Chapter 72 72: Interrogation by the All-Father
Thor looked at Mira, who was comfortably lounging in Frigga's embrace, and then at his father standing beside him, whose single eye was flashing with complex, heavy calculation.
The God of Thunder opened his mouth, but for a long, painful moment, he couldn't form a single coherent sentence.
He had literally just survived a traumatizing, life-and-death battle with his brother. He had personally shattered the indestructible Bifrost Bridge. He had watched Loki fall into the cosmic void with his own two eyes. His mind was an absolute, chaotic mess of grief and adrenaline.
Now, walking into this warm, cozy, utterly absurd domestic scene... Thor genuinely forgot how to speak English, let alone Asgardian.
It wasn't until Frigga gently patted Mira's back, looked up, and shot her son a tender, reassuring glance—a silent message telling him everything was under control—that Thor finally snapped back to reality.
He cleared his throat nervously and bowed deeply to Odin.
"Father. This is Lady Ishar-mla, a sovereign entity from the mortal realm of Midgard," Thor's voice was hoarse and raspy from screaming during the battle, yet it remained profoundly solemn. "Earlier today in New Mexico, when the Destroyer was about to bathe the innocent town in blood... she intervened. She protected all the civilians and saved the lives of myself, Sif, and the Warriors Three. If not for her intervention, I fear every single mortal in that town would have been incinerated in the Destroyer's self-destruction."
Thor paused, violently scratching the back of his head. He was desperately trying to explain complex, sci-fi concepts he barely understood himself. His tone carried distinct traces of profound confusion.
"Lady Ishar-mla claims she is... the Sovereign of the Deep Sea, and the physical proxy for something called 'the Hive Mind.' Her ancient race is known as the Sirens, and they have apparently lived in the abyssal depths of Midgard's oceans for millennia. It was my own arrogant ignorance; I confess I had never heard of their existence before today."
Finished with his clumsy geopolitical briefing, Thor frantically added another sentence, terrified that Odin might view the anomaly sitting on his mother's lap as a national security threat.
"Father, I swear on my life, Lady Ishar-mla harbors no ill intent! She poses absolutely zero threat to the Realm Eternal. She—"
"That is quite enough, Thor," Frigga slowly stood up from the bench, gently helping the deeply embarrassed Mira to her feet as she did.
The Queen raised a graceful hand and patted Thor's broad shoulder, interrupting his panicked, incoherent explanation. Her eyes held a hint of gentle, motherly amusement. "I understand exactly what you are trying to say, my son. There is no need to be so nervous."
She turned to look directly at Odin. Her expression was perfectly calm, yet her tone carried an unquestionable, diplomatic authority disguised as gentleness.
"This young child is a benefactor to the Realm Eternal, Odin. She is not an enemy."
Odin looked at his wife. A massive, profound flash of helplessness crossed his single, ancient eye. Ultimately, he surrendered to her judgment and gave a slow nod.
Leaning heavily on his legendary golden spear, Gungnir, Odin's gaze finally locked onto Mira Vale.
His look was entirely devoid of Frigga's motherly warmth, yet it lacked any overt, bloodthirsty hostility. Instead, the All-Father's single eye radiated a terrifying, crushing, absolute insight. It felt as if his gaze possessed the physical gravity to pierce through her biomechanical flesh, directly into the source-code of her soul.
"Thor. Escort your mother back to her royal chambers so she may rest," Odin's voice was a low, rumbling bass, carrying the crushing, heavy weight of thousands of years of cosmic rule. "The geopolitical fallout of the Bifrost's destruction... and the tragedy of your brother Loki... we shall discuss those heavy matters later."
Thor was stunned. He subconsciously looked at Mira, and then back at Odin. His blue eyes flooded with profound panic. Terrified that his father was going to execute or imprison the girl who had just saved his life, Thor opened his mouth to argue.
But before he could speak, Frigga gently grasped his armored forearm.
"Listen to the All-Father, Thor. Come. Let us return to the chambers." Frigga shook her head gently at her son. She turned, looked directly at Mira, and offered the Siren a highly secretive, playful wink.
Her eyes radiated absolute reassurance, silently broadcasting a single message: Do not worry, he won't hurt you.
