"What was that?" Elektra frowned, holding up her binoculars.
Blade Erik took the binoculars and had a look.
"...A dancing tree."
Elektra said, "I know. My question is, why is he dancing?"
Gambit Remy leaned over and took a look.
"Maybe he's celebrating something."
From a kilometer away, Elektra and the others watched Groot dance his heart out on the grass through the binoculars. They fell silent for a moment, then began to comment.
"Elektra, you're making too much of a fuss. What haven't we seen in this garbage dump?" Blade Erik held a cigarette he had gone to great trouble to find between his lips, looking thoroughly unfazed.
"No, I was just thinking." Elektra lowered the binoculars. "Good thing I'm not from the same Earth as them. I can already imagine how hard it must be to survive on their Earth."
Laura said nothing, simply packing supplies into her backpack.
Gambit Remy picked up the binoculars, held them to his eyes, and looked through them.
He gave Baby Groot, the little tree-man dancing up a storm, only a glance before moving on. He studied the blond hulk beside the little guy for a moment, then moved on again.
When he saw the White Queen and Psylocke, his pupils instinctively contracted. "Emma Frost and Elizabeth Betsy Braddock?!" he murmured. "They got thrown in here too?!"
"You know them?" Laura looked up at Remy. She rarely saw him this shocked.
Gambit Remy took a deep breath. "Yes. Not only do I know them, we used to be comrades. In my universe, anyway."
"What? Going to see your ex-girlfriend? Or maybe your little lover?"
Blade Erik's stern expression relaxed, and he made a rare joke.
Gambit looked back and glared at him. "No, we were just comrades. My girlfriend is Rogue, Anna."
"So? Do you want to go catch up with them?"
Elektra folded her arms.
"No need." Gambit Remy shook his head. "I can't be sure whether they're good or bad.
"There's a barrier in my mind that can interfere with them to some extent, but I'm afraid they'd have you dancing to their tune the moment you met."
Elektra frowned deeply. "Mental control like that monster Cassandra's?"
"More or less. They both have similar abilities. One's a near-Omega, and the other's an Omega."
"Hey, Remy, I remember you saying that among Mutants, Omega means unlimited potential, right?" Erik still had his cigarette between his lips, unlit.
"Right. So I don't recommend approaching them. Once we've got everything, we're leaving."
"True. In this hellhole, every day you stay alive is a day gained." Erik nodded emphatically.
"I was wondering who was spying. So it was you!" Thor's voice came from behind them.
"Who's there?!"
Elektra spun around and drew the knife she carried. Laura said nothing, merely extending the four adamantium claws in her hands. Blade had already drawn the long sword from his back and pointed it straight at Thor.
The staff in Gambit Remy's hands glowed faintly purple as he fixed a solemn gaze on the blond hulk before him, the one who was with Emma and the others.
"Who are you? What do you want with us?"
Thor sized up the four of them. Only Gambit and Laura were worth looking at. The other two were skilled fighters, but they lacked strength. In short, neither was as strong as Captain America.
He figured that if the Hydra Captain were here instead, he might be able to take all four of them on at once.
After all, these people had returned for nostalgia's sake; their actual combat strength really wasn't that great. Of course, if you were talking about Gambit's strongest form in the comics, forget it. If even that form could be thrown in here by the Time Variance Authority, what role would Cassandra have left to play?
"Nothing. I just sensed someone watching me. Remy, aren't you going to see your two comrades?"
"You know me?"
"Of course. You're a fairly obscure character, but not that obscure." Thor saw his concern. "Don't worry, the two of them should be the comrades you know."
Blade Erik didn't entirely believe him. He stepped forward. "Who are you?"
"Me? You should have heard my name. I'm Thor, the God of Thunder."
"How can you be sure you mean us no harm?" Elektra remained wary, looking ready to strike at any moment.
"Honestly, I don't quite follow your thinking." Thor scratched his head. "I appeared behind you in an instant without you noticing. If I meant you harm, you'd already be in pieces."
Laura instantly retracted her claws and looked at her teammates. "Don't worry, he really doesn't mean us any harm."
"Laura, you're a lot easier on the eyes than your dad, Logan."
Snikt-!
The claws Laura had just retracted shot out again, and she glared furiously at the protagonist.
"Tsk... so fierce. You're not nearly as cute as Emma."
Thor couldn't be bothered to explain any further. With a sweep of his hand, he instantly activated the Law of Space. These people were well suited to clearing out cannon fodder when he fought his decisive battle with Cassandra; otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered with them.
The group felt a moment of disorientation. In the blink of an eye, they crossed a kilometer and arrived at the place they had just seen through the binoculars.
Remy had no time to marvel at this godlike feat, because he had just heard Thor clearly say that Emma was cute?!!
Emma Frost and the word "cute" had absolutely nothing to do with each other, all right? Wasn't he afraid Emma would get angry if she heard him?!!
Emma's temper was almost a match for Wolverine Logan's!
"Thor, you're talking about me again, aren't you?"
Emma walked over, looking displeased. When she got a clear look at the people Thor had brought, she looked somewhat surprised.
"Remy?!"
"It's me. Emma, Betsy, I really didn't expect to run into you in this hellhole."
The reunion didn't cause much of a stir in either side's hearts. This was Knowhere, after all. Running into each other was normal, and not running into each other was normal too.
"Call me Elizabeth. We weren't that close in my universe," Betsy interjected.
"All right, Elizabeth." Gambit Remy didn't pursue the matter of her name. "These are my teammates here. This is Laura, this is Elektra, and this is Erik."
Betsy studied the three of them. "I'm Elizabeth."
Emma gave them a casual glance, and only after seeing that none of them posed a threat did she speak, her tone distant and haughty. "Emma Frost."
"Thor, do you know this girl? She seems very familiar to me." Betsy studied Laura, and only when she saw the four adamantium claws in her hands did she realize.
Thor explained, "It's just what you think, Betsy. She was cloned from Wolverine Logan's genes. Hmm... who cloned her? I forgot. Maybe they weren't famous."
"Things were pretty rough in her universe. Wolverine traveled back to the past in Days of Future Past and put a stop to the development of the Sentinels, but then humans developed food that suppressed, or even eliminated, Mutant genes."
"In short, the Wolverine of that universe died in battle protecting these new Mutants who had been cloned."
"As for how she got thrown into this place, I don't know." Thor spread his hands, indicating that was all he knew.
Laura silently retracted her claws and stood where she was, saying nothing.
Suddenly, her nose twitched. She caught a scent that was especially familiar, but bloodier and more evil. She followed the scent and looked up, and a single glance froze her in place.
The man wore an all-black combat suit, with traces of blood still wet on it. Most striking of all were the six sharp adamantium claws extended from his hands!
When he saw Laura and the others, an utterly cruel, deranged smile spread across his face.
"Found you."