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]

With a deep breath in and a deep breath out, Misha finally nodded, saying, "All right, let's book it. If Thor shows up soon, we might get an opening, but..."

She shook her head, moving to lift herself higher above the ground to prepare. She could probably get a few maneuvers around to distract the thing from Doom, phase through any fire as necessary. Nothing big, right? With one last glance to Doom, she shifted her feet to press against the wall beside her and used it to dart past into the road past the Destroyer.

[nerdfight]

"Lead the way." He'll happily let her go into harm's way because he knows her abilities will keep her safe a lot better than his own abilities can do.

Once she leaves the safety of the wall, he takes a quick moment to check his surroundings before he dashes out from behind the wall into the street to follow Misha past the Destroyer, focusing only on getting out of there and not on a fight for once.

[interspace]

As everyone should expect by now: it does not go to plan. Misha weaved past the monster, and while Loki's attention was certainly elsewhere in the city now that he had clearly gotten the attention of the people he was interested in, there was an almost instinctual motion to swat at the thing trying to pass his weapon by. She ducked and pushed past, but didn't move too far to hopefully keep more attention while Victor would try to follow her.

[nerdfight]

It definitely does not go to plan because while everyone else was keeping their distance and fleeing, these two basically ran in close and past it with no fear and the swipe at Misha turned into full attention on them both when Doom was trying to make his way past. Instinct went before thought and electricity crackled in the air around Doom as his attention turn from his temporary ally to the large metallic thing causing havoc and it's clear running isn't really an option now so much as baiting it until the true heroes can save the day.

[interspace]

While there would be no way to see the reaction of the puppet master behind the automaton, it was easy enough to imagine the surprise of some miserable, unknown human throwing lightning around as if to parody the sheer might of Thor. Misha pulled a sharp turn to face back to the menace and yelled, "What are you doing?!" just as it move to swing at Victor and throw him into a building.

[nerdfight]

Doom's control over his electricity is about as good as his control over his anger, which is to say is basically almost non-existent when it really matters, so it wasn't as if he meant to to do this and cause the Destroyer to prioritize him over everything else at the moment. He has no chance to even react when the machine smacks him into the building, taking flight and smashing through the wall easily thanks to his hidden metal interior.

Unfortunately, due to his previously mentioned anger issues, his electricity is going haywire, snapping and crackling in and around the building he was tossed into as he pulls himself out of the rubble and notices cuts on his arms, not bleeding but showing shiny silver underneath and that's enough to get him moving out and back towards the Destroyer, glancing towards Misha to make sure that she's still nearby.

[interspace]

Of course, Misha was still nearby. Much as it would be awesome for her, personally, if Doom were to die and leave her the hell alone, she unfortunately still possesses a pesky conscience and was ready to back him up as necessary.

By the time he'd pulled himself out of the rubble, she'd perched light-footed on the outside of the opening Victor had made, pressed up to it to keep out of the radius of his electricity, and was giving him a rather powerful stink-eye. "Are you about to go fist-fight that thing?" she asked flatly.

[nerdfight]

Seeing Misha nearby and even closer is enough to subdue the electricity a little bit, he's still rightfully angry for getting tossed aside like he's nothing, but he's not going to lash out at Misha, not when she's his only way home.

"If I have to, yes. It needs to be taught a lesson and that Thor of yours is taking too long, insect." And really, punching it and maybe shooting a laser at it might make him feel better about being tossed into a building.

[interspace]

After a moment of deliberation, Misha simply nodded and pulled away to give him more space, and she said, "I'll run distraction. I don't know if you can obliterate it like a Norse god can, but you aren't a pushover, either."

The Destroyer, which had merely been observing their conversation, suddenly started to rumble. It grew into a soft roar to match the glow burning from inside while its face opened into a maw of destruction, spewing a bolt of fire at them. Misha was quick to pull her energy around like a shroud to phase through matter and energy that would otherwise incinerate her, but she could only hope Victor would fucking dodge.

