Chapter Summaries

Danger Bird asked Alex to go to Xandar and persuade the Nova Empire to join efforts to prevent the Kree-Skrull war by becoming the leader of the Nova Corps. Alex resisted when he learned the war might be more than ten years away, but agreed after Danger Bird threatened to keep him from returning to Earth.

• Danger Bird explained that the Nova Empire had withdrawn from the conflict and asked Alex to persuade it to intervene.
• Alex realized that the Nova Empire's location left it especially vulnerable to the spreading war between the Kree and the Skrull.
• Danger Bird said Alex would have to earn the Worldmind's approval to lead the Nova Corps after she sent him to Xandar.
• Alex refused when he learned the war might be several years or more than ten years away.
• Danger Bird threatened to strand Alex in Shi'ar space, so Alex agreed to go.

Alex spent six years on Planet Feather learning alien knowledge and Shi'ar technology while training with Warlord, then prepared to leave for the Nova Empire. His Teleportation advanced to inter-star travel, but his final spar with Warlord ended with Alex being repeatedly thrown to the ground.

• Danger Bird told Alex that the Kree and Skrull had sealed off the galaxy and that he had to prevent their war to return to Earth.
• Alex studied Cosmic Knowledge and alien languages with Lilandra for nearly a year, then spent five more years learning Shi'ar technology.
• Alex and Warlord fought regularly on a lifeless Death Star, and Alex more than doubled his combat power.
• As Alex prepared to leave for the Nova Empire, Warlord challenged him to one more fight, and Alex used his improved Teleportation to reach the Death Star first.
• Warlord seized Alex's wrist and repeatedly threw him to the ground, prompting Alex to accuse him of cheating.

Alex and Warlord traded playful humiliations before talking about the looming war between the Kree and Skrull Empires and the Shi'ar Empire’s plan to benefit from it. An Imperial Guard member arrived with orders for both of them to go to the Imperial Capital.

• Alex let Warlord toss him around, then retaliated by throwing Warlord ten times before they agreed to stop.
• Alex and Warlord drank wine together, and Alex worried about the people he had left behind six years earlier.
• Warlord told Alex that the Shi'ar Empire was waiting for the Kree and Skrull Empires to weaken each other in war so it could rise.
• An Imperial Guard member arrived and ordered Warlord and Alex to proceed to the Imperial Capital immediately.

Danger Bird recruited Alex to impersonate a Nova Empire leader and win the Spartak Empire’s trust, helping arrange an alliance against the Kree-Skrull war. Alex was ordered to leave for Xandar at dawn with Warlord and spend six months building a convincing reputation.

• Alex and Warlord traveled from Planet Feather to the Shi'ar Imperial Capital and met Danger Bird and Lilandra at the palace.
• Danger Bird told them that the Spartak Empire had sought an alliance, but she had refused its envoys.
• Danger Bird asked Alex to pose as a Nova Empire figure and secretly persuade the Spartak Empire to form an alliance with the Shi'ar Empire.
• Danger Bird planned to send Alex to Xandar for six months to build prestige, while the Spartak envoys remained stranded in the Shi'ar Empire because the Milky Way was sealed off.
• Danger Bird ordered Alex to depart for Xandar at dawn and told Warlord to accompany him.

Alex learned that Danger Bird’s plan involved sending him to Kree Star Prison to gather information and earn merits by provoking one of a powerful figure’s underlings. After learning the figure had become active again and could threaten the universe, Alex reluctantly agreed, but warned Warlord to help if the figure came after him.

• Warlord’s guards tied Alex up as he left the Imperial Capital, and Warlord told him he was being sent to Kree Star Prison.
• Warlord explained that Alex would earn Nova Corps merits by provoking one of a dangerous figure’s underlings.
• Alex refused the plan until Lilandra and Warlord told him the figure’s recent movements might be connected to preventing the Kree-Skrull War.
• Alex reluctantly accepted the mission and made Warlord promise to help if the figure came after him.

