A bulky purple fist opened, and a silver hand dropped a startlingly blue infinity gem into it.
"That will be all," the purple creature boomed, and the silver one disappeared, leaving behind a question it was ever there.
Thanos stood atop a platform in his quarters aboard his starship. He gazed out of a large plastic window at the black infinity of space. His fingers closed over the blue stone, and he raised his other hand which was covered by a golden gauntlet. With gentleness unexpected from his large fingers, he placed the blue stone in an empty hole in the gauntlet, and it began to glow with the same luminance as the four infinity gems beside it. One empty spot remained, and Thanos smirked as he noticed it and then turned his fierce green eyes back to space.
"My daughter," he spoke finally, and a woman with blue skin stepped beside him. Half of her body was metal, mechanical, but her eyes were like coal, black with the potential for burning passion.
He faced Nebula with fondness in his eyes. "My only daughter." He placed his bare hand on her shoulder, and she shivered but then rolled her shoulders back with pride. Nebula had been waiting for this moment since Gamora had betrayed Thanos and joined those ragtag hooligans, the Guardians of the Galaxy—to be acknowledged as the favorite daughter… no, the only daughter.
But Thanos was not smiling. He gripped her shoulder tighter with his massive hand. "Don't disappoint me again."
Nebula winced. Gamora could never do wrong in Thanos's eyes, but even when she denounced him—deserted him—Nebula could not please him. But it was hardly her fault that Ronan proved to be too weak and unworthy to wield any sort of real power, was it? This chance for redemption that Thanos offered would not be squandered. Only when Nebula couldn't hide her grimace of pain did Thanos release her from his grip. He'd grabbed her fleshy shoulder after all, not her newly replaced mechanical one.
"You know what to do," Thanos demanded.
"Of course, Father," Nebula said as her lips curled into a snarl. "If a planet like that produced Peter Quill, it'll soon be sorry it ever bore life."
Thanos did not respond, only faced out to the black of space. Dismissed, Nebula left him, striding with renewed purpose—and vengeance. For a long, stoic moment, Thanos stood in complete stillness. But suddenly his brow furrowed, and he bowed his head submissively.
"I know she's hardheaded and reckless," he said. "You didn't have to come here to tell me that."
A woman in a black hooded cloak materialized behind him, stepping so fluidly it seemed she was floating. Every part of her body was shrouded in dark cloth, but her face—in the shadows of Thanos's quarters—looked like a skull. She spoke with a husky voice, nearly a whisper, but powerful.
"I couldn't care less about your daughter, Thanos," she said. "Believe it or not, I won't have anything to do with her for some time."
Thanos shuddered. He wasn't sure if it was from her words—it was so easy to forget the power she held over all living creatures—or from merely being in her presence. He relished the feeling either way.
"I come with a warning," she continued. "Don't overstep our agreement."
Before Thanos could open his mouth, she interrupted: "Don't play ignorance with me. You know very well what I'm referring to."
"You mean who," Thanos said sadly.
"I don't," she said. "He's been long gone for decades. There's nothing left of him to see. Stop trying. I'm only allowing you to use the soul gem to build your army. Combined with the time gem, you're unstoppable."
"You stopped me," Thanos said.
"I am Death," she said. "I'm a special case."
She placed a gloved hand on his arm. It was freezing, but Thanos didn't care, he covered it with his own thick hand. Feeling even an ounce of the power she wielded ignited a heat inside him. She leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear.
"And the silver one. You're giving him too much power. You're disrupting the line between life and death, which makes my job very difficult. Knock it off."
Thanos closed his eyes. "Anything you say."
Death snorted and pulled away. Mortals were so predictable. And Thanos was useful—he was madly in love with her.
And then she was gone. Thanos could have cried at how quickly she'd disappeared, but he hadn't done that since his father died eons ago. He stared at the green Soul gem in his gauntlet. Possessing a stone was meant to make anyone all powerful, but he was still being controlled. By her—by Death. He hated himself for it, but having her on his side was more satisfying that all the power in the world. Well… maybe not. But he had one more Infinity Gem to find before he would truly know what universal power felt like.
