BOOM BOOM BOOM
The sounds of explosions, crackling lightning and battle cries echoed throughout Karnilla's castle, stray magic blasts firing out of the now shattered windows.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
The explosions seemed to intensify by the second. By now, they have completely drowned out all other noises.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
Then… silence.
KRASH
The sounds of massive doors splintering into pieces pierced the brief silence as quickly as it appeared as Karnilla was flung into yet another massive hallway, her body smoking from a magic blast given to her by Doctor Doom, who menacingly walked past the ruined doors without a scratch on his armor.
"Perhaps you are the greatest sorceress in Asgard," he muttered to Karnilla on the ground, hoping she was conscious enough to hear him, "but Doom has surpassed the likes of the Asgardians for a long time."
He then stopped to observe the truly grandiose room he now stood in. For as far as the eye can see, shelves lined with hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of Norn Stones stretched all down the seemingly never ending corridor, the high glass ceiling letting the moonlight shine through and bathe the room in its glow.
His hidden awe at the sight was interrupted when Karnilla attempted to get back up with a groan. He huffed and fired a lightning bolt at her, electrocuting her body as she screamed in pain before collapsing on the ground, unconscious.
The Latverian walked through the halls, tracing his hand over the displays, searching for the stone that contained the runic carvings that would take him to Mobius.
"He came into the holding room! Stop that fiend!"
The voice of an Asgardian soldier pierced the silence as Doom turned, a scowl in his eyes as he raised his hand and summoned a magic barrier at the door to keep them out until he found what he needed.
As he walked down the great hall, he read the various runes on the stands that told of each realm that the stones led to. There were so many of the gemstones in so many colors and shapes that it would have taken lesser men all day to find what they were looking for, let alone translate the runes.
Victor was no lesser man.
He hovered a gauntleted finger above many of the stands, constantly turning his head every second to catch each one, but there were so many of them, he was bound to miss a few.
And just as he was about to turn his head, his eyes caught the runes for the word 'Mobius' on a stand. He quickly snatched it with his hand, holding it and staring at it as though it were a faberge egg.
"Yes…" he muttered, now he was one step closer to ruling this world.
Just then, he heard the magic barrier shatter like a glass window caving in from too much pressure. That was his cue to leave. He turned back to the hallways and gestured a portal back to Latveria in one smooth motion.
The portal as soon as it appeared, leaving the guards with nothing.
Karnilla woke up when her guards helped her up, she rubbed her sore head and groaned in pain as her soldiers investigated the area.
"There is no sign of the intruder, My Lady," an einherjar said to her, "he must have left after our presence was made known."
Karnilla scowled at the fact that a mere mortal beat her before her thoughts drifted to the stones that surrounded them, "did he take one of the Norn Stones?"
"Aye!" a distant einherjar responded, "the foul intruder did so, my lady! But as to which one, I cannot say."
The sorceress clenched a fist, wondering which realm the arrogant tyrant would have had the access to. Even the most harmless of realms weren't safe as long as Doom resided in it.
Castle Doom's throne room
Doom read the runic inscription upon the stone he held in his hands. He was already one step closer to achieving his goals of attaining the ultimate power.
No more wars. No more poverty. Famine, disease, slavery… and especially no more false heroes with delusions of grandeur like the insects known as the Avengers or the insufferable Fantastic Four…
His thoughts were interrupted with the sound of shattering glass and roaring jet engines. He looked up and saw the quinjet and the fantasticar hovering above what was once an intact panel.
Speak of the Devil…
From the Quinjet descended the Avengers, all making their own dramatic landing or hovering in the air, Thor in particular cracking down on the floor from a thunderstorm that formed above, his body and hammer crackling with lightning while the Hulk landed with the grace of a cruise missile, his impact shaking the castle to the foundation and cracking the floor.
From the Fantasticar, all four nuisances made similar landings, with Ben Grimm's landing being similar to the Hulk, but less severe in terms of damage.
Any other villain would likely be thinking of surrendering immediately seeing this many heroes at once, but the Latverian simply observed the group of heroes with an annoyed glare like how one would look at a particularly irritating mosquito flying around the room.
"DOOM!" the voice of Iron Man said as he hovered with his rocket boosters, "we have you surrounded!"
The Latverian kept a calm demeanor, "Some heroes you lot are," he sarcastically said, "invading a sovereign nation to take down their leader? Truly, you are the gold standard of heroism."
