Marvel: Road to Endgame & Beyond…?
by Alex Kane
Prologue-Champion of the Multiverse Part III
In the time Zon had spent universe-hopping, he had become more educated in various sciences. He was quite interested in genetics and DNA. Since he had the ability to copy various skills, abilities, etc. from people, he figured if certain individuals had died, he could still get these abilities from the DNA. With his knowledge of the inner workings of the universe from the Beyonders, Uatu, and Eternity already in mind, he believed he could already manipulate certain aspects like time. It was possible that was a catalyst for his visions of Loki, Ultron, and Thanos. Zon hoped to use this knowledge to undo tragedies and deaths of individuals he knew were not supposed to die based on his Universe-616 knowledge. There were many individuals, both good and evil, who had important roles to play. If he couldn't control the Time energies like the Time Stone, then he'd still have his DNA research and rely on cloning. Miniscule manipulation of Mind and Soul energies could make the clones just like the originals, instead of just copies. Regardless, much of this research was still on the back burner, save for the few DNA samples of people Zon had encountered in his travels so far. Now he had to get back to work.
One of the most remarkable people Zon had knowledge of in 616 and had encountered at least once was the spectacular Spider-Man. No matter what damage would undoubtedly be done to his private life, he kept going. It was possible he was just as principled, if not more, than Captain America. Zon's experience in the 1977 universe was unique, but it was time to move on to more accurate versions of the wall crawler.
Zon spent much time in one reality where much of what happened was fairly accurate, save for the fact that Spidey's webs were an actual power and the criminal who came to be known as Sandman had an accidental role in Ben Parker's death. The emotional journey Peter went on here was incredible in Zon's eyes. He wished he had something like Peter and Mary Jane. Just when the journey was getting interesting after the death of Venom, Zon knew it was time to go with what DNA samples he got. Again, as he left, he could feel the energies of that reality somewhat leaking into others, including 19999. Perhaps Zon could look in on this universe again one day (Spider-Man 1-3).
The next reality was interesting indeed. In some ways it was more accurate with the webs being a man-made invention of Peter's, some secretive information on Peter's parents being brought to light, and his first serious relationship being with the lovely Gwen instead of MJ. In other ways, this universe had more in common with 1610 than 616. For example, Peter acquired his spider bite at Oscorp. Norman Osborn's, and thus his son's, powers had a mutagenic effect on the two of them. The Rhino suit was entirely mechanical like in 1610, but the Rhino himself was still Aleksei Sytsevich like in 616. Though Zon appreciated the emotional turmoil from the previous Parker being akin to his 616 counterpart (though this one had some harrowing experiences), Zon got to experience more of the scientific side of the amazing Spider-Man. He knew the web-head often used his scientific knowledge in battle in Universe-616, but the previous Peter he knew didn't really utilize that save for disabling Doc Ock's machine and his battle against Sandman and Venom. In this universe, Peter and Gwen worked together to make the anti-Lizard serum to make Lizard into Curt Connors again and cure his newly made minions. It was fascinating as Peter taught himself about the inner workings of power generators and battery capacities and limits just to get an edge on and supposedly kill the powerful Electro. Again, just as things were getting interesting (or maybe depressing as last time Harry Osborn had died and now it was Gwen Stacy), Zon got his samples and left (The Amazing Spider-Man 1-2).
Again, more energies from the reality he was leaving behind leaked, though not as much as the last one. Perhaps Zon would come back to this one too. As Zon was getting ready to go to another universe, he used his Beyonder powers to observe a handful of alternate realities with Peter and others with similar abilities. There were 2 universes that were almost just like the Peter he knew who loved MJ. They both had happily ever afters, until an untimely divorce drove one of the two versions apart and age was setting in. That one was very close to 616 if the Multiverse could be mapped. The other could easily be close to 1610. Perhaps one day a visit would be merited.
Now, it was time to get more knowledge on time and genetics. The reality with the uncanny X-Men was…..complicated to say the least. It's fair to say around half of the abilities Zon would duplicate in his own body came from human mutants. Little did he know that by coming here, Zon would experience multiple realities being created via time travel. The 1st version was fairly straightforward with Charles meeting Erik at the age of 17, Wolverine encountering the Silver Samurai just before meeting the mutant heroes for the first time, and Sabretooth supposedly meeting his end just before the X-Men's battle with William Stryker and his version of the Purifiers (X-Men 1-3 and comic tie-ins). After establishing relationships with the X-Men after their battle against the Dark Phoenix, Zon finally attempted to manipulate Time energies. It was very difficult, but it was somewhat successful. The 2nd version had some changes. Zon now directly interacted with Logan, or James Howlett rather, during his childhood. By staying with James, and subsequently his half-brother Victor (or Dog as Zon had sometimes called him), Zon had changed history. Many individuals he had encountered, including the Worthington men (Warren II and Warren III/Angel), Pslocke, and Jubilee were born decades earlier. Stryker even had a backup scheme from this timeline on. It involved him selling out to the terrorist organization Hydra. Zon found it ironic that though the founders of Hydra were Nazis, the current version was somewhat inclusive of mutants like Silver Samurai and Lady Deathstrike (X-Men: The Official Game). But something was still wrong. After the Dark Phoenix incident, a new anti-mutant task force was created culminating in Division 3. With it, Zon finally met David Haller, aka "Legion", one of the most powerful mutants next to the Phoenix herself. The 3 years he had experienced with David, the Division, and the elusive Shadow King had left Zon….frustrated. He felt by the end, though everyone's intentions were pure, no one's actions were. David acted like a child and altered minds just to keep people liking him. His so-called girlfriend Syd was on the warpath for David due to actions that may not have happened if her future self hadn't made contact with any of them at all. The fact that she was deservedly mad at David for psychically sexually assaulting her was made sour in Zon's mind due to her history as a sexual assaulter of her mother's boyfriend. Thankfully, David's increasing madness had a purpose that had a goal: to erase everything and make a better future using time travel. Legion hadn't learned to utilize his reality altering powers on his own, but with another mutant's help (and the new alliance between Charles and the Shadow King who finally stopped their feud) the future was reset again. To make sure it was somewhat better, Zon once again utilized his Time manipulation, though it severely exhausted him (Legion).
