Chapter Ten
Marilyn had just awakened from her daily traversal through the Dreamworld, and already knew what she was going to do to kill a little time that evening. The minute she got up from the couch in the living room, Marilyn bounded for the laboratories she and her father used to work in during their previous lives. It was one of the many areas of the Baxter Building she had not explored yet, and the more familiar she was getting to be with her former home, Marilyn wanted to see how much the labs had changed. It took her ten minutes of walking through corridor after corridor, but Marilyn finally reached the section that was primarily used for scientific research, inventing, building, and so forth. She definitely recognized the hallway, but there was something about it that frightened her slightly. Except for a dim light here and there, darkness engulfed the hallway and the adjoining rooms. The further Marilyn headed into the corridor, she felt a sticky film begin to cover and hinder her from making any more headway. She immediately realized that sticky film was a combination of cobwebs and fresh spiderwebs. A feeling of embarrassment washed over poor Marilyn, for not only was she afraid of the webbing and the spiders that were possibly nestled within, but an occasional squeak she kept indicated that rats dwelled within what used to be her and her father's workplace. Aware that part of the training she was alone on the Earthly plane for was to get over her fears of objects and creatures that represented Victor, Marilyn did not give another thought to the environment around her, and without hesitance, called upon another one of her spiritual powers.
"URANIAN SHOCK!"
The moment she put her white-gloved hands on the floor, and blue electrical energy emitted from Marilyn, and proceeded to burn all webbing and miniscule beasts from the corridor, but the surrounding rooms too. When her powers were done doing their thing, Marilyn looked around, and breathed a sigh of relief. She had not only eliminated the symbols of the dark Fantastic that were encompassing her, but had cleaned up the results of the labs not being used in decades. The only thing that stood in Marilyn's way was the very substance that made up Victor and his powers, darkness. With less apprehension than she had earlier, Marilyn trotted into the mechanics lab. Her left hand found the light switch, and with a flip of it, the lights came on with an immensely loud "POW!". The noise startled Marilyn, but none-the-less, she ventured further into the colossal room. She began to smile, for the happiest of memories started to flood her soul from the sights she once again saw in that scientifically mechanical playground her and her father once called home. Marilyn ran over to an incredibly large machine her and her father had been working during the fateful final day of their lives.
"To think, if we had physically survived that intense battle with Doom, this could have been completed long ago."
She stroked the lustrous silver hunk of metal, and she murmured onward.
"Perhaps I could complete it myself if I wanted to. But it would not be the same without Father here to aid. And besides, he was the only one I knew who could operate such devices anyway. Gee, that reminds me... do any of the other rendered humans and scientists we assisted still live? People like Tony Stark or his bodyguard, Iron Man? Not to mention Dr. Banner, the Avengers, and the Inhumans..."
Marilyn started to brood over that though she said out loud. Suddenly, something queer caught her eye, the machine she had glancing just a minute ago seemed to have lost its gleam. It looked to be all dull and dingy. Marilyn instantly sensed something was not right. Right then, the sound of screws quickly becoming loose, gears falling off, and other various parts of machinery losing their grip became audible. Marilyn backed away, and watched the machine fall apart, to reveal an interesting looking silhouette had been hiding behind it on the catwalk twenty feet above where Marilyn stood.
"You, precious one, seemed to have forgotten who else could operate such a magnificent piece of mechanics, me and my former master!"
The devilish old man disappeared in a cloud of gray smoke, and reappeared before Marilyn in the same fashion.
"Who are you?" Marilyn barely got out.
"Why I am the former scientist and assistant to Victor Von Doom, better known to you and your kind as Doctor Doom, but also Victor, Hauptmann."
Marilyn vaguely recalled how Victor talked of a scientist who had attempted to kill him during a bout her father had with him in their past life. The memories of Victor as Dr. Doom harshly comparing this man before her to her father were becoming more and more vivid.
"If you are who I think you are, there is no way in Heaven, on Earth, or in Hell that the one I know named Victor would send you here if he still has the hatred for you I know he has or had."
"Correction young one. HE did not send me, I SENT MYSELF!"
As he said "MYSELF!", Hauptmann transformed into a burst of dark energy. By ducking, Marilyn barely avoided this surprise attack. She looked up from the floor to find Hauptmann returning to humanoid form on the catwalk.
"Somehow I will mobilize and drag your pathetic self to the Underworld, where I'll use you as evidence when confronting Mephisto to prove that Victor is not worthy of the position he is in currently down there!"
With that said, Hauptmann thrusted his right arm out, and fired a bolt of dark energy towards where Marilyn stood. She moved away in time for the bolt to hit the floor, and leave a smoldering crater in its place. Marilyn knew she needed a plan to fight back this astoundingly powerful fiend. But a question remained in her mind, how?
"Victor never realized it, but he made me one of the most powerful souls in the Underworld when he killed me in that cosmic power absorption device I foolishly help him invent!"
