"You're Victor Von Doom?"

The question was more sceptical that he would have liked, but he could understand and he had long since learned of the virtues of patience.

"Yes," Doom replied. "I am Victor Von Doom, but not the same man you are familiar with. I am from an alternate version of your world, where the year is 2100, due to some small differences in the rate of temporal progression between your world and mine."

"Incredible," said Forge, Director of SHIELD. The X-Men knew of alternate realities, different timelines, and this one was a combination of both.

"Quite," said Doom. "However that is not what I am here for. The fate of the world, and indeed this universe is at stake and I have come to ensure you are ready for what is happening."

"Explain," said Forge. On monitors were the faces of several of the key figures in the drama that Forge had wanted to be present. Some of the greatest scientists were assembled to decide whether this man was a fraud or indeed he had come to save them all.

"Some years ago, there was an attempt by the elder god Set to return to this realm," Doom said. "Due to various events, that plan was thwarted and Set was deemed to be destroyed, for the time being."

"I remember speaking with Thor about it," Dr Henry Pym interjected. "He used the power of Demogorge and the threat was ended."

"As it was in many realities," said Doom. "However there was one reality where the war was lost. Set entered that Earth and he set about establishing control. Almost all the heroes were destroyed in the battle, and those that were left tried to defeat the god, but they too were annihilated, killed by a combination of the powers of Set and his brides."

"Susan Richards, Jean Grey, Ororo Munroe, Andromeda, Jennifer Walters and Wanda Maximoff," said Forge and Doom nodded.

"In the time it took for the heroes to regroup after Set rose, the brides had been given to Set and he had made them his. They would bear his children and his progeny would rule the universe. However Set was defeated by the Avenger Quasar, who with the power of the Enigma Force and the mystical Eye of Agamotto, was able to trap the god where they would hold each other in check for eternity held within the Eye."

"So where is Set? How many versions of him are there?" Dr Peter Corbeau asked.

"Just one," said Doom. "He is an elder god, and every time he was defeated he pulled himself back together and tried again in another dimension as the dimension he had been driven from had been sealed and the mystical forces would keep him at bay for millennia."

"Okay," said Corbeau. "So what's the threat, if Set is gone?"

"His sons," said Reed Richards. "The Sons of Set would succeed their father."

"Precisely," said Doom. "These seven sons were born and they devoured their parents, and feasted on the inhabitants of Earth and kept select few to go forth to the stars and ensure the universe became theirs."

"That's an amazing thought," said Pym. "A dimension filled with the progeny of Set. Theologically speaking he would have made the universe in his own image."

"So imagine the power of the Sons as they rose threw the multiverse," said Doom. "Attacking worlds unprepared for the assault, claiming universe after universe for their own."

"How do you know of this?" said Forge.

"My world was attacked, and I, as Sorcerer Supreme became aware of it and I managed to thwart the rising, but in doing so I have ensured they will try again with another world, then come back and they will not be stopped again."

"And our world is next?" said Reed, thinking to the signs and portents over the last year or so. The warnings of the Watcher, the riddles saying how important Franklin was, other events...

"Yes," said Doom. "I have observed in the short time I have been here that this world has grown violent, conflicted. Dimensional energies are rife, energies that do not belong here. Invasions, wars, ever increasing irrationalities on both sides... someone has been ensuring that the world is ready, broken and unprepared for an invasion."

"I will admit the world's not been at it's best," said Pym, "but I don't think it's that bad. I mean..." His thoughts went to the Vision, the robot, the Avenger, who had lost control and Pym had been forced to destroy him, his creation, his friend. Could someone have been playing them all?

"There is also the matter of out own Sorcerer Supreme," said Richards. "If something was going on, then surely Doctor Strange would be aware of it?"

"It is a question I have pondered upon myself," said Doom. "I do not have an answer, but I will find one." He could see the puzzlement in Richards eyes, because he was certain he had never heard Doom say he did not have an answer before. "Be assured, Reed Richards, that I am Doom, but there are things I have seen, things I have done that have given me pause."

"We will have to consider things carefully," said Forge. "Speak to people, learn what we can."

"Of course," said Doom. "But time is of the essence for if the Sons rise, then we will have godlings to fight and I am not sure we will be able to stop them unless we are ready." Forge nodded and Doom was escorted to his quarters, where the Sorcerer Supreme closed his eyes and seemed to sleep, but in truth he was releasing his astral form from his body and going in search of the one man who could provide answers.

Stephen Strange sat in his Sanctum Sanctorum, trying to make sense of everything that had happened of late. There was a great sense of mystical conversion in his head and he wondered how it fitted in with everything that had happened. The underworld had changed, and changed radically. Mephisto, who had survived somehow, was opposing the Triumvirate that had taken over Hell and the battle was taking it's toll, and there had been a weakening of the dimensions.

Then there was the deal with Ghost Rider which had been thrown in to the mix and that was also causing problems. Mephisto was involved in that as well, but how Ghost Rider had actually returned was still a mystery Strange had yet to solve. He had been linked with the Midnight Sons in the past and though they were mostly at large, they were fragmented and the forces of the occult that they had been assembled to battle were mostly unchecked, though they were also regaining their strengths after what had happened in their past battles and subsequent defeats.

