Time: 5000 BCE. Location: Solar System.

The drifting interstellar ship called the Domo sat eleven lifeless humanoids with one red crystal statue. A pair of eyes opened in confusion as they shifted from the replication of Arishem to the diverse group of Eternals. Janus knew something had gone wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

There lived two distinct sets of memories that should not have existed together in his mind. The first was of a military analyst in the great planet Olympia with millenniums spent to further the Eternals' understanding of their greatest enemies, the Deviant. He knew their weaknesses and their strengths like the back of his hands. Arishem saw the potential of Janus' knowledge and selected him for the mission ahead with his teammates.

The other part of him knew that this was all a lie. There was no Olympia. There was no home. They were sent as hounds to shepherd the human herds to their slaughterhouse. They were but pawns in their creator's game. He had watched it happen on the big screen in another life, another time, definitely another world.

How was he here? How did this happen? He did not know. Maybe he was still a mere servant of some twisted plans, but for now, he would lie await. To shatter the deception now would turn the rest of the Eternals against him. He did not like the consequences of such actions. Especially when he was not a primary fighter. Janus was an analyst. He would do what he did best, analyze. Maybe in time, he would show them the truth and persuade them to his side. Just like how Sersi did so in the theater. Hopefully better.

Janus was so lost in his thoughts he almost missed the semi-transparent golden orb exiting from Arishem's statue and entering Ajak. Her eyes shot open then, and with her firm, motherly voice, she said, "It is time."

Like clockwork, the rest of the Eternals awoke from their slumber. He knew what to do. They all did. The group of eleven stood up from their seats and walked towards their designated spots. Their backs aligned with the dome as golden lines spread in circular patterns.

Janus' implanted memories helped to maintain his composure on the surface. However, his human mind was flaming with excitement. He never existed in the movie that Jamie, the human, saw on his trip to the cinema. He eagerly waited for his armor to expand to completion as his thoughts turned towards the ridiculous situation. It was one thing to watch the scenes and another to live it. Eternals, Celestials, and Deviants can wait. He had to satisfy his curiosity first.

The armor successfully integrated with his body. No surprises there. The mixture of deep purple and brilliant gold helped uphold his sophisticated looks, at least the appearance in his fake Eternal past. Janus moved towards the glass-like window to gaze at himself. What greeted him was a chiseled face of an Asian man in his late twenties. He was on the younger side, it seemed but not as youthful as Makkari, Druig and poor Sprite. Sharp purple eyes stared at themselves like two shiny amethysts in a sea of white. His short buzz cut made him wonder if all researchers on Olympia like him, and Phastos had adorned such fashionable style. Of course, they didn't, but it was interesting nonetheless.

"and you?" The female to his left asked as both she and a male Eternal stared at him. "I'm sorry, I missed that. What did you ask?" Janus responded in indifference. He was thinking about how identical they looked to their movie counterparts on the inside. He pondered whether he was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any other version in the Marvel Multiverse. Yet, they all looked the same in the movie. It was incredible.

"We were exchanging names. I am Sersi." Her tone seemed hesitant. His stiff expression might have been too much.

"Ikaris." The Eternal clad in blue and gold added in.

"Ah yes. I was admiring the view. I am called Janus." His words seemed to intrigue Sersi a bit since he spotted a smile growing on her face. Then, the future couple returned their attention towards the blue planet in the distance. Janus, however, turned his view towards the others.

Kingo, Druig, Sprite, and Makkari were socializing. No doubt exchanging names similar to his situation just now. Gilgamesh and Thena were showing each other their weapons. 'Warriors think alike, I guess.' Janus thought this was the seed of their friendship. He did not know whether it had grown to become platonic or romantic yet. It wasn't like the movie defined that. Before he could get to Phastos and Ajak, he heard her voice calling them back to their seats.

"We are fast approaching our destination. We should do a brief introduction so everyone can get to know each other a bit. After all, we will be working together for an undetermined amount of time. I am Ajak, prime Eternal for this mission, as you might have known. I specialized in healing." Ajak urged everyone.

"Ikaris. Flight and cosmic energy rays." The golden boy was pleased with his own version of what he thought was an introduction.

"My name is Makkari. Nice to meet you all. My power is super speed." The speedster chirped in right after with her signs.

…

"And I'm Janus. My abilities allow replicating of most things I am in contact with." He said. He got a few stares at that. It appeared that even to the Eternals, his power was rare. It was not like he could rely on their fabricated memories. He had plans to make friends with the group since it would only help him in the long run. So this could establish that he was willing to cooperate. Janus stood up from his chair, his mind and body fragmented into three different pieces. The scene was surreal as two identical bodies shifted out of Janus' original body with the golden glow of cosmic runes carved by his creators.

“I could also do it with objects.”

“Although sentient beings are a bit tricky.”

“They would only be husks of their former selves.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The three men stood side by side and sequentially spoke. All of them were Janus, and none was alone. Together, they made the entity that is called Janus. The men returned to their original state and sat down in his seat. "Please, if you would let me, I would love to do some small tests with all of your powers if you allow me to. I am an analyst. It would be my pleasure to understand each one of you better." He said with a bright smile on his face. At least, what he thought was a smile. It appeared that no emotions were shown on his face at all. Any expression would not translate to his facial muscles. 'What the hell is this? Is this a glitch in the system? Am I some kind of faulty Eternal?' Janus silently expressed his concerns.

"He's a chatty one." Sprite made her sly remark, which earned her a stern gaze from Ajak.

