[As Felix Foley stands in front of a towering garbage can inferno, Doom kneels before a bucket, filling the water with bags of ice.]
“I’ve always considered myself a cold individual, Maxwell… able to do things that most men would find unsavory or disheartening. Those sorts of matters hadn’t once bothered me. A man in my position, commanding a vast army of soldiers, had to be cold.”
[He places a thermometer into the bucket, but it isn’t cold enough.]
[Doom takes another bag and begins emptying the ice.]
“I was raised to take what I needed and do what had to be done, regardless of the cost. My father determined that success was the most important thing, and I had the intellectual capacity to achieve it. It didn’t matter what I did, I was driven by him to be successful at it.
In many ways, it’s like how you drive your son to find the murderer of his mother. You have to be cold to do that, Maxwell. You must be… to make your only child, a mere boy, a weapon for vengeance. That’s a sacrifice only certain individuals can make.”
[Another check on the thermometer.]
“When I ran through your skull with my knee, I had to be cold. More than that though, I wanted to be. I wanted to hurt you for your deceit. I wanted to punish you for the treachery you’d caused. I wanted you to suffer and suffer you did.
But for a man that was once on fire, isn’t it paradoxical that you’re just as cold as I am?”
[Doom actually guffaws at that.]
“That makes a song of ice, doesn’t it?”
[He checks the bucket one last time and nods. It’s ready.]
“Next week at Casino Chaos, I get my desire. I get my hands on you. The only problem is, you’re in the ring with a towering inferno, ready to explode white hot rage in every which direction. Jackson Cade is on fire and he burns hot, Maxwell.
That isn’t comfortable for you, is it?
And you may be cold, but we both know you can’t put out a fire, don’t we?”
[Doom picks up the bucket of ice cold water and walks towards Felix.]
“That’s the difference between you and I next week. I and my partner, we have a connection that can’t be bent or broken. When he’s on fire, I’m the ice. I put it out. When Jackson Cade is on fire? You’re too afraid of getting burnt.
That’s why you can’t beat us. That’s why you can’t win.
As cold as you may be, Burned Man, there’s nothing you can do but fall to The Besties and when you’re on your knees… remember what you did… remember the treachery…
And bow before the man you betrayed.”
[Doom walks over to Felix and pours the bucket of ice water on his fire, extinguishing it. He steps back and nods.]