Under the intimidation of the Infinity Gauntlet, Tivan ultimately chose to surrender Knowhere...
He recognized that this young Terran was cut from the same cloth as the Kree Empire's Accuser, Ronan, and the Mad Titan, Thanos.
Their common trait was a disregard for established rules... or rather, the courage and the power to overturn the table at any moment.
However, Thanos and Ronan had already fallen one after the other beneath Sean's feet.
Tivan was a pragmatist, he had no desire to be the next stepping stone trampled into the dirt.
Thus, the universe's famed Collector shrewdly provided everything Sean required: the liquid assets of the Tivan Group, control over the star sectors surrounding Knowhere, and more.
Tivan understood Sean's desire for a visible puppet. On the Kree front, he already had Ronan the Accuser and a Necrocraft fleet.
Securing Knowhere next to forge a vast and prosperous trade port would mean establishing a true foothold in the boundless cosmos.
"Knowhere shall have a new master," Tivan declared, spreading his arms in an exaggerated gesture of respect.
Having fulfilled Sean's demands, the Collector departed with an air of dignified composure...
...
"Tivan is not to be trusted," Nebula said coldly from behind the sofa, standing like a sentinel.
She had dealt with him many times and knew that beneath his clownish façade lay a calculating mind. As an Elder of the Universe who had lived through endless epochs, the Collector's thought processes were far removed from ordinary beings, making him all the more inscrutable.
"Of course he isn't trustworthy. That Collector is probably obsessed with finding a way to seize these five Infinity Stones from me," Sean replied with a nod and a faint smile.
Tivan's surrender of Knowhere and his generous offer of the Tivan Group undoubtedly concealed ulterior motives.
"A ruler shouldn't fret over schemes hatched in shadows. Consider Thanos who commands the Black Order and rules billions... Does he fear the ill intentions of others?" Sean stood up, a relaxed smile on his face.
He walked slowly to the transparent observation deck, gazing out at the brilliant nebula dust, his mind serene.
From Earth to the starry ocean, Sean had always played the man behind the curtain, surpassing both heroes and villains to reach the pinnacle of his world.
Now, immersed in the vast cosmos, he felt a burgeoning impulse to act freely and ambitiously. With Knowhere as his starting point, his gaze swept across the Three Empires, the Nova Corps, the Elders of the Universe, the Black Order… Though he stood atop Earth, the road ahead remained long and arduous.
"Beneath the starry sky, within the forest of civilizations, it all comes down to the language of fists," Sean said softly, turning to Nebula, "Only with the passage of eras does violence and barbarism don a cloak of civilization, dressed in grandiose justifications."
Nebula remained silent. She had heard similar words from Thanos many times.
Her cybernetic eyes fixed on the golden gauntlet adorning Sean's right hand... the supreme treasure the Mad Titan had pursued his entire life.
Even after witnessing Ronan bow at this man's feet, doubt had lingered in her heart. It wasn't until Sean revealed the Infinity Gauntlet that she became utterly convinced of Thanos's defeat.
Having spent years at Thanos's side, she knew his formidable power all too well. Seated upon the throne of a cosmic overlord, commanding legions of brutes and criminals, Thanos could annihilate planets and wipe out half of all life. He a terror even the Three Empires dared not provoke.
To Nebula, Thanos had always been invincible, undefeatable, unkillable. Despite the hatred she and Gamora carried, they never dared reveal it. But now, that colossal shadow, that nightmare looming over her heart, seemed to have dissipated.
"What do you want me to do?" the assassin asked directly.
She knew that without Thanos's protection, her past deeds would draw the relentless pursuit of the Nova Corps, ending in a lifetime at the Kyln.
To escape Thanos's control and find freedom, she needed a new patron. And Sean, who had stood against the Mad Titan, was the obvious choice.
"The same as you did by Thanos's side," Sean replied.
He needed to establish a route, a stable channel from the Nine Realms to Knowhere. It was a laborious project. Ronan, now his puppet, had to return to the Kree Empire to spark a military revolution, overthrowing the Supreme Intelligence.
Sean required a formidable agent to deal with notorious space pirates and warlike raider civilizations on his behalf.
"Before that, keep an eye on Gamora," he added casually, "She still holds the secret to the last stone's location."
Nebula's heart chilled. She snapped her gaze to Sean, fear flickering in her eyes, 'Gamora had confided that secret only to me. How did he know?'
To Nebula, the man at the observation deck was shrouded in mystery.
"In all the universe, only I can help you break free from Thanos's control," Sean said calmly.
He knew Gamora and Nebula yearned every moment to escape the Mad Titan's grasp.
In the original timeline, when Ronan obtained the Orb, he tore up his deal with Thanos, claiming the Power Stone for himself. And Nebula, without hesitation, chose to stand by Ronan, hoping to use his power to flee Thanos's shadow.
"I will work for you, as long as you can kill Thanos," Nebula said after a moment of reflection, her voice cold, her tone indifferent yet heavy with hatred.
What agony must it be for a living being to endure repeated, cruel mechanical alterations? If Gamora's hatred stemmed from her slaughtered homeworld, Nebula's was born of her own mutilation.
"That day will come," Sean said lightly.
He bore no personal grudge against the Mad Titan. But two beings pursuing the same ultimate goal could not coexist.
"I will wait," Nebula said, her gaze fixed on Sean's upright figure, as if witnessing the rise of a new cosmic overlord.
...
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