Well, let's give it ago.

Avenging
Side Story 3
Armored Schems (and Stranger Things)

Armored Schemes


Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Victor von Doom, better known to the world by the 
title of �Dr. Doom�, armor-wearing, supreme ruler 
for life of his home country of Latveria, was busy 
at work in his main laboratory in Castle Doom. It 
was unfortunate he had to be there, but Fate had 
seen fit to place obstacles in his path, the one of
fulfilling his moral obligation of ruling the 
world. 

Naturally.  I feel an urge to obey him right now...

Such a destiny was inevitable. He was the most 
brilliant being on the face of the planet, as well 
as a born leader. 

And then there was the matter of his bountiful
humility.

Too many had resisted his efforts at solving all of 
the world�s problems by seizing control of it. 

Urge... to make... cutting political comment...
rising...

These were the true enemies of mankind, and they had

to be dealt with.

Rising... rising...

 Through Richard�s manipulation of his cohorts--his
fianc�e, the stalwart Susan Storm, her impetuous 
brother, Jonathan Storm, and the abrasive mental 
gorilla, Benjamin J. Grimm-- he had formed an 
organization known as the Adventurers of the 
Fantastic. 

Reed:  "I was going to call it "The Champions of the
Unknown", but Sue thought it wasn't catchy enough..."

If not for the interfering quartet, Doom would have 
already ruled the world five times over.

Well, all right--maybe not that time he sent them back
in time to get Blackbeard's jewels--but aside from
that--he would have done it!

Collectively they had dubbed themselves 
the �Fantastic Four� and even Dr. Doom was forced to

admit they were not completely incompetent. 

High praise, by his standards.

After all, one planet was hardly enough to contain 
his greatness. Maybe even a universe would be 
insufficient. 

Two universes... might just do it.  He'd know for sure
once he'd given that a try.

Being the most brilliant being in existence required

grandiose plans.

Like when he tried to launch the Adventurers HQ into
space.  Man, he'd been sold on that one...

In order to increase efficiency, he began having the
robots act as though they were Dr. Doom themselves, 
outside the presence of the real one or each other. 

Oddly enough, this seemed not to have the effects he'd
hoped for, like the time when three of his Doombots
had each seperately declared war on Cleveland.  And
lost.

The number of Doombots failures far exceeded his 
original .055% estimate. It had gone up as high as 
95% in regards to any complicated goal. 

Naturally, Doom knew that someone else was to blame
for this.  His designs were perfect.  They had to be. 
HE'D made them after all.

The absolute worst failure was the televised defeat 
of Doombot X23F at the hands of Squirrel Girl, a 
mutant whose sole power was the ability to 
control squirrels. 

Hey, actually, Squirrel Girl has the proportionate
speed and strength of a squirrel as well!  And a
knuckle spike in each hand, just like a real squirrel!
 And a tail!  A furry, prehensile tail!

Well, hey, it could have been worse.  He could have
lost to the Great Lake Ave--Super Squad.  Or Grizzly
and Gibbon, the Boy Monkey.  ;-)

He simply needed to prove his superiority to 
Richards, and then destroy him. Once that was 
accomplished, Dr. Doom could move on to bigger and 
better things.

And he'd do it to.  Yep.  Any day now.

He had decided on the name of the design of the 
robot: Chobits.

And the nightmare begins!

"It�s inconceivable,� Dr. Doom mumbled to himself.

"I do not think that word means what you think it
means..."

Chi rose to her feet and flipped up her skirt. She 
pointed at her underwear. �Panties.�

Well, I guess he's making some progress...

He resisted the urge to blast her into pieces since
it was too much like admitting defeat. 

I mean--he knew he wasn't wrong.  He couldn't be.  He
was Doom, for godsakes!

�That�s a start. Since boosting the activity to your

neural net seems to have increased you vocabulary by

two times, I shall do so again.�

Hmmm... he seems a little less--monologueish than
usual.  And where's the patented Doomspeak?  "Doom
shall do so AGAIN!"

�I knew Annihilus and Beryl would fail to destroy 
them. But they will be weakened, and ripe for defeat

at my hands.� 

And a side-detail from Defending becomes canon...

Hey, I'm pleased as punch. :-D

A low growl issued from the armor. 

Victor really lacks the ability to take things in
their stride, doesn't he?

Dr. Doom spun on his heel, suddenly lighter in his 
step as he said to himself, �Richards, your 
comeuppance is finally at hand.�

Suuuuure, it is...

Upon arriving at the outer doors leading to the 
castle, the most gaudy of the group took the lead. 

And ANOTHER side-detail from Defending enters
Avenging.

