He sat in the Domicile and looked down on the world, concerned with what he saw happening - the rise of Dracula, the loss of the X-Men, the arguments between men who should be allies. The change of century had not brought any major changes to the world except for the continuous sunlight that poured down on to the Savage Land, yet not affecting the arctic climate that surrounded it, all thanks to the machinations of Morphine Somers and the powers of Mephisto.

He had done as much as he could, using the impressive talents as an inventor to utilise the technology of the Watcher, and mastery of the mystic arts to catch up with developments that he had not had chance to discover about the last 100 years. It was only recently that he had turned his head once more to science because he knew it was a vital part of who he was. Yes, he was Sorcerer Supreme but he was also the greatest technological mind of humanity, for his skills surpassed those of Reed Richards. They always had, it had just been the application of those skills that had been his undoing.

The vainglorious man he had used to be, hidden away in a cold, protective armour was gone. He had tried to be that man here, away from the distractions and in his attempts to do what was right he had committed far greater crimes than he ever dreamed he could. Genocide was not something that washed with him, and he wondered how much he had changed since arriving in 2099.

He shook his head in disgust - he was far more introspective of himself than he had ever been in his life and he wondered if that were something to do with his new found abilities. He wished he had someone to talk to, someone that could understand. He had attempted talking with Sarah, but she did not quite understand the man who was Doom. He thought of her, the latest incarnation of the Fist of Khonshu, and smiled. It wasn't her fault she did not understand, it was in part due to her heritage.

No, the person he needed to speak with was Xina. He knew she had split from Miguel O'Hara sometime ago, but other things had gotten in his way and prevented him from looking for her, his own pride and desire for privacy being one of them. Now he had nothing like that and he focused his mind on the viewing devices and pinpointed her with remarkable accuracy. She was working on the moon, in New Attilan. That surprised him; that she had been so close and he had not known about it. He wondered how up to date she was on events on Earth, and if she even knew he was alive.

He pondered a moment, and then brought his cowl about his head, casting a spell of protection against the airless wastes of the Moon. He would walk over to the city and see her. He was one of the most powerful people in the universe, and once he would have commanded her presence, but that was not what he wanted now.

He just wanted somebody to talk to.

Sarah leapt from the tower to tower of New Attilan, scouring the city. It was her role to defend the people here from the freaks and degens and those with less honourable intentions than she had seen before. Her guise of Moon Knight had fashioned her an impressive reputation on the Moon, and the people knew that Moon Knight was there to help them. Crime was still a problem, as there had never been a corporate presence here to fund a law enforcement organisation, and that was why Sarah believed she had been chosen several years ago by the Egyptian God of the Moon, Khonshu.

She had been exploring the surface of the Moon because it was simply there and she had wandered far from the safety of the city. She never knew how she got there, for it was the only place she had ever called home. She had no memory of her parents, nor any other family that she could speak of, but there were many here like her, some not as lucky. She had survived long enough on her wits, using a natural intelligence and had managed to get work with some scientists which were where she found her tastes for exploration, to see what was out there.

The cost at the end of this had been her life.

The last crater she had found had been a meeting place for a smuggler and his corporate Earth based buyer. She had run, they had followed and caught her, smashing her face against the cold floor of the Moon and shattering the protective glass that kept her suit in tact and gave her oxygen. It was a common enough death out here, and this far from Attilan, she had no chance of being rescued and she lay there, paralysed by the extreme cold, fighting for breath that was being sucked from her in to the vacuum, her lungs freezing up.

It was a painful and agonising death that lasted about a minute, but seemed to her to be forever and then she was gone. She remembered that it was dark, that there was no light of any kind, no afterlife to celebrate and it was then the voice spoke to her, commanding her to live and she opened her eyes to realise she was no longer breathing, yet somehow she was alive. The great Egyptian god Khonshu had restored her, filling her with his essence and ensuring that she lived once more, and told her she was under his protection as long as he ensured that his temple was kept sacred as it should be.

