“None are Doom’s ruler.” He said, clenching his hand in front of her face to illustrate her words. He got even closer to her face, his voice now an elated and taunting whisper. “ I am more than amused by the prospect of a battle of wits … though I fear that with you as an opponent… the struggle might well be brief. This game shall soon reach its inevitable conclusion and the final triumph shall belong to Doctor Doom!” He turned away from her allowing his words to sink in. God how he had missed her, it seemed that the angrier he made her the more he wanted her. Her drive, her determination, her stubbornness all perfectly mirrored his own and oh Doom saw beauty in her. Beneath her mask, beneath her red skin pumped a warrior, a commander, a thinker. Truly the perfect mate for one such as himself, but now was not the time for such thoughts, now he had to make her think he was serious in his threats. “You are lucky my dear.” He said with a belittling sneer. “ To destroy you thus would be a petty victory indeed – and Doom is never petty.”
His fist, larger than ever in its metal encasing, reflected her pale face back at her. How bored she looked! Disinterested! But still Victor continued, his threats falling like stones upon her ears; she wouldn’t listen. It grew even harder to truly ignore him when he dared to invade her space. Johanna tensed, muscles tightening instinctively in her frame, prepared to fight if need be. How dare he approach her, only to invade her space!
“You are right. It would not be a long ordeal, for you are not a worthy contender.” Indeed. While he moved away, she remained in her seat, a steadfast threat to his supremacy.
“You call me dear, yet you did not give a single word to me in many months. What could you possibly have done in all that time?” Disparaging words dropped like stones from her lips. She wanted answers first, the most of anything.
Victor looked into her eyes, finally an actual stern warning coming from his mouth. “ Do not let your tongue undo your small successes. “ He said and then once again turned from her. How could he begin to explain where he had gone, what had seen. It would be simple to write her off with a quick ‘ I do as I choose.. and I answer to no one! ‘ however she was far different from others who would receive such a quick excuse but nor would he grovel. “There was a multiversal cabal known as the Interdimensional Council of Reeds. This organization brought together the multiverse’s many versions of the accursed Reed Richards. However, unlike the Richards I face who clings to a morality these versions are cold, concise. By the sound of it you would assume that I would like these other Richards’s however they removed they only person from their worlds that could challenge them...Doctor Doom. One by one each Doom was taken and lobotomized by this council, eventually they tried to do it to me as well. I was plucked from my home and put on trial by these fools, they deemed me guilty of being who I am and sentenced me to instant lobotomy. I proved more...difficult than the others. I managed to escape my bonds and they i turn tried to stop me. Pitiful! As I had explained to you I had already the means to kill Reed Richards I simply required the perfect way to do so. They fell like rats beneath me. Then, it was a matter of returning, within the pocket dimension they had existed within time moved by faster outside of it.” Doom looked upon his ‘wife’ a small moment of humanity willing to show. “Johanna... You and I have fought monsters, Nazis -- even gods. I relish the battles we waged side-by-side. And when you challenged me, my blood raced at the rare presence of a worthy foe but...this land belongs to Doom and I will reclaim it with, or without you.”
