All through this issue we keep returning to a pair of workmen repairing damage in Latveria after the events of FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #1 (2014). One mocks the other’s loyalty to Doctor Doom until they almost come to blows. More later….
In the far future Doctor Doom walks the desolate steppe that had once been Latveria. Old Loki appears before him, mocking his dreams; then beetles emerge from Loki’s face and swarm all over Doom, he has Valeria Richards quickly return him to his own time. Knowing that Loki holds his future in his hand, Doom plans to destroy him….
Young charming Loki has returned to his Manhattan apartment after the events of ORIGINAL SIN 5.1-5 and is confronted by Verity Willis, who accuses him of having deceived her on their recent mission (issue #5 of this title). He tries to explain but he is pulled away. Pressing something into her hand he is teleported to Doom’s castle. Doom challenges him to a magic duel. Loki turns invisible but Valeria can still track him with the quantum computer. The mad monarch calls out an army of Doombots and lectures us on the meaning of magic and story while Loki battles his silent foes. [At this point we see one of the workmen attack the other and fall to his death, then all of the laborers begin fighting.] Doom seizes the opportunity and freezes Loki in stasis as one would pause a DVD. As he gloats, Verity Willis, unseen because of the Amulet of Invisibility Loki had given her, wonders what to do next….