For 50 + advance chapter: patreon.com/Snowing_Melody
Xandar. The Alpha-Level VIP Lounge.
Nova Prime.
The supreme leader of the Nova Empire. Regardless of her birth name, Irani Rael now carried only this title. It was the cosmic equivalent of "Your Majesty," carrying the weight of billions of lives across hundreds of star systems.
Nova Prime's gaze was calm and analytical as she looked Hermione up and down. She noted the plain dark robes, the lack of cybernetics, and the wooden stick tucked into her belt.
"Greetings, Your Excellency," Nova Prime said, her voice gentle, carrying just the right amount of practiced political politeness. "May I ask what brings you to Xandar on behalf of the Golden Realm?"
Hermione blinked. Her posture, previously rigid with annoyance over the 'Cabbage Witch' title, instantly softened. She slouched slightly, ducking her head.
She offered a shy, almost timid smile, looking exactly like a teenager who was overwhelmed by the big city.
"Greetings, Nova Prime. Actually... it's nothing particularly important," Hermione said, her voice raising half an octave to sound younger and more hesitant.
She lowered her head slightly, her fingers unconsciously twirling the hem of her dark robes. It was a flawless, Oscar-worthy performance.
"I... well, I've never actually left Earth since I was a child," Hermione confessed softly. "Thor told me that Xandar is one of the most prosperous and beautiful planets in the universe. And I, just a country bumpkin from a backwater system, wanted to come and see it for myself."
She looked up through her eyelashes, her dark eyes wide, sincere, and filled with a manufactured mix of curiosity and trepidation. "I'm sorry to drop in unannounced and make you laugh."
Nova Prime looked at Hermione's "naive" expression. A knowing, almost motherly glint flashed in the older woman's eyes.
Ah, Nova Prime thought. I understand.
In the Nova Empire's experience, individuals on the 'magic side' of the cosmic spectrum were often eccentric. They were usually reclusive scholars, obsessed with ancient tomes, spending their centuries locked in isolated towers. It was incredibly common for them to lack basic social awareness of the wider galaxy. Although the Asgardians were terrifyingly powerful, they rarely ventured outside their Nine Realms. This girl was clearly a sheltered prodigy.
"I see," Nova Prime smiled, her posture relaxing. "There is no need to be so formal, my dear. Xandar welcomes all peace-loving friends. Furthermore, we greatly admire your heroic feat in fighting against the Chitauri armada. Anyone who strikes a blow against Thanos's minions is a friend of the Empire."
Clearly, Xandarian intelligence was top-tier. She already knew Hermione's identity before walking through the door.
"We truly have gathered wonders and civilizations from all over the Milky Way here in our capital," Nova Prime gestured to the sprawling, utopian cityscape outside the window. "I hope that you will have a pleasant, educational time here."
Hermione offered a grateful, wobbly smile. (Internally, her lips twitched. Hook, line, and sinker.)
Nova Prime turned to General Roman, who was still standing rigidly at attention. "General, you will be personally responsible for accompanying our Envoy from now on. Ensure she feels the absolute warmth and hospitality of Xandar."
"Yes, Nova Prime!" General Roman saluted sharply.
"Um…" Hermione hesitated, biting her lower lip as if she had just remembered something terribly embarrassing. "Nova Prime? I have a small favor to ask. I have a few... um... prisoners still on my ship outside the planetary grid. I wonder if it would be possible to bring them along?"
Nova Prime waved her hand dismissively, happy to accommodate the young hero. "Of course. Do you need us to dispatch a prisoner transport vessel to meet your ship?"
"Oh, no need to trouble yourselves!" Hermione's eyes lit up, clearly delighted. She dropped the shy-girl act in a microsecond. "I can do it myself!"
Before Nova Prime or General Roman could process the shift in her tone, Hermione raised her right hand.
She made a light, circular sweeping motion in the air.
VWOOM.
Golden sparks erupted in the center of the plush VIP lounge. The air tore open, expanding into a swirling, fiery portal that looked directly into the grim, metallic belly of a Ravager dreadnought.
General Roman gasped, reaching for his blaster. Nova Prime took a startled step back. Spatial folding without a jump gate? Inside a planetary shield?!
Meanwhile. Deep Space. The Bridge of the Eclector.
The Ravagers looked at each other. Their faces were a complex mixture of profound relief, adrenaline, and a heavy dose of pirate guilt.
"Quick! Punch the hyperdrive!" a navigator yelled, his hands flying across the console. "That psycho Witch took the Boss! We need to get out of here before she gets bored and comes back for us!"
"Yes! Run as far away as possible! Erase the nav-logs! We are never jumping into this star system again!"
The ship rumbled as it dropped out of its third consecutive, randomized hyperspace jump. They were deep in uncharted territory, lightyears away from Xandar.
"But... the Boss..." a younger crew member hesitated, looking at Yondu's empty chair. "Shouldn't we wait? He might be able to handle her..."
"Are you insane?!" the navigator snapped. "He's dead meat! I can't worry about his blue ass right now! I need to save my own skin first! We all do!"
Just as they were finally letting their guards down, celebrating their successful mutiny and escape...
VWOOM.
A ring of golden, burning sparks suddenly spiraled open in the exact center of the bridge.
"..."
Upon seeing the two figures step through the gateway, the entire bridge fell into a suffocating, deathly silence.
The gloating expressions on the mutineers' faces froze instantly. Their movements stopped. Their eyes widened so far they threatened to pop out of their skulls.
