Maybe she should have taken the fuzz ball's offer. Yea, they were all sappy dorks, but at least she wouldn't be dying on the edge of the galaxy.
Lord Dominator had spent the last two-ish days in her little bubble wandering around, groveling to herself. At least she thought it was two days. The green woman had lost any semblance of time a while ago, not long after she ate what little food she had. Now all Dominator could do was lay there, watching the dead planets drift by. Her species couldn't survive more than three days without some sort of hydration. It wouldn't be long till the weakness finally got to her and she succumbed to the cold grip of death. The villain let out a small chuckle at the irony. She was lost and left to shrivel, just like all the worlds she destroyed.
After dominating so many planets and sucking them dry, it was only a matter of time before someone that posed an actual challenge stood up to her and took her out. While she would have never guessed that person would have been a total loser like Hater, she knew it was inevitable. And she was okay with that. It was only natural that a super villain such as herself would go out in an epic battle, a blaze of glory.
BUT NO! That annoying orange twerp just had to save her! He was so insistent on being "a good person" and "becoming her friend" that he saved her from her exploding ship. And now she wasn't going to get her blaze of glory. She was going to die a slow death, alone and pathetic.
Small tears started to flow down Dominator's face, washing away soot and old makeup. It wasn't fair, having to die like this. She had taken out the galaxy. She was the ultimate villain! She deserved a better death! Dominator wanted to scream, but all that came out was a soft whimper. Angry and confused, the woman continued to cry until she eventually drifted off to sleep.
Dominator didn't know how long she was unconscious, as she had not expected to wake up again. However, the blinding light wouldn't allow her to remain asleep, and the green woman slowly came to. She started with a check of her limbs to make sure she wasn't dead. For all she knew, those stories about a light at the end of a tunnel were true. But the dryness on her tongue and the ache in her tired joints told her she was still very much alive. She was also in the bubble, if the stale air was any indication.
Rubbing the drowsiness from her eyes, Dominator struggled to stand upright and take in her surroundings. The bright light turned out to be a star. It was an unremarkable, medium in size, yellow orb. Glancing around, she saw a couple planets nearby, but they looked just as lame as the star. But for whatever reason, Dominator couldn't stop staring at one of these planets. It was a little blue marble in the distance with some brown smudges. The side facing away from the star was a bit more impressive as the dark was illuminated by tiny glowing dots.
Dominator continued to stare at the lousy, little ball for a few more moments as her brain struggled to form a coherent thought. It was just another world like the millions she had dominated. What made this place so special?
Lord Dominator took in a sharp breath as she finally realized what she was looking at.
"What the grop?! Where did this place come from?" Dominator said. She was starting to question her sanity, as she couldn't remember ever seeing this system pop up in her scans. Was she hallucinating, or was she actually dead? A million questions ran through her head, but were all cut off by the loud growling in her stomach.
"This planet better have something edible."
With a great deal of effort, Dominator used the little energy she had left to redirect her bubble to the tiny, blue marble in a last ditch effort to survive.
By some miracle, Dominator was able to dodge landing in the middle of the ocean. Instead, she found herself just to the east of a coastal city.
With a quiet "pop", the bubble disappeared, leaving Dominator to flop unceremoniously on the ground. The first thing she noticed was the harsh stench of salt, dust, and trash in the air. The second was the chill of the desert night. Dominator hated the cold, but she was more concerned with finding some clean water at the moment. Slowly but steadily, the villain climbed to her feet and began walking towards the city, a shining beacon in the distance.
Dominator's agonizing march through the desert shrubs and rocky hills came to a halt. Before her, the ground changed to what she could only assume was a road. The brown dust gave way to black slate riddled with cracks, most likely from age. It stretched on to the north towards a range of small mountains on the horizon. To the south, the road ran to a group of buildings. Unlike the illuminated skyscrapers in the distance, these were dark and deserted. They were also Dominator's best chance, as she wasn't sure if she had the energy to make it to the city.
Following the old road, the villain past several boarded up houses. A week ago, she would have ignored such places. Lord Dominator thought of ghost towns as little more than symbols of failure. All the more reason to exterminate the dweebs. But now she was on the same level as them, and the green woman couldn't help but wonder what this little town was like in its heyday.
