Bab 249: Chapter 249: The Void
"Heh, I seem to remember someone recently saying that even if we caused trouble on Xandar, the Nova Corps wouldn't bother us out of respect for you," Ava said with a touch of sarcasm while giving Clark a sidelong glance. "Such a handsome face, yet sometimes it's not so effective, huh?"
Clark, feeling a bit embarrassed, defended himself: "Making a scene on the street and being chased afterwards are not the same thing. At least in the latter case, they would first need to investigate our identities, which wouldn't happen in the former."
Shaking his head slightly, he then glared at Ava, "You're getting cheeky, huh? Teasing me now? You'll be disciplined tonight!"
Ava's heart raced a bit at his words, and she replied with a blush, "Bring it on. I'm not afraid of you."
Seeing her reaction, Clark suddenly felt like he had fallen into a trap.
Was it an illusion?
Just as he was about to say something more, a mechanical voice rang out from the speaker: "Incoming call request. Do you wish to connect?"
"Connect."
Following Clark's command, the display in the ship showed a middle-aged woman with a commanding presence. She introduced herself: "Greetings, Prince of Asgard. I am the Supreme Commander of the Nova Corps, Nova Prime."
Hearing her title, Clark put aside his flirtatious behavior with Ava and solemnly said, "Greetings, Nova Prime. I apologize for the trouble we caused earlier due to some personal matters."
His apology, insincere as it was, wasn't much different from a dismissive shrug.
You cause trouble on someone's turf, teleport away without a word, and only apologize after they reach out to you - isn't it a bit late?
However, Nova Prime graciously accepted Clark's insincere apology and quickly shifted the topic, "The woman you captured is under Ronan's command, a sworn enemy of Xandar. Could you hand her over to the Nova Corps?"
"Sorry," Clark declined without hesitation. "I understand her importance to the Nova Corps and that she could be used as a bargaining chip with Ronan. However, I've had some misunderstandings with Ronan myself. Simply put, we're after the same thing. If negotiations fail, a confrontation is possible, so Nebula is equally useful to me."
Hearing this, Nova Prime's eyes lit up.
Truthfully, even if Clark had no reason to decline her request, she could only express dissatisfaction.
After capturing Gamora, they didn't hesitate to throw her in the Kyln prison because Ronan and Thanos were their enemies, and they weren't afraid to offend them.
But Asgard was a different matter. There was no need to make a powerful enemy over a small issue.
Hearing Clark's tone, it seemed he might even trouble Ronan, which was perfect for Xandar!
Delighted, Nova Prime readily agreed: "If Nebula is useful to you, Prince, I won't insist. If you need any assistance, feel free to contact me. The Nova Corps is willing to cooperate within our capabilities."
Clark smiled lightly: "Then I look forward to our pleasant cooperation."
Nova Prime: "Pleasant cooperation."
Ending the call, Clark turned to Ava with a smug look: "See? That's the power of my influence."
Ava shrugged helplessly: "I hope your influence can solve the troubles we're encountering now."
"What troubles?" Clark frowned.
At that moment, Nebula, subdued by Ava, triumphantly displayed the star chart to Clark: "The star chart is broken."
The star chart is broken?
Seeing Nebula's smug expression, Clark could only say resignedly: "It seems we have to return. Handing this woman over to the Nova Corps in exchange for a new star chart shouldn't be a problem."
Impression points +666 from Nebula!
Wait a minute.
Nebula quickly said, "Didn't you just mention I was useful to you? Now that just the star chart is broken, shouldn't you be thinking of buying a new one instead of exchanging me for it? Do you value me only as much as a star chart?"
"More or less..." Clark rubbed his chin and said: "As Thanos' adopted daughter and Ronan's subordinate, the Nova Corps has put a bounty of 1 million credits on you. The star chart you broke, a rare item smuggled from the Shi'ar Empire, is worth 100,000 credits. But I expect the Nova Corps would make change."
Impression points +999 from Nebula!
"Um..." Nebula, seeing Clark's mercenary demeanor, quickly explained, "Actually, I had copied the contents of the star chart as soon as I got it."
Seeing Clark's interested look, she smugly added, "If you don't hand me over to the Nova Corps, I can input the information from the star chart into this ship's database right now."
"Really?" Clark raised an eyebrow.
Nebula nodded: "Really!"
"Alright then." Clark instructed Ava: "Keep this blue lady under control. Remember, most of her body is mechanical; she might suddenly produce a screwdriver or something from her arm. As for the star chart..."
While speaking, Clark casually pulled out a metal sphere identical to the one Nebula had broken and inserted it into the ship's controller: "Actually, when we left the broker, I sensed someone spying on us, so I hid the real star chart. The one you broke was just an ordinary one from Xandar, worth 2,000 credits."
Impression points +999 from Nebula!
Seeing Clark's indifferent expression, Nebula was frustrated, but she couldn't do anything about his nasty character.
While securing Nebula with Asgardian ropes, Ava curiously asked Clark, "Clark, you even fooled me. But I'm curious, since you already have a backup of the star chart, why not use her to get some tangible benefits from the Nova Corps?"
Ava's eyes gleamed slyly as she suddenly changed the topic: "Or do you really have such exotic tastes, interested in a half-mechanized blue woman?"
At that moment, the ship's screen projected their destination, the Void.
"What are you thinking?" Clark, holding the Tesseract, casually explained: "With the emergence of the Universal Orb, or the Power Stone, many are interested in it. Apart from Star-Lord and his crew, there's the Kree accuser Ronan and even Thanos."
Listening to Clark analyze the situation, Ava listened attentively. To her, his analytical side was even more attractive than his unstoppable might.
Nebula, seeing the Tesseract, showed a flash of surprise, but it quickly disappeared. It was unclear what she was thinking.
Clark continued, "We missed the opportunity to recreate the Life-Restoring Hands earlier, and now the situation is out of our control. While I know Star-Lord and his crew might have taken the Power Stone to the Void to sell to the Collector, we don't know if they've succeeded, or if Ronan or Thanos got there first. Among those interested in the Stone, Star-Lord's group is the weakest, even weaker than Yondu's Ravagers."
"At this time, this blue elf is very important to us."
"Nebula is Thanos' adopted daughter, Gamora's sister in Star-Lord's group, now working under Ronan for Thanos."
"With her, regardless of who has the Power Stone, we can use her to find them. So now..."
While speaking, Clark drew a huge portal in front of the ship in space, revealing the Void beyond it, resembling a giant skull, where the Collector resided.
The Collector, Marvel Universe's biggest hoarder, was only interested in collecting, even ignoring pursuits like ruling. He collected Infinity Stones just for their rarity.
He occupied the Void mainly to mine materials from the remains of Celestials, selling them to fund his collection.
In this sense, the Collector was quite straightforward.
While explaining the Collector's background to Ava based on the latest information, Clark decided to first stop at a bar-like place to gather information about Star-Lord and his crew.
If they could intercept them before meeting the Collector, it would be perfect.
Given the Guardians of the Galaxy's flamboyant nature, it shouldn't be hard to find out about them wherever they went.
However, as the trio landed and began searching for a pub on the street, Clark frowned slightly and instructed Ava, "Stay here and don't move."
Then, he disappeared in a flash.
At the same time, a destructive purple energy burst from a dome-shaped building some distance away, completely obliterating it!
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