When Doom was given notice that his battle with Mr. Fantastic was coming, he considered it most auspicious. His previous victories over the members of the Fantastic Four had been gratifying enough, but those he slayed were merely ignorant and foolish. Killing them was little better than killing a wolf that had developed a taste for human flesh.
This battle with Reed Richards would be far more satisfying. He relished the chance to bring this reprobate to justice. For all his intelligence, Richards could never accept that Doom was the man to shepherd mankind.
Now both men slowly walked to the centre of the alien arena. Must assuredly, every television on the planet was tuned into this fight, and the crowd was already riotous. The reputation of rivalry between the two supermen was legendary.
Richards looked haggard; he had several weeks' growth of scraggy beard, his hair was unkempt, and he was pale, with dark sunken eyes. But his expression was one of stone.
Doom crossed his arms as the two men stood a short distance apart, "Traditionally, one should be well-groomed before his execution, Richards."
"You still couldn't let go of this vendetta against my family," Richards sneered. "With everything that's happened, you clung to your petty grudges!?"
"Each of them had committed their own sins against Doom. That their deaths added to your suffering was only Just. Had you not led them in opposition to me, perhaps they would yet live."
"Your arrogance! Your ego!" Richards spat. "The same things that always fail you. Why do you think anything will be different this time? In the end you'll fail, and you'll have murdered my family for nothing. Your revenge doesn't constitute justice, Victor."
"What is 'Just' is you sitting in a small cell while you watch your world be taken away from you," Doom answered. "I was left to rot in prison, while you and all your vaunted friends collapsed in the face of the invasion."
"You're delusional, Victor. How many times have you been shown mercy? By me? Or Sue? Or Ben?" he resentfully retorted.
Doom charged his gauntlets, malevolent green energy crackling around his fists. "I wonder whose death hurt you most? Surely Sue's? But your hope must have faltered when I extinguished Ben's life. Of course, you must have known Johnny had no chance," he said, poison dripping from every word. "Or perhaps it's the knowledge your children are forever lost in the negative zone due to your parental inadequacy?"
"You haven't won yet," Richards hissed through gritted teeth.
"How many times have we done this little dance? You know you are nothing without-" Doom was cut off as an elongated hand snaked around his ankle, flinging him into the wall. While Richards was not much stronger than a normal human, he knew how to utilize his elastic powers to maximise his force.
He laughed as he pulled himself from the crater in the wall, "You know you can't hurt me-" Doom was again cut off by a massive fist impacting on his chest.
WARNING: SHIELDS DOWN TO 83%
A proximity alarm resounded as he tumbled to the side, a following blow impacting just behind him. Kneeling, he fired a thrumming plasma beam at Richards, who contorted unnaturally to avoid it.
He was almost offended at the insolence of it. That Richards would actually believe he could win in honorable combat without the myriad freak show of his team behind him was ludicrous.
Launching volleys of short bolts from his fingers, Doom rose, following the elongating and twisting man. A few of the bolts landed, singeing Richards's suit, but he avoided most of them.
As he landed nearer, he stretched up, and sent an axe kick downwards. Dodging to the side, Doom grabbed the limb and electrified his gauntlet. Richards let out a cry of pain as the rest of his body followed his leg as he contracted.
Doom held up his other hand, ready to catch Richards by the face; the freak's aberrant physiology meant he was almost indestructible to physical trauma, but that didn't mean that he didn't feel pain. Blue electricity arced over Richards, but at the last second he distorted as Doom swung for his head. He turned rope like, wrapping and a squeezing, and Doom found himself fully bound. He upped the amperage and Richards again cried in agony.
They grappled like this for a moment before Richards was forced away by the electricity. Retreating in bounds of longitudinal motion, he stopped a short distance away; he was smoldering, but Doom knew it would take far more work to kill Mr. Fantastic. He took a few steps towards his old foe when an unexpected set of alarms blared in his armour:
ALERT: FOREIGN PROGRAM DETECTED
RUNNING DIAGNOSTIC AND COUNTER PROGRAM
ERROR: POWER REROUTE
His HUD showed a few blinking warnings on his right gauntlet before a relay blew out, sparks showering from his forearm as the heat in his armour jumped. He shut down the entire appendage, but various software alarms continued as systems switched on and off.
