After dinner, everyone gathered in the living room, relaxing on the sofa.
Wanda and Elaine went to slice some fruit and brought it out neatly arranged on trays.
The atmosphere was warm and comfortable—until Tony frowned, deep in thought about something.
A few moments later, he looked at Lucas.
"Lucas, don't you think there was something strange about that passenger plane you saved today?"
Lucas swallowed the fruit in his mouth and turned toward him.
"So you noticed it too?"
Tony removed a ring from his finger and set it on the table.
"JARVIS, bring up the data."
[Right away, sir.]
From the ring, thin beams of light—finer than strands of hair—projected into the air, forming a miniature holographic display.
Even Lucas couldn't help but be impressed.
After all, it was only 2004.
In the original world, phones were still stuck in the early wireless era, yet here Tony Stark had already developed full holographic projection.
"I asked JARVIS to retrieve the flight's previous data," Tony said.
"And I found that its flight path suddenly changed midair."
As he spoke, the hologram displayed several flight simulations.
Planes appeared on the screen—each showing similar malfunctions before plummeting toward the ground.
"Look," Tony continued, "I ran the simulation multiple times. For a crash to land exactly on your house would require a lot of factors working together."
"Fuel capacity, engine failure, wing damage—so many things would have to coincide perfectly."
A sharp glint flashed in Tony's eyes.
"If one or two coincidences happen, that's chance. But when there are too many—there's only one explanation."
Lucas finished his thought.
"They were engineered coincidences."
Tony gestured, and the hologram shifted again—this time into multiple live video feeds.
"Now watch this," he said. "I had JARVIS gather every image of the plane we could find. Turns out, this aircraft wasn't even supposed to be on that route."
He tapped his fingers rapidly as the hologram replayed new footage.
"Combine that with the data we just received from the American Aviation Agency—specifically the black box and flight logs—and here's what we know: someone altered the flight's system midair."
"Normally, only the captain and co-pilot could access that system. But when I had JARVIS inspect the internal code, we found an embedded manual override—an unauthorized program."
"I cross-checked the recordings, and the only person capable of doing this was this man."
Tony waved his hand, merging all screens into one massive display.
A man in a black trench coat and hood appeared.
"JARVIS couldn't trace him," Tony said grimly.
"His records have been completely erased—professionally, deliberately. Not a single trace left."
"Whoever he is, he used quantum transmission tech—real-time data infiltration impossible for ordinary networks."
"He hacked an aircraft control system using nothing but a modified laptop."
Lucas studied the man's image carefully but didn't recognize him.
He turned to Tony.
"If you were on that plane with JARVIS, could you do the same thing?"
[I'm sorry, sir. Even under legal authorization, I couldn't.]
[Commercial aircraft networks aren't connected to public internet. Even with my computational power, direct access would be impossible.]
[Unless a data receiver had been pre-installed on the aircraft beforehand. In that case, yes—it would be possible.]
Lucas went silent, deep in thought.
If this had happened before he wiped out Hydra, he'd have suspected them instantly.
But Hydra was already finished—completely dismantled.
"Could this be the work of Hydra remnants?" Tony asked.
"Unlikely," Lucas replied.
"If they still had the ability to pull this off, then I'd have left ghosts behind."
He leaned back slightly.
"Don't worry. I've already ordered all four major departments to log every passenger from that flight. Their full backgrounds are being checked. If anything turns up, I'll know first."
"So for now," Lucas said, "we'll put this aside."
Tony nodded and retrieved his ring—only to notice several young faces staring at it with barely concealed fascination.
He smiled.
"Relax, I'll bring each of you one next time. Consider it a gift."
The younger ones lit up with delight, quickly thanking him.
Just then, Lucas's phone rang.
"Coulson?" Lucas blinked at the caller ID in surprise.
Since the major purge of S.H.I.E.L.D., global operations had fallen into chaos. Even Director Fury's most loyal agent, the ever-polite Phil Coulson, had seemingly vanished from the public eye.
Lucas answered.
"Agent Coulson—long time no see. What's the occasion?"
"Mr. Lucas," Coulson's voice came through, polite as always.
"Indeed, it's been some time. I have a rather unusual situation here—and I was hoping you could take a look."
"What kind of situation?" Lucas asked, intrigued.
"I'm currently in a small town in New Mexico," Coulson replied.
"A few days ago, we detected the impact of a strange object. When we arrived, we found what appeared to be a hammer-shaped artifact buried in the crater."
"We built a temporary research outpost around it—but then a man appeared, claiming to be the son of Odin, Prince of Asgard, and demanded his hammer back."
"He tried to retrieve it by force but couldn't lift it… so we detained him."
Lucas's eyes lit up immediately.
So Thor's storyline has finally begun.
The fool from Asgard has arrived.
'The timeline for Thor 1 came earlier than expected,' he thought.
'Could that mean Avengers 1 will also shift forward?'
Coulson continued, "The hammer's bizarre. We've tried every method imaginable—winches, cranes, heavy machinery—but it won't budge an inch."
"I reported it to Director Fury, and he told me to contact you and your team. If it's convenient, could you come take a look?"
"Send me your coordinates," Lucas said immediately, standing up.
"I'll be there soon."
"I'm coming too," Clark said, rising.
"A man claiming to be a god? That I have to see for myself."
"I'll get my armor," Tony said as he headed for the door.
"Not letting you two leave me in the dust again."
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