MV1 COMICS PRESENTS		7
YEAR ONE	by Travis George	FEB

Previously: Quasar returned to Earth and began checking up on all the loose ends from before he left. His mom and sister were unharmed, but he had yet to determine if the threat to them, the Russian mutant Presence, was still at large. After being reunited with Kismet, he journeyed to Russia, where he made a startling discovery...

"Quasar."

"Hello, Darkstar. How are you?"

"I am well."

"So... are you going to try to kill me again?"

"Da... my apologies for the circumstances of our last meeting, Avenger. I was under a great deal of anguish, and there were other influences that affected my behavior."

"I don't understand, Quasar. This man -- you called him Vanguard. Isn't that the name of the man you told me had died aboard Skeletron's ship? And that was the reason this woman attempted to murder you?" Kismet gave Darkstar a look that gave new meaning to the phrase, "If looks could kill..."

"That's what I was wondering myself. It looks like we got ourselves an interesting story to be told. Any takers?

"Perhaps I could explain."

Quasar turned behind them and recognized the woman who had just landed behind them. Her costume resembled her namesake with read outlining a design that looked like a summer night when the stars were most prominent in the sky. If you glanced at it in just the right way, you could almost see into the woman as though her body were a portal into starry space.

"Starlight. The last time I saw you, you were in Fantastic Four custody."

"Yes. My husband and Darkstar negotiated for my release, with the assistance of the Black Widow*."                  (* in Marvel Comics Presents #70 - TG)

"So do you mind telling me what's going on?"

"I can only tell you what I know. Which is, less than an hour after Sergei and Laynia left to avenge Vanguard, my son-in-law somehow came back to life."

"It happens. Coming from somebody who's experienced it a couple of times."

"So you were never able to perform an autopsy on Mikey while he was still dead?"

"No. There was no time."

"What did you just refer to me as, Quasar?" Vanguard asked in the first time he'd spoken to Quasar since his "death".

"Um... Mikey -- short for Mikhail. Isn't that your name?"

"You're mistaken, American. My name is Nicolai. My companion is named Mikhail," Vanguard points to Ursa Major.

"But I thought -- never mind. So how did Pres react when he found out, Starlight?"

"Please call me Tania," the solemn woman smiled humbly. "I'm afraid you have some animosities towards my husband, some which are justified, but others are results of some unfortunate misunderstandings. When we first met you, Quasar, we had been mislead by your enemy Maelstrom into thinking that your mentor Eon was a threat to the universe. That's why we attempted to subdue you. We thought you were his accomplice."

"Yep, I remember all too clearly*."                  (* It happened in Quasar #19-20 - TG)

"Then when Sergei was able to escape the Quantum Zone in which you had imprisoned him for so long, there was bound to be resentment from him towards you."

"All right. That makes sense."

"And of course, when he believed Vanguard died as a result of your actions* --"                  (* A slightly distorted version of Starblast #3 - TG)

"Uh, uh lady, that's where you're taking this misunderstanding thing a little too far. First of all..."

"Please listen to me... Wendell."

Quasar paused, as if at a loss, then decided to remain silent, allowing the Russian woman to continue.

"When Sergei returned from America, and believed that he had killed you, and that it had been for naught, he felt horrible."

Quasar listened to the woman and couldn't help but notice how impressive her grasp on American expressions were in comparison to the stereotypical Russian.

"Nicolai was also disappointed in his father's actions. Especially when Laynia realized that Sergei had mentally manipulated the Darkforce being she communes with, to release the darker impulses that her grief and anger spawned."

"I'll say. Mind control on your enemies is one thing, but to do that to your own flesh and blood..."

"My husband is an extremely proud man, Quasar. So you might imagine how difficult it was for him to make the decision he did..."

"What was that?" Kismet asked, also joining the discourse for the first time.

"He sought therapy. Believe me, Quasar, if my husband was here now, I wouldn't dare be telling you this. It took him a while to accept the emotional toll it took losing the mother of his children, and believing that he had lost them for nearly two decades on top of that. When he thought he had lost Nicolai again..."

"Doesn't exactly give him the right to go finding easy targets to take his anger out on. But you know what, if I can talk to him, and find out if he's sincere about getting help for his issues and if he swears to me he'll never come after me or my family ever again..."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible, Quasar," Darkstar interjected. "You see, our father's dead."

"I'll bite. How'd it happen?"

"It has to do with the nuclear accident that turned him into a superhuman in the first place," Starlight continued. "The radiation in his cells was killing him. Years ago, he thought he'd found a cure. But it took repeated applications for the radiation toxin to go into remission. That's when I first began to suspect that Sergei's discovery was only a treatment that required continuous monitoring. It seemed to be a lifetime commitment. But Sergei was proud. He wasn't willing to admit that his genius hadn't been able to find himself a way to completely solve the problem. Had he been willing to continue looking for a cure and administer the treatment in the meantime..."

