Thor stepped out of the portal, and the white light behind him condensed into a single point before Oblivion.
He landed in the experimental area corridor of the Justice League Watchtower, feeling a slight tremor in the metal floor beneath his feet, while overhead was illuminated by standard cool white lighting.
Tetiyu followed behind him, her black tank top gleaming with a matte finish under the light.
Just as Thor was about to say something, he heard two familiar voices coming from the laboratory on his right.
"... So the key lies in the stability of the gene chain," Reed's voice carried that unique calmness, as if he were solving a math problem.
" Doomsday's Kreutz cycle rewrites its DNA sequence with each death, a proactive evolutionary mechanism. Amazo's superpower replication, on the other hand, is a passive quantum state simulation; the underlying logic of the two is completely different."
"Otherwise what?" Valeria's voice followed, tinged with obvious impatience. "That's why I said we should use nanoscale neural bridging technology, Reed. Did you not even read the third version of the plan I sent you yesterday?"
Thor paused.
A thought flashed through his mind instantly—it's over.
Doomsday, Amazo.
Putting these two names together is like placing a bomb next to a powder keg.
He remembered clearly that he had specifically warned the father and daughter before he left not to do any reckless research, not to cause any trouble, and especially not to touch those ridiculously dangerous things in the DC Universe.
He barely left, and these two immediately started this deadly combination?!
Thor took a deep breath and turned to look at death.
Death shrugged at him, a "I knew it would happen" smile on its face.
He didn't say anything, and simply walked towards the laboratory.
The laboratory door was half-open, and through the crack, Reed could be seen standing in front of the holographic projection, his fingers tracing patterns in the air, unfolding a series of complex gene sequences at his fingertips.
Valeria sat at the control panel, legs swinging, holding her personal terminal in her hands, the screen displaying a dense stream of data.
"Look here," Reed zoomed in on a DNA fragment, "The Kronos cycle of Doomsday has a specific locking site on chromosome 47. Theoretically, if we could use Amazo's quantum simulation system to—"
"We can use quantum entanglement as a bridge," Valeria interrupted him. "I've already calculated it; the success rate is 87.3%. The remaining risk mainly comes from energy overflow. But we just need to add a stabilizing force field—"
"The force field isn't enough," Reed shook his head. "We need a deeper constraint mechanism, such as—"
Just then, Valeria suddenly stopped.
She blinked, put down the terminal, and turned to look behind her.
"That's strange," she muttered, "I don't remember the air conditioner blowing directly on me."
Reed also sensed something was wrong. The temperature in the laboratory plummeted, not physically, but with an instinctive chill, as if it were being watched by something dangerous.
Valeria turned around.
Thor stood in the doorway, arms crossed, his expression Deadman.
He stared at the father and daughter without saying a word.
Valeria opened her mouth, about to explain, when Thor's hand was already raised.
Snap! Snap!
Two sharp slaps landed precisely on Valeria's head, producing a crisp sound.
"Adults are talking, kids should go play somewhere else." Thor's voice was flat, so flat it was chilling.
Valeria covered her head, her eyes wide, her lips moved, but she held back her anger. She knew Thor was truly enraged.
Thor turned his gaze to Reed.
Reed pushed up his glasses, which weren't actually on his nose—a habitual gesture when he was thinking—and then began in that standard academic tone:
" Thor, I understand your concerns, but I must point out a logical problem. Every individual in the multiverse possesses independent free will, and my actions do not represent the behavior of 'Reed Richards ' in other universes. Philosophically speaking—"
"Stop." Thor raised his hand. "You want to discuss philosophy with me now?"
He took a step forward, lowering his voice even further. "I remember clearly warning you, didn't I? Don't do any unauthorized research, don't cause trouble."
Reed opened his mouth as if to say something.
Thor didn't give him a chance. "Especially you, Reed Richards. In the multiverse, when it comes to causing trouble, you're second to none. Annihilus, Civil War, World War Hulk —wasn't it all because of your 'scientific exploration'?"
Reed's expression was somewhat unnatural.
"Furthermore," Thor pointed to the genetic sequence on the hologram, "Can you tell me what you were thinking? Combining Doomsday's and Amazo's powers into one in the DC Universe?"
He paused, a hint of sarcasm in his voice:
"What are you trying to create? Ultron to destroy the multiverse? Or do you think the DC heroes are too bored and want to give them some fun?"
Valeria huddled behind the control panel, muttering to herself, "Actually, we're just doing theoretical simulations—"
"Theoretical deduction?" Thor turned to look at her. "Don't you know what your dad's 'theoretical deduction' ended up with? Do you want me to give you an example?"
Valeria remained silent.
Thor rubbed his temples; his head was throbbing.
The destructive power of this father and daughter together is greater than that of a nuclear bomb. He turned his head and glanced at the laboratory, suddenly realizing that someone was missing.
