"Uh... well..."
Only then did Thor remember his two deals with Emma Frost: one was to make trouble for the Time Variance Authority, and the other was to leave Cassandra alive.
Well... he had blasted Cassandra into nothing, so that deal should count as fulfilled, right?
Seeing that Thor had fallen silent instead of answering, Emma Frost straightened her white suit and walked up to him in her high heels.
"Thor, have you decided how you're going to compensate me?"
Emma Frost reached out and lifted Thor's chin with a finger, her gaze traveling up and down his body.
"How about I do the same for you as I did for Betsy? I'll rebuild your body and strengthen your abilities. What do you think?"
Thor thought seriously for a moment before giving his answer, reaching out to swat away the hand Emma Frost was teasing him with.
"Thor, let's get one thing straight. You're the one who failed to hold up your end of our deal. This is the compensation you owe me, and it has to satisfy me, Emma Frost. Understand?"
"I don't need an alternative, especially not one exactly like Betsy's. What I need is a unique enhancement plan that belongs to me alone."
Emma Frost's right hand instantly assumed Diamond Form, and she tapped Thor's chest twice, stating her demand in a commanding tone.
"Uh... then should I just strengthen you directly?"
For a moment, Thor wasn't sure what to do. Right now, all he could do was rebuild other people's bodies and strengthen them with the power of laws. He didn't have any other methods.
Where was he supposed to find a unique plan?
Emma Frost was such a troublesome tsundere!
Emma Frost returned her hand from Diamond Form, stepped back, and folded her arms as she looked at Thor.
"I don't want my body rebuilt, and I don't want you randomly adding a few abilities, either."
Thor was even more confused. "Then what do you want?"
Emma Frost didn't answer. She turned and walked over to the window.
With her back to Thor, she spoke as coolly as if she were talking about someone else:
"You gave Betsy her body, and you added her abilities."
"She's your creation."
She paused.
"I, Emma Frost, will not be anyone's copy."
Thor stood there, stunned. That really was just like Emma Frost, but coming up with an enhancement plan like that was going to be tricky...
Emma Frost turned around and looked at him.
"Come find me when you've found a plan that's truly worthy of me."
She left.
Thor was left standing there alone, scratching his head.
"Valeria, did you understand what kind of enhancement plan Emma Frost actually wants?"
Leria didn't even look up. Her fingers flew across the light screen, and her voice carried a genius's impatience.
"You're asking me? How would I know? I've never been in love, so how would I know what a woman's thinking?"
She glanced at Thor with a look that said, "Are you stupid?"
"Also, could you two stop flirting in here? It's really distracting me from my work."
Thor said, "...I was just asking."
Valeria couldn't be bothered to respond. She tapped the holographic chart hovering in the air, and her eyes suddenly lit up.
"But speaking of which-I just finished a round of analysis based on your blood sample. I found that your body has a mechanism for absorbing and assimilating cross-dimensional laws."
"This endogenous law-anchoring trait has a zero detection rate among the multiversal individuals I've observed."
"I need to build a complete database of your ability parameters, and I'll need to conduct dynamic perturbation experiments afterward."
Thor watched the little girl's face gradually take on a mad scientist's smile and involuntarily backed away a few steps. "...So you're going to experiment on me?"
Valeria answered as if it were only natural. "What else? You said yourself that you'd meet all my demands!"
Damn it, he shouldn't have agreed so readily.
"Can I refuse?" Thor timidly raised his hand.
"Sure! I'll send Franklin the coordinates right now, and while I'm at it, I'll tell my parents and my godfather that someone's bullying me."
Valeria held a scanner in both hands and planted herself directly in front of Thor.
Whether it was because she had spent so much time with Emma Frost or not, her tone had somehow acquired a hint of unquestionable authority.
"All right, your brother's awesome!"
Thor admitted defeat. To think that a mighty powerhouse like him, just one step away from the universal level, would be threatened by a little weakling!
The world was going downhill!
It definitely wasn't because her brother was a multiversal-level big shot, and one of the very strongest at that.
"Do you have to be like this, Thor? I'm just collecting some data on your body. It's not like I'm going to eat you."
Valeria looked at Thor's miserable mug and could barely stand the sight of him.
Damn brat!
Just wait until I'm stronger than your brother. I'll give your butt a good hard kick!
Ignoring Thor as he secretly vowed to get revenge in the future, Valeria operated a host of devices to give him a full-body examination.
She stared at the data scrolling across the light screen, her eyes growing brighter and brighter.
"Peak power is about three orders of magnitude above the baseline for the Thor from my universe... Is it caused by the integration of the Law of Power?"
"Divine power fluctuations exceed Asgard's standard threshold by approximately 320%..."
"Biological age: 5,001 years. Nearly two thousand years older than the sample from my universe. Is the rate of aging positively correlated with divine power growth?"
She tilted her head, her voice filled with the excitement of a new discovery.
"So aging itself is a process of accumulating power for Asgardians? Age is positively correlated with divine power... There's enough in this subject for me to write three papers."
Thor looked at the increasingly deranged little girl and couldn't help complaining helplessly, "...So you're treating me as material for a paper?"
Valeria ignored him and continued scrolling through the data. Her expression suddenly turned serious.
"Wait... the simulated peak of your divine power output is close to main-sequence star level."
She looked up at Thor as though she were looking at an object that shouldn't exist.
"But your body's density isn't sufficient to support that kind of energy output. According to the mechanical model, you should have spontaneously combusted by now."
Thor said, "..."
The technical jargon alone was enough to give him a headache, but what was with that look on her face, as though he ought to be dead?
Valeria leaned closer and looked him up and down, her voice filled with pure scientific fervor.
"So how did you survive?"
"Are you done studying me?"
"Don't leave. You still haven't answered my question."
Seeing that Thor was about to leave, Valeria promptly grabbed his hand. Her desire for knowledge had taken over completely. Thor's body had enough to keep her studying for six months!
"Are you the scientist, or am I? You don't even understand it yourself, so why are you asking me? Do I look like I understand any of your technical jargon?"
"True. You Asgardians are just a little stronger. Your intelligence is no different from an ordinary person's, so there's no point asking you."
Thor's words brought Valeria back to her senses. She shot him a disdainful glance, as though looking at a piece of trash, then turned back to her research.
Thor calmed himself down. No anger, no anger. This little brat's intelligence was off the charts, and her brother's combat power was off the charts.
As everyone knew, when kings met, one had to avoid the other's edge first.
"I am Groot?!"
(Thor? You're finally out!)