As the four returned to the Northern Tower, Hela immediately dove onto the big sofa.
Wanda and Gwen stayed close to Lorien. Wanda tilted her head curiously toward him.
"Sylvie said they can track us down through history, but you don't seem worried."
"Is it because of that time-reversal ability?" Gwen asked.
The truth was, when they first heard the other side could go back to the past, both women had been worried. But the more they thought about it, the less reason they could find for Lorien to be concerned.
How strong was he, really? Had he ever been weak? Did he fear such an ability? It didn't seem like it.
When Lorien first heard Sylvie say those words, he'd actually smiled. So the two guessed he wasn't worried at all. But then, what was this ability?
Lorien only gave them a mysterious smile.
"Come here for a second."
"?"
The two walked up to him. Lorien raised his hand and lightly tapped each of their foreheads.
"This gives you a broadcast perspective. If they really try that, you'll understand why I'm not worried— and just how foolish it would be."
Wanda and Gwen exchanged a look. They could already tell this was another one of Lorien's powers.
It meant this ability could even cross timelines! With that, there was no need to worry about the enemy at all.
They touched their foreheads, and suddenly both of them started looking forward to the other side making a mistake.
"Mm~~~"
But at that moment, Wanda's drowsiness hit hard. She just wanted a good sleep.
"I'm going to bed." She waved and headed into the bedroom.
As Wanda disappeared, Gwen stayed where she was, her eyes drifting to Lorien.
Lately she'd been splitting nights between upstairs and downstairs. To be honest, she missed those romantic solo moments with him. Back then, she'd even pretend to be drunk, giving him that… freedom to do whatever he wanted.
Now, as their eyes locked, they found themselves inching closer and closer. Gwen suddenly leapt into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply.
After a moment of heat, Lorien asked,
"Where do you want to go?"
This was—choosing a map.
Gwen's eyes gleamed, her lips curling into a teasing smile.
"The Little Universe."
"?" Lorien reminded her, "The Little Universe is huge." Meaning—be more specific.
"In Wanda's garden~"
"...Seriously?"
Wanda's garden? That was pushing it. Wasn't that ruining her flowers?
"Are you sure? She'll definitely be furious when she sees them tomorrow."
"You can just fix them again, hehe~"
"You little devil, so bad."
"Learned from you~"
And so, under Gwen's deliberate recklessness, Wanda's flowers suffered wave after wave of trampling.
Of course, it wasn't the rose garden, but the other flowerbeds she had planted.
In the center of the garden, the grass was pressed flat, serving as a mat. Around them, half-meter-tall flowers that hadn't been crushed stood like walls.
A new scene had been unlocked.
By the time morning came, the garden was back to normal, as if nothing had ever happened.
Lorien, Wanda, and Gwen were all still sound asleep in the bedroom. But not long after drifting off, Lorien awoke naturally, fully rested.
He pulled out his phone and started playing.
...
Beyond the multiverse, after a night of preparation, Agent Mobius and outsider Loki had their timeline regulator and a full array of weapons ready.
Among them was a pistol that adjusted time speed. A single shot on a living target could slow it down by a factor of two—4x, 8x, even up to 16x or 32x. They also carried weapons that could strip away time, or even outright destroy their target.
Their opponent was formidable. Even if they were traveling back into the past, they had to go fully armed.
Once everything was in order, Loki the Outsider, dressed in his green robes and wearing a crown shaped like reindeer antlers, turned to Agent Mobius.
"How many years back are we going to find Lady Loki?"
Mobius adjusted the timeline.
"Most likely to the period when that man was active. Otherwise, no one could have protected her."
"How many years ago is that?"
"How old is he?"
"No idea."
"..."
The two exchanged looks. Only then did they realize—they didn't even know the man's age.
How far back should they go? If they went too close, wouldn't his strength still be nearly the same? Too far back, and what if Lady Loki was hiding in the wrong era?
"If he's really that strong, he probably wouldn't be too young, right?" Loki guessed. Someone that powerful couldn't possibly be younger than him, could they?
But Mobius's reply caught him off guard.
"Sorry, he's most likely human. He hasn't lived that long."
"What? Human? Are you sure?" Loki asked in disbelief.
"Positive," Mobius nodded. "The women around him are all human."
That left Loki awkward. Humans only lived about a hundred years. Could someone so powerful really be human...?
"Alright, then how far back? Five years? Ten?"
Mobius thought it over.
"Let's start by checking the news. See when he first appeared in public records. From there, we can track further back."
"Fair enough."
And so, Mobius and outsider Loki began digging for information in that world.
They scoured the internet for any trace of Lorien Su, and also for those connected to him—like Scarlet Witch and Spider-Woman.
They dug through reports of incidents and events, chasing every possible lead.
After searching for a long time, they finally came to a realization.
"He's never appeared in public?!"
"This guy is way too strange!"
"He has such powerful partners, yet he's lived such a quiet, ordinary life?!"
Yes—after all their searching, they found nothing. Not a shred of information about Lorien existed online. Only recent reports connected to him.
And what were those?
Romance scandals.
Absolutely useless to them.
"So what now?"
"Keep going back. Search Scarlet Witch and Spider-Woman's records too."
They shifted their focus toward the Goddess Alliance. After digging further, they uncovered a string of events.
"Rocket explosions, mutated Lizard, monster attacks, swarms of mutant rats, city collapses..."
That was as far as the trail went. Past the city collapse incident, there was nothing.
Back then, Lorien was still practicing as a doctor. To keep his mind sharp, he even studied systems science—focusing particularly on psychology.
So in the end, they placed the likely timeline at two or three years prior. But to be safe, they'd need to go even further back.
"So, how many years should we go?" Loki asked.
"Let's start with five years. We've met him before. He only searched for Earth's creatures back then, so we can pinpoint his exact location."
"Alright."
Mobius locked in the time. Together with outsider Loki, the two of them traveled straight to New York, five years in the past.
This was shortly after Lorien's arrival, around the time he first met Stephen and Banner, still studying psychology.
When they arrived in New York, the city looked unchanged.
Mobius immediately pulled out his device and began scanning.
"Searching for Lady Loki Sylvie and the recorded man."
...