The Sentry Reborn #6

TS R | #6 

I've Heard It Said That When You Are About To Die, Your Life Is Supposed To Flash Before Your Eyes.

I Remember The Void Asking The Sentry If He Was Faster Than A Speeding Bullet.

What Actually Flashed Before My Eyes Was The White Heat Of A Gun Muzzle.

In That Brief Moment, I Imagined The Next Thing I Heard would Be The Sound Of Angels.

In A Way, I Was Right.

The Answer Is "Yes." As You Knew It Would Be, Void. You Know How Fast I Am To The Nearest Millisecond.

You Didn't Want Doctor Worth To Die. You Haven't Told Him Yet. 

It's a lie! 

You Damned Liar. You're Not Even Real!

The Genie's Out Of The Bottle, Robert.

I Know You: I Know Your Every Move, Even Though You Have Half Of The Memories.

N-no! I'm Not Him! You're Reynolds. You Are!

He's Lying. Don't Listen To him. 

I Don't Lie: That's The way I Was Made, Tell doctor Worth Why You Had No Intention Of Killing Him.

I Don't Understand. 

Follow The Logic Of A Madman, Cornelius: The Real Robert Reynolds Became The Void Many Years Ago, And Kept That Fact Secret.

He Employed A Doctor To Bring His Secret Out In The Open So That He Could Justify Destroying The World In Order To Keep That Secret Hidden.

Lies! Lies! Lies! 

Wait. 

In That Instant It Hit Me Like A Gunshot all These Years I Had Been Counseling Robert Only Now Did I Understand What Had Happened To This Man.

His Own Worst Enemy. Tearing Himself Apart. Every Contradiction Suddenly Made Sense.

This Is What The Battle Between The Void And The Sentry Had Always Been About had Been And Would Be Until The End Of Time, Long After The Human Race Was Dead And Gone.

Here Was A Schizophrenic Man Who'd Given Himself A Persona He Despised, And Another To Balance The Dark Creature Out.

Unlike Other Men, Robert Reynolds' Imaginary Creatures Took On Physical Forms. Everything Good And Bad Was Split Into Two Separate Camps.

And Now One Camp Would Never Rest Until Its Secret Shame Could Be Hidden From The World Forever.

Doctor Worth.

Sorry Out That.

Happens Sometimes.

You Do Know What's Happened Here, Don't You?

I I Think So.

I Believe The Two Of You Have Finally Broken Free Of Each Other. The Sentry And The Void Are Now Two Separate Entities.

Robert Forced The Issue Himself Because He

Desperately Wanted To Come Clean About His Illness. Now The Void Has Justification For Destroying Us All.

I Can See Why We Hired You, Cornelius.

Robert's Got What He Secretly Wished For: He Can Be The Void Without Having To Deny It, And That Gives him Power.

His Mind Became Like A Roller-coaster Ride. The Ups And Downs Are To Be Expected. But If You Never Do Any Maintenance.

it Rusts And Comes Crashing Down.

Don't Mistake Him For Beind Angry. Angry People Are Easy, Robert Reynolds Isn't Angry.

He's Insane.

I Need To Know One Thing: Are You Also Robert Reynolds?

I Don't Know. I Think I'm An Aspect Of Robert.

Then Which Of You Is Real?

"I've Been Asking Myself That Question A Lot. I Believe Neither The Void Nor I Is Complete Anymore- I'm Not Sure We're Ever Going To Be Again.

"I Think That Suits A Delusional Schizophrenic Like Robert Reynolds Just Fine."

For Me, On The Other Hand, It's A Little More Difficult. There's Another Half To The Story, Which Only Robert Knows. He's Been Trying To Forget How I Came Into Existence, And So He Put That Memory Into Me.

Now That We've Split, i Remember My Origin.

"I Got Ill. Robert Got Ill When He Was A Freshman. Spent Half That Year In The Campus Counselor's Office Reading Pamphlets About Learning Disabilities And The Dangers Of Drugs.

"As His Condition Deteriorated, He Became Adept At Hiding His Symptoms From Others. But He Began To Imagine Voices Urging Him To Behave More And More Erratically.

I'm In Luck! It's Open!

"He'd Made Friends With A Graduate Assistant Named Howard Bliss a Student Much Older Than Him But Also Heavily Into Drugs And Alcohol.

"Robert's Friend Left A Door To The Research Lab He Was Working In Open. Robert Won't Admit It But Whatever Formula Lay Inside That Test Tube, He Meant To Steal It All Along."

