Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first thing Peter Jason Quill noticed when he opened his eyes was how beautiful the stars looked. It reminded him of home. Of laying on the field for hours, stargazing with his mum. Talking about music, movies… Just anything, really. It was an easier time. Before he had been taken from his home. Before the cancer.

The second thing he noticed was how much his head hurt.

Massaging his temples, the man slowly sat up on the damp floor, trying to keep himself from throwing up from the dizziness. The last thing he remembered was dancing to ‘Come and get your love’, then hitting his head on something and then… Black.

Peter took off his headphones and made a first attempt at getting up. His head was still spinning from whatever had hit him. Had he slipped? He didn’t remember slipping. Hit his head on a wall he didn’t see? He didn’t remember any of that but then again, judging from the pain, he had hit his head pretty hard so memory loss wasn’t exactly unlikely.

That’s when he noticed a strange weight in his satchel, one that hadn’t been there before he had passed out. Confused, Peter reached inside and pulled out a spherical artefact. The very same one he had come to Morag for.

“What the…”

“DROP IT.”

Peter instinctively raised his arms, turning around to look at the source of the voice.

“Drop it now!”

A dark skinned man with cybernetics in his head was aiming a very lethal looking plasma rifle at him, escorted by two saakarans that surrounded the still very confused human in a matter of seconds.

“Alright alright man! Let’s… OW!” Peter shot a glare at the sakaaran that had just poked him with his weapon’s barrel but quickly returned his attention to the man that seemed to be the leader.

“Calm down, okay? There you go.” Peter said as he dropped the orb, quickly raising his hands again right after.

“Who are you?” The man asked as he picked up the orb from the ground.

“My name is Peter Quill, alright? I’m a junker, chill out.”

“You don’t look like a junker. Those are ravager garbs.”

Peter rolled his eyes, already trying to figure out how to get out of that situation. But his throbbing headache wasn’t making things any easier.

“It’s just an outfit, man…”

The man with the cybernetics didn’t seem very convinced by his answer.

“Move!”

“Woah woah! Why?” 

“Ronan may have questions for you.”

One of the sakaaran poked Peter on his back again, forcing him to take a step forward.

“Wait! There’s another name you might know me by. ”

This time, the man with the cybernetics seemed curious, shooting a questioning look at Peter.

“Who?”

Peter’s lips curled into a smirk, he stood upright and met the stranger’s gaze with his own.

“Star-Lord.”

The man with the cybernetics stared at him like he had just turned green.

“...Who?”

“Star-Lord, man. Legen…”

But before he could finish, something exploded about a hundred meters away behind the stranger. Not wanting to waste such a perfect distraction, Peter drew both his blasters and shot the saakarans at his sides. The man with the cybernetics raised his weapon, but the explosion was a good enough distraction for him to be a split second too late, earning two blaster shots to the chest and dropping the orb right in front of Peter.

With his smirk having grown even wider, Peter took the orb and began walking away calmly. That was until he heard a groan coming from the downed stranger. Peter’s eyes went wide and he ducked just in time to dodge a shot aimed right at his head. Close, but clearly not close enough. Peter activated his helmet and turned on his rocket boots, blasting off from where he stood and onto a ledge. He ran through the ruins, keeping his weapons drawn and his senses sharp. In those hallways he saw a few freshly dead sakaaran just lying there, recent signs of a fight… Was there anyone else there? It didn’t seem likely. Yondu was still about a few hours away. But if that hadn’t been him, nor the other ravagers… Then who?

Almost on cue, Peter heard the distinct sound of plasma shots being fired echoing through the hallways. Well, they clearly weren’t alone there, and Peter sure as hell wasn’t planning on staying to find out who else had kindly decided to join them.

After a few tense minutes, Peter finally found his way out of the ruins. He spotted the Milano not too far away from there and, upon letting out a sigh of relief, he activated his rocket boots to fly towards it. Surprisingly enough, nobody was waiting for him there, but he wasn’t complaining. Keeping an eye out, Peter unlocked the ship’s ramp and quickly got inside, locking it back up after him.

Barely half a minute later, the Milano’s engines roared to life as the ship began taking off the ground. 

From the ruins, a man out of time in a white and red armour watched in awe. After all the things he had seen in his life, there was something about watching a spaceship just blasting off into space that fascinated him. As if he still had trouble believing it was real. Once the ship was out of view, the man nodded to himself and finished wiping the rest of the sakaaran blood from his vibranium shield.

“Three to go.”

He retrieved the secure suitcase from its hiding place, punched the next coordinates into his wrist computer, and vanished from where he stood. Leaving an entire battalion of sakaaran bodies in his wake.

====

“Hey! We had a deal bro!” 

Peter Quill stood right in front of the Broker’s door, still dumbfounded by the interaction. What a dickhead. You can’t just back out in a deal like that! He had almost died retrieving the orb for that asshole… What was he supposed to do now?

He let out a frustrated sigh and looked to his right… Just to see nobody there.

Why was he expecting someone to be there?

It almost felt wrong, like something was supposed to happen but for some reason… It hadn’t. Shaking off the chill down his spine, Peter put the orb back in his satchel and walked away from the office. Thinking about his options as he made his way back to the Milano.

It was about halfway through when he noticed he was being followed.

He didn’t look back, but whoever it was they weren't exactly being discreet about it. There was a big guy, very conspicuous. A ravager? Not likely. He would recognize them. Had Yondu put a bounty on him? Well… Now that he thought about it, after that call, it didn’t exactly seem impossible.

Peter took a couple of detours to confirm his suspicions. Yeah, he was definitely being followed. Resuming his trek towards the Milano, Peter discreetly loosened his blasters from its holsters, making it easier for him to be quicker on the draw than whoever was following him. He guided the stranger towards his ship, to make it seem like he had no idea that he was being followed. And then, without a word or any kind of warning, Peter turned around and shot the bulky figure in the chest.

The last thing he remembered before passing out was the agonizing sensation of electricity coursing through his body.

====

When Peter woke up, he felt like he had been run over by a truck. He groaned in pain and tried to rub his temples… Just to find out that he couldn’t. When he opened his eyes, Peter noticed that he was cuffed, and his entire body had been tied to a chair. He tugged at the cuffs a couple of times, but he was predictably unsuccessful. Where was he anyway? Peter looked up from the ground just to be met with a goofy smile on a wooden face. Sitting in front of him there was some sort of… Tree… Humanoid… Thing. He could see the burnt mark of his blaster shot on the thing’s chest but… Whatever that thing was it didn’t seem particularly affected by it. After a few seconds of bewildered staring, Peter finally broke the silence.

“Uh…”

The tree’s goofy smile widened a bit more.

“I am Groot.”

Chapter Text

Peter’s jaw hung open as he stared at the wooden creature in front of him.

“I… Am Peter Quill. People call me Star-Lord.”

Groot nodded in acknowledgement. Well, whatever that thing was, apparently it was capable of understanding him. Which meant that there was a chance for him to talk his way out of this. He only had to…

“I am Groot.”

Peter froze.

“You… Said that already, bud.”

“I am Groot.”

Peter stared blankly at the creature, the corner of his lip twitching ever so slightly as gears began turning in his head.

“That’s literally all you can say, isn’t it?”

“I am Groot”

“Right.”

Peter smacked his lips and threw his head back. When he looked at Groot again a few seconds later, Peter found the creature in the exact same place. Staring at him with those strangely innocent eyes and that goofy smile.

That’s when he realized that the wall behind Groot looked familiar. He briefly scanned his surroundings and his suspicions were quickly confirmed. Alright, he was in the Milano’s cargo hold. All things considered, that was good. It was an environment he was familiar with, and one with a couple of hidden surprises here and there. Also, the fact that they were on a ship gave him another clue, there had to be at least another person on board keeping an eye on the cockpit.

Peter didn’t like to judge a book by its cover, but Groot didn’t exactly seem like the brightest bulb in the box. Not to mention that he definitely didn’t seem like the kind of person to orchestrate any of this. It was pretty obvious that whoever was piloting had to be the brains to Groot’s brawn, which put Peter in a bit of a race against the clock. He had to figure out a way to outsmart Groot before the other guy came to check on him. After that, he could… Uh… Well, the plan was a work in progress. One step at a time.

First things first. If he wanted to talk his way out of this, first he’d have to figure out why the hell these guys even wanted to kidnap him in the first place. The most obvious answer was that they were bounty hunters. And in Peter’s experience, the most obvious answer was usually the right one. Who was their client? It had to be Yondu, right? He was the only person who knew he’d be trying to sell the orb in Xandar. No matter how much he pissed Yondu off, whatever bounty he had put on his head would have an ‘Alive’ requirement. Whatever punishment that blue son of a bitch had in store for him, he wanted to do it himself.

That was an angle.

Suddenly, Peter inhaled sharply. His eyes went wide and his entire body tensed up. Groot’s smile instantly disappeared from his face and he tilted his head in concern.

“I am Groot?”

Peter groaned in pain as he twisted around his body as much as his bindings allowed him. His breathing was out of control, he had started sweating and his face was getting redder and redder.

“I’m… Agh… Heart attack…”

Groot stood up from the chair and began panicking while Peter continued to hyperventilate, gradually going limp on chair as his eyes went white and his tongue lolled out. Groot looked around, his panic growing by the second. Before he even had time to make a choice, Peter’s breathing quickly became hoarser and hoarser, sending the poor Groot into absolutely terrified territory. Out of options, Groot rushed to Peter’s side and nervously fumbled with the lock that kept the human strapped to the chair. But before he had time to input the code to unlock it, a voice came from the stairs behind them.

“He’s trying to trick you, you d’ast idiot. He’s totally fine.”

Groot looked at the newcomer, visibly confused. He let go of the lock and pointed at the now ‘passed out’ human.

“I am Groot?”

The newcomer sighed loudly and walked next to Peter. He pressed the stun baton in his paw to the skin on the human’s arm and pressed the button on the hilt. Pretty much instantly, the human ‘jolted’ awake and glared furiously at the short creature, completely dropping the act.

“OUCH! DUDE! WHAT THE…” The words froze in Peter’s throat as he took a good look at the creature looking smugly at him. Was that… A raccoon in an orange flightsuit? Was he dreaming? Had they drugged him? He didn’t feel drugged, but then again. Some things out there could make you see some crazy shit.

The raccoon poked Peter in the arm a couple more times before letting out a satisfied chuckle.

“See, Groot? Completely fine. Come on, go keep an eye on the cockpit and I’ll keep an eye on the humie.”

Groot glanced at the human with a hint of annoyance, to which Peter replied with a casual shrug.

“I am Groot.”

Peter could tell that whatever the tree had meant with that, it definitely wasn’t nice. Doing as he was told, Groot left the cargo hold, shooting a couple more glares at Peter before climbing up the stairs. The raccoon shook his head and sighed under his breath. He left the baton near the wall and dragged a crate next to the chair Groot had been sitting on. Inside, Peter saw all his things. His jacket, his boots’ rockets, his dual blasters… And his Walkman. After a few instants of pondering, the raccoon grabbed one of the dual blasters. He inspected it for a few seconds, running a clawed finger over the barrel before beginning to disassemble the whole thing, making Peter’s eyes go wide with shock.

“Woah woah! Raccoon guy! You can’t just do that to people’s things!”

The creature froze. A tense silence quickly materializing between them. In a mix of confusion and anger, the raccoon met the man’s gaze with his.

“What did you just call me?”

Peter swallowed. Judging by the creature’s tone, he had to choose his next words very very carefully.

“It… Uh… It’s what you are. I… Uh…”

The raccoon’s gaze pierced through his. If he could shoot lasers out of his eyes, Peter was sure he would have been vaporized by now.

“The name’s Rocket. And if you don’t want a hole in your leg, I suggest you don’t call me… What did you call me?”

“A raccoon?”

“Yeah, that.”

Peter internally sighed in relief. Crisis adverted. Meanwhile, Rocket had gone back to… Whatever he was doing to his blaster.

“You are lucky the bounty requires you to be alive, but it doesn’t say anything about missing limbs. I saw Groot ripping off a Kree’s arm once so yeah… You are already kinda on his bad side so I wouldn’t piss us off if I was you.”

Peter whistled in surprise, tilting his head slightly.

“Damn, did he really do that?”

“Yeah, it was pretty gruesome.”

Silence fell between both of them while Rocket reassembled Peter’s blaster… And moved on to the next one. Clearly, he wouldn’t be able to trick this guy like he had almost done with Groot. Nevertheless, he needed to figure something out, and fast. These guys had probably already contacted the Ravagers, and it was a matter of time before he showed up. Pretty much accepting that he would have to make concessions, Peter began thinking of other options.

“Hey, Rocket.”

The raccoon didn’t even bother looking up from the disassembled blaster.

“Yes, Quill?”

The human took a deep breath.

“Look, whatever bounty Youndu put on me, it’s nothing compared to what that orb is worth.”

Rocket looked at the human, raising an eyebrow. Then, he reached inside the crate and fished the mysterious orb from inside.

“This junk?”

“Yes! Listen, I don’t know what it is, but it’s some kind of super valuable artefact. Ark of the Covenant sort of vibe.”

Rocket rolled his eyes and tossed the orb back into the crate. Then, he continued to work on the blaster, reassembling it again and putting it next to the other one.

“Rocket, listen dude. That Broker dude in Xandar was offering me a ton of money for it, and I’m pretty sure he was trying to lowball me. If we find a… HEY HEY HEY!”

Ignoring the human’s yells, Rocket curiously inspected the Walkman. Now that was something he had never seen before…

“Hey hey! Rocket dude, come on! Please! Hey! Look, you can take apart anything you want in this ship… But not that… Please...”

Rocket met Peter’s pleading eyes, visibly confused. A part of him wanted to take apart whatever that thing was just to spite the human, but the other half… Recognized the look in his eyes. Subconsciously touching the small metallic card in his flightsuit’s pocket, Rocket nodded and left the Walkman back in the crate.

“Thank you.”

Letting out a sigh, Rocket grabbed the orb from the crate yet again and took a closer look at it, running his clawed thumb over the crevices on its surface.

“How much did you say he offered you?”

“1.5 million credits.”

Rocket snorted loudly, unable to keep his muzzle from curling into an amused smirk.

“Now you are just lyin’.”

“I promise you, dude. I thought it was insane too but apparently, he was totally down for it.”

The raccoon took another look at the orb, going quietly humming to himself before looking at Quill again.

“Say I believe you. What keeps me from just taking this and selling it myself?”

Now Peter matched Rocket’s smirk.

“I know where we can sell it. I’m a thief, I’m pretty experienced in these kinds of deals. I might be able to get us even more than what the Broker promised. We get there, we sell it, split the money and never see each other again. And if I’m lying… You can blast a hole in my leg and take me back to Yondu.”

Peter could see Rocket hesitating. He could tell that the raccoon’s common sense was telling him that it was a bad idea. But his greed… Oh, the sweet promise of such an absurd amount of credits... It was too good to pass up.

Suddenly, the cackling of the ship’s comms coming back to life interrupted the raccoon’s thought process. A few seconds later, a gruff voice echoed through the cargo hold.

“Bounty hunters? This is Horuz from the ravagers.”

Peter shifted under the chains, looking at Rocket with urgency in his eyes.

“We have to get away. If they get me it’s over. And honestly… Knowing Yondu he might try to kill you too.”

Rocket stared at the man in silence. Thinking… His common sense trying to fight his own greed. However, after a few seconds, it was pretty clear which won the war.

“If you try anything…”

“I know, a hole in my leg.”

The raccoon nodded, left the orb inside the crate, and moved behind the man. He inputted a long password into the lock and, after a last few instants of hesitation, he pressed confirm. With a beep, the chains around the man’s body fell to the ground with a clank.

“We’ll be keeping the cuffs on for now. To the cockpit, move.”

Peter grumbled something under his breath, but his complaining didn’t go any further than that. The man stood up from the chair, stretched his back, and quickly began walking towards the stairs out of the cargo hold. Rocket, in the meantime, shot one last look at the orb sitting in the crate, cursed under his breath, and followed after Peter.

Chapter Text

Groot’s eyes widened in shock when he saw Peter walking into the cockpit. He was in the middle of getting up from the chair when he saw Rocket walking right behind the human.

“It’s all good Groot, we made a deal.”

Peter watched in confusion as Rocket trotted past him and hopped onto the pilot’s seat.

“Uh… That’s my seat, bud.”

“Not anymore.”

Peter tilted his head squinting his eyes a bit.

“What?”

“This ship was yours. But I captured you, so now it’s mine. That’s how it works.”

“No it’s not!”

“Well, what are you going to do about it, pretty boy? Call Nova?.”

Peter rolled his eyes, grumbling in annoyance. Meanwhile, Groot got up from the co-pilot chair and pointed at it, putting on that goofy grin of his while he looked at Peter.

“I am Groot.”

Peter sighed and moved over to the free seat, nodding at Groot with a grateful smile and plopping himself down on it rather unceremoniously.

“Thanks, Groot. Sorry for the scare earlier.”

The wooden creature shrugged, not losing his nonchalant demeanour, and sat on one of the seats at the end of the cockpit.

“Heads up, Quill” Rocket said as he swiped on the screen in front of him. “We’ve got three Ravager ships.”

“Have you replied to their message?”

“Not yet.”

Peter tried to reach towards his own screen, but the cuffs were making navigating through it way harder than it had to be.

“Could you get these off so I can actually do stuff?

“Nah, they look great on you.”

Peter shook his head with a sigh, doing his best to move through the screens until he found the one he was looking for.

“Anyway…” The man started “We should make a move soon. At this point, they are probably debating boarding us. We should surprise them while we can.”

“A dogfight? Three against one is pretty bad odds, Quill.”

“Never tell me the odds.”

Rocket looked at Peter in confusion, obviously not getting the reference. Nevertheless, he was considering the idea. If they tried to run, they wouldn’t get far. If they let them board them, their odds would be even worse. So funnily enough, a dogfight seemed like their best option.

“How’s your aim?”

“With these on?” Peter asked while holding up his cuffed hands “Pretty bad.”

Rocket stared at Quill in silence. Then, after a few seconds, he shook his head and let out a loud sigh.

“A hole in your leg, Quill. Remember.”

“Yeah yeah.”

The raccoon took out a small remote from one of his flightsuit’s pockets and, after he pressed the button, the cuffs opened and fell to the ground with a clank. Peter rubbed his sore wrists and nodded at Rocket. All three of them put their seatbelts on and, after one last instance of silence, Rocket took a deep breath.

“Alright.” The raccoon said as he cracked his neck “Let’s do this.”

The raccoon grabbed the controls and sharply pulled them towards himself, activating the ship’s retro boosters and suddenly decreasing their speed dramatically, which put them behind the three ravager ships. Peter was almost as surprised by the manoeuvre as the ravagers on the other ships, but he was quick enough to take aim and shoot at one of the ship’s boosters, leaving it disabled. The remaining two ships instantly scattered, each of them sharply turning to opposite sides.

“One down!”

Rocket nodded in acknowledgement and accelerated, the deafening roar of the Milano’s engine flooding the cockpit. He took a sharp turn right, following after one of the ships and momentarily forgetting about the other one. Quill took a few shots at the ship in front of them, But they all missed. He didn’t have a clear angle, and he didn’t want to shoot to kill. Some of those Ravagers were his friends, after all. So just disabling their ships would be enough. The problem was… That made hitting them significantly harder.

Seeing the other ship positioning itself behind them in the rearview on his screen, Rocket began performing different evasive manoeuvres to dodge the plasma being fired at them, which made hitting the ship in front of them even harder for Peter. Realizing the bad position they were in, Rocket began thinking of their next move. They had to be proactive. If they didn’t, it would only be a matter of time before they got hit.

“Get ready, Quill. This is going to be all or nothing.”

“What? What do you mean with…”

Peter didn’t have time to finish as Rocket slammed the accelerator, pushing the man against the seat as they zoomed past the ship in front of them. An absolutely terrified Groot gripped onto his armrests and stared forward unblinkingly, unable to look away.

