[center][h1][color=darkgreen][b]D O O M  P A T R O L[/b][/color][/h1][/center][hr]

[indent]"So, what's the deal with this latest Doombot?" The blond-haired man asked as he stretched back in his seat, arms behind his head. 

Victor Von Doom fixed Johnny Storm with an unamused look. "Must you call them that?"

For the better part of six years, the young man sat aside Victor had shown little care or respect for the numerous inventions created by the latter. It wasn't malicious, at least Victor didn't believe so. Although, he was confident Johnny did take joy in teasing him. What future brother-in-law wouldn't? Storm's favorite jape was to refer to each one of Victor's mechanical creations as "Doombots." 

"Says the guy who calls himself 'Doctor Doom,'" Johnny added, his movie-star good looks twisting into a grin. 

Suppressing a sigh, Victor turned back toward his task. He flipped two switches on the dashboard stretched out before him and pulled back on a lever beside his seat.

"Well, Jonathan." He spoke slowly and deliberately, his slight Eastern European accent highlighting each syllable. "My name [i]is[/i] Von [i]Doom[/i] and I [i]do[/i] have a doctorate. Several, in fact."

"So you keep reminding me."

Victor didn't bother to dignify that with a response. They both knew the repeated reminders were only ever prompted by Johnny's comments. 

"So," Jonathan said, his tone shifting away from the playful mockery. "This thing's the real deal?"

Victor nodded. "By all calculations, yes. It's the real deal."

The two young men sat aboard a state-of-the-art hovercraft designed by Victor. Hemispherical in shape and measuring nearly eighteen meters in diameter from bow to stern, the vehicle was the trademark mode of transportation for the Doom Patrol. Designed to operate in most environments, over the years it has ferried the foursome from the depths of the ocean to the heights of the Himalayas and even the other dimension of the Negative Zone. Today, it carried the pair of Doom and Storm out of the stratosphere and into the upper atmospheric layers of the planet. 

For months Victor had been toiling away on this project. From the moment he and Reed Richards had devised the device responsible for their initial discovery and voyage into the Negative Zone, Victor had dreamed of the potential. Two years after their maiden voyage into the N-Zone and the subsequent incident, he had perfected the dimensional rift machine and incorporated it into the design of his hovercraft allowing him to enter into said Zone at will via the flying vehicle. A year later, he had tweaked the device to expand its capabilities and enable travel to a host of different dimensions, including the mythical Avalon. Since then, he had been theorizing how to utilize the N-Drive, as he called it, to reach the so-called 'final frontier.' 

It had been Susan's idea for him to bring Johnny along on this trip. Some 'family bonding time' as she had called it. Not that the two men didn't see much of each other - not only did they adventure with the rest of the group constantly, but both had lived in the same building since they were teenagers. Still, while they were far from strangers, the pair had never been as close to one another as they were with other members of the Patrol. With nuptials pending, Sue Storm no doubt intended to change that. 

A blinking green light on the dashboard signaled the duo had arrived at their designated location. Victor reached towards the lever on his right and throttled it back down. The craft slowed before eventually settling in place more than 300 miles above the surface of Earth. Here among the thermosphere, above even the International Space Station, Victor could put his calculations to the ultimate test. 

"You know, Vic," Johnny said, leaning forward to peer through the panoramic view displaying the black expanse beyond and the blue marble beneath. "Sometimes your nerdy gizmos are pretty cool."

Jonathan's use of Victor's name in short-form made him frown momentarily. Yet another example of the former's jests. 

"Sometimes?" Victor asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"Yeah. Sometimes they blow up in our face. Literally," he answered. 

"Let's hope, then," Victor said with a hint of a wry smile, "that this isn't one of those occasions. There's only an infinitesimal chance of catastrophic failure." 

Johnny's eyes widened slightly and a shadow of panicked confusion passed over his features. "Wait, what?"

Victor's response was in the form of swiping his fingers across a series of buttons. 

From the bottom hull of the hovercraft, out of view for both, a set of bay doors silently dropped open. From the opening, a series of spherical objects about a meter in diameter each were released into the void. Mere moments after passing the threshold of the bay doors the orbs rocketed out in a wide-spread arc as their built-in thrusters engaged. 

