Tony stared at Ethan with a baffled expression, clearly annoyed that the conversation had drifted into something he couldn't follow.
"Ethan, what exactly were you talking about with my dad?" Tony asked. "Why can't I understand a single word of it? Don't tell me you actually knew him before today. When he died, you should've been six or seven years old."
Ethan shrugged casually, as if the whole topic was nothing more than light conversation.
"Your father and I were discussing someone," Ethan replied. "A very interesting guy."
Howard chuckled beside them, clearly amused by the situation.
"That's true," he said with a smile. "A very interesting fellow indeed. Although now I realize that guy lied to me."
Tony immediately leaned forward with curiosity lighting up his face.
"Who?" he asked eagerly. "Do I know him?"
"You definitely know him," Ethan said with a grin. "But I'm not telling you his name."
Tony turned to look at his father, hoping for an answer.
Howard shook his head with a calm smile.
"When I met him, he only gave me a fake name," Howard explained. "And after that meeting, he never appeared again. So Tony, even if I wanted to tell you who he is, I wouldn't be able to."
It was obvious Howard was deliberately cooperating with Ethan to tease his son.
Tony looked from one man to the other, waiting for someone to crack. When neither of them gave in, he finally sighed and shrugged in resignation.
"Well, if even the name was fake," Tony said, "then this guy must've been a real jerk."
Ethan burst out laughing.
"You're absolutely right about that," he said cheerfully. "He really is a bastard."
Tony frowned suspiciously.
"Why do I suddenly feel like you're insulting me somehow?" he muttered.
No one answered him. With a helpless sigh, Tony decided to drop the subject entirely.
He turned toward Pepper instead.
"Pepper, call Happy and tell him to pick us up," Tony said. "And make sure he brings a bigger car."
Pepper nodded and immediately pulled out her phone.
While she stepped aside to make the call, Howard glanced around thoughtfully before turning back to Tony.
"Tony," he said, "what about J.A.R.V.I.S.? And Obadiah? How are they doing now?"
J.A.R.V.I.S. had been the Stark family's loyal butler, while Obadiah Stane had once been Howard's closest friend and business partner. In many ways, those two men had been the people Howard trusted most in the world.
Tony's expression changed slightly when he heard the question.
"Uncle Jarvis passed away more than ten years ago," Tony said quietly. "As for Obadiah… a lot of things happened over the years. I'll explain it to you later when we have time."
Howard's face grew complicated as he listened.
Tony hadn't said much, but Howard was intelligent enough to read between the lines. If Tony avoided the topic so carefully, it meant something unpleasant had definitely occurred.
Before the conversation could continue, Ethan suddenly spoke.
"Tony, if there's nothing else you need, I'll head back first."
Howard looked a little surprised.
"You're not coming with us?" he asked.
Ethan smiled and shook his head.
"No need, Uncle Howard. In a few days I'll visit you again with the two kids at home."
Howard nodded approvingly.
"That sounds good."
Tony stepped forward and cleared his throat.
"Well… goodbye then," he said. "And anyway, thanks."
Ethan waved dismissively.
"Don't be so formal," he said with a relaxed smile. "See you later."
The moment the words left his mouth, his figure vanished instantly.
Howard blinked in astonishment.
After a moment, he turned to Tony with genuine admiration.
"Your friend really is extraordinary," Howard said.
Tony shrugged as if it were nothing unusual.
"Absolutely," he replied casually. "Even now I have no idea how many strange abilities he has. You probably wouldn't believe it, but the guy can even see the future."
Howard didn't respond immediately.
Instead, he fell into deep thought after hearing Tony's words.
Meanwhile, Ethan had already left the cemetery.
He didn't return home. Instead, he headed straight for Kamar-Taj.
On the way there, a troubling realization kept replaying in his mind.
Howard Stark had memories of "Mr. Potts."
That shouldn't have been possible.
If Ethan prevented Thanos from snapping his fingers in the future, then the entire chain of events involving time travel and the collection of the Infinity Stones would never occur. Without those events, Howard should never have encountered someone traveling from the future using the alias "Mr. Potts."