“I am Groooooooot”

“NOW QUILL”

Rocket pulled then sharply turned the controls, quickly rotating the ship on its axis so it was left facing the other two ships while it moved backwards thanks to the momentum. Quill held his breath and shot at the first ship, then the second one.

And for a few seconds, time seemed to slow down.

After what seemed to Peter like an eternity, almost by divine intervention, both shots hit each of the ships’ boosters, disabling them both and leaving them drifting in space.

“I AM GROOOT!”

“LET’S GO QUILL!”

“WOO! THAT WAS AWESOME!”

Rocket sharply turned the controls again to make the ship face ‘forward’. He pushed the accelerator and quickly escaped the disabled ships’ range. Once they were nothing more than tiny dots on the rearview screen, Rocket finally slowed down and let himself go limp on the seat. With a huge smile on his face, Quill turned towards Rocket and lifted a fist towards him. The raccoon looked at him in confusion, clearly at a loss.

“What are you doing?”

“A fistbump dude! It’s like, a teamwork thing. You know, after a job well done.”

Rocket tilted his head, still not quite following.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Just bump your fist into mine.”

The raccoon hesitated for a few seconds, but he couldn’t deny that the adrenaline and the satisfaction of having come out on top had left him in a pretty good mood. So this one time, he simply shrugged, mirrored Quill’s smile, and bumped his tiny fist on the man’s.

“There you go, dude! You too Groot”

Peter spun on his seat and leaned back to get his fist as close to Groot as possible. A beaming Groot nodded at Peter and very gladly returned the fistbump.

“I am Groot.”

“You are indeed buddy.”

Rocket snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, still smiling as he looked at Quill but turning a bit more serious.

“Okay, Quill. Back to business. Where’s that seller of yours?”

Peter returned his attention to Rocket, clearing his throat as he pulled up his screen.

“I’ll input the planet’s coordinates into the autopilot. Just… Relax man! We kicked those guys’ asses! Let’s celebrate!”

Rocket rubbed his face and let out a long sigh.

“Have anything in mind?”

“I have drinks in the cabinet.”

Now Rocket’s ears perked up.

“Anything good?”

“Well, a few days ago I stopped by a shop that had ingredients and stuff from Earth. There’s this one cocktail I’ve always wanted to try but never got the chance to make.”

“Does it have a name?”

Peter’s smile widened

“Piña colada.”

Chapter Text

“So let me get this straight…” Rocket said after taking yet another sip from his drink. “This dude wanted to cheat on his wife, but then finds out that the chick he wanted to cheat with was actually his wife all along?”

“YES!”

Quill sighed loudly in relief, throwing his head back on the chair and raising his arms in victory. It was the fifth time he had played the song at this point, and he had tried to explain it in some many ways he felt like he was about to go insane.

“I am Groot.”

“Yeah, Groot is right.” Rocket said, nodding in agreement. “It’s kind of messed up. They were going to cheat on each other.”

Peter let out a frustrated groan, looking at them with a glint of annoyance in his eyes.

“Okay, first thing. It’s a beautiful story, alright? Like, sure. They were going to cheat on each other. But then fate brought them together again! Look, it teaches us about how important communication is. They had been kindred spirits all along, but since they never actually talked, they never knew!”

“You are overthinking it, Quill.”

Peter took another sip from his drink as Rocket rolled his eyes. Groot simply shook his head.

“And second, there’s no way Groot is saying all that. You are making it up.”

Groot gasped, covering his mouth with a hand as if Peter had just said the most terrible thing he had ever heard. Rocket simply snorted, shaking his head before finishing his drink and slamming down the glass on the table.

“I am Groot.”

“Groot says ‘That was very insensitive’.”

“Dude, I’m not falling for it.”

Chuckling under his breath, Rocket simply shrugged while Groot looked at Peter like he was about to cry. Instantly feeling bad about it, Peter was about to apologize when a ‘beep’ played over the ship’s loudspeakers, announcing that they had arrived at their destination.

“To the cockpit.” Rocket said. As the raccoon hopped off the couch, Peter finished his drink and followed right after him with Groot by his side.

“Where the hell have you taken us, Quill?”

Peter smirked a little, crossing his arms and smugly leaning on the cockpit’s wall. The planet in front of them was an imperfect ball of blue, brown and purple surrounded by wormholes of various sizes. Quite literally rough around the edges. Peter didn’t know any planet in the galaxy that looked quite like that one, and judging by Rocket’s reaction, it was a first for him too.

“Welcome to Sakaar, an absolute shithole.”

Rocket and Groot exchanged a glance, neither of them too convinced by the introduction. Then, the raccoon looked at Peter and raised an eyebrow.

“Quill…”

“Yeah yeah, a hole in my leg. I got it.” Peter said as he pushed himself off the wall. “Trust me on this one dude! I have my contacts.”

Rocket still wasn’t exactly convinced, but now that they were there… Might as well. To Peter’s annoyance, the raccoon sat on the pilot’s seat again and began preparing the Milano for the landing. Swallowing his pride, Peter sat on the co-pilot seat and began running the pre-landing checks.

====

Despite how colourful they were, the streets of Sakaar had all three of them on edge. There was something about that place that just felt… Wrong. The people looked off, the buildings seemed like they had barely been put together and would collapse any second. And there was this aura of hopelessness that was… Straight up disheartening. There were points where Peter felt like literally all eyes on the street were on them. Despite the variety of the inhabitants' sizes, colours and shapes, they stuck out like a sore thumb.

Eventually, Peter spotted what seemed to be some kind of workshop. He pointed at it and nodded at Rocket and Groot, who both nodded back in response. As they walked towards it, Peter broke the somewhat uncomfortable silence.

“So, guys… I’ve been thinking…”

“Do you do that?”

Peter shot a glare at the raccoon, who simply replied with a toothy grin.

“I’ve been thinking… You seem like pretty cool people, and you know, it was pretty awesome how we kicked those Ravagers’ asses up there. So after we sell this thing maybe we could… Stick together, you know? We could be like the A Team. Going from planet to planet in the Milano… Taking names and kicking ass!”

“Hard pass.”

“What? Come on dude! Surely I’m not that annoying to be around.”

“I am Groot!”

Upon hearing Groot’s response, Rocket huffed in frustration.

“Why are you taking his side? Did you forget about the heart attack thing?”

“I am Groot.”

“Well, you didn’t seem to find it very funny when he did it.”

Groot shrugged and smiled at Peter, who returned the smile and gave Groot’s shoulder a grateful squeeze.

“Thanks, Groot. See? He agrees.”

The raccoon groaned dramatically, glaring at Quill for a couple of seconds before shaking his head.

“I’ll think about it. But if I say yes we are not calling ourselves ‘The A Team’.”

Peter’s smile widened, shooting a wink at Rocket before returning his attention to the workshop in front of them.

“Better than a no.”

As they got to the door, Peter nodded to his companions and pressed the button under the intercom. A few seconds later, the device cackled a couple of times and a screeching voice came through.

“WHAT?”

Peter was a bit taken aback by the aggressiveness in the voice. He exchanged a couple of glances with Rocket and Groot and cleared his throat before replying.

“Hey! What’s up, Teek! It’s me, Star-Lord!”

The response was met with absolute silence. Then, after 5 eternal seconds, the voice came through again.

“Who?”

Rocket covered his mouth with a paw and began snickering. Peter huffed and gave Rocket a light kick in the shin, to which Rocket replied by flipping Peter the bird. The human quickly stuck his tongue out to the raccoon and leaned closer to the intercom again.

“Peter Quill. I’ve got something to sell.”

Now the voice replied immediately.

“Oh, the Ravager. Sure, come in.”

With those words, the door in front of them slid up, clearing a way for the trio. Peter went in first, shooting curious quick looks at the artefacts and contraptions that lined up the corridor’s walls. Groot didn’t care much for any of it, simply walking forward while he practised what Rocket had called his ‘business face’. Also known as not smiling. But Rocket… Rocket was absolutely fascinated by the place… So fascinated that he was taking the liberty of grabbing circuits and scraps here and there as they walked by. Peter pretended not to notice initially, but when the raccoon was on his sixth stolen component, the human shot him a glare. The raccoon grinned and shrugged at the human, but he didn’t take anything else.

As they walked into the workshop, the trio was welcomed by a tall insectoid alien. Several of his body parts had been replaced by machinery, and the ones that hadn’t had jagged pieces of metal embedded in them.

“What’s up Teek?”

“This better be good, Ravager. I’m busy.” The insectoid replied, not lifting his gaze from whatever contraption he was working on.

“It’ll be worth your while, I promise.”

The human reached inside his satchel and pulled out the orb, presenting it to the insectoid. The creature finally lifted his eyes from his workbench and approached the human, leaning forward to inspect the orb more closely.

“What is it?”

“I… Was hoping you would tell me.”

The insectoid looked at Peter, then back at the orb.

“It looks like some sort of container. I might be able to pry it open.”

Peter handed the orb to the insectoid and turned around to nod at Rocket and Groot. Groot innocently nodded back, but Rocket didn’t seem too convinced. The insectoid grabbed a sharp tool from the workbench and inserted it inside the notch that seemed to separate the orb into two halves. With a grunt of effort, the insectoid pushed the tool until the orb went ‘clack’ and split into two halves.

Peter leaned forward and Rocket climbed onto Groot’s shoulder to get a better look. There was… Some sort of gem inside. Purple. Pulsing with pure power.

“It can’t be…” The insectoid whispered, eyes wide in awe.

Peter exchanged a glance with Rocket and gave the insectoid a quizzical look.

“What is it?”

The creature remained silent for a few instants, completely in disbelief.

“It’s an Infinity Stone.”

Rocket held onto Groot’s head and stretched his neck to take a better look at it.

“Is it expensive?”

The insectoid looked at the raccoon, almost offended by the question.

“Y... You can’t even imagine it.”

Peter smiled at his companions, making Groot drop his ‘business face’ entirely and returning the smile. The man looked back at the insectoid and crossed his arms over his chest.

“So Teek. How much are you offering?”

The insectoid laughed in response, reaching towards the stone with his bare claw.

“You fool. I don’t need to offer you shit. With this, I can become the new Grand…”

The moment the insectoid’s exoskeleton touched the stone, it immediately began to pump impossible amounts of purple energy into the insectoid’s body. The creature let out a blood-curdling scream as his body began glowing, melting and breaking down all at the same time.

“I AM GROOT!”

Groot wrapped his arm around Peter’s torso and literally carried him away as he ran behind a thick pillar for cover with Rocket still holding onto his shoulder. The insectoid’s screams became louder and more distorted until, suddenly, it all exploded around them in one big ball of purple fire. Rocket and Peter had closed their eyes, screaming at the top of their lungs until, seconds later, the explosion ended. Their ears rang and hurt, they could taste metal on their tongues. But against all odds, they were still alive.

“I am Groot.”

Rocket slowly opened his eyes and so did Peter. They shared a shocked stare, then both slowly turned to look at Groot, who was looking at them with a wide smile.

“Thanks, Groot.” Rocket whispered, still in shock by what he had just witnessed.

“Yeah, bud.” Peter continued in a similar tone “You are the best.”

About half a minute later, the trio slowly stepped out of their hiding place. Both Quill’s and Rocket’s jaws pretty much hung open as they witnessed the devastation caused by the explosion.

“Where did the ceiling go?”

“Wish I knew, dude.”

Eventually, Peter’s eyes fell on the glowing stone, still safely nestled within one of the orbs’ halves. The human swallowed and slowly moved over towards it. On his way there, his foot touched something on the floor: The other half. Peter grabbed it and closed the distance with what was left of the insectoid’s workbench.

“Quill, what are you doing?”

Peter looked back at the raccoon, who was staring at him like he had just sprouted a horn on his forehead.

“We can’t leave that there dude!”

“Why not? Haven’t you seen what it did to that guy?”

“That’s exactly why we can’t leave it here!”

Rocket shook his head, completely flabbergasted.

“And what are you going to do with it? Put it back in your purse?”

“It’s a satchel!” Peter said as he held up the garment to get the point across, but it wasn’t like Rocket particularly cared.

“Whatever. Let’s just get the hell out of here.”

Minutes later, the trio hurriedly left the workshop, taking a good look at the destruction caused by the stone. It hadn’t been just the workshop. The adjacent buildings had also suffered significant damage, sparking confusion in the streets. Before the denizens could figure out that they had anything to do with the explosion, the group hurried their way through the streets, arriving at the Milano’s landing site on the outskirts of the city in a matter of minutes.

Unfortunately for them, their luck had just run out.

Waiting by the ship there was a woman. Black hair, dark skin… And a face adorned with white face paint. She wore fashionable leather armour and was taking rather long swigs directly from a bottle every few seconds.

“Sorry lady, but we are taking off.” Peter said as he trotted towards the ship. “So if you don’t mind clearing the landing zone…”

“I’m afraid you aren’t going anywhere.” The woman said, tossing the bottle away and turning to face Peter, who stopped dead in his tracks. Before Peter or Rocket had time to draw, an entire battalion of sakaarans emerged from the trash, aiming their weapons at the group and immediately surrounding them. The three of them exchanged worried glances as the woman walked forward, her lips curling into a smile.

“The Grandmaster wants to see you.”

Chapter Text

In a lot of ways, the Grandmaster’s palace was very much like the city it oversaw. It was chaotic, colourful… Like its walls had been painted with unicorn barf. But the worst thing about it was the ever-present aura of fear. Every servant they came across as the sakaarans herded them around the palace had a glint of hopelessness in their eyes that shook Peter to his core. No matter how young or old they were, they had simply accepted that there was no getting out of there. They had completely given up.

Peter glanced at Rocket, but the raccoon seemed to be focusing on something else entirely. His eyes darted around, taking it all in while he subconsciously tugged at the shock collar around his neck. They had all been cuffed before leaving the landing site, but the sakaarans had taken extra measures for Rocket and Groot. In the wooden’s creature case, they had strapped a contraption to his chest that, according to them, ‘would burn him to a crisp if he tried anything funny’. In Rocket’s case, they had opted for a much simpler shock collar. Of course, the raccoon had protested, insisting that he wasn’t just some animal they could collar. In fact, that was the first time Peter had seen Rocket look genuinely offended by something, which bothered him more than he thought it would. But their captors had hardly cared.

However, what intrigued Peter the most was the woman that had captured them. She seemed very, very out of place in a place like that. What was her story? How did she even end up there? Low chance of him ever finding out considering that her only answers to anything he said ranged from absolute silence to ordering one of the sakaarans to hit him on the ribs with the butt of their rifle. But still, he couldn’t help being curious.

After spending what felt like hours walking around the maze-like corridors of the palace, they finally arrived at the Grandmaster’s office. He was a tan, grey-haired man. Not elderly, but definitely past middle age. He wore a very extravagant blue and gold tunic, blue nail polish and he had a line of blue face paint perpendicular to his lower lip. He was sitting on a neon blue cushioned seat, and right behind him stood a very burly woman with the meanest face Peter had seen in his life. And considering that he had lived with the Ravagers for most of it, he had seen quite a few.

“Ah, 142! You never disappoint…” The Grandmaster said with a flamboyant voice, a wide smile on his face. “Thanks for guiding our esteemed guests to my humble abode.”

142 approached The Grandmaster and caressed the underside of his jaw with a smile, which made the burly woman roll her eyes. Then, she positioned herself right behind him, next to the burly woman. Peter watched the scene with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, this doesn’t seem particularly welcoming” Peter said while raising his cuffed hands in front of him to make a point. 

The Grandmaster returned his attention to the prisoners, simply shrugging before gesturing to the sakaaran carrying all their things in a bag to come closer.

“Couldn’t let you leave Sakaar without your invitation.”

Peter scowled.

“Invitation?”

“Yeah, you three are invited to stay at my palace until next notice.” The Grandmaster continued as he peeked into the bag.

“Can we refuse it?”

“Nope.”

The man took out Peter’s blasters from the bag and shook his head in disapproval.

“A gunslinger? How boring.”

Peter looked almost offended by the comment, but before he could complain The Grandmaster put the weapons back in the bag and continued talking.

“And what is even that thing?” He said while pointing at Rocket. “Like a fox or…”

Rocket, who had been surprisingly quiet up to that point, began seething with rage in the span of barely a second.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?”

The raccoon made an attempt to rush towards The Grandmaster. But before he could even take a step, the collar around his neck sent a wave of electricity through his body, dropping him on the spot.

“Wow, it speaks? That’s kind of creepy don’t you think, Topaz?” The Grandmaster said while he turned to look at the burly woman.

“Yes, Grandmaster.” She replied in a bored tone

The older man turned to curiously look at the raccoon again, stretching his neck to get a better view.

“He’ll make a fun show for the VIPs.”

“Indeed, Grandmaster.”

The older man clapped twice and a sakaaran grabbed Rocket and began dragging him away. Both Peter and Groot took a step forward, but Groot froze when the woman who had captured them raised a remote towards him. Peter, however, was promptly dropped to his knees by a rifle butt to the stomach.

“Well, this tree guy definitely seems like a good fit for the arena.”

Groot glared at the older man, his fists audibly cracking as he tightened them.

“I am… Groot”

And even though he didn’t understand it, Peter knew for sure that whatever Groot had said it definitely hadn’t been nice. The Grandmaster clapped again and a couple sakaarans led Groot away. He threw one last sad glance at Peter, who gave him a reassuring nod. One he didn’t look particularly sure about himself.

With now just Peter in front of him, The Grandmaster continued to rummage through the bag. He took out the orb and took a look at it, raising an eyebrow. He shrugged and placed it on the seat’s cup holder. Then, when he moved on to the next item, Peter began growing anxious.

“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t touch that.”

The Grandmaster glanced at Peter and scowled in confusion, quickly returning his attention to the Walkman in his hand.

“What is this? Some kind of weapon?”

Peter shook his head almost pleadingly.

“It just… Plays music alright? But it’s mine!”

Now the Grandmaster looked interested. He hummed to himself and inspected the device with rekindled interest.

“So you are some kind of bard?”

Peter frowned, visibly confused.

“I… Guess?”

The Grandmaster smiled, getting up from his seat to approach Peter.

“Well, that’s convenient! I’ve been looking for a new DJ. The last one, unfortunately… Melted. You are not a DJ, but I guess a bard is the next best thing.”

The older man handed the Walkman to a very confused Peter and then snapped his fingers a couple of times. Two sakaarans approached Peter and, after forcing him back on his feet, they roughly led him away.

“So, Scrapper 142…” Peter could hear The Grandmaster say as he was pretty much dragged out of the room. “About your payment…”

===

The ‘trip’ around the Grandmaster’s palace was quite the haze for Peter. He was still recovering from getting the air knocked out of his lungs by a sakaaran rifle butt straight to the gut, and that last interaction with the Grandmaster had left him quite confused. Before he noticed, Peter found himself in some kind of small locker room. 

The sakaarans unceremoniously dropped him on the floor and stuck a metallic device on the side of his neck. One of them gave Peter a kick on the stomach, which made him roll over on his back as he grimaced in pain. Then, that very same sakaaran grabbed the cuffs forcing his wrists together and, with the press of a remote, they opened. Then, that sakaaran took a step back while the other aimed at Peter with his rifle, holding the cuffs that seconds prior had been on Peter’s wrists. 

The first thing Peter did as he clumsily got up was to make sure that his Walkman was still in one piece. He had been clutching it tightly ever since The Grandmaster had returned it to him, and he had made sure to fall on his side when the sakaarans had dropped him to avoid damaging it.

“Put that on.” The sakaaran holding the cuffs ordered as he pointed to some folded colourful clothes on the bench by the left wall.  “You perform in an hour.”

