Inside the laboratory on Sakaar.
Nebula had stripped off all her clothes and lay on the examination table.
Yet she showed not the slightest trace of embarrassment. Instead, she looked with some astonishment at Ben, who had abruptly transformed into a creature that resembled a frog.
"So this is your real form?" Nebula asked.
Ben studied the computer display showing the analyzed structure of her body. Virtual graphics dissected her layer by layer, laying nearly all her secrets bare before him.
"This is merely one of my many appearances," Ben said quietly.
He paid no mind to her bluntness. The more he transformed into Grey Matter, the more rational he became—even trending somewhat in Azmuth's direction. Though Grey Matter might not match Azmuth in sheer brilliance, as the healthiest specimen, its brain's intelligence could hardly be far behind.
"There is indeed a fail-safe left by Thanos inside your body," he stated. "That's why your sister Gamora was able to find you so easily. You thought you had betrayed him, left him, but in truth you have always been under his surveillance."
The more Ben spoke, the deeper the desolation Nebula felt.
Dejectedly, she said, "It's always been like this. I'm nothing but his tool. If he truly loved me, I wouldn't be what I am now." She gestured at her own body. Roughly thirty-five percent of it had been replaced with machinery. Even the cruelest father would not do such a thing. But Thanos would.
On that, Ben said nothing. After all, Thanos's mindset differed from ordinary people's. He had openly admitted a fondness for Gamora, but he had never said he didn't love Nebula at all. Most crucially, he showed no mercy even when modifying himself. It was entirely possible he genuinely believed everything he did was for Nebula's own good.
"Can you help me remove his fail-safe?" Nebula pleaded.
"You don't have to ask. Of course I will."
Ben hopped toward the examination table. He was now only slightly larger than Nebula's head, and even his eyes looked a little vacant.
"I have two treatment plans for you. The first: I can directly replace the mechanical components on your body, and even install more advanced equipment."
Ben wasn't making empty boasts. The Corbonites' modification technology had inspired him greatly. The Guardian of the great warship could even go toe-to-toe with Thor—far superior to Nebula's current state.
"There's another plan?" Nebula asked, puzzled.
Truth be told, just hearing that Ben could give her an entirely new set of equipment already made her happy. If she could become even stronger, perhaps she could finally defeat Gamora once and earn Thanos's admiration. If that could truly happen, she wouldn't hesitate to replace every bit of flesh and blood on her body with machinery.
"What's the other plan?"
"Remove all these mechanical parts, and let you become yourself again," Ben said.
Nebula froze on the spot. "You… what did you say?"
"I'm saying it can be done with the healing serum from Primus. You should be thankful that when Thanos modified you, he didn't touch your vital internal organs. Otherwise, even the regenerative serum would be useless."
According to the examination results, the modified parts were mostly her torso and limbs, with only a small portion of her head as an exception. And aside from the eye being a little tricky, the rest wasn't much to worry about.
"But I'll need to do a compatibility test with your genes first. The current regenerative serum doesn't work as well on species other than Earthlings."
The need for prior genetic compatibility was the main reason the regenerative serum hadn't been widely distributed on Sakaar. The races here were too mixed. Aside from the two native Sakaaran species, countless other alien races had come to this world through the Sanctums. Moreover, the planet itself had a kind of local healing spring, so the demand for regenerative serum wasn't that great.
"Become myself again…"
Ben still hadn't realized just how earth-shattering everything he'd said was to Nebula. Ever since her first modification by Thanos as a child, she had wept countless times, clutching her own cold body, over and over, until she went completely numb. Now, Ben's words seemed to reignite a flame in her frozen existence, resurrecting the child who had died in her youth.
"You… can you really do it?" she asked cautiously, as if afraid of shattering a dream.
"That depends on your choice. If you want replacement parts, that can naturally be done too. I'll transform into Brainstorm and guarantee no mistakes whatsoever."
Nebula shook her head frantically. "No, no more modifications!"
"Then Grey Matter it is."
Ben said nothing more and began the genetic compatibility work on Nebula.
After that, he removed most of the components on her body, stuffed a respirator into her mouth, and tossed her into a healing pod.
Watching Nebula soaking inside the pod, Ben thought to himself that it would be great to have Dr. Psychobos's technology. That guy had more than half his body blown apart and still managed to heal inside a pod. Though the cycle was a bit longer, the effect was even stronger than the regenerative serum.
