Chapter 11: The Downfall of Doctor Doom
The Justice League and the Avengers were waiting on the outskirts of Doomstadt when Martian Manhunter's squad arrived, followed by Green Lantern and his squad, and then Aquaman's group showed up next. When the heroes had regrouped, each team reported success with their individual missions to disorient Doctor Doom's forces. Then Batman said to everyone, "Now that Doctor Doom's crime operations are shaken, it's time for us to go after Doctor Doom himself."
"And if I know Doom, he's probably doubling or even tripling security at his fortress to keep us away from whatever death ray or gravity reverso-matic device he's built up," put in Spider-Man.
"It's worse than that," confirmed Batman. "He's built a weapon that can generate black holes. And if he knows we're here, he's quite likely to test it on his own country if it means getting rid of us."
The rest of the group could hardly believe what they were hearing. With a weapon like that, Doctor Doom could easily destroy entire countries if he managed to control it enough to allow the world to exist for his plans of conquest.
"He's a madman," Superman said with shock.
"Come on. Even Doctor Doom wouldn't be able to build a black hole gun without the proper materials," insisted Iron Man. "To build that, you'd need a particle accelerator, and those are hard to come by even if he did steal one."
"Unless he already had one when he beamed us out of our Earth and just accelerated the energy particles at a rate that wouldn't form a gravity well," said Captain America in a tone that suggested he was guessing the probability.
The Avengers and the Justice League all shared worried looks, and then from the League's side, Hawkgirl spoke next. "We don't have much time to consider options. If we're going to stop Doctor Doom, the most logical thing to do is find his weapon and destroy it before he can use it on any innocent city."
"Hawkgirl is right," out in Captain America. "We need a plan to stop him. Now here's what we do…"
…
Back in his castle, Doctor Doom was receiving the latest reports from his agents at the locations the Justice League and the Avengers had struck. One attaché was saying to him over the computer monitor, "My lord Doom, the Avengers and their new friends have damaged the highest-stocked outposts of your smuggling operations. They've also decimated a handful of your chemical plants and taken down at least three of your major weapons factories."
A growl escaped Doctor Doom's lips and then he said, "Then the time for our first demonstration has come." He said to his operators, "Set the grid coordinates for Washington. I want those meddlesome fools to see that with this weapon, their precious land of the free will be free no more. The world is mine."
"You're wrong, Doom." came the voice of Captain America. He somersaulted into the control room through the window, followed by Iron Man, Spider-Man, Thor, Black Widow, Wasp, Black Panther, Hawkeye, and the Hulk. Then Iron Man added, "The only way you're taking over the world is over our dead bodies. And good luck with that."
Doctor Doom only laughed and replied, "You have failed, Avengers. My black hole cannon is operational and now will be tested on your nation's capital. Then all nations on Earth will do as I say or pay the price."
Black Widow scoffed and answered, "You're more likely to swallow up your own country with that thing. Why not just stop this aggression before you make this harder on yourself?"
Doom was only more enraged that the Avengers would stand up to him when it seemed that victory was finally within his reach, and he spat, "I beamed you out of this world before! Why would you be so foolish as to risk it again?!"
"Because this isn't the only Earth with superheroes to take down the bad guys," Spider-Man answered smugly. Suddenly, the roof of the tower chamber was torn open, and Doctor Doom saw Superman hovering in the air with Batman and Wonder Woman on either side of him. Flash and Aquaman appeared next, followed by Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter, and soon Doctor Doom was being stared down by each member of the Justice League and their teenage protégés who had come with them to help the Avengers stop Doctor Doom.
"It's over, Doom," said Superman with a stern look.
"I decide when it is over, worm!" roared Doctor Doom with undisguised fury. He pressed a few buttons on his wrist computer and HYDRA agents rushed into the room. Then he shouted to the technicians manning the consoles for his weapon, "Activate the black hole cannon!"
The Justice League and their company watched as the deadly black hole weapon began powering up. They had to execute their plan and fast, and Batman took charge of the situation. He said, "Outsiders, take out the weapon! Avengers and Leaguers, you handle the goons! And founders of the Justice League…"
"Doctor Doom is ours!" finished Wonder Woman.