Hoping to stall Hauptmann, Marilyn asked him the following while still considering her options of attack and evasion.
"Does anybody besides you in the Underworld know about these incredible powers you own?"
"Yes three people, ME, MYSELF, AND I FOOLISH ONE!" Hauptmann cackled as he shot another burst of energy that dismantled a light fixture above Marilyn.
Marilyn knew she was in hot water, though she had not tried her powers out on him yet. But she knew the properties of dark energy, and what Hauptmann possessed was right on up there on the power scale with Victor's energy. To her distress, Marilyn also knew that ice and darkness went hand in hand, and her powers to control ice, snow, and cold temperatures would do no good against what Hauptmann was using. Marilyn wanted to cry, but did not because of her not wanting her and her friends' reputation tarnished in front of Victor's former servant. The tears that were welling up within the youngest Fantastic were tears saying that she wanted her father proud, but could not achieve that in the situation she was trapped in at the moment.
"Master! You are not going to like this, but..."
"I know Boris, behold the screen." Victor interrupted his most loyal servant.
"The skunk! Look at how Hauptmann has Marilyn cornered, and at his mercy too! It is almost like he believes he is you Master!" Boris exclaimed.
"It appears to be going beyond his believing he is me. He has talked of plans to use Marilyn as a way of overthrowing me."
"How did he get to have powers like yours?"
"Simple, via the very power cosmic that killed him. I recall it being at a degree above the power cosmic the Creator used to bestow upon the cursed Fantastics their physical forms' powers. Thanks to this very sight we are witnessing, I have learned that the power cosmic not only affects physical forms, but it apparently also affects spiritual forms at higher levels. So, not only did I kill him, but I practically made a duplicate of myself in powers."
Boris got ready to say something, but Victor continued.
"Of course, what you just heard me descant does not matter right now. What matters is that the time has finally come to show Hauptmann who is the true spirit of darkness. Tell me Boris, what is Mephisto up to currently?"
"Well Master, he is during his routine meandering through Inferno. If he is enjoying himself, he may be away for a while."
"Well, for a while or not, you now have the duty to stand guard in front of this chamber until I return. If Mephisto happens to come by, tell him I am checking on the souls in Limbo and Purgatory. He is always falling for that one." Victor said with a grin.
"Very well Master, good luck." Boris wished.
The green cladded Fantastic said no more as smoke built up around him, and before Boris knew it, Victor was no longer occupying the lair he called home.
Marilyn had just awakened from her daily traversal through the Dreamworld, and already knew what she was going to do to kill a little time that evening. The minute she got up from the couch in the living room, Marilyn bounded for the laboratories she and her father used to work in during their previous lives. It was one of the many areas of the Baxter Building she had not explored yet, and the more familiar she was getting to be with her former home, Marilyn wanted to see how much the labs had changed. It took her ten minutes of walking through corridor after corridor, but Marilyn finally reached the section that was primarily used for scientific research, inventing, building, and so forth. She definitely recognized the hallway, but there was something about it that frightened her slightly. Except for a dim light here and there, darkness engulfed the hallway and the adjoining rooms. The further Marilyn headed into the corridor, she felt a sticky film begin to cover and hinder her from making any more headway. She immediately realized that sticky film was a combination of cobwebs and fresh spiderwebs. A feeling of embarrassment washed over poor Marilyn, for not only was she afraid of the webbing and the spiders that were possibly nestled within, but an occasional squeak she kept indicated that rats dwelled within what used to be her and her father's workplace. Aware that part of the training she was alone on the Earthly plane for was to get over her fears of objects and creatures that represented Victor, Marilyn did not give another thought to the environment around her, and without hesitance, called upon another one of her spiritual powers.
"URANIAN SHOCK!"
The moment she put her white-gloved hands on the floor, and blue electrical energy emitted from Marilyn, and proceeded to burn all webbing and miniscule beasts from the corridor, but the surrounding rooms too. When her powers were done doing their thing, Marilyn looked around, and breathed a sigh of relief. She had not only eliminated the symbols of the dark Fantastic that were encompassing her, but had cleaned up the results of the labs not being used in decades. The only thing that stood in Marilyn's way was the very substance that made up Victor and his powers, darkness. With less apprehension than she had earlier, Marilyn trotted into the mechanics lab. Her left hand found the light switch, and with a flip of it, the lights came on with an immensely loud "POW!". The noise startled Marilyn, but none-the-less, she ventured further into the colossal room. She began to smile, for the happiest of memories started to flood her soul from the sights she once again saw in that scientifically mechanical playground her and her father once called home. Marilyn ran over to an incredibly large machine her and her father had been working during the fateful final day of their lives.
"To think, if we had physically survived that intense battle with Doom, this could have been completed long ago."
She stroked the lustrous silver hunk of metal, and she murmured onward.
