"I thought you said you took out their weapons!" Rhodes yelled as his battle station was rocked with laser fire.
"I said I engaged the safeties on their main weapons, fool! The point defence guns are on a higher system access!" Doom yelled back, as he was knocked around in a most ungainly manner by the impacts.
Rhodes was seated in the central command throne of the battle station. It turned out Stark did indeed leave him a good gift, as the station was able to transform into a giant suit of armour, capable of battling with alien capital ships. Still, it would be hopelessly outnumbered by the Skrull armada.
That was where Doom's stratagems came in. With his system access, he was able to engage the safeties on the ships main guns. Unfortunately, point-defence was on a higher tier then he had gained access to, so the ships were far from helpless.
They had just passed through defence cordon that surrounded the Skrull colony ship. Rhodes had passed too close to one of the picket frigates, and the automated lasers raked his armour. At this range the damage was fairly minor, but Doom's tactical computer updated him as his doombots were picked off as well by accurate laser fire.
"Idiot! Put some distance between that ship and us!" he ordered as he adjusted his robots flight path to take cover behind the battle station.
"I don't like that tone too much. Next time we better be on the same page, or this is gonna be short-ass operation," Rhodes answered. Plugged into the station as he was, his eyes stared off into the distance as he piloted the ship as if it was his own body. Even so, Doom could see a slight clench of irrigation in what remained of his organic jaw.
As they cleared the frigate, the massive colony ship grew in the view port. It was disc like, nearly half a kilometer thick, and just over three-kilometer in diameter. The central governmental hub was ringed by a separate donut-shaped habitation section. That ring was broken up by a large spherical operations section that contained the engineering module.
Doom highlighted a few points on the opposite side of the ring from the operations center. "There's the detention center, and here are the closest air locks."
The aliens had located the brig far from the operations center and outside the government hub. Evidently they felt it was most prudent to keep it separate from sensitive areas of the ship, a compromise between security and worst-case scenario. This did mean that when they freed their fellow humans, they would have to fight through the entire ship to secure the main computer core.
That central computer core was Doom's goal.
If he could seize the core, it could grant full access to his virus, allowing him to control virtual every computer system on Earth and in the Skrull fleet. Likewise, if they failed to secure the site, the aliens would be able to purge his control of the new program and they would gain total domination of Earth. Neither side could destroy the core or the ship without causing untold calamity and chaos.
'Never was anything great achieved without danger.' Doom had lived his whole life by this maxim. Today it was truer than ever.
Within a kilometer, defence lasers opened fire. Ruby-glinted beams scored Rhodes' armour and more doombots were tagged as they covered behind the giant mecha. Rhodes made no effort to evade the lasers; there was little chance for his suit to avoid being hit by weapons designed to target missiles and fighter craft. Fortunately, his heavy amour was able to withstand the damage at range. Instead, he made a straight shot for the hull, attempting to land as quickly as possible.
Doom felt a slight rumble in the station, and saw a flurry of missiles launched from the mech's shoulder on the screen. Rhodes let out a groan as he saw the lasers crisscross, and the warheads were scythed down.
There was a load thrumming, and Doom watched the mega-particle cannon housed in the other shoulder open fire. This time, the defence battery exploded as the green beam cut across it. Other batteries were still firing at them, and as the range closed, more and more damage accumulated. Still, with a small hole in the defence net, the assault force was able land in the ruins of the battery.
ALPHA BATTALION AT 92%
BRAVO BATTALION AT 68%
He ordered his troops as to hunker down in the ruins of the battery and set a perimeter. The doombots broke cover from behind the mech and rushed to occupy wreckage and take up defensive positions.
Rhodes dove the mech at high speed as the beams bored through his armour. At the last moment, Doom realized that Rhodes didn't intend to slow before the descent. He was flung forwards, and punched his gauntlet through a monitor as the suit landed on the ship with a great crash.
All things considered, they made it through well enough.
The next step was to storm the airlock and establish a beachhead. Hugging the hull as they were, his troops would be safe so long as they didn't try to fly higher than a couple meters.
Rhodes' mech suit was a different matter. It was hunched down at the moment, and even its shoulder weapons were folded back to present as little target as possible. The defence lasers would be able to target the suit as soon as it presented itself even a little. At this range, the it could sustain only a little fire before succumbing, and they were still 300 meters from the airlock.
"We're gonna have to hurry before they organize some response," Rhodes said as he unhooked himself from the neural links with the station.
Doom pulled his arm free, biting his tongue as he replied, "I agree, Colonel. My troops are ready to move, but this suit of yours will not last long."
"Then we leave it here; a bit of insurance," Rhodes said.
"You should utilize it now, and take out as many defences as possible."
"You're always happy to have other people make the sacrifice play," Rhodes replied.
