The Last Chronicle

by Miss Starfire

After years of struggling to build their lives together, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts have lost everything. But as all-out war looms, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance, Tony and Pepper are ready to take it all back. It has all come down to this. Story 8 of 8. The epic finale to The Last Chronicles Saga.

16. Chapter 15

Guest Review Responses

Iron kid: Keep up the great work u doing – Thank you so much! I know it's taken me forever to wrap this up, but it's almost done! You keep me honest, Iron kid!

A/N: You know the bad thing about fight scenes? WRITING THEM. I always tell myself I will never ever put myself in a position where I have to write fight scenes, and yet… SIGH. Anyway, here's the next chapter. The next two are halfway done, and the last three are already written. Hope you like this one! Choppy fight scenes galore :(

BTW: Congratulations for having caught up, Spicy Iron! This chapter is for you and for our new reader: Mark50 ^_^

Thank you for staying tuned, my Faithful Readers! Take out the tissue boxes for this one.

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Chapter 15

She tried to stop her hands from shaking and her mind from wandering, thinking about what she should have done, or what she should have said. She tried to ignore the pain in her right calf, and the blood slipping down her left arm. She even tried to pretend she did not know that one or two of her ribs were cracked. She tried to focus on the task before her – only on the task before her. She tried to make herself believe she could not hear the sounds of Doombots searching for her. She tried to imagine that she was not at Doom's castle, but at the beach. A beach. Whatever beach. Any beach would have done, actually, as long as it was far, far, far away from here.

425… sequence initiated… I hope Pepper uses the syringe… 145… confirm… she has to… 547… Tony will die…

Just as almost everything that had been part of their plans, she had rehearsed this task a million times. It had taken her no more than five minutes during trials, but she knew that she had been standing here, by the Earth Mover, a lot longer than five minutes. On none of those trial occasions, however, had she been in pain, bleeding, anxious, scared, and on the verge of tears.

The nanobots… Mom… Extremis… 112… dizzy… latitude… countdown… 873… Tony… Oh, Tony…

She violently shook her head to refocus her thoughts.

"Just one more thing… just one more command…"

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!

Finally. She was done.

She synched her wristwatch with the countdown of the Earth Mover and then took a step back. The device was alive and ticking, working as expected, and waiting to explode. It was rather ironic, for a man who hated weapons, to create something that was going to obliterate an entire piece of land. She knew what this invention of his could do. She knew of the massive damage it was going to cause; which was one of the many reasons why Tony was better off dead than at the mercy of Victor von Doom.

She spared the machine one final glance, sighed loudly, and then turned around, picking up her pace until it reached a light jog. She needed to find Tony now. She needed to catch up with him. She needed his help to make it back to Doom's main chamber so she could ensure her personal mission was completed in the way it was supposed to go. They had to distract Doctor Doom long enough to give Pepper and James a chance to do their job. They needed to stall the fight long enough for the rest of the cavalry to arrive.

Maya stopped when she reached a fork in the road, and then looked left and right, trying her best to remember which way to go. The sounds of battle were reaching as far down as the basement, dust particles falling from the ceiling with every muffled boom she could hear. If everything was still going according to plan, the group would soon make it to Doom's location, and the real battle would then begin.

And once the actual battle against Doom started, everyone would be on borrowed time.

Don't think about it, Maya shook her head before she began running towards her left. Don't think about what you can't change.

She reached the end of the hall, arrived at the bottom of the staircase she had been searching for, and then wasted no time going up. Every now and then, she had to force herself to stop to rest for a few seconds when her ribs complained about the added stress. She was overexerting herself; pushing her body to extremes she knew she was not accustomed to, which required her to take in more oxygen than usual. The sudden expansion of her lungs made her ribcage bitch about the added strain, her right leg wobble, and her left arm pulse in ache.

Just a little longer, she told herself about her next destination. Just a few more steps and turns and–

"Maya!"

"Tony!"

"Hurry up!"

She winced as she hobbled up the remaining stairs to join the inventor's current location at the top. The genius did not even notice that she had needed help, or that she was in pain, until she was standing in front of him, hyperventilating and wincing, and his eyes landed on her torn and bloodied clothes.

"What the fuck happened to you?"

"Doombots attacked us. Wall almost fell on me."

"Doombots attacked you? You mean… Pepper and Howie – are they?"

"They're fine," Maya assured him, "I think."

Tony pursed his lips, thought about yelling at her for not knowing if his family was alright, but then decided against it. If the robots had attacked the three of them, and if Maya was still alive to tell the story, that meant that Pepper and Howie had to be OK. Pepper was suited up and his son could regrow limbs. They just had to be unharmed.

"Whatever," he flared his nostrils and turned on his heels. "Let's just get ourselves to his chamber."

"OK," Maya replied and bit down on her tongue when he started running towards the end of the hall and her pain increased due to the sprint.

"The substations are rigged," he told her, his eyes and ears on high alert. "They're ready to blow."

"So is the second Earth Mover," she inhaled deeply.

"Good. Now all we have to do is – SHIT!"

"AH!"

Her face was on the ground before she realized what had happened. She was lucky her nose had not broken on impact with how hard Tony had pushed her to lay flat on her stomach. She instinctively covered her head with her arms and closed her eyes, feeling the heat of firepower being exchanged above her until it suddenly stopped to make way for Iron Man's disguised voice.

"Are you alright?"

"I'll live," she breathed and slowly turned so that she was now on her back. The change in position allowed her to make sense of what had just taken place, and of why Tony had all but shoved her face onto the hard ground without warning. She was visibly shocked to see half of another army of Doombots heading their way, but she was even more concerned about the direction the other half was taking – away from them.

The robots were still attacking them, or at least trying to, but Tony had put up a shield to keep the attempts at bay.

"Are they going where I think they're going?" Tony asked with deep concern as he helped Maya stand up.

"I think so," Maya wiped blood from her lip, a hint of worry in her voice.

"We can't let them," Tony growled, his eyes narrowed at seeing the robots speed their way in the direction of the castle's basement. "They'll catch up to Pepper and Howie. They'll kill them before they get to the Power Core Room. We have to do something!"

"We can try, but we can't stop all of them, Tony. There's too many of them. And I'm sure there's more on the way."

"I can slow them down," Iron Man's suit began lighting up as all its weapons started to come out of their hideouts, showing how the billionaire was getting ready to go all-offense on the robots before them. "I'll buy Pepper some time. But I'll need to take down this shield to do that."

"I know," Maya gulped. "What do you want me to do?"

"When I tell you to: I need you to run."

"What?" the brunette had not been expecting that reply. "Run?"

"Yes. I can either fight them or protect you. I can't do both. I can put up a shield for you, but I need all the power I can get to stop them. If you stay here, you'll just get in my way."

"Tony, you can't take on an entire army of robots! They'll take you in to Doom! He'll control you! He'll–"

"You're gonna run," Tony said, his eyes focused on the incoming arm. "You're going to run as fast as you can, go to Doom's main chamber, and tell everyone else to keep going. Whether I'm there or not."

"But, Tony," Maya shook her head. "I'm supposed to stay with you. I'm supposed to make sure I disable Extremis in you if Doom reactivates it and tries to control you. You have to come with me upstairs."

"And my family is supposed to shut down Doom's main power source. They can't do that if I go with you."

"But–"

"Get ready to run. Stop wasting our time."

Maya looked at her feet, the finality of his words making this moment with him feel as if it would be their last. Nonetheless, she knew that Tony was right. They could not let the robots reach Pepper and James, and there was not much she could to help the hero do his job.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to distract them with a minor EMP bomb. They won't be down for long, at least not all of them, but I can't use my entire suit's power. I still need it to work. I'll take the shield down, attack them, and then you'll run. Got it?"

"Yeah," she licked her lips. "I got it."

"Get ready."

"Wait!"

"What?" Tony snapped, his faceplate coming down to make sure the woman could see his irritation on his face.

"Tony, I…" she exhaled. "I never meant for any of this to happen. I never meant to hurt you. Or Pepper. Or anyone. I… even after all these years… and even knowing that I have no chance at all with you, ever… I… I just want you to know that I still love you."

Tony eyed her from the corner of his left eye for an instant, knowing exactly why she had just made such a pointless confession to him at a moment like this. He could not be bothered with it right now, however. There were more important things to handle at the moment – bigger fish to fry. But he could not help to feel the slightest pang of guilt at being unable to return the sentiment. He knew what it was to love someone and not be loved back – he knew that too well.

But he also knew what this woman had done to ruin his life – whether it had been voluntary on her part or not. Just as it was the case with Whitney Stane, he knew he would never ever completely forgive what Maya Hansen had done to the woman he loved and to his son. No amount of apologies would ever make him forget that part of the reason he was here right now, fighting for his and his loved ones' lives, was because the botanist had aided a mad scientist in his plans for revenge against him.

