Chapter 2

The flight to New York was nothing remarkable. The atmosphere on board was tense, there was no talk, there was no porthole to stare out, in general, mortal boredom. I had to entertain myself with introspection and attempts to understand whether I was completely crazy, voluntarily allowing myself to be taken to the strongest telepath on the planet?

It turned out that I was not crazy, I just do not always consciously perceive the conclusions and predictions of my own brain. Being, of course, determines consciousness, but my consciousness is still too little in Loki's body to adapt, and meanwhile, the God of Cunning was far from being a fool with one gyrus even by the standards of the Aesir, against the background of the human brain ... and could distribute attention to dozens of tasks simultaneously without losing efficiency. I, having inherited the skills, have not yet fully got used to them and have not had time to transfer all the baggage of intellectual skills into the "conscious" column. Thus, it turned out that the world, as it were, at once became simpler and clearer for me, the answers were ready even before the conscious posing of the question, and I could act without thinking, but immediately focusing on the feeling of how I would act correctly. Consciousness simply did not have time to follow the course of information processing, and the process of reasoning, leading to final conclusions, eventually eluded perception, although it did not disappear from memory.

That is another feeling, in fact ...

But back to the Xavier theme. Firstly, my mind was protected by magic, and although this protection, in theory, could be broken through, it was physically unrealistic to do it imperceptibly, and even fast enough so that I did not have time to break the telepath's neck. Secondly, whatever you say, Xavier is one of the most ethical and highly moral characters in the Marvel universe, in any of its manifestations. If he were even just a person whose principles allow immoral acts for the greater good, he would have enslaved the world, turning all governments of all countries into their obedient puppets, and mutants would never have had any problems of war with ordinary people. In other words, he is not one of those who will gut the brains of the interlocutor without a really good reason. Although, of course, in these cases there can be no complete guarantee, but, hey, dealing with Xavier is in any way safer than with anyone else of the owners of power of this level. Finally, the third point, which, apparently, was defining and generally pushed me to contact Logan and Rogue: the X-Men were a good start. I mean, they have the resources to start looking for a way out of this universe. If I hadn't risked contact with Wolverine, then I would have got out of Canada for a few more weeks and not really knowing where to go. My time is limited, even if there is no Chitauri invasion, led by Loki. I would like, of course, to believe that since there are X-Men here, then this is not the universe of the Avengers, and Thanos with the Infinity Stones is not here, but that was the gag - Thanos existed here, and Loki heard about him how and Stones, which means ass to be.

And here one more moment arises: I never feel myself a hero, and even more so, taking into account the digested memory of the God of Deception. In the end, the Hero is the one who has something to protect and for this something he is ready to lay down his life. Well, what place can I be a hero in this universe? What am I to defend here? Asgard, which is completely alien to me? A land that has nothing to do with my own, except for Elon Musk and McDonald's? Here, really, I would never have thought, but this media fake, in the sense of Elon Musk, exists here too, well, here you go - it leaked out, as the memories of local residents told me about. But all the same, what to talk about if there is nothing dear to me at all in this whole universe?

Yes, my roof is clearly leaking and there is an inadequacy in my actions, whether it be joyful jerks into fights, thoughts about women, the desire to troll everyone, being more Loki than Loki himself, and, finally, complete indifference to murder. This is bad. I admit. But I can't do anything yet - I suspect that the subconscious mind is thus struggling with the stress from the transfer of consciousness. However, even in this inadequacy, I do not want and will not risk my life for the laurels of another Marvel movie hero. In the MCU, it is generally dangerous to be a hero - they are killed. And even if they manage to drag on and overcome everything, this does not mean that they have not worked out and that it has not only gotten worse.

Then no. Fill. Only to blame. Even if now I have become a psycho for life, I am a psycho who knows for sure that there are more than one universes, and that you can move between them, therefore, all I need is to find a way to move. Unfortunately, I don't remember ready-made solutions in the MCU, but in the Marvel universe, as a more global concept, they are present. And magical, and based on superpowers like mutants, and even purely scientific. Xavier can help me a lot with their search, at least at first. And in any case, at his school it will be much easier to understand the realities of the world around him than wandering through the forests of Canada on his own.

