Morag 2014

Morag was a planet filled with never ending storms and an uninhabitable environment. A fog covered the planet and filled the landscape, ruins of an ancient civilization barely visible were to the eye because of the dark purple, black, and blues of the horizon.

This planet was the staging point for the two groups of the Avengers to split up. Clint and Natasha would be going to Vormir in the Guardians ship that had been un-shrunked by Pym technology. Nebula, Shi'ra and Rhodes were staying on Morag to wait for Peter Quill who would led them straight to the Orb containing the Power Stone.

The team used the escape pod to get themselves on the ground. Rhodes, Shi'ra, Natasha and Clint were on the ground waiting for Nebula who was putting the navigational coordinates to Vormir.

Shi'ra rolled her eyes as a small creature called Orloni rushed towards her. She quickly kicked it off, the small creature falling several metres away from her. Orloni jumped back on it's feet and roared at the Kratai before running off away from her sight.

"What's wrong?" Rhodey called over to her, "Scared of a mice?"

Shi'ra rolled her eyes at his comment, as Clint called over to them, "Hey, can we hurry it up?"

Natasha clapped her hands twice, "Guys, chop-chop. Come on. We're on a clock."

War Machine and Shi'ra turned over to the duo, "All that, is really helpful."

"It should be done any minute." Shi'ra added.

Natasha smiled as Clint shrugged his shoulders, giving them a look.

As if she had heard what the others just said, Nebula walked out of the ship, informing them, "Everything is ready."

Shi'ra smiled and gestured towards the cyborg, "See? Any minute." 

"Hey." Black Widow said, approaching Shi'ra. With the ship prepared for their journey to Vormir, it was time for her and Clint to go, "Take care of yourself."

Shi'ra smiled at her, "Don't worry about me. I should be the one worrying about you. You're the one that's going to different planet."

Nat smiled back as they shared a quick hug, "Good luck."

The Kratai nodded her head, her smile not leaving her face, as Natasha moved into the Guardians ship, "Likewise."

Clint walked over to Rhodes and gave him a quick pat on his armored shoulder, "Hey. You got this."

Rhodey nodded, "Let's get it done."

"Yes, sir."  Clint said back as he moved towards the hatch of the Guardians' ship, walking into the ship with Natasha by his side.

''You guys watch each other's six." Rhodes called over to them.

Clint and Natasha looked back at the group of three Avengers behind them, sending them one last smiles, with Romanoff saying, "See you back."

Barton nodded his head in agreemnt," Yeah."

"Be safe, both of you." Shi'ra told them.

They walked back into the ship as the hatch closed. Shi'ra, Nebula and Rhodey watched how the ship took off via the navigational auto pilot that Nebula had set and sped out of the atmosphere of Morag, heading towards Vormir.

"The coordinates for Vormir are laid in." Nebula declared to Rhodes and Shi'ra the second after the ship disappeared from their view, "All they have to do is not fall out."

"Let's hope it won't happen." Shi'ra stated.

Nebula nodded her head in agreement, "Yeah."

There was a silence for couple  of seconds, before Rhodes asked, glancing around his surroundings, "Okay, so, uhh... We just wait around for this Quill guy to show up and then he leads us to the Power Stone, is that it?"

"Yeah." Shi'ra answered, "It won't be too hard to not notice him."

"Let's take cover." Nebula told them as she looked around for a second as she turned away from Shi'ra and Rhodes. Her eyes were set on the temple resting somewhere in the for, "We're not the only ones in 2014 looking for the stones."

Rhodes blinked, "Wait a minute, what are you talking about right now? Who else is looking for these stones?"

Shi'ra glanced over at Rhodey, tensing up a bit at the thought of him that went through her head. They were in 2014, four years before his death so he was still out there, "Rhodey, I think the answer is quite obvious..."

Nebula simply stopped dead in her tracks upon hearing his question, before slowly turning around, "My father, my sister.... and me."

"And you?" Rhodes asked, needing to be clarified. He glanced at Shi'ra, then back at Nebula, "Where are you right now?"

------

An unfortunate planet by the name of Karidian became a victim of Thanos' path to balance the universe as half of the world's population was being cleansed. This was planet was literally burning. Leviathans, Leviathans Drillers, Chitauri chariots, and starships filled the night air and cried out as they fired bolts at buildings and roads, decimating the Karidians, fleeing away from the Mad Titan's forces for their lives.