"On 3," Tony said before he returned his attention to the army and closed his faceplate.

"1."

He began charging the EMP bomb and Maya got ready for her mad dash.

"2."

The shield began flickering, signaling it was about to disappear.

"3!"

Against her will, as everything in her life appeared to be since Killian had gotten her involved in Doctor Doom's plans, Maya Hansen ran away from Tony Stark, not once looking back.

xxxXXXxxx

After what had felt like forever, Rescue and her son finally arrived at what appeared to be nothing but a dead-end portion of the maniac's castle. She was almost certain that they had probably lost their way at some point while trying to evade the Doombots that kept popping out of nowhere – sometimes literally from the floors and walls. Yet, after much running around, sudden stops and sharp turning, her son gave her the signal that they were exactly where they were supposed to be.

"Is this the playroom, Jimmy?"

"Uh-huh!" the little boy replied before he wiggled in his mother's embrace to let her know that it was time to return him to the ground. The ginger hesitated for a second, fearing what could happen to the toddler while he was not in her protective arms. However, given what they were here to do – and knowing that time was not on their side, Pepper complied with the child's silent request and placed his feet on the ground.

As soon as the boy was on his own, he got to work. He began pressing random spots among the bricks on the wall, almost dancing his way from one spot to the next. Pepper watched him in awe, wondering how many times her son had done this before – and why he had even been allowed to be out on his own in such a dangerous place. If she had not known any better, and if she did not know of his abilities, she would have thought him to simply be playing a silly game to amuse himself; one that had no rhyme or reason to it because, as a child, it did not need to have either. Yet, when the little boy suddenly stopped his movements and then took a step back, his eyes sparkling as if he was about to uncover a never-ending supply of cookies, Pepper understood he was more than just aware of what he had done.

The entire wall began flickering off and on, thinning out, and then disappeared from sight until it revealed a hidden tunnel behind it. Rescue analyzed the scene with her HUD, and it was quickly revealed to her that the wall was not even a wall – it was a hologram; a much more advanced version of the hovering computer screens back at the now vaporized Makluan Temple.

And her son had just unlocked the combination for it as if it was merely child's play.

"Go?" James Stark patted his mother's leg with one hand and pointed towards the brightly lit tunnel with the other. "Go, Mama?"

"Yes," Pepper nodded. She then bent down and tried to pick up her son, but the little boy took a step back and shook her head.

"No. I go. Mama go."

"You mean I follow you?"

The boy nodded enthusiastically.

"Are you sure?"

"Yup," he smiled. This new word his mother had taught him sounded so funny to him.

"OK."

The child's eyes suddenly turned serious as he stood in front of his mother, and Pepper could not help but see a striking resemblance to her husband in her son. He looked left and right, back and forth, grabbed Pepper's hand in his, and then pulled him with her. They took no more than five steps into the tunnel before he halted. He looked over his shoulder, towards the fake wall behind them, and became eerily still for about thirty seconds. He said nothing at all; he did not even look at his mother. He just stood there, unmoving, making the redhead worry even more than she already was.

"What's wrong, Jimmy?"

"No," the boy replied, hoping his mother understood this step was part of the game to get to the playroom. He had learned, the hard way, that if one kept walking past their current threshold before the wall disappeared, one of the many traps would be set off. He had lost a couple of hands and feet to that before.

"Jim–"

"No," he said again, this time with a furrowed brow, and Pepper was taken aback.

OK, she narrowed her eyes behind her faceplate. What is going on?

As they continued to wait, Rescue began analyzing their surroundings both with her armor and with her innate abilities. She could not detect any other life forms near them, and the SOS in her armor could not detect any traps either; something she found rather odd. Then again, her armor had not even detected the presence of her son in the room he had been found in, that this portion of the wall was a fake, or that another room was right behind the holographic wall, making her uneasy as to what else the doctor was hiding from them in plain sight in his maze of a home.

She was in the home of Victor von Doom, after all; a prodigy in his own right. He was resourceful, clever and ambitious, to say the least. He was cunning, methodical and powerful. He had one of the most promising scientific minds of all of time – no matter how insane he actually was. He had everything to gain and nothing to lose in this war. He was the worst person to have as an enemy in the entire world.

Worst of it all, however, was the fact that he was smart; extremely smart. Perhaps even smarter than Tony Stark himself.

And he was using that intelligence to exterminate all who defied him in his quest to conquer the world.

When thirty more seconds with no movement went by, she became very tempted to just keep walking, consequences be damned, as time was of the essence. Nevertheless, she forced herself to keep that desire at bay. She was not the one with all the updated information to be making decisions here, and she was very cognizant of this fact. Her son had lived here for a very long time. He had been in this room several times; more than anyone else in this entire castle, save for Doom, could say about themselves. Even if he was practically brand new to this world, he still had much more experience at this task than she did. He knew how the system worked. Better yet: he knew how to cheat the system, too.

Pepper gnawed her bottom lip at the thought. She was not sure if she should have been happy or angry that her son knew what to do next in such a horrible place. It was appalling to her that he knew how to navigate the trap-infested room. She had been here only for a few minutes, and she already wanted out of this building of pain. The air was stale, humid and it reeked of death. The halls were dark and unwelcoming. The entire atmosphere in Castle Doom was one that would surely have negative long-term repercussions on anyone who was here for a considerable amount of time. She did not want her son to be that person. She would much rather be that person herself.

"Jimmy, what are we waiting for?"

No sooner than the words left her lips, the wall behind them started to reappear. Then, as soon as they were hidden from view by the now fully erected fake wall, the tunnel that was before them changed shape.

It was no longer an empty, almost-inviting bright hall.

It was now a partly dark, barely welcoming tunnel of death – one in which the floor was littered with many child-sized, mutilated rotting limbs.

Her son's rotting limbs.

No, Pepper swallowed hard.

She was definitely NOT liking this at all.

xxxXXXxxx

They did not want to look like a bunch of pansies but, at this point in time, they just had to run.

They had been battling since they had set foot near the borders of the capital city of Latveria; they were starting to grow tired and their ammo was starting to run low. Doombots and other traps kept trying to, at the very least, slow them down before reaching Doctor Doom. Strength in numbers was their thing; but strength could only work wonders for so long. If they kept this up, if they kept stopping to fight whatever got in their way, by the time they reached their main target, they would have less than no chance to scratch the surface of the monarch's metal suit.

"Evasive maneuvers, everyone!" Nick Fury yelled over the sounds of melee around him. "Go, go, go!"

Black Widow in Rescue's armor, Hawkeye in Iron Man's, Living Laser, Happy Hogan in the Hulk Buster armor, War Machine, Mandarin, Jean Grey, and Rogue all took to the air to avoid the swarms of robots and bulk of traps, sparsely attacking ones that they could see would prove an obstacle for their friends on the ground. Fury, Jarvis, Cyclops, Maria Hill, Beast, Whitney, Gambit and T'Challa sped up towards the next metal door. Iceman surfed his way towards it, as well. Hulk made long jumps to get ahead, and Kurt appeared and disappeared his way to everyone's destination.

One way or another, they had to reach Doom's throne room now.

Avoiding the bots was more difficult than fighting them, but there was no other way around it anymore. If they wanted to have enough firepower to distract Doom for a little while longer to give Pepper and James Stark a chance to do their job, they had to make sure they had something to throw at the doctor – even if that something ended up being their shoes and nothing else.

"This is not going to work," Jean Grey said. "We're not moving fast enough."

"Are the others here?" Hill asked from her position on the ground.

"Almost," Jean replied, her telepathic connection with the Professor still very much present.

"I'm gonna say we should give you a lift," War Machine added before he dove towards the ground and picked up Maria Hill.

"Sounds like a good idea," Happy said and mimicked War Machine's move with Nick Fury.

"It really does," Rogue nodded and picked Gambit from the ground.

As if rehearsed, each one of the remaining flying members of the team held onto one of the members on the ground. Within seconds of War Machine starting the trend, Jarvis had been picked up by Living Laser; Cyclops by Jean Grey; Whitney Stane by Black Widow in Rescue's armor; T'Challa by Hawkeye in Iron Man's suit; Beast by Mandarin; and Iceman, Hulk and Nightcrawler continued on their paths.

They kept at it for almost a minute, easily going around the robots' attempts at stopping them, until a female voice made them stop in their tracks.

"Hey! HEY! HELLO?! STOP! Don't leave me behind!"

After a light chuckle from Bobby Drake, Maya Hansen joined him on his path of ice.

Finally, the upper team was complete.

Or as complete as they could be until Tony Stark and Pepper Potts joined up.

