August 5th, 2012.
Sunday, Morning.
Victor von Doom's Penthouse downtown Boston.
Victor found himself in a dimly lit room that appeared so large he couldn't see the walls, a single bright lamp was situated directly above him and stung his eyes when he tried to look up at it.
"H-hello?" Victor called out as confusion began growing into panic.
"Hello!?" he repeated this time louder,
"Is anybody there?" Victor felt his skin crawl as he turned in the small lit space in this ocean of darkness, he felt as if he was being watched. The silence of the room buzzed in his ears and slowly began driving him insane.
Growing more and more paranoid as the moments ticked by Victor finally mustered up the strength to begin walking into the darkness, once he passed the threshold of the light the room ignited into a scene of fire and commotion. Victor spun in confusion noticing the light was now gone and the landscape around him was a town being consumed by fire. Victor felt helpless as he watched the buildings around him submit to the inferno that raged on, the building beside him began to sag before the ceiling collapsed in forcing fire and smoke out of any openings. A blast of heat and smoke surrounded Victor for a moment causing him to stumble about coughing with blurred eyes. When he looked up he squinted through the smoke and could make out shapes of humans running in all directions, some dove in alleyways while others exited buildings and ran up the street yet none ever came close to him or even acknowledged they'd seen him.
Then the sound of an air raid horn let off in the distance wailing its warning to everyone in the town. Twisting his head around to find a place to go he could make out faint lights in the sky only moments before an explosion shook the ground beneath him, then a second one but this time closer only a few blocks away. Struggling to regain his footing all Victor could do was run away from where he believed the bombs were landing, a third explosion followed closely by a fourth and fifth one now sent pieces of wood and stone into the air raining down on him as he ran around a corner. Suddenly the sixth bomb went off striking a structure adjacent to him and tossing him into the air, the world was a blur of color before he felt himself slam into something solid. Lifting himself up off the ground with his head throbbing Victor looked up to see what he'd hit, it was a flag pole holding a symbol he hadn't seen in years - the Latverian flag.
Beep, beep, beep, beep the consistent maddening beeping is what brought Victor back to reality, his eyes were torn open as the events he'd just experienced sunk into his brain. Before pushing himself upright in his bed Victor slapped the top of the alarm clock to silence it. Rubbing his eyes with a thumb and forefinger Victor instantly realized what the dream was trying to say. Latveria was falling and if he didn't interfere soon it would be gone. It was the universe reminding him of his destiny and showing him what would happen if he didn't accomplish it. Today was the day he had to begin doing something besides just funding it. Each day he put off taking action was another day those innocents died and another day those in power won.
For months he struggled with issue of how exactly he would be able to have a better impact on the events occurring in Latveria while still maintaining Doom International. It wasn't until the other day after his meeting with Dr. White that Victor had a revelation, he could use the thing that gave him his fortune in the first place, drones. All last night he had spent brainstorming and sketching out ideas, most of which had been based on a suit of high tech armor Doom had designed for himself in case he was ever subjected to battlefield conditions. Victor had dubbed the idea 'Doom Bots' and intended to use them as the bulk of his military campaign against the current Latverian government. After an entire night of work Victor intended to send his plans over to the head of his secret development team located in China but had passed out beforehand.
Walking over to his desk Victor plopped down on the computer and opened up his email to begin writing out his request when Victor considered who may be monitoring his email. Closing the window on the computer, Victor leaned back in his chair and looked at the stack of paper he'd been working on from the night before thinking up a way to transfer the information discretely. His eyes wandered over to an older fax machine he kept but hadn't used in forever since the internet became more commonplace. Reaching into his pocket and producing the custom built phone that was synced up to his AI Victor dialed the number that directly connected him to his Chinese development center.
After a few moments of faint ringing a voice answered in slightly broken English
"Hello. This is Dr. Xuecheng. Who am I speaking to?"
"Victor von Doom, nice to hear from you Dr. Xuecheng, how is the team going?" Victor replied trying to sound casual.
A slight chuckle could be heard from Xuecheng before he spoke
"Not so good, we have not had real work for a few months now Mr. Doom. We've eagerly been waiting to hear from you. Do you have work for us?"
