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[i]Xandar
Andromeda Galaxy[/i]
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Richard Rider was dreaming. He was dreaming of Earth, a home he had not in seemingly a lifetime. He dreamed of the quiet suburbs of Long Island and of his house where he would play basketball and street hockey with his friends, he dreamed of the smell of the ocean air and the feeling of hot sand beneath his feet. He dreamed of the sweet strawberry taste of Suzan Armstrong lips in the cold winter air one January night. In his dreams Rhomann Dey never came down from the stars, in his dreams he got to leave out the story and life that he expected to have. The small house somewhere in the country, the well paying job, the loving wife and the two point five children and a dog. In his dreams he never dreaded waking up and he never missed the seemingly simple things of life like the sound of a sprinkle in the summer morning slowly rotating about or the soft chirping of birds in the early morning of spring. 

The sound of the intercomm piping into his room woke him up. The voice that came through was soft and feminine but he knew it wasn't any person it was a robot cleverly disguised. A robot which over his years in the Nova Corps he had learned to hate and dread. They didn't use the intercom to wake you up unless something very important or something very terrible had happened. Considering his current luck with things Rider had figured that it was the latter. He rolled out of his small bunk and hit the floor naked as the day he was born. His small room in the Nova Corps compound was relatively small in it’s structure and was a stark white in color the floor polished to the point that he could see his own reflection looking back up at him. He stumbled towards to the side door that lead into his bathroom and looked up at the face in the mirror. 

The man that now looked at him was much different than the stranger that had left Earth all those years ago as nothing more than a boy. Richard was barely in his mid thirties but looked at least a decade older from the stress and general toll of his word.His eyes had dulled over the years having lost the enthusiasm and excitement that once danced within them, replaced with a lonely determination that came through seeing some of the worst that the galaxy could throw at him. Dark circles laced beneath them currently a testament to his lack of proper sleep that the current affairs had him dealing with. Brown hair once long and free had been cut close to his head and now had shocks of white matched by an unshaved face where a solid beard was starting to form. Richard sighed as he cupped the water in his hands and splashed his face - it seemed he wouldn't have time for a shower today yet again.

Walking out of the bathroom he quickly pulled his gear out of the trunk underneath his bed pulling it out from artifacts that had taken with him from earth. A picture frame holding a picture of him and his family, an old football and a school yearbook all that was left of his life on Earth. As far as his parents knew he was a missing child having run away from home years ago. It was easier that way of course, easier for them not to know what had really happened to their son. He ran his hand over the picture frame once and gave the football an affirmative squeeze. It was still firm as he continually kept putting air into it even though he had not used the thing. The intercom sounded again and the robot even sounded half annoyed, shaking his head Richard took out his suit from the trunk and closed it with a solid thunk.

Once he was suited up Richard made his way out of his rooms and through the winding passages of the base at a slight jog. The other members of the Nova Corps nodded as he passed some of them even called out to them and he give them a friendly wave as he bobbed and waved his way through the crowd. Eventually he found his way to the center of the complex mission control as he liked to call it. It was a fitting nickname, a large circular room filled with computers and displays of all shapes and sizes as communication and tech officers monitored information from across the greater known universe. It was here that all Nova Corps operations were put together and monitored. In many ways it was one of the most important rooms in the galaxy. When he had first joined the amount of activity going on around him made his head spin. Now, he moved about it like it was a part of him as he made his way towards the center of the room.

At the center of the room was a familiar face pacing about the central display. Blonde hair, fiery and beautiful those were the words that immediately came to his mind when he thought of Lindy Nolan. She was another human like him drafted by the Worldmind, and one of the best combatants in the entire corps beside Richard of course. She turned as she heard him approach her a perfect image of despair  

“Lindy? What in the world is going on? I went to sleep for an hour and then the intercom is yelling it’s head off for me to get down here.”

“It’s about Kray.” Nolan spoke her normally strong and proud voice sounding like it was in a windstorm swallowed up by the world around her. Richard’s heart sank almost immediately at the mention of the outer lying mining world. That was where they were fighting him, they had an operation planned for weeks and it seemed like it was finally going to be over that they were going to be able to stop the deaths and the destruction once and for all. But from Linda’s expression and voice Richard could already guess what happened.

“What Corpsmen Nolan is trying to say is that our forces on Kray were destroyed to the man.” A cold robotic voice sounded out from seemingly inside of Richard’s own head. It was the Worldmind of course, despite having been a member of the corps for as long as he had he still couldn't get over the shivers that went down his back when it spoke.  He wanted to chastized it for being as blunt as it was that those people they had lost were men and women where their friends but he held his tongue. The Worldmind was endlessly complex and trying to argue semantics with it would only result in a headache that he couldn't deal with right now.

“He... left us a video.” Lindy spoke as she pressed a button on the main display. The picture changed from an image of Xandar floating in space to that of a frozen picture of Thanos himself standing alone in a field of corpses surronding him, he looked unscaved by the battle beside the only mark of combat being the blood that coated his fists. He looked very.... pleased with himself, pleased at the destruction that he had caused. Richard started at the image of the titan that had caused him such pain and misery over the past few months, his force of death and destruction coming seemingly out of nowhere and slowly destroying thousands of worlds like Kray, thousands of worlds they had sworn to protect. Richard grabbed the edge of the display with a tense grip hard enough for his fingers to began to dent the very metal itself. 

[b]“Play it.”[/b]
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[right][i]Kray[/i][/right]

“I know you are watching this pitiful creatures. Shriveling in your homes and dwellings wetting yourself in fright as this is broadcast across your Galaxy. I’m the champion of death, I’m the destroyer of worlds, I’m your god. I am Thanos. I send this message out to you all as a warning. If you resist my forces and go against my will this is your fate. This is what happens to those that go against Thanos, this is the fate of your so called protectors the Nova Corps. If you go quietly I can promise you a quick and honorable death but fight me and you will perish slowly the worthless animals you are.” Thanos watched as the light on the floating camera orb in front of him turned off. He nodded to himself pleased as he surveyed the carnage and death in front of him. He was almost disappointed at how easily the battle had been one, he had expected the defenders of Kray to put up a better fight, a fight that he could relish in, a true battle. But instead they shattered too quickly, breaking rank and fleeing as they watched Titan carve through their army without breaking a sweat seemingly impervious to any damage that was thrown his way. Even the Corpsman with them with their abilities and powers were no much for him as they were easily crushed beneath his fists.

Nebula soon appeared next to him as he surveyed the carnage about him hands clasped behind him. She stayed silent not daring to interrupt his meditations.

“Speak child.”

“Our forces have finished mopping up what remained of the opposing army, the planet is as good as ours Overmaster.” Nebula spoke as she bowed despite the pain still flaring in her ribs.

“Good round up all the able bodied men and woman and get them onto the ships.We need more slaves to keep our forces running.” 

“Gamora is already on the task sir.”

“Well I want it done quicker. And once that is done have our ships drop the nuclear payload from orbit. I wants this wretched world wiped off the face of the galaxy.”

“Understood.”