Lesser of Two Evils

Damocles Base

High above Earth

Year 2010

Following his ship's emergency temporal displacement into the past, Kang ordered his crew to spend the next few days taking note of their current resources and performing reconnaissance.

Small probes were sent to the surface below to document and analyze. The denizens of the 41st century were amazed by their time's stark differences. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and a sense of calmness was in the air. They quickly got to work, setting up their research stations and equipment.

As they worked, they couldn't help but be struck by the stark differences between their time and the Earth of 2010. The technology was primitive, the buildings were outdated, and the people seemed livelier.

One of the scientists, Dr. Maya Patel, was fascinated by the various plant life that had long gone extinct. "This is incredible," she said, "It's like being in a completely different world." Others agreed regarding the land and sea. In some ways, the megacities of the 41st century felt more cold and distant compared to the more suburban land here.

For some that didn't have any real ties to their old reality, settling down here wasn't a bad option. In any case, they continued the work for their lord, hoping that they would be rewarded handsomely for their efforts.

Meanwhile

Kang spent time contemplating his plans moving forward. Time travel was a fickle thing. Only beings outside of time's domain understood its true rules and limitations.

He, a man from the 30th century, accidentally traveled to the 40th Century. He found a war-torn Earth where barbarians battled with technology from past eras of which they did not know how they worked. This was the dawn of the legacy of Kang. First, Kang conquered the Earth, then began conquering the galaxy, taking over entire empires. Humanity was at the apex of power in the universe.

From his experiences, the slightest push, the smallest touch, echoes throughout time. Even an act of kindness may have more severe repercussions than one can know or can see. An older era coined the term, Many-worlds interpretation. All decisions lead to a new branch of reality. To re-write an existing history was unheard of to him.

Regarding time travelers like himself, the timeline resists change in some capacity. Going back in time to make your past self wear a different shirt would cause the start of a new branch. Still, if changes are insignificant in the long run, the branch's history will eventually merge back with its source branch, correcting any possible paradoxes.

Kang's initial travel to the 1940s did cause a new branch, but those changes recombined with his current history. The 41st century still suffered the same fate. At some point, humanity was extinguished, retroactively erasing his Empire. It was only thanks to Damocles Base that he and the remains of his people escaped the erasure of their timeline. The Emperor sighed. He needed more information. "Computer, display our current chronal coordinates?"

A nearby crystal display outputted a long string of numbers and symbols. Kang's brow furrowed. "That can't be right..." However, even after a manual check, the result was the same. According to the Fourth Dimensional coordinates, his timeline was approximately three deviations from his original target. If the numbers were accurate, then history was changed by a third party between 1940 and the present 2010. "I've gone through the historical records numerous times. There shouldn't have been any instances of previous time travel not already accounted for before my first trip."

A knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts. His wife, Princess Ravonna Renslayer, had opened the door.

Kang got up from his chair and walked to her. "Love, you should be resting."

She walked to him and leaned on his chair. "I know, but so much has happened in the past few days. It's a lot to process."

Kang's features softened. "I can't even imagine how you are handling this whole ordeal."

"Our entire planet, our home, was erased from history. How was this possible?"

"I'm sorry." The man took a breath. "I don't have all the answers, but I'm not going to give up on us, on them." He gestured to the next room, where several of their people continued to work.

Suddenly, one of his men approached their door. "Excuse me, my lord. There are new developments in our research that you must be informed of. With a nod, Kang and Ravonna followed their officer to the bridge. Several images appeared on the screen. "It took little time to connect and extract information from this period's global communication network. We confirmed the local time and started working on world events." The images of a statue of Captain America in front of the Statue of Liberty and a ceremonial tombstone were displayed. "We have confirmed that Captain America is still deceased according to the public records."

"Is that good?" asked Ravonna. This was the first time hearing about the man.

Kang frowned. "That's both fortunate yet concerning. My initial calculations and theories indicated that Captain Roger's actions in the 21st century were the first dominos to fall, leading to armageddon."

Ravonna's eyes widened. "This dead man caused our home to be destroyed?"

Kantg shook his head. "It's not that simple, my love. From what I've determined, some outside force rewrote our history. The Captain was just the catalyst of a long series of events."

The officer seemed unsure of himself. "I do not doubt your intellect, sir. However, you may not have had all the variables. After cross-referencing public figures from the records we had on file, we discovered... an anomaly."

The conqueror didn't like where this was going, his irritation growing. What variable did he miss? It seemed impossible. "Explain!" Ravonna did her best to soothe her husband and gestured for the officer to keep going.

"According to our records, the Avengers at this time consisted of Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, and Ant-Man. When going through recent news, we found contradictions." The screen showed a recent news article and mainstream news segment describing a battle between the Avengers and individuals labeled as The Enchantress and Skurge. "Our history says that Hulk temporarily left the team due to irreconcilable differences. In this time period, the opposite happened. The screen showed an amateur photo of the Hulk and a red being with four arms in the park eating pizza.

Ravonna blinked at the mundane scene. "Earth was much stranger in the past."

