Chapter Summaries

Xia Yu and his companions subdued Ayesha and the Sovereign nobles, then forced the hall to stop resisting so they could leave safely. Ayesha refused to accompany them, insisting they must die on Sovereign.

• Natasha revealed herself to Ayesha and fired a warning shot, while Star-Lord worried about escaping and Rocket filmed the subdued nobles.
• Xia Yu pointed out that Rocket had stolen valuable titanium-steel batteries, prompting Star-Lord to accuse him of planning the theft.
• Xia Yu repeatedly activated the Life and Death Talismans to torment the Sovereign people until they stopped resisting and agreed to cooperate.
• Xia Yu threatened to take Ayesha with them to ensure his friends' safety, but Ayesha refused to let them leave Sovereign alive.

Xia Yu exposed his possession of the Reality Stone to intimidate Ayesha, but she refused to leave Sovereign with him. He took her hostage and escaped aboard the Milano, only for a Sovereign fleet to pursue them.

• Xia Yu revealed the Aether as the Reality Stone and claimed he also possessed two other Infinity Stones, shocking Ayesha, Gamora, and Nebula.
• Ayesha refused to accompany Xia Yu, so he ordered three Sovereign nobles to bring her down from her throne.
• The nobles subdued Ayesha and Xia Yu opened a portal into the Milano, where Ayesha was tied up beside Nebula.
• Xia Yu told Star-Lord he planned to release Ayesha once they reached safety, believing she would not trouble them afterward.
• A dense Sovereign fleet appeared behind the Milano and shook the ship with its attack.

Xia Yu and the Guardians escaped Sovereign’s attack, but a damaged Milano was forced through an asteroid field toward a wormhole guarded by a far larger fleet. The chapter ended as tens of thousands of energy blasts struck the ship, whose shield could last only seconds.

• Rocket pushed the Milano to maximum speed as a Sovereign fleet attacked, and Xia Yu helped Star-Lord into the gunner’s seat.
• The barrage breached the Milano’s rear hull, so Xia Yu used the Aether as a shield and activated the emergency energy hull on Gamora’s instructions.
• Star-Lord and Rocket destroyed the first squadron, but another Sovereign ship damaged the Milano’s right thruster and pursued them.
• Xia Yu held Rocket steady outside the ship while Rocket shot down their pursuer.
• Rocket and Star-Lord argued over piloting through an asteroid belt, and the Milano emerged at a wormhole surrounded by a much larger Sovereign fleet.
• The fleet fired tens of thousands of energy blasts at the Milano, whose shield could withstand the attack for only three seconds.

Xia Yu and the Guardians survived the Sovereign fleet’s attack and crash-landed on Boha Comet, where Ego revealed himself as Star-Lord’s father. Ayesha explained the Sovereign legend of the Celestials, leading Xia Yu to realize Ego was the awakened brain of the ancient evil Celestial whose skull became Knowhere.

• Ego’s white spaceship destroyed much of the Sovereign fleet, then vanished as the Milano crash-landed on Boha Comet and lost a wing.
• Rocket and Star-Lord argued over who had caused the rough landing, while Xia Yu tried to defuse the fight.
• Ego returned with Mantis and told Star-Lord that he was his father.
• Xia Yu confronted Ayesha about the Celestials and pressured her into explaining the Sovereign legend.
• Ayesha described an ancient war in which the Celestials sacrificed themselves to destroy a powerful traitor, whose skull became Knowhere.
• Xia Yu concluded that Ego was the traitor’s surviving brain, which had transformed into a planet.

Xia Yu joined Star-Lord on a trip to Ego’s planet while secretly preparing for Ego’s betrayal. Meanwhile, Yondu accepted the Sovereign’s bounty but set out to capture Star-Lord and his companions alive.

• Ayesha warned Xia Yu that Ego intended to use Peter Quill’s offspring to consume planets, and Xia Yu said he would kill Ego instead.
• Ego invited Xia Yu and Peter Quill’s group to visit his planet, and Xia Yu brought Ayesha along while leaving Rocket, Groot, and Nebula with the ship.
• Xia Yu gave Natasha the shrunken Xia Star for protection before the group boarded Ego’s ship.
• The Sovereign High Council hired Yondu to destroy Star-Lord and his companions, but Yondu ordered his crew to capture them alive.
• Yondu warned his dissatisfied men with the Yaka Arrow and set course for Berhert.

