After the War

The vote

Nebula

"So, you're an alien, huh?" I voice behind me asked me. I turned around to face on of those people who called themselves agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., "I prefer the term Luphomoid, but yes." "Luphomoid?" "The name of my race, like yours is Terrans." "Yeah, we usually refer to ourselves as humans." "Technically we're all humans, or humanoids." "So... you used to live on another planet huh? Was it nice?" I shrugged, "I don't really remember much from my home planet, I got kidnapped by Thanos when I was really young." The more time I spent there the easier it became to talk to people. It was weird, but also nice in some sort of way. "That sucks." "Yeah, it does. Now how is it that you, a Terran, are not fazed by me an "alien"?" She shrugged, "I've met more aliens, Asgardians, Kree..." "You met Kree?" "Yeah, they're... not really nice." "That's an understatement." "You know them?" "Well, some of them, yes. I worked with one once, his name was Ronan." "Oh." "He wanted revenge on Xandar for what happened during the war." "What war?" "The war between the Xandarians and the Kree. They used to really hate each other." "Well, most Kree are douchebags." That almost made me laugh, almost. "Yeah, they're bad, but Skrulls are worse." "What's a Skrull?" "They're shapeshifters... and as far as I know they don't really like any other race." "Oh... but... does that really make them worse than the Kree, I mean... I heard they did some nasty stuff." "Yeah, they did. They experimented on other races, your leader said so too... And he said you were a descendant of a successful experiment." "You seemed quite surprised about that." "Well... I thought all experiments had either failed or were murdered and shut down." "Well... that's not the case." "And... you came to talk to me for this?" "No, I came to talk with you because you seemed lonely." That came as quite a surprise, "Oh."

"So... uh, what was your name again?" "Nebula," I told her. "Well, I'm Daisy, nice to meet you." "Uh... thanks." She cocked her head slightly, "You're not really a people person, are you?" I shook my head, "Not really no. I usually scare people. Which isn't very weird, if you consider my looks." She shrugged, "Yeah, cyborgs don't really faze me either." "What?" "Yeah, I met another a cyborg before." "Your life sounds strange." "You have no idea, really." "I'm betting mine is still weirder." She seemed like a nice person and she had this "easy to talk to" aura over her. "Oh really?" "Yeah, really." "Okay, bring it on." "I was kidnapped when I was really young." "I was stolen from my parents as a baby, by S.H.I.E.L.D." "Don't you work for them now?" "Told you it was weird." "Mine's still weirder." "Prove it." "Thanos made me fight my adoptive sister and every time I lost he replaced a part of me with metal." "Okay... wow." "What have you got against that?" "Uh... I grew up in the foster system... wondering who my parents were, only to find out that my dad was a homicidal maniac... and my mom was the leader of a group of Inhumans." "Not as weird." "My mom tried to kill me because I tried to protect my friends." "Okay, that is weird." "Also, I found out I was an Inhuman...." "Still not as weird as what Thanos did." "You sure about that?" "Did your mother try to take over the world?" "Well... kinda, yes." Seriously? "Okay, maybe it comes close." "Well... I guess it's not as painful or tragic as what happened to you, but I think it comes like... really close." "Maybe. Maybe not."

Suddenly I heard a loud growl behind us. Daisy turned around in shock, "What the hell? Are those panthers?" "Oh, yes, there are two panthers here." "Why did nobody tell me that?" I shrugged, "Not important enough I guess, their names are T'Challa and N'Jadaka. They're Queen Shuri's pets." "She has two panthers?" "It's a long story, she found them when she was foraging the forest looking for this strange herb that grants people the power of the Black Panther or something." "Oh... And, wait what?" "Yeah, I'm surprised she doesn't think that they're a gift from that panther Goddess they seem to believe in." "Okay, this is going way too fast for me." "Yeah, I don't really get the story either, but we can't bother her right now, she's working on stuff to help us defeat Thanos." "And I bet you'd like to cave his skull in." I smiled a little, "Well, yes." "As revenge for what he did to you." "Not just to me... not anymore anyway." It used to be like that, I used to want to take revenge only for what he had done to me, but now that I was here... things had changed. I had made some friends, the friendships were still very fragile, for I was kinda reluctant when it came to making friends... but I had made them nevertheless. And it was because of that that I saw how many people he had hurt. I also wanted revenge because of that... And because of what he had done to Gamora. He had hurt her too, hell, he murdered her so he could commit mass murder. He was sick in his mind... And he needed to die. "You got any other reasons?" "He murdered my sister." "Your sister?" "Gamora, the one he made me fight." "I kinda thought you'd hate her." "There was a time that I did... but not anymore... She... I even tried to kill her... but she forgave me... after all that I did..." "Forgiveness is a powerful thing." "Yes. But... the worst is... Thanos used me to lure her... he tortured me to make her reveal the truth. She protected me and that's what cost her her life..." "You feel guilty." I do, I realized. "Yes." "I know what that's like..." That surprised me, "You do?" She nodded, "A friend of mine once followed me into a situation that killed him because he wanted to protect me... If I hadn't been so stupid he'd probably still be alive... It sucks, doesn't it? That feeling of guilt..." I nodded in agreement, "Yeah, it does."