"Don't give us that crap!" Ben Grimm shouted, "we don't know what you're doin' yet, but we're here to put a stop to it!"
"Is Doom not allowed to study the dynamics of interdimensional travel?" Victor asked in a faux innocent matter.
Wasp simply put her hands on her hips, "dude, you can make an atomic bomb out of a pack of paperclips!"
As the banter went on, Thor noticed the Norn Stone in his hands and grit his teeth, "Vile villain!" He shouted, tightening his grip on Mjolnir's handle, "how did you come into possession of a Norn Stone!?"
Doom smirked beneath his mask, "Karnilla saw my vision for the world and knew that only Doom was worthy of its power," he coldly responded, making Thor practically burst a vein, "She was kind enough to hand one to me, knowing that it was in safe hands."
"You are as unworthy of handling such an item as you are unworthy of Mjolnir!" Thor barked, pointing his hammer at the Latverian for emphasis.
Doom rolled his eyes, feeling he's wasted enough time, "Regardless of your views, I have no time to dawdle around with you oafs any further, so I will leave you in good company." He then pressed a button on his gauntlet and crossed his arms. No sooner did he press the button did several Doombots emerge from hidden chambers in the floors and walls, catching the heroes off guard. All of them resembled the Latverian monarch in some way, either passing or completely identical.
"Avengers!" Iron Man shouted, pointing to the bots, "take 'em!"
No sooner than those words left his lips, did the heroes charge at their foes. "IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!" Ben Grimm yelled before charging at a Doombot, shattering it to bits as he went to the next one and doing the same thing to it.
The Avengers and the rest of the Fantastic Four went to work fighting the Doombots. The weaker ones were easy, but the ones that resembled Doom the most were by far the most difficult to handle. It was just like fighting the real deal, only with far less gloating.
Photon absorbed energy attacks and redirected it back towards the bots, Mr. Fantastic and The Thing teamed up as the former wrapped himself into a condensed ball and the latter leapt up, grabbing said ball and slamming it onto encroaching Doombots, shattering them to bits. Iron Man leapt in front of Thor, "Supercharge, now!" he ordered before the Asgardian fired a bolt of lightning at him, charging his armor up to 200% efficiency. Iron Man then fired a supercharged repulsor ray at a Doombot, obliterating it.
As the carnage ensued, Doom headed away to his throne, stone in hand, when a roar that shook the room made him stop and turn. He saw the Incredible Hulk leaping towards him with a face of pure rage, holding crushed Doombots in his hands.
The Latverian calmly gestured and summoned a portal right in front of the green goliath that led to the Saharan desert, where Hulk landed and kicked up tons of sand right as the portal closed.
That was one nuisance dealt with. Now for the others.
A lightning bolt then struck and just barely missed him. He snapped his head to the source: Thor. The god of thunder was spinning his hammer in the air, creating a miniature tornado of electricity before halting his spinning and hurling the tornado of lightning at Doom. The monarch raised his shields, meeting the hybrid force of nature practically head on. He pushed against the divine lightning and winds before, with a grunt of exertion, flung it back at the heroes who had only just dealt with the Doombots and hastily dodged the tornado as it impacted and dissipated against the wall.
Doom's eyes narrowed as he fixated on the Asgardian, "It is good to know that you are here, Thor," he coldly and sarcastically stated, "I have something that you might appreciate."
Doom then reached behind him, pressing a button on his throne. A section of the floor opened, emerging from it was a massive metallic behemoth gleaming with silver, its helm having empty eye-sockets, but with nothing beneath it. The appearance of this left the heroes - especially Thor - shocked.
"The Destroyer Armor!?" The god of thunder yelled with surprise, "but how did-"
"Do not worry, thunderer," Doom reassured with a false sense of sincerity, "it is only a replica that Doom has designed. But it's still more than enough to keep you busy." He then snapped a gauntleted finger, bringing the replica Destroyer to life and immediately turning its head to the Asgardian and firing a powerful orange beam at him from its empty eye-sockets, something Thor just barely blocked with Mjolnir, sending him flying out of the throne room and up to the sky.
The Destroyer replica followed the god out of the castle, leaving the rest of the heroes with the Latverian.
"Take him!" Iron Man shouted, as the rest of the heroes charged towards the dictator.
