On the planet Morag, in front of the dilapidated temple, Star-Lord stood at the metal gate. Taking out a pair of needle-like tools, he skillfully worked the combination lock until the door opened with a metallic click.
Triumphantly, he tapped his helmet, causing it to retract into his device.
"The Orb's storage chamber… the most difficult place of all," he muttered.
Inside, Star-Lord gazed at the glowing energy matrix suspended in mid-air, folding his arms as he fell deep into thought. He didn't notice the two figures creeping up behind him.
Nebula moved swiftly, striking Star-Lord at the back of the neck with a precise hand chop, dropping him instantly. Without hesitation, she thrust her left hand into the matrix. Her synthetic flesh sizzled and burned away, exposing her cybernetic arm, which glowed red-hot under the strain.
"Colonel Rhodes—the Orb," Nebula said, handing the Power Stone's containment sphere to War Machine.
But Rhodes stood motionless, his eyes glazed over.
In his mind, strange psychic ripples surged, twisting into the form of Allens, who loomed like a giant inside his spiritual world.
"Interesting," Allens sneered. "The explosion of the Mind Stone's power this time is truly impressive."
Extending a massive spectral hand, he wrapped Rhodes's entire consciousness within his grasp.
Kill him. Kill Star-Lord. Kill him. In Infinity War, you should have won. Everyone could have lived. Kill him. Kill him.
The whispers clawed through Rhodes's mind like a devil's temptation, dragging him deeper into madness.
His eyes flashed red. With a mechanical whir, the Gatling gun on his shoulder locked onto Star-Lord, and he squeezed the trigger.
Da-da-da-da!
Bullets tore through the air toward the unconscious Star-Lord. Nebula quickly threw up an energy shield, blocking the barrage with a metallic clang.
"Enough," she snapped. "I know Star-Lord is annoying, but we've completed the mission. Don't make trouble."
But Rhodes's face twisted with rage.
"No! He's the reason for everything! Peter Quill—if not for him, we would have won! Thanos would never have gotten all six Infinity Stones!"
His voice grew more deranged. "Kill him, and we win! No stupid time-travel plan, no wasted effort! Hell, we should've just gone back to when Thanos was a baby and strangled him in the crib!"
Red light flared in his eyes as he raised his arm. A shock bomb launched from his armor, slamming into the ground where Star-Lord had been.
BOOM!
The alien-enhanced explosion shook the ground, blasting a crater into Morag's surface.
"Damn it, Rhodes!" Nebula shouted, dodging falling debris.
But Rhodes only cursed louder. "You blue-skinned freak! Put Quill down! Or I'll blast you to hell too!"
Missiles launched from his shoulder, streaking toward her.
Nebula's eyes flickered red under the Mind Stone's influence, and with a furious roar she lunged straight at Rhodes.
Explosions thundered as the two clashed violently.
Above them, a massive Kree warship descended, flooding the battlefield with light. Dozens of Kree soldiers surrounded War Machine and Nebula.
"The Kree Judgment Force?" Allens mused within Rhodes's consciousness, his figure manifesting in psychic form. With a flick of his finger, a psychic storm erupted.
Suddenly, the Kree soldiers turned on each other, pulling their triggers in a frenzy. The battlefield was filled with chaos, explosions echoing across Morag's surface.
Bodies fell one after another as War Machine and Nebula, still consumed by madness, tore into the remaining Kree troops. The planet descended into utter turmoil.
"The Mind Stone's power… terrifying," Allens muttered, his eyes glowing.
Even from the depths of the void, he had conjured a storm on Morag using nothing but stray mental fluctuations. If he could master the Mind Stone completely, his strength would reach the level of a god—perhaps even surpassing the All-Father.
But he knew the psychic storm wasn't his true goal. It was a distraction, a way to buy time—not for himself, but for Thanos of 2014.
When Allens's consciousness encountered War Machine and Nebula from the future, he realized Avengers: Endgame was unfolding. The past Thanos had not yet crossed into their timeline.
Now, he needed to confirm something critical: would Thanos's crossing create a new branch timeline, or was the one Allens had traveled to still the main timeline?
If Thanos still existed elsewhere in the galaxy, this was the main timeline. If not, then 2014 was just one of the countless wrong branches.
"Let's see," Allens whispered with a sinister grin. "Will the timeline change?"
But his spiritual form was limited. He could control minds—but not touch the physical world.
On Morag, the Kree Judgment Force lay in ruins, War Machine and Nebula battered and scarred. Yet Star-Lord and the Orb remained untouched.
"What… what have I done?" Rhodes gasped, his eyes clearing, horrified at his own madness. Nebula, too, staggered back, shaken by her loss of control.
"We can't stay," Nebula said sharply. "There may be other forces after the Power Stone. We need to return to the future immediately."
But Rhodes shook his head. "No, Nebula. I have… other orders. Take the Power Stone back. I'll follow later."
Neither of them realized that Allens was watching, smiling coldly from the void.
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