Chapter Summaries

Deadpool sought Professor X’s help finding his daughter, but the professor could not ethically search ordinary people’s memories and suggested using magic instead. Magik offered to help, but after Deadpool fled when he learned she served Deathstroke, she erased Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s memory and blamed Wade, leaving Warhead intent on retaliating against him.

• Deadpool asked Professor X to find his daughter, but Professor X explained that the Brainwave Amplifier could not locate an ordinary person without invasively searching people’s memories.
• Professor X suggested Deadpool seek a Mage who could use his blood connection to his daughter, and he mentioned Doctor Strange at the New York Sanctum Sanctorum.
• Negasonic Teenage Warhead introduced Deadpool to Illyana Rasputin, who revealed she was Magik, a powerful Mage and Limbo’s dimensional lord, and offered to discuss terms.
• When Illyana said Deathstroke had predicted his arrival, Deadpool remembered seeing her with Cousin and fled through a window into the night.
• Magik revealed to Negasonic Teenage Warhead that she was Deathstroke’s spy, then used memory-altering magic to make Warhead believe Deadpool had wrecked the house and insulted Illyana.
• Negasonic Teenage Warhead vowed to gather people and beat up Deadpool, while Magik pretended to discourage her.

Wade found Carmelita and met his daughter, Ellie, after learning where they lived from Black Claw. Carmelita let him into their home, and Ellie welcomed him as her father, leaving Wade overwhelmed with emotion.

• Wade paid Black Claw for Carmelita and his daughter's address, then traveled to Arizona to find them.
• Carmelita explained how she had become pregnant with Wade's child and why she had left New York, while Wade remained unaware of the truth behind their past.
• Carmelita invited Wade inside and led him to Ellie, who was drawing a picture of herself and her mother with a faceless man.
• Carmelita introduced Wade to Ellie, and Ellie ran to him, called him Daddy, and kissed his face.
• Wade embraced Ellie and told her he was home.

Deadpool tried to take Carmelita and Ellie out for a meal and promised them a better home, but successive bomb attacks killed Carmelita while she protected Ellie. Wade repeatedly traveled back to change the timeline, yet each attempt ended with Carmelita dying again, and he vanished once more to try again.

• Wade took Ellie and Carmelita out for Wilson's Fast Food and promised to get them a better home in New York.
• A bearded man detonated a bomb in the alley, and Carmelita died shielding Ellie from the blast.
• Wade traveled back in time, but a Hydra bomber attacked Carmelita and Ellie, and Carmelita died protecting Ellie again.
• Wade traveled back earlier and searched the alley, but an A.I.M. MK7 robot self-destructed and Carmelita again died shielding Ellie.
• Wade pressed his time-travel button once more after finding Ellie alive beneath the rubble.

After Carmelita repeatedly died in different Timelines, Deadpool left Ellie at a safe restaurant and went to the Garden of the Dead to seek Death’s help. Thanos stopped him and cursed him so he could never be sent to the Void Dimension, leaving Deadpool confused by the apparent favor.

• Deadpool repeatedly reset time, but Carmelita died in different accidents each time, and he became exhausted after hundreds or thousands of attempts.
• Ellie accepted that her mother was dead, while Wade promised he could bring Carmelita back and took her to Wilson's Fast Food.
• Deadpool stole a Miniature Nuclear Bomb from S.H.I.E.L.D., blew himself up in the Sahara Desert, and traveled to the Garden of the Dead to find Death.
• Thanos confronted Deadpool and threatened to send him to the Void Dimension, but Deadpool did not resist.
• Thanos suspected a trick and cursed Deadpool so he could never enter the Void, leaving Deadpool bewildered by the curse.

Deadpool learned from Thanos that Death was causing Carmelita’s repeated deaths, but Mephisto refused to let him see her. After the Plot Rationality Gem failed to revive Carmelita, Deadpool went to Kamar-Taj to ask Cousin for help, arriving as Su Ming introduced the Council of the Sky.

• Deadpool told Thanos about Carmelita’s repeated deaths, and Thanos said Death had made her death inevitable because she did not want Deadpool with Carmelita.
• Deadpool tried to enter Death’s garden, but Mephisto told him she was busy and teleported him back to Earth.
• Deadpool used the Plot Rationality Gem on Carmelita’s remains, but it failed and turned into glass again.
• Deadpool traveled to Kamar-Taj and interrupted Su Ming’s meeting to ask for help.
• Su Ming introduced the gathered Mages as the Council of the Sky, the most powerful group of Mages in the Infinite Universe.

