Marvel: The Sole Player

"Fellow countryman, what kind of work do you do on Earth?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. Simply put, it’s to protect Earth and maintain World peace."

Quill blinked: "Then have you ever done any shady business that makes money fast?"

"What do you mean by that!"

Darian glared: "On Earth, who doesn’t know that every S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent is a partner of justice? I have inherited the excellent style of our former Director: honest, incorruptible, upright, and clean-handed. If I were a dollar short on the bus, I would chase someone for three blocks to pay it back. And you say I do shady business?"

"You are looking down on our former Director; this is an insult to his character!"

Wait, what does this have to do with your former Director?

Quill’s mouth twitched: "Then how are you more skilled at stealing things than me, an intergalactic thief? Also, why can you start a spaceship just by hotwiring it?"

Just a short while ago, he had seen with his own eyes Darian sneak onto Stakar’s ravager ships, open the console, pull out two wires, touch them together, and with a spark, the ship started. It took only about a dozen seconds in total.

This isn’t a car on Earth where you can just hotwire it to start. What the hell is the principle behind this!?

Darian waved his hand dismissively: "In America on Earth, this is nothing. Any passerby knows this skill."

Hotwiring is just a sense of ceremony; otherwise, he could have been even faster.

After hearing this, Quill secretly rejoiced that he didn’t operate on Earth. With his petty thieving skills, he probably wouldn’t even be able to afford a meal there.

"Stakar’s bunch must be furious right now."

Yondu said this, but he couldn’t suppress the corner of his mouth from curling up.

He had always held a grudge against Stakar; the other party refused to listen to his explanation back then and forcibly kicked him out of the Raiders.

Now, watching Stakar’s ship being swiped by Darian, he felt incredibly satisfied.

Currently, they had three ships in their hands: one belonging to the Guardians of the Galaxy, which was piloted by Rocket; one was Yondu’s ship, steered by his second-in-command.

The remaining one was the newly stolen ravager ships, which Darian handed over to Yondu to operate, since he was the most familiar with the systems of ravager ships.

Yondu was happy to be the pilot; after all, it was much better than doing chores on the ship.

That is human nature; he resisted doing chores as a Raiders leader, but accepted being the driver instead.

Just then, the console panel suddenly lit up.

Quill glanced at it: "It’s a message from other Raiders."

Darian asked: "What does it say?"

"It says they found a fat fish, but it’s a bit tricky, and they want us to lend a hand."

Quill frowned: "How about we pretend we didn’t see it?"

He was worried that responding would blow their cover.

Darian’s eyes lit up, and he said seriously: "Quill, and you call yourself a heroic thief? Now that they are in trouble, we must step in to help. Tell them we’ll be there soon and to hold on."

"Huh?"

On a remote Planet.

The ravager ships were parked on the ground, and dozens of people were attacking a galactic merchant caravan.

The equipment of those Aliens in the caravan was decent, and they were currently fighting desperately against the Raiders.

The leading Raiders leader was burly and had a face full of flesh; he grinned viciously: "Stop struggling. Put down your weapons now, and we might spare your lives!"

The caravan side did not respond.

For those wandering in the galaxy, who hasn’t heard of the notoriety of these space Bandits?

Except for a very few who followed rules, most Raiders were scoundrels who would stop at nothing, claiming they never wasted a single grain of food.

As long as they gave up resistance, these Raiders would surely take everything valuable on them, and they might not even be able to save their own bodies; regardless of gender or age, even their Alien pets would struggle to keep their own excretory orifices safe.

Precisely because these guys were notorious, the people in the caravan would rather die than yield.

Seeing his words were useless, the Raiders leader spat: "When our reinforcements arrive, you’re dead!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the roar of engines came from the sky, and two ravager ships descended from the sky, landing steadily on the ground.

Upon seeing this, the caravan members’ faces turned pale.

The Raiders were full of excitement, howling and yelling.

The hatch opened, and Darian, along with Quill, Yondu, and a group of Raiders, walked off the ship.

The Raiders leader saw Yondu at a glance and was stunned: "Yondu? Why is it you? Weren’t you kicked out of the Raiders a long time ago?"

Darian stepped forward and replied with a smile: "Yondu is my man now, working for me."

"Is that so?"

The Raiders leader looked Darian up and down. Seeing a strange face, he assumed it was just another newly joined Raider.

He couldn’t be bothered to ask more, nor did he care if Yondu still counted as a Raider, and pointed his hand at the ashen-faced caravan members.

"This is a fat fish. Take them out, and we’ll split the loot thirty percent for you."

Darian also laughed: "Fat fish are great. I love fat fish the most. Capture them!"

As he spoke, the Raiders behind him raised their firearms.

