impossible to tell if he was disappointed or not but when he stood back and spoke again his voice did not betray any change. In fact it seemed that he expected her to answer that way. "I see. Well Doom can assure you that your guess is very accurate, there is more that Doom has not told you. Doom was hoping you'd agree willingly but it does not matter. You see, Doom has been trying to obtain the immortality of the wretched pests that unfortunately inhabit most of our world. Doom is very close but needs all the soldiers Doom can so Doom has run out of test subjects. Fortunately though, you are here. You will test this latest serum for Doom and if it works and you survive, Doom will thank you before killing you. If it does not work…." He trailed off but Niki knew exactly what he meant to say.

"So no matter what, I'm dead." It was hard to keep the tremor out of her voice.

"Yes." Cowl swishing behind him, the mad man walked towards the door in the far wall. "The serum will be administered soon. Doom suggests you get some rest. You shall need it."

The door closed with a bang that made Niki cringe. Silence permeated the room until it was thick and palpable. Craning her neck she tried to get a decent handle on the room but she could barely lift her shoulders from the metal table she was bound to so a complete view of the room was impossible. From what she could see it looked like a creepy and twisted version of Tony and Bruce's lab back at SHIELD. That was not comforting at all.

As she lay there the full weight of the situation pressed down upon her and slowly as the day continued Niki found sleep eluding her and fear creeping up to overwhelm everything else. A voice in her mind kept telling her to hold on, that her boys would be here to save her but another told her that it was highly unlikely they would get here in time. She never doubted they would come but would it be too late when they did?

All day she debated this, not sleeping, stomach growling, throat parched. Just as the light through the tiny barred window on the wall faded away the door burst open again. Without preamble Doom approached, grabbed a needle, tubing and a cylinder containing a purple-y bluish liquid, and jammed the whole thing together. It reminded her of the way SHIELD had fed Loki after the Thanos incident. The masked man hung the cylinder from a wicked looking hook above Niki's head, got the liquid flowing, and shoved the needle into her wrist. Ignoring her gasp of pain and subsequent cursing, he swept out of the room.

The pain of the needle didn't fade. Instead it grew in intensity and slowly traveled up her arm, across her shoulders, down her core, and out until her whole body was in a constant state of pain. Niki tried not to scream, not to cry. She bit her tongue, her lip until she tasted blood. She ground her teeth together. Finally she couldn't hold it in anymore.

Her pained scream was accompanied by an explosion along Doom's guarding wall.