Who decides what is "good"? Who decides what is "bad"? Who decides what to keep and what to discard?
It was ridiculous.
If such a situation truly existed, it meant the survival or destruction of a timeline wasn't natural selection or cosmic evolution. It was artificial intervention.
A concept that overrides timelines... was it a person?
A god?
An individual?
Or an organization?
They knew nothing.
Initially, Nick Fury leaned towards skepticism. He knew heavy hitters like Captain Marvel, and even she hadn't mentioned an entity existing "above the timeline." It seemed unrealistic.
But now, he profoundly understood the phrase Frog in the Well.
Just because he hadn't seen it didn't mean it didn't exist. In higher dimensions, what seemed impossible to him might be trivial routine.
This was a difference in cognitive levels. And Lucas undoubtedly operated on a much higher cognitive dimension. He came from a universe outside the Fourth Wall. Over there, he had likely watched all the movies and comics, knowing every twist and turn of history.
A living prophet walking among men. This identity was far more significant than being a street-level "Superman."
"If that's the case, I think I understand," Hawkeye said. "But Lucas is way stronger than us, and even he fears this person or organization. What about us? Could we accidentally do something 'out of line' and get pruned too?"
"How could we..." Agent Hill instinctively rebutted.
They were big shots in the human world, sure. But in Lucas's eyes (and presumably the Watcher's eyes), they were just ordinary people. How could they influence the grand flow of history?
Their choices and actions were likely just part of the script anyway.
"No, it's possible!" Black Widow countered. "Don't forget, we have this diary now. We know a lot about the future. Can you guarantee that our knowledge won't change the future? Won't affect key nodes?"
"For example, the Purple Potato snapping his fingers. We want to stop that, right? But setting aside whether we succeed... if we do succeed, won't that immediately attract the organization's attention? Won't they come for us?"
"Exactly," Fury nodded grimly. "Take Thor. He definitely wants to stop Ragnarok. But if he succeeds, will that trigger an intervention? The General Trend cannot be changed."
The team slumped in their chairs, feeling defeated.
If that were true, everything they did was futile. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't change the outcome. Yet, their very nature compelled them to try.
"We can observe Lucas's future actions to confirm this," Coulson suggested. "He mentioned the Snap is inescapable—a causality weapon that kills regardless of distance, time, or space. That means Lucas himself is on the kill list."
"I don't believe he's willing to just die as part of the 'masses' to a Snap he mocks. So we just need to watch him. Does he try to stop the Purple Potato? If he does, then maybe our guess is wrong, or maybe... Small details can change, major trends cannot."
"Correct. Let's not panic. The person most eager to save himself should be Lucas. We just need to follow his lead," Fury agreed, stabilizing the room's morale. "But at the same time, we stick to standard procedure. Do not recklessly interfere with 'Major Trends.' Otherwise, we might become a thorn in someone's eye and get erased without even knowing why."
Meanwhile, Tony Stark arrived at the same conclusion.
His focus aligned with Fury's: Can the predetermined future be changed?
"Does 'predetermined future' mean the original history? Or does it mean something that cannot be changed regardless of past, present, or future intervention? Troublesome. He's too vague!" Tony complained.
Lucas's ambiguity made deduction difficult.
"But this 'Fisherman King'... J.A.R.V.I.S., set a reminder. If there really comes a day when Thor holds a coronation ceremony in a fishing village, remind me to attend. I've never been to a royal coronation in a fishing village before," Tony smirked.
If he couldn't figure out the cosmic philosophy, he might as well find amusement in the absurdity.
"However, if he's being crowned in a fishing village, it means Asgard is finished. All their great cities must be destroyed," Tony analyzed. "But is this fishing village on Asgard or Earth?"
"Sir, based on data analysis, it is likely on Earth," J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. "There is no evidence of fishing ports in Asgardian geography, neither in myths nor in the diary. Combined with the event being 'Ragnarok,' I lean towards the theory that Asgard is physically destroyed, and Thor escapes to Earth as a refugee."
"What kind of crisis could destroy a civilization as powerful as Asgard?" Tony wondered. It was a pity he couldn't ask Lucas directly.
To him, even a declining Asgard—a "Paper Tiger"—was still lightyears ahead of Earth. If even they couldn't stop it, the threat was massive.
"If we follow Norse mythology, Asgard is ultimately destroyed by the Fire Giant Surtur," J.A.R.V.I.S. noted.
"So assuming Ragnarok must happen... and if the writers outside the Fourth Wall used the myths as a reference... then the ending shouldn't deviate too much," Tony stroked his goatee.
"In other words, I'm 70% sure the one who destroys Asgard is Surtur. After all, they need to fulfill that sense of 'Destiny', right?"
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