Sudden Outburst

Star-Lord lay sprawled on the ground. When he opened his eyes, he stared around in bewilderment.

He remembered being hit in the chest and dying.

So how was he alive again?

He climbed to his feet and immediately felt his chest. Sure enough, there was a large hole in his Ravagers uniform.

So it hadn't been an illusion.

But what had happened?

He couldn't remember anything after that, leaving him utterly confused.

Before he could collect himself, something whistled through the air above him.

Whoosh... Boom!

A dark figure slammed into the ground ten meters in front of him.

The shockwave and tremor sent him stumbling backward.

When he regained his footing and the dust cleared, he saw a huge crater. In its center stood a wary Kree holding a hammer.

Wait... had he just fallen from the sky?

My God. That didn't kill him? Just how strong was he?

Star-Lord quickly backed away, trying to put distance between himself and the dangerous-looking Kree.

Then he heard movement behind him.

Nebula emerged from the cave with a group of subordinates, her expression grim.

"Damn it. Why was there nothing inside?"

When she spotted Star-Lord, she wondered why there was a hole in his uniform. Still, she approached with her machine gun raised and demanded, "Hey, kid. Did you take the Power Stone?"

She began charging the weapon.

Compared with her kindhearted sister, Nebula was colder by nature.

Death didn't trouble her much, and killing innocent people weighed nothing on her conscience.

Star-Lord felt like crying.

Damn it all. Why had I taken this job?

If I'd known it was this dangerous, I wouldn't have come no matter how much the client offered.

And Barit was dead because of it.

At the thought of his companion's death, anger and hatred surged through him. His usual clowning vanished.

Star-Lord usually acted carefree, forever showing off and getting carried away.

But he cared deeply about his companions. Loyalty meant everything to him.

And Barit's death had struck the one nerve he couldn't bear anyone to touch.

Nebula grew impatient when he failed to answer and pulled the trigger.

Whoosh!

But she missed.

It wasn't because she'd suddenly taken pity on him. Star-Lord shifted right as though he'd sensed the shot coming and dodged it.

Her eyes widened.

"How is that possible?"

The rounds from her electromagnetic gun traveled at five thousand meters per second.

Even she couldn't dodge them. How had this weak-looking man done it?

Ronan had been about to act, but when he saw Nebula attack, he paused to watch.

He couldn't gauge Star-Lord's strength, so he let Nebula test him first.

Nebula fired several more shots. Star-Lord dodged each one with strange footwork and closed in on her.

It looked as though he meant to take her hostage.

Nebula tossed aside her machine gun and drew a dagger, ready to fight him up close.

But Star-Lord moved as if he'd awakened a Superpower. He evaded her attack, grabbed her arm, then drew his pistol and pressed it to her temple.

The surrounding Black Order soldiers immediately raised their machine guns and aimed at him.

But Nebula was in the line of fire, and no one dared shoot first.

"Drop your weapons if you don't want her to die!"

Aboard Sanctuary II, Thanos watched the scene with a faint smile. "Put down your weapons."

He didn't care much about Nebula's life, but there was no need to let her die for nothing.

At Thanos's order, the Black Order soldiers lowered their weapons.

Nebula's face twisted as she shouted, "You coward! Let me go and fight me fair and square!"

She had never imagined she'd be taken hostage.

She felt she'd disgraced her father. For a moment, she even wanted to kill herself.

Star-Lord ignored her and kept a wary eye on Ronan.

He didn't know how he'd suddenly become so strong, but he felt that everyone else there combined posed less of a threat than Ronan.

Ronan could no longer stand by.

He'd wanted Nebula to test Star-Lord's strength, only for her to hand him a hostage.

Then again, Nebula was only at Superhuman Level, nowhere near Planetary Level. How could she have learned anything?

Annoyed with himself, he stepped forward.

He didn't care much about Nebula herself, but her father was watching from above.

If he let Nebula die, who knew what Thanos would do to him?

That was a risk he didn't dare take.

"Release her, and I'll give you a fair fight."

Star-Lord had Nebula by the neck now. He shook his head at Ronan. "You have one minute to bring me whoever destroyed my spaceship. Otherwise, I'll kill her!"

All he wanted was revenge for Barit. His own safety hadn't crossed his mind.

Ronan looked up, troubled.

His troops were all in the sky, while everyone on the ground belonged to Thanos. Ronan had no authority to command them.

Soon, though, a spaceship stopped overhead, and five humanoid Black Order soldiers jumped down.

Clearly, Thanos had granted Star-Lord's demand.

Star-Lord understood then just how valuable his hostage was.

He raised his pistol and fired at the five soldiers.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... All five fell at once.

Their helmets and masks hid their expressions, but none of them had moved even in the face of death. Star-Lord immediately realized they weren't normal people.

Nebula seized the moment while Star-Lord was firing and drove her elbow backward.

Star-Lord brought both hands up to shield his face and blocked the blow.

Nebula used the opening to sprint away, putting distance between them.

Star-Lord raised his pistol to fire, but Ronan rushed forward and stepped between them.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Every shot struck Ronan, leaving nothing but a few holes in his clothes.

Star-Lord's pupils contracted.

Even the latest Ravagers pistol couldn't kill him. Star-Lord had never faced such a terrifying enemy.