He Knew What It Contained?

Ask Yourself Why A Teenager With A History Of Mental Illness And Substance Abuse Would Steal An Unknown And Possibly Toxic Liquid And Ingest It Behind The Fairground Stall Where He Worked.

"He Wanted To Get High.

He Always Said He Discovered The Serum. He's Told The Story So Often I Think Even He Believes It.

Wait...What About The Sub Basement? That Wasn't Just Robert. You Were Talking To Yourself Down There In Front Of A Mirror, For God's Sake!

Imagine A Man Trying To Persuade Himself He's Not Ill, Doctor--he'd Do Anything To Maintain A Semblance Of Normalcy. Talk To Himself In Front Of A Mirror, Even.

Now Imagine That Man Could Create An Aspect Of Himself To Perform That Function.

"I Pretended. But It Was For Robert's Benefit Alone. If He Thought I Believed The Void To Be Down Below, The Creature Would Remain Satisfied And Subdued.

"Part Of My Reason For Existing Is To Protect The World From The Void. If That Includes Pretending To Be Insane Along With My Enemy, Then So Be It.

"Ask Yourself How Many Lives Have Been Saved Because The Void Has Spent Years Trying To Hide From The Public Eye, Thinking I Believed Him To Be Down There."

You Lied To Protect Us.

Or This Would Have Happened Sooner.

I Understand Why This Is Confusing For You. All I Can Ask Is That You Trust Me. Do You Understand Why I've Done What I've Done?

Y-yes. I Think So. It's Very Complicated.

He Can Wipe Me Out Of Existence Just By Merging The Two Sides, But I Don't Think He Wants To Anymore.

If What You're Saying Is True, Sentry, Then Perhaps He No Longer Has That Control. The Illusion Is Broken.

Perhaps. I Guess We're About To Find Out.

I Need You To Join Your Family As Quickly As Possible In The Watchtower. I've Been In Communication With Cloc. He Understands The Situation. 

Wait Where Are Your Going?

"To See Someone Who Knows More Than I Do."

Greenwich Village, The Sanctum Sanctorum Of Dr. Strange

So Tell Me. Stephen: Have You Ever Been Presented With An Ethical Dilemma Quite Like This?

I Can't Say I Have, Robert. May I Call You That?

"Sentry" Will Be Fine For The Moment- Until I've Worked Out What To Do.

I Need To Know What I Am, Stephen. Am I A Man? Am I A Partial Entity? Was I Created For A Purpose, Or Just To Exist?

Ask Yourself: How Would You Feel If You Didn't Know Whether Or Not You Were Real?

What If I Don't Really Exist?

Let's Find Out

Where Are We, Stephen?

Inside Your Essence... More Specifically, Your Life Force: The Sum Total Of The Parts That Make You Who You Are.

And?

It's Incomplete. There Are Many Missing Parts.

What Does That Mean?

You Are Not Real.

Stephen. What Did You Say?

I Said, "There Are Many Missing Parts."

No, You Said-

You Do Not Exist.

What Do You Mean, "I Don't Exist?"

I Did Not Say That. Do You Recognize This Place?

Yes. I Think So. Emma Frost Showed It To Me. Or At Least To Robert.

In What Context?

It's A Visual Representation Of Our Minds, Like A Comic Book, Or Something. A Lot Of The Panels Are Missing Since I Was Last Here.

They Never Were.

There It Is Again. That Voice. There's Someone Else Here.

That Is Not Possible. It's Probably A Residual Echo Of Past Events. Ignore It.

I'll Try. I Need To Know What Sense You Get From This, Stephen. I Have Questions? 

You Are Undergoing A Crisis Of Existence.

You're Telling Me! Which Of Us

Gets The Social Security Number And The Credit Cards? Who Gets The Dog?

No One. There Is No Dog. There Is No Wife.

Wait. I See Something. There!

What Is It?

Your Hidden Meaning.

Do You Recognize This?

Yes. I Was Nine, I Think. I Used To Love To Draw Comics.

Oh My God. The Blue Buffoon.

Hey, Reynolds! Are You In There, Dork Face?

I Think I Understand, Sentry Represent The Idealized Version Of Robert memories. Hence The Comic Book Style Images.

Hidden Underneath These Images Is A Truth That Does Not Wish To Be Found.

Emma Frost And I did This once Before. What Are We Looking For?

Something Hidden Underneath. Beneath Even The Layers You And She Discovered.

Hidden Even Under The Black Truth Of The Void. There!

