Good evening, gentlemen. Please, stay in your seats. Apologies for not extending a formal invitation to any of you but I am well aware of how none of you would have come here were I to try and request an official meeting. Rest assured, all your affairs are being handled by me subordinates so your absences will not noticed.
Ms. Albu, I would ask you to refrain from raising your voice and using those words. I assure you all that I am not here to threaten any of you. In fact, by the end of this dinner, I hope we all will become very close friends. My mother always said that nothing brings people closer like a good meal.
Now that we have all calmed down, let us start the dinner.
Oh?
Ah, yes, you are absolutely right. Apologies for my lack of manners, I have only recently come back to this world so I am still readjusting to the more... casual interactions. It only makes sense to share my story with you since I already know everything about each and every one of you.
Where should I start though? I guess, nothing better than the very beginning.
}D{
I was born Victoria Vegzet.
I grew up in a small village near the western border of Romania. You probably never heard of us. It is about as expected, of course. There were less than a hundred people when I was there, most of them the elderly. I think there were only six kids my age. My mother was a teacher, the only teacher, at the local 'school' where she taught us how to read, write and count. My father disappeared before I ever got to know him.
Being so small, we didn't have much. Winters were often the worst with most of us surviving on some cabbage soup and stale bread. Still, I remember the village as full of good and kind people who always shared the little they had. It was home. And I would never trade it for anything else.
And then I discovered my gift at the age of five.
I first thought it was a Quirk, even though neither mother nor father (from the few times mom spoke of him) had one. But the more I used, the more I helped people around with it, the more I realized how it simply couldn't be a Quirk. Not with such power and range to its abilities. Our crops were bigger than ever before. I healed and helped the elderly.
As I would have learned later, one of the villagers, Gustav, went to sell some of our excess in the town nearby. And there, he told the others about my gift. It was only expected that those that didn't dismiss his tall tales would grow envious. Hungry for the same gift.
I don't blame him. He was young, just turned eighteen back then, and too happy to notice the people around himself. He suffered enough for his actions when the men from that town came to our village and took everything from us.
They wanted to take me for their own plans. I was ready to turn myself in if they left the others alone. My mother, however, refused to let me do it.
Mother handed me to Gustav and told him to run, as far away as possible. He was the son of the hunter and, though preferring the work in the fields, would help us survive out in the woods. Mother gave me one last hug and promised that she would always be by my side. Even as a child, I knew that this was the last time I would see her.
Gustav and I spent the next months hiding in the woods. Always on the lookout for the men that burned out village. I didn't use magic anymore - I have convinced myself that it was a curse and that night was my punishment for using it.
Two years passed since then, the two of us doing our best to survive. For a second, I allowed myself to believe that nightmare was over. Perhaps those men thought I perished in the fire. Or better yet, that there never was a miracle child that could cure diseases and bless the fields with her gift. To be forgotten and left alone, that was the only thing I wished for then.
Then the winter came and I fell sick. Gustav took us to the town in hopes of finding someone to help me. Unfortunately, one of the men that burned down our home saw him. Gustav saw him, too. And we ran. Or tried to, at least. Gustav was a good hunter but taking care of me left him much weaker than he could be. He still did his best to fight the men off.
Not that it stopped them from killing him.
I thought that it was over then. I would be taken to whoever was in charge of these people and forced to use my gift for their benefit. I didn't hate the idea much as I hated how pointless it made the destruction of my home and death of my family.
Then, he appeared.
A man in metal armor and green robes manifested seemingly of thin air. One second, he stood between me and the kidnappers. And then, with little more than a wave of his hand, he brought them to the ground. Were they dead? Were they asleep? To be honest, I didn't find it in myself to care about the difference.
"My name is Victor Von Doom," the man's voice was gentle and almost melodic as he spoke. But it was not kind. "It's time you reached your full potential."
He took me to this place in the middle of unknown. As we walked through the cold uncaring dark, the man shared his story with me. The more he talked about his past, the closer it felt to my heart. The more he spoke, the more uneasy I grew at how much the story resonated with me. He noticed it and said that it was only natural.
After all, I was his alternate self.
"Victoria Vegzet, welcome to the Parliament of Doom. Welcome to your new home."
