Level 10 Minamoto 源 Takashi 崇

Name Minamoto 源 Takashi 崇

Position Director

Rank Level 10

Basic Info
Personality
History

Character Information

Gender		Male
Species		Altered Human
Age		Looks 30
Codename		Hypernova
Powers And Special Attributes		Gifted Intellect: Takashi possesses a natural intellect and talent for engineering and robotics, standing out as a top student in high school and college. Due to his gifted intellect, Takashi has an excellent memory, able to recall things he has heard, seen or read with a high level of accuracy. (182 IQ). As a result of the Watcher’s genetic alterations, Takashi now possesses certain superhuman physiological attributes and powers: Superhuman Strength: Takashi is now able to lift (press) about 10 tons unshrouded to potentially able to lift over 100 tons while fully charged. Superhuman Speed: Takashi now has the potential of being able to run and move at speeds much greater than the finest human athlete. Superhuman Stamina: Takashi’s metabolism produces considerably fewer fatigue toxins during physical exertion than the muscles of human beings. On average, Takashi can physically exert himself at peak capacity for about 24 hours before fatigue begins to impair him. Superhumanly Dense Tissue: Takashi’s skin, muscle, and bone tissues are about three times as dense as that of a human being, contributing to his superhuman strength, resistance, and durability. Superhuman Durability: Takashi’s body is considerably more resistant to physical injury than the bodies of human beings. He is capable of withstanding conventional injury including great impact forces, exposure to temperature and pressure extremes, and falls from great heights. He is also immune to all Earthly diseases and infections, including those of an extraterrestrial origin. Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite Takashi’s altered durability, it is possible for him to sustain injury. However, if injured, his newly altered metabolism enables him to recover with superhuman speed and efficiency. Superhuman Longevity: Takashi’s new genetic alterations have made him extremely long-lived, but he is not truly immortal. He ages at a significantly slower rate, but is not immune to the effects of his newly altered rate of aging. Flight: Takashi is now capable of flight - while in the atmosphere he flies at roughly Mach 32. Self Sustenance: Takashi can now survive without having to eat, sleep, breathe or rest (exceptions below) by thriving on the ambient electromagnetic spectrum of energies within his surroundings. He is capable of living perfectly within the cold recesses of deep space and is therefore capable of surviving underwater. Hyper Awareness: Takashi now has a superhuman level of awareness that allows him to notice the smallest of details. He also has boosted instinctive combat skills as well as a boosted inductive, deductive, analytical and intuitive reasoning. As a result, he can formulate and implement strategic and tactical plans that allow him to cover as many contingencies his considerable mental acuity allows with a large degree of mission success. He also has the ability to sense nearing danger, acute danger, potentially immediate danger, or impending danger and sense unwanted or hectic threats to his well-being (roughly to a distance of 10 nautical miles). This hyper awareness is linked to his consciousness, triggering his danger-sense, even when Takashi is asleep or stunned. Energy Absorption and Manipulation: After The Watcher’s alterations, Takashi’s entire organic carbon-based body was transformed to accommodate the cosmic energies that now course through him. He gained the ability to sense, see, absorb, process, and manipulate all forms of energies along the electromagnetic spectrum, like that of a star (heat, light, gravity, radio waves, and all types of charged particles) at stellar scale (about 32 solar masses), to be discharged or used at will. They manifest in the following ways: - Energy Blasts (usually uses quark - gluon plasma): Takashi has the ability to generate and fire any kind of energy blast on the electromagnetic spectrum from any point on his body at will. These energy blasts have enormous destructive potential, varying in intensity up to stellar scale. - Gravity Manipulation: Takashi can manipulate gravity up to a stellar scale for any number of uses, both offensive and defensive, up to stellar scale. - Biomass Alteration: Takashi is able to manipulate his physiological structure to adapt to danger. Whenever he feels threatened, he is able to enhance his mass, density, and resilience towards physical injury beyond his already enhanced physiology, up to stellar scale. - Energy Shroud/Power Augmentation: Takashi has the ability to shroud himself in cosmic energy which acts as both a means of protection and enhances all of his abilities to a lesser or greater degree at will, with no ill effect. Also, if Takashi absorbs a vast amount of energy all at once, he undergoes a physical transformation - becoming a being of pure energy. The transformation results in a massive augmentation of all of his mental and physiological abilities as well as his powers, potentially to a near unlimited degree. Superhuman Strength augmentation: While shrouded, Takashi’s already superhuman strength is greatly enhanced, potentially able to lift over 100 tons. Superhuman Durability and Stamina augmentation: While