Spider-Man: Duty and Loss Chapter 65: Diplomatic Incident

(Unknown Location)

A woman walked quickly down a long corridor towards two large doors. With dark braided hair, done up in a ponytail, A smile was on her face as she gripped the small item in her hands. She was wearing a white dress that highlighted her figure as she walked towards the doors.

From her grip it could just be made out that it was a necklace made of silver, on the end a pendant of some type of bug could just be seen. The design was uniquely detailed and looked beautiful in the dim light above.

The woman had been working on the necklace for a very long time, now she just had to find a good opportunity to give it to him. Wanting to show her new piece of art off to her Father and family she was close to the throne room.

Yes the woman walking towards the door was a princess. Walking up she gave a nod towards the two bald guards at the door. Both had spears I their hands and wore their formal uniforms, each gave warm nods towards her as she entered.

As her hand touched the door to the room, a small part on the door lit up as it scanned her finger and bio metrics. A small almost unnoticeable click came out as the door swung easily open. It didn't make a sound as it swung, showing the well-made design and upkeep of the door.

"When did it happen?!" The smile on her face turned into a frown though as she heard the words coming from the room. A throne sat in the middle of the room, as multiple chairs sat around it forming a circle. Looking around the room, the woman spotted her mother, the queen, off to the side, while her Dad, the king, was on the throne talking to her brother, the prince.

It had been his voice that had just shouted out. The princess made little noise as she made her way over, not wanting to disturb them. "In the afternoon Father." With grey hair and a well-trimmed goatee, her father finally stood up.

A look of rage was on his face as he started to pace the room. No one spoke as he did so, as the King of their country he had all the power and authority. The princess wanted to ask what had happened but didn't.

"How much did they take?" Finally the King spoke. Her brother replied quietly from the side. "They somehow broke into one of the refineries, they got at least 1 Ton." *Pop* You could physically hear the sound of his grip tightening.

"How did they get past our defenses?" Her brother shook his head. "We have got our best people looking into it." The princess's eyes widened as she heard the words. 'What does he mean best people? I'm the best person in the country and this is the first I've heard of this!'

Having heard so much of the conversation she already knew what had happened, what had been stolen! It came as a shock to her as it shouldn't be possible. She would have to personally look into their boarder defenses, find out what truly happened.

Thinking that she pulled up a small holo screen up and started to go through some data, keeping her ears open to the conversation. The King thought to himself for a while, as quite ruled the throne room. Finally he walked back to his throne and sat down, he had calmed himself down.

"Have we identified who did it? Was it that Claw Person?" Her brother shook his head. "No it wasn't him, we have identified the person." Motioning towards the side, her brother brought up a hologram with another person on it.

Draped in a green cloak linked around his neck with a gold chain, the man towered in the shot that was taken of him. There was fur draped over the shoulders, with spikes on the shoulder pads. The most notable point of the picture was the metal mask that obscured his face. All that could be seen of the man's face were the two brown piercing eyes that had a tinge of madness in them.

Just in the screen could be seen the silver metal gauntlets that also covered his arms. It was hard to tell from the picture but the princess guessed that the man was wearing a full body suit, something she hadn't seen before. But it did look familiar.

"His name is Victor Von Doom. Sometimes called Dr Doom, as he has a doctorate. He is a very smart man." Her brother let out a sigh before he continued. "He is the current Monarch of Latveria..." It was like a bombshell went off in the room at the news.

Her Father face instantly darkened as well as her mothers. The princess herself had also sprouted a frown, they all knew what that piece of news meant. "It is a small country, but... if we were to try and forcefully retrieve the vibranium...We would be causing an international incident. The matter could be blow out of proportion."

*Bang* The king slammed his fist into his throne as his mind started to race. "Can we retrieve the vibranium without an incident?" The prince shook his head again. "No their technology is surprisingly advanced; we wouldn't be able to get in and out without someone noticing." "Damn."

The kings mind raced as he thought of all the options that he could pursue, he didn't want the world to know how technologically advanced his country was, most people thought it was just a 3rd world country, and he wanted to keep it that way. But he couldn't let this 'Doom' character get away with so much.

'Just an ounce is already valuable and he had stolen 1 Ton!' 'No, wait…he knew we wouldn't be able to respond without making waves, he's banking on that fact. He must know if we used our full might we would easily grab it back.'

Just that thought alone made him even angrier. "What else do we have on him?!" Waving his hand the Prince changed the screen to show some extra information. He had already read up on the target before coming to the throne room, so he started to recite some of the information.

"Doom has been abusing the use of his diplomatic immunity in America to perform numerous deeds; if he is ever called in to question h can't be detained. An interesting fact to mention is that these deeds usually revolve around a one Reed Richards and Susan Storm. They used to be partners in business."

Waving his hand again a new picture with 4 people appeared 3 men and one woman. "Due to some bad fall out between him and the Baxter foundation, he has been gunning for them ever since. Some type of project went wrong that affected everyone you sere before you. They seemed to have gained super powers from the ordeal." He stopped as a new screen appeared show casing scenes of their powers displayed one by one.

Flight, telekinesis, fire manipulation, one even had super strength, though his skin had turned to a brick like substance, before finally showing a newspaper dubbing them 'The Fantastic Four'.

"Though….." The prince motioned back to the picture of Doom with his mask on. "….Whatever they ran into also left Doom with some facial deformities. It is not known if it is a vanity problem or if he actually needs the mask and suit to live, we are still gathering data."

A small light bulb went off in the Princesses head as she skimmed over the information. She knew a bit about the super hero groups that based themselves out of New York, with the 'Fantastic Four' being one of them. The same People she was now looking at. That explained why the name Dr. Doom rang a bell. Crystal talked to her about the man one time.

Stopping his explanation for a second her brother bowed as he gave a suggestion. "Father if I may. These four here have been shown to foil and stop Doom multiple times. If we were to garner their help, we could avoid a diplomatic incident."

The king sat back as he thought over the words. His eyes had quickly scanned the information before him, it was very possible that they could help them, his sons idea wasn't a bad one. But he had been raised that way, to be more accepting of the outside world, more trusting.

And that was the problem. "We cannot trust them with such a task, Vibranium is too valuable. I cannot trust them with the task to return it to us." The princess's eyes flashed as she heard the words, a certain idea coming to her mind.

It was getting close to that time, and she wanted to give him the present she had been preparing. They were bases out of New York…and Crystal had just told her that day that he got a new phone. A smile came to her lips as she gripped the pendant in her hand tightly, stepping forwards.

Her brother and father stopped what they were doing when she stepped forwards. "Yes, daughter?" Her smile got even wider. "I think I know someone we can trust that can help us with our problem." Her father raised an eyebrow lost with where she was going.

Pocketing the pendant she pulled up a new screen for them to look at. "You do remember Peter right?"

Chapter end