Kang's eyes widened on the other hand. "Who the hell is that?"

"We... aren't sure, sir. There is nothing about it in our database. Following the incident at the park, the Hulk remained with the Avengers."

Kang closed his eyes and started going through his calculations again. "He was supposed to leave and return after an incident in Las Vegas." Eyes narrowed on the anomaly. "What do we know about the new variable?"

"From what we discovered, the being is some sort of shapeshifter, capable of transforming into many creatures with varying abilities. Its origin is currently unknown. The first sightings occurred west of North America before moving toward the East coast.

His emperor seethed, and all the points were starting to connect. "It seems that I have found my third party."

"Sir?"

Kang dismissed the officer. "You did well in informing me of these developments. I have much to consider moving forward." His shoulders seemed to sag for a moment. "Keep up the work, and I assure you we will all go home soon."

Ravonna smiled at her husband. People would see Kang's stern personality and assume the worst. Even she refused his hand in marriage when Kang first allowed her father to rule his kingdom under Kang's empire, pressuring Ravonna to marry him. The brief moments of compassion revealed the man that came before Kang.

With a salute, the officer went back to his research. "As expected. Thank you, sir. "

Kang and Ravonna walked back to his lab. "Things have gotten more complicated than I anticipated." At a console, Kang input the new information regarding the shape-shifting variable.

His version of machine learning allowed him to consider past and present variables. The future was not a fixed, predetermined thing but rather a set of probabilities that could be calculated based on the present.

"Computer, bring up the most probable scenarios should Captain America remain deceased."

82% | Humanity's Extinction

18% | Humanity's Survival

"And if Captain America were to return?" asked Ravonna.

45% | Humanity's Extinction

55% | Humanity's Survival

Kang grit his teeth. History had changed to reach this point. "Humanity won't likely survive past the 22nd century if Captain America doesn't return to the world, but he may cause humanity to end before the 40th century." It was practically a coin flip. The likely future had become too clouded.

"I was told Captain America was deceased," stated his wife. "Is this not the case?"

"History says that he returned somehow, but I ensured he was lost in the Arctic."

Ravonna raised a brow. "How did you check?"

"Even after twenty years, Captain Rogers was still lost in the sea. Even with his Super Human Physiology, it's near impossible that he survived all these years."

"Near impossible or definitively impossible."

The man stayed silent, not wanting to accept that his bias affected him more than he wanted to admit.

Ravonna wrapped her arms around her husband. "Nathaniel... You know I don't like it when you get this way. Will you throw away our chance at going home?"

Kang sighed. She was the only one that knew the truth about him. His only anchor in a time, not his own. "Come, let us find our catalyst."

The Arctic Circle

Kang the Conqueror stood atop a mountain in the Arctic Circle, his gaze fixed on the endless white expanse. The bitter wind whipped around him, lashing his armor and sending his cape billowing out behind him. Captain America's frozen body was somewhere in the Arctic Circle, buried deep beneath the ice. And so he had come, determined to find it at any cost. Beside him, Ravonna touched the snowfall. It was a rare experience to see this type of weather. The world succumbed to global warming centuries ago. Only recently was Kang trying to stabilize the Earth's conditions to expand his empire across the planet.

Kang began to descend the mountain, crossing the frozen tundra. He had come prepared, with all the technology and resources at his disposal. His armor protected him from the harsh elements, and his energy weapons were fully charged. He had also brought a team of his most loyal soldiers, trained and equipped with the latest technology.

As they made their way deeper into the Arctic wilderness, Kang couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation building within him.

The team stopped in front of a massive glacier towering high above them. Kang scanned the area. This was definitely where he last watched the man fall into the waters. He searched for any sign of the Captain's body on the surface, but it was a pipe dream. The man was likely several feet below. Then again, the ice caps have been shrinking in recent years.

As he searched, Kang's soldiers began to dig through the ice with their tools. They worked tirelessly, chipping away at the glacier with incredible speed. Kang watched them; his eyes narrowed in determination. He knew the Captain's body was buried deep beneath the ice. And he would find it, no matter what it took.

Finally, after hours of digging, one of the soldiers called out to Kang. "Sir, we've found something!" he shouted.

Kang rushed over. As the soldiers cleared the ice, a body emerged beneath the glacier. Kang's eyes widened in disbelief as he recognized the familiar red, white, and blue costume of Captain America. It was frozen solid, its features twisted in a look of agony.

Ravonna stared at the man that was both their savior and their damnation. "I can't imagine he still alive after all this time."

A scientist attached a device to the ice near the Captain's chest and head. "I'm still detecting brain activity, but it's low. Based on the heart readings, his physiology induced an artificial hibernation to preserve itself in the subzero waters."

Kang reached out and touched the icy surface. The soldiers began to load the frozen body onto a transport vehicle, preparing to take it back to Kang's time ship. Kang sighed at the frozen body. "Likely damned if I don't. Possibly damned if I do."

"What do we plan to do now?" asked Ravonna.

Kang crossed his arms. "If I'm bringing back Captain America, I'm doing it on my terms."