And speaking of my psychopathy ... there is something in it. Perhaps these are echoes of Loki's habits, but it's not like a childish pin to me when another pearl comes out of my mouth, making others feel awkward. Not that in a past life I was a tongue-tied introvert with a phobia of human society, but even when I joked successfully in good company, it was still somehow wrong, but here ... I feel like God.

Literally.

The feeling of magic, space, breath of the world, physical strength that allows you to tear steel ... I like it. Definitely like it. And including how I can behave at the same time. This is great. Very fun.

So, having spent the entire flight thinking of varying degrees of confusion and adequate, I was not at all tired. We reached the goal by the evening and at dusk sank into a hangar hidden under the basketball court. I'm not kidding, if in cartoons they flew out of the hangar doors in some kind of rock, then here they really built an airfield under the basketball court, which drove off to the side when it was necessary to take off or land. It looked cool, but I still began to suspect that Professor X still allowed himself a little liberties in erasing the memory of others, otherwise I just don't know how he explained it to the construction team, who dug and assembled all these mechanisms. Although he is rich, money is a very special superpower in a capitalist society.

Listening to the conversations of our pilots with the edge of my ear, I just in case, I updated and strengthened the magical protection of the mind, almost missing the moment of touching the landing gear with a solid surface. Admittedly, this VTOL aircraft has a fairly soft landing. In the hangar itself, a bald, handsome gentleman in a wheelchair and a red-haired lady in a red dress were already waiting for us.

"Hello. My name is Professor Charles Xavier, and this is Dr. Jean Gray,"the telepath introduced himself, driving closer to the gangway. " And you must be Wolverine, Loki and Rogue?" With a polite smile, he ran his gaze over our faces in turn.

"Hi," Logan responded rudely, looking around the underground runway with the expression of a man who, on the one hand, is impressed, and on the other, no longer expects anything good from fate.

"Good day, " I nod to the mutants, out of the corner of my eye with affection, noting how Rogue is naturally shy of everything around. "Though it is more likely at night. And hopefully not expecting Dr. Banner's approach? His green problem is not something I would like to stay with overnight."

"I apologize?" the professor was surprised.

"As I understand it, you have a mutant hobby group here, and among mutants there are not so many guys with a doctorate degree, so that, having met two in one place, you would not expect a third. And there is no need to rotate a finger at the temple behind my back, big-eyed, I am much less crazy than I seem ... or more than you think, but these are details."

"Scott," the professor looked with condemnation at the guy behind me.

"Sorry," he looked down.

"No, we don't have any Dr. Banner," the telepath drew attention to us again. "But be that as it may, I am glad to welcome you to my home.

"Yes, yes, we get it," Logan replied. " True, I still do not fully understand why all this is."

"We will try to answer your questions, but I guess the hangar is not the best place for that. I propose to proceed to my office.

"Okay," Wolverine agreed. Rogue, as the youngest and little understanding, preferred to nod silently.

With this, the entire delegation followed from the room with the plane into a silvery corridor, like the take-off platform, decorated with a pretense of futurism. The interior was bright, clean, and generally very similar to the movies. But Xavier didn't let us look at the secret part of his house for too long, leading us to the elevator. A short trip - and we go out into a completely different environment: wood paneling, paintings, draperies and various pleasant things, such as clocks and bronze figurines on the wardrobes. The office corresponded to the estate - a high-quality and expensively furnished room, but without flashy luxury, I would even say that it was very cozy here.

"So?" sitting in a comfortable chair in front of the table, at which Xavier had already stopped, I continued the conversation.

" Let me start a little from afar, " the man folded his hands in a boat, " from this place and what I am doing."

" Hmmm ... " Wolverine was not very enthusiastic about such an idea, but did not go further than a displeased moo.