shrouded Takashi’s already superhuman resilience and endurance is greatly enhanced, potentially to become impervious to damage of any kind. Superhuman Agility and Reflexes augmentation: While shrouded, Takashi’s already superhuman agility and reflexes are heightened to the point of being potentially instantaneous. Healing augmentation: Takashi’s natural healing factor is augmented when shrouded, potentially able to heal any damage instantaneously. Flight speed augmentation: Takashi’s flight is augmented when shrouded, and can increase his velocity to stellar scale - up to the speed of light. When transformed, he can travel at warp speed. Hyper Awareness augmentation: While shrouded, Takash’s natural hyper awareness is greatly augmented, granting him limited cosmic awareness. This augmented hyper sense increases the distance of his danger sense to a stellar degree (roughly 100,000 AU), and also includes those within his immediate vicinity (10 foot radius) at any given time. He is also able to pinpoint when it will happen to within hundredths of a second and it’s relative distance to him down to the centimeter. Energy Depletion/Exhaustion: If Takashi absorbs a vast amount of energy all at once, enough to transform into his energy form, he becomes completely exhausted when this absorbed energy is depleted. Once he changes back to his physical self, this results in a near total power loss. He becomes significantly weakened to that of a frail human, able to do little more than stagger or crawl to safety until he is able to recuperate and regenerate. How long is usually inversely dependent upon the amount of energy he absorbed at once. Abilities Master Martial Artist: Takashi is a highly skilled, having been very heavily and extensively trained in the ninja a d samurai arts by Sōke Maasuki Hatsumi, Grandmaster of Togakure-ryū Ninjutsu. Phil Coulson, former director of S.H.I.E.L.D., commented that there are only a handful of individuals that know what Takashi knows, referring to the Grandmaster Hatsumi, and a handful of other people. Sōke Hatsumi taught and trained Takashi in many fighting styles and techniques incorporating stealth, vanishing, tracking, assassination, acrobatics, marksmanship, inductive, deductive, analytical and intuitive reasoning, danger sense, varied weapon use, individual, small and large group tactics, and an absolute will to survive - all hallmarks of the Togakure-ryū Ninjutsu. Takashi is well-educated in the functioning of the human body as well as martial arts techniques that target pressure points, enabling him to paralyze limbs or an individual's entire body altogether. Takashi’s style is a very balanced and harmonious fusion of Ninjutsu, Jiu-jitsu, Aiki-Jujutsu, Savate, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Judo, Krav Maga, Silat, Karate, Eskrima, Aikido, and Greco-Roman Wrestling. His skills have proven so exceptional that he has been able to easily defeat or stalemate some of the greatest fighters on Earth. Takashi’s martial skills are at a point where he was ranked by Sōke Hatsumi as at least a tenth dan black belt in ninjutsu, seeing as he was trained exclusively by the Grandmaster of Togakure-ryū himself. Weapons Proficiency: Takashi is highly proficient in wielding various martial art weapons through his ninjutsu and samurai training, such as swords (specifically katana and wakizashi), chain weapons, stick and staff weapons, combat knives of all types, both ancient and modern military style weapons, and projectiles such as shurikens, throwing knives, bows, darts and even firearms. Master Assassin: Takashi is a master of assassination techniques, espionage methods, covert operations, infiltration methods, escape artistry, marksmanship, and is highly skilled with many bladed weapons (frequently carrying his ancestral family Daisho) and how to employ them all in assassination. Expert Tracker: With the aid of his hyper awareness, Takashi is able to track objects and people from miles away with ease. Expert Interrogator: Takashi uses many different interrogation methods to extract information from criminals. His knowledge of criminology and torture is usually unerring and can be overwhelming. Expert Detective: Takashi has shown to be an expert self-taught detective, using his intellect to figure out complex problems and his hyper awareness to find clues and evidence to crime scenes. Master Acrobat: Takashi is a superb athlete, gymnast, acrobat, aerialist due to the many years of constant training and exercise under the tutelage of Sōke Hatsumi. Master Tactician and Strategist: Thanks to his hyper awareness, Takashi is an accomplished strategist. He is considered one of the greatest tacticians on the planet, both on and off the battlefield. He is able to formulate battle strategies and his brilliant tactical sense allows him to alter said strategy to fit the changing need of the situation. Advanced Military Operator: Takashi has trained as a paratrooper, Navy Seal, explosive ordnance disposal/demolitions expert, combat engineer, and mechanical and robotics specialist. Takashi has completed Navy Seal Special Forces training and has several years of SO experience in the field. Advanced Astrophysics, Engineering and Robotics degrees: Takashi has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Masters Degrees in Astrophysics, and PhD’s in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics.

