CHAPTER 164

"Our lord will have your planet either way, Terran. Your planet will burn when he arrives."

I ignored the raging rant of the other one and focused on the smart one.

"Now, Gamora, does Thanos possess an Infinity Stone?" It was always better to get straight to the point rather than beating around the bush.

"Stone wielder." She looked surprised before it became a depressing chuckle. "You can't win. Thanos is not someone you can hope to face."

"That was not what I asked you. Make me repeat myself again and it shall be at the expense of your limbs." I flatly told her. I don't care about the life and death feud she had with Thanos nor did I care about her somewhat sad backstory. She was pitiful yes but so are half of the people who die every day. 

"Thanos already possesses the Mind Stone. The mind of others are but an open book to him, give up." She said but I highly doubted it. 

Like the Tesseract, only the basic abilities of the Mind Stone could be assessed as it was stuck inside a staff. Unless Thanos took out the stone, he would be limited to what he could do with the Mind Stone. 

"What are you doing, Gamora?! Are you betraying him? I-" I crushed her throat the moment I knew I wouldn't get anything from her, and then I thought about it. 

In front of Gamora's paling face, the other woman's bones began cracking with a sickening crunching sound and she began folding in on herself until all that was left was a floating blood of ruptured flesh and compressed bones dripping blood. 

The last resident on the ship began hyperventilating for a while as she continued looking at her former comrade. She got her breath under control after a few more seconds and then looked at me with a resolute gaze as if accepting her inevitable death. 

"Can you kill him?" She asked me. 

"Yes."

"Then thank you." She had a small smile on her face as she said that. 

"For what?" I asked her even though I had a good idea what she meant. 

"All my life, long had I pondered on how I could kill my father and yet I could never find any as we laid waste to planet by planet, civilization by civilization under his name. I had long promised myself that I would do anything I could to ensure that he dies for his atrocities and if all I can get is a true promise then that's okay." She said and fell on her butt on the cold floor that was flowing with blood. 

Hmm, this could work. 

Since she is so resolved to die, then the least I could do was make her work for it right? 

"I will ensure Thanos' death if you do one thing for me." I told her and immediately her eyes jumped up to me. 

"What do you want?" Although she was okay with dying, she was still pretty skeptical. 

"I need you to take Thanos to Vormir." I told her. 

"Why? What's in Vormir?" Shale asked and I told her the plain answer. 

"The Soul Stone."

She shot up and stumbled back down but that didn't stop from glaring bloody hell at me. 

"Are you mad?! Why would you want him to-!!" Her voice was immediately cut short as her mouth closed on its own. 

"I already know the location of the Soul Stone. The information currently entering your head along with the bulk of the other foreign memories are backup plans in case of the unlikely scenario that Thanos looks into your head." 

Though I highly doubt he could do that, I wasn't going to take any chance. 

Gamora collapsed into a huffing fit and she tried to make sense of the memories that I stuffed into her head. 

"I-impossible."

"You don't have to worry about the feasibility of it. That is an issue that I will take care of." 

She took a few minutes to collect her thoughts and organize herself before she got up on her feet. 

She looked at me, fear evident on her face but her resolve won and her curiosity permeated through. "What do you plan to gain through all this? Why are you looking for the stones?"

Normally I would not be as foolish to trust someone I just met and give them my entire plan to kill their father, irrespective of how much they hated him, but Gamora was someone I knew I could work with. Oh she did plan on betraying me, or rather fleeing from this galaxy if my plan worked, after she pitted Thanos against me but that was something I didn't place much importance on. 

I had already given her some information about myself and although Thanos was very smart, he was yet to experience Gamora's betrayal. 

It doesn't matter what she thought she could do, the moment she goes to Vormir with Thanos would be her end. 

I could of course find another family and control them to kill their most beloved kin but doing that was just me trying to play God while I had a willing, yet slightly unwilling, sacrifice. 

"If you think I plan of committing a universal genocide then you'd be dead wrong. What I plan for the stones amount to nothing more than for personal use."

"Regardless of who you plan on killing to get it?" She asked. 

"Regardless." Was my reply. 

She let out a low laugh filled with bitterness. "All my life I have dreamt of the day where I would finally be free from that tyrant's power and the day the universe decided to give it to me is the same day I am proclaimed dead."

"Do not think yourself as some pitiful suffering woman, Gamora. You are just as guilty of the countless other lives you've taken, the innocent I mean. You were dealt a bad hand in your childhood but the same could be said of the countless others who have died by Thanos' actions. Life isn't fair and the universe plays favorites. Meeting me here could be counted as bad luck or good karma, depends on the way you see it."

