“Protect the place against all intruders.”

Thor didn’t need anyone to order that from her. As the queen of her people, it was her duty to protect their home and so she took her weapon and stood guard, keeping anyone from entering and crushing anything that tried.

Her mind was set on that one task and she couldn’t think of anything else. It felt strange at times, but that feeling didn’t last for long, leaving her incapable of asking what she was protecting the palace from and why none of her people came to talk to her for days on end.

She forgot entirely about the peace conference and the invasion that happened the day before it. Her only concern was to protect the palace and so she ignored anything that didn’t have to do with her task.

“Despite the current circumstances, I want to say I am happy to finally have the chance to meet you, Lady Thor. I have been counting down the days until we could sit at the same table and talk, but unfortunately it seems some uninvited guests have come between us.”

While fighting one of the intruders, she heard a voice call her name. It was quite deep, unlike what she came to know from her brethren. It should’ve been her first time hearing it, but a part of her was sure she knew about it from somewhere else.

“Thor! Annihilate them!!!”

No matter. Whoever they were, the fact that they intruded on the palace didn’t change. Her duty was to kill them and so she was going to do just that.

Her first target was the stranger in white. She didn’t understand why, but something was telling her to target him first. Her attack failed when another intruder got in her way, but having come close enough to get a good look at them something snapped in her mind.

“Lady Thor! It pains me greatly to see you standing on the enemy’s side!”

‘Enemy? What enemy?’ She thought, a bolt of lightning shooting out of her hand. ‘You are the intruders… You are the enemy…’

Once again she felt that the voice was familiar, and having seen the face of its owner that feeling only grew stronger.

“I saw a future for us together, lady Thor.” The intruder went on. “I believed that we would work side by side to reach our goal, that our bond would grow stronger with time, but here you are siding with the enemy, answering to the whims of another man!”

Once again she felt something breaking, and as if it was a gate that kept something hidden a storm of emotions suddenly broke out and began raging inside her chest. She felt incredible happiness the source of which she didn’t understand, but then came unbearable sadness and unstoppable anger.

The restraints holding her mind kept shattering one after the other and before long her thoughts became clear enough to understand her current situation.

“Just kill them al-”

A sharp pain assaulted her head urging her to follow that command, however she refused to do so resisting the suggestion and freeing herself from the mind control. The moment she did so, she was left with nothing but anger and contempt making her next course of action very clear.

“Lady Thor, if you hear my voice then please answer!” For a moment Thor considered stopping and saying something in return, but she decided it could wait for later and went on to kill the one who dared to make things worse for her more than they already were. “Do you not wish to be my ally!!?”

The question didn’t register in her mind at first; she was still too busy unloading all of her anger on the invader who took over her mind. Once all of her anger had been unleashed and she finally began to calm down, her thoughts went back to what the man said and another conflict ignited a fire in her chest.

She wanted to run away, embarrassed that her carelessness had led to her ruining the first impression she wanted to make. Never in her life did she think their first meeting would end up the way it did, but it was too late now and there was nothing she could do to mend the big mess she caused all by herself.

After some thought, Thor did her best to convince herself that everything was fine. The circumstances might’ve been unfortunate, but she still has a chance to improve things.

Taking a deep breath, she hid all of her emotions behind an expressionless mask and turned around to face the man in a lab coat. Their eyes met and she felt the urge to smile, but she quickly stopped herself and spoke the words she had practiced for many nights in preparation for the day they would finally meet.

“Your voice has reached me, Doctor Sam Sanderson.” She said, an indescribable sense of joy filling her chest. “I, too, wish to be your ally.”

~~

Sam wasn’t entirely sure that his plan would succeed, but he went ahead and did it anyways.

Mimir wasn’t very subtle in her attempts to influence the image he had of the crimson haired queen. She kept mentioning stuff about her randomly during their meetings, and she sent him quite a few photos and videos of her along with the recordings he asked for.

It would’ve been confusing if that was all of it, but she went as far as to ask him if wanted to do the deed with the crimson queen, and when he tried flirting with her she told him that her Highness might be interested.

Because of that, Sam concluded that Thor fell for him somehow and that her green haired consultant was trying to play cupid between the two of them.

Though it surprised him that the crimson queen felt that way despite never meeting him before, he decided to keep it in mind just in case he found himself facing her while she was still under the enemy’s control.

Love was a feeling strong enough to break the restraints placed on the Valkyries and the Nephilim weren’t that much different. If the crimson queen really has feelings for him then it should be possible for him to free her from the mind control. It was a gamble, but in the end it worked out just fine.

“Pardon me, Doctor Sanderson.” Thor spoke. “My memory is still a bit fuzzy. May I ask what brought you here?”

She didn’t need to think too much to understand the situation. She was captured by the unknown enemy that invaded their world and was robbed of her free will for a while. The news reached the Doctor so he quickly came to her rescue.

Of course, things were a lot more complicated than that, but the idea that he rushed to her aid the moment he heard of what happened was one she couldn’t resist. If it was anyone else she doubted it would’ve made her feel so much joy.

“Your majesty…” Sam spoke, letting a smile firm on his face. “I’m glad to finally have you back.”

His response shot an arrow straight through the queen’s chest and she couldn’t help averting her gaze.

“… Are you kidding me?” Zero Three said in a low voice, her eyes wide with shock. She could see the crimson haired Nephilim blushing and that confirmed what she had suspected for some time.

A pained howl rolled over the battlefield shattering the mellow atmosphere in the hallway and reminding them that the fighting wasn’t yet over. Sam’s expression quickly changed, his eyes on the floating window displaying what was happening outside. What they heard was the Primordial’s final cry. The alien abomination was completely absorbed and the Ritual has already entered its final phase.

“Your majesty.” Sam turned to the crimson queen with a stern expression. “I will explain everything later, but we need to open a gate to our world.”

Thor could only stare back at him, still confused, but soon enough she gave in and turned in the direction of the portal room.

“Understood.” She said. “Follow me.”

At that moment, the Nephilim queen didn’t even stop to consider the repercussions of her actions. Her mind was still a bit messy after being freed and that affected her judgement quite a bit. That said, granting his request brought her nothing but joy. She didn’t see any problem with opening the portal to his world, after all they were now allies, and by showing her willingness to cooperate she might even change the impression he had of her. She had no reason to refuse.

“Hm?”

As they passed the ice pillar the crimson queen had created, Trenta suddenly came to a stop.

“Say, Doctor…” she said, prompting the others to stop as well. “Cold lightning isn’t something that can vaporize someone, right?”

It took a moment for him to understand what was happening, but when he did his gaze quickly shifted to the pillar. With how thick it was seeing what’s inside it wasn’t an easy task, but a quick scan using the drone’s sensors revealed that there was no nothing but ice.

“He’s gone…” Sam said, his eyes wide with disbelief.