"So what does the great Doctor Doom and the Mistress of All Evil want with little ole me?" Blackheart asked.
Doom produced the drawing of the key and handed it over to Blackheart. "Mephisto has abducted two of our allies. Amora told us that the image depicted was the key to freeing them both. However, she has proven herself untrustworthy. As such, we require you to verify her claims."
"And you think I'm more trustworthy?" Blackheart asked with a chuckle. "You do know I'm evil incarnate, don't you?"
"You will be more trustworthy," Maleficent said. "For I am prepared to offer you a place amongst my Overtakers, and with that, an opportunity to use the Book of Prophecies for your own agendas."
"Don't insult my intelligence," Blackheart hissed. "If you had the Book of Prophecies, you'd be able to free your friends with a flick of a pen."
"True enough," Maleficent admitted. "However, we have a very strong lead on the book. It will be ours very soon."
"And, if I might add, the Overtakers are a most profitable investment for you," Doom said. "With Mephisto's opposition to us, we will eventually need to replace him as the Lord of Hell. Given your lineage, you would be the ideal replacement should you ally with us."
"Mmm, now you're talking my speed," Blackheart said. "How many Overtakers do you already have?"
"Including both of us, eight full time members," Maleficent answered, "as well as an army of Cauldron Born and the fealty of all of Avalon."
Blackheart nodded. This seemed to satisfy him as he immediately turned his attention back to the drawing of the key.
"If this is the key you need, then my father is keeping your friends in the same cages I used to make the heroes choose between Nightcrawler and Jean Grey," Blackheart explained. "You open one cage, the other plummets into an Infinity Vortex of no escape. He's gonna try to make you choose to let one die. But this key..."
Amidst a swirl of black smoke in the palm of Blackheart's hand, the two pronged skeleton key from Amora's drawing manifested.
"Is actually two keys," Blackheart said, splitting the key in two. "If you unlock the cages simultaneously, you can save both. But if daddy wants to make you choose, he's not gonna make it easy for you to both get there at the same time."
"I may have a plan to get around that," Doom said.
As Doom explained his plan, Maleficent smiled to herself knowing that it was exactly the sort of plan that Loki would approve of. Clearly the God of Mischief was rubbing off on the good doctor.
Doom and Maleficent made their way to Mephisto's Sepulcher. Directly in front of them was a wooden staircase that split in two directions, each leading to a cage. In the cage to the left sat Loki, whilst in the cage to the right Hades was still attempting to burn his way free of the prison. Directly at the base of the stairs stood Morgan le Fay and Mephisto, both grinning smugly.
"I hope this isn't terribly awkward," Mephisto said, "that I've brought two of your past lovers together in the same room, Victor. How inconsiderate of me."
"Morgan le Fay," Doom said, not even dignifying Mephisto with a second glance. "What is the meaning of this treachery?"
"This is no treachery, Victor," Morgan said. "I am doing this for you. For us."
"There is no us any longer," Doom said. "You made that point exceptionally clear when you threw in your lot with this half-thing with delusions of grandeur."
"Ouch! Words hurt, Victor!" Mephisto scolded. "But I see you brought the woman holding your leash. Tell me, Maleficent, how are you enjoying your visit to my realm?"
"Given the amount of times I called upon all the powers of Hell, I assumed it would be more impressive," Maleficent said. "However, it's exactly as clichéd and unspectacular as its overlord."
"Clichéd? That coming from you? How rich!" Mephisto laughed.
"Enough!" Doom barked. "What is your game here this day."
"A final lesson from master to student," Morgan explained. "Maleficent, you stay back. This is all for Victor. The name of the game is priorities. You chose one to live and the other to perish. On one hand, you can choose to save Loki, your former lover who has been nothing more than a distraction holding you back from fully committing to me. On the other, you can choose to save Hades. Given that he is favored by Maleficent, saving him will preserve your alliance with the Overtakers, and with Loki gone, you will have me and all the magic I can provide for you. It's really quite simple: choose to release your poisonous anchor."
Doom remained silent for a moment in contemplation. Morgan did have a fair point. What if the plan to save both failed? Would saving both even be worth it in the end anyway? The choice wasn't truly between Loki and Hades; it was between Loki and Morgan. That hadn't been expected. True, Morgan may have aligned herself with Mephisto, but Loki remained Loki. At least with Morgan, if he chose her, she would almost certainly keep her word. After all, she was a Pendragon, and her honor was her bind. Loki, on the other hand, would be more than willing to stab him in the back even if he was chosen. That complicated matters.
