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MV1 #79 DECEMBER Year 100

by Sam Everett

“Renewal: Part Four”

New York City:

It was a sad thing to see, this city was.
 
Twenty-five years ago, it was a buzzing and diverse community that housed eighty-five million people, most of whom related well to their neighbors and their environment--that cordial relationship between man was easily the greatest legacy that could have come from the gradual departure of many of the world’s superheroes.
 
Twenty-five years later, it was an empty metropolis, where atmoscrapers cast their shadows over skyscrapers, which cast their shadows over high-rises, which cast their shadows over street-side businesses...but there were no people around to bathe in the infinite darkness of these shadows.  Over two-hundred years of industrialization and progress...completely ignored.
 
Well, not quite completely, for just now, two Watchers, Uatu and Oleeta, crept down the grey streets of the city.  In the sullen mood they were both in, the ghost town’s umbra fit them as snugly as their long, blue cloaks.
 
“In many ways,” Uatu broke a long-standing silence, “I wish that something would occur this day.”
 
“Ah ah,” Oleeta chided playfully, “how many times in the passed one-hundred years have you lectured me on having those kinds of thoughts?”
 
Though he realized she was making a joke, Uatu still felt chills at the memories her comment evoked--memories of fifty years prior, when he was forced to take physical action in preventing Oleeta from interfering in an Earthly event--from breaking her oath as a Watcher.  And even to this day, he wondered, by stopping her, had he too interfered in the events of this planet and broken his own oath?  Would it have been more appropriate to let the affair proceed, complete with Oleeta’s involvement, even though she was a Watcher, and his apprentice?  In the ensuing half century, he had convinced himself that it would have been right, and that he had done the wrong thing.
 
Moreover, he had come to believe that he was a failure as a mentor, and as a Watcher.  And regretfully, he would not even have the opportunity to redeem himself with his time left on Earth, for that time was increasingly finite; in two days, he was to warily hand over his duties as Watcher of Earth to Oleeta, and travel back to the Council of Watchers to receive a new assignment.
 
Still, he could try to redeem himself, which was why he had renewed his oath as a Watcher shortly after the incident with Oleeta and the X-Men fifty years before--he vowed never again to interfere in the affairs of the humans, no matter the cost.
 
“You have not spoken of interfering in the humans’ affairs in quite some time,” Uatu noted.  “You have learned your lesson, have you not?”
 
“To tell you the truth,” Oleeta replied in her acquired human manner of speech, “I haven’t.  If I had it to do over again, I would.”  They both knew what “it” was.  “But like always on this planet, there’s nothing to interfere WITH anymore.”
 
“On that, I agree,” Uatu nodded. The two had reached the peak of their boredom.
 
“Time to check in on Richards?” Oleeta asked.
 
“Indeed,” Uatu replied.

The Baxter Building:

Once one of the peaks of the New York City skyline, the Baxter Building was now lost in inferiority beneath a wall of extraordinarily massive towers that nearly stretched to the stars, and that always made Reed Richards gasp in awe of the magnificence of their engineering genius--just as he did this day as he tucked his son Franklin into bed and gazed out one of the Baxter Building’s windows toward the atmoscrapers that poked against the dusk’s purple sky.
 
He could remember when he never got the opportunity to soak in these earthly scenes; up until almost a quarter century ago, he was one of the busiest men in the world (the price he paid for being the most intelligent).  Between his duty mentoring T’Channa’s young team of heroes, to helping design various forms of equipment for the government, to his responsibility as caretaker of his wife and his eternally youthful son, Reed rarely got the chance to just sit.
 
Now, however, it was all he could do.  It was all that was left to do.  But it was not how he had ever imagined doing it.
 
Years ago, after nearly every incarnation of the Fantastic Four was killed in a confrontation with a time-lost Moloid who sought to increase the team’s powers to deadly levels, Reed managed to survive, though his wife Sue seemingly was not as fortunate; the event so traumatized his son Franklin that the boy, using his inherent and apparently infinite powers, granted Reed eternal life, that he would never lose another member of his family again.
 