From within the craft, Johnny could now see a dozen of the white spheres distancing themselves from one another and the vehicle itself. He leaned toward the viewport as they hurtled away and eventually out of sight. After nearly a minute of waiting, he sat back and cast a disappointed look at Victor. 

"That's it? That's all we came up here for? To shoot some oversized baseballs into space?"

"Wait for it." Victor pointed a finger towards the viewport.

Another twenty or so seconds passed before Victor grinned. "[i]Now.[/i]

Before he had even finished saying the word, the space in front of them exploded into color. Emanating from a dozen points, a series of burnt-orange glows brilliantly flashed as each of Victor's probes exited the upper limits of Earth's atmosphere nearly 6,000 miles away. Preset programming engaging their respective N-Drives as they reached deep space, forming a bubble of dimensional space around the spheres. The distant but bright sparks of energy remained above and ahead of them for several seconds before just as suddenly winking out of existence. 

"I'm guessing that was more than just a few fancy fireworks," Johnny said in a tone that indicated he knew just what that display meant. 

"I could rattle off an intense and highly technical explanation for you, Jonathan, but we both know what we just witnessed. History in the making."

The N-Drive had been modified and installed on each of a dozen probes. Once engaged, they would generate an isolated dimensional rift around the objects that allowed them to essentially defeat the rules of space-time. Shunting each sphere through the Negative Zone, where the flow of time was exponentially increased, the drives would carry the probes for what would amount to be hundreds of years worth of travel before re-emerging in real space after a dramatic fraction of time. And many lightyears away from their original departure point.

The nature of dimensional space was such that each overlapped one another in what was essentially an infinite layer. While each dimension remained physically separate from one another, unable to be interacted with through normal means, accessing an alternate dimension opened a host of possibilities. Victor had tapped into such a possibility by understanding that he could make use of the overlapped layers by shifting out of one dimension and into another then back again after a period of travel, appearing to near-instantaneously relocate from one point to another in the originating dimension. Thanks to the differential with time between his own dimension and the Negative Zone, this allowed for incredible leaps in distance.

Delayed teleportation without all of the nasty side effects of completely breaking down your atomic structure and reassembling it elsewhere. 

A warp drive, as the [i]Trek[/i]-loving Susan had taken to calling it in the early days of Victor's designs. 

The first example of humankind developing interstellar travel, as far as Victor Von Doom was concerned. 

The scientist once more flipped several switches and pulled back on the lever at his side. The hovercraft's engine kicked in as he brought it around in a half-circle. The viewport was filled with the image of a familiar blue planet. 

A moment passed before Johnny broke the silence. "I'm glad that one didn't blow up on us."

Victor, soaring with elation, allowed himself to chuckle. "As am I."

"Well, guess it's time to head back home, then. If we hurry, I think I can still squeeze in a date with Kourtney tonight," Johnny added, referring to his on-and-off-again supermodel girlfriend. 

"Apologies for putting a damper on your love life, Jonathan, but we're not returning [i]quite[/i] yet." Victor stepped away from his seat and walked out of the cockpit into the room beyond. 

Johnny twisted around to watch Victor depart. "Try to sound a little less creepy when you say that, Vic."

A long, quiet minute passed without Victor returning. 

"Uh... Victor?" He called out. "This is the [i]opposite[/i] of less creepy, man."

It was another few seconds before Victor answered. Rounding the corner into the cockpit he said, "Susan requested that you and I spend some time together, so I brought these along should the day prove successful."

In his right hand was a six-pack of beer. In his left a simple wooden box barely larger than his palm. 

As Victor removed a bottle from the case and handed it to Jonathan, the latter questioned, "and if your test didn't succeed?"

"Then I suppose we would still be drinking; albeit with a more depressive atmosphere." 

Reclining in his pilot's chair, Victor popped the cap off of his beer and took a long sip. 

"So..." Johnny let the word linger for a moment. "What did Sue expect us to talk about here, exactly?"

"I am sure we'll think of something, Jonathan." Victor flipped open the small container he had carried over and pulled out two items, offering one to his companion.

Johnny raised a brow as his eyes settled on the cigar between Victor's fingers. He had never known the man to smoke and had rarely even witnessed him partake in alcohol. Today, Johnny found, was full of wonders small and large.

Then Victor uttered three words that caught him off guard. Jonathan Storm grinned as the man he had always found to be too serious made him nearly choke on his beer with such a simple phrase. 

"Got a light?"


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