"Escaped!"
An alien of a strange race—broad-waisted, with fleshy bumps protruding from his head—shouted with uncontainable joy. His face was flushed with relief, though his eyes still held a trace of panic.
In his ecstasy, he glanced behind him, trembling slightly at the memory.
"Revenge?"
He muttered under his breath.
"Forget it... I'll remember you, Captain Yondu... and that damn human brat, Peter."
His expression darkened.
"That man... he's terrifying…"
Thoughts raced through his mind. Spotting a nearby flying vehicle, his eyes lit up. He rushed over, climbed inside, and quickly activated the aircraft.
But the moment he tried to lift off, his excitement froze.
The aircraft wouldn't budge.
What the hell?
He leaned out of the cockpit—and what he saw nearly made his soul leave his body.
The man in the battle suit—Superman—was standing beneath the aircraft, one hand casually gripping the landing gear, preventing it from taking off.
No matter how much he pushed the controls or increased the engine output, the aircraft remained grounded—like a toy in the hands of a god.
And then—
BOOM!
His head exploded like a melon.
The aircraft crumpled inward, twisted like a pretzel, the reinforced glass shattering into shards. Blood splattered everywhere, the body inside crushed into pulp. The wreckage dropped with a dull crash.
But not a drop of blood touched the murderer.
Whoosh!
By the time the corpse fell, Superman had already vanished—flying off to eliminate the remaining members of Yondu's Predator team.
A fierce wind swept across the city.
The once lawless land of Nowhere had now become a hunting ground.
Superman's prey? The fleeing members of Yondu's team.
They had no chance to resist. Most couldn't even scream before death claimed them. Those who did manage to beg for mercy found no mercy waiting.
Anton—incarnated as Superman—originally had no strong desire to kill Star-Lord or wipe out Yondu's crew. But Carol had made a different decision. And as her companion, Superman had chosen to support it.
Eliminate the Ravagers. Kill Star-Lord.
And it started with the slaughter of Yondu's crew.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
One by one, members of the Predator team were hunted down. Their dying screams echoed through the city, eventually reaching the ears of Carol and Yondu, still locked in combat.
Yondu's expression changed.
The sonic booms and shockwaves in the distance made it unmistakably clear:
Superman was massacring his crew.
Yes—massacring.
Against Superman's overwhelming might, they had no hope of survival.
"Opportunity!"
Carol saw Yondu's brief distraction and smirked.
A blinding light burst from her fist as she surged forward, her speed multiplying in an instant. Like a shooting star, she closed the distance and struck.
BOOM!
Yondu flew backward, crashing through a building and vanishing under a cascade of rubble and shattered stone.
"Yondu!"
Star-Lord's eyes went wide, his face twisting with shock and fury.
Hatred.
He felt a white-hot hatred rise within him.
He hated Carol more than anything in that moment.
At the same time, he also hated his own greed for money—it was what caused all of this.
"Why?"
Star-Lord gave up the duel with Nick Fury, dropped the energy gun from his hand, turned to Carol, and cried bitterly.
"Why won't you let us go?"
"If I let you go," Carol replied coldly, "I'm afraid you won't let me go."
She added, her voice sharp: "You should've thought of that before. Now that you regret it, it's already too late."
Whoosh!
A sudden gust of wind swept past them.
Superman reappeared.
"Handled," he said, nodding to Carol. "Looks like you're wrapping things up too."
"Good," Carol responded.
As her voice fell, she raised her hand slightly. A thin filament of energy burst forth, piercing through Star-Lord's head.
A small trail of blood slid down his forehead as his eyes slowly lost their light.
Boom!
He collapsed instantly. The regret and hatred frozen in his gaze became eternal. His voice fell silent forever.
As for Yondu—crushed beneath the rubble of the fallen building—he too followed in the footsteps of his fallen companions.
"Let's go," Superman said. "We've got the Orb. Time to plan our next move."
The three of them boarded the spacecraft docked at the port of Knowhere.
