On Screen
Leon Lake appeared in a dark but strangely familiar place—the Foundation's top executive conference room.
Four members of the Overseer Council sat in shadow, their faces obscured. Identified only as Overseers 1, 2, 10, and 13, their silhouettes were faint outlines against the gloom.
Leon stood beneath a podium that resembled a high-tech projector, appearing to deliver a report.
The Marvel world audience watching the livestream was confused.
Hadn't he already tracked down the head of the Antimemetics Division?
So why the delay?
Then Leon's first sentence sent shockwaves through the chat.
> "I was able to recall… fragments of certain events after injecting a Class-X Memory Strengthener."
He hesitated, clearly searching for the right words.
> "Actually… 'recall' isn't quite accurate. It's more like I pieced together a complete story from scraps of information I managed to recover."
Overseer 1 leaned forward.
> "About Marion Wheeler… and this supposed Antimemetics Division?"
Another voice cut in, skeptical:
> "As far as I know, our Foundation has no such division. And as for Marion Wheeler—she's just a name in the records. No one remembers her."
Leon's gaze was steady.
> "Exactly. That's the problem. My job isn't to theorize—it's to uncover the truth."
Overseer 2 started to speak, but 1 raised a hand to stop him.
> "Go on, Leon."
Leon pulled out a videotape and pressed play.
---
[Video File — Recorded 12/08/2016]
The image flickered to life, revealing a quiet lake.
An elderly man lay curled up in a small boat, his frail body shrunken to the size of a child. His colorless hair stirred in the warm breeze, and sunlight bathed him like a healing balm.
Then—a woman appeared.
Marion Wheeler. Middle-aged. Unremarkable in appearance.
The moment she appeared, the Overseers on the screen exchanged glances.
They didn't remember her. Not at all.
And yet… there was an uncanny sense of familiarity, a faint echo in the mind, as if they should have known her once.
---
> "El, you can get up now," Wheeler said gently.
A plastic box of medical supplies rested beside her, along with a thin uniform blouse with the sleeves rolled up.
The old man blinked in confusion, watching as she prepared a syringe.
> "Class-X Memory Strengthener?" Overseer 2 murmured in recognition.
A system prompt appeared over the footage:
> [Class-X Memory Strengthener] — Originally developed as an anti-aging serum, X temporarily reverses mental and physical aging by up to [DATA REDACTED] years. The effect lasts only a few hours.
When it wears off, all suppressed time is restored instantly, triggering a "reverse whiplash" effect on the body.
X can safely rejuvenate a subject for up to 30 days. Stronger doses—especially those reversing 16–18 months—are invariably fatal.
---
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nick Fury's expression tightened.
> "Dangerous? Then Leon…"
He remembered Leon's earlier admission—that he had taken the Class-X drug to recover lost memories.
On closer inspection, Leon's pale complexion and unsteady stance on screen made the side effects all too obvious.
---
Back in the video, the old man's foggy eyes cleared at last.
> "Wheeler…"
Recognition, relief, and a touch of sadness washed over his face.
Wheeler spoke softly:
> "You died, El. Surrounded by your grieving family. They loved you. They wept for you. Your funeral is in a few days… but you won't be there to see it. You're already gone. And this—this is what comes after."
The old man's gaze lowered.
Wheeler continued:
> "When you retired from the Foundation, we did what we do for all retirees: we gave you medicine to make you forget. Everything you'd done for us—the great work, the lives you saved—sealed away.
You lived your retirement believing you'd been the former head of the FBI. You wanted it. We wanted it. We all agreed."
The livestream audience gasped.
This frail old man… had been Foundation staff.
---
Wheeler leaned closer, her tone steady but urgent:
> "But you, and only you, agreed to something more. To remember. So I gave you the serum—it reverses the body's aging. Organs, tissues… even memory. Soon, you'll remember. Do you understand?"
The old man's voice was gravelly, hesitant:
> "Yes… vaguely."
Wheeler's face softened in relief.
> "Then… tell me—do you remember who you are?"
The answer came without hesitation.
> "Dr. Lyn Patrick Marness. Foundation employee. Founder of the Antimemetics Division."
The livestream erupted in chaos.
Even the shadowed Overseers on the screen were jolted.
> "Founder? Dr. Lyn Patrick Marness?"
Overseer 2 glanced at 10, who shook his head—no recognition. None at all.
And yet the weight of the name lingered, like a ghost that refused to leave.
---
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nick Fury rubbed his temples. Each "forgotten" figure that surfaced only deepened the mystery.
And raised a terrifying question:
If so many could be erased from history… what else had they lost?
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