"An ancient creature…" Silently staring at the enormous being before her, Miku Izayoi was truly stunned. In her memory, the biggest creature she'd ever seen was a blue whale, but compared to this, it was like a cell in the eyes of a human.
"Yeah, I remember this thing seems to be related to that bunch called the Celestials." Tohka rubbed her chin as she looked at the distant, gigantic head. And this was just the head. Who knew how enormous the creature had been when alive? It must have looked ridiculously majestic from afar.
"The Celestials? What are those?" Honestly, apart from Tohka, no one present knew. Even Tohka herself wasn't too clear, since they'd barely appeared in the movies.
"It's nothing, just a bunch of lunatics who've been alive who knows how many eons. Their strength varies—some strong, some weak. I remember your father, Thanos, supposedly killed one. As for their leader, if I'm not mistaken, he was created by one of the Five Original Beings—Eternity or something like that. The specifics I'm not too sure about." Alright, when it came to the Celestials, Tohka really didn't know much, so she could only explain this much.
"So, you're saying this in front of us is one of those Celestials you're talking about?" Hearing Tohka's explanation, Miku quickly guessed this thing's origins. "Could this be the Celestial your people say Thanos killed? My god—just looking at it is terrifying."
"Mm, how could that be. No one even knows how long this thing's been dead. Just look at its size and you can imagine how powerful it was at its peak. You have to understand, this guy was definitely a being that could casually blow up planets. Thanos isn't anywhere near that strong yet." As for how it died—or rather, why only its head remained—that was a mystery. No one even knew its name, let alone who killed it.
"Alright, let's go to the cockpit. Whatever it was doesn't matter anymore—it's been dead for who knows how long." Glancing at everyone who'd gone quiet, Tohka clapped her hands and took the lead in leaving.
"Be careful. This place has no rules at all. There are a lot of criminals here. The Tivan Corporation sends people to harvest the brain tissue and bone marrow—on the black market, it all sells for sky-high prices." As everyone was observing the colossal skull outside, Gamora quietly approached Tohka and Miku from behind. She had to admit she'd already noticed it—both Tohka and Miku were strong, but they were still like pampered noble ladies. People like that could easily be taken advantage of here.
"I know already. Just some criminals. Miku—if someone comes to pick a fight, you don't need to hold back." Tohka, who'd long since researched this place, just sneered and didn't care much. After all, Miku had a natural advantage—she was a powerful psychic. She was extremely sensitive to malice. Of course, Tohka herself wasn't bad in this regard either.
After that, everyone entered the hollow interior of the enormous skull. Tohka couldn't help but internally rant about it—this place was just open to the void, yet somehow the radiation from space dispersed right at the mouth of the skull.
Otherwise, almost no one could survive here. Not everyone was like Tohka and Miku, able to withstand direct exposure to space. Remember how Yondu died in Guardians Vol. 2? He didn't last long once exposed.
"What's this? These people aren't even that impressive." The moment she stepped inside, Tohka didn't know what to say. Sure, there weren't many decent folks, but the problem was that these scumbags were basically wearing signs that said "I'm a Bad Guy."
"This doesn't hold a candle to Gotham City. These people are way too obvious." Originally, Tohka thought it'd be full of smiling knife-wielders, but she didn't even need to interact—these people were just…well, straightforwardly rotten.
"Gotham City? What's that place?" Hearing her muttering, everyone—including Miku—looked puzzled. They'd never heard of such a place and were naturally curious.
"Well... let's just say this: 'The simple folk of Gotham, where Arkham breeds talent.' Compared to that place, these folks are saints." Seeing that no one understood, Tohka simply stood with her hands on her hips, explained a little, and didn't bother to elaborate. After exchanging contact info with the others, she pulled Miku along to leave. Whether these people would abandon her later, she didn't care—the artifact was in her hands.
"Wow, Tohka—look at all this stuff…" Staring at so many things she'd never seen, Miku originally wanted to ask Tohka to buy something. But she quickly realized an extremely awkward problem: they had no money. Yes—completely broke. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been mooching food and lodging.
"Heh—just leave this to me." When she heard Miku's disappointed voice, Tohka only let out a cold laugh. Xandar was a civilized, stable society—there, she couldn't do as she pleased. But here…hmph, had they forgotten what a mimic chest was?
Then, with Miku full of question marks, Tohka dragged her into a narrow alley.
"Heh, I knew you'd show up." At that moment, Tohka glanced over her shoulder. Ever since they'd split from Gamora, she'd sensed someone watching them. Sure enough, the moment they slipped into the alley, a few burly aliens quickly followed.
"You have to understand—in this place, if you rob robbers, no one cares." Tohka looked back at the group, speaking to Miku with amusement.
"Huh?" Miku tilted her head, slightly uncomfortable. That was exactly why she hadn't wanted to come here in the first place. She'd already sensed the ill intent. Despite being a top idol in her world, she was still just a normal human girl deep down.
"Watch closely. Even if it's not worth forty billion, it should be enough for us to get by for now." Seeing Miku's expression, Tohka didn't say more. She simply stepped toward the aliens.
"Ah…"
What followed was a scream—shrill and chilling—echoing from the alley. It startled the nearby pedestrians. But that was about it. After all, stuff like this happened all the time in a lawless place like this.