Ego's World — Descent
The planet unfolded below them like a dream pretending to be real.
Mountains shimmered like nerve tissue beneath translucent clouds. Rivers glowed with molten silver. Every gust of wind sounded like a heartbeat in slow motion.
"Okay," Peter said, leaning over the railing, "if we die here, at least it'll be scenic."
Rocket squinted. "Yeah. Real pretty for a place that looks like it's breathing."
Mantis smiled faintly. "He made everything you see. It is beautiful, yes?"
Gamora's gaze darkened. "If this place is him, it's watching us."
Max stood near the viewport, the reflected light of the surface crawling across his armor. The pulse beneath his skin thrummed in sync with the planet's rhythm—too perfect to be coincidence.
Zeta: "Celestial-class biosphere detected. Core resonance ego-centric. Warning—neural lattice composed of hybrid material."
Max: "Hybrid? With what?"
Zeta: "Unknown. But I recognize the lattice signature. It's… Takion in origin."
Max's breath hitched. Takion. His home. His dead world.
And now, somehow, part of this living one.
The Palace of Light
Ego's crystalline hall shimmered like the inside of a prism.
Stars orbited golden cores that pulsed like cells in a cosmic body. Even the walls breathed faintly when no one looked directly at them.
Ego smiled, soft and deliberate. "Welcome, my children. My world is your world."
Peter raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, still sounds culty."
Ego chuckled. "I was alone for eons, until I met your mother, Peter. She was extraordinary—she made me feel incomplete when she wasn't there."
Peter swallowed hard. "You… loved her?"
"I did." His tone shifted, a crack running through the practiced calm. "When she was taken from me, I swore I'd find who was responsible."
Zeta's whisper brushed Max's mind.
"Quantum field spike. Emotional surge destabilizing planetary cortex. Recommend caution."
Max frowned. "He's unstable."
Gamora's eyes flicked to him. "Understatement of the century."
Zeta's Archive — Memory Reactivation
Hours later, while the others explored, Max crouched beside a conduit pulsing faintly with blue light.
"Steel's backup fragment is ready," Zeta said. "Playback?"
He nodded.
The world dimmed to grayscale, then brightened into stormlight.
A rain-soaked hangar—wreckage, sparks, the smell of ozone.
Steel hovered, half-digital, beside Meredith Quill. Alive.
Steel: "You have to disappear. J'son's enemies will come for the boy."
Meredith: "And you'll protect him?"
Steel: "Until he's ready. Max will find him when the grid stabilizes. Trust the link."
Behind them, the faint outline of an N-Tek lab glowed under emergency lights.
Steel turned to an unseen camera.
Steel: "Zeta, back this up. If Max ever finds you… tell him—J'son wasn't alone when he touched the seed."
The memory shattered like glass.
Memory Trigger — The Lost Prince
Color bled back into the world—but Max staggered as more images slammed into his mind.
Nebulae aflame. Kree warships falling.
He stood beside a laughing man crowned in light—J'son of Spartax—their armor cracked and burning as they fought back to back.
"You're insane!" Max's younger voice shouted.
"Brilliantly insane," J'son grinned, holding up an orb of shifting energy. "The Asgardians hid the Cosmic Seed, Ma'ex. Let's wake it up."
"That thing isn't meant for mortals!"
"Who said we were?"
Then—light. Pain. A Celestial pulse tearing through space.
And in the aftermath, J'son screaming as the seed bonded to him, the same spiral sigil burning across his chest that now glowed beneath Max's armor.
Ronan's words came rushing back from Xandar's battlefield:
"You—prince in exile. Meddling under the banner of a false king…"
The fog lifted. J'son was the false king.
And Max had been his last loyal friend before the fall.
Ego's Garden
The next day, Ego led them across a valley of crystalline flora.
Every step echoed like a heartbeat. Flowers opened and closed as if listening.
"That," Ego said, pointing toward a mountain-sized blossom pulsing with golden veins, "is where I began. My seed—the first spark I cast across the cosmos."
Zeta's voice was hushed.
"Energy match confirmed. Origin: Asgard. Linked event—J'son, 27 years prior."
Max felt his throat tighten.
Gamora caught the flicker of fear in his eyes. "What is it?"
Zeta projected an image only Max could see:
J'son and Max escaping a collapsing vault, the Cosmic Seed between them, pulsing with the same rhythm as the planet beneath his feet.
"When J'son bonded with that fragment," Zeta whispered, "it carried a dormant Celestial consciousness. Ego's seed. He infected himself—and through him, Ego was reborn."
Max's voice trembled. "Then Ego isn't lying. He is part of Peter's father… the part that killed him."
The Firelight Revelation
Night fell. The Guardians sat around a fire of slow-dancing blue flame.
Peter smiled, uncertain. "So, turns out I'm half-god. Not bad for a kid from Missouri."
Max stared into the fire. "Peter… Ego might not be what he thinks he is."
Ego's voice rolled from the shadows. "Oh, but I am exactly what I think."
The ground rumbled.
"J'son of Spartax—the fool who touched the seed—was me long before he knew it. I rode his bloodstream, his dreams. When your mother's heart called to him…"
His smile turned cold. "I answered."
Peter stepped back, disbelief breaking into horror. "You're saying my real dad—"
"Was the shell I wore," Ego said simply.
Zeta's tone cut sharp into Max's mind.
"Planetary cortex activating. Corruption surfacing."
Gamora unsheathed her blade.
Max rose, armor plates sliding into place as the perfected biolink activated. Nanite threads crawled across his skin, twin spirals blazing bright.
Zeta: "Armor synchronization complete. Takion Guardian protocol—online."
Rocket blinked. "Oh, he's glowing again. We're screwed."
Max faced Ego, voice steady. "You were J'son's mistake. His curse. But I'm here to end it."
Ego's laughter rolled through the sky, the planet's crust trembling in time.
"Mistake? No, Ma'ex Stel. I was his ascension. And soon, I'll be everyone's."
The stars dimmed.
The world began to wake.
Knowhere — Intercut
Far across the galaxy, Cosmo's ears twitched.
"Cosmo hearing strange pulse," he muttered. "Feels… alive. Angry."
Kraglin frowned. "Maybe it's Rocket rerouting the comms again?"
"Nyet." Cosmo's tail went rigid. "This one hums like dying god. And it is calling someone."
He reached out telepathically. Across the void, Zeta's faint signal answered—requesting aid.
Closing Scene — The Echo of Seeds
Ego's vast face shimmered across the sky, smiling like a false sun.
Peter stood frozen.
Gamora and Drax braced themselves.
Rocket muttered, "Told ya—never trust a guy who is the planet."
And Max—
He felt the hum of a thousand Takion souls twisted into the world's veins, calling to him for release.
Zeta: "Ego is not alone. His corruption began with J'son—but it ends with you."
Max clenched his fists, the twin spirals blazing.
"Then let's finish what we started."
The planet growled in answer.
Deadpool Meta-Cut
"Alright, cosmic therapy recap:
– Planet-dad's actually parasite-dad.
– Real dad's alive but has a god complex and mood swings.
– Max's armor's back online and glowing like the world's angriest lightbulb.
– And Cosmo's the only one smart enough to call for help.
Strap in, space nerds. Next stop: planetary midlife crisis."