"How did you escape from that place?"
Thanos' tall figure stood in front of Nebula and the others. He ignored the unfamiliar faces and just looked at Nebula and asked.
Nebula, who was brought before Thanos, was still pondering a way to escape when she was stunned by Thanos' question. She looked up at Thanos, somewhat confused, her mind rapidly reviewing relevant memories.
"Have you lost your memory?" Thanos frowned. Without waiting for Nebula to reply, he turned and said, "Come with me. I need to check your memory."
"Wait a minute, check the memory?" Star-Lord looked at Thanos who was defenseless with his back to them, and couldn't help but take out his incredibly lethal gun.
"I know you, Star-Lord, a very famous plunderer." Thanos turned around and looked at Star-Lord who was pointing a gun at him, stretched out his hand to signal the soldiers nearby who also raised their weapons and pointed them at Star-Lord and his group, and said calmly.
"Should I feel honored?" Star-Lord hesitated, considering whether to pull the trigger. Their current situation was not good, they were surrounded.
"Or rather, you should feel unfortunate." Thanos said meaningfully, "As a survivor who escaped from the Void, I'm surprised you dare to come near this area. Is there something in there that you can't bear to leave behind? Also, where is my daughter Gamora? She should have escaped the Void with you."
"You dare to mention Gamora." Star-Lord's rationality showed signs of breaking in an instant.
"What happened in the Void? Didn't the Power Stone fall into Ronan's hands?" Nebula sensitively grasped the message in Thanos' words and searched through the records about the Void in her mind. She thought Thanos wanted to know the whereabouts of the Power Stone.
"Who told you that the Power Stone fell into Ronan's hands?" Thanos narrowed his eyes instantly and turned his gaze to his daughter.
"Isn't it?" Star-Lord felt that what Nebula said was correct.
"I don't know who got the Power Stone in the end, but the last information I got was that it was in the hands of the Mechanical Masters." Thanos had realized something and said slowly with a deep look in his eyes.
"Who is the Mechanical Master?" Star-Lord and Nebula looked confused, knowing nothing about the person Thanos was talking about.
"It seems that your memories have been severely distorted, but it doesn't matter. I have a way to find out what I want to know from your heads. You will be obedient, right?" Thanos said at the end, his eyes fixed on Nebula.
"I refuse." Nebula drew her weapons with both hands. Although she didn't know what was happening in the void of this universe, she wouldn't willingly let Thanos browse through her memories. After all, Thanos at this time didn't know the whereabouts of all the Infinity Stones, but she did know them in her mind.
Especially where the most mysterious soul stone is.
Bang!
Star-Lord decisively fired a shot, but it was dodged by Thanos who was close at hand. His huge body showed incredible flexibility and strength, especially his explosive power which exceeded everyone's expectations.
Before Rhodes's steel machine could take off and create distance, Thanos reached out and tore off its external weapons, throwing it on Clint, where it rolled into a ball.
Star-Lord and Nebula took the opportunity to attack Thanos' body, but their attacks only earned a grin from Thanos. Then, he grabbed the two men's necks with one hand each and lifted them up in the air.
"Control them, I want them to be alive for the time being!" Thanos gave orders to his men nearby, and came to the modification room of the mothership with Star-Lord and Nebula in his hands.
The heavy metal door blocked out the sounds of fierce fighting outside.
Thanos threw Nebula into the center of the modification room. Nebula had almost no power to resist during the whole process and was easily torn into parts by Thanos. Her body, which had been modified many times, was completely frozen under the control command and lost control. She could only follow Thanos' orders and project everything she saw from her eyes to the outside.
The picture accelerated to a jump, and scenes flashed before Thanos' eyes, starting from the void and ending when she used Pym particles to travel to this universe.
During this period, Thanos saw Ronan taking the Power Stone from the Void, and saw Ronan taking the original stone for himself. He went to destroy Xandar, but was killed by Star-Lord and his men.
I saw him search for the Infinity Stones one by one, and saw the location of the Soul Stone. I saw him snap his fingers to fulfill his wish, and I also saw his head being chopped off by the new king of Asgard.
All of this was completely different from what he knew. It also made Thanos realize that Nebula and Star-Lord were likely from another universe. He expressed admiration for himself for achieving his wish in another universe.
"You are from another universe, right?" Thanos looked at Star-Lord who was still in his hand.
"Haven't you seen it?" Star-Lord tried to ignore it, but then he saw Thanos twitch his fingers. Nebula, nearly torn apart, showed a look of pain on her face, her body hunched over like a shrimp being steamed in high temperature. This direct threat forced him to speak.
"I need to get accurate information from you." Thanos stopped torturing Nebula.
"We don't know if we are from another universe. We just want to travel from the future to the past." Star-Lord looked at the collapsed Nebula and said compromisingly.
"Want to go back to the past to stop what has already happened? I have to say that I from another universe really underestimated you." Thanos confirmed the information.
"Why are you so sure we're from another universe?" Star-Lord was puzzled. He still felt they had traveled back in time, but there might have been a slight problem with the timing.
"Because of the Void!" Thanos didn't think of hiding anything. He threw Star-Lord on the ground, walked to the front and sat down, saying calmly.
"The Void?" Star-Lord had heard of this place from Thanos more than once. He knew what this place was, but he didn't know why Thanos cared so much about it.
