Needless to say, this person was naturally Gamora's sister, Thanos' other adopted daughter — Nebula!
Rocket had his hadron cannon aimed right at Nebula's main ship, ready to fire, when Gamora quickly pushed the barrel aside. The cannon blast missed, hitting a distant cliff and blasting a shower of ancient Celestial bone fragments into the air.
"Lock! Don't kill her!" Gamora shouted urgently. "She's my sister!"
Among everyone here, Gamora feared Lock the most.
If he made a move, Nebula wouldn't survive even inside the main ship.
But Gamora didn't know — Lock had no intention of killing Nebula.
Lock simply raised both hands and tore into the empty air. Nebula's entire command ship seemed to be grabbed by an invisible giant hand. The whole ship shuddered mid-flight, metal screeching horribly — and then, with a deafening crack, it was ripped cleanly in two.
Two flaming halves of the ship flew past overhead and slammed into the canyon walls, exploding into massive fireballs.
Nebula didn't even flinch. She leapt down from the burning wreck, landing hard, eyes blazing with fury as she charged straight toward Gamora.
Her expression was murderous. She was here to kill her sister.
Rocket swung his cannon toward her again, but Gamora shouted, "Everyone — stay out of this! This is between me and her!"
She said it was "between them," but in truth she was terrified that someone — especially Rocket or Lock — might fire.
Rocket's hadron cannon or Lock's divine power would kill Nebula in an instant.
Star-Lord called out:
"Getting knocked around here isn't helping. Everyone, back to my ship!"
Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Star-Lord all rushed back to the Milano.
Lock remained in place, holding the divine shield, protecting Tivan and the two red-skinned maids.
Though Tivan probably didn't need protection, he was more than happy to let someone else take the risk.
"Prince of Asgard," Tivan said, "it is a pity you did not have time to select from my collection."
Lock smiled lightly.
"Isn't there one right beneath our feet?"
Tivan blinked, then said carefully:
"If the prince desires it, I will, of course, offer it with both hands. But this head is too large to move — it can only be developed here."
"I have my own way."
This head was a treasure. Lock could use it to study Celestial physiology in advance, which would help greatly when dealing with the one sleeping under Earth, and even in facing Arishem himself one day.
Even the spinal fluid inside the skull was of immense research value.
If he could somehow transport this entire head to Earth, it would be like bringing back a moon-sized treasure trove.
He just needed to think of a way to do it.
Meanwhile, Gamora and Nebula's fight raged.
The two sisters were equally matched. Their sword strikes clashed again and again, fast and fierce, but neither could get the upper hand.
"Stop this, Nebula!" Gamora shouted between strikes. "I spent ten billion credits to buy a way to repair your body!"
Nebula's movements faltered for a split second, then she attacked even harder.
"Lies! Where would you get ten billion credits?!"
"I got it by selling the Orb — the Power Stone!"
"Hah! Father sent Ronan to find that Orb! You dare to sell it on your own?!"
"You still call Thanos 'Father'? After all the torture he's put you through?"
"It's YOU who tortured me, sister! Every piece of machinery on my body was because of YOU!"
From childhood, Thanos had forced Gamora and Nebula to duel endlessly.
Every time Nebula lost — which was every single time — Thanos replaced a part of her body with machinery.
Now, almost her entire body — even part of her skull — was cybernetic.
By reason, the real culprit was Thanos. Nebula should have hated him most of all.
But sentient life was strange — faced with a power they could never defeat, they would redirect their hatred toward someone they could hurt.
Like when a village is attacked by robbers — someone dares to resist, fails, and the robbers take harsher revenge.
The survivors, too afraid to blame the robbers, turn their anger on the one who resisted.
Nebula was no different.
Thanos was an unshakable presence — so she put all her rage on Gamora.
Her attacks became wild, vicious, and stormlike.
But the angrier she grew, the more mistakes she made. And Gamora, who had fought her since childhood, knew every opening.
After a flurry of strikes, Gamora finally locked Nebula down, pinning her face-first to the ground.
Nebula's metal arms were twisted into just the right angle to disable them completely — Gamora had clearly done this many times before.
"Lock!" Gamora shouted. "What's this method to repair Nebula? Give it to me!"
Lock flicked a golden vial toward her.
"Just have her drink this."
Gamora caught it — but in that moment, Nebula twisted hard and kicked Gamora off, rolling away to stand again.
Just as she was about to rush back in, Gamora raised the golden potion in front of her.
Nebula feinted left, then right, trying to get around — but Gamora just kept blocking her path with the potion.
"AHHH!" Nebula roared. "Don't think one bottle will make up for what you've done! Put it away!"
Lock couldn't help smiling faintly. Nebula was the very image of a tough-mouthed girl.
She wanted it badly — but she didn't want to lose face.
If she truly didn't want it, she could have crushed it underfoot already.
Gamora knew her too well. She simply kept holding it in front of Nebula, silent.
"I'm not compensating you," Gamora said softly. "I just don't want my sister to keep suffering like this."
"My pain is none of your business! I just want to kill you!"
"Kill me if you want. But drink this first."
"Hmph! Who wants your potion!"
"If you don't, then there's no reason for it to exist."
Gamora opened her fingers and let go. The potion fell toward the ground —
— and a purple, cybernetic hand snatched it out of the air before it could shatter.
Gamora smiled faintly. She had known Nebula would catch it.
"Hmph! Don't think this means I owe you anything!"
Nebula still wore her perpetual scowl.
But she didn't attack again. She simply turned and stalked away.
Lock called out:
"Where's Ronan? Why didn't he come?"
In the original timeline, Ronan had come with Nebula and had even fought Drax.
Without looking back, Nebula said coldly:
"He's headed to Xandar. He plans to destroy the Nova Empire."
Gamora's communicator crackled, and Star-Lord's voice came through:
"Did I just hear that right? Ronan's going to Xandar?!"
"Yes," Gamora replied. "Why?"
"Because we might have a BIG problem! Before I got captured, I sent a message to Yondu — told him to meet me on Xandar. If he shows up now…"
"…he might run right into Ronan."
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A/N: Advanced Chapters Have Been Uploaded On My Patreon
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