1. A WORLD WITHOUT MALIK
Malik Toxen stood in the middle of Times Square, invisible and untouchable.
He didn't cast a shadow.
No one bumped into him.
A taxi passed through him like he was nothing but a memory badly written into the wrong scene.
The world was… normal.
Billboards flashed headlines:
> STARK INDUSTRIES LAUNCHES ZERO-POINT ENERGY INITIATIVE
AVENGERS SCHEDULED FOR PRESS CONFERENCE AT 3 PM
Thor laughed on a screen, sipping a sponsored energy drink.
Spider-Man swung between buildings.
Strange's Sanctum sat exactly where it should be—calm, collected, intact.
Peace.
Order.
Boredom.
Malik exhaled. "Well. This timeline sucks."
A couple walked through him. The woman shivered.
"Did you feel that?" she asked.
"Probably the subway," her boyfriend said.
No one noticed the anomaly shaped like a man.
Malik Toxen—the walking rupture of physics—had become the one thing the universe never planned on:
irrelevant.
He walked through Times Square as rain began to fall, droplets passing through him like he was made of fog.
He lifted his hand, trying to catch one.
It passed through.
He frowned. "Okay, so I can't touch rain, but the universe can stab me with trauma? Rude."
A voice answered from behind him:
> "Existence is not sentimental."
Malik turned sharply.
Hovering inches above the ground was a woman wrapped in a cloak of white fractal light. Her face was concealed beneath a smooth mask—flat, like uncarved marble.
Not the Archivist.
Something… older.
Malik swallowed. "Let me guess. You're the Archivist's supervisor?"
The figure tilted her head.
> "I am the Curator. I maintain the shelves of possibility."
He blinked. "You work in the cosmic library? Cute. Is there a library card or do I have to fill out a blood sacrifice?"
Her tone didn't shift.
> "You were removed because you were a fracture. A paradox."
Malik took a step closer.
"And you know what happens when you try to erase a paradox?"
He reached out and grabbed her mask.
This time—his hand didn't phase through.
It caught.
The Curator froze.
Malik grinned. "It fights back."
He ripped the mask off.
The face beneath was—
Empty.
Not blank.
Empty.
A void where a face should be.
The Curator recoiled and vanished into static.
Malik stared at the mask in his hand, heart hammering.
"Oh this is going to piss somebody off."
Lightning crackled behind his eyes.
He finally felt solid again.
---
2. THE TEAM LEFT BEHIND
Back in Malik's original universe.
Nyah Reyes hit the tunnel floor, gasping as time snapped back.
"Malik!"
The name left her lips in pure sound—no telepathy, no resonance. Actual voice.
Ezra steadied her. "He's gone."
Nyah shoved him away. "No. He's displaced. There's a difference."
The Archivist observed them, cloak rippling like burnt film.
"He exists in a reality where his anomaly never developed. A world without his corruption. Without his interference."
Nyah's eyes burned with silver luminescence.
"You talk like he's a disease."
"He is." The Archivist's tone never changed. "Riftwalkers are fractures. Universes simplify themselves. Erasure was mercy."
Nyah stepped toward him, silence vibrating around her like a storm preparing to drop.
"You think I won't tear your voice apart?"
Ezra raised his gun—a new one, pulled from his coat.
(He had a lot of illegal pockets.)
"Let her try. I want a front-row seat."
Aditi Rao finally stood, clutching her side. Her voice was weak, but steady.
"Archivist… listen. If the multiverse removed Malik, then why is the rift still expanding?"
That stopped him.
Ezra blinked. "Wait. What?"
Aditi pointed to the fracture.
Where Malik had been.
It was widening.
Slowly.
Silently.
Like a wound that refused to close.
"A paradox doesn't disappear," Aiti whispered. "It spreads."
The Archivist finally faltered.
"The rift should have sealed."
Nyah smirked—a predator's smirk, all teeth and defiance.
"You removed Malik from the universe."
She lifted her palm toward the expanding rift.
"Now the universe wants him back."
---
3. THE AVENGERS INTERVIEW
Back in the Malik-less universe.
Malik walked straight through the front door of Stark Tower.
He phased through walls, elevators, and three security checkpoints until he ended up behind the stage where the Avengers were giving their press conference.
Thor stood at the mic, booming with confidence:
"—and thus, Lady Jane assures me the new Bifrost calibrations are safe, despite the small goat incident—"
Malik rolled his eyes. "Man, I missed this chaos."
Tony Stark checked his notes.
Steve Rogers smiled politely.
Black Widow looked bored.
Malik stepped up behind Tony and spoke directly in his ear:
"Hey Tony. Quick question. Does your multiverse insurance cover emotional damage?"
Tony didn't