they've got modified features and software brains [ psl ]

[nerdfight]

WHO Victor von Doom (nerdfight) and Misha Hunt (interspace)
WHAT In which science is done, a country is conquered, and Misha has to deal with a narcissistic asshole hellbent on revenge.
WHEN About a year after the sequel
WHERE Various places
WHY because fuck you Richards, that's why

It was something that had been bothering him for a while, a question that had been left unanswered and one that he was finally deciding to spend his time on now that he had to build up his resources and wait instead of attacking. Who was the girl who had appeared out of nowhere and integrated herself with his greatest enemies? She was an unknown variable, a puzzle to be solved, a threat to be destroyed. He needed to figure her out so he could properly dispose of her and move onto his real targets.

That would take time and research and since his last defeat, he'd take things slower so that he could do things properly. First, he watched from afar through cameras and finding videos of her exploits. Her flight was unnatural, something that couldn't be explained like how he and the others could be. Then, he had to take readings where he couldn't be caught. It was easy enough, send a small drone out to take the readings during a fight, with everyone distracted enough to not notice yet another spectator to the match. That was when he noticed it. He needed to study her in person, he had to know if the readings were correct.

So he set up a plan. A test run of his newly created Doombots would do nicely. Five points of attack to separate everyone so that he could grab the little insect like a flytrap, snatch her up in such a way that nobody could save her from his grasp. It was a beautiful day for an attack too, bright and sunny with no chance of rain. Donning his mask and outfit, Doom went out with his army of Doombots and waited on a skyscraper for his target to pass on the way to one company of his Doombots. When she arrived, he would be ready.

Comments

[interspace]

What kind of reaction was that? Misha tensed when Doom hit the nail on the head. She was both dreadful of what it would mean for Victor to understand what that really meant for himself, the others and Misha's involvement with them, and confused by the easy acceptance of that fact. For someone as self-important and narcissistic as Doom, she had imagined he would be more upset with not existing everywhere possible. Licking her lips, she said, "Or in my universe all of that already happened, so I just know the history well."

"Serious?" she asked, clearly taken back by the uncharacteristic show of teamwork. Victor von Doom never struck her as the type to stand back unless he had something to gain from someone else going first, but this wasn't one of those cases. It was like he actually didn't mind if Misha knew more and could possibly handle the situation better. That didn't really match the man's gigantic ego. "You're letting me take the lead here?"

[nerdfight]

There was a dark chuckle as she tried to lie to him. He had felt her tense up on his back and trying to hide it now was pointless in his mind. Right now, it wasn't important and later, he'd vent his frustration at something as awful as a world without Doom. "There's no point in lying to me, insect. I know the multiverse theory well enough to know that some universes would be considered fictional to another. And I notice you tense up when I said it, which makes it even more plausible."

He purposely then stepped a little harder to bounce her around on his back, showing his annoyance at her bringing it up. It wasn't something he wanted to really do, but it was the smartest way to go. "Only until we get our bearings," he grumbled, definitely not sounding pleased by the fact that this was the smartest plan. "Then I will take back the lead. There isn't much that you can do in your state, so think of yourself more as an adviser than the leader."

[interspace]

Misha grumbled something incoherent at Doom's little show of logic. It wasn't unexpected or anything, but could anyone blame her for being reluctant to fully explain herself to a known super villain/crazy guy? "Can't blame a girl for trying," she mumbled.

"Ow," she said plainly when he jostled her around. It wasn't part of her skillset to take hits like the ones Doom had been giving out before rather than avoid them, and so she was definitely going to be feeling it for a while yet as she recovered. Right now they seemed to be on the same side in the interest of locating their bearings and probably returning back home, and she actually didn't have too much of a problem with that. For now, she was necessary and that reassured her that Doom wouldn't do anything too drastic. "Sure. Adviser currently in the lead. I can do that."

[nerdfight]

"We'll discuss it more later." Oh, he had plenty of feelings on the subject, but despite being crazy, he could be practical when the situation called for it and yelling about something he couldn't fix wasn't going to help him, even though it would feel very good to let out his frustration and anger and everything out on something or someone.

He smirked at her sound of pain, petty as the act was. It made him feel a little bit better and allowed him to pick up the pace a bit more while still trying to keep the trip as smooth as possible. Misha was still needed and injuring her more would only hinder their progress in the long run. "Good or otherwise I'd have to take back the lead from you and I don't think that's something you want, considering your allegiances."

[interspace]

Well, that was probably the best outcome she could ask for considering the circumstances. Having a rain check on talking about her life and knowledge of Doom's life through his fictional backstory was a weight off her mind while they tried to figure out where to go from there. Even if Doom hadn't quite realized it yet, they couldn't just hop back out into that other-space without Misha having more time to collect herself, so she kept quiet about offering to try and return them. Not to mention she really needed a break from the traumatic reminders it brought about, and this place seemed as safe as any to take that break.