There were times he had cursed his fate, for he had outlived most of his friends, and even the greatness of Earth.  With the majority of Earth’s populace colonizing the stars (courtesy of Reed’s own starship designs), a meager one billion people now resided on the planet.
 
For all the reasons that Reed never joined humanity’s exodus to the stars--his age (he was over one-hundred-and-thirty), his experience with nearly everything in existence as a member of the Fantastic Four--the most compelling reason to stay on the inactive Earth was his ghostly wife, Sue.
 
“Reed,” her ever-invisible ghost form whispered from the doorway of Franklin’s bedroom, as to not awaken her son.  “One of your thingamajigs is beeping.  I think it’s the bio-detector.”
 
Reed’s heart jumped at the chance that something...exciting...could be taking place, though he was sure it was nothing.
 
He stepped through the doorway and felt Sue’s soft hand touch his back, though he could not see her at his side.  Such was the fate of a man married to a ghost, though he was convinced that, even though she had “died” and returned to life years ago, her condition had a more scientific explanation, if only he could find it--that explanation was made harder to pinpoint, considering even Sue was unsure of her situation, and could only describe a bright light when recalling her “death.”  Even so, they were thankful to be blessed with each other’s miraculous presence, no matter how impossible it was.
 
“This detection is promising,” Oleeta said.  “Maybe your wish will come true, eh, Uatu?”
 
“Let us watch and see.”
 
The two stepped into the vibrating, humming observation room of the building shrouded in plain view behind the Richardses, while Reed immediately stretched toward one of the many control panels in the room and Sue watched him work.
 
“This is strange,” Reed said as he read through the bio-sensor computer’s results.  “The computer recognizes the intruder’s bio-signature.”
 
“As what?” Sue asked.  Reed determined from her voice’s location that she had walked across the room.
 
“Just one moment.”  Reed called up the remaining results; upon seeing the computer’s reply, he felt his heart stretch into his throat quite involuntarily.  “Oh...my...”
 
“What is it, Reed?” Sue asked.
 
“Victor.”
 
“Victor?”
 
The tall, dark figure that suddenly stepped briskly and confidently through the sliding door gave Sue her answer.
 
“Yes,” the green-cloaked figure said.  “Victor von Doom.”
 
Uatu regretted his wish, now, not that Doom’s sudden appearance was a result of that wish.  Still, he feared that this day would not bode well for the last remnants of the Fantastic Four--even more, he feared that Oleeta would be true to her word, and interfere in preventing that fate, given the opportunity.  Not that he would make any attempt to stop her, based on the oath he had renewed fifty years ago.
 
“Victor?” Reed gasped.  “How is this?  I thought you were--”
 
“Dead at last?  Dead for good?” Doom laughed, his voice as brooding as ever.  “I suppose you would assume that, since I’ve not been seen on this planet for seventy-five years, since the accursed Avengers and New Warriors confronted me at the Vault a lifetime ago.”
 
“And you disappeared,” Sue said, “and haven’t returned until now.”
 
Doom looked toward Sue’s voice and grinned.  “It’s good to...see you again, Susan.”
 
“The feeling is most definitely NOT mutual,” she replied coldly.  “What are you doing here?”
 
“Allow me to finish, please.  With the help of one of the many alien races I have discovered and conquered in my lifetime, I was able to transport onto an alien vessel from the Vault before my enemies could capture me.  From that point on, I traveled the spaceways and, to make a long story short, for time is of the essence, I became the master of the universe.  I conquered more civilizations than can be counted, and even discovered what can only be described as the fountain of physical youth.”
 
“Wait, Victor,” Reed interrupted, well aware of how that would grate on Doom’s nerves.  “Why haven’t we heard from you until now?”
 
