"He really said that?"
On the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, in Nick Fury's office.
Seated at his desk, Nick Fury tapped his right index finger against the surface after his two subordinates finished briefing him on the results of their trip to the Egyptian pyramids. After a moment, he spoke.
"Yes, sir."
"Where is he now?"
"At Jane Foster's house. He said he's waiting for our news there, and he's only given us two hours to decide."
"What does that mean?"
"He didn't say, but the implication is clear. Jane Foster likely knows people, and he probably intends to use those connections to get the Tesseract." Natasha interjected. In truth, she didn't quite understand what was going through Nick Fury's mind.
Thor's identity and power had already been proven; Coulson himself had led the team to study the Mjolnir that fell from the sky.
Now, Thor had traveled all the way from Asgard beyond Earth to explain the danger facing the Nine Realms, yet Nick Fury still clung stubbornly to the Tesseract, which he couldn't deeply study no matter how hard he tried.
As Thor himself had angrily put it, Nick Fury was simply too overconfident. Lothar was a "demon" even Odin, the All-Father, had to be wary of.
"Any discoveries from the ancient Egyptian historical data?"
Nick Fury chose to bypass the topic of the Tesseract.
"Yes, there are indeed some records of a mysterious savior cult."
"That cult was extremely secretive, often active within the territory of the Egyptian dynasties in ancient times, but later, for some unknown reason, it suddenly vanished, leaving no trace of information."
"I suspect this savior cult is connected to the two statues in the pyramid." Natasha voiced her thoughts completely. "I've already sent people to search, to see if anything can be found."
"I see. You two may leave now." Nick Fury nodded, waving his hand to dismiss the two agents from his desk.
Overconfident?
Once Coulson and Natasha, his capable subordinates, had left, a complex, unreadable expression finally surfaced on Nick Fury's face. It wasn't that he was overconfident; it was simply that the allure of the Tesseract was too great.
Humans were prone to wishful thinking, and Nick Fury, the King of Spies, was no exception. He currently had Tony Stark, a genius, and the Hulk, a formidable weapon, as potential allies. This made it hard for Nick Fury not to entertain certain alternative ideas.
Oh, right, and her.
Nick Fury slowly pulled out a pager from his pocket, sighing.
Carol Danvers, a woman. The most powerful being Nick Fury had ever encountered. Not even Thor, who claimed to be from Asgard, had given Nick Fury that feeling.
This was also why Nick Fury lacked respect and belief in Thor's descriptions of Odin. He, Nick Fury, was the King of Spies, one who had seen grand spectacles.
"Beep! Beep!"
Nick Fury dialed the number he hadn't contacted in a long time, then turned his gaze to the window.
Was he wrong? Was he right?
Nick Fury didn't know.
In fact, if it weren't for his unease, he wouldn't even have wanted to contact Carol Danvers. Earth should have its own protective force. And the Tesseract, in Nick Fury's view, was that power.
If only he could decipher it.
Nick Fury, who had fought alongside Carol Danvers, knew that her power source was the Tesseract.
...
Cosmos, Xandar.
Stepping off the spaceship, Lothar, surrounded by The Other, Nebula, and Ronan, ascended to the throne that should have belonged to the Nova Prime.
The Nova Corps generals, unaware of the full truth, were indignant. If not for Nova Prime and Rhomann Dey holding them back, they likely would have pulled out their weapons on the spot and opened fire on Lothar in the main seat.
It was humiliation, blatant humiliation, for them, the generals.
"Ronan."
Lothar swept his gaze over the varied expressions of those below the dais, then raised his hand, his index and middle fingers joined and bent forward.
Ronan, the Kree traitor, moved at his command.
The murmuring below the dais immediately grew louder.
Ronan, the Kree traitor, the ruthless bandit who had repeatedly tried to invade Xandar and capture the Nova Prime over the past century. How had he become a subordinate? And so submissive?
"According to the description, the man who stole the Orb is currently on Xandar. This is his information."
The goofy face of the man codenamed Star-Lord was projected from the communication device in Ronan's hand. Behind Ronan, from his position on the main throne, Lothar scanned the crowd below, detecting no abnormalities.
"A space pirate?"
Nova Prime frowned. She didn't recall her planet allowing such people in.
"Lothar, I guarantee, in the name of the Nova Corps, that such a person could never appear on Xandar." Rhomann Dey, standing by Nova Prime's side as he had in years past, swore with a solemn expression.
"Beep, beep, alert, alert! A serious illegal brawl has occurred in the square of Sector 36, Eastern District!"
"Beep, beep, alert, alert! A serious illegal brawl has occurred in the square of Sector 36, Eastern District!"
"Beep, beep, alert, alert! The square of Sector 36, Eastern District..."
Rhomann Dey's solemn expression instantly turned incredibly ugly. The surveillance footage popped up by the system clearly showed the person jumping and fighting in the square was none other than the Star-Lord Ronan had mentioned.
"Do you have anything else to say?"
Lothar raised his head from the main seat, his eyes gleaming with cold light.
"Wait, Lothar, we genuinely aren't harboring this man!" Nova Prime immediately stepped in front of Rhomann Dey.
"Go, send people to bring him to me, and everyone else who had a physical altercation with him, bring them all back!" At this crucial moment, Nova Prime, with her full queenly aura, made an immediate decision.
"...Yes."
Although sending Nova Corps members to arrest a space pirate who had snuck in by unknown means was a bit irregular, in the current situation, she couldn't afford to worry about formalities.
The image of Lothar's energy blast directly annihilating the elite fleets of two great empires was still vivid in her mind. Xandar couldn't afford to take this risk.
Thus, the two individuals, a raccoon, and a treeman, who were happily engaged in a chase on the plaza, were immediately apprehended by a large Nova Corps unit.
Gamora, unable to resist; Star-Lord, bound hand and foot; a foul-mouthed raccoon; and a silent treeman.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Listen, buddy, can we make a deal? Can you untie this thing? I'll go with you; I won't resist."
"Hey! Don't touch my music player!"
Star-Lord, caught like a fish in a barrel by the large Nova Corps contingent on Xandar, swore under his breath. What kind of troublesome mission had he gotten himself into?
——————————
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]
There are 50+ advance chapters available for you to read!