"Thor Odinson, you were the one who caused that psychic fluctuation just now, weren't you?"
Emma Frost stood over Thor with her arms folded, her tone certain.
"Actually, no..." Thor had barely begun to deny it, intending to hide ten times as much strength as he revealed, when he saw a dazzling diamond fist closing in on his handsome face.
"Fine, Emma, I did it..." Thor promptly backed down. As expected of the White Queen, she had eight hundred tricks up her sleeve!
She had even managed to notice that. A wise man knew when to yield; he would pay back today's humiliation a hundredfold someday!
"How did you learn my ability?" Emma Frost pressed.
"I learned it by watching you once."
At that, Emma Frost and Elizabeth exchanged a glance and communicated telepathically.
"Elizabeth, do you think he's lying or telling the truth?"
"Emma, I watched his microexpressions. There were no signs of lying. Of course, I'm not sure how accurate that is, since I've never met a god before."
The moment Thor saw them fall silent and exchange looks, he knew they were making a secret call. Once his powers developed, he would secretly infiltrate the enemy's ranks, and then... hehehe...
"Why did those agents prune you and send you here?"
The White Queen stared fixedly at Thor, trying to find something she could use against him.
"I don't know... Ow?!" Thor started to get up as soon as he heard her, only to pull at his wounds and grimace in pain.
"Wait! Emma, did you say prune?!"
"Yes. You know about it?" Emma Frost narrowed her eyes and waved her diamond fist. She wasn't even pretending anymore; it was an outright threat!
"You don't know?!" Thor was surprised to hear that too. Didn't people usually have to go through the procedure before being pruned into Knowhere?
"How did you get here?"
Thor hurriedly pressed them for an answer.
"We were poked in here with a baton."
Elizabeth glanced at Thor and spoke calmly.
Thor turned to look at Emma Frost.
"Same as her."
"How long have you been here?"
"I don't know. Maybe a day, maybe three. There isn't even a nighttime here."
Elizabeth shrugged as she spoke.
Seeing their curious, probing looks, Thor didn't hesitate to explain. After all, he was practically a cripple now, and neither of these two was someone to mess with. He would latch onto a powerful backer first, then run wild without restraint once he took off.
"This place is called Knowhere. It's a junkyard at the end of time. You can think of it as a place specifically for dumping the multiverse's garbage."
"Are you saying that I, Emma Frost, was thrown into the multiverse's junkyard like garbage? Is that what you mean?"
Thor felt the atmosphere around them suddenly turn cold, and hurriedly inched backward like a maggot. He couldn't help it; the oppressive air around Emma Frost was terrifying. As the ancients said, a wise man did not stand beneath a crumbling wall.
Better stay out of her way for now...
Elizabeth's gaze turned cold as well. The killing intent from both women was almost tangible.
Is this what women are like? They're far too terrifying!
"What? You want to run before you've finished answering my question?"
Emma Frost flashed over to Thor's side and raised her foot to stomp down again.
"Wait! I wasn't trying to run. You two were just a little too scary, and I'm not in very good shape right now, so..."
"Oh? Scary? If you don't explain yourself clearly, there's something even scarier coming."
Emma Frost lowered her foot, while Elizabeth had already placed a hand on her sword hilt.
Clearly, Thor had nowhere to run now.
Damn it! Just wait until I recover. I'll make sure you get what's coming to you!
"Could you stop looking at me like you want to kill me? It's not like I'm refusing to talk."
"Anyway, there's an organization in the multiverse called the Time Variance Authority, or TVA for short. They claim their duty is to safeguard the multiverse's timelines. Whenever someone on a timeline does something that's about to endanger that timeline, or even just has an idea of doing so, they send agents after them."
"Anyone who resists on the spot is pruned straight here, to Knowhere. Anyone who fails to resist is taken to the Time Variance Authority for a trial according to procedure, then pruned and sent here."
"And everything they do is to safeguard the sacred universe, the main universe. If a universe exists that is about to threaten the main universe, they'll destroy it without hesitation. Anyway, that's roughly what they are."
After listening, Emma Frost lowered her head and pondered for a moment before looking at Thor. "You know so much about them. Are you working with them?"
Thor was shocked. Wait, what? Knowing a lot about them means I'm connected to them? What kind of logic is that?
Before he could finish grumbling to himself, he felt those murderous gazes and had no choice but to speak. "Because something similar happened in the universe I came from, so I know about this. Of course, that's all I know."
Elizabeth and Emma Frost exchanged a glance and started making another secret call.
"Emma, should we take him with us? As he is now, he looks even worse off than an ordinary person who can't hurt a fly."
"Someone with no value definitely isn't coming." Emma Frost changed tack and glanced toward where the protagonist was sitting. "But he's a god, and our telepathy has little effect on him. On top of that, he learned my telepathy with a single look. Maybe he'll be useful to us later."
"So? You want me to drag him along?" Elizabeth looked at Emma Frost, her eyes full of inquiry.
"Of course. I'm not in the habit of helping the injured."
Whew...
Elizabeth let out a long breath. She wasn't surprised by the answer in the slightest. After all, Emma Frost, the White Queen, was a refined egoist and a typical capitalist.
If Emma Frost had said she would drag Thor along herself, that would have been strange. Emma Frost's way of doing things was well known.
Elizabeth walked up to Thor and asked, "Can you walk on your own?"
"Maybe, as long as you don't mind a grandpa over five thousand years old walking as slowly as a snail."
With Elizabeth's support, Thor slowly got to his feet. Yet every step he took made his entire body tremble with pain.
Damn it all!
A mere Ragnarok had burned him out. If he hadn't discovered that he had a heaven-defying cheat, whether he could survive his second day here would have been anyone's guess.
"Hurry up! Don't let Alioth find us!"
Walking ahead, Emma Frost turned and urged them on. After all, she had seen the terror of that dark cloud monster with her own eyes.
Magneto hadn't been able to put up the slightest resistance against that dark cloud. If she ran into it, she would only be serving herself up.
"Huh?!"
Thor's eyes suddenly lit up as Elizabeth supported him. Not far from his feet, he saw a stone similar to the white telepathy crystal he had absorbed earlier, except it was green all over.
Hearing him, Emma Frost turned around and followed his gaze. She frowned. "What's so surprising about that? Stones like that are everywhere here. Hurry up! We have to get back to the shelter!"
The White Queen's words only made Thor more excited. You all think this thing is worthless? That's great. Once I get my strength back, then...
Although Elizabeth was somewhat puzzled as to why Thor bent down to pick up the worthless stone, she didn't ask. She simply gritted her teeth and continued dragging his heavy body along.
The moment Thor picked up the green crystal fragment, he sensed the energy it contained. If his body had allowed it, he would have flown up in celebration.
Because it contained a wisp of the law of time!