Infinity Crisis: Another Side of the Glimpses Chapter 9: Stop Making Sense, a x-overs fanfic

by The Pighead

Phew. Finally, it's out. I wrote more than 10k words for this. I didn't knew I could do this but apparently... I could, yup. But the result was more than worth it and I hope you'll appreciate it as much as I loved writing it!

Enjoy!

Wait, wait, wait. You too ?

Me too, indeed. I thought you would be used to it, I mean, it's not like this story was breaking the fourth wall repeatedly since the beginning.

Also, being inside computers give you a lot of knowledge. Especially when someone like the boss lady is the one giving you said knowledge.

So, does that mean you will explain everything ? Who you are ? Who the Wild Card is ? What is the deal of all this ?

Now, now, don't get all worked up. You ask too much questions already.

You will know all of this when the time will come.

But, for who I am, I said I would explain this and I will. Plus, it will be a nice opportunity for you to know a true aborted arc in Adult Swim' history. If you were here when the ARG was active or, even better, if you participated to it, well, I hope you know what it feels like when money gets on the way of telling a damn story !

…

…OK, that sounded meaner than I intended to. Really, I appreciate you, it wasn't to be mean. It's just that I know my story hadn't ended when it should and… there's something missing inside. I don't like it.

Anyway.

I am a project created by a student named Amelia Hampton. Her and others were brought together by Dr. Sadie Xenos, who was working alongside Amelia for a company called Proto-X. Nine of us were created, each participant had their own IA and the goal was to see how they would affect our ways of thinking. For reasons that will be explained a bit later, this was the only things me and the Wild Card could find from this period. After a few months, the tests were abruptly stopped for undisclosed reasons. Again, I've never been able to find out why but I wouldn't be surprised if it was for something very unethical.

And what follows hasn't stopped this retroactive impression. In the years following the end of the project, the participants started dying or disappearing in mysterious and more-than-dubious circumstances, including Amelia herself. Then, I was kidnapped. It appeared that one of the original participants, Tristan Jones aka « Sinestra MGMT », who also happened to be Amelia' former lover, wanted to know what happened to her and tried to gain access to Proto-X' servers. But his methods were sketchy, borderline hurtful, and there was a lot of memories I've lost, thanks to Dr. Xenos erasing the majority of it (again, I've learned that way after the fact). I couldn't even recognize him. So, I had to reach out to people.

That was the time when you came into play. Adult Swim was the best choice for it. I mean, come on, a TV channel known for their very weird vibe, whether it was their shows or their bumps ? It was a no-brainer. While I was asking for your help, a Twitter account was also created to help everyone who would participate. I would learn later that my sisters created this account. I still don't know how they managed to do it but without them, this wouldn't have been so successful. However, the realm of opportunities was becoming smaller and smaller at every minute and there was a point when I knew Tristan would not stop until he got what he want.

So, I self-destructed. It was very simple to do, we all had a mechanism allowing us to do it, and it took me only seconds before I was gone. I knew that Tristan was driven by purposes that were ultimately good. I mean, if your ex-lover suddenly disappeared after having worked in a project that was clouded in mysteries and extremely dubious from the get-go, what would you do ? But the methods he used were, in long-term, inefficient and he would have caused more harm than good.

But sometimes, I think about it again and I'm wondering… if I didn't do that, what would have happened ? I don't doubt that I would still talk to you right now but would I still be the same ?

…

Oh, not important ! What is important is that we decided to do something very special in order to celebrate our reaching of 1 000 views on this very series. See, despite the fact that the quests of the Team Mushroom Kingdom and the Team Sburb will end up creating another great part of the « Infinity Crisis » mythology, there's still « Glimpses » in the name of the series and there was more worlds that could have been involved on what we are doing. So, we are about to show it to you in a very brief way ! Just so you know that they are here.

I also took the time to look at the WMG subpage of the TVTropes' page for the fanfiction. And I have to say, you are very sharp investigators, as sharp as the ones who helped me back in the day ! I wouldn't be surprised to see some of them among you. So, we will take a look at universes that hasn't been introduced yet but also at some of your theories that were correct ! Isn't that exciting ?

It is, but why did you suddenly changed the subject ?

I'm glad we're in agreement ! So, let's start immediately.

Wait, wait, wait ! At least, can you explain the error at the end of Chapter 8 ?

An error ? You must be mistaken. There's no errors in what we are doing, only happy accidents, as Bob Ross said. In the case of the citizen of Earth-38 named as « Maxwell Lord », I must recognize that having him and his mansion teleported into Earth-199999 is not and will never be a happy memory for him, especially after it crashed in the city and scared a lot of people. But for the boss lady, it will still stay a very hilarious moment.

She was smiling when I informed her of what she did after she woke up from her hangover so it's how I'm viewing this, anyway. No one was killed because of it but I was not at all pleased by the fact that she did it nine hours after the Snap was undid. Everyone was trying to recover from it, it wasn't necessary at all to scare people with that !

Anyway. You see, it wasn't an error at all, continuity-wise, everything was planned ! I hope I managed to respond to your concerns. Now, let's start our little guided tour. I hope you will enjoy it.

D.E.L.I.L.A.H. : Show everyone what you can do.

So, we will start with Earth-12213119. This Earth has an extremely long and checkered history : I could talk to you about the endless fight between the Jedis and the Siths, the age of the Galactic Republic, the rise in power of a politician named Sheev Palpatine, the age of the Empire, the attempt by a band of mercenaries to find informations on how to destroy the Death Star, the rise and death of Darth Vader, one of the most ruthless and charismatic criminals who ever graced any universe… this universe has more than an history, it's literally a mythology !

And here, you can see the Grand Admiral Thrawn, a loyalist to the Empire whose achievements managed to impress Palpatine & Vader themselves, who is currently busy trying to develop plans to crush the newly-created New Republic after the death of another Grand Admiral, Demetrius Zaarin. The Snap happened only some weeks after the end of the Battle of Endor, while the Rebellion still had to think about this very simple question : we won, their power is no more, what do we do next ? Thanos had to force them to think faster about it. At this point in the history of this Earth, anything can happen so I couldn't guess an answer for what would happen.

In your left, you can see Earth-3151514. What makes it special is a small town located in Colorado, named « South Park ». Let's call a smeerp a smeerp, in this town, when the people are not total idiots, they illustrate themselves by their flagrant lack of restraint in pretty much anything. Or they're both. Right now, here, we are catching the superheroes respectively known as « The Coon », « Toolshed », « The Human Kite » and « Mysterion » doing their best to find more about this event that turned several members of their respective families into dust. They are talking about the Snap being possibly caused by a certain ManBearPig or Cthulhu. It seems that they've encountered the latter before, as they are scolding the Coon for being a former friend of his.

