~ 💎 WEEKLY POWER GOALS 💎🔥 60→1ch | 100→2ch | 200→5ch ⏰ Resets Monday! Thanks!
The Ravagers exchanged glances. They had no idea why Hermione wanted to open the hatch for some unidentified entity that had just appeared out of nowhere, but they did it anyway.
On the Dark Aster, the Witch's orders were absolute.
The hatch slid open. Outside the ship, the figure of light paused, clearly not expecting that.
Then she flew in.
The glow faded slowly, and a woman hung suspended in midair, dressed in a red, blue, and gold battle suit, a faint golden radiance rippling off her in steady waves. Her blonde hair drifted around her. Her eyes swept the bridge like a hawk's.
When her gaze landed on Yondu and Hermione, it stopped. Her brow drew together. Her expression went cold.
"Yondu Udonta?" She clearly recognized the infamous Ravager captain. Her voice carried real anger. "You people will stoop to anything. You're actually out here kidnapping children now?"
Golden energy surged between her hands, coalescing, ready.
Yondu's face was a blank wall of confusion. He glanced sideways at Hermione.
Wait. Who kidnapped who, exactly?
He opened his mouth to explain. Hermione stepped forward first.
"They're all my people," she said, perfectly flat.
The woman's hands stilled. Her gaze shifted to Hermione, carrying a thread of scrutiny and surprise. She clearly hadn't expected the girl standing in front of her to be the one running this crew of hardened Ravagers.
"Also," Hermione tilted her head slightly, the corner of her mouth twitching, "it's good to finally meet you. Carol Danvers."
Carol's pupils snapped tight. "You know me? Who are you?"
She'd spent years out in the universe. Plenty of people knew her name, but they were mostly high-ranking figures in interstellar powers or veterans who'd been around long enough to accumulate a reputation. She was certain she had never laid eyes on this girl before.
"I know Nick Fury," Hermione said.
"Fury?" Carol stared at her. Something clicked. "You're from Earth?"
"Of course."
The next second, Hermione casually raised one hand and waved it lightly through the air between them.
Space warped. There was no other word for it. The gap between them bent in a way that made Carol's eyes struggle to process it, as if an invisible force had simply folded distance out of existence.
Then Carol found herself lurching forward — not by choice, and she was suddenly right in front of Hermione. Nearly face to face.
Combat instincts hit before thought could. Carol's body dropped back half a step on its own, fists up, golden energy roaring to the surface. She was on the edge of going Binary.
"What was that?!" Sharp. Wary. "Some kind of superpower?"
She had never seen anything like it.
"No." Hermione shook her head, expression unchanged. "That's magic."
"Magic?"
Carol blinked. Then something surfaced behind her eyes, and the way she looked at Hermione shifted entirely. "Magic... you're the Kale Witch?"
She remembered now. Word had traveled even out here, a mysterious, powerful witch had appeared on Earth, alone, and turned back the Chitauri invasion.
The golden light around Carol slowly ebbed. Her expression softened.
If Fury trusted her, that was enough.
"Alright, Witch." Carol dropped her stance and looked around the bridge. "Someone tell me what's going on. How does Ronan's Dark Aster end up in your hands? And what are the Ravagers doing here?"
"Ronan tried to take something of mine," Hermione said simply. "I dealt with him. The ship is my spoils."
Carol stared at her.
Dealt with Ronan?
In Carol's honest assessment, Ronan wasn't exactly a top-tier threat, she'd let him walk away once before, years ago. But he was still a Kree super-soldier. His resources and personal combat strength put the Chitauri to shame.
And this slender girl had just... dealt with him.
Stronger than she looked. By a lot.
Hermione continued, giving no sign she'd noticed the astonishment. "As for Yondu and the others, we had a minor disagreement earlier. Technically they're my prisoners. But they've turned it around — the Nova Corps has them on record. You can check."
Carol nodded. If the Nova Corps signed off on it, that settled things well enough.
"Then what was that energy spike?" She glanced toward the far end of the bridge, where the residual energy from Quill absorbing Ego still hung in the air like a pressure front. "I sensed an abnormal fluctuation and followed it. That wasn't a small reading."
At full release, it wouldn't have been much weaker than her own output.
Hermione gave her the short version: Ego, Quill, what Ego had done and what Quill had just done to finish it.
Carol's face moved through recognition and disgust in quick succession. "Ego. The Living Planet." She almost laughed, but nothing about it was funny. "I had no idea the man had ambitions that large. Trying to consume the whole universe? He had it coming."
Then her gaze drifted across the console and stopped.
An orange cat was sprawled across it. Lazily licking one paw. Utterly unbothered by anything that had just happened.
"Wait." Carol's voice dropped. "Is that... Goose?"
She was at the console in an instant, reaching out carefully and touching the top of the cat's head.
Goose lifted his head. Looked at her. Seemed to place her.
"MRRROW."
"It is you!" Carol was equal parts stunned and delighted. "What are you doing all the way out here?"
Before the words were fully out, Goose dropped off the console, padded across the floor in a few easy strides, and jumped onto Hermione's shoulder.
Carol turned and stared at Hermione.
Goose was not a normal cat. He was deeply territorial, deeply selective, and deeply indifferent to strangers. Other than her and Fury, he barely tolerated anyone getting near him.
And here he was, settled on this girl's shoulder like it was the most natural thing in the world. More relaxed than he ever got around Carol herself.
She really must have a significant history with Fury. There was no other explanation. Goose didn't trust people on a whim.
Carol's last trace of wariness went out like a light.
Anyone Goose chose wasn't an enemy. That was simply a fact.
"Why are you out here?" Hermione asked, looking at her directly.
Carol exhaled. Something tired moved across her face. "I'm looking for a new home for the Skrulls. The Kree Empire never stopped hunting them. The universe is enormous and somehow there's nowhere safe in it for them to land."
"Skrulls?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I assumed they were all on Earth, keeping Fury company."
"The ones on Earth are a small group — Fury kept them close for communication and backup." Carol shook her head. "Most of them are still out here. Moving constantly, staying ahead of Kree patrols. I made them a promise that I'd find them somewhere safe."
She paused.
"If I can't find anything, I suppose I'll have to let them shelter on Earth."
➤ Next: Tom Riddle's Misfortune
[FULL STORY ACCESS]
📖 Read ahead up to [Chapter 291]
✨ Support the author: https://p a t r e o n（.）com/DarkGolds