Staring at the unconscious Star-Lord, Peter felt a little awkward.
Sure, he hadn't used his full strength just now, but he'd definitely hit harder than he would against your average super-criminal. A normal person's head probably would have exploded. Thankfully, Star-Lord was still alive—face-planted on the ground, ass in the air like he was waiting to get plowed, but alive nonetheless.
Peter let out a breath of relief, thinking the guy's constitution was pretty impressive.
"Ugh—ngh!"
Star-Lord groaned, clutching his head as he came to.
"Where am I… who am I?"
That punch Peter threw had nearly sent the still-unawakened Star-Lord to the next life. Right now, his memory was completely fragmented. Seeing another person in front of him, he immediately started asking questions.
Over the still-open comms, Ben immediately told Peter what to say:
"Tell him his name is Owen. He's a keeper at Jurassic World, specifically in charge of the velociraptors."
Peter was baffled, but he repeated, "Your name is Owen. You're the velociraptor keeper at Jurassic World. All these little guys are yours."
Star-Lord looked at the ground, littered with the corpses of small rodent-like creatures killed by some black substance, and wasn't entirely sure if Peter was telling the truth.
But deep inside, he really did feel like he'd once spent his days alongside a dinosaur.
Could the guy be telling the truth?
Star-Lord was uncertain.
"My name's really Owen?"
Peter nodded.
"Like hell I believe you!" Star-Lord sprang to his feet, yanked the element gun from his belt, and fired several shots at Peter.
Did he look like an idiot?
He might have the body of a god—even unawakened, Star-Lord wasn't that fragile—plus his gear, while unassuming, packed some serious black-ops tech.
"Don't do anything rash."
Peter's spider-sense flared instantly. He twisted his body, dodging every shot, then flicked a web straight into Star-Lord's face. Next, he flung a submission disk, and it stuck to Star-Lord's body.
"Shock him, quick!" Venom yelled. "This guy's either Kree or one of that purple raisin's men. Just shock him, that's definitely the right call!"
Peter figured, why not? He hit the trigger on the submission disk.
"Ack, ack, ack—!"
Invaded by neurotoxin, Star-Lord immediately started convulsing like he was having a seizure.
Peter flipped onto him and perched in the classic Uchiha Itachi crouching-on-a-telephone-pole pose. "So you're not Kree. Who are you? One of Thanos's underlings?"
"Who the hell is Thanos?!"
At that instant, Star-Lord seared this name he'd never heard before deep into his brain. He swore that the day he ran into this Thanos guy, he'd charge right over and slug him in the face.
"Huh? Venom, you idiot, you screwed up again!"
Peter quickly deactivated the submission disk, but he still kept Star-Lord tied up to stop him from attacking again.
After all, the moment Star-Lord had reached for his gun, Peter's spider-sense had gone haywire. It meant that weapon was no joke—its power was terrifying.
In fact, Peter's instincts were right. Star-Lord's pistol could control the four classical elements, and it was linked to a portal into another universal space.
To put it in comparison, it was like Star-Lord was walking around with Cyclops strapped to his hip.
Cyclops: ??? Do you mind?
"So who are you really?" Peter asked.
Even trussed up like a dumpling, Star-Lord's mouth was still tough. "You dare ask who I am? I'll scare you to death once I say my name!"
He wasn't exactly lying. Among the mercenaries out in Knowhere, Star-Lord did have some small reputation. Especially since he used to run with that asshole Yondu—those Ravagers were infamous cosmic thugs, a pack of hyenas so obnoxious even a lion would frown at the sight of them.
"I am Star-Lord!"
Right now, Star-Lord clearly assumed Peter was just another interstellar adventurer, and he was confident that the moment he gave his name, the guy would have to show him some respect.
But…
"Who?"
Peter scratched his head. "Venom, you heard of him?"
Venom sprouted a face from behind Peter's shoulder, picking at a nonexistent booger. "Nope."
Then he casually smeared the nonexistent booger onto Star-Lord, making him shriek and howl.
The noise annoyed Peter, so he gave him another punch.
"Spill it! Who are you really?"
"Stop, stop, stop! No more hitting!"
After taking a few more blows, Star-Lord finally got honest.
He clutched his head and, adopting the rogue's philosophy of bending when you have to, humbly started to give his credentials. "My name's Peter—"
Before he could finish, Peter hit him again.
"Why did you hit me again?!"
"You tell me!" Peter said, furious. "You're Peter? Then who am I? Still not gonna be straight with me? Want me to rub some dust in your eyes?"
He pried a chunk of stone off the wall and crushed it to powder.
"Wait, wait…" Venom stopped him and extended a slimy tendril toward Star-Lord's head. The idiot's brain was practically wide open with no defenses, so Venom read his thoughts directly.