Distracted as he was, he didn't notice as Richards threw a massive balled-fist at him. The impact caught him by surprise, sending him twisting, though he kept to his feet. He turned back just in time to see a wind-mill slam strike come from above. He tried to dodge but his leg servos seized up, and the hammer fist landed, sending him sprawling into the dust.
Doom had a strange, detached moment, before he realized he was knocked insensate by the blow. He pushed himself to his knees, as additional warnings and errors came. Seeing the state of his systems, he deactivated and rebooted his armor.
"What have you done?" he asked.
Richards launched another elongated kick, catching Doom in the chest. His plate took the hit, but the blunt force still knocked the wind out of him and he fell backwards into the sand.
He slowly rolled onto his hands and knees, fighting the weight of his unpowered armour as he struggled to push himself up. Richards towered over him with barely contained malice.
"You know what I've done, Victor. What you're trying to figure out is how I've done it,-" Richards said, before putting his hand on the symbolized 'Four' on his chest. "These suits contain micro-weave computers. While I've been sitting in that cell, I created a virus. It has the useful effect of disabling your armour, but once I've taken possession of the appropriate components from your suit, I can release it to the Skrull fleet, and end this nightmare."
Doom glanced around at the roaring crowd of aliens. They had no idea what danger they were in. Finally he said, "I'm impressed, Richards."
"I don't really give a damn what you think. Now that I've broken your little toys, I think you'll find this fight fairer then you'd like." It was obvious from his tone that surrender wasn't an option, and he drew back his arm, readying another vicious blow.
"It's never been fair," Doom said, surging to his feet.
He summoned the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, and sorcerous energy flew from his hand. One band caught Richards around the neck and the other captured his wrist. With a strong pull, Doom yanked him forwards, and he summoned the Flames of the Faltine in his other hand. Black and red fires shot from his gauntlet, and Richards was captured in the inferno.
A whip-like foot kicked out of the fire, and caught Doom in the side of the knee; it buckled and he lost control of the bands. Richards bounced to the far side of the arena, though he was sluggish as the heat forced him to expend effort holding his form together.
Doom was in a precarious position. Without his shields he was far more vulnerable, and he had seen 'Richards' from other universes kill in cruel ways. Without power, his mobility was significantly impaired; for now he would have to keep his opponent at bay with only his sorcerous talents.
Electrical power flew from his hands as he launched Bolts of Balthakk at Richards. Again, the rubber man dodged, bouncing high into the air. This time, Doom was able to hit him squarely, and he unfolded and fell to the ground. Richards convulsed as he was struck by another bolt before he recovered, but as soon as he did, a lashing whip-like strike knocked Doom off his feet. Richards bounded at him, elongating his torso and raining down blows.
The flurry disoriented him, but he launched a blast of fire upwards, clambering backwards to regaining his footing. As hellfire poured from his gauntlet, one of Richards's hands grabbed his wrist, twisting his hand and interrupting the spell.
With the flames cleared, Doom could finally see Richards. They launched their attacks at the same time; he fired dark bolts of power that caught Richards in the chest and felt a stab of pain in his side as Richards's fist caught him in the ribs, and both fell back.
He palpated his side as he pushed himself to his feet. The heavily abused armour had a large dent in it, but it seemed as though it took the brunt of the blow. He was fairly certain all he had was a bruised rib.
Looking over at Richards, he could see he was suffering as well. He was breathing heavily as he pulled himself up, his limbs seeming to have lost some of their elastic snappiness. While Richards was virtually impossible to wound, the sheer amount of energy his body had endured would make it difficult for him to hold himself into a coherent shape.