The others, probably Steve, wouldn't agree with me convincing a young woman to throw her life away just so I could achieve my goals. There were things that even with the amount of trust I had in them I still wouldn't be comfortable with them knowing. 

It might be incredibly stupid of me to lead Thanos on his way to his second Infinity Stone but this way I get to own two Infinity Stones, leaving just the Reality and Time Stone. 

This was a more convenient way because there was no way I was going to Vormir to retrieve the Soul Stone. 

The Soul Stone could be calledp special amongst the Infinity Stones as it had a rather developed sentience, unlike the Mind Stone. But all that was for another day. 

Now was the time for me to prep the girl into committing suicide just for the sake of stopping Thanos. 

'She must've really hated him huh.'

"Saying that makes you look like some kind of monster."

"I never said I was a Saint. It's player vs player out here and only the strong wins, and I intend on being strong." I told her. 

"If you don't kill me then Thanos will once he finds out about my betrayal. I never knew that I valued my life so much that I would hesitate on the chance to exchange it with Thanos' death. What would you have done if I wasn't here and you needed the Soul Stone?" I didn't see the need of ignoring her question nor did I call her out for it so I answered her in the most matter-of-factly tone that I could. 

"Another family would probably have to pay the price that you would have." I said that referring to the sacrifice but she didn't have to know that. "What would it be, Gamora? I should tell you that regardless of what you choose, Thanos will die by my hands. So choose, death or delayed death."

She looked at me and the ceiling, then at the huge transparent glass that reflected a view of the Earth. 

"You are cruel. This is not something that should be presented on a golden platter." She had already made her decision based on the tone of voice she was using. 

"Like I said, I am no saint. My actions are only for a few select people to benefit from. I can't save the entire universe even if I had the power to." She took one last glance at he Earth and then turned to me. 

"What do you want me to do?"

Seeing as she had already made her choice, the body, bits and parts, of the others on the ship caught on fire. 

… 

[General POV] 

Gamora boarded one of the smaller pods and immediately inputted the code for the hidden spatial highway that Thanos used. 

She had seen the way the entire ship exploded and didn't take any more chances before stepping inside the space stream and pushing along until she started traveling through space. 

She had already sent a distress call immediately after she had left the safety net that Draul had created. 

She had a few cuts in her body along with some broken bones which Draul had decided would make the story stuck. 

"Forgive me father, for I have failed you." She said as soon as she was in the presence of her father and his other Children. 

"What happened, daughter?" Thanos spoke from his chair as soon as Gamora finished the first sentence that left mouth. 

"An Infinity Stone was on Earth as you had said, already wielded by someone. He has the Space Stone. I had no way of contact and had to press forward even as he destroyed the ship." She said, heads down, afraid to look at the titanic man in front of her.

Thanos had a pensive look on his face as he thought of what Gamora had just said. "Were you able to glean anything  from this man?"

"Yes father. I believe I have the location of the Soul Stone…" Chatter immediately ensued inside the throne room they were in, some excited about the prospect of Thanos having the location of another Infinity Stone. The universe truly was on his side. 

"Where?..."

"Vormir. He said he was to go to Vormir to receive his second stone and then no one would be able to stop him ." She supplemented. 

Thanos remained quiet, falling into thoughts as he calculated the likely scenario of this being a trap or some far fetched betrayal. "How sure are you of this information, Gamora."

Gamora didn't hesitate to answer. "Absolutely sure."

"Hmm…This man you speak of, how strong was he?" Thanos asked. 

"He was able to fold space at will and stopped our ship from moving and we also were not able to detect him until he was already inside the ship. It is his authority of Space that makes him a terrifying opponent to face, father." She reported truthfully… or at least what was made known true to her. 

"Listen and listen well, my children. Prepare the advancement march. We will first send out a preemptive attack on the Earth to test out the defenses of the planet. After I retrieve the Soul Stone from Vormir, then we shall conquer the Earth and take away the Space Stone."

Everyone in the hall bowed their heads lower in reverence to the man that was both their lord and father. 

"Sire, what about Odin and Asgard? The Earth is still under Asgardians and I don't think those war-hungry savages would just let us conquer the planet." Maw offered his wise counseling to his lord who just waved aside his worries. 

Having both the Soul and Mind Stone would make Thanos a very terrifying opponent and though he was still worried about Odin's interference, he nevertheless pushed forth. 

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