Author's Note:
Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter for Earth's Mightiest Huntsmen. But first, let's answer a few reviews!
Noob6: I feel like Doom would resort to whatever means he has to in order to get what he wants.
hawko2632: Probably not, as it doesn't serve his interests. Trust me, I do have a plan in place for the big reveal on who was responsible for creating Ultron.
SuperSaiyanFever: Yeah, Doom would have defenses in place to prevent teleportation. He is a man that is always prepared for pretty much anything, which is why he's such a big threat.
Red Scorpion: Luckily, you won't have to wait too much longer to see if your guess is right!
Guest: Yeah, the Avengers certainly will have quite the challenge fighting against Doom and his forces.
Guest: Not only am I not taking requests for this story, but I am also not planning any sort of crossover into other media-especially not anything from DC.
Thank you all for your continued support. Now, let's get back to the story.
Avengers Mansion—September 29
"Doom?" Weiss repeated. "Who's Doom?"
"There's no way that's his given name," Jaune added.
"Unfortunately, it is," Tony told them.
Vision activated the monitors again, and an image of a man in dark grey armor and a green cloak appeared. "Victor von Doom," he explained. "The tyrannical ruler of the nation of Latveria. He is as ruthless as he is intelligent. He is one of the smartest people on the planet…and one of our greatest enemies."
"He doesn't look that tough," Jaune commented.
"Believe me, kid," Tony told him. "Doom is about as dangerous as they come. He's spent his entire life mastering both science and magic to attempt world domination."
"If he's such a bad guy, why haven't you taken him down yet?" Ruby asked.
"It's not that simple, Ruby," Steve told her. "As a ruler of a sovereign nation, Doom has diplomatic immunity. The best we can do is send him packing whenever he decides to move beyond Latveria's borders."
"But you've beaten him before, right?" Weiss asked.
"Yes, Tony confirmed.
"So it should be easy for you to get over there and free Nora and Ren then."
"It's not that simple, Weiss," Steve warned. "Direct attacks on Doom have never been effective."
"So—what, you're just going to give up?" Jaune question.
"I didn't say that—"
"If Doom is as bad as you guys say he is, then who knows what he's doing to them there," Weiss interrupted.
"Calm down," Tony tried to say.
"I thought you were supposed to be heroes or something," Jaune added. "But how can you just stand there—"
"We're going to get them back!" Steve shouted, cutting off both Weiss and Jaune. The room was dead silent. Ruby had never seen Steve look this frustrated before.
"We're going to get them back," Steve repeated, lowering his voice. "I promise we will get them back. But understand—Doom is a difficult man to reason with and even more difficult to fight. If this is handled badly, we could be involved in an international incident." He looked at Tony. "Tony, call the others and tell them to get down here. We need to discuss this." He then looked at Ruby. "Why don't you take your friends and show them around the mansion?"
Ruby was torn. She wanted to stay and defend her friends. But deep down, she knew that Steve was right. The Avengers had to come up with a good plan if they were going to get into Latveria and save Nora and Ren. So, she just nodded and turned around, leaving the war room. Weiss and Jaune quickly followed her.
"This is ridiculous," Weiss complained. "We should be in there for that meeting. Those are our friends trapped by that madman."
"I know, Weiss," Ruby told her. "But I've read the Avengers' file on Doom. He makes Roman Torchwick, the White Fang, and all the bad guys we've faced combined look like nothing. We have to let them plan the next step, or Ren and Nora could get hurt."
Weiss opened her mouth to argue, but Jaune put a hand on her shoulder. "I think she's right, Weiss," he said. "Plus, if Ruby thinks it's a bad idea to rush in without a plan—"
"Hey!" Ruby complained, but soon broke down with a small smile.
Weiss let out a long sigh. "Fine. We'll let them plan it out. But I expect them to keep us in the loop with what's going on."
"They will," Ruby promised. "Steve—Captain America—is a good guy. He knows how much this means to us. He'll make sure that Ren and Nora get home safely."
"Out of all the places on Earth they could've ended up, it had to be Latveria," Clint complained, sharpening an arrow in his seat in the War Room.
"Aye," Thor agreed. "Getting them out of there will not be an easy task."
"Could negotiation work in this instance?" Hank questioned. "If they've done nothing wrong there, we might be able to convince Doom to let them go."
