Nebula grinned. She heard voices outside her capsule and she waited. The voices went from strained whispers to casual chatter. Whoever was outside had relaxed, which is right where she wanted them. She'll let them have their false sense of security. She could almost hear their thoughts—maybe whatever was onboard died, maybe the capsule was empty to begin with, maybe this is a decoy. She snorted: humans were so predictable.
Someone shouted a greeting—more people were gathering. Nebula knew it was time. She pressed a series of buttons within the capsule and heard Thanos's grunt through her speakers from lightyears away.
"I'm ready, Father," she said.
"Then begin," he responded. His voice crackled as he disconnected.
Though Nebula couldn't see outside her windowless capsule, she felt the ground rumble beneath her. Thanos was using his all-powerful gems, and Nebula gave a cruel laugh. These humans had no idea what they were up against.
The voices had fallen silent as the earth moved. Then the rumbling stopped. Suddenly the voices shouted, and loud bangs and explosions erupted around her: the sounds of battle. Nebula knew her cue.
With a war cry, she kicked the door off the capsule and leapt onto the soft earth. This planet was moist and fragile, she noticed, as her boots hit mud. Her lungs felt full as she breathed the humid air, but she wasted no time in sprinting to join the battle. She was surrounded by dozens of gray, human-like creatures with glowing red eyes. They were more disgusting than fleshy humans, she noted, but she knew they were her allies. They hardly faltered as a group of costumed earthlings tried to fight them, to stop them from leaving the clearing and making their way to the rest of island. Nebula wanted to watch with relish as Thanos's undead army ripped apart these idiotic Avengers, as she heard they called themselves. But she had a job to do.
She locked eyes with a blue-eyed man with a shield.
"We've got company," he said determinedly.
"No kidding," said a man who flew by in a red and gold iron suit.
The iron man sent a blast of energy toward her from his hand, but she dodged it easily. She saw another man in a red, white, and blue metal suit zoom her way, prepared to do the same thing, but she was quick. Nebula leapt into the air and grabbed hold of the man. He zigzagged through the air, but Nebula gripped the suit tightly, refusing to be flung away like a meddlesome insect. She wrestled with the man as he flew high above the trees. Finally, she plunged her metallic arm into the heart of the suit, grabbing whatever intricate electronics she could and yanking her hand back out. The effect was immediate. The thrusts that kept the suit airborne malfunctioned, and the glowing lights in the eye sockets dimmed. The man fell back to the earth, and Nebula released him, letting herself land in a tree with a cackle. To her disappointment, a man wearing large wings caught the metal-suited man before he could crash, and he was placed gently on the ground.
Nebula roared and flung herself from the tree back into battle. A large yellow-haired man charged toward her, swinging a hammer over his head, but she pulled two blades from their sheaths on her back. His charge became defensive as Nebula made to slice his face. She knew she didn't pierce flesh, but she could swear she had nicked off a lock of golden hair. He bellowed as he swung toward her again, but Nebula slid past him. As much as she would enjoy beheading the blond beast, this was not the Avenger she sought for this mission.
An arrow pierced into her metal arm, and Nebula snarled, furiously looking for her attacker. Finally she noticed a man about a hundred yards away poised to fire another arrow. Something in the man's eye told her this was not a man who misfired. She charged toward him anyway, sprinting at the arrow now zooming closer to her. She slashed her blades into the air, and the arrow split in two, the halves moving in different directions. Nebula was nearly on the man now, and he wasn't going to release another arrow in time. She was eager to see his blood mingle with this planet's soft dirt.
Suddenly, Nebula froze. It was as if she weren't alone in her own mind. The man was no longer in front of her. She saw Thanos before her in his gigantic might. Just behind him stood Gamora, smirking and beautiful in ways that Nebula knew she never would be. She felt small, weak, and useless, and her knees buckled and hit the ground. Thanos sneered.
"You have failed me yet again," he said.
"Forgive me," Nebula wailed. She hated the way her voice wavered. "Father, please."
"You make me sick," Thanos continued. "And to think I once called you my daughter."
Nebula felt nauseous. It was everything she ever feared. She couldn't bear this abandonment. And there was Gamora, welcomed back to Thanos's side, always forgiven despite her great betrayal.
"Please." Nebula couldn't think of anything else to say. "Please."
But then Nebula screamed with rage. These images weren't real. She had a mission to accomplish. Earth's dirty surface appeared once again. The man with the arrows was gone, but Nebula spun around to see a skinny woman with long dark hair. She looked stunned, as if she were caught in the middle of an act. This woman had strange power, Nebula knew, and she was furious. She roared and slashed at the woman. The woman didn't shout, just widened her eyes in surprise as Nebula's blades sliced across her abdomen.
"NO!"
A flash of red flew past her, and Nebula saw a man in a cape lift the woman and carry her away into the sky. Nebula was shaking with fury still, but she gave a small smile. The pair disappeared into a red spot on the horizon, but she had seen all she needed to see. The red man had a small yellow gem in his forehead, just as Thanos described. Though the man had gone, Nebula swelled with purpose. She had a target.
But she was still shaking and she knew it wasn't just with anger. The woman's power had affected her in an immense way, and she was disgusted with herself. Absentmindedly, she yanked the arrow from her arm. The target was gone, but she'd try again. She hit a button on her arm and she recognized Thanos's grunt of acknowledgement.
"Target spotted," she said. "Retreat for now."
Thanos grunted again and with a crackle, he was gone. She turned to see the gray bodies falling back, disappearing into the shadows of the trees. The Avengers seemed flustered at the sudden retreat. The blond brute spun around wildly before his eyes met Nebula's. He smirked triumphantly when he saw Nebula was empty-handed, and she sneered. If only he knew this was no victory for the Avengers.
The sun was setting, and Nebula took advantage of the lengthening shadows to disappear into the trees. Let them think they won, she thought with a smirk. The war had only just begun.