Deathstroke explained that Deadpool could not save Carmelita because her story had ended, leaving him only the choices of losing her or sacrificing Ellie. After Deadpool broke down, Deathstroke arranged for Elminster to give him gentler memories and conceal the truth.

• Deathstroke introduced Deadpool to the gathered mages, and Albera blasted him when he mistook her for Constantine.
• Deadpool met Princess Celestia, then asked Deathstroke to bring Carmelita back to life.
• Deathstroke used the Time Stone to show that Deadpool's tangled timelines left him only two choices: never meet Carmelita and Ellie, or meet them and trade Carmelita's life for Ellie's.
• Deathstroke explained that Carmelita had no story left and that Deadpool's popularity as a Conceptual Aggregate prevented him from changing the outcome.
• After Deadpool suffered a mental breakdown, Elminster knocked him unconscious so Deathstroke could place him in a gentler timeline and suppress memories of the truth.

Su Ming arranged for Deadpool to leave with Ellie after Carmelita died, then restored Wade’s memories of his final time with her. In 1991 Antarctica, Su Ming emerged from a decade-long underground search with the Spider Totem and other discoveries, and headed toward That Village.

• Deadpool, posing as Wade, promised to care for Ellie after Carmelita confessed her past and died.
• Su Ming revealed that Strangle had impersonated Deadpool, then used Hermione’s magic and a physical trick to transfer his memories into the unconscious Wade.
• Mordo was told to take Wade and Ellie to Wilson’s Fast Food and inform the spiders what to do before the group returned to Kamar-Taj.
• In 1991 Antarctica, Su Ming crawled out of the underground labyrinth after finding the Spider Totem and exterminating the creatures that could not communicate.
• Su Ming flew toward That Village, reflecting on his gains, including dinosaur eggs and biological-implant technology.

Su Ming returned to Kamar-Taj with the tiny Spider Totem, but neither he nor Monark could determine how to reach the energy plane connected to it. After reuniting with Gin, he discussed his next plan: taking control of Contraxia when its star went out.

• Su Ming returned to That Village, showed Kaecilius the tiny Spider Totem, and then brought it to Monark for examination.
• Monark said he could not understand or activate the totem, and Su Ming decided to seek advice from mages in a world with an energy network rather than let Merlin experiment with it.
• Su Ming flew to Tennessee and reunited with Gin at their secluded mountain home, where they shared a meal of roasted bear.
• Gin told Su Ming that her fleet was ready in the City of a Thousand Sails and was waiting for Contraxia's star to go out.
• Su Ming and Gin toasted their plan to claim Contraxia and use it as a deep-space haven and channel for dirty goods.

Su Ming investigated a burning airliner that crashed in his mountains, destroying the forest he had planned to use for a vacation house. After identifying the wreck as a Pan Am flight from Panama, he suspected the crash might involve more than mechanical failure and entered the blaze to investigate.

• Su Ming and Gin heard an aircraft approaching, then watched a burning passenger plane clip a mountaintop and crash into the forest.
• Su Ming learned the crash had set fire to his land and timber, while Gin went home carrying the bear and their belongings.
• Su Ming searched the wreckage and found a ticket for a Pan Am World Airways flight on an old Stark Industries aircraft.
• Su Ming checked a passenger's passport, discovered the flight had departed from Panama, and considered the possibility of a terrorist attack.
• Su Ming took his golden crowbar and walked into the burning wreckage to continue investigating.

Su Ming investigated the plane wreck and discovered that Hydra agents had attacked Richard and Mary Parker with a sonic weapon while pursuing a case of Death Spore Flower. Richard died after revealing the case’s contents and his family’s secrets, leaving Su Ming to decide what to do with the weapon and its information.

• Su Ming traced three holes through the burned plane cabin and deduced that someone had fired a new weapon during a chase.
• Su Ming found a Hydra agent’s body in the cockpit, tested the sonic weapon, and learned from the agent’s memories that Hydra had sent him after a target.
• Su Ming found Richard Parker dying in the pilot’s seat and retrieved the Death Spore Flower from the briefcase he pointed out.
• Richard identified himself and disclosed that he and Mary had been returning with the Death Spore Flower; Su Ming explained that Hydra had pursued them and revealed details about their son Peter and their research.
• Richard died after Su Ming told him that Peter was destined to become Spider-Man, while Su Ming reflected that the Death Spore Flower would likely be locked away in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s warehouse.

