"Can I beco a hero among heroes?"
Wade, already buzzing with anticipation after watching the Avengers footage, must have felt like Paradox's words were a long-awaited rain shower.
"I've been watching you for quite so ti."
One of the screens displayed the subway station in front of Wade's ho, with TVA agents moving through the fra.
"That's the subway station by my place."
"That's a TVA outpost."
"What's that? And that person—he's a custor who bought a car from today."
Wade pointed at another clip. Surprisingly, unlike the original, it showed holding a dying Deadpool, speaking to him.
Huh?
It seed to be the sa MCU multiverse. I imdiately dropped my stealth and asked.
"What's with that footage!?"
Paradox stared at , completely stunned.
"Huh? What are you doing here?"
"No—what I'm asking is, what's with that footage?"
"Turn it off. Now!"
Paradox snapped at the female employee sitting beside him, frantically operating the monitors. She seed to grasp the situation and shut the video down in a panic. Then Paradox walked over to .
"Jin, please calm down. I don't know which point in ti you ca from, but if you learn the future, that future can no longer happen."
Wade pointed at , puzzled, and asked Paradox.
"Was there a guy like this in Marvel? New actor? Who the hell is he?"
Paradox hesitated, then answered.
"Well... I suppose there's no harm in saying this much. He's the guardian of the Sacred Tiline, the most powerful Avenger—'Jin'."
"That's weird. There's definitely no one like that. Whatever. So we might be colleagues now? Nice to et you."
Wade suddenly pulled into a hug and patted my back. Don't people usually shake hands in this situation? Deadpool always defies common sense.
"Uh, yeah. Nice to et you too."
Wait—didn't this guy just piss himself earlier?
Deadpool's reaction was probably dissonance caused by breaking the fourth wall—his awareness of the audience. In short, Deadpool knew the original story, but the world here was already flowing down a path I'd altered. He'd noticed the contradiction, but just brushed it off. I guess that's Deadpool for you.
"Anyway, let's get back to it. Jin, please wait a mont. Wade, you're joining the greatest universe. We're here to give you what you've always wanted."
"I've got a feeling I know what it is. The power to change the Marvel Universe forever. I'm the savior."
Wade was so worked up that he started spouting nonsense. Everyone around us was staring at him with disbelief.
"I'm Marvel Jesus."
"..."
"Excuse for a sec."
Wade suddenly walked toward the door, grabbed at empty air, and spoke.
"Fox, you bastards! I'm going to Disneyland. Bam!"
So that's breaking the fourth wall.
I'd seen the original, so I knew what was happening. But standing here as a character, it just looked like he was putting on a one-man show. Wade strutted back to Paradox, still hyped.
"Where do I sign?"
"No paperwork required."
"Sweet. Not to brag, but I'm not exactly friendly with writing."
"There is one thing we need, though."
"I figured as much. I told them to get it ready."
Paradox clapped his hands, and a TVA agent appeared to escort Wade away. He was going to put on the Deadpool suit they'd prepared.
"By the way, Jin, you shouldn't be here. If you were anyone else, I'd send you straight to the Void. But you're the only one of your kind in the entire multiverse."
"What? Seriously? I'm the only in the multiverse? No variants?"
"That's right. How did you even get here?"
I was genuinely surprised. But after thinking it over, it made so sense. I wasn't originally a resident of the Marvel world.
"There was an orange portal, so I just walked through."
"As far as I know, we have no agents stationed in the Sacred Tiline right now. How did this happen... Please wait a mont."
Paradox left, and I sat down in a chair. A female agent approached with paper and a pen.
"Um, Jin-nim, I'm a huge fan. Could I get your autograph?"
I signed for her. The other employees saw it and imdiately lined up, asking for autographs too. Apparently, the TVA has plenty of Avengers fans. While I was signing, Wade ca back in his Deadpool suit, striking a ridiculous pose as he stepped off the elevator.
"Ah~! Perfect! By the way, that tailor is an absolute beast. But the suit's comfy as hell. No wedgies, new-car sll, adamantium katanas? You guys prepared all this?"
Everyone stared as Deadpool made his loud entrance.
"Yeah, stare all you want! Are your panties getting tighter? That guy over there knows what I'm talking about."
Deadpool pointed at one of the employees waiting for my autograph.
"Anyway, where'd that Parody guy go? Faraday? Whatever."
"I don't know. He said to wait."
I kept signing while Deadpool sat next to and wouldn't stop talking.
"So what's the office vibe like? Any cute female employees? I need vacation often. Every other week. That's how they do it in Denmark. You'll never see a Danish flag on the moon, though. Heh! Lucky bastards."
I tuned him out and finished signing for everyone. Just then, Paradox returned.
