Doomed

Chapter Thirteen

Doctor Doom rose from the wreckage of the turret he'd flown into. He focused, concentrating his energy, and spoke a few words, pouring mystic energy into them. The circular blue glyphs appeared again on the floor, walls, and ceiling, this time visible only to their master, and beneath the metal mask, he smiled.

Spider-Man was in the air, dodging more shots from the remaining statues. He threw the shield at one, then immediately fired a web-line after it, catching the disc on its return bounce from destroying the statue's head. Twisting in the air, Spider-Man pulled on the web, swinging the shield around and exploding the heads of the six statues left standing behind him. As he landed on the side of one of the columns, his Spider-Sense warned him of a shot incoming from the last statue. He pulled hard on the web, bringing the shield back to himself, and caught it just as the energy blast was about to hit him. The vibranium absorbed the impact, and he leapt off the statue, keeping the shield in front of him. Spider-Man careened into the sentry's head, and the stone shattered around him.

It had taken about three seconds.

Doom stepped out of the scrap metal surrounding him and stared at the wall-crawler. "You will pay for the destruction you have wrought on my home, Spider-Man," Doom said.

"Jeez, Vicky," Spider-Man said, leaping down from the sparking remains of the statue. "That's a lot of stuff you've got me paying for." He held out his hand and started counting on his fingers. "That time I kicked you outside Horizon Labs, now all this stuff in your house. We're really gonna have to work out some kind of financing, here."

"Be silent!" Doom shouted, firing a blast from his gauntlet.

In response, Spider-Man blocked it with the shield, sending the energy into the ceiling. Several bricks fell to the ground, bursting to dust.

The room was silent for a few quick heartbeats.

The turrets in the walls resumed their assault on Spider-Man, and he flipped out of the way, blocking several in the process. Doom fired at him as well, but every time Peter managed to deflect them with the shield.

Ok, Pete, let's even up the odds a bit.

He leapt onto the left wall, bouncing his way up between the wall and the columns. The shield flew out, Peter pulling on his web to scrape it along the very carefully ordered and symmetrical turrets. "Hey, thanks for putting all these in a straight line, Vicky," he said. "I don't think I'd be able to smash so many at once otherwise."

Doom howled in rage from the floor, and fired more shots from his gauntlets. Peter simply jumped out of the way, landing on the wall next to the smoking guns he'd just destroyed. His Spider-Sense tried to warn him about the glyph, but it was too slow. Doom clapped his palms together, and his gauntlets glowed with magical blue energy. The wall erupted outward behind Peter, electricity surging through his body as though it were made of copper. His makeshift bandage burned away from the wound in his left arm, and he fell to the floor, convulsing.

Doom walked over and kicked the shield away from him, then stomped his heel down on the holes in Spider-Man's arm. Peter screamed, the sound tearing from his throat. The pain only intensified as Doom ground the metal heel into the muscle, and Peter was still too stunned from the electric trap to try to resist.

"Such arrogance," Doom said. "To think you could come into my home and take that which is rightfully mine." He lifted his foot and kicked Spider-Man in the face, shattering the left lens of his mask. Doom reached down and lifted Peter up by the neck. "Why so desperate, Spider-Man? The Captain, I can understand, in fact I planned upon, by why you? Your rage when I took the formula, the speed with which you arrived here…"