1I must say I am quite impressed with this fic. Nearly 500 hits now total since I started it about a week ago, and that's enough to tell me that, even if you say nothing, there are still many who enjoy the fic. Yay! I personally feel that, although I am aware I have committed a sin in the eyes of the devout Doom devotees, I am actually content with how I have portrayed Doom, and feel it is well within the parameters of how Doom would act, if this series of events occurred. I am aware of Dr. Doom's bitter hatred of Reed Richards, and I feel that his hatred is well represented here towards those he feels wronged his experiment. And I am aware of Doom's hatred of Ben Grimm, for seriously injuring Doom when he tried to personally attack the Fantastic Four in their own home, and feel this is also represented well in Doom's animosity towards Jake for the scar. I have no regret, as the final acts of this story are being read. My only regrets, however, are in borrowing certain titles and phrases for use in chapter titles.
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Chapter 6: Blood and Thunder
"Do you mind telling me where we're going?" Fu Dog asked.
"Victor told us where Jake is in his statement about the statue!"
That would explain why Gramps was flying over the water, but he wasn't heading towards the Statue of Liberty...
"Uh, Gramps? Your eye sight going or something? The statue's that way!" He told him, pointing.
"That isn't where Jake is. Victor prides himself on his intelligence. The statue would be too obvious for his tastes!"
Now Fu Dog was confused.
"But you said he-"
"The Golden Door once referred to Ellis Island. Do you remember? When we came to America? We had traveled through Europe to speak to the Dragon Council beforehand."
NOW Fu Dog remembered. That had been a long time ago though, and Ellis Island's buildings were mostly closed off to tourists now. It made sense now.
"So you think Victor's got Jake in one of the buildings there?"
Thunder began to rumble, quite loudly now.
"I know so. Victor's weakness is his arrogance. He was mocking us when he gave us that clue..."
"How do you know so much about this guy?"
"Because the Dragon Council has known about his family long before he was born."
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Rose was determined to get loose now. She was pulling hard at the chains, having gotten her legs up far enough to be in a squatting position on the wall, the taut chains the only thing aside from her boot traction allowing her to do this, and if she lost either, she'd fall off, but if it was the chains, it'd be worth it.
"Come...on!"
She didn't know if Jake was dead or unconscious, but if it was the latter, Jake wouldn't have too long before the former set in if he wasn't attended to.
"Come ON!"
The shackles were digging into her wrists with this. Her Huntsclan outfit was helping keep it from cutting her wrists, which was one of the few things Rose had to be thankful for from the Huntsclan. The important one was the training, which she'd been given to kill dragons, and here she was trying to use it to help a dragon. The irony today was so thick you COULDN'T cut it with a knife. Oh, maybe a chainsaw, but even that's a bit of a stretch...
"COME ON!"
Rose thought she could feel the shackles beginning to give. However, she made the mistake of relaxing, which caused her to slide back down to hanging like Jake was. If it weren't for digging her boots into the wall, she'd have dislocated both shoulders, but even with that softening the jolt it hurt.
"Damn it..."
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"Whoa-whoa-whoa, what'da mean you guys knew about him already?" Fu Dog asked.
Grampa was landing on the island, no one around except them, and also Jake and Rose, though they knew only of Jake.
"There is no time to explain. Jake is in serious danger!"
Grampa then rushed around looking for a likely place for Jake to be, but none of the buildings seemed very suitable save for the main building.
"That must be it."
"You will not pass."
The two were stunned, as they saw what appeared to be Doom walk out of the building they were heading to.
"Yo, how'd you beat us here?" Fu Dog demanded.
Then the cloaked figure laughed, with a machine-like laugh. Grampa and Fu Dog were confused, even when the figure removed the cold metal mask, reveal a cooler still skull like form made of metal and wire, a machine, made in the guise of man, as it tossed the mask aside, the hood falling back to show the rest of the head.
"What are you?" Grampa asked, shocked.
"I am a machination of destruction." The robot responded, it's voice a mechanical replication of Victor's, "A man-made Grim Reaper. Your Grim Reaper."
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Meanwhile...
Rose was trying again to pull the chains apart. She knew she had to this time. She grunted, the chains not wanting to give.
"Ergh!"
They were starting to give again. She kept pulling, ignoring the pain in her wrists.
"Al..most..there!"
They finally gave out, tearing loose from the wood that was holding them. Doom must not have thought Rose could get loose from that to use it. She fell to the ground hard, and groaned.
"Owww..."
She then got to her knees, chains still on her wrists, and reached for her pouch. It was still there, so Doom must not have believed she'd get loose. She took out a kit in the pouch, heading over to Jake, and opened the kit, containing several lock-pick tools.
"Dragon or not, you didn't deserve this. Besides that, I love you, and I am NOT going to lose you to some twisted maniac."
She felt for the locks on Jake's chains, and started working on them when she found them.
"Be it Doom, or my uncle. Though uncle might just be misguided and not full blown insane, but the intent is still there...and why am I even talking when you can't hear me?"