The Raiders leader thought the situation was settled, and his mouth spread to his ears.

But he quickly noticed something wrong, discovering that the Raiders’ muzzles were not aimed at the caravan, but at them.

He was immediately stunned: "Bro, brother, what do you mean by this? The fat fish is over there."

"No, no, no, you are the fat fish."

Darian revealed his snow-white teeth, smiling brilliantly.

The Raiders leader swallowed his saliva: "Wait, you’re not a Raider?"

Darian chuckled: "Who said I’m a Raider? I am a Loot-Looter. We only loot Raiders. Put down your weapons and surrender immediately, and I might spare your life."

A few short-sighted ones wanted to resist, but Darian raised his hand and fired a few shots, clean and efficient.

The rest immediately behaved, obediently hugging their heads and squatting down.

Just like that, Darian and his group easily took down this Raiders team.

As for the caravan people, they took advantage of the chaos to escape. Darian didn’t care about them; they were Loot-Looters, and if they didn’t loot, they weren’t Loot-Looters.

Quill rushed forward first, quickly stripping the Raiders of their equipment. His movements were extremely skilled; it was clear this wasn’t his first time doing this.

Yondu’s eyelids twitched as he watched: "Just how many Raiders did this kid rob back then?"

Darian glanced at him sideways: "Why are you just standing there? Go help."

Yondu was a bit hesitant: "This doesn’t feel right. I was a Raider myself, after all."

Although he joined the Loot-Looters, it was out of necessity. Since Darian held his and his crew’s lives in his hands, he had no choice but to follow orders for now.

Darian waved his hand: "You can pick some of the loot we get."

Yondu paused, but still shook his head: "I have principles."

"When we go back, I’ll make you a squad leader of the Loot-Looters. You won’t have to listen to Quill’s commands anymore. If you do well, I’ll return your flying arrow and set you free."

Yondu’s eyes lit up, and his back straightened instantly: "Guarantee to complete the mission!"

Darian laughed: "Didn’t you have principles?"

Yondu said with a serious face: "But your sincerity has moved my principles."

He immediately called his crew to pounce on the Raiders, and in no time at all, they stripped them clean.

As expected of former Raiders, their professional competence was truly beyond reproach.

Darian waved his hand: "Take their ships and bring all the people too."

Quill was stunned: "We’ve already stripped their equipment, why bring the people?"

Darian said as if it were only natural: "Sell them to the slave market in the black market of the Universe. These people are all talents; what a waste if we don’t."

Quill: "...."

Yondu: ...

You are the true Raider!

In the following time, Darian went around robbing... helping the Raiders.

The communication devices were on 24 hours a day. Whenever someone sent a distress signal, they would rush over and pack up both the people and the ships.

The ships were kept, and the people were sold to the black market for money.

During this, some Raiders wanted to resist, but they were no match for Darian. Those who dared to resist had their brains blown out by him.

Yondu and his subordinates became increasingly skilled at this job.

From initial discomfort, it slowly turned into enjoying it.

There was no helping it; this line of work made money too fast.

When they were Raiders before, they couldn’t even open for business a few times a month.

The Universe is so big; wanting to catch a fat fish was entirely up to luck. They also had to guard against the target escaping or fighting for their lives. After all the trouble, they might not get much benefit. So, most Raiders usually lived by taking commissions and looking for opportunities to pull a job on the side.

However, the Loot-Looters were different.

The targets would actively come to them without any precautions, and Raiders were nomads who carried all their belongings on them, making them much fatter than ordinary caravans.

As time passed, the team of Loot-Looters grew larger and larger, almost reaching a fraction of the size of the Raiders ships that Darian had sent back to the Moon Base.

But the difference was that these newly stolen ravager ships hadn’t been logged in the missing archives, so they wouldn’t attract too much attention.

As for the Guardians of the Galaxy, they were not with them.

Although Quill really wanted to participate, they had more important things to do now.

These past few days, Ronan had been living in such frustration.

That bunch from the Nova Empire were like madmen, chasing his fleet and attacking every day, causing him heavy losses.

Although his Necrocorps were strong enough, the Nova Empire was, after all, an entity that could wrestle with the Kree Empire, so the Nova Corps under them were naturally not to be trifled with.

As long as they didn’t hide in Xandar like cowards and actually came out to fight, they were one of the top-ranked legions in the Universe.

What was even more annoying was that these people were like sticky candy; once they stuck to you, you couldn’t shake them off. They were afraid that if they were careless and let him run away, he would turn back and sneak attack Xandar. Ronan was so annoyed he wanted to curse out loud.

Ronan naturally knew why the Nova Empire was so crazy.

