A/N: I know it's been a while since I updated, but I'm back now. Part of that is because in the last couple months my overarching plans for this fanfic have changed somewhat. Originally I was intending for the sole antagonist, from beginning to end, to be Majors' Kang variant. But as of the Doctor Doom announcement at SDCC and the MCU's seeming abandonment of the Council of Kangs storyline, I've decided that this fanfic will be my vessel to wrap up the storyline myself for all of you. Which led to a fair amount of overhauling and a much larger scope than I was originally planning on. So that's what I've been up to lately, but now that that's all dealt with, I'm planning to be updating more regularly going forward.

So without further ado, please read, review, and enjoy!

I do not own any of the characters in this fanfic.


AURADON, EARTH-85 – JUNE 16, 2025

"Sylvie, why couldn't we just teleport to the castle?" I asked as we made our way down one of Auradon City's cobblestone, cottage-lined streets. I pointed to the towering castle on the other side of the city, visible over the rooftops. "I feel like we're wasting precious expositional time here. Readers nowadays have the attention spans of gnats, and there's only so much longer they're gonna stick around waiting for us to fight Jonathan Majors before they get bored and decide their time would be better spent rereading My Immortal for the 277th time."

"I wasn't sure how they would take it if we suddenly showed up right outside their castle and asked to be let in," Sylvie replied. "I figured taking the scenic route was the safer bet. Not to mention it gives us a chance to look around the town. See if we can find any traces of the variant on our own."

"How do we even know he's in Auradon?" Rose asked. "We know he headed to this universe, but…that's a pretty big place."

Sylvie briefly grabbed a remote-shaped tracking device from her cloak before returning it to its pocket. "Because of the He Who Remains Tracker the TVA lent me. Right now, it's isolating the specific micro-chronosector of this timeline that Majors is currently in."

"How small is a micro-chronosector?" I asked. "And are you sure you didn't just make that up?"

"About 400 square miles spatially and a few days temporally," Sylvie explained. "Come on, Wade, I get you don't want to be here, but at least stop complaining about it. Look around. Take in the sights. You never know when one tiny detail might make all the difference."

"Oh, I'm looking. And if you ask me, everything here is too peaceful." There wasn't a cloud in the sky, bluebirds were chirping as they fluttered between buildings, steaming pies were left unattended on every other windowsill we passed, and every person we came across was singing or humming to themselves. I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. "I'd hate to see what this place would really look like if I put on a pair of sunglasses from that magic eyewear shop a few blocks back." Side note, I thought magic wasn't allowed in Auradon, but pretty much every store we'd passed had advertised some sort of enchanted items for sale. Guess the rules changed at some point.

"Stop doing that," Magik said. "It's annoying and just confuses the crap out of us."

"Well, maybe you hate it." I turned and nodded to you through the fourth wall. "But they love it."

As we continued walking, the sun rose higher in the sky, and the streets became slightly more populated. Some people gave us inquisitive looks as we walked by, but didn't waste our time with a bunch of questions about who we were, what we wanted, why the red suit (well, that's so bad guys can't see me bleed), shit like that.

Until, that is, an anthropomorphic frog standing on a street corner saw us and hopped over. I shuddered; animals aren't meant to walk and talk, stuff like that just gives me the creeps.

He stopped in our path and adjusted the stack of papers he held under one arm. "Greetings – ribbit!" he greeted us. "I don't think I've seen you fellows around here before. Are you new in-?" He suddenly froze and his eyes zoned out.

I leaned towards Sylvie. "I think he's stroking out."

Suddenly, the frog's tongue shot out a few inches to the side of my head, before coiling back into his mouth. Then he shook his head and continued talking. "Sorry about that," he said. "There was a fly right there, and, well, you know how it is. Anyway, are you new in town?"

"You could say that," Sylvie replied. "Would you say you're familiar with everyone who lives here?"

The frog nodded and gave another ribbit. Yeah, that was gonna get annoying if this conversation continued much longer. "Pretty much. That happens when you work for the Museum of Cultural History. It's a pretty big place. One of the main reasons people come to Auradon. Hey, is that why you're here?"

"Er, not exactly," Loki said.

The frog hopped in place. "Oh, you should definitely stop by. Hey, before you go, take one." He flipped through his stack of papers and shoved one towards Sylvie. She reluctantly took it. "The Museum's having a magical artifacts auction tonight at 6:30! You should come. It'll be lots of fun. Admission's free."

"A magical artifacts auction?" I asked. "So you're just handing out enchanted objects to anyone who comes? No background checks or screening process? You're just handing our cursed spinning wheels and poisoned apples to whatever fairy-tale capitalist outbids everyone else?"

The frog's eyes widened. "Oh, good ribbits, no! We keep the heavy-hitters like that locked up now. We had a real wake-up call, in a manner of speaking," he gave a weird ribbit-snort, "several years ago, and we've made sure to enhance our security ever since then. No, no, we're only auctioning off some of the less potentially harmful items, like, um, Rapunzel's curlers and Captain Hook's spyglass and Sleeping Beauty's enchanted vibrator."