"Highly doubtful, Hank," Steve answered. "It won't take long for Doom to figure out that these kids are trained fighters from another planet, if he hasn't already. My guess is that he's going to hold them until he can figure out everything he can from them. He won't let them go without a fight."
Hank nodded. "Then I suggest contacting Reed Richards at the Baxter Building. The Fantastic Four have had more experience than anyone dealing with Doom."
"Yeah…slight problem with that," Tony spoke up. "They're unavailable right now."
"What do you mean?" Clint asked.
"I already tried contacting them, but all I got was an automated message," Tony explained. "Apparently, the Fantastic Four are currently in the Negative Zone right now, investigating, and I quote, 'strange anomalies that could lead to a full invasion of the known galaxy.'"
"Great. Figures they're unreachable right when we need them to help deal with Doom," Clint muttered.
"What's the plan here, Cap?" Janet asked.
Steve closed his eyes, weighing his options. "We're going to have to get into Latveria and go after Doom if we want to save these two kids," he said. "But we're going to need to be careful. The last thing we need is to cause an international incident with Latveria—especially since S.H.I.E.L.D. has no authority there."
"Stealth it is then," Clint agreed. "With any luck, Doom won't even know we're there until we're long gone."
"Somehow I doubt we'll be that lucky," Tony muttered.
"What of the children?" Natasha asked.
"Nat's right," Janet spoke up. "They're going to want to come along to help save their friends."
"Yeah, that's not happening," Tony decided.
"Weiss Schnee and Jaune Arc are very capable warriors," Thor told him. "They were able to defeat Amora the Enchantress and Skurge all on their own."
"From what you told us, they got lucky," Natasha pointed out. "If the Casket of Ancient Winters had not been there, they would be dead."
"I'm afraid that Tony's right," Steve admitted. "These kids are strong, sure—but we can't take them to fight Doom. They'll have to stay here when we make our move."
"They're not going to like that," Clint warned.
"They'll understand," Tony said.
Clint put his arrow back into his quiver. "Yeah, Tony, have you ever met a teenager before? They're going to be furious when we tell them they're not ready to fight an evil warlord that can pummel all of us down in a heartbeat."
Steve looked at T'Challa. "T'Challa? What do you think?"
T'Challa looked around at the others. "I ask you this, my friends. Would we allow the young heroes currently at Avengers Academy to join us on a mission against an enemy as powerful as Doom? While these young warriors from Remnant are powerful, they have neither the training nor the knowledge to stand up to Doom."
"I agree," Tony said.
"Is it really a good idea to leave them behind alone at the mansion?" Clint questioned. "They could still try to get to Latveria by stealing a Quinjet."
"Doesn't mean they know how to fly one," Natasha pointed out.
"Unless they use the autopilot," Vision spoke up.
"Jarvis can take care of them," Tony said. "He knows a thing or two about raising kids. Trust me—I know."
"They're still not going to be happy about being left behind," Clint warned.
"They don't have to be," Natasha told him. "Our priority is to ensure the safety of their friends. And that means they will not be allowed to accompany us."
"Let's hope that their friends are holding up okay under Doom's rule," Janet remarked.
Castle Doom—September 29
"Nora? Still with me?"
Nora cracked her eyes open sleepily. "Just…resting my eyes," she said.
"Just making sure." Ren was sitting cross-legged facing the cell door, keeping a watchful eye out for any sign of their captors.
It had been roughly a week since Doom had imprisoned them. Since then, they had not seen the ruler—only his men, and they only came down to deliver a small amount of food and water to keep them alive. Aside from that, the two were left alone in the cell.
Ren was still trying to figure out what exactly Doom wanted from them. They hadn't been tortured, aside from the lack of food and water, and they hadn't been asked any questions about who they were and where they came from. It was almost as if Doom had locked them away in his dungeon and forgot all about them.
But Ren highly doubted that was the case. Though he had only seen him for a few minutes, he knew that Doom was a man of great intelligence and motivation. Whatever his intentions were, they were more complicated than simply locking them away forever.
"Think the others will be coming soon?" Nora asked.
"We can only hope," Ren responded. "But the task of getting into this castle will not be easy."
"Come on, Yang could probably blast a hole through the castle wall in an instant."
