A coffee date at end of time.

"Now where were we?" I wondered, as it came back to me.

"Ah yes. Of course."

I walked up to Loki lying unconcious on the floor, stitched back together and grabbed him by the chin.

"Hey Loki, wake up. I know you're awake."

He didn't so much as budge.

Alright. If that's how he's going to play it.

I slapped him across the face.

"Loki! Wake up, wakeupwakeupwakeup!"

I kept slapping him over and over again like slap machine.

But he still refused to wake up.

"Really? You're still going to act like that? Fine then."

I grabbed Loki by the throat lifted him up, and walked over to the edge of the roof, dangling him off the side.

"Let's see if this wakes you up."

"Son don't!" Captain America stepped forward, trying to stop me.

"Don't worry. He's tough. He'll survive the fall." I replied, as I let go of my grip.

Suddenly Loki's eyes shot open, and he felt the weightlessness of free falling.

"Waaah!" He cried out, his eyes glancing up at me pleading.

I smiled deviously, and watched him fall.

"Heeeeelp!" He cried out.

I laughed, snapped my fingers and a portal opened up beneath him, bringing him right back to me.

"See." I turned to Captain America, "Told you."

Captain America looked at me with a conflicted look.

"Now then." I continued, my claws grabbed Loki's cheeks and forced his mouth open.

"Swallow this for me would you?"

I pulled out a pill shaped tracker from my pocket, and stuffed it down his throat.

Loki however, did not swallow.

Just kept the tracker stuck in his throat.

I shook my head in disapproval.

"Loki. Either you swallow that tracking beacon or I will turn you into a head in a jar and make you swallow a dildo attached to a perpetual motion machine for the next ten years. Your choice."

Fear flashed in his eyes and this time, Loki swallowed it for real.

I put him back on the roof, and patted his clothes clean.

"See? Was it so hard?" I said, patting his head.

"Now just one last thing before I hand you over to these idiots...." I brought forth the Tesseract, and dangled it in front of him.

"Hands forward." I commanded.

Loki tilted his head, confused.

"I thought you weren't going to work with them? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind carrying the Tesseract for you." He said, his eyes lighting up at the idea of it.

"But you certainly look like you have an agenda here I'm not seeing..."

"Son, I don't think that's a very good idea. Why don't you just hand the Tesseract to-" Cap tried to convince me when Tony interjected.

"Hold on, you're just going to give it to him? After we fought this whole thing to get it back? After you fought him for it?

You're just going to hand him the artifact you were ragging on us for-"

"Goddammit, will the two of you shut the fuck up?!" I snapped, "Just trust me and let me do my thing. Because it's not like you can do anything else if you tried. So shut up and wait your turn. Loki's not going anywhere. Once I'm done with this, I'll just hand him over to you guys and you can do whatever you want with him, okay? So shush, and wait your turn!"

I turned back to Loki, his hands extended out.

"You know I'm just going to escape, don't you?" He asked mischievously.

You'll try, I thought.

"Oh, feel free to do what you want. Kill some people, blow up an embassy. I don't much care." I said, bring the Tesseract close to his hand.

I looked around, waiting, watching.

"What are you doing?" Loki asked.

"Yeah good point, what ARE you doing?" Tony asked sarcastically.

I just shushed them as I looked around some more.

Nothing.

"Ahehehm!" I cleared my throat, "I'm going to hand Loki, the Tesseract now. And he's going to go out there and escape. That's going to seriously mess with the timeline~

It sure would be a shame if some time cops came around right about now and tried to arrest us~"

I looked around.

Nothing.

"Seriously?

I said, it sure would be a shame if some time cops came aroudn to arrest us!"

"Gasp?" Loki snarked.

"Alright fine. Here." I handed the Tesseract to Loki.

He smiled.

"Thank you!"

And he disappeared into a portal.

"Great job! Now he's escaped! And whatever your business is with these time cops-"

"Just shut it, will you Stark. For one fucking minute. This is important!" I said, pulling up a screen that showed where Loki was and what he was doing.

He exited into the Gobi desert, crashing into a sand dune.

"Hah! Idiots! I'm free! That wretched monster will know my vengeance!" He laughed, before spitting out the tracker onto the sand.

"Where should I go now?" He wondered.

But no time cops came to arrest him.

