The golden light faded.
Marcus lowered his hand, and the projection dissolved like morning mist. The industrial facility returned to focus. Concrete floors. Exposed beams. The hum of computers and equipment. Reality reasserting itself after the immersive memory.
Tony sat perfectly still, processing. His enhanced mind cataloged everything he'd witnessed, sorting data into frameworks, analyzing patterns, calculating probabilities. But beneath the logical processing, something else stirred. Something he couldn't quite identify.
Beside him, Yuki had tears streaming down her face. She wiped at them with shaking hands, her breathing unsteady. "She just... she died because of a necklace. Because someone didn't trust her enough..."
Her voice broke. She couldn't finish.
Grimmey's expression was dark, distant. His hands were clenched into fists. "Odin. That paranoid bastard. She didn't even know. The whole time, she was wearing her own execution device and didn't know."
Marcus stood with his back to them, facing the wall of monitors. His shoulders were rigid, tension radiating from every line of his body. When he spoke, his voice was carefully controlled. Too controlled.
"I should have moved faster. Should have grabbed her the moment the Norse arrived."
"It wasn't your fault," Yuki said quietly.
Marcus turned, and his expression was hollow. "I'm the one who delivered the news that started everything. I stood there while Zeus took her hostage. I waited until it was too late."
"You tried to save her," Grimmey pointed out. "You defied Zeus. Betrayed your own father."
"And she died anyway." Marcus's laugh was bitter. "Because I didn't know about the pendant's failsafe. Because Odin didn't trust his own... because the goddess of Knowledge started this by having children she knew would cause a war. Because Zeus..." He stopped, shook his head. "I don't even know who to blame anymore."
Silence fell over the group.
Tony broke it with a question. "The goddess of Knowledge. What happened to her?"
Marcus closed his eyes. "I don't know."
"You don't know?" Grimmey leaned forward. "You were there. You escaped with Meltiy. What happened after?"
"I wasn't there," Marcus said quietly. "After Meltiy died, I... I couldn't go back. Couldn't face Zeus. Couldn't watch whatever came next." He turned to face them fully. "Zeus went to her sanctum. Took Athena, Poseidon, Hera. I know that much from reports. But what happened inside? Whether she fought back? Whether she escaped? Whether she..." He trailed off. "I don't know. No one who went in has talked about it. Not in eighteen years."
"She could still be alive?" Yuki asked.
"Or dead. Or captured. Or scattered across dimensions." Marcus spread his hands. "I've spent eighteen years trying to find out. Trying to find her other children, thinking one of them might know. But most are hiding. Scattered. Afraid."
"You said you found some," Tony said. "The other children."
"Five confirmed locations. Twelve still searching." Marcus pulled up a holographic display from a nearby console. Names appeared, but most were grayed out or marked with question marks. "Accounting. Physics..." He gestured at Grimmey. "Chemistry. Biology. Astronomy." His voice caught. "Six I can locate. The rest are either too well hidden or too careful to reveal themselves."
"What about the eighteenth?" Grimmey asked. "If Tony's the eighteenth, you must have known about him before today."
"I knew he existed. The goddess of Time mentioned eighteen signatures during the assembly. But I couldn't find him." Marcus looked at Tony. "You were hidden differently than the others. Born mortal. Raised mortal. No divine radiation until recently."
"The library fire," Tony said.
"Probably. Something you did triggered a spike. Made you visible." Marcus sat down heavily. "And now Zeus knows. Which means we have maybe seventy-two hours before his hunters arrive."
"Then we need information," Grimmey said. "If you don't know what happened to the goddess of Knowledge, we find someone who does. One of her other children."
Marcus nodded slowly. "There's one. Ledger. God of Accounting. He's been... observing. Staying neutral. Keeping records." He pulled up a location marker. "Last I heard, he was in Singapore. Running a financial consulting firm as cover."
"Accounting?" Yuki looked confused. "That's a god domain?"
"Value. Measurement. Exchange. Balance." Marcus smiled without humor. "Every transaction, every trade, every economic system. He sees patterns in money the way Mathematics sees patterns in numbers. And more importantly..." He looked at Tony. "He knew your mother better than most. Was one of her earlier children. If anyone knows what happened in that sanctum, it's him."
Tony processed this. "We need to reach him."