"Wow, and I thought Mickey inviting me to come to Disneyland and talk about the mutually incredible climax I shared with Wolvie was a big step," I remarked. "Seems like the ol' Mouse is sitting on a bunch of pent-up horniness all of a sudden. Must be going through a dry spell with Minnie."

"Shut the f##k up," Magik snapped.

I turned around and narrowed my eyes at her. "Hey, I've been keeping a lid on the dick jokes since we got here, since we're supposedly in a G-rated universe. I had to literally bite my tongue when we passed that sign for Doc's Clocks that was missing its 'l.'" I pointed to the frog. "But the minute this fine gentleman here said 'vibrator,' all bets were off."

"Why are you auctioning off these items in the first place?" Loki asked.

"Oh, because we're running out of space in the Museum," the frog answered. "We've gotten so many new shipments lately of magical or otherwise significant items, that we don't have room for it all."

"Oh." I nodded. "So what you're saying is the museum director's making you get rid of all this stuff to make room for the Wish exhibit that nobody is ever going to visit."

The frog raised his hands and waved them back and forth. "Oh, no, no. No, it was just…you know…." He lowered his hands and gave a despondent shrug. "…well…."

"Actually," Sylvie said to the frog, stepping in front of me, "you said you're familiar with all the regulars around these parts, right? So…do you think you could tell me if you've seen a particular person around Auradon in the past few days?"

"Yes," Loki said. "We were planning to meet a…a friend here, and we don't know if he's arrived yet."

The frog inclined his head. "Sure. What does your friend look like, ribbit?"

Sylvie reached into another pocket in her cloak and pulled out the circular device she'd used back at the Citadel to show us the hologram of Majors. She activated it, and his image appeared above the contraption.

The frog stared at the hologram. "You know what, I think I did see him yesterday," he said. "Yes, I did. He was walking down the street, and I passed him as I was handing out flyers for the auction." He tapped the papers under his arm. "I asked him where he was from since I didn't recognize him, and he got…sort of evasive. Anyway, I gave him one of the flyers, and he seemed interested in that. I haven't seen him again since then, though. But hey, maybe you'll find him if you go to the auction tonight."

Sylvie gave a nod. She rolled up the flyer and stuffed it into her cloak. "Thank you for your help." She turned and beckoned the rest of us forward. "Come on, let's go."

Once we were out of the frog's earshot, I quickened my pace so I was walking alongside Sylvie. "So is this our new plan now? Go to the auction instead of the castle?"

"No, we're still going to the castle," Sylvie replied. "If we can warn the king and queen about Majors and that he's probably going to be at the auction tonight, maybe they'll be willing to give us some reinforcements. From what the TVA's told me, you can never be too prepared when dealing with one of He Who Remains' variants."

After that, most of the rest of the trip to the castle passed without incident, except for a brief jumpscare I suffered when I saw Auradon Prep from a distance and thought for a second that it was the X-Mansion. Still a school for gifted youngsters, I suppose, just of a different variety.

A little while later, we approached the castle's front entrance. A large golden gate blocked the road, with stone walls on either side. Standing in front of the gate were two spear-clutching guards, each wearing blue-and-gold armor. "Halt!" one of them, who had a bushy, black mustache, said. "Identify yourselves."

We stopped in front of them. And before Sylvie could respond, I stepped in front of her. "Good morrow to you, fine sirs. We are the Guardians of the Multiverse, and without us, a couple years ago, your universe and every other one in existence would have been wiped out by an armada of Sentinels and Daleks. So…you're welcome." I knew Sylvie, for whatever reason, wouldn't play the Guardians of the Multiverse card right off the bat – or, probably, at all – so I decided to fix that.

The guards looked at each other, then back at us. "Who?" the mustache-less guard asked.

Sylvie elbowed me in the ribs and gave a forced smile. "I'm sorry, he talks a lot but doesn't really think before he opens his mouth."

"Someone literally sewed it shut once," Magik unhelpfully added.

I turned around. "That wasn't me, that was a bastardized variant of me. Do you not get how the multiverse works?"

"Anyway," Sylvie raised her voice over my last few words, "we're here because we have an urgent need to speak to the king and queen."

"The…the king and queen?" the mustachioed guard asked. "Don't you know? They're not here."

"Neither of them?" Loki asked.

"Correct. The king is currently on a diplomatic trip to Neverland, and the queen is…," the guard glanced at his comrade, "…away."

"Seriously? Ben's on a 'diplomatic trip' but Mal's just 'away'?" I asked, and the guards flinched as I called Mal and Ben by their first names. "And if both of them have left the building, then who the f##k is running this shitshow anyway?"

"Sir, please cease your public displays of profanity," the mustache-less guard said.

"I'm sorry, please ignore him. We're not from around here," Sylvie said. "If the king and queen aren't here, then who is in charge?"

"That would be the Queen Regent, Princess Evie."

"Really?" I asked. "Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't the Queen Regent traditionally the current monarch's mother?"

The mustachioed guard turned to me. "You really aren't from around here, are you?"

