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Knowhere[2014]
Previously
"I am telling you Rocket, we are going to be rich after this," Peter Quill said to Rocket Raccoon as they alighted their ship and entered the Collector's base of operations.
While Peter was enthusiastic about the money as was Rocket, Gamora herself was feeling uneasy about the entire thing because if there was one thing she had learned about long lived beings in all her time with Thanos, it was that things were very rarely straightforward with them.
This bounty might seem like it paid 4 billion units, enough to buy an entire star system filled with habitable planets and then retire there for the rest of their natural lifespan, it also came with Caveats.
For one, it housed an Infinity Stone, something that had her father send Ronan to collect it. Oh, she was sure that Ronan would double cross her father at the first opportunity Ronan would get but her father probably knew that as well.
Living with her Father and her extremely competitive sister, she had learned that her Father was rarely in the same step as others. He was always a dozen steps ahead of everyone.
He probably did this so that when the time came when the time came to collect all the Stones for sure, he would know the location of each and every one.
After all, most of the Stones were lost to time. Having them found by third parties, then having those parties deposit them in a supposedly safe place where he could easily collect them when the time came, was something that sounded like her Father could come up with.
Sure, Ronan armed with an Infinity Stone could do some real damage before he was put down but her father must be banking on someone else stopping Ronan before he did said damage. Maybe the Streak that wreaked havoc in Kree territory would be the one who would end up dealing with an amped up Ronan.
After all, she did seem to have a particularly nasty enmity with the Kree, having inflicted more damage on the Kree Empire than anyone did in the last hundred or so cycles.
Drax, on the other hand, was unconcerned with the whole bounty collection thing. He was only with them because he was hoping to get a ride with them back to Xandar where he would continue his quest for Vengeance.
Oh, he was sure that he was going to die. No doubt about it. The only question was if he could take Ronan down with him.
"Ah, Welcome! I assume you have the item with you?" The Collector greeted the unconventional group at the entrance of his complex, with Carina in tow.
"Ah, yes, I have the item with me. Do you have the credits with you?" Peter Quill, said, in a manner he hoped looked cool enough to impress Gamora.
Tivan merely snapped his fingers, causing Carina to come forward and show them the tablet, indicating the current standing balance of Collector and his various enterprises.
The amount of zeroes on that thing had Rocket and Peter salivating.
"Now, the Orb, please?" Collector extended his hand, on top of which Peter happily put the orb.
Tivan looked deeply at the gathered forces, most of whom had tensed at his lack of action before turning around and snapping at Carina who hastily pushed some buttons on the tablet before turning it around and showing it to the fledgling group.
The transaction details for the bounty were displayed on the tablet. This caused Rocket to whoop in joy as he followed the Collector, with Gamora following behind him with a wary look on her face.
Drax, slipped away from the group, going towards a bar with a group of shady mercenaries sipping away their lives on cheap booze. Groot noticed it but continued on after Rocket called for him.
Inside the receptionist chamber of the Collector's enterprise, they watched as the Collector opened the Orb with a complex tool meant specifically for opening pattern locked devices.
The Collector regaled them with tales of the Infinity Stone kept inside the Orb, even showing them rare footage of Celestials using the Power Stone in the past to raze down entire planets, without much effort at all.
All the members of the soon to be Guardians of the Galaxy were too engrossed in the tale that the Collector was weaving for them, as was The Collector himself.
As such, they failed to notice the gleam that Carina had in her eyes as she saw the entire footage from far away and heard the sheer power that the Stone could give her.
Carina was a slave, plain and simple. As far as she could remember, she was a slave. She was chosen for some reason she never had the guts to ask the Collector. She was the one who was responsible for the upkeep and administration of the entire Collector enterprise.
Due to the advent of AI and her own prodigious mental faculties, she never really had any issues with managing such a vast empire. On the contrary, seeing that she had no issues with anything, the Collector eventually offloaded his entire administrative burden on her shoulders, freeing himself from something he saw as tedious but necessary.
From then on, the Collector only ordered around Carina who scrambled to follow all his orders. As such, Carina unknowingly came into possession of tremendous power.
Power over the vast mining empire of the Collector. Power over the life and death of the Collections in the Collector's collection.
She was the one who interacted the most with the people who were imprisoned in the Collector's collection. She was the one who realised that what the Collector was doing was wrong and that she could free them.
Many times, the thought crossed her mind, to free everyone and try their hand against the Collector, and yet, her hand always snaked back at the last moment.
What if the Collector saw this coming and had prepared for her?
The thoughts became more frequent with the recent addition of Jack Sullivan, a hero of Earth. Sure, Earth itself was worth less than dirt when it came to the context of power in the wider galaxy, and yet, the one who came from such a planet had the power to topple the Collector's control over her, over everyone who was locked in those prisons dressed as white comfortable pods.
Jack was the one who could make things right, the one who could finish the Collector before he could stop them. All she had to do was push one button, and Jack would be free from all his bounds, leading to the demise of the Collector and the freedom of all the prisoners.
And yet, her hand never seemed to have the strength necessary to push the final button. Many a times she reached the last stage of the application, ready to push the final button and yet, she never seemed to be able to press the confirmation button, always feeling as if the malevolent shadow of the Collector was pressing down on her.
And yet, right at this moment, as she looked at the Orb that was finally about to be opened up, she looked at her other hand, which held a small vial of twinkling blue fluid, and then at the tablet in her other hand, which showed the process of opening up all the pods, irrespective of their conditions.
Sure, it would inconvenience some of the ones with sensitive environmental requirements, but the secondary systems should kick in soon enough. That small window should be enough for Mr.Jack to escape from his confinement so that he could rescue her.
