New York, 2010.
The television was still broadcasting the report about A.I.M.'s complete destruction by a giant Dragon the previous night.
Tessa and the others were still lying quietly in bed, as if nothing had changed.
However, when Aaron connected to the network, he found that the timeline had undergone subtle modifications. But the past and the present were still on the same line.
He had not created a time branch, he had genuinely reversed the past.
"1945 was a day of sorrow for America: Captain America went missing in the Greenland Sea, and Peggy Carter succeeded him as Captain America..."
"In 1963, President Kennedy had a bizarre idea..."
"In 1973, during the Bahrain Peace Accord, Professor Bolivar Trask was assassinated by a Mutant codenamed Mystique, marking the first appearance of Mutants in the public eye."
"December 16, 1991: Stark Industries founder Howard and his wife were attacked. The next day, Obadiah became the interim CEO of Stark Industries, filling the void left by the legendary founder."
"In 2005, the Green Monster rampaged through New York..."
"May 1, 2009: Tony was attacked..."
Overall, the important timeline had not changed. But in some details, subtle changes had occurred.
However, the timeline was twisted back to the normal time point by some force. No matter how many detours it took, it would return to the line where Aaron resided through strange means.
Those who had intimate relationships with Aaron still retained their previous experiences.
"It seems that the timelines of the people connected to me are fixed. Theoretically, their past cannot be affected by any temporal power other than mine?" Aaron speculated privately.
This was a good thing. At least he didn't have to worry about certain time-controlling entities, such as Khonshu or Kang, randomly altering time.
Aaron was equivalent to a temporal node.
The time he travelled to was another node.
The two nodes connected to form a line.
How the line changed during this process didn't matter, because it would ultimately arrive at Aaron's node. No time branches could be created during this period. No other parallel Universes would be generated.
If Kang knew this, he would probably shout that this was the sacred timeline he wanted.
However, the time Aaron was in was another sacred timeline anchored by Aaron himself. At least, the past was this way.
As for the future that hadn't happened yet, Aaron wasn't certain.
The future held infinite possibilities. Before it occurred, nothing could be guaranteed.
But one thing was certain. Individuals like Kang could not shake the timeline Aaron was on.
As for Eternity... that was hard to say.
As Aaron watched, he was suddenly drawn to a piece of news.
"Spider-Man Appears in New York."
Spider-Man? No, it was Spider-Woman.
Looking at the fleeting black-and-white figure on the news, Aaron confirmed it wasn't Felicia, as she wouldn't wear such an immature, low-quality costume.
She preferred black leather, the Black Cat Costume, which resembled Catwoman but had its own unique style.
Aaron carefully looked at another image.
He realized it was his secretary, Gwen Stacy.
His eyes were like a ruler. The error margin for height, weight, and measurements was less than 0.0001.
Aaron was a bit surprised.
He had always thought Peter Parker would become Spider-Man but instead, Gwen became Spider-Woman first.
But then a problem arose.
"Theoretically, only one Spider-Man can be born in a Universe. If Gwen is Spider-Man, then what about Peter?"
Aaron was very curious about Peter Parker's future but then he thought again and realized something was wrong.
If Gwen truly became the Spider-Man of this world, then she would also inevitably lose an "Uncle Ben".
"Uncle Ben" doesn't just refer to Ben. If there's a Ben, Ben will die. If there's no Ben, then Aunt May will die.
But if there's neither Ben nor May, then the Spider-Man's most beloved elder, the person who cares about them the most, will die.
And Gwen...
"George Stacy!"
Aaron thought of what happened in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
According to the worldview of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse, the Universes of Spider-Men are woven into an invisible and vast Web of Life and Destiny, formed by each person's life. This web is composed of countless lines and countless nodes.
Each node is an absolute fixed point in time, a major event.
The death of "Uncle Ben" and the famous kiss between Spider-Man and MJ are both among the nodes.
If these nodes do not occur, the connections of these nodes could break, leading to a Universe-destroying crisis.
It's a bit like Strange Supreme in the What If...? Universe.
His world collapsed into a small ball because he tried to change an absolute fixed point in time, leaving only him alive in the vast Universe.
Aaron wasn't sure if this Universe was also one of the Spider-Multiverses.
Aaron thought for a moment.
It seemed... even if it wasn't a Spider-Multiverse, these things would still happen.
At least in his memory, all Spider-Men have experienced similar scenes and uttered that very famous line: "With great power comes great responsibility."
So, will a Cannon Event occur here with Spider-Gwen?
"It seems I need to pay a little more attention to the little spider from now on."
Gwen is his secretary, and Aaron didn't want anything major to happen to her that might affect her work.
Thinking of this, he called Gwen.
After waiting for a while, Gwen's breathless voice came from the other end. "I'm sorry, boss, I just finished dealing with some small trouble. Do you have anything to instruct?"
"I'm at the Aaron Industries building right now, why aren't you in the office?" Aaron lied with a straight face.
Gwen's heart skipped a beat. "Um... I had a document that required on-site inspection, and I'll be back in about ten minutes."
Gwen glanced at the document she had placed in the lining of her uniform, she wasn't lying.
However, during this process, she conveniently took down a few armed men, and then stopped a bank robbery.
Aaron was silent for a moment.
Gwen was quite flustered, feeling that Aaron had already discovered her hidden truth.
As one of Aaron's closest secretaries, she knew that this boss was no mortal. And Aaron's direct secretarial office definitely doesn't keep idlers.
At a glance, there were the three sisters, who are silicon-based life forms, Ava, who has quantum phasing abilities, Kitty, who can phase through walls, Clarice, who can teleport, Anna, who can absorb abilities, and the ruthless Felicia.
And Maria was an Agent before.
There wasn't a single ordinary person.
Before yesterday, Gwen had felt out of place with them because she wasn't "special" enough.
But yesterday, after work, when she stayed in the building for some reason, she was bitten by a spider and she successfully integrated in.
Excited, Gwen found an errand to go out first thing in the morning to test her abilities. But she didn't expect that on her first day as a superhero, she would be caught by her boss during a surprise inspection.
"Gwen, is there anything else you haven't told me?" Aaron's voice sounded again, striking directly at Gwen's biggest concern.
"As your boss, I think I have an obligation to care about your personal physical condition."
"You agree, don't you?"
Aaron instantly left the villa and arrived at the top of the tallest building in the Brooklyn District. He looked down at this modern metropolis.
"Boss, I..."
"No need to speak, I'm at the most conspicuous place in the Brooklyn District right now, you'll see me when you get here."
Aaron hung up the phone, preparing to have a good talk with his secretary.
When Gwen, who was in the Brooklyn District, heard this, she looked left and right. Considering Aaron's identity, she subconsciously looked up at the sky.
She saw the tallest building.
She didn't know if it was a connection from the unseen but Gwen changed direction and "flew" towards the building.
Using the nearest tall building to reach the middle-upper section of the building, Gwen climbed up the ninety-degree building with her hands and feet.
***
New Book
Anime Crossover: Sasuke Template
After transmigrating to the Demon Slayer world, Yamada fortunately obtained the [Dimensional Template System] and acquired [Template: Sasuke (Mangekyo Sharingan Period)].
The greater the change in the plot, the more Dimension Points he gets. With said points, he can upgrade the template, buy new skills and even go to other worlds.