Doom shook his head in irritation. They didn't have time to debate right now. "My point is that if we fail, we will not be leaving this place, so there is little value in leaving an escape plan," he said.
Rhodes nodded, "Fair enough. Get your boys ready; when you launch your attack I'll do what damage I can."
Opening his tactical computer, Doom set his preparations in order. As he highlighted points of interest, he spoke orders to the robots, "Alpha battalion will assault the point; Bravo battalion will cover. No flight authorized. Engage."
The doombots leapt from their cover, quickly sorting themselves into their platoons and sections on the move as the orders filtered down. Doom debarked from the battle mech and followed the assault force, and a section of robots formed around him as bodyguards.
Ruined metal floated around him as his pushed through to the open ground from the blasted gun battery. The hull gently tilted 'down' as they made their way forwards, and if they weren't in the eerie quiet of space, he could almost imagine his force was attacking down a gently sloped grey hill.
Suddenly, energy weapons fire lashed out from the airlock point.
RESISTANCE PRESENT
ENTRENCHED FORCES ENGAGED
APPROX. 1 COMPANY
It seemed the aliens has managed a small response force of marines. Probably a high-readiness unit. No doubt the aliens were taken by surprise, but this token force could delay his assault. On his battle readouts, Doom could see the company of aliens was breaking down into platoons and setting up a line in front of the airlock.
The marines used what cover they could, but were badly pinned by the attacking doombots. The airlock itself raised from the hull like a hill, and the indent of the entrance provided a relatively effective trench that the aliens set up their section heavy weapons. Blue energy scythed down from the 'hill', and the doombots returned suppressive fire from their support sections.
Outnumbered as they were, and taking fire from multiple angles, the Skrulls were still setting up a defence with good discipline. Suddenly, a small form flew from the airlock, and crashed into a platoon of Doombots on the right flank in a crash of lightning.
META-HUMANOID THREAT DETECTED
ALPLA BATTALION-CHALRIE COMPANY-BRAVO PLATOON DESTROYED
Doom snarled as his computers highlighted the area where the Super-Skrull was annihilating his attacking flank. The creature had wiped out a platoon in its initial attack; his troops would have little chance against a being like that.
This would require his personal attention.
He took to the air, turning back to Rhodes for a moment, "Destroy that firebase!" he ordered, pointing at the hill, before turning to the Super-Skrull.
He flew at a low altitude, and his guards formed around him. In the upper corner of his HUD, feeds from his Doombots showed the Super-Skrull in action. She was an amalgamation of Thor, Storm and Captain Marvel. She took the cape, colour, and flowing white locks of the mutant queen, the body suit and helmet of Captain Marvel, and the hammer and accoutrements of Thor.
The Skrull spun her hammer, smashing down a doombot with every swing. Yellow lightning flew from her left hand, reducing the droids to dripping slag, and she seemed to only gain power from the energy blasts that struck her.
Doom closed at high speed, his shields flickering as the occasional laser glanced off them. As he closed, he adjusted his angle, flying upwards for just a moment before coming down on the alien like a thunderbolt. The Super-Skrull looked upwards a moment too late, and Doom was gratified by her surprised expression before he smashed her into the hull, denting it.
Without wasting a moment, he delivered a hammer-blow downwards to the alien's skull, cracking her helmet. He launched another downwards punch, but this time the Skrull was ready, catching his fist. She took a moment to spit out a mouthful of green blood and teeth before retaliating with her hammer, sending him reeling in the low-gravity. She tried to get to feet, but two of the doombots leapt on her, delivering flurries of punches as they protected their master.
The Super-Skrull let out a blast of lightning, melting the robots, but this gave Doom his opening, and he grabbed her wrist and delivered a quick knee to the elbow, snapping the joint. The alien let out a silent cry pain as she dropped her hammer. He grabbed her by the throat, engaged his jets, and dragged the alien along the hull towards the front line, driving her into the rough metal as he did so.
He wasn't going to give her the chance to regenerate the broken bone. Very shorty, a smear of green blood followed them as he ground the alien down.
Once he closed within eyesight of the hill, he landed, and lifted the Super-Skrull by her neck. She was badly abraded and bleeding from numerous wounds; bone and fatty tissue could be seen through the deeper wounds. Her frozen blood floated into the vacuum in a serene fashion.
"Flee! For Doom has come for you!" he announced. Arcing green energy flowed from his gauntlet into the Super-Skrull. Within moments, she was charred to the bones, and her ashes drifted into the ether.
Such a display crushed the morale of the Skrull marines. Combined with the sheer numbers of attackers and developing crossfire zones, the marines began the crumble. Their fire slacked as they began falling back, though to their credit, they did so in good order.
