Within the vast grand hall of the Black Quadrant base, Thanos, Lord of the Centauri Galaxy, and his most trusted adopted son, Lothar, stood facing each other in silence. Only the image projected onto the large screen by Woz remained illuminated.
The fact that a laboratory-mutated raccoon, with cellular life activity traces spanning only a few decades, had appeared on Asgard over a millennium ago was a marvel. Even the widely experienced Thanos had never witnessed such a bizarre occurrence.
Before this, even Thanos, who had dominated the cosmos for many years, hadn't imagined he would one day encounter something so strange.
"Who was the man who appeared with it on Asgard, its accomplice?"
Thanos, with his hands clasped behind his back, cast a sharp gaze at the masked... bulky man in the video footage. His bloated physique didn't appear mighty, yet the way he wielded his warhammer was fierce and powerful.
The horse-faced mask never fell from his face, and the mutated raccoon, carrying a cannon-like weapon, was spewing curses. The man commanded lightning and wielded the former Goddess of Death's weapon with incredible proficiency, as if it were an extension of his own arm.
Over a thousand years ago, because he was blocked by the Sorcerer Supreme Agamotto, Thanos couldn't set foot on Asgard. Thus, he didn't know what had actually transpired there.
"I don't know," Lothar shook his head. Back then, after witnessing Hela being sealed and sent away by Odin, he was prepared to destroy the Bifrost and confront Odin directly. How could he have possibly cared about such an insignificant minor character?
"Thor."
Woz, who had been quietly staying by Lothar's feet, uttered the horse-faced man's name, drawing the attention of both Lothar and Thanos.
"Thor is the horse-faced man's name. I heard it clearly when it," Woz's chubby little hand pointed at the raccoon still held by Lothar, "was cursing at Thor on Asgard over a thousand years ago. I heard every single word."
"Thor..."
Thanos watched the horse-faced figure, whom Lothar had casually tossed into the Sakaar junkyard in the video, a thoughtful gleam in his eyes. A name slowly emerged from his lips: "Thor Odinson."
"What?"
"Thor Odinson, Odin and Frigga's son, born sixteen hundred years ago."
"What does that mean?" Lothar frowned, his mind struggling to comprehend, or rather, he found the idea absurd and was unwilling to entertain it further.
"To be able to wield the weapon Odin personally crafted for Hela as if it were his own arm implies he must use it often."
"And at that time, that warhammer was always in Hela's hands. Aside from her and Odin, no one could lift that weapon then, not even Frigga."
"Yet, sixteen hundred years ago, after Odin and Frigga's first child was born, Odin bestowed that weapon upon him."
"Tell me your thoughts, Lothar." After quickly eliminating various speculations based on different clues, only one seemingly outlandish answer remained before Thanos.
"They're from the future, sixteen hundred years from now?" Lothar's voice was clearly hesitant as he voiced this idea.
"No, not sixteen hundred years from now. Hela was sealed, and Thor was born over three hundred eighty years later."
"Furthermore, they must have experienced certain events that led them to travel back in time, back to Asgard."
"Therefore, we can extrapolate this timeline forward slightly."
Thanos raised both hands, and two deep blue light beams instantly emerged from his palms, their ends connected to his fingertips.
"This Rocket Raccoon's physique dictates that its theoretical lifespan isn't long. Without considering various unforeseen circumstances, the time period they traveled from should be sometime after the year 2000."
"So, the question is, why would they travel back from the future of 2000? In other words, what happened in the future of 2000 that made this out-of-shape Asgardian prince return two millennia ago?"
To stop the great war between Odin and Lothar?
Clearly not, otherwise, they wouldn't have chosen such an awkward point in time.
"That raccoon was always lurking near the Bifrost when I appeared. Even when Thor Odinson wasn't by his side, he remained exceptionally steadfast there."
"And at that time, the only ones who would have been near the Bifrost, apart from Hela trying to escape, were me, trying to rescue Hela."
"If they wanted to save Hela or stop Hela, they wouldn't have chosen that specific time node."
"Which means their target at that time was me?"
"Or rather, something on me."
Lothar recalled the orange cat that was still perched on the partial hall's beam.
"The Flerken."
"Or, the Reality Stone within the Flerken."
Lothar's thoughts raced, and in an instant, a highly probable target came to mind.
Thor wasn't his match, nor was the raccoon. Assuming their purpose for time travel was to seize the Reality Stone within the Flerken, then Lothar, causing chaos on Asgard two thousand years ago, was indeed the best opportunity among their limited choices.
"Precisely."
Thanos, who had been quietly listening to Lothar's thoughts, allowed a benevolent smile to surface on his face, a smile befitting a doting father.
Truly his most valued adopted son, his chosen successor. Not only could he effortlessly follow Thanos's line of reasoning, but he could also deduce further.
"Assuming this horse-faced man is Thor Odinson, then he would naturally be aware of your existence, because Odin couldn't keep it a secret. After all, you didn't die at Odin's hands; you returned."
"He traveled back two thousand years, yet his target wasn't you, weakened after your battle with Odin. That makes no sense."
"If they've traveled through time, was it just to do nothing and merely glance at Odin or you?"
"Impossible."
"Unless he encountered something, something more important than altering history."
"The Reality Stone."
Wisdom gleamed in Thanos's otherwise calm eyes.
"He wants to acquire the Reality Stone."
"And the time of your decisive battle with Odin was when you were at your weakest, unable to spare a thought for others."
"With Thor Odinson's abilities, at that moment, you wouldn't have been able to stop him from taking the Flerken."
Thanos's declaration was conclusive.
"But, time travel, even the Time Stone can't achieve that, can it? And their target is the Reality Stone, why?" Lothar was perplexed.
"Stones are just power, Lothar."
"Here, this is where true strength lies." Thanos pointed to his head.
"On Midgard, there is a man cursed by knowledge, just like me. His name is Tony Stark."
"If it's him, creating a machine capable of time travel wouldn't be an impossible feat."
Lothar, who had never heard that name, frowned deeply.
"As for why their target is the Reality Stone within the Flerken..."
Thanos clenched one hand into a fist, letting the other hang naturally by his side: "It's simple. Because I succeeded."
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