Again, Doom strode through the hallway leading to the alien's arena. The day after his fruitless negotiation with T'Challa, he had been offered a match from the Skurlls. His new armour hadn't yet been completed, but Doom had been planning how to put an end to the annoyance of the Fantastic Four for many years.

Bright light streamed through the portal and the crowd's roars echoed down the metal hall. He entered the grounds, air flourishing his cape as the door closed behind him.

At the other end of the field Susan Storm waited; her moniker of 'The Invisible Woman' was hilariously understated. She could create force fields of invisible energy and had developed an alarming level of control over them. Against the unprotected, she could manifest a field in a brain stem, killing or disabling at will. She could create virtually indestructible barriers of varying size. All of this besides making herself invisible.

She was very likely the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four, and one of the most powerful super humans alive. And now she was staring at him with an ice cold hatred. He had never seen such loathing and revulsion cross her features.

At least they now had something in common.

Doom had battled with Fantastic Four many times over the years, and he had included countermeasures in his armour. Subtle damping projectors would keep her from manifesting a force field within him as long as his plate was not breached, and sensors would display the psychic projections for him as bright orange objects. Unfortunately, his weapons would be unable to penetrate her fields, at least not as long as her willpower was strong.

Sue made a sudden slamming motion with both her hands, and a massive 'block' of psychic energy came slamming down over his head. He had just enough time to tumble out of the way as it smashed into the sand. No sooner had he regained his footing then another flew at him from the side. He had just enough time to step aside.

Doom intonated a spell, his eyes glowing orange with mystic light and the Mists of Munnipor manifested in his hands. Thick fog billowed from his outstretched palms, rapidly filling the fighting pit with an impenetrable mist

He could hear the crowd of baying aliens as they booed their disapproval. But he was not here for their entertainment, despite what they may think; if he would have to fight an invisible foe, he would do so in the dark.

As the mists spread, reservoirs in his armour added a special ingredient; a potent hallucinogenic-hypnotic-deliriant drug was carried into the air. In his armour, he was perfectly safe from the effects, but Sue Storm would soon find it quite debilitating. Despite the vision-clouding mists, his armour could still detect her otherwise invisible force-fields. Clear as day, he could see the glowing outline of the field Sue surrounded herself with.

Spiked wheels of energy manifested and spun around her, like the biblical ophanim, as she gathered her powers. He knew he must break down her will before he could land a killing blow, and any error could result in a grisly death.

"No witty repartee, Susan?" he said, ensuring his sardonic tone could not be missed.

A spear of energy flew in his direction and a he barely managed to duck under it.

"That wasn't very heroic," Doom said. He quietly circled her from a safe distance, waiting for the drugged air to take effect. "Of course, a 'hero' wouldn't be fighting for their life for amusement of the invaders-" he said, easily dodging an inaccurate projection of force before continuing, "And if you weren't a lowborn commoner, you may have been able to save Ben and your brother."

Suddenly, a hemisphere of dim orange power emanated from her, barely perceptible to his sensors. He felt a moment of confusion as the field was barely coherent, and he would have thought the drugs would be slower to affect her. It quickly expanded and as soon as it touched him a separate block of power smashed into him, faster than he could react.

He was dimly aware of an armour klaxon blaring at him as he was slammed into the arena wall, knocking the breath from him. He dropped to the ground from the impact, and rolled to the side by instinct. Behind him, a new projection crashed into the ground where he just rolled from.

He scrambled to his feet as his wits returned. She had adapted quickly; a testament to the power of the much maligned Invisible Woman. Another hemisphere of energy approached, and he realized Sue was using her powers like a sonar. In a moment of desperation he fired a beam of plasma at her to test her defences. It impacted on her shield like water against glass, and the expanding sphere of energy caught him.

Lightning quick after he had been caught by the 'ping', a pair of fields surrounded him, closing like a vice. He was too slow to avoid them, and proximity alarms blared as he was caught.

Sue stepped forwards from the mist like an apparition; she had one hand in the air, slowly closing her fist as the fields crushed him. More alarms went off in his ear, and read outs in his HUD flashed from yellow to red as his shields began to fail.

"All these years. Why didn't we kill you?" she said at last as she gently closed her hand. She almost had a whimsical tone as she spoke, "We showed you mercy countless times, and this is how you repay us? Skrulls take over the world, and all you can do is seek your petty revenge, Victor?"

WARNING

SHIELDS DOWN TO 35%

AMOUR INTEGRITY FAILING

Doom couldn't answer as the air was crushed from his lungs. Read outs popped up informing him of the micro fractures forming in his plate. He couldn't respond even if he wished.

She gave a slow shake of her head. "Not this time. You'll rot in hell. And this time you'll stay there," she said.

He fired his plasma beams at full power. The temperature in his armour jumped as the plasma washout engulfed him. Sue strained to contain the energies in her fields, but it abruptly shattered like glass. Doom fell to the ground, gasping for air. His concentration had waned and the magical fog was quickly dissipating. He looked up towards Sue, and fired a beam of topaz plasma at her from an outstretched gauntlet.

"Burn!"

Sue adeptly crossed her forearms and summoned a field in front of her. A strained expression covered her face as she tried to concentrate through the mind-affecting substances she had imbibed from the tainted air.

Doom clambered to his feet, continuing to press his attack. Sue swung her other hand and the field flew behind him, narrowly missing. Sensing his opportunity, Doom began to cast with his other hand.

"Htped eht fo srorroh!" he yelled, and dark violet bands flew from his hand, seeking her out. They tracked towards her in zig-zags before impacting with her eyes. Sue flung her hands to her face, shaking her head as the sorcery dug through her consciousness to dredge her deepest terrors up before her.

Sensing the danger she was in, Sue skillfully twisted to the side as her protective force field fragmented. As she twisted, the topaz beam passed dangerously close, sizzling her. She closed her eyes, one hand gripping her temples, her other hand outstretched to ward off phantasmal attackers.

Doom fired his concussion blasters at her, knocking her down. As he approached, he watched her drunkenly struggle to her feet. He waited for her to push herself up, like a doe taking its first steps, and punched her in the gut. She doubled over in pain and he seized her by the neck, his power assisted strength enough to lift her off the ground.

He regarded at her as she feebly struck and padded his arm. Her eyes where rolled up and she gasped for air as otherworldly horrors ravaged her mind; her feet kicked and dangled.

"I dearly wish you could comprehend what is happening right now," Doom said. It was a necessary sacrifice to debilitate her so, but he still felt a pang of regret that she would die in uncomprehending terror, rather than looking in his eyes.

He cherished one more moment of victory, etching it into his memory, before he closed his gauntlet, crushing her neck. After granting her the mercy of death, he cast her corpse down to the earth, hoping that Richards had seen. No amount of suffering was too great for that malefactor, but the death of Susan would come close.

He looked down at the corpse.

"Soon, Richards."