Peter glared silently at the sakaaran for a few seconds, but he ultimately complied. The attire they had chosen for him was… Dreadfully ugly to say the least. Sandals, baggy golden pants, a blue shirt and a golden jacket. As Peter was taking off his shirt, another group of sakaarans brought Rocket into the locker room. The poor guy looked like an absolute mess. They had definitely roughed him up way more than they had done with Peter, and the fact that he was limping was but a confirmation of that. But the worst thing about it was what they had done to his face. They had powdered it with white dust and painted his nose purple, making him look like some sort of messed up clown.

One of the sakaarans pushed the raccoon with his foot, almost making him fall in his face. Feeling a sudden surge of rage, Peter stood up from the bench and glared at the sakaarans, who all immediately aimed their rifles at him.

“That’s enough!”

“Sit back down, prisoner!” One of the sakaarans barked.

Peter glared at them in silence for a few seconds but did as he was told. At least he had taken their focus away from Rocket, who was now shedding off his flight suit to put on whatever ridiculous clothes they had left for him on the bench on the opposite side of the room. Peter glanced at him, intending to only look for a second, but when he caught sight of the raccoon’s bare back, the human was unable to look away.

Rocket’s upper back was a mess of scars and metal implants. In fact, the scarring was so bad that barely any fur grew on his upper back anymore. But without a doubt, the worst thing was the implants. Crudely embedded into his flesh, not even symmetrical… As if whoever had done that to him had left it half-finished.

Realizing he was staring, Peter averted his gaze. His anger shifting into sadness. Ever since he had first seen Rocket, Peter had wondered where the hell he had come from. During his time with the Ravagers, Peter had seen his fair share of alien species of all shapes and colours, but nothing like Rocket. At first, he had kind of assumed he was simply some alien species he had never seen. But after catching sight of those metal implants in his collarbones, he deduced that his origins perhaps were darker than that. He just wasn’t sure to what extent, but now after seeing that mess in his back… He could only imagine what kind of terrible things the poor guy had gone through.

Once they were both dressed, the sakaarans ordered them to leave the locker room and herded them around the palace once again. Rocket had been… Uncharacteristically quiet during the entire ordeal. Even after they forced him to wear an absurdly ugly jester outfit. He only stared forward blankly, completely unreadable. But Peter could see just how filled with rage he was. He could see him balling up his fists, digging his claws into his own pads. He was about to explode, but so far… He was controlling himself.

Eventually, they reached a private room where several aliens in extravagant clothes were already drinking and mingling. A sakaaran pointed at what looked like colourful mixing console inside a transparent booth.

“Terran, you go there.”

Peter glanced at the sakaaran and nodded.

“And you, fox.” The sakaaran continued, pointing at a box near the booth. “There.”

Rocket hardly acknowledged the sakaaran’s words. He simply walked over there without saying a word. As Peter began setting up inside the DJ booth, he glanced at Rocket, who had taken 3 rubber balls from inside the box. He was clenching his jaw, hard. So hard Peter thought he was going to crack a tooth. But nevertheless, he turned around, took a deep breath, and began skillfully juggling the balls.

Peter raised an eyebrow in surprise but quickly returned his attention to the mixer panel in front of him. He had… Absolutely no idea of what he was looking at. He looked up and saw a sakaaran glaring at him, holding a small remote in his hand.

“Start playing, bard.”

Peter nodded and tentatively touched a button, which began playing a funky melody on the loudspeakers. It was at that moment that he noticed a drawer right under the panel, which he curiously opened. A music keyboard? Well, that made things a tad easier. He played a short melody, as a test more than anything, but he was happy with how it sounded.

Suddenly, he felt a surge of electricity coming from the implant on the side of his neck. Peter let out a short pained yell, having to hold onto the mixing table to keep himself from collapsing on the floor. He looked at the sakaaran holding the remote, who was smiling at him with that wide reptilian mouth of his.

“Dance.”

Peter frowned and glanced at Rocket, who had suffered a similar fate for dropping the balls. Peter balled up his fists, took a deep breath, and began to slowly sway from side to side. His fury-filled eyes fixed on the sakaaran.

===

Peter had always hated sharing rooms. He had been forced to do it a few times when he lived with the Ravagers, and every single time had been an awful experience. But this one time… He was glad he wasn’t alone. If he was being honest, though, that was more of a cell than a room. They had a bunk bed, a sink, a toilet, a stool… And that was pretty much it.

Even after the sakaarans closed the door, leaving them locked inside, both Peter and Rocket remained in silence for almost a minute. It had been… A day. Both of them had been shocked a few more times at the party. A party that had lasted for hours in which they weren’t allowed to stop dancing, juggling or whatever the sakaaran captain wanted them to do.

“I’ll take the top bunk.” Rocket said all of a sudden. And before Peter even had time to say anything, the raccoon had already climbed up to it. Then, without saying another word, he began savagely punching the pillow. He growled, yelled, cussed… And everything Peter could do was watch in silence.

Rocket’s punching died down over the course of a minute, and when he finally stopped, he hopped off the bunk and began silently washing his face on the sink, standing on the stool to reach it. Peter watched him for a few seconds then let out a sigh. He walked over to the bottom bunk and sat down with a groan. He looked at the Walkman in his hands, lovingly rubbing his thumb on the ‘SONY’ silver letters.

“Does it hurt?” The man asked as he looked at the raccoon, breaking the silence.

Rocket stopped rubbing his face and looked at Peter through the mirror.

“What?”

“The things… On your back.”

Rocket frowned, and Peter could have sworn he saw him baring his teeth in the mirror.

“That’s none of your frickin’ business.”

Peter nodded and lowered his gaze, returning it to the walkman in his hands.

“The reason I was so nervous when you took this, is because…”

“Quill, I literally couldn’t care any less.”

Peter glanced at the raccoon, pausing for a few seconds. But when he saw him still looking at him through the mirror, he continued.

“Is because… It’s the last thing I have from my mother.” He paused to swallow, trying to ease the lump forming in his throat. “She died of cancer. I saw her… Wither away… In weeks. I was just a kid… I didn’t understand what was happening. Why it was happening…”

Peter paused again and made eye contact with the raccoon through the mirror who, surprisingly, seemed to be listening attentively.

“The night she died, she asked me… No… She begged me… To take her hand. But I… I didn’t. I don’t know why I didn’t. I just… I couldn’t accept it. I couldn’t…”

Peter had to look down, wiping away a tear he hadn’t realized he had shed with the back of his hand. They stayed like that, in silence, until a minute later, Rocket spoke.

“Sometimes.”

“Huh?”

Peter looked up, meeting Rocket’s gaze once again.

“It hurts… Sometimes. It used to be much worse but nowadays… It’s bearable.”

The raccoon sighed and, after closing the faucet, hopped off the stool to approach Quill. He pointed at the Walkman and tilted his head with curiosity.

“What does it do?”

“It… Plays music.”

“I hate music.”

“What? I don’t think it’s possible to hate music, dude.”

Rocket looked at him with a glint of scepticism.

“I used to know a monster who was obsessed with d’ast music… And I’ve hated all of it ever since.”

For the first time in hours, Peter’s lips curled into a smile.

“We really need to change that, dude.”

The man unwrapped the headphones’ cable from around the device and offered them to Rocket, who raised an eyebrow in response.

“That won’t fit my ears.”

“Just… Hold it against one of them, I guess.”

Rocket rolled his eyes, but ultimately did what Peter said. The man pressed play, and ‘Hooked on a Feeling’ by Blue Sweed began playing. When the music began playing into his ear, Rocket initially scowled. But as it went on… The scowl slowly melted into a shadow of a smile. A minute in, Peter saw him tap his foot.

“See? You like it!”

Rocket rolled his eyes but listened to the entire thing. When the song ended, he handed the headphones back to Peter.

“I guess it’s not absolutely awful.”

“I knew you couldn’t hate all of it. Blue Swede has that effect on people.”

Rocket snorted and, after shaking his head, he climbed up to his bunk. But Peter could still see him smiling. As the raccoon got comfortable, Peter put the Walkman under the bed and laid down on his mattress.

“Quill?”

“Yeah?”

“I have a plan.”

Peter’s eyes widened a bit. It had been less than a day… And Rocket had already figured a way out?

“Really?”

“Sorta. I’m ironing out the last few details. I’ll tell ya tomorrow.”

“Awesome.”

The man took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“Night, Rocket.”

The raccoon remained silent for a few seconds, but when Peter thought he wasn’t going to reply, he heard his voice again.

“Night, Pete.”

Chapter Text

Groot wasn’t a stranger to loneliness. After all, he had spent most of his long life alone. Even in times when he had been surrounded by people, Groot never felt like anyone had stuck around enough to form a genuine connection with him. No matter how hard he tried to communicate, they still weren’t able to understand beyond the most superficial level of his language. He couldn’t blame them for thinking he was dumb, and at some point, the assumption had simply stopped hurting him. Maybe he had even started believing it.

But then, one day, Rocket came along.

When you’ve lived for centuries, memory gets a bit fuzzy. At this point, he wasn’t even sure of where he had come from or if there were still others like him out there. It had happened way too long ago for him to remember. But there was one day he remembered perfectly, and that was the day he had met Rocket. Unsurprisingly, it had been in a prison. On a planet whose name Groot couldn’t even recall, but it wasn’t like it mattered much. It had been Rocket who had approached him. He had a plan to escape the prison and needed an accomplice to aid him. Initially, Groot had been close to dismissing him. He just wanted to be left alone, like he had been for as long as he could remember.

But then, he had looked at him.

He was unlike anything he had seen in his long life. Or at least as far as he could remember.  But there was something else. There was a spark in his eyes. Buried under layers of pain and sorrow… 

Groot saw a speck of kindness. The potential to do the right thing.

And from that moment on, they had stuck together.

Groot had figured out Rocket’s deal pretty quickly. He was brash, abrasive… But Groot could see beyond that. It didn’t matter how many times Rocket called him dumb or rolled his eyes when he did something ‘unprofessional’. He knew for a fact that Rocket didn’t mean it. He knew for a fact that Rocket cared. 

That was the secret to understanding Groot. That is why his language didn’t work with any translators. To understand a Flora Colossus, you need to form a genuine connection with them. So no matter what Rocket said or did, Groot knew the truth simply because he could understand.

And then, there was the one people apparently called Star-Lord. Though so far, the only person he had heard calling him that had been himself. When the man had tried to trick him by pretending to have a heart attack, Groot had written him off as a scoundrel. Not like Groot completely understood what the implications of this so-called ‘heart attack’ were, but he really didn’t appreciate people trying to take advantage of him.

But then, he had seen it in his eyes, just like he had seen it in Rocket’s.

Buried under layers of pain and sadness, there was a speck of kindness. The need to do the right thing.

That was the moment Groot had decided to give Peter a chance. Maybe he, like Rocket, would end up understanding him too.

That was why when Peter gave him that reassuring nod as the guards led him out of the Grandmaster’s office, Groot was genuinely comforted by it. He hated the idea of being forcefully split up, back to not being understood, back to being alone. But somehow, when he saw that nod from Peter, he knew it would be okay.

The trip around the palace was pretty much a blur. Unlike with Rocket, people usually thought twice about messing with him, even with the device they had embedded in his chest keeping him in line. So thankfully, the sakaaran guards simply stuck to whatever they had been ordered. They painted him in bright colours, strapped some pieces of metal armour on his shoulder and arms, and basically just dropped him into a bright circular room without even saying a word.

After a quick look, Groot realized that he wasn’t alone there. There were more people like him, prisoners. Some of them were freshly arrived and painted over with a variety of bright colours just like him, others barely alive. Either way, Groot didn’t pay them much mind. Having nothing else to do, he began walking. But the moment he turned the corner, he realized the people he had just left behind were also right in front of him.

“Trouble not thyself, friend. This lodgement defies the laws of nature itself.”

Those words had come from one of the other prisoners. He was a humanoid, but pretty different from anything Groot had ever seen. Tall, bulky, and heavily armoured... But the most unique thing about him was his face. As opposed to most humanoids, his face wasn’t flat. In fact, it was very long. And his lack of lips turned his mouth into a permanent smile.

Groot tilted his head, curious.

“How does it work?” Groot asked, knowing that the other prisoner would simply hear “I am Groot”. But maybe it would get part of the message across.

“Such knowledge doesn’t grace my mind, and it doesn’t particularly concern me either.”

Groot’s eyes opened wide in shock. How was it possible?

“Can you understand me?”

The sitting man lifted his gaze from the floor and set it on him. It wasn’t like Groot was very good at reading expressions, but the man’s unorthodox face and his perennial smile made it even harder to do so.

“I can indeed.”

“How?”

The man shrugged.

“Call it wizardry, if you will.”

Groot was at a loss for words. Magic? He had seen some of that during his travels, but he wasn’t familiar with any spells that could translate Groot.

“Where did you learn it?”

Suddenly, one of the other prisoners, Some sort of humanoid lizard, punched the wall hard. He let out a growl and glared at Groot.

“Yes, we got it. You are Groot. Shut up about it already.”

The humanoid with the strange face shook his head and tapped the floor right next to him.

“Pay him no mind. Sit with me, friend.”

Groot glanced at the lizard but returned his attention to the other humanoid pretty quickly. Without much pondering, he moved towards him and sat, putting on a smile as he spoke yet again, this time a bit more quietly.

“What should I call you?”

The man met his gaze with his pure white eyes.

“You may call me Bill.”

===========

It was fight day.

Groot was testing the feel of a metal polearm in his hands. He had never had the need to wield a weapon, and he actually preferred not to. But Bill had suggested he take one anyway. They never knew what they would be facing in the arena, and having a weapon was obviously better than not having one. Even if it was just to give it to Bill in case he needed another one.

Groot had spent the last two days bonding with Bill. Turns out they had quite a few things in common. Like him, Bill had lived a very long life. Centuries travelling from planet to planet, never really finding his place. Had things been a bit different, and the galaxy a bit smaller, maybe they would have run into each other during their travels but alas, they hadn’t been that fortunate.

Groot left Bill’s side momentarily to look at the people right outside of the armoury. Behind the laser barrier that kept them from escaping, there was some sort of bar where some of the Grandmaster’s mercenaries enjoyed their drinks while they took a closer look at the combatants before the show. There was where Groot saw her, the woman who had captured him and his friends and brought them before The Grandmaster. Groot approached the barrier and looked at the woman, putting on a frown before speaking.

“Why did you do this?”

The woman glanced at him briefly, but quickly returned her full attention to the bottle she was currently downing.

“What did we ever do to you?”

The woman sighed tiredly and looked at Groot again.

“Yeah, I got it the first time, pal.”

Groot continued to stare at her with big sad eyes, and the woman’s smug smirk disappeared. She shifted uncomfortably and looked away.

“Damn…Don’t look at me like that, big guy. It was nothing personal.”

Groot continued to stare, and the woman was starting to feel like those black eyes were drilling a hole into her skull. She glanced at Groot again, but quickly averted her gaze in shame. She took one last swig from the bottle and swiftly took her leave, taking a couple more bottles with her. Groot was about to say something else when he felt the touch of an armoured hand on his shoulder.

“It’s time, friend.”

It was all a bit of a blur after that. Very disoriented, Groot stuck right by Bill’s side. It was clear that the strange man had spent quite some time there, and he was pretty familiar with the dynamics of that place. Before he even knew it, Groot found himself walking out of a dark tunnel and into a massive arena. The crowd’s cheers were absolutely deafening, so loud that Groot could feel the vibrations inside his chest. He looked around like a scared puppy, not really knowing what to do.

“IN THE RED CORNER.” An echoing voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once. “BETA… RAY… BILL!”

Bill turned around to face the crowd right behind him and lifted his massive battleaxe screaming. Groot didn’t think it was possible, but the cheers got even louder. The crowd yelled, screamed, and chanted Bill’s full name.

“AND WITH HIM, THE GRANDMASTER’S NEWEST CONTENDER…” The voice continued, going quiet for a few seconds to hype up the crowd. “GRRRRRRRRROOT!”

The cheers got louder again, although not as loud as they had gotten with Bill. But for some reason, they filled Groot with determination. Hearing his name being chanted by so many people at once had an effect on him that he never would have guessed. He turned to the same crowd Bill had screamed at and lifted his glaive.

“I AM GROOOOOOOT!”

And for once, that was what he actually meant to say.

About half a minute later, both Groot and Bill turned to look at the other corner. The gate on that side was still closed, but even over the crowd’s noise, Groot could hear something hitting the thick metal plate from the other side.

“AND IN THE BLUE CORNER” The voice continued. “YOUR CURRENT CHAMPION…”

The impacts seemed to get louder and louder, audible even over the increasingly deafening cheers from the crowd. Suddenly, Groot’s bravado returned to normal levels.

“THE RIPPER!”

The gate opened suddenly, and a monstrous lizard the size of the Milano itself came charging into the arena. Claws and teeth long and sharp like swords, a tail topped with a stinger, and pure rage in its 6 red eyes. Its screeching was louder than every other sound in the arena, making Groot pause.

“Prepare thyself.” Bill said, taking a step forward. “This is the battle of our lives.”

And with that and a yell, the strange man began charging towards the lizard. Perhaps it was the instinct to protect a friend, perhaps he was inspired by his bravery, but for some reason, Groot found himself running right behind Bill. Holding his glaive towards the lizard and bracing himself for the imminent clash. The lizard pounced towards them, claws extended and what Groot guessed to be some sort of venom dripping from his mouth. Reacting fast, Bill jumped to the side and slashed at the lizard’s arm, wielding his axe with both hands. Groot was a little bit clumsier than that, almost tripping as he dodged to the other side. But even then, he had time to imitate Bill’s move and slash at the lizard’s other shoulder.

The creature screamed as it fell on its face, both its forelimbs falling to the ground behind it. Groot smiled and looked at Bill, who stood about 5 meters away from him. But, instead of celebrating, the man raised a hand.

The lizard screeched even louder than before, rolling and writhing on the ground when, within seconds, its limbs began growing back. Before they even had time to make another move, the beast’s new limbs had grown to the exact same size as the ones laying on the ground. And judging by the look in its eyes, it was about twice as furious now.

“We ought to cut off its head to vanquish it!” Bill yelled. “Otherwise it’ll keep regenerating!”

Groot nodded and set his eyes back on the lizard, who was circling around them. Even though they had regenerated, it looked like getting their limbs cut off hurt the beast all the same, which made it tread a bit more carefully. 

Bill went in first, wielding the axe with both hands and delivering powerful swings towards the beast. Meanwhile, Groot moved sideways a bit, attempting to flank the beast, but as he charged forward, one of the beast’s 6 eyes spotted him. The beast spun on itself and hit Groot with its tail square on the chest, sending him flying. Bill ducked right under the tail, but when he was about to deliver a devastating upswing with his axe, the lizard jumped back. Groot was stunned by the impact, having dropped his glaive a few meters away. But seeing Bill struggling to keep up with the monster, Groot quickly got back on his feet and grabbed his weapon.

Right at that moment, a swipe from the lizard’s massive claws ripped the battle axe from Bill’s hands. The man’s eyes widened in surprise, but as he was accepting his premature demise, he heard his friend’s voice coming from the side.

“CATCH!”

Pretty much instinctively, Bill turned and grabbed the glaive Groot had tossed at him, turning back just in time to parry the monster’s dripping stinger. Meanwhile, Groot circled around the lizard and extended his vine-like arm to poke one of the beast’s red eyes, eliciting a loud pained screech from it. The monster focused his attention on Groot and, with a bone-chilling roar, turned around and stabbed Groot right in the abdomen with his stinger.

The crowd gasped, even Bill paused at the sight. However, that was exactly what Groot was expecting.

Not being made of flesh and bones like most other beings, the venom had no effect on Groot. He grabbed the beast’s tail with both hands and vines growing from his arms began to grow over the lizard’s body. The monster screeched in panic as it tried to pull its stinger away, but it was pointless. In a matter of seconds, its entire body had been bound by the vines. The lizard continued to writhe and struggle when, suddenly, it went limp as Bill stabbed it right through one of its eyes with the glaive, piercing its brain.

