章 43: All Hope Lies In Doom
Inside the Wakandan war room, surrounded by Dora Milaje, the Future Foundation, the king, and his sister, Franklin pointed at his sister as he ratted her out. "Valeria made me do it!" He said, compelling her to look back at him with the eyes of one who was betrayed by their closest ally. They had agreed to go down together if they were caught, but that agreement was as brittle as drywall.
Sue, however, immediately dashed over to her kids, hugging both of them with each of her arms before scolding them gently. "Franklin and Valeria Richards, what is the meaning of this?" She said in a tone that seemed more annoyed than angry, in fact, she was happy that they were safe more than anything.
"We wanted to be part of the team..." Franklin told her. If a puppy were able to speak, it would sound exactly like the little boy's adorable, apologetic voice.
"Yeah, want to be with our family too." Valeria added, using a puppy voice of her own and hiding the fact that she was truly there to understand the nightmares she was having. She wasn't sure if she should mention Doom, she was afraid that it might result in her being sent home, so she withheld the information.
"It's okay, you're with us now. Your father and I had changed our minds and were going to bring you here regardless." Sue told them in a comforting tone, hugging her children even tighter.
"Mommy, are you not mad?" Franklin asked her with the same childish voice.
"Under other circumstances, I would be, but I'm glad you're here." Sue confessed.
"Why did you come here really, Valeria?" Reed interjected, crossing his arms as he scolded his daughter. She was too much like him, he knew she wouldn't have come for such a simple reason as that. Franklin, he could believe, but he could sense his daughter had ulterior motives.
Valeria averted her eyes. 'Dang it!' She thought to herself, seeing her and her brother's cute apologies won't work on him.
"Don't lie to me, Valeria. Why are you here, what do you know?" He scolded, causing her to once again avert her eyes before spewing out an answer.
"I want to know who Doom is." She answered plainly, looking up at her father with determined eyes. "They mentioned Doom in that message your boss sent and I've had dreams about this Doom for a long time. Who is he?"
Everyone in the room looked at each other, baffled by her response. Reed exhaled impatiently, feeling as if Doom at been toying with his family for longer than he had originally imagined. Having no other choice, he explained what was necessary to her.
"His name is Victor Von Doom. He was a close friend of mine and your mother, but we had differences in opinions and we are no longer friends." Reed hesitated for a second, not wanting to tell her the rest of it, though he knew it was necessary. "He also is the sole reason you exist. He helped your mother give birth. If it wasn't for him and his sorcery, both you and your mother would have died from childbirth. I believe he placed a spell of some sort on you, that's why you're having those dreams."
Valeria was dumbfounded, she felt lied to. She never knew that she nearly killed her mother during childbirth, nor did she know that any sort of sorcery was involved in her birth.
"How long have you had those dreams, Valeria?' Reed asked, not knowing if it would be better or worse if the dreams had just started recently.
"I don't know, a few years, maybe. They started off insignificant until recently. They've become more lifelike with each passing day." She confessed, still not wanting to say what exactly her dreams were like.
"Does he say anything in those dreams?" Reed asked, though the answer to this question would immediately turn his world upside down.
"All hope lies in Doom." Valeria parroted the line from her dreams, immediately getting bombarded with various fearful expressions from everyone in the room. No one had a clue what that phrase could mean, but they all knew it couldn't be good.
Was it an attempt at hypnosis?
Perhaps it was a premonition of the future.
Maybe it was Dr. Doom himself attempting to throw them off by implanting weird thoughts in her mind.
It could even just be Valeria having a strange dream without any sort of manipulation from Doom or his sorcery. Just a strange coincidence.
Time would soon tell just exactly what her dreams truly meant...
"Valeria, I think it would be best if you let me monitor you while you sleep. Is that okay? It will help us understand what all of this means, that's what you want, right?" Reed suggested, kneeling down in front of his daughter, looking directly into her soul through her eyes with a serious glare.
"Okay, if it will help." Valeria accepted her father's request, though she did feel a bit reluctant to do so.
"It is getting late. I will see to it that rooms are prepared for everyone." T'Challa left the room, leaving his sister, the guards, and the Future Foundation to think and discuss everything that they learned within the last few minutes.
Doom's future attempt at conquering the nation.
His knowledge of Reed arriving.
His influence on Valeria.
This wasn't going to be a simple war, they all knew that now. However, what scared them all was the uncertainty of it all.
What was true?
What was real?
What was he really after?
Those thoughts flowed through the minds of everyone in the room, even Franklin to an extent despite having a low understanding of what was going on at a base level.
Hours passed and each member of the Future Foundation found themselves in their own personal rooms in T'Challa's palace. Since the kids were there, Johnny and Eren shared Eren's room while the kids shared what would've been Johnny's room. Reed, using a strange, modified machine from Shuri, hooked it up to Valeria's head to monitor her sleep in hopes it would lead to answers.
Eren, alone in his room as Johnny was elsewhere, lay in his bed with his arms behind his back, thinking about everything he'd learned that day. He thought of his mother, wondering if his dad knew about her secret. He wondered when and if she was going to ever tell him, he wondered if she ever planned on coming back home.