And when all of the Iron Man's suits detected the targeting and incoming of warheads aimed at Castle Doom, the inventor and the redhead's presences could not take place soon enough.

xxxXXXxxx

"Is he crazy?" Betty Ross' hands slammed against the front panel of the main computer in the control room of Muir Island's underground facility. "Did he just seriously aim all those warheads at his own castle?! He's still inside!"

"Sounds about right for that nutcase," Dr. Ross sighed, arms crossed.

"I'm afraid you're correct," Professor Xavier nodded. "But Tony accounted for this."

"He did? How?"

"I guess it takes a genius to think like one," Charles Xavier replied to Betty.

"So, what's the plan? How are we going to stop those warheads from hitting Castle Doom?" Dr. Ross asked.

"An old friend of mine is going to help us with that."

xxxXXXxxx

He was not one to join any cause that helped the human race prosper, and he was not one to stop an attempt to eradicate all normal humans to clean the Earth. Yet, he was also not one to idly watch when someone threatened the mutants of the world. Doctor Doom had already killed many of his brothers and sisters, without good reason or cause, and he was not going to let the maniac continue his indiscriminate wave of murder. Whether he liked it or not, joining the resistance served his purposes for now; no matter how long he knew he would hear about this from Charles Xavier. Probably until the day one of them finally died.

"I am in position, Charles," Magneto said from the sky into the microphone attached to his helmet, his arms extended to the sides as he looked down upon Castle Doom.

"The warheads are within range. Can you stop them?"

"Do you really have to ask?"

After nothing but a smirk on his part, everything with a hint of metal in its composition suddenly bowed to the will of the Master of Magnetism.

xxxXXXxxx

Without her son's help, she would have never made it this far.

And without Extremis in him, he would have never survived this alone.

"Wait," the little boy said with too much confidence for a toddler when they reached the next obstacle. He was picking up new words like a sponge.

"OK."

Pepper did as told, still trailing closely behind her son, holding onto her breath as she hung on for the next horrible trap to try to kill them. So far, they had encountered about twenty different ways to die; with the next one somehow managing to be worse than the previous one. Sometimes, the little boy kept the trap from being activated at all. Sometimes, he got them ahead of it before it deployed behind them. Sometimes, he actually let it happen in front of them, purposefully triggering it from a safe distance away from their whereabouts.

The complexity Maya Hansen had stated this room held was extremely understated. There was no chance any of them could have made it this far into it without the spot-on guidance of James Stark, despite his young age. If he was this clever and observant now, with the little guidance and help he had been given in these past few months, she could not even begin to predict how much smarter than Tony he could possibly become with the proper support and time.

So many possibilities for her son. So little time.

Time. I wonder how everyone else is doing right now.

Pepper's hands turned into fists, slow seconds ticking by. Her suit had notified her that warheads were within range, but signs of destruction were yet to ensue. Seeing as the two of them were still in one piece, and considering the rather large magnetic anomaly she was detecting in the air, she hoped that the delay in being turned into microscopic cinders was due to Magneto's intervention, and not because they were way too deep into the castle to be affected by such a major attack.

And, if Magneto was here, then that meant that the plan was still very much going according to what Tony had predicted it to be.

Tony.

Pepper's lost gaze landed on her right super-pocket, where the syringe Maya Hansen had given her to use on her husband was being kept. She still had not decided whether or not she would use it on him, if the time came. However, the more she thought about it, and the more she saw her son work so hard to get her to the center of the playroom – just like Tony had instructed him to do – the more she wanted to find another way to save the father of her little boy.

"Mama, no!"

"What?"

It happened in less than a second; quicker than the blink of an eye. She had been too distracted with her thoughts, and her reflexes too slow, to do anything other than watch as the next trap came straight towards her. Her eyes widened at seeing the irradiated laser seeking its next target, stopping only when it finally found it.

But it had not been her.

"Jimmy, NO!"

The color drained from her face. Her heart dropped to the ground. Her legs gave up under her. And her faceplate pulled back.

"Baby… I'm sorry… no…"

"Crap," the little boy mumbled with a tone of annoyance, much to his mother's surprise; his eyes glaring at the detached limbs by his feet.

"Jimmy," Pepper held onto the stumps that were now his mutilated arms, blood dripping from his elbows. "Oh, my God! My baby!"

As if suddenly remembering that his mother was watching, the child's pout turned into a wide smile. He could sense that she was extremely upset, but he knew that she would be very happy in about a second or so.

Just as he expected it to happen, the familiar tingle began running down his arms.

"Look, Mama! Look!"

The sight of it would have made her cringe if she had not been too shocked to fully react.

Inch-by-inch, cell-by-cell, James Howard Stark's limbs began to grow back.

The ginger was not able to tell what was regenerating faster: the skin, the muscle or the bones. In tandem and at incredible speeds, all three major sections of his arms protruded out of his elbows, the new parts of his skin red and glowing, until every single part of what had been chopped off by the laser was back into place, free of injury. Once it was over, James wiggled his little fingers, waved his arms, and then giggled as if he had just been tickled tenderly.

"I OK, Mama," he patted what he could of her cheeks with his hands, his eyes sparkling with self-accomplishment. "No cry."

"J-James…"

"No cry."

xxxXXXxxx

And all of a sudden, the bots became as still as rocks.

"Magneto's here!" Cyclops stated. "I never thought I'd say this about him: but it's about time!"

"There's the last door!" Iceman pointed towards it and increased the speed of his surfing on his bridge of ice.

"Blow it up!" Hill ordered to no one in particular, which resulted in everyone taking a shot at said door with whatever weapon they had in hand. Within seconds, the last barrier between them and the mad doctor evaporated, leaving them with free-range to step inside Doom's throne room.

So they did.

His main chamber; his most important quarters – the center of all evil in the entire country… they had finally made it through. In one piece, at that.

Once inside, the team had expected to be immediately faced with yet another army of plastic robots (supposing Doom having anticipated Magneto's presence), or perhaps an increase in the number of deadly traps. They had expected for the Doctor himself to attack them directly as soon as their faces showed up; to perhaps even open the ground beneath them and send them to a hidden chamber of torture where they would spend the rest of their days. They had expected to be on the receiving end of all the horrors they knew the man was capable of bestowing upon others…

But what they saw and experienced was nothing like that at all.

What they found, to their surprise and confusion, was a very still, unamused-looking, sitting-on-his-throne-as-if-their-presence-was-a-casual-visit, Victor von Doom.

Silence filled the room. Anxiety levels rose. And no one dared to move a muscle or to make a noise until the gaping hole behind them that had once been a blasted door was suddenly filled by a hidden, thick metal wall that appeared from underneath, sealing them inside, with nowhere to go but towards him.

This was it. The end of the yellow brick road. They were now standing before the man they had come to stop: Doctor Doom.

"I've been expecting you."

"Really?" Happy Hogan rolled his eyes behind his helmet. "Could you have used a more predictable line? I thought you were supposed to be very smart, or something like that."

Doom's immediate response was to rise from his throne; an action that made everyone else in the room tense up.

"Now what?" Happy asked War Machine via the internal communication system of the suits, knowing that his partner-in-crime was seeing the same intimidating enemy's weaponry system readouts that he was. The energy levels coming from Doom made the SOS light up like Christmas; the complexity of his highly-advanced armor still proved to be too much for the downgraded version of the suit's operating system.

"I don't know," Rhodey replied, memories of his last encounter with Doom returning to his mind.

"Should we – AHHH!"

Like the Red Sea, and after a wave of Doom's hands, the members of the counterattack parted to the sides of the room; their bodies becoming painfully pressed against the walls at awkward-looking and uncomfortable-feeling angles and postures, save for Rescue and Iron Man, both of whom had been left standing in the middle of the room.

"Do you think me a fool?" Doom's calm tone of voice was all but soothing as he slowly approached the superhero couple. "Do you really think I am unaware of the impostors beneath those archaic suits?"

"I can't move," Widow said between clenched teeth thorough the suit's internal communication system.

"How is Doom still moving?" Hawkeye replied, wondering if Magneto's power was being deflected from this room somehow.

"I think we're about to find out," Natasha replied, her eyes wide in fear before hers and Hawkeye's faceplates were forced opened.

"I figured it to be you two," Doom looked at the duo up and down. "You were the only other ones missing from the group."

"You knew it was us, the whole time?" Hawkeye groaned.

"It amuses me how you state the obvious as if it were not fact."

"Ugh, come on! Put a sock in it," the archer replied.

"Insolent cretin," Doom's hand circled Natasha's neck. "I will make you regret your rash words."

"Natasha!"

The cracking of bones was louder than the spy's sad whimper before she fell on her back towards the ground. Her head faced her left side. Tears of pain streamed down her face. Her eyes were wide open; and sharp breaths were the only sign that Natasha Romanoff was still alive.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!" Hawkeye's voice denoted he was now insane with anger.