She thought for a minute Jake might be dead, but she tried to force it out of her mind. It was all she could do to resist listening for a heartbeat. While it'd make sense to listen for one, she also knew if he was alive, every second counted, so she was going to assume he was alive. Unless he was dead...
"Damnit, be alive Jake..."
She ended up putting her ear on his chest to listen anyway. Training be danged, she had to know to ease her mind in any way. She couldn't hear anything.
"No, you can't be dead!"
Then she heard it. It was weak, but he DID have a heartbeat. She sighed in relief, and hastily worked on the locks. She soon had Jake resting on her shoulder, holding him there, and was bolting for and out the door...
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"Oooh, Grim Reaper, little thick on the melodrama tin-man!" Fu Dog taunted in reply to the robot's words.
He didn't laugh long. Grampa could barely keep up with the robot's jet-powered charge at Fu Dog, even being a dragon. The robot was like a blur in motion during that. Grampa didn't like this one bit, and Fu Dog was squirming, with his neck in the grip of that soulless creation.
"Erk! Gahh! What'sa matter? No sense of humor?"
To the surprise of the two, the robot replied as though it DID have a soul, and were much alive.
"There's a difference between humor and insult. And I resent being called a tin-man."
The robot then threw Fu Dog like a shot-put into one of the buildings, leaving a very large impact crater in the brick, which Fu Dog fell out from. Since Fu Dog's bulk was also magical, it did act like a shock absorber/body armor, but that didn't mean Fu Dog liked being thrown and slammed into a wall.
"That's gonna hurt in the morning..."
The robot, or more accurately, a Doombot, turned to face Grampa, who had taken a fighting pose, a unique one, that fit his dragon body.
"Nothing to say dragon? I can tell you're curious..."
"If you'll allow me to, I will. How is it a machine acts like a man?"
The Doombot laughed, a machine sound in the voice.
"Perhaps it's magic, perhaps science. Perhaps both. There's only one way to learn for certain."
"And what is that?" Grampa asked, tensing up.
"Defeat me!"
Thunder clapped over the city, in a deafening boom, calling upon a torrential rain, washing over everything below, including the two fighters. Grampa saw the Doombot jet at him, and barely managed to catch a high-power right punch from it, trying to lash back with his tail. The Doombot blocked this with it's left arm, then twisted it's arm to grab the tail, and deliver a powerful electrical shock into Grampa.
"AAAAUGGGHHH!"
It let go, leaving Grampa gasping for air, feeling weak. The Doombot's left arm was sparking briefly, but it cut off the electrical flow shortly, to avoid an electrical backlash due to the rain. It then picked Grampa up by the neck with it's left hand, chuckling to itself, before it grabbed his head with it's right hand, in a tight grip, squeezing. Grampa groaned, feeling like his head was in a vice. The Doombot stopped however...
"Ergh..."
It then dropped Grampa, who looked at the machine, confused as to why it stopped. The Doombot gave no reason for stopping, but simply looked at him, with it's artificial, human-like eyes. Those eyes looked like they were confused and lost. The Doombot then recovered from this state, and walked over to where it had thrown it's mask, and picked it up, putting it on. Grampa got to his hind legs, still wondering what was going on. Rose then came out of the building, carrying Jake. Grampa and the Doombot looked to her, and she was looking to the robot.
"Doom! ...no...you're the thing that attacked the Huntsclan..."
"I don't understand."
Grampa was very confused now, but he knew the following. That the girl was Rose, who Jake had been talking about for a long time. That she was also dressed in Huntsclan clothes and spoke of them. That the Doombot was apparently reluctant to...
"You CAN'T kill us, can you?"
It then looked to Grampa.
"Doom has ordered me to kill all of you if I need to, but there is something holding me back...It isn't programming, nor is it a lack of ability. I don't know why I can't make myself kill you, but I will return to Doom to find out what it is, and when I do, I will overcome it, and I will kill you."
The Doombot then flew up into the night sky using the jets in it's body, and took off for the city, leaving them in the rain to sort things out.
"As for you, get away from my grandson!"
Rose looked to him. He knew she was part of the Huntsclan. But considering, how could he NOT know by now.
"I'm trying to help him!"
"Then stand aside."
Grampa flew over to Fu Dog to get the potion bag, before flying back to Jake, who Rose had put down upon request. The potions were all intact thanks to Fu Dog's fur and hide, and he took out a healing potion, pouring it into Jake's mouth, and turn to human form to tilt Jake's head back to get him to drink it while unconscious. For what felt like forever, there was no reaction.
"No. No! NO! He is NOT dead! He can't be!"
Grampa looked to Rose, and was in thought. His attention was diverted, with Jake groaning. They looked to Jake, to see much of the wounds healing rapidly. The potion was working, and Rose was relieved.
"Thank God..."
"Now, I want an explanation..." Grampa told her.
"Guys?"
They both looked to Jake, who was awake.
"Can we...ow...talk at the shop...? I feel like a fish..."