The crowd went absolutely crazy, chanting Groot’s and Bill’s names. Groot finally let go of the stinger and cut off his vines, closing his eyes as he fell to his knees in exhaustion. When he opened them again, he found Bill’s extended hand right in front of him. He took it and his new friend helped him get back on his feet. Not letting go of Groot’s hand, Bill moved to his side and lifted both their hands in the air, eliciting a new wave of loud cheers from the crowd. 

Suddenly, the lights went out, abruptly cutting the crowd’s cheers and turning them into panicked screams. Bill let go of Groot’s hand and looked around in confusion.

“What just occurred?”

Before Groot had the chance to even think of a response, the centre of the arena began shifting, changing, and turning before a hole opened. From said hole came up a platform with a cage in the middle, an elevator.

Seeing this, Groot smiled.

“This has to be Rocket’s doing.”

Bill turned to him in confusion.

“Your furred companion?”

Groot nodded, his smile widening.

“The one and only.”

Groot made a gesture and began running towards the elevator. Bill hesitated for a couple of seconds, but after seeing a group of guards coming out of the gate on one of the arena’s corners, he grabbed his axe from the ground and ran right behind Groot.

Chapter Text

“So, Quill… Conservatively, how many plasma shots can a Terran take?”

The funky melody Peter was playing on his bass was interrupted by a sudden ‘twang’, which made a lot of heads in the party room turn towards them. Peter put on an apologetic smile, looking at an elegant purple woman who was frowning at him. The woman rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the party, continuing to mingle with the other guests. Peter cleared his throat and restarted the song, making sure that nobody was close enough to eavesdrop before replying to the raccoon.

“Dude, like… One. What kind of question is that?” Peter replied with a whisper

Rocket, who hadn’t missed a single beat as he continued to juggle three colourful clubs, shot a quick glance at Peter.

“Really? That’s pretty lame.”

Peter snorted quietly, more offended by the comment than he’d be willing to admit.

“Well, how many can you take, tough guy?”

The raccoon shook his head.

“Not the same. I’m harder to hit.”

Peter wanted to say something back but couldn’t come up with anything. However, after a few seconds of silence between them, the man’s eyes widened.

“This doesn’t have to do with that plan of yours, does it?”

Rocket shook his head.

“It was just a hypothetical question.”

“Hypothetical?”

“Yeah.”

Peter raised an eyebrow, and Rocket made eye contact with him. But this time, he dropped the pins. The raccoon cussed under his breath and quickly picked them up, thankful that the Sakaaran watching over them hadn’t been paying attention. He put himself back together and resumed his juggling.

“I’ll just have to make some tiny little adjustments.”

“Hope you are kidding.”

Rocket’s only response was to smirk.

They didn’t really exchange any more words for a while, but Peter could tell that gears were turning inside Rocket’s head.

“I need a few things.” The raccoon said all of a sudden. Peter looked at him with immense curiosity, absentmindedly continuing to play the funky melody on the bass. After a few seconds, Rocket continued.

“I’m gonna take some components from the loudspeaker, so I need you to create a distraction somewhere else.”

Peter glanced at the loudspeaker next to Rocket and then at the crowd.

“Got it.”

“I also need that chick’s prosthetic arm.”

The Terran raised an eyebrow as he peered at the lady Rocket was talking about. She was tall, muscular, blue-skinned and white-haired. She wore an ornamented black and gold dress that matched her prosthetic. Peter guessed she was some sort of Kree noble, but obviously, there was no way for him to tell by sight alone.

“And how am I supposed to take it from her?”

Rocket shrugged.

“You tell me. I thought you were supposed to be some legendary charming outlaw.”

“Dude, have you seen her?”

“You said you slept with an A’askavariian once. How is she worse?”

“It was…” 

Peter groaned and glanced at the imposing woman, shaking his head before whispering again.

“It was one time, man.”

“Well, figure it out, Quill.”

Peter clicked his tongue and glanced at the crowd. He thought for a few seconds, considering all his options. He had an idea, but he wasn’t exactly super confident about it. But since he had nothing else in mind, the man let out a sigh and nodded at Rocket.

“Take over the keyboard.”

Peter left the bass by the wall and began walking towards the crowd. Rocket raised an eyebrow and left the juggling clubs on the floor to stand on the stool behind the keyboard, doing his best to replicate one of the simpler melodies Peter had played on it the day before. The Sakaaran watching over them stood from the sofa he was sitting on and approached Peter with the remote in his hand, threatening to give the man a shock.

“Woah woah, dude!”

“Return to your post, bard.” The Sakaaran barked. Peter stood still with his hands very high up, trying to put on an innocent face.

“Hey man, I just wanted to liven up the party a bit!”

Peter lifted a finger and slowly reached inside the blue jacket over his tunic while the Sakaaran watched suspiciously, his finger still on the remote’s button. The man slowly pulled out a small square box and showed it to the Sakaaran.

“Cards. For a trick.”

The Sakaaran didn’t seem too convinced by the explanation. But upon glancing a few times between the cards and the raccoon behind the keyboard, he grumbled and lowered the remote.

“Proceed.”

Peter smiled at the Sakaaran and walked past him. He moved to the wall opposite to Rocket and cleared his throat loudly, trying to get the crowd’s attention. Soon enough, pretty much every person in the party room was looking at him.

“Greetings! My name is Star-Lord!” Peter announced dramatically. “I come from a faraway land… Terra… A land of magic and wonder!”

Peter paused for a second, just in time to see Rocket scurry behind the crowd. The raccoon took a terminal someone had left unattended on a couch and ran back to the loudspeaker on the other side of the room.

“Watch closely, ladies and gentlemen, for I assure you... What you are about to witness is real magic!”

Peter’s mind raced as he dramatically took the cards out of the box. When he was a kid, he had a ‘magician’ phase. He would pester his mom and grandpa with magic tricks all day... Buy magazines to learn new tricks… But that was 20 years ago. Pretty much a past life.

“I… Require a volunteer.” With his free hand, Peter pointed at the crowd, his eyes darting from face to face until they fell on his target.

“How about you, beautiful lady?”

The Kree woman in the black dress looked at Peter in shock, pointing at herself in confusion. Peter nodded and, with a gesture, invited her to come closer. The woman seemed hesitant, but after Peter insisted with a couple of waves, she smiled and approached the man.

“Now, you are familiar with this particular deck… Right, lady?”

Peter handed the deck to the tall woman, who swiftly inspected the cards and returned them to the man.

“It’s a standard Kree deck.”

“A standard Kree deck! Now, could this beautiful lady borrow something to write?”

Peter looked at the crowd, and a man quickly came forward to hand the Kree woman what looked like a pen. Peter nodded in satisfaction and began shuffling the deck, shooting a brief glance in Rocket’s direction. The raccoon was crouching behind the loudspeaker, but from that angle, Peter couldn’t quite tell what he was doing.

“Now…” Peter did a couple more flashy shuffles and fanned the cards face down in front of the woman, who looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Please pick a card, any card. And don’t show it to me, please.”
 
The woman hesitated for a few seconds and ended up gently taking one card from the middle of the fan.

“Now, could you please sign the front of the card?”

The woman looked at Peter like he was crazy, but the Terran simply smiled in return. After a few seconds, the woman sighed and signed the card.

“Now put it back, please.”

The woman did as she was told, and Peter began shuffling the deck in increasingly flashy and intricate ways. Then, after a few seconds, the shuffling came to a stop.

“The card is somewhere in here.” He said as he pointed at the deck. “I’m going to try to bring it up.”

Peter tapped the top of the deck a couple of times and did a ‘pulling’ motion with his free hand. He made eye contact with the Kree woman and his smile widened. He took the card on top of the deck and showed it to the woman.

“Is this your card?”

The woman squinted as she looked at the card, tilting her head in confusion.

“...No?”

Peter’s smile froze as deafening silence filled the room. The man chuckled a couple of times, trying to defuse the situation. He could still salvage this.

“Now the thing with magic is… It doesn’t always work as we want it to work.” Peter said as he began shuffling again. “And the reason why I couldn’t find your card is… Because it is no longer here.”

Now the crowd was even more confused. Peter pointed at the woman’s elegant purse and took a step closer.

“Could you open your purse, please?”

The woman looked back at the crowd and then at Peter, but ultimately, he did what the man said. Peter reached with his free hand inside the purse and, at least from the public’s perspective, he pulled out a card face down.

“The reason why I couldn’t find the card in my deck…” He said as he showed the signed card to the lady, and then the public. “Was because it was planning to escape with its rightful owner.”

The entire room filled with ‘woahs’. One person began to clap, and it quickly started a chain reaction among the public. Peter bowed dramatically and turned to the woman who, against all odds, was returning his smile now.

“Impressive.” She said while she shamelessly checked out the man. “What did you say you call yourself?”

Peter took the woman’s hand in his and kissed its back, maintaining eye contact at all times.

“Star-Lord, legendary outlaw.”

The woman flashed her very white teeth through her smile.

“Could I invite you to a few drinks in my private chambers? Surely you’ve got even better tricks than this one, and I wouldn’t mind a private show.”

Peter let out a chuckle and matched her smile with one of his own.

“There’s nothing I would love more.”

=====

As the cell’s door closed behind Peter, the man let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding, leaning on the wall. Rocket, who up to that moment was pretending to sleep on the top bunk, sat on the mattress and peered at Peter in confusion.

“What took you so long? I’ve been here alone for hours!”

Peter was an absolute mess. His hair was dishevelled, his clothes looked like they had all been put back on in a hurry, and if Rocket took a closer look, he would notice what looked like fresh bite marks on his shoulder.

“Kree women, man. They are… Intense…”

The man pushed himself off the wall, putting on a smile as he reached inside his tunic.

“Anyway, here you go…”

Peter pulled out the elegant prosthetic hand and handed it over to Rocket. The moment he saw the hand, the raccoon’s ears perked up, his eyes lit up and his lips curled into a toothy grin.

“Oh, I was just kidding about the hand. I only needed the other things.”

The Terran froze in place, his smile slowly fading away from his face as Rocket’s efforts to keep himself from exploding in laughter began to falter.

“What?”

That did it. Rocket began snickering uncontrollably, which quickly evolved into full-blown laughter.

“How did she look like with that useless stump? Not so elegant now eh?”

The raccoon continued to laugh and Peter’s face morphed into a frown.

“You are unbelievable dude! What the hell is your problem?!”

Peter shook his head and laid down on his mattress, groaning loudly as he rubbed his temples. About a couple of minutes later, Rocket’s laughter died down. He took a peek at the lower bunk, and at that moment, Peter could have sworn he saw the slightest glint of regret in the raccoon’s eyes.

“Okay, okay… Cheer up, Quill. We are getting out.”

Peter glanced at the raccoon, his frown still very much present on his face.

“Hope you weren’t kidding about that too.”

Rocket snorted in amusement and shook his head.

“I’m not, I’m not… Besides, I just got another idea. Give me the hand.”

Peter stared at Rocket in silence for a few seconds but ultimately handed the prosthetic over to the raccoon. Rocket disappeared from Peter’s sight with the hand and, while he did his thing, Peter took a moment to just rest. He didn’t sleep, he simply… Closed his eyes… Meditating about all the crazy things he had been through those last few days… Yet, there was something off. Missing. Like things weren't supposed to go this way but, somehow, they had. Like he had been a victim of a butterfly effect he was completely powerless to influence or intuit. Was he just being paranoid? Perhaps. But he was still unable to explain some of the things that had happened to him those last few days. Like not remembering retrieving the orb in Morag, but waking up with it on him anyway. Or expecting Gamora to be waiting for him outside The Broker’s office…

Wait.

Gamora?

Who is G…

“Done!”

The sound of Rocket’s voice jolted Peter awake. With a groan, he sat on his mattress as the raccoon climbed down from his bunk to show Peter his handiwork. He had opened the prosthetic’s wrist and pulled out two sets of wires that he wrapped around the now extended pinky and index fingers, leaving the prosthetic hand in a permanent ‘sign of the horns’ position.

“Check this out!”

With a smile, Rocket twisted the prosthetic’s wrist and an arc of electricity appeared in the space between the index and the pinky finger, cracking loudly. Peter jumped back a bit, startled by the sudden sound, but after the initial shock, he quickly matched the raccoon’s smile.

“Cool eh?” Rocket asked smugly.

“Hell yeah.”

The raccoon twisted the wrist again, cutting off the energy supply. He tossed the hand at Peter and climbed back to his bunk. While the raccoon rummaged under his sheets, Peter took a few seconds to inspect the weaponized prosthetic more closely. Rocket had done that in… What? 5 minutes? With something that he initially didn’t even need? That was very very impressive...

Soon enough, the raccoon climbed down with something else. The terminal he had stolen earlier was now strapped with several metallic components, wires, and a coil right on top. Peter put aside the hand and raised an eyebrow as he leaned forward to get a closer look at the contraption.

“What is that?”

Rocket simply put on a smug smirk and pressed the coil against his shock collar. He pressed a button on the terminal and, after a good ten seconds, the terminal emitted a ‘beep’ sound. The collar made a whirring noise and fell to the floor with a ‘clank’, which made Peter’s eyes widen with shock.

“Dude! That’s awesome!”

Rocket shrugged nonchalantly, downplaying the whole thing. But his proud smile betrayed his façade.

“Yeah yeah, I know. Come on, your turn now.”

The raccoon climbed on Peter’s mattress and stood behind him, placing his cold paw on the side of Peter’s neck which made the man flinch.

“Stop being a wuss.”

Peter felt Rocket pressing the device against the obedience disk and began feeling a whirring inside it. It didn’t hurt, but it was definitely uncomfortable.

“That feels kinda weird.”

“Can’t hurt more than those in your shoulder. Guess that Kree chick really was intense.”

Knowing that Rocket was talking about the bite marks, Peter couldn’t help smirking.

“Oh dude you have no idea! She did this thing where she got on top and…”

“Too much information, Quill.”

“Sorry.”

A couple seconds later, the device emitted a ‘beep’ sound again and the disk fell uselessly on the mattress. Rocket let out a satisfied grunt and hopped off the mattress while Peter felt the area where the disk used to be with a hand.

“Now what, Hannibal?”

“Now, we get out of here. Grab the hand.”

Rocket walked over to the card reader next to the cell’s door and pressed the coil against it, standing on his tiptoes to reach it. Peter took the hand, made sure that he still had his walkman with him, and stood behind the raccoon.

“How are you even doing all this with some random terminal and some wires?” Peter asked, genuinely curious.

“These systems are all cheap and insecure. They aren’t really accounting for prisoners hacking their way through them.”

The device beeped a couple of times, and the door opened, surprising the Sakaaran who happened to be making his round right at that time. Before the reptilian creature could reach for his pistol, Peter ran forward and, as he twisted the prosthetic’s wrist, he pressed it against the side of the sakaaran’s neck. The alien writhed for a few seconds before falling on his back stiff as a plank. Rocket peeked from behind the doorframe and ran to the fallen sakaaran’s side. Peter turned off the electricity on the prosthetic and nodded as he took a closer look at it.

“This actually works better than I…”

BANG

Peter jumped a bit, startled by the sudden noise. He looked down to see the sakaaran’s gun on Rocket’s hands, and a smoking hole where the reptilian’s face used to be.

“DUDE? WHAT THE HELL?”

Rocket looked up at Peter and shrugged.

“He deserved it.”

Peter was going to ask about it but, upon seeing the catharsis on Rocket’s face, he decided not to. The Sakaarans had given the raccoon a much rougher treatment than they had given Peter, so it was understandable for Rocket to hold a much bigger grudge against the guards than he did.

Now decently armed, the duo sneaked around the hallways, managing to avoid the rather lax security. Peter guessed that most of the guards were somewhere else, although he wasn’t sure where. Eventually, they reached the locker room where they had been stripped of their possessions. Rocket handed over the weapon to Peter and moved over to the locker where they had thrown his stuff on the first day, which he promptly opened.

“Guard the door.”

Rocket quickly shed his jester attire and put his orange flight suit back on. He stuck his collapsible rifle on his back and moved to Quill’s side to indicate to the man that it was his turn. Peter gave the gun to Rocket and the raccoon handed him the terminal in return.

“Put the coil next to the electronic lock and press the central button.”

Peter nodded and, upon finding the locker where they had thrown his stuff, he did as he was told. He smiled as he heard the beep on the terminal and opened the locker. He took off his ‘bard’ outfit and put on his much more familiar ravager clothes, including his mask and his rocket boots. He took his twin pistols and placed a kiss on top of each of them before turning to Rocket.

“Thought I’d never see them again.”

Rocket snorted in amusement and returned his attention to the door. Peter looked back inside the locker to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything…

That’s when he realized.

“Shit! The orb!”

Rocket glanced at him in confusion.

“What about it?”

“The Grandmaster didn’t put it back with the rest of my stuff. He must still have it.”

Rocket groaned in annoyance and looked back at the door.

“We might find it in his office. We gotta get there anyway to find out where Groot is.”

Peter nodded and joined Rocket by the door.

“Let’s move then.”

Rocket led the way through the hallways of The Grandmaster’s palace, wielding his oversized rifle with surprising ease. This time, they ran into a group of three Sakaarans. But with their full gear, the guards stood no chance against the duo, who mowed them down before they even had the opportunity to react. Eventually, they reached the empty office. They took a good look to make sure there was really nobody there and, once they confirmed it, each of them got to work. Rocket ran behind the desk and began tapping on the holographic panel. This one had tougher security than the other systems, but Rocket didn’t seem particularly worried about it. Peter, in the meantime, rummaged through the numerous items The Grandmaster had around his office, but the orb was nowhere to be seen.

“Groot is scheduled to fight in 20 minutes.” Rocket said as he swiped on the panel.

“Shit. Should we come down to help?”

“Nah, he’ll be fine. We just need to make him an exit.”

Peter nodded and continued to rummage through the office but to no avail.

“Hah! Quill! Check this out!”

The man let out a frustrated sigh and moved to Rocket’s side, looking at the 3D blueprint of a gargantuan ship on the panel’s holographic display.

“This idiot is trying to build a sun destroyer! I respect the ambition, but there isn’t a power source in the entire universe capable of…”

Suddenly, Rocket’s ears pressed against his head as the colour drained from Peter’s face. Very slowly, both men turned to look at each other, equally horrified with their realization.

“Oh.”

“Yeah… 'Oh'.”

Chapter Text

Both Peter and Rocket kept staring at the holographic screen for what felt like ages. Eventually, Peter cleared his throat and broke the silence.

“So… Why would this guy want something like this?”

Before Rocket could even start thinking of an answer, a woman’s voice answered the question from the office’s door.

“Entertainment mostly.”

Both men reached for their weapons and aimed them at the tan woman leaning on the door’s threshold. Rocket, however, was having a bit of trouble aiming his rifle over the screen even though he was standing on the desk’s chair. The woman barely even reacted, she simply kept staring at both of them with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Calm down. If I wanted to apprehend you again, you would be kissing the floor already.”

Peter and Rocket exchanged a quick glance before looking back at the woman.

“What do you mean by entertainment?” The raccoon asked.

The woman rolled her eyes and took a deep breath as she began explaining.

==============

Brunnhilde watched as the guards pretty much dragged the blond man out of the room, mildly amused by the fact that The Grandmaster had decided to give him back that strange device of his.

“So, about your payment…”

She turned to face the grinning man, and she immediately could tell he was about to say something stupid.

“Credits, Grandmaster. I don’t want anything else.” She interrupted, obviously exasperated. Even though he always ended up paying up, the older man usually tried to weasel his way out of simply transferring the credits to her account. The man raised his arms, looking almost offended by the mere implication that he was trying to rip her off.

“Come on 142! Credits are so… Uninspired… At least let me show you what I’m offering. This one is pretty cool, right Topaz?”

The bulky woman rolled her eyes and replied in the most bored tone a living being could possibly even muster.

“Yes, Grandmaster”

The man turned to Brunnhilde with a shrug and a wide grin.

“See? Topaz likes it.”

Brunnhilde sighed.

“She’ll reply the exact same thing no matter what you say.”

