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

[nerdfight]

While his eyes might have been closed, he wasn't asleep, not really. It was more like closing a laptop than anything like real human sleep. He does slowly open his eyes once Misha wakes and immediately a frown settles onto his face because while he doesn't get the reference, he can tell she's making fun of him to some degree.

"Brokeback Mountain? These are the only clothes I could find that fit me," he says blandly, clearly not amused but tolerating it because he's not going to fight with her about something stupid. "I got some clothes and food for you, as well as the items you requested."

[interspace]

It was at the question that she realized some of her mistake, so Misha merely shrugged and shifted to grab ALFRED to settle him back on. When she saw the medicine and the notepad, she almost squealed and went to pull open the packaging and go grab some water to wash it down with a soft grunt. "Not to be like a druggie or something, but god damn, your electricity shit hurts," she grumbled once she had finally finished downing the water bottle. She was hungry as hell, but the thirst was definitely more pressing in this New Mexico heat.

Once she caught her breath and looked around properly, she saw the food and made her way to it. "Thanks," she said, almost as an aside as she picked through the options. "I definitely need a shower, but I already feel, like, eight thousand times better. No, nine thousand. Over. Anyway."

She turned toward him as she pressed some food to her mouth, thinking, and she'd ask aloud, "ALFRED, how long was I asleep?"

[nerdfight]

"The point is that it's supposed to hurt," he says tiredly. Clearly, she has been around Johnny to the point where it might become detrimental to her future growth. He's going to lodge a complaint at Richards once they return home so that she'll dial down the smartass a bit.

He sits more comfortably in the chair and somehow, he looks like he's lounging on a throne instead of some shitty chair in a motel, which is pretty impressive. Victor is keeping an eye on her to make sure she is doing as well as she claims to be, he doesn't need her collapsing at the worst time.

"You should take a shower anyway, we don't need any more attention on us than what we already have," he explains patiently, even if this is a bit trying for him. Having to be concerned for other people isn't something he's used to or good at, see his entire relationship with Sue for proof of that.

[interspace]

She would huff and stuff more food in her face, chewing and swallowing and all that malarkey before speaking. "Let me eat first, or I might just faceplant in the shower," she said. It was a real concern, all right? She wasn't one to skip meals but the whole family had experience with overextending themselves and getting into trouble, and she was the most slight of them all. Easiest to bowl over with a stiff breeze.

She brought some of the food with her as she inspected the clothes, scoffing as ALFRED told her about Doom asking for her size, and she'd say, "These will do. They'll be easy enough to fly in if I have to."

[nerdfight]

"I meant after eating, we don't need you to injure yourself more." If anyone knew the fragility of human beings, it would be Victor, having lost pretty much everything that made him a squishy human and having plenty of experience breaking them. He wouldn't make any moves to get up and do anything just yet, wanting to make sure she's safe before anything else.

"Most of the clothes they sell here are light and easy to move in," he says as he just starts to fiddle with his hands, even if they are gloved at the moment. "We should be lucky we didn't end up somewhere much colder."

[interspace]

"Somewhere much colder may have been a much more boring movie," she pointed out idly. It really was a boon for them to be somewhere relatively easy to fit in, being humans who were American or could affect the accent, and Misha didn't really want to think about what would have happened if they'd been somewhere that would make them stand out. Not as a first stop, and definitely not after the day she'd been having already.

With a sigh, she sat back down to finish her food and murmur some things to ALFRED before finally setting everything aside. She picked up the clothes and waved to Victor as she headed into the bathroom to finally get clean. She was starting to feel human again, which meant they'd be able to make some headway on their predicament.

[nerdfight]

He frowns slightly at the mention of a movie and doesn't comment on it. They've got better things to deal with and frankly, they were lucky to end up here instead of somewhere that they couldn't fit in. Standing up, he'd go over to the bag that he's decided was his and digs through to find the cell phone he bought and turns it on so he can have access to information without having to rely on Misha and the toy Reed made for her.

Giving her a wave before she goes into the shower, he settles in to figure out this more advanced phone and also gather information on the world they're dealing with. Of course he has to look up himself and Reed and finds nothing on them, but he does see something about some sort of superhero and he just keeps the volume low as he listens to news reports.

