"Star Prince" was what the people of Xandar called Quill because Star-Lord's presence was so negligible they couldn't remember him properly. Quill should have been after the Orb at this time, but perhaps because I sold Vibranium ingots on Xandar to earn units, he changed his target from the uncertain Orb to the sure-value Vibranium ingots instead.
"Damn... This is insane... What a mess."
I first took out [Jack Sparrow's Compass] and started looking for Quill (Star-Lord). But the compass just spun around. Unfortunately, [Jack Sparrow's Compass] could only find things within the same planet, so it couldn't locate objects in space, which was a drawback.
"Oh no, did he already leave?"
I hurriedly teleported outside into space, took out my spaceship and boarded it, then headed to Morag where the Orb (Power Stone) was slumbering.
"This is a big problem. If Quill got distracted by the Vibranium ingots and the Orb fell into Ronan's hands, we'd be totally screwed..."
Morag was a gloomy planet where little light penetrated, with almost no plants and only oddly shaped small animals roaming around—a deserted world. Still, traces of past civilization could occasionally be seen in the form of buildings.
I took out [Jack Sparrow's Compass] and moved to the location it pointed to in search of the Orb.
After moving for about two hours, an old temple-like structure came into view, and it seemed likely to be here. I immediately went inside, using the [Lockpicking] magic I got from Konosuba to open the locked door and enter.
"Huh? The Orb is still here."
Inside the temple, the Orb was stored between circular pillars, surrounded by a powerful energy shield. It seemed I had arrived earlier than the original start point of Guardians of the Galaxy.
"Well, that's a relief."
I used [Telekinesis] to pull the Orb out from within the energy shield. Such things were no obstacle to me. Then, after checking the Orb with [Naked Eye], I turned the puzzle to extract the Power Stone inside, placed it in my inventory, and reassembled the Orb back in its original spot. This way, even if things got tangled, I could handle it somehow. Originally, I planned not to touch the Orb until the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Part 1's story, but since it's already messed up, I had no choice.
[(EX)Power Stone](World Affinity)
A stone formed from condensed elemental crystals after the Big Bang.
Destruction caused by powerful energy.
I went back outside the temple, locked the door as it was, and just in case, stopped by 'Knowhere' where the Collector is, via spaceship, then teleported back to Earth. But here was also a mess.
On a road in Washington, smoke was billowing everywhere, and Deadpool had Bucky in a rear naked choke from behind, strangling his neck while muttering something into Bucky's ear.
"Do you wanna build a snowman~??"
"Ugh! What are you saying?"
"Okay bye~"
A thud echoed.
Bucky grunted.
Deadpool tried to knock Bucky out by hitting the back of his head with his elbow, but Bucky remained unfazed and instead grabbed Deadpool's head with his metal arm and threw him with a suplex.
A crash sounded.
"Oof! I heard shock therapy is good for coming to your senses, so why isn't it working?"
From the situation, Deadpool and Bucky were fighting one-on-one, and Captain America and Sam (Falcon) were expected to be nearby but weren't visible yet.
Bucky took a pistol from his waist and fired at the fallen Deadpool.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Oh! Shit!"
Deadpool quickly rolled behind a vehicle to dodge the bullets, but it seemed he had already been hit a few times. Then, Captain America's shield flew in and struck Bucky hard, and as the shield bounced off, Captain caught it and charged at Bucky, delivering a knee kick.
Thud!
"Gah!"
From the impact, Bucky dropped his gun, and as Captain continued to attack, he had no choice but to start a hand-to-hand fight with Captain.
Thud! Smack! Crack!
I was utterly moved to witness the iconic duel scene between Captain America and Bucky from Winter Soldier. Deadpool was also watching in awe.
"Oh~ my god! I think I'm gonna cream my pants."
"Hey! Don't do that! If you make a sound, they'll notice you, hold it in!"
"Cassian! When did you get here?"
"Just now, I had a lot going on. Anyway, nothing major happened so far, right?"
"Well... nothing major."
"That's a relief."
While we were talking, Bucky drew a dagger and was pushing Captain back. Watching this, Deadpool said.
"Cassian, can't we capture Bucky now?"
"We could capture him now, but mental treatment is impossible. We'd need to ask Wakanda, and that's still a long way off."
"Right..."
Actually, it was possible to treat him with magic from Konosuba. But since I didn't know how the future might change, like with Guardians of the Galaxy, I decided to leave it be.
'It's better to let things follow the original plot.'
We continued to watch Captain and Bucky's duel. Captain deflected Bucky's dagger attack with his shield, grabbed Bucky's face, and executed a throw, causing the mask Bucky was wearing to come off and fall to the ground. Bucky rolled on the ground a few times before getting up and glaring at Captain.
"...Bucky??"
Captain was so shocked upon seeing Bucky that he just stood there, staring at his face. Bucky asked Captain.
"Who's Bucky?"
Deadpool, who had been hiding behind a car, stood up and pointed at Bucky, shouting.
"How dense. Elsa, it's you, you!"
Bucky fired his gun at Deadpool again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Eek!"
Deadpool hastily hid behind the car again.
"Elsa?"
Then Falcon flew in and kicked the confused Bucky, sending him flying far away until he disappeared, and suddenly sirens blared as SHIELD agents surrounded Captain, Deadpool, and Falcon, encircling them.
"Drop the shield, Captain, kneel!"