Instead of humoring the archer with a response, Doom waved a hand over Natasha's body, making the armor open up. It slowly uncovered the woman's form, leaving her exposed to whomever or whatever wanted to finish disposing of her. Once the redhead was out of the protection of the suit, Doom kicked the woman hard in her side, sending her to land face-down close to where the only entrance to the throne room had once been.

"NATASHA!" Barton's voice was strained, but he still managed to convey the same fear everyone else had for their fallen friend. They had not been in Doom's presence for a full minute, and yet he had already managed to invalidate all of the months of hard work and efforts they had invested in getting ready to face him.

Doom, mostly uninterested in the party's emotional turmoil for now, returned his attention to Clint.

"This is the price you pay for thinking you could trick me with your deceptive actions, archer. I will make an example out of each and every one of you. You do not defy the will of Doom."

A second after his words echoed in the room, Doom replicated the task of removing the Iron Man armor from Clint, only to then pull the man's right arm out of its socket, leaving the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to fall to the ground in pain, holding onto his useless limb.

"You son… of a bitch!"

"You are a slow learner, archer," Doom replied before eyeing every person in the room and releasing his conjuring from them, freeing them from his remote grip. "As are all of you. You think you can come to my kingdom and take from me what is rightfully mine? You think you have a chance against my power? You think you have what it takes to keep me from claiming this world as my own? You are nothing but weak, mind-numbing creatures. You are nothing compared to Doom."

"Don't mean we can't try!" Bobby snapped, tired of hearing the egocentric man talk, and then aimed an ice spear towards Doom…

Or so he thought he had.

"What the…"

Bobby Drake twisted his left arm so that its palm was facing up, eyes following the slow transformation of his ice form to his human form, regardless of how much he tried to keep up his mutant front. The trend continued down its path until all that was left of Iceman was his regular-looking self – no trace of his mutated-genes-given abilities present at all.

"I can't… I-I can't… No…"

"It can't be," Beast's voice was merely a whisper, but it was evident in his face that he was also as confused and shocked as Iceman was. Gone from his body was his blue and furry exterior, all now replaced by tan-colored skin he had not seen on himself in years. Almost immediately, due to now being exposed to the elements in nothing but his shorts, he felt his body shiver with cold.

One by one, every mutant in the room became aware of the loss of their unique powers, leaving them with nothing but their own devices to stand their ground. Rogue could almost feel her strength dissipate into thin air. Jean lost her telepathic connection with the outside world. Cyclops carefully removed his visor and opened his eyes to be faced with the almost forgotten sensation of unobstructed visual capacities. Nightcrawler lamented the loss of his instant-travel abilities, and Gambit's playing cards glowed no more.

Even the Living Laser found himself unable to act as his body was depleted of the ability to command his energy and matter at his will; a sense of hopelessness befalling him at the same alarming rate that bathed the scrawny-looking Bruce Banner that a disappeared Hulk had left in his wake.

The shutdown and failing of the armors and all special technology followed suit, forcing Rhodey and Happy to exit their metal cocoons; Mandarin to groan in anger at seeing his rings of power become obsolete; and pushing Whitney to forget about her shapeshifting abilities from now on.

In a matter of seconds, the tables had turned against them – leaving the members of the counterattack feeling like nothing more than living, breathing, disposable and useless paperweights.

"Do you now comprehend the enormity of what you are up against?" Doom slowly turned in place, sparing every single person in the room a glance. "Your efforts were fruitless from the start. And you," the man stopped when he finally faced a jaw-slacked botanist. "You will be the first one to suffer under my wrath."

Catching everyone by surprise, Doom lifted his right arm and aimed it at Maya Hansen. A wave of energy instantly erupted from his gauntlet, traveled towards the brunette, and then blinded everyone but Doom with its brightness on impact. Heads shook and eyes blinked rapidly. Once pupils adjusted and silence fell upon the room once more, gasps then broke the deafening muteness in the chamber.

Standing in front of Maya Hansen was Tony Stark, his right arm extended towards his front, and his hand held a small metallic box. His Iron Man armor was in its backpack form, no doubt also rendered useless by whatever technology was suppressing everyone's powers and weapons. However, whatever was interfering with everyone's abilities and innate advantages was doing nothing to whatever the inventor had just now used to stop Doom's fatal attack towards the brunette.

Doom narrowed his eyes at his number one enemy standing just a few feet from him. Memories of the terrible events he had been force to experience due to the insolent child's actions, years ago, immediately returned to him with an almost crippling vengeance. Here he was, seconds away from becoming the absolute ruler of the world; the Gods of Fate smiling upon his inevitable triumph over those who opposed him, and yet the blue-eyed young man that was the bane of Doctor Doom's existence dared to show his face to make a stand.

Anthony Edward Stark, the youngest billionaire in existence, was just as Doom remembered him: defiant, naïve, unaware of his own limitations, yet sporting an arrogant look on his face.

"So we finally meet again, Iron Man. Or, rather, Tony Stark."

"So we do," Tony returned the glare he was receiving from the madman. "Word of advice, Doom: if you're gonna make it so that your enemies can't use their tech to fight you, also make sure they can't use your own tech against you."

Doom's eyes landed on the device in Tony's hand, understanding what Tony had all but implied. It was clear to him that while roaming around his castle, the genius had found his way to one of Doom's own inventions: a rather powerful force field generator, and had just used it to protect himself and the brunette from the spot-on attack. What better way to stop his advanced weapons than with defensive devices of his own creation. Not that he would ever admit it aloud, or even to himself, but Doom knew that the blue-eyed genius was right. Not to mention that the ruler was not even entirely sure just where Stark had come from just now. It seemed the inventor still had a few tricks to show off.

"Clever attempt, Stark, but futile in the end," Doom began rising from the ground. "Tell me: how do you expect to protect everyone from my power with only one device?"

No sooner than the words left the ruler's lips, hidden compartments in the room gave way to another army of Doombots and the activation of weapons all around. This time, however, the heroes had nothing left to fight back with but their wits and hands.

xxxXXXxxx

"Erik? Erik! I've lost communication with Jean. What is going on?"

"Something that I know you feared, Charles," Magneto lowered his arms. "Something is keeping me from reaching their location."

"Are your powers gone?"

"No," Magneto shook his head. "But I can't seem to get past the castle's defenses anymore."

"I don't think it's your powers that are the issue," Howard Stark joined the conversation from his location back in the States. "I think I know what is going on."

"What is it?"

"It's Doom," Howard replied in a defeated tone. "He's locked everyone in his chamber. He's repelling communication from the outside. He's blocking our signal and your powers."

"What are you saying, Howard?" Professor Xavier asked even though he could read the man's mind to see the answer on his own.

"They…" Howard sighed. "I-I'm afraid… They're on their own."

xxxXXXxxx

In a matter of seconds, absolute chaos had ensued.

The main chamber in Castle Doom quickly became a scene of struggle between life and death, all induced and led by Victor von Doom. Doombots attacked from all sides. Laser guns and automated weapons targeted anything that moved – friendly or otherwise. Sounds of firepower and scuffling bounced off the walls. Bullets ricocheted without aim, and no one could make heads or tails of what was unfolding around them. Sometimes the punches landed on the robots; but most hits were landing on the resistance team.

Damn you, Tony growled, his eyes fixed on the flying form of the ruler of Latveria while he admired his work. You're gonna pay for this!

The inventor reluctantly pulled his gaze away from his enemy to find his friends in the sea of commotion before him. He could see that most of them where managing to defend themselves with whatever they had at hand; resorting to fighting in groups when need be. The genius knew that they could hang on for a little while longer without their powers and weapons, but that none of them would make it if he did not find a way to stop whatever it was that was keeping everyone from relying on the abilities that allowed them to be who they were.

Above all, however, what concerned Tony the most right now, was that his little stunt of having Natasha and Clint pose as Rescue and Iron Man for the sake of distraction had placed them in the number one spot for targets on Doom's list. This fact undoubtedly made the archer and the spy become top priority on Tony's Who Needs Help Right Fucking Now list.

"Hawkeye!" Tony ran towards the archer in the middle of the chamber and kneeled before him, Maya Hansen following behind. "Barton? Barton, are you OK?"

"Natasha," Clint lamented, his eyes on the ground; the injury of his arm being inconsequential to him at the moment while Maya searched for signs of worse wounds. "Tony, I-I think she's dead."

"We're gonna help her," the inventor said with determination. "Did you hear me, Clint? We're gonna help her. But I need you to get it together, OK?"

"Tony, his arm…" Maya's voice trailed, her eyes aimed in the direction where Agent Romanoff remained unmoving on the floor while Doombots slowly approached her form.

"I know," Tony replied before he stood up and screamed at the top of his lungs towards a fighting Mandarin. "Gene! GENE! Put his shoulder back into place!"

"Be right there," Gene replied before he roundhouse-kicked a robot and then ran towards where Barton kneeled on the floor.