Alex was sent to Kree Star Prison to find Nebula, where the prison suppressed his powers but left his physical strength intact. After arriving and surveying the inmates, he spotted the blue-skinned woman he believed was his target.

• Alex said goodbye to Lilandra and was kicked through the stargate by Warlord.
• Warlord brought Alex to Nova Corps headquarters, where Alex was detained until a ship to Kree Star Prison arrived.
• Alex boarded the prison-bound ship in an iron box, but his powerful telepathy overcame its ability-suppressing barrier.
• Alex arrived at Kree Star Prison and discovered that the prison suppressed his powers within five meters while leaving his physical body unaffected.
• A towering inmate stepped forward to confront the newcomers, and Alex recognized the blue-skinned woman behind him as Nebula.

Alex established himself as a force in Kyln Prison by knocking out a brute and defeating the Eight Vajras, hoping to impress Nebula. Unable to read Nebula’s memories, he searched the Eight Vajras instead and uncovered a secret that left him wary of her.

• Alex knocked out a burly prisoner who tried to grab him, then entered his private cell while watching Nebula’s reaction.
• Nebula warned Alex that he was in big trouble, then left before explaining what she meant.
• The Eight Vajras surrounded Alex during his prison meal, but he defeated all eight in a few moves.
• Alex tried to read Nebula’s memories with his Psionic Power, but an invisible barrier blocked him.
• Alex searched the memories of all Eight Vajras and confirmed a secret, then glanced at Nebula with confusion and wariness.

Alex gathered prison-break ideas from director Krakowski, then began an escape plan of his own at Kyln Prison. After bypassing the prison’s five-hundred-times gravity, he removed a surveillance camera and realized the guards might not have noticed.

• Alex met Krakowski, a monkey-like director, who explained why the movie Prison Break was terrible and suggested prison-break plans.
• Alex guided Krakowski’s ideas toward escapes and collected nine plans before returning to his cell to prepare.
• After half a month, Alex began his own plan, using his magnetic-field ability to resist Kyln Prison’s five-hundred-times gravity.
• Alex used an energy double in his cell while his disguised real body moved through the prison.
• Alex removed a camera beside the main gate but heard no alarm, and wondered whether the guards had noticed.

Alex tried to escape Kyln Prison by provoking its guards, but their incompetence forced him to break through the prison and steal a spacecraft. He left the landing pad without pursuit, only to discover a woman aboard and wonder how badly the escape had gone wrong.

• Alex disabled a surveillance camera and attacked a patrol robot to trigger the prison alarm.
• Nova Corps officers entered the cell block, and Alex slipped beneath the closing gate after isolating his implanted chip.
• Alex ran through Kyln Prison, fought off officers and robots, and reached the spacecraft landing pad.
• Alex stole a spacecraft and flew away while the Nova Corps officers watched without pursuing him.
• A woman spoke from behind Alex, and he turned to find her aboard the spacecraft.

Alex let Sawa capture him so he could be sent to Kyln Prison’s central detention sector, but the Nova Corps instead sent him to the core detention sector. He woke on an isolated desert planet inside a sealed world and realized he might be trapped.

• Alex recognized Sawa as the Nova Empire’s princess, let her shoot him, and pretended to pass out as she tied him up.
• Sawa returned Alex to Kyln Prison and boasted to the Novas that she had defeated him after a long fight.
• A Three-Star Centurion rejected Sawa’s suggestion to spare Alex and ordered him sent to the core detention sector instead of the central detention sector.
• The Novas knocked Alex unconscious during transport, and he woke on a barren desert planet beneath a starless sky.
• Alex used Teleportation to try to escape, discovered the planet lay inside a sealed little world, and panicked.

Alex entered the core prison district, where a blue, robot-like man attacked him before a golden figure restrained him. The consciousness seed Nebula had planted awakened, allowing Thanos to take over Alex’s body and confront Adam, while Alex’s displaced consciousness hid underground.

