When Marcus returned to this world, he had noticed certain changes but hadn't paid them significant attention at the time. However, during his temporal conversation with the Ancient One, he detected those time fluctuations again.
Someone in this reality was continuously traveling through time, and what had originally been a single timeline was now experiencing various alterations.
"Is there a temporal problem, or something else entirely?" Marcus wondered with growing suspicion.
The situation here was clearly abnormal. Those time travelers shuttled through various timelines as if attempting to gather divergent temporal branches together.
But every time they completed these temporal journeys, the timeline would branch further. Through their actions, these scattered timelines multiplied exponentially.
Through temporal observation, Marcus witnessed increasingly fragmented timelines, many of which had split from his current reality.
However, these timelines shared one common characteristic: none contained any trace of Marcus himself.
Marcus existed in no specific time and space while simultaneously existing in all of them.
This represented his unique nature—a special ability born after his return to singularity.
He was the sole eternal existence, and no additional versions of himself could manifest anywhere. From this perspective, his power aligned somewhat with the five Creation Gods.
Except for Galactus, all other gods were unified existences. They symbolized their domains and served as ultimate explanations after unification.
For example, among the five gods, Death symbolized the death concept. Only living beings could die, so she also possessed dominion over life.
These opposite forces formed a complete circle, making her power unified.
Death might not care about any individual life's mortality, but she represented the death concept itself, so birth and death throughout the universe directly related to her.
This was power after unification—the most intuitive representation.
"Where are these people coming from?" Marcus muttered.
Inadvertently, he discovered the timeline had increased again, which confused him considerably.
The timeline didn't expand by one or two branches—it grew in batches. Within a single breath, more than a dozen timelines with different developments had appeared.
If this continued, no one could predict the eventual consequences.
However, for Marcus, these weren't the most crucial considerations.
What he truly wanted to understand was how these people were traveling through time and space.
"Fascinating. What occurred here after my departure?"
Stark Industries Base
Compared to Marcus, Tony and the others felt much more relaxed. They had been fighting for countless days, and now that the war had ended, even Steve—who had reached peak human conditioning—couldn't resist exhaustion and fell asleep on his shield within Bucky's spacecraft.
Everyone appeared tired. Seeing their condition, Marcus chose not to disturb them further.
Everyone was too exhausted. Now that the tension in their hearts had relaxed, no one could resist their weary bodies.
Aboard the spacecraft, Marcus sat motionlessly, quietly contemplating who was causing the timeline's continuous expansion.
"While Ant-Man's quantum realm can enable time travel, these people's activities are too frequent. They must be using specialized methods."
The strange temporal changes intrigued Marcus. He was genuinely curious about these individuals' actions.
Just as he contemplated this, temporal fluctuations appeared somewhere on Earth, and several people emerged from a portal.
"Hmm? Someone's arriving. This timing is remarkably convenient."
Marcus hadn't expected such coincidence. He'd been seeking evidence of these people's existence, and now he was witnessing the targets personally.
But Marcus noticed Loki among these individuals. The Asgardian wore special restraints and was following them reluctantly.
"This is..." Marcus felt curious upon seeing Loki.
He could sense that this captured Loki didn't belong to this timeline—he originated from another temporal branch.
"Release me! I am a god!" Loki cursed vehemently.
He had merely touched the Tesseract while invading Earth before being teleported before these people and bound by them.
"Certainly, God. How much power do you currently possess?" the lead woman asked with obvious mockery before beginning to search nearby.
They had no time to respond to this man who had escaped his designated timeline without authorization. Did he call himself a god?
In the outside world, Loki might claim divinity, but here, before them, this so-called god couldn't escape their restraining devices.
They were Time Variance Authority members. Regardless of any god's power, they became ordinary people when confronting TVA technology.
After searching briefly, one TVA agent retrieved a stone from the ground using specialized tools. This stone didn't originate from this world but from other timelines.
"Found it! This is the target!"
What they sought was an artifact radiating magical energy. After locating it, the TVA group departed with the variant Loki.
"Time Variance Authority?" Marcus raised an eyebrow with interest.
During his absence, this world had changed dramatically.
A force he'd never encountered had appeared.
Observing where those individuals had vanished, Marcus's expression grew thoughtful. When they departed, he could clearly see these people were all mortals. Their only distinguishing feature was their specialized equipment.
"Fascinating, though I wonder who directs this so-called Time Variance Authority."
To control multiple timelines, their leader's power must be considerable. After all, this represented an entity controlling time itself.
Granting temporal control to ordinary people meant they possessed unique time manipulation methods.
No power existed that mortals could wield casually. Even Sorcerer Supremes like the Ancient One, who resisted countless dimensional threats, required Time Stone assistance.
Looking toward where those people had disappeared, Marcus flicked his finger, sending a light beam from his fingertip. The energy penetrated space still faintly emanating temporal fluctuations, pursuing those individuals.
"Let me observe your true nature."
Void power transformed into an eye, showing Marcus the surrounding environment.