"Remember that Dust does not work on this world," Ren reminded her. "As such, the others' weapons will be seriously limited."
"What about Pyrrha? Her Semblance can tear apart that guy in seconds."
"Don't underestimate his power, Nora," Ren warned. "Remember that his technology was able to paralyze us with one shot. He will not be easy to deal with."
Nora leaned her head against his shoulder. "I know, Ren. But it doesn't hurt to hope."
Ren didn't say anything, instead taking Nora's hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Don't worry, Nora. We'll get out of this."
The cell door suddenly slid open, and two of the robots that had captured them marched in. Ren stood up instantly as one reached out and grabbed him, beginning to lead him along. The other robot did the same with Nora.
The two were led back to the throne room, where a large device had been set up. The device appeared to be a pillar of sorts, with two clear globes of glass positioned connected to it. Doom himself was nearby, typing commands into a console.
The robots shoved Ren into one of the globes and Nora into the other. "Hey!" Nora yelled at Doom. "What is all this?"
Doom didn't answer. Instead, he continued typing commands into the console.
"You'd better hope that our friends don't find us," Nora went on. "Because we've got friends that could kick your butt in seconds!"
"Nora," Ren warned gently. He knew exactly what Nora was trying to do; taunt Doom into making a mistake. But something told him that the man wasn't going to fall for it.
"You got lucky last time!" Nora went on as Doom went to another console and typed more commands into it. "But now I know what you're all about, and I'm ready to—"
"Miss Valkyrie," Doom interrupted calmly, finally turning his metal-masked faced towards her. "I am not some common criminal that you no doubt have fought before that can be goaded into falling for your taunts. So please, save your breath before you embarrass yourself further."
To Ren's surprise, Nora actually kept her mouth shut. Doom turned back to his work. Since it was clear that they were probably going to be in there for a while, Ren took the opportunity to study the throne room further, looking for possible means of escape.
Going through the throne room in any sort of escape attempt would be risky, especially if Doom was going to be in there at the time. But going through the front door would be even riskier given on how well it was guarded. Unfortunately, it didn't look like there was an easy escape route within the throne room either.
Then, at the far end of the throne, he spotted a lab table where both their weapons were laying. "At least our weapons are in one piece," he thought.
Doom seemed to finish the computations he was typing down and moved to the other side of the device before pulling a lever. The machine began to hum with power, and Ren began to feel a tingling sensation.
"What is this?" Nora demanded to know. "What are you doing?"
Doom ignored her, instead moving to a series of monitors just out of Ren's line of sight. He seemed to be monitoring the results of some sort of test.
"But what is he testing?" Ren thought. "What is he after?"
Whatever it was, he had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't going to be good for either him or Nora.
Avengers Mansion—September 29
"What do you mean we can't come with you?!" Weiss demanded to know.
"Try to understand," Steve tried to explain. "This is a mission that's going to be extremely dangerous, even for us. None of you are ready to fight a man like Doom."
"But they're our friends!" Jaune exclaimed. "We need to be there."
"I promise that we'll get them out," Steve insisted. "But we're not taking you kids anywhere near Latveria."
"We can help," Ruby argued. "You know what we're capable of."
"I do," Steve told her. "But I also know that all of you still have a lot to learn. And I'm not risking your lives by bringing you to a hostile nation like Latveria."
"Cap, please," Ruby pleaded. "We don't even have to go fight Doom. We can take on his minions or something."
"I said no, Ruby, and that's final."
"But—"
"Please," Steve interrupted. "I don't want to argue with you anymore. You three will stay here with Jarvis while we save your friends."
"You've got to be kidding me," Jaune protested. "Those are not only my friends that Doom has trapped, they're my teammates. I'm not going to sit around here and wait. I need to be there to help."
"I'm sure that they'll understand why you're not there," Steve assured him. "But I'm not risking your lives on this mission."
"Shouldn't that be our choice and not yours?" Weiss questioned.
"You all are still new to Earth," Steve reminded them. "Even you, Ruby," he added as Ruby opened her mouth again. "Until you learn fully about how this planet runs and all the threats that it contains, you can't just go running off to fight against threats you don't understand."
"Even when it's our friends' lives on the line?" Jaune asked.
Steve sighed. "Look, I understand your frustration and confusion. You're all good kids that just want to help. But it's too dangerous this time. Some of us Avengers may not even come back from this. And I don't want any of you to suffer the same fate as Ms. Marvel."