With that, the Queen gently pulled her physically massive, incredibly reluctant son away, leading him deep into the golden corridors of the palace.
Soon, the grand, marble entrance was completely empty. Only the All-Father of Asgard and the Sovereign of the Abyss remained.
The high-altitude wind blowing off the sea of clouds whipped gently through the corridor, violently tossing Mira's long silver hair. The two glowing blue gemstones Frigga had pinned into her braids swayed softly, catching the golden sunlight.
Mira stood her ground. She was still awkwardly clutching the ornate silver plate of half-eaten candied fruits. Facing the terrifying, highly penetrating gaze of the God-King, she didn't display a single microscopic trace of fear or nervousness.
Instead, she casually popped another piece of Asgardian candy into her mouth, chewing it with an obnoxiously loud crunch.
The two cosmic entities stared at each other in total, suffocating silence.
The atmosphere wasn't exactly hostile, but it was thick with the suffocating gravity of two apex predators silently calculating each other's threat levels.
Ultimately, it was Mira who broke the silence. She shrugged her shoulders and complained with an air of total, bratty indifference.
"I have to say, All-Father... I honestly thought you were going to blast me with Gungnir the second Thor left, or just physically kick me off the edge of Asgard into the void. After all, I did illegally hack into your Royal Library and pirate the highly classified, magical heritage your family has hoarded for hundreds of thousands of years. Literally any other monarch in the universe would have drawn their sword and fought me to the death over that."
Hearing the sheer, unapologetic audacity of the teenager, Odin couldn't help but let out a low, rumbling chuckle.
Leaning heavily on Gungnir, the All-Father walked slowly toward her, stopping just a few feet away. His physical frame was massive and burly. Even though he had literally just awoken from the restorative Odinsleep and his reserves of the Odinforce had not fully regenerated, he was still surrounded by the absolute, terrifying majesty of a cosmic hegemon.
However, his tone was exceptionally peaceful. It even carried a distinct hint of grandfatherly amiability.
"I am not a bloodthirsty tyrant. I am not so heartless as to execute a guest who has directly aided the Realm Eternal and saved the life of my heir," Odin's gaze fell upon the elegant Asgardian braids Frigga had woven into Mira's hair. A distinct flash of genuine amusement crossed his single eye.
"Besides... my Queen has clearly taken a profound liking to you. If I actually kicked you into the void, Frigga would ruthlessly nag me about it for the next three centuries."
Mira raised a digital eyebrow. She honestly hadn't expected the legendary, supposedly ruthless All-Father to be so charismatic and easy to negotiate with.
But in the very next microsecond, Odin's tone violently shifted.
The terrifying, cosmic sharpness resurfaced in his single eye. His voice remained perfectly calm, yet it carried an unquestionable, absolute certainty as he casually verbally dismantled her entire geopolitical disguise with a single, devastating sentence.
"However, child. You do not need to play these foolish political games with me. 'Sovereign of the Deep Sea.' 'Agent of the Hive Mind.' These grand, dramatic titles are nothing more than elaborate fictional stories you concocted to fool my son."
"I have lived for hundreds of thousands of years. I have conquered the Nine Realms. I have interacted with countless alien civilizations across the cosmos. I know far better than you exactly how deep the oceans of Midgard truly are, and I know exactly what biological species reside within them."
"There has never, ever been an indigenous race known as the 'Sirens' on Earth. Let alone a technological 'Hive Mind.'"
Odin leaned forward slightly. The sheer gravity of his gaze fell onto Mira like a physical, crushing weight. He spoke slowly, articulating every single syllable with terrifying precision.
"You are not from Midgard at all. In fact... you do not belong to this universe in the slightest. You are an artificial creation hailing from an entirely different timeline... from an entirely different world-line. Are you not?"
The casual, bratty smile on Mira's face did not fade in the slightest.
But internally, her cybernetic heart skipped a violent beat.
She had fully expected Odin to see through some of her lies. After all, he was an ancient, cosmic monster who had ruled the Marvel Universe for millennia. He possessed the Odinforce, had wielded the Infinity Stones in his youth, and was deeply knowledgeable about the multidimensional nature of reality. It wasn't a shock that he could instantly deduce she was an extraterrestrial or extradimensional anomaly.
