(Author's Notes)

Alright, let me put this out here right now. The Time Crisis Saga of the Metaverser Series is still ongoing. This is just a taste of what happens after all of the stories are completed and the events leading up to the next Saga I have planned. To those familiar with my Metaverser series as a whole, this will lead to the next Crisis Event Phoenix Mason will need to confront. Please enjoy and review.

(Three days after the Time Crisis)

I caught Cassie's punch and flipped her over me before pinning her to the ground in our training room with a grin. "Point," I said.

"Oh really," she asked with a smirk. I felt a barrel against my head and gave her a look.

"Oh, now I just win overall. We agreed, no drones."

"But nothing was said about daughters," said Alma behind me with a chuckle. I turned around and was met with a squirt of water to my eyes.

"Traitor."

"Hey," said Cass as she pulled Alma into a hug. "Not my fault she prefers me over you. Just means she's got class."

"Thank god you didn't inherit your fathers stupid name thing." She stuck her tongue out at me before hugging Alma, pressing their grinning cheeks together. I smiled before standing up and helping Cassie to her feet.

"Phoenix," said Gareth from the intercoms. "Get to the Central Chamber. There's something you need to see." I sighed.

"Nothing's ever simple."

"What do you mean," asked Cassie.

"He never calls Dad by his name unless it's serious," said Alma. "It's always 'Ingrate', 'Simpleton', 'Ruffian', ooh and my personal favorite 'Worthless Piece of…'"

"Hey," I said. "Watch your language and stop reading minds without permission. He's never said that last one out loud." I put my signature duster back on and went to the central chamber where I was then pinned to the ceiling with living demonic spikes skewered through my shoulders. I growled and changed to my Angelic Form, burning the hellish weapons away from me, and landed in a three point stance before glaring at the man who sent them at me. "Hey, Al! How's the Eighth Circle?!"

"Phoenix Mason," said the Hell Spawn, Al Simmons. "Still making a mess for me in Hell?"

"Haven't been back in some time."

"It shows. Your domain is a fucking shitshow."

"Hell's meant to be chaotic, Spawn! Just means more punishment for the damned!" I blocked his next attack with my Angelic Shield and the two of us growled at each other.

"ENOUGH," shouted Denise of all people. We turned to her and saw her in her Shadow Form. Gareth, remarkably, stayed silent. "Both of you need to focus and stop fucking fighting!"

"How he gets anything done is beyond me," said a synthetic voice beside me. I turned and spotted a man who was mostly machine and looked similar to my Hunter Armor.

"Murphy," I asked.

"Hello, Mason." I turned to the Manifestations of Life and Death.

"What the hell is going on?"

"You need to head back to Cassie's World," said Gareth.

"Ok, but why?"

"Liu Kang's attempt at trying to restore Chronika's Manipulations have been met with… interference within the Paradox."

"Within? The hell is going on?"

"That's what I'm investigating," said Spawn. "So far, I've managed to find out that Quan Chi and Shang Tsung have formed a second Deadly Alliance."

"No, I killed Shang Tsung."

"You killed his Remnant from the Defunct Timeline. The Shang Tsung from the past and the revived Shang Tsung were still alive, just trapped in the Void thanks to Chronika."

"And when we gave the Titanic Bitch her Uber Death, he got out."

"And sought the help of Quan Chi," said Murphy. "We've also detected their own attempt to disrupt time in their favor."

"What do you mean?"

"That's why they're here," said Denise, back to her ethereal black dress and pale skin with long flowing hair. "Somehow, they've opened portals to both of their respective worlds."

"I've got Netherrealm assholes flooding into the other Hell Worlds," said Spawn.

"Old Detroit has been overrun with Tarkatans and Shokan," said Murphy.

"And we've got reports of insane soldiers from the Chaosrealm in Gotham City from Doctor Fate," said Gareth.

"Three portals leading outside of the Universe," I exclaimed.

"Liu Kang originally cracked the Hourglass in his original attempt to fix time," said Kira as she and her twin walked into the Central Chamber. "They were able to open portals in the brief amount of time it took Liu Kang to think of using the Crown."

"The resulting strain of attempting to fix the cracks while there were portals out of the affected universe halted his efforts and froze him in time," said Tyra. "We need to bring the Incursions back to their realms and close those portals. Or prevent them from happening at all."

"You'll be working from inside the Paradox," said Gareth as he rubbed his forehead. "And…" I turned to him.

"What's wrong with you," I asked.