The place was filled with countless other Dooms. They came from infinite Earths across the multiverse. All gathered by the same man that brought me here. He told me it was to right the injustice that so many of his alternate selves suffered at the hands of Reed Richards. To make sure that never, in any conceivable reality, shall Von Doom be enslaved or defeated.
Thus, Citadel of Doom has become my new home.
It was very different from Salcie. The food was plentiful and always cooked to perfection. It was perhaps the first time I saw so much meat and fresh fruits. The harsh schedule of mine, however, allowed for little chance to savor the food as well as I wished back then.
Me and those like myself were taught how to use our powers. How to reach our full potential as Von Dooms. From mystic arts and spellcasting to quantum physics and advanced robotics, we were provided with the means and the tutors (naturally, the other versions of Victor Von Doom) for that. For six years, I would study and train not quite sure what I even wanted to do once it was over.
And then came the day when each one of was given a choice.
Stay here. Live here. Help the others reach their potential as Von Doom.
Go to another Earth. Any reality that didn't have its own Von Doom or one where Von Doom perished.
Go back home.
The first two options were easy enough. The last one required that you fought for it.
If you wished to go back home, the place where you almost failed and had to be saved, then you had to defeat one of the senior members of the Parliament. Only this way, we could prove that we had the power and knowledge to carry the name of Von Doom with pride.
I was lucky, I didn't have to fight Doom of the Earth-616. Sadly, the one I had to fight was no easy opponent. Their Earth was destroyed, so they were especially harsh with anyone who wished to go back to their own. All the years I spent training meant nothing to them. All my spells and devices were broken with painful ease.
It took me four more years of training at the Citadel to finally defeat them.
}D{
"And now I am here," Victoria smiled as she placed down her glass of wine. The table was silent, the country leaders looking at her with the mix of disbelief and doubt. "I know this is a lot to process. Sometimes, I myself wonder if this all was just some crazy dream."
But the phantom pains in her hands were too real. The memories of watching countless worlds were far too vivid in her head to be dismissed as delusions. She knew that what she saw real.
"This is utter bullshit," President Nikolic rose up from his chair with a huff. "I don't know which nuthouse you crawled out of, little girl, but if you think that kidnapping the elected leaders of three different countries is some kind of a joke, then you were clearly not getting the attention you deserved. Something I will happily do myself if I have to!"
Victoria looked at the man with the mixture of pity and amusement.
"Very well," she smiled, her voice gentle. Almost melodic. "You are free to leave then. In fact, all three of you are more than welcome to leave right now and contact your security personnel. I will wait right here."
Sergei Nikolic scoffed at the deranged girl's bravado and went for the door. Behind it, however, was nothing. No hall or any exit. Just the cold and dark void that unsettled him with how empty it felt.
"Well? I thought you were leaving," Victoria smiled at the leaders before her. "Oh, it appears that this room is a magical construct existing outside the time and space accessible to normal people. Then again, it could be just one of my delusions. I am sure that you all can step into that void without any risks."
None of them made any attempt to do so. Suddenly, the room seemed so much smaller and the girl whom they only listened to half-heartedly suddenly seemed so much bigger than she was mere seconds ago.
"W-What do you want?" Adelina Albu, the President of Romania, spoke softly. She watched the girl finish her meal slowly. The question was hanging in the air as the three presidents patiently waited for the girl to speak.
When she did, it was done with the same soft melodic voice.
"I want to save this world, Madame Albu."
In the ten years spent with the Parliament of Doom, she was exposed to the sight of the infinite paths for the Earth. Being yet another propaganda tool, the worlds shown to them always featured Von Doom, either in charge of things or fighting against the established order.
She saw the worlds where Victor Von Doom ruled the world. And in many of those, his rule was mostly benevolent to his subjects. They were well-fed and taken care of. The crime was down and the poverty and disease were all but eliminated. And yet, at the same time, the versions of Victor who achieved that would often be discontent.
Victor Von Doom, all across the multiverse, was simply incapable of being happy.
Neither peace nor even godhood would sate his ambitions. And in his gluttonous pursuits, he would always find a pitiful end.
Victoria promised herself she would be different.
Her mastery of mystic arts was second to none on this world. Her technology was superior to all as well. And with the database full of infinite alternate realities at her hand, she could do what no Von Doom has done before.
Save the world. And find happiness in it.
"But to save the world, I need to have the right amount of power. I have the physical might. And I have already acquired the sufficient financial resources. What I need right now is the political power. And I believe that you all are the key to acquiring it."