"He actually is named Peter."
"I've always been named Peter!" Star-Lord was so wronged. Then it hit him that Venom had just read his mind. "Get away from me, you snotball!"
Venom didn't give a damn about the insult. Instead, he wore the grin of a chaos-loving spectator. "You've actually banged a Kree and a Dire Wraith? Man, you must have been starving."
Star-Lord: ???
How is that any different from looking through my browser history?!
I'm calling the cops!
Star-Lord was fuming and ready to protest Venom's behavior, but at that moment Peter suddenly clamped a hand over his mouth and stared warily toward the water.
"Quiet. I sense people approaching."
Once he said that, Peter and Venom exchanged a glance. Venom instantly shrank back into Peter's body, and Peter grabbed one of Star-Lord's ankles, dragging him straight into a corner.
Star-Lord: …
A few minutes later, a squad emerged from the water.
In the lead, unmistakably, was Ronan—wrapped in his blue-gray robes, holding the hammer known as the Universal Weapon, the leader of the Accusers.
The instant Peter spotted Ronan, his spider-sense went off and wouldn't stop.
Ronan's build was nowhere near the size of the War Lord who had invaded Earth before, but the pressure he gave off far surpassed it. Peter immediately realized this was an enemy stronger than the War Lord, stronger even than Black Dwarf of the Black Order's five generals.
Ronan had personally led a small team here. Meanwhile, Nebula and Gamora had each taken their own groups to the other two temples.
Clearly, they had made the exact same choice as Ben and the others.
On the other side.
While Peter was still hiding with Star-Lord, Ben's group was already facing their enemy head-on.
Standing before them was Nebula—Blue Meanie leading a mixed force of Black Order soldiers and Accuser troops.
Honestly, the moment she saw Ben and Felicia, Nebula was a bit stunned too. She hadn't expected that besides her own people, there were others on Morag.
And their intentions here didn't need to be spelled out.
Just then, one of the Black Order soldiers stepped forward and identified Felicia and Ben for her.
"Earthlings?"
Nebula had naturally heard about Thanos's humiliating defeat on Earth. That battle had wiped out all five of the Black Order's mightiest warriors in a single campaign. Four of them were dead as dead could be; the only survivor, Supergiant, was still locked up on Earth, fate unknown. If it weren't for that, Thanos wouldn't have specifically sent Gamora to bring her back.
Still, Nebula was surprised. She drew a blade from her pant leg and rasped,
"I heard Earthlings' technology is primitive. I never imagined you'd find your way here."
"Primitive?" Felicia raised an eyebrow, her hands flashing her claws. "You're welcome to test that!"
There was no way she'd tolerate someone badmouthing Plumber tech.
"Kill them!"
This was still the ruthless Nebula of old. In her mind, if she just killed Ben and Felicia and brought their corpses back to Father, Thanos would surely forgive her for the sin of leaving.
Instantly, dozens of Accusers and Black Order fighters wielding advanced weapons charged at Ben and Felicia.
Obviously, these grunts were no match for Ben, but since the opportunity was rare, Ben figured he might as well give some of his alien forms a bit more screen time.
"Alright then—Wildvine!"
He slammed the Omnitrix. In the next instant, a green light flared and his body began to elongate. Structures like giant Venus flytraps sprouted from his shoulders, and his lower limbs morphed from two legs into tendrils like creeping roots.
The sudden transformation caught Nebula and her troops off guard.
"A Florauna?"
"Wrong!"
"It's Wildvine!"
As Ben spoke, he lashed his arm forward. The thorn-covered limb instantly stretched into a cluster of tough, bramble-like blades, slicing straight toward the soldiers.
Wildvine was a Florauna, a species with the power to manipulate plants and regenerate. His body could stretch to extremes and also produce fruits with all kinds of effects—explosive, smoke, parasitic seeds, you name it. Overall, his power level wasn't crazy high, but more than enough to deal with small fry!
Nebula slashed through an incoming vine with her blade. A huge portion of her body had been replaced with machinery; she was practically a living steel warrior herself.
As one of Thanos's two daughters, her strength was nothing to scoff at.
After hacking down a vine, she moved to press the attack. Whether Ben was a Florauna or not, this unusual specimen would surely fetch a high price from the Collector.
She spun her dagger mid-air, ready to pounce at Ben—
—when Felicia descended on her out of nowhere.
Like a black swan in a ballet, Felicia swept through the air, her body sinuous and graceful but brimming with power. Silver claws raked across Nebula's field of vision, leaving five gleaming arcs.
Felicia landed feather-light, her impossibly long right leg extending to one side, both hands hovering near the ground like a hunting leopard poised to strike.
"Your opponent," she said, "is me."
/-\
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