Quick to the point, this was one of many reasons Doom enjoyed Dr. Xuecheng as his head developer.
"Yes I've actually got a lot of work for you to do, I need it done by this fall. You understand? Do you have a fax machine by the way?"
"Yes we do Mr. Doom sir. I'll send a text message of the number for you. What is it you're sending if I may ask?" The doctor appeared interested by Victor's urgency.
"Battle drones doctor. I need at least five thousand units. They're highly sophisticated and I need you to put extra overtime into them. It is the utmost importance that they be completed on time, as always I will compensate your team as long as the job is done and done right. Is that clear Dr. Xuecheng?" Victor could hear Chinese being spoken in the background when he'd finished talking.
"Understood, as soon as you send the documents we will begin work immediately Mr. Doom." Dr. Xuecheng answered before he began shouting Chinese, already they were getting prepared to work.
Victor wasn't going to bother with pleasantries instead he stated coldly
"Good," before hanging up the phone and turning the fax machine on. After checking his phone for the number, Victor tapped it into the console and allowed the machine to do the work simply feeding it the documents he'd written up. If he could get these drones by fall he could finally launch his campaign.
All I need is the rebels to set themselves up in the position for a counter-attack, I need a place to begin Victor thought to himself as he contemplated his next steps.
August 5th, 2012.
Sunday, Night.
En Route to Doom International HQ.
A simply black car could be seen speeding down a vacant rode with a young Victor von Doom behind it's wheel. A yawn escaped before he turned on another rode and Victor began to reflect on how exhausted he was after a day of preparing for war. It still wouldn't be for a couple of months but the ball was in motion by next year Latveria will his. At this very moment a group of Chinese scientists would be mass producing his units that will give the Separatists the force they need to break the Latverian government's stranglehold, Victor had also managed to make contact with the rebels and inform them that in the fall there would be an attack, he ordered them to start stockpiling supplies and demanded they set up a safe point for him to land in. Currently however, he'd forgotten his phone at his office and was going to get it before returning home.
Pulling into the parking lot of his towering office building Victor noticed a few too many cars than there should be this time of night. There was a grey pickup truck which was of the security guy and his secretary's Mini Cooper which seemed strange at first but not as strange as the conspicuous tan van parked in the back corner of the lot. As he pulled into a spot and exited his car, he looked up and could see his office's light still on. Something wasn't right with the situation causing Victor to get back into his car and take the handgun he'd kept in his glove box. Checking to make sure it was loaded he stuffed it into his waistband and allowed his jacket to cover it, concealing the weapon before he began crossing the parking lot.
He came up to the granite steps that lead up to the doors and fumbled in his pocket for his key card before he reached the door. Placing a hand on the handle Victor went to enter his key card when he felt the door wiggle and pushed on it, revealing it had been unlocked.
There is definitely something going on here, Victor thought to himself as he entered cautiously. Peering across the lobby he could see the security desk was empty and the chair appeared to have been knocked over along with a couple papers. Victor now removed the handgun from his waistband and headed over to the stairwell.
Victor began his ascent passing each floor and noticing they were all dark until he reached the top, the 109th floor, where his office was located. He inspected the hallway through the small glass window placed in the door and could make out the secretary desk was empty. Entering into the brightly lit hallway he crossed it silently keeping his back to one of the walls as he approached the desk. When he got close enough Victor could see two feet sticking out from behind the large desk
Beth.. he thought to himself as he craned his neck over the desk to see. There on the floor laid his secretary Beth and his security guy Doug dead, both with a bullet hole clearly placed through their foreheads still spilling blood across the floor. Victor could feel his anger level rising as he tightened his grip on the pistol and cursed silently before continuing to creep towards his own office where he believed the murder still was.
Keeping close to the wall Victor edged closer to the door and placed his hand on the handle mentally preparing himself before he entered
there was going to be a gun battle in only a few seconds, aim for the chest and breath when you fire. Victor thought to himself before he twisted the handle and shoved himself through the doorway. Raising his gun up Victor saw a single target standing behind his desk surprised he was there, Victor fired twice and saw both hit the man's chest with a dull thud but the figure lacked any response.