"We do. But first..." Marcus turned to face Tony directly. "You need to understand what you are. What it means to be divine in a mortal realm. Starting with time."
Tony tilted his head slightly. "Time is a constant. Sequential progression of moments."
"For you, yes. For mortals, yes." Marcus gestured around the room. "But not for gods. Not for me. Not for what you really are underneath that mortal shell."
He pulled up a holographic display showing dimensional layers stacked vertically.
"There are two time systems governing existence. Sequential Time, which you experience. And Eternal Present, which gods experience. They're incompatible by design."
Yuki leaned forward. "What does that mean? Incompatible?"
"It means they can't coexist in the same space without consequences." Marcus highlighted the lower dimensions on the display. "Sequential Time applies here. Third dimension and below. Partially in the fourth and fifth. It's what you know. Cause leads to effect. Past becomes present becomes future. You age. You die. Decisions are irreversible."
He moved his hand up the display to the higher dimensions.
"Eternal Present applies here. Tenth, eleventh dimensions. Most of the ninth. For gods, past, present, and future coexist. Events don't flow, they just... are. We don't wait for something to happen. We observe the state where it has already happened."
Tony processed this. "That's why gods don't age."
"Exactly. No flow means no decay. No causality chains. No timelines branching." Marcus looked at him. "You live in time. We live in state. That's the fundamental difference."
"But you're here," Grimmey pointed out. "In Sequential Time. With us. How does that work?"
Marcus's expression darkened. "It doesn't. Not well, anyway. When gods descend to lower dimensions, we're forced into Sequential Time. Our essence becomes bound to temporal flow. And it costs us."
He pulled up another display showing a god figure moving between dimensions, with visual representations of essence degrading.
"We age faster relative to Eternal Present. Our essence leaks continuously. Our identity destabilizes over time." He looked at Grimmey. "You've been here two years. You can feel it, can't you? The slow unraveling?"
Grimmey's jaw tightened. "Yeah. I feel it."
"That's the Creator's design. A restriction built into dimensional structure to discourage gods from staying in mortal realms permanently." Marcus gestured at the display. "The longer we stay, the more we pay. Eventually, we have to return to higher dimensions to restructure our essence. Re-anchor our core. Reintegrate what leaked away."
"How long do you have?" Tony asked Grimmey.
"Six months. Maybe eight." Grimmey's voice was flat. "Then I either leave or collapse."
Yuki looked horrified. "Collapse? You mean die?"
"Worse. Essence scattering across dimensions without coherence. Existing but not existing. Aware but unable to act." Grimmey shuddered. "It's why gods avoid long stays down here."
"But there's another problem," Marcus continued. "Power fragmentation."
He zoomed in on the third dimension, showing it splitting into countless parallel lines.
"Sequential Time creates infinite timelines. Every choice, every possibility, every quantum outcome creates a branch. When gods descend, our power splits across all of them simultaneously."
Tony understood immediately. "Dilution. One hundred units of power divided across infinite timelines equals near-zero per timeline."
"Exactly." Marcus looked impressed. "A god with massive authority in the tenth dimension becomes barely stronger than a blessed mortal in the third. That's why Zeus doesn't come himself. That's why he sends hunters. Descending personally would make him vulnerable."
"And avatars?" Tony asked.
"Controlled projection. Lower risk than true descent but still leaks essence over time." Marcus gestured at Grimmey. "That's what you are, right? An avatar?"
Grimmey nodded. "My main body is sealed in the eighth dimension. This is a fragment. Enough to radiate influence, inspire physicists, help Tony. But not enough to fight a true war."
"Wait," Yuki said. "If gods are so weak down here, why are we worried about Zeus's hunters?"
"Because demigods and blessed mortals don't have that problem," Marcus explained. "They're native to Sequential Time. They don't fragment. Don't leak essence the same way. A demigod child of Zeus operating in the third dimension is more dangerous than Zeus himself would be here."
The implications settled over the room.
"So we're facing enemies who are actually stronger in our dimension than their divine parents would be," Grimmey said. "Great."
"There's more," Marcus said, his expression grave. "The real reason Zeus won't come himself. It's not just about power fragmentation or essence leaking."