In an instant, Doctor Doom and his HYDRA goons were thrown into chaos as the Justice League and Avengers hit them with everything they had. Green Arrow and Black Canary led the charge to the left while Thor and Black Panther led the charge on the right. The League and the Avengers tore the chamber to pieces, knocking goons down left and right, and even the Doom-Bots were no match for the combined strength of these two teams of heroes.
Meanwhile, Doctor Doom was now facing the founders of the Justice League, and they were putting up a fight many times fiercer than he had ever seen from the Avengers. Superman flew at Doctor Doom first and dealt six punches that shattered his energy shield. Another punch from Superman sent the masked supervillain flying to the other side of the room, and then Batman nearly nailed him with a few batarangs.
Doctor Doom fired blasts of ionic energy at the heroes, but for once, he was stunned. The beams barely tickled Superman's invulnerable body and Wonder Woman's magic bracelets only deflected the beams. However, Green Lantern ran into a tight spot when Doom fired more energy beams at him. His constructs faded on contact with the ion rays and even his shield was not enough to stop them. Then he realized why.
"This Doctor Doom guy's got yellow laser beams to shoot at us! And yellow is the only color my ring's energy can't affect!" he said worriedly. "I think we're a little up the creek on this one."
Doctor Doom then tackled Green Lantern in the air and slammed him against the right wall before he engaged Superman and Wonder Woman in combat next. Doom's punches packed enough power to easily outmatch Captain America and Iron Man combined, but Superman managed to hold him off while Wonder Woman bound the villain in her magic lasso. However, Doom gave a wry chuckle and merely pulled on the rope as hard as he could, dragging Wonder Woman off her feet and into a punch to the stomach.
"I warned you that your efforts were not enough, heroes! Your powers are nothing to me!" the evil dictator roared with triumph. However, he hadn't paid much attention to the Justice League's teen protégés, and at that moment, Robin was meddling with the black hole gun control panels while Nightwing and Batgirl took down Doctor Doom's guards.
"But are you gonna be able to take all of us down before I sabotage your death thingie?" taunted Robin with an impish grin.
Doctor Doom turned to catch sight of Robin just as he managed to hack into the deactivation code, which Doom had installed in case he generated a black hole over Latveria as a threat and it went out of his control. As the remote shutdown command kicked in, the villain became so infuriated that he flew toward Robin and seized him by the throat. The young hero struggled mightily, but Doctor Doom tightened his metal-clad fingers around his neck and said, "At the very least, I will satisfy my thirst for blood with you!"
But before he could deal the deadly strike, he was grabbed from behind by the Hulk, who flung him off his feet and roared, "YOU STAY AWAY FROM BIRD BOY! HULK SMASH YOU FOR THAT!"
He slammed Doctor Doom on the floor of his command center before tossing him into a wall. But when he charged at him again, the villain simply raised a hand and conjured a blizzard that blew off the roof and tore his black hole cannon apart, but sent the Hulk whirling into the air. The Justice League didn't have to guess what new power Doctor Doom had displayed.
"Wait a minute!" cried Flash. "This guy's got magical powers too?!"
"We should have warned you guys," said Iron Man with lamentation in his tone. "Doctor Doom struck a treasonous bargain with evil forces to gain this power, so he's a scientific genius and a sorcerer combined."
Doctor Doom now unleashed his full fury against the combined team of heroes: he melted Iron Man's armor with enchanted fire and trapped Captain America under his own shield when he made it feel heavier than a thousand lead weights; he drained the energy out of Vision, Cyborg, Red Tornado; he stunned Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern with blasts of lightning, and he bound Thor in manacles while making Big Bertha sink into the floor like it was made of quicksand. Worse, he wrapped Wasp in webs and trapped Black Panther in the walls of the chamber and used a spell on Wolverine that made his adamantium skeleton as fragile as glass.
"All right, buddy!" came the voice of Hawkgirl. "You want a real challenge? Scrap with us!"
She and Hawkman flew at Doctor Doom with their maces raised to strike and their shields at the ready. Think that this would be another easy task, Doctor Doom released blasts of mystic energy at the two winged heroes. But this time, their Nth Metal shields absorbed the energies of magic completely.
