"I do not need your acceptance," The Surfer growled at Captain Marvel. "Or your belittling," He spat at Captain Universe. "Or your rage, officer of the law." He muttered to Laira, glowering at the group. "Understand that it was my Master's work that brought me to life, and for that I will be eternally grateful to him. However... he has been blinded by human emotions, by thoughts not befitting a true master of the cosmos."

It was hard to tell whether the Surfer was lying or not- his steely gaze was almost always stuck on permanent 'monotone anger' mode. "I am afraid if let loose, my Master will destroy all that I hold sacred. What little of it is left." He sighed, raising his hand. "For that, and only for that, I am offering my help in case it is needed. Understand this: I am not your friend... and I am not willingly submitting to the legal system you uphold, officer. This is merely... a truce. A cease fire for the greater good."

Space

Laira was about to face Halo when The Surfer made his statement.

As much as it pained her to admit it, Thanos was the more important target; if there was any way The Surfer could aid them, it would be for the best, overall.

"Very well" she began. "Tell us where your master is, and what are his plans."

edited 21st Apr '16 12:18:33 PM by Sijo

"My Master's location is currently unknown. But he has called upon his congregation of loyal followers, a group of mad men and women who are incapable of doing anything without blowing up a solar system in the process. I do know them... and they do know me. What they do not know is that I have betrayed my Master."

The Surfer placed his hand upon his chest. "Find the Cull Obsidian, and I will trick them into giving me information. Do not be a fool and send your officers to fight against them. Only death will await you if you face my Master's minions."

Space

"If they find out you're tricking them, won't you get hurt?" Halo asked. "And why do you need us to help you? You admitted yourself you're more powerful than all of us."

Halo couldn't say how she felt about the Surfer. He seemed so...detached. Aloof. And the woman in green- some sort of law enforcement?- had wanted to arrest him. But he didn't want to hurt them, so surely there had to be something to him. Maybe.

—Kree Ship—

Loki had never seen the golden figure in her life.
"Yes, old friend. Been waiting for him to show up," she said to Yon-Rogg, not missing a beat. She smiled sweetly at him.
"Which you might have known earlier if you hadn't threatened us all immediately. Funny where politeness can get you!"

She cracked her knuckles and spread her fingers like a pianist, hovering over Kree controls.
"Now are you going to help me hail that ship or am I going to start hitting buttons and hope for the best? Now he's out there things should get a little easier..."

She made a mental note to start figuring out discreet exits if the golden man turned out to be uncooperative later. Shouldn't matter for bluffing the Skrull in the imediate future unless he did something really startling, but that would be more fun anyway.

Jubilee, Kree Ship

Jubilee seemed rather confused when Loki said she knew who the golden figure in space is. After all, she never met him before either. However, if Loki met him before then she was willing to believe that if it got her a better situation than the one she was currently in.

"What do you take me for, girl? A simpleton?" The Surfer growled at Halo, clenching his fist. "I am stronger than all of you, yes, but not stronger than my Master and his Order. As I said, they have the power to wreak unmitigated havoc across this galaxy in such a way that'll never recover from the damage. Can I defeat one or two of them? Yes, but at the cost of my life. I don't see much use in saving the universe if I don't get to savior it."

"As for possible sightings, simple. I will tell them that I am performing a deep undercover mission with the intent of crippling each and every one of you so my Master can dispose of you as he wishes to. Since death and chaos is what they crave, they'll think I'm on their side. That way, I can give you all important information that can help our cause. This is what some of you call... 'playing both sides', no?"

Space

The Cull Obsidian. The name was known to Laira, and although she tried to deny it, it caused her to worry. Those were some of the worst killers in the known universe. Suddenly her priority had, indeed, changed, from the Surfer to them.

Arms crossed, she mulled it over as she drifted in space. "Very well" she finally said. "You shall take me to where the Cull are, and, once we learn their plans, we will inform my Masters. But, do not try to trick me, Silvery One. I'll be keeping a close watch on you."

She then turned to the others. "I know I had promised to take you to Oa, but speed is of the essence now. You can either accompany us, or drop on any world along the way. Your choice."

Space

"I wasn't trying to insult you," Halo murmured quietly. "I just don't want to see you die for nothing. Jerk."

She had a feeling he didn't hear her; he seemed like the sort of person who ignored anything that didn't directly affect him and wasn't big enough to be universe-shaking. Likely he'd forget all about her by the end of the day.

She chuckled a little at the thought. The Surfer would have made a fine Aurakle.

