Xandar, Nova Corps Command.
Nova Prime Irani Rael's face darkened. "You speak of… Thanos?"
Nolan's expression was calm, almost dismissive. "Yes. The Mad Titan seeks the Infinity Stones. If Ronan nearly broke your defenses, what chance do you think you have against Thanos?"
His mind stretched outward, brushing across the Nova Corps' headquarters. Their technology was impressive: plasma weaponry, energy cannons, and orbital defense platforms. And yet, under all that polish, Nolan felt the truth: raw power was missing. What they had in machines, they lacked in might.
Irani's lips pressed thin at the mention of Ronan. "That… was circumstance. Our border fleet was delayed. Had it been present, Ronan would never have reached our capital."
Nolan's chuckle was sharp. "And how many empires, how many fleets has Thanos already annihilated? Do you truly believe Nova ships can halt a Titan who once humbled the Kree themselves? His Chitauri alone could bury this world in fire."
Irani straightened. "Then what do you suggest, Sorcerer Supreme?"
"Give me the Power Stone," Nolan said flatly.
Irani's voice cooled. "And what difference would that make? To surrender the Stone to you—how does that make you any different from Thanos himself?"
She wasn't wrong. The Orb had already been coveted by Ronan, now by this so-called Supreme Sorcerer, and by Thanos. And yet, Nova Prime could not allow it to slip from their grasp, not after the bloodshed to secure it. The Stone had become the centerpiece of their Nova Initiative, the project to harness its limitless energy.
"Difference?" Nolan's eyes glimmered with golden light. "The difference is that I won't butcher a world to claim it. I came to warn you. But if you insist on gambling with your people's lives, I'll let reality teach you. When the Titan arrives, do not say I didn't warn you."
With that, space folded around him, and he was gone.
Irani exhaled sharply, waving away the guards. Alone with her AI advisors, she murmured, "Worldmind… progress?"
The artificial voice answered: "The Power Stone contains infinite energy, but control remains unstable. Testing continues."
"Then accelerate. We may not have long."
"See? That Supreme Sorcerer was exaggerating." A Nova officer smirked in the war council. "Half a month, no sign of Thanos. The Corps stands unshaken."
Irani opened her mouth to answer when the alarms wailed.
A cold, synthetic voice cut across the chamber:
"Warning: multiple wormholes detected in planetary orbit. Defensive grid compromised. Unidentified fleet emerging."
The command room erupted into chaos. Irani snapped to her feet. "All hands to battle stations! Raise shields!"
On the central viewscreen, the black of space tore apart as rifts vomited forth ships hundreds, thousands. Sleek fighter craft poured through like a swarm of insects, their entry trails burning the skies red. Colossal leviathans, armored like beasts of steel, glided forward, birthing more warships from their cavernous maws.
The air itself seemed to shudder.
"Chitauri…" Irani's voice was grim. She had seen records of their raids before. Nova fleets had beaten them back in centuries past. But now? Now they flew under a new banner.
The banner of Thanos.
"Launch every fighter! Do not let them breach the atmosphere!"
The Nova armada surged upward, streaks of blue light meeting the swarm. Energy cannons lit the void, shredding Chitauri craft into blazing fragments. Even the massive war-beasts reeled under concentrated Nova fire, some collapsing in bursts of metal and flesh.
But Irani felt no relief. The Chitauri were only the vanguard.
And then, the shadow came.
From the wormholes slid a structure so massive it blotted out the stars a hollow-ring dreadnought, its core pulsing with alien fire. Even the leviathans looked small beside it.
Irani's blood ran cold. "Activate the Worldbreaker. Ready the Annihilation Cannon!"
From Xandar's orbit, a hidden Nova super-dreadnought revealed itself, massive arrays glowing with gathering energy. The cannon's charge locked onto the ring-ship.
—only for a second beam, crimson and merciless, to lance from the enemy dreadnought.
The blasts collided. Energy rippled like tsunamis across space. The Nova ship's shields held but the charge dissipated. Its cannon was reset to zero.
On the enemy bridge, a gaunt figure with sunken eyes observed with disdain. Ebony Maw raised a hand, voice dripping contempt.
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