"Oh come on!" I said, exasperated, and snapped my fingers.

A portal opened up beneath Loki and he fell through landing back on the roof woth a surprised look on his face.

"Wait wha-"

A kick to the head silenced him.

I knelt down and picked up the Tesseract from his hands, handing it to Riley.

"You can take him now. He's utterly useless." I offered, and Cap walked up, grabbing Loki while eyeing me cautiously.

"Alright. Let's up the ante a bit. Computer, start healing everyone on this planet. I want the whole population healthy within the hour.

And open a portal to the pizza dimension over starving villages in say...Rwanda. Yup. Let's start there."

I looked up at the sky, then the roof around me.

"Still nothing huh? Man. Fuck this shit.

LISTEN UP 'HE WHO REMAINS'. EITHER YOU COME HERE AND GIVE ME WHAT I WANT RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR I WILL TURN THIS PLANET INTO A UTOPIA!"

"That's the first time I'm hearing such a ...unique threat..." Tony snorted in laughter as a confused smile spread on Captain America's face.

"I'M GOING TO BEND YOUR SACRED TIMELINE OVER AND SCREW IT SO HARD IT WILL CRAWL ALL THROUGH THE NEXT ITERATION, YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Still no portals opened up.

"What a pussy little bitch!" I shouted, angrily.

"What a moist fucking wet pussy of a man! Don't even have the guts to face me in-"

I saw the looks on the Avengers faces and Riley pointed at something behind me.

"He's standing right behind me isn't he?" I asked, as a chill ran down my spine.

Riley nodded.

"Heeeey! Kang, old buddy, old pal." I smiled awkwardly, turning to face him.

Kang the Conqueror. He Who Remains. The undisputed ruler of this reality and it's timeline.

With manic smile on his face.

Uh.....

"I really didn't mean any of that. I was just joking. You know just joshing around with you, no hard feelings, right?"

"I know. Actually, I don't know. And I know everything. The when, the where, the who....everything. I know it.

BUT You...you are completely new.

Come." He said, tapping his TemPad, the time manipulation device he wore on his wrist.

A rift in space time open up, like an oblong fractal gate to nothing.

On the other side, a void stood, colorful, hued in ethereal purple and iridiscent green.

Stars upon stars dotted the expanse and wisps of nebulae lingered like reeds in still water.

In the distance, was another rift, just like this one, like a crack in a cliff face leading to a hidden valley, a cavern of beauty that time forgot. And within stood a manse. One single property, a villa in the old german style.

Kang took a step into the portal as the space compressed, the two rifts zipping close till they were almost one and then so did the gate to the villa.

It cracked open, swinging with an ominous creak, echoing across it's empty halls lined with golden cracks and breaks, shimmering in the eldritch light of the void at the end of time.

"My citadel at the end of time." Kang espoused, taking a bite of his unripe apple, his arms spread eagle.

"Come on in. Let's talk in my office."

"Sure. Just a moment." I turned to Riley and Star.

"Kids. Stay near the van." I ordered, activating it's forcefield.

"And don't get out of the forcefield till I come back okay?"

Star and Riley nodded, as they ran over to the van, and jumped in.

"Bye Papa!" Star waved, "Come back fast!"

"I will." I smiled, kissing his forehead, and walked back to Kang.

"Lead the way."

"Hey! Give us the Tesseract before you-"

The rift shut off behind me, cutting off Tony's pleas as we walked through the hall of the citadel.

"You know, it's not everyday I get visitors from other worlds." He said, leading me to the elevator.

"I know. I feel the same. It's not everyday I get to visit citadels at the end of time. I'm usually somewhere more in the middle of it, where the interesting things are. Though I suppose there's plenty of interesting stuff here too. Those cracks for example." I pointed out.

"Ah yes. A gift from you." He added sarcastically, glaring me down, "We crossed the threshold a while back actually."

"The threshold of the multiverse?" I asked.

"Oh, so you do know about that. So you did know about that when you came barrelling into this reality. And yet you did." He chuckled, his voice cracking.

"And yet you did."

Wow. He has gone cuckoo in his isolation hasn't he?

Silently, I prepped the portal gun, connecting to it with my power in case he goes full retard on me and I have to escape.