"Thank you for that demonstration, Janus. Now that everyone is acquainted, you will all be dismissed. Please keep in mind that we will reach our destination soon." Ajak's eyes showed a sense of uncompromising duty. Janus thought of how similar they were to Ikaris. The golden boy will betray them later. Janus didn't know what to do with this situation, but he was sure that he would not sit still and let all that happen. They would be spending more than seven thousand years together after all. Bonds like that did not come cheap.

…

Janus walked into his designated area on the Domo. The room flashed to lights with the highly advanced technologies for him to utilize. A large table for dissecting Deviants at the center of the room laced with disposing rays meant to shred the "leftovers." He knew how to use them. Hell, he had centuries of experience with them. Arishem really outdid himself with these implanted experiences. Janus' thoughts flowed to how Arishem had no notions of monitoring them through machinery but only with Ajak. An oversight on his part for sure. 'Arrogance of a superior life form, maybe?' Janus was not going to let that get to him. He did not plan on writing or recording anything down. The synthetics in him wouldn't let him forget any details, even if he wanted to. There was no need to leave any evidence of his defiance behind.

Janus willed his machines to life as bright yellow lights intertwined themselves into images of the other Eternals. He copied down the information provided by each of the ten on their powers and unique abilities. This was just the beginning of his plans. The first step was information gathering. He needed to understand them to the best of his abilities. Gather the data. He required their strengths, their powers, their likes and dislikes, their hobbies, their preferences, anything, and all things. Understanding will help him prepare for the possibilities of fighting each and every one of them. On the surface, it will be in the name of furthering the mission and supporting them against the deviants. However, in his mind, he will note down weaknesses, contingency plans, and emotional or physical flaws for his own advantage. The project name was Morning Star. A fitting name in his thoughts. If he couldn't reason with them, then he would incapacitate them. 'No deaths. Incapacitate.' He was not a cruel man. He didn't want people who would become his family to die by his own hands.

Knock Knock

Janus turned around to see Makkari looking back and forth between him and the holographic representations of the team. Her expression of puzzlement was evident on her face. Unlike him, everyone else could show appropriate emotions to given situations. 'Why am I so different? Odd.' He thought quickly before returning to the matters at hand.

"A little bit of note-taking. It's what I do. How can I help you, Makkari?" Janus signed the symbols and mouthed the words toward Makkari. He thought about how she had to constantly feel the vibrations to "hear." It was a gripping power. 'I want to know more, but not now.'

"Ajak wanted everyone to come back to the main hall. There's an emergency." Her hands moved instinctually.

"Very well. Thank you for relaying the message." Makkari nodded at his words and left to tell the others. Janus waved his hands which shut down the interface in front of him. He walked towards the main hall. Along the way, he bumped into Gilgamesh, who just exited his area.

"You know anything about this?" Gilgamesh asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Whatever it is. It's probably Deviant related." Janus stepped out of the way and gestured the muscular man to walk with him.

"Finally. Some actions." Gilgamesh replied, and together they continued the stroll.

…

"We have a problem. Based on my scanner, three deviants are rushing towards our destination." Phastos spoke as soon as everyone reached the room.

Gilgamesh gave Janus a nod of acknowledgment. Then, just like the leader she was, Ajak sprung to action. "Ikaris, Kingo, Makkari, Thena, and Gilgamesh. You will engage the deviants immediately upon landing. Make sure to be careful. We don't have any information on this planet's Deviants yet. Also, try to keep them in fair condition, Janus will have to study them after. The rest will come with me to calm the humans. They will be frightened. So we'll need to be as gentle as possible."

…

Time: 5000 BCE. Location: Mesopotamia.

The battle against the Deviants was exciting to Janus, to say the least. He was a bit disappointed, though, since Ikaris's fight led the creature's corpse to fall under the sea. It wasn't like they could not retrieve the carcass. It was a mere inconvenience. He sighed at the thought. Nonetheless, he had significant data from this fight alone, which he needed to go through later.

Upon landing, Janus immediately got to work, leaving the rest non-fighters to deal with the humans. As fake as they were, he had memories for tens of thousands of years as an Eternal. Needless to say, they triumphed over whatever bit of humanity left in him. Before he left, Janus took a metallic bead out of his armor, which was duplicated into three on his palm. He threw the golden marbles up into the sky, and they expanded into three basketball-sized spheres with floating runic engravings. Then, his body split into three forms and moved towards the directions of the fallen Deviants. Each of the research drones followed closely behind their backs.

The humans marveled at his feats. Then, one of the Janus, Janus-three, stopped his tracks and shifted his gaze between the floating Ikaris and the ocean. He spoke towards the fly-boy. "Do you mind fetching that?" Which prompted a reply from Ikaris. "Sure." In the meantime, Janus-three's focus changed to everything in the surrounding area. From the grass at his feet to the speared fishes in baskets to the humans. His orb scanned everything he could get his hands on.

The humans were fearful at the approach of his drone. They raised their spears to the Eternals then. Druig used his gift to willed them to stop their antagonistic actions. "Very tactful, aren't you?" Druig's sarcastic remarks shot in his direction. “You are scaring them, Janus.” Sersi expressed her concerns with buried brows, to which Janus-three replied. "Communications are your department. I am but a humble researcher."

Ajak placed a hand on his shoulder then. "I understand, Prime Ajak. I'll be more "tactful" as Druig put it." The orb backed away from the anxious humans and returned to studying the plants-life in the area. It did not matter. Janus had collected enough data on the humans for now. 'So these were my ancestors, huh? Can't say I'm impressed.' They were merely fuel for the fire of Tiamut in the years to come, but he wouldn't let the emergence be. His thoughts on mortals were never favorable as an Eternal but living briefly as a human had taught him their joy, kindness, and love despite the abundance of shortcomings. No. He would not let them die, much less the entire planet with countless species inhabiting it.