The Cold Heart of Hate
A few weeks after the Doc Ock crisis things moved forward much like they had done. Lena was still trying to do damage control trying to rebound after the failure of Octavia's project. However because of the PR nightmare and profit loss from it Lena was dealing with an internal challenge, but like the Luthor she was, it was just a small bump that she would hurdle like she did with every other challenge. Lena did concede defeat to Kate not conceding that Kate was the better businesswoman, but in terms of their company Kane industries was ahead of L Corp in a way at this point would be hard to catch so it was better to call it quits before we have another catastrophe like the fusion disaster. As for Kate recovered from the fight with Doc Ock and she was enjoying her new crown as the Queen of National City business world with Pamela at her side. Pamela for her credit was enjoying the limelight pioneering Kane Industries Horticulture successes as well as being the world's foremost botanist knowledge on fauna from all around the world. Leslie was still holding out hope that Tala would finally wake outside of that Leslie. Lena wanted to help Leslie out so as the owner of Catco she gave her the opportunity to revive her Livewire radio program, and Leslie accepted wanting to keep her mind off of Tala for a bit in addition to working at Kane industries. Diana too was enjoying being the Queen of National city's art scene and Kiara was getting used to supporting Diana something she was not used to and it still bothered her to a point but she was getting used to it. Alex was enjoying her relationship blossoming with Sam and enjoying her new role as a de facto stepmom for Ruby, and kara was enjoying her reporting and being there for Lena as her friend and girlfriend when she needed her to be. Everything was going for the team in their personal and professional lives.
The team was summoned to the DEO by J'onn , and when they arrived at the DEO J'onn was standing next to Maggie. The team was sitting around Maggie and J'onn but it was the Commissioner that spoke up " I want to thank everyone for coming so quickly, and J'onn for assembling everybody here. I need the DEO's help for a security job." The team looked at Maggie quizzically at the request why would the police commissioner be asking for the help of the sirens and the DEO. Maggie understood the looks she was getting. " I know what you're thinking, why the overkill on the security, and that's because of who the person is and what they represent globally." Alex then spoke up " who is the person we would protecting" Maggie looked at the group with a stern look the kind of look that she was not happy with the situation " It's a visiting foreign dignitary the Supreme Lord of the Kingdom of Latveria." Among the group Diana, Lena, and Alex knew exactly who it was and now can't blame Maggie for wanting help. Leslie raised her hand " So are we supposed to know who this is or where that Latervia country is?" Maggie explained further " the Supreme Lord Victoria Von Doom of Latveria is coming here to National City for the opening of the new Latverian embassy in downtown National City. Now for those of you that don't know about Von Doom of Latveria. Its a tyrannical regime not exactly known for its human rights or freedoms and liberties. Victoria Von Doom took control when the commerce guilds and the radical factions of the military overthrew her uncle and his regime, and since then she has assumed complete and total hegemonic control of the country. However unlike other dictator type leaders Latveria is actually pretty strong in the economic, industrial, and technological standpoint. Von Doom's iron fist leadership has one her the moniker Dr. Doom for the experiments that she has conducted on opposition forces. She has been sanctioned by many countries for human rights violations. The state department and the whte house seem to think that allowing Latveria to open an embassy they can come more into the light. Many people here and around the world have voiced their disdain for the decision and we have had a record number of death threats for the ceremony. I know that normally this is the kind of person we would stand up against but the president want this to go off with as little trepidation as possible. So I am asking for the DEO's help and the help of Supergirl and the Sirens to help this go off and get Von Doom back on her plane to Latveria and out of our hair." The team agreed to help Maggie albeit some of them had reservations thee Dr Doom was coming to National City and there was every reason to believe things would get out of hand considering the litany of crimes and atrocities that Von Doom was accused off course nothing could ever be proved because unlike common dictators Victoria Von Doom was actually smart and nothing could ever be pinned directly to her. However with her being on so many peoples naughty list the fact that she for the first time since an attempted assasination was stepping foot out of Doomstadt gave a unique opportunity. However, vague reports since the assasination attempt have also said that Von Doom has been seen using mystic powers, and the last thing anyone wanted was Victoria Von Doom and her security force to hurt or even worse kill citizens in a conflict on the streets of National City.