“Ah, but you have, most impatient one.  Fifty years ago, in fact.  After twenty-five years in the farthest reaches of space, I grew bored, and there was one planet I had yet to conquer: Earth.  Does the term “Civil War” mean anything to you?  The war between the Avengers and the X-Men, with that infamous, mysterious alien armada caught in the middle?”
 
“That armada...it was yours?” Sue asked.
 
“Indeed.  In fact, it was I personally who...disposed of three of the Avengers that boarded my vessel.  Strange, I cannot even remember their names...”
 
“I suppose that happens after you’ve killed a few million people, right Victor?” Reed cursed.
 
“May your virtue thrive always within you, Richards.  But back to my tale, to appease your curious natures.  The combined might of the Avengers and their allies was too great even for I, and I retreated to my own kingdom, where I remained for years.  One day, when my empire reached the peak of its glory, and grew tiresome, I decided that my true place was here, on Earth, as it always had been.  Days ago, I returned to this planet, only to find a tediously empty place, and I realized something that I should have discovered long ago--the best of times are behind us, Richards.  Even you feel this way, I sense.”
 
In the midst of the unsuspecting figures, the two Watchers stood, each watching something different, but equally compelling; Uatu observed the anticipatory, determined look in Oleeta’s blank eyes and he frowned, while she looked on at the events between Doom and his enemies.  Apparently, she could sense his eyes on her.
 
“I’m going to stop Doom, Uatu,” Oleeta proclaimed, keeping her eyes on the actions around them.  “The Richards family deserves to live in peace, not to be tormented by his hand.  I’m going to see that they get that chance.  Don’t try to stop me this time.”
 
Uatu had no intention of interfering with her actions, but gave her a last chance to reconsider what she intended to do, for her own good.  “This world will be yours alone to watch, soon.  Is this the kind of Watcher you wish to be, Oleeta?  Are the humans worth breaking your oath?”
 
His objective words seemed to effect her, according to the suddenly pensive look in her eyes, but it did not matter to Uatu.  What she did from this point on was entirely up to her--he could only watch.
 
“I’m an old man, Victor, and I’m afraid I get tired easily,” Reed said.  “Get to the point.”
 
Victor smiled at Reed’s bravado and pulled a small, metal object from a pouch at his side.  “Do you recall the voyage, Richards?  The voyage that changed the world?  The voyage that created the Fantastic Four?”
 
“How could we forget?” Sue muttered.
 
“How would you like to return to that time and place, my friends?” Doom offered.  “How would you like to relive your youth?  I, for one, can think of nothing better.  This world, this entire system, for that matter, is so...dull!  I don’t belong here.  I belong back there, when the world changed forever, and titans lived alongside titans.”  Doom looked at Reed almost reflectively.  “This device I hold is able to do just that--it can take us back through time.  I’ve set it for the day of your famous journey, and it will activate itself in five minutes.  I can think of no one I would rather take with me than you, Richards, for there is no greater adversary...no greater ally.”
 
Reed was impossibly confused by Doom’s appearance, and his offer.  Still, he had to admit that the proposal was tempting.  How many times in the passed fifty years had he longed for the countless adventures with Sue, Ben, and Johnny that they enjoyed in the past?
 
And yet, who was he to assume superiority over time for his own good?
 
“Thanks for thinking about me, Victor,” Reed said condescendingly, “but I’m afraid I’m all booked up this week.  Sorry.”
 
“Richards?  This is the opportunity of a lifetime!  Are you mad?!”
 
“No,” came Sue’s voice, “he’s perfectly sane!”  Just as Doom realized that the apparition of Sue was behind him, she tore the palm-sized device from his metal hand and carried it across the room.  “THIS is your time machine, Doom?” she asked. “Things sure are compact these days.”
 
“Return it to me, Susan,” Doom demanded as he pulled another, larger device from his pouch and pointed it at Reed, “or you and your lover die, and I travel back in time alone.”  He noticed that the device floating in Sue’s invisible hand had not moved--she was not obeying him.  “Bring it here!”
 
“Here I am!” she said as she tackled him to the ground.  “Reed, get help!”
 
