Inner dialogue/thoughts'
"Normal dialogue"
[System]
[Diary entries]
(Word Count: 1,955)
~ At the same time, with Fury in his personal office within SHIELD HQ ~
'Finally. . .' Fury sighed in relief, 'That's one headache resolved.'
Over the past few days, Fury and Phil had worked tirelessly to gather damning evidence against Obadiah Stane to get him arrested. He had first sent Phil to covertly gather the financial records of Stane's illegal activities, before sending a tipoff to the respective federal agencies. The rest was clockwork.
Thanks to Stane's high-profile status, the feds were eager to catch him and put him behind bars because it could mean either promotion or elevate the status of their Agency, as well as their own. And while in the diary it was stated that Tony would be able to defeat Stane by himself, Fury could not take that risk for a few reasons.
The first reason was that due to his earlier actions, he was not sure if the events from Luke's timeline would ever come to pass, for he had already changed much of the initial timeline events – from the rescue of the Maximoff siblings, to the failed protection of Tony Stark even with additional security, and to the use of Natasha to keep in close contact with Luke causing her to be exposed early to Virginia Potts.
Secondly, elements from Luke's own world could come into play regardless of whether the events from the diary would take place or not, such as the Abyssal Covenant's presence in their world. Even if Tony and Stane were to end up in a David vs Goliath type fight, Fury could not guarantee that Marak Azathraal would not use that fight as a distraction to do something that could cause a bigger and more dire consequences.
Thus, with the uncertainty of future events as well as possible interference from external parties, Fury figured that instead of sending Phil to Stark to re-stabilize the timeline, he could just prevent the whole Stark vs Stane battle from ever taking place. Although he did not know if doing so would create issues in the future, he did not care for it either ways.
Fury was someone practical, and not a supernatural person. He did not have the same beliefs as the Ancient One, whereby the timeline was sacred and needed to be protected. Instead, Fury believed that if the future knowledge would prove beneficial for his goals, then he would use it without reservations.
'Anyways, I've already changed the timeline so much, what's one more going to do?'
~ Later that night with Luke, in his apartment in Los Angeles ~
Luke had returned from the café not too long ago and was spending his downtime by creating music from his past world. Thanks to the abilities from the system, Luke found that he had a much easier time during his daily meditation. And up until a few days ago, he realized that he did not need to meditate daily any longer which had freed up much of his personal time.
Now, to occupy his time, Luke was either texting or on a call with Wanda, or he was finally indulging in his hobbies, particularly in playing music. But since most of the songs from his world did not exist, instead of playing his favourite songs, he was technically creating them.
Finishing up the recording of the song he was currently working on, Luke stretched his body. 'I think I'll take a break for now. That reminds me, if the popular songs in my world does not exist here, what about the TV programmes, movies, anime, novels and stuff?'
Wanting to verify his thoughts, he switched on his TV and began channel surfing, hoping to find any programmes from his previous world. However, when he reached the national news channel, he stopped surfing as he saw the current breaking news in the Marvel world.
"Breaking News! Obadiah Stane, COO of Stark Industries, has been arrested on the accounts of illegal market dealings, tax evasions, corporate espionage, internal trading, among others!"
Luke's full attention was on watching the news unfold, curious at the sudden arrest of Stane. He also knew who the person behind this arrest was, 'Fury's made his move. Well, I can't say I'm surprised. I gave him every push he needed to investigate into Stane, it'd be even more surprising to me if Fury didn't act on it and let Tony and Stane fight like in the ending of Iron Man.
But then this means another MCU event won't come to pass. The timeline is changing so much, if not for the system, I am a hundred and ten percent certain that the Ancient One would have paid me a visit long ago.' He mused.
"However, in an exclusive news received by an anonymous source, we've also been made aware that the kidnapping of Tony Stark was planned by Mr Stane himself."
"Well, that's interesting." Luke muttered. As he continued watching the news, they also showed an attempted interview with Tony Stark, however, Tony had only stated that he was going to find out for himself on whether the news was true. Pepper and Happy later added that they would not be providing any interviews or comments, and that the public would have to wait on the official statement from Stark Industries.
'Since Fury's acted on the tips I've dropped, I wonder if that means his trust rating has gone up?' Luke wondered as he checked with the system.
