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Xandar[2014]
–Jack Sullivan–
As he rocketed through space, heading straight to the big black spot in Xandar’s atmosphere, his thoughts wandered to the Infinity Stones.
Sure, one was within reach but he was not so foolish as to invite every single Tom, Dick, and Harry who would want a taste of literal Infinite Power, hounding him every step of the way. Keeping it in the hands of the Nova Prime would be for the best anyway, especially since he did not want to gain their enmity.
Sure, the Nova Force might seem weak from the movies but put together, they could create a real impact in a space fight, especially since they would have all the experience in that regard.
He had some theories as to how to strengthen the Nova Force but it would involve further testing and seeing their reaction and readiness of Nova Prime when it came to unsanctioned testing.
His thoughts continued to flow as he performed re entry into Xandar’s atmosphere, his barriers burning up in the process, but not so much that he could not see what was happening in front of him, his barriers absorbing some of that energy.
Instead of slowing down due to the pressure, he instead doubled down on his speed as he reoriented himself in the direction of the Dark Aster.
His eyes narrowed as he saw multiple pods popping out of the Dark Aster, heading in his direction, along with multiple cannons opening up right above the engine bays, lighting up with red lights.
He grinned as he let the green shimmer over his body as he crashed through all the pods that the ship had sent for him, his barriers easily tanking all the attacks that the ship was throwing his way.
With the corner of his eye, he could see multiple, probably hundreds, of identically yellow coloured Nova Force ships zipping about, trying to destroy all the pods that Ronan had deployed for the defending forces.
He had to hurry, before the Nova Force decided to create a curtain to try and curtail the movement of the Dark Aster, inevitably falling victim to Ronan, now armed with the Power Stone.
He let his power flow free, as his barriers now gained a slight blue sheen. His shape changed as pointed barriers manifested in front of him. He could see multiple, hundreds of weapons open firing on him and yet, none managed to pierce his barriers.
He smiled slightly as he watched hundreds of those pods coming over the Dark Aster, their original mission of wreaking havoc on Xandar forgotten as they focused on the much more immediate threat.
His vision turned black as he felt his barriers breach through the Dark Aster, going through many walls and floors before coming out the other side, his form blazing green.
After breaching through the ship, he didn’t stop as he located most of the pods that were on this side and zig zagged through all of them like a crude rendition of what the Centaurian known as Yondu Udonta would do to the very same pods, in the movies.’
He floated above the assembled forces and surveyed the state of the planet.
It was horrible. Buildings had collapsed, roads and cars were on fire. At Least no dead bodies in sight, that was always a good sign.
He could see multiple shiny yellow ships heading his way.
They were probably someone higher up approaching him on the behalf of Nova Prime. He wondered why she hadn’t donned her old suit and showed up yet.
Surely, what remaining lifespan she had with her was not worth the risk of actually letting Xandar be destroyed. She must know the risk of letting the Power Stone touch ground as Ronan would then be able to let the Power Stone’s energy berserk through the planet, destroying it from within.
Sure, Ronan himself would be toast, charred inedible toast, in fact, but that doesn't change the fact that Nova Prime should be out here, fighting with the rest of the Nova Prime.
Historically, the Nova Prime holds the highest concentration of the Nova Force, as well as the capacity to distribute said force to individuals while bearing the weight of doing so on their own bodies.
According to what little he could read on the way here, Irani Rael was the latest in a long line of Nova Primes. She was reported to be the strongest one in recent memory but that turned out to be her downfall as she overused her lifespan, handling all the burden of the Nova Force while performing field duty during the end points of the Kree Skrull war where the Kree decided that they were just going to torch any planet that held even rumours of Skrull settlements, consequences be damned.
Irani Rael personally killed two high ranked Accusers whilst also destroying all of their elite warships, making sure that the Supreme INtelligence understood that further conflict with the budding Xandar Empire just for small remnants of their enemy was unwise.
Doing so came at a cost though. He could no longer freely use the Nova Prime to perform extraordinary feats of strength. At her prime, he would put her just below Mar-Vell in terms of the utility of strength.
