Undoing the Dumb 5 - (Marvel, VictorVonDoom!SI)
We were soon back in America... and this would be the first opportunity we had to make an impression with the Wild Pack. And by 'we', I mean me, Silvija and Jezebel.
It was just the three of us acting as investigators over some rumored news that a small group of the 'Exiles', a group of Nazis that were loyal to the Red Skull, had been spotted somewhere in New York and were actually running what was considered a 'youth camp'.
This sounded like some old Marvel lore since I had no major recollection of the topic, knowing only that the individuals that were involved were known foes of the 'returned' Captain America: Hypnotist siblings Melvin and Susan Scarbo, also known respectively as Minister Blood and Suprema.
The names rang some more bells, but nothing that truly made me panic as we focused on dealing with this mess. The plan was quite simple actually. Jezebel would be the one going solo in checking stuff around if the rumors were true while we distracted the Scarbo siblings as they tried to pass as 'the Marboro Day Care' owners... my presenting ourselves as a young couple with a toddler.
"Ah, young love. Such a sweet delight," 'Ms. Marboro' beamed with enough faux amusement that I felt my guts rotting. "Do you think so, brother?"
The bald man nodded, "But children can be quite difficult to handle. You did good in reaching out for us, good customers. We offer the best services at an affordable price."
"Thank you for the kind words and offer," Silvija remarked, holding my hands and appearing quite flustered. I wasn't sure if she was faking it or genuinely feeling shy of holding hands with me around others, but I merely offered an awkward smile before speaking up myself.
"Indeed, we are both busy with our jobs, and I don't wish to deny my wife a chance to get back to do what she loves."
I felt her hand squeezing a bit more at this. Was she pleased or annoyed? I just couldn't turn to see it myself, but I doubted Silvija was actually showing her true feelings on the topic. Nonetheless, the siblings were really doing their best to trick us.
Hypnotism worked on mental waves, so I was able to find a way to prepare counters in the form of amulets we were both wearing under our clothes. I could feel them trying and struggling to make any progress while we were faking that we were 'relenting' to the pressure.
Those were quite the most frustrating twenty minutes of my existence, especially when Bel was meant to be done with her chores within ten minutes. So, we were really dragging the conversation a bit longer than needed and it was grating on our combined nerves as the owners of the daycare were getting pissed themselves at our hesitation.
Still, Bel remembered her job in time as I heard a familiar buzz that was the radio signal that she was done with her chore.
"What was that no-" Susan Scarbo was about to finish that simple question when a bullet slammed through her forehead.
Her brother was subjected to a similar demise as Silvija had successfully claimed two close headshots without letting our targets get out of range. The use of a silencer allowed to limit the noise of this rapid killing, but it was magic that vaccuumed the store clean of any blood that had been spilled.
Those may sound like C-Ranked villains, but the Scarbo siblings were closet nazis and their existence as part of the Red Skull's clique could only spell more evil trouble than pragmatic darkness. After I was done with the clean up, I left Silvija to regroup with Bel while I went to wipe out the CCTV system of the day care before we left.
Still, while I was delighted that this first mission had been a clean and successful endeavor, I was confused when I walked back to the building's entry and spotted a disguised Bel and Silvija cooing over a little baby. Brown hair, blue eyes, a girl and... and her name was tagged on her wrist-bracelet that I gave a look at.
Sinthea Shmidt. That's... Shit, that's the Red Skull's daughter, Sin.
At this point, she was just a baby girl, one that was clearly happy of playing with two nice women and that then turned to look at me with glee. The reason why I remember this character in particular was because of her actions leading to the death of Steve Rogers at the end of Civil War.
There was a lot to say about how that came to be, between 'aging devices', indoctrination, and general mental-fuckery that was quite common with the Red Skull. Right now, however, the two ladies were holding a normal girl with a very abnormal dad.
Pragmatically speaking, I didn't have to plan the kid's death. The little baby wasn't even aware of what 'death' was, so it made sense that she wasn't going to turn into her dad's second coming. Rather, it was going to be interesting how to keep this girl around without getting weird looks from others.
I suppose Silvija begging her dad to keep her worked mostly well as little 'Cindy' was now Silvija, Bel, and my responsibility. So yes, with just a first normal mission that was quite 'low-difficulty', I ended up becoming 'Dad'. Victor von Dad was so going to be a powerful 'dad joke' once the kid was of age to be teased over it, but for now little Cindy was to become 'Cindy von Doom'.
Paperwork was prepared, I was suddenly turned into a dad and... Silvija was her mother by documentation. This was something that really left me unnerved as this was quite the confirmation that my boss not only supported me dating his daughter, but he somewhat wanted me to marry her ASAP. Was this something I was happy with? Not really. I was taking a slow effort in getting to know Silvija as a life partner, and it felt a bit brash to rush straight to marriage until some kinks were worked out.
Specifically, how Bel was going to work within that situation. And the most emeblematic example of that issue/chaotic solution was the new disposition over sleep. Silvija and I shared the bed and... Bel was hugging me on my free side. Or, at times, the demon girl big-spoon'd Silvija. Now that Cindy was involved, I was now the main sandwiched element as the baby snored on my chest, the girls took my arms and I felt very caged in the little bed we shared.
It didn't help that being a dad also meant putting more energy out each day, which left me a dead man every night. It wasn't the worst but, knowing my current situation, I was glad that the pay was good enough and the support of my boss was unwavering as of now.
Ultimately, I found myself finding the chance to rest between all those matters, a few hours of good shut-eye granted me the opportunity to recover accordingly but... I could tell I had to find a way to slightly boost my body. Not much to be a 'super-human', but alas to make front with all this stuff I was now dealing with. I couldn't take this much working for so long, and I needed to find a solution to this: which is why I decided to study a way to create my first Doom-Bot.
Considering how risky it was to handle chemistry, creating a basic robot assistant felt like a feasible choice. Not even two months working at it, and I had someone to help me at the workshop- only at the workshop.
As much as it felt tempting to just build one that could help me all the time, I was wary of giving that much power to a robot. I thought of Ultron, or any other robot that through self-awareness could easily go rogue and cause issues.
No, I decided to create something limited for that part of the job while also developing a streamlined process to improve guns and new pieces of equipment. I was making money, especially since the surplus was sold to the ever-growing Symkarian military and security branches.
The chance to finally claim Latveria was growing closer and closer, and now it was a matter of doing some more missions for the Wild Hunt. Silvija, Bel, and I did three simple ones after the Scarbo Siblings' assassination, and I slowly used my magic to create a proper mercenary persona.
The 'Red Hood' was thus born, mimicking in essence what 'Hood' would be: a red cape with enough seals to obscure my face and redirect bullets coming for me, and a pair of shoes that provided me with improved speed, jump height and limited flight.
This may sound like an effort to stand out, which it was, but I was also wary since Marvel had a thing to raise the stakes for random people out of the blue. And I felt this expectation of future trouble manifested when we were suddenly forced to relocate to a new location as Ernst had found a 'big one'.
We found the 'Skull-House' - We found the Red Skull.
AN
Big clash coming up soon: The Red Hood vs The Red Skull!