I will reveal the crossover at the end of this chapter. Then it will become clear as day. And yes, I know I'm going to catch hell from every single obsessed fan of Victor's for altering him and his past to fit the fic, and I assure you he has them where he's truly from, but I could NOT get this warped idea out of my head, and it sounded FAR too good to let die.

No, this isn't going to just curl up and die like that Jurassic park idea, that I chalk up to lack of sleep, too much sugar, and temporary insanity.

Divide

Chapter 3: To Challenge the Sun

Jake felt miserable, and very ticked off at the moment, since it was raining again. He told his grandfather the message, and now they were both in dragon form, flying high over the city, to find Victor. Fu Dog had to remain behind this time to close the shop up for them. Besides that he argued they wouldn't want to put up with wet dog fur.

"I can't believe that guy would-" Jake muttered.

"Jake, if something is troubling you, perhaps it would be best to put it out of your mind for now."

"I can't help it. That's three times I've met the guy and he's got himself tangled up in both my human AND my dragon life. And I HATE him! He acts like everyone's some sort of idiot!" Jake snapped, a bit annoyed by Victor.

"Kings do tend to be a bit arrogant, Jake." Grampa replied, flying ahead.

"True that...WHA?"

Jake stopped, and hovered there.

"KING? Geez! He's got whatever he wants and he wants to screw up my life? Oh for-"

"There is more to it than simple distaste of his character, isn't there?"

"What? No way G, he's just a pain in the butt."

His grandfather simply turned back to looking for Victor. Jake grumbled, following, not quite ready to let his grandfather know the real reason. Jake felt Victor was trying to impress everyone the other day at the lecture, including Rose...

'...maybe I'm just making a big deal out of it. And besides, it's not like I stand much chance with Rose a.k.a. Huntsgirl if she ever finds out...'

Divide

Rose was currently muttering obscenities to herself, while watching the building in front of her with binoculars, making the night into a pale green view. She would normally never even think of using a swear word as Rose, but it was just another part of her deception as Huntsgirl. Returning her thoughts to her duties, she was perched on a cargo distribution building on one of the many dockyards in the city, looking to a warehouse that had been leased to Victor earlier in the week according to the Huntsclan's sources. However, something in the building was disrupting the limited scanning devices in her binoculars, making them give erratic readings.

"He must have the orb in there...he has that place shielded from tracking gear...yet-"

She stopped when something landed on the roof behind her, and spun around, aiming her staff at it.

"What are YOU doing here?" her voice said in tandem with that of the one behind her.

"Getting the Orb back!" Jake and Huntsgirl responded, again at the same time.

"Back off, dragon! Don't make me slay you." she shouted.

"I thought you were supposed to." Jake said with a smirk.

"I have more important things to do. The person that stole the orb-"

"Is a cocky king with a serious attitude problem and screwing around with your Huntsclan?"

"...that too." Huntsgirl muttered, keeping the staff aimed at Jake, "Let me guess, he stepped on your tail."

"If you want to fight, then let's go!"

Jake and Huntsgirl both took fighting positions, ready to attack each other. And for both of them, the fighting would do some good for venting anger and frustration. However, both were interrupted by what sounded like electrical surges from the warehouse. They both looked in confusion, to see that the lights in the area were flickering and dimming.

"What the heck is that?" Jake wondered, "Wha? Not even going to fight?"

Huntsgirl had used the distraction to break off from the fight, and head down to the ground, to find a way into the warehouse. Grampa landed behind Jake, before the lights started to surge and the light from them flickering between normal and a shade of purple.

"Oh dear..."

"Do you know something I should?" asked Jake.

"I believe it is something he should know more." was the reply.

Grampa then flew down to head into the warehouse. Jake blinked, and his jaw hung open, eye arched.

"Huh?"

He then followed, and went inside through the door. Inside was a large collection of scientific and magical equipment. It was pretty bizarre for Jake to see spell books next to things like beakers, wrenches, and welding equipment. But what got his attention was the large gate-like construction on the other end of the warehouse, with the Orb of Malorphis connected to it at the top of the frame, and the whole thing connected to the city's power by exposed power cables in the ground.