"Jin , unfortunately we couldn't find the cause. So we've decided to send you back to the ti you ca from."
He turned to Deadpool.
"And Mr. Wilson, I'm truly glad you accepted so readily."
"I don't mind business trips. So now, send ho with that old-man phone. The Tempad."
"You don't seem to understand yet... You can't go ho. There won't be a ho to return to."
Deadpool was so shocked he thought he'd misheard.
"Say that again? This ti, right in my ear."
Paradox tried to explain more clearly. He used the Tempad to bring up a tiline of Deadpool's universe on the main screen.
"This is your universe."
The tiline was slowly fading away on the display.
"This kind of tiline decay happens when an 'Anchor Being' disappears."
Paradox pointed at the dying tiline.
"See how it rots from the inside? That's how a tiline dies."
"What's an Anchor Being?"
"The most important person in that tiline. When they die, the world slowly withers and vanishes. Jin here is one as well."
I was stunned again.
"What!? So you're saying I'm the Anchor Being of the Sacred Tiline?"
"Yes. That's why we need to return you imdiately. You're that important."
I still didn't know why. Is it because of Playful Life? I'm the MCU's Anchor Being?
Deadpool spoke up.
"Then I should be fine. I'm not dead. It was just a midlife crisis, and I'm over it now."
Paradox let out an incredulous laugh.
"Ahahaha, no, no. Goodness... How could you think you're the Anchor Being? Hahaha!"
"Right, hahaha."
Deadpool laughed along, clearly embarrassed by his own comnt.
"It's not you, Mr. Wilson. The Anchor Being of your world made a noble sacrifice that sent shockwaves through the entire tiline. The person I'm talking about is..."
Paradox operated the Tempad, and a video played on the main screen.
"Logan. Wolverine."
The footage showed Wolverine slowly dying as he sacrificed himself for X-23, Laura. Watching it, Deadpool murmured.
"Logan... right... Logan..."
He turned away, quietly saying Logan's na, then whipped back around. Unable to accept it, he grabbed his head and shouted.
"Logan!? The guy with forks for hands? That Wolverine?"
"Yes."
"Damn it! Fine, turn off the retro screen and stop the universe from dying."
Paradox shut the video off and said flatly.
"The death of the universe can't be stopped."
"How much ti do we have?"
"Usually a few thousand years."
Deadpool sighed in relief.
"Whew~ Then we're good."
Paradox didn't give him ti to relax. He imdiately laid out his plan.
"I think a few thousand years is too slow."
"What do you an?"
"I intend to oversee the end of your universe myself. I don't care what the higher-ups think—I have no intention of letting a universe die a slow, natural death. We used to prune them cleanly. Elegant and efficient. But the TVA doesn't do that anymore."
This was a change caused by the events in the Loki series.
"But I do. No matter what they say, the multiverse doesn't need a babysitter. It needs an executor of euthanasia. In this case, I'm that executor. Haha!"
Paradox spoke proudly about his work. But saying that in front of Deadpool, soone from a dying world, made it clear he wasn't entirely sane either.
Paradox then showed another video. Agents were installing a large, rectangular device.
"What's that plot device?"
"That's a Ti Ripper. Mr. Wilson, it's essentially an accelerator. Once it's complete, it can destroy the spaceti structure of your universe. I don't want to work under the TVA—I want to beco the TVA itself. This is the first step to showing the organization's potential."
My guess was that Paradox wanted to clean up useless, dying worlds to reduce the number of realities to manage. It would raise his standing in the TVA.
"I'll end your universe quickly and rcifully. Your friends won't feel a thing. It ends like this: 'What's that? Quack!' Trust ."
He said it as if he were offering a kindness. At that mont, Deadpool slowly moved next to . I wondered what he was doing. Then he grabbed from behind and pressed a gun to my head.
"Quick! Hand over the old-man phone! Or this parasite bastard dies!"
I frowned and said to Deadpool.
"What? Parasite bastard? That's a bit much, don't you think?"
"Shut up for a sec!"
Paradox panicked.
"Mr. Wilson, you're making a huge mistake. If he dies, the entire tiline could collapse."
I was amazed at how important I was in Marvel. It had to be because of Playful Life.
"Just as I thought. Now hand over the Tempad!"
Paradox had no choice but to give the Tempad to Deadpool. Deadpool took it, operated it imdiately, and opened an orange portal. He dragged through it, back to Deadpool's world, then let go.
"Now what?"
"I have to stop my world from disappearing. Wolverine isn't the kind of guy who dies that easily. I need to go check. You're coming with . If the TVA shows up and you run, I'll put a hole in your ass!"
"Unbelievable..."
I understood Deadpool's actions to so degree, so I let the rudeness slide.
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