• Alex failed to break the small world’s barrier, survived a sandstorm, and fashioned protective armor and clothing from sand and energy.
• A blue, robot-like man attacked Alex with freezing beams, but Alex immobilized him by fighting his shadow, and the man’s head vanished as his body died.
• A golden figure appeared and restrained Alex, whose consciousness seed began to awaken as he introduced himself using Warlord’s arranged identity.
• Alex released his psychic hold on the seed, and its force put his body’s consciousness to sleep while his displaced consciousness fled underground.
• The golden figure recognized Thanos, who took over Alex’s body and greeted Adam as an old friend.
• Thanos laughed as Adam’s invisible barrier shielded Alex’s hidden consciousness from the sound waves, and Adam asked Thanos what he wanted.

Thanos urged Adam to leave self-exile and help avert a looming crisis, but Adam demanded that Thanos help him prevent his future Dark Incarnation from emerging. After Thanos agreed, Adam restored Alex to his body, and Alex revealed his identity and history before Adam promised to stay wary of Thanos.

• Thanos warned Adam that the Kree and Skrull empires were nearing war and that Earth could be destroyed, but Adam demanded the truth about Thanos's purpose.
• Adam offered to help Thanos if he helped prevent Adam's future Dark Incarnation, and Thanos agreed to ensure Dark Warlock Adam would never appear.
• Adam restored Alex's consciousness to his body and asked who he was.
• Alex told Adam that he was an Earthling stranded in the Shi'ar Empire and explained how he had ended up in Kyln Prison.
• Adam said he would be careful of Thanos, and Alex believed his mission was complete.

After Alex asked Adam about being born on Earth, Adam sent him into space, where a psychic force knocked him unconscious. Princess Sawa tried to treat him, and her spacecraft returned to Xandar, where Nova officers welcomed her while Alex remained unconscious aboard.

• Alex asked Adam about his Earth origins, and Adam sent him into an asteroid belt near Kree Star Prison.
• Alex collided with Princess Sawa’s spacecraft, then lost consciousness when he activated Teleportation and a psychic force overwhelmed him.
• Sawa pulled Alex into her spacecraft and used nearly all of its medicines and medical equipment to stop his bleeding.
• When Alex did not wake, Sawa slapped him until his cheeks swelled, then used the simulation robot to reduce the swelling.
• Sawa discovered that the spacecraft had returned to Xandar on the robot’s orders and angrily attacked it as Nova officers surrounded the ship.
• Sawa stepped out to greet the Nova officers after looking back at the still-unconscious Alex.

Sawa lied to Adora about where she had been and brought her to see the unconscious Alex, whom she had rescued. After Alex woke up months later, he could not remember who he or Sawa was, and Sawa went to find a doctor.

• Sawa hid her visit to Kyln Prison from Adora and claimed she had rescued an unknown man from Space Pirates.
• Adora examined Alex in her residence, scolded Sawa for her treatment of him, and confined Sawa for another half year.
• Sawa repeatedly failed to escape confinement and spent her time talking to the unconscious Alex.
• In the third month, Sawa accidentally fell onto Alex, and he woke up.
• Alex told Sawa that he remembered nothing, so she hurried off to get a doctor.

Alex awoke with his memories gone and was diagnosed with a disorder of consciousness that the physician could not treat. Three months later, he had become a Two-star Nova and discovered unusual abilities, while deciding to live as Alex regardless of who he had been.

• Adora, Sawa, and the physician examined Alex after he insisted he did not know who he was, and the physician found his body and brain intact.
• The physician explained that Alex's consciousness had suffered a shock, causing a disorder that could not be treated, though he suggested an unknown remedy might exist.
• Over the next three months, Sawa confirmed Alex's name from Kyln Prison records while Alex rose to Two-star Nova.
• Alex discovered that he could quickly learn alien languages and secretly absorb different forms of energy.
• Suspecting he may have been a bad person before losing his memories, Alex resolved that he was Alex now.