As the Skrulls fell back to the air lock, a series of explosions lit up the hill. Rhodes had flanked behind the battle line, and he stood on top of the hill, gunfire eliminating the survivors of his missile barrage. He picked up two of the squad automatic weapons, and unleashed a barrage of fire into the retreating marines. Caught between the assailing doombots, and their now lost fire base, the Skrulls were cut down to a man.
Carol was in her own personal purgatory. She sat at the edge of her bed, hunched over in tumultuous thought, as she steepled her hands in front of her face. This was not the first time she had been captured. In fact, it seemed to be a recurring theme for her. Back in the air force, she had completed her conduct after capture training, and did so at the higher levels required for an Intelligence Officer. When she was part of the Mighty Avengers, the psychologists at SHIELD provided even higher levels of training. She even had experience; from caves in Afghanistan to prisons in Moscow. And those were just the conventional ones.
She knew about the psychological effects of captivity. The loss of power could be deeply scarring at best, and the captive had to maintain hope and discipline if they were to have any chance of resistance and escape. She even had obvious things to hope on; several hours ago, Doom's meditating body fell into an orange circle and disappeared from the dungeon. Whatever the sorcerer did seemed to work.
And that source of hope was what troubled her.
Doom.
Something deeper in the bedrock of her personality seemed to have shifted. Two years ago, if she could go back in time and speak to her past self, the very notion that she would be fighting alongside Victor Von Doom to free the world of alien control would have been laughable. Worse still, if she were to be truly honest with this past self, she was doing it with the knowledge that whatever scheme he was plotting (and really, what else does he do?) would come to fruition, no-matter what she tried.
Alone as she was, she knew she didn't have a hope of stopping him and the aliens. He had spent this time plotting and building, and she had been fighting tooth and nail just to keep the insurgency going.
The thought that would surely horrify her past-self was that she was legitimately considering if he was right.
Carol had spent her whole life fighting. When she was young, her father wanted her to be a wife and raise children, but she wanted something else. Maybe it was the Kree blood in her veins, but she was driven to fight and always felt the call of the sky. This ultimately drove her to fly with the Air Force, much to her father's chagrin.
The military had made a lot of progress for equal rights, but it still wasn't an easy place to be a woman; that fact became only more pronounced as she joined more elite organizations. Still, she fought her way to the top of her class, and eventually into the cockpit as a test pilot. From there, she gained her powers by a twist of fate.
In her darkest time, she even had to battle with her own self. When the mutant, Rogue, stole her powers and memories, she struggled to regain herself against the most egregious trauma.
Even after all that, and after making it onto the Mighty Avengers, she had to wrestle with proving herself. Despite the fact that Tony Stark claimed he made her the team lead, she had to deal with his ego just to exercise her authority. He certainly didn't take her opinion into account when he was director of SHIELD.
She was a fighter and she knew it; never had she doubted that her purpose was to fight for the weak and defend those who couldn't help themselves. But, deep inside, she felt like she had been swimming upstream for so long. She was very tired of battling for her place in the world.
And now Doom, of all people, was offering her that very thing. Some part of her could envision her place in an ordered and peaceful world under the heel of a benevolent king.
That was what tormented her now.
She had run through everything she could remember from her training on captivity. Was she suffering from Stockholm? Or some other obscure psychological phenomena?
Alternatively, had the years of her life somehow inserted the soul of an authoritarian follower in her? Maybe she had been born with some flaw in her personality?
As she tried to reason her way out, she felt her doubts rising again.
What was so great about the old world? She had been overseas, she had read intelligence reports. War, hunger and death danced across the globe, no matter what the media chose to put on the news. Were they even really free? Which Americans were voting to drop bombs on Yeminis? Or blow up weddings in Iraq? If you took a vote, how many people would vote 'yes' on any of the things done in their name?
This crack in her foundation of truth bedevilled her. And among this turmoil, she had seen one truth, a new truth: Doom.
She felt like a person reaching for a life-preserver in a storm. The psychology was obvious. But even still, who could fault someone for gripping onto that preserver with all their strength?
But to do so, she would have to admit that the system she had spent her life defending was wrong. It was not so easy.
Failing was terrible. But to confess to yourself it was happening was worse still.
As she ruminated in her cell, she couldn't help but wonder about the irrelevance of it; the old 'rules based order' was gone. Whatever successes or failures were had; whatever good or evil it had done; it was all moot. Mourning what existed before was not going to help.
There was a tremendous blast at the detention center door and she was shaken from her thoughts.
Carol stood up quickly at the sound. Another blast followed, and the door buckled inwards. A final blast, and the door was smashed asunder. Framed in the light of the hall, Doom strode onto the ruins of the door, his robot soldiers streaming into the cell block and taking up positions as they cleared the area of any potential defenders.
"You returned," she said.
"As I said I would. Doom's will be done."