The Grandmaster blew a raspberry, clearly in disagreement.

“That’s not true. Right, Topaz?”

“Yes, Grandmaster.”

The Grandmaster cringed a bit as he tried to come up with something to say, but realising he had nothing, he simply cleared his throat, silently admitting defeat.

“Anyway… It’ll just be five minutes... Come on!”

He was almost begging, and Brunnhilde was starting to realize that more than doing this to weasel his way out of paying, The Grandmaster just wanted an excuse to exhibit whatever insane project he had been working on. Knowing he wouldn’t leave her alone until she accepted, the woman shook her head and shot a tired glance at the man.

“Fine.”

The Grandmaster almost jumped from his seat, giddy with excitement. The man pressed some buttons on the throne’s armrest and a large hologram appeared between him and Brunnhilde. It was a ship. A very, very large ship. Pretty much a floating building with what looked like an absurdly oversized cannon sprouting from its middle.

“So 142... You’ve lived for pretty long haven’t you?”

The woman raised an eyebrow as she looked at the ship in the hologram.

“Depends on who you ask.”

The Grandmaster chuckled.

“Well… If you ask that bard guy, I’m sure he would think so. Me? Not so much.”

That wasn’t exactly news to Brunnhilde. Nobody knew just how old The Grandmaster was exactly. Some said that he was as old as the universe itself. Of course, Brunnhilde had trouble believing that. But at the very least, the man was much older than she was.

“Where are you getting at?”

The Grandmaster smiled and stood up from his seat, looking up at the large hologram hovering over them.

“Ever seen a star dying?”

Being used to most of his shenanigans, Brunnhilde was usually pretty impassive no matter what the man did or said. But this one thing actually made her recoil.

“A star?”

“Yeah, a star! Like a sun!”

The Grandmaster approached his seat and, upon pressing a button, the hologram changed to a close-up of a random star.

“I’ve seen quite a few of those during my long life.” The Grandmaster began as he circled around the hologram. “They are quite the spectacle. A beautiful dance of lights and colours of unfathomable proportions…”

Brunnhilde looked at the star on the hologram, eyebrow raised.

“Never seen one, no.”

The answer made the man’s smile widen.

“Well, that’s most people. Which is what I’m trying to remedy.”

The Grandmaster pressed the button on the armrest again, and the hologram returned to the ship from before.

“Gladiatorial fights are fun and all… But they’ve gotten a bit stale. So yeah, I’ve been thinking of expanding my horizons a bit... Which is where The Commodore comes in!

Brunnhilde tilted her head a bit as The Grandmaster continued to explain, taking a closer look at the large hologram.

“The Commodore would provide the most luxurious experience in the galaxy. It would allow anyone willing to pay the price to watch a supernova from the front row and completely safely thanks to its high energy shields! But… Uhh… Unfortunately... It takes millions of years for a star to die, and the ones that do so are usually thousands of lightyears apart from each other. Boring, and not very profitable. Which is why…”

The Grandmaster pressed the button again, and the hologram zoomed into the cannon.

“We made this! An antimatter cannon! One shot from this thing can turn a young star into a supernova in a matter of minutes! We could be having supernova shows weekly!”

The man went silent and stared at the woman, waiting for her reaction. She was just… Staring at the hologram. Mouth a bit agape.

“And you've… Built this already?”

“Yeah.”

“And how are you going to power it?”

The man’s smile froze on his face. He let out an awkward chuckle and sat back in his seat.

“We are… Still figuring that out. BUT, when we do, you’d be invited to the inauguration. Honestly, I think it is a pretty good deal. The experience would be worth way more than… How much did we say?”

Brunnhilde looked at The Grandmaster, back to her usual nonchalant self. There was no way he would find a suitable power source for that insanity. So, at the end of the day, this was just another soon-to-be-abandoned project of his.

“5 million credits.”

“Yeah, nah… Trust me, this is a much better… ”

“Just pay me in credits.”

The Grandmaster grumbled under his breath and turned off the hologram.

“You are so boring.”

Brunnhilde chuckled, shaking her head a bit before turning to look at the room’s exit.

“Why did you want these guys anyway? They are pushovers.”

The Grandmaster sighed and picked up the mysterious orb from his seat’s cupholder.

“Needed some new staff around the palace and new fighters for the arena. They just happened to come to Sakaar at the wrong time, I suppose.”

The man grabbed the orb with his other hand and felt it budge a bit. Letting out a hum, he carefully pulled the top of the orb, which parted into two perfect halves.

“Would you look at that…”

Brunnhilde’s eyes went wide as she saw the purple glow coming from inside the bottom half of the orb. It couldn’t be, could it? An Infinity Stone? She had heard legends and whatnot, of course. But she didn’t think the stones were actually real. How the hell had some lowly thieves gotten ahold of one of those?

“Well…” The Grandmaster began, the smile returning to his face. “I guess this solves the power source issue.”

The sight made Brunnhilde sober up instantly. Suddenly, the Grandmaster’s insane project wasn’t a project anymore. It was a reality. A reality that could potentially cause trillions of deaths. Suddenly, she didn’t feel like Scrapper 142 anymore. She was a Valkyrie. The last Valkyrie… And she had made an oath. The tattoo on her wrist itched, it burned… Compelling her to draw her sword and take the head of the man in front of her.

But as she was mentally preparing for the lunge, her eyes landed on Topaz, who stood right behind The Grandmaster with the melty stick in her hand. She was looking right at her, almost like she could read her mind. If she tried anything now, she’d prevent her from killing The Grandmaster. And just one touch from that stick would result in her becoming a puddle on the floor.

Brunnhilde closed her fist and let out a long breath, trying to calm herself down. She cleared his throat, put on a polite smile and made eye contact with The Grandmaster once again.

“Can I still accept the invitation?”

The man looked back at her and chuckled.

==============

By the time Brunnhilde finished narrating her latest encounter with The Grandmaster, both Peter and Rocket had lowered their weapons.

“So…” Peter said after a few seconds of silence. “Why are you telling us all this?”

Brunnhilde just stared at him blankly for a few seconds before replying.

“Well, you want to get the stone back, don’t you?”

Peter and Rocket exchanged a glance before looking back at her.

“What’s the catch?” Peter asked, which made the woman open her eyes wide in disbelief.

“The catch?”

“Yeah, the catch.” Rocket continued. “You literally sold us into slavery two days ago. Why should we even think of helping you?”

“Are you kidding me? He wants to blow up suns every week for fun!” Brunnhilde yelled in an accusing tone as she began moving closer to the pair, but she stopped the moment they raised their weapons in response. Then, a few seconds after she stopped, Rocket shrugged.

“That does sound quite fun, not gonna lie.”

Peter elbowed the raccoon on the shoulder and shook his head. But quickly returned his attention to the woman.

“But why us?”

Brunnhilde was quiet for a few seconds, looking like she was asking herself the exact same question. Eventually, she sighed, her shoulders dropping a bit.

“I saw that friend of yours down in the barracks, the tree.”

With those words, Rocket’s ears perked up.

“He looked at me with those big eyes of his and it was… Strange. Like he was staring into my very soul… Judging me. And… For some reason… The moment that happened, I just knew he would help me. And… Well… Let’s just say that I come from a culture very keen on legends. So if a creature this pure is friends with you two… I feel like it must mean something.”

Peter and Rocket remained silent for a few seconds, processing everything the woman had said. After a few seconds of deliberation, Peter was about to refuse when Rocket broke the silence.

“Fine.”

Peter looked at the raccoon like he had just grown a horn.

“What?”

“I trust Groot. If he really saw something in her… I can work with that. Besides, now I really want to get that stone back. I hate it when people take my stuff.”

Peter shook his head in disbelief.

“You do it to other people all the time!”

“Not the same.”

“Not the same?”

“No, Quill. When I do it, it’s because I want their stuff more than they do. Besides, you are literally a thief. You can’t judge me.”

“Yeah, but at least I’m not a hypocrite about it! But you… ”

Brunnhilde cleared her throat, interrupting the argument.

“Are you done?

Both men exchanged another glance before nodding.

“Then let’s rescue your friend. Come on.”

Rocket quickly copied the ship’s blueprints onto a data stick before logging off. Then, the group left the office and began following Brunnhilde around the hallways, weapons still drawn. They ran into some guards a couple of times, but they disposed of them pretty quickly.

“So what’s the plan?” Peter asked the woman as they walked towards an elevator.

“There’s a control room beneath the arena where they control everything in the arena. Doors, lights, hazards, platforms… The rabbit seems to know his way around technology,  so maybe he can figure something out to create a bit of chaos and help Groot escape.”

Realizing that Brunnhilde was talking about him, Rocket’s hackles raised.

“What did you just call me?”

Peter turned around and gestured at the raccoon to calm down before facing the woman with a frown.

“His name is Rocket.”

Brunnhilde let out an exasperated sigh.

“Fine. Rocket, can you figure something out?”

“Of course I can.”

The woman rolled her eyes and nodded.

“Splendid. Let’s keep moving then.”

The group walked into the elevator, and the woman punched a code into the control panel. Immediately, they began descending, going way lower than ground level. The moment the doors opened, the group was welcomed by the sight of a huge, tall room with dozens of screens, control panels, and platforms everywhere they looked. One of the guards watching the fight on one of the screens turned around and looked at the trio inside the elevator.

“Hey! You can’t…”

Before he even got the chance to finish, the guard was immediately blasted by a volley from Rocket’s rifle. With a sadistic yell, Rocket began walking forward and mowing down the guards who hadn’t reacted in time and taken cover after their colleague had gotten a brand new hole in his chest. Peter materialized his helmet, activated his rocket boots, and flew out of the elevator. Beginning to shoot the guards hiding behind their covers from up high. Brunnhilde drew her sword and rushed towards the guards on the other side of the room, keeping them busy and preventing them from shooting at her companions. In a matter of seconds, every guard had either a hole in them or their head had been separated from their body. Some of the screens and control panels had been damaged in the process, but thankfully, not all of them.

After making sure the area was clear, Rocket attached his rifle to his back and began looking for an intact control panel. Once he found one, he hopped onto its chair and began tapping and swiping on the screen.

Peter landed next to Brunnhilde, who was crouching down, cleaning her sword on the armour of a fallen Sakaaran.

“So is that your deal?”

Peter asked her, getting her attention.

“Huh?”

“Swords.”

She glanced at her weapon and shrugged.

“It’s what I’ve always used. Guns never really appealed to me.”

As she stood up, the man pressed something behind his right ear, and the helmet covering his face dematerialized, revealing a smile behind it.

“That’s pretty cool.”

The woman raised an eyebrow, kind of puzzled by the man’s demeanour. But before the conversation could continue, Rocket interrupted.

“I’m sending a platform up, it’ll be ready when the fight ends.”

Just as he said that, they heard a whirring noise coming from one of the platforms as it began ascending. Re-focusing on their current predicament, Peter turned around to look at one of the surviving screens where the fight was being live-streamed.

“Rocket, buddy. It’s not looking good for Groot.”

However, Rocket didn’t seem particularly concerned.

“He’s got this.”

Peter didn’t seem super convinced by that answer, but to his surprise, Rocket was right. The moment the beast perished, Peter celebrated like his favourite football team had just won the league, Brunnhilde just smiled, and Rocket smirked smugly. The raccoon let Groot and his partner celebrate their win for a few seconds before placing his finger on the screen.

“And, lights out.”

As he said that, the entire arena went dark, and the feed on the screens instantly turned to night vision mode.

“Now the platform…”

Rocket swiped and pressed on the screen a few more times, and the floor in the centre of the arena opened up, revealing the platform Rocket had sent up minutes prior. Once Groot and his mysterious companion stepped in, Rocket recalled the platform. About a minute later, the platform appeared down the hatch on the ceiling, and a very cheerful Groot began waving at the trio.

“I am Groot!”

Peter waved back, a huge smile on his face.

“Buddy!”

The moment the platform touched the ground, Peter rushed to Groot and pulled him into a hug, which Groot promptly returned. Once they pulled away, he gave his friend a slap on his arm.

“We saw you fight, dude! That was awesome!”

Groot smiled at Peter and then turned to point at the alien behind him.

“I am Groot.”

The alien scoffed.

“Nonsense. I would have died myself if it wasn’t for you, friend.”

Rocket, who had hopped off the chair and was walking towards the platform, tilted his head in confusion.

“You understand him?”

The alien nodded.

“Indeed, furred one. You must be the engineer.”

Rocket seemed initially taken aback by the alien’s words, but a smug smirk quickly appeared on his muzzle.

“Oh, I don’t like to brag… Oh wait, yes I do. Come on, Groot, come ’ere so I can take that thing off you.”

The wooden creature nodded enthusiastically and approached Rocket, kneeling in front of him so the raccoon could reach the contraption on his chest. In the meantime, Peter approached the alien and nodded at him with a smile.

“Hey man, thanks for helping out our bud Groot out there. My name is Peter Quill, people call me Star-Lord.”

The alien gave him a respectful head bow.

“My pleasure, Star-Lord. My name is Beta Ray Bill.”

After exchanging pleasantries, the alien’s eyes moved over to Brunnhilde.

“We’ve met before.” He said, tilting his head.

The woman winced a bit. She had been hoping he wouldn’t remember.

“Have we?”

The alien nodded.

“Yes, in Asgard. You are a Valkyrie, aren’t you?”

Brunnhilde tensed up, his expression morphing into a full-on frown.

“Don’t call me that. I don’t deserve it.”

The alien seemed confused by the reaction. Clearly, what he had said had really gotten under Brunnhilde’s skin, but it didn’t seem like he had done it out of malice.

“My apologies. I didn’t intend to offend you.”

The woman sighed, shaking her head and letting her shoulders loosen up.

“Apology accepted. Now let’s just get out of here.”

Peter nodded in agreement, still a bit confused by the unexpectedly tense moment.

“Right. Rocket, how is that going?”

“Done.” The raccoon replied, pulling the terminal away from the contraption as he safely unstuck it from Groot’s chest. “New guy, do you have an obedience disc on you?”

The alien approached Rocket and kneeled in front of him, pointing at the side of his neck.

“I’m afraid so, furred engineer.”

Rocket let out a chuckle as he moved over a bit closer.

“Nothing I can’t handle, big guy.”

Once Rocket got rid of Bill’s disc, the group took the elevator back to the palace. As the doors opened, the group was welcomed by an entire squadron of guards, but before they could even start shooting, Bill rushed forward with a primal scream and swung his massive battleaxe at them, parting several guards in half. Taking advantage of the commotion, Rocket and Peter opened fire while Groot charged right after Bill and Brunnhilde lunged from guard to guard as she stabbed them right through the chest. In seconds, the entire squadron was either in pieces or a smoking pile of armour.

“So…” Rocket began as he attached his rifle to his back. “Where did they put my ship?”

Peter paused and turned to glare at the raccoon.

“Your ship?”

Rocket grinned at the man.

“Yeah, we’ve discussed this, Quill. It became my ship when I captured you.”

“THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS!”

Before they could keep bickering, Brunnhilde cleared her throat.

“Are you done? The ship is in the main hangar, come on.”

Rocket winked at Peter and began trotting right after Brunnhilde. Peter scoffed under his breath and shook his head in disbelief, but chose to leave the matter for later. As Brunnhilde led them through the labyrinthine palace, the group kept running into guards every now and then, but every encounter had the exact same end result. Eventually, they reached the hangar, and upon spotting the Milano, they quickly boarded it. Peter sprinted into the cockpit and hopped into the pilot seat. Seconds later, while he was doing some pre-flight checks, Rocket entered the room and glared at him.

“You are lucky we are in a hurry.”

Peter smirked to himself as he saw the raccoon reluctantly sitting on the co-pilot chair from the corner of his eye. Once he made sure all systems were online, they took off. As they flew out of the hangar, Brunnhilde, Groot, and Bill joined Peter and Rocket in the cockpit. Each of them picked one of the free seats in the back and put on their seatbelts.

“I don’t mean to intrude, but this ship could use a bit of a makeover, lord of the stars.” Bill said as he took a quick look around the messy cockpit.

“Oh dude, you have no idea.” Peter replied with a chuckle.

The Milano’s engines roared as it soared into the sky. It only took a few minutes to leave the atmosphere, but Peter was so tense that it felt like hours to him. The moment they left Sakaar’s orbit, the man let out a breath he hadn’t even noticed he was holding.

“We’re out.”

Peter smiled and erupted into cheerful laughter as he looked at Rocket, who returned the smile. He looked behind him to see Groot smiling too, and Bill was giving the wooden creature a friendly squeeze on the shoulder. Brunnhilde, however, was still frowning.

“Don’t celebrate too soon. We still need to stop The Grandmaster. Last I heard he…”

The woman was suddenly interrupted by a violent turbulence. Almost like a giant hand had grabbed the ship and forced it to stop in the middle of space. Which, unfortunately, was something Peter was very familiar with.

“Oh shit.” He whispered, still out of breath from the impact.

Brunnhilde gasped for air and glanced at the raccoon as he clasped her seatbelt.

“What was that?”

Rocket, who was swiping around screens like crazy, took a few seconds to reply.

“Uh oh.”

Brunnhilde raised an eyebrow.

“Uh oh?”

Rocket nodded.

“It’s a Ravager tractor beam.”

Chapter Text

“Let me talk to them.”

Rocket looked at Peter like he was utterly insane.

“Were you dropped when you were a baby, Quill? They put a bounty on your head!”

Peter himself didn’t exactly seem super confident about the plan, and if Rocket had insisted a bit more, he probably would have talked the man out of it.

“Nah man, I think I got this.”

Brunnhilde raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced by the man’s answer.

“You think?”

“Yeah.”

Groot looked just as worried as Rocket about the situation. With a frown, he shook his head and spoke to the man.

“I am Groot.”

Bill, however, was the only one who didn’t seem particularly worried. He gave Groot’s shoulder a friendly squeeze and confidently nodded at Star-Lord.

“Do not worry, friend. I, for one, trust the lord of the stars’ eloquence.”

Peter cringed a little, feeling like the alien’s trust was a little bit misplaced. Nevertheless, he didn’t correct him.

“Alright… Uh… They’ll likely board us through the cargo bay. Erm… Does anyone else want to come? For moral support?”

Groot and Bill raised their hands instantly. Brunnhilde looked at them in disbelief for a few seconds, arms crossed over her chest, before rolling her eyes and raising her hand too. Rocket however had completely turned his attention to the screen in front of him.

“I’ll be here coming up with a real plan in the meantime. But just so you know, Quill. It would bring me immense satisfaction if the last thing that goes through your mind when they inevitably shoot you is me saying ‘I told you so’.”

Peter let out a sigh as he unbuckled his seatbelt and began walking towards the cockpit’s door.

“Yeah, dude. Thanks for the support.”

Peter took a deep breath as he walked over to the cargo bay, his companions close behind. The moment they got there, the entire group would feel the ship shake as it was forcibly landed on the hangar of a much bigger ship. Wanting to start off the parley on the right foot, Peter opened the ramp himself. Waiting outside was a large crowd of Ravagers aiming their weapons right at Peter. He instantly raised his hands at the sight, which was quickly mimicked by the rest of the gang after exchanging a few worried looks. Right at the bottom of the ramp, there was a blue man with a piece of metal grafted on his head, and he didn’t look happy at all.

“BOY!”

The anger in the older man’s gruff voice made Peter wince.

“Hey Yondu.”

Yondu scoffed under his breath and began climbing the ramp with furious stomps, some of the ravagers following close behind. Peter took a few steps, retreating a bit deeper into the cargo bay but keeping his hands up in the air. Upon seeing the colourful company Peter had with him, Yondu recoiled a bit, looking at the group in confusion.

“Who are these freaks?”

“Uh…”

Peter looked back at Groot, Bill and Brunnhilde before shrugging.

“Friends.”

The answer didn’t seem to clarify things too much for Yondu, but the man didn’t seem particularly concerned with learning more about it.

“Whatever.”