“I’m on it!” he said over Doom’s frustrated growls.  He punched a series of commands that linked him to a compound in the Los Angeles area.
 
Uatu expected that Oleeta would make herself visible to the humans and attempt to aide the Richards couple once the confrontation between Sue and Doom began, but, to his surprise, she did nothing.  Upon viewing her, she had obviously tensed from watching the world’s last remnants of its heroic age attacked by Doom, but she showed restraint, despite her anger.  No matter how Uatu sought to ignore his feelings toward any of the events taking place, he had to admit that he was proud of Oleeta at this moment.
 
Meanwhile, Doom wrestled the woman that he could not see, growing more frustrated with every blow she landed.
 
“How’d you like that trick, Vic?” Sue asked, striking him with an unseen fist.  “You see, I set your time gadget on an invisible field when you weren’t looking, giving me the chance to sneak up on you.”  She hit him yet again.  “I may be old--or even dead!--and I may be stuck in this invisible form, but I’m as powerful as ever, if I do say so!”
 
Doom managed to punch a command on his arm’s gauntlet, engaging a field around his body that threw Sue from him.  “Fervent in your old age, Susan, but you’re not the only powerful one here,” he boasted.  He rose and looked to Reed.  “It’s become tragically clear that I’ll get no cooperation from either of you.  I understand that you instinctively oppose me at every turn, but I truly did wish to help you, Richards.”
 
“By forcing me into an intellectual chess match across eternity?” Reed said.  “I don’t need that kind of help, Victor.”
 
“You will need help of some sort,” Doom replied, this time pressing a command on his gauntlet.  The hum of energy could be heard echoing throughout the room, and strands of crimson light started out of his fist and toward Reed. “Indeed.”
 
“Did someone say something about help?” a blur of light called out, crashing through one of the walls of the Baxter Building, trailed by a scarlet-cloaked mistress floating on air.  “Well here we are!”
 
“Simon!  Wanda!” Sue gasped.  “Good call, Reed!”
 
As Simon Williams slung his fists at the unsuspecting Doom, and his wife Wanda swallowed the villain in a shower of chaos energy, Simon replied, “It’s the only call he could have made, Mrs. Richards--we’re about the only superpowered people left on the planet.  Besides, I owe Doom some payback--he killed me fifty years ago!  That kind of thing really embarrasses me!”
 
As the two heroes pummeled Doom, Reed requested Sue’s assistance with Doom’s time travel mechanism.
 
“We’ve got to disengage the device,” Reed said, tinkering with the metal gadget to get a feel for how it worked.  “It’s set to go off in less than four minutes!”
 
“What do you need me to do?” Sue asked.
 
“I need you to lodge your invisible field into the casing and open it up so I can get at its inner workings.”
 
Just as Sue did as he asked, they both looked to the battle between Simon and Wanda and Doom, where Simon cried out in pain as he flew limply through the air, and then hit the ground with a thud and died, his unmoving chest smoking with energy.
 
“Simon!” Wanda screamed.  “No!  Not again!  My hex power should have redirected that blast!”
 
Doom smiled.  “Try not to fret too much, gypsy...your hair is white enough.  Your hex power is not accustomed to the energies I have accumulated from a hundred hundred different warrior cultures.”  He aimed his gauntlet at her as she weeped over Simon’s lifeless body.  “For example...”
 
As Wanda accepted her fiery death, Sue cried, “No!” entirely too late.
 
“The fact that these Avengers have lived this long is a testament to their will to survive,” Doom said coldly.  “And the fact that it was I who killed them is a testament to my might.”
 
Just as Doom’s gauntlets buzzed with energy once again, meant for Reed and Sue, that whine was overpowered by the blinding flash of radiating, spherical, golden light above the three aged figures, and the elongated, hissing chant that resulted from such a dispersal of light energy.  Reed, Sue, and Doom all looked above them in awe, and moments later were greeted by the dark-skinned, black-haired female that stepped gracefully out of the brightness, and hovered to the ground like a winged angel.
 
