Chapter 338: The Collector

16th May 2013, Knowhere

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

I shrugged, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for."

"Please, we both know that your adventure story was crap. Are you after the orb?"

I snorted, "Not especially. While I do know what it is and the damage it could bring, I am after something far more valuable."

"And what is that?"

"Why, Peter Quill, of course!"

Rocket gave me an incredulous look, "Seriously? That guy is worth more than four billion units?"

I shrugged, "Value is in the eyes of the beholder. But even then, Quill is his father's heir, and I am here to decide if he is worthy enough to inherit his position."

"Wait a minute, is Quill's father a king, or something?"

"It doesn't matter really, he's dead, after all."

The raccoon's eyes widened, "I'm sorry for your loss..."

I snorted, "Don't be. He was a monster, and I was the one who killed him."

Before he could comment on my statement, Gamora entered the room, "The meeting is arranged. The buyer is waiting for us…"

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(Peter Quill POV)

Peter Quill – preferably known as Star Lord – was weirded out by the two mystery women that escaped with them from Klyn. He didn't trust them, not one bit. Well, he didn't really trust any of his companions, three of them had already tried to kill him, and the fourth was an unhinged idiot that hungers for vengeance.

However, the two women just rubbed him the wrong way. Oh, sure they were from Terra and had saved his mother's Walkman from that asshole guard, but they were too comfortable during the escape, they were too confident that they would be fine. That kind of arrogance got you killed, Yondu had drilled that into him when he was a child.

These two women were either very powerful, or extremely arrogant and honestly, Peter didn't know which it was. He didn't even know which one he would like them to be.

And no, he wasn't grumpy because Gamora had almost stabbed him when he put the moves on her, and then they were interrupted by the message from her buyer to meet with him before he could explain himself.

Drax for some reason started wallowing about Ronan and just left. That guy was an idiot. There was no other way to put it. Oh, he was a great fighter, there's no doubt about it, but the dude took jokes too seriously, and was obsessed with killing Ronan to the point of madness.

Nevertheless, he had grouped up with Rocket, Groot, and the two women to go to their destination. Gamora took them to a very shady place, even for Knowhere, and they ended up in front of some weird building that was surrounded by security guards.

A red skinned woman greeted them, "Milady Gamora, I am here to fetch you for my master."

Peter would have felt outraged for the woman if he was younger. Alas, the self-proclaimed Star Lord had learnt that slavery was fairly common across the galaxy, especially on planets that are not under the authority of any massive empire.

Sure, the woman was a slave, but she looked like she was treated better than most other servants. Peter had seen some fucked up stuff in his time as a Ravager, and that was one of the main reasons he wanted to leave Yondu in the first place, even if he begrudgingly loved the man.

The escaped convicts followed the servant to her master, and Peter wouldn't admit that he was weirded out by the creepiest collection of living beings he had ever seen. It looked like a mixture of a zoo and a prison. This was beyond weird, and Rocket seemed to share his opinion by mumbling, "Okay, this isn't creepy at all."

The servant though seemed oddly proud of it, "We house the galaxy's largest collection of fauna, relics, and species of all manners."

Finally, to the man's relief, they arrived at the end of the corridor in silence, "I present to you, Taneleer Tivan, the Collector."

The man in question looked like a weird goth kid with spikey white hair and wearing expensive furs. The man was sitting on what appeared to be a throne and was examining what looked like a precious stone. The Collector looked up and brightened, "Oh, my dear Gamora. How wonderful to meet you in the flesh."

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As usual the assassin was all business, "Let's bypass the formalities, Tivan. We have what we discussed."

The man though, seemed to be staring at Groot, "What is that there?"

The walking tree responded with the only three words he could speak, "I am Groot."

And, so began the Collector's offers to buy Groot from Rocket, and even to buy his body after his death. This was one of the oddest conversations Peter had ever witnessed, and the talking raccoon looked like he wanted to shoot the Collector.

In the end, Gamora interrupted them, "Tivan, we have been halfway around the galaxy, retrieving this Orb."

"Very well, then. Let us see what you brought."

Peter handed him the orb – which did not slip through his fingers – and gave it to the Collector. He wanted to get rid of the damn thing as quickly as possible, but he was a bit curious as to what the damn thing even was. He had been arrested, almost killed a dozen times for that artifact, and he still had no idea what the hell could cause this much strife.

The Collector placed the orb between two machines that kept turning it, like a puzzle, and started monologuing, "Oh, my new friends. Before creation itself, there were six singularities. Then the universe exploded into existence, and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots. Infinity Stones. These stones, it seems, can only be brandished by beings of extraordinary strength. Observe."