In a surprisingly fast move, Yondu grabbed Peter by his jacket and shoved him against the wall. Bill took a step forward, ready to make a move, but the dozen Ravagers instantly taking aim at him made the alien think twice. Meanwhile, Yondu began beating up Peter, delivering powerful blows to his stomach.

“Think you can betray me, boy? Steal my money?”

Groot grew more and more horrified as the beating continued, flinching with every single blow.

“I am Groot!”

Yondu paused the beating to glance at Groot with a confused sneer.

“Huh?”

That gave Peter a few seconds to catch his breath. He coughed a couple of times and rested his head on the wall.

“Yondu, come on… Just listen…”

Peter was instantly interrupted by Yondu slapping him right across the cheek.

“Shut up! When I picked you up as a kid, these boys wanted to eat you! They ain't never tasted Terran before! I saved your life!”

Peter rolled his eyes, huffing in incredulity.

“Oh, will you shut up about that? God! Twenty years, you've been throwing that in my face, like it's some great thing, not eating me! Normal people don't even think about eating someone else! Much less that person having to be grateful for it! You abducted me, man! You stole me from my home and from my family!“

Yondu shoved Peter against the wall again.

“You don't give a damn about your Terra! You're scared because you're soft, in here.”

The older man jabbed his finger on Peter’s chest, right above the heart. Before Yondu could continue to berate Peter, Brunnhilde took a step forward, shifting the Ravagers’ attention to her.

“That’s enough.”

Bill mimicked her immediately, and so did Groot.

“I am Groot!”

“Let the lord of the stars speak.”

Yondu glanced at the group again, scoffing at the ridiculous request. However, that gave Peter enough time to recover.

“Listen… Asshole... If you don’t let us go, you are saying goodbye to the biggest score you have ever seen.”

Yondu sneered, slapping his own coat away to reveal the Yaka arrow safely stashed in its holster.

“This better not be one of your stupid tricks, boy. You know what happens to those who cross me.”

Peter took a few seconds to catch his breath and think very well about his next words.

“You remember The Grandmaster?”

Yondu raised an eyebrow.

“That rich dickhead from Sakaar? What about him?”

Peter allowed himself to smirk a bit. It looked like the old man really was listening.

“He’s got a new show. And he’s inviting a lot of other rich dickheads to it…”

Yondu squinted his eyes and hummed, but didn’t say anything. Peter took that as a sign to continue.

“It’s on a ship… A few light years away from here. My friend Brunnhilde here has an invite to the show. We can infiltrate the ship, take down its shields from the inside… And then… Do you remember that all-you-can-eat buffet in Ventria?”

Yondu tilted his head, not quite following.

“Yeah…”

Peter’s smirk widened.

“Well, imagine that, but with jewels! It’s supposed to be some super snobby event, so everyone attending will be wearing the most expensive shit they own to flex on one another. Imagine how many bags of valuable stuff you could fill. Not to mention all those luxury ships conveniently waiting in the hangar…”

It was almost imperceptible, but Peter saw it. A shift in Yondu’s expression. He was getting through that thick skull of his.

“What do you say, Yondu? You and me pulling off one last heist like the good old days?”

Yondu seemed to hesitate for a few seconds. But suddenly, the frown vanished from his face and was quickly replaced by a joyful grin. He let go of Quill’s jacket and slapped him on the shoulder.

“Eyyyy! I knew you still had it in you, boy!”

Yondu began laughing and, almost as if the last 5 minutes hadn’t happened at all, the rest of the Ravagers quickly joined. An initially awkward Quill joined the laughter too, but the joy was so contagious it quickly became genuine. Groot, Brunnhilde and Bill slowly lowered their hands. Groot still looked a bit shaken, Brunnhilde straight up didn’t even understand what had just happened, while Bill had gladly joined the laughter himself.

However, the joyous atmosphere was quietly interrupted by the deafening screech of the Milano’s alarm. Pretty much everyone covered their ears, looking at each other in confusion. Then, a few seconds later, the alarm stopped and a familiar voice sounded through the Milano’s intercom.

“Attention! IDIOTS.” Rocket’s voice echoed through the cargo bay. “Thanks to a design flaw in this ship's model, I’ve rewired the entirety of this ship’s fusion core output to the engine. If you don’t let us go, I’ll start the engine and cause a nuclear explosion that will kill everyone in your cruiser. You have five seconds!”

Yondu looked at Quill, puzzled.

“...the hell?”

Rocket’s voice came through the intercom again.

“FIVE! FOUR!”

Peter’s eyes opened wide as he rushed to the closest intercom on the wall.

“ROCKET FOR GOD’S SAKE WE ARE FINE! WE FIGURE IT OUT!”

The intercom went silent for a few seconds before Rocket’s voice came back.

“Wait, really?”

==================

“Dude, I can’t believe your plan was to turn my goddamn ship into a nuke and blow us all up!”

After the ravagers had let them go, Rocket had set course for the coordinates on Brunnhilde’s invite and sat down on the couch in the common area, just to immediately get yelled at by Peter.

“Hey, I was only going to do it if they didn’t let us go.” Rocket replied with a shrug.

“The furred engineer has the heart of a warrior. Would rather die than be apprehended.” Bill stated matter-of-factly, which made Rocket snort loudly.

“Yeah, see Quill? I have the heart of a warrior.”

“And the brain of an idiot.” Brunnhilde quipped, which earned her a glare from the raccoon.

“Hey! You shut up! You are still on thin ice after literally selling us to slavery!”

“You are a bounty hunter, you stupid rodent. You should know it was just business.”

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?”

Rocket hopped off the couch and grabbed his rifle while Brunnhilde unsheathed her sword, both of them looking completely ready to jump at each other’s throats. But before they did any harm to one another, Peter stood between them with his palms extended.

“Guys! Guys! Come on… We are all tired...”

That didn’t calm Rocket down one bit.

“Quill, step aside or I’m blasting you too.”

Peter looked at Rocket, and despite the rage burning in his eyes, he saw hesitance. Groot also stood up and joined Peter, giving Rocket a sympathetic look.

“I am Groot.”

Whatever Groot said shifted the look in Rocket’s eyes. The raccoon gritted his teeth, let out a sigh and lowered his weapon.

“Whatever. I’m never seeing you again once we get the stone back.”

Peter hadn’t even noticed he had been holding his breath. He lowered his arms and nodded at Groot gratefully.

“Thanks, buddy.”

Bill also joined Groot’s side and slapped him on the shoulder.

“You always know what to say, friend.”

Rocket grumbled something under his breath and left the common area, apparently walking towards the cargo bay. Groot shared a thankful look with both Peter and Bill and trotted behind the raccoon.

Once those two left the room, Peter turned around and gave Brunnhilde a stern look.

“Don’t do that.”

She stared at him like he had said the dumbest thing she had ever heard.

“What? Did I hurt the rabbit’s feelings?”

“You don’t seem to respect the furred engineer very much.” Bill commented, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

Brunnhilde looked like she wanted to retort. To further mock Rocket for getting so worked up over such an inane comment. But for some reason, Bill’s compassionate eyes convinced her not to.

“Fine, whatever.”

Peter gave Bill a thankful tap on his arm and turned around to leave the area, stopping at the door.

“We should all get some sleep. We’ll need it for tomorrow.”

Brunnhilde nodded in agreement and grabbed a cushion.

“I’m taking the couch. Got any alcohol?”

Peter seemed rather puzzled by the question.

“In the fridge. But I don’t think…” Before he could continue, the woman stood up and went directly to the aforementioned fridge. “...That’s a good idea. Uhh, Bill? Mind sleeping in the cockpit?”

The alien shook his head.

“Not at all. It is always a privilege to sleep under the stars.”

Peter smiled and nodded at Bill.

“Awesome. Man, it’s good to have someone well-adjusted around for once.”

The alien chuckled joyfully.

“My pleasure.”

====================

Peter jolted awake in his room, fumbling with the wall right next to his bed to find the light switch. Okay, still in The Milano. His room. He touched the cold nightstand just to make sure that it was real, that he was really there and not…  Somewhere else.

Who were that bald dude and the green woman? Why did they keep showing up in his dreams? They felt… So real. Too real. To a point where it was starting to disturb Peter.

The man got off the bed and put on a shirt, a pair of pants and his boots. He needed to go wash his face. Maybe walk around a bit to clear his head. He kept his steps light as he left his room, trying not to wake up the snoring woman sleeping on the common area’s couch. He washed his face, taking a few seconds to look at himself in the mirror. He looked completely exhausted. Clearly, all those days of barely getting any sleep had been catching up to him.

As he left the bathroom, Peter heard a noise coming from the cargo bay downstairs. Raising an eyebrow, the man stealthily climbed down the stairs. There, he found Rocket tinkering with some spare parts while Groot watched over him quietly.

“Can’t sleep either, Quill?” Rocket asked, not taking his eyes off the mechanical parts he was toying with.

“Nope. I always get nervous before a heist.”

Rocket nodded with a hum as Peter walked closer and sat on a nearby crate. Groot looked at him with a smile, and Peter returned it. That was… Oddly comforting. Not something he was used to after living with the Ravagers for twenty years. He sat there for a while, just watching Rocket work. It was… Kind of mesmerizing actually. His dexterous paws always seemed to know what they were doing. Which cable they had to pull, and which parts they had to attach. He had next to no idea about what Rocket was trying to create. But for some reason, he didn’t particularly care.

After a bit, while Rocket was working on his second contraption since he had sat there, the man cleared his throat.

“Rocket… Do you dream?” 

The raccoon froze, hackles raising as he slowly lifted his gaze to glare at Peter.

“Whatcha implying with that?”

Realizing the misunderstanding, Peter raised his hands apologetically.

“Like… Some people don’t remember their dreams…”

Seeing that there were genuinely no bad intentions behind the question, Rocket sighed and turned his attention back to the pieces of metal in his paws as he mumbled his answer.

“I do dream, yeah.”

Peter nodded, taking a few seconds to choose his next words.

“I’ve just… I’ve been having the strangest dreams lately. You… Are there and…”

“Woah!” Rocket interrupted, cracking a smirk as he looked at Peter. “I don’t know where this is going, Quill. But I’m flattered.”

Peter blinked a few times, clearly blindsided by Rocket’s reply.

“Not like that! Listen, dude. I’m being serious about this.”

Rocket snorted, his cocky smirk not leaving his muzzle.

“Alright, alright…”

Peter took a few seconds and a deep breath before continuing.

“In the one I just had, I was in some sort of spaceport. You are there, Groot is there too... But there’s also this bald buff guy…”

Now Rocket’s ears perked up. His smirk had vanished from his muzzle, instead replaced with a frown.

“And the green chick.” The raccoon finished.

“YES! The green chick! So you’ve been having them too?”

Rocket nodded, suddenly deep in thought.

“I am Groot.”

The raccoon turned to look at his wooden friend, in shock.

“You’ve been having those too?”

Peter whistled, feeling his hands going a bit cold.

“Okay, now that’s weird... Have you had any other dreams? The prison?”

“Yeah.” Rocket replied. “Xandar?”

“YES! Xandar too!”

They all went quiet. That couldn’t be a coincidence. It was way too specific. But what could it possibly mean?

“I am Groot.”

Rocket looked at Groot in confusion, eyebrow raised.

“What do you mean by that?”

“What did he say?”

Rocket turned to peer at Peter, still kind of processing what Groot had just said.

“He said… He heard long ago that dreams can be windows into other universes. Other realities.”

Peter was absolutely bewildered by the reply. His eyes wide as he tried to process the implications of that.

“Does that mean…”

Rocket nodded.

“That these dreams might be real, yeah.”

Peter blew a raspberry and scratched the sides of his head.

“How is it even possible? What happened to the green girl? Why wasn’t she in Xandar?”

“Gamora.” Rocket said all of a sudden. “Her name is Gamora.”

Peter fell quiet. Rocket… Was right. He couldn’t remember it before, but now that Rocket had mentioned it… It sounded oddly familiar. He had definitely heard it in those dreams.

“And the bald guy…” Peter continued. “Drax.”

“Yes.” Rocket confirmed. “Drax.”

“This is bizarre, dude.”

“Bizarre is a bit of an understatement, Quill.”

All three of them sat there in silence. That was… Peter couldn’t even come up with a way to describe it. Up to those very moments, he hadn’t even considered the possibility of other universes existing. Other realities.

“Now that I think about it, something weird happened in Morag. Something I can’t explain.”

Both Rocket and Groot looked at Peter with curiosity.

“There’s a… Gap in my memory. Something hit me in the head and I passed out. And when I woke up… I had the orb on me. Some weird dudes showed up and tried to take me away, but… There was something else there. A presence. I just… I can’t really explain it.”

Groot hummed, leaning forward with a confused 

“I am Groot.”

“Groot says that someone from outside our universe might have messed with the flow of time, accidentally changing our fates.”

“That’s… Is that even possible?”

“How would I know?”

The trio fell quiet again. That theory sounded completely nuts to Peter, yet… It made a frightening amount of sense. All those dreams couldn’t be just a coincidence.

“I am Groot.”

With a glance, Peter silently asked Rocket to translate.

“Groot says that either way, there’s nothing we can do about it right now. We should focus on tomorrow, and worry about this later.”

Peter smiled and nodded at Groot.

“Man, you are so wise.”

Rocket snorted, shaking his head as he resumed his tinkering.

“Once in a blue moon.”

Groot smiled but said nothing else. As Rocket went back to work, Peter leaned forward to take a closer look at the contraptions Rocket was putting together from spare parts.

“What are these anyway?”

Rocket paused for a second and lifted one of the spherical devices so Peter could get a better look.

“We’ll use them to contain the Infinity Stone. I only have enough material to make 2, so that’s what we’ll have to work with.”

Peter let out a whistle, clearly impressed.

“And you are sure these things will be able to contain it?”

“According to my calculations, it should. Theoretically.”

“Theoretically?”

“Theoretically.”

Peter snorted, nodding at the raccoon as he got up from the crate.

“Hope you are better at math than I am then.”

Rocket chuckled at the comment.

“Doesn’t seem like a high bar to me. Do you even know what a number is?”

Peter rolled his eyes and gave his two friends a casual wave as he made his move to leave the cargo bay.

“Get some sleep Rocket. You too Groot.”

Rocket simply grumbled in response while Groot waved back, smiling at the man as he left.

========================

The noise of an electronic door opening and closing woke Brunnhilde up with a snort. She groaned and clutched the empty bottle she had been holding. She repositioned herself on the couch and tried to go back to sleep, but for some reason, she just couldn’t. She sighed and sat on the couch, massaging her temples. She was getting such a nice dreamless sleep, and if she went back to sleep now maybe she wouldn’t be as lucky.

Brunnhilde left the bottle on the table and stood up from the couch. She was moving towards the fridge to get more alcohol when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Raising an eyebrow, the woman left the bottle back in the fridge and walked over to the cockpit, where she found a very much awake Beta Ray Bill.

“Greetings.”

The alien didn’t even look at her when he spoke. His gaze was fixed on the stars outside the window. Brunnhilde looked at him curiously and then, following the alien’s example, gazed at the stars outside the window with him.

“You don’t sleep?”

“I don’t have the necessity to, no.”

She nodded, just standing there in silence. Minutes passed before Brunnhilde spoke again.

“I didn’t think you’d remember me.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Brunnhilde tilted his head a bit.

“Well, it was like a thousand years ago.”

Bill blew air through his nose.

“When you’ve lived such a long life, that doesn’t seem like that long.”

Quiet again. Then, after a few minutes, it was Bill who broke the silence.

“Why did you forsake your title?”

Brunnhilde tensed up. Deep down, she knew it was a matter of time before the alien brought it up. She just wasn’t expecting him to be so upfront about it. The woman hesitated, flirting with the possibility of telling him to mind his own business and leave the cockpit. But for some reason, she didn’t.

“I don’t deserve it.” Brunnhilde replied quietly. “I betrayed my sisters.”

Now the alien turned around, looking at her in confusion.

“In what way?”

Why did he have to be so polite? It really ground Brunnhilde’s gears. But for that reason, she just couldn’t bring herself to be mean to him.

“I survived… When I shouldn’t have. All my sisters died in the battle against Hela. All of them… Except for me. I’m a disgrace.”

Bill hummed quietly, taking a few moments to gather his thoughts before replying to Brunnhilde.

“The way I see it, fate gave you a chance to keep your sister’s legacy alive.” He said. For how… Uncommon the alien’s face was, his expression was oddly kind. “If you forsake your title, you would let your sisters’ name fall into oblivion. Don’t do that. Honour their memory.”

Brunnhilde stared at him in shock. She just… Wasn’t expecting something like that right now. It was a lot… A lot of buried memories. Buried emotions.

“I’ll… Uh… Thanks.”

The alien nodded and turned his gaze back to the stars.

“My pleasure, Brunnhilde.”

The woman let out a sigh and turned around to leave the cockpit. But when she was right at the door, she paused.

“Don't you ever get tired of looking at the stars?”

 Bill chuckled.

“Never.”

Chapter Text

“That thing is huge…”

Peter’s jaw hung open as he stared at the gargantuan ship through the Milano’s front window. It was one thing seeing the schematics, but actually having the ship in front of him and seeing it with his own eyes? It really put into perspective just how deranged the whole thing truly was. In fact, calling it a ship was severely underselling it. The bright purple hunk of metal was bigger than most space stations Peter had seen. It seemed closer to the size of a small moon.

The rest of the gang were in a similar state of awe, though each of them for different reasons. Brunnhilde was genuinely surprised that the Grandmaster’s ‘project’ had actually come to fruition, unlike the hundreds of half-finished ventures he had partaken in while she worked for him. Bill was furious at the villainy the Grandmaster must have had in his heart to even come up with something so evil. Groot focused more on the colours and shapes that made up the ship, and how remarkably unorthodox they were. And Rocket, of course, fantasized about the destructive power of just a single ignition of that behemoth of a cannon.

After a few seconds of quiet, Peter cleared his throat.

“Alright, does everyone remember the plan?”

The rest of the team nodded, and Peter allowed himself to smile a little.

“Awesome. Rocket?”

On cue, the raccoon began swiping and tapping on the screen.

“Transmitting the invitation code… Now.”

They all went quiet and stared at the pending request on the big screen. After a full minute that felt like an eternity, Brunnhilde broke the silence.

“Should it be taking this long?”

Rocket hummed quietly and shook his head.

“No idea.”

The atmosphere was growing more and more tense by the second when, suddenly, the invitation was accepted. Everyone in the cockpit seemed to simultaneously relax, sharing one big sigh of relief.

“Shields are down. Flying towards the hangar.” Rocket said as he reached towards the ship’s controls.

Peter nodded and took one deep breath. Having lived with the Ravagers for 20 years, this wasn’t exactly his first heist. But something felt different about this one. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn’t with the Ravagers this time? Well, not quite. They’d swoop in at some point to grab their part of the booty, but the reward they were after wasn’t your usual kind of valuable. It was an Infinity Stone, which… If Peter was being totally honest, he didn’t quite understand the implications of possessing such a thing. But what he did know was just how much money they would make if they found the right buyer for it.

As they approached the hangar, Peter took off his seat belt, stood up from his seat and nodded at the gang.

“Showtime A-holes.”

================

Peter adjusted his jester outfit and finished painting his helmet. With all those exaggerated colours, it was pretty much unrecognizable. Combined with the outfit, it made him look just like any of the other ‘entertainers’ roaming the ship. Peter left the locker room and pressed a button on the side of his helmet, pulling up the ship’s schematics on his visor. So far, everything seemed to be going according to plan. Rocket was making his way through the vent system towards the main control room, Bill and Groot had taken the elevator to the security wing, and Brunnhilde was already in the VIP area.

After letting out a long sigh, Peter began walking towards the VIP area. For like the tenth time ever since he had boarded the enormous ship, the Terran felt over the bulge on his jacket. He had hidden one of his pistols under there, and Rocket had borrowed the other one. The reason for that was that the raccoon’s rifle was too large to take into the vents, so upon making Rocket swear a hundred times to return the pistol ‘without a single scratch’, Peter had let him take it.

