Chapter 126: Seize the Space Stone Again! Let Hela Decide Herself!
Seeing the Tesseract finally appear, Thanos’ expression eased, and a surge of confidence returned to his face.
Until now, both the Power Stone and the Reality Stone had slipped through his grasp. But at last, the Space Stone was about to fall into his hands.
Ebony Maw, standing unharmed at his side, was the first to congratulate him.
"Congratulations, Lord Thanos, on obtaining an Infinity Stone!"
But before the words had even settled, Loki suddenly drew a dagger and slashed straight for Thanos’ throat!
"Clang!"
Thanos’ hand shot up, catching his wrist in an iron grip. With a twist, the blade snapped from Loki’s hand. In the next instant, Thanos seized him by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
"Loki!"
Thor cried out in despair. Loki’s face flushed red as both hands clawed at Thanos’ grip.
"Hand over the Infinity Stone."
Loki gave a pained, defiant smile. He pulled out the Tesseract and, with the last of his magic, hurled it across the hall. The cube skidded to a stop at the transport bay doors.
The meaning was clear—if Thanos wanted it, he’d have to go pick it up himself.
Thanos turned, glaring at the glowing cube rolling on the floor. He looked back at Loki, eyes cold with fury.
"You’re looking for—"
"BOOM!!!"
A violent tremor shook the transport ship before he could finish.
Everyone’s heads whipped around just as a massive energy beam, wider than the ship itself, ripped across the void from right to left. The sheer force of it shoved the surrounding warships outward, sending the Asgardian transport into violent quakes.
Warriors from Thanos’ legion were thrown against the walls with bone-crunching impacts. The Tesseract bounced into the air, spinning chaotically.
The beam vanished as quickly as it appeared—no more than a second. But with it went Thanos’ flagship.
Ebony Maw’s eyes bulged.
"Our... our flagship? That enormous flagship—where is it? How is it gone again?!"
He turned to Thanos in shock.
Thanos’ face darkened, veins bulging with rage. He hurled Loki aside and strode to the viewing window.
And there it was—hundreds of warships, descending from above. Among them, colossal space fighters, Transformer war machines a hundred meters long. They opened fire, unleashing a torrent of blasts upon the donut-shaped ships surrounding the transport.
The clumsy vessels barely had time to turn.
"BOOM!!!"
One shot, and a donut ship erupted into flames, exploding in place.
How many of those donut ships were there? Dozens. Yet in less than three minutes, they were reduced to debris.
The Transformers’ starfighters swarmed, closing in on the battlefield, circling around the Asgardian transport like hunting wolves.
"Bang!"
Thanos’ face turned a grim shade of iron as he slammed his fist into the wall of the ship.
"Cough... cough... cough..."
Loki hacked blood in the corner, yet his lips twisted into a wild grin.
"Thanos! Hahaha! The Transformers really came! Thor, did you see it?"
"You said the plot was lame—but it actually happened!"
Thanos turned on him, murderous fury in his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to rip Loki apart.
It was because of Loki’s stalling that this disaster had struck. If he had secured the Tesseract just minutes earlier, none of this would be happening now.
Ebony Maw stepped forward.
"Lord Thanos, allow me to kill—"
"Get the Tesseract!"
Thanos cut him off, voice sharp. He didn’t care who lived or died now. All that mattered was seizing the cube. With it, he could wield the Infinity Stone’s power to crush the Transformers—or at least slaughter enough of them to escape.
But before he could reach it—
"BOOM!!!"
The transport bay doors buckled under a massive strike. The impact sent everyone inside staggering back. The Tesseract was jolted, tumbling straight toward the doors.
"CLANG!!!"
An enormous battle axe split the hatch open. In an instant, the chamber depressurized, air howling out into space—and with it, the Tesseract was sucked through the gap.
Thanos could only watch in stunned disbelief as the cube spun into the void.
Outside, a Transformer snatched it mid-flight, scanned it briefly, then tossed it to an ally at its side.
"This is an Infinity Stones. Deliver it to the Elders."
"I’ll go." One of the Transformers grabbed the Tesseract and left immediately.
The others peered inside. When they spotted Thanos, the one wielding the axe froze for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"Yes, it’s you, the purple freak. Let’s fight again! I’ve doubled the power of my axe since last time."
