"Ah..." Right now, the scene inside Yondu's ship was utterly miserable, with a crowd of people lying on the floor groaning in pain. Of course, even more stood around watching in fear and confusion, staring at Tohka, who wore black armor and a demon-faced mask on her head.
"Mm, not bad. The armor's augmentation is decent, and it doesn't hamper my performance like before. Of course, it's still nowhere near as good as my Astral Dress, but it's quite fine." This time, Tohka finally tested the armor's performance—in the past, she hadn't encountered worthy opponents on Earth. As for fighting the Dark Elves, she didn't think Tony's armor could stand up to an Infinity Stone.
This time, it was perfect—these guys were all scum. The moment she and Miku came in, they'd started groping and jeering, so Tohka didn't hold back and simply flattened them all by herself. As for their weapons, none of them could even touch her. And Yondu's little thing—she was currently holding it in her hand. No matter how hard he tried to call it back, it wouldn't budge from her grip.
"Oh, no, no." Just then, Star-Lord stepped between Tohka and Yondu. He'd finally gotten them to the negotiating table, and besides, they needed Yondu's help to track down Ronan. He could see Tohka hadn't used lethal force—these people were only knocked down, and would get up soon enough. After all, she'd hit them all with the flat of her blade.
"Tch. You two are here—where are the others?" Tohka shot Star-Lord a dismissive glance. She had no interest in fighting them head-on, so she simply let go of the thing in her hand. The moment she did, it flew back to Yondu's belt.
"..."
"So, you grabbed that thing from the Collector?" Just then, the whole gang of galactic morons reunited. From their conversation, Tohka quickly learned what happened—they'd taken the Power Stone while the Collector was injured.
"Who knew that old fool couldn't control the Power Stone at all." Hearing Tohka's remark, Star-Lord complained a bit, but then he grew interested in another matter. "When that explosion happened earlier, I saw it clearly—you grabbed her and vanished. Where did you go?"
"Tch. None of your business. Everyone has their secrets." Tohka couldn't be bothered to explain. She had the Space Stone, but there was no need to flaunt it everywhere.
"Er...fine." Shut down by Tohka's reply, Star-Lord could only shrug. Everyone did have secrets—if she wouldn't say, he had no way to force it out of her.
"Alright. We still need to get that thing back from Ronan. Otherwise, Xandar will be destroyed." Knowing how dangerous the Power Stone was, Star-Lord didn't plan to hand it to the Collector again.
Instead, he wanted to entrust it to Xandar. After all, Xandar was one of the top civilizations in the universe, and should be the best choice for guarding an Infinity Stone. Of course, he'd considered giving it to Asgard, but Tohka had already said that place was no longer fit to store another one. That was why he'd given the Aether to the Collector in the first place.
"Alright, let's get ready." Tohka didn't object to Star-Lord's plan. After all, they weren't far from Xandar, and with this massive ship, they'd get there quickly. Besides, with Yondu's help, the negotiations had gone smoothly. If not for that, her earlier rampage might have ruined everything.
While they chatted, Yondu's ship reached their destination and descended into Xandar's atmosphere. From the looks of it, the Nova Corps hadn't reacted yet—something that made Tohka roll her eyes. These people had been at peace too long—their defenses were lax. She really couldn't figure out how they ever fought the Kree Empire.
"Let's go. I already notified the officer who arrested me before. But it looks like it'll take them a while to coordinate an effective counterattack. For now, it's up to us." With that, Star-Lord led everyone toward his own ship. Yondu's crew climbed aboard another craft.
"Come on, Miku—let's have a taste of a real space battle." Soon, they reached their launch point. But Tohka was treating this all like a game. Honestly, she could have flown out herself, but she didn't want to face that army directly. In the original story, Ronan used a bit of the Power Stone's strength—Tohka didn't want to take a hit from that. One strike could seriously injure her.
"Whoa." Predictably, Miku, the sheltered princess, was already dizzy after only a short time in the ship. The rapid spins, climbs, and dives were a brutal strain on the body. If they were ordinary people, they'd be puking everywhere. Even so, Miku felt woozy, while Tohka was unfazed—she'd done this plenty of times before.
"Hey—open the hatch." Tohka had no intention of dogfighting in the air any longer. She meant to go right in and finish Ronan herself.
"What?" Star-Lord stared, baffled. They were still fighting, and she suddenly wanted to jump out?
"Hurry up. Otherwise, we'll make our own exit." Seeing how unwell Miku was, Tohka didn't want to wait any longer. She was determined to storm in and end this.
"Fine—just be careful." Watching Tohka walk to the rear hatch, Star-Lord knew he couldn't stop her. Otherwise, he might lose his entire ship before the real fight even began.
"What are you planning? Are we really going to jump out?" Seeing the hatch open to the chaos outside, Miku grew anxious. After all, this was a high-tech battlefield—Yondu, the Nova Corps, and Ronan's forces were all clashing. Beams and plasma blasts streaked everywhere, and Miku couldn't help feeling afraid.
"What's there to fear? Just follow me and we'll—" But before Tohka could finish, the entire ship lurched violently. It had been hit by stray fire, and Tohka immediately steadied herself to avoid falling out. The next moment, Star-Lord up in the cockpit decided to ram the whole craft straight into Ronan's command ship, giving Tohka no chance to react.