Physical Appearance

Height		6 ft
Weight		175 lbs
Hair Color		Black
Eye Color		Black
Physical Description		Takashi is tall, wiry and extremely fit, looking very toned. When The Watcher transformed him, Tak was remade to look 30 years old and at peak physical condition. Black hair and eyes, lightly tanned skin.

Family

Spouse		N/A
Children		N/A
Father		Minamoto Takashi (deceased)
Mother		Minamoto Kasumi
Brother(s)		N/A
Sister(s)		N/A
Other Family		Only extended family

Personality & Traits

General Overview		Takashi is the picture of Japanese morality and propriety. He is cultured, driven, loyal, dutiful, highly intelligent and observant and hard working. He has a tendency of being very quiet, only contributing when he has something meaningful to say and only speaks when it is absolutely necessary, with little frivolity. As often with the Japanese, what is left unsaid is just as important, if not more like moody at than what is said.
Strengths & Weaknesses		Weaknesses: Energy depletion (see above), telepathy, Magic, brainwashing/mind manipulation, power theft, and possession.
Ambitions		To lead Shield capably and honorably, defend Terra and it’s inhabitants to the best of Takashi’s ability, and to thwart the forces of evil.
Hobbies & Interests		Takashi enjoys the traditional Japanese arts (Noh, Kabuki, Tea ceremony, flower arrangement, sumo, etc), enjoys watching baseball, enjoys listening to music of all kinds, mainly Japanese traditional music, classical, jazz, and thoroughly enjoys cooking and preparing Japanese foods such as yakitori, takoyaki, teriyaki chicken, sushi, sashimi).
Languages		Takashi’s native language is Japanese and has learned fluency in English, Italian, French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Russian and Farsi.

Personal History

Takashi was born 5 July 1981, to father Minamoto Ichiro and mother Minamoto Kasumi. His father was an upper middle income company man, a direct descendant of the ancient Minamoto samurai clan, who worked for the Asano Robotics Corporation. His mother was a high school teacher at a local high school near their ancestral home of Kyoto.

Ichiro worked for many years as a mechanical and robotics engineer who was secretly a member of the Hand, before it was taken over by the evil spirit following cabal it is known today. Historically, the Hand was focused on protecting the island nation as well as Japanese Nationals and their interests abroad. As a result, Ichiro was trained in both the samurai and the Ninja arts, specifically the Samurai Niten Ichi-ryū of Kendo, the Togakure-ryū of Ninjutsu as well as other forms of Japanese martial arts.

When the Hand was infiltrated and taken over by the latest, most evil members who served The Beast, Ichiro felt betrayed and reached out to the Hand’s opposing organization The Chaste. Their mission was to combat the Hand, the ancient clan of ninja that now worshiped an ancient, evil spirit named the Beast. Theirs was an organization that was centered in nearby China, uniquely suited to thwarting the Hand as they were an enclave of mystical martial artists from around Asia.

Already perfectly placed to spy and pass information along to Chaste, they immediately accepted Ichiro as a spy, assassin and saboteur to help against his former clan and therefore the Japanese people and the other benevolent countries and organizations all over the world.

For many years Ichiro worked clandestinely, using the tools that the Hand had trained him in, providing much information and intelligence to Chaste in thwarting the Hand at home and abroad. Growing up, Takashi knew that something was going on with his father but he was never able to figure it out.

When Takashi was born, Ichiro began training his son in the ways of Japanese martial arts, specifically the ancestral styles of Niten Ichi-ryū Kendo and the Togakure-ryū of Ninjutsu when he turned four years of age. Eventually Takashi surpassed his father in fighting ability, who himself was extremely competent. Shortly thereafter Takashi was taken on as lead pupil by the Grandmaster of Togakure-ryū himself, *Sōke* Maasuki Hatsumi, who had known ties to Stick and therefore, the Chaste.