She had this plan ready when she knew that the Collector would be busy with some rare object that was about to come into his possession.
Now though?
Now she didn't feel like she needed Mr. Jack's help to free herself. No, she could do that herself.
If those giants could destroy planets with the power of that Stone, then she should be able to kill one Collector and destroy this accursed place.
She had reserved the primed C-fluid, one that she smuggled from the Collector's eyes because she knew it held healing properties. It was a just in case situation because she had researched about her species and her species was once known to be the foremost experts in pyrokinetics.
The ability to wield fire, to wield the power of fires, of all kinds, to devastating effect.
Unfortunately, their kind was caught up in a civil war right in between the Kree-Skrull war, leading to their near extinction. As far as the Collector's database was concerned, she was the last one of her species.
She had never really explored her ancestral powers but she had a gut feeling that using the Primed C-fluid would give her a leg up in that regard. She had kept it as a last resort but now that Power given form was in front of her, she could not afford to hesitate anymore.
So, without any ado, she pressed the button on her tablet before dropping it, not looking if the command was accepted or not. The Collector must have noticed something was wrong because he turned around to look at her at the same moment but he was far too late.
Far too late to stop her from gaining her freedom. From gaining ultimate power, so that she could be free to make all of her decisions.
As her hand closed around the pretty looking Stone, an electric current ran through her entire body, causing her right arm to flinch, breaking the vial of primed C-fluid in her hand. The fluid itself was caught in the purple currents, filling her entire body with indescribable agony.
She looked at the Collector with much difficulty, as the entire area around her was ravaged with the purple arcs of energy. She raised her right arm, which was shredded down to the bone, and brought her arm to her mouth, and licked the primed C-fluid off of it.
As soon as her tongue touched the healing fluid, her back arched as another energy made itself known in front of her. Twin arcs of twinkling blue and purple ravaged her body from the inside as a purple fire began manifesting all around her body.
She looked at the purple fire with happiness and awe, "So pretty…."
The fire continued to spread around her, creating a void of matter around her as anything that came into contact with the purple fire around her was instantly disintegrated.
By now, the Guardians of the Galaxy had retreated far away from the scene, only the Collector was left who was looking at the scene with something akin to interest.
Carina looked at him, then at her hand which was still functional, and at the purple fire raging havoc all around her. The mere sight of the purple fire seemed to burn a light inside of her, emboldening her.
So, even as her body continued to break down from the strain of the two energies inside her body, she took a single step towards the Collector, with a grin on her face.
That same bloody grin looked like the one of a Grim Reaper to Tivan, who immediately started backing away with his hands in the air.
"...O-Oh Carina, look at you now, unlocking your ancestral powers. Come on, what did you do? Why are the systems opening one after the other? Huh?" The Collector stammered out, wary of what Carina would do now that she had power and the wish to act on it.
Carina didn't say a single word, only raised her arm towards the Collector and tried to will the fire to explode towards him.
IT worked. Despite having no experience with her ancestral powers, Carina managed to get her message across to the purple fires.
The only thing was that the fires were currently being wielded by someone who was holding an Infinity Stone in her hand, more specifically, the Power Stone in their hand.
The purple fires, instead of being directed just at the Collector, instead spread apart, reaching far and wide, sinking down into the lower floors of the Collector Enterprise, as well as reaching Tivan.
Carina's entire surroundings were flooded with a purple fire that seemed to burn everything it touched. She could not see it but the Colelctor's pained screams were like music to her ears.
"AAAAAA!"
She smiled one moment, relishing his screams of pain, wondering how he survived the flames, and the next moment her face morphed into one of pain as he fell down to one knee, the fires around her flaring in response.
She looked at her hand and legs, as they were now glowing with purple veins in them. Most of her skin was flaking off and seemed to continue going that way.
She smiled, a bloody resigned smile, as she realised her folly and the fact that she was about to die here.
She looked at the hand holding the Stone which was mostly charred now. She couldn't even feel it.
"...Ah….So pretty," She murmured as she looked, once again at the purple fires, and closed her eyes….forever.
The Guardians of the Galaxy had retreated to a remote corner of the landing area, watching as a tornado of purple fire ravaged the Collector's office.
"...See what you got us into, Dumbass!" Rocket Racoon scoffed at Peter before turning around to get to his ship.
"Hey! At Least we got the money this time," Peter turned around as well. Gamora took one last look at the purple fire and after clenching her fist once, turned around as well. She had taken maybe two steps when Rocket's question made her stop right in her tracks.
"Hey, Where is Drax? Did that musclehead lose his way somewhere?"
She sighed and was about to turn around to look for Drax when Peter's terrified voice reached her ears.
"Guys, I think I know what Drax went to do,"
She looked out of the hangar of Knowhere and her eyes widened as she saw the Dark Aster floating right outside Knowhere.
She cursed as all of them ran towards the ship, intent on getting out of this place before Ronan landed on it.
They had no chance of stopping the Accuser. They also had no way of getting past that purple fire, to get the Stone. All they could do was hope that the purple fire stumped Ronan as well and get out of this place with their credits.
She had no other plans ahead but she would run as long as she could, from her father. Under no circumstances, could Thanos come into possession of the knowledge she had.
They were right at their ship when a huge explosion rocked the entire hangar facility…no the entirety of Knowhere.
She looked out of the hangar space and cursed as she saw Ronan coming down.
"AHAHA! Finally! REVENGE WILL BE MINE!"
She looked back to see Drax shouting like a madman as he ran straight to his death.
She closed her eyes in resignation.
God help her from idiots.
Word Count - 2572
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