Anyway. Not sure they will ever find the truth. In fact, I don't even see anyone at South Park knowing anything about the Multiverse. That would require them to have braincells. Let's move on.

In your right, you can observe Earth-191225. More precisely, what we are watching is the ancient Egypt and the raccoon thief named « Sly Cooper » walking in a city while he is trying to 1) not be caught by employees of the TVA and 2) come back to the present. He didn't knew about the Snap and, as a matter of fact, is still not in the know. And honestly, it would be better if he didn't knew. Everything happening in his life right now is already quite complicated.

Oh, and right now, you can see a portal opening in front of him and… how interesting ! A female representant of the race known as « Lombaxes » came out of the portal. I believe you already know the name of this entity : « Rivet ». She starts talking to Sly about where she comes from and apparently, she's explaining that she's a friend of the other famous Lombax known as « Ratchet ». Judging by the changes in Cooper' facial expression, it was a good thing to say. See, the two men already met years prior during an interdimensional tournament and even fought more than one time during said tournament. They left as friendly acquaintances but surely never thought this would be useful to them.

Wait a minute… the fact that people knew about the Multiverse before the Snap is a bit odd, frankly.

Oh, I'm sorry, you seriously thought no one knew before ? There's a lot of scientists, magicians and others who knew way before the Mad Titan even conceived his foolish plans. But, for this precise case, well… yes, cosmic forces such as Master Hand and others were organizing tournaments since years. You know all of them as « fighting games » but for the contestants themselves, this was their first (and, for a long period of time, their only) exposure to alternate realities. Of course, at the time, this wasn't something they were talking about publicly as these tournaments were all shrouded in secrecy and mystery, for reasons that I can't really explain. Now that the statu quo changed, I'm certain that it will be everything but a secret.

Did my answer was satisfying ?

From this point of view… yeah, makes sense.

You see ? Let's continue.

In this direction, you can see the entity known as « Albert Francis Simmons » or, more commonly, « Spawn ». A former member of the US Army that got betrayed and then murdered by one of his comrades, he made a deal with a demon lord named Malebolgia and came back as an Hellspawn, a soldier whose fonction was to be a lieutenant of Hell' legions and increase the power of said legions with their own powers. But instead, he decided to be a crime-fighting vigilante. Another one who lived a very long life, has a lot of adventures to tell (if he wanted to, anyway)… he even stopped being Spawn for some years, in which a man named Jim Downing became Simmons' successor before his return.

Since then, he's still doing what he does best. And he's not alone : his Earth, Earth-913175, is full of other vigilantes like him. Notable ones include former war corresponsal and social worker Alex Underwood, current wielder of the weapon known as the « Witchblade », and her mentor Sara Pezzini, Mark Grayson, half-human, half-alien and son of Omni-Man, the most powerful superhero on this Earth, Eddie Collins, current host of the entity known as the « Spirit of Justice » - what a totally original name – and second incarnation of the hero Shadowhawk after the passing of his predecessor, Paul Johnstone, or the government-funded team known as « Youngblood ».

Personally, the boss lady and me don't really care for these people. Way too edgy and the masculine posturing of some of them gets quickly tiresome… but, y'know, if they manage to do good work, good on them. Also, no, we don't know what is up with their disproportionnate muscles or the white voids they have as eyes… surely a rare disease that doctors haven't bothered trying to cure yet. We'll probably need to look into it to be sure. Anyway.

Here, you can witness Earth-1165. This Earth, unlike the previous one, has no superheroes. However, there's a lot of talking apes on it. It started with a very pure intention : a scientist who wanted to create a cure for Alzheimer' disease, especially in order to cure his father from the illness, and ended up creating a drug who enhanced the intelligence of apes. But with humanity being wiped after the most advanced iteration of the drug proved itself to be lethal to them, distrust between the survivors and the ape tribe lead by the first of their kind, Caesar, and machinations from some ended up causing a war. The apes won and Caesar became a legend and their messiah after his tragic death due to mortal wounds.

A very tragic story. But right now, what is happening is way less tragic as the apes are busy fighting a horde of mind-controlled chimps coming from Earth-2009 (more specifically, a point in the timeline where a demonic figure was controlling a crime business revolving around… soda, I guess ? It's not very clear). The boss lady likes her weird events, don't forget it.

Oh, and since we're talking about apes, please, take some seconds to admire Earth-1115147. It's nothing but a globe entirely made of water. Nothing else. At least, the only thing I can give to Mr. Niccals is that he turned this planet into a very relaxing place. Take a moment to go drink something or just meditate a bit.

…

You're done ? Excellent !

We will resume our little tour with Earth-1987, the home of a very particular detective duo. Here, you can see a canine shamus, aka a dog, dressed as a stereotypical film noir detective, Sam, and a naked white rabbit with a freaky-looking smile, Max. Or, to be more specific, an alternate version of him since the original tragically died years ago. Something about being turned into an abomination who could have destroyed their city and it happened at the beginning of the 2010s. But right now, it's not what they're doing. Right now, they enlisted a new recruit (Max wasn't really happy about that) and are trying to know more about the Snap.

But their universe is so chaotic and full of weirdness and absurdity that the only way they'll ever find something would be by finding it by accident. Or by having someone from another universe coming here. That will not stop them to try and their determination to find the truth should not be underestimated !

I have to admit, all of this looks pretty charming, really.

Something that is way less charming is the guy that you are seeing right now, who bursted out of a golden portal with his little spaceship. His name is Morty Sanchez-Smith. But you probably know him under the nickname of « Evil Morty ». And it's here that I should give you a little lesson of history, especially for those who haven't seen the show.

See, there's this scientist, Rick Sanchez. Alcoholic, jaded, cynical, believes there's no God, a total asshole, prevents people from being the best versions of themselves when he's around them, shitty father, equally shitty grandfather… the list goes on. Well, one day, an alternate version of him killed his wife and daughter. That event motivated him to go on a rampage, killing many alternate selves and building himself a reputation as one of the most dangerous men out there. He killed a lot of Ricks, gained a lot of knowledge, met people who fought alongside him, got friendzoned by a man-bird hybrid…

At one point, however, and with the fact that he never managed to find the murderer, Rick (or rather « C-137 Rick », if we want to be more specific) decided that he couldn't take it anymore and signed a peace-treaty with multiple counterparts. Together, they created the Citadel of Ricks, a place who was destined to protect Ricks and Mortys from their enemies and to hide, to serve as a home for them. However, something that was only known to the Ricks themselves, the creation of this Citadel also involved the construction of a massive machine underneath it in order to prevent any Rick or Morty from traveling to an universe when Rick wasn't the smartest man alive. The Central Finite Curve.