Peter didn’t look at the guards he ran into every now and then in the ship’s hallways. The best way not to get caught doing something you shouldn’t be doing was to simply… Do nothing out of the ordinary. Act like you belong. Obviously, this was a lot easier said than done. But Peter wasn’t a stranger to this sort of gig. In fact, that was usually the role he played in his heists with the Ravagers. Upsides of being one of the few Ravagers familiar with the concept of personal hygiene.

Peter casually walked into the VIP area without much trouble. A few guards side-eyed him, but didn’t say anything. Once there, he subtly scanned his surroundings, trying to find Brunnhilde. However, that task didn’t prove to be too hard. Just as he was expecting, Peter found the woman leaning on the bar, sipping a drink. They exchanged the faintest of nods, and Peter continued to scan the room. Lots of rich dickheads, just as he was expecting. But there were also quite a few entertainers. He wondered how many of those were slaves. Probably most of them. He made a mental note to avoid doing anything excessively stupid.

Either way, he realized he couldn’t just stay idle. He had to play along until the Grandmaster showed up. He took out a deck of cards from his jacket’s pocket and approached a group of older women wearing elegant dresses and a tacky amount of jewelry.

“Esteemed guests! Care for a magic trick?”

======================

If Groot had to be honest, he hadn’t quite grasped all the details of Quill’s plan. He understood the general idea, but never having participated in a heist like this one, there were quite a few things he didn’t really understand. Being a bounty hunter was a lot simpler. Just throw your target into the bag and take them to the client. Escaping a prison? Just fetch whatever Rocket needs and let him do the rest.

Quietly humming a song, Groot peered at Bill. It was only the two of them in the stationary elevator, and the alien seemed to be lost in thought as he stared at his battleaxe. Groot tilted his head and hummed curiously.

“Everything okay, friend?”

Groot’s voice seemed to yank Bill back to reality. The alien blinked a couple of times and nodded at Groot, but he still seemed slightly out of it.

“Not quite. I appreciate the concern, but I don’t think my sorrow can be remedied right at this moment.”

The wooden creature tilted his head, clearly curious about the cryptic answer.

“What do you mean?”

The alien hesitated a moment.

“Well… I don’t think it’s neither the time nor the place to elaborate too much on it. I’ll just say that I made a vow to reunite with someone… And decades later I’m still failing to deliver that promise.”

Groot frowned. It was unusual to see his usually optimistic friend so crestfallen. He put his hand on the alien’s shoulder an offered him a compassionate smile.

“Once we are done here, we’ll help you find your friend. Rocket is very good at finding people.”

Bill chuckled. Obviously, the shadow of doubt still lingered in his mind. But the wooden creature’s words had managed to lighten up his mood.

“You have my thanks.”

The pair shared a significantly much more comfortable silence now. This part of the plan had been pretty clear to Groot. They had to wait for Rocket to send down the elevator for them. Groot had to admit he was a bit worried about his fuzzy companion. He obviously had no doubts about Rocket’s skills, and he very much knew that his friend was more than capable of fending for himself. But even then… Groot didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t there with him.

Almost as if he had read his mind, Groot’s radio cackled to life and Rocket’s voice echoed inside the elevator.

“Alright, big guys, get ready. Things are about to get ugly down there real fast.”

Pretty much on cue, the pair felt the elevator beginning its descent. Bill took a deep breath and twirled the axe, his gaze fixated on the closed doors. Groot spared the alien one last glance before turning to peer at the doors. After several seconds of silence, the doors opened, revealing a long, wide, colorful room. The walls were adorned with racks holding all kinds of firearms. Rifles, pistols, shotguns… There were also a couple of doors at the end of the room that lead to a secondary armory and a locker room, respectively. Sitting at the center of the room, there was a group of armored Sakaarans playing a board game Groot wasn’t familiar with. A couple of them turned their heads lazily to look at the newcomers just in time to see Bill lunging at them with a mighty yell and beheading two guards with one swing. Groot followed swiftly after, extending his right arm and impaling two other guards through the chest. The surviving guards froze in shock for a couple seconds, staring at their fallen companions wide eyed. Suddenly, one of them snapped out, and the rest quickly followed.

“MOVE!”

The guards began to run towards the rack to grab a weapon, but half of them didn’t even make it. Bill and Groot were an absolutely deadly duo. Impaling and severing everything that stood in their path. Before not too long, they were the only living beings left in the room. Both covered in purple Sakaaran blood and gore.

“You are a mighty warrior, friend.” Bill said as he casually began cleaning his axe on a dead Saakaran’s armor.

Groot smiled at the alien and bowed his head in respect.

“Just as mighty as you.”

Before they could keep exchanging pleasantries, the door to the secondary armory opened, revealing another battalion of Saakarans. These were already armed and hadn’t been caught completely flat-footed. Groot and Bill exchanged a glance, a grin, and then rushed forward together.

====================================

Brunnhilde rolled her eyes as she watched the crowd that had formed around Peter clap at him after his rather mundane display of sleigh of hand. Not that she had figured out how the man had done it, but it’s not like she was going to lose sleep over not knowing. Either way, her priorities laid elsewhere.

And speaking of the devil.

Brunnhilde forced herself to smile as claps and cheers brought her back to reality. She peered at the Grandmaster, who was descending from the tall ceiling on top of a floating platform, and clapped a few times. Just enough to blend in with the crowd.

“Welcome! Welcome, everyone!”

She heard the rabbit talking to Bill and the tree in her earpiece, but didn’t pay it much mind. That part of the plan didn’t really concern her apart from the fact that it was in motion. Her mission was the eccentric man right in front of her.

The Grandmaster bowed several times, basking in the crowd’s cheers. The platform stopped a few meters above the ground, and the man’s smile widened. But the clapping and cheering kept going.

“Okay, that’s… That’s enough.” The man said awkwardly, gesturing at the crowd to bring it down a notch, which they did after a few seconds.

“Alright, thank you, thank you... I… Uh…”

The man looked around, looking way less confident than a few seconds ago.

“Well, I just realized I didn’t really prepare a speech for this. Anyway… Uh… Enjoy.”

The guests exchanged confused glances with one another. A few awkward claps broke the silence, and soon enough a lot more joined. The smile returned to the Grandmaster’s face, whose platform continued its descent towards the guest area. As it touched down, some guests approached the man and greeted him personally, shaking his hand and exchanging a few words before moving on. With a cup in her hand, Brunnhilde moved closer to the man, but didn’t greet him just yet. She was looking for something. Something that The Grandmaster should have on him.

“I see it. Right wrist.” She heard Peter’s voice on her earpiece.

He was correct. Attached to the bracelet on his right wrist, there was a miniature keycard. The one the rabbit had shown them on the schematics. Brunnhilde hummed to herself and looked for Peter in the crowd. He was near the Grandmaster, but at an angle where he couldn’t quite see the Terran. She nodded at him almost imperceptibly, and the man nodded back. He was ready. Brunnhilde let out a sigh and put her fake smile back on.

“Grandmaster!”

Upon hearing her voice, the man turned, and his smile seemed to widen a bit.

“142! You actually came!”

The man began walking towards her, awkwardly dodging some of the other guests. Brunnhilde took a swig from her cup and approached the man.

“I must say… This ship of yours is quite impressive in person.”

The Grandmaster giggled, shuffling and blushing at the compliment.

“Oh, you… “

Brunnhilde chuckled uncomfortably and briefly glanced at Peter. He was creeping behind the Grandmaster, but the crowd made it hard for him to actually make a move. She had to think of something. The entire plan depended on them getting hang of that keycard. She was incredibly tempted to just stab him right there and then, but seeing Topaz right behind the man glaring daggers at her made her drop the idea. They had to be a tad more subtle. Think Brunnhilde. He’s turning around. You have to make it count.

“Erm… Grandmaster! May I… Have a dance?” She blurted out.

The man turned around to look at her, completely flabbergasted by the proposal. Topaz rolled her eyes, and Peter slightly tilted his head in confusion, although the Ravager helmet completely concealed his expression. Nevertheless, she tried to keep her smile as genuine as she possibly could. The Grandmaster continued to stare at her, as if he was expecting her to tell him she was just messing around. But when that didn’t happen, he leaned back in confusion.

“Well… Uh… Of course!”

The man gestured to the band in the corner of the room. Getting surprised by the order, the aliens that made up the band took a few seconds to get ready and start playing one of those funky tunes The Grandmaster liked so much. With a smile on his face, the Grandmaster began to dance towards Brunnhilde. She froze, glancing at Peter as if silently begging for help, but just like The Grandmaster and the rest of the crowd, the Terran had already begun dancing. She felt her fake smile falter for a split second, but somehow managed not to drop it. Now peering back at the Grandmaster, she let out a long sigh and began trying to mimic the man’s footwork.

She wasn’t a dancer. Never had been and never would be. In fact, it was kind of amusing that, despite having lived in Sakaar for the last… She didn’t even know how many years… And despite attending countless of The Grandmaster’s parties, she hadn’t brought herself to dance once. How hard could it be, anyway? Swords were her weapon of choice. And if you thought about it really hard, sword fighting was kind of like dancing. She just had to… Not trip.

Against all odds, she didn’t do a terrible job mimicking The Grandmaster’s groove. Now and then she shot a glance at Quill, who seemed to be having a much easier time dancing to the music than she was. The man was discreetly moving towards the Grandmaster, one dance step at a time. However, he was taking his time to minimize suspicion.

Then, before she even realized it, it happened.

It was barely a bump. In fact, The Grandmaster was so focused on dancing that he didn’t even feel it, and Quill didn’t stop to apologize. He simply disappeared into the crowd. A few seconds later, Brunnhilde would hear the man’s voice coming from her earpiece.

“Got it.”

And he wasn’t lying. The woman glanced at the Grandmaster’s wrist, and indeed, the keycard was missing. She smiled genuinely this time and continued to dance with renewed enthusiasm. A few seconds later, the rabbit’s voice came through the earpiece.

“Disabling shields and activating Ravager beacon… Now.”

So far, so good. In just a matter of minutes, the Ravagers would board the Commodore, and she could take advantage of the chaos to kill The Grandmaster. Easy. She just had to be a bit more patient…

A few instants later, the music stopped, and the crowd began to cheer. Still wearing a wide smile, the Grandmaster bowed, which she reciprocated after a couple of seconds.

“You’ve been fantastic, dear! I didn’t know you had those moves in you!”

She knew he was lying. She had been way below average, and judging by Topaz’s annoyed head shake, she clearly agreed. Nevertheless, Brunnhilde remained cordial. She chuckled at the compliment and shrugged.

“Guess I’m full of surprises.”

She made a flourish with her hand and walked away, disappearing into the crowd. The Grandmaster was rather confused by the unexpected succession of events, but he didn’t linger too much on it. He had a party to host after all. So after glancing at Topaz and shrugging, he turned his attention to another important guest he had spotted in the crowd.

Meanwhile, Brunnhilde sat at the bar and ordered a drink. Something strong. All while she kept her eyes on The Grandmaster. Tracking him. Like a lioness stalking her prey. It was a matter of minutes now. Still, she was growing impatient. She touched her earpiece with a finger and whispered.

“Rocket, where are the Ravagers?”

It took the raccoon a few seconds to reply.

“They just landed in the hangar. Everything okay?”

She grumbled under her breath and finished her drink in one long swig.

“Just getting impatient.”

With that, she stood up and began to discreetly move closer to the door. Dodging the other guests while she shot periodic glances at The Grandmaster.

Something was wrong.

A Sakaaran had walked up to the graying man and was whispering something into his ear. From where she was, Brunnhilde couldn’t quite read his expression. But the fact that he had stopped dancing wasn’t a good sign. Rather abruptly, the man turned around and began walking towards one of the room’s secondary exits with Topaz by his side.

Brunnhilde cussed under her breath and began moving towards that same exit. But the moment The Grandmaster and his bodyguard left the room, locking the door behind them, the main entrance opened, revealing an entire legion of Ravagers with a very smiling Yondu at the front.

“HANDS UP EVERYONE! YER BEING ROBBED”

Panic ensued. The guests began screaming and running, doing anything but obeying Yondu’s demands. Expecting this, a few ravagers raised their rifles and fired a few warning shots. Suddenly, everyone froze, and a deafening silence took over the room. Yondu chuckled smugly as he rubbed his hands and took a few steps towards the crowd.

“There we go! Just do everything me and my boys say and nobody gets hurt! Hands behind yer head and on your knees.”

The guests exchanged glances with one another, clearly hesitant, but nobody dared to disobey the Ravager’s orders. With their hands behind their heads, one by one they started kneeling. All except for one Kree. When he thought that Yondu wasn’t looking at him, the Kree quickly reached inside his jacket. However, he never even got to pull out the weapon he was reaching for. All it took was one casual whistle from Yondu for his Yaka Arrow to pierce through the Kree’s heart, killing him instantly. The arrow dodged every other guest and elegantly returned to Yondu’s hand, who let out an annoyed grumble as he put the arrow back in its holster. As the Kree dropped to the ground, the rest of the guests gasped in shock, but none dared to do or say anything else.

“Anyone else? Hm? Good.” Yondu said, visibly annoyed by the interruption. He nodded at a pair of particular Ravagers, and they quickly trotted towards the crowd, holding large linen bags.

“One by one, you’ll be putting all your valuables in the bag. Jewelry, tech, I don’t give a shit. Understood? Good.” And with that, Yondu let his crew work. Keeping an eye out in case anyone else tried anything stupid.

Brunnhilde had to admit she was kind of impressed by the Ravagers’ efficiency. Given the first impression she got of them, she wasn’t expecting them to be in any way organized. Apart from the Ravagers themselves, she was the only person in the room not kneeling, simply standing by the door and watching the entire thing unfold. As some guests were already starting to put their valuables in the bags, Yondu’s scrawny lieutenant approached Brunnhilde, carrying her sword.

“There you go.”

She took the sword and nodded at the man in thanks. She had already wasted enough time. Now armed with her sword, the woman began trotting towards the exit.

“Damn it.” She whispered under her breath as she got there. It was locked. Annoyed, she pressed her earpiece and spoke.

“Rocket, can you unlock every door on the ship?”

A few seconds later, the raccoon’s voice answered.

“All of them except for the Grandmaster’s office and the reactor chamber. Do you want me to?”

Brunnhilde sighed and nodded.

“Please.”

“On it.”

Brunnhilde had to admit, she had also misjudged the rabbit. When she first captured him and Peter, she had assumed he was some sort of pet. She had never expected Rocket to be nearly as resourceful as he was, and she had to admit he had earned her respect for that. Besides, from the brief conversation they had aboard the Milano, she could tell that he had good taste in alcohol. And she could always respect that.

A few seconds later the door opened, and Brunnhilde began running down the hallway.

====================================

So far, the plan was going well.

Peter was practically dancing as he walked through the Commodore’s hallways, having taken off his helmet and playing “Cherry Bomb” on his Walkman. He was almost at the rendezvous he had agreed with Rocket. He just had to turn another corner and…

The man grunted as he bumped face first into a person way heftier than he was, clumsily falling on his ass.

“Ouch. Jeez, look where you are…” The man fell silent when he lifted his gaze to look at the person he had just bumped into, jaw slightly agape.

“YOU!” The Kree woman sneered, pointing at him with her new prosthetic hand.

Peter raised his hands apologetically, putting on a sheepish smile.

“Listen. I know you are angry, but I actually have an excellent explanation for why…”

He didn’t have time to finish as the woman leaned down to grab him by his tunic and violently throw him into a wall. The impact knocked all the air out of Peter’s lungs, and his entire body hurt as if he had been run over by a truck. Didn’t seem like he was getting a lot of time to recover, though. Because the moment he opened his eyes again, he could see the furious Kree woman stomping towards him. He tried to get up, but failed. Ending up just laying on his side as he extended his palm towards the woman.

“W… Wait…”

But the woman was having none of that. She snatched the man by the neck with her prosthetic hand and lifted him in the air.

“No one steals from a Kree and lives to tell the tale.”

Peter squirmed and struggled. He punched, scratched and kicked… But the woman was completely unfazed. As the pressure around his neck became more and more unbearable, his struggling became weaker. The edges of his vision became darker. Was this really how it was going to end? Well, part of him wasn’t entirely surprised. It wasn’t the first time an old lover tried to kill him. And it looked like this time his luck had run out…

So this really was how it ended, huh?

Peter was already losing consciousness when he was dropped on the floor. He gasped for breath and began coughing as he felt over his neck in panic. The Kree woman laid in front of him, unconscious. Or at least she didn’t seem to be mortally wounded. Someone had hit her with a stun charge, but who…

When Peter lifted his gaze to look at the end of the corridor, he got his answer.

“Woah you were right, Quill. These Kree chicks really do like it rough.”

Rocket kept Peter’s pistol aimed at the Kree, smoke wafting out of the barrel. Then, he approached slowly, checking the hallway’s corners to make sure they weren’t about to get ambushed by anyone else.

“Are you okay?”

Peter let out a pained groan before responding.

“No.”

Rocket rolled his eyes and attached the borrowed pistol to the back of his suit as he turned to look at the man.

“You’ll survive, come on.”

Peter nodded and slowly got back on his feet while Rocket simply watched. The raccoon was… Uncharacteristically patient. Refraining from blurting out a quip or making a comment about how pathetic he looked trying to get up.

“God, I feel like I just got run over by a truck.”

Once he looked stable enough, Rocket gestured for him to follow him down the hallway.

“Come on, Quill. We are in a bit of a hurry here.”

The man nodded and began walking. He was slow at first, but with every step he seemed to be regaining his strength. Eventually, when he felt like he wasn’t on the brink of passing out, he opened his costume’s jacket and pulled out his other pistol. The pair advanced through the hallways, checking corners and their backs to make sure they weren’t being followed. But luckily, they didn’t run into any guards. It looked like the distractions were working wonders.

As they closed onto their destination, the pair started seeing Sakaaran corpses on the ground. Some with stab wounds, others with their heads caved in, and others sliced in half. And in that moment, Peter was glad that Groot and Bill were on his side.

“That’s the elevator!” Rocket pointed out as he turned a corner.

Peter nodded and let the raccoon take the lead, walking backwards to keep an eye on the only entrance as Rocket approached the elevator. Out of the corner of his eye, Peter saw Rocket beginning to fidget with a PDA and, seconds later, the elevator came to life. A few more seconds passed, and the elevators’ doors opened.

“I am Groot!”

Hearing his friend’s voice, Peter turned around and smiled at the wooden creature.

“Hey bud! Sup Bill!”

The alien nodded at the man, continuing to clean his bloodstained axe on his cape.

“Greetings, Lord of the stars.”

With that, both Peter and Rocket joined the pair inside the elevator. Rocket tapped on the PDA’s screen a few times, and the elevator doors closed once more.

“Off to the reactor.” Rocket said as he put the PDA away and the elevator began its descent.

=====================================

Brunnhilde sprinted through the hallways, sword in hand. She didn’t know how the rest of the team was doing, but she was certainly behind schedule. She was supposed to be holding the Grandmaster hostage by now, but she wasn’t counting on him leaving the guest area in such a rush. Had he figured out that the Ravagers were coming before they landed? Well, it was certainly a possibility. Ravagers aren’t exactly known for their stealth. Either way, that was the situation she would have to deal with now.

As she turned a corner, she ran straight into a Sakaaran guard, whom she sliced through quite easily. However, he wasn’t alone. After the initial shock, the 3 sakaarans a few meters behind the first aimed their rifles at Brunnhilde and opened fire. The woman, however, wasn’t caught off guard. She dodged and deflected the colourful laser beams as she quickly closed the distance between her and the guards. Slice, dodge, slice, stab. Easy. With all 4 of them dead, Brunnhilde took a moment to catch her breath and continued to run.

