Chapter 7

Deep in an Underground tunnel, Shuri, Harry, Artemis, and Donna moved to Latveria. Back on the other side of the wall, Kara and Whitney continued to study the Doombot.

"Wait," Shuri said.

Shuri stopped and deactivated the sensors down the hallway. Harry scanned the hallway further, but it was easy going.

"Am I just the only one who is met with a sense of anxiety every time I go down this hallway?" Donna asked.

There was something, some kind of presence down this hallway.

"It's not just you," Artemis said.

So far, no more traps. However, there was a chilling sense of uneasy when the group made their way down the hallways. Harry wondered what Doom was planning. There had to be some kind of facility which controlled and sent the Doombots there. Perhaps a hint as to why Doom decided to do such a thing.

"It's for the best that Doom does not find us down here," Shuri said.

"We know the way out and that's….."

Harry stopped short and patted on the wall. The small thump, thump, thump, and there was someone behind there. He turned around to face Artemis.

"Do you have one of those explosive arrows?"

"Don't I always."

Artemis reared back the arrow upon Harry's signal. He marked the "X" on the wall. A small and precise shot, but nevertheless, Artemis had been more than up for it. She reared back,fired and connected with the "X" to rattle it against the wall. There was a miniature explosion which followed and opened up the wall.

From behind the wall, a rather ragged looking woman with dark hair looked at them.

"Superman?" she asked. "Thank God you're here."

"Who are you?" Harry asked.

"My name is Grace Parker, I was nabbed by Doom and his robots," the woman said.

"Why were you nabbed?" Shuri asked.

"I was studying a disease," Grace said. "It's a strange affliction which has caused many people to drop dead in the area of a plague. I believe it may be a mutation of the disease which the Amazon Aresia created and now….listen, you have to get me out. I've been here for three months as Doom's lab rat."

"Just hang on."

The second Harry fiddled with the controls of the cell, a thunderous set of footsteps echoed throughout the hallway.

"Halt!"

Artemis groaned and she was not the only one. Doombots thundered down the hallway and made their way in the direction of the group.

Well, this could be a problem.

Perdita spent the next few minutes deep in thought of what she was going to do. Nora had been left alone with her to look after her.

"I must do it," Perdita said. "I must confront Doom and demand answers."

"I would," Nora said. "You will be judged as a pampered little princess if you don't do so."

Suddenly, a small amount of doubt hit Perdita as she seriously considered the consequences of her actions.

"But, there's...there's a chance that I will go down the road which I'm not unlike my Uncle and I'm not him," Perdita said.

This caused Nora's expression to soften and she looked thoughtful.

"I...understand your concern," Nora said quietly. "But, there's being a monster and then there's…."

Boom, something rattled the outside of the palace. Nora grabbed Perdita's wrist and threw her behind a piller just as something came crashing through the window. Nora braced herself for a magical attack.

Atop a large griffin stood a petulant brat who Nora practically sneered at as he dropped down onto the ground.

"Modred," Nora said. "Mommy let you out to play?"

The foul little brat just looked at her with contempt.

"Stand back, witch," Modred said. "And give me the Princess. I want that necklace."

"Little boys shouldn't be playing with dangerous little toys," Nora taunted. "You know, why don't you go run along, it's way past your bedtime….."

The stone griffin Modred sat across breathed fire. Nora put up a shield to block it and repelled the attack. So, Modred wanted Perdita's necklace. That was kind of interesting, it just proved there was more met the eye. Nora liked dashing the wants of the little tool. She fired back with an attack.

Artemis pulled back her arrow and fired in rapid succession at the Doombots. Until one of them knocked her bow out of her hand. Artemis did a backflip and picked up one of the dropped arrows. She slammed it into the eye socket of one of the Doombots. Another one rushed towards Artemis. Artemis blocked the attacks and fired back.

Shuri propelled herself up over the back of the Doombot and slammed down. A vibranium gauntlet connected to the back of the creature's head as she slammed it down onto the ground. Sparks flew and Shuri pulled back a half of a step to drive the gauntlet down across the back of the head of the Doombot.