"I'm just a third party taking part in a mutually beneficial agreement," Misha said. It was a rather fancy way of saying she had never asked to be a superhero. Not that she would be swayed to the side of evil and destructive actions, but there was more than the black and white her family of choice chose to engage in and it was only through her dealings with them that she kept out of the shadows. "As long as you're not blowing people up or trying to make a new army here, I'm more than willing to call truce, Doom."

[nerdfight]

"How very diplomatic of you. It's almost a waste that you stick with Reed and the others," Doom responded with an edge of amusement. She was definitely more flexible in her morals than the others were if she was willing to side with him without much of an issue. He did have to roll his eyes at her conditions though. He wasn't always thinking of conquest. Sometimes it was revenge. "I didn't have any plans for either of those. What would be the point? It wouldn't matter where I'd need it."

As they kept walking, Doom was noticing that they were heading to what seemed to be a small town. Well, anything was better than being stuck in the desert and trying to find refuge in the wild. Or being stuck in that void. It'd work for a quick rest stop before they had to either fend for themselves in this new world or deal with the void once more to get back to his home universe.

[interspace]

"Just covering my bases," Misha said neutrally. She knew part of it could be in thanks to a short temper or a distinct lack of sanity, and it would be better to have him agree now so she could bring it up later if anything happened to set him off. Never let it be said paranoia wasn't useful for coming up with contingencies in some of the most unlikely of scenarios. It was with a bit of effort that she managed not to comment on her allegiances to the Fantastic Four; she was already out of sorts enough that it was becoming easy to lose track of what she was and wasn't saying. She wasn't about to encourage a debate on her personal life choices.

She saw it, too. There was a quiet sigh now that their destination had been confirmed and Misha let her eyes slip shut. "Sweet civilization," she said with a tone of obvious humor. The sooner they got there, the sooner she could... well, maybe not relax with Victor around, but give herself time to breathe and properly compartmentalize.

[nerdfight]

It irked him that she thought of him as someone who would immediately lose his temper, even though it was correct. Even now, his power was starting to fluctuate, but it wasn't obvious thanks to the lack of any real electrical devices around outside of ALFRED. Thankfully, he hadn't gotten to crackling or firing off any bolts, so he was still safe to be around and as quickly as it happened, the fluctuations ended as Doom settled down more.

He lapsed into silence as he continued to walk, not really up for conversation at this point and honestly, what did he have to discuss with her? They were technically enemies and only this forced relocation was allying them together. He didn't know and she didn't know him, so common ground wasn't really an option. Instead, he tried to guess where they were in the world properly outside of desert. He couldn't tell until they got closer to town and finally made contact with a road. "We can narrow down where we are in this world a fair bit," he said as he motioned to a nearby speed limit sign.

[interspace]

Silence was perfectly fine with Misha. She had her music to keep her company and, frankly, it was tiring to deal with Doom as he was. Even when they were working together, they weren't very compatible in the long run and it was probably safer for everyone involved if neither of them made an attempt to fill the quiet. Not having to concentrate meant she could try to doze, let her mind wander somewhere less stressful or real.

When Doom commented and shifted around, Misha cracked her eyes open to regard the sign. It took a moment to realize what Victor was getting at and she nodded lightly against his shoulder. "Good ol' US of A," she agreed. "That saves us from looking like asshole tourists, anyway. Now we'll just be asshole roadtrippers with a broken car down the road."

[nerdfight]

"Somewhere in the Southwestern United States, if I had to guess," he said as he continued onward. It felt better that he had at least narrowed down their location somewhat so that he could orient himself a bit more. He needed some balance so that he could take everything on like the force of nature he was and had become.

"There are American tourists in America, insect," he pointed out easily before his accent noticeably changed. "And you are the only one of us that is actually American, but it would be more suspicious if we traveled like this."

[interspace]

That made perfect sense. ALFRED began send out pings toward any nearby towers or satellites monitoring the area, and she saw the progress of their location in the corner of her visor. It was fairly quick work and she smiled to herself when he came back with a location result. "New Mexico to be exact," she informed Doom. ALFRED was still narrowing it down further but this was definitely a good start.

"More suspicious like what?" she asked. There were a lot of ways they could be considered suspicious, although two stood out in relation to what Doom was saying. "Riding piggyback or with a Latverian?" Truth be told, she had forgotten Latverian accents actually existed. In her own world, the place was fictional and usually depicted only in text. Hearing it still sounded strange to her ears, especially coming from Victor.

