[ Interviewer ] Mr. Doom…
[ Stubbins Doom ] Doctor.
[ Interviewer ] Sorry, Doctor Doom. Thank you for inviting us into the Doom Factory for this very special interview. In just a mere few weeks, you team with Scissors in the Double Tap tag team tournament. You’ve told us exclusively that you have made an invention for the event?>
[ Stubbins Doom ] I have.
Doom slides a pistol across the table.
[ Stubbins Doom ] This may look to you to be an ordinary pistol. It has a six bullet chamber, a cocking mechanism and a standard barrel. You place bullets in the chamber, aim and shoot.
[ Interviewer ] Isn’t that what an ordinary pistol does, Doctor?
The Doctor smiles.
[ Stubbins Doom ] Quite. Please, pick it up.
The interviewer obliges, surveying the weapon in his hand.
[ Interviewer ] It feels light. Is it empty?
[ Stubbins Doom ] Why don’t you place it to your temple and find out?
The interviewer doesn’t oblige. He lowers the weapon slightly, placing it back on the table.
[ Stubbins Doom ] Don’t be nervous, dear boy. I invited you here for an experiment.
[ Interviewer ] I thought I was here for an interview, Mr. Doom? I don’t want to take part in any experiment.
[ Stubbins Doom ] It’s Doctor. What you want and what I need are two contrasting and distinct matters. Pick up the pistol.
Doom’s eyes narrow.
There’s tension between them.
Tension and fear.
The interviewer picks up the pistol reluctantly.
[ Stubbins Doom ] Good, now place it to your temple and cock the weapon.
The interviewer begins to tremble. He puts the weapon to his temple and cocks it, gulping with trepidation.
[ Stubbins Doom ] This assumption that one bullet is not enough vexes me. The premise of Double Tap is that two bullets are superior to one. In the chamber of your pistol, there is only one bullet. This bullet isn’t Scissors, nor is it Jackson Cade or Harold Attano. The bullet inside your pistol, is me, Stubbins Doom.
[ Interviewer ] I don’t understand? If I were to put the pistol down or drop it, I’d not take the bullet.
[ Stubbins Doom ] That pistol is fitted with a pressure plate, old chum. Once you cocked the weapon, you activated the pressure plate built into the grip. Should you try and release it, the weapon will fire.
The interviewer doesn’t know what to do. He looks left and right for a way out and finds none.
He’s alone.
[ Stubbins Doom ] Do me a favour, won’t you? Pull the trigger.
He shakes his head.
[ Stubbins Doom ] There’re six chambers inside and only one of them is me. You have a one in six chance of survival. If you pull the trigger and survive, I’ll release you. Pull… the… trigger.
BANG!
The interviewer blows his brains out, dropping the weapon and slumping in his chair.
[ Stubbins Doom ] I don’t need Scissors to win Double Tap. I don’t need a second bullet in the chamber. Doctor Stubbins Doom is always one step ahead. When the gun is pointed at your heads, the bullet will be in the chamber, in the slot prepared to be fired and you’ll suffer the same fate. Only those who come ill prepared need a second bullet to do what one could do if utilized effectively. The odds are stacked against you all at Double Tap. You may require two bullets…
Doom picks up the weapon from the floor.
[ Stubbins Doom ] But I don’t need more than one to crack the jar and force you to meet your doom.