"Doom does not play games. He plays endings."—Victor Von Doom
Latveria – Perimeter Shield
Snow fell silently over the obsidian cliffs. At the borders of Latveria, reality warped. Stark drones collapsed midair. Magic wards sparked like dying stars.
No one entered Doomstadt uninvited.
But Riri wasn't just anyone.
"I cracked his cloakfield," she said, voice clipped as she hovered in her slimmed-down infiltration armor. "We have 32 seconds before the sentries adapt."
Kael floated beside her, flanked by two of his alternate selves: Echo-Kael (a mute variant who communicated in hard-light constructs) and Kael-99 (half-synthetic, all snark).
"Remind me," Kael whispered, "why are we breaking into one of the most dangerous minds in the multiverse again?"
"Because Doom has the coordinates to the Convergence Clock," Riri replied, "and I don't trust anyone else to hold that kind of power."
"Including us?" he asked.
She paused. "Especially us."
They dropped.
Inside Castle Doom
They infiltrated through the Oblivion Forge—a vast chamber of black steel and red-glowing orbs, each housing unstable realities harvested by Doom himself.
"This place gives me the creeps," Kael-99 said, scanning the orbs. "One of these is probably a universe where spiders rule Earth."
"Confirmed," Echo-Kael blinked via glyph. "Don't touch it."
The core vault door loomed ahead. Covered in spell-locks, neuro-seals, and Doom's personal encryption.
Riri cracked her knuckles.
"Time to make this tyrant cry."
Meanwhile – Doom's Inner Sanctum
Victor Von Doom sipped dark tea from a cracked Asgardian chalice.
He was already aware of their presence.
"Let them come," he said to no one.
The Architect of Collapse stood in the corner, still shrouded in shifting entropy. Its voice bent the shadows.
"They are anomalies. Interference."
"They are children," Doom said coolly. "And even a child can open a lock."
He turned.
"I want them to. Because I want them to see what I've built."
Behind him, the fractured map of the multiversal lattice spun. The final node was missing—Kael's shard.
"And then I'll take back what is mine."
Back in the Vault
The locks fell away, one by one.
Riri's eyes widened as the vault slid open.
Inside, hovering in a pool of anti-light, was the Convergence Coordinate Sphere—a map encoded in collapsing time.
But as Kael reached for it—
DOOM STRUCK.
He arrived not with rage, but gravity—the very room twisted under his will.
Kael was slammed against the wall. Riri's armor began peeling off in segments.
"You dare infiltrate the realm of Doom?" his voice echoed.
"You're trying to end the multiverse!" Riri shouted.
"I'm trying to remake it, girl," Doom corrected. "One reality. One ruler. No more chaos. No more variance."
Kael, struggling to his feet, shouted:
"You'll kill trillions!"
"I'll preserve them in order," Doom replied. "They will thank me."
Then the Architect stepped into view—its limbs folding in impossible geometry.
Riri's HUD screamed: MULTIVERSAL DISRUPTION MAXIMUM.
"He's using you!" Kael said to Doom. "It wants the Clock to finish spinning!"
"And I want the key to turn it," Doom said coldly. "So… give me the shard."
Kael's hand lit up.
"Come and take it."
The Fight
The battle exploded in a fury of light, steel, and reality-breaking pulses.
Kael-99 was thrown across time itself.
Echo-Kael shattered and reformed mid-air, catching an entropy beam before it hit Riri.
Kael fought Doom directly—shard vs. armor, will vs. will.
But Doom was prepared.
With a flick, he activated a containment lattice. The shard screamed inside Kael's chest.
"You are a child with a crown," Doom sneered. "Let me relieve you of it."
Kael looked at Riri.
"Now!"
Riri overrode the feedback loop.
Kael surged. The shard exploded in golden light, blinding Doom and searing the Architect's presence.
They grabbed the Coordinate Sphere and jumped through the emergency Rift Gate.
Unknown Location – Multiversal Bleed
They landed hard. The world around them was fragmented—skies like watercolor, trees from three eras, stars blinking in reverse.
Kael looked down at the Sphere.
It was glowing.
"We've got the coordinates," Riri gasped. "But Doom won't stop now."
Kael stood, clutching the shard.
"Then let's find the Clock… and stop everything before it hits zero."
[To Be Continued in Chapter 10 – The Heart of Time]