[EDITS – Recontextualized Clips – High Emotional Impact]
There it was.
The finely distilled poison.
Short edits.
Smart ones.
One thumbnail caught his eye immediately.
Thor on his knees, the hammer in front of him.
Simple text: "Worthy?"
Cost: 380 SP
Eric glanced at his counter.
3,540 SP collected over the last few days.
More than enough.
He tapped the panel.
The edit unfolded.
"Oh…" Eric whispered.
Susana rested her head against his arm again.
"Why are you smiling weird?" the little girl asked.
Eric blinked, caught.
"Weird?"
"Yeah," she said. "Like when you're about to pull a prank."
Susana knew her brother far too well.
Eric looked at the panel again.
This time, he noticed something even better.
>[Thor vs. Iron Man]<
First encounter.
He didn't think twice.
Edit acquired.
SP remaining: 2,040
Duration: 4 minutes
Eric closed the store.
A slow smile slipped out of him, dangerous and amused.
Alright, he thought. If the world wants to wake up gently…
He kissed Susana's head.
"Brother," she asked, "is Thor coming back?"
He looked at her with absolute tenderness.
"Of course," he said.
On his phone, the Upload video button waited.
…..
Marvel Studios – Short (4:02)
"Thor vs Tony Stark"
Nothing else.
---
[Listen to me, brother.] Thor
Thor was speaking to Loki when something suddenly sent him flying.
[I'm listening.] Loki
Thor landed, humiliated, and looked up at the iron figure standing in front of him.
The Iron Man showed his face and stared at Thor.
[You have no idea who you're dealing with, or what you're up against.] Thor
[Ah… Shakespeare in the park.] Tony
[Does your mother know you wear her drapes?] Tony
[Loki will face Asgardian justice.] Thor
[If he hands over the Cube, he's yours. Until then… don't get in the way.] Tony
[Tourist.]
Thor hurled his hammer at Tony and knocked him down.
[Okay.]
Tony bristled.
He hit back just as hard, slamming Thor to the ground.
Thor rose, called his hammer back from a distance, and lifted it high.
Thunder gathered around it.
Then he threw it at Tony.
The fight continued…
They both gave it.
They both took it.
Until the video finally ended.
---
The internet, minutes later
The video started the way dangerous things start.
Shared in small forums.
Sent in private messages with a "look at this."
Commented on with disbelieving laughter.
And then…
BOOM.
— WHO IS THAT GUY IN THE ARMOR, IS THAT STARK??
— LMAO DID HE JUST SAY "DOES YOUR MOM KNOW YOU WEAR HER DRAPES"???
— NO NO NO THIS IS TOO MUCH
— WHY IS A GOD FIGHTING A MILLIONAIRE??
— IS THAT REAL TECH OR AM I SEEING THINGS?
The short showed just enough.
Thor summoning lightning.
The impact.
The armor absorbing the energy.
And then him.
Tony Stark, hovering, steady, confident… in an armor that did not exist.
"Does your mother know you wear her drapes?"
The line landed like a cultural bomb.
Screenshots.
Edited audio.
Absurd comparisons.
Thor was already a celebrity across much of the United States.
And now fighting Tony, globally known, was like injecting the internet with jet fuel.
But the mockery died.
Instantly.
Because one thing is a mythological god.
Another thing entirely is a real billionaire… with a recognizable face, a recognizable attitude… and technology nobody on Earth had.
— TONY STARK?
— THE TONY STARK?
— THE WEAPONS GUY?
Even the skeptics started sweating.
…..
SHIELD – Monitoring Room
Total silence.
The screen looped the short on repeat.
Phil Coulson spoke first.
"That… is Mr. Stark."
Clint Barton tilted his head.
"And that armor… is pretty cool."
Maria Hill swallowed.
"He fights like he's been wearing it for years."
Nobody dared to look at Fury right away.
When they did, Nick Fury wasn't furious.
He was still.
Too still.
"It's not funny anymore," he said at last.
---
Malibu
JARVIS, ever the diligent virtual assistant, had notified Tony.
Tony didn't laugh.
That was the alarming part.
The short ended.
Started again.
"My God… that armor," Tony murmured.
"Is that really me?"
Tony Stark began to question reality.
JARVIS spoke carefully.
"Sir, the network is registering an exponential increase in mentions associated with your name."
Tony set his whiskey glass aside.
"JARVIS," he said, "tell me something."
"Of course, sir."
"If I were to fight a god…" Tony smiled slowly.
"…would I do it exactly like that?"
Silence.
"Yes, sir," JARVIS answered.
Tony exhaled.
"Then we have a problem."
---
Eric's phone wouldn't stop vibrating.
Because his account was linked, notifications poured in. Comments. Shares.
And the SP came in like an avalanche, which made him very happy.
Eric glanced at Susana, laughing at Barbies without understanding any of it.
He carefully smoothed her hair.
The system updated silently as SP kept flowing.
Eric smiled.
Now the world wasn't asking if it was real.
It was asking what came next.
He set the phone down on the table.
Leaned back on the couch with his arms crossed, Susana asleep beside him with a doll pressed against her chest.
Am I pushing the Sacred Timeline?
He closed his eyes.
The next second, as if answering his rhetorical question, another vision hit him.
But this one was less dramatic.
Just layered timelines. Branching paths. Events that shouldn't be known ahead of time.
The word surfaced in his mind.
"The Sacred Timeline…?"
The space behind his eyes cracked open again.
>[Chaos Administration.]<
Eric frowned.
"That sounds… ominous."
>[Incorrect definition.]<
Information unfolded inside his mind.
The Chaos Administration existed above structures like the Time Variance Authority.
It didn't regulate.
It didn't prune.
It didn't correct.
It only destabilized.
"Great," Eric muttered. "So I'm part of the department that breaks things."
>[You are part of the department that introduces controlled variation.]<
Eric opened his eyes.
"Controlled by who?"
>[By limits.]<
The answer came instantly.
>[The Chaos Administration does not seek multiversal collapses. It does not seek absolute extinctions. It does not seek irreversible paradoxes.]<
A beat.
>[It seeks movement.]<
Eric let out a short laugh.
"So.… their job is to annoy the universe just enough."
>[Affirmative.]<
The system continued, as if it knew exactly what was worrying him.
>[Entities such as the TVA have no jurisdiction over you. Entities such as the Sorcerer Supreme do not intervene unless the greater balance collapses.]<