"What?! This is impossible! No technology on Earth can resist my mystic power!" roared Doctor Doom.
"Our planet's weapons were designed and forged to repel magic," answered Hawkman with a grin. "Now we're going to end this once and for all."
The Hawks charged Doctor Doom, who released mystic energy and deadly spells at them, but his mystic powers were useless against the Nth Metal of Hawkman and Hawkgirl's weapons. Closing in on him, they hit him hard and circled around him, striking with everything they had. As the heroes began regaining consciousness, Superman and Batman shared a nod. With that, Superman heaved Captain America's shield off him while Batman revived Flash and Green Lantern. Wonder Woman freed Thor and Black Panther while Martian Manhunter mentally detected Hulk and brought him back to the tower. Then as Doom's spells wore off with each blow he received from Hawkman and Hawkgirl, The Avengers and the Justice League all ganged up on the scheming villain. They tore off his armor piece by piece and scattered it across the room, and after finally clamping an inhibitor collar around his neck, Superman gave Captain America the honor of knocking the menace out.
…
NEW YORK CITY
MARCH 25, 12:30 EDT
Avengers Tower was turned into a house party for the Avengers as Colonel Fury contacted them a few days later with some good news. For the first time Iron Man had seen him, Fury was actually smiling as he gave S.H.I.E.L.D.'s report.
"I'm happy to say that the evidence of Doctor Doom's plans to use his black hole cannon to subjugate the world's countries is the best proof we have of his criminal activity as well as what was gathered from the sites of his criminal operations that you all took down," Fury told the combined group. "The World Court has found Doctor Doom guilty on all counts of crimes against humanity and he's had his diplomatic immunity finally revoked."
Flash broke in and asked, "And what is their sentence for the would-be tyrant ruler of the world?"
"Lifelong imprisonment with no parole, no bail," replied Fury. "And if he tries to escape, they'll be breathing down his neck until he's back in that cell on the Helicarrier." He gave the heroes of the Justice League a rare smile and said, "You guys are definitely heroes worth your salt. It's been a pleasure to work beside you all."
"And it's an honor to work with good men like you, Colonel," replied Superman. "Avengers Tower out.
Batman then asked Mr. Fantastic, "Is the Warp Gate reinstalled here?"
"Everything's almost in readiness, Bats," the elastic hero replied.
That's when Spider-Man inquired, "You guys sure you don't wanna stick around? There's a lot of neat countries to visit, relics to protect, and bad guys to stop."
"A tempting offer. But our place is the Earth where we belong," said Superman, even though he was smiling. "Besides, this is your place. We're only visitors."
"Nevertheless, you have all shown us a true example of comradery and trust," said Wonder Woman. "We hope that the rest of the League will follow that example."
The conversation came to a stop when Mr. Fantastic activated the Warp Gate. He had been warned that the gate had been damaged in the final fight with Doctor Doom, so this would be the last time it could be used. Knowing that they had a short time to go through before the portal completely broke down, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the Justice League and their teen protégés shook hands with the Avengers and saluted. Then as the Avengers watched with longing eyes, the Justice League walked through the Warp Gate and vanished, returning to their Earth where they belonged. Miss Martian was the last to walk through after giving Spider-Man quite a tight hug, and once she was gone, the portal broke down and the machine shuddered and shook before it collapsed into a useless heap of metal and transistors.
"Well, we have had quite the adventure," said Thor as the tower's robotic cleaners swept up the mess.
"I'm gonna miss those Justice League guys," said Iron Man. "Flash was really starting to grow on me."
"Oh, don't tell me the invincible Iron Man has a soft side," smirked Hawkeye, only to receive a whap on the back of his head from Black Widow, who said, "And don't tell me that you didn't have an archery match with that Green Arrow fellow."
And as usual, the Avengers couldn't help sharing a laugh as Hawkeye's temperamental nature got him arguing with his teammates over their opinions of the mightiest heroes from another Earth. If only they could spend time helping the Justice League fight the bad guys of the Earth they came from.
A/N: I hope this story ended on a positive note for you, my readers. My apologies if it wasn't good enough. I've learned the hard way that I'm not very good with crossover stories. Nevertheless, keep your eyes open for completions of my other unfinished stories and look out for new ones to come. Have fun!