This appeared to be an ordinary location—resembling an office building with hurried employees moving through the structure.
"This matches a governmental facility, but what exactly is the Time Variance Authority?"
Through the Void Eye, Marcus fell silent, quietly observing the entire TVA complex.
All employees here were ordinary people, and their combat skills represented standard fighting techniques. But the crucial difference from various worlds became apparent.
Loki, escorted here, possessed no resistance capability. His divine physiology that could withstand ammunition behaved like an ordinary human here.
If Loki retained divine power or his godly constitution, Marcus believed this individual would never appear so helpless.
After all, this was the God of Mischief and Lies. If he maintained his abilities, these people couldn't even touch him.
"It appears Loki faces serious difficulties."
Loki looked extremely dejected currently. He struggled with all his strength but ultimately couldn't break free as he had previously.
While Marcus observed, a man walked directly toward Loki. The moment he saw this person, Marcus froze.
"Howard?"
A Howard had actually emerged from the Time Variance Authority, though Marcus soon realized this wasn't the Howard he knew.
First, when he'd initially met Howard, the man had been old. Marcus had only seen Howard's youthful appearance in photographs.
Second, while this person looked nearly identical to Howard, their behaviors differed significantly.
"This Time Variance Authority truly contains all manner of individuals."
Marcus commented before attaching the Void Eye to Loki. They were departing, and he planned to use Loki as a beacon for future TVA investigations when time permitted.
Retracting his observation, Marcus raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
SNAP!
After the crisp sound, sleeping individuals were startled awake.
"We've arrived. Do you still intend to sleep here?" Marcus asked.
Hearing his words, Tony was first to rise. He had never missed his bed as intensely as now. Though his spirits had recovered considerably with Marcus's assistance, he still yearned to rest properly.
The same applied to everyone else. All stood and disembarked the spacecraft.
Their destination was a Stark Industries facility containing virtually everything they required.
"Finally, I can sleep properly. Who wants to attend tonight's party?" Tony asked.
Despite wanting rest, he still extended invitations. He would host a celebration that evening to help everyone relax.
WHOOSH!
Everyone present raised their hands. Clearly, everyone was too tired for conversation.
Seeing widespread participation, Tony nodded with satisfaction. His proposal had gained universal approval.
Everyone dispersed to their respective quarters while Tony escorted Marcus to the base's conference room.
"How about it? This represents the facility I built with considerable investment. It incorporates all my current technologies, plus some acquired from elsewhere," Tony explained, gesturing upward with a smile.
This base embodied all his technological achievements. He'd even obtained certain technologies from Howard to strengthen the installation.
Normally, the base resembled a strictly protected area. In emergencies, this would serve as Tony's most crucial logistical support fortress.
"Impressive, at least by Earth standards," Marcus observed.
After witnessing Kree Empire, Kryptonian, and Protoss technologies, Marcus had developed deeper technological understanding.
While Tony was undeniably a super genius, his work remained constrained by Earth's technological environment. Therefore, his achievements were currently advanced but didn't appear remarkable from Marcus's perspective.
However, Marcus didn't consider Tony's work inadequate. As mentioned, Tony's research was trapped within current limitations. Even providing him with advanced technology for study wouldn't enable him to develop super-technology surpassing everything.
"By Earth standards?" Tony asked with slight indignation.
His status as a super genius was well-established. His research could only be matched by Wakanda.
But he and Wakanda operated on different levels. Wakanda's technological development far exceeded other world nations. Developing powerful technology in a globally leading location wasn't shocking, but Tony was different.
He could research such capabilities purely through talent. Perhaps his father Howard had contributed, but his personal abilities remained paramount.
Tony had always taken pride in this. Within his field, he was confident he wasn't inferior to anyone!
"Yes, by Earth standards," Marcus confirmed gently.
He waved his hand, and energy-composed projections appeared before Tony.
Three images manifested: the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree Empire—a supercomputer that, before transformation into Marcus's AI system Will, had represented both the Kree's highest authority and their technological pinnacle.
The other two showed Kryptonian technology from the DC universe and Protoss/Xel'Naga technology from the StarCraft reality.
Though Krypton had been destroyed, their World Engine's power remained impressive, while Protoss and Xel'Naga technology had pursued entirely different developmental paths.
These technological displays captivated Tony completely.
As a super genius, he possessed considerable pride. Even after encountering Kree technology, Kryptonian achievements, and Xandar's Nova Corps, he had maintained his inner confidence.
But now he was genuinely shocked by these projections.
What manner of existence were these?
Each of these three different technological paradigms displayed unparalleled advancement.
Compared to such achievements, his base seemed somewhat inadequate. After all, his installation appeared immature relative to those examples.
"I understand," Tony nodded after viewing the images. "These represent technologies you discovered in space. They're truly terrifying."
"Certainly, though the most powerful technology in those images is the World Engine—merely one of their most common technologies. Stronger capabilities haven't yet been displayed."
Marcus still respected Kryptonian achievements. He retained all Kryptonian technology, meaning he could develop a new Krypton whenever desired.