"What do you mean they didn't put it back?" Gamora asked sharply.
Quill didn't answer. He tossed her the pouch containing the Orb.
"You guys head to the ship. I'll be right behind you."
Without another word, he grabbed his gear and ran off, ignoring their protests.
He suited up at full speed and stormed toward the alien who had stolen his Walkman. With his equipment restored, Quill cut through the chaos effortlessly, reaching the culprit's quarters in minutes.
---
In orbit, Rocket hovered Quill's ship in a concealed corner of space.
"The Orb's with you, right?" Rocket asked, glancing at Gamora.
She nodded and opened the bag—
Inside was nothing but a small toy.
No Orb.
They had been played.
"I'm not dying here waiting for that idiot," Rocket snapped. "If we don't move now, we're scrap metal."
---
Inside a dim room, the alien thief sat blissfully unaware, headphones on, swaying to music—Quill's music.
Quill stepped up silently, grabbed a metal ornament, and smashed it down on the alien's head. He ripped the Walkman from his hands.
"Only I get to listen to this."
He struck again for good measure.
---
Back aboard the ship, Karl leaned casually against the wall, watching the arguments unfold. He wasn't worried.
Quill would make it.
Moments later, a streak of flame shot toward the ship from the distance.
Karl blinked.
The flight posture looked… oddly familiar. Very Iron Man-esque.
Quill boosted inside just as Rocket lifted off.
"What was so important?" Drax asked.
Quill handed him the Walkman.
"You are an idiot," Drax concluded flatly, examining the ancient device. He couldn't fathom risking death for something so obsolete.
---
The ship cut through open space.
Karl pressed against the viewport like an excited tourist, taking in the vastness of the cosmos. This was his first time truly witnessing the stars firsthand—not as distant specks, but as worlds.
It was overwhelming.
Rocket tinkered nonstop, assembling explosives by hand. A crate of weapons was already stacked near his station.
Drax and Gamora leaned apart from one another, tense but silent.
"I need the buyer's coordinates," Quill said to Gamora.
"We're already heading the right direction," she replied calmly, turning the Orb over in her hands.
"What do you think it is?" Quill asked, placing it on the table. "A weapon?"
"If it is," Drax said, lifting it, "I should use it against Ronan."
"Put it down!" Gamora snapped. "You'll kill us all."
Drax slammed it onto the table.
"You fear for yourself."
"Try me," Gamora shot back. "Let's see whose throat tears first."
"Enough!" Quill barked. "Nobody fights on my ship. Until we get paid, we're in this together."
"I care nothing for money," Drax said before moving to stand near Karl.
"Great," Rocket cut in. "More for the rest of us."
"I am Groot."
"Four shares," Rocket translated automatically.
Karl chuckled softly. Their bond was forming in the only way they knew how—through bickering.
Soon, they'd be facing Ronan head-on.
---
Back at the Kyln, Kree forces had seized control.
Ronan stood on an upper walkway, staring down at the gathered inmates.
A prisoner trembled beneath Nebula's blade.
"Please, I don't know where they went!"
"You expect me to believe that?" Nebula asked coldly.
She suddenly paused, glancing upward.
"Ronan. Nova reinforcements have arrived. A fleet."
Ronan nodded.
"Deploy all Necrocraft. Search every system. Find the Orb—no matter the cost."
His soldiers obeyed.
Gunfire erupted throughout the prison.
---
Meanwhile, on Xandar, Yondu stood inside the same shop where Quill had attempted his deal. The alien proprietor trembled before him.
"Tell me what the Orb is," Yondu said evenly. "And who's buying."
"I can't disclose high-level contract information," the shopkeeper stammered.
Yondu nodded once.
He gave a sharp whistle.
A sleek metal arrow shot from his belt and hovered at the shopkeeper's forehead.
"Last chance," Yondu said calmly.
---
After crossing multiple systems, witnessing the endless diversity of the cosmos, the group finally reached their destination.
A colossal severed head floated in space—so massive it rivaled a planet.
"What is that?" Drax asked.
"Legend says it's the head of a Celestial," Gamora explained. "Severed in ancient war. Now it's the largest lawless outpost in the galaxy."
She watched the massive skull with unreadable eyes.
"Inside, there is no order. Only criminals and black-market dealers."
Rocket piloted the ship through the Celestial's hollow eye socket.
Within the skull, a sprawling city had been constructed—massive structures, rail systems, factories belching smoke, and countless ships weaving between platforms.
Quill stared at small drones transporting containers of yellow liquid.
"What's that?"
"Spinal fluid," Gamora replied. "For centuries, an interstellar corporation has harvested organic matter from this head—spinal fluid, brain tissue, bone fragments. Extremely rare. Highly profitable."
"And illegal," Rocket muttered.
"Dangerous too," Gamora added. "Only outlaws take these jobs."
Karl gazed at the grotesque yet magnificent sight.
A dead god's skull.
Turned into a city.
The universe truly had no limits.
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