Meanwhile, on Xandar.
Steve and the others had run into trouble.
They had originally come seeking cooperation with Xandar, hoping to join forces with the Nova Corps under the name of the Plumbers to resist the armies of Thanos and the Accuser. But the Nova Corps seemed to pay no heed to their warning.
"Sakaar? The Plumbers?" The Centurion Commander scoffed and shook his head. He had never even heard of this planet or organization. Truly, all kinds of people dared to come and act insolent in their presence.
It had to be said, although Xandar wasn't revered as one of the three great empires like the Kree Empire, the fact that it had warred with the Kree for so long without falling was proof enough of its strength. However, despite inwardly dismissing Sakaar, Queen Adora and the Centurion Commander didn't show it openly. They did receive Steve and the others, but they paid the crisis they spoke of no mind at all.
After Queen Adora gestured for Kaia to take a seat, she said calmly, "Xandar and the Kree Empire have signed a peace treaty. The Accuser's army cannot possibly attack us."
Kaia replied unhurriedly, "The leader of the Accuser Corps, Ronan, lost his parents in the war with Xandar. He's not fighting for the Kree Empire, but for vengeance."
What peace treaty? That thing had no binding force whatsoever.
"He wouldn't dare," the Centurion Commander said. Of course he knew that the so-called peace treaty was like paper-thin shackles, easily torn apart, but the Kree couldn't afford the cost of tearing it up. Why else wouldn't they simply invade Xandar directly? Because they didn't want to? Of course it was because once they plunged back into war, the Kree Empire would become extremely vulnerable. They might win in the end, but it would only be a pyrrhic victory. Not to mention, who knew if the Shi'ar Empire and the Skrull Empire would meddle? Especially the green-skinned Skrulls, who had an ancient feud with the Kree. Though they were more or less at a ceasefire now, given the chance to beat a drowning dog, they surely wouldn't pass it up.
"The Kree wouldn't dare, but Thanos would!" Steve said.
Yet even invoking Thanos couldn't sway the Xandarians.
"If Thanos and his Black Order dare to invade Xandar, our Nova Corps will naturally deal with them," the Centurion Commander declared with pride and arrogance.
The Nova Corps was immensely powerful. Though their total number was only around five hundred, each of them wielded the Nova Force—a power distributed to them by Xandar's supercomputer, the Worldmind. The Nova Force was virtually inexhaustible, enabling the Corps to defeat countless powerful foes. In the previous war with the Kree, it was precisely the Nova Corps that exerted tremendous strength and kept Xandar from falling.
"Regardless, you've come all the way from Sakaar to warn us to be careful, and we are grateful," Queen Adora said, though her expression was nothing but polite formality.
Still, that was to be expected. After all, at present Sakaar had little renown in the universe, and its words were simply not taken seriously.
Steve felt helpless, and the Winter Soldier was somewhat exasperated, but Kaia remained perfectly calm. She had known it would turn out this way. Ben had told her from the start that this trip would not go smoothly.
But that was fine. Talk nicely now and you won't listen—when the time comes that you need Sakaar's help, the price will be different.
Thus, Kaia showed not a trace of displeasure. On the contrary, she rather looked forward to how things would unfold. Moreover, she had taken an interest in Xandar's super-intelligent computer, the Worldmind, and the Nova Force. If the Plumbers could also master the so-called Nova Force, the strength of their operatives would rise as well. Of course, getting Xandar to hand over such power was nearly impossible. After all, the Nova Force was the very thing they relied on for survival. Even if every Xandarian perished, they would likely guard it to the death. Besides, the Nova Corps was itself a force that upheld peace in the universe, and Kaia had no desire to rob them by force. No matter. She believed that one day, the King of Sakaar would develop the Eternal Force to a comparable level—that would be the true power representing Sakaar.
"If you don't mind, you may stay on Xandar for a while and experience its unique charm," Queen Adora said, outwardly cordial but in effect issuing a polite dismissal as she ushered them all out of the palace.
Still, they did keep a cautious eye, beginning to investigate the movements of Thanos and Ronan and recalling all Nova members on missions across the universe. Before long, they confirmed that what Kaia and the others had said was true: Thanos's Sanctuary and the Accuser's Dark Aster were drawing near.
Even so, they never once considered cooperating with Sakaar.
/-\
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