Nebula whipped out her Electroshock Batons, screaming as she charged opposing alien. The Karidian warrior who was protecting his home from the invaders  had no chance against her, because her moves precise and more importantly deadly. The cyborg swung her Electroshock Batons, driving it right into his shoulder. He didn't had a chance to react to this attack as Nebula finished him off with a strike that broke his neck upon the impact.

She faced another Karidian just a second after. He just like the other one didn't stood a chance against her as she was much faster than him. She drove her batons forward at him, connecting it with his shoulder. The Karidian stumbled back, as Nebula quickly used this occasion to take him out. She moved her one of her batons towards his head and stabbed him right through it, ending his life. The lifeless body of the Karidian fell on it's knees, before collapsing on the ground.

Nebula didn't noticed one thing about this now dead Karidian. That thing was the grenade he lost the moment his lifeless body landed on the ground. The grenade exploded, a shock wave sending Nebula through the air until she collapsed right next to the power generator. Out of the small myst that formed around because of the explosion, came out another Karidian, that cocked his rifle and was about to end her life if it wasn't for someone that came in her rescue that kicked him into the generator. The Karidian screamed in agony as he was getting burned alive from within of the generator.

Her savior turned out to be her sister Gamora. She walked over to her sister, her battle armor soaked in blood of her enemies. 

Nebula glared at her as she sat up, growling, "I didn't ask for your help."

''And yet, you always need it." Gamora retorted. Nebula laughed and smacked her hand away, "Get up. Father wants us back on the ship."

"Why?" Nebula asked her.

"He's found an Infinity Stone." Gamora answered, as her sister looked up at her, her glare fading away from her face.

Thanos' army left the decimated remains of Karidian. The population of this planet submitted to the might of the Great Titan. Nebula and Gamora didn't focused on that. They had seen it before in their past. The two daughter of the Mad Titan focused on the mission they just received. They stared at the hologram  Morag, images of the Temple of the Power Stone captured by Ronan's the Accuser scouts days ago.

Nebula stood in front of the hologram, "Where?" 

Gamora walked around the hologram, as she replied, "On a planet called Morag."

''Father's plan is finally in motion." Nebula stated.

Gamora stopped next to her sister, crossing her arms, "One stone isn't six, Nebula." 

Nebula turned her gaze away from the hologram, glaring at her sister, "It's a start. If he gets all of them..."

She was interrupted by a noise that came from behind. The two sisters glanced back in the direction from which the noise came from. Their posture straightened.  A beam of the light appeared inside. Out of it, emerged their father, Thanos, the Mad Titan himself. He started tp approach them, covered in the blood of his enemies, the double bladed sword he was wielding in his right hand was practically painted in blood.

"Ronan's located the Power Stone. I'm dispatching you to his ship." He declared to them.

"He won't like that." Gamora stated.

"His alternative is death, then." Thanos stated, wiping blood from his sword, "Ronan's obsession clouds his judgement."

Nebula took a few steps forward and fell on her knees, bowing to her father, "We will not fail you father."

"I know you won't," Thanos said, sending a rather disappointed look to his daughter, as if he expected nothing more than failure to come from her. She did always disappoint him.

Nebula looked up at him, slowly rising back on her feet, whispering, rather painfully upon seeing the look he gave her, "I swear...I will make you proud."

It was just a moment before she screamed and clutched her forehead. She fell on the floor, clutching both sides of her head, trying to contain the pain that came out of nowhere. Gamora quickly came over to her and tried to help her. Thanos just stood and watched, as if he was waiting for something to happen.

The hologram came out of her from eye. A man in the suit armor with a Kratai standing by his side apperead in the view of all three of them. 

"Okay, so, uhh... We just wait around for this Quill guy to show up and then he leads us to the Power Stone, is that it?"

Thanos narrowed his eyes, watching everything the hologram had to offer.

"Yeah. It won't be too hard to not notice him."

"Let's take cover. We're not the only ones in 2014 looking for the stones."

The moment Nebula heard her voice in the hologram, she smacked her head in the area of her eye. She cried out as the hologram cut of. She was shaking. Her sister was right by her side, holding her hand on her arm, comforting her sister.

"Who were they?" She asked her.

"I don't know..." Nebula answered, clutching her head, "My head is splitting...I don't know..."

Titling her head a bit, Gamora realized that her sister was telling her the truth. Nebula was truly confused about everything that happened. But it would be much harder to prove it to their father. She stood up and looked up at him, "Her synaptic drive was probably damaged in battle."

