The Tear of Celeste

Chapter 58: Stella 🗡️

"What do you mean she was not sent to another world Doc?" Tony asked, looking at his own data while putting on his suit. "It was supposed to send her home! You said yourself it worked."

"There is nothing wrong with your machine," Dr. Strange says, already working on a spell to open up a portal, "the coordinates for where you send her match this world," he said seriously, "so I need you to tell me where they lead so I can take us there."

Vision floated over to him, giving him the coordinates without hesitation.

Tony looked at the readings on the machine again, shocked as he realized Stephen was right, the numbers were indeed for this world, a thing he didn't realize before as he had been trying to match them with the numbers from when you came and those had been from another world.

Stephen nodded and quickly created a portal and rushed in himself, holding it open for the others. "See if you can find her, now!"

The others rushed through the portal, confused about where they were, but quickly started looking around for you.

Steve was the first to realize what this was. "This is a Hydra base!" Another one that was abandoned long ago, clearly this one had been found by others, the graffiti around the place hinting that some young people might hang out here from time to time.

"It's not just a base," Tony says after he opens one of the doors "... It's a lab," he said, scanning the rooms. "It has been raided and shut down, but this was definitely a lab," he said as he searched for signs of you.

Loki was rushing around looking for you as well but suddenly stopped, taking three steps back, and looked at a part of the wall he just passed. He inspected it for a moment, tapping on it. ".... Thor burst down this wall," he says seriously, stepping back.

Thor does not hesitate, throwing his hammer at the brick wall and breaking it open, revealing the hidden room behind it.

Loki walks past the rubble, summoning some light to illuminate the room. He did not expect to find you here, but something told him he would find something important.

And he did, there were pictures all over the room. Diagrams, models, and different kinds of papers are all about the same thing.

Stella.

Loki froze as he realized what this meant, his skin paling as he finally understood. The others were joining him now, examining the room too.

"What is this place?" Nat asks, shocked, looking at all the drawings and blueprints.

"This is where they were experimenting on The Tear of Celeste," Tony says, scanning the blueprints around him, "but I don't understand, why would my machine send her here, she didn't have the artifact on her."

Loki turned slowly to look at Doctor Strange, rage in his eyes again, a dagger materializing in each of his hands. "You knew," he whispered in a deathly tone.

Stephen shook his head. "I only just found out myself," he said seriously, looking back at him. Loki could tell he was telling the truth but still wanted to slit his throat in pure rage.

"Would someone mind filling the rest of us in?" Pietro asked as he joined the group. "She is not here, so what is going on?"

Stephen sighed and walked into the middle of the room, picking up one of the crystal models of the star that was The Tear of Celeste "... I was trying to figure out a way to reverse her powers," he said, looking at the others, "I was using magic on the necklace to see if there was a way I could make it absorb the powers it had given her when I noticed it was absorbing mine."