It turned out the one who had just cleaved open the door was the very same Transformer who had first fought Thanos that day. Truly, enemies meeting on a narrow road.
The Transformer began tearing the cabin door apart with its bare hands. Thanos’ face darkened to a shade of purple. With the Tesseract gone, his chances had vanished with it.
Who knew how many Transformers were outside? There was no hope in a desperate fight.
If it had been like last time, his first encounter with them, Thanos might have charged in for at least a few exchanges. But now he knew better. Behind this one were at least hundreds more.
Still, unwilling to yield, Thanos raised his double-edged blade and threatened the Transformer at the door.
"Hand over the Tesseract, or everyone in here dies."
Bang!
The Transformer kicked the cabin door clean off, then raised its massive cannon without the slightest hesitation, ready to fire.
Of course. It wasn’t Transformers who would die. Threatening them with alien hostages meant nothing—what did Asgardians have to do with them? Did Thanos think they were saints?
One look at the glowing barrel was enough for Thanos to understand—the Transformers answered only to themselves.
Without another word, he seized Ebony Maw, crushed a blue gem, and vanished.
The Transformer outside frowned.
"How many Stones does he have?"
At once, it uploaded the recording to the Elders for analysis.
As for the Asgardian refugees still inside, the Transformers had no intention of intervening.
"Wait."
The voice came from The Collector, who had arrived and immediately recognized them.
"Asgardians? How did they end up like this?"
"You know them, Collector?" one Transformer asked.
"They are Asgardians," The Collector confirmed, recognizing their attire at a glance. "But Asgard belongs to the Nine Realms. Why are they here?"
Since they had been noticed, The Collector decided to investigate further. He boarded the transport, passed through the ruined hall, and entered the deeper rest quarters.
The hall had been ripped open to space—no oxygen, no pressure—so only the sealed rest areas remained habitable.
The moment he arrived, Thor, still wary, lifted Mjolnir at the ready.
But Loki, barely recovered, quickly intervened.
"Thor, he’s The Collector. He knows more about this universe than almost anyone."
Hearing that, Thor slowly lowered his hammer, though his brow remained furrowed as he glanced toward the sealed chamber.
The Collector gestured, indicating he wanted to speak inside. Thor understood, turned to Loki, who gave him a nod.
So Thor pressed the button and opened the hatch.
The Collector stepped in.
"You are Asgardians?"
Thor nodded. "Is there a problem?"
Loki looked at The Collector and explained.
"Asgard has been destroyed. We’re searching for a new home."
"Loki!?"
Thor turned sharply to him. How could he so easily reveal their plight?
But Loki reasoned calmly.
"The Collector knows too much already. Hiding the truth is pointless. Even if he sells the information, whoever buys it will pay dearly for it."
"You’re right," The Collector admitted with a nod. "But I no longer deal in such things."
Loki blinked, startled. He could hardly believe The Collector would dismiss his past dealings as mere shady business. Such an ugly word—but that was exactly what he meant.
Even so, Loki still found it hard to believe.
"So now you..."
The Collector glanced at the Transformers outside.
"I only cooperate with the Transformers civilization now. You could call it a strategic partnership."
Loki understood immediately. Thor seemed to catch on, though he still asked with doubt,
"You came to see us—there must be a reason, something you want to ask."
The Collector nodded. His thoughts drifted back to the day he encountered the Creator. At that time, three women had stood at the Creator’s side, and one of them was unmistakably Asgardian.
He wouldn’t mistake it. As one of the Elders of the Universe, who had lived through countless ages, his eye for such things was certain.
But he wasn’t a fool. He couldn’t reveal outright that he had seen an Asgardian beside the Creator. So instead, he said,
"There aren’t many of you here. Is there perhaps another Asgardian outside?"
"Another?!"
Thor froze. During their escape on the ship, he had been sure only these Asgardians survived. How could there be another?
Then it struck him. Before Odin’s death, he had spoken of a sister—Hela—mentioned again during Ragnarok.
At the same moment, Loki frowned as well. He remembered the time he had secretly read from the forbidden books.
The two spoke at once.
"Hela?!"