The Grandmaster couldn’t have gone that far. He had gotten about a 3 minute head start over her, but he wasn’t the kind of guy to run anywhere. She turned one more corner and stopped dead in her tracks. There it was, the door at the end of the hallway… That had to be his office. The one Rocket had shown them in the schematics.

However, getting through that door wouldn’t be so easy.

“I’ve always wanted an excuse to get rid of you.” Topaz said. And that was the first time Brunnhilde had ever seen her smile.

The woman stood in front of the door, wielding the melting stick with both hands. Without any sort of context, Topaz’ weapon of choice looked pretty goofy. But Brunnhilde was more than aware of what that thing was capable of. One touch from its tip, even just grazing her skin with it, and she would be a puddle of goo in a matter of seconds. An incredibly painful death.

Even though she was quite terrified of that prospect, she didn’t let it show. Brunnhilde smiled back at Topaz and did a little flourish with her sword before pointing it at the burlier woman.

“Honestly same. Guess we should have just done this much earlier, huh?”

Topaz laughed. That was a first as well.

“Indeed. I’m going to enjoy this so, so much.”

Her smile turned into a sadistic grin, and honestly, Brunnhilde was a bit surprised. All this time, she had always considered their grudge to be somewhat playful. But Topaz seemed to really really resent her. Hate her even. She had never even considered it was that serious for her.

Maybe moved by that very hate, Topaz made the first move. She rushed towards Brunnhilde, melting stick first, and swung wildly at her. Brunnhilde stepped back, dodging the swings. Parrying was too risky. If her blade merely grazed the stick’s tip, she would lose her weapon and be at a massive disadvantage. She needed to find the right moment to strike, and it was quite likely that she’d only get one chance.

She was running out of space, though. A few more meters, and her back would be against the wall. She needed to make a move fast.

And just when she thought she was screwed, she saw it.

An opening.

As Topaz furiously slammed down with the stick, Brunnhilde dodged to the side. Then, as the burlier woman tried to lift her weapon, Brunnhilde stepped on the stick’s shaft, completely avoiding the weapon’s tip, and beheaded Topaz with one clean downward slice. The lifeless body fell to the floor with a thud, and Brunnhilde let out a sigh of relief.

Did it have to come to this? It’s not that she liked Topaz too much, but maybe she could have tried something else. Reason with her maybe? It didn’t seem likely. Topaz hated her way too much…

Either way, it didn’t matter now. She had to keep moving.

Brunnhilde knelt down and carefully grabbed the melting stick by the shaft. Then, she stepped over Topaz’s corpse and jogged towards the closed door at the end of the hallway. Well, the rabbit did say he couldn’t open that one, so she’d have to take the matter into her own hands.

Brunnhilde sheathed her sword and grabbed the stick with both hands. She pressed the tip against the metallic door and pressed a button in the middle of the shaft. Soon enough, the area the orb at the end of the stick was in contact with began slowly melting. Brunnhilde smiled to herself and began pushing the stick harder against the door when, suddenly, the lights went out.

Chapter Text

Peter walked slowly behind Groot and Bill, weapons raised and aimed in front of him. Since Groot had brought Rocket a rifle from the armory, the raccoon had given Peter back his other pistol. Against all odds, the raccoon had returned the weapon without a single scratch, just like he had promised. But if he was being honest, Peter wasn’t too surprised. After all, Rocket seemed to care more about weapons and gadgets than pretty much anything else.

The group turned a couple of corners and found themselves in front of the reactor room blast door. Just like Rocket had said on the ship, there was no way he could breach that with explosives or firepower. They needed the key… A key that the legendary Star-Lord had managed to get his hands onto.

“Quill? You do have the key, right?”

The man smirked and produced the key card with a little flourish, holding it towards the raccoon. Rocket rolled his eyes and snatched the card from the man’s fingers. Then, he approached the terminal and inserted it into the slot meant for it. After a ‘beep’, Rocket’s claws began flying all over the screen and, a second later, the blast door began opening.

“Groot? Bill? Stay outside. The blast door can’t be closed with us inside, so guard the door in case they send reinforcements down here.”

Bill nodded and turned around, gripping his massive battleaxe tightly with both hands.

“We shall protect you and the furred engineer, lord of the stars.”

“I am Groot.”

Groot smiled and nodded at Peter before turning around and joining Bill’s side. With that sorted, Peter waved at Rocket to follow him inside the reactor room and went in himself.

Just like the rest of the ship, the room was decorated with bright colors and sharp angles. Why decorate a room that nobody is really supposed to go in? Well, they would have to ask the Grandmaster... Although Peter doubted he would give them an answer that made sense.

In the middle of the room, of course, sat the ‘reactor’. That reactor being the Infinity Stone floating several meters above the floor surrounded by 4 energy extractors, each of them ‘sucking up’ a constant stream of energy from the stone.

Both Peter and Rocket stared in awe for a couple of seconds. It was one thing seeing the reactor room in the schematics, and something completely different actually seeing it in person. Snapping back to reality, Rocket quickly moved over to the main terminal, using the stolen keycard to gain full access.

“Remember, Quill. Don’t touch it.”

With those words, the raccoon tossed one of his containment spheres at Peter, who caught it midair as he began moving towards the reactor.

“You sure this thing won’t fry me when it touches the sphere?”

Rocket shrugged.

“Almost completely sure.”

Peter turned around, raising an eyebrow.

“Almost?”

Rocket stood on his tiptoes on the chair he was using to reach the terminal, grinning at Peter over the screen.

“I did the math, Quill. It’ll be fine. And if it’s not… Well… Promise I’ll take care of The Milano.”

Peter rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the stone. Preemptively twisting the containment sphere open as he stood almost under it. After a few seconds of quiet, broken only by the constant hum of the energy extractors and the sound of Rocket’s claws clicking against the terminal screen, the raccoon cleared his throat.

“So… Quill… I’ve been talking to Groot and… You know, when this is all over…”

Peter looked over his shoulders, a smile creeping onto his mouth.

“Yeah?”

Rocket groaned.

“You know…”

“Come on, dude! Say it!”

The raccoon groaned even louder.

“MAYBE! Maybe… The whole sticking together thing doesn’t sound too bad. But before you get too excited, I’m still thinking about it.”

Peter’s smile turned into a full on grin.

“Hell yeah, dude.”

Rocket rolled his eyes, shaking his head before continuing to type into the terminal.

“Let’s just focus now.”

Now in a much better mood, Peter put all his attention on the floating Infinity Stone. Rocket typed a few more things into the terminal when, finally, it lit up with a green light and a cheerful ‘beep’.

“Alright, Quill. I’m gonna lower it slowly. Remember… Don’t touch it AND, of course, don’t frigging drop it.”

Peter exhaled loudly a couple of times and nodded.

“Let’s do it.”

Rocket nodded back and began to slowly lower a slider. At the same rate, the stone began descending. Peter held his breath, feeling a drop of sweat running down the side of his face. Suddenly, when the stone was still a few meters above the ground, it stopped. Right when Peter was about to ask about it, the blast door closed and an alarm started blaring loudly. Startled, Peter took a few steps back, looking around as the room’s lights turned red.

“Rocket?”

The raccoon tried to type something into the terminal, but it didn’t seem to be responding.

“It’s blocked!”

Peter turned to look at him.

“What do you mean blocked?”

“Someone’s overriding it.”

“Is that possible?”

Rocket groaned under his breath as he continued to unsuccessfully regain control of the terminal.

“Only from…”

Before he had time to finish, gigantic holograms of the Grandmaster’s face materialized all over the room. Covering every single wall. He was glaring at them, practically fuming.

“The Grandmaster’s office…” Rocket finished quietly.

The Grandmaster remained quiet for a few more seconds, and Peter couldn’t do anything but simply stand there awkwardly.

“So…” The Grandmaster began, his voice echoing all over the room. “What do you think you are doing?”

Peter swallowed, struggling to decide which hologram he should focus on.

“Uh… Quality certification?”

The Grandmaster raised an eyebrow.

“Quality certification.”

Peter shrugged.

“Yup. Just making sure this big boy complies with the latest Nova regulation.”

Rocket ran a paw through his face, groaning quietly. The Grandmaster simply scoffed.

“And I’m assuming that stunt with the Ravagers is your doing as well.”

Peter smiled sheepishly.

“Testing your security capabilities. Suffice to say, you didn’t pass.”

The Grandmaster cracked a smile of his own. However, it was not exactly a kind one.

“I have to commend you, bard. You’ve backed me into a corner. I still don’t know why would you even do any of this, though. You somehow managed to escape from Sakaar… Why come right back to me?”

Now it was Peter’s turn to scoff. Then, he took a step towards one of the holograms, peering at it with disdain.

“You built a star destroyer, dude… For your own amusement! Did you think you were going to get away with this?”

The Grandmaster laughed and responded in a mocking tone.

“And who do you think you are? The ‘guardians’ of the galaxy? Do you really care enough to go out of your way to come ruin my party?”

Peter grinned at the hologram.

“Yeah dude. You are like, the worst.”

The Grandmaster glared at him. Then, he quickly glanced at his side, concern visible on his face for a second before focusing on Peter once again, looking even angrier than before.

“You know, the worst thing about being immortal is… You still feel the pain. Won’t be fun to float around in space for months or years until I land somewhere. But… At least I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing for a fact that you will all be dead.”

Peter’s eyes widened and snapped to the stone right as the Grandmaster chuckled quietly.

“Good riddance.”

Right at that moment, the energy extractors turned off, and the artificial gravity that kept the stone in the air did as well. The lights went out instantly, but the stone’s glow lit up the room with an ominous dim purple light.

Time slowed down for Peter. If the stone touched the floor, it was over. Upon contact, it would pump an impossible amount of energy into the structure, disintegrating it in minutes. So, for some reason, instead of running in the opposite direction, Peter ran towards the falling stone. Diving at the last possible moment to catch it before it touched the floor.

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Right as The Grandmaster said those last words, Rocket’s ears folded against his skull.

Was he really going to do it?

He immediately got his answer.

The raccoon watched in horror as the stone dropped from the air, and his horror only intensified when he watched his friend running towards the stone. Rocket’s eyes went wide as he extended a paw towards Peter.

“PETE WAIT!”

As Peter caught the stone in his hand, Rocket was hit by a blast of wind, making him cover his face with an arm. When he lowered it a couple of seconds later, he saw what could only be described as a maelstrom of dust and energy materialize before his very eyes. The raccoon cussed under his breath and began moving towards the maelstrom, struggling against the intense wind. Every step was a battle, but putting one foot after the other, he was getting close. He took one of the backup spheres from his utility belt and continued to walk forward, covering his face to prevent the dust from getting into his eyes. Eventually, Rocket stopped feeling the dust hitting him in the face, and he dared to lower his arm. He was inside some sort of… Dome. Energy and debris swirling all around him. And there, laying on the floor a few meters in front of him, was Quill.

“Quill!”

The raccoon ran to the man’s side, making the conscious decision of not touching the man. He was writhing and screaming, and his body looked like it was in the process of disintegrating but somehow… It wasn’t. He was clutching the stone in his right hand, the intense purple light shining even through the man’s flesh. Rocket knelt next to him and opened the containment sphere. He had to get Quill to open his hand somehow.

“Alright… Shit…”

He was going to have to pry it open, there was no other way. If he didn’t, Quill would die.

The raccoon took a few quick breaths and held the last one. Then, clutching the sphere tight in one paw, he reached forward to grab Peter’s fingers with the other.

Then, pain.

Rocket screamed at the top of his lungs. It felt like his entire body was burning, his implants tiny suns digging into his flesh. With a strength he didn’t even know he had, Rocket forced himself to stop screaming and snapped his jaw shut, gritting his teeth. Then, he pulled Peter’s fingers with all his might, digging his claws into the man’s flesh. Groaning from the effort, Rocket continued to pull and pull until Quill’s hand was open enough for him to see the stone. With a shaky paw, he brought the containment sphere on top of the man’s hand and slammed it down. Then, with a whirring sound, the sphere closed, insulating the stone. Immediately, the vortex of energy disappeared, and Rocket found himself in complete darkness. A few seconds later, the emergency generator turned on and the lights returned.

Rocket panted a few times and took a deep breath. But when he looked down at Peter, the raccoon couldn’t hold back a gasp.

“Quill?”

The man had blood coming out his mouth, his flesh covered in open wounds and his eyes wide open.

Open, but not seeing anything.

“No, no, no…”

Rocket left the sphere on the floor and laid his head on the man’s chest, looking for a heartbeat… And sighed in relief when he found one. It was weak, but it was there nonetheless. He knelt again and grabbed Quill by the shoulders, giving them a little shake.

“Come on, Quill… Pete… Not you too… Please…”

That blank stare. The blood coming out of his mouth. It was a painfully familiar scene. One Rocket wasn’t sure he would be able to handle again.

“Shit, shit… HELP! GROOT!”

But Groot didn’t respond. The blast door was too thick. However, someone else had heard him. The holograms reappeared again, but instead of showing The Grandmaster’s face, they showed Brunnhilde’s.

“Rocket? What happened?”

Rocket’s ears perked up, and he looked at one of the holograms.

“He needs help!”

Brunnhilde frowned in concern and turned to look at another screen.

“There’s a Nova patrol nearby. They must have detected the energy spike and are coming to investigate.”

In any other situation, Rocket would have told her to get screwed. But he was completely desperate.

“Call them! Call anyone! We need to get him to a hospital!”

Brunnhilde opened her mouth to say something, but ultimately decided against it. She nodded and began typing into the office’s terminal.

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The first thing Peter Jason Quill noticed when he woke up was the unmistakable periodic beep of a heart monitor. It reminded him of waking up in his mom’s hospital room, having fallen asleep in her arms. Every time he did, he hoped that a doctor would walk in and announce that the cancer had magically disappeared. That something had happened and, for whatever reason, it had simply vanished. But unfortunately, that never happened.

The second thing he noticed was how much everything hurt.

Peter groaned and opened his eyes, almost blinded by the ceiling’s sheer whiteness. He reached up carefully and rubbed his eyes. Even doing something as simple as that hurt like crazy.

“Welcome back, Lord of the Stars.”

Peter hummed quietly and turned to look at the source of the voice, Bill. The alien was sitting in a chair about a meter away, having lifted his gaze from the book he was reading. However, he wasn’t the only one in the room. Right next to him, on the other chair, there was a very asleep Rocket snoring away. Someone had put a blanket over him, and his tongue was slightly hanging out of his mouth. Honestly, it was kind of adorable. Although Peter would never say it out loud. He liked his face without blaster holes in it.

Peter stirred a bit more, trying to find a comfortable position, and then finally spoke up.

“What happened?”

Bill cleared his throat and leaned forward a bit.

“You held an Infinity Stone. An incredible feat for a mortal such as you.”

Peter blinked a few times in confusion. Suddenly, a river of images began flooding his mind. Catching the stone, the vortex, the pain… But he wasn’t alone. Rocket was there too. He had tried to talk to him, but the pain was too much. At some point he had passed out, still clutching the stone tightly in his hand.

“How am I alive?”

Bill glanced at Rocket and then back at Peter.

“The furred engineer managed to contain the stone. Then, the Valkyrie contacted a nearby Nova patrol, and they rushed you to a hospital on Xandar.”

Peter raised an eyebrow.

“The Valkyrie?”

“Brunnhilde.”

“Ah.”

Peter sat up slowly, sucking air between his teeth as he held his right side. It felt like he had been run over by a horse 100 times.

“What is Rocket doing here?”

Bill snorted, and Peter could have sworn he was grinning, but with the alien’s strange facial structure it was very hard to tell.

“We were supposed to take turns watching over you, but he refused to leave. When he finally passed out from exhaustion, I took over.”

Peter looked at the raccoon. On the table next to him, there were several pieces and unfinished devices laying about. Things Rocket probably had brought from the Milano to keep himself entertained while he kept an eye on Peter. The man smirked and let out a chuckle, but it was quickly interrupted by coughing fit. The coughs were loud enough to wake up Rocket, who jumped a bit in his chair and peered at Peter with wide eyes. But when he saw him sitting down, the raccoon sighed in relief.

“Morning, princess. How was your beauty sleep?”

As Peter finished coughing, he chuckled again.

“Hey dude, what’s up?”

Rocket calmly grabbed the blanket on top of him and tossed it away. Then, he hopped off the chair and noisily dragged it across the room so it would be in front of Peter’s bed. The man raised an eyebrow in confusion, which only grew as Rocket stood up on the chair, putting the raccoon slightly over Peter’s eye level.

Right when Peter was about to ask him what he was doing, Rocket noisily slapped him across the face. Bill’s eyes widened, and Peter reached up to massage his freshly slapped cheek.

“OW! DUDE! What the f…”

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND, QUILL?”

Peter went quiet, wincing a bit. Rocket was absolutely fuming, and Peter could have sworn he could even hear him growling under his breath.

“WHAT PART OF ‘DON’T TOUCH THE FRIGGIN STONE’ DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? ARE YOU DEAF? DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND WORDS?”

Peter swallowed, not really knowing what to say.

“I don’t know, dude. I just… I saw the stone falling and I… I found something inside of myself. Something kind of heroic…”

Rocket raised a finger and interrupted Peter.

“Ah ah! I don’t wanna hear it. Don’t ever do that again or I’ll kill you myself. Got it?”

Peter grinned and nodded at Rocket.

“Got it.”

“Good.”

With that, Rocket hopped off the chair and dragged it back to where it was. He sat back and grabbed one of the unfinished devices from the table. Peter rolled his eyes and shook his head. Then, he peered at Bill once again.

“What about the Grandmaster?”

But instead of the alien, a woman’s voice replied from the room’s door.

“I cut off his head.”

Peter turned and saw Brunnhilde leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed.

“Is he dead?”

Brunnhilde shrugged.

“Noooot really… Turns out he is immortal immortal. So he kind of is a head in a jar now… In a Xandarian prison. I don’t envy him.”

From behind Brunnhilde emerged Groot, who was carrying a tray with several beverages. Upon seeing Peter, the tree creature’s eyes lit up and rushed to leave the tray on a table to run to Peter’s side.

“I AM GROOT!”

Peter yelped as Groot pulled him into a tight hug, groaning in pain.

“Groot… Buddy… My ribs…”

Groot let go of Peter and raised his arms apologetically, eliciting a snort from Rocket.

“I am Groot.”

“All good, bud. You are just… Very strong.”

Groot nodded, smiling sheepishly, and Peter couldn’t help returning the smile. Peter gave Groot a weak punch on his arm and turned to look at Rocket.

“What about the stone?”

Rocket clicked his tongue and lifted his gaze from his device to look at Peter.

“We… Had to hand it over to Nova. But in return, they expunged our criminal records and gave us access to their contractor network, so… A pretty bad deal, but not a terrible one. At least they didn’t throw us in jail.”

Peter tilted his head.

“Contractor network?”

Brunnhilde pushed herself off the door and moved next to Groot.

“Well, I don’t really have anywhere to go right now, so I was thinking that maybe I could stick around for that team up thing Rocket was talking about. And Bill is kind of in the same boat.”

Rocket glared at Brunnhilde, sneering.

“Hey, I said I was still thinking about it!”

The woman snorted, giving the raccoon a sassy grin.

“You’ve already designed a logo.”

Rocket raised his arms and grinned innocently.

“Hey! All I’m saying is that if we are gonna sign up for Nova’s contractor network, presentation is important. Appearing professional attracts more clients.”

Peter chuckled at the comment, looking at Rocket with an amused smirk.

“Think of any names?”

Rocket mirrored his smirk.

“I’m glad you asked!”

The raccoon reached over to grab a tablet from the table. He swiped through a few screens and then turned it around to show Peter a logo with a text.

“Guardians of the Galaxy: Heroes for Hire.”

Peter let out a laugh, remembering The Grandmaster’s mocking words. Then, he looked over all the people in the room. His teammates. His friends. Finally, Peter’s gaze fell on Rocket again, and his lips curled into a wide smile.

“Badass.”