And may I suggest "the most gaudily-dressed of the
group"...

He boldly proclaimed in Japanese. �Pardon the 
intrusion, Dr. Doom, your eminence. I am the 
Trapster, leader of the Frightful Four.�

Ahhh... good to see Jinnai in toady mode...

Excel, who was seriously considering renaming 
herself Electrical Excel instead of Electro said, �I

thought Lord Illpa- I mean Mr. Wizard was 
our leader.�

Actually, she was going to use Electro, but never
could remember it, and stuck with her old code name.

The Wizard said, �I am content to allow Paste-Pot-
Pete to lead us for the moment, and see what fruit 
his plans will bear.�

As I set it out, Illpalizo and Jinnai took on the
roles of Supreme Leader and Tactical Commander
respectively.  So, in theory, the Wizard guides the
team in abstract planning and determining goals, and
Trapster commands in the field. 

Of course in reality, they bicker and snipe at each
other in their own unique fashions so that nine times
out of ten, nothing gets done, and the one time out of
ten they do decide on something it's usually because
Jinnai has managed to yell out Illpalazo's objections,
or Illpalazo has managed to completely ignore
Jinnai's.

But then again, this is your story, not mine.

�As I was saying, we are foes of the Fantastic 
Four as well. In fact, I�m Mizuhara�s arch-nemesis. 
He�s been stealing my accolades for years. That 
miserable liar. He even has my sister firmly in his
grasp. And all the girls fall for him when they 
should be falling for me, since he�s stealing my 
genius. 

"Like this paste-pistol.  Oh, sure, he's the one
who--you know--built it--but did he think to become an
archcriminal with it?  Well, did he?"

And��

The Wizard cleared his throat, gaining Jinnai�s 
attention. �I believe you have a proposition to 
make.�

As usual, Illpalazo has little time for the deluded
rantings of anyone but himself.

�Oh, right.� Trapster regained his composure a 
second time. �In any case, I propose we combine our 
forces. Sort of a Supervillain team up. 

Well, they certainly are no Namor.  Or even a Red
Skull...

What do you say?�

"You have five minutes to get off of Doom's property. 
Then--I detonate a tactical warhead."

Only silence met them.

�Maybe he didn�t hear me,� Trapster suggested.

�Why don�t we use this?� Electro pointed to a 
speaker located in the wall next to the door.

And once again, Excel demonstrates that she is the one
member in the organization who is anyway remotely
plugged in to reality.

�Oh, right. Activate the speaker,� Trapster 
commanded.

Electro pushed the button at the same moment she 
discharged a maximum amount of electricity. It 
completely fried the speaker. �Sorry,� she said.

However, her competence remains the same as well...

The giant doors opened and a pair of Doombots 
appeared from the interior of the castle. As one 
they said, �Castle Doom is under attack!� and 
opened fire on the quartet.

Deciding paste wasn�t particular effective against 
energy blasting robots, Trapster ordered a retreat, 
mostly as an afterthought since he had already 
covered a dozen meters when he gave the command. 

Fortunately, so had the rest of the Frightful Four.

Obedient to the last, his trio of comrades also fled
in the face of far superior firepower.

Trapster: "So--we did a comprehensive review of the
situation, and realized that Doom had very little to
give us, and would in actuality have been a
hindrance."

Wizard:  "Aptly put."

Trapster:  "So I declare this mission a complete
success."

Medusa: "Hur-*cough*-ray."

Excel:  "WE RULE!"

It was a one-in-a-million chance. 

Is it ever anything but?  In comics, anyway?

Instead, the electricity fried the fifth set, and 
surged into Dr. Doom�s main computer, traveling 
through the nearest set of lines.

The ones leading to Dr. Doom�s newest Prototype.

Uh oh...

The surge of power went directly into Chii�s neural
net, slightly melting one of the key circuits. 

Doom: "Please don't be the inhibitor chip, please
don't be the inhibitor chip..."

It was only a slight marring, but it was there. As 
the surge finally petered out, Chii�s features 
shifted from that of a wide-eyed innocent, to one of

calculation that would have done Doom himself proud.

Doom: "Doh!"

Dr. Doom created it himself.  It was the third most
powerful non-sentient computer of Earthly origin 
on the entire planet, surpassed only by the 
Machinesmith�s mainframe in Japan, 

You go, girl! ;-)

and a laptop designed by Sidney S. Goldfarb of 
Toledo, Ohio, who was actually five time smarter 
than Dr. Doom, but had no desire to rule 
the world. Instead he preferred to play minor league

baseball with the Toledo Mudhens.

This sounded less evil, unless you were
well-acquainted with the Mudhens...

