#7 The Sentry Reborn

TS R | #7 

You Are Not A Hero.

You Are Not.

Not Even A Man. 

Weird Notion.

You Might Once Mave Been Somebody.

Murderer!

Until Nom We've Been Dealing With Your Primary Diagnosis. Tell Me.

How Are You?

You Are Not A Hero.

You Suffer From An Illness, It's True. 

Tell Me.

What Part Of You Does The Void Represent?

Murderer!

How Are You Feeling?

Where am'i?

You're Safe.

The Jacket Is For Your Own Protection. You've Been Asleep For A While. We Didn't Want You To Be Scared When You Woke Up.

Who're You?

Don't Worry. No One's Going To Hurt You.

You're Going To Feel Disoriented At First. You've Just Undergone A Short Session Of Electro-convulsive Therapy.

Does The Name John Victor Williams Mean Anything To You?

No, I Don't.

I Don't.

zat Someone Know?

Yes.

John Victor Williams Is You.

No, I'm Not.

I'm Robert Reynolds. 

You've Been Experiencing Memory Loss Lately, John. You May Have Imagined Strange Things Happening To You. These Are Common Side Effects Of Certain Anti-psychotic Drugs.

Now that You're Awake, We want To Show You Something.

Do You Recognize This Woman, John?

Lindy. My wife

Not Your Wife, John your Next Door Neighbor, Remember? Her Name Was Melinda Jensen.

Your Name Is John Victor Williams.

Do You Remember What Happened, John? Are You Willing To Tell Me?

no! I Didn't Do Nything!

She's My Wife! I Love Her!

You Killed Her, John.

She Was A Waitress at local Big boy Restaurant, You Stabbed This Woman Thirty-seven Times With An Italian Steel Carving Knife.

And That's Why You're Here.

I Realize This Is Difficult For You To Accept. Our Minds Sometimes Take Time To Readjust.

How Are You Feeling? Be Honest.

I feel cold. 

Skin Itches. I Want To Get Out Of It. Why Would I.?

I.

She Was A Waitress?

It's Okay, John. You're Safe.

We're Going To Help You Get Well Again.

You Are Not A Hero.

You Are Not Even Robert Reynolds, Your Name Is John Victor Williams.

A Couple Of Years Ago, You Began Thinking Your Alarm Clock Was Speaking To You In A Strange Voice Whenever You Were Near It.

You Became Sensitive To Light, And Your Skin Began To Itch. You Were Treated For Schizophrenia But You Never Took Your Medicine, Did You, John?

Soon, "Clock Began Tó Follow You Evrywhere to Work, To The Bathroom. He Began To Suggest Things To You.

Forbidden Things.

Sue? Sue Storm? 

I'm Sorry, John. Did You Say Something? We Were Look Ing At All The Geese.

The General Loves It Out Here By The Lake. He And You Both.

M'sorry. Thought You Were Someone Else.

That's Okay. You're Doing So Well Lately, John. Everyone's Excited About Your Progress.

These Are Great. What Are They?

These Are Marvel People. That Green And Yellow One's Called The Vision An' The Irish Guy Is Danny Boy.

The Ones On The Next Page Are The Fantastic Four. There's Hot Guy An' Mister Fantastic An' The Rocky Guy. Umm. I Haven't Given Him A Name Yet. He's Just A Thing. 

Four? I Only See Three Of Them.

You Can't See The Girl. She's Invisible. 

Oh, I Love This One! What's His Name?

Spider-man.

You Can Have Him. If You Want.

Spider-man Huh? That's Cute.

Here You go. John Drew You A Spider-man.

Nurse Franklin Told Me You Called Her "Nurse Storm" This Morning. That Was A Very Kind Thing For You To Say, John. She's Flattered.

I'm Assuming You're Referring To The Storm We Had Last Week. You Were Very Scared And She Comforted You. Do You Remember?

Yeah No. I Think so. 

She Says You Were Drawing This Picture Of A Spider-man. She Allowed Me To Borrow It For Our Session.

What's His Name, This Spider-man?

I Can't Tell You. It's A Secret.

You're Trying To Trick Me Into Giving Away His Secret Identity.

But You're The Sentry, John. The Sentry Isn't real, You Know It's True But You Don't Want It To Be.

You're Wrong. I'm Him. And Robert Reynolds. I'm Both.

