The dinner conversation had been a microcosm of a larger war.
On one side: Captain George Stacy. The Law. The System. Order at any cost.
On the other: Gwen Stacy (and Lucas). The People. The Reality. Justice when the system fails.
Lucas knew George wasn't a bad man. He was just a man of his time, believing that the badge was enough to hold back the chaos. But Lucas came from the future—or at least, a world where the future was a Wikipedia page. He knew that soon, a badge wouldn't stop a Chitauri Leviathan. It wouldn't stop Ultron. It wouldn't stop Thanos.
When Gods fight Monsters, police officers are just collateral damage.
"So," George had argued, cutting into his steak, "you think anarchy is the answer? Vigilantes deciding who lives and dies?"
"I think," Lucas had replied calmly, "that when the Fire Department checks your insurance before putting out your burning house, the system is broken. When the police response time in Hell's Kitchen is forty minutes, but five minutes in Manhattan... the system is broken."
"People don't care about jurisdiction, Captain. They care about survival."
Gwen had beamed at him like he was Captain America himself. George had grunted, conceding the point but not the argument.
It was a stalemate.
The Apartment. 9:00 PM.
Lucas returned home, his mind buzzing with the debate. It reminded him of something bigger. Something that was coming down the pipeline in a few years.
He opened the diary interface.
"Serious people don't write diaries," he muttered the mantra. "But serious people also don't get superpowers from a roulette wheel."
He began to write.
June 15
Had dinner with Captain Stacy today. The debate was classic: Security vs. Freedom. Vigilantism vs. The Law.
It reminded me of why the MCU eventually breaks apart. It's not Thanos. It's politics.
The Superhuman Registration Act. The Sokovia Accords.
After the 'Age of Ultron'—where Tony Stark's murder-bot lifts an entire city into the sky and drops it like a meteor—the world governments finally snap. They demand control.
And honestly? Can you blame them?
The Avengers save the world, sure. But they also invite the threats. They fight in populated cities. They drop helicarriers on Washington D.C. They turn Johannesburg into a wrestling ring.
Civil War is inevitable. Team Cap vs. Team Iron Man. Freedom vs. Accountability.
But man, Zemo played them like a fiddle. A regular guy tore the Avengers apart just by showing them a VHS tape.
And speaking of dangerous timelines... there's one even worse than the Snap. The timeline where Ultron wins. Or the one where Strange Supreme destroys his own universe for love.
Stark Mansion.
"Sir," Jarvis alerted. "New entry."
Tony was deep in the nanotech simulations, but he paused.
"Sokovia Accords."
"Superhuman Registration Act."
"Tony Stark's murder-bot lifts an entire city..."
Tony closed his eyes.
"So I do it," he whispered. "I build Ultron. And he lifts a city? What is he, a weightlifter?"
"It implies a mass casualty event, Sir. An extinction-level impact."
"And the world governments snap," Tony read on. "They want to leash us. Put a collar on the Avengers."
He thought about his own philosophy. He was a privatizer of world peace. He didn't trust the government with his tech. But if he—Tony Stark—was responsible for dropping a city on civilians?
"Maybe they're right," Tony murmured. "If I'm that dangerous... maybe I need oversight."
"But then," he pointed to the next line. "Civil War. Team Cap vs. Team Iron Man."
"Rogers," Tony said. "Captain America. The Boy Scout. He won't sign. He believes in individual liberty. He believes in the best of us."
"And I believe in the worst of us," Tony realized. "Because I am the worst of us."
The irony was bitter. The rebel billionaire would become the government enforcer. The patriotic soldier would become the fugitive.
"And Zemo," Tony noted the name. "A regular guy. Tored us apart with a VHS tape."
"Information warfare," Jarvis analyzed. "A revelation of a past secret."
Tony's mind flashed to December 16, 1991. The car crash. His parents.
"A secret," Tony whispered, a cold dread filling his chest. "What is on that tape, Jarvis? What did Zemo show us?"
He didn't know. But he knew it was enough to break the Avengers.
"We need to be better," Tony said, his voice steel. "If Civil War is coming... I'm going to stop it before it starts. I'm not fighting Steve. And I'm certainly not letting a guy named Zemo play me."
SHIELD Headquarters.
Fury read the entry, his single eye twitching.
"Sokovia Accords."
"Registration Act."
"So the UN tries to take control of my assets," Fury scoffed. "Typical. They let us save the world, then they want the keys to the car."
But the mention of "Zemo" and "Civil War" worried him more.
"The Avengers break up," Fury said to the empty room. "Right before Thanos arrives. We are divided. And we fall."
He picked up his secure phone.
"Hill. Get me a file on Helmut Zemo. Sokovian national. Intelligence officer. If he's a threat, neutralize him."
"And Hill? Find Steve Rogers. We need to wake him up. If Tony Stark is going to break the world, I need the Captain to fix it."