Superia

Doctor Doom looked out upon a sea of faces. Villains of every shade, from the most clever of criminals to time-displaced tyrants. In other circumstances they would be Doom's catspaws and hirelings; a few of the deluded fools might even think him their peer or rival. Yet Doom was above all of them. He and he alone was master here, in this timeless space of limbo.

Yet there was one whom Doom had not invited.

Behind his stolid mask, Doom raised an eyebrow as he noticed the temporal probe that hovered at the edge of the crowd. Its operator had placed it so as to try and mask its characteristic energy signature and temporal wake with those nearby beings. Yet Doom was not fooled by such subterfuge. More impressively, the operator appeared to know it...and a time-platform materialized into view. Atop it was a woman in a form-fitting costume. Tall, lithe, with an arrogant twist to her full lips, keen intelligence in her eyes.

"And I greet you, Superia," Doctor Doom replied, as the platform moved toward him, through the crowd of villains. The Latverian monarch recognized the infamous scientist and former self-declared ruler of "Femizonia." A genius whose intellectual gifts were only matched by her misandry. Her one stated purpose in life was to realize an all-female utopia.

"I have a plan," Superia said, as her time-platform came to a rest a respectful distance from Doom's person. "A way to free Susan Storm from the shackles of her marriage and this male-dominated world."

Doom studied her. The tell-tale signs of genetic enhancement were evident in Superia's own impossibly fit body. The Latverian monarch had little doubt that Superia had both a plan to achieve her goal, and that the subversion of Sue Storm to some radical feminist agenda was her goal. The only question was what she required from Doom to achieve this—and when and how she would inevitably betray him.

"Our interests may seem to be at cross-purposes," Superia said, as she predicted his line of thought. "But it is not so. My ultimate Femizonia will not come impinge on the sovreignity of Latvia. On this, you have my word. What I wish now is to lay the groundwork for that feminine utopia to be, on the North American continent."

The Latverian did not respond to this; unlike himself, the woman's promises were meaningless, subject to change on a whim. He did not even consider the possibility she would keep such a promise.

"You are not without resources or intellect," Doom said. "Why have you not moved on Sue Storm on your own?"

Superia gave a tight-lipped smile. "I have resources. But you have information. All the data you've collected on Sue Storm, her cosmic-ray-altered physiology, the difficulties she had during pregnancy. With that data, I can turn Sue Storm's own body to my purposes—help her realize her superiority as a woman, above and beyond those men she consorts with. So that she will join me at my side, as the first citizen of Femizonia!"

Doom's eyes caught and held Superia's. They seemed to pierce into her very soul. Defiantly, Superia returned it. No mere man would ever **** her to back down.

"What you ask is possible," Doom allowed, after a long moment. "But how, specifically, will you use it? How will you enhance the Invisible Woman?"

Superia's lips broke into a smile as she told him. And at that moment, the pact was sealed.