"Who's Ms. Marvel?" Weiss asked.
"And what happened to her?" Ruby added. When her friends turned to look at her, she said, "I haven't been able to read all the files the Avengers have."
"Carol Danvers—Ms. Marvel—was once of us. An Avenger," Steve explained. "One of strongest members—probably our strongest next to Thor and the Hulk. Until she went up against a threat that she seriously underestimated."
"What happened to her?" Jaune questioned.
"She survived—barely," Steve answered. "But she lost all her powers and has been in a coma for the past two years now."
"And you think that will happen to us if we go to Latveria with you?" Weiss questioned.
"Or worse." Steve gave each of them a hard look in the eyes. "I know you want to help. And, if it were just about any other villain, I would let you come. But this isn't just a normal villain. This is Doom, the most powerful one on Earth. I wouldn't risk the lives of any young hero going after them, and that includes you all."
The three teenagers sat in silence for a few moments. Ruby was wrestling with her feelings about everything that Steve had just said. Her gut was telling her that she needed to go with Steve and the other Avengers. That she needed to personally go to save her friends. But, in a tiny corner of her mind, she knew that what Steve was saying was true. They weren't ready for Doom—not by a longshot.
"Okay," she said quietly after a moment. "We'll stay here."
"What?!" Jaune exclaimed.
"Ruby—" Weiss started.
"No, he's right," Ruby interrupted. "None of us can stand against Doom. If we go, we'd only get in the way. I hate to say it…but we need to stay here and let the Avengers handle it."
"But Ruby—"
"Weiss, stop," Ruby said. "As much as I really want to go rushing over to Latveria to help Nora and Ren…I think doing that wouldn't end well for us. We barely survived a fight with Ultron, and Doom is supposed to be even more powerful than he is."
"Is that true?" Jaune asked Steve.
Steve nodded. "I'm afraid so."
Weiss stared at Ruby for a good long minute before giving in. "All right," she said.
Ruby looked at Steve. "Please, Cap—bring them home," she pleaded.
"We'll get them back safe and sound," Steve promised. "We're not going to let you watch more of your people die." He turned around, putting a finger to his ear. "Avengers, assemble. We leave for Latveria in ten."
"Avengers assemble?" Weiss questioned.
"It's a thing they do," Ruby explained. "Like a war cry." Her eyes lit up. "Maybe we should come up with a war cry for our teams!"
"Yeah, I don't think so, Ruby," Weiss told her with an eye roll.
"Come on, it'll be fun."
"I think we have more important things to worry about right now, Ruby," Jaune said. "Like how the Avengers are going to get our friends back in one piece. Granted, I've seen Thor in action, and he's really powerful. But with the way this Captain America guy was talking, Doom might be even more powerful than him."
"The Avengers know how to work as a team, just like us," Ruby reminded him. "They went after an entire island full of bad guys and won. They know what they're doing. They'll be able to take Doom down."
"They may not have to," Weiss said with a thoughtful look in her eyes. "I mean—all they have to do is get Nora and Ren and they can get out. They don't even need to beat Doom."
"See, Jaune?" Ruby said with a hopeful smile. "Everything's going to be okay."
Castle Doom—September 29
After being in the globes for several hours, Doom threw another switch, shutting the machine down. Ren, who had been sitting within it, stood up at the sudden change. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
Doom ignored him and seemed to be studying the results of whatever test he was running. Then he moved to the side and began tinkering with something on his arm.
"Hey!" Nora shouted, seeming to have gotten her spunk back after being shut down by Doom earlier. "What was this all about?"
"Doom does not need to explain himself to you," Doom answered simply, not even turning around to face her.
Nora huffed, sitting back down within her globe. "Well, he's certainly rude. And what's with this whole speaking in the third person thing?"
"I don't think we're going to be getting any answers out of him, Nora," Ren warned.
"Which only proves my point that he's rude."
Ren shook his head slightly. Nora's personality never ceased to amaze him.
After a few minutes of tinkering, Doom turned to face the two of them. The globes suddenly hissed open, allowing both of them to climb out, which they wasted no time in doing so.
"What is this?" Nora asked. "What are you doing?"