[interspace]

There would be plenty of superhero reports in this world as Iron Man took up all the spotlight for crazy exploits against crazier enemies following in the wake of being way too over the top. Not too many others yet, but enough things to pay attention to that would pass the time.

Misha was certainly going to take her time in the shower getting all this grit and sweat off of her. Thankfully, it seemed her fall on top of Victor saved her from any small scrapes that would sting under the soap, and that was the point where she realized that she was really reaching for any good news to balance the shitshow going on right now. Silver linings closer to silver molecules at this rate.

Once she was finally done, dressed, and just trying to towel her hair to mere dampness rather than totally soaked, she opened the door and peaked her head out. "You went out, right?" she asked. "Did you hear anything about something weird happening on the outskirts of town yet?"

[nerdfight]

Victor is absolutely fascinated by this Iron Man-- Tony Stark-- and the monsters in this world and clearly there's some wild differences between his world and this one, but at least heroes and villains are still a thing and that comforts him in a weird way.

It takes a moment for him to pause the video he's watching and he'd glance up at Misha, glad that she's looking better after sleep, food, and a shower. He puts the phone away before he says, "Apparently, there was a hammer of some sort that's outside of town, a bunch of people went out and tried to pick it up without succeeding, but then the government set up shop around it and are watching over it. The townspeople aren't too pleased because it was getting to be a bit of a party out there before the government arrived."

[interspace]

Setting the towel aside, Misha moved to affix ALFRED on her head properly before sitting on the edge of the bed to pull the notepad closer and start writing thoughtfully. "Yeah," she allowed. "That's about what I remember. It's Mjolnir, and now that SHIELD's here, Thor's going to go try and pick it up, and..."

She paused, eyes closing as she put a hand to her temple. "And he'll fail, duh, but there's a subplot here and remembering all the rows for the ducks after this long sucks. If he went today—or tonight, or whatever—then the attack is soon. But how soon?" she trailed off, murmuring to herself as she kept writing down more scenes as they made their way back to her.

[nerdfight]

"SHIELD?" Most of that made sense, but the SHIELD part didn't, at least not yet. At least now there's time for them to figure out how things are going to go or at least how things would go if they weren't here. He's not going to mention to her that things might change due to their presence here, but he also knows that she's probably as aware of that as he is.

"If we're in a movie, then I doubt it'll drag on too much since too much time won't add to the excitement of the story," he says calmly, just completely accepting all of this as Normal for now. It's really the only thing he can do right now and it makes it easier to disconnect from this world as a whole. It's fake, so it's not his problem.

[interspace]

"Oh Jesus, it's... uh," Misha paused, pulling a hand up to count down the letters, "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division? Basically the superhero adjacent government organization that deals with all the weirder threats."

"There's things such as timeskips, Doom," she said even as she continued her work on the timeline as she could remember it. There was a lot, but it felt like there was a lot missing. If she had slept through the night, then they either had one day left or barely a few hours. "Trust me, downtime on the backend happens. I've... dealt with it twice now."

[nerdfight]

"They really wanted to make their acronym 'shield,' didn't they?" It was really a ridiculous name, but this is the American government, this was not the dumbest name they've given something that he's aware of, at least. "As far as I know, we don't have anything quite like that in our universe."

"What you went through with your little family, correct?" There's more than a couple situations he could think of that could be made into a movie in their own world and it really was strange to think about it in this context. "Prepare for the shortest amount of time, but hope for it to be longer so we can leave without incident."

[interspace]

"Would you believe they didn't actually have a shorthand until like, four years ago?" she asked rhetorically. The idea that they didn't have anything in the Fantastic Four's universe was pretty solid, but given everything that had happened and the lack of series continuation as far as she knew, it wasn't the most impossible option.

"Yeah, the first movie and the sequel." Bringing the end of the pen up to her temple to scratch at it briefly, Misha gave him a warning look. "That means it could be any minute now, and that's not a joke."

[nerdfight]

And really, there's a high possibility that there is a SHIELD in their universe, but they just haven't made any moves yet. Not that Doom cares much, if they do exist, he'll deal with them as he deals with everything: violently.

