The treatment these three got after arriving on Sakaar was nowhere near as cushy as what Rocket and Groot received.
Never mind that Nebula and Gamora were still enemies—Star-Lord was a guy who screwed up more than he helped. If it weren't for him, Peter wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place.
When Bant approached, Nebula and Gamora stayed silent. Only Star-Lord grabbed the bars of his cage and shamelessly begged Bant to let him go.
"I know you guys are planning to go after that guy called Thanos. I don't even know the dude, but I took a bunch of punches from that spider kid because of him, and I've been itching for payback!"
"Let me out—I can help you!"
The fool was acting like he was invincible, like his joining alone would guarantee a win for the Sky Guild.
Bant ignored him. He just walked up, yanked a hair right out of Star-Lord's head, and made him yelp in pain.
Star-Lord might be a loser who squandered a god's body to live among mortals, but in the end, he still carried a divine bloodline. Ego himself was a former member of the Elders of the Universe, and there were even records of him trying to join the Celestials.
Power-wise, he might not be the strongest among gods, but there was still collection value.
The only question was whether Ego's essence could be extracted from Star-Lord's genes.
After all, the guy's real body was a planet. When he hooked up with Star-Lord's mother, he didn't show up as his true self—he used his matter manipulation ability to craft a physical form.
Still, since Star-Lord's own powers could be awakened, it was probably possible.
While he was pondering, the crappy little watch had already finished cracking the genetic code.
[Cataloging genes. Sentient planet successfully recorded... Similar genetic template detected. Gravi-Crab Stellar-being genes downloaded from cloud.]
"Gravi-Crab Stellar-being? The Gravity Crab Tyrant?"
Bant blinked.
The Gravity Crab Tyrant was, like Ego, a living planet. Its body was a reddish-brown sphere, its skin like rock, with an enormous mouth, and a core of molten lava inside.
Compared to Ego, the Gravity Crab Tyrant was just a lot smaller and lacked special abilities like matter manipulation.
Its one and only power was gravity control. Pushed to the absolute limit, it could even create a black hole.
He had to admit, unlocking the Gravity Crab Tyrant was a welcome surprise.
Because while Ego was more powerful, that colossal size wasn't something Bant could easily handle. If he transformed into Ego on Earth or Sakaar, the sheer mass might instantly tear the planet apart with its gravity.
All in all, the Gravity Crab Tyrant suited him much better right now, and the power to create black holes was plenty strong enough.
After getting the gene sample from Star-Lord, Bant didn't forget about the blue and green elves.
Nebula and Gamora's species genes weren't exactly exceptional, but as far as Bant was concerned, they could still pad out the gene library.
The only problem was that the blue girl had no hair, so Bant scraped a little skin sample instead.
Throughout the whole process, Gamora didn't say a single word.
But Nebula…
She looked at Bant and spoke.
"You're going after my father?"
"Count me in!"
Before Bant could reply, Gamora finally snapped and stepped forward, scolding, "What are you saying, Nebula? You're going to betray Father again?!"
"Again?" Nebula turned to her, cold. "I betrayed him a long time ago. Don't you know I hate him?"
She held out her hand, showing off that broken, mangled body. The source of her hatred didn't need to be spelled out.
Nezha: Oh, you're rebelling against Heaven and wanna take down my dad too? I'm in!
The look on Nebula's face made it all too easy for Bant to think of Nezha, one of the three great rebels of the Heavenly Court.
And here, she wasn't the only one with a bone to pick with dear old dad.
"I can help you!"
Nebula's gaze was ice-cold and resolute.
She knew the Sky Guild had made Thanos eat dirt before. To her, this was her only chance to finally break free from that monstrous father.
As for "betrayal"… that was laughable.
She'd already left Thanos long ago and become a space pirate. It was Gamora who'd dragged her back.
"You're insane!"
Gamora thought Nebula had truly lost her mind.
Going up against their father would only end one way—badly.
Not to mention, Thanos now possessed the Power Stone. They stood absolutely no chance of winning.
But Gamora's scolding only stoked the flames of Nebula's fury.
"I'm insane?" She sneered.
"Maybe. Who could possibly stay sane after having hundreds, maybe thousands of parts shoved into their brain?"
"I called him Father, but he never once treated me like a daughter!"
Nebula's voice dripped with hatred. Then her tone shifted to pure sarcasm.
"Do you love him, Gamora?"
"Love that monster?"
"Love the man who wiped out the Zehoberi?"
Nebula's questions instantly silenced Gamora.
Even Star-Lord couldn't help perking up his ears to catch the family drama.
This Thanos guy and his daughter really had one touching "father-daughter" relationship, huh?
Star-Lord thought.
If it were him, things would never be like this.
He still remembered: back before Yondu took him out into space, he'd had a mom who loved him.
Sure, his dad was kind of a jerk and he'd never met him, but his mom always said his dad was a good man.
He figured if his family ever reunited, they'd get along "harmoniously and gravestone-ly." There definitely wouldn't be this whole dad-trying-to-kill-kid, kid-trying-to-kill-dad thing going on.
If Bant knew what he was thinking, he'd have died laughing.
Give me a freaking break!
Out of the entire universe, your family is the "most filial."
But regardless, Gamora had indeed been silenced by Nebula.
No matter how much Thanos doted on her, how much favoritism he showed her, it could never erase the shadow in Gamora's heart.
A vast portion of the Zehoberi had been slaughtered by Thanos. Her parents were among them.
How could Gamora ever forget everything she'd lived through that day?
Just like Nebula, she'd long planned to rebel against Thanos.
That was exactly why Gamora, despite knowing the Soul Stone's location, kept it to herself. She didn't want Thanos to fulfill his so-called destiny.
Because it meant countless people and races across the universe would vanish, just like the Zehoberi.
But when it came to actually facing Thanos, Gamora still hesitated.
Knowing full well how powerful Thanos was, she couldn't believe anyone could truly beat him.
And beyond the hatred… though Gamora was loath to admit it, she had long since come to see Thanos as her father.
While she was still wavering, Bant had already opened Nebula's cage.
The blue girl's face lit up, but when she thought about the enemy she was about to face, her expression grew heavier.
If she could kill Thanos, of course she'd be overjoyed. But no one could predict how this war would end.
Maybe, when Thanos found out she'd betrayed him yet again, he'd be very disappointed.
/-\
Enjoying the story? Want to read ahead?
Support the novel and unlock early access to unreleased chapters!
~ +20 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon! (+1 Chapter daily)
https://p-atreon.com/Its_Zack
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access Patreon normally)