"FIRE!!"
Kratt's shout was still echoing when dozens of blinding plasma blasts surged toward Soren.
The sound of energy cannons screamed through the air.
But Soren was no longer there.
A moment before the beams hit, he sidestepped reality itself. In his place, a perfect illusion remained, standing motionless.
The barrage struck the fake with thunderous force, explosions lighting the ground like an artificial dawn.
Dirt and flame erupted into the sky as the concentrated assault cratered the land. Smoke billowed.
The Kree warriors, still locked in formation, scanned the devastation with narrowed eyes.
But when the dust began to settle…
"Is that it?"
They turned.
Soren stood calmly outside their perimeter, his cloak fluttering in the residual wind.
"You brought all this firepower… for that?"
He shook his head, expression unreadable. "I thought the Kree were supposed to be terrifying."
Kratt's eyes widened.
The soldiers panicked, tried to reposition, too late.
Soren's aura shimmered.
Psychokinesis exploded outward, unseen but unstoppable.
The weapons in their hands crumpled, rifles bent in half, power cells imploded. Sparks burst, but no shots were fired.
What seconds ago was a death squad… now stood unarmed.
The ground beneath their boots trembled as space itself bent, anchoring them in place. Arms locked, legs frozen, not even their heads could turn.
Trapped like puppets caught mid-pose.
Kratt's mouth opened, but only fear and fury came out.
Soren stepped forward, leisurely, eyes glowing faintly violet.
"I was minding my own business, you know."
"Didn't fire a shot. Didn't threaten anyone."
"And what do you do?"
He stopped inches from Kratt's face.
"You try to kill me."
Kratt grunted, struggling against the invisible force crushing his body. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
Soren's hand twitched.
CRACK
Kratt's right wrist twisted grotesquely, bone snapping like dry wood. He screamed, teeth clenched in pain.
"Weicha!" He cursed in Kree.
"Let's try this again."
"Why did you attack me?"
"You've got five seconds before I move on to something more… internal."
Kratt spat on the ground, but couldn't hide the tremor in his eyes.
"I… am Kratt. Captain of Ronan's Third Fleet."
Soren raised a brow. "And?"
"You Earth rats have interfered with our mission for the last time." Kratt growled.
"First, that arrogant fool who calls himself Star-Lord, wounded my men and stole a relic Ronan personally ordered us to retrieve."
His lip curled.
"Then you appear, another Earthling."
Kratt spat blood, breathing heavily. The pain from his shattered arms sent tremors through his body, but not as much as the fear clenching his heart.
He'd thought Earthlings were primitive insects. This one… was something else entirely.
Soren stood before him, expression unreadable, glowing eyes fixated on him like a scientist studying a strange bug. Or a god judging a mortal.
"You said Ronan." Soren repeated slowly. "As in the Accuser?"
Kratt's lips curled in bitter defiance, but he said nothing.
"I've heard of him." Soren went on, pacing now.
He stopped. Looked down at Kratt.
"Tell me something... You see an Earthling, and your first instinct is to kill him?"
"Why… what is this relic?"
Kratt sneered, despite the agony.
"Does it take that many reasons… to kill an Earthling?"
"I wanted to."
CRACK
Soren didn't even blink as he crushed the bones in Kratt's other arm with a twitch of his fingers.
Kratt's howl echoed into the ruins, making even his men, still frozen in space, tremble.
Soren's eyes glowed brighter. The air shimmered from the pressure of his will alone.
"You don't get to want things anymore."
He crouched beside the broken captain, voice low and precise.
"Now you talk, or I take your legs next."
"And I won't be gentle this time."
Kratt's bravado crumbled like dust.
The once-proud Kree officer gulped air, sweat matting his brow. Under Soren's gaze, colder than deep space, he caved.
"Earthling, he called himself Peter Quill… Starlord." He gasped.
"He… attacked us. Took it."
Soren's brows furrowed.
"Took what?"
Kratt felt the pressure on him double and forgot all attempts at lying.
"A relic. The Orb. Ronan ordered us to find it in these ruins. We almost had it, but that Earth bastard got there first."
"The Orb? You mean the Universe Orb?"
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
PhantomDream