Brute-forcing her way towards world peace was an option she considered. This world didn't have SHIELD or any equivalent with the sufficient enough firepower and superhuman network. She could force the world to become what she wanted it to be.
But it would be a short-term solution. She needed something that would last. And much as she disliked the idea of involving herself however briefly with the snakepit that was the world of politics, it was the the best option.
"A-Are you conquering us?" spoke up Endre Kurt, the President of Hungary. This was not the fear, however. But rather disbelief. "Is this what you gathered us here for? To tell us that you are taking over our countries?"
"Not entirely," she said in the same tone one would ask for a piece of paper. "I am not interested in taking over your countries. All I need is some land from each one of you three. Just the slice of your border lands around my native village. Call me sentimental but I wish to establish my country from the heart of my former home."
Once a small unnamed village, now it would be the capital of the future political powerhouse.
"And why would we want to give you our territories?" Sergei asked. "This... This whole tale about saving the world is fine and all, but tell us why we should even entertain this idea of yours? I am the elected leader and representative of my people. I can't just give away our land for free even if I believed you want to save the world."
"Of course," Victoria stood up from her seat. She wouldn't deny, she enjoyed the way the man flinched at the motion. He was afraid of her. Unfortunate but she would take it over disrespect. "I understand that you have your own obligations to the people of your respective countries. I would never suggest I am more important than those obligations. Still, I would never invite you here if I didn't have something that might be worth the land I wish to acquire from you."
With a wave of her hand, she summoned her latest inventions.
"Machines that shall clean your air and water, enrich your soil and and provide the additional workplaces for their assembly and maintenance. I am also more than willing to accept a portion of the immigrants that Serbia cannot. I am also more than willing to provide some of my more... combat-oriented creations for your personal protection. And, of course, in the future, should we maintain these relationships, you three will be among the first to receive updates on my latest work."
They didn't say anything. They didn't have to.
"So... Do we have a deal?"
}D{
In less than a week, the world was shaken by the news of a new country. It's been decades since the last major change in the geopolitical play and today the world watched as the almost medieval-looking city (later known as the country's capital, Vegzetstadt) raised its black and green flag of Latveria. The Presidents of Hungary, Serbia and Romania gave their own brief but no less encouraging words of wisdom and wishes of good luck to the elected Prime Minister, Herman Golotel.
As the people celebrated their first day as the new country, a young woman in the green robes watched from the shadows of the castle. She knew she could do it. She knew she had to. The narrative of the world texts was being written with step she took and that narrative would bleed into the texts that made the other Earths in their little corner.
She stepped deeper into the shadows, disappearing into them entirely. Inside her hidden lab, where sorcery and science were of equal power, she walked into the circle of the symbols carved into the floor. The books of arcane knowledge and lost spells floated away from the shelves and towards her as the words of power left her lips.
She reached deep into the center of the story that was their world and dug her nails into its flesh. She could see it. She could feel the fresh ink and torn pages of the reality's history. She could see... alterations. Anomalies just like her. The sources of power. The stones that sent the ripples across the reality itself. There was a new one today. No, not one, two more pieces added.
And so now the question remained, which side of the board did these pieces stand on?
She would find out soon enough. She would solve the equation that answered the mystery of her anomaly. And she would rewrite the bitter end that was the fate for all the other versions of herself.
Because she was Victoria Von Doom now.
And in this multiverse, Doom would never fail.
}D{
And so Doctor Doom makes her appearance on this Earth! And that's right, in this world, she is about to take the role of the resident Sorcerer Supreme... but also use SCIENCE!
|A couple of notes on the setting|
Parliament of Doom, as harsh as it is, was made by Victor here as the means of preventing Richards from any reality ever capturing them and lobotomizing him or any other version of himself again. The lobotomized versions of Doom are the used for menial tasks and sparring with the other Dooms.
Victoria's original surname here means "Doom" in Hungarian.
When Victoria refers to the different multiverses, she is basically talking about how even the alternate realities are always set in their own separate bubble of a Multiverse. For example, there is the Multiverse of Marvel and Multiverse of DC. To find out the nature of it and understand the secrets behind this anomaly is one of her main goals.
Hope you enjoyed the added lore and are keeping an eye out for the next chapter of the main story! Till next time!