Marvel : Super Soldier at the Start

On a deserted planet near the Void, it was a world where all resources had been completely exhausted. 

The entire land had turned into a desert, and every last bit of underground resources and minerals had long since been extracted clean. 

The planet's inhabitants had all relocated. Any civilization capable of developing a planet to such an extent had usually already attained interstellar migration capabilities. 

Looking at the barren ground, devoid of even a single blade of grass, Blake suddenly felt that, from a certain perspective, Thanos's actions might have been correct. 

Setting aside issues like human rights and the deprivation of life, from a long-term perspective, his approach did seem to benefit the universe—or at least the survival of various inhabited planets. 

But his methods were too extreme. Didn't he realize there was a simpler approach called family planning? 

Ignorance truly is terrifying! 

Blake shook his head, flicked a cigarette butt at supersonic speed, and watched it ignite from the friction in the air before vanishing into a tiny spark. Feeling a bit bored, he looked up at the sky. 

The bait had been set yesterday: a message about the Power Stone and Star-Lord. 

Star-Lord's Milano was parked not far from Blake, acting as a decoy. Blake, meanwhile, was sitting on the ground behind a small hill, waiting for the enemy to take the bait. A camouflage tarp, matching the ground's color, kept him concealed. 

After waiting for several hours, there was still no sign of Ronan. Instead, Yondu's ship showed up first. 

The massive mothership didn't descend into the atmosphere but instead deployed several small crafts, sending down teams to completely surround the Milano. 

This was a common tactic in the universe. First, it made the target less conspicuous and more maneuverable. 

Second, it provided ground teams with an aerial safety net in the form of firepower support. 

Yondu's cautious approach made it clear he was determined not to let Star-Lord escape under his nose. After all, Star-Lord's piloting skills were among the best in the universe. 

"Come on out, my dear boy, Peter! This kind of avoidance just breaks my heart," Yondu's voice rang out outside the Milano, while his crew, a diverse group of beings with varying shapes and colors, tightly encircled the ship. 

Meanwhile, Star-Lord's panicked voice came through Blake's earpiece. 

"Damn it! How did he find me? Blake, you've got to deal with them for me, or I swear I'll end up as their dinner. They've wanted to eat me since I was a kid!" 

"They said they've never tasted Terran before. Terran is what they call humans from Earth. As a fellow Terran, you should teach them a lesson!" 

Blake rolled his eyes helplessly. The trauma Star-Lord carried from his childhood was no joke. Even now, he still remembered it. If Yondu hadn't ultimately sacrificed himself to save him, this ungrateful brat would probably still think Yondu had been planning to eat him all along. 

"He's not going to eat you. He raised you, for crying out loud. He's long considered you his son. Trust me, just go out there. Yondu won't hurt you." 

Blake's casual tone almost made Star-Lord jump in frustration. 

In fact, he did jump—and apparently hit something. 

"Ow! Damn it!" 

After a cry of pain and a curse, Star-Lord gritted his teeth and growled angrily. 

"Are you joking? That's the funniest joke I've ever heard. He thinks of me as his son?" 

"If I hadn't been small and skinny as a kid, useful for squeezing into places they couldn't get into to steal valuable stuff, I'd have been roasted alive long ago. Heck, half of me might've been salted and preserved. Get over here now!" 

The Guardians of the Galaxy... Blake vividly remembered watching the second movie back then, especially the moment when Yondu sacrificed himself, accompanied by that memorable song. Blake had almost been moved to tears. 

Now, hearing Star-Lord's frantic shouting, Blake decided to help this father-and-son duo resolve their differences. 

"Alright, I'll help you prove just how much Yondu cares about you." 

"What? What did you just say?" 

Before Star-Lord could fully process Blake's words, he heard a loud whoosh as Blake rocketed toward the Milano, leaving twin trails of flame behind him. 

"Who's there?" 

A particularly ugly alien of an unknown species was the first to notice Blake's approach. He shouted toward the sky and immediately raised his weapon, firing several shots in Blake's direction. 

By coincidence, Blake recognized this guy—it was the same one who had betrayed Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. 

This idiot thought he'd reached the pinnacle of his life, even giving himself the nickname "Taserface," only to be mercilessly mocked by Rocket, which completely shattered his confidence. 

Despite his foolishness in the movie, Taserface was still a capable warrior. 

Almost as soon as Blake streaked across the sky, Taserface reacted, shouting a warning to his comrades to stay alert. 

He followed up with a barrage of shots, firing over a dozen rounds in a predictive spread aimed at where Blake would pass. 

Unfortunately for him, Blake was the wrong target. Completely unfazed by the energy bullets, Blake charged straight through. 

If it had been someone else shooting, Blake might have let it slide, as the bullets posed no real threat to him. But this was Taserface. 

In the movie, this guy had tormented Baby Groot for quite a while. Even though Groot in this universe hadn't shrunk, and the Groot Blake brought back from the Void had never crossed paths with Taserface, Blake still wasn't going to let this scumbag off the hook. 

Ignoring the energy bullets grazing him, Blake turned his head to locate Taserface. Spotting him, he abandoned his trajectory toward the Milano and executed a sharp mid-air turn, appearing directly behind Taserface in the blink of an eye. 

Blake's speed this time was even faster than before. The onlookers barely registered the movement as he seemingly teleported behind Taserface. 

"Who are you?" 

Yondu was the first to react. Initially, he hadn't paid much attention to Blake. People who could fly or shrug off energy bullets weren't exactly rare in a universe as vast as this one. 

But Blake's sudden maneuver left Yondu inexplicably tense. 

Yondu's reflexes were far superior to most. After all, using a yaka arrow as a weapon required lightning-fast reaction speeds, given how quickly the weapon moved. 

Yet even Yondu hadn't been able to keep up with Blake's movements just now. 

In other words, if Blake wanted to, he could have wiped out everyone here before Yondu's yaka arrow could even be deployed. 

"Who am I? Obviously, I'm here for the idiot hiding in that ship. Looks like we have the same target. However, one of your underlings attacked me, and more importantly, he's way too ugly!" 

As Blake spoke, Taserface finally realized what was happening and tried to turn around. 

But he had barely started to move when his entire face—or rather, his entire head—exploded like a watermelon. 

Except what erupted wasn't watermelon flesh but a violent burst of flame. 

*******************************************

You can get access to early chapters on patr*on.

If you like my work and you want to support me then you can become my patron on patre*n.

My patr*on account is S_Pandey_0170