The day of the embassy opening had arrived Alex had a team of DEO agents and Maggie had sent a few units of officers and Kara, Diana, and Kiara would be there to great Von Doom when her plane landed Kara, Diana, Kiara, and Alex stood side by side as the Latverian plan landed and came to a stop right in front of them. A few minutes later the plane opened and some men walked out more than likely part of the security force followed by other people that looked like a mixture of servants and members of the delegation. Then there was a pause in other people stepping out of the plane then at the top of the stairs a dark cloak stood atop and began her descent. The four heroines accessed the figure. A petite femine form hooded in a black and red cloak she also wore armor on her hands, legs and part of her chest. The cloaked figures stepped toward the four till she was right in front of them. "The famous Supergirl and Wonder Woman sent to protect little old me I would laugh if it was not so sad just how much Americans lose their minds at the slightest hint of crisis no matter if its a terrorist attack, natural disaster, civil unrest its almost in the American DNA to lose there heads world super power indeed, But you the legendary Overgirl the version of Supergirl from another dimension, and in my opinion the better of Supergirl. You and I are not so different and bring order to their respective domains by whatever means necessary even in your crime fighting. You may be the only one that truly understands what I do and how I do. It is truly an honor to meet you." and she extended her hand to shake the Kyrptonian and Overgirl did in fact shake her hand. Kara and Alex looked at each other shocked at the shameless flattery and back handed comments that Victoria Von Doom was spouting and she had been here less than 5 minutes. Diana was livid and honestly if they were not here to protect the dictator she would kill her herself. Victoria noticed how Wonder Woman's hands clenched and smirked at the sight " I am sorry Wonder Woman has done something wrong?" The nonchalant answer from the tyrant made Diana's blood boil even more " No not at all we are just pressed for time." Von Doom smirked again " then we should not keep the state department waiting then" and Von Doom stepped into one of the vehicles in the motorcade and the convoy began to leave the airport for the embassy. Alex and Diana were riding in the car with Von Doom while Kara and Overgirl took to the sky. The rest of the team were scattered around the area making sure there were no surprises along the way assisted by various NCPD officers. In the Limo Alex and Diana sat across from the Latverian dictator annoyed by the smug look on the blonde's face " Tell me it's obvious you two don't like it so please by all means speak freely. I have heard it all before from foreign governments and human rights groups." Diana and Alex knew that Victoria Von Doom was a rare breed of human; she is reprehensible and responsible for some really horrible things, but to them they are the heroes of the story no matter how many times people tell them otherwise. Diana and Alex both knew it was pointless to indulge her knowing that most likely they would inadvertently stroke her ego in some way so they kept their mouths shut. The motorcade finally arrived at the embassy site to this point everything had gone to plan. The embassy looked quite ornate almost like a germanic castle which may blend in in Latveria, but here in the heart of National City it was as out of place as Victoria Von Doom was this they figured was by design of the dictator probably wanting to make the surrounding structure look far greater than the surroundings. Diana and Lena had been used to this type of hubris obviously Diana grew up with the gods like Hades and Lena off course was raised in a family that is synonymous with hubris. However the rest of the team was not used to this not in the slightest normally someone like Victoria Von Doom would be on the enemies list let because of some cruel twist of faith they are there protecting her.
