"Which dimensional entity interfered?"
The Ancient One stood alone in the Mirror Dimension. She had cast several high-level detection spells and even consulted the Eye of Agamotto once more, but the boy's trail had gone cold. It was as if he had been erased from the fabric of reality itself.
With a puzzled frown, she finally closed the dimension and returned to Kamar-Taj. Despite her failure to locate the boy, she took solace in one thing: when she peered into the future again, the timeline where the Earth was reduced to cinders by the Great Ape had vanished.
...
Eight hours later, in the white void.
Goku sat up and let out a massive yawn, stretching his arms high above his head. He rubbed his sleepy eyes, looking around with a dazed expression.
"How'd I fall asleep?"
He remembered fighting that old man who controlled metal—it had been a really tough, exciting fight. But after that... his memory was a total blank.
"Oh well!" He shrugged it off. Thinking too hard wasn't really his style.
"Wait! My clothes! And my Power Pole! Even the Four-Star Ball is gone!"
Goku realized his backside felt unusually chilly and let out a startled yelp. He scrambled to his feet and ran toward the door labeled "MARVEL."
"They must have fallen off at the place where I was fighting. Man, I feel even stronger now. Master Roshi was right—sparring with masters really is the best way to get better."
He pushed the door open, his silhouette vanishing into the white light as he stepped back into the world of twisted steel and desert sand.
...
He emerged in the center of the battlefield. The area was now crisscrossed with yellow caution tape and swarming with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in tactical gear. They were sweeping the area with advanced sensors, searching for any trace of the vanished monster.
A stark-naked Goku wandered out from behind the carcass of a crushed tank, blinking at the busy scene.
"Wow, that's a lot of people..."
He spotted a female agent nearby wearing a sleek, form-fitting tactical suit. She had a sharp nose, deep-set eyes, and an air of dangerous grace. Goku trotted over and poked her firm, elastic thigh to get her attention.
"Auntie, have you seen my Power Pole?"
Natasha Romanoff—the Black Widow—stiffened instantly. Her combat instincts flared, and she spun around, her leg whipping out in a lethal blur. She halted the kick a hair's breadth from the boy's head when she realized it was just a child.
"Kid? Who are you, and how did you get past the perimeter?"
Natasha's eyes flicked down, and she twitched. The boy was completely naked, his "little soldier" fluttering in the desert breeze. She felt a sudden urge to find whoever was guarding the northern line and send them back to the Academy for remedial training.
"I just pushed the door open and came in," Goku replied honestly. He looked up at her hopefully. "Did you see my Power Pole? It's long and red, and it can grow really big. Oh, and my Four-Star Ball! Right now it looks like a round rock about this big, but in a year, it'll turn back into a Dragon Ball with four stars inside."
He used his hands to gesture the size of the objects, worried the "Auntie" didn't understand.
'Is this kid... a bit slow?' Natasha wondered. She signaled to two nearby agents. "Take this kid to the local police at the outer cordon. See if any of the reporters are missing a child."
The center of the zone was strictly for S.H.I.E.L.D., but the perimeter was being held by local law enforcement. Ever since the video of the "Great Ape" went viral, the area had been swamped by "adventurers" and paparazzi.
The official cover story was a "biological viral outbreak" caused by the monster's presence, which was the only thing keeping the crowds from storming the site.
"If you don't know, I'll just look for it myself," Goku said. Seeing that the woman in black wasn't answering his question, he dropped to all fours and started rummaging through a pile of debris.
It was only then that Natasha noticed the brown, furry monkey tail swishing behind him.
Her eyes narrowed. As a world-class spy, she could tell at a glance that the tail wasn't a prop or a costume piece. It was biological. It was real.
Her mind immediately linked the boy to the giant primate that had also possessed a tail. She theorized that this boy was a "prototype"—another escapee from whatever lab had birthed the Great Ape.
To confirm her suspicion, she held up a hand to stop the approaching agents. She stepped forward and reached out, aiming to grab the tail to see how the boy would react.
Goku, sensing the "sneak attack" from behind, spun around and caught Natasha's wrist in mid-air.
"Why are you attacking me?" Goku asked, his brow furrowing. "Are you one of those bad people from the Research Institute too?"
"Research Institute!" Natasha's eyes lit up. 'Bullseye.' She was finally getting a lead on the facility responsible for the disaster.
She tried to pull her hand back, but her eyes widened in shock. The boy's grip on her wrist was like a band of cold, reinforced steel. No matter how much she strained, his hand didn't move an inch.
Natasha had been injected with a version of the Super Soldier Serum; she was significantly stronger than any Olympic athlete.
For a small boy to pin her with such casual ease confirmed everything. He wasn't just a survivor; he was a high-tier biological asset.
She immediately shifted gears, flashing a warm, motherly smile. "I'm not with the Institute. I'm a police officer. I was just curious if your tail was real."
She figured "S.H.I.E.L.D." would be too confusing for a child. "Police" was a universal symbol of trust.
Sure enough, Goku relaxed and let go of her hand. "Oh! You're a police officer! Can you help me find my Power Pole and my Dragon Ball then?"
He remembered the nice policeman in West City who had helped him find Bulma's house for free.
"Of course I can," Natasha cooed, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness. "I'll not only help you find your things, I'll help you find your friends and take you to them. Why don't we go to that tent over there first? We have some food, and my colleagues can look for your red stick while you eat."