"W-who the fuck are you? What are you doing?" Victor stuttered filled with adrenaline and still in shock over the situation. The man was wearing a strange, long grey cloak with entirely grey skin showing off his well built body and except for matching blue boots and gloves the man was simply a figure of grey. The figure looked at him and appeared to pick up something shiny from Victor's desk before he spoke with a very mocking tone
"Oh Victor, I was supposed to come when you weren't here. I waited all fuckin' day to come when you weren't here and of all times to show up you decide now? And when you show up you begin shooting at me? Shameful, absolutely shameful. Disgustingly shameful actually."
Victor was confused and could feel his hand holding the gun beginning to shake as he listened to the man go on.
"That gun isn't gonna help you, you're better off turning around and marching out of that door, pretending you didn't see shit and shutting the fuck up. Or you're gonna force my hand. I was or-" Victor tried once more to put the man down by firing off three more rounds which struck him in the chest again silencing the intruder and causing him to stumble back.
"Would you stop that? It isn't gonna work god dammit. Your friend Dr. White tried to shoot me too and I strangled that bastard, is that what you want?" The man let off an exasperated sigh rubbing his chest before continuing
"I was given orders to shoot you if I came across you. I wasn't originally supposed to kill you but if you're gonna act like that you're forcing me Victor. I just want to be paid. I wasn't supposed to kill anyone at all, this was supposed to just be an in and out thing but after running into your secretary and the security guy going at it in your office I had no choice and now that you're doing this, I guess I have to go with plan b."
"You killed Dr. White?" was all Victor could get out trying to wrap his mind around the situation. The man however didn't bother to respond and instead took the small silvery ball he held in his hand and tapped it causing a bright blue light to appear. Tossing this into the air Victor could hear the faint beeping as the man ran straight towards the large windows and threw himself through them disappearing into the night air. The silver ball landed and began rolling towards Victor,
explosive was all Victor could think. Turning to run he felt the world around him slow down as the beeps echoed in his mind, counting down to his death. Victor's feet pounded against the floor trying to carry him to safety, in the few seconds before the explosion Victor looked over and saw the bodies of his former employees. The explosive went off in a series of explosions causing deafening booms to rip through the office, tossing everything off the walls, sending glass into the night air and tossing Victor into a nearby wall. For a moment the world was pure chaos for Victor as his building was blown apart. Chunks of marble and splintering pieces of the desk came flying at Victor and would possibly be fatal had he not been wearing his protective mesh under his clothing.
When the turmoil ceased Victor found himself face down on the hard marble floor, a small pool of blood collecting under his face. Pushing himself up he felt his brow and noticed a large gash. Holding up a sleeve to soak up some of the blood Victor stumbled to the stairwell noticing smoke now filling the air. With one last look back he could see fire spreading from his office and into the hallway before he began running down the stairwell.
I'm dead, I have to be dead he thought to himself as he went still grasping at what he witnessed.
No I'm not dead, I just need them to think I'm dead he thought as he descended. He was still trying to get himself together by the time he got to the bottom floor and began crossing the lobby
The board will be able to run the business, the Chinese are still secretly manufacturing the drones and the rebels are still fighting, my armor is still hidden in my penthouse, they didn't impact my plans at all he concluded as he walked out the front doors. Victor went out front of his office building and looked up seeing the top half of his building consumed by fire, he was lucky to be alive.
The sound of sirens began filling the air as emergency crews rushed to the scene. If Victor wanted the public to think he was dead, he needed to go, now. At first he thought about getting in his car but that would only get him caught, instead he took off running to the side of the lot and leaping over the stone wall that separated it from a nearby road. Victor began walking up the street quickly, trying to avoid being seen by police while thinking up where to go. It was true he had a safe house in Boston aside from his penthouse but if that guy had looked through his computer or phone he would know to go there. It looked like he would be spending the night on the streets he figured, realizing he was still carrying the gun in his hand. Victor stuffed it into his waistband once more and picked up his pace when he saw the emergency responders rushing into the side road that lead to the building's parking lot. Picking up his pace, Victor began to jog with no clear destination in mind only one goal which was to get through the night. Tomorrow he would pick up his armor from his penthouse and move to a secure place to collect himself and figure out what the hell just happened.