" This place is a home for gifted children. Gifted in their own way. Here we teach mutants how to control and develop their abilities, as well as protect against threats from the outside world. Anonymity is the best defense for mutants in a hostile society. Cyclops, Storm and Jean are my first students." The professor nodded at the designated ones. "I protected them, taught them to control their abilities, and eventually teach others to do it," Rogue received an encouraging smile. "Most of the students are fugitives. Frightened, alone ... some have such strength that they are dangerous to themselves and to those around them, but here they are among their own. They are recognized here and are not shunned.

" Wow …" the girl obviously liked the postulate. "Can you teach me not to put any person who touched me into a coma ?!"

"We will do our best to achieve this," Xavier smiled again. - I cannot promise that it will work out, but you will always find a place to stay, and people who will accept you for who you are.

" And what's the catch?" The regenerator is not used to trusting anyone.

"No catch," Charles replied calmly. " We do not restrain anyone by force, and each student is free to choose what he needs more. Those interested can leave college at any time, but after they finish their program, they have a choice: either return to society as educated young people, or stay here to teach others and become part of our extended family."

" Sorry, professor, " I got itchy again and I just couldn't keep my mouth shut, "but how do these words about kindness and protection correlate with a hidden hangar, a high-tech stealth plane and a couple of individuals dressed in something suspiciously similar to some special forces uniform? It looks more like some kind of PMC than a school for "gifted" kids."

"This is the second part of our life. In this world, there are mutants endowed with incredible strength, and many of them do not share my respect for humanity, as well as the idea of ​​coexistence with people. If they are not resisted, humanity will perish. It is for this that everything that you have listed exists, Loki. All this and much more besides."

"That is, you founded and maintain a certain group carrying certain cultural, ideological or political doctrines, and allow the use of violence and heavy military equipment to defend these doctrines and interests? In other words, are you not alien to the deliberate, politically motivated violence committed against civilians or objects by subnational groups of the federal level or underground agents and organizations, usually with the aim of influencing the mood of society?"

" Hey, we are not doing anything like that against the civilian population! " Cyclops was indignant.

"That is, the transportation of corpses, weapons and illegal border crossing is for the benefit of the civilian population? And this is just one episode that we know for sure and even participated in!" I happily slapped my palms on the armrests of the chair. " Gorgeous, but we have pacifist terrorists here! Rare view!"

" Terrorists? Rogue gasped."

"It's not quite as your friend said," an elderly mutant in a wheelchair sighed sadly, "although, I have to admit, from a formal point of view, everything may look somewhat unsightly," he is really unbreakable, and I still thought it was Wolverine unperturbed.

"Oh, just don't think that I condemn or want to offend you," I smile conciliatory. "I'm not against it. After all, I am the God of Deception, Mischief and Evil Jokes, and what could be more mischievous than a crowd of trained and armed super soldiers beyond the control of the authorities a couple of hundred kilometers from Washington? In addition, the girls in this uniform look great," I throw a meaningful look at the Storm.

"I don't want to see my students as soldiers," the telepath objected seriously. "That is why some of them still have to do what they do. To protect the rest, both from ordinary people and from people like Magneto."

" Explain already what the hell is this," Logan asked wearily, he was clearly annoyed by the "dumb name" of a potential enemy, my antics and the whole situation in general, but nothing, the man continued to hold on and Overcome.

"One of the extremely powerful mutants, plotting to unleash a war between mutants and the rest of humanity. His strength is the control of metals, and, in addition, he leads his own organization of radical mutants, of which Sabretooth was a part."

"Sabretooth, Cyclops, Storm ... " Logan looked skeptically at me, " Loki …"

" Hey, that's my real name! And in general, you call yourself Wolverine."

"… Now here is Magneto," the regenerator stoically ignored my soul cry. - Do you also have a pretentious nickname? A cart or something like that? - then Logan clearly intended to say something like "I've had enough, I'm getting out of this madhouse", but the professor just looked at him, and the mutant cut himself off in half a sentence. He also looked around hauntedly. "… Okay, I convinced you.

