Chapter 3 – Doomsday Shall Soon Arrive

Author's note: Dr. Doom and his doom bots are based off their MUA appearance, though Castle Doom is similar to MUA2. Since I enjoy both games, I thought I'd give a little nod to them by using those designs. Also the base for the New F4 is based off the room where the Avengers have meetings in Avengers: EMH as well as the design for the Helicarrier in the Avengers film. And now, on with the chapter!

The armoured doctor had high hopes that eliminating his foes would end his trouble and welcome smooth sailing from that moment on. Sadly though that was not proving to be the case when he went to one of his main surveillance rooms, he approached one of the doom bots.

He scanned the robot with his wrist device to identify it "DM07...what's the status on Operation: Circuit?"

"Current status is 24.7% complete. Progress is significantly delayed due to 35% of previous equipment being available for reuse after last encounter with recently deceased Fantastic Four."

The doctor groaned in annoyance "Of all the unreliable...I finally go out of my way to remove my most hated adversaries and yet I'm still met with delays!"

He turned his attention to the only reusable material that was salvaged: only one of the three components he needed in order to link the entire World Wide Web to a wrist device he could control remotely. Since accessing the entire world's network was one of the more crucial parts of the operation.

On the giant monitor at the front of the room was an image of the 'second Earth' that was discovered not too long ago.

DM07 continued "The required electricity for the operation may only be available for a limit time period of approximately 5 minutes."

"That's our second biggest concern. Our main concern is getting those components otherwise we won't be able to get the electricity required for this."

"Lord Doom," another doom bot, one that had smoother armour and a different colour scheme indicating that this one was lower ranking than the command drone DM07 "It has recently been confirmed that a group of superheroes is forming a replacement for the Fantastic Four team."

"What?!" This only added to the doctors unwanted stress "This day just keeps getting better doesn't it?! First the delays and now a new group of four 'heroes' is forming!" After Doom had his stress relief he recollected himself and positioned himself to a vertical standing point.

"I was expecting the X-Men or the Avengers, but I believe we can still take care of them going forward. But first we need to figure out how to keep the components fully charged long enough for us to pull this off. Every time we use them their power levels drop a significant amount."

DM07 and the soldier drone approached the nearest console that wasn't under use at the moment "Schematics show that these materials can be reused if a more powerful surge of power is used after every use. We would have to use almost the entire Earth's supply of electricity if that level of power is required."

"Hmm, surely there is a more efficient way, some way to increase in power every time we use it?"

And then, he remembered. There were countless news reports of a new superhero that after just a few weeks was stripped of his powers. The boy could increase his power every time he activated them. What was his name Beta? Alpha? Probably the latter.

"Yes, why waste more time finding a sufficient power supply when we can recruit someone to increase his full potential upon each activation? Bring up any old reports or sources on this Alpha person; I have a proposition for him."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I've gotta say Jen, this is pretty nice."

Carol stood beside Jennifer as they stood by the entrance of the new base for the Fantastic Four. In the middle of the room there was a table and some chairs for each member with a computer monitor and console resting a few feet in front of it. There were a few canopies and monitors that could provide Intel on equipment or activities and a hallway led to a training simulator and of course most importantly, the toilets.

It also had a few homey touches such as a sofa with a 32-inch flat screen and a kitchen should any members feel peckish, as well as some bedrooms in case they needed to stay there longer than intended.

Soon Captain/Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk turned back to the entrance when they heard groaning and saw a bunch of boxes stacked on top of Zoness who had a device strapped around his wrist preventing him from using his water powers. He started to groan upon entering "Why do I have to carry the heavy stuff?"

Wolverine followed in suit "Helps you build up strength without using yer' powers to cheat." Zoness then placed the boxes on the ground "Can you please remove this thing now?" Wolverine sliced Zoness' arm off instead causing the water to splash on the ground and She-Hulk, Carol and Zoness to scream.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Zoness mentally controlled the water to move through the air and reform as his arm upon contact with him.

"There ya' go, now where's webs?"

"Up here" they all turned their attention to the ceiling where they saw Spider-Man crawl along until he was over them "Just checking to see if the security cameras were working."

She-Hulk turned to the four heroes once Spider-Man landed on the ground "Well now, it seems you're all set. Captain America is open to any questions you have and you can contact either myself or Daredevil if you need a representative should anything happen."

Zoness was already on the sofa with the remote to the flat screen "Well if you don't mind, I'm gonna make myself at home" but sadly that wouldn't be as easy as he would have liked as the first channel that was on was the news.

"Your attention please! A squadron of armed robots are invading the area and..."

"Oh c'mon! I just sat down!"

She-Hulk smirked at Zoness' dismay "Well seems like you're first mission has started."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The doom bots were approaching their destination and started to scan for the address for the house the target was in, with a small handful of them taking care of the police. However the NYPD had new and improved pistols courtesy of Stark Enterprises and posed as a threat to the robots now.

Not only that but the robot forces had to hurry with their mission as they saw four superheroes approaching rapidly, however Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain/Ms. Marvel and Zoness were wearing costumes that resembled those of the Fantastic Four.

The four heroes started to pound on the drones as DM05 and DM06 hid from the battle and contacted Dr. Doom "Lord Doom, replacements for the Fantastic Four have been found and are pressing an attack on our squads."

Doom's voice emitted from DM05's wrist "Continue the search for our protégé, your squadrons must not allow these replacements to follow you. Report back once you've found him."

As the DM's snuck towards their destination the new Fantastic Four was getting busy with decreasing the havoc. Spider-Man webbed 10 drones then pulled them towards him while jumping up into the air allowing Ms. Marvel (I'm sticking with Ms because I'm used to it) to blasts them all with an energy beam.

Zoness shape shifted his hands into a pair of swords and assisted Wolverine in slicing the gunners in two since the bullets wouldn't harm them due to Zoness' water density and Wolverine's healing factor. Once the gunners were down they turned their attention to the bigger drone threatening to throw a lorry towards them.

Zoness used his water particles to grow into his 'Hulk' form and performed a fastball special with Wolverine tearing through the giant drone's abdomen, the lorry crushing the motionless metal body. Wolverine scrapped the circuitry from his claws and Zoness shape shifted his feet into miniature rockets to fly up and aid Ms. Marvel.

While Spider-Man toppled the other giant drone he noticed two specially modified drones crashing out of a house with an unmoving body and a bag over the poor persons head. "Y'know guys if you want to make friends I wouldn't put people's heads in bags, that's why mafia bosses don't have anyone to hang out with."

Spidey swung after them and his Spider-Sense rang in his head as they were about to open fire. He flipped off his webline to avoid one of the Repulsor blasts and smashed DM05 causing him to drop the civilian. Before Spidey could do anything else DM06 threw down a smoke bomb blinding Spidey's vision.

By the time the smoke cleared and the others had destroyed the rest of the doom bots, DM06 had escaped with the hostage to who knows where. He looked down the destroyed DM05 and noticed that his wrist device was showing some coordinates, presumably to where they were supposed to be heading back to.

"Spidey!" Spider-Man turned to see the others approach him, "is everything alright?"

"Sorry guys, one of the doom bots escaped with a hostage, but I think I've found out where they're taking him" he directed their attention to the coordinates on the wrist device.

Ms. Marvel frowned "We had best head over there, save that civilian and find out why Doom wants him."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doom grinned as the coordinates were sent to the heroes "Now I shall prepare to meet my new friends. But first..." He wandered over to where a young man around Zoness' age was sitting with the bag removed from his head "...Andrew Maguire is it? Or should I call you Alpha? Whichever you prefer."