After Laira made her offer, Halo wondered if Laira was mad at her for snapping at her over the Surfer earlier, but she seemed reasonable. After a moment's hesitation, she spoke.

"I admit, all of this is new to me and I don't know if I'll be much use against anyone as dangerous as this Cull Obsidian. But if you'll have me, I promise I'll do anything I can to help."

And it wasn't like she had anywhere else to go, but they didn't need to know that.

"Hold on a hoodwink!" Captain Carrot exclaimed. "What's all this talk about a Cull Whatchamacallit?"

"Are you deaf, officer? I have already told you that I do not know where my Master and his Cull Obsidian are. However, knowing their modus operandi, chances are we won't have to work hard to find them. Simply follow whatever path of destruction they leave behind." The Surfer crossed his arm, hovering above the rest of the group.

When Halo mentioned her worry, the Surfer frowned for a second, before glaring right back at her. "Waste your time worrying about others. I am not worthy of your worry, nor do I particularly care for it."

Space

"Insult me at your peril, Zenn-lanian!" Laira snorted right back. "I have no reason to believe you. You are after all, a wanted criminal yourself. How do I know you do not plan to just lead us into a trap? No. If you want out trust, you'll have to earn it."

She allowed a beat for her words to sink in. And then, in a tone that that left no room for doubt about her decision:

"You will accompany us- to Oa, and plead your case before the Guardians of the Universe."

Kree Ship

Aboard the Skrull ship, the crew was as befuddled by The Runner's appearance as their enemies were. Who was this golden man, and why was he running around their ships, seemingly unconcerned about their conflict?

But then a communications officer informed the captain they had notified a possible explanation: a dark, far more massive humanoid figure [1] was attacking The Runner... or trying to.

To his frustration, the golden man just dodged in-and-out of range, and laughed.

"Damn you! Stand still and die like a man!!" the newcomer somehow 'shouted' in the vacuum of space. He didn't even receive a reply.

"Captain!" the comm officer announced.

"Now what?"

"We are being hailed- from the Kree ship!"

Space

"That's enough," Captain Marvel said sternly as he put himself once again between the Surfer and the others, "Nothing is going to get solved by everyone posturing and yelling at each other. If The Surfer really does plan on helping us and saving lives, then, well, that's good enough for me. And if it's a trap, well..." he paused before he slammed a fist into his open palm.

So we're totally leaving him to die, right?

What?! Phyla that's horrible! We can't do that!

Why not? If he dies that's one less weapon for Thanos to terrorize the Universe with.

But it would be dishonest! We're heroes, Phyla! We're supposed to do good!

I can't think of anything that would do more good for the universe than taking him out of it, Freddy.

...

Captain Marvel really hoped the Power Cosmic didn't let people read minds.

Space

"Perhaps you're willing to throw out having fought him just hours ago after we tried this 'working together thing', and willing to throw out the fact that we already have systems in place to deal with the Cull Obsidian, Captain, but I'm not." Shayera crossed her arms, subtly rubbing at the injured spot on her arm as she did so.

"And besides that, I'm not really ready to put 'working for intergalactic Bad Dude, Thanos' on my resume. Not quite yet." She paused after her attempt at a quip, then shook her head. "We have the Green Lantern corp for a reason. We have Novas for a reason. We have space ships and military fleets for a reason. It isn't like people were sitting around, watching all the intergalactic powder kegs dodge matches and deciding to dismantle their preperations for the big boom. It'd be nice if we had another soldier, another person we could trust, but this man—this monster—he isn't someone worth trusting. And even if we trust him, he's what—?" She paused, glancing at the others to try and convey her mixture of shock and anger.

"He's in it to get his master's groove back. What's the best case scenario, that he stays with us, contributes in some moderate way to defeating his former comrades and then goes back to, again, intergalactic Bad Dude? Who, and I'm sure you all know this, isn't going to just meditate on the issue and say 'Ahh, no, my favored servant, you were correct and I had made a misstep! Take this freedom package and deliver it to all the people I have terrorized!' Maybe his master will kill him for his insolence. Maybe he'll send him out to commit even more atrocities as punishment for his actions today. And that's not even considering that, hey, this guy might just up and betray us in the middle of the fight if his mood swings the other way and he starts thinking 'I shouldn't betray my master' or some nonsense like that."

Shayera uncrossed her arms and threw them down to her sides in frustration.

"Look. It's like the Lantern said, alright? We should take him to Oa—or put him out of his misery right here."