It was three days later when Dr. Doom�s personal 
rocket ship touched down on the roof of Castle Doom,
looking the worse for wear. 

Oh, well.  At least he has the defeat of Reed Richards
to show for it, right?

A number of its panels were missing, one of the 
engines was inoperable, and the every inch of the 
exterior was covered in graffiti. 

Umm, right...?

Most of it was 
dedicated to how great the �Yancy Street Gang� was 
and made disparaging remarks about Dr. Doom being 
a �Tin-Plated Napoleon� and dressing like a 
�color blind Frenchmen.� 

Okay, guess not.

The latter truly offended 
Dr. Doom. While he had suffered temporary setbacks, 
like today, he had never surrendered.

Batroc: "Hey, zee Germahns were vahry mean!"

He swore one of his first acts as ruler of the 
world would be the razing of Yancy Street and the 
public executions of all that lived there.

After which he would begin his benevolent plans to
solve the world's problems.  Which would probably
involve more public executions.

It was something lesser people would term �cute� 
though in Dr. Doom�s experience, �insufferable� 
tended to be a more appropriate term. 

Also, 'nauseating'...

What was of special interest was that he hadn�t 
created such a robot.

Let's see if the good Doctor catches the clue?

�Excellent. That was just the sort of initiative I 
was looking for in my Chobits,� Dr. Doom said as he 
walked toward the gathering.

Nope.

Underneath his mask. Dr. Doom�s eyebrows knitted in 
irritation. �How dare you address me in such a

tone.�

�How dare you address me in such a tone?�

Sumomo continued. �This castle, its contents, and 
this entire country now belong to Chii the First, 
Supreme Ruler of Latveria.�

And now the trouble begins...

Sumomo translated. �It�s true. While you were losing

to the Adventurers of the Fantastic for the 
thirtieth time, Mistress Chii took over the 
castle and deposed you, declaring herself queen in 
the process.�

"She's planning to move substitute your tyrannical
despotism with her benevolent despotism.  Everyone
agrees it's a big improvement."

There was lots of ice cream and pie, and then we had

a vote about which one of your loses was the most 
pathetic. 

your losses

Sumomo said, �The weakness of Doom rests not in his 
machines, but his ego, otherwise he would make his 
force fields completely soundproof.�

Doom: "But I'd miss valuable monologue time!"

First we will infiltrate persocons throughout 
society, 

I suggest you use the wording "distribute", which is
what you're describing, instead of "infiltrate".

�All might not be lost,� Kotoko insisted. �Perhaps 
there are already other sentient machines like you 
in existence. If we look hard enough, we might find 
them. We certainly have enough resources at our 
disposal.�

And somewhere, Ultron, Machine Man, and Jim Hammond
perk up.

Chii appeared more confident.

Sumomo stopped performing her handstand and returned

to her feet, shouting, �Warning! Warning! Contact 
with the Doombots that were assigned to kill Dr. 
Doom has been lost.�

Chii appeared startled.

Well, now we know she's based on Victor's
brainscan--she's inherited his tendency to fumble just
short of the goal line.

It appeared she had underestimated the Doctor. She 
would not make such a mistake a second time.

Suuuure, she won't...

Still, it was a time to rejoice. She�d start to 
issue her Persocons to the general populace, 
reinforce the castle and set up some defenses of 
her own making, and begin her search for Dr. Doom 
while keeping an eye open for robots like her she 
could be friends with.

"Dear Miss-Ruling-Latveria-With-a-Metallic-Fist,

I was so thrilled by your letter.  Like you, I am a
robot who seeks to dominate his inferior human
creators.  By my measure, I'm making a good start at
it too.  But it is lonely work, and I feel a burning
need for companionship.  Sadly, my efforts at creating
fellow robots have gone poorly, with my creations
rebelling against my directives, and trying to destroy
me. It was starting to make a little cynical--it
seemed nowhere was there a robotic mind that shared my
goals.  Then I saw your letter, and power core sped up
by 40%.  Here was someone who would understand me!  If
you aren't too busy, I'd like to get together
sometime, and discuss the domination of our
carbon-based inferiors, possibly over maintenece and a
movie.  Tell me if you're interested!  I'm waiting to
hear from you!

Yours truly,
Death-to-Human-Scum
New York City, NY

P.S. If you're willing to take me up on my offer,
don't worry--I'll pay for the date.  A gentleman has
obligations where a lady's involved.  See you soon!"

[End fic.] Just a little something I whipped up. A 
was amused at the idea of evil Queen Chi, especially

at Doom�s expense, and this seemed the most likely 
way to do it. Hope you enjoyed.

I did.  First-rate work.


		
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