The Deal

10 advanced chapters in my pat.reon. Pat.reon.com/Saintbarbido.

If the Watcher seems a bit ooc, it's because I'm not a huge fan of comic books. This is how I judged his character from What If?.

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(Brian's P.O.V)

Despite being calm outwardly, a turmoil was brewing inside me. I was facing a cosmic being. Uatu was said to be the strongest creature in the galaxy. True Reveal did as it's name advertised. It revealed his presence to me. The hidden and much welcome of True Reveal was it's ability to let me ignore other hidden beings in favor of who I wanted to see. 

My eyes made contact with The Watcher who was in the nexus of all realities.

"You can…see me? Remarkable."

His voice was deep and soothing. Though I couldn't ignore the touch of power he possessed. 

"Not only that, but you know of me. Knowledge a mortal like you should not possess."

I gulped at the hidden question. 

"I am a seer."

I fed him the spiel I had cooked up. He was silent for a second then he said,

"You lie."

Fuck me. My fingers clenched so hard that my nails almost punctured the skin of my palm. 

'He's a cosmic being, of course he'd know if I was lying to him but that doesn't mean I have to tell him the truth. I have a feeling he won't take too kindly to hearing I'm from another universe where he's fiction. This is gonna be hard.'

"Maybe but technically - I am a seer. I can tap into my chi and in doing so I have gained access to a bunch of abilities. Is it hard to believe that one of those abilities is clairvoyance?"

His white eyes bored into me and I buried the urge to squirm. A small nod and he acquisced to my argument. 

'Can't believe that worked. Once again letting someone come to their own conclusions is better when you're going for a little mis-direction. But I need to be careful, Uatu has seen more than I can imagine, it wouldn't be a stretch to say he knows what I'm doing and going along with it just because.'

"That explains a lot."

He responded but then continued,

" The question still remains…how did you gain access to Chi."

I shrugged noncommittally.

"I see. It must have been a boon from a powerful being. A rather common thing in the multiverse."

It. Worked. Again. I wasn't outright avoiding his questions just not answering them with a direct answer. 

"You wished to… bargain?"

Uatu pulled my attention back to him and I cursed myself for falling into thought while standing…well sitting before a cosmic being. It was now or never. 

"Yes. A way to save my brother."

"No."

The answer came without hesitation just like I had expected.

"Your seer abilities probably led you to me but what you don't know is that Watchers are forbidden from interfering. I have taken a pledge to only observe and let the world run it's natural course."

The tone in his words almost made me give up but I couldn't. He'd interfered multiple times before in the comics. I just needed a really really really good reason. It couldn't be selfish however. I'd seen him ignore Strange's pleas in What If…?

"Thats where you're wrong Watcher. This timeline has been changed from it's natural course. Peter is not meant to die. He's supposed to end up as Spiderman, protect the city from Osborn and other villains then hopefully settle down with MJ."

Uatu frowned.

"A natural course that was disrupted by your presence. Anything can happen in the infinite universes out there but in this cluster there are parallels and patterns that most worlds share. Peter Parker gets bitten by a radioactive spider and he fights to protect the city he loves. That's a commonality. What doesn't usually happen is his death during his early years as Spiderman. The only factor absent in those patterns is you."

"We're basically saying the same thing Watcher. So instead of focusing on my presence messing with Peter's life, I urge you to help him. Your sight stretches over countless dimensions so you know his importance more than I can fathom. My seer abilities only grant me snippets and random bits of information. I want to save him because he's my brother but you have a responsibility…"

"A responsibility to observe. Not meddle in the affairs of mortals."

He interrupted me. Then I spent the next hour or so trying my best to convince him that Peter's well-being was essential for the world. Even going as far as telling him about Doctor Octupus, Venom and other villains that Peter would defeat. Nothing worked. I marvelled at his patience but I was getting anxious now. Time was running out.

"Ok. Fine. I understand it's going to take more than just planetary threats to move your hand so I propose a bargain. A deal if you will."

I was already standing at this point. He looked a little bit interested and I quickly jumped on it.

"In the near future…a multiversal threat will emerge. Ultron will succeed in making a strong vessel to house his soul/code? I don't know. He will then go after the rest of the infinity stones and rain havoc in his universe. He gets so powerful that his gaze pierces through time and space to detect your presence."

I paused to gauge his reaction apart from the scrunch on his forehead he didn't look worried at all. I knew he was terrified though. Heck even I was terrified. Ultron plus the infinity stones...it doesn't get more apocalyptic than that. 

"He then learns of multiple universes and from there...plans to continue his mission of wiping out humanity only this time it changes to all sentient beings in the multiverse."