“Ashema,” the three old foes gasped.
 
Ashema’s torrid eyes were focused on Doom alone.  “You have gone too far, Doom.  I cannot allow you to nullify all the work I have done.”
 
Uatu looked to Oleeta again as she breathed a sigh of satisfaction and grinned at the ancient Celestial’s unexpected arrival.  Was she cheerful that the Richardses would be safe from Doom’s meddling, Uatu asked himself, or was she just relieved that she would not have to act out against Doom herself, breaking her oath for the humans?
 
“It appears the Richards family has a guardian angel,” Uatu said.
 
“But is it too late?” Oleeta asked, her tone colder now.  “I should have acted earlier.  I should have done something to stop Doom from killing Wonder Man--er, Williams and Maximoff.  I should have done...something.”
 
Uatu remained silent.
 
“This is most certainly a surprise,” Doom said to the newcomer.
 
“I have come to collect these two,” Ashema replied, standing over the bodies of Wanda and Simon.  Once she finished, the ball of light above them swallowed itself in a rush of energy.  “But I will stay to stop you.”
 
“Collect them?” Reed asked.  “For what?”
 
“For...posterity, you could say.  During our first encounter, one-hundred years ago, your son convinced me that humanity is a special thing, worth saving.  When I granted young Franklin his wish, and I allowed both this world and the world he created to survive, I did not stop there.  I charged myself to oversee all of the world’s ‘heroes’ in the case that they fell in their noble quest for good.”
 
“For what purpose?” Doom asked.  Ashema’s presence had even him curious, if only to better gauge the situation, and make it benefit him ultimately.
 
“To save them from the fate that befalls all fragile humans,” Ashema answered.  “To save them from eternal lifelessness.”
 
“What do you mean?” Sue asked.
 
“Take you, for instance, Susan Richards.  Years ago, when you and the rest of your family were fatally wounded in a conflict with a subterranean creature who increased your powers to deadly levels, I was there to save you all from death.  I collected your essences.  When I saw that your son was unable to cope with your loss, I gave your essence physical form--which was still effected by the augmentation of your powers that resulted in your death in the first place.  And I returned you to him.”
 
Reed gasped.  “Oh Sue...I knew you couldn’t be a ghost.”
 
“I’ve done so with all of the world’s champions who have fallen in battle, and I have released them over time, that the universe will never be endangered by base forces.  I even used my infinite powers as a Celestial to travel back through the timestream, and collect the life-essences of those that had died before my encounter with you one-hundred years ago, storing them inside me.  Thus, for the heroes of this world, there is no end.  I--”
 
“--you contain the life-force of every single costumed hero that has ever been?!” Reed exclaimed.  “Hawkeye...Pym...Grey...that doesn’t seem possible!”
 
“I am a Celestial, Reed Richards.  I can do anything.”
 
“She can!” Oleeta cheered to Uatu, her voice and presence hidden from the humans in the room. “They’re all essentially alive, inside her!  She...saved them all!”
 
“That is what she implied, yes,” Uatu agreed.
 
“You can do anything but stop me!” Doom boasted.
 
“Not only can I stop you, but I WILL stop you.  I MUST stop you, for if you travel back through time, you will alter the timestream, and the work I have done to collect the dead heroes will be for naught.  With but a thought, I can release enough energy to turn you to dust.”
 
Doom raised his arm gauntlet and placed his index finger on it in a threatening manner.  “And with little more than a thought, I can create an explosion that will turn this entire building to dust!  Just tempt me, disinterer!”
 
Ashema and Doom stared at each other menacingly, each trying to determine if and when the other was going to make their move.  But the only action taken came from Reed across the room, as he swiftly stretched his wrinkled arm toward Doom without the villain’s notice, knocking him to the ground.
 
“Ashema!” Reed called out.  “Make your move!  Give me time to disengage Doom’s time machine!”
 