I raised my hands. "Hey, I'm not stupid. I know you're not gonna give Maleficent the keys to the kingdom – hell, she did an evil song and dance number in the middle of your museum, that's unforgivable. I was asking more about the king's mother. You know, the Beauty to the Beast."

"The king's mother is no longer with us," the guard said sternly.

"Ah." I shook my head. "Those offseason trades…there's always one or two you don't hear about until the regular season starts. Where'd she jump ship to? Atlantis? The Pride Lands?"

"She's dead, you insensitive asshole!" the other guard shouted.

I pointed at him. "Language, young man!"

Rose covered her mouth. "Oh my God, Belle's dead? What happened?"

"She and King Beast both gave their lives in defense of the kingdom several years ago." The guard tilted his head. "How is it that you simultaneously know so much and so little about Auradon? Where are you from?"

"Very, very far away," the Doctor said. "We've never been here before, we've just, you know, heard things on the news here and there."

"And yet none of you knew King Beast and Queen Belle died?"

I slapped my thigh. "I know, right? The news cycle these days is just…." I made an explosion sound and pantomimed my head blowing up. "Would you believe I didn't hear about NSYNC getting back together until, like, three months after the fact?"

"If the Queen Regent is currently in charge, then would it be possible for us to meet with her?" Sylvie asked.

"Do you have a meeting scheduled?" the mustachioed guard asked.

"Do we need one?"

"It's customary to have one, yes."

Wait one f##king minute.

Why were we wasting time on this red tape bullshit? We had Sylvie and Loki with us. If the two of them could enchant Alioth, this pair of guards should be no big deal.

I nudged Sylvie. "Hey, forget this," I whispered. "Just do your…." I waved my hand around. "…you know, your magic woo-woo thing."

She paused for a second, then nodded. "You know what, that's a good idea. I think I will." She closed her eyes and laid a hand on my shoulder, and that was the last thing I remembered.


When I woke up again, the six of us were sitting on a pair of benches lining a tree-lined, cobblestone avenue. I groaned and shook my head. "Wait, what the f##k just happened? Last I remember we were at the castle, and then…."

This had happened before.

During our battle with Shuma-Gorath, when Sylvie was trying to convince me to fly my spaceship right into his eye. And I didn't want to do it because then I wouldn't be able to relay the rest of the battle to you, but then she rudely enchanted me and made me do it anyway.

I slowly turned to Sylvie, who was sitting next to me. "Motherf##ker, you enchanted me!"

"You wouldn't shut up, and you were doing nothing but hurting our chances to get a meeting with the Queen Regent," Sylvie said.

I huffed. "So did taking me off the board help? Do we have a meeting?"

Now it was Sylvie's turn to sigh. "No, I think you'd already done too much damage by the time I shut you up. The guards started making ever-so-thinly veiled threats to apprehend us if we didn't leave. So thanks for that."

"What are you thanking me for?" I shot back. "We'd probably be in the castle right now if you and Loki had just enchanted the guards instead of me, like I wanted you to do!"

"I knew what you wanted. And how would that have looked for us? Breaking into the castle by mind-controlling the guards? We're not here to make enemies, we're here to help."

"Let's just hope the six of us will be enough to take down this variant tonight," Magik said.

"Well that's not so bad," I said. "Six is still a pretty good number. The Avengers beat Loki with a team of six. The Justice League beat Steppenwolf with a team of six. The other Guardians of the Multiverse beat Infinity Ultron with…." Crap, there were seven of them, weren't there? "…alright, fine, seven, but they would've been better off without Killmonger since he just ended up turning on them."

Sylvie turned to me. "You would know, wouldn't you?"

I narrowed my eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"If you would've just let the rest of us do the talking back there, for all we know, we might have the Queen Regent's backing by now." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I know you're used to being a solo act, to just doing things your way, but we're a team. And if we're going to get anything done, we need to work like one. Which sometimes means sitting back and letting your teammates handle something. Got it?"

I gave single nod.

"Good." Sylvie stood up. "Now come on, we've still got several hours before the auction starts. Let's go get something to eat and figure out our game plan for tonight."


I stood on the stadium's balcony, gazing out at the pulsating, intertwined, blue-and-purple branches of the multiverse when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around to see Centurion approaching, the multiverse's glow shimmering off his silver cybernetic suit. I inclined my head towards him. "Do you bring news?"

"Yes, Immortus," Centurion replied, stopping in front of me. "Your plan is working. The Time Variance Authority's resources are being exhausted tracking down all the variants you dispatched. For every one of us they prune, they lose over half a dozen Minutemen." The blue filaments of raw time energy woven throughout his armor pulsated. "They're running out of resources, and it would seem they're so understaffed that they've decided to call on a pair of Lokis and their band of multiversal rejects for help."

"Excellent." I turned back to the majesty of the flowing rivers of the multiverse. Soon it would all be ours…. "Everything is proceeding as I predicted it would. Inform Rama-Tut of these developments, and tell him that the time has almost come."

Centurion bowed. "It will be done, Immortus." He turned and strode away.

"Centurion," I called after him. He turned back. I folded my hands behind my back. "For all time."

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly. "Always."