They had clearly already left! They were at least four jump points away from Xandar! How in the name of the Kree Supreme Intelligence were they seeing this terrifying woman again?!
"A hallucination! Space-madness! It must be a hallucination!" a Ravager muttered to himself, slapping his own cheeks.
We must be so terrified, and so guilty for abandoning the Captain, that our brains are projecting our nightmares!
Beside Hermione, Yondu Udonta stepped out of the portal. His face was darker than the bottom of a burned pot. The vein on his fin was pulsing wildly.
Well. These ungrateful, treacherous bastards. They actually dared to run away!
I sacrificed myself! I shielded you from her wrath, and you turned around and stole my ship?!
Hermione ignored Yondu's seething rage. She walked over and patted a frozen Ravager on the shoulder with great interest. The pat was light, but it sent a violent shiver down the man's spine.
"Hi there," Hermione asked, a sweet, chilling smile on her face. "What are you all talking about? It sounded so lively in here. Where are you headed without us?"
The physical touch completely shattered their wishful thinking.
It's not an illusion! The Witch really caught up! Through hyperspace! And she brought the Boss with her!
Thud! Thud! Splash!
A cascading series of heavy thuds echoed across the bridge as dozens of hardened space pirates simultaneously dropped to their knees, hitting the metal floor hard.
"My Lord Witch! Spare my life!" "We were wrong! We'll never do it again!" "It's his fault! He was the one who calibrated the hyperdrive! I told him not to!"
Yondu, barely suppressing his homicidal anger, glared at his kneeling subordinates. He swept his red eyes across the room, noticing a glaring absence.
"Where is Kraglin?!" Yondu demanded sharply.
A Ravager who looked like a minor quartermaster quickly looked up, actual tears streaming down his face. He pointed a trembling finger toward the lower decks.
"Boss! Kraglin refused to run away! He grabbed a blaster and said he would wait for you to come back! But we... we outnumbered him! We locked him in the brig, along with a few others who sided with him..."
Hermione turned to Yondu, her expression perfectly calm.
"You handle your people, Moore."
Yondu looked at his treacherous crew. He had braved the Witch's wrath for these kids, and their first instinct was to steal his ship and leave him to die!
"Kill them," Yondu roared, his voice devoid of any mercy.
Hermione nodded. She seemed completely unsurprised by the answer. It was the pirate way, after all.
She closed her eyes for a microsecond. Her immense mental energy—honed by the Mind Stone—rippled outward, instantly locking onto the neural signatures of every single Ravager on the bridge who had just participated in the mutiny and the imprisonment of Kraglin.
The next second, her eyes snapped open. She raised her wand, pointing it casually at the kneeling crowd.
"Avada Kedavra."
A beam of sickly, neon-green light erupted from the tip of her wand.
It didn't just hit one man.
The curse struck the nearest mutineer in the chest. He froze, his eyes losing all light, and slumped over dead. But the green light didn't dissipate. It fractured, arcing like chain lightning from his chest to the man next to him, then to the next, leaping rapidly through the crowd.
Zip-zip-zip-zip.
The Ravagers touched by the arcing green light froze in terror for a fraction of a second before collapsing limply, entirely lifeless. There was no blood. No screaming. No burning. Just the sudden, absolute cessation of life.
The green light acted like an invisible, lethal chain, transmitting precisely and exclusively to each target Hermione's mind had marked.
Within four seconds, the spell faded. Twenty-eight bodies lay silently on the bridge.
Yondu stood behind Hermione, watching the bizarre, terrifyingly clean scene before him. A profound chill ran down his spine.
He had seen all sorts of killing methods in his life—bloody decapitations, cruel vacuum exposures, destructive plasma burns—but he had never seen death delivered so quietly, so swiftly, and so irrationally.
He subconsciously swallowed hard, looking at Hermione's calm profile. He was suddenly terrified that she might get carried away with the slaughter and send Kraglin and the loyalists to the grave just to be thorough.
Seemingly sensing Yondu's spike of terror, Hermione tucked her wand away. She turned her head, and her face instantly regained that innocent, 'country-bumpkin' smile she had used on Nova Prime.
"Don't worry, Moore," she chirped. "I'm not a bloodthirsty person."
I don't believe a single word that comes out of your mouth, Yondu thought screamingly to himself, but he absolutely dared not show it on his face.
The Aftermath.
A few minutes later, the heavy blast doors of the brig were sliced open.
Kraglin and a group of bruised, battered Ravagers were released. They stumbled up to the bridge, rubbing their sore wrists.
They froze in the doorway. They saw the twenty-eight corpses scattered all over the deck. Then they looked at the grim, expressionless face of Yondu Udonta. And finally, they looked at the petite girl with a faint smile standing in front of him.
They instantly understood what had happened. Mutiny had met Magic.
Without a microsecond of hesitation, Kraglin slid forward, dropping to his knees in front of Hermione with a loud plop. He began to sob, genuine tears of relief and terror washing his face.
"My Lord Witch! You've finally arrived! We are all loyal to our Captain! We would rather die than betray him! Even when they threatened to throw us into the engine wash, we didn't yield!"
The other released Ravagers quickly followed suit, throwing themselves to the deck, kissing the floor plates, and loudly swearing blood oaths to show their absolute, unyielding loyalty.
Hermione stepped over a corpse, looking down at the groveling pirates.
"Still running?" Hermione asked calmly.
Would you like me to continue rewriting the next chapter, or is there anything else I can assist you with today?