Kree Ship — Men's Ward

As the ship was rocked by the initial attack, one of the cell doors was forced open by accident. A male figure with a wiry build emerged from the cell, falling onto his knees as he made his first steps out of his cage. The most striking feature about the newcomer was his face. The left side of his face was an unnatural shade of purple, and covered in a moist, web-like network of veins, and a large bag sunk under his left eye. There were several strange symbols and lots of leather restraints on the man's black jumpsuit, but one of them stood out, a symbol of a black bird◊ and the words 'ROXXON' emblazoned on his right shoulder, and the words 'K-N' were written on his chest.

The man sat staring at the floor for several moments as he stirred himself awake, then slowly staggered back up onto his feet, only to realize he was in a completely unfamiliar territory. The halls were brightly lit and clean compared to the dark recesses he called 'home', and the walls and floors were made out of some kind of metallic substance, not from the grisly concrete he was used to. The relative sterility of the environment put the man at unease. In fact, he wasn't sure why or how he was still conscious.

"Did they finally do it?" he asked himself. "Am I... dead?"

He looked around.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Thor - Kree Ship

He squinted up at the monitor - " It's nobody I know, nor feel particularly inclined to fight."

"You've made friends whilst you were dead, Loki," It wasn't an accusation, nor did it sound like it had any particular doubt in it. If anything the tone in his voice was a sad one. " Though he seems more occupied with his own company than your situation."

Kree ship: Also in the Men's Ward

Not to far from the newly released prisoner another cell door was opened by the attack on the Kree ship. And a man slowly stepped out of the cell and after a few moments he slowly started to look around at his surroundings.

"Well this definenty isn't New York." The man muttered to himself. He then saw the other man near him.

"Hey," he yelled to the other man " Do you know where we are?"

Kree Ship—Men's Ward

The man in the black jumpsuit took a moment to study his surroundings further, then faced the other escapee.

"I don't know. A minute ago there were ten guys with guns after me, and I had this weird pain in my neck. Then I ended up here. I'm supposed to be dead, I think, maybe not... What's the last thing you remember, before you ended up here?"

Kree ship: Men's Ward

"The last thing I remember? I remember being in New York trying to stop everyone from becoming anti-mutant supporters. And now I'm here. What's your name? Mine's Jack Ryder, the famous talk show host." The man said.

Kree Ship—Men's Ward

"People called me all sorts of things back home, but I think my name is supposed to be K-N. I mean, they wrote it on my clothes. Anyways, it's nice to meet you, Jack. You know, most people are afraid of me, no idea why, though," he said, grinning. The left side of his bottom lip quivered as he tried to smile.

K-N looked down the hallway, down towards where the bridge was. It sounded like some kind of commotion was underway.

"I guess we aren't dead, but I'd still rather be somewhere else but here. You think we should look for a way out?"

"K-N? Maybe your name's Kaine. And yeah, it probably would be a good idea to get out of this place as soon as we can. But we might want to look around a little, we might not be the only ones here." Jack said.

—Kree Ship—

Loki peered at the monitor again, seeing the darker attacking figure now, clear as day. She turned to look at her brother. She wished he didn't sound so bloody gloomy about the death thing. Her hand had been forced by their father's, it wasn't her fault she'd had to— that thought wasn't useful. She grinned at him.

"Well I've always had a talent for making friends. Speaking of company, I don't supposed you'd get out there and lend him a hand? I'll keep things under control at this end."
She wrinkled her nose.
"Once the shape-shifters get around to picking up the bloody phone."

Jubilee, Kree Ship

Jubilee looked at the Kree in the room, completely unsure at what was going on. "I am as completely lost as you are."

"Personally, I think whoever that gold dude is should be giving us enough of a distraction to just leave," Taskmaster said. "Unless you've got something planned, Lady," he said to Loki, knowing some kind of set up when he saw one.

Kree Ship

"Kaine?" he asked. "I never heard anyone pronounce those letters like that, but I like the way it sounds. Kaine... I think I'll stick with that name."

Kaine pointed his thumb down towards the bridge.

"My gut tells me we'll find something down that way. And if anyone comes in and starts causing problems, just stay behind me. I've gotten shot before, and it honestly isn't as bad as it seems."

Kaine headed into the bridge, but slowed down when he saw he saw that there were others collected around the room. His gut instinct told him to play it safe.

"We got people up ahead," he said to Jack, lowering his voice. "I'll go first."

Kaine boldly stepped into the bridge—and planted his foot on a tube-like object that had gotten lose during the commotion. He immediately lost his slipped and fell onto the floor, back first.

"Hello," he moaned, lying on the floor. "I'm looking for a way out."