MD-Chapter 385 After the Battle!

In truth, Arthur still had one last concern.

He was worried Nova Prime might not let Ronan go so easily.

After all, with such a hard-fought victory under their belts, capturing Ronan would be the ultimate way to seal the win.

But Arthur quickly realized he was overthinking it.

Nova Prime wasn't the type to chase glory, she was the kind who preferred minimizing risk over maximizing recognition.

She had no obsession with catching Ronan. What she wanted most was to see him gone, and fast.

Now that Ronan had retreated so cleanly, Nova Prime was practically ready to pop a bottle of champagne in celebration. Stopping him? That was nowhere on her to-do list.

The team boarded their escape pods and descended from orbit toward the planet Xandar. During re-entry, Arthur took the opportunity to talk with Star-Lord about the situation with Yondu.

After all, Yondu had struck a deal with Star-Lord to snag the Power Stone.

The issue? Ronan never had the Power Stone to begin with. If anyone did, it was Arthur.

Arthur understood that Yondu's claim was just a cover story to shield the rest of the Ravagers, but they still needed to stage it properly to keep up appearances.

Star-Lord pounded his chest and confidently promised Arthur that everything was handled. The Ravagers wouldn't linger on Xandar long, and as soon as they showed up, he'd take care of it.

The plan? Fake it.

And Yondu, true to form, proved he could've won an intergalactic Academy Award. By the time the group landed, the old man was already waiting.

Star-Lord sauntered over and handed him a bogus Orb.

Arthur took one glance and nearly lost it laughing.

The thing looked like a charred Easter egg, no telling what it was made from, but Yondu didn't blink. He accepted the 'Orb' with a gleam in his eye, like he'd just struck gold, and swaggered back onto his ship with all the bravado of a born showman.

Just before boarding, he shot Arthur a knowing look, cryptic, maybe even a warning, but it was up to Arthur to interpret what it meant.

Moments after Yondu's departure, Tony descended from above, flanked by several scattered units of Mark Series tech.

His entrance had the dramatic flair of a high-tech version of "swords returning to their master," all sleek motion and explosive impact.

Once he landed, Tony had J.A.R.V.I.S. issue commands to the Mark Series drones. They cooled down, shifted, and reassembled into a towering black cube in front of the group.

Arthur opened a portal into his Disassembler space and stored them inside. Tony turned to him and said, "I'll send over a full battle log later. Still plenty of room for refinement. This fight gave me a few upgrades to work on."

Arthur nodded, but before he could respond, Nova Prime arrived.

There wasn't time to debrief. Instead, the group followed her to a formal ceremony celebrating the victory.

It was a major turning point for Nova Prime and the Xandarians. This triumph, especially with minimal losses, was everything they could have hoped for. The gratitude they expressed toward Arthur and his team was sincere and overwhelming. 

After the chaos of war, the group took time to clean up before attending the victory banquet hosted by Nova Prime.

By the time everything was settled, an hour had passed.

They reconvened in Arthur's quarters for a private strategy session.

The terms they'd discussed earlier with Nova Prime hadn't been locked in yet. Now that the fight was over, it was time to finalize those details.

Of course, if Nova Prime tried to pull a fast one and back out of their deal, Arthur wouldn't take it lightly. He was ready to remind her that driving away the enemy at the front gate meant nothing if you let trouble sneak in through the back.

In addition, the group reviewed the key elements of the battle, data comparisons, performance gaps, and tactical missteps, all noted for the sake of improving future operations.

That initiative came straight from Arthur himself.

To be honest, only Arthur could bring this up and have the others actually listen. Otherwise, as superheroes, each one of them carried their own brand of pride. Even someone as noble as Steve cared deeply about his reputation.

Getting them to admit flaws? That was a tough ask.

Especially someone like Tony. The man practically radiated perfectionism. Even if he got knocked flat, he'd still strut like he'd just won the fight.

In a universe like this, there's no such thing as a flawless version of anything.

And that kind of mindset? It wasn't going to cut it.

Pride was fine, up to a point. But blind pride? That was dangerous.

If something wasn't working, they needed to lay it out on the table and talk it through. One person might have a limited view, but put two minds together, and suddenly things started clicking. Discussions could lead to clarity, strategy, and smarter decisions.

And the results spoke for themselves; this approach worked.

The team's synergy had been building steadily. How much force they could unleash together came down to how well they could coordinate, trust, and understand one another.

Star-Lord, Gamora, and the rest were experiencing this sort of strategy session for the first time, and it showed. They looked a little out of their depth, even the usually unshakable Drax.

Since returning, Drax had barely spoken a word. No one could tell what was going on in his head.

At least he wasn't shouting or smashing things like he had back on the warship.

Arthur didn't push Star-Lord and his team too hard. They were newcomers, not permanent fixtures of the Earth-based crew. Their battlegrounds would mostly remain out in space, and as long as they developed tight coordination among themselves, full integration with the Earth team wasn't a pressing requirement.

After wrapping up the main discussion, Arthur shifted the topic to Ronan and pulled Tony aside.

He explained the situation in full, and Tony didn't say much, just let out a disappointed sigh.

"What a waste of a perfectly good warship."

Arthur reached into his Disassembler space and pulled out a sleek, thumb-sized drive. He tossed it to Tony. "Here. I pulled this from Ronan's systems before we let him go. Full specs, weapon loadouts, propulsion designs, structural blueprints. All Kree tech. But the data's in their language, so don't expect to read it without a Rosetta Stone."

Tony caught it and grinned. "No problem. I'll build a translator. Actually, does Xandar have anything like a language archive on regional civilizations?"

Then he smacked his forehead. "Of course! The Xandarians have been fighting the Kree for decades. They probably know Kree better than the Kree do."

Arthur nodded. "That's exactly why I made sure to grab it."

Then he turned to look at both Tony and Banner. His expression grew serious.

"The next phase is yours. I'm counting on you two. I don't care what tools, code, labs, or mind-bending science you need; absorb every drop of this alien technology. Their civilization's systems are way beyond ours in some areas."

He paused before adding, "I'm not expecting you to earn seven alien PhDs overnight. But take what they've built, and evolve it. Turn it into something ours. Something Earth can call its own."

(End of Chapter)

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