"Shh..." Thanos shushed her. His voice was cold. It was enough for her to understand that she should stay quiet. She could only watch as their father the end of his blade and pressed it against Nebula's throat, the tip of it raising the cyborg's head at him. She was shivering uncontrollably as her eyes met his. 

Gamora just watched it all happen before as her father's gaze was not leaving Nebula. He finally spoke up,  "Bring her to my ship."

----

The water splashed from the kicks of the legendary outlaw known as Star-Lord. The Sony Walkman hanged from his hip as he skipped forward with the vocals of "Come and Get Your Love" ringing through his ears. Nearby Orloni charged at him, only to get kicked away by a dancing kick from Quill.

Another creature jumped at him from a nearby rock only to get caught by him. Star-Lord held the creature by it's neck as he sang right into it as if it was a microphone. He spun around and continued to sing.

"Come and get your love~!"

He threw the creature aside after that, spinning and singing even more.

"Come and get your love~!"

The others watched him from a short distance,  only hearing his voice. They saw his ridiculous dance moves, and slowly turned to one another, especially to Nebula.

"So, he's an idiot." He whispered to her.

"Yeah..." Nebula whispered back.

Shi'ra laughed quietly as she shook her head with a smile. This was the Star-Lord she met all those years ago thanks to Azurite on the day when she lost her hand, "Typical Quill." 

They left their covered and started to make his way towards him, making sure they won't get spotted by him. Quill continued his performance until he was knocked out by Rhodes who smacked him right in the forehead with his armored hand.

"I'm sorry, pal." Shi'ra said as she knelt down beside him and started searching through his bag. She pulled out two devices. One of them was a long pick.

"What is this?" Rhodes asked her.

Nebula answered for her, "The tool of a thief.''

Shi'ra nodded her head in confirmation as Nebula began leading them to their next destination. She led them to a set of massive stone doors, some device was placed on the right in the middle of the doors. She turned around to the Kratai and gave her a nod. Shi'ra walked over to the doors and carefully implanted the long pick. She gave it a turn and let the rest do the work.

The stone doors broke apart, allowing the group of three Avengers to see what was on the other side of the door. There was only one source of light in the entire temple. The Orb hovered in a strange shimmering anomaly. The Power Stone was here.

Nebula took the first step, followed by Shi'ra.

''Whoa, whoa!" Rhodey exclaimed, stopping them both. Shi'ra and Nebula turned towards him,  "This is the part where spikes come out with skeletons on the end and everything."

"What are you talking about?" Nebula asked, confused by his statement.

''When you break into a place called the temple of the Power Stone, There's gonna be a bunch of booby traps..." Rhodes tried to explain but Nebula and Shi'ra didn't listened to him blindly entered the temple.

"Rhodey, this isn't one of your Earthy movies." Shi'ra pointed out.

Rhodes just sighed  and holding out his hand to them. "Oh, okay, but I warned you."

He eventually followed them as they slowly made their way over to the Orb. The entire group eyed for a moment before Nebula reached her mechanic hand forward, intending to reach into the force shield protecting the Power Stone, but Shi'ra stopped her.

"Don't do it." The Kratai said, holding up the other device she took out from Quill's bag, "This should do the work."

"Are you sure about this?" Rhodes asked her.

"Rhodey." Shi'ra turned to him, "I was a mercenary before coming to Little Homeworld. You'd be surpised how much stuff I had related to stealing in my ship before it was destroyed five years ago."

"If you say so." Rhodes stated.

Shi'ra turned to Nebula and gave her an assuring nod. In response to that, Nebula backed away from the Orb. The Kratai put the device she got from Quill's bag on the floor. The Orb slowly began moving towards it, and it didn't took that long before the Orb attached itself into it.

As she leaned down, intending to grab it, she heard Nebula say to Rhodes, "I wasn't always like this."

"Me neither," War Machine admitted.

"That makes us three." Shi'ra stated, gripping the Orb tightly as she turned to them. She gestured towards her denture of a hand she had lost a few years ago during a contract and she probably wouldn't be here if her Azurite wasn't with her during this contract, "But we work with what we got, right?"

The group stared at each other solemnly as Rhodes said, "Sync up."

They all raised their hands, their Quantum Suits overcoming their bodies. They stared at their Time Travel GPSes, Shi'ra gripping the Orb as if her life had depended on it. 

