The TVA

Mobius M. Mobius was mad, he was fuming. It was the TVA's fourth failure at catching Kang. That man has been nothing but trouble to the TVA. 

And as the one responsible for that timeline, Mobius had to think of something to capture Kang. He was messing up the entire timelines and since the Time Keepers and the Twisters were still arguing, the TVA had no other choice but to handle the issue themselves. 

And they were not prepared enough to face Kang, he had walked out of every trap that the TVA set with ease. He was a genius at figuring out loopholes and no matter what the TVA did, no matter how many of those holes they filled— Kang would always find new loopholes.

"Still struggling with the Kang issue?" 

Mobius turned around to find his 'brother' Orobourous staring at his screen. Orobourous looked identical to Mobius as they were created in the same way along with Paradox and Tesseract. And each of them was responsible for moderating their own timelines.

However, Mobius held a little more authority compared to his 'brothers' inside the TVA but he was not very proud of it. It brought him nothing but headaches. 

"Yes." Mobius regretfully admitted as Orobourous seemed a bit worried about the issue. Kang was rapidly messing with his timeline and if it continued, it was only a matter of time before he moved on to another timeline. 

"We don't have many options left." Orobourous admitted which made Mobius frown. Mobius knew that his brother wasn't wrong however the TVA could not let Kang continue his tomfoolery. 

"So, what have you decided?" Orobourous asked as Mobius sighed. 

"We only have one option left…" He shook his head. "Hiring agents."

Orobourous thought about the suggestion. "Sounds fair. But who can we use?" 

Mobius pulled out a list on the screen. "These are the options."

The list included a lot of names, from Dr. Doom to Blue Marvel and even the names of many Asgardians and Olympians were there. 

"Blue Marvel?" Orobourous raised an eyebrow. "He might be a good choice but is he smarter than Kang?"

Mobius shook his head. "Not even close."

Blue Marvel was a monstrously powerful being but against Kang's intellect— he would fall instantly.

"Involving any of the 'gods' would not be a good idea." Orobourous said and Mobius agreed.

The last time they summoned an Olympian, it made their issue ten times worse. 

"I will be monitoring Kang for a while." Mobius admitted. "We have a little bit of time before he truly becomes a threat. Our best bet is to look at the newly awakened beings with strong powers." 

The screen changed to show a few new names. 

However, Mabius sorted the list which left only two names on the screen.

"These two are new on the list and could either be a threat or a great help in the future." Mobius frowned. "And both of them possess the ability to manipulate time."

Orobourous looked at the two pictures. 

One was a middle-aged man in a blue latex suit and the other was a youngster with black hair. 

"This boy…" Orobourous mumbled and Mobius frowned. 

"He is one of the anomalies that we find once in a few thousand years." He sighed. "I checked his profile in your database and he doesn't exist in that. And when I dug deeper, I found out that he was a fake… His original name was Marcellus but he possesses biological immortality and I believe that he 'killed' himself to live as another guy— as this guy, Markus."

A picture of a smiling Markus was visible on the screen. The Time Variance Authority was known for keeping track of everyone and Markus happened to be one of those that they were interested in. 

"But… he doesn't exist in the other timelines." Orobourous frowned. "The one in my timeline died before turning twenty and so did all his other alternate selves. He is indeed one of those anomalies."

Anomaly, a being that is out of the norms of time, space and reality. They often appear only in one timeline with their other alternate selves either being dead, non-existent or being completely normal.

There are countless timelines and every being in each timeline has something similar in at least one more timeline, but anomalies are different— they are singularities. One of a kind with nothing remotely similar to them in any other timeline.

But they were rare, impossibly so. The last time TVA found an anomaly was twenty thousand years ago and that person died before doing anything major. So, to the TVA— anomalies were mysteries as they don't possess much information about them.

"An anomaly… can be a double-edged sword." Orobourous frowned. "What are your plans for him?"

Mobius leaned on his chair. "I will monitor him for the time being. He has managed to grow a lot within a short period of time and he seems like an interesting one. He possesses time manipulation and he knows about it… but despite having the power to fix his past mistakes, he refrains from using it. So, he is not a threat to us… at least not yet."

Orobourous sighed. He knew that Mobius was biased towards those that used their time manipulation powers responsibly and the fact that this boy… no, this man had never used his time manipulation… meant that Mobius had a good impression of the guy.