"In your world, Ronan the Accuser obtained the Power Stone and betrayed me. But in this world, the Power Stone should have eventually fallen into the hands of the Mechanical Masters. They made the Obsidian Five who were sent there be completely trapped in that place." Thanos sat with his elbows resting on his knees on both sides, fingers crossed in front of him, answering Star-Lord and Nebula who was unable to control herself beside him.
"The Void has undergone some bizarre changes. It has been swallowed into an unknown dimension, becoming a cyclical world. No one trapped within has ever been able to escape. According to the information I have, those trapped within are unaware they are dead, or rather, unaware they are trapped in a cyclical dimension. They simply passively and unconsciously cycle through time and again. They may still be alive, but their lives will no longer move forward."
Star-Lord was a little confused by what he heard, but what he knew was that Ronan and the Black Order were still in the Void where the incident had happened, and the Power Stone had not been brought out, but fell into the hands of the so-called Mastermind. To this day, Thanos could not be sure whether the Stone and the Mastermind were still in the Void.
Thinking of this, Star-Lord, while realizing the difference, also understood why Thanos said that they were not from the future, but from another parallel universe.
Unless someone risked tampering with time and modified reality, causing Thanos's memory to be inconsistent with theirs, the only explanation is that there are two similar but different universes.
"Are your partners collecting other cosmic stones?" Thanos suddenly asked softly.
Star-Lord's eyes moved back and forth between him and Nebula, then he nodded slightly.
"Are you going to use this to return to your universe?" Thanos took out the small tube of Pym particles he had searched from Nebula.
"Yes." Star-Lord was forced to nod again under Thanos's gaze. This was impossible to hide. Star-Lord could sense that Thanos knew something very well, and asking was just a test.
"I want to go to another universe with you." Thanos smiled at Star-Lord's terrified face.
"You want to go to our universe?" Star-Lord had never realized that his tone could become so dry. He was really shocked by Thanos' sudden request.
In their universe, their efforts had only managed to kill a severely wounded Thanos, whose wish had been fulfilled and whose will to fight had been lost. But this Thanos, still clearly at the peak of his power, would be an unparalleled disaster in their universe! Who knew how much more trouble he could wreak in their universe?
"Yes, I want to see that beautiful world," Thanos said longingly. His own self in that universe had already achieved his wish. But even if he knew the whereabouts of the Stones from other universes, he could only wait.
His wings were already broken. The Obsidian Five's combat power still had a certain bonus effect on collecting the Cosmic Stones. But they were lost in the Void, and their life or death was unknown. He had fought Danvers several times, but had never entered the Void.
Odin, the god king of the Nine Realms, is still alive, and his protection of the Nine Realms still exists. So even though Thanos knows the whereabouts of many cosmic stones in the Nine Realms, he can only watch.
He wasn't afraid of Odin, but he had to admit that with Odin blocking him, it would be much more difficult for him to obtain one of the stones. Once he appeared within the Nine Realms, he would inevitably attract Odin's attention and fight.
The only good news is that the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme of Midgard, has been reported to have fallen. If the Black Order were still there, Thanos could stop Odin and give them the task of collecting the Cosmic Stones.
But now, this plan has naturally failed.
But the Pym particles and Star-Lord's ability to travel through the cosmic barrier presented Thanos with a new path. Apart from other things, if those people could bring back a few Cosmic Stones from Midgard, then once he followed them back, he wouldn't need to fight Odin and could easily gain ownership of the Cosmic Stones scattered in Midgard.
If that doesn't work, you can also recruit some helpers from other universes.
…
Silent City
"Do you think we should agree to his conditions?" In the silence, Scott was the first to speak.
"It's a good idea to let the other party communicate with our universe. But we're just worried that some unexpected situations might occur." Natasha, an agent, added suspiciously.
"But this is the only way right now." Dr. Banner frowned. "According to him, the stones from their universe might not work in ours, and they don't seem willing to lend them to us. So the only and best way is what Luke said. He will teach us how to condense the stones, and then we can return to our universe and condense and extract new stones."
"This method requires time and corresponding supporting equipment. If we do it all by ourselves, it will take a long time, and some other accidents may happen during this period. But with their help and guidance, we will be able to extract and condense new raw stones immediately after we return." Captain Rogers said, frowning slightly.
"My advice is to agree to it," Stark replied decisively. "But we need to agree to certain restrictions beforehand. Why are we here? To salvage everything! This opportunity is right before us. Should we back down? No way!"
"I agree with Tony. We don't have any better options, and we have nothing to lose," Thor echoed. He still had a good impression of Luke's people. After all, he had seen his living father and mother, and a living brother, here. If the two universes were connected, it would mean he could see them again. It didn't have to be frequent, but even the thought was enough to give the dejected Thor a surge of motivation.
"I just want Groot and the others to come back. As for the rest, I don't care." Rocket Raccoon snorted twice and spread out his little paws indifferently.
"Then let's negotiate terms with them," Stark said with determination. He pointed at Rocket, Natasha, and Captain America. "Let's set some boundaries first, then we can talk to them."
…
"Will they agree to your conditions?" Nick Fury looked at the closed conference room where Stark and the others were.
"Why not? Who else could offer better terms than mine?" Luke spread his hands. "I'm not asking them to sell out their country or their universe. We're just collaborating on development. I think the terms I offer are generous enough."
"I hope so." Nick was somewhat dismissive of Luke's words. Who was the last person to feel comfortable with such a good offer and still remain stuck in the mud? It was him! It was him and his S.H.I.E.L.D.! And the entire planetary government that had been kidnapped and put on the chariot!