The Players

Part Seven: Doom

the 64^th tale of agc

written and created by Mark Bousquet

NOTE: To assist new readers with this "jumping on" arc, I've created a section for many of the characters appearing in this series on the Cast of Characters Page, accessible from the AGC main page.

2201 / SEPTEMBER

THE EVERYTHING ENGINE - THE VIEWING TUBE

Kill Galactus.

The words - and implication - were staggering to Adam Warlock. He'd just watched the Supreme Intelligence order Ben-Vell Parker, the Cosmic Protector, to kill Galactus for feeding on a Kree-controlled planet. Never mind that the planet was uninhabited, the Supremor of the Kree people wasn't interested in retribution for lost citizens, he was looking to kill Galactus for using the planet before the Kree could do it themselves.

"I wonder how many-" Adam began to say when Magus cut him off.

"Three-hundred and fifty-six," Magus replied. "The Kree have over 350 planets scattered throughout their Empire just like the one Galactus just fed on. All devoid of life. All marked for future mining for the sustenance of the Kree people."

"Then why would the Supreme Intelligence send Ben-Vell on such a mission?" Adam asked.

"The Kree don't have a right to defend their land?" Magus asked. "The Intelligence prob-"

Magus' words were left in his throat, and Adam watched the blood drain from the face of his future self. "What is it?" Adam asked. Magus slowly raised a hand and pointed it at the bank of monitors they were using to watch the players in the last act of the Everything.

Adam turned to the screen and felt something drop inside him.

The screen that had been blank, the one they were saving to view the exploits of Dr. Doom, was no longer empty.

Doom was looking directly at them. "I am ready for you now, Warlock."

CHRONOPOLIS - FORMER THRONE ROOM OF KANG THE CONQUEROR

"Do not look so stunned, Warlock. It does not become one of your intelligence," Doom said, looking straight ahead at a monitor that showed him the Viewing Tube. He was, Adam thought as he looked at him, frighteningly unchanged. Even his voice was as cold as Adam remembered it. "Does it truly surprise you that I have been aware of your attempt to catalogue my actions during this last Age of the Everything?" Doom stopped, and waited for a response that did not come. "Speak, Warlock. Doom commands you."

"Y-you can hear us?" Adam asked. "How is that possible? The Everything Engine-"

"-is a machine," Doom's cold voice interrupted. "And all machines are the instruments of Doom."

"With all due respect," Magus countered, "the Everything Engine is a rather complex machine. You have not been active for very long, Doom. I find it hard to believe that you could have-"

"Do you think me idle these long centuries?" Doom asked. "From the moment I awakened in Kang's cell I have been plotting for this day."

"But how would that be possible?" Adam asked. A flash of inspiration sparked his mind, and a cloud descended upon him. "Unless the old rumors are true …"

"They are not," Doom dismissed. "Kang and I are not one and the same, though I do believe it was my imprisonment in Chronopolis that eventually gave birth to those rumors. We saw in each other much to admire and emulate, and it was-"

Doom's words were cut short by a sound neither Adam nor Magus would have ever imagined: the crying of a young baby.

As Doom turned away from them, Adam and Magus exchanged a quick glance, then returned their gaze to the screen in time to see Doom examine a young infant that was strapped onto a metal table. Tubes flowed into the infant's mouth, nose, and arms. "Here, gentlemen," Doom spoke to them, "is where life gets away from us - the torturous pleadings of a creature who cannot convey what it wants. Our heart goes out to it, wants to placate it, but we cannot be certain of what it needs, so we stuff it with what we think it wants." Doom stared coldly at the child. "And in that placation, we lose the child, and thus, the future."

"Doom," Adam said slowly, "I do not think-"

Doom raised a hand, and Adam silenced himself. "The Watchers are all dead, Warlock, and so it falls to you to record the final days of this Age. I have prepared recordings for your benefit. Observe."

With that, the image of Doom was replaced on Adam's monitor, and a new scene began to play itself out …

CHRONOPOLIS - THE CELL OF VICTOR VON DOOM

21 MARCH 2003

Kang the Conqueror stood before the chained dictator, Victor Von Doom. It had been just over one year since Kang had ended the Reign of Doom, and saved the planet Earth.* For this, Kang had been given little but a nod of thanks. There was no heroes' parade for the man who had saved them.

