"Ebony Maw, T-300 planet mission handover, Gamora's."
At the Black Quadrant base's intelligence handover point, Proxima Midnight swaggered into the great hall with Gamora and tossed a data chip containing information onto Ebony Maw's desk, who was busy at work.
"?"
Ebony Maw, engrossed in organizing feedback from the Black Quadrant's various stargazers, looked up, his gaze towards Proxima Midnight and Gamora far from friendly. Such a minor task had to come to him? Surely the Black Quadrant base wasn't that short-staffed.
"Don't look at me like that, just check the chip's information."
The trepidatious Gamora couldn't help but subtly retreat two steps under Ebony Maw's scrutiny. Proxima Midnight, however, was long accustomed to Ebony Maw's death stare.
She'd seen that look for over a thousand, almost two thousand, years. She was long since numb to it. Just as Corvus Glaive had long since become numb to her body.
Since they had been colleagues for nearly two millennia, and despite their usual frictions, Ebony Maw gave her face and retrieved the information from the chip, displaying it before him.
Planetary coordinates T-300, a perfectly normal planet. Gamora, as an assassin, had been ordered to secretly assassinate all royal family members on this planet. Both the mission process and completion were, in Ebony Maw's opinion, without issue.
However, Ebony Maw saw an image. It was an object resembling a switch, roughly thumb-sized, predominantly black and red. Its antiquated appearance suggested considerable age.
Gamora didn't know what it was, but she knew that all the royal family members of Planet T-300 valued this ancient switch more than anything else. They even guarded it at the cost of their lives.
Finding this object suspicious and potentially related to the Infinity Stones Thanos had been searching for, Gamora brought it back and presented it to her instructor, Proxima Midnight.
"This is..."
Ebony Maw fell silent. After a long moment, he finally looked up, his voice more hoarse: "Where is the item?"
"Here." Proxima Midnight gestured, and the black and red switch landed before Ebony Maw, spinning on the desk.
Memories sealed for over a thousand years instantly burst open.
"Lothar..."
After a careful examination, Ebony Maw slowly uttered a name that was practically taboo within the Black Quadrant.
Gamora, who had been trembling nervously, was even more bewildered. How had her simple mission gotten tied up with her brother, who only existed in others' words?
"Lord Thanos has been collecting scattered information and items related to Lothar over the years."
"You should hand this over."
Proxima Midnight gave the subtly changed Ebony Maw a deep look, then turned and left with Gamora.
"Wait, wait, Instructor." Gamora, still unsure of what was happening, followed closely behind Proxima Midnight.
"What was that?"
"Why is it related to my brother?"
Gamora was utterly confused.
"That thing is called a Cosmic Switch. Over a thousand years ago, Lothar acquired one on Sakaar; a woman named Jennifer gave it to him." This information was once "written" in Lothar's mission reports, so Proxima Midnight knew it clearly.
"A love token?"
Gamora was uncertain. After all, love existed even in the Black Quadrant. Plus, from what little information Gamora had gathered, her brother Lothar seemed to have been quite famous in the universe...
"Who knows. In any case, the royal family of T-300 must be Jennifer's descendants, which means our investigation direction is correct."
Jennifer's master was the wielder of the Power Stone. She and her descendants should know some information about the Power Stone. Proxima Midnight thought this.
"Well done, Gamora. However, the subsequent matters aren't suitable for you to explain to Lord Thanos."
Among the Black Order, Ebony Maw was the one least compatible with Lothar. When Lothar forcefully left the Penal Zone back then, he nearly buried Ebony Maw alive. Proxima Midnight didn't want her student to be targeted by that old schemer Ebony Maw because of Lothar.
"Wait, Instructor, so Lothar found the Power Stone over a thousand years ago?" Gamora keenly caught the crucial point. "Then why hasn't Father obtained the Power Stone yet?"
"Because there was a god interfering midway."
"Oh, a god." Gamora instinctively responded, then suddenly realized something was amiss.
"A god?!"
"Yes, that god's name was Ego. He was ultimately killed by Lothar on Sakaar." Proxima Midnight nodded, recounting that historical period. This information was all recorded in the Lothar Mission Files, which at the time were not yet classified.
"Killed... killed...?"
Gamora swallowed nervously, a hint of horror in her eyes. The word "god-slayer" she had only ever encountered in stories. She truly hadn't imagined her brother was an actual, formidable god-slaying individual.
"Instructor, what kind of person is that Lothar, my brother?" For over twenty years, due to Thanos, few people in the entire Black Quadrant mentioned the name "Lothar". Gamora's impression of him had always been vague. Now that Proxima Midnight had finally and willingly brought up this name, which was practically extinct in the Black Quadrant, Gamora naturally couldn't suppress her curiosity.
"A person with a terrible personality."
Proxima Midnight glanced at Gamora, stating without hesitation.
"But at the same time, he is also Lord Thanos's proudest existence."
"?" Gamora was perplexed.
"Follow me."
Proxima Midnight, checking the time, beckoned to Gamora. The two strode briskly to a seldom-visited side hall.
"This is...?!"
"This is where Lothar used to live."
Proxima Midnight pushed open the door that Gamora hadn't dared to open in twenty years, leading her into Lothar's former residence. Contrary to Gamora's expectation of disarray, the side hall, which should have been uninhabited for over a thousand years, was surprisingly spotless. Because it was dinnertime, Gamora even detected a rich aroma of food.
"Lady Proxima Midnight, Lady Gamora."
A robotic cat, wearing an apron, cheerfully pushed a dining cart and approached Proxima Midnight.
"You know me?" Gamora was confused; she was certain she hadn't seen this robotic cat before.
"Of course." The robotic cat, Gaitz, bowed politely.
"Meow~" A ginger cat, well-fed and well-maintained yet perpetually in shape, lay sprawled on a beam in the side hall, its amber cat eyes gazing at Gamora with curiosity.
"Are you here to retrieve something, Lady Proxima Midnight?" A figure, who for over a thousand years had maintained the habit of dining in Lothar's side hall, slowly stepped through the doorway, carrying a "corpse," and appeared before Proxima Midnight and Gamora.
Gamora recognized this person: The Other, a Chitauri who had always been by her adoptive father Thanos's side, assisting him with his work. A very strange name.
"What, you can't come to eat if you're not retrieving something, The Other?" Proxima Midnight asked with interest.
"Yes." The Other, still carrying the "corpse," replied neither humbly nor arrogantly. His humility in front of others was always reserved for Lothar alone. Even Thanos only received The Other's respect.
"Who is he?"
Proxima Midnight didn't dwell on it; after all, Lothar's "death" was already an unspoken fact among them, the Black Order.
"An Asgardian." The Other answered without humility or arrogance, yet his words made Proxima Midnight's expression gradually turn grim.
"You went to spy on Asgard again?"
"Yes. But this time, I was not empty-handed." The Other flung the "corpse" from his shoulder onto the ground as if it were trash.
"Who is he?" Proxima Midnight frowned.
"Asgard's second prince, Odin's second son, Loki." The Other slowly revealed the identity of the "corpse" on the ground.
Proxima Midnight's face instantly changed. You picked up Odin's son and brought him to the Black Quadrant?!
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