Ashema looked back at Reed with regret.  “I lied.  I am sorry, but I was bluffing.  While I can release an extraordinary amount of energy, I would be destroyed in the process, along with the essences of each of the dead champions inside of me, for our life-forces are linked together.”  She noticed Reed’s arm struggling to further detain Doom.  “I am able to transfer the energy, however, if only there was another body willing to accept the transfer of this energy, and capable of releasing it, we could stop Doom.”
 
For the first time since Doom arrived, Oleeta no longer felt helpless, Uatu sensed--strange, in this most helpless of situations, as Doom was just escaping Reed’s elastic grasp, and Sue had just replaced her husband.  No, Oleeta actually smiled, and held some semblance of hope for the heroes around her, and even for herself--hope that Uatu hardly had for her.
 
Uatu was surprised when Oleeta looked away from the humans and at him, and smiled, “I’m sorry, Uatu.”
 
Sorry for what, he was about to ask, but was cut off by Oleeta’s sudden emergence into the plain vision of the humans.
 
“Uatu!” Reed exclaimed, looking up from his work on the time travel device.  “Where did you come from?”
 
“No.  I’m Oleeta.  I’m your new Watcher,” Oleeta grinned proudly.  “I’ve been observing you all this time, and I’ve decided to help.”
 
“Help?” Ashema asked.  “Does not your entire race revolve around the concept of non-interference?”
 
“It does,” Oleeta replied.  “But they’ll just have to make an exception--I’m trying to help a Celestial, after all.”
 
“How so?” Ashema asked.
 
“I will be that body you need.  Transfer your energy into me, and I’ll release it, and we’ll both stop Doom.”
 
“You can’t stop me!” Doom cried under Reed’s grasp.
 
“I fear he may be right,” Ashema said.  “Even your form may not be able successfully hold that much energy.”
 
“Well whatever you do,” Reed warned, “we don’t have much time.  There’s a minute left on the time travel device, and I can’t shut it down...I can only decrease the number of years the device will travel to!”
 
Oleeta shook her hairless head out of frustration, and saw that Doom had nearly defeated Sue.  “If I do die, will the essences of the heroes still live,” she asked Ashema.
 
“Yes, they will live as long as I live,” Ashema nodded.  “They do not have a link with you that they have with me.”
 
“Then that’s all that matters,” Oleeta said, adjusting her cloak behind her back in preparation to receive the energy of the heroes’ essences.  “Hit me.”
 
Ashema nearly protested, but saw that Doom was free, and turned to Oleeta.  “I wish you luck, Watcher.”  Both women closed their eyes, took hands, and with a jolt of Ashema’s body, and an even more jarring convulsion from Oleeta’s, the transfer was done.
 
And Uatu did nothing but watch.
 
“I...I can feel it in me!” Oleeta exclaimed.  “They’re inside me!”
 
“Quickly!” Ashema barked.  “Release them!”
 
“Too late!” Doom laughed as he fired a blast of energy at Reed, hitting him in the chest and momentarily halting the work he was doing on the hand-held time machine.  “You’ve meddled too much with the device, Richards!”
 
Reed grunted passed the pain and continued his work, knowing that his wounds would eventually kill him.
 
And Uatu did nothing but watch.
 
Oleeta smiled at the presence of the dead heroes that resided in her form, and even embraced herself with joy.
 “
Now, Watcher!  Do it!” Ashema ordered.
 
“Here we go!” she said, and forced the energy out of herself.
 
Her joyous expression suddenly turned to anxiety as the pain of a thousand rays of golden light shot out of her chest and stomach, ripping her cloak and flesh apart.  Her limp form crumbled to the cold metal floor.
 
“No...” Ashema whispered.  “She was not strong enough.”
 
Oleeta screamed in pain as more streaks of light poked through her delicate hands and feet.  “It hurts!  It hurts!”
 
The streaks of light finally began to take form, and resembled the hazy ball of light that heralded Ashema’s arrival earlier.
 
Meanwhile, Doom continued to launch his assault on Reed, but hardly succeeded in halting his tampering with the machine.
 