The monarch raised his hand, sending a funnel shaped concussion blast that knocked mostly everyone away. Black Panther was undeterred and brought out several Vibranium daggers, tossing them at Doom, accompanied by micro-missiles fired by Stark.
Doom simply kept his raised hand up, a distortion in the air surrounding said hands following shortly, the projectiles then stopping in mid-air, the missiles being disassembled of vital parts before they, along with the daggers, fell to the ground uselessly.
A surprise energy blast from Photon knocked Victor rightside, resulting in him dropping the Norn Stone and pinning him against the wall. With an annoyed grunt, he tried to reflect the energy blast using his gauntleted hand. He snapped his fingers with his free hand, summoning a portal that enveloped him and put him behind Monica, whom he put in a chokehold while using his rocket boosters on his feet to keep him afloat.
Photon then shifted into her energy form and phased through Victor like a gust of wind before shifting back to her physical form, firing yet another energy blast at Doom, who quickly enveloped himself in a shield, blocking it.
"Miss Rambeau!" he hissed, "You possess a power that even Doom would have trouble with. But like with all things, he has a solution for that!"
He gestured two fingers and pulled them towards himself in a 'come hither' gesture, summoning a portal directly behind Photon, who couldn't react fast enough before it enveloped her completely, sending her to the Dark Dimension.
"Take my regards to Dormammu…"
With another nuisance dealt with, Doom noticed the Norn stone flying away, the small form of the Wasp taking it out of the throne room. He snarled and teleported to her location, his arms crossed like a judgemental parent.
"Going somewhere?" he muttered before he pressed a button on his gauntlet, letting a few slots in the walls open up, revealing speakers that emerged from them. They emitted a high pitched noise that cracked the stained glass windows and forced everyone on their knees, clutching their ears in pain from the sound.
Iron Man attempted to cover his ears through his helmet, "Jarvis!" he screamed, his eardrums pounding with pain, "activate noise suppressors!"
"On it." the A.I. responded, then doing as commanded. Tony sighed with relief as he stopped hearing the infernal noise as T'Challa seems to have done a similar thing, seeing as how he too was no longer affected by the noise.
"The speakers!" the Wakandan yelled to Tony before pulling out a Vibranium dagger and tossing it to one, destroying it in a burst of sparks. Stark fired repulsor blasts in conjunction with T'Challa's dagger tossing and in a matter of quick moments, the speakers were destroyed, ending the infernal noise.
Both geniuses turned to see Doom still standing there, Norn stone firmly in his palm. They both got into a stance as the other heroes recovered from their stupor.
This was going to be far more difficult than they anticipated.
At the forests of Latveria, Thor did battle with the replica Destroyer, knocking away its many blasts of energy with his hammer before narrowly avoiding a stomp by the mechanical behemoth.
As the prince of thunder avoided or blocked more attacks from the replica, he thought to himself that Doom's genius was truly impressive. Able to build a replica of Asgard's most dangerous weapon without any Nth metal nor the Odinforce? It would be worthy of admiration and outward if his intellect were not wasted on a petty and arrogant soul.
The fake Destroyer then brought down a hammerfist on the god of thunder, forcing a crater to envelop the ground beneath him. Thor grit his teeth as he pushed back with all his might. Once the robot's fists were off him, he tossed Mjolnir at its head, forcing it to step back several feet as it knocked over some trees.
He recalled Mjolnir back, raising it to the air and bringing forth lightning to it and then bringing the hammer down to the ground with a roar that could bring the Hulk's to shame, shaking the earth and showering the lightning upon the automaton.
Several divine bolts of lightning then rained down upon the replica, shocking it to its core, the sparks of the lightning catching onto stray bits of dry foliage and catching fire, setting parts of the surrounding trees ablaze.
The Destroyer copy then attempted to get up, only to see Thor charging at full speeds at it and swinging his hammer upwards at its head with enough force to shatter moons, decapitating it and sending its head upwards, landing several meters away from its body with a loud 'CLANG', exposed wires sparking with their last bits of power.
The thunder god snorted. Impressive as it was to rebuild the Destroyer, it was nothing compared to the real deal. He then looked to see the fires slowly crawling up the surrounding trees. He raised his hammer and summoned a thunderstorm, rain immediately falling and extinguishing the flames quickly.
With the potential forest fire dealt with, he turned to look back at Castle Doom with a furrowed brow. He would have words with Doom.
