Banner brushed the dust off his robes. "Give me a few minutes to pack. After living here so long, I've got quite a bit more stuff than I did in Brazil." He turned toward the apprentice dormitory, his steps a little lighter than before.
Lynn watched him walk away, then turned toward the training grounds. Wanda and Pietro should be there at this hour.
The training grounds of Kamar-Taj were still surrounded by snowy mountains, with prayer flags snapping in the wind beneath the eaves. Several apprentices were practicing at the edge, while Mordo stood in the center, bending down to correct a young apprentice's casting gestures. Lynn looked around and found Wanda and Pietro on a stone bench in a corner at the edge of the grounds.
Pietro sat on the stone bench with both legs dangling, holding an unfinished runestone. He kept fiddling with it, occasionally tossing it up and catching it again. Mordo had already looked back at him twice, his eyes clearly saying, "Keep slacking off and you're in for it."
Lynn leaned against a stone pillar at the edge of the training grounds. Seeing the relaxed expressions on Wanda and her younger brother's faces, he couldn't help chuckling. The kid was an absolute troublemaker, but his quick wits and untamable wild streak were exactly the same as when he had clutched the hem of Wanda's clothes in the slums of Sokovia. Only now, he had the added security of a full stomach. Compared to Lynn himself... Lynn thought about his own usual behavior. He probably outdid the boy.
Wanda sat beside Pietro, a practice rune for basic elemental transmutation hovering in her hand. Her posture was much more proper than Pietro's, her back straight, her breathing steady, and the magic flowing from her fingertips stable and even. Lynn noticed that the light around the rune was no longer purely pale gold. A few extremely fine strands of red light were spreading from its edges, like the first cracks in the ice on a river in early spring.
Leaning against the stone pillar, he narrowed his eyes slightly. It looked like her Chaos Magic was close to awakening, considerably earlier than in the original timeline. Kamar-Taj's training environment and the Ancient One's guidance were clearly accelerating her growth, but that wasn't a bad thing. With basic runes as her foundation and the Sorcerer Supreme personally watching over her, she should be much more stable after her awakening than the girl in the original story whom Hydra had locked in a cage for experiments.
Wanda noticed his gaze and looked up, the rune in her hand settling gently into her palm. A smile spread across her face as she stood and walked over. "Lynn. What brings you back?"
"I came to see how your studies were going."
Pietro jumped off the stone bench and came to stand beside Wanda. He had grown another stretch since their last parkour run in the pine forest. "My reaction speed is more than ten times faster than an ordinary mage's. Senior Brother Mordo says my gift for speed can help with casting. It's just... I have to learn to sit still first." His voice dropped noticeably at that last part. Clearly, learning to sit still was harder for him than learning magic.
Lynn reached out and ruffled Pietro's hair, steering the conversation past that topic. "Take your time. Your sister's steadier than you, and you're faster than her. You two complement each other perfectly." He looked at the rune in Wanda's hand, where strands of red light were still flickering faintly. "Have you felt anything different when casting lately?"
Wanda looked down at her fingertips, seemingly recalling how her last few attempts at casting had felt. "Sometimes. The instant I release a rune, it feels like there's something inside it. I can't really describe it. Senior Brother Mordo said it's normal for individual magical traits to start diverging, and that I shouldn't worry too much."
"Mordo's right." Lynn pushed himself away from the stone pillar and stood straight. He hesitated over whether to tell Wanda what those red strands really were, but ultimately decided to keep quiet for now. The awakening of Chaos Magic was an intensely personal process. She needed to reach out to the source of that power herself under the Ancient One's guidance, rather than have someone who "knew the future" tell her in advance. "Keep studying hard here. Dr. Banner's coming back to New York with me today. Once you've learned enough, I'll have somewhere for you two to stay too."
"Really?" Pietro's eyes lit up. Clearly, he was looking forward to New York more than to sitting on a stone bench practicing runes at Kamar-Taj.
"Really." Lynn pushed Pietro's head back as he leaned in again. "Finish your basic rune course first. Don't think you can skip theory just because you run fast."
