Vol 2 Ch 36

Victor sighed in relief. He had fought for so long for this. Sacrificed so much. The embers of vengeance that burned inside his heart never tapered out. Finally, he would have his revenge. For the life of his mother, who tried to defend their small convoy but was labeled a witch. One who was killed by the Duke's soldiers. For the life of a father who wanted to shield him and never could. Who died all so that he could live. For the years he had spent running away. For the years he had spent studying all to better himself. All year, he molded technology and the mystic arts together to build his own power base.

His efforts had finally culminated with the Duke in front of him on his knees. With one swing of his sword, he could finally achieve what he had set out to achieve. His vengeance was finally at hand. It was so close that he could taste it.

And yet he calmed himself. He would have it in the morrow. The Duke and the prince would be executed, and he would finally have leave to create a perfect utopia.

"Lord Doom, your orders." A voice asked. The same old man who had surrendered willingly to him was standing in the doorway. One hand clasped over his heart and with a single bow.

Victor thought that he would need to learn the names of most of his citizens. Fortunately, most of his Doombots had taken the brunt of the assault. There were almost no civilian causalities, only a few injuries. 

Already, food that had been hoarded was being distributed to the entire country. 

His doom bots will take care of the logistics of transporting the rations.

"No, General." Victor turned around. A dismissal if there was any.

Victor was left alone to his thoughts. Ideas to implement a policing force. Not in any way brutal but helping people while ensuring their safety. His doom bots could take the punishment without any meaningless loss of life. Upgrading the basic infrastructure as well as training professions for different fields.

Victor's thoughts were interrupted by the masked mercenary walking through the wall.

"My payment." He asked.

Victor nodded to Tobi. A mental command and a doom bot entered the room carrying the briefcase. The doombot opened the suitcase to show it was filled with bars of gold. A few more bots entered carrying similar briefcases.

"As promised, your reward," Victor said as he moved away towards the window. Both of his hands clasped behind his back. He was looking down at the city around him. The city and its inhabitants. For the first time in his life, he felt apprehension. All of these people were dependent upon him. It was a new kind of feeling.

Tobi put all the gold inside his Kamui dimension and was about to leave. This whole thing smelled like a conspiracy, on the same level as the one in his life as Obito. Zetsu had been the one to set the entire thing up so he could see Rin being killed. There was something strange about the Duke and the Prince as well. He could feel their life force, and yet it felt somehow off. And he could read Valeria, and what he saw troubled him greatly. Her body language indicated that she was lying. No telling half-truths. Feeling as if he might regret if he did not tell Victor. "You have a daughter. Valeria told the truth when she mentioned that." With those parting words, Tobi disappeared into a swirling vortex.

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Victor remained silent. He knew that the girl by Valeria's side was not his daughter. He could sense it in the blood. Victor had a bloodline steeped in magic. One that he inherited from his mother. And yet he could not sense anything in the girl. His intent for letting Valeria go was far more practical. He intended to use her to find out the truth of the matter.

He clasped his hand as a new surge of determination flowed through his body.

For now, he has an execution to look forward to.

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(The next day)

On a giant execution platform, The prince and Duke were dragged out. Their visage, however, somehow disturbed Victor greatly. Both of them felt like automatons. Their eyes had no life. No, they looked more like puppets without strings.

Victor began to feel suspicious as he looked at them. His sixth sense told him that something was very wrong. 

Victor maintained his composure for the moment. He had a speech to give.

"People of Lateveria. Look around you. Look at what we were and what we can become." His voice bellowed out as the crowd looked at him in silence. A look urging him to continue speaking. "It was your hands that once built this country. And now it is through your own hands that you have won back this country from oppressors that hide like cowards behind their blood." A cheer had risen within the crowd, and a giant roar of victory emerged from them.

Victor waited for the war cry to subside before he continued on. "Today, we will end the legacy of people feeding on our hard work. Feeding on the future of our children. No more. I give your future back to you. I give your free will back to you. From this moment forth, each of you can learn anything. To delve into the very mysteries of the world, to heal any ailment. Our country will be known to the entire world, and by my will, they will learn to respect us. See us as a model to follow."

"And if any would be power would turn their eyes upon us with less than good intention." Victor brought his hand forward in front of the crowd. He clenched it in front of them as he spoke. "Then they will learn to know fear. They will learn to fear the name of Von Doom."

The citizens were moved by his proclamation. They hoped that there would be a better future for them. A better path that they could now walk. 

"And now to end the rot that had settled among us." A sword materialized in his hand before lopping off their neck. Victor placed his hand on their head to access their mind. And he found them broken. He was broken long before he had come here to wage war. Long before he was attacked, leading to his return.

There was one woman who had tried to warn him of the ambush. Now he realized that this may all have been her machinations.

He had to end this quickly and seek Valeria out. With two swings of his sword, he had lopped both of their heads off.

Not caring about the festival or the cheer that went from the crowd. He had turned around as his cape blew in the wind. He had to track Valeria down. Everything just got a lot more complicated.

It took him but a few moments to reach his lab. Doom bots were still carrying equipment, but he went to the supercomputer for now. The plane began to check its records. Victor could find nothing on it. It seemed as if it never existed in the first place. He looked through the recording from his drones and found that the plane had taken off. And yet, there are no records of it landing anywhere.

"Valeria, what games are you playing." Victor thought out aloud.

For now, he would need to work on his people's ascension.

'A daughter.' Victor started to ponder.

He had work to do.

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Valeria was sitting on a sofa. A glass of wine was held in her hand as she took small sips. Savoring each sip. Before she stood the Winter Soldier and Taskmaster. Her plan had gone along marvelously.

A video had opened, and eight mysterious people with their faces and voices distorted were in front of her. She was one of their members.

"It seems that we could not maintain hold over Lateveria." One of the figures spoke.

"It was to be so. Any further actions would have exposed us." Valeria answered. "Cutting off the tail was better than risking our discovery."

"It is a pity that we lost all those resources, but no matter. We have more. I have one more thing to report. It seems that one of our heads was killed. Expecting part of our network to be exposed would be better."

"I see, and who." One of the figures asked.

"The Doctor." The original replied.

"What are your plans now, serpent." The voice asked.

"I plan to lay low for some time before emerging as the wrongfully terminated Queen of Lateveria."

The figure nodded. "So be it, Hail Hydra."

"Hail hydra." A chant repeated by everyone else.

Valeria clenched her hand in anger. The glass in her hand shattered, spilling wine over her hand.

The Doctor was hers to kill. She remembered the experiments done on her body. Her body was dissected repeatedly just to see how she functioned. It was torture. She had seen her entire body placed separately in jars. It was a miracle that she had enlisted the help of the Taskmaster when she did. Taskmaster had been the one to put her together. Her body burned with rage.

The Doctor was hers to torture and kill. She should have been the one to look over him as she kept him in between life and death. 

She calmed herself. The Taskmaster one like herself. Made to forget everything to make her a better warrior and the winter soldier. She had promised the Taskmaster her memory back.

The Winter Soldier was nothing but a spy. That does not mean she would not use a resource available.

She would find her daughter one day. The daughter she had left at an orphanage when she was attempting to hide. She had intended to become a distraction, hoping her daughter would have a better life. 

She had broken the Duke and the Prince a long time ago. Made them nothing but puppets. For her losing the first and only person she loved. For her daughter losing a father. 

But for now, she would wait and finally get her revenge on this rotting world. This world was meant to bow before her. To pay her back for everything it had lost. 

But first, she would have to destroy Shield and Hydra. She settled down and began to plot. 

All the pieces were falling in their proper place.