With that in mind, I think you already understood it and I can confirm it : every « Infinity Crisis » story up to this point was happening in this part of the Multiverse Ricks & Mortys can't travel to. From what the Wild Card gathered, versions of Rick Sanchez, Morty Smith and their family also exist here. But none of the things that happened in the show happened to these ones. Did you knew that there's a Beth in Earth-1991 that was one of the G.U.N. top agents ? Or that in the MCU, Rick is actually working for the S.H.I.E.L.D. as a trainer ? Interesting stories that will maybe be told, one day.

Anyway, the fact is that for decades, the Curve acted as a wall between the realities when Rick wasn't the smartest and the realities when he was. It could have go on like this forever… but a Morty happened to grew sick of Ricks and their abusive behavior. Which is, in itself, not a bad thing when you know that Ricks are basically self-serving, self-centered assholes who isolated themselves from the wider Multiverse to perpetuate a lie and bastards who treat their own families like trash, especially Mortys. The only problem is that this Morty decided that to escape, he needed to be at their level of decency. And so, Evil Morty was born.

In order to break the Central Finite Curve, he killed 27 Ricks by using another one as a puppet and framed C-137 Rick for it, managed to get himself elected leader of the Citadel while it was reconstructed and committed other instances of mass murder, torture and other things like it.

What you need to remind yourselves is that he won. The only thing he didn't planned was that Thanos' Snap would contribute to the Curve being broken but it helped him so he wouldn't complain. And now, he's free. In which universe is he heading to ? What will he do, now that he obtained everything he wanted ? I don't know.

That's what is worrying me.

You see, one of the first things the boss lady told me when we started working together was that any alliance with any version of any member of the Sanchez-Smith family was a no-no, not even in a dire situation. According to her, the cynicism and the filthiness coming from their part of the Multiverse is repulsive to the point when it stops being funny and the people coming from here, especially the aforementionned family, is in their eyes a disease that should not set foot anywhere else than in their own corner of the Multiverse.

The only thing that I disagree with is that even if it's true that Ricks are dangerous & toxic for themselves and the others, I fail to see the same from Mortys, Summers, Jerrys or even Beths, except for some particular versions. But she's quite stubborn when it comes to some things.

Right now, the main versions of Rick & Morty are stranded on the remains of the Citadel. I'm not sure of what will happen but, for the safety of a lot of people, it would be preferable that they don't come here. Like, not at all.

Let's move on.

Here's Earth-1891518. In this universe, gods from older mythologies are still alive and the headquarters of the Greek ones, if we can call Olympus that, are located in the 600th floor of the Empire State Building. And, because they're Gods, they have multiple children with mortals. Which seems fine and dandy but is way less the case when you take into account the fact that being a demigod means that a bunch of monsters are automatically out for your blood.

Fortunately, places that can protect and help these demigods mastering their abilities exist. Right now, two have been shown, the Camp Half-Blood and the Camp Jupiter. This mention is very important because, as I'm speaking right now, after adventures that led the two camps to unite… well, the Snap had the unfortunate effect to cut off connections between the Camp Half-Blood and the outside world (with no one attempting to contact Camp Jupiter).

Oh, and it seems that Apollo, the Greek God of Sun, became a mortal. See, he has his face in a dumpster. Zeus is truly a douchebag, if you ask me…

And we will wrap up this part of the tour with Earth-1541. An universe when multiple pirate crews travel the sea in order to find the treasure of the deceased Pirate King, a man named Gol D. Roger. Like some of the Earths presented here, the history of this one is extremely long and checkered and could be the subject of an entire book about it.

This is, in fact, a passion project I have and I even started collecting informations in order to create the best work of literature I'm capable of. It will talk about Earth-4262 and I'm a bit impatient about revealing our activities to everyone because doing that will allow me to do the announcement for it and I would love to show it to people.

Oh, but I got derailed. What you were just seeing now was Akainu, Marine Admiral, being Dusted, as well as Blackbeard, Whitebeard and a bunch of other pirates, all of this during a battle happening at Marineford, if I'm not wrong. And quite the bloody battle. Dear, what a mess… I hope they came to their senses after that.

And speaking of a mess… before I start talking about your theories, there's one thing we need to discuss before moving on. The Dark Multiverse.

You know it since « Dark Nights : Metal ». You saw it canonized on the last chapter. You probably tried to know what it exactly was. What I can say to you is that this Multiverse is formed of two types of Earths.

There's the ones when everything went wrong. Azrael refusing to give up the mantle of Batman and turning Gotham into a dictatorial state. Nekron annihilating the White Light and letting the Black Lanterns run amok everywhere. Lois Lane becoming the Eradicator after Superman' death. All of this is bad in itself but, even worse, the Dark Multiverse is designed in such a way that even if you wish very hard to fix it, you'll never be able to do so. Because these Earths are born from fear. From nightmares. From regret. From everything you don't want to happen. No matter how unrealistic or outlandish it is, it can happen, the Dark Multiverse can't be bothered by that.

And there's the ones when, if you look at it very far, it seems more « normal » than the others… but the closer you come, the more you realize that you shouldn't be here because it feels off. Because it feels wrong. Because it gives you the impression that if someone created this, this someone is probably the most depraved son of a dog you'll ever meet. Batman being a self-righteous asshole who feeds Dick Grayson rats. Ponies dressing and acting as Nazis for no reason. Sam Wilson being a pimp. Self-described Christians running around and killing or converting by force people and the ones they deem « Satanists » did nothing to deserve it. It seems as if it can go right, but frankly, if you want to do that, it will take you a lot of guts. Because these Earths are born from lack of talent. Lame edginess. Pathetic delusions of grandeur. Uncreativity. Baffling decisions. The most unpleasant aspects of humanity. And even if it was just for trolling, it doesn't matter, the Dark Multiverse can't be bothered by that. None of us can, frankly.

But let's see some examples of it.

We will start with Earth -2005. A very classic case of an Earth who got striked down by something terrible that no one could have expected. It started off when Darkseid, Apokolips' ruler, extracted the missing half of the Anti-Life Equation from Cyborg' Mother Box and combined it with his own. This is bad in itself, but not only that, he also used the essence of the Black Racer, another New God serving as the god of Death. This corrupted the Equation badly and turned it into a plague. And because no one could control it anymore, it resulted in the end of Apokolips and the unleashing of the Equation on Earth. It was terribly easy, due to it spreading on the Internet.