"Hmmm, aren't those droids you're looking for?" I nod towards Logan.

" No," the professor smiled with the tips of his lips, " I just showed that I also have a gift. From an early age I realized that I can influence people's minds, make them think and act as I wish. Then I realized how great the responsibility of the owner of such a gift should be. At seventeen, I met a guy named Eric Lehnsher. He also had a gift, he could create powerful magnetic fields of a very specific configuration and thus manipulate metals. Together we began to look for other mutants and defend our rights, but ... he became disillusioned with this path and decided to fight humanity, and not try to get along. After that, he became known as Magneto."

"And why would he send his bully after us?" Wolverine tilted his head, judging by the expression on his face, already resigned and deciding to take the information seriously.

"This is what I want to know. Give me three days. In the meantime, I invite you to be guests in this house."

"Okay…" Logan replied after some deliberation. " Loki, Rogue?"

" A-ah-and can I go to you? Well, study?" the girl did not think long.

"Of course, we will always be glad to other mutants," now the professor smiled much more openly and cordially.

" Well, I still have nowhere to go and there is no difference, so you can stop at your place, besides, I would later like to discuss several issues individually,"I felt how my mind was gently touched, apparently, Charles was not against discussing topics of interest to me tete-a-tete and with a crowd of people. " No, no," as expected, mental magic made it possible to easily push the visitor out, even not allowing him to reach the first line of constant defense - the Labyrinth of Reflections, " let's without this, believe me, it would be better for us to communicate in a normal language," lit up in Xavier's eyes some interest, like Jean Gray, which, by the way, although she was not a "crocodile", but like Rogue, was, at most, a pretty girl, but not a stunning fatal beauty, which she is described in comics and cartoons. However, by local standards, she may really be included in the Top 10 beauties of the planet, who knows how bad things are here on Earth? If the local Sif, the natural Goddess and the first beauty of Asgard, did not even have normal boobs, then what can we expect from Midgard? Ah, I already got tired of whining about the fact that there is only one beautiful woman for the whole version, hike. And I wouldn't be too surprised if she ends up being a lesbian too.

"Okay," Xavier nodded with a conciliatory half smile. " Now the rooms will be prepared for you, but for now I suggest you go to dinner. You must be all hungry during the flight."

Logan and I turned out to be understanding people and began to get up, followed by Rogue, and soon the whole crowd had already left the office, leaving the professor alone. As he had time to inform in passing, he had already had his supper. However, the silence in the office did not last for a long time, and after waiting about a minute, Charles, with a pointed look to the side, said in a low voice:

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"Impressive, " I smiled from the chair, removing the illusion, " we talked for less than an hour, and you were already able to calculate my move and realized that I would stay for a conversation."

"Actually, I wasn't sure," the telepath replied to the smile, meeting my gaze, "but if you really left, then no one would know about my little embarrassment.

" Reasonable," I started to like this conversation more and more. " But back to business. You are right - I have something to discuss with you, but the question is, are you ready to listen? Because, despite all your cordiality, something tells me, you still do not believe that the name I have mentioned is real."

"All the names of mutants based on their abilities are real, although they are not recorded in the documents," Xavier's gaze became a little more serious. " But if you want to convince me that you are a real Scandinavian God of Deception, then I will have to ask you to back it up with something that cannot be explained by a banal mutation and the possession of special training."

" To be honest, I prefer the title God of Magic more," vaguely moving my hand, slightly pursing my lips. "They called me the God of Deception not out of great love and respect. As for the evidence …" bringing my hands together, I distort the metric of space, extracting one of my daggers from my subspace pocket. Not the best - strength and sharpness were not put at the forefront of its creation, however, its dignity was not in this, but in the fact that my predecessor made it in imitation of Gungnir Odin, " please," getting up from the chair, I hold out to Charles the casting golden shine quilon.

" A medieval knight's dagger?" the telepath raised his eyebrows with genuine surprise, accepting the weapon.