The 3rd version had Zon interacting more with Charles at a young age. When the time was right, he would make sure the lad still met Gabrielle and eventually conceive David (he owed the disturbed boy that much). Apparently, the changes Zon made were mostly manifested in Mystique. In the first timeline, Magneto was the first mutant Charles had encountered, in the second it was the Shadow King, now it was Mystique. For now, Zon would ride this timeline all the way back to where he left (First Class). If there was one thing to like about the changes, Magneto's convictions were somewhat more believable and sympathetic. As an old man, Erik had EXTREME arrogance that irritated Zon to no end and made him wish on many occasion that Wolverine would stick him like a pig or Cyclops could just literally blow his head off. Even knowing Erik's history, his arrogance always shined through. In his youth, though it was still there in his taunting of Beast, most of his arrogance was replaced with rage. Thankfully, during his junkie days when he could walk again, Charles met up with Gabrielle again. With Shadow King no longer a problem (evidently he just went back to being a small time crime lord in Cairo), David's mind was more well cared for…too bad Charles' wasn't. Gabrielle was at least of sound enough mind to raise the boy herself. Eventually, after experiencing Wolverine getting his claws again and the X-Men's adventures against Magneto, Stryker, the Sentinels and Master Mold, and Dark Phoenix again, Zon finally experienced something new. Logan had gone into hiding more or less after the thing with Jean. At least his memories came back in full. Too bad now he had the baggage of Silver Fox's and Jean's deaths on him. His past came back to haunt him in more ways than one. His enemy Silver Samurai had been humiliated and thrown out of Hydra. He took the mutant cure and went back to his childhood home and job protecting the Yashida clan. Another mutant member of Hydra was looking to replicate Logan's DNA and hired herself out to the head of the Yashida clan. The money he paid, plus combining the best aspects of their former samurai member with his clawed nemesis had numerous possibilities for Hydra, and the income from the old man testing the armor out didn't hurt either. All in all, it was another harrowing adventure. At least Logan finally found true love with Mariko Yashida (The Wolverine).
The peace didn't last long though. The reason Stryker had to get Hydra to build the Master Mold was because he never designed the original versions. His old boss, Bolivar Trask, had. They were on the American government shelf collecting dust after Trask was killed by Mystique. Though Stryker continued with Project Wideawake in secret, the designs were still in the government's hands. It took decades to duplicate Mystique's powers, but the still surviving Trask Industries came out with the Nimrod model Sentinel. Less than a decade later and most mutants (including the X-Men) were dead or in camps and there were very few humans who were actually in charge of the planet. For the most part, the Sentinels had the run of the place. Just when Zon was going to try to utilize his Time manipulation again, Katherine "Kitty" Pryde, also known as Shadowcat, found a new use of her power. She sent Wolverine back to the 70s and Zon managed to send himself back as well. The Sentinels, or at least the Nimrods, were basically erased (Days of Future Past).
The 4th timeline was where things got tricky (well…trickier). It was hard to keep up with everything. Zon had lost track of Logan. He had been rescued by Mystique after Magneto had tried to murder him (no doubt because Logan was the only one who called him out on his bullshit AND didn't give a damn about him like Charles still did). Not long after that though, Mystique was forced into hiding, or so she told herself, and fled, leaving Stryker to eventually repeat the past histories of the former timelines. Zon found it curious that upon rescuing Kurt Wagner from a mutant fighting ring that she didn't tell him that she was in fact his birth mother. In all timelines, it seemed, whether she was evil in the old ones or good like the newer ones, Mystique felt great shame in abandoning her son to give him a better life without her chaos spreading to him AND to give herself a chance to survive on her own with no real attachments to anyone. That's probably why she barely regarded Havok when she rescued him from 'Nam ten years earlier. With the coming chaos of Apocalypse and the Dark Phoenix (the TRUE Phoenix Force that Zon had learned about from Eternity and Uatu), Zon was ready for something…different (Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix).