Then Our Usual Agreement Stands. you're Welcome To Fly Out Of Here At Any Time.

Try Not To Break The Window Frame.

I Don't Like It When You Go Into Your "Negative Zone", John. it Weakens Your Resolve. We've Discussed This. I Don't Want You To Be So Hard On Yourself.

Stay In Your "Positive Zone," Okay? Now, We Were Talking About Your Fantasy Pictures. 

They're Not Fantasy.

When You Came Here You Told Me You Heard Voices In Your Head. Do You Remember That? What Can You Tell Me About This "Clock" Character?

Not "Clock." His Name Is Cloc.

So be It. Can You Hear Him Now?

No.

Why Not?

I Don't Know. I Think He's Lost Communication Somehow.

You May Be Ill, John, But You're Not Stupid. I See How Hard You're Trying To Convince Yourself Of This, But I Also See It's Getting Harder And Harder For You.

The Medicine Is Beginning To Take Effect. And Soon Enough You're Going To Have To Accept That You're Juist Plain Old Johnny Williams.

I'm The Sentry. I Am.

I'm The Golden Guardian Good. 

I Know You, John, And I Know You're A Good Guy. We All Really Enjoy Having You With Us, But We Want You To Get Well Again So That You Can Come Back And Visit Us When You Choose.

I Also Know You're Bright Enough To Understand The Symptoms Of Your Own Illness. You Can Follow Along With Me In My Diagnostic Manual, If You Like.

You Had A Life As A Hero But You Don't Remember It In Its Entirety. It Contradicts Itself. Because It Never Happened. You Imagine Yourself As A Golden Guardian, A Godlike Savior Who Stands Against Your Demonic Dark Side.

It Wasn't You Who Murdered Melinda Jensen. It Was The Void.

But. 

No "Buts," John. A Week After You Arrived Here You Decided I Would Be The "Professor" Who Gave You A Secret Serum That Made You Feel Like A Superman.

In Other Words, I Administered Your Medicine, And This Often Gave You Feelings Of Euphoria.

Your Imaginary Friend, Clock, Is A Classic Symptom Of Disorganized-type Schizophrenia.

The Voices You Hear Decide Who Should Live And Who Should Die So That You Don't Have To Take Responsibility For Your Actions.

Your Affect Is Flat. You've Become Emotionless In The Face Of Extreme Duress.

Your Delusions Are Becoming Real To You. You're Part Of A Group Of Super-beings, All Of Whom Have Conveniently Alliterate Names:

Bruce Banner. Stephen Strange. Reed Richards. Lindy Lee.

"Robert Reynolds."

Do You See A Pattern Developing, John?

The Fantasy World You've Created Is Brilliant, John. just Brilliant. A Giant Green Man Who Relies On You, A Team Of Super Mutants. A Spider-man.

And You Were Having Fantasies Before, Weren't You? About The Waitress. You Believed She Was Your Wife, Even Though You Have Never Been Married.

When The Longing Became Too Much To Bear You Followed Her Into Her Apartment And Killed Her. The Police Arrested You Before You Could Throw Yourself From The Top Of Your Apartment Building.

You Claimed Cloc Told You To Do It. You Later Changed Your Story To Blame It On The Void.

I don't remember. 

"Try To Think Clearly, John- The Sentry Was Never Real.

"You Killed Woman Because You Were Ill. The Police Arrested You on top of Your Apartment Building.'

It's Natural To Feel A Sense Of Loss Right Now. In Your Mind, You've Lost A Lot.

A Home, A Wife, A Career.

I Know You're A Good Man. You Don't Want To Have Done What You Did.

I Beg You John. come Back N To Earth With Rest Of Us. It's Not So Bad Down Here On The Ground.

At Least It's Real.

You Said I Was Never Married.

W-what?

You Said I Was Never Married. I Have A Suntan Mark On My Ring Finger.

No, John. You're Wrong. You're Confused

You Said I Was Never Married! You're A Liar!

You Said I Was Never Married.

This Isn't Real. You're Trying To Trick Me.

Professor We've Lost The Lock Through The Temporal Lobe Conduit! We're Losing Him!

Hell's Bells!

This Isn't Real!

I Am The Sentry. This Isn't Real.

Stephen! We're Losing Him Here!

Aa-uhh. It's No Use, professor Can't Hold His Mind. It Won't/ Accept.

What He Knows Is A Lie.

