Chapter 5008: Advance on York, Advance (Forty-Four)

"Let's go inside and talk."

Shiler glanced into the car; Thor's figure was already gone. Clearly, the trouble was big enough.

Thor knew better than anyone just how much trouble mutants could bring. All of Asgard had only experienced Ragnarök once, yet among mutants, events similar to Ragnarök could play out three times a day. First destroy mutants, then destroy Earth, then the whole universe — there was nothing they wouldn't dare do.

They had just walked into the Renaissance Alliance headquarters lobby when Nick Fury came up to meet them. He was a tall white man, wearing an eyepatch, with a stern face and a booming voice.

"Long time no see, Erik. Still looking sharp." Nick paused, then said, "Come with me. They're already waiting."

Nick's words were clever — he opened with pleasantries but gave Magneto's group no chance to speak, simply ushering them inside and saying people were waiting. This way he could avoid Magneto turning on him.

The reason he didn't specify that the ones waiting were the X-Men was mainly because the two mutant factions were ostensibly enemies, even though Magneto and Professor X had long since reconciled. Still, Nick's professional agent instincts held; he wouldn't touch any controversial topic.

But in truth, both points were just surface. The real message Nick wanted to convey was "It's not safe here."

After all, the higher-ups all knew about Magneto and Professor X's relationship. If this were truly a completely safe, home-turf setting, there'd be no need to speak so guardedly. Not naming names was like they were preventing someone from recording it all and releasing it to the public.

Magneto immediately caught the subtext. He instinctively looked at Shiler — after all, he was the only outsider here.

But he only glanced, said nothing. Together they went up to the conference room, and sure enough, the X-Men led by Professor X had been waiting a long while. Besides them, all the Renaissance Alliance's key figures had come, including Batman.

This Batman, Thomas Wayne, was special — but in appearance, he wasn't really any different from other Batmans. He stood there silently, just like the other Dark Knights, radiating pressure.

Nearly all members of the Justice League and the Avengers were present. Thor was already sitting in the central seat. Aside from Spider-Man, none of the multiverse visitors had come; Shiler was no exception.

Shiler walked over and sat beside Thor. There was an empty seat there, as if reserved specifically for him.

Thor murmured to him, "I still have doubts. If you look at me while you speak, your voice won't be heard by anyone but me."

"Not bad," Shiler assessed.

"So they've gathered here to flush out the real culprit?" Thor asked quietly. "I mean the real culprit, not Loki."

"On the contrary — it's precisely for Loki."

At that moment, a middle-aged man was escorted in. He was plain-looking, slightly balding, with heavy dark circles — clearly the chemist.

"I've examined his memory," Professor X spoke. "Loki controlled him with the Mind Scepter. He gave Loki some compounds; Loki added those things into feed and fed them to fish at deep Atlantic farms, making them larger and more ferocious. Those fish were transported by Loki to York City, where they happened to be eaten by the children."

It sounded like he was briefing everyone on the situation, but the only one in the room who was completely in the dark seemed to be Magneto, who had just arrived — everyone else already had part of the truth settled in their minds.

Immediately after, Namor and Arthur, who had just fought, were also brought in. Their condition had improved considerably; no agents escorting them, they walked in on their own, no handcuffs, but still people followed behind watching them.

"The accident was indeed at my farm," Namor said. "But I truly knew nothing about it. You can check my memory, even go to the farm — I can take you. If Loki wanted to dump fish feed into my farm, what could I do? He may not be Atlantean, but he has magic, and teleportation — I can't stop him."

"This has nothing to do with me whatsoever," Arthur said. "I was just doing legitimate business, selling the fish I raised to humans. That guy suddenly showed up, accused me of predatory competition, claimed the sea lanes I recently opened in the ocean were for transporting that problematic batch of fish. But I actually started widening the sea lanes right after the Civil War ended — you can check my memory, I have no objection."

Nick turned to look at Professor X. Professor X seemed to be pondering, then said, "I'll only examine memories relevant to this part. Stay relaxed; it'll be quick."

About a few seconds later, Professor X came back to himself and said, "They truly had no knowledge whatsoever of the berserk fish incident."

Namor glanced at Arthur and hmphed. Arthur was expressionless, wearing a "I didn't know anything to begin with" look.

After checking the two of them, Arthur sat down next to Batman. And now it was the turn of the people who went to the bar that day to testify. Neither Pyro nor Franklin came — only this universe's Peter showed up. He recounted what happened at the bar.

