[Aboard the Flagship]
Sitting on his throne, Thanos watched as the refugee ship exploded and broke apart in space. He also saw the Bifrost flash away in an instant.
In that brief glimpse, Thanos saw the Conqueror leaving together with the big green brute, headed somewhere unknown.
"The Power Stone."
Thanos let out a snort before looking at Ebony Maw.
The black-tongued strategist stepped forward and respectfully presented the Tesseract with both hands.
Thanos opened his large hand, grasped the Tesseract, and squeezed lightly, crushing the cube and leaving behind only the oval-shaped blue stone inside.
He set the stone into the Infinity Gauntlet.
A streak of blue energy flashed across it.
Thanos snorted, "The Conqueror's abilities are very strange. It seems that until I've gathered more Stones, I shouldn't confront him head-on."
With one hand behind his back, Ebony Maw said, "My lord, we can gather the remaining Infinity Stones first."
Thanos nodded, "As far as I know, there are two Infinity Stones on Earth."
"Ebony Maw, take Black Dwarf, Corvus Glaive, and Proxima Midnight to Earth."
"Bring me back the Mind Stone and the Time Stone!"
Ebony Maw bowed deeply, "Yes, my lord."
"The Power Stone is in that man's hands. That leaves only the Reality Stone and the Soul Stone."
A slight smile appeared on Thanos's lips, "We don't know where the Reality Stone is."
"But as for the Soul Stone... my little one should know a clue."
In one of the flagship's rooms, one of Thanos's daughters, Nebula, was hanging suspended in the air, letting out cries of pain from time to time.
———
[New York, Earth]
The sun was shining brightly today.
The superheroes on Earth still had no idea that a great crisis was approaching.
Iron Man was with Pepper.
Spider-Man was dozing on his school bus.
Just then, a stream of seven-colored light came rushing in.
It passed the Moon, entered Earth's atmosphere, and appeared above New York.
Inside the New York Sanctum, Doctor Strange and Wong were about to head out.
"Seriously, you really don't have any money at all?"
"Attachment to material things is a betrayal of the spirit."
"I'll let the grocery clerk know to prepare some spiritual nourishment for you."
"Wait! Wait!"
"I might have two hundred..."
Wong dug around his belt.
"Dollars?", Doctor Strange asked.
"Rubles. How much are those worth again?", Wong looked up.
Doctor Strange didn't even want to answer him, "About a dollar fifty."
"What are you planning to eat with a dollar fifty?"
Wong licked his lips, "A tuna sandwich sounds pretty good."
Just then, behind them, the seven-colored light came crashing down.
It punched a hole through the Sanctum's roof, slammed into the staircase, and blasted a huge hole through it.
Doctor Strange and Wong both jumped in surprise.
They immediately gave up on going out and turned toward the stairs.
Doctor Strange summoned his Cloak of Levitation, while Wong conjured the Rings of Raggadorr.
Both stood on guard, thinking some powerful enemy had appeared.
Instead, in the hole in the staircase, they saw Bruce Banner, who was gradually becoming less green.
And another man.
He had blond hair, blue eyes, a red cape fluttering behind him, and wore black armor.
The moment Doctor Strange saw him, his expression changed.
"It's you?"
"The Ancient One mentioned you."
"You're the Conqueror!"
"The one who took the Tesseract six years ago!"
Wong had heard about it too.
Six years ago, during the alien invasion of New York, a man calling himself the Conqueror had tried to seize both the Tesseract and Loki's scepter.
The Ancient One had stopped him.
But even the Sorcerer Supreme hadn't been able to completely defeat that man.
In the end, the Ancient One had forced the Conqueror to give up Loki's scepter by trapping him in a time loop, while the Conqueror left with only the Tesseract.
Neither of them had expected him to return six years later.
Alex chuckled and looked up at Doctor Strange.
His gaze settled on the Eye of Agamotto hanging from Strange's chest.
Of course, he knew it was the container for the Time Stone.
"I didn't expect the Ancient One to tell you about that."
"Did she also tell you that when you met me, you'd better hand the Time Stone over to me for safekeeping?"
Doctor Strange took a step back, "You even know about the Time Stone?"
Alex floated out of the staircase, "I also know that someone is traveling a long way here to take the Time Stone from you..."
"...and the Mind Stone from that super robot's head."
Alex knew that unless Doctor Strange was willing, he couldn't obtain the Time Stone even if he forcibly subdued him. That was why he didn't make a move immediately.
Doctor Strange looked at Alex warily, "Other than you, I don't believe anyone else would want them."
"There is."
Banner climbed out of the staircase at that moment, "Thanos."
"Thanos is coming."
Doctor Strange and Wong exchanged a glance.
"Thanos? Never heard of him."
———
Inside a spaceship speeding through space, loud music was blasting.
A man was enthusiastically singing along to it.
Below him, a burly red-skinned man was sprawled across a seat, fast asleep.
Across from him, a green-skinned, red-haired woman was also singing along with great enthusiasm.
Above the woman, a raccoon asked, "So where exactly are we going?"
"That's a distress signal, Rocket," the green-skinned Gamora said, "People could die."
Rocket scratched his thick fur, "I know that, but what's it got to do with us?"
"Because we're the good guys."
The man across from Rocket finally stopped singing and added, "And who knows? We might make a little profit too."
Gamora said irritably, "Star-Lord, profit isn't important."
Star-Lord argued, "Of course it's important."
"I mean, if they don't give us anything, we'll just take their ship."
At that moment, the woman sitting in the back, dressed in green and with mantis-like antennae, said, "We're almost there."
"All right, everyone, get ready."
"This won't be an easy job."
"Stay sharp."
The next moment, they arrived at the source of the distress signal.
But as soon as they dropped out of faster-than-light travel, they saw countless corpses floating through space all around them.
"My God, this is awful."
"What happened here?"
The crew cried out one after another.
Just then, two figures slammed into the outside of their cockpit.
They were two men.
One had very short hair and a heavily built body.
He was tightly hugging a long-haired man dressed in green robes.
"Are they lovers?"
"No, I'd bet they're brothers."
[🙇🏻 You Can Support the Story Through P@tr3on—AmbitiousTranslator. It also has 40+ Chapters of all the novels and fanfics. Thanks for reading~]