* As seen in AGC 24: Ascension/Abandonment, Part II

"You are silent today, Conqueror."

Kang's thoughts were interrupted by Doom. Even as secured as he was, Doom was a dangerous foe, and Kang was ever-vigilant in his presence. Doom's armor had been fused directly into the wall of the cell because mere bonds seemed too insignificant, and the would-be ruler of Earth was elevated off the ground, locked in the position of a crucifix. This entrapement served a dual purpose, however, allowing Kang access to Doom's armor.

"I see that you have incorporated some of Doom's designs into your own armor," Doom stated flatly, as if he knew all along that this would happen.

"No man should be so proud that he fails to improve himself," Kang replied. "I am not above admitting some of your designs were superior to my own."

"And like a thief, you steal them."

"No, Doom," Kang shook his head. "I did not steal them as a common thief would. They are the spoils of my victory."

"I have often wondered why so many believed us to be the same person," Doom said slowly, "but I can see now why they have made that mistake. Certainly, if you have stolen my designs to add to yours, it would allow for an erroneous conclusion to be reached."

Kang laughed at that. "And how do you know we are not the same person, Doom?"

"Because you are a failure." The words brought Kang's amusement to an end, but Doom was not finished. "Earth still stands unconquered, and yet, you have at your disposal the means to bring about its conquest."

"Ah, you mean I should jump back in time and attack the Avengers when they are children? That I should kill babies in their cribs? There is no honor in that victory."

"Honor?" Doom mocked. "What does a conqueror care of honor?"

"Think of it as a challenge, then," Kang reasoned. "There is no real victory in travelling to the past and controlling the Neanderthal. Kang lives for the challenge of conquest, not the dreariness of rule."

Doom shook his head inside his helmet. "Such folly."

"You have a time platform," Kang challenged. "Why have you never taken your own advice?"

"It is too unstable," Doom replied honestly. "The platform is useful, but neither large nor accurate enough to do what I would want it to do."

Kang rubbed the chin of his facemask. "In truth, victory means nothing without defeating the Avengers of your reality. I have conquered thousands of worlds, brought billions under my fist, but if I can not defeat the Avengers in their prime, I will lose meaning. Simple conquest no longer appeals to me. I find the ruling of people to be utter dreariness."

Doom was incredulous. "You do not tire of rule, Kang. You are afraid of failure. You have access to the Center of Everything and yet you remain here, hidden away in Limbo. Why? Not because it is to your advantage, but because it allows you to hide away from your enemies. A true conqueror does not hide himself away."

Kang started to reply, then stopped. "I need to think on that. Good-bye, Doom. It is a pity that our egos will forever keep us from working together."

"Agreed," Doom answered coldly. Indeed, he thought, as the Conqueror left him in silence, with Kang's ability to conquer worlds, and Doom' affinity to rule them, they would make a perfect team.

If there was only a way to bring Kang under his control …

CHRONOPOLIS - FORMER THRONE ROOM OF KANG THE CONQUEROR

THE PRESENT

"And now you have killed Kang," Adam said across the galaxies to the image of Doom staring down at the infant child, still strapped to the cold, hard table.

"I have," Doom answered, attaching a device to the side of the infant's head. "Kang will certainly rise again, however. He has so integrated himself into the timestream that we will never be rid of him." Doom looked up from the child. "It is quite ingenious how he has accomplished this, Warlock."

"You sound almost … proud," Adam said, surprised.

"I should be," Doom said, a mix of pride and bitterness etched in his voice, "for it is based on my own work with consciousness transference and the Doombots."

"You're jealous," Magus smiled.

"Disappointed," Doom corrected. "Kang claims to be from a time one-thousand years ahead of ours, yet his technology, while advanced, is not the leap it should be. Had I the time to study it properly, my own advances would be well ahead of Kang's."

Adam decided to change the subject. "Tell me, Doom, who's child is that in your care?"

Doom glanced over his shoulder. "It is an Eternal child, given to me by Ikaris.* It was the price paid for my services."

* See TALES of AGC 5

"And what do you intend to do with the child?" Adam asked, fearful.

"Raise it, of course," Doom replied indignantly. "Did you not hear a word of our earlier exchange?"

