Latveria was a small Eastern European nation wedged between mountains and larger powers that had, for centuries, treated it as a corridor rather than a country. Borders shifted around it. Armies crossed through it. Empires claimed it when convenient and forgot it when costly.
It had known kings who ruled from crumbling castles, barons who taxed starving villages, and foreign 'peacekeepers' who never quite left on schedule. Its economy was modest, its industry limited, its population small and stubborn.
And then came Doom.
Born to a Romanian witch and a doctor, the man known as Victor von Doom had lived under one such corrupt baron. One that had threatened the lives of Victor and his father when angered by his wife's death and Victor's father's inability to heal her. Together they ran away but Victor's misfortune lead them to Alps where they were greeted by a blizzard.
Werner von Doom used his own body to protect young Victor from the blizzard and died in the cold.
Victor would later on walk both in the world of science like his father and in the world of magic like his mother, increasing his power through the mastery of both.
He studied abroad for a time, in institutions that prided themselves on shaping the future. Professors called him brilliant. Peers called him insufferable. Rivals called him dangerous. But all of them agreed on one single thing.
Victor von Doom did not accept limits placed upon him by others.
An experiment gone wrong scarred his face and cost him his standing in those academic halls. Some said it was arrogance, others said it was sabotage. Victor said nothing. He disappeared soon after the incident.
When he returned to Latveria, he did not return alone. He returned with change.
The ruling baron who had once terrorized his people found his soldiers outmatched, his allies unwilling and his authority suddenly fragile. Victor's campaign was not loud. There were no grand declarations broadcast beyond the mountains. Key officials vanished. Military commanders defected. Infrastructure shifted hands overnight.
By the time neighboring nations realized something had changed, it was already too late.
The baron was gone. Where the corrupt man had once stood, there was only...
Doom.
Doom declared Latveria sovereign under his rule and assumed the mantle of monarch. There was resistance in the countryside at first, there always was when power changed hands, but Doom's reaction was precise and swift. Not chaotic or indiscriminate. But highly efficient.
Now, Latveria was a nation that none had the gall to intervene with. Cause they knew that Latveria was no longer simply a nation but an extension of Doom's power and will. Which few would dare testing.
"What a surprise." And some of those few had just flew down on Doom's backyard. "I have to say, Odinson, I was not expecting you. Especially after hearing from your brother that you were banished."
"You should not base your expectations on Loki's words, many have found themselves disappointed due to that." Thor said as he walked towards the ruler of Latveria with Loki standing on his right and Hercules on his left, while Banner and his family were behind him.
"Wrong brother." Only to stop at Doom's words. "Guess you weren't told about how Baldur came to Latveria for an alliance." He said as his gaze moved to Loki, who was trying to appear as innocent as she could.
It was an effort in vain.
Loki cleared her throat lightly. "In my defense..."
"There is no version of this," Doom interrupted smoothly. "In which you were unaware."
Loki's smile sharpened. "Awareness and involvement are not synonymous."
"They are," Doom replied. "When one possesses your habits."
Thor's jaw tightened. "Baldur sought alliance?"
"He did." Doom said, eyes never leaving Loki. "A formal diplomatic visit. Mutually beneficial discussions. Trade. Magical research. Defense treaties."
"And?" Thor asked.
"And," Doom continued. "He was very interested in the disturbances of Earth's ley-lines."
"Ley-lines?" Banner asked from behind Thor, not knowing what they were but understanding that they were important going by how every person who was considered a god in the vicinity flinching.
"The lines beneath the planet that are made entirely of magic." Loki said, her tone uncharacteristically serious. "With a properly prepared ritual tapping into a ley-line, even the most talentless hedge-wizard can perform high level sorceries. The only reason they are not widely used by the sorcerers of this world is due to whose attention it might bring upon them."
"Gaea." Thor whispered with wide eyes.
"Indeed, the elder goddess of life who bound herself to the very earth we stand upon." Doom said. "The ley-lines are akin to her veins, tapping into them will get her attention. If one were to earn her ire, it is basically a dead sentence."
Banner's eyes widened, not because of the words but because of the one who said them. If someone like Doom were to claim such a thing without something like 'unless you are Doom'… he didn't think such a thing had ever happened.
"Meaning that whoever summoned the trolls did so without Gaea deciding to squash them like a bug." Kala said with his arms crossed. "Implying that she's either neutral about the incident or actually supporting it."
"I do not believe that Gaea would simply allow an attack on Midgard." Thor said with a frown.
"Do not be so sure." Surprisingly, it was Hercules who disagreed with him. "While Earth Mother is a mostly gentle goddess, she has more than once turned to violence when angered. She was the one who incited Gigantes to rebel against Olympus and for Typhon to destroy it."
There was a part of Thor that wanted to say that it was kind of understandable considering how the Olympians could be but refrained for Hercules' sake. His words were not untrue after all, his birth mother could be as cruel as any other god when angered.
Doom's gaze shifted to Hercules. "You speak with unusual candor about your own pantheon."
Hercules shrugged, though there was less levity in it than usual. "We are not strangers to our failings."
"An understatement," Loki muttered.
Hercules ignored her. "Gaea does not move without reason," he continued. "When she supported the Gigantes, it was because Olympus had overreached. When Typhon was loosed, it was because she wished to remind Zeus that kingship is not permanence."
"You believe that she allows this as a warning?" Kala asked with a raised eyebrow. "To humanity for all the damage they cause to the planet."
"It would certainly be a merciful one, considering what she could do herself." Doom claimed, his tone weirdly amused while talking about the possible extinction of humanity.
But before Thor could make his displeasure about it known, the ground beneath them exploded.
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