POV Nick Fury
"Mr Stark, when can we expect the main hive to be ready for the operation?" I ask while holding myself back from sighing.
"Another month, maybe. We've at least contained them for the most part and removed any reproduction sources for now, but I still have no idea how many are left in that damned hive. And I know what you're going to suggest, and no, I can't speed up as I'm already working my ass off to reduce their numbers," Tony complains.
"Can one of your suits transport the package to the queen?" I ask about my main concern.
"No, I've mapped out an estimated 47% of the hive, but I still haven't found the queen's chambers. From what I learned, it will likely be the deepest section of the hive. But I haven't even seen the queen, but I was told they are very large and incredibly hard to kill," Tony replies.
"Yes, from your source that you still haven't disclosed," I probe.
"Yeah, the one I won't tell you about, as I don't feel like it," Tony says sarcastically.
"Has this source been able to tell you how to better kill these creatures, or is that not something you will share either?" I ask with a slightly sarcastic tone of my own.
"Yes, and no. Basically, everything I have been doing is the best I can do for now. So nothing will help us right now; they did suggest using swarm tactics of my own, but that would cost too much," Tony replies.
"Oh? What kind of swarm tactics?" I ask with interest.
"They suggested I build a swarm of mediocre drones with simplistic combat algorithms that were designed to get as far as they can before blowing up. But again, the cost is high, I would need a massive amount of fissionable materials, and then I would have to make a lot of older Arc Reactor Models as I can't waste the time making the new versions for disposable models. All of this would take time, even with my best fabricators working constantly, and as far as I know, you aren't good for the money," Tony mocks.
My eye twitches, and I return the jab.
"The greatest mind on Earth can't afford to build an army of drones? I thought you said you were using your abilities to save the world; shouldn't that include using your money to defend Earth?" I ask with a slight smile.
"Don't you lecture me with that yee yee ass haircut, oh sorry, you don't have any hair cause you're too poor to afford hair restoration treatments," Tony says before closing his helmet and flying off.
Srnk
I turn around and look at the blank-faced Agent Romanoff. Seeing as she was the only other person present, it was clear who made the stifled laughing sound.
"Agent Romanoff, I have a new assignment for you," I order.
"Yes, Director," Agent Romanoff says calmly.
"I want you to head to Europe and investigate the strange activity of the Illuminati. They've been oddly quiet as of late, and I want to know what they are planning. Agent Hill will be your handler, report only to her or me," I order.
"Yes, Director," Agent Romanoff says with a crisp salute.
She leaves the camp and heads off to gather her gear while I consider what to do next. The world has been in complete chaos, and I was stuck dealing with an alien hive. It didn't help that all my trusted agents were busy with one thing or another.
I return to my makeshift office and read the report that had just come in a little under an hour ago. The news was not good.
'Damn it, what is Ghost Rider doing?!'
Ghost Rider had been moving throughout the world and punishing the evil. That itself would be fine as it's something he's always done, but now he's been doing so very publicly, and hiding his existence is basically impossible at this point. And to make matters worse, some idiots started worshiping Ghost Rider like he was some angel of justice. And I had literally nothing that could stop it.
It also didn't help that Ghost Rider was targeting some of the most powerful and influential people. Which has gotten the Council nervous, which in turn means I'm responsible for dealing with this problem.
'And how the hell am I supposed to kill a flaming skeleton that is unaffected by any weapons we have?'
Almost every weapon you can think of has been used on him, and none of them has worked at all. Bullets, Grenades, Missiles, Acid, Poisons, Holy Water, Crosses, Silver, nothing has caused him to much more than flinch, and even that reaction diminishes over time. It was partially the reason I was here in the field rather than back in DC or on the Helicarrier; out here, they can't bother me as much with demands to deal with a literal hellspawn.
'I don't even know why they are coming to me. Let that supernatural department deal with it.'
"Director, I've got bad news," an agent says while running over to me.
'Sigh. Great, what now.'
"What is it?" I ask.
"Victor Von Doom has been arrested for the murder of Doctor Reed Richards," the agent reports.
"What?" I say dumbly.
POV Shift Rio
"What?" I say dumbly while looking at the news.
I was so completely confused that I had to reboot upon hearing the news.
'What in the heck? Did I miss something? Did they become the F4 while I wasn't paying attention?'
I checked several websites, and everything I found made it clear that the space launch never happened, and neither had the Fantastic 4 made a public debut nor had they disappeared for a time. Which confused the crap out of me, as while I know Reed and Doom are rivals, they don't try to kill each other until usually after they gain their powers. And I sure as heck haven't heard of a plot line where Doom kills Reed before he gets his powers.
Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't all that torn up about Reed's death, as that man was arguably the most dangerous man on Earth, just because of his -100 Wisdom score. But that didn't mean I wasn't alarmed by the very strange twist of fate. And I also felt something was off.
Doom didn't seem to have any powers either, and he was caught and arrested. Doom is a brilliant man, and I find it very hard to believe that he was caught so quickly. Surely a man of his intelligence would know how to kill someone without getting caught. I mean, if you look at the stats, the number of solved murders is a fraction of a fraction, getting away with murder is surprisingly easy, at least in the US it is. Heck, Doom didn't even use his wealth to bury the evidence; instead, he seems fine fighting the case in court.
'I need to investigate further as this just screams set up.'
