Who: Doctor Doom and Lex Luthor, Latverian NPCs Where: Doomstadt, Latveria When: February 14, 2016 What: Doom speaks to one of his refugee citizens, then to Lex Luthor for his thoughts on exceptional citizens. Rating: Low
Lex Luthor hadn't been told why he was being retrieved from his cell, but the Doombots made it obvious he was expected to be no trouble. He was escorted to the throne room, a side entry heavy with green velvet drapes that they stood in the shadows of, watching the scene before them.
A tiny girl, no more than ten years old in a hijab, was being beckoned off her knee to approach Victor von Doom, who was also standing and stepping down the steps toward her. The girl tried to speak, something halting in Latveria, but Doom waved a gloved hand, switching to Arabic for her.
"Your name is Aya, yes?"
"Yes, Lord Doom."
"You have recently taken your aptitude tests for your schooling for the season."
"Yes, Lord Doom."
"Your language and composition skills are below average, even with the consideration of Latverian being a second language to you."
The girl didn't seem to know what to say to this, so just swallowed and stayed silent.
"Your arithmetic, however, was astonishingly high."
The girl looked like she could barely breathe now, eyes watering.
"It looks like you didn't complete the testing, however. Your numbers were well, and then you started to purposely answer the questions incorrectly. Is this correct?"
"...I may have?"
"You did. The tests are designed to revert to what you last answered correctly, but you answered the questions you previously answered flawlessly incorrectly. This means that you were attempting to sabotage your score at a certain point."
The girl opened her mouth, closed it, blinked on tears. The dictator was quiet for a moment, sighed and sank down to one knee, picking her chin up with a metal digit. "Child, you are a Latverian citizen now. That means so long as you abide by the laws of Doom, you are in no danger. It does not matter to Doom that you are a mutant."
Her dark eyes went wide. "You...?"
"Of course I knew. It was just uncertain what your mutant ability was. Now I think it is obvious." He dropped his hand from her chin. "However, you do need to be honest. In Latveria you need not lie to protect your family. It will only serve you worse if you do so. I would like for you to redo the testing. Do you enjoy math, child?"
Her voice was tiny in the large throne room. "Very much."
"Then go as far as you're able. If you enjoy math, we will challenge your skills, find your limits, and you will be allowed to explore career fields more befitting of your abilities. No more dishonesty. Understood?"
"Yes, Lord Doom."
"You may go now. I will order a new test for you, Aya."
"I-Thank you. Thank you very much, Lord Doom." The girl bowed, bowed again awkwardly as Doom stood with folded arms, and she tottered back to the entry to her waiting grandmother, looking bewildered at what had just happened.
Victor waited until she had left the hall before his heavy metal steps carried him up the stairs toward Lex Luthor. "Syrian. Due to the stresses of the war many of them have mutant abilities. I test all of them coming into my country. For the younger ones, it's often difficult to tell if their powers have already manifested, if they even know, so I wait even though they're very clearly marked in the database. All the servoguards are aware as well, so they can look for signs. That girl accidentally answered a math question that would take even you at least 45 seconds to solve, Luthor. She did it in six."