Thor lowered his gaze and looked at the disheveled girl in front of him.
"Hey, little rascal." Thor reached out and poked her dusty forehead.
"Weren't you usually so arrogant, always talking about research subjects? How come you're starting to cry now?"
Valeria said nothing, just stubbornly held up the carbonized hard drive, staring at him expectantly.
Tears streamed down her dirty cheeks, leaving two clear tear tracks.
Thor turned his head away.
"If it weren't for the fact that you're still somewhat useful, I wouldn't bother helping you with this."
Thor raised his right hand.
The Law of Time have begun to operate.
A pale green light emanated from his fingertips, quickly enveloping the entire ruins.
The surrounding charred ruins, broken load-bearing walls, and scattered metal debris all seemed to reverse at this moment.
The rubble rose from the ground and fit together perfectly to rejoin the wall.
The charred insulation has shed its black ash and returned to its original blue color.
The dust suspended in mid-air retreated along the same path.
Strange leaned against the broken wall, watching helplessly as it reassembled behind him, which terrified him so much that he quickly lunged forward.
He lay on the ground, gazing at the miracle of time reversal around him; Kamar-Taj's time magic seemed incredibly crude at that moment.
The Eye of Agamotto requires the Time Stone to manipulate time, but Thor did it effortlessly with just a wave of his hand.
Doom stood in the shadows, his metal mask reflecting a pale golden light.
His magical knowledge base contained no theory that could explain what was happening before him; it was a pure application of the laws, with no casting animation and no energy loss.
A blinding white light flashed.
There was no sound of any energy explosion.
Everyone's feet were once again firmly planted on the smooth alloy floor.
The acrid smell of burnt ozone in the air had completely disappeared. The distinctive hum of the laboratory's air conditioning had returned.
Rows of server indicator lights flashed blue in a regular pattern.
The holographic projection stand stood perfectly intact in the center.
In the miniature pocket dimension in the corner, Mephisto remained in the same position, his hands clasped behind his head, crouching in the corner with a look of despair, his posture unchanged.
Valeria immediately turned around and lunged at the control panel.
Fingers flew across the keyboard.
A stream of green data rapidly scrolled across the screen.
The observational data from 3,600 parallel universes are all there, lying quietly in the storage crystal.
She stopped what she was doing and stared at the screen for three seconds.
Immediately afterwards, she turned around abruptly and lunged at Thor, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.
" Thor! You're so good to me!" Valeria buried her face in Thor's chest and rubbed against him twice.
Thor looked disgusted, grabbed her by the back of her collar with one hand, and slid her away.
"Ugh... that's disgusting, you've gotten my clothes all dirty." Thor patted the dark gray stain on his chest.
Valeria didn't care about these details at all; she landed smoothly and moved closer to Thor.
"Thor! Didn't you say you had a divine artifact on par with the Black Death Sword? Where is it?"
She rubbed her hands together, her eyes gleaming with fanaticism.
Thor glanced at her and shook his head.
"You can't handle that thing."
"How could I possibly not be able to handle it!" Valeria immediately panicked and grabbed Thor's sleeve.
"If I can analyze the energy circuits of the Infinity Stones, what can't I study?"
She started circling around Thor, grabbing his arm and shaking it incessantly.
"Tell me, where is it? What does it look like? What is it made of? What is its energy source?"
Thor's head ached from being shaken so much that he raised his hand and pressed down on her head to stop her spinning.
"Alright, stop spinning." Thor shook off her hand. "That cosmic artifact is called... the Black Vortex."
The words had barely left his mouth.
Mister Fantastic, who was swiping the holographic screen with Tony not far away, suddenly froze.
Reed's neck suddenly stretched out in a strange way, covering a distance of three meters, and reached directly in front of the two of them.
"What? You're talking about the Celestials's forbidden technique, the Black Vortex?!"
Reed's eyes widened, and his voice rose eight octaves.
Tony stood there, looking at Reed's head hanging in mid-air, and rolled his eyes.
"Tsk tsk tsk, if Nick Fury saw you like this, he'd definitely drag you to the zoo and put you on display as a giraffe."
Reed completely ignored Tony's complaints.
He quickly pulled his neck back, took a few steps to Valeria, and pulled her behind him.
" Valeria, listen to me." Reed's face hardened, and he spoke very quickly.
"That is one of the most dangerous items in the multiverse. It can grant the user cosmic-level power, but at the cost of completely warping the user's mind."
Reed turned his head and stared at Thor.
" Thor, this thing must never be used for experiments. If the energy gets out of control, the entire Knowhere will be swallowed up."
Valeria peeked out from behind Reed, completely ignoring her Papa's warning.
She clasped her hands together and continued to gaze longingly at Thor.
Thor spread his hands and shrugged.
"See, even your dad said this thing is dangerous." Thor coldly rejected her. "Forget about it."
Doom stood to the side and snorted coldly.
" Reed, you're still so timid." Doom put his hands behind his back. "Scientific progress always comes with risks. Constantly stopping her will only stifle her talent."
" Victor, this isn't a matter of talent, it's a matter of survival!" Reed turned and looked directly at Doom. "The power of the Black Vortex is enough to destroy a single universe. Do you really want Valeria to take that risk?"
" Doom will protect her." Doom raised his chin. " Doom's magic is powerful enough to suppress any runaway energy."
"You can't even understand Thor's casual wave of the hand, so what makes you think you can suppress the Black Vortex?" Tony slapped the chest of his armor, mocking him mercilessly.
Doom suddenly turned his head and stared intently at Tony.
Tony glared back defiantly.
Valeria pursed her lips, about to continue her rebuttal.
Thor interrupted her abruptly.
"What about that Black Swan, Beta Ray Bill, and the Gladiator from last time?" Thor pulled up a chair, sat down, and crossed his legs. "What kind of work did you assign them?"
When Valeria saw that Thor wouldn't budge, she had no choice but to give up.
She walked to the control panel and pulled up the surveillance footage from Frost City.
" The Gladiator has joined the guard of Frost City." Valeria pointed to the strong man on the screen, wearing a red cloak and sporting a mohawk.
Emma Frost gave him the position of captain. He's now leading the Mutants on patrols every day and he's really enjoying it."
Screen transition.
An alien with a horse-like face is swinging a hammer, smashing a Mutants into the air in the ring.
" Beta Ray Bill Thor was spending all his time in underground wrestling matches, about to win the Champion, when he was slapped down by a Chibi Hulk."
Valeria turned off the screen and scratched her head.
"As for that Black Swan, I have no idea where she went. She disappeared after entering the city, and the surveillance system couldn't detect her energy signal at all."
Reed, standing to the side, chimed in.
What is Black Swan?
Valeria opened her personal terminal, and the holographic projection table lit up.
A three-dimensional image of a woman appeared in front of the group.
Pale skin, devoid of any color.
She was wearing a black bikini and tight black leather pants.
Her long, pale hair reached down to her waist.
Reed leaned closer and examined it carefully for a few moments.
"Never seen him before." Reed shook his head. "There's no record of this person in the Future Foundation's multiverse database."
Thor sat in the chair, staring at the holographic projection.
Suddenly, he stood up abruptly, the chair scraping against the floor with a screeching sound.
Tony turned his head, still holding a holographic panel in his hand.
"What's wrong, Mr. Shocking News? You're suddenly acting like you've seen a ghost. Don't tell me that black hippie in the flashy bodysuit has brought back an army again."
Thor ignored Tony.
He remembered something: he seemed to have forgotten to bring back a multiverse portal.
That's Miss United States America Chavez.