Apparently, another affect Zon had when he helped create the 3rd timeline was the disappearance of Wade Wilson from the Three Mile Island incident when Logan lost his memory in that timeline. Like Angel, Psylocke, and Jubilee, the Merc with a Mouth and been time displaced, only now a few decades later instead of earlier. Now he was not a mutant, but a mutate who got his power based on mutant DNA structures and injections of Logan's DNA that the Weapon X project (or Department K rather) shared with a company belonging to Nathaniel Essex, who planned with Weapon X to use in other ways. The universe, it seemed, had a "unique" sense of humor. The man known as Deadpool had shared Zon's awareness of the Multiverse….sort of. Zon found it odd that he knew stuff like with the Avengers despite that fact that this universe, or its various incarnations, didn't have them. It was also strange that he kept talking off to the side as if somebody was there. It's like he was narrating or expositing for an invisible audience. When Zon tried to explain his own cosmic awareness to Deadpool to see if he was in fact experiencing it, Wade just laughed it off and called what he had "COMIC awareness" as if that should have been common knowledge. Zon knew the 616 Deadpool had this too, but the concept was still…frustrating to say the least. Thankfully Wade's charm won Zon over. Things were odd though when Deadpool kidnapped former child star Fred Savage just to "read" to him a "PG-13" version of his new friendship with the time displaced son of Cyclops and Jean: CABLE. Needless to say, as much fun as it was, Zon had about enough of this madness (Deadpool 1-2 and Once Upon a Deadpool).
Zon found it curious that Deadpool, in some of his "narrations", had mentioned something about Logan dying. So, with a heavy heart, Zon used his Time manipulation one last time. He saw the new version of the year when the X-Men were going to be killed by the Nimrod Sentinels replaced with the group all alive back at the mansion, except for the now deceased Mystique and missing and not-entirely welcome Magneto. Even Jean had come back. It seemed that her "death" was merely her taking a journey through the stars learning to control the Phoenix Force inside her. It took quite a long time, but she was back and happy with Scott again. It made it that much more tragic when, a few years later, the Professor's age was catching up with him HARD. Many students and faculty had died. It seemed only Zon, Logan, and Charles were left. There weren't that many students anyway. Over the years, there had been fewer and fewer new mutant births. Zon got Logan in touch with an old friend of Mystique's named Caliban. The man hadn't really aged, but he was worse for wear. At least he wasn't referring to himself in the 3rd person like he did in the 80s. Perhaps living on the run and constantly worrying about Charles had humbled the albino. Still, it broke Zon's break to see all 3 men perish honorable, yet tragic deaths. He had known both Logan and Charles for practically all their lives. He didn't know what happened to David or Logan's wife Mariko, but if they were out there in this hellish future, he hoped they were OK (Logan).
Before he left, Zon had to find out more of what went wrong. He knew that bastard Essex had a hand in keeping various factions of Weapon X alive. Hell, Zon and Essex were very like-minded when it came to the concept of cloning, or else that "sweet" little firecracker called Laura, or X-23 as the lab called her, wouldn't have existed. It turns out the Dark Phoenix incident (or the new version of it) had left people just as bitter as the previous versions, if not slightly more. Zon had taken note that the orphanage Firefist came from was like a "mutant conversion" camp. In truth, it was probably just another facility for Essex to have a bunch of mutant kids to collect DNA from and let the headmaster do whatever he wanted afterwards. Plus, the fact that the Fridge existed meant there were people just READY to take down any mutant when given a chance. A few years after Cable came to live in the present, things got worse. What Zon didn't know was that some years before that little "happy ending" in the future for the X-Men, things were worse than ever. The "7/15" disaster came and mutants were solely to blame according to most people, paving the way for more prisons like the Fridge. The hatred was so strong, the X-Men disappeared (possibly into space to look for Jean) save for a few low-key members, like Thunderbird, whose little brother Warpath helped out in the Sentinel filled timeline, a slightly younger Blink, and Magneto's daughter Polaris. Though the Sentinels were not in full use, many offshoots of the program were developed by Trask Industries, creating a new branch of government using this technology and operating in an Orwellian fashion. There were other branches of the Hellfire Club as well, and they took after Sebastian Shaw's example (or the other way around depending on when exactly he joined). And finally, Hydra reared one of its ugly heads as this universe's version of Baron von Strucker's bloodline culminated in descendants (a pair of siblings) who somehow had the Baron's twin children's EXACT abilities (The Gifted).
Regardless, shit was getting really bad (and confusing). With dozens of powers copied, made much easier when Zon copied Rogue's abilities in conjunction with his own, and all the necessary DNA samples he felt were required, it was time to leave this reality altogether…and head to Universe-19999.
A/n: I know this was REALLY long, but I really wanted to get both Spider-Man and X-Men out of the way. I figured since the 1st was short and the other was long-ish they'd cancel each other out. I'll leave it to you to see if I was right. Also, it's REALLY difficult to get the right amount of uses of time travel and timelines in X-Men. The Gifted's wiki page has the 7/15 disaster being in 2013. Which COULD have been feasible if not for Deadpool and the X-Men still being there and by the time I got to writing The Gifted into it, I figured the timeline's been reset enough (especially with Legion in the picture). Regardless, hope you all enjoyed this!