"Experimenting." Doom raised a metal finger at her. Instantly, a green beam shot from it, hitting her in the chest. She let out a cry of pain as her aura began to flicker—brightly at first, but then getting duller and duller.
"Nora!" Ren moved to push her out of the way, but two of Doom's robots grabbed him and forced him down. Meanwhile, Nora sank to her knees as her aura continued to degrade further and further.
After a few more seconds of this, the beam stopped firing. Nora collapsed on her side, panting. Ren broke free of his robot captors and ran to her side, getting down next to her. "Nora, can you hear me?" he asked. "Are you okay?"
She shook her head rapidly. "That beam—drained my aura instantly. I—I don't know how."
Ren shot a glare at Doom. "That's what this was all about? Making a weapon that saps auras?"
Doom stared coldly back at him, his mask hiding any emotions he was having—not that Ren expected him to be having any in the first place.
"We are no threat to you," Ren argued. "We are not trying to take you down or overthrow you. All we want is to leave so we can find help for our world. It's currently under attack by a robot intelligence called Ultron."
"I know of Ultron," Doom said. "He is of no concern to Latverian interests."
"But there are other people that could help us," Ren told him. "If you let us go, we won't come back to your country, I promise. All we want is to leave."
"Doom does not make deals that don't benefit him," Doom responded. "You will remain in Latveria, in my dungeon, until I say otherwise."
Before Ren could offer up any sort of response, the beam fired again, this time hitting Ren. Instantly, pain flared up throughout his body as he felt his energy and aura being drained from him. He resisted the urge to cry out in pain, trying to calm his breathing. He didn't want to give Doom the satisfaction of knowing that what he was doing was hurting him.
The beam continued to fire, and Ren was finding it hard to stay standing. He grit his teeth in determination, taking a shaking step forward towards Doom. The tyrant, in response, increased the power to the beam, finally managing to take Ren down to the ground.
As suddenly as it had appeared, it stopped. Ren let out a small gasp of relief, shaking slightly from the effects of the weapon. Quickly, he did an internal sense of himself. He could feel his aura starting to recharge, but it was extremely sluggish, even slower than normal. But the fact that it was recharging was enough for him. This meant that Doom's weapon, whatever it was, couldn't remove aura's permanently—only drain them.
Doom stared down slowly at his two prisoners. Ren could see behind him Nora trying to rise, but failing to do so. He himself did not have the strength to get back on his feet. "He's even more powerful than we first thought," Ren realized. "Will the others even be able to get past him in any sort of rescue attempt?"
"Lord Doom!" A soldier ran into the room, kneeling in front of his leader instantly.
"Why do you interrupt me?" Doom asked.
"Apologies, my lord. But there is an unauthorized airship entering Latverian airspace. It's heading right for the castle."
Doom's eyes seemed to narrow slightly behind his mask's eyeholes. "Avengers," he breathed. "So, they finally figured it out."
"A—Avengers?" Nora croaked out.
Instead of answering, Doom kept focusing on the soldier. "Prepare our defenses," he ordered.
"Yes, my lord." The soldier quickly got up and left.
Doom waved a hand as he turned back to his throne and approached it. At his command, the robots marched forward, grabbing Nora and Ren's unresisting forms and dragging them out of the throne room. They dragged the two through the halls of the castle before returning them to their cell, throwing them inside and slamming the door shut.
Ren managed to crawl to where Nora was. "You okay?" he asked.
"Do I look okay?" she responded. "What was that back there? Who are the Avengers?"
"I don't know," Ren answered, turning weakly back to face the cell door. "But if I had to guess…they may be the ones that can free us from Doom."
The question was…were these guys better than Doom? Or would they be trading their current jailkeeper for someone far worse?
Sort of a calm before the storm chapter to set up for the big fight that's about to come, which have never really been my favorite ones to make, honestly. But boy, was this chapter an interesting one to write. I went through several different ideas, mostly involving the conversation between Captain America and Ruby, Weiss, and Jaune following the Avengers' decision to leave them behind for the mission, before settling on what I have now.
Speaking of which, it may seem interesting that Ruby of all characters would argue against taking the others to go attack Doom. There's a very good reason for this, and it will come into play next chapter.
Things are coming to a head next chapter, with a massive fight about to occur between the Avengers and Doom. But until then, this is Guest 1138, signing off.