For several years Takashi honed both his samurai and shinobi skills under *Sōke* Hatsumi, and became one of the most formidable scouts, spies and warriors in over 200 years, according to the Grandmaster himself.

One day when Takashi was about 11, Ichiro came home from work suddenly and told Takashi that he had something very important to do and that it was imperative that he keep his family’s honor and legacy alive, to protect his mother, and of course protect Japan.

Kasumi was not aware and never suspected her husband's double life; she was a traditionally dutiful Japanese housewife and mother who was unaware of her husband’s clandestine lifestyle, as many Japanese company men are often called in to work in the middle of the night and might not be seen for several days thereafter.

That night was the last time Ichiro was seen alive. After several months of the authorities looking for him, Takashi and his mother presumed Ichiro dead, mourned for the appropriate time, and inevitably continued on with their lives.

To deal with the pain of his father’s loss, Takashi threw himself into his Ninjutsu training and his schoolwork with zeal. Drawing upon the deep well of self-discipline first imparted to him by his father and subsequently by *Sōke* Hatsumi, Tak graduated high school as salutatorian at the age of 15, excelling in mathematics and science as well as gaining fluency in English, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Russian and Farsi.

It was shortly thereafter that Takashi was approached by his guidance counselor and was encouraged to take an IQ test to determine his current mental acuity and scored a 182. He was subsequently awarded a scholarship by the Japanese branch of Stark Industries to attend the best engineering school in Japan, the University of Kyushu, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with honors at 18. It was immediately after this that Takashi learned about his father’s fate.

The evening after his college graduation, a day after his 18th birthday, Takashi came home to find a large package somehow delivered inside his room. Looking over the sealed metal box, it had no discernible markings, only a black pad with the outline of a palm suddenly glowing an iridescent blue upon it as soon as he approached it.

Hesitating only a moment, he placed the palm of his right hand upon the biometric scanner. After a brief moment, a soft ping could be heard then a female computerized voice speaking North American English, filled the room: *Minamoto Takeshi, son of Minamoto Ichiro. 18 years of age. Primary owner… confirmed deceased. Secondary conditions… met. Executing Last Will and Testament of Minamoto Ichiro*.

With a series of clicks, the top of the large case popped open, allowing access to the contents within. After what seemed like an eternity to Takeshi, his heart doing what it could to leap out of his chest the entire time, did he raise his hands, sliding his fingers beneath the metal top and opening it reverently.

Lying atop its contents was a quickly scrawled note in his father’s hand, laying upon all of Ichiro’s gear. Beneath was all of his fathers gear, presumably what his father was wearing when he died - his shinobi outfit seemingly repaired, all of his weapons, and most importantly in a separate compartment below it all, was the Minamoto Clan’s ancestral Daisho. They were the only known katana and wakizashi pair forged by the best Japanese swordsmith in history, Gorō Nyūdō Masamune. When he saw the pair, Takashi had let out a heavy sigh that he did not know he was holding.

The Daisho, known as *Goji Masamune* and *Genke Masamune* respectively, had been handed down by the Minamoto family Patriarch to their heirs since their forging, during the Kamakura period (circa 1302 CE) of Feudal Japan. The few known Masamune blades were all designated Japanese National Treasures, many of which were housed within the largest museums in Japan or the crown jewel of a handful of individual katana and tanto collectors. *Goji* and *Genke* were the same, but likely the only known weapons made by the Great Masamune that were still in active use.

Takeshi read his fathers last words, “My son, if you are reading this, I am sorry that I could not be there for you and your mother. My sacred duty is clear and I must do this, for all of our sakes. I have made arrangements for you and when the time comes, you must seize and maximize upon the opportunities you will be given. You know your sworn duty: Protect our family and heritage, protect our people, and protect Japan. Your father, Ichiro.”

It was shortly thereafter that Takashi was given the opportunity to study abroad when he received yet another Stark Industries sponsorship to attend one of the most prestigious technical universities in the United States.

Following his fathers parting words from beyond the grave, Takashi moved to the United States where he was granted permanent residency and enrolled at the California Institute of Technology.

