They approached their destination. It was the massive carcass of Ant-man's giant form.

The humongous body lays on its stomach, its skeletal chin resting on the ground. Its arms extend in front of it, creating a massive arena-like circle. It's two gloved hands overlapping to form a gate.

When their vehicle approached, the massive hands parted.

They pulled in. There was a hive of activity.

Henchmen eye our heroes suspiciously. Among them is a massive Juggernaut variant- complete with the stone helmet.

Johnny got yanked out and flung on the ground. Then Deadpool and Wolverine got shoved out of the cage into the "arena" of the arms.

Ape's cage followed, roughly thrown out, making him cry out as his body fell with it.

"Hey! Careful with the kid!" Logan growled.

"Shut it." Blink rolled her eyes.

A horn then rang out. The crowd went silent.

Then movement... and a groaning creak from the giant Ant-man helmet as the mask rose, revealing the skull of Ant-man.

"Huh, Paul Rudd finally aged." Wade commented. He and Logan were pulled along by Juggernaut and so he said, "And you must be this year's Juggernaut."

"Alright, keep your voices down." Juggernaut huffed, "She don't like the chatter."

Logan looked at Wade, "She's gonna love you."

Out of the darkness of the skull's jaw, an old, decrepit figure wheels out on an All-too-familiar wheelchair. The figure's head is turned down, obscuring their face but revealing a bald head.

"Is that--is that Charles?!" Wade exclaimed, "HEY, CHUCK! It's us!"

Wolverine's expression darkened. "That's not Chuck."

"Oh shit." Johnny said, fearful.

Ape shifted back as far away as possible, knees to his chest.

The bald head rose, revealing the sweet smile of Cassandra Nova. Cassandra rolled forward in the rickety, battle-damaged and blood-stained wheelchair.

She came to a stop, then stood up and walked down from the giant skull.

"Oh, ableism. Great. That's not gonna go over well with the woke mob." Wade said.

Cassandra was curiously cheery, assessing Deadpool and Wolverine...but something was off.

"A Wolverine." She spoke, "I wondered when I'd get one of you. I normally just get your offspring." She glanced at Ape, who whimpered. She looked back at Logan, "You're one of Xavier's."

"You know him? You know Chuck?" Wade asked.

"Oh, I knew him. We shared a womb. Tried to strangle the sly little fellow with my umbilical cord."

"Amen. I've never loved roommates. Mine's blind. Except she can see cocaine... for some reason." He nudged Logan, "You wanna chime in, your majesty? I'm dying here."

Logan rolled his eyes and asked, "Who are you?"

"Charles Xavier's twin. Cassandra Nova."

"Bullshit."Said Logan.

"I was an anal birth." Said Wade.

Cassandra smiled her haunting smile, "You two are cute. I have a good feeling about this." With a gesture, she freed them of their chains, then she walked towards Johnny. "And I've been trying to catch this little firefly for years, haven't I, Johnny? You picked the wrong time to make new friends."

"Oh, Johnny told us all about you." Wade chimed in.

Logan growled at him, "Maybe shut up now--"

Johnny held up his hands, "Yeah, maybe don't--"

But unfortunately Wade kept talking. "We're just talking here. Johnny told us you're a psychotic megalomaniacal asshole-- his words not mine-- hellbent on domination and pain."

She glared harshly at Johnny, "You said all that about me?"

"No. NO. I didn't say any of that..."

"Sticks 'n stones, Johnny! Don't let her intimidate you! It's like you said in the convoy: "this fingerlickin' dead-inside Pixie slab of third rate dime-store nut-milk can eat your delicious cinnamon ring and kick rocks all the way to bald hell."

"Okay, I've never said any of those words in my entire life."

"HA! The modesty. People think I'm a shit-talker. But this guy? He's next level."

"No. He... No. What? I don't even know what half of that means--!"

"My hats off to you, sir. Truly."

"No! No, I-"

With a wave of her fingers, all of Johnny's skin flew off his bones. The blood, organs, and bone all hang in the air for a moment before gush-thumping to the ground in a hideous pile of lungs, heart, liver, blood, and bones. The spine and skull stay upright in the viscera-pile for an agonizing extra beat...before tipping over like a limp tree in the woods.

Ape shielded his eyes from it while Wolverine was horrified, unable to look away.

Deadpool huffed, "Not my favorite Chris."

Logan stepped forward, "You stupid piece of shit, you just got him fucking killed--"

"Hey: we're all grieving. And PS, do you know what he was doing to the budget?!"

"Shhh..." Cassandra stepped in, "Alioth is hungry."

In the distance, Deadpool clocked a giant whirling purple cloud on the horizon. Cassandra walked towards it, looking at it in awe.

"There's been some kind of mistake." Wade said, suddenly serious, "Big Yellow is a backup Anchor Being, and I'm Marvel Jesus. MJ if you're nasty. There's another British villain at the TVA who is going to destroy my universe, and I'm gonna stop it."

"Oh, honey. You don't really strike me as the world-saving type." She then turned to him with a smirk, "Did I hit a nerve?"

She did.

"I didn't want it to come to this. Either you help us, or my friend here is gonna sing the entire second act of Music Man with zero warm up."

Logan ignored him and asked, "Where'd ya get the chair?"

"Once in a while I do get a Charles through here. Never mine though. He didn't care to find me."