"Techno-magical artifact with a neural interface. If you take hold of the handle, you can give the command to be covered with a film of low-temperature stabilized plasma or to expel a clot of it from the tip. Unfortunately, the energy consumption of this craft is rather modest - I did it a long time ago, but once a minute he can burn a hole in a person with a soccer ball. Alas, not everyone is so fragile, and it is no longer very effective against the aces, so you don't have to check on me - it won't even burn my skin."

"This is a joke?" Still holding the dagger with his fingertips, the professor asked in bewilderment.

" Take it and find out. I think that with your ability to understand the principles of mental control it will not be too difficult, as well as to understand that earthly science has more than one hundred years to go to such a level," I smile with the tip of my lips dismissively.

Measuring me with an incredulous, wary look, but still not trying to read my thoughts, Xavier slowly moved his right palm to the hilt and closed his fingers. The next moment his face twitched slightly at the hint of an attempt to grimace, but he quickly pulled himself together and closed his eyes with concentration. For a minute, nothing happened, Charles sat motionless in his wheelchair, holding the dagger with one hand in front of him, as if listening to something. I knew roughly what he was doing now, and therefore did not interfere and politely kept silent. Finally, the mutant's eyes opened, and a new expression now splashed in them, as if he was simultaneously fascinated and refused to believe what he saw. A second - and the blade of the quilon was covered with an orange film of plasma with magical filling.

"This is… impressive," Xavier said, examining the play of the "witch's flame". "So these stories are true? Elder Edda, Younger Edda, Song of the Nibelungs?" - having extinguished the dagger, the man looked up at me.

" Very relative," wincing part of my face, shaking my head. " Even in this age of the Internet and recording devices, people manage to misinterpret any news ten times a day, while others believe them, having before their eyes a video of real events, so you should not too much believe the drunken gossip of the bandit savages, which they also supplemented with their inventions every new generation."

"I see." Xavier put the blade back on the table and straightened in his chair. "And what does the real story look like?"

" It is quite long and not too important for our conversation, " leaning on the armrests, I fold my hands in a house in front of me. " It is important that Asgard really exists, as well as One Allfather, Thor the Thunderer and …" shrug, " me."

"And what are you doing on Earth?"

"At the moment ... " I pretend to be choosing my words, " I'm trying to take a break from my family, " and a smile.

" Your wife Sigun and children of Narvi and Vali? " the professor showed erudition.

"No," I shake my head, "these are all human inventions. I have never been married and do not intend to. I didn't work with children either. It's just that the coronation of my brother Thor will take place in Asgard in a few months, and I don't want to see this, and I haven't been to Midgard for a long time. Surely you have a couple of new books, musical compositions and good films.

"You don't get along very well with your brother?" - Xavier continued his questioning with a corner of his lips at the mention of films.

" No, we get along well, just while I, without sparing myself, studied diplomacy, economics, the political structure of the universe and other disciplines necessary for the ruler, Thor beat the faces of the giants, hunted wild boars and, in between these matters, rolled one and a half months drinking, surrounded by friends. But in the end, he is the popularly beloved hero and heir to the throne, and I am the insidious and vile God of Deception. The universe has a sense of humor."

"I have to apologize, this is probably a painful topic," the mutant repented quite sincerely.

" Well ... " I pretend to think. "It was painful two hundred years ago, but now the circumstances have changed a little, and I no longer need the throne of Asgard. I even, in a sense, enjoy anticipating what will begin there under the rule of Thor," not the kindest grin that came out on my face by itself.

"And Odin, he…" Charles paused, trying to find his words.

" No, he is not dying, " I understood the difficulties of the interlocutor. " He falls into a kind of coma called Odin's Dream. In it, he can spend from several years to a couple of centuries and, it seems, even rejuvenate, but in the latter I am not sure - in my memory he has never entered it for a long time," I pause, plunging into someone else's memory, but I quickly shake myself ... "So he will have fun when he wakes up," I conclude the story with due joy.

"That's how it is," Xavier chuckled. "Thank you for satisfying my curiosity. But I don't think that the enlightenment of the sick old man was exactly the reason why you decided to have a private conversation. What did you want to talk about without witnesses?