"Whoa...right out of a sci-fi movie.."

Grampa smacked his forehead over Jake just barging in like that, then followed in case he'd need the help. As for Huntsgirl, she had entered through the roof, and was perched on one of the rafter beams, watching. The three of them didn't wait long, as Victor stepped from behind the machine, still wearing his green raincoat, slick and shiny from water.

"I didn't expect an audience for this.."

"You can't just put the orb into machines like this! That magic could work it's way into the entire city that way like electricity!" Grampa yelled.

"Shut up! I've made my calculations for this, I know what I'm doing!" Victor shouted back, before turning to the machine, "What man wouldn't prepare for when they challenge the sun?"

"You trying to fight the sun? G, it's nighttime!" Jake asked.

Huntsgirl put her free hand on her forehead and sighed quietly at Jake's naivety in a situation like this.

"It's a figure of speech." Victor replied.

"Oh..."

"And even if your accusations of error in my work were true, I don't care. I have even reason in the world." Victor muttered, using a remote device to turn the machine on, before throwing the remote aside.

The machine roared to life, sparking wildly with dark purple arcs of energy, arcs which threatened to enter the power cables, as the gate-like area started to shimmer and glow.

"What reason could you have for threatening every life in the city?" Grampa demanded.

Victor turned to face them, furious, flinging his right hand down in a gesture of his rage.

"Shut up! You have no idea what I've been through! What fools like those in this city have done!"

Huntsgirl muttered about Victor being insane. The machine's glow started to ripple and grow into the opening in the center of the machine.

"It's because of people like them I'm alone in this world! Those superstitious, racist savages took my family, my entire culture from me! I never even got to hear my mother's voice! Because we were what you'd call gypsies, they hunted us down like wild animals, slaughtering us one by one! Because we knew how to tap into the mystic forces, they feared us, despised us! Sought our demise for whatever petty reason they could think of!" Victor shouted, in blind rage, eyes tearing up from the painful memories, "Because of them! Because of them, I had nothing! I was left alone in this world, because they hated us! They hated my mother, even though she tried to help them! And it's their fault I saw my father die, because they accused him of killing one of the noblewomen, when she was condemned due to illness he tried to cure!"

Jake, Grampa, and Huntsgirl were silent, knowing now they were dealing with more than a madman. Rather, he was a lost child, playing the part of a leader of men, to try to get what he wanted.

"I had every right to take their kingdom from them! I used my mother's spell books, and the sciences they were hesitant of, to tear their hierarchy apart and become their king!" Victor continued, pointing back to the machine, which now had a rippling white field inside it, it's light filling the warehouse, "And now...now I'm going to see my mother's face, for the first time in my life! To hear her voice, as I should have been allowed to! I challenge the sun, nay, the cosmos itself! I WILL SEE HER, AND NOTHING IN THIS WORLD WILL STOP ME!"

Grampa rushed at Victor to attack and try to stop the machine.

"This is madness! I can't allow you to put the lives of this whole city on the line for this!"

Victor yelled in rage, throwing his left hand forward at him, and from his hand, lightning struck the dragon down, throwing him into a table.

"Grampa!" Jake shouted, heading to him to see if he was alive.

Victor held up his left hand, showing off the fact he was wearing a metal gauntlet of some sort on it, which was sparking. His eyes were narrowed, and he scowled. Jake could tell his grandfather was badly hurt, having been forced back into human form, but thanks to being a dragon when he took the blast, he would live, though he'd be in no shape to brag about it.

"I told you. I won't allow anything to stop me now!"

"How about my foot!"

Victor was thrown back into the side of the gateway with great force, slamming into it, and damaging the machine, making the field spark and flicker. Jake was wide-eyed, seeing the whole thing. Huntsgirl had dropped down, and kicked Victor into the machine.

"I've saved both your lives now. We're even." She told them.

