When everyone thought about it, it seemed true. Rowan's cautiousness was almost excessive. Although the butterfly effect existed, Rowan's popularity as a street hero was about the same as Daredevil's. At most, he cleaned up local gangsters.
Underground kings like Kingpin and his ilk didn't matter to Nick Fury and the others—they were just gang leaders.
With that level of influence, who else could really attract attention?
Even in normal times, he probably wouldn't attract much notice.
And if he hadn't gotten involved with Tony Stark's affairs, Tony might never have known about this street hero for his entire life.
In other words, under normal circumstances, no one would care about Rowan's existence at all.
But Rowan dared to be certain that once he became famous, he would definitely attract attention. So who would actually pay attention?
"Who would care about him? Who really pays attention to early figures on Earth? There are too many early figures: Tony Stark, Hulk, Thor—aren't they all early figures on Earth? And Captain America, Steve Rogers..." Agent Hill spoke slowly. "So the reason Rowan is afraid is because as soon as he stands out, he'll be dealt with?"
"I see!" Nick Fury responded immediately. "Just like why S.H.I.E.L.D. exists. Our role is to handle extraordinary incidents that affect ordinary people. We can ignore common extraordinary individuals, but those that cause public fear—like werewolves or vampires—if they show themselves, they fall under our jurisdiction.
"As soon as they pop up and are seen, we deal with them and write the legend of werewolves and vampires in urban folklore..."
"Fury, do you mean Rowan is afraid of an organization like that?" Natasha Romanoff, the Widow, seemed to understand what Fury meant. "Rowan obviously isn't afraid of us.
"In other words, before gaining his power, he might have feared us, but after gaining power, we have no business with him. So he must fear someone else.
"Or another organization!"
"Yes, let's think boldly," Nick Fury said. "Assume there is such an organization monitoring Earth, and anyone who stands out—gods or otherwise—is dealt with. Rowan might fear that. It's even possible the boss is from the magical side!"
"Because none of Rowan's known enemies have been linked to the magical side so far, but he fears the magical side, and prepared early—even if he risks exposure now, he follows Thor to Asgard. That's the clearest evidence," said Nick Fury. "But it doesn't quite make sense.
"If he went to Asgard with Thor early on, it might have drawn the attention of some magical existence—and they might have erased him.
"If that were the case, it would be fine if he never surfaced.
"His character is the type to take Tony Stark's 10 million, then 100 million, and live comfortably as a wealthy man...
"I think this means the two things we guessed aren't the same!" Agent Hill said. "The person or organization that won't allow anyone to stand out might be different from the magical side he fears later."
"If you look at it this way, many things can be explained.
"He didn't show up because he didn't want to attract attention from whoever monitored Earth. But later, everyone might die from Purple Sweet Potato Essence snapping his fingers—or those without magical resistance might perish. So Rowan was forced to learn magic to survive!"
Agent Hill continued. "It might be a calculated risk, but he thinks it's worth it.
"This proves how devastating Purple Sweet Potato Essence's finger snap is—so great that Rowan needed to plan this long in advance!"
Everyone agreed with Agent Hill's analysis but felt even more depressed. This future looked bleak.
"But Earth is in the universe—no, even in the Galaxy, it's a remote backwater, not on a main artery, without resources.
"Monitoring Earth? Is that really necessary?" Hawkeye Barton couldn't help but complain.
…asking for trouble…
Thinking there might be an organization monitoring every move on Earth suddenly made him uneasy, though he couldn't say exactly why.
"The screenwriter outside the fourth wall is also an Earthling!" Phil Coulson said with a jump. "So the home of this whole story is definitely Earth!"
"I think what we really need to worry about is what Rowan fears, and who or what he's wary of monitoring Earth.
"They must want to prevent certain things from happening...
"So what exactly is he afraid of?"
Natasha Romanoff asked. "In other words, what standard does that person or organization use to decide who's a superhero?
"How far can you push before you cross the line in their eyes?
"Is it becoming world-famous? Or something else?
"What constitutes being a 'superhero' to them?
"If we can't figure that out, what if one day we accidentally cross that red line and get dealt with too?"
"It's not impossible—actually, it's very possible!" Nick Fury said.
"If you know the specific standards, you just avoid crossing them.
"But if you don't know, you can't even dodge.
"And now, probably only Rowan knows this standard.
"But we can't ask him directly. We can only guess from bits and pieces.
"He seems to have vaguely seen a huge black shadow covering the entire Earth.
"A supreme being quietly watches the planet, then stretches out a hand, as if picking vegetables in a garden.
"He pulls out crooked vegetables and certain weeds.
"Making sure those crooked vegetables and weeds don't interfere with the garden's growth.
"And these people tremble, afraid to cross the red line and become weeds to be uprooted.
"Terrifying!"
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