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The four of them were now back at the shop, drying off from the rain, resting from what they'd been through, and giving Jake time to recuperate. Somehow Trixie and Spud had gotten wind of a problem and had come over as well. Jake was currently in the back, Fu Dog was watching him, and the others were in the front, with a Closed sign on the front door, and the shades drawn. Rose had explained to the others what had happened in that dungeon, and the fact that even if she was part of the Huntsclan, she had to draw the line now.
"I hate being part of the Huntsclan. I...I don't like being some kind of murderer! And tonight...tonight's the last straw! I don't care if they DON'T allow parts of the Huntsclan to quit, I didn't ask for this, and I'd rather just put it behind me!"
"I see...You do sound sincere, so I believe you are trustworthy." Grampa noted.
"So, you two knew as well?" Rose asked.
"Yeah. In fact, we knew before Jakie did! Even Spud caught onto it, but when we told Jake, he was like 'No, no way, coincidence, not happening'. I dunno what exactly happened during that ski trip between you two, but he had to see for himself to even think of it."
"Considering, I can understand why..." Rose said to herself.
"Okay, so like, you guys said there was a killer robot thing trying to kill ya, so, like what happened there?"
"That I don't understand myself." Grampa told Spud, "It's as if...hmmm..."
"Like what?" Trixie asked.
"I think perhaps whatever method Victor used to give that machine human-like qualities worked too well. It was as though it had a conscience."
"Whoa, now, hold on. You tellin' me that robot didn't kill you because it FELT BAD trying to?" Trixie asked, surprised she was hearing this.
"I do not know, but I am not knowledgeable of machines and how they work. That is the only reason I can think of." he stated, sipping some tea.
Fu Dog came in, and Rose was trying to sort out everything that had happened.
"How's Jake doing? He still like some kinda mutant raisin?" Spud asked.
"Comments aside, he's doing okay. He's sleeping it off. Now do you mind telling me how exactly the Dragon Council knew about this looney?"
Grampa sighed, and set his tea down. He had to say it sometime.
"The Dragon Council came to know of Victor's family long before I was even old enough to know I myself was a dragon. Victor's ancestors were much like Jake's."
"You mean they're dragons too?" Rose asked.
"No, unlike dragons, they were human. What made them alike was that they too could tap into magical energies. Not even the highest members of the Dragon Council are certain as to how this came to pass, but for centuries now, they have been keeping track of his linage to see where it would go, and to possibly keep them from revealing the magical world to other humans. His family descended into a way of living similar to that of gypsies, using their magic to remain in tune with nature and to aid in their lives." Grampa told them sipping his tea, before putting it back, "However, problems arose..."
"Like what?" Fu Dog asked.
"Like the prejudice we heard him speak out against at the embassy earlier tonight. The other people of his country came to fear and hate them for their use of magic, despite the Dragon Council's efforts to keep their use of it hidden to non-magical humans. It reached it's peak before Jake was born..."
"What happened?" Rose asked.
"According to the Dragon Council, the country's king had soldiers attack the gypsies. Victor had only been born that year, and he and his parents were the last of magical humans from assaults like these. Victor's mother tried to hold the soldiers off, but ultimately resorted to making a pact with a malevolent entity for the power she needed to fend them off. However, she was cheated, not having been given the control. In using that power, she unwillingly took the lives of many children in the kingdom..."
"Dang, that's just nasty!" Trixie spoke up.
"Yes, and when she tried to give that power up because of that, she was killed. We know nothing of what the pact itself was for. It wasn't long after that when Victor's father was asked by a noble to cure the noble's wife of illness. However, even for the Dragon Council, this would be a lost cause, and Victor's father knew this, trying to tell this to the noble. The noble would not listen to this, and when the woman died, he accused Victor's father of murder, refusing to believe he could do nothing. It was after this the council lost track of Victor, until recently, when scientific achievements of his were noticed by the professors of Empire University."
"That was about two weeks ago." Rose added, "He had impressed them by constructing a complete mapping of the human brain, and how each part relates to the mind. There was a lot of talk about it at the campus. I heard one professor say it might lead the way to new methods of psychology, as well as possibly lead to more human artificial intelligence."
"Wow, you ARE an over-achiever." Trixie commented.
"That wasn't why they invited him though." Rose continued, though she felt a little proud of the statement, "The reason I heard of was because of his vast knowledge in all fields of science, and that he'd make major breakthroughs in other fields as well. There was a rumor he had been taking advantage of Latveria currently not being noticed by the Geneva Convention, and had near perfected genetic sciences, and a new method of cloning."
"I take it back. Victor's the over-achiever."
"Yes, well, I inquired with the council about Victor days ago, when I read about his arrival in the city in the paper. His name seemed familiar."
"Yeah, Victor's kind of a funny name ya know" said Spud.
"Not that!" Grampa scolded, "It was because his last name translated to 'Doom' from Hungarian."
"Oh."
They then heard a door slam in the back.
"Jake?" Rose asked, heading back there. "He's gone!"
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Where's Jake going? What will happen now? One last act remains, before the curtain falls.