The team united once more as the Secretary of State arrived at the embassy and the ceremony was preparing to begin. Alex Kara, Diana,and Leslie would take the ground defense. Overgirl joined Lena in Iron Maiden and Kate, and Ivy were in the air in the batplane. The ceremony was beginning when the national anthems of both Latveria and the United States were being played as the Secretary of State and the Supreme Lord stepped onto the Dias. Outside of the perimeter of the embassy hundreds of protestors were lined outside chanting things like death to Von Doom, free Latveria, and a litany of other things having to do with human rights. The secretary started to speak giving some narratives about the mutual peace between the two countries and this building represents a new chapter in the history of both nations earning a disapproving boo from the onlookers. From the DEO J'onn and the remainder of the DEO who was not in the field were monitoring the cameras from all vantage points to try and get a jump on any attacks before they happen, and they have picked nothing up to this point. After a few minutes the Secretary introduced Victoria Von Doom and she got up from her chair on the Dias and stepped to the podium. Victoria shook hands with the Secretary and then took the podium and the protestors exploded in loud boos. In typical fashion the blonde smiled and waved at the reaction and even went so far to wave at the protestors. After relishing in the disapproval of the crowd Victoria began her remarks. The two speeches were remarkably different: the Secretary gave a speech of peace and unity for the two nations, but the Supreme leader gave a speech of Nationalism and Latverian independence from the European oppressors. You listen to the woman and she makes it seem like the Latverians are doing the US a favor in terms of letting the United States host a Latverian embassy. Back at the DEO command center the team flagged some unsettling signs from a building with direct line of sight of the building. J'onn immediately lets the team know that something may be a foot and tells the team to be on guard and to check it out. The team heard that Kara and Kiara both used their x-ray vision to see at the locations in question, and at both locations the kryptonians saw the worst case scenarios two snipers preparing to fire. Both went directly into action and flew at the different locations to take them both out. What they failed to notice was that in the audience a member of the Latverian delegation was preparing a weapon. The snipers were just a decoy knowing full well with both Kryptonians around it would be impossible for any long distance attack on the ceremony. So it needed to be played a lot closer to the chest. As Victoria moved to conclude her speech Alex noticed a member of the Latverian delegation get up from there seat and begin to move toward the stage with a hand hidden this put Alex on guard and she motioned toward him. The assassin saw Alex's move and knew that he was blown and knew that he had seconds left to execute the plan so without warning he drew his weapon and pointed it at the dictator and began to open fire. Alex saw this and then sprang into action running toward Von Doom as the first shots were fired by the assassin. A series of 6 shots was heard causing the crowd to scatter in fear. The assassin was taken down by the DEO agents a few seconds later. To Alex's horror two of the first shots connected with Von Doom before she talked the blonde to the ground before the last four could hit. Kara and Kiara had come back to the chaos after dealing with the snipers knowing that the snipers were a trick to get them specifically away from the area to stop the real assassin. The security team grabbed Victoria and rushed her inside the building and closed the doors. The team met in one of the big conference rooms where Alex was located. The brunette was angry with herself in all likelihood Victoria was dead taking the shots that she did and she was too slow to stop it even if Victoria was a horrible human being it was their job to stop her. The team knew Alex was taking it hard all of them had heard that despite her best efforts Victoria had taken two shots before Alex got to her and even thought it was obvious Alex hated the blonde dictator Alex takes her job seriously so any type of failure was unacceptable from Alex so the thought that Victoria got hurt or worse was ripping Alex apart. After the spectacle had died down the assassin was in NCPD custody. After about an hour Victoria's left hand Zora came to inform them that the Supreme lord will see them. Alex was a bit relieved this meant that Victoria did not die, but the group did find it quite peculiar that it did not seem like anything medical was summoned internally or externally so they were all confused as to the state of Victoria's condition. The team stepped into a room different from the rest of the building almost like it was a throne room which surprised no one considering who they were dealing with. The team was looking around before they were broken from their revelry " sorry to keep you waiting, but i wanted to let everything die down first'' the team was shocked by what they saw out of the shadows of the room Victoria Von Doom emerges, but what surprised the team was not that the Latverian dictator was unharmed from the assination attempt but across much of her exposed skin