We exited the lift into his office, and he made a beeline for the table, pouring out a cup of coffee for us.

"One...for Jay. And one...for me." He sang, twirling around, as he handed the cup to me.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He said, taking a sip.

"I don't suppose introductions are in order? You seem to know all about me and well, I know nothing about you..." He chuckled, "Because until an hour ago you didn't exist in this reality. Funny that."

"Yes. Truly. Now how about-"

He raised a hand to stop me.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked.

"On the surface, yes. Kang the Conqueror. He Who Remains. The undisputed ruler of this reality." I repleid.

"He Who Remains. That's what they call me." He nodded, halfheartedly, rolling his eyes.

"Kinda creepy. Not gonna lie.

But I like it. Gives you the mysterious vibes." He added as he sat down on his seat, leaning back.

He let out a breath he was holding and continued.

"Well I have ... a lot of names. People call me lots of things.

Conqueror. Ruler. He Who Remains. A Jerk. A Wet Moist Pussy." He gestured at me, raising an eyebrow.

"Surprising you didn't say creator of all, and all that." He asked, with an intrigued smile.

"But you didn't create the universe though, did you?" I smiled back.

"No. No, I did not. I just preserve it. The universe, the timeline, this reality. Like a silent guardian."

"A dark knight!" I added, laughing.

He snorted out.

"Yes. A dark knight." He said making quotation marks in the air.

"Tried that merger once. Did not end well. Their axis, axes, axii? Didn't match well with this one. And that one fella.

Darkseid. Total nutcase."

Oh. So that DC/Marvel JLA Avengers comic timeline from the 2000s era comics happened under Kang's reign too?

Interesting. What else has he seen the universe through?

"I know right? I mean why enslave all of life under your command. There's literally nothing to be gained from that!" I replied, playing along.

"Exactly! Everyone wants to be the ruler of the universe. They think it's all fun and games and rainbows and unicorn farts. But really.... it's just..." He couldn't find the words to finish his thoughts.

"Tiring." I finished his sentence.

"See you get it! It's tiring. Pruning the timeline, preserving the balance, all so much work.

So much work.

Sorry, it's just... I'm used to having a script here. You know, all knowing and all seeing and stuff.

But you..." He sighed

"Do you know how I got here?" He asked.

"Yes, but if it makes you feel better, you can tell me all about it." I shrugged.

"I can, can't I? It's just been so long since I've had someone to talk to, it gets lonely around here.

I'm older. Older than I look.

I've lived million lifetimes. And you probably knew that. But what you might not know is how soul crushing it is to live that long." He rubbed his temples.

"I'm just tired. So tired."

He trailed off, and took another sip of his coffee.

For a moment there was silence, as we sat sipping on the coffee, the only sound being the cracks in the timeline rumbling in the distance.

Another cracks opened up on the floor and then another on an adjacent wall.

And finally, Kang broke the silence.

"So here's what happened.

Eons ago, before the TVA, a variant of myself lived on Earth, in the 31st century." He said, flicking what looked like a massive booger off from somewhere.

It landed on the desk before me and unfolded into the shape of a man in a labcoat.

"He was a scientist. Like you."

I nodded.

Kang gestured at the booger thing and it changed shape again, displaying a stack of universes.

"He discovered that there were universes stacked on top of his own. At the same time, other versions of us, were learning the same thing. Naturally, they made contact, and for a time there was peace."

The scene shifted again to now show two scientists, no, two of the same scientist meeting each other, across a glowing doorway.

"Narcissistic, self congratulatory, peace."

" 'I love your shoes.', 'I love your hair.', 'Oh man, nice nose.', 'Thanks, man!' " He played charades.

"Et cetera, et cetera."

The scene changed again to two scientists before a table researching something.

"They....they shared technology, and knowledge using the best of their universes to improve the others." He finished his coffee and put the cup on the table before taking a bite out of his now full apple.

How even?!

I swear it had a bite taken out of it a minute ago.

"However..." He continued, "...not every version of me was so...so pure of heart.

To some of us, new worlds meant only one thing.

New lands to be conquered."

The booger turned into a man in a byronic pose holding up a levitating globe.

"The peace between realities...." He mimicked an explosion, gesturing with his arms.

"Bhoooosh!"

"....erupted into an all out war, each variant fighting to preserve their own universe and annihilate the others."

