"Starship?"
Thor's brows knitted together, golden hair shifting as he turned curiously to Alex. His voice carried both suspicion and a warrior's readiness. "Do you an to say you know of people beyond Midgard—beyond Asgard itself?"
"Of course," Alex replied in an even tone, as if the notion were the most natural thing in the world. He rose unhurriedly, movents calm but carrying an undercurrent of sharp intent.
His eyes lifted toward the heavens, and in the next breath his vision shifted—piercing through clouds, atmosphere, and steel. With super-vision and X-ray sight layered together, the starship ca into stark focus.
Not only the vessel.
The figures inside as well.
Ronan? Ebony Maw? Black Dwarf?
Alex's pupils narrowed faintly. The trio together—on Earth? His mind imdiately moved to calculation.
Sothing was wrong.
A quick chain of thought ford in his mind: Loki's attempt on the Tesseract in Krakoa had not been his own sche. The mastermind, hidden in the shadows, was none other than Thanos. And now, with Loki thwarted, the Titan was moving his other pieces onto the board.
Ebony Maw. Black Dwarf.
And Ronan, the Kree zealot, who though not Thanos's servant, had long cooperated with him.
The pattern was unmistakable.
"So that's how it is," Alex murmured inwardly, cold understanding sharpening his expression.
Still, he forced himself to consider alternatives. Assumptions, however logical, remained assumptions. What if Ronan's purpose was unrelated? What if their presence had nothing to do with Krakoa? If their quarrel lay elsewhere—say, with the United States—Alex had little reason to intervene.
But if their target was his land, his people…
Then he would unleash a storm that not even Thanos's agents could endure.
---
Inside the ship, Ebony Maw worked with his usual eerie precision. His long, slender fingers danced over a projected screen that hovered in the air before him, runes and alien scripts cascading like waterfalls.
"Alex, King of Krakoa. A powerful mutant," Ebony Maw read aloud, his voice smooth, almost serpentine.
"Mutants?" His lips curved faintly, though the expression carried more curiosity than respect. "So C53 actually breeds its own kind of gifted beings? How… unexpected."
Black Dwarf lood silently at his side, his massive fra casting shadows against the faint glow of the projection. His eyes narrowed at the data streaming past, while Ronan stood tensely a step behind.
"The so-called most powerful mutant of this planet… He defeated both Loki and Thor?" Ebony Maw's brow lifted ever so slightly, the flicker of surprise there quickly veiled by skepticism.
C53, to him, was a dust mote in the cosmos—a world of primitives, barely deserving attention. The idea that such a place could produce anyone worthy of their notice seed almost laughable. Titles like "most powerful" were convenient exaggerations, ant to awe villagers, not to trouble conquerors.
"Wait." Ronan's voice cut through the air, edged with both disbelief and recognition. His eyes fixed on the projected image of Alex, and for a brief second, his stern façade cracked.
"It's him!"
Ebony Maw tilted his head. "You know this Earthling?"
"He killed Yon-Rogg," Ronan said heavily, jaw clenched. "Destroyed his entire fleet. His strength is not to be underestimated."
The mory burned in him still. Because of Alex, he had been forced to confront Captain Marvel on C53—and forced to retreat, humiliated.
"Yon-Rogg?" Ebony Maw gave a faint, dismissive hum. The na held little weight in his mind. "So he slew an insect and crushed its nest. Hardly impressive. If the reports are true, defeating Loki and Thor is a far more telling feat. A nobody like Yon-Rogg is irrelevant in comparison."
His voice softened into a silken murmur, his eyes narrowing with a gleam of strange fascination. "Still… I do hope this Alex lives up to his reputation. Otherwise, this journey will have been a waste of my ti."
---
Outside, Alex's gaze grew colder as their words reached his ears. Super-hearing fed him every syllable, every mocking undertone.
"So it is they've co for," he thought, an icy edge flashing in his mind. "Very well."
A killing intent stirred within him, restrained only by his self-control. If they sought death, he would not deny them.
"Thor," he said evenly, turning to the Asgardian prince. "I'll need to step away for a mont."
Thor's instincts, honed through years of battle, caught the shift in atmosphere imdiately. His hand flexed, then rose, palm outward. "It's because of that ship, isn't it? Are they enemies?"
The words had barely left his mouth before he summoned Mjolnir. The hamr, resting against the corner of the hall, answered instantly, tearing through the air into his grasp with a thunderous whoosh. Lightning rippled faintly across its surface.
"Midgard is one of the Nine Realms," Thor declared, eyes blazing with fierce loyalty. "And you are friend to Asgard. As Odin's son, as prince of Asgard, I will not stand by idle while you face this threat."
His sincerity rang through the hall like a war-drum.
Alex, however, only smiled faintly, pressing a steadying hand against Thor's armored shoulder. "Thor, you are my guest. To drag a guest into my affairs would be… discourteous."
The Asgardian opened his mouth to argue further, but Alex's tone left no room for debate. "Wait here. I won't be long."
He glanced aside. "Raven, keep our guest entertained."
Raven gave the faintest nod of acknowledgnt.
Then, in a heartbeat—
Boom!
The air erupted. Alex's figure blurred and vanished, the space he'd occupied cracking with a violent rush of displaced wind. Drapes flared, goblets rattled, and Thor's long golden hair whipped about his face.
The Asgardian exhaled, lips twitching in reluctant acceptance. "This guy…" he muttered, lowering Mjolnir.
He rembered too clearly the last ti he'd faced Alex. Or rather, the ti Alex had beaten him soundly. Whatever awaited outside, Thor could only pity the fools who had co seeking battle.
---
Boom!
By the ti Thor had put his hamr aside, Alex had already pierced the skies. He ascended through the clouds like a spear of light, the air itself cracking under his velocity. In re monts he reached the edge of the atmosphere, a solitary figure against the backdrop of the vast void.
There—Ronan's ship.
He angled toward it without hesitation.
Inside the command chamber, alarms blared.
"Alex!" one of the soldiers cried out.
"What? Already?!" Shock spread across the faces of those present. Their ship hadn't even breached C53's surface, yet this man had detected them, pursued them, and was now intercepting them in open space.
The feed lit up with Alex's figure, his presence alone forcing silence into the room. His aura, cold and unyielding, pressed against the ship's crew like invisible chains.
Even Ebony Maw's usually serene expression darkened. His eyes narrowed, voice low with grudging awe.
"No wonder Thor fell before him. This Alex… is extraordinary indeed."
And if nothing else, the sheer fact that he could ascend unaided, flying alone into the void to et a starship head-on, was proof enough.
This was no ordinary defender of a backwater world.
This was soone dangerous.
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