"On three." Rhodes said through his War Machine mask. He began counting down to one and when he reached that number, he and Shi'ra pressed their GPSes, sending themselves back to their times.

Nebula remained in the Temple of the Power Stone, frozen suddenly as her Synaptics started to malftuction. Her Quantum Suit helmet disappeared from her face as she pressed her hand against her Synaptics, a painful gasp and cry escaping her mouth as she practically collapsed on the floor.

------

An invisible force field of energy kept Nebula above the ground, frozen  and unable to move as Thanos plugged a neural link coming out from the ceiling to the back of her skull.

"Run diagnostics. Show me her memory file." He ordered.

The Ebony Maw stepped out from the shadows at the end of the room and moved his fingers across the holographic screen before him. He frowned at the news he received, declaring to his father, "Sire, the file appears entangled. It was a memory, but not hers. There's another consciousness sharing her network...another Nebula."

Thanos frowned, turning towards the Maw, "Impossible."

Gamora stood behind her father, unmoving. Thankfully it was nothing too severe for her sister. Their father just wanted to see her memories. The other members of Thanos' Black Order, Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian were present in the room as well, watching everything unfold before them.

"This duplicate carries a time stamp..." Ebony Maw continued, his eyes widening, finding more and more about Nebula's memories, "From nine years in the future."

Gamora watched how her father took one step forward, his eyes focused on her and her only, "Where is this other Nebula?"

"In our solar system. On Morag." Ebony Maw answered.

"Can you access her?" Thanos asked him.

The Maw nodded his head, "Yes. The two are linked."

"Search the duplicate's memories for Infinity Stones." Thanos ordered.

The Ebony Maw moved his fingers across the screen as Nebula's memory file was opened, the holographic image shot from her eyes, revealing a group of different people.

"And these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history."

"Our history. So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in."

"Which means we have to pick our targets."

"Correct."

Thanos watched the video being played in front of him, "Freeze image."

The Maw did as he was told to. He pressed one button on the screen before him and the video shooting from Nebula's eye was frozen. 

Gamora took one step forward towards the image, observing everyone in it, humans being of course the first ones she spotted, "Terrans..." She remarked, her eyes then spotting the gems, "Gems..." And Shi'ra was the last one her eyes caught the sight of, "And one Kratai..."

"Avengers...." Thanos stated, recognizing the team that stopped Loki's invasion two years ago. He frowned upon seeing Tony Stark. The man who single handedly destroyed an entire Chitauri Command Center. Then, his eyes caught the sight of the gems, some of them had star on their clothes, "...And Crystal Gems. " 

He knew that the gems with them were Crystal Gems, becase he was knew about the rebellion that happened all those years ago and knew the symbol of a star the gems who rebelled used to mark themselves, "Unruly wretches."

"These two don't seem like Crystal Gems to me."  Corvus Glaive stated, his eyes catching the sight of Jasper and Azurite, spotting that neither of them had anything related to the Crystal Gems. They looked looked like ordinary gems from Homeworld. Especially a certain orange quartz soldier, because the other one looked like a defective gem and these weren't welcomed in Homeworld.

Proxima Midnight titled her head, recognizing one of them as the gem she came across all those years ago on Konoritos. What was he doing with them? He told her himself that they banished him. Homeworld despised every gem that was made defective. They were either banished or shattered.

"What are they doing with them? The Diamonds eliminate every gem that even thinks about rebelling against them." She asked, then added, "And what are they doing on Earth? I thought the Diamonds obliterated every gem on that planet during the rebellion."

"That what they told everyone. They could have been wrong or lying to make everyone fear them." Thanos stated. The Diamonds lying about something wouldn't be a big suprise for him. He glanced over at the Maw, pointing at a certain spot in the image, "What's that reflection? Amplify this, Maw."

The Maw nodded, zooming the image until everyone present in the room were able to see the reflection Thanos spotted, and more importantly who's reflection it was. They saw Nebula. But this Nebula looked a bit different. This Nebula had an orange plating going across her head.

"I don't understand." Gamora said, her eyes not leaving the reflection, "Two Nebulas."

"No. Same Nebula from two different times." Her father stated, turning to the Maw, "Set course for Morag. Scan the duplicate's memories. I want to see everything."

Ebony started browsing through more of Nebula's memories. Her memories showed them everything, the Maw found interesting, and knew he had to show his father. It started with her teaming up with Gamora and a few other beings, one of them being the defective gem and a talking woodland beast they saw in her previous memory to destroy a celestial being, or even her trying to sneak into his ship to end his life in his sleep.