"So the radiation was killing him all along."

"Yes. There were symptoms of his illness while we were on the Stranger's planet, but they seemed to subside. Sergei told me he suffered again while trapped in your Quantum Zone. But worst of all, about six months after you left Earth, his condition began to deteriorate. He was in constant pain. We began to search for a cure anew, but it was too late."

Kismet looked at the woman sympathetically, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah. I am too." Quas chimed in.

********

Having departed Russia, Kismet accompanied Quasar back home. She looked at him and asked him how he was feeling.

"Relieved," Quasar answered. "I'm glad that mom and Gayle are safe. At least from the threat of Presence, anyway. And of course, that Vanguard isn't dead. But even though I'm not surprised that something like that could happen, I'm still a little curious to how he just got better. And I could've sworn the last time I saw Darkstar, she called her brother 'Mikhail'. I'd sure like to know why she doesn't remember."

"I might be able to help in that department."

"Huh?"

Quasar turned to face what seemed to be the biggest black woman he'd ever seen. She was wearing yellow body armor, like the Living Tribunal's, and had dreadlocks the size of stoplight poles.

"Kismet, do you see what I see?"

"Kizzy?"

Quasar turned to see that his traveling companion was literally frozen in mid air. She had a surprised expression on her face, as though the last thing she'd done before she was frozen was see the one responsible for freezing her.

She's all right. I just wanted to have a private conversation with you, Quasar. So I froze time around us for a two mile radius. I'll restore things to normal as soon as I've let you in on a few secrets."

"All right... I'm all ears."

"First of all, let me introduce myself. My name's Numinus, and if you hadn't already guessed by now, I'm a cosmic entity. I'm the one in charge of unexplained phenomena."

"I thought that was Anomaly."

"No, it's actually the personification of the malevolant aspects of things that don't fit into the cosmic scheme of things. Earthquakes that didn't show up on the Rictor scale. Spontaneous combustion. The continuity mess that was leftover after the Crisis. Wait -- forget I mentioned the last one. The point is that I embody the good sort of ironies that help you along the way. Like when you go out to eat and you left your wallet in your other pants, but then you happen to have a $20 bill you forgot about in the pants you're wearing. Or when you're the only survivor of a ship that sank six months ago, and they've given up on all the passengers. But there's someone special in your life that knows in their heart that you're still out there. You've washed onto the shore of a small uncharted island. You put a message in a bottle, throw it out to sea, and your special someone is the one to find it."

"I get the idea. You're one cosmic entity I'm definitely glad to meet. So you had something to do with Vanguard's resurrection?"

"It wasn't really a resurrection. Just between you and me, Death and I aren't too close. My interventions tend to keep her from adding a good number of souls to her collection. If I really needed a favor, she's helpd me out. But in Vanguard's case, what I did was replace him with a lifeless clone a split second before the force blast from Skeletron's goon hit him. Then when the time was right, I switched them back."

"Good enough. But why? Does it have anything to do with me?"

"Yes. As Protector of the Universe, your actions and whereabouts have a lot of weight on the balance of power in the multiverse. You were needed out there for a while, but eventually you had to come back. So I arranged for Vanguard's 'resurrection' "

"Is that all? If you did what you did out of some weird fascination with me, how do I know you haven't been messing with other events in my life?"

"I would be lying if I said I haven't been helping you along a bit. I told you about this because I felt you deserved an explanation, considering all the turns your personal life have taken due to events that are pretty much beyond your control. But these events, random though they may be, have some kind of pattern, even though you might not realize it at this point. But even though I'm a cosmic entity, I can't tell you why it happens or how it's going to end up."

Quasar flashes back to what the Living Tribunal told him -- "The future is not mine to reveal.*"                  (* Quasar #58 - TG)

"All right. I guess I'll have to accept that. Just one more thing -- how come Darkstar got her brother's name wrong, and then forgot about it afterwards."

"Oh, yeah -- that. Well, that was -- nah, you'd never buy that, would you? All right. Here, I'll let you know, but we don't want them to know." She points in a certain direction, but Quasar doesn't understand who she's talking about.

"Who's 'them'?"

"Wait, you're not the one who broke the fourth wall, are you? I wasn't sure who it was -- I knew it was one of the second stringer Avengers who got axed at #60... hmmm... Moon Knight? Oh, wait that's right -- now I know who it is."

"What are you talking about?!?!"

"Never mind. Here." Numinus shrinks down to human size before Quasar's eyes, and then makes a gesture as if she's going to whisper something to him. Quasar gets close enough for her to tell him what she doesn't want "them" to know.

"What?!? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's the truth. The ugly, shameful truth."

"But who were you talking about? Are you trying to tell me...? No, that can't be right..."