"If that's the case, then we'll handle it, dragonfly," he says calmly as he goes back to looking at websites on his phone, way too relaxed for the situation, but there's nothing he can really do to fix it right now.

[interspace]

"I do have a name, you know."

It wasn't said with irritation despite the words, but it was definitely getting weird to be in such long contact with someone like Victor von Doom. Misha wasn't sure what to think, more flying on instinct and pragmatism, but she also couldn't let herself relax around him all that easily.

[nerdfight]

"I am aware."

And he's definitely not going to use her name, not unless he has to. She hasn't earned the right to have her name said by him yet.

[interspace]

She'd grunt in annoyance at the simple acknowledgment. Briefly, she moved up to cross her legs and sit on them, only hesitating briefly before lowering herself to sit back on the bed after the motion, wanting very little more than to just feel disconnected from the whole situation but that wasn't really an option, either. Also kind of childish and she didn't want Doom poking extra at her right now.

"Well, as long as we're all aware you're being a dick on purpose," she allowed.

[nerdfight]

He was happy to leave their conversation there, ignoring her response to look over more news articles and see if there's anything he can glean from them, but he pauses as he starts to hear a commotion outside, loud noises and people shouting and screaming. Standing up, he goes to the window and peeks outside.

"Dragonfly, I believe what you were worried about is now."

[interspace]

"Shit!"

Hearing the same commotion, Misha leapt off the bed and glided right out the window to observe. She didn't doubt the assessment from what he was saying, but it still sucked absolute ass that they had been caught so unawares. Why had she needed to sleep so long?!

"All right, all right, let's go. We gotta get out of here, that thing is going for maximum chaos to get Thor's attention," she said, going to the door and tugging it open for Doom even as she remained in the air for ease of movement.

[nerdfight]

Doom immediately goes over and slings a back over his shoulder as he heads towards the door with her, looking mildly amused at her opening it for him like he's not actually made of metal and could bulldoze through the entire structure of the building if he wasn't so narcissistic about his appearance.

"Lead the way, you're the one that knows what's going on," he says calmly, not really wanting to get into a fight if he doesn't have to.

[interspace]

Misha looked out into the street, face tense and body practically vibrating from the adrenaline coursing through her as the Destroyer rampaged through the city. It was going to take some time to really get into the heart of it, enough time to try and leave, but she also couldn't very well drag Victor Made of Heavy Metal von Doom around to aid in their escape.

"This way," she said after she had run through some of her options. She zipped along to the other side of the road, further away from the chaos, and said "Thor will be here soon, but maybe not soon enough if we don't move!"

[nerdfight]

His eyes follow her gaze out towards where the Destroyer is rampaging and he frowns, not liking their chances much if they get in the line of fire from that thing, even if he would like to study it much closer if he could get the chance. As it was, all he could do is follow Misha and get to a place where they can better formulate a plan to return to their world.

"It hasn't gotten us so far," he says as he keeps pace with her, his metallic body keeping up with her lighter frame easily. "As long as we keep moving, we should be fine."

[interspace]

Misha scoffed, enjoying the attempt at optimism from von Doom but she knew better. After taking a look around and glancing to the sky just in case, she shook her head. "If that thing shoots its big gun, distance isn't going to matter," she refuted.

Everyone else in the tiny town was being evacuated with the chaos while Sif and the Warriors Three were doing their best to fight the losing battle, but Misha didn't exactly want to be piled in with the rest. When SHIELD would do their round up later, they'd surely be discovered and Coulson would have no reason to go leniently on them after an attack like this.

"We might have to break through it to get past it, Doom. I could fly by but that thing might be able to melt you," she said, with a grimace as if she knew how ridiculous she sounded. It was just a flamethrower but an alien one.

[nerdfight]

Doom has no context for any of this and he hates that more than anything. He hates having to rely on Misha, adopted family of his enemy, because that's only one step removed from getting help from Richards himself and he can't allow that.

"Getting past it without fighting would be preferable, but I don't think I'll melt from just this if I have to face it," he says, having complete faith in his metallic body's ability to handle heat. Johnny's flames had to reach maximum heat for him to even start to melt, so what could this thing do to him?