Planet Xandar
Inside a sleek, hotel-like residence, Kurogai stood by the window, silently gazing at the distant skyline. His mind was deep in thought.
It had already been a week since he arrived on Planet Xandar, and in that time, he had gathered substantial intel on the planet and its factions. However, one elusive piece of information continued to bother him—the whereabouts of the Collector, Taneleer Tivan.
According to his knowledge of the timeline, after Star-Lord and Gamora escaped from the Kyln prison, they would bring the Orb to Xandar for a deal with the Collector. And that was precisely the man Kurogai was interested in.
Taneleer Tivan wasn't just a simple trader—he was a hoarder of rare and mystical artifacts from across the universe. His vaults contained strange, powerful items, many of which would be invaluable to Kurogai. But despite interrogating numerous locals and tapping into planetary networks, Kurogai couldn't find any trace of him.
Perhaps the Collector hadn't arrived here yet. The timeline hadn't caught up.
"I'll give it one more week," Kurogai muttered, arms folded. "If I still can't find him, I'll leave this planet and head for either Planet Dar or Planet Morag."
Dar, the heart of the Nova Corps, was advanced and brimming with opportunities. Morag, on the other hand, was an abandoned and forgotten world. But it held something far more valuable.
That was the planet where Star-Lord would eventually find the Orb, the container of the Power Stone, one of the Infinity Stones. And for now, it remained undisturbed.
If he moved fast enough, he might be able to retrieve it long before the Guardians ever arrived.
"Alright then," he said aloud, decision made. "Time to act."
---
A week later, Kurogai boarded a spacecraft and departed Xandar's orbit.
He had found no trace of the Collector, confirming his suspicion that the man simply wasn't present on the planet at this point in time. There was no point waiting around.
But this time, Kurogai wasn't flying the old Kree transport he had originally seized.
During his stay on Xandar, he hadn't been idle. Using a mix of subtle illusion, memory tampering, and coercion, he had acquired a far more advanced starship—one that ranked among the top-tier civilian-grade vessels on the planet.
The Kree ship was little more than a soldier's shuttle, barely adequate for interstellar travel. It had served its purpose. This new ship, though, was equipped with high-end scanning systems, faster-than-light capability, and stronger defense plating—perfect for what lay ahead.
---
Eventually, Kurogai arrived at a desolate, barren world.
The surface was cracked, weathered, and dry—lifeless, ancient, and quiet.
Planet Morag.
"There's still more than a decade before the actual events of the movie... no wonder the place is deserted."
Kurogai hovered above the ground in the ship for a moment, then descended. He knew this planet would one day be the site where Peter Quill recovered the Orb. But for now, it was nothing more than a ruin lost to time.
Still, the Infinity Stone was here—just waiting to be taken.
"I remember it should be inside some kind of ancient temple structure," Kurogai muttered. He activated the ship's scanners and searched for large underground or stone-built areas.
A few potential sites were highlighted on his monitor.
He made his way across the terrain, exploring each location one by one, until finally—he found it.
A collapsed stone ruin stood before him, worn down by centuries of erosion. But within the broken walls, nestled deep inside an altar chamber, was a finely-carved spherical object.
The Orb.
Kurogai's heart stirred slightly. He stepped forward to claim it.
But before he could reach it, something lunged at him from the shadows—a massive black creature, low to the ground, like a panther twisted by radiation and time. It was many times larger than any natural beast, its eyes feral, its breath ragged.
Even on dead planets, predators existed—mutated by harsh conditions and born to kill.
But it had chosen the wrong prey.
"Get lost."
Kurogai's Sharingan morphed into the Mangekyō, and without hesitation, he unleashed Amaterasu. Jet-black flames erupted on the creature's body, clinging to it, devouring its flesh without mercy.
The beast screeched, thrashed, and finally turned to ash.
With the threat gone, Kurogai stepped up to the altar and reached for the Orb.
The moment his hand touched it, something inside his body stirred. A powerful craving. A hunger.
He froze.
"It's reacting to the Power Stone?"
Kurogai narrowed his eyes. It wasn't the first time he had felt something like this.
Back at Kamar-Taj, when the Ancient One had exposed the Time Stone, his body had responded with the same instinctual pull. It was as if some unknown part of him was resonating with the Stones themselves.
And now, with the Power Stone nearby, it was happening again.
He gritted his teeth, suppressing the craving. This wasn't the time to experiment.
"I'll figure it out later," he muttered.
He opened Kamui, the Orb vanishing into his dimensional space.
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