"Don't let appearances fool you, Mobius. Kang was another person that fooled us— remember that."

Mobius sighed at his brother's warning. "That's exactly why I am keeping an eye on this guy. He might be a threat for the future… but he could also be an asset. And we need assets to get rid of beings like Kang."

"You don't mean…" Orobourous mumbled.

Mobius nodded. "Kang is going to attack earth in a little over a year and so let's see what this person does within that time. We can summon him a little ahead of the attack, that should make him agree to our conditions. And he is smart… smarter than Adam… the Blue Marvel."

Orobourous wasn't fully convinced but he agreed with his brother's deduction. 

"Then we wait and see… and if our assumptions are correct, he would be the one to stop Kang."

"Hopefully." Mobius took a deep breath and looked at the other person's picture. "Timeshadow… far less impressive. However, he is better than nothing… so we will keep an eye on him as well."

Orobourous nodded. "For now, we wait. And when the time is appropriate, we will summon the one that fits the requirement."

Mobius agreed. "And hopefully they won't turn into someone that we might have to erase." 

…

…

[[Markus Hanley]]

Xavier stared at me as I stol— 'erased' Magneto's X-Gene, making him powerless. Xavier knew that it was necessary, but for me… not really. I could have left him to do as he pleased. 

However, I could use his magnetic abilities for something. Not to mention that the fight with the Brotherhood boosted my popularity a lot— which was going to come in handy for the next phase of my plans.

It didn't take long for me to get rid of Magneto's X-Gene and once I had gotten rid of his powers, I looked at Xavier.

"He is all yours." I smiled. "You need to remove his memories or he will instantly go insane about losing his powers."

Xavier nodded reluctantly.

He closed his eyes and went inside Magneto's mind— erasing, altering and adding memories. 

He needed to fill the erased parts with new memories or Magneto would end up as an amnesiac. 

After ten minutes, he breathed out. "Done."

I smiled. "Good job."

Throughout the process, I was monitoring Magneto's mind— making sure that Xavier did as asked. Because no way in hell was I going to blindly trust his baldy.

"I guess that's good enough." I said as Magneto's body slowly descended on the floor. "Don't be too sad, professor. We both know that this was the best option."

Xavier didn't reply but as I peeked inside his mind, I understood that he was sad for 'killing' his friend. Yet I didn't have the time to sympathise.

"If you didn't do it, your children might have been killed."

"He would have never killed them." Xavier protested but I shook my head.

"He might not have, but can you say the same about his minions? Juggernaut would have ripped apart your children but now without Magneto, the Brotherhood is broken and they can be easily defeated… So, don't regret what you did. It was a necessary evil." I sighed. 

After all, I have done this a million times.

As we talked, I heard the door to the office click open. As it opened, James walked in. 

"Ah, James. You arrived sooner than expected." 

He frowned. 

"Would have been sooner if you teleported all of us here." 

This made me chuckle. "My bad."

Honestly, I was in a rush so I forgot about that.

Even I make mistakes at times, I know. I am not a perfect being after all. Magneto was another proof of my imperfection. 

My previous plans for him were different but I knew that something might either go wrong or I might find a better plan. That's why I go with improvisation rather than a so-called perfect plan. I always have an outline for my plans and a map of how I might reach them. But other than that… nothing is concrete. I improvise as I move and that makes things much easier to adapt to. 

"Well then. My job here is done, I will see you all when the time deems it fit." Saying that, I walked out of the door. 

But as I stepped out, I was surprised to find a trembling Jean walking towards me. She was still injured so her steps were wobbly.

"Markus… Thank you for saving us." She showed a strained smile. 

She is worried… that's not good. 

"He was much stronger than other mutants, Jean. So, don't worry about it. The loss wasn't your fault."

She looked down as I said that. She underestimates her abilities a lot… and her self-esteem is quite low. I will have to fix that in the future as I don't want dark phoenix before I sort everything related to Kang and Blackheart. 

"You need rest. Don't push yourself too hard." I gave her an honest smile. "I have some things to take care of… So, I will see you later, Red. And don't you dare get hurt in the meantime."

She chuckled a little which sent visible pain through her body. "A-Alright."

"Rest well, Red." I smiled. "You will need it."

She will… When the fight against the stronger beings will approach. 

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[[A/N: Don't worry about Timeshadow, he is a nobody.

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