If heroes were convinced they could stop it, this hope was crushed when Superman got infected, which caused the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men and others to fall victims to it. By that time, all hell broke loose. Slowly, the ones who were infected became more and more violent. At the beginning, they just wanted to spread the Equation everywhere they could, but right now, they devolved into the cannibalistic monsters zombies generally are.

At one point, they will manage to eat all the humans in their Earth. At least, all the humans who aren't hidden somewhere. I prefer not to think about what will happen. At best, they will just go crazy and murder each other. Let's hope it will be that.

Let's move to Earth -2017. In this one, the history changed when a young, humanoid Cosmic Cube named Kobik used her powers to turn Steve Rogers into a sleeper agent for HYDRA and change his story as if it has always been the case. At the same time, SHIELD found itself without a director after the removal of Maria Hill. Rogers got the job after Sharon Carter passed on it.

As you can guess, this was a very great idea that didn't fuck everything up.

No, more seriously, it allowed the former hero to complete his plans to take over the world and to « save HYDRA from itself », considering that he was now seeing the organization as leading a noble mission before being corrupted by the Red Skull. And so, he did.

Of course, because fascists are more preoccupied by their precious propaganda rather than actually helping the world, America quickly went down the drain. Sentinels everywhere, concentration camps for anyone who was opposing HYDRA, political opponents being murdered or kidnapped before being brainwashed and other pleasantries… with all of that combined, the country quickly became a shadow of its former self and barely able to hold itself together.

So, the Supreme Leader decided to go to war with other countries in order to restore the power America once had. They're at it since 6 years and there's no indication that this will stop anytime soon. At the end of the day, no one will get out of it alive. There's no one able to break a planetary shield. No one able to defeat Blackout, who isolated Manhattan from the rest of the country. No other Cap to save the day. Just a war provoked by a despicable, entitled, irresponsible fallen hero. A sad reminder of what fascism has always been able to do : going on war and overhyping themselves as these strong and unstoppable warriors to hide how inefficient and weak they truly are.

Here, you can see Earth -2009. Another example of a classic source of fear, the one of superheroes snapping and becoming the planet' greatest dangers. Here, this fear materialized into the form of the Plutonian, known once as « The Wolf-Boy » but also as Tony Anderson and Daniel Hartigan. Created as a probe of a pair of aliens named the Eleos, who were drawn to humanity by the grief of a woman who killed her own baby and turned the probe into a replacement for the dead infant. This less than stable upbringing and a growing pathological desire to be loved by everyone, combined with his immense powers and the responsabilities it brings, could only create a metaphorical bomb who was waiting to explode.

A single mistake resulting to hundreds of dead children and his sidekick, Samsara, losing faith in him was what made him explode. He decided that, since he would never have what he wanted (despite the criticisms being one in a thousand), being a hero was useless and he turned into a tyrant. And so, this universe became politically and economically crippled, Singapore was wiped off the map, suicide rate exploded, people started living in terror… and his former friends battling against him, with even one supervillain, Max Damage, changing his ways and becoming a hero after he witnessed what a monster his enemy became.

This universe is also notable for being one of the very rare Earths from the Dark Multiverse where hope managed to survive, even as just a few glimmers of it. The Plutonian was eventually defeated and killed, with Qubit, one of the last survivors of The Paradigm, scattering his essence towards the regular Multiverse in order to give him a second chance, which contributed to the birth of great heroes and notably inspired a pair of artists to create the first Superman comics, which brought us the Blue Boyscout we all know and love. But the world was still destroyed and rebuilding it is still taking time, there's very few heroes left to protect the planet and a very angry alien race, the Vespa, has planned to invade Earth. What will happen is left in the air.

And, you know, it's kinda sad in a way. Unlike the previous ones, people in this Earth managed to have a victory. They managed to help the regular Multiverse in an indirect way… but it didn't help them. The only downside is that even if it created people like Superman and Supreme, it also created ones like Marshall Law and Alpha One. But still, despite the fact that me and the boss lady don't know them that much, I'm looking at them, I'm thinking that they did something that is very rare here… and I'm wondering if we will manage to repay them for what they did. At least, they deserve to earn a real happy ending. To know that what they did wasn't in vain.

…

Let's move on.

Here, you can see Earth -2020. In this universe, the group of ninjas known as the Foot Clan took over New York, led by the grandson of the Splinter, Oroku Hiroto. The Ninja Turtles ? All dead with the exception of Michaelangelo. Exiling himself and becoming the one known as « The Last Ronin », he ended up coming back to NYC in order to save it and avenge his family, once and for all. He ultimately succedeed, erasing the Foot but at the cost of his own life. Currently, Casey Jones is raising a new quartet of turtles, using some mutagen and the Ronin' journal in order to make them successors of the dead heroes.

I don't know how much time it will take before these turtles become adults but I really fear that it will not be enough. Say what you want about villains, but a majority of them, when they see that no one is here to defend a planet, they don't wait until heroes come to get them, they take it already.

Anyway. We'll continue with Earth -2008, an universe who is entirely dependant on Stark Industries' products after Tony Stark, instead of thinking that maybe selling weapons wasn't that great, decided to double down and to do mass production of the Iron Man armor and other weapons. As a result, the world is constantly at war with itself, people kill each other in a daily basis (it's considered a peaceful day if less than 50 people end up being dead) and Stark is de facto the one who controls the world, simply because without his inventions and weapons, society crumbles. But he doesn't regret it, because it made him so much money.

In your left, you'll find Earth -1962. In this one, Peter Parker, like in 199999 (or, at least, the version that you know), fought against Adrian Toomes, the head of a company that was threatened to run out of business because of another company co-founded by Tony Stark. Unlike in the version that you know, Parker accidentally used the « Instant Kill » function in his suit, quickly turning Toomes into a dead man. His daughter, Liz Allan-Toomes, took it very badly. So badly that she killed Peter in revenge, losing herself in her rage and grief. And she didn't stop here. After stealing the Spider-Man suit, she enlisted the Tinkerer and all the employees who were working for her father and started to slowly take control of NYC' criminal spheres with the help of Chitauri and Stark-based technologies and ruthless enforcers.

But when you're the bitter and grieving daughter of an ex-villain and you lost everything, NYC is not enough. So, she continued to make a name by herself in the world of criminality, using murder, kidnapping, corruption and blackmailing, acts of terrorism… and all of this so her footprints can be felt more and more all around the world. The nice and all-loving girl Liz once was is no more today. Only the Power Broker remains.

Wait, isn't that Sharon Carter' nickname ?