There, waiting silently, was a green-skinned woman: Gamora.
Whoosh!
The spacecraft rose into the sky, ascended into the stars, and vanished into the endless void, far from Knowhere.
A long silence settled over the ruins of Knowhere.
Only after everything had calmed did the residents dare to emerge from their underground shelters.
They looked around at the devastated city, the streets scarred by Kree artillery fire, their bodies still trembling.
Among the destruction was a downed Kree warship—brought down by Superman. Though damaged, some parts were still intact and valuable.
The eyes of second-hand dealers lit up.
After all, Knowhere was the largest black market in the universe.
And though the Kree were powerful, in the black market, nobody cared about origins—anything could be sold.
Knowhere couldn't afford to provoke the Kree Empire, but the Kree weren't likely to go to war over a few scattered ship parts either.
Meanwhile, more and more people were beginning to focus on the man in the battle suit—the one who had taken on an entire Kree fleet and wiped out the Predator team.
In the effort to identify those involved, the first names that surfaced were the dead.
Yondu and his companions were easily recognized.
As well-known members of the Predator team, they were familiar faces on Knowhere. After all, Ego had once enlisted Yondu to retrieve his son from Earth.
"It's Yondu..."
"What the hell did they do to bring this much heat?"
"And the Kree, too!"
"Not just the Kree—when those people left, they took a green-skinned woman with them. She looked like... one of Thanos's."
As the investigation continued, the residents of Knowhere began to realize the gravity of the situation.
This battle had entangled several terrifying forces:
The Kree Empire. Thanos.
The Predator team.
And the mysterious, terrifyingly powerful man who had single-handedly repelled a Kree fleet.
"What were they after?"
Questions filled the air.
Only one man knew the truth: Taneleer Tivan—the Collector of Knowhere.
He had traced the conflict to its source.
That orb.
"The Orb of the Cosmos... the Power Stone..."
The Collector's eyes glimmered with desire. Despite his fear—of Superman, the Kree, Thanos—his longing for the Infinity Stones burned bright.
"The legends... they're true..."
Kree Empire
After receiving the report from his subordinates, Ronan flew into a rage on the spot.
As he reviewed the situation report and watched the footage of the battle again and again, something caught his attention.
He immediately ordered his men to gather all available intel from Knowhere. Eventually, they acquired the full surveillance recording from the void's satellite system—and in it, Ronan saw the key person he had been looking for.
"Carol..."
Ronan's expression darkened.
Though he already had a solid grasp of the incident, seeing Carol appear in the footage brought back a flood of memories.
It was clear that she was deeply involved.
Over the years, the conflict between Carol and the Kree Empire had never truly ceased—not since the incident on Earth. While hostilities had seemingly quieted in recent years, that didn't mean the feud was over. If anything, it suggested that Carol was planning something far more devastating.
And today's battle in Knowhere was proof of that.
That man—whose overwhelming power had stunned Ronan—was clearly an ally of hers.
"Find out who he is," Ronan ordered sharply. "I want everything on him."
"Understood."
His subordinate nodded and left.
Now alone in the empty chamber, Ronan paced for a moment. Then, he stepped into a hidden room and activated a secret communication panel on the wall.
A deep, resonant voice came through.
"Ronan. You haven't fulfilled your part of the deal."
The voice belonged to Thanos—and it was filled with displeasure.
"I didn't fulfill it because the information you gave me was wrong," Ronan responded bluntly.
Despite Thanos being the most feared warlord in the universe, Ronan didn't back down. The Kree Empire was also a dominant power, and as its Accuser, Ronan commanded great influence and military might. He wasn't easily intimidated.
After all, in the later stages of the Guardians of the Galaxy conflict, Ronan had willingly turned against Thanos once he possessed the Power Stone.
"You can't tell me you didn't hear about the battle in Knowhere," Ronan said. "So, who is that man? Someone like him doesn't just appear out of nowhere."