The issues that had caused the collapse of the Darkforce Dimension and the subsequent rebirth hadn't helped the situation either, and the Darkforce itself was still raw, unrefined and it was causing problems for those who used it. Strange had been privileged to watch the birth of the new dimension. Then there had been the battle with Thulsa-Mainyu, and the quest for the emeralds and it had taken it's toll on him.

He had been taken over before but he had thought he had been ready for Mainyu, but the sob of Set had been able to override his mystical defences with ease, and allowed Moloch to also enter his body, forcing him out and it had taken his powers combined with those of Clea and Namor to reverse it. However Thulsa-Mainyu had been working towards something, the rise of Set and that was something that plagued Strange's mind. He had known of it, he knew he did, but he did not know how and no matter how much he meditated he could not pinpoint how he had been aware yet unaware of what was going on.

What was certain was that Thulsa-Mainyu and Moloch had been used by someone, that things had been arranged to turn out the way they had done. Strange was still Sorcerer Supreme and he knew that by instinct alone, but now there was something else and he opened his eyes to see an astral presence before him, that had somehow breached the defenses of the Sanctum.

"I don't know how you got in here," Strange said, "but you have made a grievous error in doing so."

"I doubt that," said the man and Strange paused. He knew the voice, fought alongside the man, but was it possible that it was who he thought it was? He did not have those kind of abilities and he would have known if Doom had gained more mystical might.

"What do you want here, Doom?" Strange demanded, thinking that there was a battle going on in Latveria with sentinels, or so he had seen on the news.

"Peace, mystic," Doom said. "I can see you have concerns about me and my presence here, but let me assure you that I am not the man you believe me to be."

"Really?" said Strange. "Your unarmoured appearance in an astral form aside, how are you different?"

"This." The astral form unfolded it's arms to reveal the Eye of Agamotto and Strange instinctively touched his own. The Eye, existing in two places at the same time. It was no forgery, because Strange could feel the power of the amulet and Doom had been blocking him before.

"Who are you?" Strange said.

"A friend," Doom replied. "Someone who is also Sorcerer Supreme in his home universe."

"Incredible," said Strange. Doom was powerful and he had blocked him and any other mystic from sensing him.

"There are things we need to discuss," Doom said. "What do you know of Set?"

"I know a great many things," said Strange. "I have recently thwarted a plan for his return."

"Unlikely," said Doom. "His return is impossible, a secret that none save I and the Watcher knew of until recently."

"Set is dead?"

"Trapped in immortal combat," Doom replied. "He will not return. His sons however…"

"Moloch has been defeated," said Strange.

"Sons," Doom repeated. "Moloch was a minor player in a much larger game. His recent appearance has been one that was planned so that the world was prepared."

"How do you know this?" Strange asked.

"Because I have prepared for this," Doom answered. "The question is how is it that you do not know?"

"It is something that plagues me," Strange answered. "I feel there is something I know, yet I cannot recall. My attempts to discover it have been in vain."

"Then perhaps the two of us can ensure you remember," Doom replied. "What match has any for two Sorcerer Supremes?"

"Do not over-estimate your capabilities," Strange warned.

"I may have changed greatly, but I am still Doom, and I am aware of my capabilities," the astral form said and Strange believed the man knew exactly what his powers were. "Let us begin."

At the United Nations, the Secretary General felt the presence appear in his mind. How he had gotten this far without being detected was astonishing to him, but now Doom had revealed himself.

Or at least a version of Doom that was a Sorcerer and now things began to make sense to the Secretary General. The disturbance in Latveria was related to the man's arrival and he knew there was one reason and one reason alone Doom had come.

He was here to stop the rising.

"You're too late, Von Doom," he said to himself. "The rising will begin very soon and it is time I made the final preparations." He picked up the telephone. "Get Forge here and have him bring the Excalibur team with him."

The endgame was about to begin.

Back at SHIELD the scientists had examined what they could and come to a determination. Doom, or whoever he was, was correct and there was something about to occur.

"We have to inform as many people as we can," said Forge. "Contact all the heroes you can, tell them to prepare for something big."

"I still think we should tell them what is going to happen," said Reed. "They have a right to know."

"Yes," said Forge, "but if we tell them everything, it may be more than they can deal with. As agreed, tell them to be on the alert for anything suspicious involving Set. If we can stop them, then the sons will not rise to this existence."

"Doom seemed to believe we couldn't stop that," said Pym. "What if he's right?"

"Then we'll have people on hand to deal with it," said Forge before Angela contacted him to let him know that his presence was requested at the United Nations. "Besides, I know something about the coming of other dimensional beings. It is better to prevent them arriving, rather than deal with them when they are here."

"A valid point," said Reed. "We will do what is needed." Forge nodded. If a battle was coming, he would do all he could to ensure it was avoided. An otherworldly invasion of the scale Doom predicted would have dire consequences for them all…