The sky over the Void had just fallen quiet.
Alioth dragged a vast swath of purple clouds into the distance, leaving only half an aircraft carrier, a section of the Statue of Liberty's arm, and more than a dozen cars from different eras on the ground.
One of the taxis still had its meter running.
Deadpool sat on its roof, looking down as he tapped a TemPad with a cracked screen.
When they pinned him down, his right hand had kept reasonably busy, lifting a backup device from the back of a Hunter's belt. Just a little advance planning.
The restraint collar had held him for five minutes.
In the sixth minute, a Time Stick touched his chest, and he dropped into the Void, stolen goods and all.
A few unimportant things had happened in between.
Like meeting Alioth, getting half his body eaten, then growing back inside the trunk of a pizza delivery van. Or fighting several other pruned variants for hours over a TVA battery that could charge the TemPad.
Now those little matters were over.
Deadpool raised his hand and began counting his spoils.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven."
The White Queen variant stood on a broken wing, her white boots covered in dust. She looked down and gave them a couple of pats. When the dust wouldn't come off, her expression soured further.
The Wolverine variant sat on the hood of a wrecked car nearby, pulling a length of rebar from his thigh.
The other five were scattered around them.
One was wiping a blade, another was reloading a gun, and a fellow in a ragged cloak was trying to pull his left hand out of a rock.
Deadpool nodded in satisfaction.
"Seven people. Perfect. Standard lineup for a mid-budget multiverse crossover movie where