Chapter 248
Chapter 248:
My warship, and damn that sounded awesome, pulled into one of Knowhere’s gaping eye sockets that doubled as a hangar. This warship was fast. The journey had taken only a few hours, but I knew we were still behind The Guardians.
Next to me on the bridge, Jean couldn't believe the sheer size of the skull we had just landed in. The nature of the task at hand finally dawned on her. “We’re hunting something this big!? How are we supposed to even kill it!?”
“I told you Celestials were as big as planets.” I said. “As for killing it, there are a few ways to go about it. You can try and unleash the full might of your Phoenix Flames upon Ego, and we can see how that goes. If that fails, then we’ll have to slip inside the planet and directly destroy his core.”
In the second movie, Rocket had managed to kill Ego with a jury rigged bomb of all things. That was a movie though. I had a feeling it would take a bit more than that to bring down such a massive being. Also, it wouldn’t surprise me if Ego possessed the ability to move his core around inside himself.
“So we're basically gonna wing it then.” Jean sighed while gazing out the window. “I thought you were exaggerating about the size of celestials…” She muttered to herself.
I waved her off. “It'll be fine. We have our plan. Not only will we have bait, but we will also hopefully have the Power Stone as well with us.” I figured that Jean or myself was more than powerful enough to hold the stone in our bare hands. At least, for a couple minutes before endless power overwhelmed us.
“If anyone else claimed they were hunting a Celestial, I would call them insane. I believe you will succeed.” Nebula said as she walked over towards us. She was a completely new woman. She was no longer a cyborg, she did not have any robotic parts any longer. My Purger of Darkness had completely healed her body to her natural state.
Instead of being bald, it turned out that Nebula had long flowing blonde hair. It was currently halfway down her back and gave her a completely different appearance. Her blue skin still made her look alien, but she had become a very hot alien.
[I think you might have a new worshiper in her as well.]
After healing Nebula, the curious looks she gave me had turned into fervent ones. I had no doubts that she would now do whatever I asked of her. She was known to have a very obsessive personality. I would be careful not to take advantage of that fervor if I didn't have to.
Jean, Nebula and I walked down the ship's ramp. Seeing a Kree warship pull into the hangar, the majority of the spacers nearby had immediately fled. Only the braver, or stupider, ones had stuck around to take a look at us. Even then, one annoyed glance from Nebula had them all scurrying off.
“Good luck out there, I’d go with you but I don’t want to get shot.” Corpsman Dey said shamelessly from inside the ship. Knowhere was a pretty lawless place after all.
“Just make sure Ronan doesn’t escape, or take my new ship from me.” I told him before the three of us girls headed off deeper into the station.
“Do we know where the Collector lives?” Jean asked. “This place is huge and there are millions of people living here. Most of the minds are also very alien to me. It could take me hours if I have to search for the information.”
“We don’t have hours.” I grimaced. “The Collector might already have the Stone for all we know.”
“I will ask for directions.” Nebula told the two of us. She walked over to one of the gaping aliens who had chosen to stick around. It was a species I didn’t recognize. It had six arms, bug eyes, and mostly green skin. Nebula drew her pistol and immediately pointed it at the alien's head. “You will tell me where the Collector lives.” She said demandingly.
“Meep…” The alien’s bug eyes rolled back into its head and it fainted in fright.
[You can add easily startled to that aliens list of traits…]
We all paused at the strange scene for a moment before letting out sighs. Nebula holstered her weapon, before walking back towards us with her head hung low in embarrassment. “...He didn’t know anything.”
“Lets just start heading inwards towards the fancier areas. The Collector will obviously live in the most opulent and wealthy area.” I said as we made our way inwards towards the center of the giant skull. Knowhere was too big to traverse on foot in a short amount of time. Luckily, there were a series of alien trams that acted as public transportation and led all over the place. We picked on heading inwards and hopped aboard.
…
–The Guardians (minus one member…)–
“The targets pulled up in a Kree Warship!?” Gamora asked in surprise. Even with the toys The Collector had lent them for this task, Gamora wasn't enthusiastic about facing an entire Kree war battalion. For the amount of money they had been promised though, she would still do it.
“Not just any Kree Warship… Ronan the Accuser's personal vessel.” Rocket said while looking over the camera feeds he had hacked. “There’s a blond haired Kree woman traveling with the two of them as well.” Rocket had a photographic memory, and he didn't recognize her, so he figured she was just some nameless mook soldier.
“Ronan!?” Drax yelled the name in rage. “He is here!? I will have my vengeance!”
“Good luck with that.” Gamora told him. “Just remember why we're here. We go after the Terran women first and foremost.”
