The Weight of the Universe | Avengers

23. Panic Room

"Wow... This place looks like shit." Rocket mutters in disbelief when he stares at the ruins of Xandar. Thanos really succeeded in messing up this place. The beautiful capital that was once drowning in neon lights and green nature is now gone and just dust and ashes are left. The life and diversity that the planet captured have died and it's now completely deserted. Seeing what the Mad Titan had done makes Aurora sick and she looks around with a sad expression.

"All the slaves Loki and I freed... gone." She mumbles with a heavy weight burdened on her chest. They managed to save so many children from Mistress Fortuna with the help of the Nova Corps and now they're all dead.

"Ah, there you are." Denarian Dey walks towards them when he spots the three Guardians and their familiar ship. He ordered them to come to Xandar for an assignment. Though he frowns when he realizes they're not as many as they used to be. "What happened to the others?"

"Dead." Nebula answers shortly with a cold voice and he almost winces.

"I'm glad you survived though." Aurora attempts to brighten up the mood and he sends her a half smile. She and Peter were always troublemakers for the Nova Corps but this doesn't mean he wouldn't care about them. "What happened here?"

"Thanos attacked the planet to get the Power Stone, then he killed half of our people. And his plan apparently succeeded since half of our remaining people then disappeared." He sighs with sorrow. "We had to evacuate the survivors to Zori since this one is way too destroyed. Most of the Kree slaves didn't make it, I'm sorry."

"It's okay..." Aurora mutters, pressing her lips to a thin line. She knows by now that the world is merciless and cruel, and the only thing she can do is to be the opposite. Death is greedy and takes every soul, no matter if innocent or not.

"And what do you expect us to do? Do you even have any cash to pay us?" Rocket raises a brow in the air and Aurora smacks his head for the insensitive questions.

"I'm sorry, what he means is that we will gladly accept the assignment." She corrects Rocket. "What exactly is the problem though?"

"Here are lots of remaining relics with incredibly great values lying around. We try to collect as many as possible, but some of the Kree folk constantly attack our planet and try to steal them. I'm asking you to guard this place for a while, maybe even find some of the missing relics." Denarian Dey then opens a hologram, showing them a list of the relics that are yet to be found.

"Holy shit, you have the amethyst pyramid???" Rocket is astounded and gazes at the hologram. "That thing is worth 500,000 units! We would be stupid rich if we– I mean, cool that you have it."

Aurora's punch has stopped Rocket's rambling and she sends the Xandarian a friendly smile. "We'll work on it."

"I also called support in case you need help." He adds and as if on time, Carol Danvers comes flying down. The blonde woman smirks as soon as she recognizes the Guardians. "This is Captain Marvel. I hope you'll get along with each other. She's an expert on Krees and their strategies as she's a half one herself."

"Oh, don't worry, we already got acquainted with each other." Aurora smiles brightly and pulls the new guest into a welcoming hug. Meanwhile Dey leaves them to take care of the remaining Xandarians on the other planet, waving to them goodbye. "Hey, Carol, it's been such a long time since we've seen each other! How have you been??"

"Pretty busy." Carol laughs at the warm embrace and they let go of each other. The last time they had met was shortly after Thanos' death. Though they're staying in touch with the Avengers through the conference calls that Eve and Nat are doing monthly. "It's nice though to see a familiar face. The last time I saw you, your hair wasn't as long as it is now."