After Deathstroke recovered the stolen Hydra items from Richard and Mary Parker, he left their wrecked plane and headed for Washington, while Richard died holding his wife. The story then revealed how Howard’s indulgence and absence had left young Tony Stark lonely and spiraling into reckless excess.

• Richard explained how he and Mary Parker stole Hydra’s Death Spore Bomb materials and fled Japan before Hydra sent a Minion after them.
• Richard asked Su Ming to bring Mary to him, then died holding her corpse.
• Su Ming searched the plane, found no survivors, and decided to visit Howard in Washington D.C.
• Howard’s absence and Maria’s guilt led them to spoil Tony with money, cars, and few limits while Jarvis struggled to supervise him.
• Young Tony paid classmates for marijuana and began paying girls for companionship, with his behavior growing increasingly reckless.
• By sixteen, Tony had developed drug, alcohol, and sex addictions.

Howard struggled to reach his rebellious son Tony, who had run away from home, while weighing which S.H.I.E.L.D. agents he could trust to find him. Su Ming delivered a case containing Death Spores extract and discussed the deaths of two agents with Howard, who then asked Su Ming for help with a personal matter.

• Howard learned that sixteen-year-old Tony had run away after evading his bodyguards and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
• Howard considered asking Natasha, Dugan, or Fury to find Tony but rejected each option for personal or practical reasons.
• Su Ming arrived at Howard's office and delivered a briefcase containing Death Spores extract entrusted to him by a dying agent.
• Su Ming told Howard that two agents had died during an unauthorized operation, and Howard arranged a personal donation for their funerals.
• Howard asked Human Resources for a list of agents who had recently been on leave, then told Su Ming he needed help with a personal matter.

Sixteen-year-old Tony met a wealthy, guarded girl in a Cambridgeshire bar and fell for her after they escaped the ensuing brawl together. They hid beneath a bridge beside the River Cam, having briefly shaken off her bodyguards.

• Tony drank and mingled in a college-town bar, where he noticed a girl sitting apart from the crowd with bodyguards around her.
• Tony started talking to the girl and invited her to leave with him, but a bar fight interrupted them.
• The girl knocked down a drunk who attacked Tony, then pulled him through the crowd and out into the streets.
• Tony and the girl ran through Cambridgeshire while her bodyguards chased them.
• The two hid beneath a bridge beside the River Cam and smiled as they listened to the bodyguards run overhead.

Tony met Cassandra Jasper while she was evading her family’s bodyguards, and the two kissed before the guards tased him and took her away. The next day, Tony found Cassandra in a Cambridge lecture and learned that her bodyguards knew who he was and feared his father.

• Tony and Cassandra introduced themselves beneath a bridge, where Cassandra revealed that her mother had assigned her many bodyguards.
• As Cassandra’s bodyguards closed in, Tony and Cassandra kissed, and the guards tased Tony before taking Cassandra away.
• After recovering, Tony used his Money Ability to find Cassandra’s classroom at Cambridge the next day.
• Cassandra’s head bodyguard apologized for tasing Tony and warned him not to let his father kill him.
• The head bodyguard answered the professor’s question about unified finance, leaving Tony surprised by his knowledge.

Tony and Cassandra discussed their distant fathers and decided to marry, then met Cassandra’s parents for dinner in Cambridgeshire. Mrs. Jasper welcomed Tony warmly, but a speeding vehicle’s screeching tires interrupted them as they left the restaurant.

• Tony and Cassandra talked about their families and Tony’s estrangement from his father.
• Tony impulsively proposed marriage, and Cassandra said their families needed to meet before they could marry.
• Cassandra called her mother, who agreed to meet Tony, and the families gathered for dinner four hours later.
• Cassandra’s father tested Tony, while Mrs. Jasper defended him and warmly invited him to visit their German castle and live with them after the wedding.
• A vehicle sped down the street and screeched its tires as Tony was about to reply to Mrs. Jasper.

Tony was caught in a Hydra attack while having dinner with Cassandra and her family, saved Dr. Jasper, and was shot before Cassandra killed the last attacker. Su Ming found the unconscious Tony and told Howard he wanted him to help design and build a planet on Contraxia.