It wasn't long before the road ended at what appeared to be a major intersection. A new road ran west to the city and east into the desert. Looking around, Dominator assumed that she was standing at what was once the town center. The buildings here were larger than the houses and in slightly better condition. One of them looked like some sort of vehicular service station, and it had a faded picture of a humanoid creature eating… something, on the window.
Attempting to enter this building proved more difficult than Dominator had hoped. The front door was chained shut and there were no other obvious points of entry. Grabbing a fist sized rock off the ground; Dominator chucked it at the large, front-facing window. Normally, such an act would lead to the window shattering into a million tiny pieces. Dominator, however, was severely weakened from hunger and dehydration. The rock bounced off the window with a hard 'thunk', leaving only a small crack. Sighing, she picked up the rock and tried again. After the fourth throw, the window finally broke open.
Dominator climbed through the new opening, being careful not to cut herself on the remaining glass. The inside was dark and dusty. The shelves were bare, covered only in a light layer of dirt. Any machinery had long been removed, loose wires being the only sign they were ever there. Along the back wall was a line of glass doors, showing off what she assumed were once refrigerated compartments. Unfortunately, the compartments were also empty. Dominator did noticed an area behind the compartments, which she assumed was some sort of storage. It didn't take her long to find the door to this area.
The back area was even darker, to the point that Dominator struggled to see her own hand in front of her face. Feeling around, she found a series of metal shelves that were surprisingly cold to the touch. Brushing her hand across the surfaces, she worked her way down to the far end and back. She went one level at a time, hoping to feel something. Anything that could keep her alive for just one more day. She was about to give up hope when she found a box shoved into the back corner.
"Oh, thank crop," she whispered, lifting the box up. It had a fair amount of weight, but she still picked it up with ease. The sloshing inside made her all the more excited and she rushed back to the front area to examine her find.
With only the glow of the distant city to help, Dominator placed the box on the front area to examine. The outer labeling was mostly faded, and what little she could make out was in an alien language she didn't recognize. The box itself was made of a stiff, paper-like material the she easily ripped open. Emptying its contents, she counted twenty metal containers. They all had the same labeling as the box and each sounded like it was filled with liquid. The only question was how to open them. She didn't have a can opener, and she didn't think she could safely rip it open without spilling the liquid everywhere. She turned the can in her hands for several minutes before she figured out the tab on top was a separate piece. Flicking it a few times, Dominator tried to pull the tab off. The can gave off a "crack", and let out a spray of foam and liquid.
"Aah!" Dominator cried out in surprise, dropping the can. Sighing, she whipped off her face and picked the can back up. The tab was now sticking up and a clean cut hole was in the can's top.
"Pre-installed can opener. Neat."
Taking a sip of what little liquid remained in the can, Dominator studied the flavor. She struggled to wrap her head around what she assumed was a strange type of soda. It tasted like bitter water, but was bubbly like a soda. There was also a metallic aftertaste, which she chalked up to it coming in a metal can instead of a bottle like all other sodas in the galaxy. Whatever it was, it was drinkable. Dominator finished off three full cans before letting out a loud belch. There was still the dull ache of hunger in her stomach, but she would survive another couple of days.
After going outside to relieve her bladder, Dominator was once again overcome with the need to rest. Crawling behind the station's counter area, she did her best to fashion the paper box into a pillow and drifted off.
Dominator was woken up by a low, mechanical rumble. She rubbed her eyes, her starved brain once again struggling to process new information. The rumbling stopped, and the quite was soon filled with footsteps and voices.
Dominator's eyes shot open, her body switching into full gear at the thought of no longer being alone. She made her way over to the window, being as silent as the glass riddled floor would allow her.
Peering outside, she saw a vehicle parked next to her building and the silhouettes of four humanoids against a dark sky. Three of the figures were holding some weird looking blasters, and appeared to be laughing at the expense of the forth, unarmed figure. Although Dominator couldn't understand the language, she had a pretty good guess at what was happening. The unarmed figure was being punished for something, as his sad tone suggested he was begging the others for forgiveness. To her surprise, they were letting him go. The one in the middle, probably the leader, waved the unarmed figure away. Probably just as surprised as her, the unarmed humanoid hesitated before breaking into a mad dash to the city. Before anyone could react, the leader raised his blaster and used it.
