[A/N: Finally the last chapter, before some slice of life is once again coming your way. Enjoy!]
[2012 – October]
We landed the ship a short distance away from the base camp in a small clearing surrounded by woods. Vanaheim was a planet covered in thick woods with a few mountain ranges and some big lakes around, so it was relatively easy to find a place to hide the ship.
The rest of the way I just ran ahead, before opening a portal for the others to join me.
The camp was rather large with many space crafts surrounding the place. At a rough guess, there were at least fifteen hundred Marauders at the place, which didn't come as a surprise to me. They had afterall decided to raid the Nine Realms, even with Asgard as a deterrent.
Destroyed Bifrost or not, they clearly were not afraid of retaliation, which meant that they were confident in their numbers and strength.
It was afternoon right now, so these probably weren't all the raiders, as some were sure to be out raiding and pillaging some towns and villages.
I decided to wait until evening, when most would return to their base camp, to catch as many as possible at once.
Some might wonder what they could possibly raid from Vanir, a race known for living in huts and tents without any advanced technology, well the answer was rather simple.
It was the Vanir themselves that the Marauders came for. A race well-known for their great physical attributes and longevity, they made the perfect slaves – strong with a long lifespan.
Sure, there were some mines on the planet where precious ore and gems could be excavated, but enslaving and selling the people was the Marauders main interest, as it promised great and immediate profits.
I knew simply attacking them head-on would probably result in casualities among their captives, as I could sense that most of the captives were being held on the biggest ship. Though the raiders were also using some of their hostages to relieve their physical urges or as servants.
"How many of them can you affect with your Mind Magic at once?", I asked Wanda.
Frowning in concentration, she answered a moment later.
"It differs. The Kronans and the R'malk'i are considerably harder to control than the rest. If I focus only on those that can be easily influenced, like the Sakaarans, Easik and Yrds? Maybe half, but it won't last long. Controlling so many people at once isn't easy, even with the Mind Stone. Especially not when I have to do it from a distance."
I wasn't surprised by her answer, as the Mind Stone might have infinite power, but her human mind simply couldn't control such power for the time being. Taking a moment to think about our options, I thought of a plan.
"Make the biggest ship your target. Take Silver with you and bring it under your control. Don't free the captives yet, they would only add to our troubles for the moment.", I instructed.
"And what about you?", Wanda inquired.
"I will move through their camp and teleport every hostage I find to the ship, so be ready to receive them. Give me a signal, as soon as you have dispatched of the crew.", I replied.
Nodding in understanding, she leaned in for a quick kiss, while whispering a 'Be safe' into my ear, before turning to Silver and grabbing the little girl's hand.
"Let's go sweety, mommy needs you to protect her from the space pirates. Ready?", Wanda told her.
"Of course. Leave it to us mommy. None of the bad guys will get past us, right Penelope?", Silver stated confidently, though Penelope seemed to have a different opinion, as the little cub shook her head in denial and yipped in fright.
Smiling at their interaction, I waved them goodbye, as Wanda teleported them directly above the big cargo vessel.
Over our bond, I followed her actions closely: Hynotizing the crew, entering the ship and killing the pirates without a smidgen of remorse. All it took was a short three minutes, before she signalled me her readiness mentally.
A moment later, I had already vanished from my position, a flaming blue trail behind me.
There were about two hundred captives in the camp, and it took me nearly thirty seconds to grab them all and teleport them into the ship. I had to slow down when grabbing them and pushing them through a gate, as grabbing them at my top speed would have left a rather gory scene behind.
They may have durability similar to Asgardians, but at my top speed I would just rip off their limbs, if I tried to grab them. Thankfully, the camp was rather large and I was finished before anyone could stop me from finishing my task.
Coming to a stop in the middle of the camp with blue flames surrounding my form, I ignored the shouts and questions thrown my way.
'Take control of the other ships.', I messaged Wanda telepathically, before I began my rampage.
Stealing a move out of Pain's repertoire, I used my spatial telekinesis to wreak havoc on my surroundings, pushing everything in a hundred meter radius away from me.
Moving before the Marauders even landed, I summoned my spear and just ripped through the assembled raiders. Rending space itself, wherever I passed by with my weapon.
It wasn't even a fight, it was a slaughter.
None of the raiders even managed to get close to one of the ships, as I kept track of their movements and prevented them from leaving the camp.
Occasionally breathing an enormous column of fire into the horde of frantic pirates, melting fleshy and rock-like bodies alike.
Even while taking it slow, nearly two thousand men had been decimated in little more than three minutes, their desperate cries and pleas for mercy finally ceased, without ever being answered.
…
[2013 – February]
After the first big battle against the Marauders, it had just been rinse and repeat.
Tracking them down by searching the memories of the few survivors and teleporting to the other places that they had attacked, which thankfully in this case only amounted to Ria and Nornheim.
I had managed to create a portal large enough for the space crafts to pass through, so we had taken all the vessels with us when we had moved to another planet.
It had taken us nearly two full months to track them all down and eradicate them, which had left us with dozens of ships, small and big. Silver had managed to pilot them remotely, so we didn't have to move them one by one.
We had freed all the captured people and had left them with all of the Marauder's supplies, as I honestly hadn't been willing to eat something they had touched. And after having advised them all to stop relying on Asgard for protection, we went our way.
Where had we gone afterwards? Well, turns out the Marauders had taken advantage of the Kree-Nova War to also raid planets under the Nova Empire's rule, which had left them with a considerable bounty on their heads.
After having contacted the Nova Corps and having negotiated for a bit, they had been happy to take all the useless ships of our hands and had provided us with a brand-new vessel and a considerable amount of credits. The bounties had also been deposited in our newly opened account.
The Nova Corps had great need for vessels that could transport troops, while we had needed some actual currency that could be used in the galaxy, so this trade had been beneficial to both sides.
Silver's ability to connect with computers and navigate the virtual world, had proved invaluable in aquiring information and dealing with the transactions in this short period of time.
I only had to open a large portal to Xandar, while our little miracle piloted all the ships through it.
The exchange had went smooth and Irani Rael, better known as Nova Prime, had also proved to be a trustworthy and intelligent individual.
Well, we had proved our power by killing more than seventeen thousand Marauders with only three people, so I hadn't been too surprised by her courteousness.
And after that whole ordeal had been over, we had simply decided to stay on Xandar, buying a house in a rural area was easy enough with the amount of money in our account after all.