The Ashen Keeper

Chapter 43

"Well, you know what lady? You are completely right."

"Be patient with me. After all, tis the first time I have seen beings of some many colors."

Earth has always implemented the concept of diversity but the pirates here shine in them. There were blue pirates, green pirates, pink pirates, human-like pirates, ugly pirates and many other grouped together.

"Watch your tone, young lady? We are pirates not explorers. Now you want to take out everything you have, and no one will have to get hurt.", said the blue leader perhaps in an attempt to intimidate her.

He began whistling and an arrow started flying out of his coat. It was pointed at them.

"Mortals! How dare you threaten us!", screamed Thor as he attempted to wave his hammer. But he was stopped by the arrow right in front of his forehead. He went stiff as he did not want to find out if his hammer was faster than the arrow in front of him.

The keeper watched in interest as the arrow was hovering.

"Master, won't you do anything?", asked Loki as he attempted to hide behind her.

"Let him stay like that for a while", she replied. The reason she did not do anything was because she felt no killing intent from the leader. The same however, couldn't be said for the rest of the crew.

"May I know thy name?", she asked over to the leader. He looked confused but replied anyway.

"Yondu is my name. The leader of the ravagers that are on your ship."

"Captain!", said a man who looked like he was whipped in the face.

"Enough of this! Let's kill them!" He did not even wait for Yondu's permission before firing at her with what seems to be an alien gun.

"A corpse is talking.", she said with a hint of anger mixed within her. After all, this was the first time she was cut off in what seems like will be a good conversation. She easily blocked the shot with flames that came out of her sleeves.

She formed a small fireball the size of a marble and shot it straight into the man's head. He fell down with an extra hole in his forehead. This caused the rest of the group to panic and Yondu immediately commanded his arrow to flew straight at her. This time it held some bloodlust.

It seems like he was a decent leader after all. But even without her senses she could tell the man she killed was plotting to be the leader. That is why she killed him instead of talking to him. His 'cup' was too dirty to even bother cleaning.

"How dare you kill Taserface!", screamed some of the crew members as Yondu was concentrated on his whistling. 'Taserface?', she thought to herself.

As if naming a car 'Lola' was not enough, a couple named their child Taserface. 'Or perhaps he's an orphan?', she thought to herself.

But the name 'Taserface' was quite fitting for the dead scoundrel. It was as if his parents washed his face using an electric taser regularly since he was born. While she was thinking of ridiculous name, an arrow flew straight at her.

She easily dodged it by tilting her head, but it came back for more. This time, she grabbed it with her bare hands. It kept struggling in her hands as she broke it in half. This caused the crew members to start firing their futuristic weapons at her.

She did not need to anything as they were blocked by flying debris made by Wanda.

"How dare you fire at her?!", she questioned as her powers started flaring. The keeper pressed her hands on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Stand down, little one. Allow me to deal with this mess." Wanda pouted and went behind her. Thor looked like he wanted to join the fight while Loki looked like he was going to pass out. They started firing again. She used the debris to form and umbrella in front of her.

It withstood the blasts for a few seconds before disintegrating into dust. It seems that alien weapons were far superior to human weapons. She supposed it made sense considering that they were already using spaceships the way humans use cars.

They all stopped once the debris was completely gone. Perhaps it was to reload or perhaps it is to check whether they were still alive. She formed small balls of fire and let the fly towards the sky. The all looked at it exactly the way a toddler would look at a bookshelf tilting towards them.

"Ah ... what a pity. If only I were able to lend thee the cover thou destroyed earlier.", Yondu looked at her as the fireballs fell down. She did not kill all of them. She only killed the ones who wanted to kill her the moment they saw her.

Strangely, only a felt a desire to kill her at the beginning. Most were simply neutral and just wanted to walk out with their 'treasure'. It seems the influence of their leader has rubbed off them. Perhaps that is why she felt a sense of comradery between some of them.

"My dear Loki, thou first assignment will be to tie them all up. We shall sell them for a good bounty in a nearby planet." They already had funds from Asgard, but a little extra money never hurts. They were close to landing on a nearby planet when Yondu eventually woke up.

He was the first to wake up among the group of pirates.

"Where are you taking us?", he asked as he noticed that he was tied up. He no longer had his arrow and he do not believe to be able to get out from the ropes.

"Just to exchange a bounty on thy heads. After all, thou hath done some sin hath thy not?"

"The way you speak is strange, but it is familiar.", said the leader of the Ravagers as he seems to be lost in thought. He then, snapped his eyes open.

"What is your connection with Yharnam?"