Arthur was momentarily dazed for about a second.
What do you mean you "found your dad"? Or "your dad found you"? What the hell kind of chaotic nonsense is this?
But just a second later, he sharply inhaled through his teeth as he remembered something.
'Ego the Living Planet!!!'
'Why did that guy suddenly pop up out of nowhere?'
Then again… maybe it's not so out of nowhere. Come to think of it, didn't Ego show up not long after the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1? So by that logic, this might just be following the expected sequence of events?
Regardless of whether it was part of the "normal" storyline or not, this current stretch of unexpected peace suddenly felt awkward and unsettling.
Arthur knew pretty well what kind of being Ego was.
In short, he is a galactic-level playboy.
He wandered from planet to planet, shamelessly spreading his seed all over the galaxy, fathering countless children, only to kill them all when they didn't meet his expectations.
In the movie, it ended with Star-Lord blowing him up, but now? That outcome wasn't guaranteed anymore. There was no Baby Groot this time, after all!
Arthur took a deep breath to calm his slightly scrambled thoughts. On the other end, Star-Lord was already speaking: "Honestly, I don't know what to do…"
Arthur thought to himself, 'If you don't know what to do, then just stay the hell away from that place.'
"But… I want to get to know him." Star-Lord said. "I don't really know who else to talk to about this. Gamora hasn't been in the best mood lately because of the whole Nebula situation. I hadn't planned on contacting you either, but my communicator told me your signal was within range, so… you're the only one I could reach."
"Where are you now?" Arthur asked. "I'm on Xandar. If you're free, we could meet up."
"Really? You're willing to come here?" Star-Lord immediately said. "Awesome! I'll send you my coordinates right away. Bro, I'll be waiting for you!"
'...Wait a minute,' Arthur thought. 'Didn't you say this was just a casual chat to share your feelings? So why do I get the sense you've already caused some kind of disaster and now you desperately need me to save you?'
Rubbing his temples, Arthur ended the transmission, and within seconds, Star-Lord had already sent over his coordinates, along with a mapped route.
Taking the star chart, Arthur went to find Coulson.
"You've pretty much been briefed on the situation here. Whether you think I'm shady or manipulative, that doesn't matter. Just fulfill your duties here. You've got your own eyes, use them to judge whether I'm telling the truth."
"You're leaving?" Coulson glanced around. "I thought you were going to stick around a bit longer…"
"Can't be helped," Arthur replied. "Believe it or not, there's a planet out there that wants to eat people. I've gotta go help."
"…Huh?" Coulson was totally confused. 'A planet… wants to eat people? What kind of nonsense is that?'
"No time to explain. I need to board the ship, T'Challa. Come with me."
Throughout the earlier conversations, T'Challa had barely said a word, and with good reason. He hadn't come here to fight; he'd just come to observe and verify whether what Arthur had said was true. That's all. On Earth, he was the Prince of Wakanda. But here on Xandar, that identity held no meaning.
T'Challa followed Arthur as he left. Coulson walked with them to see them off.
T'Challa was confused too. "What kind of planet eats people?"
"I'll explain on the way…" Arthur said. He found an open area and summoned his spaceship. Then he turned to Coulson: "You can try sending word back. Treat this as the first official message transmitted from outer space, consider it a test to see whether the communication channels are stable."
"You're really not worried at all?" Coulson looked rather conflicted as he spoke.
"You can give it a shot," Arthur said with a smile. He opened the ship's hatch, and he and T'Challa boarded. The door shut behind them, and in the blink of an eye, the ship soared into the sky!
Life always seems to be a journey of one kind or another.
But Arthur couldn't shake the feeling that his journey had gotten a bit out of hand…
From a normal world, he'd somehow ended up in the Marvel Universe. That alone was beyond measurement in terms of distance.
Then he left Marvel's Earth and entered Marvel's cosmic realm. And now? Now he was flying around the entire galaxy like it was nothing.
What the hell was he even doing anymore?
Was he aiming to ascend? To stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun?
…Well, to be fair, he had already ascended.
Inside the spaceship's cockpit, after setting the destination, Arthur leaned back, lost in thought.
T'Challa, having just heard the full explanation, was completely stunned.
"You're telling me that what we're about to face… might be a god?"
"You've already seen the gods of Asgard," Arthur said. "Why are you so surprised?"
"But this one is obviously different! He's not even a person, he's a cosmic entity that was born from the universe itself… and eventually became a planet! T'Challa shook his head as he spoke. "Something like that… can we really handle it?"
"Believe in yourself. We're superheroes!" Arthur pumped his fist in a mock cheer.
T'Challa's face darkened, even darker than usual, which was saying something. "That wasn't encouraging at all."
"Trust me. Compared to what Thanos will become in the future, Ego, the living planet, is still kinda cute right now," Arthur said. "Besides, we're catching him before he reveals his true nature. So don't do anything suspicious. One wrong move could trigger unpredictable consequences!"
T'Challa blinked. "If none of that has happened yet, how do you know? Just because he's Star-Lord's father? Speaking of which, I've never actually met that guy…"
"Trust me. Once you do, you'll wish you never had." Arthur shrugged. "As for how I know all this… You ever wonder how I knew about Wakanda? Or its secrets? How I managed to find it?"
"Omniscient and all-knowing?"
"That's God," Arthur replied. "I'm just a regular person, one who's been thrown into a bizarre world and is struggling to survive. Fate handed me knowledge I was never supposed to have. So what am I supposed to do? Let this world fall apart? Or try to convince people who don't even want to believe me in the first place? Do thankless, exhausting work just to try and make a difference?"
"Yes," Arthur said. "I chose the latter, because I have no other choice."
T'Challa fell silent, unable to respond.
And just then, Arthur's expression suddenly changed. His brows lifted slightly.
"This time… it's happening faster than I expected."
(End of Chapter)
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