Wanda chuckled softly beside them. Lynn chatted with the two a little longer, confirmed that neither had had any problems lately, then got up and headed toward Banner's dormitory. Banner had already packed and was waiting for him in the middle of the courtyard. His canvas bag was considerably fuller than it had been in Brazil, with two books on magical theory borrowed from the Sanctum library tucked into a side pocket.
"Have you said goodbye to the Ancient One?" Lynn asked.
"I have." Banner pulled his bag's shoulder strap higher. "She told me that next time I come back for a meal, I don't have to sneak in jerky. The dining hall has had meat all along."
Lynn froze for a moment, then laughed. He raised a hand and drew a circle in the air. Orange sparks bloomed in the courtyard, and the other side of the portal revealed the living room of Lynn's new home in Stark Tower. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, New York's afternoon sunlight fell across the cushions on the fabric sofa, while the white porcelain tea set on the solid wood coffee table glowed warmly.
Banner followed him through the portal, stopped in the living room, and looked around. Wooden floors, a fabric sofa, a solid wood bookcase holding quite a few books, and Manhattan's skyline outside the windows. He was silent for a moment before saying, "This place is cozier than I expected."
"Tony gave it to me. The whole floor. Would you be all right staying with me for now?" Lynn sat down by the sofa, took out his phone, and called Tony. It rang for a long time before Tony picked up. His voice came through the receiver against a backdrop of clanging metal and Ivan muttering parameters in Russian.
"What is it? I'm working on the new armor. A few problems came up after the Mark VI's combat test..."
"I've got a surprise for you."
"What surprise?"
"You'll find out when you get back." Lynn hung up without giving Tony a chance to press him. He set his phone on the coffee table, stood, and pointed down the hallway for Banner. "Second room on the right. You get the one with the best light. JARVIS ordered new bedding; it's never been used. Oh, right, you probably haven't met JARVIS yet. JARVIS is Tony's AI. JARVIS, say hello to our Dr. Banner."
Banner briefly familiarized himself with the layout, then carried his canvas bag off to settle into his room. Lynn leaned back on the sofa, picked up the potted plant on the coffee table, and turned it around twice. Once Banner was more or less settled, he came out of his room, lined up a few books borrowed from Kamar-Taj at the side of the solid wood bookcase, then sat at the other end of the sofa. His posture was much more relaxed than before.
"What exactly would the work with Tony involve?" Banner asked.
"We'll talk about it when he gets back. It's not my place to assign you work. The lab's a few floors down, and the equipment's more advanced than Kamar-Taj's... Never mind, there's no comparison. I didn't see any lab equipment at Kamar-Taj. Tony isn't short on money, so feel free to name your price." Lynn set the plant back on the coffee table, leaned against the back of the sofa, and chatted with Banner about everyday things. Banner said Kamar-Taj's dining hall was much better than he'd expected, though the nights were so quiet that he hadn't quite been used to it at first.
After they had chatted for a while, Banner looked around the living room, his gaze settling on the island in the open kitchen. "The kitchen looks nice. What's for lunch? I'm getting a little hungry."
"JARVIS will order delivery. Even with a kitchen here, I can't be bothered to cook."
Lynn asked JARVIS to order food, adding without looking up as he thought, "Don't order that adapted Chinese food Tony always gets. That sweet-and-sour stuff, all sugary and cloying. He orders General Tso's chicken every time and calls it authentic Chinese food. That's downright heresy. JARVIS, order real Chinese food. For two!"
"Noted, Mr. Lynn. Mr. Banner, do you have any dietary restrictions?"
Lynn looked at Banner, who shook his head. "I had Chinese food a few times at Kamar-Taj. It was very good. Just go with what Lynn ordered. No dietary restrictions."
Once JARVIS had confirmed, Lynn flopped heavily against the back of the sofa, his tone carrying the relief of finally having a chance to vent after enduring Tony's eating habits for so long.
"I genuinely don't understand how he can like those adapted sweet-and-sour flavors. It's beyond me. The first time he told me General Tso's chicken was authentic Chinese food, I nearly sprayed coffee in his face. JARVIS can vouch for that."