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"You don't forget the face of the last person who was your only hope."
- Katniss Everdeen, (Hunger Games)
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<(Omniscient POV)>
"Where is Atem, Susan? He assured Doom of his assistance with a matter of great significance. Yet, he has vanished—no word, no sign—for weeks. Midsummer's Eve is upon us, and preparations must commence this very night. Doom must know if he intends to honor his word or abandon his commitment." Victor Von Doom, dressed in his iconic metal armor, raved in Susan's office, his frustration at Atem's disappearance evident from the raised tone of his voice.
Ever since his mother died after making a deal with Mephisto, resulting in her soul being permanently trapped in Hell by the Devil, the King of Latveria has been waiting for an opportunity to avenge her by freeing her soul from the Hell-lord's grasp. He had done everything he possibly could in the hopes of one day bringing her mother's soul back from Hell. As a matter of fact, Doom has been challenging Mephisto to a fight every year when the veil between the Earth and Hell reaches its weakest even though he knew it was all in vain and that he had no chance of actually winning against a dimensional realm lord without an extremely powerful trump card, something he didn't possess yet, he still showed no sign of backing off.
However, this year, it was different. This year, Doom did have some hope since he had finally gotten the trump card he so desperately needed. This year, his probability of success was higher than it had ever been. After all, this year he had done two things he hated more than anything else. One, he had asked for help, and two, he had knelt in front of someone like an inferior being, something that he still could not believe happened. The first thought that appeared in Victor's mind after being forced to kneel was that he needed to escape from the enslavement bond he was forced to submit to before taking revenge against the "god" who was the reason for his defeat.
But Doom, being a patient guy, was able to somehow hold on to his wits. Thus, rather than trying to find a way to take revenge against the New God, he instead began forming a plan in his mind to make use of him against one of Doom's biggest enemies. Therefore, the Latverian King started to observe Atem more closely. He began to analyze his every battle, every fight, every move, his abilities, spells, tiniest habits, and even the degree of influence he wielded around the world.
At the end of his analysis, to say Doom was surprised would be a massive understatement. The young king was utterly stunned by just how powerful Atem really was behind his casual playboy facade. He had no blatant weaknesses that anyone could try to take advantage of. The only way someone could ever possibly gain an upper hand against the god was if they were to threaten the lives of the people close to him, like his multiple lovers. Yet, Doom remained skeptical of the success of such a plan as well. In many mythologies, gods are infamous for their indifference towards mortals, even their own lovers. This is particularly true for an entity like Atem, who possessed the ability to heal or resurrect his lovers to perfect health at will.
Additionally, there was also the fact that his companions, friends, and lovers also inexplicably grow stronger in tandem with him, which makes him even more interesting and unique.
All in all, Atem, who was a god, was the perfect weapon to use against someone like Mephisto. After observing the New God's effortless victory against the Abomination, Victor knew that there was a high chance Atem could defeat Mephisto in a duel, especially on a day like Midsummer's Eve, where the Prince of Lies would be unable to use the full might of his connection to his hellish dimension. Besides, who knows, perhaps there will be a chance that Victor will learn something new while "acting" as a subordinate to Atem, or maybe he will gain something that could make him much more powerful than now.
But saving his mother's soul was the topmost priority for him, and for that, he needed Atem to be present for the ritual.
However, unfortunately, even after using a host of both magical and technological methods for what seemed like the entirety of last week, Doom still couldn't find him anywhere on Earth. It was like the god had just completely disappeared from the realm.
"Asking the same question multiple times won't change my answer, Victor. I already told you, none of us knows where Atem is. He is the owner and biggest sponsor of the Baxter Foundation and thus our boss by extension, not one of our employees. We have no right to track his whereabouts, nor are we going to try. If you want to meet Atem, I advise you to either approach the higher-ups at Neo Genosha or one of the main branches of Arcane Academy for Gifted Students. Maybe he is at one of those places, trying to take a breather and relax." Susan answered calmly, doing her best to keep the annoyance away from her face.
"... He was last seen in New Mexico before he permanently disappeared from the range of all the scanners that were continuously tracking him around the world. The locals said that he and some others were battling a small army of tall blue alien giants with the power to control ice before he disappeared through a portal." Victor Von Doom explained in a cold voice. "Doom is aware of how Reed has been trying to replicate Atem's portals for months. It is a given that he hasn't succeeded, but Doom believes that he has at least come up with the technology to track Atem's current location." The Latverian responded as his metal gloves began to slowly glow in a shade of ghostly green.
Desperate to avenge his mother's soul, Victor was ready to take what he needed by force. He was pretty sure that he could take on Mr. Fantastic and The Thing on his own, even though the Invisible Woman's hax-like barriers and Human Torch's fire manipulation powers were slightly tricky for him to deal with. Of course, there was also the fact that Reed always had an ace up his sleeve, but Victor was positive he could deal with it, too. After all, Victor has always been the smarter and more intelligent of the two... at least according to Victor Von Doom himself.
"No need for that, Victor." Suddenly, a strange, unsettling feeling began to spread throughout the entire Baxter building as a familiar masculine voice halted Doom before he could do what he was thinking of doing. "This building is a place to conduct business and research into the cutting-edge branches of science, not fight meaningless battles," Atem who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere replied coldly before looking Doom directly in the eyes through the slits on his mask, "You were looking for me, right? Let me guess, it's finally time for this year's Midsummer's Eve?" Atem asked before suddenly glancing at one of the corners of the room with a look of expectation, "Hey, Hela, you are a Hell-lord, right? Can you tell us how powerful Mephisto is inside and outside his own dimension?"
As soon as he had glanced in that direction, all the shadows in the room began to slowly converge into a single big shadow that started to materialize into a solid figure of shadows and darkness from which none other than Hela Odinsdottir herself emerged with all her grandeur, a crown of multiple black horns silently sitting on top of her head.
"Mephisto? You want to fight that cunning little red demon? *Heh* It would have been an interesting fight to watch indeed. He is a slippery little bug with all his illusions and tricks. In terms of raw power, he is nowhere near the strongest of the other six current Hell-lords, but he is definitely the trickiest to deal with due to his sheer versatility and cunning. Without his dimension full of tortured souls actively empowering him, I can defeat him in a battle. But Mephisto is... ancient, and he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve when it comes to saving his own skin. Even Hell-lords like Dormammu or Nightmare were never able to do away with him during wars between their realms." Hela revealed with a casual look on her face as if she was just uttering mundane facts about life.
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