"Stay with them," Tony ordered the botanist while he handed her the device he had used to protect her from the attack. "Make sure Gene has the time to fix his arm."

"OK," Maya nodded gulped. "But what about you?"

"I'll be fine," the inventor replied before stood up and sped his way towards Natasha Romanoff.

"This is going to hurt," Gene warned Barton as he got into position, but the older man was in a state of complete shock; repeating over and over again that his redhead was gone. Knowing that nothing but seeing alive the woman he loved would do for the archer, Gene did not even bother to warn Clint of the incoming wave of pain.

"AARRGHH!" Barton clenched his eyes shut. "FUCK YOU, KHAN!"

"You're welcome," Gene replied as he helped the agent stand up and then turned around in place to begin fighting Doombots once more.

xxxXXXxxx

"AIYAH!"

Using nothing but speed, martial arts training, and his armor backpack as a blunt-force weapon, Tony began making his way to Agent Romanoff. Some Doombots had realized that the poor woman was completely helpless, and they were now attempting to finish the job that Doom had started.

"Leave her alone!"

Tony tightly grabbed his backpack by the straps, flung it from him above his head, and then decapitated a robot with it. He was happy to see that no civilian was inside, so he repeated the action with two more robots nearby.

"Natasha," Tony yelled as loud as he could before he ducked out of the way of an incoming attack. "Natasha! Can you hear me?"

Unfortunately for him, she did not respond.

Shit!

The genius looked over his shoulder and in the direction he had just come from, only to see that the archer was already up, his arm fixed for now, and viciously fighting his way towards Romanoff's location. Seeing the raging resolve in Clint Barton's face made Tony's own will increase, pushing him to be much more forceful with his attacks.

Please, don't be dead. Please, don't be dead. Please, don't be dead!

After tricking two robots into destroying each other, Tony was finally able to reach the redheaded agent. He kneeled before her, just as he had done for Barton, and then called her name. When the ginger did not respond in any visible manner, Tony's fingers landed on her neck, held his breath for a second, and then sighed in relief when he felt her strong pulse.

"Come on, Natasha," Tony began examining her face and neck. "Say something, come on!"

Was she paralyzed? In extreme pain? Or was she simply taking an involuntary stroll in that dimension Doom had once sent Iron Man to. She did not appear to be bleeding, internally or otherwise. And even though her neck was red and bruised, it did not appear to be broken either. He just could not find a reason for her to be as still as she was, which kept him from figuring out how he could even begin to help her.

He inwardly cursed his luck at not being able to use his suit. He knew that if he had been able to do so, he would have already known what was wrong with her. Then again, nothing was easy for anyone right now. He just had to do what everyone else was doing at the moment: make do with what he had.

"Can you hear me?" the inventor repeated his question, hoping the diminished distance did the trick for her. "Can you do anything at all?"

Tony brushed off some of her damp hair from her face, and he was then taken aback when the woman suddenly blinked twice at him.

"Natasha? Natasha! Was… was that a: yes?" Tony's eyes focused on hers. "Blink twice again if that was a yes."

To his pleasant surprise, she blinked twice once more.

"Oh, thank God!" Tony breathed. "Is your neck in pain?"

Natasha blinked twice for a third time.

"I don't think it's broken," the genius told her. "Does it feel broken to you?"

This time, the agent blinked only once.

"OK. Does anything else feel broken?"

Another single blink was her response.

"I'm going to move you, then. If I hurt you, blink twice again, OK? I just need to– UGH!"

In the midst of making sure his teammate still lived, the inventor had forgotten that there was still a battle taking place all around him. Thankfully for him, Clint Barton had just reached their current location to put an exploding arrow on the Doombot that had almost killed the inventor from behind.

"Is she alive?" Barton asked over his shoulder, his back towards Tony and Natasha while he kept the robots at bay.

"She is!" Tony answered, picked up the woman from the floor, and then sat her with her back against the wall. "She can't move, though. But she can hear and understand what we say. Does that hurt, Natasha?"

Black Widow replied with one blink yet again, further confirming for the inventor that whatever ailed the spy was being caused by one of Doom's advanced artifacts. He just had to find out what it was and where it was.

"What do we do now, Tony?" Hawkeye asked, partial relief washing over him at knowing that he had not lost his would-be future wife. "We can't keep this up. And we can't call in for help."

"Keep fighting," Tony said and then stood up after making sure the redhead was as comfortable as she could be for now. "I'll bring someone over to keep her safe while you fight. I need to go find a way to give everyone their powers back, but you stay close to Widow, alright?"

"Don't even have to ask," Barton said before he used his bow to slam a robot's midsection. The metal man stumbled back for an instant, giving Clint enough time to grab one of Natasha's bombs from her belt and then attaching it to the robot's head. Hawkeye then kicked the robot as far as away as he could before he detonated the bomb, taking with it a handful of armored soldiers.

"I won't leave her alone."

"I know," Tony nodded once, knowing exactly how Clint currently felt. If this had been Pepper… if Doom had done this to his wife…

Tony shook his head to clear his thoughts. He did not want to imagine what seeing Pepper like this would do to him.

Back to the matter at hand.

"Maya, get over here!" the inventor called on the botanist, who was currently being protected by Jarvis and Gene Khan. Not wanting to get in the way any longer and instead wanting to be useful, Maya immediately rushed towards Tony, stopping only when she went past his standing location and reached Natasha's body on the ground.

"Is she going to be alright?" Maya held Natasha's hand in both of hers.

"I think so," Tony began. "Listen, stay with her, OK? Turn on the shield, keep it up, and stay inside. Think you can you do that?"

"Yes. Yes, I can do that."

"OK. How much longer do you think Pepper and Howie have left until they reach the center of the playroom?"

"Uhm," Maya eyed her watch. "I don't know when they started."

"What's your best guess?"

"They're halfway there?" Maya shrugged.

"So, fifteen minutes?"

"Give or take."

"Mmhhh. We might not have that long."

Tony stood up from his crouching stance and then took another look at everything around him. He noticed that, by now, no one was fighting alone anymore. His team was now coming together, slowly regrouping themselves at the center of the room. For a second, the blue-eyed man considered picking up Natasha and bringing her and Maya to the middle of the circle the other members were beginning to form, but he decided against it in the end. Being in a circle helped them keep the attack attempts at the front of their bodies only, but it also left their backs exposed to Victor von Doom.

Speaking of which…

The inventor narrowed his eyes at the flying doctor, who appeared to be quite bored with the scene. For the life of him, however, Tony could not tell why they were all still alive – why Doom had not killed Natasha when he had had a chance, and why he continued to allow them to live another second. He knew that they were outnumbered, outgunned, and shit out of luck without their weapons and powers. However, the monarch was yet to deliver the final blow.

It would be so easy for Doom right now to wipe their existence from the planet with just one lazy sweep of his hand. Perhaps even by just staring into space. Nevertheless, other than disabling their mutant abilities and technology, Doctor Doom was yet to end them all.

Why? Tony wracked his brain at said thought. Why hasn't he killed us all? Why hasn't he…

"Shit," Tony's train of thought was abruptly interrupted by what suddenly caught his eye. "Is that… is that… Oh, shit! That's it! THAT'S IT!"

"Tony?"

"I got it!" Tony spared the brunette one swift look before he began running away from her. "Put up the shield now!"

As soon as the genius was out of range, Maya activated the tiny yet powerful force field around herself and the motionless redhead. Hawkeye stared at the running leader of the group, wondering what had piqued his interest, but he then realized that he did not have much time to dwell on whatever Tony was about to do.

The billionaire almost hit Gene in the back, but he was able to stop himself an inch before slamming against his rival, opting for catching his attention by simply laying a hand on his shoulder instead.

"Gene, look at Doom! Do you see that?"

"See what, Stark?"

"On his belt, Gene! Do you see that?"

The Mandarin alter ego stopped long enough to focus his attention on Doom, just as Tony had instructed. He first noticed that, unlike usual, Doom was indeed wearing a belt over his armor. It took him another second or so to see what Tony was referring to. But once he did, Gene's hands turned into fists.

"Is that it?" Gene pointed towards Doom's position. "Is that what it looked like before you broke it?"

"Yes," Tony nodded. "That's exactly it."

"I guess we have a new target, then?" Gene's smile showed how eager he was to get his powers back.

"You bet your ass we do. Tell everyone to aim towards it with everything they've got. We're all hitting it at the same time."

"Got it."

"What is it, Master Stark?" Edwin asked his former ward as soon as Gene ran away from them and towards the rest of the group to relay the news to everyone.

"The reason we can't use powers, Jarvis," Tony pointed towards a familiar-looking device – a familiar-looking disruptor – on Doom's waist. "That right there. We need to blow it up."

