Upstairs, Luka naturally didn't hear the conversation between the departing group. Not that his mind was on them anymore.
Even though, to Luka's eyes, they were practically glowing with the telltale white light of "core components."
Captain America's shield, Iron Man's nano-armor core and glasses, Ant-Man's suit, even Hulk's shorts—
All of them screamed "core component" potential.
But Luka had no time for that now. His expression had turned grim.
He hadn't expected this—this was that unfortunate timeline from Avengers: Endgame, the one Tony Stark and the others had time-traveled to.
Why call it the "unfortunate timeline"?
Because Luka had just finished watching the Marvel series Loki not long before he transmigrated.
That show began with the fallout from this very point in Endgame: the Avengers trying to borrow the Infinity Stones from this timeline to save their own world. But things went sideways, and the Tesseract—the Space Stone—fell into Loki's hands.
Loki used it to teleport away, creating a divergent timeline. As a result, he was captured by the TVA—the Time Variance Authority—a mysterious organization tasked with protecting the "Sacred Timeline."
What followed didn't matter much to Luka.
What mattered was one scene that left a deep impression:
When Loki was taken by the TVA, they dropped a time-bomb in that timeline—erasing it entirely.
Yes, the entire branch of reality was wiped out.
Luka had even joked about it with friends:
Bruce Banner had promised the Ancient One that they'd return the Stones and not mess up the timeline. But now the Tesseract had been stolen, and Stark and Cap had jumped to 1970 to grab another one. That poor timeline? Totally screwed.
They'd always wondered: when Cap went back to return the Stones… who did he even give the Tesseract back to?
Marvel's time travel logic was a mess. Luka and his friends never figured it out.
But now—would he bet his life on it?
Bet that he was in the timeline where Loki didn't escape?
Or bet that he existed in a special parallel universe immune to the TVA's pruning?
The more Luka thought, the worse he felt.
If timelines get erased for deviations… then my existence alone might count. I haven't been taken in—does that mean this world doesn't have a TVA?
No. I have to see it myself. No—stop Loki!
Luka remembered clearly: Loki teleported to Mongolia with the Tesseract and was arrested there. The TVA dropped their time bomb as they left.
If that happened here, he'd never even get the chance to intervene. He'd just be erased—silently, unknowingly.
Better to act now—stop Loki at the source.
Resolute, Luka gave up on waiting out the Battle of New York.
He checked his gear, carefully moved his mother Jina into the storage room, left her a note, and set out—heading for Stark Tower.
Outside, the streets weren't as dangerous as he'd imagined.
National Guard units were out in full force, their armored trucks and heavy weaponry drawing the Chitauri's attention.
Though the battle was fierce, police and firefighters had some room to evacuate civilians.
If it weren't for the constant stream of Chitauri pouring from the sky rift, New York's defenses might've held.
Then again, maybe that was because the big threats—the Chitauri carriers and Leviathan ships—were focused on the Avengers.
Luka, just an ordinary civilian, was invisible by comparison. He was nearly pulled into shelters by police more than once.
But his luck wouldn't last.
The closer he got to Stark Tower, the more densely the Chitauri swarmed.
Were it not for the sheer terror of being erased from existence, Luka might have turned back.
"Whoosh—"
A rectangular grenade—like a radio—flew through the air, landing with a clatter before an armored truck.
BOOM!
Blue flames burst forth, blasting the truck and a dozen soldiers into the air.
Luka, crouched behind an overturned bus, didn't even glance at the carnage.
His thoughts were elsewhere:
Was that grenade glowing like a core component? Too bad it exploded—maybe I imagined it…
As he prepared to wait out the nearby Chitauri patrol—
BOOM!
An explosion above.
Chunks of rubble rained down, along with several Chitauri who'd been climbing a nearby building.
Good thing Luka still had his [Power-Enhancing Sneakers] set to level one.
At the sound of the blast, he sprang into action, darting into a nearby shop.
CRASH!
Glass shattered. His prosthetic arm scraped the ground.
He tumbled, hitting a shelf, finally stopping.
THUD THUD—
The fallen Chitauri slammed into the street. None of them survived.
Luka scanned the mess. He exhaled.
Lucky break…
But just then, from behind him came a rough, panicked growl:
"Kid! Get out of here!"