Professor X also checked his memory, nodded, and said, "Everything he said is true, and he also had no prior knowledge of this matter."

"Anything else?" Wolverine asked. "Perhaps, Thor…"

"No, Logan. Thor is the least likely to side with Loki," Professor X said. "Otherwise he wouldn't have killed him."

Thor's fingertips paused. He seemed to understand Loki's intent. All in all, the seafood incident did involve his own negligence.

When you're a true god who can grasp everything happening within the Nine Realms, any unexpected event here — especially one that harms others — you cannot shirk responsibility. That's Thor's situation now.

Even though he didn't know about it, not knowing is itself the error — who told you to be supposedly omniscient and omnipotent?

And perversely, in this originally not-so-damaging whole affair, the only one who truly counts as a victim is a mutant — and mutants are notoriously difficult.

Facing mutants, Thor can't use force either; otherwise the Nine Realms might not be enough for them to fight in, triggering a civil war even more severe than last time. So how to quell mutant anger became the problem.

But suppose all this was done by Thor's archenemy Loki — ordinary people don't know Loki and Thor's grudge, but mutant leadership certainly does — and Thor killed Loki, then he basically bears no responsibility.

Granted, there was some negligence before, but ultimately he personally slew the culprit, which counts as merit offsetting fault. And that culprit was his brother — even if an enemy, there's still some feeling. He killed his own brother; what more can you say?

Hearing Professor X put it that way, Wolverine fell silent too. After all, this could never be Thor's doing. Even if he bears responsibility for negligence and failing to watch Loki, in the end he personally turned it around. If they kept pressing, it would make them look unreasonable.

"Your turn to admit fault," Shiler said quietly to Thor.

"This is indeed my responsibility," Thor said heavily.

But before he could say the next thing he wanted to say, Shiler quietly prompted, "Start from you shouldn't have brought Loki back."

Thor couldn't help glancing at him. His lips moved, but no words came out — clearly reluctant. But under so many pairs of eyes watching him, he still said, "Perhaps I shouldn't have brought Loki back."

"I don't want to say this, but…" Captain America spoke up. "Glad you can realize that. It's not too late now."

"We once earnestly urged you," Natasha said, arms crossed. "Bringing him back benefits no one. And everything that happened afterward has proven that point. Thor, don't ruin the home you chose for yourself."

Thor lowered his head and let out a long sigh, as if acquiescing to their words. But he also realized another of Loki's purposes. Killing Loki didn't just appease mutant anger — it appeased the Avengers' too.

At the time, the entire Avengers strongly opposed Thor bringing young Loki back. When they saw Thor bring back another Loki, everyone's mood was desperate.

It's like fighting a boss in a game — the process is excruciating, mental and physical torture, using up all consumables, countless retries, finally winning. Before you can even savor the victory, the game crashes, save file lost. You reload, and the boss is standing right there again, the whole torture process starts over — no one could bear it without giving a bad review.

The Avengers weren't not angry at Thor; they just couldn't beat him anymore. Otherwise they'd have hammered both brothers into rice cakes. And by the time they recovered a bit, Thor had become a true god of the Nine Realms — even less chance to vent.

But emotions don't naturally dissipate; they only settle and grow more concentrated with time. Without closure on this, it'll never be over.

And regardless of whether the Loki killed at Renaissance Alliance HQ was a clone, or whether Thor truly meant to kill him — none of that matters. What matters is the attitude. At least Thor took some action and is willing to apologize for this — that's enough.

"I'm very sorry. My stubbornness hurt many people," Thor went on. "I'll be more careful next time."

"By Asgardian lifespan standards, your progress speed is quite fast," Bruce Banner nodded. "We should hold a coming-of-age ceremony for you."

Everyone laughed, the atmosphere finally easing. Thor laughed along, but it didn't look like genuine happiness.

"I think we can consider this case closed," Nick Fury said. "We've foiled Loki's plot once again, and he's been killed by Thor. We should announce this result to the public to avoid misunderstandings and also boost the Renaissance Alliance's prestige."

"I'll contact the media to hold a press conference," Nick said, lowering his eyelids. "All key personnel must attend. Everyone go prepare."

People filed out one after another. Thor remained seated. Once everyone was gone, he spoke: "It wasn't Loki, but…"

"But everyone hopes it was him — including himself," Shiler said, looking at Thor. "He solved a lot of trouble for you. Now you really owe him."

"I'd rather this never happened," Thor's gaze stared straight ahead. "Not like I can't manage without him."

Shiler stood up. "Go prepare for the press conference. Remember to act convincing."