"The same thing that has Lady Death on edge," said Spawn. "These Incursions are causing a disruption of the Cycle of Life and Death. Souls are being consumed rather than cycling through the Void."

"We need to stop the Deadly Alliance," said Murphy as the Robocop moved to me. "Detroit is in danger."

"And the Demon Lords of the other 11 Hells are about to bring the fighting to alternate Earths. Mason, I'm not gonna pretend that I especially like your ass. But we need to work together and stop these motherfuckers as soon as fucking possible."

"Couldn't agree more, Colonel Simmons," said Cassie behind me. I turned around and my jaw dropped as I saw her attire. She wore a copy of my Hunter Armor, same plating in the same areas as my own and a skintight bodysuit covering her skin. "Eyes front, Babe." She smirked at me.

"Damn…"

"You've got a wife, Simmons," I said. "Look away." Cassie grinned and removed her helmet and saluted.

"Commander Cassandra Cage, United States Special Forces, reporting for duty," she said.

"You're uh… you're going to?"

"Of course. Someone's gotta watch your back." She winked at me before looking at Murphy. "Officer Alex Murphy. It's an honor sir." She turned to me. "And don't worry, Phoenix. Gallio specifically made this armor to protect me from the Time Erasure." She placed her hand on my cheek. "I'll be fine."

"Just remember to be careful," said Kira. "Any interactions with this alternate version of you may not end well."

"She's right," I said. "Because of your removal from time, if you interact with this version of you, I don't know what might happen."

"What about you," asked Cassie. "Aren't you…"

"In the Paradox? Yeah, I am, but my memories will sync with my past self and I will work to keep things from going too far out of control on the original end. But I can't cover for everything. The longer we're there, the more our very presence will change things more than my original presence already has. We need to work fast and stop the Deadly Alliance. But first we need to know everything they're doing and…"

"You remembered it too, I see," said Gareth.

"What are you talking about," asked Tyra.

"Shinnok," said Kira. "He never showed up. The Time Merger Paradox caused Raiden to combine with his past self, Fujin as well. So where was Shinnok?"

"And why, if he did merge with his past self, did Cetrion and Chronika not know about it," I asked. "The fact that Shinnok was not present during the events of the Paradox is disturbing, to say the least. We need to expect Quan Chi is working to bring Shinnok to the Hourglass and usurp Chronika. Shang Tsung will more than likely try to take control of the Hourglass himself."

"What about the other portal in Gotham. We can assume that it was Shang Tsung who opened a portal there," said Denise. "But would he have knowledge of that world?"

"He would if he was paying close attention to me from the Void. All it takes is one instance of knowledge and he can find it."

"And my world," asked Murphy.

"If Quan Chi is working for Shinnok, he is a former Elder God who would be aware of the existence of other worlds. Quan Chi might have opened the portals to the other Hells and if not there, then the portal to Old Detroit. But it takes a significant amount of power to do so. We have to assume there's one more member in this Deadly Alliance."

"But who," asked Cassie.

"We'll find out when we arrive in the Paradox. Hopefully, we'll arrive with enough time to prevent the opening of the portals and stop them from ever opening."

"You better not be telling us you're going to do that," said Spawn. "It's likely to kill us!"

"Relax. It's not the first time I've slingshot myself into a timestream."

"Excuse me," asked Kira.

"Nothing! We're going!" I snapped and a sphere of energy surrounded the four of us. I placed my repaired Hunter Armor on and grinned as Cassie placed her helmet back in place with a matching grin on her face.

"This is the last time you do this!"

"Sorry, can't hear you over the Temporal Field! Bye!"

"I'm going to fucking hate this," muttered Spawn. Murphy stayed silent as sand surrounded the energy sphere and Cassie held onto me as we felt a lurch. I controlled the sand around the energy sphere and launched us into the Sands of Time before shooting us into the Chronika Paradox. That's when I remembered my fucking oversight. The Holy Grail was still in my Omni-boy inventory. Had I remembered to remove it in the first place, maybe things wouldn't have ended up the way they did in the end.

(Author's Notes Pt. 2)

And the first instance for the final chapter of the Time Crisis is up. This won't be updated as often as I want to limit the number of spoilers to the rest of the Time Crisis. The full Aftermath story will be it's own story at the end of the Time Crisis Saga which will continue with the Dragonball Xenoverse story, Dragonball Metaverse, I've started at the same time this is uploaded, followed by the Third Crisis, the Red Vs Blue Paradox which will be the last story in the Time Crisis before Aftermath. Hope y'all will stick around for all of them. Until next time, Y'all!