[Responding to host, current holders of System Diary: Wanda Django Maximoff (98%), Natasha Alianovna Romanova (91%), Nicolas Joseph Fury (73%), Freyja Freyrdottir (10%)]
'. . . Are you kidding me? Only Wanda's rating has gone up, and that too by a mere 1%? What the hell is holding Natasha and Fury back. . .' Luke complained internally.
However, before he could complain any further, he noticed that Frigga's trust percentage had also been updated. '10%? That means she's read the diary already. I wonder what'll change on her side, as well as Asgard.' He wondered.
Thus far, every single diary entry had been specifically written and targeted to manipulate Wanda, Natasha and Fury, which meant writing about events that only happened on Earth. Now that there was an Asgardian, Luke needed to decide if he would maintain writing solely regarding Earth and its heroes, or if he should include writing about Thor and Asgard.
'If I recall correctly, Frigga was raised by witches. I wonder if the low percentage is due to her caution as a witch, or because the diary has nothing to do with Asgard and her sons. If it was the former, then there is nothing that I can do. However, if it is the latter, then instead of Asgard itself, maybe I'll start writing about Thor and Loki. She is a doting and caring mother, maybe writing about her sons would help to increase her trust rating.' He concluded.
To test his theories, Luke decided to write the next entry and include Thor in the entry. If the rating goes up, he will then know that his second theory was right. As he thought about what he could write, an amusing thought passed through his mind.
'I might be able to max the trust rating of the Queen of Asgard much earlier than a dude who doesn't even have his own secret spy agency under his complete control.'
~ At the same time with Frigga, within her chambers in Asgard ~
It had been a few days since Frigga had first received the mysterious diary. Aside from the initial entries, she had not dared to read any further just yet, as she realized that the owner of the diary, Luke Sullivan, was a person from the future of a parallel Earth.
As a sorceress raised by witches, Frigga was well aware of the intricacies and sensitivity of the sacred timeline. She knew from the first entry that both her sons would be featured in the diary, and feared that by reading deeper into the diary, her destiny within the sacred timeline would be altered, leading to monumental consequences in the future.
And so, she decided that she would stop reading the diary for the time being. However, that did not stop her curiosity regarding the appearance and existence of the diary itself, as well as its owner.
On the side of the diary, after concluding that the diary meant no harm towards her from her initial tests and due to reading about the dire situation from the very first entry, she had wanted to share the contents with her husband, the King of Asgard, Odin the Allfather. However, as soon as she even tried to speak about it, a sense of imminent death hung over her as she began having difficulties to breathe.
Odin, seeing Frigga react that way, had called for the royal physicians as he helped to stabilize her. However, not a moment later, Frigga had returned back to normal and informed Odin that it was unnecessary. Odin had wanted to insist, worried about her well-being. But she denied him, and since she could not explain what had happened to her earlier as well, she reassured Odin by stating that she would visit her old acquaintances instead.
Knowing who they were, even Odin was re-assured. On the other hand, Frigga's caution on the diary only grew. She had been holding the diary the entire time, and yet Odin had not once glanced at the diary. Moreover, when he had tried to help her, his hand had intercepted with the diary, and yet, seemed to have merely passed through it, almost as if the diary did not exist in the physical realm.
As she regained her composure, she brought the diary up to Odin's eyes, and realized that as powerful as Odin was, even he could not see the diary. This meant only one thing to Frigga, the person who sent this diary to her was stronger than her husband, and the only people known to be stronger than her husband among the nine realms could be counted on one hand.
The following day after that incident, she had informed Odin that she would be off to see her acquaintances. However, when she arrived at the coven she was raised in, she was met with the same situation she experienced with Odin. She had tried to hint at the existence of the diary but found that it was impossible to do that as well.
She then asked about magics that could bend reality as it saw fit and was told about the powers of the six infinity stones, specifically on the Reality Stone. However, it was not until one of the newer witches of the Coven, Agatha Harkness, bringing up an old, forgotten Ancient Primal Magic, that caught her attention.
Chaos Magic.
- End of Chapter 82 -
Next time in *C83 - Chaos Magic.
Heimdall did not like that he was keeping a secret from his king, but he also could not deny the words of his queen. Choosing to believe in her, Heimdall had sworn secrecy, but would not hesitate to expose the truth of the matter to his king if the matter causes any form of danger to Asgard, which Frigga assured would not happen.
[A/N]