"His hair. Was that you?"

Hela, who hadn't taken the communication seriously, stared at Thor when Strange forcibly pulled him into the video call. Her eyes narrowed instantly.

Thor, who had been dragged unwillingly into the frame, was tied up with red magical ropes. His shoulder-length golden hair was gone, replaced by a clean-cut buzzcut.

Asgardians are very particular about their hair, especially royalty like Thor. A head could be lost, blood could be spilled, but a hairstyle must never be ruined. Even Hela, after being imprisoned by Odin for a thousand years, had her hair washed and styled as soon as she returned to Asgard.

"That depends on how you look at it," Stephen Strange replied with a vague answer. This ambiguity made it hard for Hela to figure out if Strange was playing a trick.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I think it would be better if we spoke in person." Strange shrugged, sending the protesting Thor back out of the frame. "To show my sincerity, let's meet on Asgard. How does that sound? On Asgard, you are the supreme queen. No one can stand against you. Are you comfortable with that?"

Strange gestured, and the holographic image before Hela changed. Strange's face blurred, replaced by the sight of Asgard, its reconstruction nearing completion.

"How did you get in?" Hela's eyes flashed. All the external portals to Asgard had been completely shut after she left, and the secret passage The Black Quadrant had left on the Rainbow Bridge had also been sealed by Hela.

"I told you, I'm the current Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen Strange."

With a final smile, Strange's image faded, leaving Hela alone in her chair, her face unreadable.

"Lady Hela, please lift your feet." The robotic cat butler, Gaitz, rolled his cleaning machine over to Hela and made a polite request.

"Meow!"

The Flerken, nearly napping in the rafters, yawned and accidentally missed a step. Its small, soft body landed directly on the cleaning machine.

Bang!

"You again!" The furious cat butler, who was wearing a plaid apron, immediately went berserk.

"Meow!"

The ginger cat struggled out from the machine's broken parts, its fur standing on end, and ran off!

"You get back here!" The enraged Gaitz pulled out eight mechanical arms from his pocket, strapped them on, and chased the fleeing Flerken across the room.

"Meow!"

The lonely atmosphere in the chamber was instantly shattered. The two cats, one large and one small, scurried around under Hela's nose, starting their usual routine.

"..." Hela sighed, rubbing her temples. Why was Lothar surrounded by such a bunch of clowns? He wasn't like this. How had he put up with them for so long?

From the butler cat Gaitz to the mischievous Flerken, to the toady who liked to cheer, the only person around Lothar who seemed normal was the combat assistant AI, Woz.

Hela sighed to herself and stood up from her chair. She took one last look at the chamber Lothar had lived in since childhood and turned to leave.

She was going back to Asgard. After all, Thor was an Asgardian, a member of the royal family. She could beat him, and Lothar could humiliate him, but no one else could.

....

"Are you done now?"

"Can you finally untie me?"

On Asgard, inside the royal palace, a stone-faced Thor asked after Strange had ended the call.

"No, not yet. You'll have to endure this for a little longer, at least until Hela returns and sees you." Stephen Strange, the mastermind behind Thor's bonds, shook his head.

"What in the nine realms do you want?" Thor asked, bewildered. If it weren't for how much Tony Stark trusted this man, Thor would have slapped some sense into him already. The last person who dared to tie him up was the Grandmaster, and his home got blown up. Even if it wasn't his doing.

"I need to work with Lothar."

"...What did you say?!" Thor's eyes went wide. Work with Lothar? He couldn't have heard that right.

"I know, it's a crazy idea," Strange said. "But it's the only way. Your brother has single-handedly pushed our universe to the edge of an abyss!"

Strange stared at Thor with equal intensity. "Before my master left, she gave me a letter. She exhausted her life to find two people who could save the universe: one is Lothar, and the other is Tony Stark."

"But Tony Stark is gravely wounded; he can only survive as a spirit. That means the only person who can save this universe is Lothar." Strange's voice and expression were grave. "I know you and Lothar have an irreconcilable feud. I know he killed your father, Odin. But now, in the face of a cosmic crisis, I cannot prioritize your personal vendetta against him."

As Sorcerer Supreme, Strange had no obligation to serve Thor's personal hatred. On the contrary, he would do whatever it took to save the universe.

"Him? Lothar? The savior of the universe? Why should I believe him—"

"I don't believe in him; I believe in my master. And I believe in the Time Stone." Strange cut off Thor's angry outburst.

He had never even met Lothar, how could he trust him?

A crisis had arisen, and it needed to be solved. It was that simple. As for all the grudges, Strange wouldn't interfere after the crisis was over.

Thor fell silent, lost in thought. He remembered his other self on Sakaar, the one who had awakened Odin's power and exploded like a bomb.

Suddenly, the awakened power of Odin stirred within him, and then he suddenly heard a roar. A blood-curdling roar.

"Graaaghhrr!!!"

The roar was only a fleeting sound, but Thor knew it wasn't a hallucination. He discreetly glanced at Strange, but the wizard seemed not to have heard a thing.

What's going on? Is there a ferocious evil creature locked away on Asgard? Thor frowned, lost in thought.

Strange just assumed he was still mad and didn't bother him further. But when Hela's figure appeared in the palace entrance, Strange smiled with a sense of relief.

"If you don't give me a satisfactory answer, I promise I'll make you suffer," Hela said. Standing on the ground of Asgard, she had the confidence to say that, even to a Sorcerer Supreme.

"The Time Stone."

"I'll give you the Time Stone as collateral for our deal. What do you say?" Strange removed the Eye of Agamotto from his chest and held it out toward Hela.

Hela: ???

——————————

Want to read the whole story? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]

This fanfic has been fully translated!