• Hydra attacked Dr. Jasper's party, overwhelmed the bodyguards, and targeted Dr. Jasper for execution.
• Tony took a fallen bodyguard's gun and shot the Hydra agent threatening Dr. Jasper, but another attacker shot Tony in the shoulder.
• Cassandra grabbed her father's shotgun and killed the last Hydra agent as Tony collapsed in her arms.
• Su Ming watched Tony being carried away and called Howard to tell him he had found his son.
• Su Ming asked Howard to work with him after retiring and explained that he needed help preparing Contraxia for a replacement sun.

Su Ming followed Hydra agents who had abducted Tony and told Howard that Tony had fallen into a Honey Trap involving Cassandra Jasper. As Su Ming watched the plane carry Tony toward Western Europe, Tony woke in an unfamiliar seaside house and questioned Dr. Jasper about what was happening.

• Su Ming told Howard that Hydra agents had carried Tony onto a plane after he was shot, and he chose to follow them to discover who was behind the operation.
• Howard objected to using Tony as bait and refused to consider making peace with Hydra, but Su Ming said Tony had fallen in love with Cassandra Jasper.
• Su Ming identified the Jaspers as the Hydra-connected family involved and promised Howard he would keep watch over Tony and Cassandra.
• Tony woke in a lavish seaside house with a bandaged shoulder, recognized that he was no longer in the United Kingdom, and found Dr. Jasper waiting with a gun and liquor.
• Dr. Jasper invited Tony to drink and told him the world was dangerous as Tony asked what had happened.

After Tony recovered at Cassandra’s family villa in Spain, he learned more about Dr. Jasper’s past and became intimate with Cassandra. Su Ming reported to Howard that Cassandra’s parents were tied to Leviathan and Hydra, then delivered the bad news that Tony had lasted less than three minutes.

• Dr. Jasper told Tony she had escaped an East German orphanage, built a life through hard work, and found a home with O’George.
• Dr. Jasper thanked Tony for saving her family, checked on Cassandra, and went upstairs with her gun and liquor.
• Cassandra kissed Tony and took him to bed, where Tony finished in under three minutes and later admitted he was embarrassed.
• Cassandra told Tony they were at her family’s villa on the coast of Madrid and that they would return to school the next day.
• Su Ming called Howard and revealed that Cassandra’s mother was Leviathan and her father was Hydra, while Cassandra seemed unaware of the family’s plan.
• Su Ming told Howard that Tony had lasted less than three minutes, and Howard ended the call in disbelief.

Howard had Tony forcibly taken from Cambridge after a news report revealed a Hydra attack, and he challenged Tony’s defense of the Jasper family’s arms business. On the way to the airport, Howard treated Tony’s shoulder and questioned whether Cassandra was a spy and whether Hydra had really attacked him, but Tony insisted he had heard them shout “Hail Hydra.”

• Tony continued trying to have sex with Cassandra in Cambridge, but his anxiety and affection made him struggle to last longer.
• Howard arrived with bodyguards, dressed Tony, and ordered them to take him to the car after Deathstroke reported on Tony’s performance.
• Howard told Tony that Hydra’s attack in Cambridgeshire had made the news and condemned the Jasper family for selling weapons to terrorists.
• Tony defended Ms. Jasper and argued that arms manufacturers were not responsible for how customers used their weapons, while Howard explained why he refused to sell to terrorists.
• Howard gave Tony medicine for his shoulder and warned that Cassandra might be a honey pot, then asked whether Hydra had really attacked him.
• Tony insisted that the attackers had shouted “Hail Hydra,” though he could not clearly remember the incident.

Howard argued with Tony about whether the attack that made Tony kill a man had been staged, while warning him to stay away from the daughter of his enemies. Three weeks later, Su Ming told Howard that Hydra and Leviathan had not planned to target Tony, and the chapter ended with Howard discovering that his breakfast was Black Dragon meat.

• Howard questioned Tony’s certainty that he had killed a Hydra attacker and accused him of falling into a honey pot with Jasper’s daughter.
• Tony rejected Howard’s suspicions and refused to forget the girl, while Howard decided he would protect his son from Hydra and Leviathan.
• Three weeks later, Su Ming visited Howard and Maria at the Stark estate and reported that Hydra and Leviathan had not known about Tony’s relationship with the family.
• Su Ming explained that Jasper’s family had vanished from Spain, Cassandra knew nothing, and the mystery had disrupted his plan to trace the Black Hand.
• Master Elminster served Howard and Maria a meal he had cooked, and Howard learned that the meat was Black Dragon and vomited.