Doomed

Chapter Ten

Steve rubbed his chin. "Maybe not," he said. "He might only be expecting you."

"Me?" Peter said, his hand over the spider on his chest like a Southern belle. "Why little ol' me?"
"You threatened him," Steve replied. "Something about 'God help you,' and tossing his van in the East River?"

Spider-Man scoffed. "Oh, no, his insurance premiums," he said. "But you might have a point. What should we do?"

"Well," Cap said. "If he's only expecting you, then he'll probably assume you'll go for the direct confrontation. Hence him challenging you on the screen. Most likely the Doombot carrying the papers was a fake. Doom intended for you to dig deeper into the computer."

"And I would figure that Doom was keeping the pages himself," Spider-Man said. "But what if that's a red herring, too? What if the robot did have the files?"

Steve was still for a moment. "Then let's give him what he wants," he said finally. "Just backwards."

Beneath the mask, Peter cocked an eyebrow. "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Captain?"

Cap sighed and shook his head. "We'll split up," he said. "I'll head to the throne room and keep Doom occupied, you go find that Doombot and look for the pages. That'll cover all the bases."

They started heading further down the corridor, Spider-Man on the ceiling above Cap's head. "Are you sure you wanna take Doom on by yourself?" Peter said.

Steve looked up at Spider-Man, his eyes narrowed.

"Never mind," Peter said, crawling through the open door at the end of the hall.

They came to another convergence of corridors, with several that branched off in separate directions, and one each with stairs going up and down. The large chamber was again empty, though this time there was a large statue of Doctor Doom standing in the middle of the room, his arms crossed over his chest, his right foot pressing down on a sphere that looked suspiciously like a planet Earth.

"Well, in my experience," Spider-Man said, lowering himself on a web-line to be upside down and eye-level with Cap, "Dungeon-type rooms are usually down. Y'know, in the dungeon."

Steve looked skeptical. "Are you sure about that?"

"The only thing I'm sure about is Doom's body odor," Peter said, waving a hand in front of his mask. "It's seeping through the stones in here." He grabbed his shirt and pulled it up to his nose. "Or did I forget to wash this suit after that Lizard thing a few weeks ago?"

Cap groaned. "Spider-Man…"

"Yes, I'm sure," Peter said, flipping onto the ground. "I saw a map on the screen. Dungeon is down. Throne room is up."

Steve pulled the shield off his back and set it onto his forearm. The air around them felt heavy, almost like it was about to rain. "Ok, remember the plan," Steve said. "I'll keep Doom occupied while you check the basement. Find those papers, and we'll get out of here."

"You got it," Spider-Man said, swinging over to the down stairs. He waited on the ceiling for a minute, watching Steve run up the other staircase without hesitation. "Okay, Spidey," he said. "The enemy's gate is down."

XXXXXX

Steve walked up the staircase, moving slowly. He didn't want to be caught off guard in such a small space. Fighting in a circular stairwell wouldn't leave him with many options. His caution was unwarranted, however, as he exited into what appeared to be the main entryway into the castle. He remembered being here before, but at the time Castle Doom had been remodeled into a more modern home for a head of state. Once Doom had returned to power, he'd restored the building's original layout and medieval appearance, though Steve was sure that every inch of the building was laced with Von Doom's technological upgrades.