[nerdfight]

"New Mexico," Doom said with a bit of a sigh. Of course they had to end up somewhere in the middle of nowhere. At least there was an upside to being there. If there were versions of themselves there, they wouldn't run into them in the middle of New Mexico. "I'll be grateful that we didn't end up in Texas."

"Both, but the latter is definitely more suspicious when you're a young and injured American woman," he said, his accent slowly shifting back to his American one. It felt more comfortable in it than his Latverian accent since he had been in the States for so long. "They've think I assaulted and kidnapped you, which is the truth, but I doubt either of us really want to admit that to anyone."

[interspace]

"Or Alaska," Misha said. What? They were both terrible places to end up no matter the circumstances unless you liked being in the middle of vast nowheres suffering from such extreme climates that made you wonder if it even observed the seasonal cycle. On the other hand, the Hunts had always been pretty close-knit and most of them were over on the east coast. The chance of running into anyone she might have known in another lifetime was extremely miniscule. "At least we landed close to a town or I'd probably be trying to fly us somewhere."

Something about the way Doom said it just made giggles rise up in her throat unbidden and she had to hide her face in his shoulder to stifle them. This was her life now. This was her life. Assaulted, kidnapped and under threat of experimentation, and getting separated from her captor was probably the wrong course of action. "What are we admitting?" she asked once she had calmed down. "Small town like that, there's going to be lots of nosy questions. I'm still thinking broken down car, but that wouldn't explain... uh, my current state."

[nerdfight]

"Or Siberia or any other location where the climate is unbearable and nobody's around for miles." There were plenty of places they could have ended up that would have been worse than small town New Mexico and Doom wasn't planning on thinking of every single alternative place they could have found themselves. "I can consider that a plus. You're in no state to fly, insect."

He turned his head to try to look at her, definite confusion on his face. Out of the many ways she could react, he didn't expect giggling, but really, what did he know about teenage girls? Absolutely nothing, if he had to be honest. "I was getting you out of a dangerous situation," he said, thinking through different possibilities. "You claimed Reed was your uncle, so what do you want me to be to you?"

[interspace]

"No state to fly, but I've probably made myself move in worse conditions," she said with a slight lean to her body. Nothing to tip Doom over, but enough to show she was making some kind of exception. Right now wasn't crunch time, right now she didn't need to push herself to the very edge, right now she really hoped Victor didn't drop her at hearing that. All told, if she focused hard enough, Misha probably could have made herself walk and move normally with the puppeteering aspect of her power but that was something Doom had yet to understand about her power and it would probably put her into some kind of power-coma once she was done. She was exhausted.

She shifted to be able to look at Doom once he was looking at her. That was a good question, because the implication was more than correct. Claiming familial relation was the easiest way to avoid scrutiny because very few people would want to question family values of strangers obviously having a rough time. "Already done uncle, that one's boring," she mused. If they were going to do it, they might as well make it worth the rouse. "You're way too tall to be my father. Brother? Half-brother maybe. It would explain the age difference."

[nerdfight]

"I'd rather you didn't in this circumstance," he responded sharply, taking in that information for later. Her powers were still a mystery to him and Doom was going to do everything possible to learn all that he could so that he could use this to his advantage while he was stuck in this unknown realm with her and use it against her when they returned to his own.

"Half-brother sounds reasonable enough. Are we related through your mother or father?" He couldn't help but smirk slightly at the idea of being a closer relation to her than Reed. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. He'd take it and hold it over his head once they've returned. Until then, he will cherish it and use it to fuel his ego as much as he could.

[interspace]

That got an amused chuckle out of her. That Doom was concerned with their predicament was something of a relief; they were in this together no matter what, and she would take any allies she could. She knew better than to distrust a man who had just as much to lose as she did—possibly even more—because they had different goals under completely different circumstances. "Then you'll just have to deal with your fashionable new Misha backpack," she said simply.

Reaching up briefly, she snapped her finger as if to get his attention. "Hey, keep up. You're too tall to be my father, what makes you think you'd be related to that side?" It was more of a tease than anything, her own rough edges rubbed raw and to a point in their current predicament. What she wasn't saying was how her real brother took after their dad and Doom looked nothing like either of them.

[nerdfight]

Hey, in times of crisis, Doom could focus on the right things. For the most part. Last time involved Reed and the others and he could never focus when they were around. He got too angry thinking about what they had done to him to be able to properly work together with them. With Misha, he didn't have that problem since she wasn't in the same category as the others. "For now. I won't allow this to go on any longer than necessary."

There was a glance towards her on his shoulder and he rolled her eyes at the insistence that he not think to be related on her father's side. "Nobody would know since your family isn't here to say otherwise, but differing surnames could be attributed to different fathers," he conceded with a shrug and more movement forward towards their destination. This was a pointless argument and he just wanted it done before his anger flared.