Yet Howard clearly remembered it.
That meant one of two things had happened.
Either Ethan had somehow failed to prevent the snap…
Or something about the universe was far more complicated than he initially believed.
Ethan immediately dismissed the first possibility.
Thanos was powerful, but not invincible.
With Ethan's current strength alone, he already had the confidence to fight the Mad Titan head-on. Thor with Stormbreaker had nearly killed Thanos before, and Ethan knew his own abilities had already surpassed that level.
On top of that, he currently possessed three Infinity Stones.
With the Time Stone alone, he could strike before Thanos even had the chance to collect the others.
Even if Thanos somehow obtained both the Power Stone and the Soul Stone, Ethan still doubted the Titan could defeat him when he held four stones.
And there was another advantage.
From now until the Infinity War, there were still many years left.
During that time, Ethan could summon abilities dozens of times through the system. Twenty or thirty additional summons were easily possible.
With his already absurd luck combined with the system's bonuses—and even the possibility of receiving Pietro's sacrificial buff again—Ethan found it hard to imagine losing.
By his own estimate, his chances of defeating Thanos were already above ninety percent.
Yet the contradiction remained.
That was why Ethan came to Kamar-Taj.
If there was anyone in the universe who could answer his question, it would be the Sorcerer Supreme who guarded the Time Stone.
When Ethan arrived, the Ancient One was already waiting.
A pot of tea sat on the table as if she had been expecting him all along.
"You knew I was coming?" Ethan asked.
"I saw it," the Ancient One replied with a gentle smile.
"So you must also know why I'm here."
"Of course."
Ethan didn't bother with small talk.
"Then tell me something," he said directly. "Why does Howard still have that memory? Does that mean Thanos snapping his fingers is unavoidable?"
The Ancient One simply smiled calmly.
"Do you understand how this universe works?" she asked.
Ethan blinked, slightly confused by the sudden shift in topic.
Wasn't this supposed to be about time?
What did the entire universe have to do with it?
Rather than pretending he understood, Ethan shook his head honestly.
"I don't."
The Ancient One raised her hand.
With a faint glow of dimensional energy, she drew a long line in the air stretching forward.
"For the universe," she explained, "the past is unique. There is only one established past. But the future contains infinite possibilities."
She tapped the glowing line gently.
"You appeared in this universe at the time point of the 1980s. That means the only part of history you can truly influence is everything after that point. Events that happened before your arrival have already become fixed facts."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"Even if someone travels through time, they cannot truly change the past. At most, they create a new parallel universe."
Ethan listened carefully, slowly processing the explanation.
The meaning became clear.
Howard Stark's encounter with "Mr. Potts" had already happened. It was part of the established past and therefore could not be erased.
However, that didn't mean the future couldn't change.
After thinking about it for a moment, Ethan asked another question.
"So… did Thanos eventually snap his fingers in the future?"
If he didn't get an answer to that, Ethan felt like he'd lose sleep over it.
The Ancient One's expression became thoughtful.
"That," she said slowly, "is actually the strange part."
"Fifty years ago, I used the Time Stone to observe the future battle. At that time, I saw a total of 375 million possible futures. In every single one of them, the Titan successfully snapped his fingers."
Ethan was speechless.
Three hundred seventy-five million possibilities.
Even Doctor Strange would have been impressed.
But the Ancient One wasn't finished.
"Three years ago," she continued, "I looked again. At that time there were 247 million possible futures where the Titan succeeded, and 61 million futures where someone stopped him."
Her eyes settled calmly on Ethan.
"And in those 61 million possibilities, the person who stopped the snap… was you."
Ethan didn't say anything, but he felt a strange chill run down his spine.
Then the Ancient One spoke again.
"A few days ago, I observed the future once more. This time I saw a total of 550 million possibilities."
She paused for emphasis.
"And among all those futures, the Titan successfully snapping his fingers only happened in 3,560 of them."
....
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