A loud bang rang out through the desert and the fleeing humanoid lost part of his head. Dominator watched the body fall to the ground as a wave of emotions rushed over her. As the shock of what she witnessed faded, it was replaced by realization and fear. While she was no stranger to murder, nowhere in the galaxy was it known to happen so barbarically. So deceitfully. So intimately. How common were such acts on this planet? How long could she honestly expect to survive if she had to worry about being the next victim of an execution?
Despite all these thoughts, there was a small glimmer of glee in the back off her mind.
Dominator grabbed the rock she used to bust the window, and went back to watching the three humanoids. They dragged the fresh corpse closer to the intersection and poured some liquid from a red jug on it. Stepping back, they lit it on fire. Within seconds, the corpse was completely engulfed in flames. Dominator stared into the fire, complete enamored by its glow. Memories of her ship filled her mind. How her fortress glowed with molten warmth; how it acted as an extension of her will. She was so engulfed in her nostalgia that she failed to notice the three murderers making their way back to their vehicle. Another loud bang rang out, this time accompanied by the glass still in the window exploding inwards.
"Oh, grop! Oh, grop!" Dominator cursed herself for zoning out. Diving out of view, she prepared herself for what was sure to be a fight to the death.
A third shot broke one of the display doors in the back. Then it was quiet for a tense minute. One of the humanoids called out, probably hoping to coax Dominator out into the open. But she knew better than to try communicating with bandits like these. Whenever she pulled that trick, she made quick work of whoever was dumb enough to fall for it. Instead, she stayed low and grabbed a large piece of broken glass. It wasn't much, but an improvised dagger and a rock were better than just the rock.
Dominator heard footsteps approaching as she moved into the dark corners of the abandoned shop. She watched one of the humanoids peer inside before climbing though the window. They slowly explored the building, but had no hope of spotting her without a light source. They got close, but turned away and left themselves open.
In one smooth, premeditated motion, Dominator attacked the bandit. Fueled by adrenaline, she swung the rock into their head to stun them. Before they could get their bearings, she pushed the humanoid to the ground and began stabbing wildly with her glass knife. They screamed in pain, but were silenced when Dominator went for the throat. Covered in blood, she steadied herself and took the bandit's small blaster. It was unusually blocky compared to galactic blasters, but fit in her hand just as well.
Sneaking back into the shadows, she turned her attention to the other two bandits. They had already come inside and were fast moving in her direction. Like before, Dominator was practically invisible without any light. They didn't notice till they were right on top of her, at which point it was too late. One of the bandits found their ally bleeding out and called out, only to be shot in the head by Dominator. The last humanoid was quick to react, and started spraying shots at her. She dropped down out of sight, but still took a hit to the shoulder.
Ignoring the wound, Dominator grabbed her rock and made a blind throw in the bandit's general direction. Her gamble paid off. When she popped back up, the humanoid had taken cover from her fake grenade. Dominator rushed to get closer, as she couldn't afford to waste shots from a distance. When there was no explosion, the bandit turned to continue shooting, but Dominator beat him to it and unloaded her blaster. One, two, three, four, five shots went into the assailant's chest.
Standing over the bandit, Dominator continued to pull the trigger despite it no longer firing. When the dying bandit made a move for their blaster, she kicked it out of their hands and proceeded to stomp their face in. Dominator continued to stomp, screaming out her anger and frustrations until her shoes were drenched in brains and guts.
As the adrenaline began to wear off and the ringing in her ears faded, Dominator found herself staring out at the city once again. The sky was slowly becoming brighter from the approaching dawn. The only sound to be heard was her labored breathing. Her attention was drawn to her left shoulder, where the dull ache was turning into a fierce burning. She felt the small hole in her skin and pulled away, hissing at the piecing sting. Leaning against the counter, Dominator looked at her palm. She was strangely enamored by her emerald green blood and how it contrasted with the deep red blood that covered her limbs.
As the inside of the station grew brighter, Dominator stared at the humanoids she killed. She was once Lord Dominator. She had destroyed millions of worlds in the name of being the greatest. She had murdered trillions upon trillions of sentient life forms before today. But not like this. She had never stabbed a person to death. She had never stomped a person's head in till they're face was unrecognizable mush.
This was barbaric. This was pure savagery. This was killing made intimate.
Dominator smiled. And then she started to laugh. She laughed with a sick satisfaction she had not felt in years. With her good arm, she opened one of her weird, bitter sodas and took a sip.
"I think I'm going to like it here."