I won't say that Doom wouldn't kill Reed Richards even before they get their powers, but enough things don't add up that I just feel something isn't right, and with the powers of deduction from the world's greatest detective and the Question, I was confident something was afoot here.
My first stop in the investigation was at the scene of the crime. The office of Victor von Doom, which only further made me suspect this entire situation.
'Why would anyone kill their rival in their own office?'
I started looking around the office and reconstructed the scene from what the police had left behind, as it was still an active crime scene. I collected a few samples, but I had to admit the evidence already strongly pointed towards Doom. My next stop was the New York Police Department, specifically the evidence locker, to see what they had gathered. And what I found was troubling.
There was a video showing Doom killing Reed with a pistol, and from every method I had, it wasn't doctored in any way. But the strange part was the tapes from before the murder. They were all missing or corrupted. And I detected something that was very unusual on said tapes.
'Magic. Very faint, but it's there. Now, why would the tapes before the murder have magic on them but the parts recording the incident wouldn't?'
Footsteps
I hear someone coming, so I make my escape and watch to see who arrives before leaving completely.
"Like I told the other agents, the evidence is clear as day," a police officer says while entering the room.
"I understand, Captain Stacy, but we just want to take a look at the evidence and get a copy for our records," Agent Coulson says with a kind smile.
"Sigh. Fine, just don't damage any of the evidence, and I can have a copy sent to your office once we make another copy. Will that be sufficient?" Captain Stacy asks with a slightly aggravated tone.
"That's more than enough, thank you for your cooperation in this matter, Captain Stacy," Agent Coulson says.
I watch for a few moments and then leave when it becomes clear they are here for exactly what they say they are here for. But as I leave, I notice Agent Coulson looks into the shadows I was in a moment ago.
"Is something wrong?" Captain Stacy asks.
"No, it must have been my imagination," Agent Coulson says while looking back at the evidence.
My next stop was the prison where Doom was being kept, as I wanted to confirm a theory I had started to make. As such, it was time to head to Rikers Island.
Getting on the island was very easy for me as I had numerous ways to do so. In this case, I did the usual invisible broom ride into the prison and then invisible sneaking around until I found my target. But the island prison was massive, so I just decided to check the prison logs to find where I needed to go.
Doom was being held in a section of the prison meant for high-risk offenders, but those who were also rich enough that they needed better accommodations. However, as soon as I found him, I was too late. He was dead. He had hung himself while leaving a suicide note confessing to his crimes. I didn't dare get closer as I sensed several magical wards around his cell and body. His body was also radiating magic, which is what basically confirmed my theory.
'Someone used Doom to kill Reed and then made Doom kill himself afterwards. Someone with strong magic from the looks of it.'
I didn't remain there and quickly left the area before whoever was responsible detected my presence, if they hadn't already. To shake off any tail, I teleported to a Nether Portal I had built on the Watchtower and entered it, then I teleported to my cave from there. Only once I was back in my heavily warded cave was I willing to relax a bit.
"Okay, so we got a lot of clues now. The question becomes, who would want both Reed and Doom dead?" I ask myself.
'The murders were done with magic, which narrows down the options massively. I might be able to also include the fact that Susan Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm were not harmed or targeted.'
The issue I quickly faced was that I had too little info to determine who might be responsible. Sure, it was done with magic, but there were an untold number of magic users in the multiverse. I couldn't even be certain this wasn't done by some time-traveling magic user from the future trying to kill Reed and Doom before they destroyed the world, as let's face it, both are more than likely and capable of doing so.
The only magic users I knew more than likely existed were the Ancient One and the Sorcerers of Kamar Taj. Odin and Asgard could also be included. Agatha maybe? But beyond those options, I couldn't say who truly existed. And of those I mentioned, none of them had a concrete motive to act. Odin and Asgard don't seem too keen on interfering with Earth, as I can't find any evidence that they even helped with the Xenomorph situation. Agatha was far too uncertain for me to tell what she may want as her sources of power no longer exist, and I don't even know if she still exists or ever did in the first place.
That left Kamar Taj and the Ancient One. They might have a motive. As I have pointed out, Reed and Doom are dangerous, but mostly after they gain their powers. So if you had to kill them, then now is the best chance. Depending on the version of Doom, he is also a massive magical threat or even an asset in some cases. Reed turns evil more often than not and is just a massive danger to reality, and if they didn't kill him, I might have done so myself. The only issue I saw was the change in actions of the Ancient One and Kamar Taj. They don't get involved like this. At least not that I can recall. They mostly only deal with dimensional threats and the like. At most, maybe they handle magical affairs of Earth, but Doom and Reed were definitely not magical.
'Maybe it has to do with Time Stone or the fact that there is no risk of dimensional invasions?'
It felt like a stretch. They had tens of thousands of years of tradition, even if faced with a massive change, why would they change so quickly?
'Unless... Could it be because the Ancient One is dying? Without the Dark Dimension preserving her, she could perhaps be getting her affairs in order. And in this case, that means dealing with future and present magical threats. But would she really do that?'
I had far too little info to go off of, and the info I did have was suspect in terms of reliability, as this world was clearly not just the MCU. But for now, I would keep an eye out for any other unusual changes that could be linked to the death of Doom and Reed. Something was happening behind the scenes that I was certain of, but as it stands, I have no way to find out for now.