Wasp flew around the room, blasting Doom with her bio stingers to no effect. The Latverian tried to get a good hit on her, but she was too small and too fast… until Doom slammed his hands together and hit her dead in-between his palms. He let go of her, letting her unconscious body fall to the ground and shift back to normal size.
All around him lay the near unconscious bodies of the F4 and Avengers. All of them were in various states of disarray. Most tried to get up, but failed, collapsing back to the ground with a grunt.
Doom huffed in both dismissal and amusement that he managed to defeat his foes with ease. Now all he need do was-
"GO FORTH, CRIMSON BANDS OF CYTTORAK!"
Red bands surrounded him, nearly forcing him to drop the stone. Instead, he clenched it as hard as he could and looked up to see Doctor Strange descending from a portal leading to the Dark Dimension, Photon hovering next to him. The Latverian snarled seeing this before thunder crashed down into the throne room, revealing Thor, looking none the worse for wear in spite of the Destroyer replica being state of the line.
He growled and disappeared in a flash of light from the bands before reappearing behind all three of them and raising his hands, letting large glyphs emerge from them before a portal opened above Thor. He quickly looked up to see a giant centipede with drooling mandibles crash into him and through another portal in the floor.
Strange brought forth the Discs of Denak, but Doom blocked them with his shield and gestured his glyphs once more, this time, summoning two more portals. From the portals emerged a massive wyrm and a giant crystalline spider respectively, both roaring triumphantly as they entered the earthly realm. They charged at the first beings they saw, that being Strange and Photon.
Strange evaded the serpent's maw with the speed of a falcon, his Cloak of Levitation working overtime to ensure that the fumes from the beast's toxic breath were out of reach.
Meanwhile, the crystal arachnid roared, absorbing and reflecting Monica's energy blasts back at her, who simply absorbed her own energy into herself. It was clear that this was nothing but a feedback loop with no end.
Just as Doom adjusted himself, a sudden portal dripping with Bifrost energy opened up on the floor. From the rift in reality, the head of the giant centipede was tossed, its green blood staining the carpet to his throne room. Shortly after that, Thor leapt up from the portal as it closed, his armor and cape dripping with the green blood. He wiped it off with disgust before noticing Monica's struggling with the spider and rushed to join her.
Victor seethed. Every single thing he's done to deter them was immediately countered. And he was running out of ideas faster than he realized. No matter. All he needed was more than a few seconds to incite the runes on the stone and summon a portal to the realm.
As he weaved through the chaos to find an empty spot devoid of conflict, he felt someone grab his foot. He snapped his head to see Ben Grimm's stone fist colliding with his faceplate and sending him flying to the wall, forming a crater upon impact.
Now he was angry.
He recovered just to see Thing leap towards him with a flying haymaker. The Latverian dodged it and delivered an uppercut to his chin capable of staggering the Sentry, sending the Yancy Street resident flying back.
"Igneous oaf!" he spat, adding insult to injury as Benjamin slowly stood back up, clenching his head and rubbing it in pain. "You will not take my Norn Stone!"
At this point, the Yancy resident was really getting tired about all the importance surrounding his magical macguffin, "What is so special about this stupid rock!?" he muttered, still shaking the cobwebs from his stony head.
Doom raised his hand and fired a green energy blast at the rock man, encapsulating him in an energy field, letting Doom whisk him around the throne room halls like a ragdoll, slamming him at every pillar before making him crash in front of him, dissipating the energy shield.
"Prattling fool!" Doom said to the downed F4 member, "this Norn Stone is more than what your Neanderthalic brain can comprehend! It is the key to helping me gain the power and knowledge needed to save this world! If you allowed even a single modicum of brainpower to your empty skull, perhaps you would have realized that!"
The Thing gritted his teeth from the insults, "you want your glowin' rock so badly?" He asked before clenching his stone fist, "then you can 'ave it in pieces!"
With the speed of a striking viper, Ben threw a punch capable of knocking out the Hulk past Doom as his fist made contact with the stone. The rock reacted in a shining flash before shooting out an omnidirectional energy wave that sent them both flying back.
As this was occurring, Thor, Photon, and Doctor Strange all finished their battles with the beasts. Thor used good old brute force on the crystalline spider, shattering its legs to bits and leaving it vulnerable. Monica shifted into her light mode and grew in size, raising a giant glowing foot and stomping on the spider, shattering it like glass.
