After Yondu piloted his ship away, T'Challa looked at Loki and questioned doubtfully, "What's going on? Why is he in such a hurry?"
"His house is on fire, shouldn't he be frantic?"
"Is he your friend? Aren't you going to help him?"
As Loki pulled out his phone, he commented, "I am helping - by adding fuel to the fire."
Having said that, he raised the phone to his mouth, "Hello, is this Thor? There's some infighting among the interstellar pirates who came for a diplomatic visit earlier. They are fighting at the edge of the Milky Way now…"
"What? Sif is here with a royal guard patrol? How coincidental. Ask her to step in and mediate."
"No, no, no, don't go there yourself. They're just a bunch of small fries. But maybe you could issue a warning that makes these gutter rats scurry far away."
Elsewhere, Stark, who was in line for the last ride at the Star Wars theme park with Shiller, raised his arm as his device beeped twice, his eyebrows furrowed after he glanced at it.
"My surveillance equipment shows an unidentified fleet involved in a battle at the edge of the Milky Way, even managing to take down a few of my surveillance drones. What's happening?"
A somewhat impatient Stark tapped on his arm a few times. Once the call connected, he asked, "Nick, didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. get any information? There's a war happening at the edge of the Milky Way. All the drones I set up were destroyed."
"What? You just detected it too? Do we know who they are? What are you planning to do? Don't tell me you want me to run over too…Alright, alright, I get it. I'll wait for your news."
Nick hung up the phone and exhaled, looking somewhat troubled at Carol next to him. "You've joined us at a peculiar time, ma'am. There are a bunch of interstellar pirates brawling at the edge of the Milky Way, and they even managed to destroy Stark's drone fleet deployed there."
Just as Nick was about to continue, Carol interrupted, "So what? I was planning to fly back to the Andromeda Galaxy anyway. I'll warn them on the way."
"That would be great, thank you, Captain."
Inside the cabin of the main Ravager ship, Shockface, a pirate with a face full of scars, was ferociously attacking the captain's door with a group of mutinous pirates.
Groot was resisting all efforts to breach the door, as Rocket worked tirelessly on the keyboard at the main control panel. The cold light from the screen reflected on his furry face, creating a rather solemn atmosphere.
"Don't worry, we're about to break through the system. Once the main ship's defensive facilities are activated, those guys will not be a problem."
Gamora was still calm and composed, but Quill was getting anxious. His relationship with Yondu had been strained recently due to Yondu's increasingly volatile temper. But that didn't mean he wasn't worried about his foster father.
Suddenly, the communicator that Quill had left on the table let out a shrill alarm. Quill rushed over to grab it, and through the hissing static, Yondu's voice could be heard.
"Open the entrance to ship number 22, I'll be right there!"
Just as Quill was about to respond, Gamora rushed over, saying, "No, you can't enter the captain's room now, Shockface is outside!"
"I'll show those sons of bitches!" Yondu roared. "Open the door, I don't believe they dare to…"
Boom!
The door was blown open. Even the robust Groot had to step back, but he still positioned himself protectively in front of everyone. Gamora immediately pulled out her gun from her waistband, and Rocket also preheated his blaster, their eyes fixed intently on Shockface and his men who had barged into the room.
"Hahahaha, Yondu, stop pretending to be tough. Do you really think you puny lot can stop me?!"
Shockface swaggered in, rifle in hand. Yondu's face popped up on the communicator as he angrily stared at Shockface. "Are you crazy? Do you know what you're doing? You're going to destroy the Ravagers, you goddamn bastard!"
"You're the one who's destroying us." Shockface's expression darkened. "Don't you think I don't know, you've been considering defecting. You plan to sell out the secret of his Highness Atur and His Highness Xian to the Queen and sever ties with our biggest benefactor. You won't have the chance to do that, Yondu."
"You short-sighted fool! Lilandra is not the queen she once was. Anyone with a brain can see her change and determination. Continue to associate with that bunch of fat-brained nobles, and the result would be our collective demise."
Yondu took a deep breath, suppressed his rage, looked at Shockface, and said, "I knew you were in collusion with them a long time ago. You have betrayed the Ravager's creed!"
"You were the one who betrayed the Ravagers' creed first." Shockface said in a raised voice, "We're pirates, not justice messengers. Besides, are you really as righteous as you think you are? How long do you plan on hiding the truth from your foolish adopted son?"
He finished speaking and looked at Quill.
Quill blinked, somewhat taken aback. He looked at both sides, then said, "What? What are you hiding from me?"
"You're just as stupid as him," Shockface said in a solemn tone. "Do you really think he doesn't know who your biological father is? They've been deceiving you like a fool!"
"Wait, what's going on? How did my biological father get pulled into this?" Quill was even more confused.
At that time, Gamora stepped forward and said, "Don't think you can shake us, Shockface. We're all aware of your dirty dealings with the Shi'ar Empire nobles. If you want to overthrow Yondu, you shouldn't try with such despicable methods."