[interspace]

"Please," she said drolly. The idea that Doom wanted to cooperate was laughable. They were connected by strong but tenuous reasons that would only last exactly as long as their situation did. Once they were comfortable again, things would return to status quo. Well... maybe not entirely, considering what Doom was bound to learn about Misha in the meantime. She could dream, though. "You think I want to be carried around? I offered, you'll recall, to try and go it myself."

As long as they were still moving, Misha didn't particularly care. Talking was action and action was keeping her focused, even if the action itself was a total distraction. Look, she didn't make the rules, okay? "Are you gonna use von Doom as your last name? Because, really."

[nerdfight]

Doom doesn't particularly want to cooperate, but being thrown into a new world through a void has shaken him up and he needs an ally at least until he can get back to his own universe, so it made sense in the long run to not alienate the one person who could return him where he belonged. "Your powers could be of use later. There's no need to waste them now."

For a second, it looked like he was about to argue about what she said when a realization hit him. He knew this was an alternate universe and that there was the possibility of another Victor von Doom that might appear and cause unwanted trouble, if his other self was anything like him. "No, I have something else that I can use."

[interspace]

That was a fair point. Misha still didn't want to let it lie that she was incapable of pulling her own weight. Signs of outright weakness were forbidden as far as she was concerned; her fear of Doctor Doom far outweighed any exhaustion she might have felt. When it came down to it, Doom did not hold her in the same hate-rivalry regard as he did the Four. She was just some extra tagging along with an interesting power but ultimately little importance. Being anything but strong was not an option. "And in the meantime, we'll be strolling into this little podunk town like ain't no thing. Hope you're ready to lie your ass off."

She saw that second, saw the reconsideration. Trying to get inside Doom's head right now wasn't where she wanted to be, so she took it for what it was. Looking the gift horse in the mouth right now was practically suicidal. "Great. So do I. We're almost there."

[nerdfight]

Thankfully, this was the rare moment where Doom wouldn't take advantage of any perceived weakness he might spot when it comes to Misha. There was too much hanging on them working together to take advantage of the situation. He was smarter than that, despite how his anger tended to blind him. "I should be saying that to you, insect. I can play my part as long as you do as well."

They were getting closer and as they kept going, it was obvious just how small the town was and Doom couldn't help himself from letting out a frustrated huff. Small towns were more difficult to slip into without people noticing them. They'd definitely have to keep their lies straight so people wouldn't focus on them as much. "First of all, we need to find an ATM so we can get money. After that, we can worry about food and new clothes."

[interspace]

Well, it wasn't that Misha expected it immediately. Anything she showed now might be something used against her later down the road. Her tension wasn't going to just disappear because they had agreed to back off each others' throats for a hopefully short while. "Uh, you notice I played my part in your world perfectly fine, right? Fooling you besides, that wasn't going to work in the first place and we knew it."

"Probably shouldn't have expected anything different from a place called..." She paused, squinting and leaning forward just enough as if it might help. The motion pinged ALFRED and he zoomed in on a few of the signs before finding one she was looking for. "Puente Antiguo. What, you can hack ATMs without any kind of tech or tools?"

[nerdfight]

"Only because you don't try to draw attention to yourself. You let the others take the spotlight instead," he pointed out. Doom paid attention where others didn't and despite knowing the truth that Misha didn't belong in the first place, he would have known she didn't fit anyways. "If you did, your lie would have fallen apart quickly, even with Reed and the others helping you."

There was a soft laugh from Doom as he held up his hand and let electricity arc between his fingers for a quick moment before he put his hand back down. "I've been working on my control and I can manipulate machinery now instead of merely overloading it. Nobody will think anything of it beyond a minor glitch in the camera and the machine itself."

[interspace]

"You really have no idea what you're talking about," Misha said easily. Doom could believe what he wanted to believe, let his ego lead his perceptions of how she operated, but the fact of the matter was: she was good at fitting in. Part of it was that everyone in the Fantastic Four's world didn't know who she was if not Reed's niece. There was nothing else for her to be, so that was who she was. "No offense, but you're like, clinically insane and 'know' everything so of course you'd say that until proven otherwise."

She watched the electricity warily, shifting the shoulder that her head was resting on without even trying to be subtle about it. Her body was still aching immensely (she never did get to take that medicine Doom had tried bringing her), and it only served as a reminder of how much longer it would take for the soreness to truly disappear. All this sitting still wasn't going to help later on, either. "All right, works for me. Have you ever—" She paused, her curiosity about to get away from her. She doubted Doom hadn't considered it, but giving him the idea to control his 'bots with just his power alone on the off chance that he had yet to think of it was not on her to do list. "Never mind. Stupid question."