He didn’t know which wicked person was spreading rumors, but the Nova Empire was convinced that the Cosmic Orb was in his hands and even said he wanted to use the Orb to destroy Xandar.

Now, the Nova Empire, upon hearing the risk of planetary destruction, couldn’t sit still and demanded that he hand over the Cosmic Orb, or they would go to war with him.

This wasn’t a false accusation; he did indeed want to use the Cosmic Orb to level Xandar, and there was nothing to argue about that.

But the problem was that the Cosmic Orb was not in his hands at all!

However, the Nova Empire didn’t believe it at all. They had found several parties to verify that Ronan had been searching for the Cosmic Orb, especially the Dark Elves, who spoke so vividly as if they had seen him put the Cosmic Orb in his pocket with their own eyes.

With all sides agreeing, the Nova Empire naturally believed it without a doubt.

They didn’t revert to their past conservative style but put on the posture of space Police, listing thousands of charges against Ronan in one breath, shouting about being irreconcilable with evil, and launching justice execution against Ronan.

Ronan was extremely aggrieved.

Even though he hadn’t done anything, he had been chased by the Nova Corps for days and nights, and no one would even listen to his explanation.

"Bastard!!"

Ronan sat on the throne in the command hall, his face livid, feeling more and more frustrated the more he thought about it.

As the dignified The Accuser, when had he ever suffered such humiliation?

"It must be that damned Earthling!"

Ronan thought it over and felt that the person who reported him to the Nova Empire was most likely Darian, after all, the Cosmic Orb was in the other party’s hands.

He didn’t know what kind of bad luck he had with Earthlings; every time he encountered one, nothing good ever happened.

"When I get the Cosmic Orb and destroy Xandar, the next one will be Earth!"

Ronan gritted his teeth, having already listed Earth on his liquidation list.

"Ronan, do you really have the Cosmic Orb?"

Nebula stood to the side, looking at Ronan with a hint of suspicion.

The Nova Empire had been chasing them like madmen these days, and she even started to suspect that Ronan might really be hiding the Cosmic Orb and not telling her.

Seeing that even his own people looked at him this way, Ronan was even angrier: "How many times do I have to say it, I don’t!"

Nebula hesitated for a moment: "But now rumors are spreading outside that you were helping Thanos find the Cosmic Orb, but after finding it, you developed selfish motives, chose to betray Thanos, kept the Cosmic Orb for yourself, and planned to use the Cosmic Orb to destroy Xandar, and then... kill Thanos!"

Ronan: "???"

Who voiced my thoughts... No, wait, who the hell is spreading rumors about me!?

Upon hearing this, cold sweat instantly broke out on Ronan’s forehead, and his back felt a bit chilly.

Destroying Xandar was a small matter, at most being chased by the Nova Corps; although troublesome, it was manageable.

But who was Thanos?

That was the famous mad Titan in the Universe.

Not to mention how terrifying his personal strength was, his subordinates, the Black Order, were one of the top legions in the Universe, with the Black Order Generals holding the line. Each one was a powerhouse capable of standing alone, and the soldiers below them were countless.

In the entire Universe, the Black Order could be said to be one of the most powerful forces.

Compared to them, Ronan’s Necrocorps were simply dwarfed, not even on the same level.

Because of this, Ronan cooperated with Thanos to help him find the Cosmic Orb in exchange for Thanos sending troops to help him destroy the Nova Empire.

Although he had long been dissatisfied with Thanos and had plans to kill him, that was only something to happen after obtaining the Cosmic Orb.

Before that, no matter how much Thanos looked down on him, he wouldn’t dare to conflict with him.

But now, it was rumored everywhere that he had embezzled the Orb and wanted to kill Thanos.

Isn’t this driving him to his death!?

Even with Ronan’s composure, he couldn’t help but curse: "Which bastard is spreading this kind of news!?"

Nebula’s expression was a bit subtle: "Ronan, do you really intend to kill my father?"

"Rumors! It’s purely framing and slander!"

Ronan hurriedly explained. It was the first time he felt the terror of rumors.

Nebula said helplessly: "It’s useless to say that. Now everyone thinks so. Maybe my father thinks so too."

Ronan’s mouth twitched, and he said self-consolingly: "It’s okay, Thanos knows my character and definitely won’t believe these so-called rumors."

Just as Nebula was about to speak, a string of data flashed across her eyes, and her tone was complex: "You’d better explain it to him yourself; my father requests to see you."

Ronan: "..."

It seems Thanos knows his character too well.

***************************

Thoughts on where the plot is heading? Let me know in the comments! If you’re enjoying the ride, please leave a quick review and toss a few Power Stones my way. Every bit of support means the world! 🙌