“We’ve only got forty seconds left!” Reed gurgled, blood expelling from his throat.  “I can’t work with Doom hounding me!”
 
Ashema rushed toward Doom to stop him, and shot a bolt of white light at him from her fingertip, sending Doom reeling to his knees.
 
“It hurts!” Oleeta continued as the light that emanated from her grew brighter and brighter.  “Help me!  Somebody!”  The tears in her eyes had even turned golden, the energy inside her was so abundant.  She looked to where Uatu had been before, but saw nothing, for she was no longer hidden with him--she was among the humans now.  “Uatu...help me!”
 
And Uatu did nothing but watch.
 
“Help...me...”
 
“No!” Reed pounded his fist against the computer console across the room.  “It’s too late!  I could only take ten years off of Doom’s machine!  It’s all coming apart!”
 
All of the objects in the room--in the universe, for that matter--balanced in and out of existence, until they gradually began to dissolve from being.
 
Oleeta’s pained expression gave way to a feeling of happiness as she saw the shapes taking form in the glowing orb of light above her--it was the last thing she saw as two streaks of golden energy burst from her blank eyes.
 
And Uatu did nothing but watch.
 
And, as the world faded away and out of the timestream, a near-endless array of heroes not seen in lifetimes rushed from Oleeta’s beaming ball of light; leading them was a soaring avenging son, and a flaming torch of light, and an inspiring patriot adorned in stars and stripes, and beside him, his young partner, loyal to the end...and beyond.
 
And, once again, for however few moments it lasted, a world of heroes was renewed.

“...and then the time machine brought me back one hundred years,” Uatu reported, standing in the spotlighted circle of the chamber of the Council of Watchers, as the Council looked down on him, “with complete recollection of the events of the passed one-hundred years.”
 
“The future, to us,” Toom, an elder Watcher of the Council, corrected from high above Uatu in the darkened chamber.
 
“Indeed, my mistake,” Uatu replied.
 
“And this Ashema, is she still collecting dead Earth heroes, as you stated?” Toom inquired.
 
“I can only assume she is still ensuring that no costumed hero ever truly dies, yes, though I cannot know for certain” Uatu said.
 
“What of the others?  The Richardses and Doom and the two Avengers from your time period?  What happened to them when the time device was activated and brought you back one hundred years?”
 
“I cannot say,” Uatu regretted.  “Perhaps their bodies still lie on Earth, and can be found near where I was found.  And Doom, he never died...I know not where he can be...”
 
“What of yourself?” Toom asked.  “You are a man out of time.  What do you wish to do now?”
 
“I do not know,” Uatu admitted.  “But I think I would like to return to Earth.”
 
“As a Watcher?”
 
“No,” Uatu simply replied, grinning smugly, for this Council had authority over the Uatu of this time period, but not over him, for he was from one hundred years in the future!
 
After the other Watchers shifted in their seats at Uatu’s reply, Toom said, “You--or should I say, the Uatu from our time period--is currently on Earth, mentoring Oleeta.  Do you advise that we--”
 
“Bring her back,” Uatu boomed.  “I have seen her perform as the Watcher of Earth a hundred years from now, and she will fail.”
 
“But she has such potential,” Toom said. “It is hard to believe that--”
 
“Have you ever been to Earth, Toom?”
 
“Why, no, I--”
 
“Have you ever seen the feats performed by the masked men that call themselves ‘Avengers’ and ‘X-Men’ and ‘Liberators?’  Have you ever seen a woman rise from her own ashes like a phoenix, or a man gather his ethereal self in the name of justice?  Have you ever stood near a veteran of war and an Asgardian god, and have you ever felt the awe that no human...no being in that position can escape?  Have you ever been to their world?  Have you ever lived with the marvels of Earth?”
 
“And Oleeta, she will succumb to these attractions if we allow her to remain on Earth?” Toom asked.
 
“It happened before,” Uatu warned, “and yes, it would happen again...”