“I am Groot.”
“Groot’s right. It’s better to take them out quickly since Ronan isn’t with them. That’s Ronan’s flagship, so there’s no doubt that he’s on board. If he joins the fight, we could be in trouble.” Rocket explained with a small shudder. There were some beings in this galaxy that he knew to never tangle with. Ronan was one of them. There were terrifying stories about the Kree man’s cruelty…
“Where are our targets now?” Gamora asked. They needed a proper plan of attack.
“They’re currently riding in one of the public transit cars heading towards us. They’ll be passing by us in 20 minutes.” Rocket said while switching through various camera feeds he’d tapped into.
“Then we shall ambush them on their transport! They will tell me where Ronan is!” Drax yelled again while gripping his daggers tightly.
“That’s a good idea. We’ll have the advantage in close quarters.” Gamora noted. Drax, Groot and herself were all up close and personal fighters.
The racoon grinned at the thought of the greatest payday of his entire life being so close by. “Let's do it then! The transit will pass by us in 20 minutes. We’ll hop aboard as it does!” Rocket grabbed all of his weapons and started strapping them to himself. The Collector had a very good weapon collection and had been kind enough to loan some to Rocket. Rocket had no plans on ever giving any of the weapons back of course.
…
–Layla–
“It’s kind of weird that there are trains in space.” I noted while looking out the window. Out the window, I could see that scenery starting to shift. The further inwards we made it, the better looking buildings and infrastructure we started to see.
Jean giggled. “I was just thinking that. Some of the boys at the institute were obsessed with trains.” She said fondly in remembrance. “They’ll be so jealous if they find out I rode in one that ran on anti-gravity technology.”
“Do you still keep in contact with anyone from the institute?” I asked. We were just making small talk while we rode.
Jean sighed. “Not really. The Professor really didn’t want Ororo or myself to leave. I think he wanted us to be X-men forever.”
“What are X-men?” Nebula asked.
I gave her a quick rundown about mutants and the X-men. Nebula nodded in understanding once my explanation was over.
“I was also a child soldier. You have my condolences. I can help you kill this ‘Professor’ if you want?” Nebula stated. She was being completely serious.
Jean grimaced. “He did pretty much force us to fight, but it wasn’t that bad. We never had to actually kill anyone for him.”
“You are lucky. Thanos made me kill someone the second day he claimed me as his child. I still remember their screams as I drove the knife into them and they begged for mercy.” Nebula stated again. Even with her new organic features, she was a hard woman to read. She masked her emotions very well.
That was a horrifying image. I felt bad that Nebula had to go through that as a little girl. I walked over and wrapped her in a hug. Nebula was initially startled, it had clearly been a long time since anyone had given her any form of comfort. After a short pause, she tentatively hugged me back. “This is nice...” Nebula said in an almost whisper.
Our touching moment was ruined by Jean a second later.
“Be careful not to let her feel you up for too long, Nebula!” Jean warned jokingly from the side. “Layla already has her own harem and three kids. Be careful around her, or it’ll end up being four.” Akeno had definitely been rubbing off on the redhead if she was able to make teasing comments like that.
“It is fine. I will not have another relationship until my father is dead anyway.” Nebula replied as we broke our hug.
I didn’t comment on the word “another.” Nebula probably had as much baggage attached to her as Hela did.
[Maybe more…]
That was surprising considering Hela was over 1000 years old and Nebula looked to be under 30…
I decided to switch the topic of conversation for the rest of our ride. Nebula had been all over the galaxy and she was an amazing source of information. As a Gamer, I thought it would be fun to ask about what types of games were available in space. With the technology being so advanced, I figured that video games had to be pretty awesome as well!
I was disappointed to find out that was not the case…
“So gaming isn’t really a thing in space?” I asked in disbelief. “What do people do for fun?”
“I have heard of video games, but I don’t believe they’ve ever been particularly popular in any cultures I've heard about.” Nebula explained. “As a child, I played outside with other children. Most adults spend their lives working. Otherwise they can’t afford to eat.”
“What about labor laws? Minimum wage? Workers guilds?” Jean asked in concern.
Nebula tilted her head. “I have never heard of any of those. The only guild I know of is the Ravager’s guild. That’s just a nice way for the pirates and slavers to label themselves though.”
“Slavery? I thought Ravager’s didn’t deal in kids?” I asked.
Nebula nodded. “They don't. They have no problem enslaving older sentients though. It’s a very lucrative business. The Kree and Nova Empires turn blind eyes to the Ravager’s guild. Both participate in the business as well.” Nebula explained to the two of us.
