Upstairs, Luca naturally didn't hear the conversation between the departing heroes, but his mind wasn't on them at the moment anyway.
Even though, in Luca's eyes, they were practically glowing with the white light of "Core Components."
Captain America's shield, Iron Man's nano-armor core and glasses, Ant-Man's suit, and even Hulk's shorts...
All of these items confirmed that objects belonging to key plot characters were more likely to be "Core Components."
But right now, he was in no mood to care about that. In fact, his face was as pale as a sheet.
Because he hadn't realized until now that he was in the exact unlucky timeline from Avengers: Endgame where Tony Stark and the others traveled back to 2012.
Why was this the "unlucky timeline"?
It went back to the Marvel series Loki, which Luca had watched not long before his transmigration.
The premise of that show was that the Avengers' time heist in Endgame went wrong. The Tesseract (Space Stone) fell into the hands of 2012 Loki.
Loki used the Tesseract to teleport away, causing a deviation in history, which led to his capture by the Time Variance Authority (TVA).
The TVA existed to protect the "Sacred Timeline," ensuring everything happened according to a predetermined script.
Loki's escape and his subsequent adventures in the TVA didn't matter to Luca right now.
What mattered was a specific scene from the show that had left a deep impression on him.
At the very beginning, after the TVA arrested Loki, they deployed a "Reset Charge" in that timeline, utterly destroying the branched reality where the deviation occurred.
Yes, the entire timeline was erased!
Back when he watched the show, Luca had complained about this to a friend.
Bruce Banner had solemnly promised the Ancient One that they would return the stones and not disrupt the timeline. But in reality, the Space Stone was stolen by Loki, forcing Iron Man and Cap to jump to 1970 to get another Tesseract. Meanwhile, the 2012 timeline they left behind was completely doomed.
He wondered who Captain America returned the other two stones to when he came back.
Although Marvel's concepts of "multiverse," "timelines," and "branches" were a confusing mess, and Luca and his friend never reached a conclusion...
Could Luca afford to gamble on this?
Gamble that he was in a timeline where the Avengers visited, but Loki didn't steal the Tesseract?
Or gamble that his very existence made this a special parallel universe immune to the TVA's pruning?
The more Luca thought about it, the uglier his expression became.
If affecting the timeline is the trigger, doesn't my existence count as affecting it? Since I haven't been arrested yet, does that mean the TVA doesn't exist in this world?
No! I have to check! No, wait! I have to stop Loki!
Luca clearly remembered that after Loki grabbed the Tesseract, he teleported straight to Mongolia, where the TVA arrested him and set off the Reset Charge before leaving.
If that happened, Luca wouldn't even be able to confirm or stop it. He would just be waiting in terror for the final judgment.
Rather than gamble on possibilities, it was better to stop Loki at the source.
If he hadn't known he couldn't beat the Endgame team, Luca might have even considered killing them all right there to prevent them from messing up the plot.
Whether their timeline survived was irrelevant to him; ensuring his own survival was the only priority!
With that decision made, Luca abandoned the idea of waiting out the Battle of New York at home. He quickly checked his gear.
After a moment's thought, he moved his mother, Gina, into the reinforced pantry, left a note, and headed out.
His destination: Stark Tower.
Actually, the streets weren't quite as deadly as Luca had imagined.
By now, the National Guard had deployed in force. Armed pickups and soldiers with heavy weapons were drawing a significant amount of fire from the Chitauri.
Although the battle was still desperate, it created space for the NYPD and firefighters to evacuate civilians.
If not for the endless stream of Chitauri pouring out of the portal in the sky, New York's defenders might have actually held the line.
Of course, this might also be because the Chitauri chariots and Leviathans were focusing their main firepower on the Avengers.
In any case, Luca, looking like an ordinary civilian, was largely ignored. A few times, he was almost dragged by police officers into the subway station for evacuation.
But such luck obviously couldn't last forever.
As Luca got closer to Stark Tower, the density of Chitauri soldiers increased.
If not for the fear of being erased from existence along with the entire timeline, Luca would have retreated long ago.
Whoosh~
A rectangular grenade, resembling a walkie-talkie, arced through the air and clattered onto the road in front of an armored Humvee.
Then—BOOM.
A burst of eerie blue fire erupted, blowing the vehicle and a dozen soldiers around it away.
Hiding behind an overturned bus, Luca didn't even bother to look.
His thoughts were elsewhere.
Did that Chitauri grenade have the white glow of a synthesis item? Too bad it blew up. I wonder if I was just seeing things.
Just as Luca was planning to wait behind the bus a bit longer for the Chitauri to leave before moving forward, a massive explosion suddenly erupted overhead.
Large chunks of debris rained down from the sky, taking several Chitauri soldiers who had been climbing the building with them.
Fortunately, Luca's [Kick-Enhancement Shoes] were set to Level 1.
The moment he heard the explosion above, he kicked off the ground, launching himself into a nearby shop.
Crash.
Glass shattered.
His prosthetic right arm scraped against the floor.
Luca rolled twice before bracing himself against a shelf to steady his body.
Then came the heavy thuds of bodies hitting the pavement outside.
The Chitauri who had fallen from the sky smashed into the ground, clearly dead on impact.
Luca glanced outside and let out a small sigh of relief.
Good thing I dodged fast~
But just then, a growling voice came from behind him—sounding fierce, but hiding an undercurrent of fear.
"Kid! Get the hell out of here!"