"Please don't call me that, Your Majesty, today I'm not here representing Kamar-Taj." Strange brushed off his neat suit jacket, looking at Frigga he said, "Before I came in, I saw Odin's raven at the door, how has the Father of All Gods been recently? Could you please give him my regards."
"He is certainly doing well, he knows of all matters in the Fairy Palace, and is aware of everything in the Nine Realms."
Strange revealed a knowing smile, and said: "The new package of information and intelligence within the Nine Realms that you proposed to the Holy Sanctuary last time, we have completed it, would you like to take a look at the project list?"
Frigga slightly tilted her head, Strange handed over a document, the Queen of Gods, while flipping through the document with a smile, said, "Thank you, sir, every time you come, you are in a hurry, I've never been able to adequately entertain you, which leaves me feeling uneasy."
Strange laughed and shook his head saying: "It's indeed quite rude of me to rush in and out without enjoying your hospitality. Speaking of it, I haven't ever taken a proper tour of Asgard's Fairy Palace."
After speaking, he looked up and observed Frigga's queen's quarters. Frigga transformed into a feather pen writing on the document while saying; "Sadly, the palace's internal matters aren't my concern now, Sif, who is Thor's future wife has taken over. I can't intervene... Oh, right, the reception and security for foreign guests at the wedding in a few days are also her responsibility."
Strange remained composed and looked up, Frigga handed Strange the annotated document, Strange glanced at it which held some suggested amendments. He then looked at Frigga and said, "It's entirely up to Your Majesty now."
"Remember, in the future, the Queen of Gods will be Sif."
"Of course, Your Majesty."
The lighting on the chessboard returned to dimness, the final chess piece hopped out at a brisk pace, Professor X appeared at the front row, alongside Thor and Strange.
"I really didn't expect you to be interested in Shi'ar Empire's myths." Charles sipped on his hot tea saying, "Actually I don't know much about this either, only knows that the Twin Gods of Xiea established the 'fusion' as the national policy of the Shi'ar Empire."
Stark across him gently shook his near-empty cup of tea, looking at Charles he softly spoke: "Do you also know nothing about the M'Kraan Crystal?"
When the strange-sounding word landed on the coffee table, Charles' hand paused, he shook his head saying, "I advise you not to contemplate it, that thing is dangerous."
"What isn't dangerous to the human race?"
Charles' hands stilled, he put down the teacup and looked at Stark, asking: "Where did you hear about this? Have you had dealings with the Shi'ar Empire?"
"During Demon God's fight, I found some robot wreckage in a corner of the cosmos, they originate from a Shi'ar Empire experiment site called 'Half-World Asylum', the underlying protocols carried some information about the Shi'ar Empire's 'Universal Life Fusion Plan'."
"Ah, 'Universal Life Fusion Plan'." Charles lowered his eyes, and started sipping on his tea again saying: "That was a matter from Madness King Deccan's time."
Stark heard his implied meaning, and then said; "I know, this crystal must be very powerful, maybe mutants aren't disinterested in it, just that your current technological level can not study it nor can it ensure its safety during the studies, but what if, we cooperate?"
Charles raised his brow slightly, looking at Stark saying: "Are you willing to help us study it?"
"It's us collaborating in the research." Stark stared into Charles' eyes saying: "I have the technology, and you've got the strength, I can guide, and you can operate, the results are shared, each taking what he needs. Isn't it good?"
Charles face showed a hint of coldness that he had never revealed in front of his students before, but he still calmly said: "What do you want me to do?"
"Think back to your past with Erik."
With a "buzz," accompanied by a magnetic whirlpool, Magneto's chess piece appeared next to Professor X.
In the guest room of the Fairy Palace, Charles looked into Erik's eyes and said: "What's more important? The throne or the crystal? Perhaps both are important, but once the throne is vacant, the nobles will certainly divert their attention to scramble for the throne, and they wouldn't have the means to trace the whereabouts of the crystal."
Erik tilted his head back, looking at his old friend he said, "So, Lilandra must die."
On the chessboard, Rocket Raccoon's piece hobbled out, and chasing after him was Prince Aran of Dodel Federation's chess piece.
Aran stood up from the debris of vases, holding his head. He shook his head vigorously, cursed under his breath staring at a vanished cage that had Rocket trapped.
All of sudden, he swiftly turned around and rushed towards the door, but he stopped just as his hand was about to touch the doorknob. Patted his head, his palm slipped down to cover his eyes, he muttered softly, "Calm down, Aran, now's not the time, Asgard won't make a big fuss for a prince of a small tribe ..."
Suddenly, Aran lifted his head again, eyes glistening, he mumbled to himself: "That damn raccoon said that the Shi'ar Empire is conducting secret and evil human experiments, and all the test subjects are thrown into an insane asylum... He mentioned the coordinates, what were they again?"