The name clearly sounded female, but The Collector still asked for confirmation.
"A woman?"
Thor and Loki exchanged a glance, then nodded.
Thor immediately pressed forward, anxious.
"Where is Hela? Asgard has already been shattered, and these are the only people left. We must find every last Asgardian who still lives out there!"
At this point, Thor bore no grudge against Hela, nor did any of the survivors of Asgard. It was natural for him to want to reunite with any who remained.
And once The Collector confirmed she was female, he became almost certain. The youngest woman at the Creator’s side had to be an Asgardian. If both were Asgardians, then bringing her back to the Creator would surely prove useful.
That was his calculation.
After a moment’s thought, he suddenly said,
"I can prepare a warship for you to stay in temporarily. Food will also be provided."
"But you will need to remain aboard for a few days, until a certain important figure gives a reply. Only then can you leave."
Hearing this, Thor looked at their battered transport ship. It was broken in countless places—he wasn’t even sure it could still fly. If it couldn’t, what would they do once the Transformers departed? Starve in the void?
As Thor wrestled with the thought, Loki asked directly,
"Is it related to the Asgardians outside?"
The Collector looked at Loki.
"Half of it, but you have no right to know."
Loki’s eyes lit up. He was quick on the uptake and immediately thought of something. He shot Thor a meaningful look.
"Agree! Agree!"
Thor was puzzled, but for Loki’s sake, he nodded.
"I agree."
Better to agree than starve. If they refused, the Asgardians on the ship could starve to death.
"Very good."
The Collector nodded at that, then turned to leave.
"A warship will come to pick you up shortly. Just board and stay there."
With that, The Collector left.
Watching him go, Thor asked Loki in confusion,
"Why did we agree?"
Loki shook his head, disappointed.
"Didn’t you notice the Collector’s question was about our sister?"
"Of course I did," Thor said. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"You pig brain."
Loki sighed.
"For the Collector to treat us like this, it means two things about our sister."
"First: she commands a powerful force out there, enough to make the Collector cautious."
"Second: she’s attached to a powerful force, which also makes the Collector treat her carefully."
"In other words, our sister is doing much better out there than we are. Do you get it now?"
Loki had realized it already—their sister had to be a big deal outside. Otherwise, the Collector wouldn’t act this way. The Collector always does what’s worthwhile, and that alone proves enough.
Hearing this, Thor finally understood, though he felt a twinge of shame. He had no idea how he would even explain this to his sister when the time came.
Before long, the Transformers’ warship arrived and took away the few dozen Asgardians who remained.
On the way back, The Collector had already sent a message to Cybertron—addressed, of course, to the Ballerina Twins the Creator had sent a few days earlier. They were Cybertron’s new housekeepers, the Creator’s twin envoys.
Soon, the message reached the Ballerina Twins.
...
On Earth, quitting time had arrived. Lorien headed out right on schedule with the Ballerina Twins, closing the door behind them.
Just then, Aria spoke up.
"Master, the Transformers army ran into Thanos’ legion again in deep space. After wiping them out, Thanos and one of his generals warped out."
"This time, the Transformers recovered one Space Stone and a transport ship carrying just over thirty Asgardians."
"The Collector is asking how to handle the Asgardians."
Asgardians? Wasn’t this around the time Loki got strangled?
No, that wasn’t the point.
The point was that the Transformers really snagged another Infinity Stone. Wonderful. Things were getting more and more interesting. According to the Sacred Timeline, Thanos didn’t have a single Stone yet. Would this push him to submit to Lady Death?
Oh, right—Lady Death here isn’t Hela. It’s Death, one of the Five Abstract Entities.
"Interesting."
With the mindset of watching something new unfold, Lorien could only say it was a fine haul.
As for the remaining Asgardians? Who cares... uh... he’d let Hela handle it, since Hela had ties to Asgard. There was some connection, but not much. After all, Hela had feelings for the land of Asgard, not its people. Who would still feel anything for them after being imprisoned for thousands of years? The land endures; people come and go.
So Lorien waved it off.
"Go tell Hela to decide for herself, then come back and report the result."
Did he need to handle this kind of nonsense? Yeah, right. He was off to hang out with Gwen. Being a hands-off boss not fun? He was enjoying it.