"Ooops, I just got a message from the Living Tribunal. I've got to go. Take care of yourself, ok. You've got some interesting adventures in store."

With that, Numinus departs in a flash of light. With her gone, Kismet is restored to normal time.

"Quasar, do you see her?"

"Yeah. It's ok, Kiz. She's on our side, I think."

"How do you know, Quasar. She could be -- She's gone."

"Yep. I don't know about you, but I could really go for some Thai food, right about now. How about you?"

"But..." Kismet shrugs. "All right... if that's what you want."

"If only I could ever seem to get what I want around here. I still have to get back to Ariel and Chance, and then start my search for Ken... Say Kismet, have I ever taken you on a Quantum jump?"

"No, you haven't."

"Wanna give it a go?"

Kismet nods.

********

"We thought you'd never get back," Chance griped, following Quasar's materialization in the quantum bubble he'd left behind at the Beat Street warehouse.

"I wasn't that long. Kismet, the one with the pink hair is Ariel. The other one is Chance. Ariel and Chance, the lovely lady standing beside me is obviously Kismet. Ok, here's the deal. I've thought about this, and both of you seem like you only do what you do to survive. I'm willing to overlook the breaking and entering and attempted theft. But beyond that, I'm also willing to give both of you a job."

"Doing what?" Ariel asked.

"Well, the job may not be incredibly glamorous or interesting, but keep in mind it's only going to be a front for what you're really doing. I'm going to need super powered people, and your powers in particular could definitely work for what I have in mind."

Chance began to say something, but before she could, Quasar continued...

"If you're thinking what's in it for you, this is what I have to offer. Besides not having to worry about the criminal charges, I'll make sure you have the means to afford a decent place. No more living in abandoned warehouses like this."

This time, Ariel and Chance both started, but then...

"Here, this is what I'll do. I'll let you both go." He dissipated the quantum bubbles. "My quantum bands have recorded the energy signature Ariel makes when she opens a portal. I'll be able to find you wherever you go. Think about it, and I'll give you a number where you can reach me."

"There's no need, Avenger. We've made our decision. We'll take the job," Ariel said, finally managing to get a word in.

"Chance?"

"Well, if Ariel goes, I guess I will too."

"Excellent!"

******

"Mr. Vaughn, I've got wonderful news!," Donna Maria Puentes exclaimed as Quasar returned to his office, accompanied by his three female companions.

"We can always use some of that, Donna. What's up?"

"We've located Ken! He was a coma in the hospital all this time. He just came out of it this morning."

Quasar breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. That's... good." He didn't seem to have anything else to say about that.

"Who are your friends?"

"From left to right, this is Kismet, Ariel, and Chance. Say, Donna, do you know what Phil's schedule looks like for the rest of the afternoon?

"He doesn't have any meetings with clients for the rest of the day."

"Good. Let him know we need to have an emergency meeting of all the staff before anyone leaves. There are going to be some changes around here."

NEXT ISSUE: The next issue of CPU will skip ahead about a year, giving us time to see the long term result of the changes Quas has made. There will also be cameos by some familiar faces, some well known and others (in true Quasar fashion) pretty obsecure!

___________________________________________________________

9.30.00

ITEM: That pretty much wraps up all the dangled subplots from Gru's series. From here on in, there'll be some deviations in the status quo.

ITEM: Numinus made her debut in Power Pack #51. Bet you thought I made her up, didn't you??

ITEM: And now, without any further ado, my first letter (yay!)

Subj: Cosmic Power Unlimited #6
Date: 9/5/00 1:24:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: sunflaresn@yahoo.com (AuraPsi)
To: Quasar61to@aol.com

Hey Travis, great story so far. Having just finished reading my newly won collection of Quasar over EBay it was gratifying to see someone pulling all the loose ends together. The story was a bit short by my tastes but still highly enjoyable. I hope you keep up the good work and maybe we'll see a Quasar on-going sometime soon :)

- James Grasselli

Thanks, James. I'm glad it worked out so you were able to read the story right after you had completed the Quasar collection. I do agree these first couple of stories are short if you go by the standards of anything with "Unlimited" in its title. Future issues may be longer, or maybe we'll be able to work something out so that there will be more than one story in each issue of CPU, whether they're by the same author or not And Re: the Quasar on-going... you and me both, buddy!

James is a fellow MV1 scribe, who pens an excellent mini-series called Hawks: Shades of Gray for the Knights Branch, the fourth issue of which just debuted. Busy bee that he is, he's also begun another limited series for the Epic Branch entitled Threads of Fate. Both are highly recommended, so check them out!

ITEM: I haven't really had time to think up a name for the letter column for this anthology series, so if you come up with something catchy, feel free to drop me a line! Of course, if you plan on doing a future issue of CPU once the Quasar series concludes, and you have your own name in mind, fear not, we're always open to change.

And that's all, folks. See you in thirty!

Travis George