The Girl Who Held the Universe in her Hands | marvel [1] ✔

ONE

CHAPTER ONE
' I'M IN IF YOU'RE IN . '

If she were to calculate it, in Ash's short-ish life, her death toll would amount to around 40 million entities. Of course, if Ash calculated it hypothetically, it would no doubt lead to some guilt-induced mission of self-loathing on her own part and a high likelihood that the toll would increase with another life. Yet, if a slightly younger Ash recieved that information, the outcome would be different.

Ash's trip to Earth had changed her. Somehow, somewhere, someone in that naïve, little planet flamethrowered their way into her ice-cold heart and shared some of their own humanity with her. Then, if Ash were to set the limits of her calculations from when that thing wiggled its way into her heart to before Thor practically kidnapped her, her death toll would have been 15. Now, Ash would insinuate that causation and correlation are different, but the smile on her face when she thought of that thing would point oppositely.

Of course, her stay on Asgard would cut that 15 short. Even if she was good at it, Ash hated fighting, and maybe it was the nerd in her talking, but she would argue that she could perform just as much damage with science than actually going out onto the battlefield and killing things. If you were to call her lazy, by definition, you wouldn't be wrong, but she would argue it was practical. While she had a high death toll, Ash was good at killing things like humans, but when it came to killing things with a little intelligence or durability... that was where the problem started.

Thanos employed her power to kill to dwindle out the weak ones. Her abilities were wide-ranged, leaving the more durable things to the teamwork of her siblings and the Black Order. Thanos also charged her with battle strategies, which was how she assumed her place as Field Marshal even if she wasn't as old as her siblings. In fact, Ash was on the younger side of the hierarchy of Thanos' children, closer to the age of Gamora and Nebula than the original members of the Black Order.

There wasn't any reason she couldn't hold her own against Malekith or the Algrim, but Ash's intelligence was from memorising and being allowed time to work through her problems. That type of intelligence wasn't helpful during life-or-death situations, but she could work on that. When it came down to it, sometimes her irrational decisions were stupid.

And that's where they found her floating around in space with off-coloured skin, protruding veins and bloodshot eyes. The ship's captain had to make a decision.

If they left her there, her death would be long and painful, but if they took her in, she could live, and who knows, maybe she had some skills they could use.

"How is it still alive?"

"I am Groot."

"How helpful, Groot. Thank you for that useless piece of information!"

A racoon and a large tree stood around her, with her thin-looking skin and dark hair fanned out around her head. Ash suddenly took a large breath of air and scrambled back on the floor. The sudden movement ripped coughs from her dry chest, and the tree moved forward slowly and patted her back, causing her to look up with wide eyes.

"What the fuck?" she questioned with a croaky voice.

"I am Groot."

She looked up at the tree with a slightly parted mouth, the shock or awe breaking her coughing fit for a moment. Her gaze then turned over to the racoon.

"The name's Rocket."

"Hello," she replied, confusion laying heavy on her tone. "Ash."

"Ash?" Rocket repeated.

"It's my name? If you want to know?"

"Nice to meet you, Ash."

"Sorry, I don't want to be rude, but situation reading isn't my forte, so are you trying to kill me, kidnap me, or sell me or all of the above?" She stopped. "Well, theoretically, you've already kidnapped me if that was your aim, so, uh, congrats, I guess."

"Well, it depends on how much people wanna buy you for," Rocket answered.

"Okay, how do I find out how much people wanna buy me? I'm just saying we could find out how many people want to buy me and then trade me, get the money, break out and then find another guy who wants to buy me and do it again. We could get infinite money."

"Split the money three ways?"

"I'm in if you're in."

"I am Groot."