[A/N]: Alright, guys, we are at Rank 44, so let's keep climbing it up! 📚🚀
The silence hit harder than Doom's armor ever could.
Reed knelt beside Jay's chamber, his wounded arm painting the glass red as he pressed trembling fingers against Jay's neck. The cosmic radiation dispenser had finally died, leaving only sparks and the acrid smell of burnt circuits.
"Anything?" Sue's voice barely rose above a whisper.
Reed's stretching abilities flickered as stress and blood loss made concentration impossible. "No pulse. He's..." His voice cracked like dry wood. "He's gone."
"NO!" Rogue stumbled forward, her body still wracked with tremors from channeling four different power sets. "He ain't dead! He CAN'T be dead, sugar!"
Beast was already in motion, blue fur streaked with soot as he grabbed emergency medical equipment from the wall cabinet. "Defibrillation, immediately! Sue, position these paddles!"
The machine whined to life like a dying animal. Sue's hands shook so badly she could barely maintain her grip.
"Clear!"
Jay's body jerked against the restraints. The heart monitor stayed flat as a merciless and unwavering line.
"Again!" Beast's calm was cracking. "Higher voltage!"
"Clear!"
Another shock. Another nothing. The flatline mocked their desperation.
Reed slammed his hand against the chamber wall, the impact sending fresh blood down his arm. "Damn it all to hell! We're losing him!"
Heavy footsteps echoed from the floors below, followed by some truly creative profanity that would've made a sailor blush. Domino appeared in the doorway, hair wild, costume torn to ribbons, blood trickling from a nasty gash on her forehead.
"Sorry about that, falling through three floors wasn't exactly in my—" She stopped dead. Jay's motionless form was bandaged around his stomach. The flatlined monitor. Rogue's tears cutting tracks through the soot on her cheeks.
"No." She ran to the chamber, shoving past everyone to press her hands against Jay's face. "Christ, he's burning up. But his skin... It's cold as ice."
Domino closed her eyes, focusing everything she had on her luck. They'd always been instinctive, chaotic, but now she needed them to work on command. She needed to find the one chance in a million that could save him.
Nothing.
Her powers felt dead.
"Come on!" She pressed harder against his temples, feeling the heat radiating from his skin. "Work, you piece of shit power! WORK!"
Still nothing. Desperation clawed at her chest. In a moment of pure panic, she grabbed the bloodied, twisted piece of metal from the floor, raising it toward her own throat. Maybe if she hurt herself, forced her body into shock—
"Domino, stop."
Steve's hand closed around her wrist. The super soldier was bloodied, his jacket torn, but his blue eyes held compassion.
"This isn't the way. Hurting yourself won't bring him back."
"Then what will?" The words exploded from her like a scream, the metal clattering to the floor. "What the hell will?"
None of them had an answer.
Then the sound of helicopters filled the air like mechanical thunder. Tactical teams flooded through the destroyed lab, led by Maria Hill striding through with confidence as if she owned the place.
"Secure the perimeter. Barton and Romanoff, check for additional wounded."
"Should someone check if Fried Tin Man over there has a pulse?" Natasha added, nodding toward Doom's motionless form.
Two SHIELD agents approached the fallen dictator cautiously. The moment they got within arm's reach, his eyes blazed open behind the ruined mask.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The scream that tore from Doom's throat was pure, undiluted agony. His ruined face twisted as consciousness brought the full weight of his radiation burns crashing down like an avalanche.
"Stay back!" he roared, raising a gauntleted hand. "Do not dare approach DOOM in his moment of—"
His words died as his gaze fell on Jay's still form. The flatlined monitor. The tears on every face.
Victor Von Doom began to laugh.
It started low and bitter, building into something horrible as madness given voice, echoing off the walls like a funeral bell.
"See?" he gasped between peals of insane laughter. "SEE what becomes of those who steal from DOOM? This is justice incarnate!"
Reed moved faster than anyone had ever seen him move. His wounded arm stretched across the lab like a snapping rubber band, his fist connecting with Doom's ruined face with a wet crunch that sent the armored tyrant sprawling.