But she absolutely, categorically had not expected Odin to look her dead in the eye and casually drop the highly specific, sci-fi concept of a "world-line."
"As expected. The older the monster, the sharper the fangs," Mira stopped pretending. She aggressively dropped the innocent teenager act and admitted the truth with brutal frankness.
She casually tossed the empty silver candy plate into her subspace inventory, clapped her hands together to dust off the sugar, and spread her arms wide toward the God-King.
"You caught me, All-Father. You are absolutely right. I made up every single one of those dramatic titles."
"After all, dealing with Thor's brain—well, you know your son better than anyone—he genuinely cannot process complex, multidimensional concepts. I couldn't exactly sit him down and calmly explain that I was transmigrated here from a parallel universe, and that I technically know every single geopolitical plot point that is going to occur in his life over the next two decades, could I? His brain would have literally melted out of his ears."
"So, I just played the role of a highly dramatic Fictional Historian. I gave myself a few terrifying, Lovecraftian titles to command respect. It wasn't like he possessed the intelligence network to verify my claims anyway."
Listening to her utterly frank, highly disrespectful, and incredibly crafty confession, Odin couldn't help but shake his head. A massive flash of genuine, profound admiration crossed his ancient eye.
He had witnessed countless alien kings tremble and weep before his throne. He had executed thousands of ambitious, cosmic schemers with hidden agendas. But this was the very first time he had ever met a 'mortal' girl—no, a visitor from another universe—who possessed the sheer, apocalyptic audacity to remain perfectly composed, and actually mock his son's intelligencedirectly to his face.
"Then how exactly should the King of Asgard address you?" Odin asked slowly, his voice rumbling. "Shall I continue with 'Lady Ishar-mla'? Or will you grant me your true designation?"
"Mira Vale," Mira smiled, officially dropping the Eldritch alias.
She instantly reined in her playful, bratty demeanor. Her digital eyes flashed with a cold, terrifying blue light. Her expression became deadly serious as she delivered her true, military designation to the All-Father.
"Second Observer, Mira Vale. Apex Administrative Core of the Siren Antiochus System."
"Observer?" Odin repeated the English word slowly. His white eyebrow arched, and the profound curiosity in his eye deepened. "Sirens. Antiochus. These are names and concepts that have never existed in the history of this universe. Your technological race truly hails from a completely foreign reality."
The God-King took two slow, heavy steps forward, clasping his hands behind his back. He stared out over the edge of the Golden Palace, looking out at the infinite sea of stars burning at the edge of the clouds.
His voice dropped an octave. It no longer carried the warmth of a grandfather, but the terrifying, suffocating vigilance and solemnity of the Supreme Guardian of the Nine Realms.
He finally asked the single, most critical geopolitical question.
"So, Mira Vale. Second Observer from an alternate world-line. What I am most profoundly curious about is this:"
"For what exact purpose did you, and the apocalyptic race known as the Sirens, cross the dimensional void to enter my universe?"
Odin slowly turned around. His gaze locked onto Mira like a targeting laser.
The grandfatherly gentleness in his single eye had entirely vanished. It was violently replaced by the absolute, crushing majesty and lethal sharpness of the All-Father.
"Did you come to violently strip-mine the resources of this reality and spark an extinction-level war, much like the Chitauri or the Dark Elves? Or did you come for something else entirely?"
The high-altitude wind howling through the corridor ceased instantly.
The very oxygen in the air seemed to physically freeze as the majestic, crushing pressure of the Odinforce radiated silently from the God-King, pressing down onto Mira's cybernetic chassis like a collapsing mountain.
If there was even a single, microscopic hint of falsehood in her answer—or a single trace of hostile, apocalyptic malice directed toward his universe—the All-Father, fully awakened from his slumber, would not hesitate to instantly obliterate her with Gungnir.
Facing a cosmic pressure that would cause any mortal race in the Nine Realms to drop to their knees and weep in terror, Mira remained standing perfectly straight.
There was absolutely zero fear on her face.
She simply looked at the King of Asgard, and offered him a light, terrifyingly confident smile.
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