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"Cabbage Witch?"
"With such power in my grasp, who in this universe can stand against me? Not you. Even if Thanos himself showed up — what could he possibly do?"
Ronan swung his war hammer. A thick beam of violet energy, carrying the full weight of annihilation, tore straight toward Hermione.
It arrived in an instant.
She didn't move.
As the beam was about to hit, a faint red light bloomed around her, soft, liquid, almost calm.
Something strange happened.
That violent streak of purple, brimming with boundless power, touched the red glow and dissolved. Gone. A cluster of soap bubbles drifting apart in the air.
As if the attack that could have leveled a planet had never existed at all.
"..."
The manic grin on Ronan's face went rigid. His eyes filled with shock he couldn't hide.
"The Aether!" he breathed.
He had just felt the Power Stone's terror firsthand. No one in the universe understood the Infinity Stones better than he did right now.
And this girl standing in front of him, she didn't just have strange magic that could swat Ebony Maw aside like nothing. She also held the Reality Stone.
Another Infinity Stone.
That cold truth guttered out the fire he'd just lit inside himself.
With the Power Stone, he could ignore Ebony Maw. Crush Quill and his crew. Even fancy his chances against Thanos.
But against someone who also carried an Infinity Stone, and whose own power had no visible bottom?
Ronan was quiet for a moment. He lowered his war hammer slowly.
"Cabbage Witch. I'll admit it, you're strong. Without the Power Stone, I'm no match for you." He held her gaze. "But we both have Infinity Stones now. If we fight to the death, we'll destroy each other, and Thanos walks away with everything. That's not a trade either of us should want."
He made his offer. "What do you say we call it here? Any time you need a fleet behind you, you have my word."
Hermione tilted her head, as if giving it genuine thought.
Then she nodded. "Fine."
Ronan exhaled. He looked at her for one long moment, something between wariness and a hunger he couldn't quite suppress, then turned without another word. He didn't spare a glance for the subordinates she'd left scattered across the ground. He walked back to the Dark Aster, gripped his hammer, and didn't look back once.
As if he was afraid she'd change her mind.
"You just let him go?!"
The second Ronan disappeared, Quill's voice detonated.
He was clutching his chest where the shockwave had hit, staggering upright, his face twisted with fury and disbelief. "Do you have any idea what he's going to do with that Stone?!"
Gamora's expression was no better. She wiped blood from the corner of her mouth. "Ronan is a complete madman. The Power Stone in his hands is no different than Thanos having it. It's worse."
She pulled in a breath and kept going.
"He's Kree, but he broke from the Kree Empire long ago, even the Supreme Intelligence can't rein him in. The Empire might still care about cosmic treaties and what the galaxy thinks of them. Ronan doesn't. Give him the Power Stone and he's a second Thanos. The first place he'll go is Xandar, and the people there don't deserve what he'll do to them!"
Hermione raised an eyebrow.
Her face showed nothing. Not a ripple.
"Oh?" she said. "And then?"
Her voice was flat, the tone of someone listening to something that had nothing to do with her.
"And then?!" Quill was almost laughing from pure rage. "You—"
His vision blurred.
CRACK!
A clean, sharp slap.
Quill flew sideways like a kite with its string cut, sailing a dozen meters before hitting a crumbling wall with a heavy crash. Rubble. Dust. Silence.
Hermione looked at Gamora.
Gamora's pupils shrank. Every hair on her body stood up. Pure instinct told her to move, to dodge, to run.
Too late.
Another CRACK, harder. Gamora shot backward even faster than Quill, punched through the wall on the other side, and buried herself in the metal structure behind it. Whether she was breathing or not was anyone's guess.
"Quill!"
"Gamora!"
Rocket and Drax shouted at the same time. Groot flung out his branches, reaching.
An invisible force dropped onto all three of them like a billion-ton mountain. It pinned them to the ground, locked every joint, stopped every finger. Their bones groaned under the weight.
Hermione swept her gaze over them. A cold smile touched the corner of her mouth.
"One interstellar thief who makes his living picking pockets and robbing ships. And one whose homeworld was wiped out, who then pledged herself to the man responsible, spent years as Thanos's willing attack dog, smiled about it, and left the blood of countless innocents on her hands."
Her voice stayed low. It reached everyone perfectly.
"And now? Suddenly the conscience switches on? You've transformed into guardians of cosmic peace?"
She walked to where Gamora was embedded in the wall and looked down at her.
"You're so concerned about Xandarian lives. When the Chitauri invaded Earth, where were you? Don't tell me you didn't know whose orders that was, Gamora."
Gamora's whole body went rigid. Her mouth opened. Nothing came out.
She had been on Thanos's ship when it happened. She had watched everything.
Hermione turned to Quill.
"Ronan has the Power Stone. The first person who should answer for that is you, the one who stole it and tried to sell it. What exactly gives you the nerve to blame me for not cleaning up your mess?"
Quill's mouth opened. His throat felt blocked. The words dissolved before they formed.
"Pathetic." Hermione shook her head, and the cold in her eyes became absolute. "A green-skinned Shrek and Earth's very own discount captain, and you two actually have the nerve to lecture me."
She raised her hand. Light gathered around her wand, sharp, dangerous. Her intent was unmistakable.
"Lady Witch! Please — mercy!"
An urgent voice cut through.
Yondu came sprinting out from behind a chunk of rubble, moving fast.
He shot one careful glance at Hermione, saw she hadn't acted yet, and immediately threw himself in front of Quill. His hand came up and cracked across Quill's face with a SMACK.
"You little idiot! You trying to get yourself killed?! That's how you talk to Lady Witch?!"
He rounded on Quill with genuine fury, then spun back to Hermione and bent at the waist, deep and sincere.
"Lady Witch, please, don't let him ruin your good mood. He's been missing a screw since he was small. No manners, no sense. Someone of your stature shouldn't waste another second on him."
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