"Does anyone have any idea how to find him?" Esdeath asked. Under normal circumstances she could reach him somehow, she wasn't entirely sure how but she always could. Now there was nothing. Just silence where that connection usually sat.
That made everyone go quiet for a moment because the same realization was landing across the room at the same time. Before they could even think about dragging him back they needed a way to locate him first.
"How about we ask the Red Queen?" Alice suggested.
"You forgot the Red Queen is with him," Jill said.
Alice closed her mouth.
"Wanda, can your magic do anything?" Selene asked, turning to her.
"Ummm," Wanda said, thinking through it. "I know spells. But they're mostly combat spells. I don't have anything for finding people specifically."
The room went quiet again.
Tauriel watched all of them from her corner, saying nothing, wondering privately if this was what life in this world was always like.
Then Natasha arrived.
"Did you know what happened?" Selene asked immediately.
Natasha didn't answer with words. She connected her device to the screen and pulled up footage she had found in the Avengers tower, and all of them watched it play out.
Two Tonys, one Wanda, one Natasha, and Luke — and then the lightning strike, and then all of them simply gone.
Alice and Jill both turned to look at Wanda and Natasha standing in the room with them.
"You two were with him when he disappeared?" Selene asked.
"No," Wanda said. "I was home that day consoling my brother."
"And that's clearly not me," Natasha said, nodding toward the screen.
"They aren't us," she continued. "Doesn't Luke always go on about the multiverse? That there are versions of all of us across different universes. Those two are variants." She paused.
"That's the conclusion I came to after seeing this footage at Shield anyway. What I still can't explain is where exactly the lightning took all of them and why he hasn't come back since."
Then Jean looked at Clarice.
"Clarice, can you try to find Luke with your portals?" Jean asked, and everyone turned to look at her with the same hopeful expression.
"Ummm, no," Clarice said. "I can open portals but I need to know what the other side looks like first. If I don't have a clear image of the location I have no reference point to open toward. I'd just be throwing a door open into nothing."
The room deflated slightly.
"So we're back to nothing," Selene said.
"I might know a way," Wanda said. "Luke once told me that if I ever needed help with my magic I could go to someone he trusts. He said she's capable of helping with things like this."
"Who is she?" Selene asked.
"He called her the Ancient One," Wanda said, pulling up the memory of Luke describing her. "She's easy to recognise apparently. Bald, not a single strand of hair on her head. He made that very clear when he described her, like he found it amusing."
"And where do we find this helping hand?" Esdeath asked.
"Nepal," Wanda said. "Kamar-Taj."
The room looked around at each other.
"Then that's where we go," Selene said, already standing.
They arrived outside Kamar-Taj. None of them were what anyone would call normal, so finding the place hadn't been particularly difficult.
"Are you sure the helping hand is here?" Jill asked, looking around at the architecture. "This looks like a monk's place."
"Yes, he specifically said not to bother with looks," Wanda said.
"Then what are we waiting for," Esdeath said, already moving toward the door with the energy of someone who solved most problems by walking directly at them. "Let's knock."
She raised her hand.
The door opened before she got there.
The Ancient One stood in the doorway looking at all of them without any particular surprise, the calm expression of someone who had already seen this moment coming and had simply been waiting for it to arrive.
All of them looked at her.
Not a single strand of hair. Exactly as Luke had described, down to the last detail.
Yep. Definitely her.
"I wondered when you would arrive," the Ancient One said, stepping aside to let them in. "Come."
All of them entered the inner sanctum and the Ancient One poured tea without asking whether anyone wanted any.
The group sat with their cups looking at each other, collectively confused about why this woman was treating them like old acquaintances when none of them had ever met her before.
"I know about all of you," the Ancient One said, sitting across from them with the unhurried ease of someone who had never once been caught off guard by anything.
"Your partner Luke is not a normal person. He carries enough power to destroy this Earth without significant effort, so I have kept my eye on him for some time." She wrapped both hands around her cup.
"I also noticed his unusual disappearance. And I have seen what follows if he does not return to this Earth soon."
Nobody asked what that meant. The way she said it was enough.
"I will do everything in my power to help you bring him back," she continued, setting her cup down and reaching beside her. She produced a book and placed it on the table between them.
"This will help locate a missing person across dimensional boundaries. However only one of you is powerful enough to actually use it."
She looked directly at Wanda.
*****
A/N: If you'd like to read ahead of the Webnovel release schedule, you can join my Patreon!
The Patreon version is 50 chapters ahead.
👉 patreon.com/Universal_Peace