At the TVA Time Court, Judge Ravonna was putting a Time Criminal on trial.
"Howard Stark, you have been accused of violating the Sacred Timeline and conducting unauthorized spacetime experiments that caused a Timeline branch. Do you have anything to say?"
The Howard Stark on trial was Howard Stark from Universe 876-56. An accident had occurred during the Tesseract experiment. First, a strange spacetime passage had appeared at the scene, followed by a burst of brilliant colors. Then a bald woman had appeared, followed by a group of people who looked like Security Guards.
After that, he had been dragged here.
He was utterly confused.
"Let me ask... if this is a court, where is my lawyer?"
Bang! Bang!
Ravonna irritably struck the gavel several times. A lawyer? The Time Court didn't have lawyers for shit.
"Do you plead guilty?"
"Me?" Howard was furious too. He had never been treated like this before!
"What crime have I committed? We defeated the German Army and ended the war. Just when we were about to solve the energy crisis once and for all, you kidnapped me? And you dare say I'm guilty?"
Ignoring Howard's defense, Ravonna struck the gavel again.
"This court finds you guilty and sentences you to—" Ravonna had intended to sentence Howard to "resetting," but she glanced at his record again.
He was a highly intelligent talent with a strong moral compass. Perhaps he could become an asset to the TVA—several other divisions had already recruited a few Howards, and they worked remarkably fast. She could recruit one too.
After all, they were short-staffed now.
"Imprisonment. Next case."
The Bailiffs dragged Howard away by both arms. This young genius naturally refused to accept it. "Imprisonment? You absurd bureaucrats have no right to decide my fate..."
Yet his resistance was