Alex told Sawa that he had only recalled a memory from two months earlier, while the Shi'ar learned he had vanished from Kyln Prison's core detention zone. Danger Bird connected his disappearance to Warlock Adam and ordered everyone to stop searching, believing Alex had likely returned to Earth.

• Alex reassured Sawa that his amnesia remained incurable and said he had only remembered something from two months earlier.
• Warlord told Danger Bird and Lilandra that Alex had been imprisoned in Kyln's core detention zone after taking Princess Sawa hostage during an escape attempt.
• Warlord reported that Alex had vanished without a death record, and that Warlock Adam had disappeared from the same zone.
• Danger Bird recognized Warlock Adam as the one who had stopped Thanos and told Warlord and Lilandra to stop pursuing Alex.
• Danger Bird suggested that Alex had probably returned to Earth with Warlock Adam's help.

Danger Bird and Warlord reconsidered their stalled plan to ally with Spartak, but the debate was interrupted when Thanos appeared to have annihilated life across a remote region of space. Danger Bird ordered the news concealed and planned to lure Thanos toward the Kree and Skrull, leaving Lilandra and Warlord uneasy about the risk.

• Danger Bird rejected finding a replacement for Alex because Spartak could not wait any longer, and Lilandra proposed refusing Spartak so it would turn to the Nova Empire.
• Danger Bird decided to provoke events so the Nova Empire would have no choice but to join the conflict, and Warlord left to act on her plan.
• Warlord returned in terror after learning that Thanos had appeared, and Lilandra used telepathy to discover what he had seen.
• Lilandra shared Warlord's image with Danger Bird, showing Thanos on a throne as purple mist spread across a starfield and left it lifeless.
• Warlord said Thanos's attack was in a remote Shi'ar frontier region, and Danger Bird ordered the news sealed and Thanos lured toward the Kree and Skrull.

Alex sought help from Blue Devil to recover his lost memories, but Blue Devil found his mind sealed by a powerful force. An alarm then summoned the entire Nova Corps to deploy, and Alex joined the force as the director took notice of his unusual strength.

• Alex visited Blue Devil and asked him to help restore his memories.
• Blue Devil tried to reach Alex's consciousness but was blocked by a powerful force, leaving him unable to help.
• Alex left Blue Devil and heard an alarm calling the Nova Corps to assemble.
• The director ordered all Nova Corps personnel to depart immediately, and Alex followed the force from Xandar.
• Alex moved into the first echelon, drawing the director's attention because his abilities far exceeded his Two-star rank.

Alex accepted his promotion to Centurion, and the Nova Force awakened dormant energies in his body until he feared he would explode. The Nova Corps formed a protective cocoon around him as he endured the overwhelming surge of power.

• The Nova Director promoted Alex to Centurion, and Alex accepted the appointment.
• The Nova Force transformed Alex, marking him as a Centurion and awakening dormant cells in his body.
• The Worldmind assured the Nova Director that Alex had a pure heart, and the corps continued onward.
• Alex told Dai that his body felt ready to explode as his stored energies surged out of control.
• The Worldmind ordered the Nova Corps into Guardian Mode, and the Novas formed a protective cocoon around Alex.

The Nova Corps brought the rampaging Alex to a dead region where Warlock Adam had been killing its inhabitants, hoping battle would release Alex’s energy. Adam attacked the Corps with mysterious bubbles, and the chapter ended as the Corps retreated and Adam appeared before Alex, seemingly mindless and controlled.

• Worldmind told the Director that battle was the best way to release the energy inside Alex.
• The Director led the Nova Corps to a desolate region where Warlock Adam had killed the inhabitants, and explained that Adam might be under someone’s control.
• Mysterious bubbles appeared among the Nova Corps and teleported away more than half its members.
• Worldmind said the missing Novas were likely alive and could be brought back, so the Director ordered the Corps to retreat and leave Alex to fight Adam.
• Alex unleashed his energy as Warlock Adam emerged from the cosmic storm with vacant eyes.