He thought about Wakanda and his own Wakandan blood. He wondered if he had any relatives who were alive there and he thought about meeting them. His grandparents on his father's side died when he was a baby, so he'd never knowingly met a grandparent in his life.
'I wonder what it's like...' He thought to himself, staring at the ceiling in a daze. 'I wonder if they'd even accept me, knowing that I was only half Wakandan. I might as well be a bastard grandchild to them, created through forbidden love.'
Eren rolled to his side, grabbing his phone to see if Cindy had messaged him back yet. Due to the time difference, it was hard for the two of them to talk to each other. However, she was likely about to wake up soon.
Eren sighed, still thinking about his own heritage and the strange new circumstances he found himself in. 'What an existence... I really shouldn't even exist.' He thought to himself, acknowledging how low the odds must've been.
'And Doom... based on his little speech, that man is no joke. I thought magic was fake, now here I am worried about how powerful this guy's sorcery is. Powerful enough for childbirth, I guess. What a complicated family.' The young hero continued thinking to himself.
'All hope lies with Doom... what the hell does that even mean? Does he think he's going to save the world? Maybe it's what the people of his nation think. I hope Valeria is going to be okay, she seemed scared...'
'How do Doom and Fisk connect? Vibranium being Project V makes sense, but the connection does not. Doom was supposed to be out of the country, leading his own nation. Did he really come to America just to meet Fisk? Why would he even need Fisk to conquer the planet?'
Eren sighed, rolling over in his bed once again.
'Maybe this is just a coincidence and this isn't Project V. Maybe if I ask nicely, Mr. Doom will tell me. Yeah, sure.' Eren shut his eyes, continuing to think to himself until he inevitably fell asleep through his own thoughts.
____________
In a wink, the hero opened his eyes, seeing the sunlight entering the room through the window, shining on his auburn face. The boy stretched his arms and legs, grunting as he released the built-up tension from his slumber. As he stretched, he felt his arm hit a person who was sleeping next to him, waking the person up and startling the young hero.
'The fuck?' Eren thought to himself before turning his head and seeing Johnny Storm next to him, completely naked outside of the blankets.
"What the fuck!?" Eren said, leaping from his bed and attaching himself to the nearby wall in a standoffish manner. Johnny, not understanding what was wrong, yawned and put his arm behind his head before speaking to the arachnid teen in a casual manner.
"What's up?" Johnny said nonchalantly, letting it all hang. Him being naked wasn't the only thing off about him, he was wearing braids in his hair, despite not having the hair type for it. His hair looked as if it were hay getting ready to snap off of his scalp, but in his mind, he looked as good as ever.
In a tone of confused anger, Eren yelled at his part-time roommate from across the room. "Why are you naked!?" He shouted, not letting go of the wall he was latched onto.
Johnny looked confused. To him, the answer was as obvious as answering one plus one. With a confused scowl, Johnny answered plainly. "I'm hot-natured. I can't sleep with clothes on or a blanket."
Eren was astounded, still taking his standoffish stance on the wall with his eyebrows furrowed. "Okay, why are you sleeping next to me!?" Eren exclaimed, again confusing Johnny as the answer was simple in his mind.
"Uh, dude, there's one bed in here. What you wanted me to sleep on the floor?" Johnny asked in the most nonchalant tone imaginable.
"Yes!" Eren answered. "That's exactly what you should've done!"
"Dude, we're basically family friends at this point. Seeing my junk won't ruin your life." Johnny leaned up out of the bed before walking over toward some traditional clothing that was neatly stacked on the nightstand.
Failing to notice before, Eren locked his gaze on Johnny's new hairstyle, making a confused and unimpressed expression. 'What the actual fuck?' He thought to himself, looking at the surfer boy's braided hair which seemed as if it would all fall out at any moment.
"Why? Why is your hair braided?" Eren said in a disgruntled, still dumbfounded voice.
"Looks good right? Some ladies I met last night did it for me." Johnny answered, sounding almost as if he were bragging.
"It looks terrible Your hair isn't made for that, I hope your shit falls out from the scalp." Eren told him, detaching himself from the wall and approaching the nightstand. "So that's where you were last night? Getting pussy from some random women? Why didn't you just stay in their room? You can be naked all you want."
Johnny shook his head, laughing confidently to himself. "They weren't just some random chicks, they were those hot warrior women that follow the king around. They're called Dora Milaje." Johnny placed his hand on his chest, placing his other hand high in the air. "They just couldn't resist the Torch." Johnny said triumphantly before he looked at Eren, seeing that he was met by nothing but a blank stare from the young hero. "Well, anyway, I can't stay in their chambers, they'd get in big trouble."
Eren rolled his eyes, walking past Johnny and grabbing his own traditional outfit from the table. "Well, the bed is yours. I'll make a web hammock or something... on the complete opposite side of the room."
"You do you, dude." Johnny told him, finally having finished getting dressed before leaping back onto the bed. "Fine by me."
Eren got dressed, wearing the traditional clothing over the Spider-Matter costume just in case. "I'm going for a walk." Eren told his roommate before walking out of the room.
The hero wasn't done thinking about everything, despite having slept on it.
Doom.
His mother.
His blood.
Valeria.
Project V.
All hope lies in Doom.
It all cycled and repeated in his brain as the young hero looked for a place to clear his mind.
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