The two men stared each other down, both taking a moment to recover. A lifetime of enmity could wait one more moment.
Doom moved first, launching more bolts, and Richards bounded and dodged, closing the distance alarmingly fast. It seemed that Richards had summoned his last reserves, and he moved with fiendish speed.
Doom was a master sorcerer, but even he could not maintain such prodigious output, and his spells were growing weaker.
Richards bounced forward before launching in the air again. He unfurled himself into a huge sheet-like form, and he knew that Richards intended to suffocate him. Another Bolt of Bathlakk hit him, but he didn't even flinch.
REBOOT COMPLETE...INITIALIZING...
Summoning his last reserves of strength, Doom fought the weight of his armour and ran straight under Richards, fouling his trajectory. Richards folded himself into a ball, landing heavily in the dust, and he launched another whip strike and Doom cumbersomely shoulder-rolled under it.
His lungs were on fire from moving several hundred pounds of metal, and the injury in his side didn't help. Still, he made it to his feet-
Breath caught in his throat as an elastic limb wrapped around his neck like a bolas and he felt the limb tighten. His armour helped a little, but it could only buy time. He pulled back instinctually, and the fingers on Richards's hand began worming through the gaps in his mask and helmet. One of the fingers prodded through his eye-slit, gripping and tugging at his lower eyelid, trying to worm underneath his eyeball. He felt others making their way around the auricle of his ear, searching, and others found his nostrils.
In visions of other multiverses, Doom had seen people die in such a way. He grabbed the limb, but it held on fast.
Suddenly, providentially, lights winked on in Doom's HUD.
INITIALIZATION COMPLETE...
SYSTEMS ONLINE, WEAPONS NOMINAL, CAPACITORS CHARGED
Not even waiting for his shields, Doom fired a pair of jade plasma beams into Richards; he expression went from cruelly disdainful to utter shock as the superheated bolts knocked him down. The arm released, retacting back as Doom poured his full firepower into the man.
His blood boiled at the thought that Richards was mere seconds from final victory.
"DIE!" he yelled, his hatred and fury erupting. More alarms went off as he overrode the safeties in his weapons, and his shields absorbed the heat backwash.
After nearly a minute of continuous fire, he ceased. His capacitors and reactor were fully drained. Richards was little more than a puddle in a black glassy crater.
Even still, he was slowly reforming in the shape of a man.
Waiting just a few moments for Richards to become more coherent, Doom stepped forwards into the crater. He grabbed Richards by the neck, twisting his head upwards.
He looked down with disdain at this freakish man, and electrified him, causing Richards to cry out. He summoned the last of his sorcerous power in his other hand, which hovered over Richards's face. With a dark incantation, inky blackness fell from a small portal, landing on Richards's face like black tar. The viscous fluid ran for a moment, moving of its own accord; it found his mouth and flowed into it, running down his throat.
His eyes shot open with abrupt awareness, and his body recoiled back into shape. Doom stepped back, watching as Richards rolled onto all fours, hand clutching his throat as he vainly tried to cough. His neck twisted and distorted but he could not open his airway.
Doom began tracing a circle around his insufferable foe, "Perhaps you think once this is over, you will see your family in the afterlife, Richards?" His hands made arcane gestures as he circled. "I can't say where they are, though I suspect that whomever judges these things may have mercy on the ignorant-" he said as he finished the circle. "But Doom has already rendered judgement upon your soul."
Hand still on his throat, Richards looked up, animalistic desperation in his eyes as he struggled for breath.
"Do you know what great boon I demanded of the dark forces? What blessing I sought in exchange for the soul of one of earths 'greatest heroes'?"
He knelt down, looking Richards in the eye, as he whispered:
"Nothing."
Richards' eyes finally closed, and he fell to his side. But for those with eyes to see, ethereal claws rose up, pulling his soul downwards. For those with the ears to hear, they could make out a cry of rage, as if from a voice falling down a great height:
"DOOOOOOOooooooooooooooommmm-"