Paul Battaglia woke up in a pitch black room, but it was quickly flooded with brightness.
He shielded his eyes and squinted. His body was sore, but it seemed to be healed, and he slowly sat up. Paul had no idea where he was, or how he'd gotten there. His mind was drowning in fog. He was in some fancy hospital bed, but he wasn't handcuffed or anything. The room he was in looked like something out of a spaceship. There weren't any windows, but there was a lot of strange-looking medical equipment. He slowly swung his legs out, and he glanced around for his Halo Knight suit, but it wasn't anywhere to be seen.
Paul stood and tested his powers. They still worked...but, when he looked down to check, he was stunned to discover what he was wearing. Blue pants with an elastic waist, like the kind that boxers used when they worked out. That was normal enough, but his shirt was bright yellow and had a strange symbol on it, a yellow "S" in a blue circle. When Paul looked at it in the mirror, he nearly passed out. All of the memories came flooding back to him at once. The Sentry, the Void.
Suddenly, the room's metal door slid open, and Paul couldn't help but run through it. He emerged in an odds-and-ends storage room. There were boxes of...memorabilia, most people probably would have called it. Clothing, toys, pennants, dolls, posters, buttons, and more. All of it featured the Sentry or his symbol. There were dozens of newspapers framed on the wall, which described events that only Paul remembered.
This is insane. I was in space...I have to be on some kind of ship...
The place was definitely big enough to be a spaceship, and weird enough, too. Metal everything, big cathedral-like rooms. Even the General's underground fortress hadn't been as strange as this. Wherever he was, it was...beautiful, and also sort of alien. Some advanced being had clearly designed it.
"Hello, Mr. Battaglia," a clicking voice said.
He didn't see anyone, but he formed a ring and flew, desperate to escape. His ring seemed to be more powerful than usual, it was really pulling him along.
"Please remain calm. I just want to talk with you about something."
The voice was coming through some sort of P.A. system; there was no getting away from it. It echoed through the palace-like ship...
...except it wasn't a ship at all.
Paul flew around a corner, froze, and his mouth hung open. He saw a sunlit New York City. But it was impossible: for one thing, he'd been in deep space. Also, he was looking at Manhattan from a certain angle, and he knew there wasn't a tall building here. There was just empty air.
"Welcome to the Watchtower, Mr. Battaglia."
More memories. "Wait, the Sentry's Watchtower?"
"Yes. I am C.L.O.C.-the Centrally Located Organic Computer-and my job is to maintain the Watchtower until the Sentry can resume his work."
"How did I get here?"
"After you passed through the storm of cosmic rays, your powers became so strong that you leapt into deep space. The generator-"
"Oh my god, the generator! Did I get it far enough away?"
"It ended up being sucked into a black hole, so, yes, I'd say so. The Sentry ordered me not to interfere with humanity during his 'hibernation,' but I felt it necessary to retrieve you before you perished. My facilities have long-range teleportation gear. Truly long-range, Mr. Battaglia."
"Thank you, but...you shouldn't have saved me," Paul said quietly. "I don't deserve it."
"I am not programmed to make those sorts of determinations, Mr. Battaglia. I am programmed to assist the Sentry. And, according to my calculations, you have a role to play in that work."
"...what?"
Glowing arrows appeared on the floor's metal tiles, and C.L.O.C. instructed Paul to follow them.
Paul created a ring and hovered along. His rings were now more powerful, and he had to concentrate to create a weaker one, so he didn't smack his head on the ceiling.
The arrows led him to a large monitor room of some sort. But the monitors showed a normal, domestic setting: a suburban house and its interior. Paul saw a bored-looking blond man and a tired-looking woman. They were sitting at a table, eating and not talking to each other.
"Is that...is that the Sentry?"
"Yes, Mr. Battaglia," C.L.O.C. said. "But he had to stop being the Sentry...and erase everyone's memories, and even change reality itself. Dr. Richards and Dr. Strange helped. Incidentally, I've always thought that Dr. Richards should be called Dr. Fantastic, but that's beside the point. The Sentry's powers have an extremely dangerous side-effect. They create the Void, a separate being, who acts as a balancing force. Whenever he saved a life, the Void would take another life. The only way to stop him was for the Sentry to cease his work and erase his own memory."
Paul just floated there, taking it all in. They're the same? Oh my god, Angel was right. There's no light, no darkness, just people.
"But...why do you need me?"
"You have a very strong mind, Mr. Battaglia. Your gravity-based abilities greatly strengthen your memory. I don't know how, exactly, but they do. Your mind should have been wiped along with everyone else's. But your mutant power made your brain immune to powerful forces, both scientific and magical-and the Sentry could use that sort of help."
Paul laughed. "You're saying...you're saying my mental issues are a good thing?"
"Yes, obviously. The Sentry has much to offer your species, Mr. Battaglia, but his mental condition prevents him from doing so. If we could study your energy-based neural resistance, and find a way to duplicate it in the Sentry's brain..."
"...then you might be able to have the Sentry without the Void."
"Exactly," C.L.O.C. said. "As I believe you already know, gravity and light are connected, so it's entirely possible."
Paul thought about it. As powerful as the other heroes were, the Sentry was almost in a class by himself. He didn't know what the future had in store, but, he was sure that the heroes would need all the help they could get.
You focused so much on your own suffering, and your own healing...it's time to help somebody else heal, for a change. You may not be able to save all of humanity, but the Sentry has, and he could do it again. This could be your second chance to help people.
"In the past, the Sentry had a sidekick," C.L.O.C. said. "It...did not work out well, but I know that he's always wanted to try again. If you do this, Mr. Battaglia, you could very well end up being his new sidekick."
"sidekick" sounded kind of old-fashioned, but Paul was about to embrace a bunch of radical ideas. The Sentry was definitely part of the Silver Age. Science, progress, a new vision for their species. If this worked, it'd transform humanity. Things were already radically different, and they'd probably only get crazier, so it might be a good idea to keep one old-fashioned thing.
"I'd like to be a sidekick," Paul said, lowering himself to the floor. " 'Halo Knight' was supposed to be a hero's helper in the first place."
"Excellent," C.L.O.C. said. "Now, I have to warn you, this could take years. I'll have to perform tests-many tests-but it won't be boring for you. I'll require your insights and powers-related expertise."
"I'm used to tests, and I've got all the time in the world," Paul said. He'd decided to trade the Space Race for an even crazier scheme: namely, trying to resurrect a god (without the accompanying devil). The light had been real after all...it just needed a little help. Paul finally understood just how promising the Silver Age was; if the Sentry could be safely reintroduced to it, humanity would be in even better shape.
It was an incredible dream, and it would have to be enough...