"I don't know," Thanos replied. "I've never seen him before. His appearance and the power he wields caught me by surprise as well."
Ronan narrowed his eyes. "One of your people was taken by them. Can't you reach her?"
"I don't think she was taken," Thanos said coldly. "She went with them willingly. Many of my underlings want to kill me. They just can't."
"A sad existence," Ronan sneered. He knew the conversation would go nowhere and was about to end the transmission—when Thanos spoke again.
"Maybe you should investigate that traitor of the Kree Empire. The woman named Carol."
Ronan froze. "What do you mean?"
"Something interesting happened recently on Earth—her home planet," Thanos said. "Maybe you'll find your answer there."
With that, Thanos cut the connection.
"Carol..."
Ronan stood in silence.
There was no denying it—this mysterious warrior was connected to Carol. The entire incident revolved around her.
Maybe it really was time to look into that remote little planet called Earth.
As her homeworld, it might hold secrets—secrets that posed a serious threat to the Kree Empire.
Lost in thought, Ronan issued a new command.
Somewhere in the universe — a certain galaxy.
Inside a spaceship, Anton (in his Superman form), Carol, Nick Fury, and Gamora sat around a circular table in the ship's meeting room. They looked at one another in silence—nobody eager to speak first.
At last, Superman broke the silence.
"Even if our goals aren't exactly the same, it's safe to say we share a common enemy."
He looked at the others and continued, "Thanos. He's the one we're all up against. So, maybe you can explain—why does he need the Infinity Stones? What exactly is he trying to achieve?"
"He wants to kill half the life in the universe," Gamora answered plainly.
Carol and Nick Fury were visibly stunned.
"What?" Carol exclaimed. "Why would he do that?"
"Killing half the universe? Is he insane? How could that possibly benefit anyone?" Nick Fury added, his expression frozen in disbelief. His mouth hung open for several seconds, revealing a row of white teeth, his face blank with confusion.
"I don't know," Gamora admitted. She'd expected that kind of reaction from the two of them. What surprised her more was Superman—he didn't flinch. As if… he'd already known.
Her eyes darkened slightly as she continued, "But it's true. That's his goal. It's what he does. Every time he conquers a planet, he wipes out half the population—men, women, children, the elderly, even the unborn. No one is spared. He doesn't discriminate. And he never stops once he sets a target. That's what makes him terrifying."
"So the crisis on Earth… the Chitauri invasion, Loki's attack… all of that was orchestrated by him? He wanted the Infinity Stones—specifically, the Tesseract?" Carol asked, piecing it together based on what Superman had already told them.
"Yes," Gamora nodded, surprised once again.
She hadn't expected this woman to mention Earth.
To most of the galaxy, Earth was just a remote, insignificant planet. Only a handful of beings even knew where it was. Honestly, if it weren't for Thanos, Gamora wouldn't have known about Earth at all.
Wait a minute...
The fact that this woman mentioned Earth—and the way the three of them talked and acted—made Gamora realize something:
Were all three of them from Earth?
That would be strange... and yet—
Her eyes shifted briefly toward Nick Fury.
To Gamora, raised in the vast, diverse expanse of the cosmos, skin color wasn't just an aesthetic trait—it often signified entirely different species.
In her experience, red-skinned women, green-skinned women, blue-skinned women—all came from different planets. Even if their body structures were similar to humans, their origins were worlds apart.
So to her, Nick Fury's black skin, standing beside Superman and Carol's light skin, was just as visually distinct as her own green skin.
To a cosmic mind like hers, this meant: they weren't the same race. And if Nick Fury wasn't the same species as the other two, then his relatively weaker power made sense.
It was… understandable.
As she thought about it more, a hint of disbelief crept into her thoughts.
Earth…
Could Earth really be that dangerous?
No wonder Thanos's operations there kept failing. The Tesseract was lost. The Soul Stone had vanished.
Gamora fell silent, deep in thought, a dazed expression settling over her face.
….
patreon.com/Vks_sh