Takashi eventually graduated with a Masters degree in astrophysics and PhD’s in mechanical engineering and robotics with distinction at the age of 22. Just before graduating, he received many offers of employment with several prestigious corporations all over the world, but Takashi had other ideas.

Immediately after graduate school, Takashi enlisted with the US Navy, attended OCS and became an officer in 9 months time. After, he trained as an E.O.D. - Explosive Ordnance Disposal and after only 2 years became a Special Forces Combat and Ordinance Engineer of the Navy Seals. For 6 years he did countless missions, serving with honor and distinction, earning many decorations for gallantry and heroism far above and beyond the call of duty. His exploits gained him the utmost respect of his team, Navy SOCOM, and that of the US Government itself.

When Takashi returned home for a brief stint between missions, he was approached by a man in a black suit and tie who introduced himself as Special Agent James Woo. He knew things about Takashi and his family that no one, short of his closest relatives, would know and offered Takashi “an opportunity of a lifetime”. He told Tak that he knew he was almost up for re-enlistment and that his organization had been keeping an eye on him. Takashi seemed nonplussed when he told agent Woo that “It was about time.”

Woo seemed slightly taken aback when Takashi mentioned that he knew someone was watching him. He knew who it was that had been tailing Tak so Woo was skeptical of that until Takashi also mentioned roughly where and when it was that he caught glimpses of his tail. Woo was momentarily speechless until Takashi asked him which organization he was a part of. Woo only smiled in satisfaction and said “SHIELD”. Takashi accepted immediately, always remembering his fathers last words about opportunities being presented.

Takashi fit into SHIELD Operations like a hand to glove, accomplishing mission after mission and slowly moving up the ranks. Proving himself loyal, competent and dedicated time after time while in the field, he was promoted to a Level 5 operative after 2 years.

Takashi’s service record with SHIELD was exemplary, serving during the REDACTED, the REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED and REDACTED. Once again he was promoted through the ranks and just prior to the REDACTED, he was promoted to Level 7. During the REDACTED REDACTED, Takashi saved REDACTED REDACTED, and when REDACTED REDACTED - DOCUMENT LOST.

It was during the REDACTED revolt, that Takashi led a strike team to infiltrate a secret weapons manufacturing facility that his team was REDACTED REDACTED. Having undergone severe amounts of both physical and psychological torture, REDACTED and REDACTED, broke into the facility to rescue the team. Takashi was on the verge of succumbing to the severe torture and brainwashing when the rescue team arrived and extracted them.

After recuperating, Takashi was debriefed and underwent mental and psychological testing and treatment to assure SHIELD leadership that he had not been brainwashed. Once he was cleared by medical, Takashi was promoted to Level 8 and was given a clandestine base to work out of with a hand picked team. For the next 2 years, he worked hard to REDACTED, and REDACTED was extremely pleased with his accomplishments.

When Hydra was finally revealed to be hiding within SHIELD, Takashi remained loyal, fighting alongside the drastically reduced and defunct SHIELD, assisting the newly promoted Director Coulson in reforming and reorganizing the new agency, striking Hydra when and where they could.

When SHIELD was formally recognized as a benevolent organization by the world once more, Takashi was promoted to Level 9. The Shield Director at the time, Dominic Pierce, offered Takashi a senior leadership position within SHIELD as the temporary Commander of SWORD (Sentient World Observation and Response Department), the space based arm of SHIELD, which he immediately accepted. Takashi’s education and skills would be put to very good use as temporary Commander of SWORD.

He effectively led many operations both on and off Terra with outstanding results, time and again. Within a short period of time, Takashi was formally made SWORD Commander and was promoted to Level 10 Alpha.
It was shortly before Director Pierce mysteriously disappeared that Tak went on his last mission as SWORD Commander, where his life would forever be altered.

One day while Takashi was on watch at The Peak, a massive, extremely rare energy signal was detected. Immediately all stations were locked out by a Level 10, Priority One alert. Takashi, then brought up the alert, keyed in his authorization and took a moment to realize what it was that he was looking at.

Apparently The Peak’s sensor grid picked up a Quantum Energy signature that was way off the charts. As far as he knew, there had never been a quantum energy signature this high, ever detected on Terra. Based on the scan, it came from the farthest reaches of the Solar System, somewhere near Neptune. If someone were to get their hands on whatever emitted that energy, it would be very bad news for Terra and likely, for other worlds.

