Chapter 25: Visions of Revenge

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"I don't care if no one likes me, I wasn't created in this world to entertain everyone."

- Houtarou Oreki, Hyouka

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<(Atem POV)> 

"You are the owner of Meta Enterprises? A chocolate boy like you? Are you joking with me?" Victor Von Doom asked with what could be described as almost a disgusting expression on his face.

"Yeah and guess what Dr. Spoilt Young Prince, you might have fooled them by pretending to be the legal voice of NASA but not me. I know a bloodsucking dictator and a shameless thief when I see one and you in my personal opinion stand at the epitome of those categories. You never invested in this project through NASA to collaborate in this research or something, you are just here to try to steal the hyperdrive design, aren't you, you greedy little brat? But guess what, you ain't getting it, at least not on my watch. So, you can take your meager little funding, and shove it up your royal behind." I spoke directly without mincing my words much.

The system had already made it clear that I needed to stop Victor from realizing his goals, so it didn't matter if I antagonized him or not because I was gonna be his enemy no one the moment he realized that he was not gonna get what he wanted as long as I existed.

But, now, I could try to befriend him and let him do what he wants, only to stop his plans at the last moment but that was a risk I had no wish of taking. After all, Doom even though had one of the highest potentials in the Marvel world, still didn't have anything that I particularly wanted. He was just a greedy and selfish combination of Tony Stark and Dr. Strange. 

Victor was silent for a few seconds in shock or at least that's what it would have looked like to anyone else but I knew otherwise. I could sense the clone receiving excess 'energy' of a mystical nature from some source, like it was charging itself to get ready for something but that feeling only lasted a moment before everything went back to normal.

"I see, so that's why. That's why you appeared so... familiar. I have seen you before. It now makes perfect sense. But it doesn't matter. Even if you are 'him', you are still making a big mistake, a mistake that will one day cost you your life. This is not a threat, it's a promise, from one ruler to another." Doom said with a snarl, hinting that he had already recognized me as the 'patron god' of Genosha.

Also, quite contrary to my expectations, instead of trying to attack me through his magical clone, he began to walk out of the room surprising everyone else there since nobody thought that he was going to let this thing slide that easily. 

"Wait, wait a minute. What about our deal? Even if NASA is not going to fund us, it's still going to allow us to launch our space shuttle right?" Reed quickly asked with a voice filled with desperation and fear of his research getting canceled.

Reed knew who I was but for some reason still hadn't realized that I could give them launching rights in Genosha or even directly pressure the American government even more than Victor could, something which Doom had already realized and thus had stopped pressing the issue altogether despite having a solid backing and legitimate grounds.

"I thought you were the smartest man alive Richards but it seems that you are only smart when you are tinkering in your little office. In matters of common sense and... relationships, you are an absolute fool. A pity." Doom snickered sparing one last look at me and Susan before walking out after uttering aloud one last line. "Doom will meet you again 'real' soon." 

The two NASA suits who had been silently observing everything till now also quickly followed after their current boss like dogs wagging their tails for their master.

'Am I making too many enemies too quickly? First, it was the red-loving ninjas, and now it's Doom who is probably going to annoy the hell out of me. I wonder if I should have taken care of him right here right now. I mean, I am not trying to make myself appear weak like those low-key protagonists but I simply don't want to attract the Ancient One's attention right now.

Even though I myself have a droid army, three goddesses, and a country filled with metahumans I have no idea just how powerful this universe's version of the Ancient One or the other supernatural factions who protect the planet are. So, even if they currently know about me, I still wanted to at least appear like a kind and merciful god before them till I have more information about their strengths instead of seeming like a god thirsty for blood and war all the time. And not having an all-out battle with a Doom magic clone in the middle of New York is a good step towards that.' I wisely thought to myself.

"What did he even mean by that?" Reed asked confusedly, not getting the small clue that his rival gave him about his crush slowly getting stolen away from him. However, no one here seemed too keen on educating him about that. Even Johnny who had gotten a slight idea about the type of relationship his sister was currently fostering with me wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Actually I think I know why Victor gave up that easily. You see, Mr. Atem here according to the rumors is the guardian of Genosha and he is as important and powerful to his country as Victor is to Latveria which means Mr. Atem also enjoys the same political power and influence as him and can help us in convincing the US government about not pulling out from the project..." Ben quickly tried to explain, happy that for the first time in his life he had understood something faster than his genius best friend.

"Nope, I won't help you in convincing the US government anything. If the government truly wants to break off connections with a foundation that Meta Enterprises has invested in, then I will gladly help them do so. From now on, we won't take any more government contracts especially when it comes to research about space and extraterrestrials. The launch will instead happen from the newly constructed Gen-X launch pad in Genosha. Meta Enterprises will take care of all the permissions and other little tidbits" I sternly commanded as I too prepared to leave. 

I knew that the US government wasn't completely at fault here but just the fact that they had let an international dictator dictate one of their most important projects that they were originally going to collaborate with a private non-profit foundation, a foundation of which I was the 'owner' of just to get some extra bucks and little more political leverage irked me the wrong way.

I never liked the US military and space department of the Marvel-verse. The government and politicians here seemed to be even more disgusting and corrupted than even the regular ones in my previous world that I somewhat remember. I had replaced a lot of the corrupted politicians and replaced them with people loyal to me, the League, the Hellfire Club, and Meta Enterprises but it seems I have to do a better and faster job. 

The reason why I wasn't going to accept working with the government on the other hand was because I knew that once aliens started becoming an everyday trope in this world, the government would do its best to work with the most technologically advanced foundation in the world and would try to hire the supposedly 'smartest person on the planet' especially since none of the other exceptional geniuses like Tony Stark were team players. And they would undoubtedly come back here. 

It would be then when I would get my revenge. I would make them beg for our technology and research and force them to bend over only for a single chance to get the Baxter Foundation to cooperate with them.

"Genosha isn't that the country where polygamy is legal? I even read on a site that the country is home to a plethora of exotic female metahumans who have different powers that can make your experiences with them unforgettable... OUCH, what was that for?" Johnny who had gotten really excited hearing about Genosha suddenly screamed like a girl in pain as Susan pinched his arm in anger.

"Respect women." She reminded him. 

"What? I respect women very much. In fact, women are my most favorite people." Johnny joked with a silly grin.

"Mine too. Anyways, upgrade all your defense systems Reed including your cybersecurity. One of my special tech... gal told me that breaking in your servers is equivalent to taking candy from a kid's hands. Anyway, I'll meet all of you guys later." I said as I excused myself and opened a red Boom tube and walked through it, I needed to keep an eye on Doom because I knew it as a fact that he had something going on in that big no-good brain of his when he promised to take revenge for this.

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(A/N: If you guys think that Reed Richards here seems too stupid, then you are not wrong. But the thing is Reed is stupid in terms of common sense and street smarts in almost every Marvel universe. I mean the guy could design a tool to alter reality but never realized that his wife was cheating on him in the comics. Even in the MCU film, Dr Strange and the Multiverse Of Madness he was too stupid and lacked general intelligence 😂🤣)

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