Magus slapped Adam on the back. "He's talking about the whole 'where life gets away from us' bit." Magus turned his attention to Doom. "How did you unite the Underworld? You have never been one to lead others, even when you could have attempted to do so." He turned back to Adam, "Remember the Secret Wars?"

An empty grin played out underneath Doom's faceplate. "The Beyonder. Such power, and no idea how to use it. Why should Doom have shared that power with anyone else?"

"Captain America stopped you, however," Adam reminded Doom, though he was certain he didn't need to. "And now, you make another play to control the Everything, and Captain America still stands in your path."

Doom nodded gravely. "That is why I have assembled an Army this time, Warlock. We fight now for the fate of the Everything. This is not the time for pride to win out over common sense. I know that Steve Rogers is out there, that I will have to reckon with him before this is through, and I intend to make the odds too great for even he."

"Which brings us back to my question, Doom," Magus said. "How did you unite the Underworld?"

Doom paused, then answered evenly. "By giving them all what they want."

"All of them?" Magus asked.

"It was not difficult," Doom said, and neither Adam nor Magus doubted him. "I was never the helpless captive that Kang thought me to be. By fusing me into the computers of Chronopolis to study me, Kang gave me reciprocal access. It was not difficult to reach these beings with the power of Chronopolis at my disposal." Doom paused, then continued. "What drives Pluto now that he sits on the throne of Olympus? The eradication of the Asgardian race. I will give them that chance." Doom moved over to a console and ejected a small disc. "Ikaris and the Eternals want Earth. I shall give them the Earth."

Adam was disbelieving. "You don't want Earth for yourself?"

"What need do I have of Earth when I have the Everything under my rule?" Doom asked as he walked over to the infant.

"What of Hela?" Magus asked. "Doesn't she want to sit on the throne of Asgard? How can she be given Asgard if Pluto commits genocide on the Asgardians?"

Doom looked up, momentarily annoyed. "I expect you to see the big picture, Magus, yet your former narrow view of the world," they both looked to Adam, "shines through. Hela does indeed want to rule Asgard, but it is not the Asgard of Odin nor Balder she desires. She was the ruler of Hel, and intends to populate her Asgard with the dead, lost souls of Niffleheim. Her desire and Pluto's thus work in accordance with the other, not in opposition."

"Impressive," Magus admitted.

"The unification of force is strongest when multiple goals are in play," Doom lectured as he insert the disc into a small drive-reader, then attached a cord from the drive to a device that attached to the infant's head. "The objective is not to convince these proud rulers to fight for the same cause - I leave that to the idealists in Asgard - but to show them how the same result benefits them all for different reasons."

The small drive-reader began to whir, and Doom watched it silently for several seconds, then turned back to Adam and Magus. "In a moment the child will begin to convulse and twitch - its musculature is being programmed to emulate the fighting style of Captain America. It receives this specific training once a week, though each day in the cycle programs this child with the fighting technique of a different entity."

"'Frankenstein' was supposed to be a cautionary tale, Doom, not an inspirational one."

"On the contrary, Warlock, any tale that is either is also automatically the other. Machiavelli's 'The Prince' is not only a book of instruction, but also a handbook for those who would oppose a 'Prince' to look for certain key signs. Orwell's '1984' both cautions against 'Big Brother,' as well as it portrays the value a 'Big Brother' system has to a government already in power to stay in power. You read 'Frankenstein' as a morality play about the dangers of man playing God. I read it is a failed first experiment."

Adam made no effort to hide his scorn. "Is this how you view the next age of the Everything? As an experiment for you to mold in your own image?"

"This age is ending, Warlock," Doom replied. "I only hurry its demise so that the next age may begin at the earliest."

"With you in charge."

"Who else can best rule the entirety of creation than Doom?"

"What of free will? What of man's right to determine his own fate?"

"That is the talk of Chaos. What does Chaos bring? Man's right to determine his own fate brings us not only heroes but monsters. Order allows for neither. There will be no war in the Age of Doom, no hunger, no disease. The weak will not exist, for there will be no one to horde power over them."

"None but you."

"Is that so terrible?" Doom asked. "Is eternal peace and prosperity not worth the subjugation of existence to Doom?"

