Hunter Wally sat in his office. The room was dark, only illuminated by the countless screens on the wall in front of him. Teacup Wally slept on his pompadour.
He sighed and leaned back in his swivel chair. Rubbing his throbbing head, he fought the urge to fall asleep.
The last couple weeks had been extremely exhausting for him. Filled with work, work and more work. Keeping all the different Wallys and their alternate universes in check was a never-ending and - quiet honestly - fruitless job. Especially with the never ending expansion of the multiverse. Things just kept getting harder for him. And he had to deal with it all by himself.
Hunter forced himself to skim the displayed data on the screens. Loads of numbers for each universe, always updated every five minutes. Numbers in critical ranges were displayed in red and universes, whose Wallys were currently absent, were listed in an extra window. (Also in red, duh.) On another list were the universes that currently inhabitated more than one alternate.
Opposite Wally and Grayscale Wally had both left their universes. The Rainbow Factory AU and Original Universe each had two Wallys in them. Based of his experience, Hunter knew that Gray was with Rainbow Factory Wally. That meant that Opposite was with Original. Probably by accident. Opposite had a talent for unwillingly stumbling through portals and ending up in all sorts of peculiar situations. Situations that usually required Hunter to rescue the grouchy alternate.
Hunter groaned in exhaustion and pinched the space between his eyes. If he kept dealing with this workload without any changes, he'd suffer from burnout soon. And then the entire multiverse risked either spiraling into pure chaos or collapsing entirely. This was simply unacceptable.
If only he could gather or direct the alternates to one spot, it would save him a lot of time and trouble going to look for them. Like an interdimensional household of sorts... A place that's not its own universe, but still easily accessible for everyone. Like a central hub, maybe?
Problem was: This place needed a sort of protector. A presence that always needed to be there to keep it stable. It shouldn't be a Wally, no. That would create another universe for Hunter to watch over.
The second problem was to get the Wallys to gather there in the first place. Some sort of lure was also needed.
Hunter reached up and gently lifted Teacup from his hair. He cradled the sleeping Wally in his hands and softly pat his hair with his index finger, while he pondered his options.
What could he possibly use as a lure? Apples? Mh, the others knew the majority of his tricks by now. Besides, not every alternate was crazy for apples. Apples won't work. They'd be wary of them. Maybe.
What was something, that every Wally craved the same, but didn't have?
...
...
A neighbor.
And a neighbor was a person! (Ideally) They could function as both, protector of the space and lure, at once! He could kill both birds with the same stone! Perfect. Brilliant.
He chuckled (not unlike an evil genius), still patting Teacup's hair. Hunter reached for his phone and dialed his frienemy's number.
Doot...
Doot...
The phone on the other end of the line got picked up and a bored and tired voice started speaking.
"Rainbow Factory, management office. You're speaking to Dr Darling."
"You still haven't saved my number? Sheesh, RF. That stings."
"Hunter?"
"No, I'm the Easter Bunny that caught the rabies-" Hunter chuckled.
"Listen. I don't have time for this. I have a factory to run." RF seemed to be annoyed.
"And a gray little dude to take care of." Hunter teased him further.
A sigh.
"Did you call because of him? Hunter, listen- He just got here. I didn't even get the chance to-"
"Relaaax dude." Hunter interrupted him. "I didn't call for Gray. I have a different proposition. One that I might need your help with."
"Shoot."
"I need to find the ultimate neighbor."
A pause. Hunter heard RF shift a few papers around before he replied.
"I'm all ears."
<^> <^> <^>
The next day they both met up and traveled to the "Origin Universe".
It was a different one from the Original Universe, where Original Wally lived.
If you imagine the mutliverse like a tree, then the "Origin" is like the center point of its roots. Or just the roots in general. It was the universe, where someone thought about Wally and created him alongside the Original Universe, which now functions as the stem of the tree. From it, all other AUs protrude like branches. (Metaphorically they'd be more like fruits on these branches, but that could be a philosophical debate for another day.)
Some people might even refer to the "Origin" as "the real world". A term Hunter didn't fully understand. He felt pretty damn real, why wasn't his universe considered real-?
Anyways, him and RF had to stay hidden in this world. Being seen, or even recognized, would have dire consequences for them.
They both were crouching behind some shrubs near a semi-busy street at the very edge of a town. Awkwardly huddled together, they watched the people passing by with binoculars.
They were searching for someone remarkably ordinary.
"Over there-" RF pointed at a person, who just crossed the street. They were wearing headphones, bobbing their head subtly along to the music.
Hunter gasped quietly. They were PERFECT. Nothing was special about them. The only extraordinary thing about them was, how extraordinarily ordinary they were. No one would notice when they left.
(No offense. Please take this lightly. The author does not intend to be rude.)
"We gotta get their attention." Hunter mumbled, lowering his binoculars to reveal squinted eyes. "But how?"
"Don't worry, I got this-"
RF picked up a pebble and practically yeeted it into the person's direction.
<^> <^> <^>
You were on your way home after a day that honestly just sucked ass. It sucked so well, you honestly felt the need to ask it for its secret.
Oh well. Simply enjoying your music coming from your headphones, you went on your way in blissful ignorance of the world around you. Until...
Someone threw a fucking stone at you! Said projectile bounced of your headphones, thankfully. Your head jolted sideways.
"Ack!"
Stopping dead in your tracks, you turned to glare into the direction the stone had come from. Only to see...
A bush. And then a hand portruding from it. First waving at you and then beckoning you closer.
What the everloving fuck.
Why was the hand robotic?? Was this the start of the robot apocalypse??
And why was it calling you over? Did it want to ask you for help in overthrowing human-kind and reign alongside the robots as supreme leader?
Fuck yeah, that'd be awesome-!
If that was the case, you'd happily march over there. Which was exactly what you did.
Approaching the shrub, you saw the wildest thing you could possibly imagine.
No, not robots sadly. No apocalypse. No reigning as supreme overlord. Dang it-
They looked like odd cartoon characters to you. Both yellow with blue (and black) pompadours. One was all dressed in black, the other like some kind of scientist.
For two or three minutes all you could do was stare in disbelief, frozen in place.
The dude in black was also in disbelief. "I can't believe that shit worked-"
"Told you so." Mr Scientist chuckled.
"Who the fuck are you??" You asked, questioning if you suddenly went insane or just developed a spontaneous case of schizophrenia.
The two stopped their conversation and looked at you.
"Well, technically both our names are Wally. But you can address me as Rainbow or RF." Mr Scientist, or rather RF, introduced himself.
The other dude nodded.
"And you can call me Hunter."
You nodded slowly, telling them your name as well.
"On a different note, do you perhaps, not like this world?" Hunter asked.
This made you perk up.
"I mean, it honestly sucks."
"Would you be interested in living in an alternate universe? You even be in charge there."
"Like a supreme overlord??" You started to bounce in excitement.
Hunter gave you a confused stare, before reluctantly agreeing.
"Like a supreme overlord in a sense... Yeah..."
You cheered and threw your hands up. Your dreams would ultimately come true!
"Shut up and take my money!" You almost yelled.
"So it's a yes?" RF tilted his head.
"Fuck yes!"