Captain, perhaps too shocked from seeing Bucky, didn't resist and was captured just like that. Falcon and Deadpool were the same. The SHIELD agents put them in a transport vehicle and took them somewhere. Inside the vehicle, Captain, with a stunned expression, finally spoke.
"Bucky fought alongside me and fell from a train 70 years ago, and we didn't know if he was alive or dead. And to think the Winter Soldier was Bucky... He looked right at me, like he didn't know who I was."
"That makes sense? He went missing 70 years ago."
Falcon asked Captain back. Deadpool answered instead.
"HYDRA probably picked him up, experimented on him, and brainwashed him. It's obvious without even looking."
"Bucky is more than a friend to me."
Deadpool made a surprised face at Captain.
"Gasp! Don't tell me Captain... that kind of..."
"It's not like that, it's a family-like relationship."
"Tch, what a pity."
Falcon looked at Deadpool incredulously and said.
"What were you even expecting?"
"Just, you know... first acquaintances... then friends... next..."
"Stop! I don't want to hear any more."
Falcon cut off Deadpool's words and told him to stop. Then, a SHIELD agent took out a taser and attacked another SHIELD agent next to him, quickly subduing them.
Zap! Crack!
"Gah!"
Thump!
"Whoa~ That guy, he must've gotten too excited listening to us? You trying to do it here?"
Ignoring Deadpool's crazy talk, the SHIELD agent struggled to take off his helmet and said.
"Hey there, friends. But why does SHIELD make these helmets so damn small?"
The person who removed the helmet and revealed his face was none other than Tony. Seeing this, Captain was surprised.
"Tony, how did you get here?"
"Cassian and that motherfucker guy asked for help, so here I am. Among the new colleagues, there's a beauty to my taste, but the mouth is a bit..."
Tony praised Deadpool's looks but seemed disappointed by his loose tongue.
"Oh right, not the time for this. When you get the signal and we stop, let's escape downward."
Tony searched the pockets of the fallen SHIELD agent, took out a key, and freed Captain, Falcon, and Deadpool. Then he pulled out a short silver wand-like thing from his pocket, and when the vehicle stopped after receiving the signal, he aimed it at the floor and pressed a button. A powerful laser shot out, piercing not only the vehicle floor but also the road below, allowing a quick escape into the sewer.
They emerged from the sewer into a deserted alley, called for Talaria, and under Tony's guidance, moved to the bunker where Nick Fury was hiding. Captain seemed shocked again upon seeing Nick Fury receiving treatment on a bed.
"You got here pretty fast."
"How is it possible to be alive? The hospital said his heart stopped."
"Tetrodotoxin B, slows the pulse to one beat per minute."
"Why did you hide it even from us?"
"I had to make it look like I was really dead. I didn't know who to trust."
"That sounds like you couldn't trust us either."
"I hope you understand there was no other way."
Tony, seeing that Captain and Nick Fury's argument might drag on, clapped to gather attention and said.
"Not the time for this. From what I hear, we have a lot to deal with, right?"
"That's true."
Then Nick Fury struggled to get up from his bed and showed the files I had given him to the others.
"This is what Cassian investigated and told me about. It's the list of HYDRA members and those compromised by HYDRA within SHIELD."
They passed the files around. But this time, Tony seemed shocked.
"There are politicians too! Van Stane, that son of a bitch!!"
Van Stane was a senator who had pressured during the hearings to have the Iron Man suit turned over to the government.
Nick Fury, with Maria Hill's help, got up from the bed, brought a black bag, and placed it on the table.
"As you all heard, Project Insight is about launching three Helicarriers into the air to instantly eliminate anyone who could be a threat to HYDRA. HYDRA secretly prepared it within SHIELD."
Nick Fury continued, pointing at each person.
"The targets include Captain, Tony, everyone involved in the hero business, and politicians, soldiers, teachers and doctors, even children."
Then he opened the bag and showed it to everyone. Inside were three chips the size of half a palm.
"What are these?"
Falcon asked Nick Fury. Hill answered instead.
"When the Helicarriers reach an altitude of 3,000 feet, they connect with the Insight satellite and become weaponized."
Nick Fury pointed at the chips and said.
"To stop that, we need to get inside the Helicarriers and replace the server blades (chips). All three have to be changed simultaneously for it to work. If even one operates normally, countless people will die."
Tony argued with Nick Fury.
"What the hell were you doing until things got this bad? I almost died without knowing anything."
"I knew. It just took time to verify. And now we're gathered here to stop it."
Hearing this, Captain said.
"How many sacrifices did you make with all that verifying?"
Nick Fury was momentarily speechless at that and said apologetically to Captain.
"I didn't know about Barnes."
"If you knew, would you have told me? Or is that also 'compartmentalization'? SHIELD, HYDRA, they all need to go."
Maria Hill agreed with Captain and said.
"He's right."
Nick Fury, seeing Hill agree, seemed a bit flustered and looked around to see if others thought the same. Everyone's expressions indicated they agreed with the sentiment.
"Sigh... Looks like you're in charge now, Captain."
Deadpool quietly asked me too.
"Cassian, should I say something?"
"Better to just stay quiet."
"Alright..."
We began planning the operation. The infiltration team into SHIELD would be Captain, Deadpool, and Falcon, and since Tony's Iron Man suit was too conspicuous, he would wait outside for support when things kicked off.