"That guy's just as punchable as Wade."
Gambit shrugged indifferently and made the remark to Laura and Elektra beside him.
He spoke at just the right volume for Human Torch to hear.
Johnny's expression instantly exploded with anger, flames flaring up his cheeks.
"What did you say? Say that again if you've got the guts! Fuck you..."
Gambit had hit a sore spot. Johnny's temper flared, and without thinking, he flung a blast of flame at him.
But when the flame was only halfway there, a cold glint flashed in Emma Frost's eyes.
An invisible mental force instantly locked down Human Torch's entire body. Johnny went rigid, his flame freezing in midair along with him. It was as if he had been nailed in place, unable to move.
"With a mouth that filthy, you need to cool off."
The corner of Gambit's mouth curled up. A card spun between his fingertips as he prepared to teach the arrogant kid a lesson.
Just then-
The girl, Valeria, stepped forward and pressed a small silver device on her wrist.
Hum-!
A pale blue energy barrier sprang open, enclosing her, Gamora, and the immobilized Human Torch.
Fine ripples appeared across the barrier's inner surface as a peculiar force field spread out.
Classic Loki raised an eyebrow.
Emma Frost frowned slightly, a thought stirring in her mind.
Her Telepathy... had been cut off by the barrier!
Valeria looked up, her voice calm but edged with sharpness.
"This is Knowhere, and Cassandra was a telepath too. There's no way we wouldn't have come prepared.
This force-field barrier breaks down any external mental intrusion."
She looked at the group, her tone calm.
"We mean no harm. We only heard that Cassandra was dead and came to confirm it. I apologize on behalf of this hot-tempered flame-brain."
"Valeria! Why are you taking their side? I'm your uncle! Did a door slam on your head or something?"
Johnny glanced in discontent at the daughter of his sister from a parallel universe.
Valeria gave him an expressionless glance. Every word was clear and orderly, and she spared his feelings not one bit.
"First, you're only a variant from a parallel universe, not my uncle."
"Second, if you keep yelling, I'll seal your powers. You don't want Human Torch to be unable to make fire, do you?"
Hearing the threat, Human Torch Johnny could only raise his hands helplessly and curl his lip. "All right, all right, I'll listen to you. You're so young, but you're already like an adult. You can't enjoy anything."
"I'm sixteen. According to the laws of my Earth, I'm already considered an adult. Unlike you, who's in his thirties and still acts like a child."
Valeria sharply retorted to her biological uncle from a parallel universe, not caring in the slightest whether anyone else was present.
Johnny had been talked back to in front of so many people by a little girl so much younger than him-and his sister's child at that.
Unable to save face, he snorted. "Forget it. I won't stoop to arguing with a little brat like you."
"Now that you've confirmed the situation, what do you plan to do, little friend?"
Ophelia was intrigued by a girl so mature at such a young age.
"I propose that you let us join you. You'll be responsible for protecting me, and I'll be responsible for upgrading your defenses, communications equipment, and other technological products."
Valeria tapped the device on her hand and withdrew the pale blue force-field barrier, showing that she meant no harm and only wanted to seek shelter for the time being.
"All right. I agree to let you join on Thor's behalf. In exchange, I need you to help me develop my abilities."
Emma Frost had observed her for a while. After deciding that this little girl was very likely the kind of genius scientist she needed most right now, she decisively agreed on Thor's behalf.
"Develop your abilities?" Valeria had a nagging feeling that the woman opposite her looked familiar. She tapped the personal terminal on her right hand.
Virtual images of superheroes and supervillains appeared one after another. At last, her gaze settled firmly on a name: Emma Frost.
"Do you want me to help you improve your Omega-level mental powers, or your abilities in diamond form?"
"Both."
"All right. Then I might need to take a sample of your blood, and I'll also need some time and equipment. The research equipment I brought with me was damaged on the way here, so I can't use it."
Gambit Remy spotted himself among the virtual images and hurriedly asked, "Were you thrown in here by the Time Variance Authority too? And are there X-Men and Mutants in your universe as well?"
"I wasn't thrown in by the TVA. I was bored a while ago, so I observed the multiverse and caught a glimpse of coordinates for an unknown dimension. I planned to come over and collect some samples, but my research equipment was damaged on the way, and then I got trapped here."
Valeria explained why she had come here with a completely calm expression.
"Wait! You came in by yourself?!"
Even Classic Loki was a little shaken. The girl wasn't lying, which meant she really did have that ability.
That was a little frightening. Even with his current strength, he couldn't claim he could easily open a portal between Knowhere and just any universe.
Yet this little girl, only sixteen, had done it so easily?
"Yes. Didn't you?"
Valeria looked at everyone present in confusion.
Silence was tonight's Ankang.
Nobody present knew what to say. By her account, coming to Knowhere from her universe was merely a little troublesome, not impossible.
Then what did that make them, having been thrown in by the TVA, the Time Variance Authority?
A joke?
Valeria saw their reactions, and she grew even more confused.
"Don't you know my brother Franklin is an Omega-level Mutant?"
"Emma Frost is an Omega-level Mutant too, and she was thrown in by the Time Variance Authority." Betsy mercilessly sold Emma Frost out, completely ignoring Emma Frost's threats in her head.
"Huh? Aren't Omega-level Mutants supposed to be able to create pocket dimensions and Pocket Universes whenever they want? Can't you do that?"
Valeria was genuinely shocked. She had always thought the things her brother did were what a normal Omega-level Mutant should be capable of, but judging by everyone's reactions, apparently not?
Do you even hear yourself?
Creating pocket dimensions and Pocket Universes whenever you want-you call that an Omega Mutant? Then what did that make Emma Frost, and what did it make Phoenix and the other Omega-level Mutants?
Classic Loki couldn't contain himself when he heard the idea either. He had to risk his life to create a complete Asgard, yet this little girl said her brother could create a Pocket Universe whenever he wanted?
Even Odin wasn't that outrageous, was he?
Whose child was this?
Her family was far too ridiculously powerful!