Talos hesitated when William directly demanded full control of the Skrull ship. Given the dire state of his people, handing it over was a difficult decision.
But what was an invaluable spaceship to Talos was, for William, nothing more than a single month's worth of production at the X-17 planetary factory.
If he opened a few more production facilities, he could mass-produce a 100-meter-long spaceshipevery week.
Seeing Talos's reluctance, William scoffed.
"If you're worried about me taking your ship, just copy your star maps and hand those over instead."
At that moment, a hard drive suddenly appeared out of thin air on the holographic console.
Talos and Nick Fury jumped in shock, exchanging uneasy glances.
For a brief moment, they saw their own helplessness reflected in each other's eyes.
With a bitter shake of his head, Talos began transferring the star charts onto the hard drive.
While waiting, William—still sitting in his London estate—spoke to Sunday.
"Set up a completely isolated server with no external connections. I don't want any risk of hacking into your system.
Also, prepare two Kingsman memory-wiping needles for me."
"Understood, Sir. I will establish the independent server on X-17."
"NO," William immediately rejected the idea.
"If the Skrulls ever find out I own an uninhabited, habitable planet, I'll never have a moment's peace.
The server stays on Earth. And the moment we find Morag's coordinates, we destroy it."
"No problem, Sir."
A few minutes later, the star map transfer was complete.
With a simple thought, the hard drive vanished—disappearing right before Talos and Nick Fury's eyes.
At that moment, the two men finally realized the sheer hopelessness of their situation.
Teleportation portals were one thing—they at least had a glowing signal before they appeared, giving a fraction of a second to react.
But the ability to make objects appear and disappear instantly?
That was something impossible to defend against.
If instead of a hard drive, William had teleported in a ticking nuclear bomb,
this ship would already be a pile of floating space debris.
From their perspective, instant teleportation was even more terrifying than Captain Marvel's ability to blast through entire fleets.
But if they knew what William could truly do—
That, as the bearer of the Space Stone, he could collapse, fold, cut, imprison, and phase into the dimensional void at will—
Talos and Fury would probably drop to their knees in surrender.
With the star maps secured, a new thought crossed William's mind.
An energy crystal suddenly appeared on the holographic console, snapping Talos out of his thoughts.
But this time, he wasn't even surprised anymore.
Instead of shock, he felt an odd sense of inevitability, as if he had already expected something like this to happen.
Then, William's voice came through the speakers.
"How much is this energy crystal worth in galactic currency?"
"Hmm…" Talos took a moment to gather his thoughts before responding.
"In standard interstellar trade, a single crystal is worth 100 star credits.
But since ships require them for faster-than-light travel, they're more valuable than money itself.
Among pirate groups like the Ravagers, an energy crystal could be traded for 120 credits or more."
As soon as he finished speaking, Nick Fury—curious as ever—asked,
"Mr. Devonshire, if I may ask… where did you get these energy crystals?"
"Trade," William answered simply.
That one word was enough to make both Talos and Fury's expressions darken—their faces a mix of understanding and concern.
That response confirmed that William had already been in contact with extraterrestrials for some time.
And not just in passing—his relationships with them had to be good enough to engage in trade.
Before either of them could dwell on that thought, the energy crystal vanished from the console.
Then, in its place, a jade talisman appeared.
"Have you ever seen anything like this in the galaxy?" William asked.
Talos picked up the Healing Talisman, inspecting it carefully before shaking his head.
"Apologies, Mr. Devonshire. Perhaps because our people have been hiding and fleeing for so long,
we've never come across something like this."
"May I ask what this item is and what it does?"
The moment Talos finished speaking, the combat robot—which had been serving as William's voice—suddenly pulled out a gun.
Before anyone could react, it shot Fury in the arm.
"STOP!"
"Oh my God! I'm not dead!"
Talos, who had instinctively shouted for the attack to stop, relaxed slightly when he saw Fury was only wounded.
But before he could say anything, the robot put away its gun and revealed the Healing Talisman in its hand.
It then approached Fury and crushed the talisman in its fingers.
A green glow emanated from the broken talisman—immediately absorbed into Fury's arm.
"Oh my God… my wound… it's healing?!"
As the one experiencing it firsthand, Fury wasn't focused on pain.
Instead, he felt an overwhelming sensation of comfort—as if he had been soaking in a hot spring.
Not only did his gunshot wound heal at a visible rate, but his entire body felt rejuvenated.
His aches and fatigue vanished completely.
Then, something even more shocking happened.
For the first time in eight years, Fury's blind left eye began to itch and tingle.
When the five-second effect ended, Fury checked the robot's hand.
Seeing that there was no more talisman, he immediately rushed to Talos,
grabbed his talisman, and crushed it.
Instantly, another green glow emerged—this time directly absorbing into his left eye.
Talos, who knew exactly how Fury had gone blind, was stunned as he watched Fury's face twist in shock from the unfamiliar sensation.
When the five seconds passed, Fury hesitantly removed his eye patch.
Running his fingers over his scarred eyelid, he realized—
The scar was gone.
Even before opening his eye, he could already sense light through the closed eyelid.
But when he finally opened it, things weren't quite as perfect as he had hoped.
His vision was blurry—but for Fury, this was still the greatest miracle of his life.
Those who had never lost something precious could never understand the feeling of having it restored.
"Are there… more?"
With desperate excitement, Fury rushed toward the combat robot.
To his delight, another Healing Talisman suddenly appeared in its hand.
But this time, when he crushed it, the green glow refused to absorb into him.
Instead, it hovered for a moment—then suddenly shot toward Talos.
At that moment, Fury understood.
The magic had already done all it could for him.
With a bittersweet expression, he watched as the talisman chose Talos instead.
After five seconds, Talos opened his eyes—feeling not just rejuvenated,
but as if years had been stripped away from him.
His body's hidden ailments were completely gone.
Then, William's voice echoed through the speakers once more.
"You've both experienced the Healing Talisman.
Now tell me—how much do you think one of these is worth?"
(End of Chapter)
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