As Monica shrank and reverted back to normal, she and Thor looked at Strange and saw that he had wrapped the wyrm with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak and summoned a portal back to its home dimension, flinging it through and closing it.
Before they could even catch their breath, the flash of the energy wave got their attention. They snapped their heads towards it and covered their eyes.
Doom got up - as did the Thing - the former looking at the object he just hit and realizing it was cracked. Thor and Strange widened their eyes seeing it in such a state.
From the cracks of the Norn Stone, it floated and glowed with an intense energy accompanied by a powerful hum. The Latverian widened his eyes at this. "YOU FOOL!" Doom cried out to Ben at the top of his lungs, "YOU'VE CRACKED THE NORN STONE! IT'S INSTABILITY COULD THREATEN THE FABRIC OF REALITY!"
As if on cue, ripples of energy began to emanate from the cracked stone, discoloring the very area in hues of purples, blues, and reds. The Yankee Street resident gulped, "that can't be good."
"Nay, friend Grimm; tis not." Thor said with a grim tone, "even the slightest damage to a Norn Stone could send ripples across all dimensions and realms. If left unchecked, existence could fold into one another!"
Crackling bolts of energy began to arc across the room, some opening holes in reality that offered glimpses into whatever realm it was meant to head to. The images varied from green hills, to oceans of oil, and metallic metropolis'.
Just then, every other hero got up, shocked and confused upon seeing the light show. Human Torch shook his head and regained his composure, "did we miss something?"
The Norn Stone began to slowly break apart further, the energy arcs getting worse and worse by the minute. Doom put in all his power in keeping it from shattering completely. With a few grunts, his magic began to slowly put the stone back together, but it was like trying to let the repelling sides of a magnet touch each other, there was just too much resistance.
Suddenly, it got easier. The pieces began merging together at a faster rate. He looked up to see Dr. Strange holding out his own hands… assisting him.
"You dare!?" The monarch said before shooting out a beam from his hand, which knocked him back, "Doom does not need your assistance!"
"Do not be a fool, Victor!" Strange yelled before using magic shields to block an incoming energy arc from the stone, "put aside your pride for once and let me help you!"
"You so-called heroes are the ones who began this in the first place!" The Latverian responded, "it will be - as it always will be - up to Doom to fix your mess!"
Doom dialed up his magics up to eleven. The Norn Stone resumed its reconfiguration process, but, paradoxically, the energy became more and more unstable the closer the pieces were. The holes in reality opened up at an even faster rate. Different environments were on each one such as rocky canyons, a vast ocean dotted with many islands, and even what appeared to be a space station.
"The instabilities in reality are worsening!" Richards exclaimed, "if we don't help Doom now, the dimensions will merge into one another!"
Thor, using the power of the Bifrost summoned from Mjolnir, aimed at the tears and fired beams to keep the rifts stable as the other heroes looked on in horror. Meanwhile, Strange went back to Doom and helped fix the Norn Stone again.
"Begone!" Victor exclaimed to no retort from the Sorcerer Supreme as the stone was so close to being repaired.
Slowly… Surely.
Just as soon as it was practically done, Doom rushed to clench the Norn Stone in his hands, only to be met with immediate and incomprehensible pain.
"AUUUUGH!" Doom yelled out as the energy surged within and across his body, overtaking it to the point where even he couldn't control it. The energy that crackled across his body grew brighter and brighter, covering him in a blinding flash.
"VICTOR!" Richards yelled as he and everyone else was blinded by the light before….
Silence.
Everyone looked up from where they were to where Victor once was, but there was nothing but a smoking spot on the floor.
Reed began silently walking towards the now charcoaled spot, feeling the heat still present from the surge.
"Is… Is he…" Johnny asked, trailing off to not say the word, as though he were still in disbelief as to what happened.
Reed simply turned back, "I don't know, Johnny," He responded. "I don't know…"
Of course, we know that Doctor Doom is many things. Resilient is one of them. Unbeknownst to Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Doom has been flung across realms and into the world of Mobius. A world so unique and different, it had separated itself from the World Tree, becoming its own universe and only accessible to the wider multiverse via its Norn Stone. It is here that Doom will shape events to come, for his very presence has already disrupted the calm lake that was this realm's stability…