Xia Yu and the others visited Ego’s planet, where Ego recounted his origins and his relationship with Star-Lord’s mother. While keeping Ayesha close and planning how to expose Ego, Xia Yu prepared his backup plan on Earth.

• Ego led Xia Yu and the others through his palace and showed them scenes of his origins as a wandering brain that became a Celestial.
• Ego described meeting Star-Lord’s mother on Earth, while Drax’s questions about their relationship embarrassed Star-Lord and Gamora.
• Ayesha asked Xia Yu to release her shackles, and he freed her on the condition that she stay beside him.
• Xia Yu considered how to warn Star-Lord and Gamora about Ayesha and planned a way to deal with Ego.
• In a Missouri forest, a golden portal opened beside a strange blue-purple flower, revealing a conspicuously shiny bald head.

Xia Yu waited for Ego to unleash his full power so he could use a sedative to erase Ego’s consciousness and seize control of the planet, but Ego instead hypnotized Xia Yu and his companions before taking control of Star-Lord. When the seed on Earth suddenly vanished from Ego’s reach, Ego was left baffled, and the chapter ended without revealing what had happened to it.

• After Yondu and Rocket defeated the Ravager mutineers, Rocket contacted Xia Yu, who discussed a plan with them while waiting for Ego to act.
• Ego held a banquet, then sent Mantis to hypnotize Xia Yu, Natasha, and Ayesha for twenty-four hours.
• The next morning, Ego examined Star-Lord and synchronized his soul and body until Star-Lord obeyed him completely.
• Ego activated Star-Lord’s inherited power to make the seed devour Earth, then revealed that he had caused Star-Lord’s mother’s death by giving her a tumor.
• Star-Lord’s resistance surged at the revelation, and Ego increased his power to control him; suddenly, the connection to the seed on Earth vanished.

Star-Lord broke free of Ego’s control and learned that Ego had killed his mother, while Xia Yu arrived to stop Ego from using him as a power source. As Xia Yu drew Ego’s attacks away from the palace, Yondu and Rocket arrived and headed toward the fight.

• Star-Lord resisted Ego’s control and shot Ego’s human avatar after accusing him of killing his mother.
• Xia Yu arrived with Natasha and bound Ayesha, explaining that he had suspected Ego’s plan and had arranged for the seed on Earth to be dealt with.
• Ego attacked the group, and Xia Yu covered their escape while Natasha went to find Gamora and Drax.
• Xia Yu fought Ego’s endless tendrils and told Star-Lord to leave, but Star-Lord refused and kept attacking Ego.
• Yondu, Rocket, and Baby Groot arrived in an escape ship, and Rocket took Groot into one of the tunnels while Yondu went to find Peter.

Xia Yu kept Ego occupied while Star-Lord and the others withdrew, then revealed he had been hiding his true resilience and had led Rocket to Ego’s main body. The chapter ended with Xia Yu ordering Rocket to inject the sedative into Ego’s brain.

• Yondu, Nebula, Gamora, and Drax joined the fight, and Xia Yu urged them to get Star-Lord away from the battlefield.
• Xia Yu slapped Star-Lord and convinced him to leave with the others, while Yondu protected him.
• Natasha contacted Xia Yu from the ship, confirmed she was safe, and asked him to check whether Star-Lord’s group needed a pickup.
• Ego claimed he could sense Star-Lord and stop the others from escaping, but Xia Yu stood unharmed after Ego struck him with tentacles and psychic energy.
• Xia Yu revealed that Rocket had reached Ego’s main body and ordered him to inject the sedative.

Rocket injected anesthetic into Ego’s brain, allowing Xia Yu to begin taking control of the planet. As Yondu was impaled while saving Star-Lord, Ayesha secretly followed Xia Yu underground and watched his connection to the brain form.

• Rocket stabbed Ego’s brain with a syringe and injected the anesthetic, triggering the brain’s final violent struggle.
• Xia Yu entered the underground passage to take control of Ego’s brain as the planet’s systems and communications began to fail.
• Ayesha followed Xia Yu into the passage after he jumped down.
• Yondu pushed Star-Lord out of the way of a rising tentacle, which pierced Yondu and carried him skyward.
• Star-Lord searched for a ship so he could find Yondu and call him father.
• Xia Yu connected with Ego’s brain, while Ayesha watched nearby and smiled triumphantly.