Adam scoffed, "How do you not choke on your own words? Do you really think yourself able to control the entire Everything?"

Doom nodded. "I do. And man, free from having to spend its collective intelligence trying to create greater and greater weapons of mass destruction, will be free to pursue matters of philosophy, magic, and healing. The Age of Doom will be the most enlightened age history has ever known."

"Why are you telling us this?" Adam asked, suddenly curious.

Doom took a deep breath. "Because if I fail I want the future to know what it could have had. When wars flare, disease prospers, and Death rages chaotically across the universe, I want everyone to know that I offered existence Order, and I was stopped."

"And what good will that do you, if you are already dead?" Magus asked, shaking his head.

Doom's voice was as cold as Adam could ever remember it being. "Then they will look to someone new to rule them, to bring them the Order they so lack."

"The infant," Adam whispered, horrified.

"It will have to be," Doom answered, "since it appears Franklin Richards has rejected my offer."

Adam and Magus snapped their heads to view the monitor that followed Franklin for them. Unlike the past week, when Franklin had been curled up in a cell inside Chronopolis, crying and shaking, the young boy god was now back on Olympus, and calling his servants to him.

They watched as Astoria came hurriedly into view, and shuddered as Franklin wiped tears from his eyes and said only, "Soon, woman, you will have my decision."

LATER

Doom had long since disconnected Warlock's ability to view his actions.

On a bank of large monitors before him, Doom carefully rechecked the plans of war he was about to distribute to his Generals. He was acutely aware that he stood at the edge of the greatest battle to ever be fought.

Inside a moment as powerful as this, Doom realized with a sense of pride that when Armageddon came, it would be because of him. All of those stories with all of those apocalyptic names - Armageddon, Ragnarok, the End Times - all of them were really talking about him. It was fitting, he supposed, that his name was Doom. What a tricky mistress was Fate. Could he have ever truly been anything other than what he was? No. From the moment of his conception he was destined for the path he chose.

He was ready to end existence, and then recreate it in his image.

It would start in one week, he determined, at the easiest target and then continue on from there until all of the Asgardian Council had fallen beneath his heel.

Warlock was right about Captain America. He would come for Doom.

Let him come, Doom thought. Let them all come.

The sudden wailing of the infant brought Doom from his future thoughts back to the world before him. He walked across the laboratory evenly, eyeing the infant with a mixture of hatred and expectation. All plans needed an escape plan, and for Doom, this infant was the escape. This infant that he would raise here in Chronopolis, outside the timestream.

In an emotion rarely felt, Doom regretted for an instant that he had to deceive Warlock. While it was true that this child held within him the possibility of becoming the savior to the next Age of the Everything should Doom fail, it was more than that. Much, much more than that.

He had given Warlock enough clues for future historians to find, yet were not immediately apparent to either Warlock or Magus. Should Doom fall, his consciousness would be downloaded into the progeny of this baby, so that Doom may live on. From studying the records of Kang, Doom knew he wanted a strong body, which is why this child was an Eternal, and not a human.

Escape was not all this child had to offer, however.

Planning for failure was not something Doom spent much time on. No, he believed that success was a much more likely outcome of this coming battle, and the child would play a role in that eventuality as well.

Though the role this infant would play would be not for the age to come, but for the age just lived.

He would raise this child to guarantee that the forces of Asgard would not be able to jump backwards in time and stop it from occurring. A child that was so powerful it would prove to be the greatest of foes Asgard would ever face … except for Doom himself.

When the inspiration to hatch this plan had taken hold, Doom was surprised at how logical it felt, how much sense it would make. He would raise a son whose true origin had always been clouded from history.

Doom, the true Master of Order, would raise the ultimate son of Chaos, a man who would almost be the equal of Doom, and yet whose inferiority would not be in question. A man who would be impatient where Doom was patient, explosive when Doom would be controlled, who attacked with raw ferocity, who lived for the moment at hand and not the moments to come.

He looked at the child and smiled behind his steel mask, and spoke words that would shake the Everything. "Here begins the journey of Kang the Conqueror. So swears Doom."

THE PLAYERS concluded.

Never fear. Kang will certainly rise again.

Y G G D R A S I L

comments to bousquet22@earthlink.net

Mark Bousquet

14 April 2003

Northern Bear Productions