After the power of the Power Stone finally cald down, Josh got ready to leave Morag with his team.
"Josh, what do you plan to do with those Dekron people the Stormtroopers captured?" Peggy Carter asked just before they left, noticing the prisoners.
"They are Dracula's enemies, so naturally, they'll be handed over to Dracula!" Josh glanced at the unard Dekron prisoners and answered without much thought.
Just like Dracula didn't want to offend Josh, Josh didn't want to cause trouble with Dracula over a small matter.
After all, there was no conflict of interest between them.
Carter was a bit surprised by this answer, but it made sense.
"Or do you have another idea?" Josh asked Carter.
"No… nothing. I was just asking!" Carter wanted to say more, but seeing the serious look on Josh's face, she stopped herself.
Still, deep down, she found it hard to accept Josh's sudden change.
Seeing this, Josh said nothing more, nodded, and led Margaret to board the ship first.
Carter quietly followed.
"I know you have many questions. Ask anything you want now!" After they got on the ship and sat down in the lounge, Josh said to Carter.
"…That's good. Josh, what is this army? You're after sothing as dangerous as the Power Stone. Why?" Carter, still sharp and direct, quickly asked the question she wanted to know.
"It's simple. The army you see is one I built over the past few years. After Mar-Vell ca to Earth, I found many alien ruins and advanced technology. That's how I got my power. As for the Power Stone, once I learned the legend of the Infinity Stones and confird they were real, I started searching for clues. My goal is simple: I don't like anything that can threaten or is out of my control… You understand, right? Imagine if an enemy on Earth… no, not just an enemy of Earth, even if it's just my personal enemy, gets this stone. What do you think would happen?" Josh explained, then asked Carter.
Carter had no answer.
His reason sounded a little childish but also made perfect sense.
Yes, anything that could threaten , I must control. That sounds reasonable.
Earth's strongest nations have always done the sa.
"But what about the technology you found? Why…" Carter asked again.
"Why not give it to the governnt, why not share it with all humanity? Co on, Peggy, I don't rember you being so naive—If this tech got exposed, Peggy, tell , what's more likely: countries working together to develop it, or Russia and the US fighting a war to grab it?" Josh asked back.
Carter was silent again.
Indeed, in recent years, the tension between East and West has grown stronger and fiercer.
Whether during her ti at the CIA or after taking over the IMF, Carter lost count of how many tis she clashed with Russian intelligence.
"Sorry, Josh. I know I shouldn't doubt so much, but recent events have really shaken ..." After a long silence, Peggy Carter sighed.
"Of course, I understand. Now, we still have a long way to go. You should go rest in your room!" Josh stood up and patted Carter's shoulder to comfort her.
"...Thank you. Maybe I do need so rest!" Carter nodded and didn't refuse. She got up and went back to her room.
"Compared to Mar-Vell, she clearly cares more about you! Even if Captain Arica shows up again, he probably wouldn't an as much to her as you do," Margaret said after Carter left.
"What? Are you jealous?" Josh sat next to his wife, putting his arm around her shoulder with a smile.
"Not really. I just wonder if it's right to keep hiding things from her. After all, she's our friend... and..." Margaret hesitated, feeling guilty about hiding so much from a good friend.
"I understand that. But so things require soone to make sacrifices..." Josh said quietly. After being together so long, there's no way he had no feelings for Carter.
But like he said, so things need sacrifice.
And that sacrifice is more than just keeping secrets.
There's sothing else...
Like the Soul Stone, which needs a sacrifice of a loved one's soul in exchange.
Josh couldn't sacrifice Margaret for that.
Though Josh could try to get the Soul Stone by letting soone else get it first and then taking it from them, he was still preparing for it.
Thanos spent twenty years raising Gamora for that day.
Why can't Josh do the sa?
But now was not the ti. He didn't even know where the planet Vormir was.
Neither the Kree Empire's archives nor so star maps for sale, like those from Contraxia, showed any record of that planet.
Clearly, before the story where Gamora found Vormir, its location was a mystery.
And at this ti, Gamora wasn't even born yet.
Even when she was born and taken in by Thanos, and before she found Vormir, Josh would avoid following Gamora's path to keep Vormir hidden.
Of course, Josh wouldn't tell Margaret anything about the Soul Stone.
After comforting his wife, Josh went to the ship's bridge.
"Leader!" Thalorien, who was busy before, stood up quickly to greet him.
"Relax. How's Vereesa's investigation on the missing Ravagers going?" Josh waved and asked.
He was talking about the two captured Kree war slave ships, except the centaur aliens.