Takashi immediately ordered his best team to prep for immediate launch in Hangar 2, then left his second in command in charge. He needed to take care of this himself. When they were all ready, Takashi and his team slid out of the hangar bay and engaged the faster than light drive on their ship and arrived at the Neptunian System in a few short minutes. Now that they were closer, the computer was able to pinpoint where the energy signature came from: Titan, Neptune’s furthest moon, which spun in retrograde.

Takashi ordered for them to approach and land near where the Quantum energy was reported to have come from. Once they were down, they all disembarked the ship and began the short hike upon the frigid moon's surface to find the source of the signal. After a few short hours, they managed to find it. Laying within a large impact crater, was what appeared to be a charred, unrecognizable body. On what appeared to be the remnants of the corpse were two gleaming golden bands. As soon as the team came closer, a small flash could be seen momentarily gleaming from the bands and then they went dormant.

Takashi immediately took out a scanner and began taking readings. It appeared that the bands had gone dormant, as they no longer were emitting the Quantum signature. After working for a few more moments on determining if it was safe, Takashi ordered one of his men to open the containment unit created by Tony Stark to house the Tesseract, at one time.

Using the tools within, Takashi reached out with the energy binders and reluctantly grabbed one of the bands, half expecting them to do… something. When he did so, nothing happened, so he placed first one, then the other within the containment unit, sealed it with his authorization and sent two men ahead to return the package to the ship.

Takashi himself stayed with the other 4 SWORD agents and continued to take readings. Who was this burned individual? How did they come to be here, in the recesses of the Solar System? Why did they apparently burn to a cinder? Where did they come from? What would come looking for them? All good questions with no readily apparent answers.

While Takashi continued to get readings from the corpse, he ordered the rest of his team to gather samples of the rocks and dust nearby, trying to get as much physical evidence and data as possible to see what answers they would be able to glean from the samples and the mysterious artifacts.

He felt the impact before the sound of the hit came through his air filled vac suit. Frowning, Takashi turned around to see a large blue skinned alien standing on a small fissure it just made on Titan’s surface where it landed, rocks and dust slowly floating away from where the alien stood, a loom of determination on its blunt features, It looked like a bipedal humanoid, not unlike humans, but more reminiscent of *Homo Neanderthalensis* than *Homo Sapiens*, the modern human ancestor, complete with a receding forehead and prominent brow ridges.

Agent Allen was the first to react, turning to face the alien, his hands darting to the automatic blast carbine at his side. Pointing it at the alien before them, he opened fire as it gazed at the body of the charred remnant of the being that once had the gold bands. Energy blasts sprayed all over the alien’s torso without effect.

As Allen quickly emptied the power pack and reinserted another, Takashi chinned on his radio and ordered the others to cloak the ship and dust off immediately with all possible speed back to The Peak. They had to keep the bands out of the alien’s hands at all costs, and placed them under maximum containment. When they tried to object, Takashi switched to Japanese and harshly ordered them to blast off and not leave a trace back to base. Within 5 seconds the ship made the light speed jump back to Terra and relative safety.

Moments later, the others also opened fire, again to no visible effect. The blue skinned alien looked down at himself, laughed and suddenly he moved with frightening speed, almost instantly killing all of Takashi’s remaining men. It then turned to face Takashi and started walking toward him, presumably speaking as its jaw and lips moved as it to verbally communicate.

Takashi tapped the side of his helmet and shook his head, raising his right hand toward his vac suit throat, making a small sawing gesture in the Terran nonverbal parlance of ‘negative on comms’. The alien’s face took on a slightly annoyed look on its face and stopped before Takashi and raised a hand.

Around them both, an energy field came into existence, enveloping them completely. The alien then grabbed Takashi’s helmet and tore it off his head, the seal between the vac suit and the helmet rupturing, filling in the bubble with atmosphere. Takashi momentarily felt asphyxiation but it dissipated as the bubble filled with breathable air.

Reaching down to grab Takashi by the throat, the alien easily lifted him off the moon’s surface, holding him aloft. “Where are the bands?” Is yelled at Takashi, his voice filled with rage, as he shook him.

