Doomed

Chapter Ten

The first corridor Spider-Man crawled down was empty. So was the second. They were also complete dead ends. He smacked his fist into the ceiling, knocking free some of stone. Owww… He shook his wrist to ease some of the stinging, then swung back into the central chamber. As he approached, Spider-Man heard the sounds of vibranium humming through the air, striking metal and rock.

"Ah, finally," he said, swinging down the passage Steve had taken. "You're playing my song, Cap!"

When he arrived at the end of the hall, Spider-Man found Captain America surrounded by the scrap remains of six Doombots, who appeared to have been guarding a terminal set into the curve of the wall. "Bad guys!" Spider-Man said, plopping down next to Cap. "Perfect! That means we're going the right way."

Cap dropped the metal arm he was holding and turned around. "What?"

"You know, it's like when you're raiding a dungeon," Spider-Man said, tip-toeing over the broken robots. "You're lost, then you find some bad guys. Bad guys mean you're going in the right direction."

The look he received told Peter that Steve might actually be concerned for his sanity.

"Never mind," Spider-Man said, turning to face the wall terminal. "So, the Doombots were guarding this thing?" he asked. "Did they set off any alarms or anything?"

"Not that I heard," Cap replied, turning to the computer.

Spider-Man's fingers started flying across the keys. "That doesn't mean they didn't have some kind of internal wireless network," he said. "But if they were guarding this thing, that must mean Doom didn't want us to get to it, right?"

Cap shook his head. "Think about it. Everything is empty until we find it. Just enough guards to maybe keep us from being suspicious, but not enough that would actually be protecting vital information. No, Doom wanted us to find this. It's part of the trap."

Spider-Man nodded, focusing his attention back on the screen. "Well, just because he wanted us to find the computer doesn't mean he wanted us to have all the information that's on it," he said. "So let's see what the easiest thing for me to find is…" he pushed one more button and a video feed appeared on the screen, showing a Doombot walking into what looked like a basement dungeon, carrying the files Doom had stolen. Webbed gloves pulled into fists as Peter looked at those papers, and fire burned behind his ribcage.

A hand fell on his shoulder, and Spider-Man shook his head, clearing it. "Ok," he said, stepping back up to the computer. "Let's do a little bit more digging." The clicking gained tempo as Peter worked his magic, fighting past Doom's firewalls. After a few minutes, and more than a few grunts of frustration from Spider-Man, he howled in triumph. "And," he said, lifting his thumb with a flourish, "Boom goes the dynamite."

The screen lit up with information, and Peter's mind was racing trying to remember it all. They saw maps, layouts of the building, plans for new inventions; it was too much. But the piece that stuck with them was the final one: a camera in the castle's throne room, where Doom sat in exactly the same position he had been before. He was staring straight at them, and the camera was of a high enough quality that Peter could see eyes behind the metal mask: real, human eyes. This would not be like the other times he'd faced Doom here. This was not a Doombot taking its master's place.

Doom raised a hand, his palm upturned, and the light glinted off the armor as two fingers told them to come to him. Then the screen died.

"And now the image of Doom giving me the 'come hither' is forever burned into the terror center of my brain," Spider-Man said, shaking his head. "I guess that means the element of surprise is gone."