"On your mark, Sir," Jarvis did not have to be told twice before he pointed his gun towards the device at the exact same time that everyone aimed whatever they had towards it.

"On three," Tony began. "One. Two. Three!"

However, rather than the sounds of the disruptor on Doom's belt blowing to pieces, everyone's loud screams filled the room instead.

xxxXXXxxx

Professor Xavier felt as if he had been hit in the face with a cinderblock, but he knew that this was not exactly what had just taken place. He shook his head violently to order his thoughts, took off Cerebro's portable helmet, and then rubbed his face hard with his hands. He could feel the onset of a massive headache, but he did his best not to focus on that right now.

"Something happened," the psychic began, his eyes blinking rapidly to find his center. "I don't know what it was, but it was big. Do we have a reading? Did anything register, Dr. Ross?"

To his shock, silence in the control room was the only response he got.

"Dr. Ross?" Charles faced the doctors, only to find the both of them standing still, their gazes lost.

"Betty?" the Professor insisted and wheeled himself towards the stoic woman, calling her name once more. "Are you alright?"

When neither doctor replied or even attempted to look at him, Charles's left hand extended towards the main panel of the computer before him. He hesitated for an instant, fearing that he knew what he was about to verify, but he still pressed the speaker button for Magneto's helmet earpiece either way.

"Erik, did you feel that?"

The sound of static poured inside the room.

"Erik, do you copy?"

More static followed the Professor's words.

"Erik? Erik, do you hear me?"

Not even an attempt at a reply came from the man at the other end of the line; only the continued sound of static spoke to Charles. As a result, the Professor's eyes drifted towards one of the screens that he had hoped he would not see doing its job. Unfortunately for him, the readouts on the monitor confirmed what he already knew was taking place.

The Mainframe had been turned on.

And it would only be a matter of time before he succumbed to its power, too – just as the rest of the world had already fallen to it just now.

xxxXXXxxx

After the flash of sharp pain that had gone down his neck and spine ended, Tony lifted his head to look Bruce Banner in the eye. It did not take two scientists to know what the sudden tingle at the base of their heads had meant. It was rather obvious for everyone what Doom had just done.

Their window of opportunity was even narrower than before. Yet another impossible obstacle had been placed in their paths. The Mainframe had been turned on – and their chips had been activated as a result. The odds for winning this final battle were being reduced to less than nothing at the speed of light.

"The disruptor," Tony said after clearing his throat, attempting to gulp down the sense of dread that was clogging his windpipe. "We need to disable it. That's our only chance."

xxxXXXxxx

This was it. The final stretch was upon him. He had them all where he wanted them and needed them to be at the moment – well, almost all of them. He was missing one crucial piece of his plan.

The redheaded woman of Stark's was still nowhere to be seen. She was the only reason he was stalling and dragging this fight longer than what he would have considered wise and efficient. The last step of his master plan required the annoying woman's presence in this chamber. It required her life to be on the line until her last breath. The last trick up his sleeve would not work without her being here. He had to be patient. So very patient. Much more patient than he had already been.

Perhaps, it was time to have some fun of his own. It would not be much longer, anyway, once she showed her face in battle. Besides, the more he mocked the man responsible for his almost-death about everything he had done wrong in this wasted mission of his, the more successful his world-domination plan would feel.

He had said it before to the billionaire's face, and he would say it again before he finally lost his mind forever – prove it to him, this time: Tony Stark knew nothing of pain. Nothing of misery.

But he would know about that and more, very soon.

xxxXXXxxx

Even the Doombots stopped their battling frenzy when Doctor Doom began slowly descending from his position above them. The eyes of his enemies were on him. Acknowledging this, behind his helmet, the doctor smiled. The fear in their eyes fed his ego. His imposing and strong presence made them cower like the insects they were to him. He could have killed them all at the moment – with just a thought, at that. He even knew that they were aware of this fact. He knew they were questioning his motives; his rationale – what they probably and incorrectly saw as mercy on his part – as if their underdeveloped brains could even begin to grasp the high-level inner workings of his prodigal mind.

Fools. All of them. The ones in his castle and the ones outside.

He had mercy for no one. He owed no one an explanation. He owed no one, anything.

But they did. He did. Tony Stark did. He owed Doctor Doom his life… and not in a way that meant something so special as death, either.

xxxXXXxxx

As soon as Doctor Doom's feet landed on the ground, it took only one silent look from their leader for everyone on the resistance team (sans Maya Hansen and Black Widow) to jump the madman – at the same time – all with the same goal in mind: destroying the disruptor attached to his belt. The ticking bombs that were the Earth Movers did not matter right now. Pepper's and James' playroom mission did not matter right now. The fact that the Mainframe was powered on did not matter at the moment either. All that made a difference at the moment was that damned disruptor that was taking away the one advantage they had. For better or for worse, everything else unfolding around them was inconsequential at this point in time.

Do your worst, the ruler thought with a smirk, looking forward to setting the stage for the last part of his plan.

Gambit was the one that was currently physically closest to Doom's location, so he was the first one to attempt to land a hit. He could not light up his cards, but he could still use his staff. He swung it as hard as he could, aiming for the left side of Doom's head. In tandem, Black Panther extended his claws and prepared to scratch the dog shit out of Doom's metal torso. Fury, Hill, Whitney, Clint, and Jarvis all aimed their guns at different angles on the monarch's head, and everyone else prepared for a chance to snatch away the device they were trying to get.

It was nineteen against one. But the one was worth a million of the nineteen together.

Without much warning, Doom grabbed Gambit's staff and used it to propel the Cajun towards Arthur Parks, Jean Grey and Bruce Banner. The Doctor then groaned when T'Challa's vibranium claws left marks on his suit. The Black Panther followed his initial attack with a series of intricate punches and kicks, which did nothing but enrage the doctor even more. From all of the people trying to one-up him, however, T'Challa was the only one that was worth a few seconds of Doom's time. He humored the Wakandan for a short stretch, exchanged a few heated words with him, but then forced his diplomatic equal into retreating to prevent a fatal wound from ending his life.

The bullets triggered by the S.H.I.E.L.D. members and Jarvis did not even hit their target. Instead, they bounced off his suit and hit Happy, Hank McCoy, Rogue, and Bruce Banner instead. All injured members felt the sting of a bullet for the first time in their lives, which only served in momentarily crippling them and sending them to kiss the ground.

"No!" Tony screamed when he saw his friends cover their new injuries with their hands. Happy had been hit in his right shoulder. Hank McCoy in his left forearm. Rogue was hit in her left kneecap. And Bruce Banner in his right calf. None of the injuries were life-threatening, but they could spiral into life-altering if nothing was done about them soon enough.

Then again, soon enough was not good enough.

xxxXXXxxx

"Cherie," Gambit was by Rogue's side as soon as he had been able to stand up. She was clenching her jaw in pain, both of her hands on her busted knee. Gambit knew that only a high dose of sedatives would do for the woman right now. Nothing short of killing her would take away the level of pain caused by an injury like the one she had just sustained.

And, for a fleeting moment, Gambit considered being the one to deliver the final blow to her.

What did they have to lose, anyway? The cards were stacked against them already. They were just wasting their time and energy trying to stop a man that could not be stopped. Was this really how it was all going to end for them? Dying for the amusement of the ruler of Latveria? Dying due to injuries caused by misdirected friendly fire?

Was this even worth the trouble at all?

"Rogue… Marie… I…"

Gambit pursed his lips when he realized there was nothing he could say to her that would make the situation better at the moment. Asking if she was alright was insulting. Telling her that she would be alright was even worse. All he could do was hold her in his arms and against his chest; keep her as safe as possible from the threats around them – and hope that the end for all of them came quickly enough.

"Rogue, I love you. Do you know that? Rogue?"

Remi pulled away from her face when she did not reply. At the very least, he had expected her to groan at his untimely confession. She never believed him when she heard him say it, though. But he had hoped that, given the situation, she would finally realize how honest his feelings for her were.

"Rogue? Are you… are you…"

Dead, he was going to say, but she was still breathing and blinking. She was just awfully still.

"Rogue? Rogue. Rogue!"

He looked up when he heard Jean Grey scream.

He narrowed his eyes when he saw Scott Summers run to the woman's aid.

But it still took another minute or so to figure out that what was happening to Rogue was happening to Jean as well.

The women were not dead. But their Mainframe-repellent chips were.

xxxXXXxxx

"YAY!"

Pepper Potts would have cheered along with her son if she was as innocent as he was, and if she had not known any better; if she had not been aware that the fight was all but coming to an end. They had finally made it to the center of the playroom. They were now standing in front of the source of all of Doom's power – they could cripple the man's resources in an instant. All she had to do now was disable the damn thing.