Donna went toe to toe with the Doombot. Doom did program some decent fighting skills without the android, Donna would give it that. But, she had been more than well equipped to go toe to toe. She slammed her fist down onto the back of the neck of the Doombot.

"Whitney, I need you to run interference," Harry said. "Get her out of here."

"Right, just say when," Whitney said. "I believe I can also disrupt the Doombots on my way end."

"Great, do that."

Harry casually blasted a Doombot out of the air with the heat vision which allowed Artemis the distraction to reclaim her bow and fire at the Doombot. The Doombot crumpled up like a piece of paper and dropped down to the ground with a steady impact.

Whitney made her way in with a blur. She dropped a small orb on the floor, which released a wave of energy which went from Doombot to Doombot, and blasted them with energy.

"Just hold tight, lady."

Grace nodded and Whitney opened the cage the rest of the way. A blast tried to stop her, but Harry deflected the attack.

It took seconds to realize that Harry did not go face to face with a Doombot himself, but he came face to face with Doctor Doom himself. Doom's Doombots fell back in line, when their master approached. Artemis, Shuri, and Donna stood shoulder to shoulder with Harry.

"You fool," Doom said. "By liberating that woman, you may have unleashed something which Doom worked tirelessly to prevent."

Doom's eyes glowed suddenly as the Team and Shuri braced themselves for a fight. However, something else caught Doom's attention and deflected his immediate interest from the team.

"Modred," Doom growled. "The fool."

"So, are we doing this or not?" Artemis asked.

Artemis fired an arrow. Doom casually deflected it like it was an insect.

"Doom demands you get out of his kingdom, or you will suffer the consequences," he said. "I have something much more pressing to deal with, even more so than your blunder."

"Problem….that little weasel Mordred is attacking, he's after the Princess's necklace, and he's...actually might get it," Nora panted over the communication link.

"Hang tight," Harry said. "Make an exit, Artemis."

"You've got it."

Whatever Mordred had done, seemed to distract Doom. Therefore, they were going to get out of there. Aremis reared back the arrow and fired to create a tunnel which allowed them passage.

Modred slammed Nora down to the ground. A sharp magical force prevented Nora from fighting back. She struggled, struggled against the attack.

"Congratulations, this is the closest you're going to get to being on top of a woman, you twerp!" Nora groaned underneath the attack.

"Now, Princess, you should come out unless you want to lose your head," Modred said. "I'm going to enjoy this, Elanor Darhk. You've treated me with nothing but arrogance. You and your father both and now I will be….."

A flick of a finger sent Mordred crashing off of the Griffin. The little brat rose up, angered beyond all belief, and the second he did, he moved to face Harry who dropped down to the ground.

"Superman?" Modred asked. "You decided to face me. Perhaps you're not a coward after all. You should be honored to be in the presence of royalty."

"Trust me, I'm in the presence of royalty every day," Harry said. "And the only thing you are, is a royal pain in the ass."

"You dare mock me? You dare belittle the man who will rule this world? You dare? I am at the peak of unprecedented power and now you are not going to show me the respect. This is inconceivable! You will not respect me, for you will perish and you will bow before me. Whether you do it on your own accord or whether you do it in pieces, that is up to you but….."

"Shut up, Malfoy!"

It was a slip of the tongue, but it incensed Mordred.

"Oh, he doesn't like being called the wrong name," Nora murmured, very amused.

"MY NAME IS MORDRED!"

In two shots, Harry deflected both Mordred's magical attack and also he reduced the griffin in dust. Mordred conjured a sword out of mid-air and prepared to run it at Harry and Nora. His eyes glowed and he was foaming at the mouth.

"I'll show you to respect me. You will remember my name as the man who killed Superman and….."

"MORDRED!"

A dome appeared and Mordred crashed head first into it. The impact shattered his nose. Doom appeared in the flesh and grabbed Mordred by the scruff of the neck to drag him off. He paused, momentarily locking eyes with Harry and Nora.

"Doom will forgive your transgression, given the circumstances," Doom said.

"Camelot will rise again!"

That was Modred's last word as Doom dragged him off through a portal.

"Harry, we have a problem!" Kara shouted over his ear piece.

