Doom Does Not Aid The Children

"Why do you need my help?" Doctor Doom asked.

Between them, Franklin and Valeria told Doom what he already knew. Their mother's diffidence and change in behavior. The absence of the rest of the Fantastic Four. The appearance of Porkum. Somberly, soberly, he asked pointed, specific questions: Had Porkum hurt them in any way? Had he threatened them? How had their mother acted? Did she say anything directly about Reed Richards and the others?

Minutes ticked by, and at last, Doom's questions were exhausted. The children looked at him, the hope in their eyes faded to confusion by what he had asked, and the answers they had given. Neither of them could put into words exactly what was wrong.

"There are matters between adults, conflicts which parents do not want their parents to see. I have long suspected that your parents marriage has been—strained. His long absence during the period of your mother's injury may have fostered a break in their relationship. This...Porkum...may be a new romantic interest. I do not say this with ultimate certainty, but based on what you have said..."

"So...you're not going to help us?" Valeria asked.

Doom drummed his gauntleted fingers on the table.

"If you were in immediate danger, there is nothing that could save Porkum from my wrath," Doom said. "If you mother had neglected or abandoned you, I might move myself to intervene. Yet this is a matter where you do not appear to be at risk. Doom cannot interfere in a breakdown in your parent's marriage."

The children were silent at that. Then Franklin spoke, very quietly, very deliberately.

"Do you know what happened to dad?"

Doom met his gaze through the videoscreen. "Your father and the others are still, as far as I am aware, traveling through the dimensional void. The interdimensional beacon at the Baxter Building that they would normally use to return home has been...disabled."

It was as close as Doom would come to a lie. He knew that Susan Storm had disabled the beacon. Knew that Porkum had given her the instruction, and Doom had told him to do so. The Latverian monarch hardened his heart against the tiny shred of guilt that might have penetrated it. These children, though innocent, were Reed Richard's own. Their father had doomed them by leaving when and how he did.

"So what do we do?" Valeria asked.

"Your mother is going through a difficult period," Doom said. "Be good children. Do not make her life harder than it must be. If, at any point, Porkum harms you or threatens to harm you—contact me immediately. I give my word, you will aid you against any foe."

In their conversations that had led up to Porkum moving into the Baxter Building, the armored villain had made it clear that no harm would come to either of the children. Porkum had agreed readily—perhaps too readily. Doom knew what animal cunning lay behind those small, dark, piggy eyes. Yet this was the game he had set in motion, and Susan Storm had much further to fall...before her husband returned. If he ever did.

Franklin hesitated before he ended the call. Doom watched him. The young man's immense powers were still largely unavailable to his active use. Yet he was a wild card in this scenario. A piece that might upset the carefully laid board. Finally, Franklin spoke.

"You could help mom. If you wanted to," he said, his voice accusing.

Doom held that gaze.

"You are young, Master Richards. You do not know the subtleties or complexities of love, how seldom things work out. Yes, I could charge into the Baxter Building and destroy him. What then? How will your mother feel? What if she seeks comfort in the arms of another—Namor, perhaps, or King T'Challa of Wakanda? Shall I destroy them too? Would you have me guard her honor until your father returns, and leave her alone, isolated, for months or years? Perhaps forever?"

Franklin had no answer to that. Yet he seemed to understand. The grown-up world was complicated. A hero swooping in and saving everything by punching somebody was a childish notion.

He ended the transmission. Doom stared at the screen, and felt the weight of his sins settle on him.

The next part of their plan would not be easy on the children.