The booger shifted to a countenance of half a dozen of those scientists in battle.

That was almost the end, ladies and gentlemen, of everything and everyone."

"And then you encountered a creature, Alioth. Created from all the tears in reality. Capable of consuming time and space. And you turned it into your personal hunting dog. Won the war." I added.

"Oh you're telling the story now?" He snapped, gleefully.

"Oh no. No. Go on."

"I weaponized it. I experimented on Alioth and I weaponized it.

I ended....." He said, shouting, and he tapped his finger on the table with anger.

"I ended the multiversal war. Brought peace.

Once I isolated our timeline, all I had to do was manage the flow of time.

Oh and prevent any further branches.

Hence the TVA. The time cops as you called them. Took me a minute to get what you were saying." He wagged his finger at me.

"Hence, this whole charade. For ages..." He shouted, climbing onto the table, " AND AGES OF COSMIC HARMONY!"

"UNTIL YOU CAME BARGING IN AND BROKE ALL OF IT."

He jumped down from the desk, and sat on the edge before me.

"You came to conquer this reality." He said, with a sigh.

"No. I did not. I literally told you as much not three minutes ago."

"Yes. Yes you did." He nodded, flailing his arms.

"Sorry, I tend to forget these....new things. Take some time to get used to it. You're not even a variant of me are you?" He asked cautiously.

"Nope." I replied, finishing my coffee.

"Yeah. I figured as much but just wanted to make sure. Can't get a read on you honestly.

Can't simulate your future. Not very well at least. And not fast enough."

"Yeah. I sure would hope so." I said, tapping the earpiece, "I made this to skew possibilities to my favor for situations just like this. And to prevent mind control but that's just a side effect."

He nodded and continued.

"So originally, I was going to come deal with you personally. Full battle armor and all." He laughed, tapping the table incessantly, drumming his fingers as he leaned uncomfortably close to my face.

But then I saw you, watched you. And you don't seem the ....conquering type.

Now I can be wrong!" He raised his hands and shrugged.

"I'm not. Not yet at least. Too much to see. So much interesting stuff to do. What's the point in conquering anything yet. Maybe when I'm older....." I explained.

"Yes. I get that feeling from you yes. Yes yes yes yes yes." He wagged his finger as he paced around me, then the table, before sitting back down in his chair.

"Which is why I have a proposal for you! You know how they say, power is best used in the hands of those who don't want it?

Right?

Or was it the other way around?" He scratched his chin, wondering.

"Well, anyway. Here's the gambit.

You came in here, and you broke the isolation. The universe is now branching out. We have crossed the threshold of the multiverse once more.

And you know what that means.

Variants and variants and another multiversal war. Realities destroyed.

There's no avoiding it."

"In my defence, Loki and those idiots in spandex down there were going to break it anyways, give or take ten years or so. So consider this an advance warning!" I pointed out.

"They were supposed to. I charted it all out for them. The path was paved by me. Step by step.

Until you nuked it out of orbit.

So here's my offer.

You can kill me, and let the universe collapse into chaos. Let a new multiverse branch out. The path of free will.

Or, you can....you know.

Take my place. Rule the universe. You can be a benevolent ruler, if you want or a tyrannical one. I don't care. Inevitably, we will end up here anyways.

Reincarnation. Cycles of reincarnation.

Another war, another me, another reign of harmony and the cycle keeps turning on and on.

But I am tired. I'm just done. I want out.

So choose.

Stifling order. Or cataclysmic chaos.

In the end, it won't matter anyway."

"Or I could pick the third option." I pointed out.

"There is no third option." He shook his head.

"I should know. I have done this a million million times."

I smiled and snapped my fingers, as something dropped out of a portal.

"Well, have you ever done this?" I asked.

Kang looked at it and his eyes widened.

"This!..."

_____________________

Here we go!

The extra chapter for 400 powerstones as promised.

3147 words. Phew! That was along one.

Had to rewatch Loki for this, hence the delay.

MC finally meets Kang the conqueror at the end of time and rejects the dominion over the MCU.

Or does he?

Find out in the next episode of dragon bal- ITCOTM!

Till then see ya!

Also if you want to support me, buy me a cup of coffee or read ahead go to,

www.patr.eon.com/goldenfingers