Ayesha used the Sovereign possession talent to invade Xia Yu’s exposed consciousness, hoping to seize his body and power. A four-colored black hole destroyed her soul, while a soul resembling Xia Yu emerged and moved with his energy toward Ego’s true body, leaving Ego’s Planet shaken and still.

• Ayesha learned the possession talent by secretly studying it after overhearing the Sovereign elders, and discovered the extraordinary potential in Xia Yu’s genes.
• Seeing Xia Yu absorbed in taking in Ego’s energy, Ayesha broke free of her restraints and began the possession ritual.
• Ayesha’s golden soul entered Xia Yu’s consciousness and found a black hole surrounded by dark red, blue, orange, and purple light.
• The black hole pulled Ayesha in, and a purple beam shattered her soul into golden motes that it absorbed.
• A soul resembling Xia Yu emerged from the black hole, gathered the remaining fragments of Ayesha’s soul, and followed Xia Yu’s energy toward Ego’s true body.
• Ego’s Planet shook once and then fell still.

Xia Yu took control of Ego's planet and absorbed its energy while Star-Lord and the others waited in space. At Yondu's funeral, the Ravagers honored him, and Star-Lord discovered Yondu was alive.

• Xia Yu used Ayesha's remaining soul particles to enter Ego's core, seize control of the planet, and absorb Ego's energy.
• Under Xia Yu's control, the planet regained its vitality, its core tunnels began closing, and its communications returned.
• Star-Lord held a funeral for Yondu with a printed body, and the Ravagers arrived to honor Yondu with fireworks and their highest salute.
• Natasha led Star-Lord to a room where a recording of "Father and Son" was playing on an MP3 player.
• Yondu sat up in bandages and told Star-Lord that he was alive.

After nearly twenty days of waiting, Natasha and the others saw a pillar of light rise from Ego's Planet as Xia Yu emerged from seclusion. Though a cosmic power briefly made Xia Yu seem like an indifferent ancient god, he regained himself and reassured Natasha, leaving Star-Lord to ask how he would fare against Thanos.

• Yondu told Star-Lord he planned to settle down after learning of Xia Yu's plans, and the two shared a long, heartfelt conversation.
• Nebula left in her ship while she struggled to adjust to the sudden warmth between herself and Gamora.
• After nearly twenty days of watching Ego's Planet, Natasha and the others saw a brilliant pillar of light rise from it and heard Xia Yu invite them down.
• Xia Yu brought Yondu's ship to the planet, where the group found the landscape restored, and he opened his eyes with an overwhelming, godlike aura.
• Natasha rushed to Xia Yu when he regained his usual expression, and he explained that the aura came from a Cosmic Origin he had not fully digested.
• Xia Yu formed a simple house from the ground, explained that Ego was dead and he had used Ego's power to control the Infinity Stones, and Star-Lord asked how strong he was against Thanos.

Xia Yu took control of Ego's Planet and brought it through a portal toward Earth, while the Avengers faced growing pressure to share the city-sized skull in orbit. The planet began emerging beside the skull as Tony argued with government and scientific representatives at the United Nations.

• Xia Yu told Gamora he did not yet know how strong he was, but believed he could break through Thanos's defenses if they met again.
• Xia Yu brought Ayesha's body up from underground, and the others buried her after guessing she had died from an energy backlash.
• Xia Yu explained how he controlled Ego's Planet and opened an enormous portal that swallowed the entire planet.
• Governments and scientists pressured the Avengers to open the skull in Earth's orbit for study, while Tony refused and argued with their representatives in Vienna.
• A scientist challenged Tony by asking whether the Avengers could bring back an entire planet, then saw a blue portal open beside the skull as a red-and-blue planet began to emerge.

Xia Yu brought Ego's Planet to Earth and reshaped it into a floating continent that would become the Avengers' new base, AC City. As the world's people and leaders watched, the Avengers gathered on the continent while Xia Yu completed its transformation.

• Xia Yu announced telepathically that the planet was the Avengers' future base and a fortress against alien invasion, calming people around the world.
• The planet swallowed the Celestial Skull, then transformed into a flat continent as Xia Yu reshaped its land and features.
• Tony flew to the continent, and the Avengers Ship carried the other Avengers there.
• The Ancient One and Odin arrived through a golden portal, and Natasha greeted them.
• After several hours, Xia Yu completed the continent's transformation, and a glowing letter A appeared above it as the Avengers' new base, AC City.