He saw the approaching ships showing the middle aged dude from the movies when he heard a short whistling sound behind him. He looked up to see a huge volley of what seemed like missiles converging on him.
The purple glint at the top of Dark Aster meant that Ronan’s attention was now firmly on him.
Good, that’s what he wanted as well.
He looked back to the arrayed forces in front of him as they panicked, some of them breaking rank and trying to flee from the volley of wholesale death, courtesy of Ronan, that was about to head their way.
He looked to the middle aged due and just raised his index finger in the universal symbol that indicated for someone to just wait a minute. He then turned mid air, looking at the hundreds, possibly thousands of bright lights that filled his vision and spread his arms wide apart.
The scene from when he tried to stop the Helicarrier and only succeeded in slowing its descent flashed through his mind as a miles long barrier sprang forth with him at the centre, completely blocking the Dark Aster from the mainland.
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He then turned around very nonchalantly, looking at the lead yellow star ship whose cockpit was now open, revealing the middle aged man looking behind him with his mouth open.
He enjoyed looking around at most of the forces in front of him with the occasional flash from the missiles exploding behind him.
Ah, he missed this. The look on people’s faces as he flabbergasted them with contemptuous ease.
“So, you wanted to talk with me? I assume Nova Prime has something for me?” He said in a calm and measured tone, eventually having to prod the man in the lead when his gaze didn’t shift from the expensive fireworks going off behind him, only a couple dozen feet away from him.
He might have looked ahead but he was keeping a close eye behind him using his barriers. Yes, they were literally his eyes on the back.
He could see that his impromptu and uninvited trip through the Dark Aster had left it severely damaged, leaving it floating precariously. He could also see Ronan standing on top of the Dark Aster with his hammer adorned with an Infinity Stone.
It occurred to him that Ronan was one of the rare few Kree who must have handled an Infinity Stone without dying, owing to his abnormal strength even within the Kree.
His post as the Supreme Accuser was not one borne out of nepotism then. Well, if a super AI could not weed out corruption and nepotism out of its systems, then it would be just a big failure now, wouldn’t it?
Now that didn’t remove xenophobia and racism from the Kree empire though.
“Uh, yeah, the Nova Prime would like to enlist your help in defeating or repelling the Rogue Accuser. We are willing to offer a grand total of 1 billion units in return,”
He could almost feel the salivating pirates gathered in front of him, particularly from the Ravagers' faction.
“Well, I was wondering how to open a bank account and here you are, graciously offering my first deposit. Anyhow, let’s get back to that later on when I don’t have a Ronan sized hole in my barrier,” He said as he pointed his hand above him.
“Huh?” Once again, all of the assorted people were flabbergasted as, with a shattering sound, Ronan smashed his Infinity Stone powered hammer straight through his barrier, aiming right at his head.
Most of them barely had the time to react or retreat as Ronan reached him.
Well, since he was in the mood for theatrics this time, he let Ronan come really close before a barrier sprung forth right beneath Ronan’s stomach, it shattering almost immediately, drawing a frown from him.
Although the barrier did get shattered almost instantly, it did its job and threw Ronan off his tracks, making him crash into the ground.
He grinned as, with a thought, dozens of barriers came alive in front of Ronan, constantly peppering him with immense force, leaving him overwhelmed by the onslaught.
At Least until, with a roar, he swiped the hammer in front of him horizontally the POwer Stone emitting a wave of pure power, dispelling all his barriers in one go.
The gesture left Ronan panting as he slammed his hammer on the ground, thankfully not using it to kickstart the chain reaction that would destroy Xandar.
“Ah, I assume you are the one who wants war, then? Terrible thing, war is. I personally wouldn't wish it on anyone. Tell me, did Irani Rael kill your father or something?” He rambled on as he slowly landed right in front of Ronan.
Ironically, a circle was right beneath them and they were standing on two end points of the circle.
Poetic. Almost.
