Nova (2007 series) #6

The Phalanx have taken over the Kree Empire and sealed it off from the rest of the Greater Magellanic Cloud. Richard Rider, the last of the Nova Corps with their Worldmind AI in his brain and the whole of the Nova Force at his command, failed in his attack on them and crashed almost dead on Drez-Lar, a planet devastated by the recent Annihilation War. He was found by the remainder of the Kree soldiers stranded there led by female medic Ko-Rel, and the WM turned her into a Nova Centurion to protect itself and Nova Prime Rider. Richard started to regenerate himself but Phalanx warriors led by Gamora, who had been converted to 1 of the Select who were allowed to keep their personalities and powers after being infected by the Transmode Virus, arrived and killed all the other Kree. Gamora infected Richard with the Virus and he completed regeneration as 1 of the Select.

The Worldmind in Rider's brain had been mentally guiding Ko-Rel as a rookie Nova last issue, but now it's gone quiet. She'd obeyed its instructions to lead the Phalanx troops away from the Kree base in their crashed spaceship, but they hadn't known that the enemy lnew what they were doing and this allowed Gamora to single-handedly slaughter the occupants before corrupting Richard. Now she blasts her way through the Phalanx warriors that are still there and finds all her friends (and as leader her responsibility) dead, with only the hologram of her son Zam to greet her.

Now the Worldmind contacts Nova 0001 very faintly from far away. It tells her about Gamora infecting Nova Prime and that she's taking him by teleport jumps to the centre of the Empire. It's still in Rider's mind but the Phalanx Technovirus is trying to take *it* over too. It approves of her anger against the Phalanx. She says she's coming to rescue the WM and use it against the foe. But it tells her that her priority is to kill NP and *it* before the Virus succeeds. The universe cannot afford for the Phalanx to get control of the Nova Force and the WM. It shows her how to open a Stargate to where Gamora and Rider are now ...

... on Kree planetoid Nil-Rast where we see Drax The Destroyer being pursued by his former ally (in the Annihilation War) Nova-Prime. Between blasts of Nova Force Richard is trying to convince Drax to join him as a Select, but Drax understandably declines. Gamora asks Richard if he wants a hand but Nova also declines. Gamora reminds him that Drax killed Thanos (in Annihilation #4) but he points out it took him a long time to achieve that goal (since before Iron Man #55) so he can't be that dangerous. Gamora tells him (and us) that the Phalanx have been looking for Drax and when she heard he was here she thought it would be a good test of Nova's conversion. She says she'd prefer him alive for Select-hood so Nova beats him up a bit and then zaps him unconscious. Gamora applauds.

Nova-Prime carries Drax to a nearby geothermal refinery and leaves him with a couple of Phalanx warriors. He asks Gamora how come they still have free will after the Virus when it usually reduces the victims to mindless drones? She tells him that the Phalanx have discovered that very useful individuals are even more useful if they are allowed free will on top of their basic instilled loyalty to the Phalanx. She's still the 'deadliest woman in the Galaxy' (even though they're currently in the Larger Magellanic Cloud outside Earth's galaxy). And she gets her sometime lover to prove that Richard's still the 'sexiest Human Rocket' she's ever met.

But they don't have time to go too far for a comicbook because a Stargate disgorges the other Nova who immediately attacks and bears NP away. Nova Prime blasts Nova 0001 off him and she retreats at high speed. Rider asks the Worldmind to help him target her but *he* declines, and for as long as  hecan keep the Transmode Virus out he'll be on *her* side. A chase follows with WM repeatedly telling Ko-Rel how to dodge Rider's blasts. She flies through an occupied office block. He follows and she hits him with a gravimetric pulse when he emerges on the other side. More exchanges ensue as Richard gets more and more angry and takes bigger risks, until she leads him into the thermal processing core and beaks a pipe open to deluge him with magma.

The Worldmind tells Ko-Rell that now's the time kill Rider (and itself) while he's vulnerable, but she can't bring herself to do it. Then Gamora joins them and stabs her in the back. Ko's dying words are that this isn't *him*. She drops the hologram of her son which he crushes underfoot. The duo leave to hit the showers, and we leave Ko-Rell there as well.