They even got an answer relating the gems they saw in Nebula's memories. They found out about Steven Universe as the new embodiment of Pink Diamond who was apparently never shattered, just faked her own death and took the form of Rose Quartz. Her memories told them how he changed Homeworld, and how the same kid responsible for it fell as a victim of something he did in their time.

Nebula screamed as another memory was showed from her eye. It showed them Thanos. The entire left side of his face was burned.

"You murdered trillions!"

"You should be grateful!"

"Grateful!?"

"Konoritos? I saved this planet."

"Where are the stones?"

"Gone. Reduced to atoms."

"You're lying!"

"That's right! We know that you used them two days ago!"

"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be. I am inevitable."

The image was frozen again, Gamora's eyes stuck with the image of her father, "What did you do to them?"

"Nothing. Yet." Thanos stated, realizing what happened in the future coming into his mind,  "They're not trying to stop something I'm going to do in our time. They're trying to undo something I've already done in theirs."

This realization came into Gamora's mind as well, "...The Stones..."

Thanos turned to Gamora, his favourite daughter, "I found them all." He slowly approached her, and started rubbing her cheek, "I won. Tipped the cosmic scales to balance."

In response to his words, Gamora bowed quickly.

"Sire, this is your future." Corvus Glaive stated.

Thanos turned to him, Midnight and Obsidian, "It's my destiny."

The Mad Titan turned back to the holographic memories. There was still more to be shown. Ebony turned the video back on and Nebula's voice was the first thing all of them heard.

"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them."

"Ah...Thank you, Daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly..."

Thanos watched the rest of the memory, seeing how out of the sudden his head was cut off by the son of Odin. Gamora gasped in shock and shot back on her feet.

"And that is destiny fullfilled." He smirked.

"Sire, your daughter..." The Maw said, extending his hand towards Nebula. A neural link was ripped out from the back of her head, and wrapped around her neck. The cyborg gasped for a breath as she was being strangled, "...is a traitor."

Gamora stepped towards the Maw to do something, to intervene but her father held his arm out to her, as everyone in the room heard how the cyborg was gasping for a breath. He slowly approached her, hearing her beg him, "That's not me. It's not. I could never... I would never betray you. Never."

Thanos raised his hand, and ripped the cord away, allowing Nebula to breath again. He grabbed her lower jaw and forced her to look at him, " I know. And you'll have the chance to prove it."

-----

In the Temple of the Power Stone, Nebula was freed from her frozen stance, but with this came a horrible realization of what just happened. 

"No..." She whispered to herself in horror, "He knows!"

She quickly shot up back on her feet and began to run as fast as she could towards the pod they left behind to contact with the team that went to Vormir. She grabbed the comms and began to call out for them to inform them about what just happened, to warn them that he knew about their plan, "Barton? Barton, come in. Romanoff? Come in, we have a problem. Come on! Come in, we have a prob....Thanos knows. Thanos... He knows..."

She got no answer from either of them, she paused when she sheard something rumbling from above. She looked up from the pod to see Sanctuary 2 in the sky, hovering above her as it caught her in a beam, leaving Nebula trapped as she knew that things were about to get a lot worse from that point.

And things did got worse the moment she was brought straight to Sanctuary 2. She was taken out of the pod kicked on the floor by her past self, making her groan in pain, "Ah!"

Past Nebula sighed as she looked at her future self, shaking her head, "You're weak."

Nebula turned to herself, "I'm you!"

In response to her words, past Nebula punched her future self straight in the face. She reached down to her Time Travel GPS placed on her future self right hand. She picked it up and started examining it.

Gamora walked in, which future Nebula didn't fail to notice. She panted, looking up at the younger alive version of her sister, "You can stop this. You know you want to. Did you see what happens in the future? Thanos finds the Soul Stone. You wanna know how he does that? You wanna know what he does to you?"

''That's enough." Her past self stated as she kicked her again, pinning her against the wall. She took out her electric knife and moved the blade where the orange plate was located, "You disgust me, but that doesn't mean you're useless."

She pulled the plate out of her head. She stood up and placed the plate on her hand, in the same place as the future self did to make sure she looked just like her.

When she was certain everything she needed for the mission her father assigned her to was ready, she made her way to her father's throne room. She saw him, sitting on his throne. She walked over to him, and bowed before handing him the Pym Particle.

She looked up at him, showing off her new look to him, asking.

"How do I look?"