"Come this way, my dear nephew."
Luke's arm settled around Daniel's shoulder and steered him away from the group without another word.
To anyone watching, it looked casual. Friendly, even.
It wasn't.
Luke walked them far enough that the others couldn't hear, then stopped.
He looked at Daniel.
Daniel looked back.
"How," Luke said simply, "did you get here?"
Because that was the part that didn't sit right. Not the hug, not the sudden appearance, not even the timing. Those were annoying. Those were explainable, maybe.
But this wasn't another city. Wasn't another country. Wasn't even another corner of the same world.
This was a different universe entirely — and his nephew had somehow waltzed straight into it like he'd taken a wrong turn at the supermarket.
Luke looked at him for a moment before speaking.
"Are you even Daniel, or something creepy wearing his face?"
He couldn't rule it out. Not in this universe. Not with what was running loose in it.
Daniel stared at him, visibly taken aback, like he hadn't expected that to be the first thing out of his mouth.
"Wow. When did you become this suspicious? Aren't you supposed to at least smile? It's been years."
"Smile my ass," Luke said evenly. "You think this is a surprise visit to my workplace? We are standing in the Marvel Zombies universe. The last time I saw you, you were a completely normal person."
"The last time I saw you, you were also normal," Daniel shot back.
"I don't count. After that, life took a roller coaster ride — and how I ended up here would take at least a month to explain."
"Mine joined that same roller coaster," Daniel said, something shifting slightly in his tone. "And you're the one who made me get on it."
Luke didn't even blink.
"Time for a family interview," he said simply. "Who is the biggest reason for your mom and dad's blood pressure?"
It was a test. A stupid one, maybe, but only the real Daniel would know the answer without thinking.
Daniel didn't even hesitate.
"You," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Biggest stress factor in the entire family. And right after you, it's me."
Luke studied him for another second.
Then he let it go.
Yeah. That was him.
No impostor would know the family hierarchy of stress that casually, and no impostor would deliver it with that particular flavor of tired acceptance, like someone who had long made peace with being second on a list he never asked to be on.
Luke turned his gaze forward, letting the silence sit for a moment.
That part was settled.
But something else wasn't.
Because underneath all of it, underneath the familiar voice and the familiar attitude and the completely on-brand entrance, Luke was picking up on something that had no business being there.
Something sitting just beneath the surface of his nephew, quiet but present, like an ember that hadn't decided yet whether it wanted to become a fire.
He recognized it.
He just couldn't figure out when it had gotten there.
His eyes cut sideways toward Daniel without turning his head.
"So what do you mean I got you into this mess?" Luke asked.
"You don't know?" Daniel's expression shifted, confusion replacing whatever else had been sitting on his face a second ago.
"Don't know what?"
"The Omniverse Recovery System," Daniel said, like that was supposed to land as a complete explanation.
"What the hell is that — some kind of new novel you're reading?"
"No," Daniel said. "The system you made to clean up the mess you caused."
Luke stopped.
"Hold on. You lost me."
First — Daniel knew about the system. Something Luke hadn't told a single person.
Second — Daniel was saying Luke made it. Built it. Which implied a level of ability that Luke was fairly confident he hadn't reached yet. He was powerful, he wouldn't pretend otherwise, but creating a system wasn't the same as being strong. That was a completely different category.
"So you have a system," Luke said.
"The Recovery System," Daniel confirmed. "The one you made to collect lost fragments from the Avatars you defeated but didn't kill properly."
Luke touched his chin.
Avatars. Daniel knew that term too. This wasn't guesswork.
He turned it over quietly in his head. What if it wasn't the current him who made it — what if it was a future version, someone who had already walked further down this road and decided to fix what he left behind.
He glanced at his own system.
[Eliminate 4 Avatars — 2/4]
[Reward: A Meeting With The Creator of The System]
Now that he had already encountered another avatar, it meant he was getting closer to completing the mission. Once he met the creator of his system, he might finally learn how such a system was made—and if so, it was likely he had created one himself and passed it on to Daniel.
But Daniel had said didn't kill Avatar properly.
Luke directed the thought inward.
'System. Is it true you don't absorb a hundred percent of an Avatar's power?'
He half expected silence.
[Only 95% of an Avatar's authority can be absorbed. The remaining 5% disperses into the surrounding environment during matter conversion and cannot be recovered through standard means.]
Luke stared at that for a second.
'Why didn't you mention this before?'
The system said nothing.
Of course.
He closed the panel and looked back at Daniel, something colder settling in behind his eyes now. Five percent didn't sound like much until you considered what an Avatar was.
Five percent of that, scattered loose across the omniverse without direction or control, was not a small problem.
It was the kind of problem that eventually showed up wearing someone else's face.
Or built itself into something worse.
*****
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