Local Manipulation

Linday's head spun when she saw the label of the tube, her mind already diving deep into her archives. She knew what this serum really was, a chance to be a god at a single shot. She didn't read the comics perse but if what Quora and Reddit had on this serum was any true, she had a shot of becoming a real powerhouse real soon. But, the problem was getting the serum from this man that looked like he scavenged more than he worked for things.

"That is a steroid," she answered, appearing to be quite anxious to get it. This would let him believe he was on the high ground, make him become cocky before she strikes.

"A steroid, huh? Why have I never seen or heard it before?" he asked with a frown.

"You couldn't have. Krypton had its production a secret least we invited dangers from all over," she answered back. But, she was a little apprehensive when she saw his frown deepen even more.

"Krypton? What kind of civilization is that?" he asked, cluelessly. Now, it was Lindsay's turn to get surprised. She was sure, from Faura Ul's memories, that Krypton, as a militiaristic and scientific civilization was pretty famous galaxy wide. Their armies had laid desolate to many a worlds and their scientific researches has stretched to the most remote of the planets. Even if none of the people have seen them, they might have heard of them for Kryptonian scientists liked to leave relics behind. To hear one say they don't know her race was quite a shock.

"What about humans. Have you heard about them?" she asked, temporarily forgetting about the serum.

"I have heard inklings of that species. I think the Ravagers headed by Udanta have a humanling with them. It was called Peter Quill or something," the man answered.

'Peter Quill? That name sounds familiar,' Lindsay thought. She then remembered where she got the name, a Marvel movie called Guardians of the Galaxy.

Due to being the only female in the team, the kids of her teammates called her Aunty and as an aunt, she had to spoil them. No, it was her God given right to spoil them. She would buy them gifts, take them to movies and all that. Some of the movies she took them were produced by Marvel studios and one of them was this one, Guardians of the Galaxy.

'Could it be that I am not in DC, my favorite, but now in Marvel, a universe I know next to nothing about?' she thought in panic.

As she came to know, there was a difference between Movie knowledge and TV knowledge. She had come to many a debate where the Hulk of the movies was often criticized to being a pitifully weakened compared to the comics Hulk. Most of the knowledge she got about Marvel was all due to online debates, mostly about people comparing DC characters to Marvel characters. That's where she had heard of Sentry and came to know of his feats, all due to the Golden Sentry Serum. She knew as a Kryptonian, if she were to use that serum, would be more efficient than any other race using it.

"Look, that steroid is pretty important to my survival any where. I don't know how long I have been unconscious but this is not Kryptonian atmosphere. I need that steroid to boost my immune system before the local pathogens start to eat me up," she said, playing on his sadistic nature. As per her military training, mostly on the Kryptonian side, you can always count on a creature to be sadistic when they have the upper hand in any situation involving life. Sure enough, she could see a cold grin tugging on his lips.

"If I give you this steroid, what I want in return is that you serve me for the foreseeable future. I see you are military trained, can't hide that from me. All you have to do is do some odd jobs for me and I will count it even when I had enough," the man told her. She did her best to make a troubled look before looking reluctant, eyeing the serum as she did say, than she looked resigned. Slowly, she nodded.

"Fine," she said, reluctantly. "But, I have a code. If you..."

"Anything goes, girl, or I will pour this down the drain," he said, touching the cork meaning to pull it out. Lindsay looked panicked.

"Fine, fine, you win. Anything you say," she agreed quickly, her eyes never leaving the serum. The man, proud of himself, fished something out of his pocket and threw it to her. It was a quarter sized disk.

"Put that on your neck. No way I can trust the word of your mouth, that will be my insurance. One leg out of line and it will send enough jolt to paralyze the Mad Titan himself, I'm sure it will make things much much worse for you," he bragged.

'So not a total moron,' she chided herself as she truly reluctantly put it on her neck. She felt a pinch as the disk imbedded into her skin, making it bleed a little. 'Now, I truly hope this is the real deal.' The man threw the tube at her carelessly, enjoying the sight of her scrambling to just barely catch it before it hit the ground. He was then surprised as she removed the cork easily, something he had tried and failed miserably, then she gulped down the liquid.

"Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to business. Some hufendos thought it was a good idea to mess with me by giving me a bounty. It was not even a large bounty, comparing me to common street thugs. I want you to go and show them nobody screws with me," the man said haughtily. To him, she was as good as his slave, no way was he going to let go of her, ever. In fact, he was already thinking of selling her to a high end brothel, she was good quality and worth a lot of credits. He saw her suddenly smirk, the smirk itself sending a feeling of doom with it.

"It is always so easy to fool local races like you," she said, condescendingly. The man reached into his pocket, took out a small remote and pressed the only button on it. The disk on her neck whirled alive and she felt a miniscule jolt of electricity injected into her system.

"Thanks to you, this weapon can no longer work on me," she scoffed, ripping out the disk. He watched as the little wound healed up instantly.

"What was in that tube?" he asked in fear. She just scoffed, deciding not to answer him at all.

"Choose, molecular combustion or disintegration," she said, ominously.

"Wait, wait, you need a local like me to guide you around Knowhere. You will be lost otherwise," he pleaded, backing away.

"There are always more locals to guide me. You are inconsequential at the long run," she said as her eyes started glowing red. "Since you were so kind as to choose my future, I will return in kind and choose your end."

"No, wait..." The man did not get to finish his words for she shot her plasma hot lasers at the speed of light, reducing her head to her ankles to just ashes that floated away, leaving behind smoldering feet.

"Phew, good thing I can control these powers quite well for now," she sighed in relief before looking at the disk in her hand and crushed it to atoms.