The Watcher sucked in a breath.

"That's impossible...any number of cosmic beings could and should have put a stop to his madness!"

I shrugged in response.

"If you ask me...his growth had been too fast for anyone but you to intervene. Plus for all his strength I don't think he would have matched up to the truly powerful beings. Take the stones away and you only have an homicidal A.I on the loose. Underestimating him is where you guys fail."

"You implied i intervene to stop him."

I nodded.

"How?"

"Well I don't have the complete details but you basically put together a team. That's the extent of my ability however. If the team succeeds or not?...well I guess we'll just have to wait and see. By now I'm guessing you know the deal I want to make with you."

He was silent for a while. His white eyes looking at me intensely. He knew I wasn't lying. Not really.

"I accept. I'll call on you when the time comes. In exchange I will save Peter Parker's life."

I breathed out a sigh of relief as tension left my body. You'll be okay soon Peter.

"Thank you."

I gave him my heartfelt gratitude. 

"Think nothing of it. This is just an exchange."

I nodded.

"Could you please teleport me to my basement?"

I felt an energy get ahold of my body and a split second later found myself before Peter. He groaned from his position and a smile of happiness worked its way onto my face. 

"Huh? Brian...what happened?"

I handed him a glass of water and looked at him sternly.

"You almost died Peter. That's what happened."

"I...what...? I remember...pain and then nothing."

He rubbed his neck absentmindedly.

"You're lucky I was fast enough to save you."

I hid the fact that he was hanging in between life and death because I didn't want to freak him out. If I did, then there was a chance he would give up on the Superhero business and I'll reiterate, the world needed Spiderman. I wasn't a proper Vigilante. I obviously wouldn't standby and let someone get hurt before me but I wasn't as pro-active as Peter.

Peter drowned the water in the glass and asked for more. Guess almost dying had some effects. He then looked at his hands and cocked his head.

"Brian, why am I glowing?"

There was a faint outline of light cladding his skin.

"That's the left over effect of channeling my energy into your body."

I answered him.

"You can...also heal someone?"

I shook my head while getting up.

"Nah. It wouldn't work on anyone else not enhanced like you. It worked on you because my energy just coaxed yours into restoring your body to it's prime condition. Turns out you have a lot of Stamina. Someone's gonna be happy in the future."

His cheeks flushed in embarrassment and he hit my shoulder making me laugh.

"Seriously though, I doubt it will work a second time. Personal energies resist foreign energy. It's the same reason why it would be hard for me to telekinetically crush someone's heart from inside their chest. Too hard. It would make things much easier though."

Peter looked horrified. I laughed again,

"Hey I'm just kidding."

"Not funny man."

I rolled my eyes.

"You're so innocent it's crazy. Anyway...we need to hurry back. I've already seen 2 missed calls from Aunt May. We don't want to let it get to 3 or else we're done for."

He nodded and we left the base as soon as Peter stopped glowing.

(3 days later)

It had been 3 days since I brought Peter back and my high strung state had finally eased up. That incident taught me a few things. My actions had consequences and just because it would take a lot to hurt me didn't mean the same for my loved ones. I had learned and never again would I give my enemy the advantage.

We were also nearing graduation soon and I couldn't wait to leave high school. I had so much to do. Especially now that my gamble paid off. What gamble? 

Hear me out, I couldn't use the medallion directly to save Peter, that much was true. So the whole contacting The Watcher for help had been my back up plan if everything else failed. But I'd asked myself...why should I only be content with saving Peter when I could gain more from the deal without risk to Peter's life? At the end of the day, Uatu was a softie for heroes. 

I was sure that he was the Watcher assigned to watch over this universe because it belonged to the M.C.U cluster. So when I had created True Reveal I added in a hidden function to it. It not only revealed what I wanted it to but it also helped my mind to analyse what I was seeing and understand it. That worked on anything. It was a powerful ability whose creation could only be attributed to the abundant energy stored in the medallion. 

True Reveal worked on anything. So I set it to analyse Uatu's ability to see and interact with our universe. I got a feel for his energy when he teleported me and all I now needed to do was adapt my energy to his unique ability to pierce through the boundaries separating this universe from others. 

He could travel to any dimension if he wanted to. However his most prominent ability was to see. And that meant by using True Reveal on the energy contained in his eyes I could also theoretically push my sight far beyond this universe. Next would be doing the same for my body. 

I had taken the first step. All I needed was enough time to decode the complexities of Space-time bit first...my face gained a hard look.

"I told you Osborn...not even gods will save you."