" I would like to know in what relationship you are with the government of this country and, in particular, the organization of SHIELD."

"None," the mutant shook his head with a half-smile of understanding. And how he relates to the fact that I generally know this name, I could not understand the neutral expression on his face and voice. - At one time I tried to cooperate with the authorities, but it did not end well. SHIELD. wants to see mutants exclusively as his soldiers and special agents on a short leash, other forces in the government would like to experiment with us in order to reproduce the most powerful abilities, others would prefer to kill. Therefore, none of those with whom I once worked, now knows nothing about me, just as they do not know about this school.

"Are you sure you were able to clean up all the information that was collected on you?" with genuine respect, but also with a grain of skepticism, I raise an eyebrow.

" Thirty years ago it was not so difficult, and even now, in the age of information technology, little has changed. Formatting hard drives is even easier than taking paper files out of archives. "Xavier's smile widened."

"Great ... " I like this Professor X more and more. " Then the second question: what exactly are your disagreements with Magneto? Based on what I just heard, you can solve the problem of discrimination against mutants in just a month in Washington."

" This is the essence of our disagreements, " the disabled person darkened, somehow even getting old at once. " I admit the possibility of using my powers on other people, but not in the way it is required to in order to implement what you are talking about. Interference in the consciousness, in the personality of a person is a serious offense, this is something that, from my point of view, fully falls under the definition of "a crime against humanity,"" blue eyes looked sharply into mine, making it clear that their owner is completely serious. "Once I promised myself not to do that. Even the smallest substitution of motivation and feelings is actually the murder of the former personality. By killing a man. Allowing yourself to do this once, you may not have time to look back before you start killing in reality. First enemies, then those who disagree with you, and finally those who are different from you. I am not a saint and have made many mistakes in my life, but in the world and without me there are too many of those who follow this path. I want to give people and mutants an alternative."

"You know …" for a few seconds I thought deeply, looking at Xavier, and so deeply that even my illusion, depicting a curious guest in the company of the rest of the Xmen, stopped moving, as she no longer had enough attention," this is very unusual. As a rule, people led by a good idea want to make the whole world happy for nothing and so that no one leaves offended. In you, I see more the position of giving a chance for salvation, but ready to accept and refuse to take advantage of this chance. But the strangest thing is your desire to save ... it seems ... earnest."

"Yes," Charles looked down at the floor. "It's like that. I hope that humanity will find the strength and intelligence to overcome these times, and I am ready to make every effort to help him in this," blue eyes looked into mine again, " but ordinary people and mutants must overcome their demons themselves. Otherwise, everything will be meaningless."

"Well, professor, I must admit, despite the fact that you have not exchanged your first hundred, your intellect and wisdom surpass those of most aces and Vanir," I completely sincerely admit, looking at Xavier in a new way. I had an extremely high opinion of him before, but now I am finally convinced that in front of me is really the most worthy Man of this universe. A man with a capital letter. After all, even though I could not always read his reactions by facial expressions, but an attempt to dissemble or outright lie, the experience of the former Loki would have allowed me to notice or at least suspect, but my perception did not cut anything at all. " As you understand, it makes no sense for me to replenish the staff of your students, but I don't know the teachers ... Yet, with my character"

" I'll bet that most of the kids will howl on the second day" the invalid nodded, accepting such arguments and offering to continue. "Nevertheless, I do not mind helping you with Magneto and other… moments. True, only if you answer one question correctly. Everything depends on him," I emphasized intonations, trying in vain to keep the smirk coming to my face, but even covering my mouth with my fist, I did not succeed much.

"And what is it? The pundit inquired with curiosity."

"Do you have chocolate, chips, cookies at school?"

" Hmm," Haa! I got it!

" I think there are a few packs in the kitchen," the mutant replied cautiously.

" Fine," I get up from the chair and hold out my hand to Charles, " I'm your man! If, of course, you are interested in working with an eccentric divine essence, I add an important clarification."