"Where's Susan?" he asked.
Reed paused for a moment. "She should be in the rest area—"
Before he finished speaking, Thor had already vanished.
He activated the Law of Space, a flash of blue light, and traversed half of the Watchtower.
Three seconds later, he returned.
This time, he had someone with him.
Susan Richards was suddenly dragged from the rest area to the lab by Thor. She was still wearing her pajamas, her hair was loosely tied up, and she looked drowsy from just waking up.
"What's wrong?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. "What happened—"
She saw Reed and Valeria frozen there, and then she saw Thor's dark face, and instantly snapped back to reality.
" Thor?" Susan asked tentatively, "You're back?"
Thor ignored her question and asked directly, "I remember I told you to keep an eye on them, right?"
Susan nodded. "Yes, I've been watching them the whole time, and their research hasn't been anything out of line—"
"Are you sure?" Thor interrupted her, pointing to the holographic projection. "Are you sure combining Doomsday and Amazo isn't going too far?"
Susan looked in the direction he was pointing.
On the holographic projection, next to the names of Doomsday and Amazo were rows of calculation formulas and risk assessment data.
Her expression changed instantly.
" Reed!" Susan turned to her husband, her voice rising, "What are you researching?!"
Reed opened his mouth.
"I," he paused, then said in a particularly sincere tone, "was simply exploring theoretical possibilities—"
"Theoretical possibility?" Susan took two steps forward.
"Don't you know what Doomsday is? That monster killed Superman! Don't you know what Amazo is? That robot copied the abilities of the entire Justice League! You've combined these two things; are you trying to make the DC Universe chaotic enough?!"
As she spoke, a pale blue force field glowed on her fingers.
Reed took half a step back.
Valeria whispered, "Mom, actually we just wanted to test the feasibility of nano-neural bridging technology—"
"Shut up, Val!" Susan turned and glared at her daughter.
Valeria immediately shut up.
Seeing this, Thor's anger subsided a little.
He sighed, raised his hand and pressed down in the air, instantly extinguishing the holographic projection.
"Alright," he said, " Susan, this isn't your fault, it was my oversight."
Susan turned around, her face still flushed with anger: " Thor— "
"I know," Thor interrupted her, "You can't possibly watch them 24/7."
He paused, then looked at Reed and Valeria: "But you two, you've really gone too far this time."
Reed was about to say something, Thor raised his hand to stop him.
"I don't want to hear your explanation, nor your theory," Thor said.
"I'll only tell you one thing— the DC Universe is already chaotic enough. Darkseid, the Anti-Monitor, the Black Lantern Corps —aren't they all capable of destroying the multiverse? And now you want to add another threat to them?"
He stared into Reed's eyes:
"Do you know what Doomsday Amazo means? It means an unkillable monster that can copy all abilities and grow stronger every time it's defeated. If this thing were to actually come to fruition, the entire DC Multiverse would be doomed."
Reed fell silent.
Valeria also fell silent.
Thor rubbed his temples, feeling like an overly worried parent.
"Alright," he waved his hand, "I'm not going to waste any more words with you. Pack your things and get ready to go home."
Reed paused for a moment. "Go back?"
"Yes, go back to your own universe," Thor said. "I'm genuinely scared this time. If you guys stay here, and I go out for a bit, I'll have to clean up your mess when I come back. What if I come back late one day and you blow up the multiverse?"
Valeria panicked. "Wait, we still have so many experiments to finish—"
"Don't stop until it's finished," Thor interrupted her. "Your dad has plenty of labs; go back and work on it slowly."
He turned to Reed: "Don't even try to argue. I know you're doing this for scientific advancement, but you have to consider the consequences. Some things are not for you to touch."
Reed opened his mouth, but finally nodded.
Susan sighed, walked over and patted Thor on the shoulder. "Sorry, Thor, I should have kept a closer eye on him."
"It's not your fault," Thor shook his head, "It's just that those two are too much of a troublemaker."
He grabbed Reed and Valeria by the collars, one in each hand, and dragged them toward the door.
"Let's go, let's find a place to clear things up first, then I'll take you back."
Valeria struggled for a moment. "Hey, can you stop pulling at my collar? It's embarrassing—"
"Disgraceful?" Thor sneered. "What you two just did is what's truly disgraceful to me."
He dragged the father and daughter out, with Susan following behind, shaking her head as she went.
Death stood at the door from beginning to end, watching the whole farce unfold. She tilted her head, a hint of a smile flashing in her eyes.
"That's interesting," she said softly. "So you can take care of children too."
Thor turned and glared at her.
Death shrugged and followed.
In the corridor, Thor dragged the father and daughter further and further away, while behind them came Valeria's resentful mutterings and Reed's attempts to reason with him.