"REED!" Sue cried as her husband's bandages burst open, fresh blood spattering the floor in crimson drops.
A SHIELD medic threw up her hands in exasperation. "Sir, if you keep moving that arm, you're going to bleed out!"
But Reed wasn't listening, his eyes fixed on Doom with burning hatred. "How dare you. How DARE you laugh when this is YOUR fault!"
SHIELD agents moved to restrain Doom, but Hill's communicator crackled with static.
"Agent Hill, this is Fury. Stand down immediately. Doom has full diplomatic immunity as Latveria's sovereign ruler. We cannot detain him."
"What?" The word exploded from multiple throats simultaneously.
"State Department's direct orders. Let him walk."
Doom slowly pushed himself upright, his ruined face twisting into a grotesque smile beneath the shattered mask. As he did, his eyes caught fragments of broken mirror scattered across the floor.
The laughter died instantly.
For the first time in his adult life, Victor Von Doom saw himself as others saw him, not the perfect god-king he imagined, but a scarred, broken monster. The cosmic radiation had stripped away his delusions along with his flesh, revealing the ugliness that had always festered beneath his mask of perfection.
"No," he whispered, touching his ruined face with trembling fingers. "This cannot be. DOOM is perfect. DOOM is—"
His gaze fell on the bloodied quarter lying in the debris, twenty-five cents that had caused his disfigurement. Then his eyes tracked to Jay's motionless form.
"YOU!" The word erupted like a volcano. "This is YOUR doing! Your existence cursed DOOM's perfection!"
His armored finger swung toward Reed like an accusation. "And YOU, Richards! This catastrophe wouldn't have occurred if you'd surrendered what was rightfully mine! The cosmic radiation storage! The transformation secrets! They belonged to DOOM by royal right!"
Clint had heard enough. His bow came up, arrow aimed directly at Doom's exposed throat. "One more word and diplomatic immunity won't matter when you're choking on your own blood."
But men in dark suits materialized from nowhere, CIA by their earpieces and badges.
"Stand down, Agent Barton. His Highness Victor Von Doom enjoys full diplomatic protection."
"This is completely insane!" Tony's voice crackled from his damaged suit as Natasha worked to extract him from it. "I don't care if he's the goddamn Pope. He nearly killed us!"
One suit stepped forward with a shark's smile. "Surely a man of your resources understands international complexities, Mr. Stark."
Tony's arc reactor flickered back to life as they freed him from the wreckage. His dark eyes promised bloody retribution.
"Resources? I'll spend every single penny ensuring this psychopath and Ross pay for today. And trust me—I have a LOT of pennies."
The CIA formed a protective corridor around Doom. He walked through it like returning royalty, his scarred face hidden once again behind battered metal.
At the laboratory entrance, he paused, looking back at the heroes clustered around Jay's chamber.
"Remember this day, Richards. Remember what happens to those who deny DOOM his rightful due. Your precious 'hero' is dead because of YOUR choices. His blood stains YOUR hands. And soon he won't be a 'hero' anymore."
Then he was gone, leaving only echoes and the bitter taste of injustice hanging in the air.
Nobody noticed the small spider scurrying across the debris-strewn floor. It moved with purpose toward the still-sparking generator, driven by instincts. As it passed under a dangling power cable, a tiny arc of cosmic radiation jumped down, striking the arachnid for just a microsecond.
The spider froze, its tiny body convulsing as alien energy rewrote its genetic code in ways that defied natural law. Then, with suddenly purposeful movements, it skittered away into the building's ventilation system.
The heroes stood in the wreckage, watching their friend's lifeless form through the chamber glass. Outside, New York continued its relentless pace, unaware that something precious had been lost in the city's heart.
"So what now?" Johnny whispered, his flames extinguished.
[A/N]: I write across multiple fandoms. Support my writing and get early access to 45+ chapters, exclusive content, and bonus material at my P@treon - Max_Striker.