"Allow me a moment to speak with Loki," Doom requested.
Morgan went to reply, but Mephisto cut her off. "Of course, Victor. But don't try any tricks. After all, if you so much as telekinetically undo a button on his vest, both cages will drop."
Doom nodded and proceeded up the stairs. Maleficent gritted her teeth and started to move forward, but she found herself unable to proceed thanks to Mephisto's magic. The demon king gave her a coy smile and wagged his finger. It was truly in Doom's hands to decide now. Doom stood on the platform in front of Loki's cage. The God of Mischief tried to put on his usual smug face, but even he couldn't truly muster it in this situation. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a green light near Hades's cage, but he wrote it off as being a glare from the Infinity Vortex below. Wishful thinking. Nothing more.
"I want you to know that I do respect you," Doom said, kneeling down to be face to face with Loki for this. "You were truly the most like Doom of all the Masters of Evil. In you I saw an equal worthy of sharing ultimate power. That is why you were the only alliance I bothered to maintain. I will confess to you now that I did develop feelings for you. You should hear me say those words now. My affections may even have been love. It is an emotion I am not used to feeling, and thus I cannot speak with certainty."
There was an old saying that nothing that anyone said before the word "but" truly mattered. Loki knew this to be true better than anyone. However, despite the fact that he knew the "but" was coming, he very much wanted to savor Victor's confession. If this was truly his final hour, the one piece of satisfaction left for him in this lifetime was hearing that Victor loved him back.
"But you know you cannot be trusted," Doom continued. "And perhaps with your passing, I could move on to other pursuits that have greater certainty. After all, now that I have revealed my feelings towards you openly, it would only be a matter of time until you turned them against me. This I know all too well. I'd be a fool to save you having made myself so vulnerable."
Doom rose to his feet, and Loki did the same. The Liesmith refused to meet death with anything less than dignity.
"But a fool I am," Doom said. "Maleficent! Now!"
The green wisp hovering unseen by Hades's cage turned back into Maleficent, and the two Overtakers simultaneously inserted their keys into the locks of the cages, freeing Loki and Hades.
Mephisto barely had time to react to the deception. He turned angrily back to the "Maleficent" he had restrained. The false Maleficent image melted away into Blackheart's true monstrous form.
"Hey dad! Have I made you proud?" Blackheart said with a laugh before tackling his father, causing both of them to tumble over the edge of the sepulcher.
Loki had never been one for acts of physical intimacy, but after everything that had just transpired, it seemed appropriate. Loki threw his arms around Doom... no... around Victor, and pulled him into a hug. Victor briefly cursed the presence of his armor for blocking out the full sensation of feeling Loki's embrace.
Morgan le Fay attempted to escape as soon as she saw that her little ploy had failed, but she found herself bound by black thorned vines that sprouted from the stones below.
"Not so fast, witch!" Maleficent said, proceeding down the stairs. "You have crossed my Overtakers. And that is something I cannot allow to stand."
"Oh babe, you're gonna love it when I show you a whole new Tartarus!" Hades said with a chuckle.
"How did you manage to hide your intentions from Mephisto?" Morgan said. "He is Alpha and Omega in this realm!"
"And yet he still must bow to fate," Doom said as he and Loki descended the staircase to join them. "It required a great deal of energy, but the Weird Sister's power over fate not only allowed for divination but also to alter probability in a controlled quantity. Doom leaves nothing to mere chance."
"Is that so?" Mephisto's voice echoed around them.
Doom doubled over in pain as his skull suddenly felt like it was on fire. Given Mephisto's past with the Ghost Rider, Doom knew that analogy might not necessarily be a mere metaphor. Doom was vaguely aware of Loki hovering over him, looking very concerned.
"You thought you could use a power like that against me with impunity?" Mephisto asked. "Fool! You've merely opened a pathway between your mind and my own!"
Doom's entire vision was blurred and the only thing he could truly see in his Mind's Eye was a kaleidoscopic image of Mephisto cackling. Doom could feel his powers of fate being set on fire. Try though he might to douse the mental flames, his stolen powers were starting to slip away. Doom knew it was only a matter of time before Mephisto's fires managed to burn their way down to the parts of his mind that were not so easily let go.