Problem was that the core resembled nothing like she had been instructed it would look like – the design had completely changed to where it looked like nothing more than a sphere of obsidian, roughly the size of a beach ball, with a strobe light inside. Problem was: not only did she not have the proper tools for doing her one job in this mission… she also had no idea how to begin disabling it.

xxxXXXxxx

Dividing to conquer was such an accurate description of what Doom had done to his team just now. To his family. To him. To the entire world's population; man or woman, mutant or normal, old or young. Doom had taken the time to examine all of their behaviors, their patterns, and their train of thoughts. He had done so much more meticulously and precisely than the inventor had ever hoped to do so himself. Doctor Doom had had years to prepare for this moment. Tony Stark had had but a couple of months.

"Have you had enough, Iron Man?"

"No," was the genius' immediate response.

Tony used his right hand to wipe the left side of his mouth from the blood the Doctor had just drawn from him with a punch to his face. He was not sure if it was the adrenaline rushing through his veins, or the little of Extremis that was activated within him, but he felt ready to take on the next injury from the man before him.

And perhaps even the next well-placed kick as well.

Simply because, if Doom's full attention was only on him, it was also completely away from any of them.

One by one, the majority of the members of his team had become nothing but living and breathing mannequins to the world. The chips were failing rapidly; more so than they had during practice trials, which had left, up to a few seconds ago, only Tony, Gene, Whitney, Rhodey, and T'Challa with the chance to fight. Whoever else that was not under the influence of the Mainframe was protecting a fallen friend, as the Doombots and other weapons were showing no mercy towards the targets that were already in a catatonic state.

To an inexperienced outsider, it would make no sense whatsoever to attack those that could not defend themselves. But Tony knew why Doom's tools and guns were still attacking his mind-controlled friends. It kept those whose chips had not yet failed busy with protecting the ones they loved. It kept anyone who was still able to fight from being able to help him.

This was the reason why, at the moment, now that Rhodey's and T'Challa's chips had finally failed, that Whitney and Gene were now tasked with watching over War Machine's and Black Panther's inert backs instead of supporting the leader of the resistance.

Doom walked up to Tony and lifted him from the ground by his neck, pressing his metal grip against the genius' severely damaged skin. Tony tried to kick Doom's anywhere he could manage to do so, but he was not able to aim very well when so little air filled his lungs. His backpack armor still clung to him, as useless as this was. He could still take on more of the beating Doom had been raining upon him. But he was tired of seeing with his own two eyes that he had led his friends and family to their tombs.

He had failed every single one of them, for the very last time. He had known that their collective goal had been almost unattainable from the get-go, but he had still hoped they could have won.

Dying in their homes or dying in the field was still dying in the end. But it was not until now that Tony realized that dying in the field was not more preferable or honorable than he had thought.

Just when Tony felt his body about to give out on him, Doom released some of the pressure on his neck, allowing the inventor to gasp loudly for air. The Doctor then slowly lowered him until he was face-to-face with the hero, locked eyes with him, and then spoke with an amount of malice and contempt that Tony had not once before heard anyone use on him.

"Do you feel it now, Iron Man? Do you feel the suffering and the pain you thought you knew about? Are you ready to bow down to my will? To my every word? Are you ready to watch the ones you love die by your own hand?"

Tony closed his eyes for a moment, taking a brief instant to think about his response. He knew that it did not really matter what he said, Doom's mind was set on extending this torture until his need for revenge was sated – perhaps even longer than that. He had not meant for any of this to happen when he had accidentally sent Doom to Yogthulu's world. He had not once in a million years foreseen the damage that one action could cause. But he also knew it was too late for apologies, especially if they were hollow ones. He did not regret being part of the reason why the ruthless man had gotten a taste of his own medicine at the hands of a supernatural being. He was actually morbidly proud that Doom had been forced to go to such extreme lengths for the inventor to understand the amount of negative effects he was responsible for.

His only regret, nonetheless, was that he had brought the entire world down with him as a result.

"Just like you did for Valeria, you mean?" Tony finally opened his eyes and replied, his personal count of fucks to give being on the negative side. "Is that the kind of pain you're talking about? You would know all about it, wouldn't you, Vic? Killing the woman you loved with your own two hands. Oh, I'm sure you'll make me learn about it… since you're an expert on the subject and all."

Instead of verbally responding to Tony's sarcastic retort, Doom threw him against a wall, raised an invisible barrier around him to keep him from interfering, and then rushed towards James Rhodes.

"RHODEY! NO!"

Gene was in front of Whitney Stane in a second, one of Doom's relic, decorative swords in hand, which he was using to push back the blade Doom had intended to use to pierce Whitney's and Rhodey's hearts. The blonde could barely keep her eyes open, let alone fight Doom on her own. She had been doing a good enough job keeping Rhodey from being injured while in his stoic state, but she stood no chance against the power Doom was yet to unleash on her.

"Mandarin," Doom scoffed. "Your sense of self-righteousness is but a ruse."

"And you're too pretentious for a guy who has to resort to taking away power from others to feel powerful yourself."

Doom responded to Gene's equally mocking retort by attempting to spear him instead, but the Chinese man easily dodged the attack. Time and time again, Gene Khan had proven that his half-Makluan nature only enhanced his abilities – he was a major threat on his own, even without the rings.

Nevertheless, he could not be a major threat for long.

"Gene!" Whitney Stane called out the man's name in utter fear.

The second spear attack went right through the Mandarin's left shoulder, ripping everything in its path on the way in and out. Gene reluctantly kneeled before Doom, his right hand still holding onto his sword, for whatever the action was worth.

With a sweep of his arm, the sword flew away from Gene's grip, leaving him with the tip of Doom's blade drawing blood from his neck.

"Doom! Stop it!" Tony cried from his invisible cell, his fists banging against the see-through walls he could not break. "Let them go!"

Doom, however, paid no mind to Tony's desperate attempt at saving his rival and friend. Victor's mind was made up.

"Your end will be quick, Mandarin. Be grateful to Doom for sparing you from more pain."

Gene closed his eyes, looked away, and then felt his limp body hit the ground with a loud thud.

It took him a second to realize that his chip had finally failed. But its failure affected him only for so long.

xxxXXXxxx

The blade his advanced suit had created retracted without notice; the surprise of it causing him to release Mandarin from his metal grip. He roughly kicked away the man from his feet and then took a step back, his eyes focused on his slowly-becoming-unresponsive right gauntlet and arm. His attention then jumped to his other arm and then towards his chest, as he slowly realized that his entire system was shutting down.

"What… What is the meaning of this?!"

He took even more steps away from where he had just been standing, his head shifting left and right to see his Doombots and weapons turning off. The security systems were starting to fail. The myriad of holographic walls and doors were flickering themselves into oblivion. His backup systems were failing to kick in.

He tried to call on the power of his suit, any of it, but all he managed to do was to look like an idiot, flailing his arms and hands for nothing to take place. For a second, he saw the image of Valeria standing by his throne, a disappointed look on her face, and he felt his blood boil.

Had he not been the only one stalling? Had Tony Stark manage to one-up him in the end?

No, Doom growled. It just could not be. He had been so close. So, so close. And now…

Now, the familiar sound of electronic humming and mechanical clicking made him look towards his left.

"Just a little gift made especially for you, Doom," Iron Man, the real Iron Man, smiled behind his faceplate. "Courtesy of my wife. I'll tell her you said thanks."

Doom's eyes saw red. His fists shook. His field of vision slowly expanded. And it was then that he finally recognized the extent of this new development.

The members of the resistance had begun standing – those that could – and they had begun transforming – those that did. And sooner rather than later, it was apparent to the ruler of Latveria that the odds were now stacked against him.

For now.

xxxXXXxxx

Turning away from the smoking remains of the power core, Pepper placed James in her arms, looked up towards the ceiling of the playroom, and then pointed towards it with her armored hand.

"Can you see what's up there, sweetie?"

"Yes, Mama," the child said with a nod.

"What is it?"

James lips turned upward.

"Dada."

Rescue smirked at the response.

xxxXXXxxx

Powers or no powers, they would not stop him completely. Powers or no powers, they would not take him down.

His suit was still made out of metal, and strikes with it still hurt. He was still physically stronger than half of the dimwits around him, and the other half was still injured or bleeding.

But it did not mater. None of their attempts mattered.

He would just have to hang on as long as needed until the redhead showed up. He would just have to play along with the façade that he was nearing the end of his rope. It would be more than worth it in the end: it would only make the reveal of the ace up his sleeve that much more fulfilling for him.

xxxXXXxxx

She did not want to take her child with her into battle, but there was no other safe place for him right now. Leaving him to wander the halls on his own in the Castle of Death was not the right thing to do either. It was even worse than holding him in one arm while she attacked Doom with the other. Then again, all she really needed to do once they both arrived to Doom's main chamber was find Nightcrawler and hand James over to him. Facing whatever happened after her son was out of the danger zone was the real difficult task.

xxxXXXxxx

It took longer than expected, but the portable backup generator of his suit finally kicked in. And just as he had been waiting for it to follow the attack, Iron Man and his other armored friends were once again rendered obsolete.