"Who is the guilty one here, we..."
As soon as the sentence was finished, dazzling red lights started to flicker inside the captain's cabin of the Ravager flagship. All the equipment blared out a piercing warning, and the protective shield was instantly cranked up to maximum.
Ka-cha!!!!!
A point of cold light arrived first, followed by a dazzling burst of light as if slicing through the heavens in the deep darkness of the night sky. Suddenly, lightning filled with countless glorious lights penetrated the battleship's shell at a speed too fast to cover one's ears. Everyone in the captain's cabin was blown out.
Boom!!!!!
Then came an angry roar: "What are you all doing?!"
By the time the light faded, those present were horrified to discover a massive battleship, ten times larger than the Ravager's flagship, with its chilling gun barrels aimed right at them in the captain's cabin.
The ceiling of the Ravager's main ship had been blasted to ashes by the lightning. Shockface, trembling with fear, looked up to see Sif in her shiny armor.
He realized that she was the queen of Asgard, and that lightning had come from Thor, the Divine King of Asgard.
"Who authorized you to wage war within the Nine Major Kingdoms?!"
Sif's icy voice echoed all around, and surprisingly, nobody dared to speak. The oppressive vibrations from Asgard's battleship were powerful, but what was even more terrifying was the flickering lightning deep within the cosmos.
"W-w-we..." stuttered Shockface, unable to find his words.
At this moment, another streak of light shot by, and Captain Marvel hovered above the fleet's ships, saying, "What in the world is going on? S.H.I.E.L.D. mentioned that there was a fight here that damaged over two hundred drone clusters. You guys couldn't be planning to invade Earth, could you?"
Then she turned her head as if she had just noticed Sif and said, "Goodness, Your Majesty, have you seen debris of drones nearby? I am here to retrieve them, and also to warn this crowd. If you don't leave now, the Iron Demon God might come to collect a debt."
Those down below looked left and right. The lightning had destroyed almost half of the Ravager's ships just now. The debris floating around made it difficult to identify which remains belonged to drones.
"The leader should speak!" stated Sif in a deep voice.
Shockface, seeming to grasp at straws, pointed at Yondu, who was still floating outside the flagship in his own ship, and said, "Him! He's the head of the Ravagers. His name is Yondu!"
The members of the Guardians of the Galaxy immediately glared furiously at him, but Shockface, who had been gloating just a moment ago, didn't have time for any of that in this crisis.
Who in the cosmos hadn't heard of the fame of Asgard? Back when Asgard's fleet roamed freely across the Universe, everyone inferior was pushed aside. Any undesirables they came across were disposed of by them.
Shockface had just wanted to sneak into the cabin and take control of the ship while Yondu was out, but he was discovered by Quill. Normally, their cabin fights shouldn't attract any attention. Were they just that unlucky to run into an Asgardian patrol fleet?
What was even stranger was that humans are an earthbound civilization, aren't they? This was not the edge of the Solar System but the edge of the Milky Way, very far from Earth. How could human drones possibly reach here?
Yondu pressed a button, causing the lights on his ship to blink twice as he said, "I am indeed the head of the Ravagers. We had a civil war within our team, and the rebels tried to break into the captain's cabin but failed."
"We, too, regret what happened and are willing to compensate for the damage. We don't want the main ship of the team or any escort ships. We're also willing to give away all the goods on the cargo ship to Asgard as compensation."
"I only wish to take my adopted son and his friends with me. We will leave Nine Major Kingdoms on this small ship..."
The crowd in the cabin was stunned by his drastic compromise. This was the Ravager team's main ship, towing three cargo ships filled with their latest loot. The goods on the ship alone could make them a fortune and give them some respite in this crackdown. Were they really all going to be abandoned?
Just as Shockface was about to object, Quill, sharp and quick-witted, used his moment of confusion to punch him and knock him out.
"I am his adopted son. We agree to this compensation proposal. We'll leave all the ships and cargo ships behind! Let us go!"
At this point, Loki finally arrived, taking his time for a route that would have taken only an instant by teleportation. As he flew over, he waved and called out to Sif.
"Your majesty! Your majesty! Save people under the cannon! Save people under the cannon!!"
Sif turned her head towards him and saw that Loki had finally made it after flying for so long. He landed on the deck of the Asgard team, saluted Sif and said,
"Yondu is my guest, and he is also an important person who was invited by Mr. Thanos to discuss about setting up a security system in the Star Area. He absolutely must not die!"
"But they fired within the Nine Major Kingdoms and damaged property in Midgard. If Asgard lets them leave like this, won't His Majesty Thor's statements at the Interstellar Security Conference turn out to be a joke?!" Sif still stared at him coldly.
Loki hastily signaled Yondu, meaning "you need to cough up more, or there will be no way to save you."
Yondu winced in pain, chomping at the bit. How could he not know that he was tricked by Loki again?