Guardians to the Galaxy
“Luke…why am I here?”
“I told you, Han. I’ve reached the first arc with the Guardians and need your input.”
“Because I was a smuggler.”
“Because you knew them.”
“Ugh…alright, fine. What’s the date on this chapter?”
“January 2016.”
“Wait, so this was only a few months before…”
“Yes.”
“Kriff. Okay, uh, the Guardians of the Galaxy were a group of misfits that decided to band together and become heroes for hire across their galaxy. They ended up saving it a few times. Did a lot of good. And even though they never intended to come to our galaxy, it didn’t stop them from doing the same here.
-An excerpt from The Fight For Justice (featuring Han Solo) by Luke Skywalker
Quill tapped his fingers to the music and silently mouthed the lyrics of the song playing throughout the Ravager ship. Gamora rested her chin on her fist, doing the same. Mantis was quietly smiling. Drax-well, Drax was just sleeping.
“I am Groot?” the tiny tree asked. He was still due for a growth spurt.
“This is Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson,” Quill answered.
I fly a star ship
Across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I’ll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a drop of rain
But I will remain
And I’ll be back again
And again and again
And again and again and again
“Where are we goin’, anyway?” Rocket yawned out.
“Lamentis 1. Edge of the Kree Empire,” Kraglin answered.
“Why?”
“Because we’re meeting Nebula there,” Gamora said.
“What does she want?” Drax dismissed with a yawn as he began to wake up.
Gamora sighed.
“She thinks she’s found a way to kill Thanos.”
Drax was now completely awake and everyone else in the bridge sent her confused looks.
“You don’t sound very excited,” Quill noticed.
“I gave up on that happening a long time ago.”
Groot then climbed up onto her chair and hugged her forearm. The green woman smiled softly and pated his head.
“So why are we even going?” Rocket groaned.
“Because I miss her.”
The ship landed on the purple world of Lamentis across from another smaller one. The Guardians walked out to see none other than Nebula herself.
“Sister,” the Cyborg greeted with a nod.
“Nebula,” Gamora nodded back and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Alright, all things considered,” she answered with a shrug. She nodded to the other Guardians but frowned at Quill. “She’s out of you league.”
Peter sighed loudly. Then he nodded.
“Yeah, I know,” he admitted.
“Just tell us how we kill Thanos,” Drax demanded.
“Drax!” Mantis admonished her friend.
“Gladly. I have the access codes to the Sanctuary II. I can sneak in and kill him in his sleep.”
“What do you need us for?” Quill asked.
“I need you to take care of the guards and the Black Order so they don’t get in the way.”
“How would you even do it?” Gamora questioned.
“Cut his throat. Then cut off all the same body parts he took from me.”
Gamora shook her head.
“Too simple. He’d wake up before the knife could even touch him.”
“Not if your friend over there keeps him asleep like she did to Ego.”
Everyone turned to Mantis.
“Could that work?” Quill asked.
“Maybe, I don’t know,” she answered.
“You held down an entire planet. I don’t think you wouldn’t be able to do this,” Kraglin stressed.
Gamora wasn’t paying attention though. She just stared at Nebula.
“In all the time we’ve known him, we’ve never seen him bleed. No weapon can cut him.”
“But the one he gave you could.”
Her eyes widened. Then, slowly, she pulled out a small handle and pressed a button. Out came two blades, one from each side.
“But…the security system would see us coming. Even with the codes.” It seemed like she was arguing with herself more so than Nebula.
“That rat has broken out of fifteen prisons. He can keep us hidden and Thanos unaware.”
“Oh, I can do that,” the racoon confirmed.
Gamora was silent. Then Nebula placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“It is possible, Gamora.”
She sighed. Then she looked her sister right in the eyes with a fierce gaze.
“Where is he?”
The plan required a much smaller ship in order to sneak aboard. So they took the Milano, left the Elector with the other Ravagers, and flew towards Thanos’ last know location. The group was full of anticipation.
And arguing over who got to kill Thanos, apparently.
“Why should you get to kill him? I should get to kill him,” Drax argued.
“You’ll only mess it up,” Nebula responded.
“He killed my wife. He killed my daughter.”
“He tortured me my entire life by painfully replacing my body parts with machines.”
“He killed my daughter!”
“Hey, calm down, alright?” Quill cut in from the pilot seat. “Look, why don’t you both kill him?”
The two were silent for a moment.
“I am Groot.”
“What did he say?” Nebula asked.
“He agrees that you should share killing him. And I think their right,” Rocket explained.
“…You can disembowel him after I cut his throat.”
“But he’ll already be dead by then!”
The two began to haggle over what each of them could do to the Mad Titan. The others decided to tune them out and continue preparing.
“Gamora, how bad are these Black Order guys?” Quill asked. After not getting a response he asked again.
His lover was silent. She just stared at the double sided dagger in her hand, constantly expanding and retracting the blades over and over again.
Peter gently grasped her hand, finally gaining her attention.
“You okay?”
She laced their fingers.
“This needs to go perfectly, Peter. We may never get another chance like this.”
“Hey, we’re gonna get him. Alright?”
“…Yeah.” She squeezed his hand. “We will.”
Suddenly an alarm started blaring.
“What’s happening?” Nebula demanded.
“There’s an anomaly heading right for us!” Rocket reported.