Permanently, this time.

The EMP bomb he had just released onto them was sure to leave nothing but fried circuits behind.

"Dammit!" Tony began tapping the spots on his suit that would activate the manual sequence for removing the suit from him; an action that Happy and Rhodey performed as well.

"You are not the only one with a trick up his sleeve, Stark," Doom mocked the inventor as he began to rise in the air again. "And you will now truly learn the power of Doom."

"Really?" the Mandarin asked in his gruff voice. "Let's see what you've really got."

xxxXXXxxx

"Tony, War Machine's down."

"So is the Hulk Buster," Happy slammed his right fist against his left palm. "Just when I was about to return the favor to that asshole, too!"

"We'll get our chance," Tony said, his hands desperately ripping parts off his suit.

"What the hell are you doing, T?" Rhodey asked.

"Gonna build a bomb."

"A bomb?" Happy's eyebrows rose. "Don't we have plenty of those already?"

"Not one of these. Or at least not anymore."

After replying, the inventor then ran towards the War Machine and Hulk Buster armors to continue the cannibalizing of the dead suits, both of his friends bewilderedly following after him.

"What type of bomb are you making?"

"An EMP."

"To get back at Doom?" Rhodey looked left and right. "But the circuits are dead, Tony. All of the suits are fried!"

"Not all of them," Tony replied before he gathered the rest of what he needed and ran towards a corner of the room. "We got one more."

"One more? Where?" Happy frowned.

"Pepper's," Tony retorted. "We still have Pepper's armor."

"Pepper's…" Rhodey snapped his fingers in understanding. "So, what do we do, man? Can we help?"

"Yeah," Tony replied, his teeth angrily chewing on a wire to cut it open. "Keep me alive while I build the damn thing."

xxxXXXxxx

The HUD inside his helmet signaled that Rescue's presence was in range. She would be here any second now, and he would finally be able to exact his revenge. His victory was so close, he could almost taste it. He just had to be near the inventor when the woman appeared. The rest would just fall into place, as he had so thoroughly planned.

Today, Tony Stark would do as Victor von Doom said, and the hero would kill everyone that ever cared for him – everyone that he ever loved.

Tomorrow, the entire planet would bow down to the new ruler of the world. Everyone, everywhere, who heard his name, would tremble in fear.

Yes. The pieces of the puzzle were complete.

And all he had had to do to make it happen was to stall.

xxxXXXxxx

"Tony, look out!"

The blue-eyed genius was barely able to duck in time to avoid the death ray that Doom had aimed his way. Rhodey and Happy, however, had not been lucky enough.

"NO!"

Tony abandoned his sad, little science project and ran towards his friends, both of which were out cold, even if they had not been at the direct-hit receiving end of the doctor's attack. He was glad to find a strong pulse on both of them, but it was also clear that they were down for good.

"Tony, run!"

The warning came from Iceman this time, who was trying as best as he could to keep Doom from reaching the inventor. Soon, anyone who was able to slow down the monarch jumped in, powers and punches being thrown at him without pause, but the maniac kept pushing through.

Gene could feel sweat dripping down his face with the effort he was employing in trying to give Tony enough time to get back to this impromptu invention and wrap it up. Cyclops could feel his eyes grow tired as well, the rays that came out of them starting to do so intermittently. Jean Grey was becoming dizzy and was starting to hyperventilate; her mind almost at its breaking point. Even the Hulk, with his once-unstoppable strength drained significantly from several back and forth transformations in the last hour, was struggling to keep the ruler at bay!

No matter how much they pushed, pulled, screamed, punched, or kicked, Doom continued walking towards Tony, slowly gaining ground. Seeing his friends' efforts were quickly becoming for naught, the genius stood up from the floor, device in hand, and began running towards the door that he hoped Pepper would use to get inside. All it would take would be a few seconds to get Pepper out of the suit, take the energy source he needed from Rescue's armor and fit it into the EMP bomb, and then telling Gene to get the fuck out of the room to avoid the possibility of him being affected as well.

All it would take would be for the press of a button to kill Doctor Doom.

Indeed.

Tony Stark was not planning on simply deactivating the man's armor. He was planning on using the armor to electrocute the man inside the suit.

This was the mother of all EMP bombs. This was designed to kill the pilot inside; no matter who it was.

"Release me!" Doom yelled when he saw Tony run away. "Release me now!"

Using most of the energy he had left in his suit, Doctor Doom managed to send flying away those who dared to hold him back from reaching his prey. He was done playing games. He was done letting these pests think they ever had the upper-hand. He could no longer afford to waste more of his limited suit's energy on them. He had just enough to give Tony a one-way ticket to the land the doctor himself had spent months in.

The approach of the ruler of Latveria was imminent, yet he was unable to find anything that could have helped him make an escape. He gazed at his friends, all groaning and shaking on the floor, slowly recuperating from Doom's blast. He thought to run towards where Maya Hansen still sat, holding onto a wobbly and recovering Black Widow, and use the force field he had given her, but he then realized it too had been powered down with the destruction of Doom's core, and then had its inner workings destroyed by Doom's EMP bomb.

He was cornered. Alone. Helpless. Without any defense other than a useless EMP bomb in his hands. If Pepper did not show up in the next nanosecond, if she was not able to do something for him, he was going to die.

No, Tony narrowed his eyes. I'm not going to die. Pepper is!

Because it was true; Maya Hansen had made sure he knew whose life was more useful to Doom. It was not his redhead's – it was his.

Run, something in Tony's mind screamed at him. Get out of here. Run!

But where? To another corner in the room? Out into the hall? What good would it do to bring Doom with him?

Maybe Pepper won't be hurt, he told himself. Maybe he won't get to them!

And maybe the clouds in the sky were made of marshmallows and the rainbows of hard candy.

Think, Stark! Think!

Running. That was truly all that was left. That was all he could do. There was no choice but running…

But he could still choose where to run off to.

He dropped the device on the ground, hoped that Pepper would be able to put it together once she arrived, and then ran towards the opposite side of the room. Doom swiftly shifted directions at the last second, charged up his right fist, reached Tony at the other corner, and then released his angry attack on the inventor's form.

Blood splattered in every direction. Yelps of pain and shock were heard. And when everything was said and done and Tony opened his eyes, his heart stopped.

He was safe. He had not been hit. Someone had taken the hit for him.

And that someone was slowly falling to the floor, being glared at with scorn for his interference by Victor von Doom.

"No," Tony shook his head and caught his friend in his arms before his body connected with the ground. "NO!"

Jarvis opened his mouth to speak, but only blood sprayed out. It stained Tony's clothes and face, and it dripped down his arms. It quickly pooled under the old man's body, leaving behind a river of red liquid that ran away as quickly as his soul was leaving this world.

"Jarvis, no!" Tony shook the butler. "Why? Why did you get in the way? WHY?!"

"I-I…" Jarvis coughed out more blood, but he refused to welcome the enticing light at the end of the tunnel before answering his ward. "I-I've got… your-your back, M-M-Master St-t-tark."

Tony's mouth hung in disbelief. Jarvis smiled faintly. And he then closed his eyes for the last time.

"Jarvis. Jarvis! JARVIS!"

Tony's eyes remained on the man for another moment, willing him to hang on just a little longer while help arrived. However, when he heard the mocking voice of the murderer that had just taken the life of the man in his arms, Tony's head snapped up.

"And this, Tony Stark, is just the beginning."

Before Tony could make any type of retort, he felt his body tense up, his ears pop, and his brain become a jumbled mess that kept him from discerning what was what. It was just like when he had been stuck in the Mainframe with Basil Sandhurst and he had chosen to take on the vastness of the system for the sake of winning the fight. He felt his back join the floor. His eyes stung with unshed tears of pain, and the last thing he remembered with any clarity was a memory of Edwin Jarvis, shortly before they had taken off from the island to fight.

"If you were going for a motivational speech, you kinda messed it up. I feel even more pressure now."

Jarvis laughed aloud and pulled away from him.

"Good. That was the point. Your mother… she would be so proud of her son. I know your father is. I know I am."

xxxXXXxxx

He spared the inventor a final glance before he turned around in place and stared at the shocked faces of the members of the resistance. He knew anger would cloud their judgement and their minds. This was happening sooner than expected, but it had to be done.

Perhaps the hit on Stark was premature. Perhaps it was not as intense as it needed to be to begin with. But it was a start. A very good start.

From this moment, and thanks to Doctor Doom, Tony Stark would finally become the one thing he dreaded the most. The one thing he had never wanted to be in his entire life: a human weapon of high-caliber – one that bent to the will of Doom.

From this moment, Anthony Edward Stark was no more.