there were patched of metal visible that were hidden before by her clothing but without the heavy cloak it was easy to see. Her finger tips and much of her palms encased in the metal alloy running up her arms to her face were patches of the alloy also resided. Von Doom saw the uncertain looks knowing the questions that they had " I trust all of you know the assasination attempt five years ago?" receiving mostly nods from the team " That was the closest anyone has come to taking my life in the ten years I have been the ruler of Latveria, and though I survived it had its consequences and what you see before you was the consequences. I was experimenting with a new type of lightweight metallic alloy meant for the military to use for equipment and body armor. The assassins used an RPG and fired it on my castle, inadvertently hitting my laboratory causing a series of explosions, one of which set off a chain reaction with the metallic compound I was working on. At first it did not seem like I was affected by the blast but over the coming weeks my skin began to morph starting with my knuckles and it spread from there. I was able to stabilize it to prevent the spread but I have to this date not been able to reverse the process. However some positives came from it. I now have protection from bullets, one of the reasons I stand in front of you unharmed by the attempt during the ceremony, and this of course. The team followed the blonde as she walked towards a wall outlet and extended her metallic hand when suddenly electricity started to arc from the outlet and absorbed through her fingers causing all the lights in the room to flicker. Victoria stopped " i am able to absorb an undetermined amount of power and then i can also release it as well " and she pointed her hand at a statue in the room and from no were her hand started to glow a light blue and from there a bolt of lightning was released and destroyed the statue exploding it into dozens of pieces. Shocking the team. It however made sense because since that report many people became afraid of Von Doom because since that attempt she was able to perform in their words magic, and what they just saw was pretty magical. Victoria continued, " My intelligence minister has informed me that the group of assassins are members of a Kasnian nationalist group. At the mention of kasnia Diana cringed having a connection with Kasnia from her time with the justice league with her time with princess now Queen Audrey and the Vandal Savage situation. My generals are already preparing plans of retaliation against Kasnia. Hearing this got a response from Diana knowing Audrey would never sanction such an act against anybody even someone like Victoria Von Doom '' To what end this was an attack by a fringe group not the Kasnian government Queen Audrey would never order nor condone such an attack even with your country's tenuous history." the supreme leader eyed Wonder Woman " ah that right you do have a friendship with Queen Audrey that's right. Well Diana maybe you don't know your friend as well as you think you do she has been trying to undermine Latverian independence since she took the crown, and this latest act of aggression is in line with the border skirmishes that my military and the Kasnians have had on the border the past few months. I can't overlook the coincidences and there must be a response to this act of aggression." Diana stepped forward " you will not attack Kasnia especially with little evidence to suggest that Audrey was involved it would be better to ask her then go to war stupidly." Victoria stepped towards the amazon, something that very few people would have the stores to do. " Are you telling me, the sovereign leader of the kingdom of Latveria, how I should lead and conduct the business of my country on sovereign Latverian soil?" The rest of the group eyes the scene unfolding in front of them thinking there might be a fight coming and after what they just saw from Victoria moments ago it may not be the easy fight everyone would have thought. Victoria broke the tense silence " I thank you all for your efforts today, but I think now it's time for you to leave." As she said this she never broke eye contact with Diana. The team assembled at the DEO all but Diana who went to call Queen Audrey to inform her of the imminent danger facing Kasnia so they were not blindsided by the attack. Diana joined them a little later " I told Audrey and she is mobilizing her defense forces but other then a few militia forces to help stop the border problems between the two countries it would take time to get the main Kasnian forces to the border and by that time the Latverian military may have already invaded the country." They were now trying to see if there was any way that they could stop the fighting. Kate was putting her detective skills to good use and she started running the three assassins, finding out everything that they could about them. However she found some startling news that the team would be interested to know. Kate had the team assembled again " I was doing research into the assassins and their identities. Now when Victoria told us that her intelligence services informed her that it was a Kasnian Nationalist group that was responsible I did some digging. Yes they are kasnian citizens but neither of the three is politically active and with no ties to any anti-Latverian group. However what I did