She then leapt up at the Orb, and tried to remove it from the machine. It tore loose, wires snapping off of it, and the field started to distort wildly. Victor got up, and screamed in anger, firing an electrical blast at her, which she dodged. Barely.

"You'll pay for this! All of you will pay!"

He then swept an electrical beam at them, Jake barely getting his grandfather out of the way, before he swooped down at Victor. Victor swung his left fist at Jake's head, which he barely dodged, and retaliated with a swing of his own left hand. Victor tried to evade this, but one of Jake's claws caught his face anyway.

"Argh! My face!"

Victor staggered back away from Jake, his gauntlet's spark dying out voluntarily, holding his face with both hands. The gateway then trembled, fissures forming in the floor.

"Dragon! Get out of here! You're mine to slay, not some lunatic's!" Huntsgirl shouted, fleeing through the door.

Jake began to wonder about Rose's intentions, before he flew for the door. He didn't get to see what happened to Victor, before the gateway exploded violently, shattering the entire warehouse, the force of the blast slamming Jake into a light pole, which snapped in half, and toppled over from the impact. A fierce fire began to blaze in the remains of the warehouse, burning countless books and supplies. Jake wasn't aware of this. The impact had forced him into human form, and everything was going black...

Divide

The next thing Jake knew, he was in the shop, on a couch, bandaged up, and feeling like hell.

"Owww...man..."

"Yo Jakie, you okay?"

Jake knew that voice. His head hurt, but he could still remember some things.

"Trixie? What are you doing...here? How'd I get here?"

"Fu Dog called me an' Spud and told us you were headin' out to the docks. When that explosion turned the place into the Fourth of July, we guessed you guys were there."

"Yeah dude, that was, like, cool! I swear I saw a kitty firework!"

Jake chuckled a bit, then winced. It hurt to laugh.

"Fu Dog gave ya both some sorta potion to help you both recover, but he said it ain't no miracle worker for injuries THAT bad. Gramps just needs sleep, but you need to watch it for a week or so." Trixie told Jake.

"Ugh..."

"Dude, come on, you were, like, Bendy Straw Man!" Spud added.

Jake only gave Trixie a confused look.

"What Spud means, is that you were nearly singin' in the choir with St. Peter! I don't even wanna try and remember how bad you were!"

"Wait, where's Huntsgirl? And Victor?" Jake asked, now concerned.

"You and Grampa were the only ones there when we got there." Spud told him.

"And the news is sayin' no body's been found in that mess, but I can't blame 'em. It's like findin' a needle in a haystack."

"No one was found...?" Jake wondered...

Divide

It was dark in the room, save for the flashes of light, of sparking metal, and the flickering on and off of a lightbulb to show us a forge. In this light, we can see Boris, holding a towel, standing next to a table with a washbowl. He is wearing goggles to protect his eyes from the light.

"Victor, you must rest. You were fortunate you survived such an ordeal."

Boris was met with silence, save for the sound of metal being forged and wrought into shape.

"Sir?"

"Boris, do you know what my family name translates into in English..?"

Boris was taken back by the question. It was an odd thing to ask.

"Yes I do."

Victor then stopped working the metal, and used his right hand to feel the wound on his face. It had left a long, thin scar upon his visage. He then held up his work, an ominous, metallic mask.

"That is what the world will know me as now. I am through, with trying to be a mere gentleman in the eyes of the masses..."

Boris watched as Victor put the mask upon his face, hearing a hissing sound, telling him the mask had not quite cooled...

"You don't mean-"

"Yes, I do...the world will know the name of Victor no more..."

He then turned to face Boris, and pulled up the emerald hood over his head, and looked to Boris. This was no longer the face of a mere man. Rather, this would be the face the entire world would come to fear...

"Now, they will know the wrath of Doom..."

Divide

Yes, I KNOW it's an odd crossover, but it's true. The crossover is of the Marvel Comics' own Fantastic Four. Only, to be specific, the only true crossover is that, of Dr. Doom.