He pulled up another display, showing the dimensional structure with new markers. At the very top, above even the eleventh dimension, something pulsed. Massive. Ancient. Watching.
"The Titans," Marcus said quietly. "They withdrew to the space beyond the eleventh dimension after we overthrew them. Part of the peace treaty, the Titan Accords, established rules. One of the most important: supreme gods cannot descend past the fifth dimension with their full authority."
"Why?" Yuki asked.
"Because full-powered Zeus stepping into the mortal dimensions would break everything." Marcus gestured at the third dimension on the display. "This multiverse has infinite universes with inifinite timelines. Constantly branching, expanding, multiplying. Zeus at full power doesn't fragment across them. He would collapse them. Crush them under the weight of his presence. Reality itself would shatter trying to contain him."
Tony processed this. "Dimensional structural failure."
"Exactly. The third dimension can't handle that much concentrated divine essence. Neither can the fourth or fifth. They'd break. Timelines would cease to exist. Mortals, gods, everything in those dimensions would be unmade." Marcus's voice was tight. "The Titans would sense the breach immediately. They'd descend to stop him. And that means another Titan War."
"But he could override the rules," Grimmey said slowly. "Use his authority to force his way through anyway."
"He could try. But even if he managed to squeeze through with reduced power, the other pantheons wouldn't sit idle." Marcus pulled up markers representing different divine territories. "The mortal dimensions are an important source of essence for all pantheons. Worship. Belief. Prayer. It feeds us. Sustains our power. If Zeus descended personally, broke the accords, started destroying timelines..." He shook his head. "Every major pantheon would unite against him. Norse, Egyptian, Hindu, Chinese. All of them. Because if he can break the rules, so can anyone. And that means chaos."
"Mutually assured destruction," Tony said.
"On a cosmic scale," Marcus agreed. "Zeus is powerful. Maybe the most powerful of the supreme gods below the Titans. But he can't fight every pantheon simultaneously while the Titans are watching for an excuse to intervene. So he's trapped. He can send hunters, demigods, blessed mortals. He can operate through proxies. But he cannot come himself. Not with the power needed to actually guarantee victory."
"That's why the hunt has taken eighteen years," Grimmey realized. "He's been trying to find you through indirect means. Through agents who won't trigger the accords."
"And why he's so desperate to find you now," Marcus added, looking at Tony. "Because whatever mechanism your mother used to hide you is starting to fail. You're becoming visible. Detectable. And if he doesn't capture you soon, you might learn enough to become a real threat. Something even his hunters can't handle."
Silence filled the room as they absorbed this.
"So we have a window," Tony said. "Zeus can't come himself. His hunters are powerful but not omnipotent. We have advantages."
"Slim advantages," Marcus cautioned. "But yes. That's why we need Ledger. Why we need information. Why we need to understand what your mother did and how to use it." He shut down the display. "Because right now, you're weak in terms of raw power compared to what you could be. But if we can figure out how she hid you, what makes you special..."
He trailed off, but the implication was clear.
Tony might be the key to everything.
"Get some rest. Eat something. We have a long flight ahead." Marcus turned toward the facility's interior. "And Tony? Start thinking about who you want to be. Because once Zeus's hunters arrive, once this war really starts, there won't be time for questions anymore. You'll need to choose. Human or god. Running or fighting. Your mother's son or just another victim of divine politics."
He walked away, leaving the three of them alone in the operations area.
Yuki looked at Tony. "Are you okay?"
Tony considered the question. "I don't know. My information about myself was fundamentally incorrect. My entire understanding of my existence requires revision. That should be distressing."
"But it's not?"
"I'm not sure." He looked at his hands. "I feel... something. But I lack vocabulary to describe it accurately."
Grimmey put a hand on his shoulder. "That's called being confused. Welcome to the human experience. Even gods feel it sometimes."
Tony looked up at him. "You're scared. Your essence is destabilizing. You might die protecting me. Why haven't you left?"
Grimmey smiled. "Because you're my brother. Because your mother gave everything to make sure you could exist. Because..." He shrugged. "Because running away feels wrong. Even if it's the logical choice."
"That's inefficient," Tony said.
"Yeah." Grimmey's smile widened. "It really is."
They sat in silence, processing everything they'd learned. Outside, the sun was setting over Tokyo. Night was coming.
And with it, the hunters.