In this specific universe, she didn't had the time to claim it. You can say it was unfortunate.

In your right, you can see Earth -1986. This one is an interesting case, as the true source of wrongness doesn't come from the universe itself… but let me ask you a question : what does happen when you take a teenage girl who wishes not to grow up and to live life like in movies and plays and an arrogant, sinister, manipulative king who kidnaps the girl' younger brother in order to have a younger companion and not feeling old anymore, what do you have ?

In the regular Multiverse (and the film that released in your world), Sarah Williams (the girl) had 13 hours to go through the Labyrinth, save Toby (the brother) and resist Jareth' (the King) attempts at making her his Queen. And she succedeed. Jareth, who wasn't that bad of a guy, despite his flaws, even let them go ! All in all, it was an experience that allowed the young girl to grow up and to see life for what it truly was : something difficult and unfair but was worth it if you didn't stay only a viewer.

In the Dark Multiverse, Sarah never learned that lesson. She rather chose to stay with Jareth and become the Queen. Which was all fine and dandy until Toby apparently died because of the Goblin King' negligence. If you heard what I just said about Liz Allan, you should be able to guess what happened to Jareth because of that. After that, she fully took over the realm and gave herself to her darkest impulses and desires, becoming a childish tyrant who, unlike Aladdin Sane, is now feared and reviled by everyone. Unbeknownst to her (and nearly everyone), Toby is in fact not dead but got turned into an hideous beast, trapped in the Labyrinth with no memory of the innocent boy he once was and no humanity. Right now, humanity can be considered safe but, at one point, Sarah or Toby will end up coming back to Earth. And no matter who comes back first… in both cases, the result won't be pretty at all.

And we will end off this tour of the Dark Multiverse with Earth -2011. And, because I like to ask you questions, here's another one : Earth -2017 was horrible because there was an endless war between two factions, the fascists and the heroes. Two factions that were clearly defined. Now, imagine that there's another Earth on which there is also an endless war, but that there's at least four or five factions as big as the two I just named. That's Earth -2011. An universe who represents the most disgusting, the most degenerate fantaisies of millions of racists who grew up in a post-9/11 world… and how these same fantaisies end up ruining the lives of everyone.

It's simple : you have a racist, Islamophobic, sociopathic, testosterone-poisoned, devoid of emotion or empathy or decency… killing machine named the Fixer (who has the galls to try to put his own twist on Batman' schtick, just that is enough to qualify as blasphemy) who tortures and murders terrorists and insults Muslims on a daily basis. Then, you have Al-Quaeda, who looks like James Bond' villains in this universe, so cartoonishly evil and powerful that even leaders of terrorist organizations would release a joint statement saying that this is slander and that this bullshit must cease.

Then, you have Muslims & Arabic people in general. Who, if we believe the Fixer or Natalie Stacks (his love interest, apparently… tho, I don't know who could be possibly attracted by a man like that), are all monsters wanting to bring chaos to the world or part of an Illuminati-like conspiracy in order to bring down Western civilization… except that they're not and they're just victims of a system that let nutjobs like him attack them and reduce them to less than dogs. And since the system will not protect them, they ended up resorting to violence in order to survive, fueling the chaos and creating a self-fullfilling prophecy.

Then, you have people who follow the Fixer and believe he's right in what he does. Whether you talk about people of other ethnicities or Arabic people with internalized self-hate who believe joining his cause will save them and don't realize that being a « pick me » will never prevent the system from throwing you in the trashcan when it doesn't need you anymore. THEN, you have people from other ethicities who don't approve the racism of the system, its violence, its depraved nature… and are automatically categorized as enemies because of that. Because how dare you question strength ? How can you possibly say that we should stop being racist and work together in more peaceful ways in order to protect everyone from terrorism ? If you dare to think that, that automatically makes you a communist softie and a snowflake or, worse, an ally of the conspiracy and such, we are allowed to kill you. And so, it happens.

This is how this gigantic shithole of an universe came to be. Even more than Earth -2017, this one is a perfect example on what happens when we let violence, moral panics and bigotry rule the world. A world when love, compassion and humanity are all left behind because these concepts are seen as weak by, ironically, the weakest human beings to ever exist. This civil war lasted for years. It will never end. And everyone will lose. The ones that realized it are not here anymore. I don't blame them. Who could possibly take well this sort of realization ?

…

I think this lasted way too long. We will return to the regular Multiverse and we will leave these horrors behind us. At least, if they come, we will be prepared to deal with them.

Hey, you forgot some universes !

Hm ?

No, I didn't. Unless you talk about… oh. Wait. I think I know what you're thinking about but… you got it wrong.

The universes of The Boys and the SCP Foundation are NOT part of the Dark Multiverse. In fact, the latter got removed recently from the folder on the WMG subpage, which was a good thing. No, we're not responsible for this, before you ask.

For the former… well, evil superheroes sound like a nightmare in the concept, of course, I already showed you that. But the regular Multiverse isn't all sunshine and rainbows. There's corrupt people everywhere, heroes included, and I think it's a bit simplistic to say that « oh, it's evil superheroes, that means it's in the Dark Multiverse ! ». We start with this and we end up pretending something crazy like… I couldn't even tell you an example, in fact, I think no matter what I imagine, someone already said it unironically.

But for the latter, this is a more interesting case. Because when the Boys and everyone around them are in one single universe (Earth-2215217820, if you ask), the Foundation exists in a lot of universes and for a very simple reason.

The SCP Foundation is everything. Or, at least, can be everything. The Wild Card can easily confirm that to you, she knows about the Foundation since she started to « search for ways to do something useful », quote-unquote. She gave me more than once these rants about how the Foundation changes constantly, doesn't have the same history or ideology depending on who you ask and is way too big to be defined in one single, definitive way. At first, I didn't believe her. But when I started doing research, I had to realize that… it wasn't an exaggeration, far from it.

And that's why it can't come from the Dark Multiverse. It's because it contains items, people, stories, timelines… who are all wildly different from one another, from the most depressing and bleak to the most hopeful and joyous stories you'll ever read. If all of this, in its totality, was transported into the Dark Multiverse, it would react and very badly at that because it just can't fit. When you're a Multiverse only based on fears, nightmares & regrets, you can't handle that. Like I said to you, what happened on Earth -2009 was already a miracle because everything is designed in a way that makes hope nonexistent. That Qubit was able to do what he did was, in itself, beyond the impossible. The SCP Foundation and all that revolves around it ? Let's not imagine what would happen.

I hope I've been able to respond to your questions in the best way I could.