“I’ve got it!” Quill said before hastily piloting the ship sharply to the left.
A large beam of blue light zoomed past them. The Guardians stared at it. Minus Mantis and
Drax.
They were fighting over the last zargnut.
“I want a zargnut!” Mantis shouted, pulling on one end of the bag.
“You ate most of them already!” he responded, tugging on the other end.
The bag ripped in half and sent the last zargnut flying. The two friends jumped after it. Unfortunately, the nut was heading for the controls…
And they crashed right into them.
Sparks flew from the dashboard and it began to smoke.
“Woah! Woah! What the hell!” Quill exclaimed.
“The zargnut!” Drax shouted upon seeing it. Then he took it and flung it into his mouth.
“Drax~!” Mantis complained.
“Can’t you morons go five minutes without eating those stupid nuts?!” Rocket complained.
“They're not stupid. They’re delicious,” Mantis defended.
“Yeah. Besides, no harm done,” Drax responded confidently.
The power went out, casting the interior of the Milano into darkness.
“Drax! Mantis! Of all the possible times!” Gamora shouted.
“Well, at least it can’t-” Mantis began.
“Do not finish that sentence,” Kraglin chided.
“-any worse.”
“She finished it,” he sighed.
The ship began to drift towards the anomaly.
“Everyone hold onto something!” Quill warned.
He, Rocket, Groot, and Mantis screamed. Nebula and Gamora clung to their arm rests. Drax laughed hysterically.
Then they were pulled into the blue light.
The Guardians woke up groaning.
“…Is everyone okay?” Quill asked his friends.
“…I think I’m good, Captain,” Kraglin answered, massaging his head.
Mantis got up and tilted her head upon looking out the window.
“What planet is that?”
The team looked up to see a brown planet before them.
“Where the heck are we?” Rocket questioned.
After a few minutes of repairing the controls, Gamora examined the navi-computer. Then her face contorted in anger and she slammed her fist against the screen, cracking it.
“DAMNIT!”
“What happened?” Nebula inquired.
“That thing took us outside of the Galaxy! We’re in another one entirely!”
The others blinked.
“I am Groot?”
“Must ‘ave been some kinda wormhole,” Rocket answered.
“Whatever it was, it doesn't matter. We’ve missed our window. He can’t kill him now,” Nebula growled. “And it’s you two’s fault,” she said, glaring at Mantis and Drax.
The two had the decency to be ashamed.
“…Wormholes can affect time as well. What time does it say on the navi-computer?” Rocket asked.
Peter glanced at it and did a double take.
“Kraglin, see if you can refresh it.”
“On it, Captain.”
“What is it?” Mantis wondered.
“It says it’s been six months.”
The ship was silent.
After a while Kraglin spoke up.
“Hey, uh…the navi-computer is working fine. That wormhole or whatever took six months.”
Quill sighed. Then he nodded.
“Okay. Okay. The first thing we need to do is figure out where we are. Some I’m gonna land us down on that planet. Is that good with everyone?”
Nebula crossed her arms.
“Not like we have a choice.”
The Milano landed on the surface a hundred yards in front of a base of some kind. The Guardians marched on over and were met by a group of brown wrinkled aliens pointing guns at them.
“Who the hell do you people think you are to just land on my planet?” one with a green helmet and red jacket asked.
“Let me and Kraglin do the talking,” Quill ordered. “I have a feeling that these guys are like the Ravagers.”
Most of them nodded but Drax and Nebula were hesitant.
“Come on, Quill. Let me have them.”
“I don’t trust them.”
“Just give us two minutes.”
Peter and Kraglin marched towards the group of hostels.
“Hi there,” Quill greeted. “The name’s Peter Quill, aka Star Lord, but you can just call me Quill. Listen, we didn’t mean to arrive here unannounced. There was an incident with our ship and now we don’t know where we are.”
“Well then, Quill, welcome to Florum! My name is Hondo Onaka! Leader of these pirates!” the now dubbed Hondo declared. “Now, how about you hand over your ship and all your other goods. It’ll be a lot cleaner that way.”
The pirates chuckled at that.
Quill could see his friends reaching for their weapons.
“Hey! Hey, hold on. We are pirates too. Or we were. We’re technically mercenaries now, but you know the unspoken code for guys like us.”
The pirates hesitated.
“And what would you suggest we do instead,” Hondo asked, genuinely intrigued.
“We settle this the old fashion way,” Kraglin answered.
Hondo laughed.
“Alright then, bring it on!” he responded with open arms.
Quill activated his mask and rocket boots and flew right for Hondo. Kraglin whistled and his flying arrow flew out of its holster and through all their opponents’ blasters, destroying them.
The arrow then fell to the ground.
“Damnit, still need to work on that,” Kraglin cursed.
So he pulled out his blaster and aimed it at the weaponless pirates.
While this was going on, Star Lord tackled Hondo and pressed a blaster to his head from behind.
“Gotcha now.”
“Oh! Well this is not good.”
The other Guardians marched forward with their weapons trained on the other pirates.
“You know the drill,” Quill said.
Then Hondo surprised them all by laughing.
“Ha ha! Welcome my new friends! Come inside, have a drink, and we’ll talk business.”
Quill let go of the pirate and shook his hand.
“That’s what I’m talking about.”
“What do we call your group anyways?”
Star Lord retracted his mask.
“We’re the Guardians of the Galaxy.”