He then showed a scene of a giant being as tall as a mountain, with six eyes, destroying a planet with a tap of his staff, something that made Peter slightly piss himself. The Collector though didn't seem to notice their horror, and continued, "These carriers can use the stones to mow down entire civilizations like wheat on a field. Once, for a moment, a group was able to share the energy amongst themselves, but even they were quickly destroyed by it. Very few in the galaxy have the power, constitution, and will, to wield an infinity stone without being destroyed by it in seconds. Behold."

The orb had finished opening and a purple glowing stone that seemed to pulse in power. "Beautiful, beyond compare…" the Collector murmured.

Their thoughts were interrupted by a snort from one of the unnamed women. The Collector looked at her with confusion, "What is it, my dear?"

"Oh, well, you weren't exactly wrong, but you're missing a lot of context about what the stones truly are," she responded with a haughty tone.

"And who might you be, my dear?"

"My name is Hela Odinsdottir, Collector," she replied.

The man seemed to pale in fear, "the daughter of Odin, the Goddess of Death…"

"Oh, you know of me? My father had made a very conscious effort to get people to forget about me..."

"And yet blood never forgets, Odinsdottir."

The woman – now named Hela – nodded, "That is true. But the stones, while powerful, are not just remnants of the singularities that preluded the universe, they are the crystallization of the foundations of the universe, the pillars in which the chaos stabilized, and the big bang began. Time, Space, Soul, Mind, Reality, and Power, which you happen to possess."

"That's not mentioning that the Celestial in this photo, Eson the Searcher, I believe, could destroy a plane easily without a stone. I do not know why he used it, but Celestials are far more powerful than they appear," the still unnamed woman continued.

The Collector though seemed to delight at the information, "Very little is known of the Celestials. Might I know your name, my dear?"

"I have many names, my dear Collector. But my true one is Morrigan. My name is Morrigan."

The room shuddered at the name and Peter felt cold at the name. Gamora though, paled in fear, "You're…"

The woman nodded, "I am, young Gamora. Do not worry, you are safe. I do not hold your father's crimes as yours. Truthfully, I wouldn't have really interfered with his schemes if it wasn't for his new ally."

"Then why were you in prison?" the green skinned woman exclaimed.

Her tone was almost amused, "I went in there because I wanted to be there. I had someone I needed to meet. But you, Collector, have done a foolish thing in opening the orb. The stones release a very distinct energy that can be detected by those who are looking for them. The orb had done a very good job at concealing its energy. You have invited every little power-hungry man or woman with knowledge of the stones to your abode. I would recommend running away as quickly as possible for this."

Before she could say anything else, the servant girl leapt at the infinity sone, "I will no longer be your slave!"

The Collector tried to stop her by yelling out, "Carina! No!"

Alas Carina did not listen to him. As soon as the woman had touched the stone, Peter knew that something bad was going to happen. The woman's skin started to burst with power and flake away. The poor slave screamed and disappeared in an explosion. Peter and the rest of the crew were able to escape with their lives as Tivan's place exploded.

The six of them limped away from the lair, well, four of them did, the two mystery women were walking unconcernedly, and they even grabbed the orb, locked the stone once more, and gave it back to Quill.

When they collected themselves, Peter mumbled, "What the fuck was that?"

Gamora wasn't listening to him, "How could I think that Tivan could contain whatever was within the Orb? "

Rocket though, stared at the orb in Quill's hand, "Why the hell do you still have it?"

Quill shrugged, "They gave it to me…"

He pointed at Hela and Morrigan who simply shrugged, "I am not leaving an infinity stone unattended. I am not a thief who would steal the stone. I am not willing to take the stone to Terra, since there is already a stone there, and we don't need to be made even more of a target. Asgard is messed up because of the war so they can't take care of one properly. You will need to deal with the stone by yourselves."

Gamora seemed to nod in agreement, "Yes, having two stones in the same star system, let alone the same planet, would be foolish. And Terra is quite primitive compared to the rest of the galaxy. It would not hold up against a proper outside invasion. We need to get the stone to the Nova Corps; they could protect it from Ronan and my father."

"Are you insane? We just escaped from a prison of theirs. We would be arrested in seconds. We could just leave it to Ronan."

"Unacceptable, Ronan would destroy planet after planet to satisfy his bloodlust. Billions would die because of that decision." Gamora interjected.

Unfortunately, alarms started to blaze, and an explosion occurred. Peter looked up and felt dread at the sight of the giant warship flying in the sky, "We're dead. Ronan is here."

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