The next day, in the afternoon.
A cafe near Columbia University.
The sky was clear like a sheet of blue paper, with a few thin white clouds drifting gently, as if melted by the sunlight and carried away by the wind.
Sitting by the street-facing window, Emma Frost gently touched the golden sunlight streaming through the glass.
The sunlight was warm and bright, clearing the shadows in her heart. Her whole body felt pleasantly cozy.
On the table, several magazines and a few newspapers had been pushed aside.
This world had no mutants, no Hellfire Club, and nothing she was familiar with.
Even the timeline was different.
From 1962 to 2005, forty-three years had passed in the blink of an eye. Like the wind scattering the grain in the southern mountains, like the northern sea flooding over tombstones, she had gone from a cutting-edge queen to an outdated antique. Time flies. Years change.
The past had become a memory. The future had become the present. Seize the moment, look ahead, this was a brand-new beginning.
"What should I do?" Emma looked at the calm young man sitting across from her. This mysterious and powerful man who had given her a new life was now her new king, her new allegiance.
Fenris set down his coffee cup and spoke slowly. "We won't be staying in this world long. We're here to find someone named Reed Richards and have him repair a few items for me. Although he's still an ordinary person right now, he has a brain that's arguably the smartest in the entire multiverse."
"He's studying at this university. Find him and give him these things. Then…"
He tapped his temple with a long finger. "What's mine is mine. Don't touch it, don't move it, don't even think about it. Got it?"
Got it.
She didn't know what the items were, but if Reed was just fixing them, then that was all he should do. No extra thoughts allowed.
Emma nodded, picked up the bag beside her, and prepared to leave.
"There's some money in there for living expenses. Your job is to watch him and make sure nothing goes wrong during the process."
"Yes."
Seeing him lift his coffee again, Emma nodded with understanding and walked out of the cafe, stepping through the gates of Columbia University.
Last night's brief trip had exceeded expectations.
The combination of Emma and Charles Xavier's psychic powers was terrifyingly strong. It might even be enough to try and control Alioth. If successful, making it her guard dog would solidify her role as ruler of the Void.
Magneto's magnetic abilities were also crucial. After controlling Alioth and gaining full control of the Void, she couldn't just remain holed up in an underground castle.
Infrastructure needed to be built, and for that, Magneto's powers were unmatched.
There were also abandoned ships scattered across the Void. Many had repair value and needed to be recovered and managed. His powers would come in handy there too.
As for Riptide and Sebastian Shaw's abilities, the former wasn't very versatile, and the latter's energy absorption and release were more passive. In terms of building the Void, they were practically useless.
By the way, on the system panel, Shaw's "energy absorption and release" had merged with Starlight's "flash emission" and "energy and electricity absorption," forming a unified skill: "energy absorption and release."
Five minutes later, Fenris paid the bill and left the cafe. He walked into a quiet nearby alley and teleported to the Void.
"Huh?"
"Did I just drop into a pile of Lokis?"
As soon as he arrived, Fenris found himself surrounded by layer upon layer of Lokis. They all looked different and wore various outfits.
Wearing a horned crown, dressed in a suit with a green vest and a tie, President Loki pushed the others aside and stepped forward with arms wide open.
"Welcome to my kingdom. I am the king here. Loki!"
"I'm the king," muttered another Loki from the crowd.
"No, I'm the king."
"Bull! I'm the king!"
"The king is mine! Don't any of you dare try and take him from me!"
…
True chaos. Full betrayal mode.
Before Fenris could even speak, the Lokis had already started arguing and turning on each other.
You don't respect me. I don't acknowledge you. The back-and-forth soon turned into an all-out brawl.
Every single Loki thought the upper hand belonged to him.
Pffft!
Amid the chaos, no one saw which Loki struck first, but one of them sneakily stabbed another.
The stabbed Loki widened his eyes in disbelief and retaliated, stabbing a bystander Loki instead.
"You coward! Can't even fight me face-to-face? Trash! Weakling! What's the point of you even being here?"
The bystander Loki, now also stabbed, yelled while imitating the move and turned on another bystander.
No way was he going to take the hit alone.
Fenris hadn't said a word, yet the entire scene was already out of control. Watching it gave him a headache.
These guys were… incredible.
Absolutely brilliant. Every one of them.
As the Lokis launched into a wild free-for-all without caring who was on whose side, Fenris started to believe this might actually be their standard "welcome ceremony."
Classic behavior. Nothing to be surprised about.
"Enough!"
Seeing more and more Lokis collapsing, President Loki finally shouted, trying to stop the madness and restore order to the mess.