"Perhaps I could complete it myself if I wanted to. But it would not be the same without Father here to aid. And besides, he was the only one I knew who could operate such devices anyway. Gee, that reminds me... do any of the other rendered humans and scientists we assisted still live? People like Tony Stark or his bodyguard, Iron Man? Not to mention Dr. Banner, the Avengers, and the Inhumans..."
Marilyn started to brood over that though she said out loud. Suddenly, something queer caught her eye, the machine she had glancing just a minute ago seemed to have lost its gleam. It looked to be all dull and dingy. Marilyn instantly sensed something was not right. Right then, the sound of screws quickly becoming loose, gears falling off, and other various parts of machinery losing their grip became audible. Marilyn backed away, and watched the machine fall apart, to reveal an interesting looking silhouette had been hiding behind it on the catwalk twenty feet above where Marilyn stood.
"You, precious one, seemed to have forgotten who else could operate such a magnificent piece of mechanics, me and my former master!"
The devilish old man disappeared in a cloud of gray smoke, and reappeared before Marilyn in the same fashion.
"Who are you?" Marilyn barely got out.
"Why I am the former scientist and assistant to Victor Von Doom, better known to you and your kind as Doctor Doom, but also Victor, Hauptmann."
Marilyn vaguely recalled how Victor talked of a scientist who had attempted to kill him during a bout her father had with him in their past life. The memories of Victor as Dr. Doom harshly comparing this man before her to her father were becoming more and more vivid.
"If you are who I think you are, there is no way in Heaven, on Earth, or in Hell that the one I know named Victor would send you here if he still has the hatred for you I know he has or had."
"Correction young one. HE did not send me, I SENT MYSELF!"
As he said "MYSELF!", Hauptmann transformed into a burst of dark energy. By ducking, Marilyn barely avoided this surprise attack. She looked up from the floor to find Hauptmann returning to humanoid form on the catwalk.
"Somehow I will mobilize and drag your pathetic self to the Underworld, where I'll use you as evidence when confronting Mephisto to prove that Victor is not worthy of the position he is in currently down there!"
With that said, Hauptmann thrusted his right arm out, and fired a bolt of dark energy towards where Marilyn stood. She moved away in time for the bolt to hit the floor, and leave a smoldering crater in its place. Marilyn knew she needed a plan to fight back this astoundingly powerful fiend. But a question remained in her mind, how?
"Victor never realized it, but he made me one of the most powerful souls in the Underworld when he killed me in that cosmic power absorption device I foolishly help him invent!"
Hoping to stall Hauptmann, Marilyn asked him the following while still considering her options of attack and evasion.
"Does anybody besides you in the Underworld know about these incredible powers you own?"
"Yes three people, ME, MYSELF, AND I FOOLISH ONE!" Hauptmann cackled as he shot another burst of energy that dismantled a light fixture above Marilyn.
Marilyn knew she was in hot water, though she had not tried her powers out on him yet. But she knew the properties of dark energy, and what Hauptmann possessed was right on up there on the power scale with Victor's energy. To her distress, Marilyn also knew that ice and darkness went hand in hand, and her powers to control ice, snow, and cold temperatures would do no good against what Hauptmann was using. Marilyn wanted to cry, but did not because of her not wanting her and her friends' reputation tarnished in front of Victor's former servant. The tears that were welling up within the youngest Fantastic were tears saying that she wanted her father proud, but could not achieve that in the situation she was trapped in at the moment.
"Master! You are not going to like this, but..."
"I know Boris, behold the screen." Victor interrupted his most loyal servant.
"The skunk! Look at how Hauptmann has Marilyn cornered, and at his mercy too! It is almost like he believes he is you Master!" Boris exclaimed.
"It appears to be going beyond his believing he is me. He has talked of plans to use Marilyn as a way of overthrowing me."
"How did he get to have powers like yours?"
"Simple, via the very power cosmic that killed him. I recall it being at a degree above the power cosmic the Creator used to bestow upon the cursed Fantastics their physical forms' powers. Thanks to this very sight we are witnessing, I have learned that the power cosmic not only affects physical forms, but it apparently also affects spiritual forms at higher levels. So, not only did I kill him, but I practically made a duplicate of myself in powers."
Boris got ready to say something, but Victor continued.
"Of course, what you just heard me descant does not matter right now. What matters is that the time has finally come to show Hauptmann who is the true spirit of darkness. Tell me Boris, what is Mephisto up to currently?"
"Well Master, he is during his routine meandering through Inferno. If he is enjoying himself, he may be away for a while."
"Well, for a while or not, you now have the duty to stand guard in front of this chamber until I return. If Mephisto happens to come by, tell him I am checking on the souls in Limbo and Purgatory. He is always falling for that one." Victor said with a grin.
"Very well Master, good luck." Boris wished.
The green cladded Fantastic said no more as smoke built up around him, and before Boris knew it, Victor was no longer occupying the lair he called home.