However, Mephisto's laughter stopped short. The spiral image of him started to develop green cracks that grew thicker and brighter with each second. Doom didn't need to see his face to know that this was Loki's doing.
"So sorry, Mephisto," Loki's voice echoed, "but I'm afraid your little attempt to salvage this ordeal has been denied. Go slither back into your fire pit."
Mephisto roared in anger as the green light engulfed Doom's entire vision, putting out the flames and banishing the demon from Doom's mind. Doom blinked hard. Slowly but surely his actual vision came back into focus. Loki was still hovering over him, this time beaming at his triumph over the Lord of Hell.
"It is most fortuitous that you allowed me into your mind when you did," Loki said. "Otherwise Mephisto could have rendered you nothing more than a husk."
Doom groaned. "You... saved me."
"I had to return the favor," Loki said nonchalantly, but Doom knew it was more than that and smiled beneath the mask.
Blackheart reappeared amongst the Overtakers, now back in his more humanoid form. He seemed slightly worse for wear but certainly in better shape than someone who just tackled Satan had any right to be.
"My father is off licking his wounds," Blackheart said.
"Then we should leave this foul realm whilst we still can," Doom said.
The four Overtakers, their newest recruit, and their prisoner took their leave of Mephisto's Hell. It may not have been the same as a victory over Sora, but the four Overtakers knew that this was the win that they needed. They were back in action.
That night when Doom returned to his bedroom, he wasn't the least bit surprised to find Loki lounged about seductively on his bed. Doom laughed to himself and poured them each a goblet of wine.
"I suppose I should have known you'd be here after the day's events," Doom said as he offered Loki a drink.
"We have much to discuss," Loki said, taking the goblet.
"That we do," Doom nodded. "But not like this."
Doom's armor began to glow a teal shade of green, and then, in a blur of magic the armor was standing to the side, separate from its wearer. Victor was dressed casually in a black turtleneck and black jeans. His face was completely exposed, his single scar clearly visible to Loki, a rare sight. In his armor, Doom was the tallest of the Overtakers, but without the height afford by his iron boots, Victor was a couple inches shorter than Loki. The contrast was amusing.
"It was never about Doom and Loki," Victor said, picking up his own goblet of wine. "It has always been about Victor and Loki."
Loki couldn't help but grin at that. "Are you finally done running from Victor?"
Victor was obviously uncomfortable being exposed outside of his armor. It had been so long since he allowed himself to casually exist in this state in the presence of another.
"Perhaps so," Victor nodded. "I do not intend to allow myself to be so exposed around our Overtakers just yet. But for you... for you, I am Victor."
"And that is all I require," Loki said as he took a sip of his wine. A fabulous vintage. Victor always did have impeccable tastes. "Your leap of faith earlier touched me, by the way."
Loki summoned an amphora filled to the brim with water. Victor had his suspicions about what the water might be, but he kept them to himself so as not to interrupt Loki's grand reveal. After all, he knew if there was one thing Loki lived for, it was the drama of it all.
"Normally, I would never dream of doing such a thing, but you embraced the chaos and uncertainty of choosing me," Loki said. "And thus I feel compelled to in turn provide you with a form of recompense."
Loki poured the amphora's water over his right hand. Doom could see the fragments of souls in a wisp like form slithering through the water.
"By the Water of the River Styx," Loki began, "I, Loki Laufeyson, swear that I shall never intentionally act disloyally to Victor von Doom."
Swearing on the River Styx was an unbreakable oath. Even though Victor knew that if Loki wanted to, he could find a loophole out of the oath, it was the gesture itself that truly mattered. Loki was a creature of chaos, betrayal, and lies by his very nature. Yet he swore in the most powerful way known to magic to conduct himself with loyalty. He bound himself against his very nature for Victor and Victor alone.
"Now then," Loki said, "we have each made our gestures towards one another. Perhaps we should seal them like we used to."
Victor smiled. The best part. He crossed over to Loki and pressed his mouth against Loki's. The God of Mischief was, as ever, cold to the touch. His kiss sent shivers running down Victor's spine. It was pure ecstasy. The two men were hardly the type to labor under some delusion of this being "true love." Rather, it was what they each wanted and craved, and neither one had ever been particularly good at giving up what he wanted.
And in that moment, all they really wanted was each other.