find was all three of them came from border towns along the Kasnian-Latverian border, and each of their towns was attacked by Latverian nationalists on the border. Now this on its own is not significant, but it is significant that each of the three people are missing family members." The group perked up and heard that " it seems that the Latverian forces took hostages in their raids but was never confirmed by the Kasnians or the Latverians. I checked against the injured, the dead, and those that were still among the living and each of the assassins has at least one family member missing presumed taken by the Latverians." Alex was the first to speak up "so wait are you saying that the Latverians kidnapped family members of these three to blackmail them." Kate thought about this a lot before she assembled everyone " I believe the Latverians nationalists attacked these towns to take hostages to put their remaining family members in a vulnerable and susceptible position to do what they wanted them to do, and obviously that was to try and assassinate Victoria Von Doom, but i think they were supposed to fail." This caused quizzical looks from the team. " I think those Latverians kidnapped these people to get the Kasnians to do whatever they wanted in the hope of getting their family members back. Now knowing what we know about Victoria because of her condition there is absolutely no chance the attack would have succeeded, but of course no one knew this was going on, not even us. So to the rest of the world a Kasnian fringe group tried to assassinate the Latverian leader giving them cause to invade Kasnia. Obviously as advanced as the Kasnian military is the Latverians are even stronger and outnumber them so a war between the two would more than likely result in a Latverian victory. Now you're probably asking why would Victoria put herself on the line like this and the simple answer is Lithium. Lithium as we all know is a major component in batteries in fact so much so that many major companies with a major tech division have projects having to do with Lithium Kane Industries and L Corp are no exception to that. Latveria has been experimenting to increase the strength of there armed forces as well as other things stronger and the use of Lithium is essential to this growth, and to this point they have been importing it from far over sees, but now with the massive Lithium deposits in Kasnia Latveria does not need to buy when they own it. Latveria has never had the opportunity to get there hands on it till now because of the war that based of the assassination attempt." Diana stood up enraged ' so your saying that she staged her own assassination attempt just so she can get her hands on a piece a metal." Kate looked at her and nodded " she played us all for fools and at this moment the Latverian military is moving towards Kasnia and will be at the Kasnian border in a few hours." Diana reached her hand out and summoned stormbreaker and motioned to leave. Kiara followed right after her " Diana where are you going?" Diana didn't even look back. " I am going to put a stop to this before people die because of the greed of that woman." The team scabbled to follow her knowing where she was going.
At the embassy Victoria was sitting in the throne room of the embassy waiting for word that the military had begun the invasion of Kasnia. She was broken out of her revelry when she heard noise outside the door. Then suddenly the door was blown off its hinges, and from the smoke she saw the person that she expected to see sooner or later Wonder Woman " Princess Diana to whom do I owe this late night pleasure." Diana stood in front of the tyrant " I am here to stop you from hurting thousands of innocent people because of your greed and carelessness. I know that you staged the assassination and that you blackmailed those men to do it knowing that you were in no real danger just because you want the Kasnian Lithium mines." Victoria was unreadable sitting on the throne in the shadows " you and your team really are as clever as they look i commend you. No on has been able to piece that together certainly not in such a quick time, but there is nothing you can do my military is moving quickly to take positions and blitz into Kasnia with prejudice" Diana took a few steps the rest of the team stepped into the room hoping this did not get out of hand, but that was becoming less and less likely from what was happening now. " I am told you are one that loves a challenge and the higher the stakes the more you like it." Victoria leaned forward in her seat " what did you have in mind princess?" Diana raised storm breaker, if you beat me in combat you get to keep stormbreaker and you invade Kasnia, but if i win you stop your invasion of Kasnia and never attack them again." Victoria stood up from her throne " now why would I do that when I am about to conquer Kasnia?" Diana smirked " because if you don't the DEO will release to everyone that you plotted the assassination to invade Kasnia and thought you have avoided getting caught for your previous crimes you will not get away from this that easily." Victoria did not like the situation so close to victory as well, but the facade that she built so far must be maintained so she accepted Diana's challenge but also put the stipulation that if anyone of her friends helps in any way she automatically wins Diana nodded her accent.