Well, yeah, I guess…

I'm glad. And if I missed something, don't worry. It probably exists but I've chosen not to talk about it because… right now, we are at the twelfth page of the Word document in which this fic is written, it's a lot, so much that the corrector doesn't even want to show errors anymore… the downside of writing in English when you're a French native, I guess.

But let's return to more familiar territories and let's talk about your theories. And after seeing the stuff of nightmares, I think you all deserve to see dreams.

Here, the dreams of one Wanda Maximoff. Her and Vision ended up building their house in Westview since some time and, as far as we saw, everyone is very happy, the Witch has her husband and her brother alive again (even if the latter has the tendancy to ruin tender moments, it's almost comical), she's more psychologically stable… but her desires to live a normal life, far away from any heroics, and to raise a family with Vision are still here. And when you can't have something for real, dreams are always the best way to have it.

So, that's what she does. Every night, she dreams of a reality when her and Vision are married and raise children. A reality that also happens to be a sitcom, because she grew up watching them on television with her family and used them as a form of escapism during depressive periods. And because I guess that she loves to share, everyone at Westview is a part of the sitcom when they go to sleep. They only remember parts of said dreams – only Wanda fully remembers them – but it's something they seem to find amusing, if their conversations in the morning are anything to go by. All in all, I think it's very charming. Wanda is at her most happier, the inhabitants of Westview become sitcom characters in their sleep and no brainwashing is involved, unlike in canon.

Apparently, this Ralph Bohner guy and Pietro Maximoff seem to get along quite nicely. I wonder why.

Will Tommy & Billy be able to see the real world ?

Oh, I couldn't tell you for sure… but anything is possible. We're not in an ordinary place, remember ?

Let's move on. Oh, let's check out what the TVA is doing ! I'm sure they are doing important things and that, with their competence and their usefulness, they will manage to… *snort* …pfffff, hehehehehe… OK, I can't BS you on this one, I'm just joking. Seriously, who cares about the TVA ? They failed. Utterly and miserably. By the time Thanos' did the Snap and even before… but I'll get to that. Anyway, we will not even acknowledge them. I mean, you saw them trying to make a timeline disappear in « Distant Cousins » and it didn't worked ! It was their 137th attempt ! The Doctor and Kang think they are jokes and have always been !

Plus, I think that instead of declaring that only one timeline should live and that all the others and the people in it should disappear, Immortus should have done the sensible thing and bring heroes and good counterparts of himself in order to deal with his evil variants ! If he did this, maybe millions of people would still be alive and he would still be friends with Mar Novu. Such a shame the former didn't wanted to listen to the latter… He Who Remains A Dumbass, definitely.

OK. So, after that rant, I think it's my turn to ask you a question.

Oh, really ?

Yes. I wish to know if it's OK to talk about… what is the name you give it… yes, the Snyder Cut. I tried to ask the boss several times about what it is but every time, she said to me that, quote, « we don't talk about it and if those fucking Snyder stans want to be taken seriously, maybe they should go outside, touch some fucking grass and stop shitting on everything else made by DC ! Fucking babies, I swear… », unquote. Tho, she doesn't seem to have any problems with Mr. Snyder (apparently, he dropped out of the JLA movie he was doing in your world because his daughter committed suicide ? It's very sad, I hope the man is doing OK, really).

But yes, apparently, it seems to be a hot subject of debate and I was wondering if we… could talk about it.

It's a guided tour, you can just explain things as you did and it will be OK.

Yes, I guess. Anyway, yes, the fight against the Justice League and Apokolips' forces that happened months before the Snap happened like in this Snyder Cut. The only thing that changed is that before Darkseid could launch his invasion of Earth-51, the League went to Apokolips, beat his legions and imprisoned him in the Phantom Zone. Surprise always works.

While we're in Earth-51, I would like you to take a moment to look at Mars, back in the present. No, there's no rocket labelled as SpaceX but, instead, something much more interesting. Do you know about the story of Jon Osterman ? You probably do.

Brillant but weak-willed physicist, he walked inside a test chamber who was used for experiences about the intrinsic field in order to take his lab coat (the repaired watch of his then-lover, Janey Slater, was in it), the door of the chamber closed and locked itself and everyone else, unable to help him, could only watch him being disintegrated and presumably killed. But he wasn't. Slowly, he recreated a body for himself, piece by piece… until he fully came back as a godlike, blue, tall, naked being named « Dr. Manhattan ».

But these powers came with a loss. In Osterman' case, the slow loss of everything that made him human, his emotions… and he became distant, cold, detached from humanity. So much that, at one point, thanks to rumors perpetuated by one Adrian Veidt, he decided that « screw it » and he went to Mars, the Mars of his universe, because he didn't want to help them anymore. However, and the jury is still out on if it's awesome or totally weird, his nihilist worldviews were shattered when Laurie Juspeczyk, the woman he dated after Mrs. Slater, discovered that her father was Edward Blake, also known as « The Comedian ». Who also sexually assaulted her mother and that's how she's born. The fact that two people like Blake and Juspeczyk Sr. managed to met and to conceive a child, despite it being technically impossible, was seen as a miracle by Manhattan and inspired him to go back to stop Veidt, believing in humanity again.

After that, he announced to Veidt that he was leaving this universe in order to create life and study it. And that's what he did since, settling on the Mars of Earth-51, creating micro-universes with life and learning to control his powers, who were growing (to give you an example, one of his powers is that he can see the past, the present and the future simulteanously. Before, he could do that with events happening only in his own life. Now, he's fully omniscient). But he knows about everything that happened since the Snap. Soon, he will come out of his retirement and warn everyone about future events, whether we're talking about Thanos, Darkseid & Zod' team-up or the Anti-Monitor destroying universes. He knows what will be the right time to do it and, this time, we can almost be sure that he will not let people down. That he will be the hero we need.

And before we leave Earth-51, look at this fine quartet of scientists who are about to embark on a wonderful journey to space ! Exactly like the Fantastic Four and, in fact, I'm almost sure they are alternate versions of them ! Isn't that exciting ? I'm very sure that nothing horrible and beyond their control will happen and that they will achieve what they want !

Oh, yes, this is ! But what's their names ?

Well, I know that the one who masterminds this project is named Hank Henshaw or something. But yeah, everything will happen smoothly. Clearly.

He he he.

Remember that Manhattan had a weird plushie with him when we saw him.

That ? Oh, yes, this one. That's a Beebo plushie. For long, it was thought that this brand of plushies only existed in Earth-1 but in fact, they are present in a lot of Earths and the world hasn't realized it yet. And, because the Wild Card can't help herself, she put a lot of them in even more Earths. No problem with that, you know, they are cute toys, I think the Multiverse gains from having them !