From Dracula, Josh learned that besides the Ravagers who were confird dead, another group was listed as missing. This made Josh suspicious, so he asked Vereesa to check what was really going on.
"They've found out. So Ravagers, after seeing our fleet's strength, knew they couldn't win. So they gave up their weapons and hid among the Kree slaves. After being captured, they planned to escape, but our guards are tight, and the star area where the fleet is stationed isn't on any space route. They don't have a chance to run!" Thalorien answered quickly when Josh asked.
"Good. Tell Vereesa to bring all the non-centaur slaves, including those Ravagers, to the Knowhere eting point. I'll arrange a good place for them!" Josh nodded and gave the order after hearing Thalorien.
Their next stop was the ho base of the Collector, Taneleer Tivan.
Josh wanted to build power in the universe but didn't want to show too much strength too early or cause big conflicts with big space civilizations like the Kree.
Dracula was different; he just took over a piece of land and ruled there. He didn't really threaten the big space empires.
Josh wanted Earth's civilization to have a place in the universe.
That was a completely different goal.
So at first, the best way was to act like a neutral space business group.
But that way needed a lot of money.
Even though Josh had the dinsional trading system and many universes behind him with huge resources, turning all that into this universe's common money wasn't easy.
Trade itself is complicated, especially space trade.
And having so many goods appear at once would catch the attention of big civilizations and many space business groups.
Josh could pretend to be Dracula, the Blood Lord, but that would still attract many eyes.
Josh wasn't afraid, but it would waste ti and energy.
But in the universe, there was one place, one being, where Josh could easily get a lot of money.
That place was the Knowhere, and that being was the Collector.
The Collector had lived for who knows how long, and his wealth was beyond what most could imagine.
Even old space empires might not be richer than him.
If just a little of his wealth slipped through his fingers, it could drown Josh now.
But it wasn't easy for most to make money from the Collector.
Though he didn't care about money and was happy to pay big for what he wanted.
But rember, he's a Collector, not a junk buyer.
No low-quality things accepted.
But that was no problem for Josh.
So many worlds, so many civilizations, had species that were not found in this universe.
Pull out a few, and the Collector wouldn't have seen them before.
Josh had already gathered a huge number of species from those worlds, many likely not in the Marvel universe.
Most of them were species from Azeroth.
For this, Abbendis had been busy running around all these years.
Josh believed the Collector would gladly pay for these species.
After more than a week of travel, Josh and his group arrived in the star area where Knowhere was.
Besides eting so careless Ravagers, the journey went smoothly.
Though it was called the Knowhere, its location was not a secret.
Almost every star map sold in the universe marked its position.
But no civilization dared to attack this place—even though it produced special organic materials popular throughout the universe.
To be exact, it's not that no civilizations dared to attack.
It's that those who did were already wiped out.
The Tivan Group, a huge space business empire, had a massive rcenary fleet. Small and dium civilizations' armies were no match.
And the Collector, Taneleer Tivan himself, was also extrely powerful.
Though in the movies the Collector seed easily beaten by Thanos, and the Knowhere was destroyed, that was because Thanos already had the Power Stone.
The Collector had the Reality Stone, but it wasn't as powerful as the Power Stone.
So it was normal the Collector lost to Thanos.
It didn't an he was weak.
Josh's fleet arrival caused a stir at the Knowhere spaceport.
Three Warbringer-class warships escorting him made it clear they weren't ordinary visitors.
Knowhere had many rcenaries, miners, and all kinds of aliens, but they knew who was dangerous and who wasn't.
So around Josh's ship, they cleared a wide space.
When they got off the ship, the people at the spaceport only dared to watch from a distance.
Josh and the others had no interest in dealing with these people anyway.
They had already made an appointnt with Taneleer Tivan, and the Collector's servants were ready to receive them.
"Are you Mr. Josh Kahn?" asked a purple-skinned alien maid dressed in fine clothes, carefully addressing Josh.
"Yes, that's !" Josh nodded. He wasn't surprised no red-skinned alien from the movie ca to et him—again, because the ti was different.
The Collector was immortal, but his servants were not.
Besides, he was very strict with his servants and often turned them into specins, so they changed servants often.
"Honored guest, please follow . The master has been waiting for you!" The purple-skinned maid bowed respectfully after confirming Josh's identity.
Josh nodded and signaled Thalorien and the robots carrying huge cargo containers to follow.
Inside those containers were the goods he wanted to sell to the Collector.
Soon, led by the purple-skinned maid, Josh t the Collector—the sa flashy man seen in the movies.
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