The Univengers: Reign of Doom

Chapter 15: Departure for Latveria

The toons had confident faces. Morshower walked to the garage door button to open it. Arnie went back to his motorcycle and turned on the ignition. The headlight glowed and he got on the seat to slowly drive out of the garage. As Banner walked out, he realized that he didn't have another pair of clothes with him as they sank along with the vehijet. He hurried over to his apartment and packed a green buttoned short and brown khakis in a small suitcase along with one of his "de-hulkifying" smoke flares that Letty used on him while they were in the Sonoran Desert. The Univengers walked out to the tooncopter and Banner eventually caught up. Popeye walked in the fourth door on the left to push the lever to the door ramp down. It opened and Popeye walked to the cockpit. Woody followed up the ramp and sat in the co-pilot seat. Harry and E.T. with their bike, Peter, Banner, and Storm followed. Arnie turned off the ignition on his motorcycle and pushed it to face away from the ramp. He then pushed the motorcycle backwards onto the ramp and into the aircraft. He set it on a bench to the left side. Optimus also had to turn around and enter the tooncopter backwards so he could exit with ease later. Harry set the bicycle against the wall. Banner pushed the lever up to close the ramp. The tooncopter rose and departed from the island to Latveria. Storm was still worried that the Univengers did not fully trust her. She mustered up the courage to persuade them to.
"It's alright if you don't trust me. Being a former worker for Doctor Doom is a bitter reputation. But, my life involved more than just Doom. I'm descended from an ancient line of African priestesses. I share a few traits with them like the white hair, blue eyes, and weather-like powers. My mother, N'Dare, was the princess of a Kenyan tribe and my father, David Munroe, was an American photojournalist. We lived in Manhattan until I was a year old. We moved to Cairo, Egypt to avoid racial tensions and a job was offered for my father there. When I was six years old, I was sitting in the living room with my parents when we heard a fighter jet approaching. It was shot down and they looked outside and saw it coming. Just as they were about to run to protect me, a flash turned to darkness, and their screams meshed into mine. My old life had died. I was under the rubble. My home became my coffin. I couldn't move or breathe. I called out to my mother and father, but I heard nothing. That fear of being closed in, buried alive, haunts me. I was eventually carried out only to see my parents' bodies on the ground. I told them to wake up, but they wouldn't.

I still miss them. Some nights I cry and the rain comes and I can still feel the wind from the crash." Everyone had a sorrowful expression. "After my parents died, I lived on the streets of Cairo as a beggar for a few weeks. That was until I was found by street urchins that worked for a crime lord named Achmed El Gibar. He trained me to pickpocket. It was going well for a few months until I snatched a wallet from a mysterious, hooded man who had bandages nearly covering his entire face except for his sullen, blue eyes. I started to run off with his wallet and I hid in an alleyway. Then, one of his Doombots dropped in front of me like it was from the sky. Fear took over me and a cloud quickly formed as Victor Von Doom came around the corner to see me with the Doombot. My retaliation summoned a lightning bolt to strike the Doombot. Its head was blown clean off and it tipped to the ground. That was when Doom realized what I could do. I told him to stay away but he wouldn't leave. I summoned another lightning bolt to strike him but he created a forcefield that bounced the lightning off to the wall of the alley. The debris fell onto me and I couldn't get out. The trauma came back and froze me. Doom removed the debris and helped me out. I immediately gave back his wallet. He could tell that I was an orphan desperate for care. He told me that I had more potential than to be just a thief. That word, 'potential', stood out to me. He took me in and I accepted because I wanted to be somewhere that didn't remind me of that horrible event. He showed me his castle, the Doombots, and all of Latveria. Doom was not like a father to me, far from it. He just wanted to be a teacher and enforcer. He made me understand what powers I had and how to summon lightning from just my fingers. Over 15 years, his view of me went from an apprentice to a weapon. His treatment of me made me question if I was blessed by the gods or cursed by the devil." Everyone, except for Arnie, had gutted faces. Arnie couldn't quite grasp emotions.