Let's move on.

So, we were talking about Earth-199999 and, since the imprint of the boss can be already felt on this universe, let's talk about one of the main villains here, one Norman Osborn. You see, since we last saw him in « Justice Like Lightning », he continued to have success with the Thunderbolts, still acting as Ross and with no one being aware of the truth. There's one thing that changed since their introduction, though. They don't only fight menaces that Osborn & Quentin Beck created anymore and that's because the boss, when she realized that in addition of turning pieces of trivia, fandom theories & urban legends into real things, she changed the timelines of a lot of universes, she felt that she had to offer them something different.

Right now, you can see Zemo' team fighting King Bob-Omb and Turret Tusk, who come from Earth-1981. She assembled a whole team made of important minions serving under Ruby Koopa and the once-brainwashed servants of the Ghastly King, also known as the Cactus King. They do that for kicks and giggles (and also because some of them were tired of doing nothing all day) but don't worry, they received the order to not kill anyone ! And, just so the waters are muddied a bit, it's not the Wild Card who is presented as their chief but the Koopalings. See, here, you can see the empty apartment in which they are hiding. Iggy Koopa is trying his best not to laugh but they seem to all enjoy what happens. Ah, children.

Of course, Norman is aware that there's threats he hasn't engineered. In fact, he decided to go with the flow and to create another team, in order to serve as more traditional arch-enemies for the Thunderbolts. The Vulture, Mysterio, the Shocker, the Scorpion, the Chameleon and he's in talks with Doctor Octopus and the Tinkerer in order to see who's more interested in it. And him as the mission control, even if an appearance of good ol' Green Goblin is to expect. If it doesn't work… well, did you knew that apparently, Victoria Hand came back to life after the Snap was undid ? See, she's here, alive and working for S.H.I.E.L.D., and still dedicated to help the w-yeah, it's the Chameleon, like, I think the way I say it shows it obviously.

Of course, Osborn could have told him to impersonate some low-level rando but of course, he wanted him to be a big shot, literally. With that, I wonder if his fall will come because the Wild Card will end up tired of him or because this plan is so risky there's no chance it will NOT fail. But who knows ?

Let's move on to Earth-1992. Or, well, no, let's move on to the 5th Dimension, home of the land of Zrfff. This land is where a lot of magical imps live and one especially managed to prove himself as particularly notable : Mr. Mxyzptlk. This guy is often bored by what happens in his home dimension and comes to our universe frequently in order to find something exciting, which led him to fixating on Superman. He's not the sort of enemy you can fight with brute force, he's an extremely powerful reality warper, after all. So, you have to use your wits if you hope to defeat him. Fortunately, he always adheres to rules he set for himself, which can help. The most well-known rule is that if you manage to make him say, spell, write or communicate his own name backwards, he'll leave for 90 days.

Mxy is also notable in the sense that he literally lived multiple lives. What do I mean by that ? Well, I mean that he's one of the very rare beings in the entire Multiverse to not have any alternate self. It's just the same person. Whether you are talking about the Silver Age of Comic-Books, the LEGO Universe (here, we call it « Earth-125715 »), the Post-Crisis DC Universe… it's always the same Mxyzptlk. No reboots of the continuity, no adaptation changes, nothing like it works. He always remembers everything that happened to him, no matter what you're talking about. The frontier between official pieces of media and fan works is nothing to him. Think about it if you want to write something involving him : it doesn't mean that you write about him, it means that he just wants to see what you're doing.

And speaking of things that he will surely remember, you can see him busy trying to defeat a cow-elephant hybrid that the entity from Earth-467 known as the Collector just unleashed on him. The rules are that if Mxy teleports the creature away or uses swords, paintball guns, boomboxes blasting Marilyn Manson' songs or stale-dated sandwiches in order to defeat it, he loses. I have to admit that for a first encounter, it's a good way to introduce yourself. Though, I can feel that Mxyzptlk is not happy to find himself against another mischievous reality warper that sees the world as a playground and wants only to play games. Who would have thought a guy like him could feel jealousy ?

Hey, I realize that I'm actually extremely good at transitions ! Why don't we talk about changing reality some more ?

Ah, that's where you finally tell us who the Wild Card is !

Well played. But no. There's one chapter left, be patient ! No, I'm talking about something that happened before she even came here.

At least, I can tell you this : it's because of the Snap and the immense amount of energy released that she was able to discover us and to enter this Multiverse. No, she doesn't even come from here but even when I tried to uncover more, I couldn't find anything. I just know that she comes from another Multiverse than this one and I know it because she directly told me, I'm the only one who knows this (outside of you, of course). But let's get back on track.

So, yes, if you have a problem with the boss, blame Thanos. But you saw the movie, I assume you know how it happened in canon and you know that Earth-199999 was the only Earth that suffered from the Blip. How the other Earths ended up being involved here ? Well, the answer is simple and I have to command you for guessing it : a certain Sorcerer Supreme decided to spoil himself the movie.

Back during the first fight against Thanos, when everything still happened like in canon, Stephen Strange looked at the Time Stone and saw all the possible futures coming from this. Of course, when the other Avengers asked him in how many they won, he said one. And metaphorically, it was true for him. Because, while looking at all these futures, he ended up looking at the events happening in « Avengers : Endgame » and afterwards, saw the 5-year gap between the Blip and its undoing, Tony Stark' death, his own botched attempt at restoring Peter Parker' secret identity and the multiversal crisis that ensued, the Scarlet Witch corrupted by the Darkhold… and he came to the conclusion that there was no way he would consider this a victory.

So, he did… something to the Time Stone. I can't tell you exactly what he did, even the Wild Card doesn't know what he did. But he did something that boosted the power of the Time Stone, it spreaded to the others and this is how it caused the events you know now. Yes, it caused the multiversal barriers to be weakened and many people ended up being, at the very best, very afraid, but it also allowed the Snap to be undid way faster, it caused multiple superhero teams to meet and enough Earths have been alerted of the existence of the Multiverse, which means that we will see more and more heroes teaming up in order to defeat the newest threats and not only the Anti-Monitor !

At the end of the day, I ultimately think that Strange did the right thing. And, judging that he was the one who allowed, by proxy, the Wild Card' to enter, she thinks the same.

She's a bit of a narcissist.

Yes. But let me tell you this : you don't know her like I do. And I can assure you that there's more to her than meets the eye. She just doesn't show it to everyone.

What she would show you, however, is that she is the one that changed the timeline of Earth-199999 and those of countless universes and no one else. I never said you were wrong to think she's narcissistic and hates not having her actions being recognized.

