"Carl, I've got a way to wipe out all these ships at once."
Tony moved closer to Carl as he spoke.
"What kind of method?"
"EMP cannon. But you know how it works—it doesn't discriminate between friend and foe. Once I fire it, our ship's systems will get fried too, so…"
"No need, Tony. Save your EMP cannon."
Carl immediately rejected the idea.
"We're in space. If the ship breaks down, we'll all be stranded out here."
"I'll handle it instead. Just don't forget to pull me back afterward."
As he spoke, Carl unclipped the safety tether around his waist.
Tony instantly understood what he intended to do and nodded.
"Don't worry. I'll drag you back myself. Besides, Wanda's here too. With her powers, you'll be fine."
Carl nodded.
Then the cloak behind him suddenly spread wide as he flew toward the swarm fighters.
Only now did he remember that the cloak itself allowed him to fly through space.
My brain really got kicked by a donkey…
A scorching aura suddenly erupted from around Carl's body.
Thermal radiation could travel through space without any medium, just like light radiation.
A silent wave burst outward.
From the flames emerged a gigantic Firebird over a hundred meters long. Blue flames danced along its rainbow-colored tail feathers while countless fireballs lit up around it like stars.
"Drax, get Wanda back!"
Tony immediately flew over, grabbing both Drax and Wanda as he retreated toward the rear hatch.
At the same time, everyone inside the ship saw Carl's transformed form.
"T-That… that's Carl?!"
Inside the cabin, Gamora stared blankly at the massive Firebird outside the window.
Behind her, Nebula involuntarily shivered.
She remembered the scene on Xandar—the elegant yet terrifying figure standing amidst the ice and snow.
Only now, the elegance remained, but the danger had escalated far beyond before.
"Carl can turn into a hot woman… and now he can turn into a giant bird too?!"
Quill's thoughtless comment immediately made Gwen and Skye laugh.
He had only ever seen Carl transform into Shiva, never the Firebird.
"He can turn into other things too."
Gwen smiled.
Everyone was communicating through the comms while stationed in different parts of the ship. Gwen and Skye were manning the upper wing cannons, while Groot operated the lower gun emplacement.
Outside, the Firebird soared through space trailing blazing flames.
Wherever it passed, countless Sovereign drones exploded like fireworks celebrating its arrival.
At the same time, meteor-like fireballs continuously shot out from around its body, streaking through space before plunging into the drone swarm and erupting into brilliant explosions.
"T-This… what is that thing?! Could it be… the Phoenix Force?!"
Inside the Sovereign command chamber, countless pilots stared at Carl's Firebird form in shock.
Their drone fleet was being annihilated without resistance.
In their understanding, only the ancient Phoenix Force could display such overwhelming might.
And although the Firebird wasn't exactly a phoenix, the resemblance was enough for them to mistake it as such.
"Commander, what do we do now?"
One pilot turned toward the commanding officer.
The meaning was obvious.
The Phoenix Force is here. What are we supposed to fight it with? Our heads?
Just as the commander hesitated, the battlefield suddenly changed dramatically.
Two beams of light suddenly shot out from the distant sea of stars.
In an instant, every Sovereign drone ship was obliterated.
They turned directly into cosmic dust without leaving behind even a single fragment.
The Firebird abruptly lifted its head toward the distant starfield.
Then another beam appeared—
This one aimed directly at the Firebird itself.
"SKREEEE—!"
The Firebird let out a piercing cry.
No sound could travel through space, but the flames around it exploded violently.
A miniature sun-like fireball condensed before it and shot toward the incoming beam.
A silent explosion illuminated the deep darkness of space.
However, everyone had underestimated the blast radius.
Quill's ship was instantly swallowed by the shockwave.
The entire vessel crumpled under the pressure as its outer metal plating twisted and warped severely.
In a single instant, all power was lost.
"Holy shit! What the hell is Carl doing?! The ship's completely dead!"
Rocket shouted.
The control panel before him sparked violently as though it were burning out.
Not only that, the ship's power systems flickered erratically, clearly on the verge of total shutdown.
"Rocket, we've gotta manually restart the systems below!"
Quill yelled.
"You keep the ship steady—I'll go restart it manually!"
After shouting that, Quill unbuckled his harness and staggered toward the lower deck.
The explosion's aftereffects finally faded, and Carl reverted from the Firebird form.
At that moment, crimson energy wrapped precisely around his body.
He didn't resist.
He knew it was Wanda.
Then, guided by the scarlet energy, Carl slowly floated back toward the rear hatch.
Drax struggled several times before finally managing to shut the outer hatch door.
But the second door leading into the ship refused to open no matter what he did.
"Quill, what's going on?"
Drax asked bluntly, completely ignoring the fact that the ship itself looked like it had been crumpled into a paper ball.
At that moment, the ship's power completely died.
The vessel had lost all functionality.
"QUILL! What the hell are you doing?!"
Gamora finally stopped caring about Nebula and rushed into the cockpit, shouting furiously.
Inside, only Rocket remained, frantically working the controls while trying to restore power.
"Quill went to manually reboot the power systems. Right now we're basically in free fall."
Rocket remained unusually calm.
Not far ahead of them was an unfamiliar planet, and the damaged ship was already drifting toward it because of the explosion.
Suddenly, the power returned.
Rocket immediately restarted the engines and did everything possible to stabilize the ship.
RUMBLE—
But in the very next second, the power died again.
This time, there was no sign of recovery.
"Fuck!"
Rocket slammed a paw against the control panel, causing another shower of sparks.
"Everybody hold on! We're going down!!"
One minute later, they entered the planet's gravitational field.
The ship accelerated rapidly toward the surface.
Rocket immediately strapped himself in and shouted through the comms.
At the same time, an egg-shaped spacecraft flashed past them.
A man stood atop the strange vessel, waving at them.
But no one had the attention to spare.
Everyone tightly secured themselves in preparation for the violent impact of atmospheric entry.
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