Xia Yu’s beautiful AC City remained hidden behind its defenses until Spider-Man’s online videos revealed it to the world. With the public demanding access, the Avengers agreed to open part of the city for paid tourism and began planning a documentary, leaving AC City poised to welcome visitors.

• Xia Yu built AC City as a vast, fortified landmass with an Avengers base, residential areas, and a portal to Earth.
• Peter Parker posted videos of AC City’s wondrous scenery online using an alternate account, and the footage sparked worldwide interest.
• Public calls and crowds overwhelmed Stark’s companies and the Avengers hotline, prompting Pepper Potts to confront Tony and Xia Yu.
• Ant-Man proposed opening designated areas of AC City to visitors, and the Avengers agreed to the plan.
• Xia Yu had Peggy establish an Avengers company to organize paid tourism with Pepper Potts and outside firms, and the Avengers planned a documentary about AC City.

Tony and Xia Yu supported Peter Parker with money, tutoring work, and attention to his school life, while the Avengers learned about his crush on Liz Allan and his troubles with classmates. At school, Flash mocked Peter for claiming to intern at Stark Industries, then bragged that he had been drinking with Black Widow before an unexpected voice challenged him.

• Spider-Man auctioned AC City's first documentary and earned a five-percent commission from Xia Yu.
• Xia Yu paid Peter tutoring fees and recalled how the Avengers helped him, while Peggy listened to his stories about fighting crime.
• After the Avengers women discussed Peter's crush on Liz Allan and his bullying at school, Tony asked which high school Peter attended.
• Peter refused to attend the academic decathlon in Washington because he claimed Stark Industries needed him, and Flash mocked him.
• Flash claimed he had been drinking with Black Widow the previous night, and a blue light appeared as a voice asked how Natasha had not mentioned it.

Tony Stark and Xia Yu visited Peter Parker at school, defended him from Flash, and offered to host the school dance at the Avengers' base. They left Peter newly admired by his classmates, unaware that Vulture would learn his secret identity sooner because of the attention.

• Xia Yu challenged Flash's claim about drinking with Natasha, and Tony revealed Peter was a Stark Industries intern and threatened Flash with his Armor.
• Peter stopped Tony from firing at Flash, who ran away crying, and Tony said Flash had probably wet his pants.
• Tony offered to host the school dance at the Avengers' base, and Xia Yu promised free food and drinks, exciting the students.
• Tony teased Peter about being mocked at school and not confessing to his crush, while Xia Yu praised his modesty and advised him not to tolerate Flash's bullying.
• Tony invited Peter to the base for a meal and asked him to bring Aunt May, while Vulture's appearance meant Peter's increased fame would help reveal his identity.

Adrian, secretly the Vulture, worried that Spider-Man was closing in on his weapons operation and learned that his daughter Liz’s school party would be held at the Avengers’ base through Peter Parker. Meanwhile, Peter returned home in his Spider-Man armor and Ned caught him, forcing Peter to deny his identity.

• Adrian reflected on how Spider-Man had disrupted his men’s weapons deliveries and left a Chitauri power-cell fragment behind.
• Liz told Adrian that her party had been moved to the Avengers’ base because Peter Parker had connections there through his internship at Stark Industries.
• Adrian recognized Peter’s name and realized his daughter’s classmate was linked to the Avengers.
• Peter returned from patrolling Queens and found Ned waiting in his bedroom.
• Ned saw Peter retract his Spider-Man helmet and accused him of being Spider-Man, while Peter denied it.

Peter used a fragment of alien material to track the arms dealers, then followed their signal to Maryland. He decided to travel to Washington for the Academic Decathlon and pursue the dealers, where he was poised to meet a teenage superhero from Tennessee.

• Ned peppered Peter with questions in the school laboratory, distracting him as he examined the glowing alien material.
• Peter spotted the arms dealers arriving at the laboratory, hid from them, and secretly planted a tracker on one of them.
• Peter used a holographic map to follow the tracker with Ned and saw that it had stopped in Maryland, near Washington.
• Peter decided to go to Washington for the Academic Decathlon while pursuing the arms dealers.
• The chapter revealed that Peter would meet a teenage genius from Tennessee who also had a secret superhero identity.