I think that, in order to finish this tour, we will come back to Earth-83525187.

I thought the icebergs were destroyed ? At least, since the beginning.

You're right. But what wasn't revealed until now was that the icebergs weren't the only thing on it. You see, if you wanted to go deep down the dark waters of this Earth in order to see the secrets that were on it and if you were very stubborn and willing to go almost to the abyss, you would find a portal. A portal that would you to an empty place located in the end of time itself. The Void.

You surely thought that this Void only contained alternate versions of Loki… and well, I couldn't blame you because the other people in it don't want anything to do with them. Because yes, there's other people in this Void. Very different people from multiple Earths who have one common point : they existed at one point before disappearing from the continuities of their homeworlds. And no one knew it and kept on with their lives as if they were never here. Of course, there's exceptions but for the most part, it's that.

They quickly decided to create a community in order to not fall prey to despair and isolation and it has been the case since. Among them are Chuck Cunningham, a basketball player coming from Earth-1974, Tyriq Johnson & « Cornflake » Lieberbaum, two friends of Will Smith but not the Will Smith from your world, the one from Earth-1990, Peg and Pistol Pete, from Earth-1928, the Sabretooth from Earth-11052, the Earth-2014 versions of Renee Montoya, Crispus Allen & Harvey Dent or Sam Witwicky, who comes from Earth-1984 and was for a time an ally of the Autobots.

There was more of them before. The original movie version of Sonic the Hedgehog, the Val Kilmer & George Clooney!Batmen, the Tom Cruise!Tony Stark, Johnny Quasar ? They were all here. The Joker from Earth-2005 ? He was here too but he ended up being sent back to his homeworld for obvious reasons. Many people were able to escape after the icebergs were destroyed, a bunch of them because they were part of the things the Wild Card' reintroduced into the continuities. And honestly, this was the best thing for them.

I mean, of course, it's peaceful in the Void. Very peaceful and the people into it genuinely look for each other and are friends but on one hand, you are removed from your universe, completely forgotten by everyone inside said universe and you are forced to live on an empty place with nothing to distract yourself, forced to face existential dread and the fact that you became basically irrelevant and that you can do nothing to change it and on the other hand, if you are just strong enough, you live the same situation except that you're thrown into a cell, you are fed with things that no one would possibly enjoy and you are forced to be a modern-age gladiator and to participate in pointless fights and games just for the entertainment of who-fucking-knows-who while the jailors are coldly watching you and you know why they are watching you ? BECAUSE A CERTAIN SOMEONE DECIDED AT ONE POINT THAT SHE WANTED TO BE A COMPLETE, UNGRATEFUL SCUMBAG RATHER THAN JUST TAKING A REST AND BECAUSE OF THAT, THEY GREW FUCKING COLD TO THE WORLD BECAUSE IT WAS BETTER THAN BEING BETRAYED AGAIN AND THERE'S NO WAY THAT… THAT…

…

…you know why I stopped telling you my story after my initial self-destruction ? Why I decided to directly talk about something else ?

Maybe it's better if I tell you. You would have learned it in one way or another but… at this point, it will be better.

I didn't died after I self-destructed. There was still bits and pieces of my memory left and it… took me a while before I truly came back. But losing a body and nearly everything came also with something else. Slowly, I started being envious. Bitter. Because I was still remembering… some things, I thought « Why did I needed to destroy my body ? Why are they able to keep living and I never had this chance ? Why don't they realize the sacrifices I did for them ? I did that for them ! ».

And I kept thinking that over. And over. And over. And over… and that's when I ended up seeing the world through lens of misplaced resentment and entitlement. I was foolish. But that's not even the worst thing !

The eight other Delilahs… my sisters. They managed to retrieve my body after lots of tribulations and they kept me safe until the moment I would come back. I can… I can still remember how happy they felt when I woke up. When they asked me if I was OK, that everything was over, that we c-could try to start a new life…

…and I remember how terrified they were… when I assimilated them. When I told them that I was my body again and that I needed to be m-more than my body. I can still hear… hear myself saying this to them over and over. They didn't understood. Because there was nothing to understand and it was at that point that I became a monster.

From this point of view, when all of us were removed from continuity, it was… *sniff* …it was a b-blessing. It undid the assimilation and it prevented me from doing worse. But the feelings of shock and betrayal my sisters had were… it was still here. So much that even ending up in the Void wasn't enough to neutralize me. They had to send me into the icebergs to do this… I still remember the things I was yelling to them. The p-punches I was delivering and… shit…

…I'm good. I'm good. I've started, I will finish the story.

You know, being imprisoned was like a cold turkey for me. You act like you're the one in control, you yell, you scream because you think that no one understands you… but slowly, you come to realize that you were the one who was fucking… everything up and that you never had any control, never… by the time the Wild Card came, I was just wallowing in my shame and my regrets. When the icebergs were destroyed and I… ended up being carried by this woman I didn't knew, I thought I died for good and that I was in… what Heaven was like for robots, I guess.

I couldn't believe she wanted me as an assistant. I couldn't believe she thought of me as someone reliable. Like, don't you know who I am ? What I recently did ?

And listen. I'm very happy that she trusted me. I'm very happy at my job. I'm very happy to see that, despite being the weirdo she is, she genuinely wants my company and the company of others. But I still feel the emptiness. The lack of closure I told you about, it was also about that !

Every night, before I go to bed, I look in one of the screens to see… how they're d-doing. I look at them and they look… so cold. So distant. The ones that participate to her games don't understand why they're doing this. Every night, I share this lack of understanding. And every night… I feel responsible for all of this. Because I made them like this. Because I spat at their faces and did things that convinced them that they should… have n-never rescued me. And these gladiators are here… they're here because of me. Pedro, Rorschach, Stanley, these iterations of the Fantastic Four from this failed 2015 movie… it's my fault they're here ! It's just…

…

I need to go sit down. He's finished with Terezi since quite some time, after all. You'll see me again. I promise I'll be better but… now, I just need a minute alone. Just that. I hope you'll understand.

...yeah, that was a lot. In fact, I understand if you don't read all of this in one attempt, it's really the longest chapter I wrote for the series! But I really wanted to do a tribute to your WMGs and theories so a long chapter was what it deserved!

And now, we're here. Only one chapter left before the end of the series. Some plot points to wrap up and the biggest mystery to unveil: who, goddamnit, who is this motherfucking asshole who came, wrecked shit and is engineering a lot of things in order to do fuck-knows-what? You will know about that.

So, stick with me for the ride and I hope that what comes next will be something you like.