"Mm, where is this?" Putting aside what was happening outside, Tohka groggily looked at the scene before her.
She found herself sitting on a throne surrounded by darkness. In front of her was another throne and a radiant World Tree. Across from her was a completely different throne, black in theme.
At that moment, a figure identical to herself appeared before her, though this girl's aura wasn't quite the same. Compared to her, the newcomer felt more like a free-willed demon king.
"You are?" Seeing this, Tohka walked down from her throne under the gaze of the girl, standing before the near-identical figure.
But just as she was about to say something, the girl slapped her chest with her palm. Tohka immediately felt the world turn upside down.
When she woke up again, she saw a guy wearing a helmet standing before her.
"Tsk tsk, what a pity."
But this guy didn't notice Tohka and instead spoke to the others nearby: "That battle was so cool! Too bad that bastard Director didn't let us join. Seriously, just watching the footage from afar made my blood boil."
"You idiot, what were you thinking? Were you really planning to join the fight? Let me be frank—look at who was involved. Magneto, and that storm-controlling woman who's just as powerful. They're both top-tier mutants. Plus Tohka—who could you possibly beat? You'd just be throwing your life away."
"And didn't you see? Everyone except Tohka was badly injured. Also, you'd better not stand so close to her."
"Even if you're not trying anything shady, from what I know, girls from the East like Tohka really hate strange men getting too close."
Glancing at the helmeted man crouched in front of Tohka, the woman dressed entirely in white, like a tiger, said coldly.
"Tch, I was just taking a look… ah."
Before the guy could finish his sentence, Tohka, now awake, kicked him flying. The force wasn't small—he smashed into the wall and flew right out, and Tohka could see the sky rushing past outside.
A massive suction followed through the hole. Everyone, including Tohka, was caught off guard, but none of them were ordinary people.
They quickly grabbed onto nearby objects to avoid being blown out. Shortly after, a special substance filled the broken section of the wall, sealing it up, and the suction vanished.
"What the hell did Nova do this time? Why'd he blow a hole in the plane? Also—ah, you're awake, Tohka."
At that moment, a door in the aircraft opened and Nick Fury walked in, approaching Tohka.
"Ah, is this the same plane as before? What about the others who came with me? And how did things end?"
Glancing around the interior of the plane, Tohka realized she and the others were back in the same aircraft. Several people who had followed S.H.I.E.L.D. earlier—probably superheroes—were also present.
"They're all fine. Let me introduce everyone properly this time, since you've met before. This is White Tiger."
Nick Fury pointed to the woman dressed entirely in white. "Hmph." But she crossed her arms and looked at Tohka disdainfully, clearly unimpressed.
"This is Iron Fist." Ignoring White Tiger's reaction, Fury pointed at a man with a yellow headband.
To Tohka's surprise, he performed a traditional martial salute—palms together and bowed slightly. Judging by his poise, this definitely wasn't his first time doing it.
"Hello." Tohka mimicked the gesture as a return greeting. Iron Fist looked a bit surprised—it was rare for anyone in America to know the gesture.
"All right, this is Power Man. His strength should rival yours." Fury pointed to a tall, sunglasses-wearing man who looked like a fitness coach. As for Tohka's strength, he didn't know the specifics, but anyone who could swing a giant ten-meter sword so easily had to be very strong.
"Oh right, the one you kicked just now is called Nova. Don't worry about him. Come with me—we have a few questions."
With that, Nick Fury had no intention of letting Tohka chat further with the others and directly brought her to another room. Seeing this, Tohka frowned—was he going to interrogate her like a criminal?
"Ahem, don't take it the wrong way." Seeing Tohka's expression, Fury coughed and explained, "We're not treating you like a suspect. It's just that this room is the most secure, free from outside interference. Only the most trusted people have access."
"You have to understand—the scale of what happened this time was enormous."
"Go ahead, what is it? Didn't the X-Men already tell you? Couldn't you just ask them?" Tohka looked at Fury, puzzled as to why he needed to question her. After all, she fainted later on and didn't even know why she wasn't hurt. She assumed Apocalypse had been defeated by Jean Grey.
"No, those guys told us that Apocalypse was taken down by a joint effort." Fury clearly didn't believe that.
The massive sword slash at the end was so large, even ships in the Mediterranean had seen it. There was no way to cover that up. And the X-Men kept their mouths shut. If the energy's color and properties hadn't differed from Tohka's usual output, and if the power hadn't been so exaggerated, Fury would've assumed it was Tohka's doing.
"You should know—those last two attacks were absurd. And those guys didn't say a word. The main problem is—Charles is already awake, so we won't be getting anything out of him."
This was also why Fury was frustrated. Trying to use mental tricks on a master telepath like Charles was just suicidal.
He couldn't be bothered to try. And though Charles was now bald, he seemed even more powerful—after all, he'd absorbed some of the mental energy Apocalypse had left behind in the psychic world.