Wade rolled his eyes, "Ugh, Gen-Z and their trauma bragging. Can't you just stuff it down? Turn it into accomplishment or cancer like the rest of us."

"But I'm not like the rest of you. Except maybe the Wolverine." She stepped in front of Logan, "Now we could be truly terrifying together."

"Excuse you. This hunk is mine, get your own." Wade waved a single sassy finger.

Again, Logan ignored him. "You're that scary, huh?"

"The TVA certainly thought so. They sent me here before I could walk. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I love it here."

Deadpool couldn't help but comment. "You live in a garbage dump."

Cassandra huffed a little laugh, "I think we both know who lives in the garbage dump. The Void is a paradise. I can wield my power here without shame."

"And what power would that be? Alopecia?"

"A dash of this, a dash of that. You'll see."

"A grower not a shower. Respect."

"But I had no Charles Xavier to teach me temperance." She spoke to Logan. "What about your Charles? Did he protect you? Did he make you feel safe?"

And the Wolverine answered with, "We're mutants. We're never safe."

Cassandra took in the reply and nodded before going over to the cage Ape was in. She bent down to look at the boy inside.

"Hello, pet."

Ape growled at her, showing off his enlarged teeth.

"Now, now. None of that. You need to be a good boy in front of your father." She took a short glance at Logan.

SNIKT! Logan's claws came out. "Let him go."

Cassandra clicked her tongue mockingly as she shook her head. "I can't allow my favourite pet to run away again."

"Now." Logan ordered. "I won't ask again."

With a click of her fingers, the cage was flattered and Ape cautiously allowed himself to move - crawling around on all fours like a chimp. He tried to get closer to Logan but was stopped when Cassandra used her powers to use one of the iron bars from the cage to lock it around Ape's neck, keeping him in place. Ape clawed at the bar around his throat, the nails of his hands and feet lengthening into long dark points.

"AAAAARRGHHHH!!!!" Logan roared and lunged at Cassandra.

She stopped him in his tracks and then, with a wave, flung him back and into the ground. Buried alive. His six-claws poke up out of the ground, the only part of him still visible. Cassandra motioned again, and the claws cut through the ground as the subterranean Logan was shoved away. The claws cut through the dirt like a shark's fin through water.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Wade took a step, hands up, "I don't want the smoke. I don't have any beef with you. I just want to save my friends. I just-- I want to go home."

"Well the thing is I could get you home."

"Okay. Okay. Good."

"But I don't...want to?" She teased.

Suddenly, impossibly, Cassandra Nova is behind Deadpool, whispering in his ear. Deadpool was frozen, powerless...

"What do you want, Wade Wilson?"

Her hand snaked up the back of his head, a seductive scalp massage.

"Your fingers are inside me, but not in a good way."

"My brother could enter one's mind with a thought. I have to get my hands dirty." Her fingers impossibly enter the back of his head and then her fingertips poke through his forehead. "Shhhhh. I've got you."

As she walked through Deadpool's mind, Ape watched from where he was locked into place by the bar around his throat. He looked over to try and see Logan but he was still buried under the soil.

It took a moment before Wade came back into reality. "She never said that!"

"No. But I bet she thought it." She sing-songed and cruelly yanked her fingers out of Deadpool's head.

He wiggled and shuddered with unease, dusting himself off as if trying to clean off cobwebs. "You are SO MEAN! My brain could taste your fingers! AND THEY TASTED LIKE HATE! And where in God's name is the intimacy coordinator?!!"

"You're so lost, Mr. Wilson. And long before you came here." She sneered.

Deadpool removed the baby knife from his holster. Held it up in front of him. "This is baby knife. She's going to fuck you in the face now."

Cassandra laughed, "If you want to kill me it's gonna take more than a little blade."

"How 'bout six?"

Jump scare! Wolvie jumped out from the earth and sank both his claws into her back. Cassandra looked down at the claws poking through her chest. She arched back, writhing in pain. The bar around Ape's throat unlocked and the boy was free to breathe. He coughed and splattered before watching the display in front of him.

"Ha, ha, ha!" Wade laughed out in victory. "My boy's WICKED STRONG! That's my BIG BOY! Yes, you are."

Cassandra looked down at the claws still protruding from her torso. She then smacked her open hand against her chest like swatting a fly. Violently forcing Logan's arms/claws out of her and sending him skittering back. She squared off to face them. In the distance behind her, closing in fast, Alioth was seen nearing - a monstrous purple cloud speeding through the sky.

Having enough, Cassandra walked back towards the skull she used as shelter. "Well this has been fun, but the big guy needs to eat and the rent is due. By the way, you're the rent."

Alioth loomed massive in the air. The mutants around all scattered to either run or hide. Deadpool and Wolverine looked at each other and began to run.

Logan saw Ape - on the floor and looking left and right with fear. He was no older than eleven, shivering and small. Logan ran over to him, picked him up then slung him onto his back.

"Hang on!"

Ape did, using his hands and feet to cling to the muscular body.

Logan then grabbed a sentinel foot, using his claws to stab the jet pack mechanism, making it start to fly up.

"You coming, or what?!" He yelled to Wade, climbing on the foot.

In a blink, Alioth slammed down and took out a couple of mutants that were too late to hide. Gone. within a heartbeat.

"Coming, daddy!" Wade yelled back, jumping up to hold onto Logan's waist and the foot rocket zoomed up and away from the chaos, heading towards the endless horizon.

*****