[Oof, you switched from one heavy topic to another one…]
That was disappointing to hear. The Ravagers had been a favorite part of the movies for me. I thought it was only evil beings like the Collector or the Grandmaster who participated in slavery. I didn't think it was a galaxy-wide problem. I would be speaking to Corpsman Dey and Nova Prime about the topic later.
“Slavery is a thing in space?” Jean asked in disbelief. “Why!? Don’t they have the technology to build robots for labor? Someone needs to put a stop to it! Doesn’t the galaxy have some kind of police or something?”
I shook my head. “Not really. It does have an enforcer though. Someone who’s supposed to get rid of societies that go against practices like that.” I told her.
“That's better than nothing! Who is the enforcer!? They’ve clearly not been doing their job properly.” Jean huffed while folding her arms.
Nebula and I deadpanned at Jean. “It’s you, Jean. The Avatar of the Phoenix...”
“Oh…” Jean said with a small blush. “I guess I’m going to be spending a lot of time in space in the future. It’s a big job for just me though…” She said nervously.
“You’ll figure it out. There’s a lot of Fallen Angels on Asgard who would be more than happy to work with you as well. A lot of my siblings fell because they enjoyed violence. I'm sure they'd love nothing more than to fight slavery across the galaxy.” I explained. It would be a good way to reintroduce our race to the greater Universe as well. Of course, this would all have to wait until Asgard’s war is over.
“I would not be adverse to fighting with you as well.” Nebula added.
Jean smiled at both Nebula and me. “Thanks, you two. I–”
I didn’t hear the rest of what Jean was saying. A warning from the System popped up in front of my eyes!
{Emergency Quest Started: Ambush Incoming! Fight off your attackers and the Mastermind behind them!}
{Reward: Level Up x 3! The Power Stone!}
{Failure: You will end up as a prisoner.}
“Incoming!” I called out to both of them. Jean and Nebula both snapped to attention. They both had years of combat experience under their belts. My Rinnegan manifested and I quickly glanced around to find where the attack was coming from.
“Look out!” Nebula pointed to the nearest window. I saw an object approaching with a trail of smoke behind it. A rocket was heading directly towards our train car! The aliens around us started screaming in fright!
“Almighty Push!” The glass in front of me exploded outwards as an invisible force surged forward to intercept the rocket!
BOOM!
It exploded far enough from our transport that it didn't cause any damage. I suspected the projectile was launched from the roof of a building our train just sped by. I didn’t see anyone on it. Whoever had fired it was already gone.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
“Some people just landed on the roof.” Jean cried out while looking up at the ceiling. “I think they're after us!? Darn it, alien minds are so hard to read!” Her cosmic aura enshrouded her form as she prepared for combat.
“Dammit! It could be my father's spies!” Nebula pulled out her pistol and pointed it up. Nebula immediately started firing. She didn't care that she couldn't see who she was shooting at. Her projectiles tore through the ceiling as she blindly fired.
The aliens sitting around us all screamed in fright. They all started to run away to hide in other sections of the train.
“Run for it!”
“These people are crazy!”
“I AM GROOT!”
CRASH!
A section of the ceiling caved in. A very recognizable alien dropped down in front of us. It was Groot! The walking tree man himself. A few other guardians hopped into our car and landed next to him. They were all armed and looking for a fight.
“Die, servant of Ronan!” Drax charged forwards with his twin daggers. His focus was solely on Nebula, who he tried to skewer.
“I'm no one's servant! Not anymore!” Nebula tried to shoot Drax. He was surprisingly agile and avoided most of her shots. The shots that managed to hit him only left small singe marks on his purple skin. His skin was incredibly tough.
“Why are you attacking us?” I called out to the rest of the guardians. They seemed to be down a member. I noticed that Peter Quill was not among them for some reason.
“Your bounty is ours! The Collector wants you for himself, and we’re here to help him…um…collect.” Rocket explained with a small pause.
“I am Groot!”
“I know that sounded corny! I realized it right after I said it!”
“I am Groot…”
“Idiots…” Gamora sighed. “You take care of that one, Groot and I will handle the redhead!” Gamora called out to Rocket. With her orders given, she surged towards Jean. Gamora had no idea how outclassed she was here. She ran up to Jean and tried to stab the Phoenix Avatar with her sword.
Jean easily blocked the strike with her powers before she grabbed hold of Gamora telekinetically. “It's a little crowded in here. Let's take this outside.” Jean reached with her other hand and grabbed Groot with her powers as well. She flew out the broken window, dragging two of the Guardians with her.