This Building. This Is Where The Sentry Truly Came Into Being.

I Recognize It: This Was The Professor's Base Of Operations After He Left Midtown High. They Called It The Facility. It's Somewhere In West Virginia, I Think.

Then That Is Where You Should Be.

No. That's Not Right. No!

Stephen? What's Wrong?

Sentry, Listen To Me: If Trust Me. As I Say And You Will Not Question It.

The Building We Found. I Was Wrong. You Must Not Go There. Not Ever. I Was Wrong To Go So Deeply Into Your Mind. You Must Forget You Ever Saw It.

How can I? 

I Once Told You That I Had Seen The Ends Of The Universe; I Have Looked Into The Eyes Of God And Seen Fear.

Even So, I Did Not Share God's Fear Because The End Of The Universe Was The Balance To Its Beginning. Thus, I Have Never Been Scared.

I'm scared now. 

It's Always This Way, Isn't It, Sentry?

Just When You Think You've Uncovered The Big Secret, There's Always A Bigger One Waiting In The Wings.

This Is Not Happening.

You Keep Hearing The Voice. After You Left Strange's Home, It Didn't Go Away.

You Can Hear It Now As A Splinter In Your Mind's Eye, Repeating The Same Phrases Over And Over Again.

None Of This Is Real,

You're Going To Have To Go There Because You Need Know.

You Have To Go. It's Only Fair.

So That You Can Find An Answer To The One Question That's Baffled Better Men Than You Since The Beginning Of Time:

Who Are You?

And Why Do You Exist?

I Suppose It Could Be Worse. Katie Likes It Here. She Likes Dogs.

There's Something Faintly Ridiculous About Being Protected By A Welsh Corgi.

I've Put Cloc On Full Alert. Watchdog Will Stay Here To Protect You.

They're Scrappy.

"I'm More Worried About Miriam: She Doesn't Like It Here. She Has None Of Her Friends From Bible Study To Talk To.

"She Told Me She Was Thinking Of Asking Your Friend The, Hulk If He'd. 

Found Jesus? I Think He'd Like That.

I'm Going To Have to Go There, Cornelius. Despite What Stephen Strange Told Me.

"My Few Memories Of The Facility Are Like Scrapbook Images. I Think Something Happened There Once But I Can't Be Sure. Something Important.

"It Was A Big Deal. At Least That's The Impression I Get."

"What Do You Expect To Find?"

I Don't Know. Whatever It Is, I'm Afraid Of It

I'll Offer What Help I Can, of Course, Sentry, Maybe I'll Spend A Little Time Speaking With Your Wife.

If She's My Wife.

I Mean, I'm Not Sure Who The Marriage License Applies To. I Suppose It Can Wait Until I Get Back.

Book Me Some Time I Might Need A Session.

Sentry-

Please, Cornelius. Please Don't Ask Me That.

I'm Not God. I'd Have To Do The Same For Everyone.

Would Never Tell Anyone. I Promise.

I can't. 

Please. Sentry. I Beg Of You. Please.

She's Just A Child. 

Please.

You Were In My Dream. Daddy.

You Hear The Voices Growing Louder Now. Merging. As If In Unison. Becoming One.

Fissionable Material Detected. Kashmir Region- I02 Seconds. European Shuttle Systems Failure, Pisa, Italy.9 Seconds.

You Are Not A Hero.

Sentry. I Calculate A Revised Estimated Time Of Arrival At 14 Seconds

Thank You, Cloc.

You Are Not Robert Reynolds.

You're Not Even A Man.

Cloc. Is That You? Are You Malfunctioning?

Murderer!

Murderer!

Murderer!

Cloc. I'm Getting Some Kind Of Interference On Our Comm-unit. Might Be The Void Up To His Old Tricks. See If You Can Put A Trace On It For Me.

Negative. Sentry... I Detect No Additional Communications Or Interference.

Your Signal Is Deteriorating. Please Confirm Your Location.

Please Confirm.

You Begin To Feel It Then. The Last Time You Felt This Way Was In The Negative Zone.

Growing Depression. An Empty Feeling In Your Heart.

There's Nothing Here.

There's No Point.

This Is Just A Lie.

Accept It.

There's No Point.

There Is No Wife. There Is No Dog.

No Robert. No Sentry.

No Point.

No Void.

You Are Here.

I'm Here...

You Are Here.

I'm Here. I'm Here.

Who Are You?

I'm. 

There Is No Sentry.

I'm. 

To be Continue.