“What… bands…? What… are you… talking about?” Takashi said in his Japanese accented English with difficulty, managing to get the words out of his constricted throat.

“Cron-La was wearing them when last we met! That is his charred corpse! The bands would have been unharmed! Now where are they, Terran?!” It roared at Takashi, squeezing his hand tighter around his throat, shaking him.

Takashi, starting to see black at the edges of his vision, blackish white flecks filling his vision as the alien squeezed his throat tighter, shaking him once more. He was trying to somehow get the alien to release its grip, hitting a few pressure points on its hands and arms to no avail. Takashi felt like he was hitting stone, not flesh.

As Takashi’s consciousness started to fade, the alien suddenly eased its grip on his throat, finally able to take in a few starved breaths. The black white flecks and tunnel vision slowly faded as consciousness reasserted itself. After a few quick heartbeats, he was able to respond, his voice quite raspy and shaking.

“We found… him like that…” Takashi managed to get out, trying to bluff this alien, whatever it may be. There were… no bands.”

“You LIE, Terran!” It roared in the human’s face. “I followed the quantum signature here! They should be there upon the corpse! If you do not tell me where they are, I will kill you, and then I will scour every inch of that wretched planet you call home, and leave nothing but total destruction!!”

It was then that Takashi’s demeanor changed, his brow furrowing slightly in anger and disgust, as much as he could do so within the alien’s clutches, then said in Japanese, “私はあなたに何も言わないので, あなたは私を殺さなければならないようです- Looks like you will have to kill me, because I will tell you nothing,” and spat in the alien’s face.

The spittle landed and began running down the alien’s left cheek then it let out a quick, frustrated breath. Takashi knew that he would be meeting his ancestors shortly.

It was at that exact moment that he saw an outline of an immense bald head, somehow larger than Titan and its primary, Neptune. Its left eye briefly flashed an eldritch blue. The next moment, he saw what could only be described as another alien biped, dressed in a high collared light blue cape and what looked like a white Roman Senator’s robe. It also wore a pair of golden gauntlets and a large golden cape clasp at the throat.

It stood behind the blue skinned alien holding Takashi aloft. It took a moment for him to realize that it looked like he was within a localized time distortion, only Takashi and the new alien were able to move. The newcomer had an abnormally large head in comparison to his body, its left eye now slightly glowing white, a dark, seemingly infinite empty socket where the right was obviously missing from its head.

“You are wondering why you are not dead,” it said as a statement of fact, the new alien’s voice was seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere at once, including within Takashi’s air starved brain. “I have given you a momentary reprieve because I wish to speak with you, Minamoto Takashi.”

The bald alien’s left eye flashed a brief blue once more and Takashi was now standing on an infinite field of pure white, out of the blue alien’s grasp. He raised a hand to his throat as he immediately noticed that he was not feeling any pain or discomfort.

“How…do you know my name?” Takashi asked, then looked around briefly. “Where are we? Are we still on Titan?” He did not want to make any kind of aggressive move toward the bald alien as it was readily obvious that it was enormously powerful.

“I am Uatu the Watcher,” it said in its everywhere and nowhere voice. “And I know everything about you. I have been watching you your entire life. And as to where we are, we are in a space between spaces.”

“Why did you… stop it from killing me?” Takashi asked the Watcher as he rubbed his throat where the alien had held him aloft, then lowering his hands slowly so Uatu would not perceive him as a threat, though all things considered, he obviously would not. “What do you want from me?”

“I have a proposition for you,” Uatu said, his face unchanging as he walked closer to Takashi. “This region of existence will soon suffer through successive tragedies that will shake the foundation of the Universe, and the Multiverse at large. Your reality is at the Nexus of all Realities. If this Reality falls, then creation itself will end. I and my counterparts do not wish for this to happen.”

Takashi only stared at Uatu incredulously, trying to comprehend exactly what it was that he was saying. Multiverse? Nexus of Realities? If Takashi didn’t know better, he would have thought that he had suffered an anoxic brain injury for all that he could understand at that very moment.

“And…how do I fit into all of… that?” Takashi said finally, after his addled mind tried to quickly work through what Uatu had said. Apparently there *were* multiple dimensions and/or realities, and this version that he lived in was the… Nexus of them all. How many realities were there? How were they created? The implications of what he had just learned dawned on him, thinking of the vastness of not only space and time, but countless multiple versions of reality… and the inevitable collapse, IF he believed Uatu.