He's Rejecting It.

Stephen, Listen To Me you Can't Lose Him! Everything depends On This, Do You Hear Me? Everything!

You've Got To Bring The Disillusion Back Under Control. 

I Can't.

He Was Always Too Powerful.

For This Type Of Magic.

I'm Real! 

Oh, Man. They Lost Him

We Are So In Trouble.

You, Of All People, Stephen! But Mind Cancer Magic?

Black Magic?

Sentry, Listen To Me. i Had No Choice! You Must Understand What's Happening. 

Shut up. 

Colonel! I Got A Bead On Our Tango! Clear Shot!

Hold Your Fire!

Sir? We're not Trying To Kill Him We Couldn't If We Wanted To. You'd Better Just Hope He's Of An Understanding Nature.

"Cause The Sentry Just Took Back Control Of Everythin

Sentry, Listen to me. I'm Begging you. 

Think About What We've Seen And Done Together Over The Years. Think About The Person Of Integrity You Know Me To Be.

Things Change, Professor. 

No! Things Didn't Change. There's A Reason For What We Were Trying To Do.

I've Always Been A Patient Man, But Even My Patience Only Goes So Far. Let's Hope It's A Good One For Your Sake And For The Sake Of Everyone Involved.

N-no! I Can't Tell You!

You Made This Way! You Made Robert Reynolds Superhuman!

Why Were You Doing This To Me?

It's Impossible, Sentry.

If he Tells You, we die. 

You've Lost Your Credibility Here, Stephen. I Thought I Knew You. 

Even So, You Must Believe My Sincerity, Sentry. The Professor Carries A Small Thermonuclear Device Inside His Chest Cavity That Is Designed To Detonate Should He Speak A Certain Series Of Words Or Key Phrases.

Why, Dammit? Why?

I Put It There Myself. I Requested It, Robert. Don't You Understand? What I Know Could Destroy Us All.

If I Tell. if I So Much As Begin To Form The String Of Words That Describes The True Secret Of Your Powers- Then The Device Will Detonate Before I Finish The Sentence.

Why? What Makes Me So Dangerous? I've Always. always. Protected You People. We Were Friends!

Oh, God. That's It! That's Why The Void Wants You To Know! I Never Realized Until Now.

Activate The Device. Now! Priority Override: Fury Alpha theta Seven!

But Colonel. The Blast Radius. 

Professor. Don't!

He's Going To Know, Stephen, The Void's Going To Tele Him Anyway.

Oh, Lord. Why Didn't I See This Before? It's About Self Preservation.

Don't Argue With Me! Do It Now!

Sentry. ishing Communications. Are You Receiving This Transmissionp This Is Cloc.

Detect Activation Of A Thermonuclear Device In Your Vicinity.

The Countdown For Evacuation Is Approximately Twenty-eight Seconds.

Twenty-six Seconds.

They Activated It, , Didn't They? I Can Feel It In My stomach. Oh, God.

I'm Going To Die.

I'm Going To Come Back For You, Fury. I'm Going To Know, One Way Or The Other-

Twelve Seconds, Golden Boy. Now Get Him The Hell Out Of My Stratosphere Before Thousands Die.

I can't. Breathe. I Can't

Why? Why Did This Happen? Why Did They Turn Against Me?

Don't Blame Them, Sentry. They Did What You Would Have Wanted Them To Do. I Don't Have Time To Explain.

The Void Wanted It This Way. He's Going To Want To Tell You Why You Are Not Supposed To Remember. He Has To Be The One Who Tells You.

And When he Does. You Have To Promise You'll Try To Forget All Over Again.

He's Waiting For You. Under The World.

You Are A Hero.

You're A Hero, And A Lon Time No One Remembered That.

Then You Came Back.

Then It Got Complicated.

People Tried To Make You Forget Again- People You Trusted.

People You Still Trust Despite Evidence To The Contrary.

And Now Here You Are- At The Edge Of The World.

Wishing You Could Forget All Over Again.

He's Here.

Always Has Been.

He's Been Waiting For This Day Since You Both Emerged.

He Alone Knows Why You Exist. He Alone Understands What Made You And Who You Have Become.

He Knows All Of Your Secrets, Sentry.

If You Want You're Going To Have To Face Yourself.

You're Going To Have To Go Down There.

Into The Big, Black Heart Of The Void.

To Be Continue...