Kara hunched over a shaking and shivering cold Whitney, who laid slumped against the ground. Harry walked behind her, with Shuri, Artemis, and Donna bringing up the rear. Artemis made a step to grab Whitney.

"Stand back," Harry said. "Whitney?"

"I'm okay, just...the speed healing is kicking in slowly," Whitney said with a cough. "Yeah, it's a little better now...sorry about that."

Harry raised her and Whitney got a little bit more color in her face. Within a few seconds, Harry took a blood sample and preserved the disease which was obviously afflicting.

"What happened?" Artemis asked.

"Well I turned my head for a second," Whitney said. "Doctor Parker grabbed me and the next thing I knew I was on the ground. I could barely breathe, but I'm okay now."

"We might have made a mistake."

Shuri whipped out a scanner and scanned the particles in the air.

"I've never seen anything like this before, but it appears we made a grave mistake," Shuri said.

"How so?" Donna asked.

"Doom did not kidnap a woman studying a disease," Harry said. "He kidnapped a woman who was the disease. The only question is, whether or not she's a meta-human or something."

"Well, she has to be right?" Whitney asked. "Why wouldn't she be a meta-human?"

"She's...she seemed normal," Artemis said. "She played us. She played our emotions and she made us release her. Doom had her locked up because Doom was studying her. Studying what she could cause and we fell for it. We fell for it big time. We got played."

"That's the problem, we couldn't have known," Harry said. "But, we have a problem."

"Based on these early readings, she could be something far more dangerous than Aresia's plague ever was," Shuri said.

"And if the virus gets mutated with the plague Doctor Parker gives out," Kara said. "You could run into serious problems. This could lead to an extinction level event."

"Hera help us," Donna murmured. "What have we done?"

"We're going to track her down," Harry said. "She can't have gone far."

Perhaps, they had a trail of death to follow. Of course, as the hours passed, they would learn that Doctor Parker had a knack for disappearing and that would lead the Team back to square one.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! I LOST! I LOST THE NECKLACE!"

Mordred slammed his fists against the wall until his hands were raw, red.

"I could have stopped Superman if you had not intervened. I'm serious, I should be the one who makes the plans. For all of your inaction, you could have ruled the world many times over. Guess everyone is right. You are second best to Reed R….mmmph!"

Modred's rant was cut short at Doom gagging him. Doom looked down at him in a very icy glare, not blinking for one second.

"I respect your mother and her power," Doom said. "But, I will not entertain your petulant outbursts any longer. Your arrogance is what got your mother trapped in the shadow realm. And if it was not for my charity, you would have perished. Today, especially."

Doom left Modred to silently fume. He had more important things to worry about it.

"The matrix is finished," Doom said. "And there are more. My country will be properly inoculated."

Latveria was the only place on Earth not touched by the Amazon's virus. He could beat this pestilence which was coming.

Every lead on Grace Parker resulted in a frustrating dead end upon a frustrating dead end. Harry stepped in to check to see how Queen Perdita was doing. She waited for him in a pink nightgown and a smile. She crossed her soft looking legs and stood up to face him.

"I'm under protection for the moment," Perdita said. "Emergency protocol, but I insisted the guards make an exception for you to pass."

"Of course," Harry said. "No luck in finding the doctor."

"She may have escaped my borders by now," Perdita said. "I do have everyone on high alert. For both her and Mordred, as he will return. I'm curious to what the necklace does. And what gifts it may yet give me. Or curse."

With a smile, Perdita considered the man before her.

"I am an adult and would like to understand all of the benefits of being one," Perdita said. 'Are you going to show me, Hadrian?"

Using his full name, Perdita gave him a smile. The Queen of Vlatva stood on her tiptoes. Harry still had to lean slightly, meet her lips and give her a kiss. Harry scooped Perdita into his arms to deepen the kiss. She moaned underneath his mouth.

This had been a long time coming, long anticipated by Perdita. For years.

A hero should have his reward after all. Perdita had been dreaming about Harry doing things to her before he could legally could. Although, if he did, she would not tell, but she respected his conviction until she was of legal age. Even if it lead to many frustrating evenings as she dreamed about what reality would exceed.

Her knight in shining armor would be rewarded.