Victor had not been expecting that.

He had not been expecting her.

Sure, Neal had his own indiscretions, and perhaps it was unlike him to check up on a woman he was sleeping with (as Neal liked to keep flings as flings, kept at arms length and never really touched), but for some reason Victor had a feeling. That perhaps she was someone that he knew. Which of course, could mean a number of things. She could be a foe, or an ally. Knowing his luck, she'd be a foe.

He had been correct.

Slightly.

He had expected a foe, but what he had come across was Susan Storm-Richards. Invisible Woman. Member of the Fantastic Four. A woman he had actually pined over for countless years, back from when he was at Empire State University studying science, before his accident, before anyone ever really had their powers. Before things changed. Before he was thrown more into the world of a super villain.

She was standing right in front of him, looking confused, looking for guidance, and he was fumbling. He was trying to find a way to speak with her, to gain her trust, but not have her run away. She had no idea how he looked without the armor, it had been years since they had seen each other and so much had changed. He had gray hair at his temples, his features were more refinded, he wasn't the young man battling in the lab with Reed anymore. But Reed wasn't here. Johnny and Ben, they weren't here. But Sue was. And she was standing right in front of him, stunning and beautiful and he blurted out a lie.

"You can call me Norman. You don't know me, but I'm quite the fan of you," He told her, and only half of that was true and honest. He had gone by Norman once, but that was a complication and spells, and was years ago. Would she even remember that? He watched her features, and when he had said his 'name', it didn't register. So he was in the clear. For now.

He couldn't stay around her for long, feeling Neal's attraction to Sophia and his own attraction to Sue practically begging him to kiss her hard on the mouth, to push her against the wall, to make her feel everything that he was certain her husband wasn't giving her. They flirted, falling into simple banter, and he knew a second longer and his wild fantasies would quickly become a reality.

So, he excused himself. He told her to call him, call Norman if she needed anything. She promised she would, and he left. To get back in his car, to drive right back home, to pour himself a glass of whisky and figure things out. To get to a next step. He still needed to figure out where things went wrong and how he ended up here. He still needed to see if he could some how find Latveria. He needed to find his armor, he needed to see if there was anyone else that he should be keeping a close watch on.

Yet, he lingered on the thought of her, and knew he was doomed (pun not intended in the slightest) if he allowed himself to go down this train of thought. After all, he had lied to her outright about who he was, there was no second chances with a first impression.

As he returned home, he went for the whisky, and he looked out the window over the streets below, as he started to form a plan.

Was there really any harm with her thinking he was just some man named 'Norman', and not Victor von Doom? Allow himself to have the best of all worlds?

Because he had certainly never allowed himself the best of all worlds before, and certainly nothing bad happened there.

At least he knew this incursion, putting him in this world, wasn't his doing. He at least had that comfort.