What reason did Uatu have to lie, though? He was obviously a being of immensely vast power, he had no reason to lie to Takashi. That meant that its offer was likely genuine.

“What do I need to do?” Tak said to Uatu at last, looking at the large-headed being standing on the limitless white plane before him.

“All you have to do is agree” it said, its face remaining an emotionless mask the entire time they were speaking.

“What would I be agreeing to, exactly?” Takashi asked Uatu. “Why does an all powerful and omniscient being need a fly spec like myself, relatively speaking?”

“We Watchers,” Uatu said as he slowly stepped closer to Takashi. “Are an ancient race of observers, recording all events in our assigned solar systems. For countless reasons, we have strict laws in place to prevent interference in a world’s events, regardless of the potential magnitude of consequences. By interfering, we forever alter the pattern of the subject's existence, for good or ill. That alteration has an infinite number of branches, causing an infinite number of potential alterations that could potentially cause the breakdown of the fabric of spacetime. So, we Watch and dispassionately not interfere.”

“Causality and The Butterfly Effect,” Takashi said, nodding his head slightly in understanding. “But…what about the Observer Effect? You are already altering the outcome.”

“Precisely,” Uatu said, nodding once. “One of our number put forth a Doctrine of Ultimate Non-interference and when he convinced the majority, billions of Watchers took their life as a result.” It was the first time Takashi saw a semblance of emotion on the omniscient being… sadness.

“A previous owner of the Bands you found, once belonged to someone who saved us,” he said, a touch of wistfulness in his tone now. “As a result of his ‘minor interference’, he gave us a new concept that saved us all: The Life Affirming Idea. He postulated that our deaths would cause countless other effects anyway, and we would fail in our ultimate task of Watching.”

“When our Elders looked deep into our future,” he continued, his voice taking on a more positive tone. “We saw that he was right. So we changed our concept of Watching once more, adapting to the idea that with very minor interference, the best chance for a ‘natural outcome’ emerges. In this way, we may continue Watching our charges, and the information we gathered can ultimately be passed on to the next universe.”

“So…,” he said, then paused for a moment before continuing, arcing his right eyebrow. “I am that ‘minor change’, I take it?”

“Yes,” Uatu said, a slight smile curling the left side of his mouth. “Being from Terra, you have a vested interest. You made the discovery of the Quantum Bands and followed its unique energy signature here. Which is why I waited until this precise moment to interfere.”

Uatu then turned away from Takashi and walked toward the frozen, blue skinned alien, circling around him as he spoke. “This being is a Kree super soldier. Your kind has had several dealings with the Kree over the years. These are a different breed; Much more militarized, more xenophobic and remorseless than the Kree Empire of old.” Stopping where he was in his orbit of the Kree, he turned to look at Takashi, his overly large bald headed countenance suddenly very unsettling.

“If you agree,” he told Takashi, his voice somber and weighted with portent. “I will interfere, as Quasar once interfered, and it will not only save your race, but you will save countless other lives across the face of the Galaxy. All I need is a few years of your time. When you are done with your task, you will be free to do as you see fit. Though, forever changed.”

Takashi looked at the Watcher for what seemed like an eternity while he thought. The moment he ordered the ship to take off to The Peak without him, Takashi’s fate was sealed. For the Kree soldier would have certainty snapped his neck like a twig. It was only because of Uatu’s interference that he was not dead this very moment. Regardless of anything else, he owed Uatu a debt of gratitude for saving him.

“If…” he hesitated slightly, “I do this, will Earth be spared?”

“Yes,” said Uatu, nodding his overly large bald head in the affirmative. “And thrive.”

“Very well, I accept,” Takashi said without hesitation. He stepped toward the Watcher and looked in his eye, showing him the conviction in his heart.

“Prepare yourself,” said Uatu as he walked toward Takashi, raising one hand toward him as he did.

“Will it hurt?” Takashi asked, his brow furrowing in concern. He probably should have asked that before he accepted.

“Yes,” the Watcher said dispassionately, his voice somehow sounding deeper and more serious. “Like nothing you have ever felt extant.”

Before he could say another word, Uatu laid his hand upon Takashi’s head, his left eye flashing blue once more…

…And Takashi’s entire existence was pain.