The group moved to a larger room with not much in it other than weapons on the wall perfect for this sort of thing. Everyone stood back from the two clearly this was going to be a tough battle with so much riding on it. Neither Dr Doom or Wonder Woman moved a muscle both immoble like statues. Then suddenly Victoria released a bolt of lighting at Diana moving quicker then Diana could dodge and hit her straight in the chest sending her flying back into the wall. Victoria knew that in most cases a hit like that would have ended most challengers but this was not most situations, but before she realized what was happening a storm breaker came flying right at her and struck her dead center sending her flying through a pillar and wall. Stormbreaker returned to Diana and Diana walked towards the whole in the wall. Victoria staggered to her feet breathing hard after that hit. Victoria sent another bolt of electricity at Diana, but Diana was ready this time and used a stormbreaker to send one of her own and the two met in the middle in a giant flash of light. The group looked on in awe of the fight that was going on. It's a rare day when an advisor can rival Diana, but just like in most things Victoria Von Doom was the exception. Diana was straining to beat Victoria, but Victoria was also struggling a lot. Diana released another bolt of electricity, but Victoria stuck her hand out, intercepting the bolt with her metallic skin and pushed her way towards Diana. Victoria grabbed Diana by the throat and then lifted her up and slammed her leaving a big dent in the floor. As Diana staggered to her feet Diana was met with a powerful blow to the face followed by a slew of other shots all connecting finally finished by a swift kick to the wall. Victoria followed up with numerous merciless punches to DIana's center, putting her further and further into the wall. In the gallery Kiara was finding it impossible to not go to the aid of her love who was getting destroyed by the Latverian. Victoria stopped and Diana fell to her knees coughing up blood. Victoria clearly had the upper hand and Diana needed a hail mary. Victoria grabbed Diana by the hair and pulled her to her feet. It looked like Victoria had actually beaten the Amazon princess. Diana had to think fast knowing everything riding on this knowing that she could not lose this no matter how beaten she was. She used what little strength she had left to break free of Doom's grip and land a powerful knee to her midsection then dragged Dr Doom down and kicked her up at the same time she summon stormbreaker which connected with Victoria in mid air sending her flying across the floor. Diana saw this as her shot sending stormbreaker again at Victoria again hitting its target sending the dictator flying across the floor. Diana picked up her shield in one hand and stormbreaker in another Diana threw her shield at Victoria who dodged the shield , but then Diana threw a stormbreaker at the shield hitting the shield causing a ricochet sending stormbreaker into Victoria's back knocking her down again. The shield and stormbreaker returned back to Diana threw the shield again which this time hit Victoria as she got to her feet staggering her backwards as the shield was returning Diana used stormbreaker and hit the shield sending the shield back even harder again connecting. Diana then charged stormbreaker and sent a wave of electricity at her, sending the dictator back leaving a path carved into the floor. Then Diana went for the kill shot and reached stormbreaker into the air, and slammed it down and from the ceiling a massive bolt of lightning came from the dome in the sky and struck Dr Doom square on. Diana dropped to her knees totally expanded across from her doctor struggling to get to her feet. Victoria wanted to continue on knowing that Diana was at her end as well, but Victoria's self preservation kicked in knowing if she took another major hit it could be the end of her. Victoria reluctantly surrendered to Diana knowing that there would be no winner in this conflict. Victoria ordered her units to stand down and halt the attack on Kasnia reluctantly. Kiara picked Diana up protectively and got her back to the DEO as quickly as she could to get her medical care.
At the DEO Diana was recovering from the fight of her life. Diana's injuries were extensive broken and fractured ribs, busted shoulder, cuts and bruises across her body, and a lot of blood loss from the fight. Kiara was sitting with her worried about her girlfriend's health. Maggie stopped by the DEO and told them an interesting little piece of information. It turns out that Victoria had decided to stay in National City at the embassy for the foreseeable future and would control Latveria from there. It became apparent that Diana and Dr Doom would probably square off with each other in the future but hopefully not any time soon.
At the Latverian embassy Victoria was in her secret lair in the embassy staring at various screens. Zora standing behind her " this will not be the last they have heard of Dr Doom Zora. They think because they have beaten mobsters and small-time criminals wait till they get a load of a real villain, but my encounter with Diana showed me that I need help. A team of individuals to help me take down the sirens and the DEO, and i think i found my first recruit. Zora find me the location of Dr Octavia Octavius.