“Shut up, Midgardian. Each and every one of your kind is infuriating beyond belief. First Vers and now you. Once I am done with your cooling corpse, I will go and put an end to your infuriating species, once and for all,”
He quirked his eyebrow in amusement as this idiot just declared his intent to go armed, with an Infinity Stone of all things, into Odin’s territory, not for something benign, but to try and destroy one of the Nine Realms.
Damn, Power really does go to one’s head when one gets Power beyond what they were made for.
He sighed as an identical hammer formed in front of him. He took hold of the hammer and beckoned Ronan to come at him.
Ronan growled, his face quirking into an ugly grimace as he charged at him.
The first seven barriers shattered upon impact as the ground under them was cratered because of the clash between both the hammers. He could see his barriers buckling because of the thin layer of energy that coated the hammer, courtesy of the Power Stone embedded in a crevice of the hammer.
He could do it. The barriers might be getting destroyed before another batch took its place before he was not the same as before. Where before doing so might have taken a noticeable toll on him, now it was the same as keeping his barriers sustained at all times.
Barely worth noticing at all.
He grinned as he looked at the almost feral look in Ronan’s eyes before pushing him back, Ronan’s feet leaving grooves in the circle as he tried to bleed off the force.
____xxxx____
“Hey Quill, can you do that as well?”
“Of Course not!”
“What? I thought you were both humans. Still, I never expected your species to have someone like that. Man, look at them go,”
Peter Quill fumed internally as Rocket praised this unknown man to the heavens, especially in front of Gamora. His jealousy peaked as she looked at the fight going on below them with sharp interest.
Hmph.
“He is no human. I haven’t been to Earth in a long time but I know that humans cannot do that,” He pointed at the area which was increasingly starting to look like a ruin because of the number of craters, holes, and otherwise destruction that was occurring as a result of the fight between Ronan and this Jack person.
What kind of stupid name was Jack anyway?
“Oh, please. I just scanned his face and apparently, he was the one who repelled the Chitauri Invasion of Earth. Man, they think he is dead. Hey, Quill? How many credits will we get if we gift wrap and give him to Earth?” Rocket’s statement created so many questions in his mind.
The first and foremost of which was, that Earth was invaded by Aliens?
“I am GROOT..”
“Yeah yeah, I know we can’t hope of taking him on, even with the Anulax batteries I swiped earlier.
Man, look at him go. Ronan is losing even with an Infinity Stone on his side. Weren’t those things supposed to make one unstoppable or something?”
Rocket rambled off to the side, transfixed as he watched the fight in front of him, the Invading force all but forgotten.
Most of their forces had been destroyed by this Jack fellow as he came barreling down straight from the skies like a comet. The rest were easily taken care of by the Nova Force and the Ravagers forces.
Those were not the main invading forces.
“There we go…” Gamora muttered as she watched the fight with increasing interest.
He fumed once again internally but his attention was brought to the devastating blow that this stupid jack gave to Ronan, making him float in the air for a bit before he landed on the ground.
Peter Quill could hear the cheers in the background but…
“No, it’s not over yet,” He muttered as he rushed back to Milano's cockpit.
“Hey, Quill, you’re missing the best part. He is about to kill Ronan,”
“...I wish I could be half as manly as that human right there…” Draz muttered to himself as he watched someone else complete his revenge for him.
“No no no. This is my time to….shine,” He said as he took control of the Milano’s weapons systems as all of them charged up with an ominous whirl, including the experimental moon breaker that Rocket had installed in his ship, to be used as a last resort.
“Uh, Quill? ….What are you doing?”
“Well, let’s see who is cooler now,”
He grinned as the screen showed the weapon charged at 100% before he slammed down on the red button, the entire ship jerking back from the blow as all the weapons in the Milano were unloaded onto Ronan.
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Word Count - 2534
If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .
I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.
A/N - I just got my new Keyboard. My old one died last week and I had to do everything on my crappy laptop keyboard. Can you even imagine my agony as I had to deal with so many double presses?
*Cries in First world problem*