Two months passed more quietly than Lynn had expected amid the snowy mountains and prayer flags of Kamar-Taj.
He still learned magic very quickly, far faster than ordinary apprentices, but he was no longer at that freakish level where he could reproduce something exactly after seeing it once. He could feel the flow of energy behind every rune, and his body could make the correct casting gestures before his mind had even caught up. After watching him cast a complete, standard energy beam on the training ground, Mordo looked visibly relieved.
When he had no classes, he still took Wanda and her brother all over the place. Pietro was getting faster and faster. The Ancient One had singled Wanda out once during meditation class, saying that "some kind of energy within her, not yet fully formed, was weaving itself together," and told her to do an extra half hour of perception training every day. Lynn had been drinking water nearby when he heard that and nearly choked. Chaos Magic was already weaving itself together? He said nothing, but from then on, whenever Wanda meditated, he would sit a short distance away, ostensibly reviewing his own basic perception lessons, but actually watching for any red threads of light emerging in the air around her.
Tony visited Kamar-Taj every few days. He would lean against a stone pillar in the courtyard, watching Lynn practice basic runes with a group of teenage apprentices, a "now look at you" smile on his face. Every time he came, he brought food-cheeseburgers, pizza, doughnuts-wrapped in foil and stuffed into his backpack, still steaming when he took them out. Every time, Lynn said, "You're ruining the atmosphere for cultivation," and every time, he ate even faster than Pietro.
Over those two months, Lynn discovered that his memory was slowly returning.
One day, when Tony visited Kamar-Taj again, Lynn leaned against a stone pillar in the courtyard, holding a doughnut Tony had just brought, and suddenly asked a question.
"Do you know Bruce Banner?"
Tony was looking down, scrolling through flight data on a holographic projection. His fingers paused at the question, and he looked up.
"Banner?" he said, his tone unusually free of sarcasm or nonchalance. "The smartest person on Earth. Bar none."
Lynn took a bite of his doughnut and said nothing, waiting for him to continue.
"Professor Banner's research in gamma radiation is foundational. Those military idiots only see that big green guy smashing things, out of control. They've been chasing him for years, and they still haven't figured out that what really makes Banner valuable is his brain, not that green body." Tony shut off the holographic projection and folded his arms. "I've read every one of his papers."
Lynn swallowed the last bite of his doughnut and licked the icing off his fingers.
"He's having a rough time being hunted right now. I can give you his coordinates. Would you help him?"
Tony did not answer immediately. He looked at Lynn, frowning slightly. Over the past two months, he had gradually gotten used to Lynn occasionally coming out with information he should not have known, but even after getting used to it, he still found it irritating every time.
"You know where he is?" Tony said.
"I do. And I have a way to help him deal with the Hulk problem."
Tony's expression grew serious. He lowered his arms and turned to face Lynn squarely.
"When you asked whether I'd help him, you already knew the answer, didn't you?" he said. "I'm putting together a team. This team needs the smartest people. Not having Banner would be the biggest regret of the entire project."
Lynn smiled. He had known Tony would say that.
"That Homeland something organization, the one with the ridiculously long name, is looking for Banner too. If you don't want the hassle, let them find him. But then you'll have to compete with them for him."
"When have I ever lost a fight over something?" Tony's tone regained its Stark-style arrogance, but then he lowered his voice again. "Where exactly is he?"
"Porto Verde, Brazil. He's working at a factory that makes guarana soda. Bottling room, assembly line, very boring work," Lynn said. "He got injured in an accident, and his blood dripped into a soda bottle. His location has probably already been exposed. The military could arrive at any moment. If you want to save him, you'd better leave now."
Tony had already pulled out his phone. As he told JARVIS to search for information on Brazilian soda factories, he said without looking up, "Is he still planning to solve the problem himself? Solutions someone comes up with alone while on the run usually aren't very good."
"He's planning to go back to New York to find someone called Mr. Blue. His real name is Samuel Sterns. He works in cellular biology. Banner thinks his method can reverse the Hulk transformation."
Lynn paused before continuing, "That method won't work. If things follow his plan, not only will it fail to cure him, it'll create something even more troublesome."
Tony looked up at him.
"What can you do to help him?"
"I can help him control it. As far as I know, it can't be cured, only controlled. Let him switch between the two states instead of being forced to transform whenever something unexpected happens, then waking up in the rubble. But first, you have to get him out of Brazil and convince him not to go looking for Mr. Blue."
Tony studied Lynn's face for two seconds.
"You said earlier that you had a way to help him deal with the Hulk problem. This is it?"
"This is it. No cure, only coexistence. But at least he won't have to worry about hurting other people anymore or being chased by the military like a stray dog."
Tony slipped his phone into his jacket's inside pocket and turned to leave the courtyard. After a few steps, he stopped and glanced back at Lynn.
"You've remembered quite a lot over these past two months."
"My brain's cleared its cache. I have to put something new in it. Go on. That soda factory in Brazil won't wait."
Tony said nothing more. He strode toward Kamar-Taj's exit, the Sling Ring flashing on his fingers. After coming and going so many times over the past two months, he had finally asked Wong for one a month ago. Lynn had taught him the basics. Though he kept saying "magic isn't scientific," he had still learned to open portals in just three days.
Leaning against the stone pillar, Lynn watched Tony's retreating figure disappear into the orange sparks, then raised a hand to push up the glasses on the bridge of his nose.
"JARVIS, make a note for me."
"Go ahead, Mr. Lynn."
"Remind me after Tony finds Dr. Banner. The business with Mr. Blue isn't over yet. His samples are still in the lab."
"Recorded. Would you like me to sync this note with Mr. Stark?"
"No need to sync it." Lynn straightened away from the pillar, rolled his neck, and looked deep into the snowy mountains.
"Let's wait until he gets him back first."