Robert quickly regained his composure. He neither questioned how Thor, while so conscious, could still be under the control of the Mind Stone nor why Odin, the Allfather, hadn't helped Thor break free. Instead, he turned to Kara with a smile and asked, "Interested in sparring with Thor? His current strength is quite decent."
"Sure! No wonder you didn't let me deal with the High Evolutionary and left him to Hulk. You were saving this for me!" Kara's eyes lit up, her gaze brimming with battle intent as she looked at Thor.
"You're not going to fight me?" Thor frowned at Kara's warlike expression. While he acknowledged he wasn't yet a match for Robert, he still wanted to understand the gap between them. More importantly, he wanted to know how far his mastery of runes needed to go to defeat Robert—and perhaps even match the version of himself from his visions.
"Oh? Do you think you're my equal now?" Robert raised an eyebrow, his tone faintly amused. "Or are you implying that the Mind Stone is controlling you and Thanos is watching me through your eyes?"
"I don't know if Thanos can observe you through me, but my desire to fight you is entirely my own, free from anyone's influence," Thor replied, his expression serious.
"Then deal with Kara first. After all, you seem to have already provoked her." Robert shook his head and disappeared from his spot, reappearing behind Thor with Kara in tow. In the blink of an eye, they were transported to the vast expanse of space.
Back on the ship, as Robert, Kara, and Thor vanished, Supergiant felt an immense sense of relief. She wasted no time, immediately activating every system available—defense mechanisms, hyperspace jump engines—preparing the ship to flee as fast as possible. Once everything was set, she collapsed onto the floor, overwhelmed by the realization she had narrowly escaped death.
"Celebrating a little too early, aren't you?" Robert's voice suddenly rang out, sending a jolt through Supergiant. She turned with a bitter smile to find Robert calmly seated on a nearby chair, watching her with an unsettling grin.
Supergiant knew better than to think Robert was merciful. Attempting to flee in his absence would usually result in obliteration. That he hadn't killed her yet only made her more terrified—she could already guess why he had spared her life.
"You seem to understand why I let you live," Robert said with a satisfied nod. "Then start navigating. Thanos is a threat that must be dealt with. Compared to him, there are far greater dangers lurking in the universe."
Although four of the Infinity Stones were on Earth—most under Robert's control—and the Soul Stone had disappeared, Robert couldn't rule out the existence of other, more mysterious artifacts in the universe.
He still couldn't locate the Celestials, leaving a vast unknown in the cosmos. Allowing someone as ambitious as Thanos to roam free was a risk he didn't want to take. Eliminating Thanos now would spare them from unforeseen complications later.
With Thanos out of the picture, the Avengers and Robert could fully focus on dealing with and locating the Celestials without the looming threat of a mad Titan plotting to halve the universe's population with a snap.
The audacity of Thanos! His world had reached its peak, exhausted its resources, and collapsed into ruin. Yet here he was, judging newer civilizations like Earth, which was barely taking its first steps, or others in the universe that were just beginning to grow. Who gave him the right to make such decisions for them?
And what then? When the universe repopulated itself to its former numbers, would he snap his fingers again? From the moment Robert heard Thanos' grand vision, he had scoffed at its absurdity. If the Infinity Stones truly had wish-granting powers, why not simply create a universe where resources grew in tandem with civilizations?
While not perfect, such a solution would be far more palatable to most civilizations than Thanos' plan.
"I refuse…!" Supergiant's stiff expression betrayed her resistance as Robert's words sank in. Yet before she could finish, her body froze, completely immobilized.
"Some things aren't up to you," Robert said, shaking his head. With a surge of his energy, he took control of her body, even manipulating her vocal cords to speak. At this point, only her mind remained her own—her body was entirely under Robert's command.
A faint hum emanated as Supergiant's psychic energy flared. Realizing escape was impossible, she aimed her remaining strength at Robert, attempting to challenge him on her specialty: the mental plane.
Unfortunately, her psychic energy barely approached Robert before it shattered against an even more overwhelming mental force. With a soft "pop," her consciousness was plunged into unconsciousness.
Robert had spared her only because controlling a corpse would be more cumbersome, especially if the ship's systems required a living operator.
"Ding! Main ship return protocol initiated!"
After Robert had completed the return sequence, the ship's central control system announced its activation.
Moments later, a communication request came through. Without waiting for Robert's response, the connection was established, and an image of Corvus Glaive appeared on the screen.
"What's going on? Have you found Gamora? Why are you returning so soon? Did you retrieve the Soul Stone?" Corvus asked, his expression laced with suspicion.
"We encountered the Avengers," Robert replied, using Supergiant's vocal cords.
"The Avengers? What are they doing with Gamora?" Corvus' frown deepened.
"Gamora's Guardians of the Galaxy crew includes a man named Star-Lord, who has ties to the Avengers. They weren't summoned because of us—they were already battling a powerful enemy when we arrived. It became a full-scale war," Robert explained through Supergiant.
"And you didn't strike during the chaos?" Corvus asked, his tone skeptical.
"A Saiyan was there. Thor and I agreed that retreating was the better option. I've planted a tracking device on the Guardians' ship. Once the Avengers' attention shifts, we'll move in to capture Gamora and claim the Soul Stone," Robert said, shaking "her" head.
"Where's Thor?" Corvus asked, glancing around the transmission feed.
"I'm here. My apologies—I'm not yet a match for the Saiyan," Robert replied, now transformed to look like Thor, his voice heavy with regret.
"That's fine. Return for now. If you've planted a tracker, finding Gamora again won't be an issue. By the way, who were the Avengers and Guardians fighting?"
"I don't know. The planet was nearly identical to Earth. If it weren't for the different coordinates, we'd have thought we were back on Earth…" "Thor" answered with a helpless shrug.
"I see. I'll report this to Father," Corvus said before disconnecting the call.
"Another Earth? Whose work is this?" Thanos murmured, perplexed after hearing Corvus' report.
Earth's uniqueness had always stood out in the universe—a planet shielded by Asgardians without requiring their worship, guarded by the Ancient One, and existing as the nexus of unique dimensions.
If a second Earth had appeared, Thanos could only assume some powerful entity was attempting to replicate Earth's wonders.
"Once Supergiant returns, we'll interrogate them properly," Thanos decided, the Mind Stone on his gauntlet glowing faintly. Clearly, this interrogation would involve directly extracting memories.
Onboard the ship, Robert reverted to his true form after ending the call. "It's just past New Year's, and here I am stuck on an interstellar trip. If I'd known Thor was at Thanos' side, I'd have teleported to him directly…" he muttered.
Though he had previously sensed the energy of Thanos' Black Order, Robert hadn't recognized their signatures well enough to distinguish them amidst the countless energies of the universe.
Still, now that he had resolved to deal with Thanos, he could finally turn his focus back to Earth. With Hulk facing the High Evolutionary, there was little to worry about—Hulk's Rage Energy was bound to prevail.
As for Kara, Robert was even less concerned. Thor may have grown stronger, but Kara was nearing the level of a newly emerged Superman. There was no way Thor, even in his prime, could match her.
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