"You know, this is not how I imagined a meeting with God …" said the telepath, shaking my hand.

" Thought that this is some kind of majestic and insanely wise creature, since the sky smoked for several tens of centuries, if not millennia?"

"Something like that," the mutant nodded.

"Well," I shrug, "wisdom doesn't have to come with gravity. And between us, professor, what people now understand by the term "God" arose under the influence of the Abrahamic religions, and there is such a mess of throwing into one heap the concepts of the Creator, the Universal Absolute, God and half a dozen other entities of a different order that I I just can't imagine how you will explain yourself when you normally go out into space. At least five pieces of galactic wars have already been provided to you, simply by the fact of insulting the monarchs.

"This is ... not the information that I would like to hear at night," a little inhibited, but quite deliberately tried to turn the topic into a joke.

" Do not worry, you still have five hundred years," I return to the chair, "you will have time and not to go through that."

" This is encouraging," the telepath smiled. " But, Loki, let me know what you yourself want? Why did you come to Earth? The desire to kill boredom and a packet of cookies look strange for someone who bears the title of God of Magic ... and the rest" did I mention that Charles is just a super diplomatic? I doubled my statement.

"Okay, frankness in exchange for frankness," I straighten the hem of my coat. " I do not like this universe, it annoys me and pisses me off, as a result of which I become completely unbearable. Nevertheless, I am superior in my mental development to bread, and therefore I am not going to try to bend it under myself, somehow rebuild or improve it, I am simply not interested, and therefore ... I want to leave."

"Is there really nothing in our world that would cause you a positive response?" the professor's gaze has slightly changed, plus a change in tone and timbre of his voice. Why would ... oh!

" Ha-ha," I laughed good-naturedly, " no, you misunderstood me, I didn't think to settle accounts with life, I just really want to leave this universe. There are much more worlds than one, and I'm not talking about Midgard, Asgard, Jotunheim or Helheim now - there are other realities where other us live, or for some reason we are not in those stories. And there are those that generally live according to completely different laws, with different constants and laws of being. And I want to see it!"

" Very interesting, but then I do not understand why you agreed to help me? Charles wondered."

"Everything is very simple. I know for sure that moving between parallel universes is possible, but I don't know the way yet, and its search will take time and resources. I have both, but I would like to have ... um ... a base where I can feel comfortable and not be afraid that the subtlest and most difficult experiment will be destroyed due to the fact that some moron with with a hammer, together with a gang of the same idiots, he will break into me with a proposal to "throw away your boring books and go on a daring hunt", or "a glorious feast", or "a good battle" …" I confess, it's sore. Although not with me ... but I remember. "And since fate has brought us together, why not arrange one here? Judging by what I saw below, you are not alien to progress, which means that you will not refuse to get at your disposal some of Asgardian technology. It is not difficult for me to share my knowledge, as I think, and it will be easy for you to help with the search for materials for work. Plus here, with you, it will be much easier for me to familiarize myself with modern human achievements than in the forests of Canada. As I managed to make sure, you have seriously advanced from the moment when I was last interested in affairs in Midgard, and even if earthly technologies are terrible," I emphasize the word with my voice and facial expressions, " are backward, but due to a completely different development path with Asgard, they can be found in them interesting solutions."

"Well," smiled Charles, " I have no objection, so welcome," he took the dagger that was lying there from the table and, coming closer, handed it to me, " stay as long as you need."

" Thank you, " having accepted the weapon, I hid it in subspace. " You too, if anything, please," I get up from the chair. "And now I have to take my leave - the stocks of cookies in the kitchen will not plunder themselves."

"Oh, well then, I dare not delay," the telepath laughed, "although I would not mind talking more and learning something about Asgard."

"I think we'll have enough time," I nod. " Good night, professor."

"Good night, Loki. And one small request."

"Hmm?" I stop near the door.

"Don't play with the feelings of Storm. She had a hard life, and she would take bad jokes painfully."

"And I was not in my thoughts" I honestly looked at the telepath ...