Within the depths outside of space and time, a wise yet selfish (shellfish?) crustacean made a choice that would impact all universes. His actions were not directly meant to benefit his own existence. Rather, he put the life of one ahead of the lives of all.

Shaun Telman made quick use of his shrimpy, time-altering powers once obtained. A weight on his own mind from his past was lifted as he returned the elderly, dying Bianca Stubbins to her younger self. Near-infinite foresight gave him every indication that this shifting of time would have incredible implications throughout reality. He chose friendship over caution, though Bianca had no idea.

Though pleased with himself, watching the many histories written after that decision unfold, the young, eternal Shrimp Temporal felt something emerge from the void in which he was suspended. Something evil and inevitable formed in nothingness, a consequence of the decision he made. His shifting of times allowed the universe to balance a great imbalance that had persisted far too long.

Within space and time, on Earth, Duperman, the cosmic champion kept the globe almost entirely free of conflict. He discarded wrongdoers indiscriminately with such ease that the universe itself took notice. Duperman couldn’t mistake the feeling, however, that something had changed. As the apex hero of all beings, his position was threatened as he felt a thread of his existence getting plucked.

In his void, Shrimp Temporal could not view the future of the emerging entity. This caused him great fear and uncertainty. As if covering up his mistake, he focused all of his power on slowing the beginning of the birth of an unknown force. It couldn’t be stopped, try as he might.

Duperman went about his heroics until the emergence of that force was complete. For that single moment, the entire universe was drained of all light. It was the first time since coming to Earth that Duperman experienced genuine concern.

Shrimp Temporal stared into the face of the challenger. It was all clear then. The crustacean watched every future in horror of his failure as a keeper of time, every timeline infiltrated by this new creation.

“Would you like to try and stop me before I find my way out of this place?” the hulking echo of Duperman asked.

“There’s no before here. You and I are here together now in all pasts and futures, forever.”

“That’s awfully complex.” it stared at the shrimp for a moment. “But it doesn’t have to be.” the keeper of time tried to swim away with its tiny appendages while the being floated towards him. The bringer of darkness grabbed Shrimp Temporal’s tail with one hand and his head with the other. He then twisted the carapace off and ripped out the meat. “Disgusting.” he let go of the lifeless corpse and dove forward into the river of time.

“I’m not the only one who feels this way right?” Duperman asked.

“Can’t be. It sounds like a big deal.” Otis replied out the window of his ship.

“THANK YOU! You’re the first person to agree with me. Something is off.”

“Why don’t you check again.” the farmer-pilot suggested.

“Good idea.” Duperman flew down to the street to see if his favorite restaurant was open yet. It was 5:06 and they were never late to let customers in. Still closed. He shouted up to U.F.Otis, “Nothing! This is crazy! I’m going in anyways.”

Duperman landed on the sidewalk and pulled open the door. Lights were off and he could see nobody inside. But he felt that he was wrong. There was someone there. He stepped in and noticed a dark red outline of a man larger than himself.

“This is too far. You villains can do pretty much anything without really upsetting me. But now you come to my place of meal? I cannot stress how much you’ll regret this.” Duperman lacked a certain confidence, feeling as though this was not an ordinary encounter.

“Hmm.” the giant replied. It sounded as though he was chewing.

“No.”

“Mmhmm.”

“No.”

“Mmhmmmm.” the voice was deep and implied to Duperman a truth he could not accept. He stepped closer to the booth where the villain sat. His guard was let down for a moment as he saw that all his greatest fears were realized.

“NOOOOOOO!” Duperman emitted light from his entire body, directing it at the red monster. As it took the last bite, it reached its hand through the light and grabbed Duperman’s neck, stifling the light at the source. He stood, breaking through the ceiling and taking Duperman with him. In his free hand, he formed a ball of darkness, with deep red evil at the core. He threw up the helpless hero and blasted him with a laser that sucked from all of Big City.

U.F.Otis, still hovering above, maneuvered to catch his friend, flying far away from the Earth to assess the damage done. The giant villain below smirked and stayed in place. Duperman awoke not long after.

“What happened down there?” Otis asked.

“He took everything from me.” Duperman clenched his teeth. Otis looked on in confusion, so the hero continued. “They make a single Muong Calzone once a year. This was it, Otis. This was my year. But he took that from me.” Duperman flew away from Otis for a moment. “HE WILL PAY!” He shouted powerfully, erupting in bright light.

“Who is he?” Otis asked.

“I have a hunch, but I can’t be sure.”

“I’ve never seen anyone even scratch you. He must be just as strong as you are. Or stronger.” Otis thought to himself. “In a strange way, he kind of reminded me of you. Kinda like a ‘Dark Duperman’, if you will.”