[nerdfight]

"We don't need me to obliterate it, only stop it," Doom says with an eerie calmness that doesn't quite suit him when he's climbing out of the hole his body made in the wall.

The rumbling catches his attention and he doesn't try to tank it, instead moving to try and dodge out of the way so that he doesn't damage his skin, but it's very close, too close and there's a hissing sound coming from where Doom is standing, a far different sound from his electricity.

[interspace]

Misha had ducked away in more instinct than necessity, but hearing that noise from Doom made her whirl around quickly and try to assess what happened. She couldn't take too long, as the Destroyer was winding up to grasp nearby rubble to launch at her, and she moved out of the way with the grace of a practiced natural, stopping on the other side of the machine so that it was between the two interlopers.

Lacking many other options given the obstruction, she called, "Did it hit you?!"

[nerdfight]

While the Destroyer is distracted, Doom is checking for any damage and yes, he was hit, left arm smoking from the heat alongside burnt off skin and fabric. From what he can see, it got his arm and shoulder and he immediately touches his face and there's a clink as metal touches metal.

The only response Misha is going to get to her question is a loud noise of rage and a searching white laser of lightning ripping across the body of the Destroyer and up into the air as Doom slices upwards with his arm to direct the lightning and he's obviously beyond furious, that thing damaged his face.

[interspace]

Oh shit.

Misha didn't have great associations with the noise of wrath coming from Victor von Doom, but at least being in a crisis situation made it hard for her to react beyond pushing herself out to force more distance from his powerful blast. The Destroyer itself didn't know exactly what was coming and reeled back as it was struck before fighting to regain its balance.

After a moment of pure stillness, it snapped back upright and made to blast another superheated laser toward Doom. Who was this mortal to assault him? With that arm, however, maybe he wasn't even that. Some sort of unknown creature getting in the way of his attempt to draw out Thor was not going to stop Loki.

[nerdfight]

It was definitely the smartest idea to get away from Doom when he's like this. When he's this angry, he's not thinking and he's definitely not going to focus much on silly little things like allies or friendly fire or even Victor, the plan was to get out of here and NOT fight.

This time he's prepared for the blast and he moves out of the way in time and adjusts to rush towards one of the Destroyer's legs in an attempt to knock it to the ground because some part of him is still operation on subduing and not destroying.

[interspace]

There wasn't much Misha could do against a ten ton metal monstrosity, much less two of them, so she pulled back to try and give them some space while the Destroyer was obviously focused on Victor. It wobbled with the push, falling back until its back almost smashed against the ground... but then its body shifted and inverted on itself to catch its body against the ground and swiftly rise again. It grabbed at Victor to try and take his head while he was close, crush it.

It wasn't much, but Misha went to grab some rocks and throw it at the Destroyer. More of a bare distraction than anything, and predictably it didn't even slow the thing down. Nearby, the Warriors were gearing up to try something else... but it seemed someone else had finally decided to step in.

[nerdfight]

Doom is very aware that he's ill-equipped to fight something like this, anger aside. He startles at how quickly it overcomes being toppled and pulls himself away from the Destroyer before it get a hold of his head to crush it, taking in Misha's feeble attempts at dividing its attention and the growing group of people who are doing... something.

If he can't defeat it, he can make it tire of dealing with him and he'd just hiss out, "Insect, how good are you at controlling your power?"

[interspace]

Misha darted back out of the way as the Destroyer reached out to swat at her, even as it kept focus on the real threat that was Doom. She squeaked and flailed and righted herself quickly as she stopped up her flight when he was closer to a building's roof than the murderbot's range.

"What do you mean? I'm flying with it!" she asked, figuring he was getting at something, but what? Did he even really know what all her power actually could do, or was it all hypothesis based on observation?

[nerdfight]

It's all he can keep to keep from rolling his eyes at her response, even as his attention is still on the Destroyer. Really, he thought she was a bit smarter than that, but he's willing to let it slide since they're in the middle of a fight.

"Not your flight insect, your other trick," he says with a slight bit of exasperation, not wanting to explain too much where others can hear. "I doubt you want to keep fighting this, so we could use it to escape."