Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 298: Ch.297 Caught in Time

Chapter 298: Ch.297 Caught in Time

Apocalypse stood with his hands behind his back, calmly gazing at the chancellery's door. He gave a slight wave, and the door was wrenched off its hinges as if something had torn it apart, revealing a pitch-dark hall inside.

"Go ahead, I'll protect you."

Apocalypse's eyes rolled back as he activated his powers, covering Su Ming in a layer of purple light that seemed to function like an elastic coat. It was unclear what this ability was, but it appeared to provide some form of defense.

Of course, it might also serve as a form of surveillance.

But that didn't matter. Su Ming wouldn't reveal his trump card unless absolutely necessary. For any ordinary enemies he might encounter inside, his dual pistols should suffice.

He signaled to Cable and the others to adapt as needed, glanced up at the sky made murky by various pollutants, then put on his helmet and drew his weapons.

Stranglehold quietly spread beneath his armor, and Su Ming strode up the chancellery's steps.

With Apocalypse guarding the rear, the area behind was secure for now. The real question was what surprises Conqueror Kang had waiting inside.

The hall was empty, its marble floors gleaming under a red carpet that stretched deeper into the building. At a glance, it looked like a trail of blood from a body being dragged across the floor.

This government building wasn't very large and didn't have many rooms—perhaps a few parlors, some offices for secretaries, and a small banquet hall.

Knowing Kang, he'd probably be in the highest place, as he liked to look down on others.

Though his true height was only 1.74 meters, he always found ways to elevate himself—like adding height enhancers to his armor or using devices to make himself appear gigantic.

So Su Ming crossed the hall, striding over the luxurious carpet, heading straight for the stairs, intending to reach Kang's office and kick him out the window to let Apocalypse handle him.

But as he reached the stairs and stepped into the second-floor hallway, everything around him changed. The previously solemn and grand building became a ruin, engulfed in flames and thick smoke. At both ends of the hallway, two armies were locked in intense combat.

One side wore iron-gray uniforms and wielded MP42s or similar weapons, while the other side donned olive-green uniforms, armed with PPSh-41s.

They exchanged heavy fire at the ends of the hallway, with Su Ming right in the middle of the battlefield.

Instantly, ripples spread across his body as Apocalypse's shield blocked all incoming bullets.

Su Ming rolled into a nearby room, which contained only a collapsed desk and scattered papers.

"Damn, I didn't sense anything—just fell straight into a time stream." Su Ming frowned, taking a deep breath. This seemed to be one of Kang's time streams, placed here through some unknown means.

Su Ming had never encountered such a trap before, and unsurprisingly, he fell right into it.

What a troublesome method. If the Conqueror kept throwing him through chaotic time streams, he might never find his way out.

Gunfire continued outside, but Su Ming knew this was a time stream under Kang's control, something the Conqueror likely deployed in haste to trap him.

Kang had many such time streams. For example, he often used timelines where he impersonated alien beings in the universe—these Earth-based scenarios were of little value to him and wouldn't significantly alter events.

Kang's time streams could be thought of as unstable parallel worlds.

So if Su Ming could create a significant enough disruption or alter its trajectory completely, the time stream would inevitably buckle under the pressure of historical inertia, the butterfly effect, or the limits of the world's self-regulating mechanisms, causing it to fracture.

Following this line of thought could open a way out.

Historically, Germany fell on this day, but Su Ming's goal was to hold the line and alter that outcome.

Such a change should generate a powerful disruption. Though the collapse of a time stream could be dangerous, Su Ming had his X-metal and Apocalypse's shield, making it worth the risk.

With his plan set, Su Ming charged out of the room, drawing his greatsword, and dashed toward the Soviet soldiers.

As for determining who was right or wrong in the war, that didn't matter—Su Ming had his own objectives to achieve.

Anyone in the way was an enemy.

By his calculations, the city held at least two million enemies, making it anything but easy.

Su Ming's initial optimism faded quickly as he realized how solid this time fragment was. It required a considerable amount of time and effort to destabilize.

Fortunately, this was a world Kang had already discarded. There was no other version of Kang in this timeline—it was just a toy he had grown bored of and thrown out to trap others.

Even so, it was a brutal war, and unlike Su Ming's world, this time, the Germans were heavily on the back foot.

Su Ming accomplished many feats, appearing on every battlefield and carefully planning his actions until he finally turned the tide and kept Germany intact.

History had been changed, and this time stream couldn't handle the strain—it finally began to shatter.

He found himself floating in a pitch-black void, with countless bubbles drifting around in the distance.

"Back to the multiverse's selection screen, huh?" Su Ming sighed, feeling like he had spent ages in the cursed time vortex, leaving everything else feeling like a distant memory.

It reminded him of the scene he first saw upon arriving in the Marvel Universe.

Apocalypse's protective aura still surrounded him, allowing him to breathe and survive in the vacuum of space. He recognized his world among the dense array of bubbles and had his mystical cloak guide him back at top speed.

Through the endless sea of stars, through the atmosphere, he once again landed before the chancellery in Berlin.

"Uh... how did you fall from the sky again?" Cable looked between the chancellery and the sky above.

"It's a long story..." Su Ming removed his helmet and rubbed his face, feeling the exhaustion from months of grand strategic planning.

Apocalypse, meanwhile, was questioning the young X-Men about the meaning behind the X symbols on their uniforms.

Su Ming raised an eyebrow. While Jean Grey and Cyclops had battled Apocalypse and Mister Sinister before, their uniforms were different from those of the regular X-Men.

Jean's uniform bore a phoenix emblem on her chest, and at that time, Cyclops had worn the old, unflattering blue and yellow X-Men uniform with a giant X.

It looked quite different from the sleek black leather suits of the new X-Men.

However, the young women might let something slip out of nervousness, so to be safe, Su Ming pulled Deadpool closer.

"Wade, why don't you give our 'god' a little lesson on branding and fashion? You know what to do."

Deadpool understood perfectly—it was about preventing Apocalypse from reading too much into the X symbol, so he began his usual rambling, starting with his favorite subject: Mexican tacos.

With Deadpool successfully keeping Apocalypse distracted, Su Ming nodded with satisfaction.

"Cable, give me a few magnetic field detectors and EMP grenades." Su Ming extended his hand to Cable, who, being the mechanical expert, could assemble some quickly if he didn't have any on hand.

Su Ming had already figured out the Conqueror's tricks. The first time he fell for it, it was due to unfamiliarity, but not the second time.

No matter how Kang had placed a time stream trap on the chancellery's second floor, it had to be a technological method.

It might have involved some futuristic converter or an inconspicuous metal sphere.

But as long as it relied on a power source, it would inevitably cause magnetic field disturbances—an inherent byproduct of machinery. As long as it was on Earth, it couldn't escape the influence of magnetism; Earth itself was one big magnetic field.

As for the EMP, Su Ming wanted to see if he could use electromagnetic interference to disable Kang's device. If it worked, he wouldn't have to rely on Apocalypse the next time he faced the Conqueror.