“Of course it's the Collector who's after us...” I said out loud. “What happened to Peter Quill? Didn't he escape the prison with you all?” I asked Rocket. I was hoping he wasn’t dead. That would throw all of my plans for a loop.
“That's none of your business!” Rocket spat as he pointed a large cannon/blaster at me. The gun he was holding was even bigger than himself. The little trash panda frankly looked adorable as he threatened me with it.
[How is he even lifting something bigger than himself?]
‘Wacky Marvel logic, that's how…’
Rocket pulled the trigger and a basketball sized blast of superheated plasma fired directly at me. It didn't particularly feel dangerous, but I was never one to take careless chances. A couple translucent purple ribs quickly manifested around me. The plasma splashed against Susanoo’s ribcage harmlessly.
Rocket’s eyes widened. “What the hell!? The Collector himself gave me this weapon. It's supposed to melt through almost anything!” He grit his teeth and pulled the trigger again. To both of our surprise, his gun did not fire. It made a sputtering noise and a small puff of smoke came out of the barrel. “It only had one shot! What a useless piece of trash!” Rocket cried out in indignation.
“I have no idea why you trusted the Collector of all people.” I said with a shrug. “I'm afraid that I'm going to have to take you into custody now, Rocket. That missile you fired earlier could have hurt a lot of people on this train. Also, dozens of prison guards died in the riot you started back on the Kyln.” With that said I rushed towards him faster than he could react. I smacked the gun out of his hand and quickly started removing all the other weapons strapped to his adorable form. Once that was taken care of, I held him up by the scruff of his furry neck and looked him directly in his eyes.
“Aaaahh! Let me go, woman!” He said while trying to swipe at my face with his claws. “This is animal abuse!”
“No, I don't think I will.” With my free hand, I used Creation of All Things to create an animal cage made of black metal.
Rocket looked at the cage I just created fearfully. I recall him having some kind of trauma about being locked up, but I was too annoyed with him to care. I tossed him inside the small cage and locked it. He was taken care of.
“Dammit! Let me out of here!”
“Not happening.”
I turned my head and saw the Nebula was still struggling to take down Drax. She was more nimble than him and could avoid his daggers, but she lacked the stopping power to put him down. He was very tough.
“Die, servant of Ronan!” Drax shoulder charged at Nebula. She somersaulted over him and he ended up stumbling towards me. I cocked my fist back before smacking him directly in the face. Drax’s head whipped backwards and he stumbled for a few steps before collapsing unconscious.
“Dammit, Drax! That was pathetic! Who goes down in one hit!” Rocket cried out from inside the cage.
“Let's go meet up with Jean.” I told Nebula. She picked up Rocket's cage. I scooped her up with one hand, and grabbed Drax's unconscious body with the other. My wings manifested behind me as I leapt off the still moving train. I had to fly about a mile back to where she had initially jumped off.
We found Jean fighting Gamora and Groot in the middle of a street. Her two opponents looked worse for wear while Jean still looked perfectly fine. Groot was missing an arm and covered in burn marks. Gamora was bruised and her sword had been snapped in half. She held it up in shock. “How!? The Collector told me this sword was made of an indestructible metal called Vibranium!” Gamora exclaimed.
[Looks like Gamora was given a faulty weapon as well…]
Jean hovered a few feet off the ground while gazing down at the two of the dismissively. “You two should just surrender now. Your friends have already been captured.” She said while pointing in my direction. Nebula hopped out of my arms and I carelessly tossed Drax onto the dirty ground.
“I am Groot!”
“Yes! I know I'm in a cage, Groot! The Collector lied to us! The weapons he gave us didn't work at all!” He complained.
“Oh, they served their purpose well enough. They, along with you four, served as an excellent distraction!” A new voice called out smugly.
My instincts screamed at me to move. I flapped my wings hard and dove out of the way at the last second. A menacing purple object slammed into the ground where I had been standing! Jean and Nebula weren't as fast as dodging as I was. Similar objects slammed into them. An instant later, a dark purple barrier sprang up around Jean and Nebula.
“Shit!” Jean cried out. Cosmic fire wafted off her form. She lashed out and blasted the barrier keeping her trapped inside. To my surprise, her flames did nothing as the barrier trapping her held strong!
“Tsk… I was hoping to get both you and the Phoenix Avatar at once for my collection. Oh well, I think I can handle fighting one of you. Believe it or not, I’ve been around a long time.” The Collector said as he stepped forwards. He was grinning at me with pure greed and desire in his eyes. Hanging from his neck was a necklace with a small glowing purple stone embedded inside of it. He had the Power Stone currently empowering him.
{The Greediest of the Elders, The Collector: Level 105}
XXX