Not sure she believed, but knowing that there were great powers at work and above all wanting to live, she accepted and she found herself clothed in a protective suit, that was as light as a lab coat, yet was as strong as Stark/Fujikawa Mark 7 body armour. She had also received the aspect of the Moon God and as such she also had great strength and endurance and she had gone after her killers and brought them to justice by treating them to the same fate they had given her, giving a warning to their corporate masters - the Moon was not their domain, and their brand of injustice would not be tolerated. She knew they were preparing a response to her presence, but without a practical presence they were limited in what they could do to her, other than keep the news of her away from the planet below.

It was about a year later that the second age of Heroes began and by then her presence on the moon was legendary. She had reduced crime by almost half and there were repeating villains, who seemed to be behind things, and she knew that she could not properly act without sufficient evidence. Proof was what was needed, or she was crossing the line to their side, and that was not acceptable. Without Khonshu on her side, she would be dead, but as far as everyone knew, she was just another of the mutie freaks who ran around doing good.

Until Doom. He had come across her and known straight away about who and what she was, and he took her under his wing, which seemed to bring him out of a lull he had been in and she never knew if she was a project to him, or something else. She worked for him, because it felt right. Despite the reputation he had garnered over the years, there was a honourable nobility about him. She had helped him track down Herod and bring him to book for his attack on Latveria, and Doom kept her secrets to himself. Now she was back, touring the city, putting the fear of God in to the cowardly and superstitious criminals who roamed the streets.

That was when she saw a man she thought she recognised, a man she had believed to be dead. A man named Jonathan Storm.

Xina sat drinking a cup of caf in the S4L Project Office Attilan City. She had taken the opportunity to become part of the space program instigated by Reed Richards and had come up to the Moon to oversee things from here, as well as to get away from Miguel. The two of them had changed. She still felt the loss of Victor, and he still held the hammer of Thor. No matter what he said, it had changed him in a way more subtle than the one that made him Spider-Man. It had taken her some time to realise they'd drifted apart and now she was here.

"Miss Kwan?" said the voice on the intercom, interrupting her reminiscing. "You have a visitor in main reception."

"I'm not expecting anyone," she said, looking at the video camera. The man was turned away from the cameras. "I'll come down." The people here were good and they would be able to handle most foes. Her consternation at who her guest could be was not helped when she got down to find him looking at the designs on the wall for the project stages. "I'm Xina Kwan, and you are?"

"Hello, Xina," he said and turned to see her staring at him in open eyed surprise.

"Victor…" she said almost in a whisper before composing herself. "Is that you?"

"Yes," he said. "There is much to discuss." Before she could give a retort about how he hadn't changed he spoke again. "If you wish."

"Yes," she said, feeling her mouth go dry, her heart start to pound and then she realised he wasn't wearing his armour. "Come upstairs," she said, also realising that the scarring of his face hadn't bothered her. She opened the door and he nodded and made his way over as she led him up to the office, and they didn't say a word until they got up to her office. "Please, sit." He accepted her invite. "You didn't die."

"No," he said. "I survived, thanks to the technology I had in my armour and the modifications I'd made. However, I had to go away, for there was much to be considered and I knew how badly I had hurt people."

"It hurt more, knowing how we parted. I thought you were betraying us to the Phalanx, not saving us all. I wish…"

"I wished for things as well," he interrupted. "However, wishes are for fools, because they don't come true in any way we expect."

"I wished you were back," she whispered. "And here you are."

"I'm not the man you knew," said Doom. "The loss of the armour is not the only thing you notice. I've gone back to my heritage, and embraced the mystic arts."

"So it is true, the rumours about Xavier City?"

"Yes," said Doom. "Xina. I came to tell you how much I have missed your company these last months and…" Doom faltered. He had not opened up like this in a long time, and he was not used to it. "I have come to realise how much I care for you, and how much you mean to me. I would like us to start again. As friends."

"Oh, Victor," she said, not dreaming this was the real reason he had sought her out. "I…"

"Doom," came a voice and Doom pressed a device hidden with his cape.

"Yes, Sarah," he said. "What is it?"

"I think you'd better see this," she said. "It's…" The transmission abruptly ended.

"Sarah," said Doom, standing as suddenly as the transmission stopped. "SARAH!" he said again but there was no reply.

"What's going on?" asked Xina.

"I do not know," said Victor and she could tell by the sound of his voice how displeased he was. There was still a lot of the man she knew in there. "But if anyone has harmed her, they will answer to Doom."