"Damn it—restart already!"
Quill braced against the seat, launched himself forward, and finally grabbed the control stick. He yanked it hard.
Just meters from the ground, the engines roared back to life. The ship jerked violently midair, hovering for a split second before stabilizing—barely avoiding a catastrophic crash.
Quill collapsed onto the floor of the cockpit, gasping heavily, staring blankly ahead. That had been far too close.
After catching his breath, he hurriedly piloted the ship away from the desolate planet.
---
Back at the agency office, Skye and Gwen were locked in a tense chess match. Moguli, wearing a tiny badge labeled "Referee," watched intently from the side. Steve sat nearby, observing with great interest—apparently quite fond of chess himself.
Karl, on the other hand, had absolutely no interest. He lounged lazily in his chair.
Since losing S.H.I.E.L.D., Steve had taken to helping around the office. Even though business was virtually nonexistent, he maintained strict discipline—morning runs without fail, sometimes even bringing back breakfast for everyone. Knowing Karl and the others preferred Chinese food, he would jog all the way to Chinatown to pick it up.
Karl genuinely admired Steve's lifestyle.
He also knew he could never replicate it.
Typical Captain America.
[Ding—Mission issued: "Destroy Ronan the Accuser's Conspiracy."]
Karl didn't even flinch this time. The system's sudden notifications were nothing new.
Still—
"Hey, System," Karl muttered internally, "I know who Ronan is. But he's out in deep space. How exactly am I supposed to find him, let alone destroy some conspiracy? I can't even see a strand of his hair from here!"
He silently flipped it off.
This mission was impossible. Ronan was in another galaxy. Karl was on Earth. They had zero overlap.
He decided to ignore it.
[Ding—Host need not worry.]
Before he could react, the world spun violently. It felt as though he had been sucked into a cosmic drain.
The next instant—
Thud.
Karl hit the ground hard.
Rubbing his backside, wincing in pain, he looked up—
He was standing in a bright, open plaza beneath a clear alien sky. A fountain trickled nearby. All around him, pedestrians had stopped to stare.
And they were very much not human.
Blue skin. Green skin. Metallic limbs. Some were vaguely humanoid, others barely resembled Earth lifeforms at all. A few looked human at first glance—until subtle anatomical differences gave them away.
Karl sighed.
Xandar.
He recognized the Nova Corps patrol ships overhead—sleek, star-emblazoned craft identical to those from the films.
Two of them hovered directly above him. Golden restraint beams locked onto his body.
"You are charged with illegal entry onto Xandar. Present identification immediately."
Karl blinked.
Why could he understand them perfectly?
Did the entire galaxy just speak English?
When he didn't respond, more patrol units arrived, weapons trained on him.
Karl rolled his eyes.
Wind blades shot outward, slicing through the patrol officers' weapons. Bolts of lightning struck the hovering ships with pinpoint precision.
"Hostile! Hostile!"
Blasters fired. Energy bolts streaked toward him. Even the downed pilots joined the assault.
His crimson cloak expanded instantly, forming a protective barrier. As a magical artifact, it deflected both physical and energy-based attacks effortlessly.
Calmly, Karl blew the Chocobo whistle.
He vanished in front of everyone.
"Suspect has escaped. Repeat—suspect has escaped."
Within minutes, a planetary-wide bounty alert was issued—Karl's image plastered across Xandar's networks. Charges: assaulting Nova Corps officers and destroying patrol craft.
Karl, however, was already back in the Chocobo Dimension.
And absolutely furious.
"You stupid system—you—%$#@! You dropped me in the middle of a capital city?! %$#@—!"
He ranted nonstop for ten full minutes, exhausting every curse in his vocabulary before finally collapsing onto the ground, chugging water to soothe his throat.
[Ding—But you did go, didn't you?]
"…You—!"
Round two of the tirade began.
Eventually, after venting thoroughly and soaking in a hot spring inside the Chocobo space, Karl returned to the office.
No one questioned his sudden disappearance.
They were used to it.
Natasha and Steve were sharing drinks. Skye and Gwen had finished their chess game—Gwen winning by a narrow margin.
Determined to complete the mission, Karl began sneaking daily trips to Xandar, waiting for Peter Quill to appear.
He knew Quill was human. Knew about his celestial heritage.
A son of a planet.
For days, Karl saw no sign of him.
He loitered near the gemstone broker's shop—the exact place Quill would attempt to sell the Orb, unaware that the true treasure lay inside it: the Power Stone.
Today, however, Karl changed tactics.
Instead of waiting outside, he decided to let events play out as they should.
Quill and company would eventually get arrested and taken to prison.
So why not wait there?
Simple.
He marched straight into the most visible section of the plaza.
Sure enough, within minutes, multiple patrol units and Nova ships surrounded him.
"Target confirmed—wanted suspect. Identity unverified."
Golden restraint beams pinned him in place.
This time, Karl did not resist.
He allowed himself to be taken.
---
Interrogation Chamber.
Karl looked around curiously.
This was the same room where Quill and the others would be processed.
A specialized containment field surrounded him as a scanning beam passed over his body.
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