The young girl, Saffron, laughed with glee as she played with the neighborhood kids. Though they were of different intergalactic races, they all acted as a family. Saffron loved that about her group of friends.

"Drax, stop it! I'm telling the truth, just please..." Saffron heard from behind her house.

Saffron knew that was her friend, Skylar, wailing with fright. A hand grabbed her shoulder, "I think it would be best if you stay out of it, Saffron. Drax is dangerous." It was Lucy.

Lucy, being of the Kree, she knew what true danger was. Lucy was older than Saffron, and she was the leader of their friendship circle, so whatever she says is law. Although Lucy wasn't her sister, Saffron respected her like an older sister, but didn't think what was happening was something to leave alone.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lucy commanded as Saffron started walking.

Saffron was known to be an excellent liar, so she replied, "My parents told me to be home before dinner. You don't want me to be punished, do you?"

Lucy shook her head with a disbelieving look on her face.

Saffron quickly took out her house key and opened the door. In all honesty, her parents were at the travel agent's office, to prepare for when they would leave Knowhere in four months, and deliver Saffron's soon to be half-brother. What she truly wanted to do was to see what Drax, the scariest kid on Knowhere, was doing to Skylar.

"If you don't give it back, I'll just have to take it by force." yelled someone from behind her house's backdoor.

Saffron grabbed her stepfather's In-Case-of-an-Emergency gun from the mantle, filling it with special shocker bullets for extra sting. Her stepfather, Ray, was a Nova corpsman, and when she was seven, he taught her how to use the gun.

Her heart pounding out of her chest, Saffron went through the backdoor, yelling at the top of her lungs, "Get away from him, you intergalactic bully!"

Skylar couldn't believe what he was seeing, and screamed to her, "Saffron, run or he'll get you too!"

Drax glared her way, sending a shiver down Saffron's spine. Drax was at least five-foot-eleven, an average built with some muscled arms, gray skin, black hair, and completely white eyes. He wore a dirt covered shirt, black pants, and matching black, fingerless gloves. He was only thirteen, four years older than Saffron, but was still intimidating to anyone and everyone. To Saffron, he was the image of pure hate and terror.

"So, you're one of his accomplices." Drax said in his gravelly tone.

Saffron held up the gun to aim. Drax had his hands up with fear creeping into his face, expecting her to actually shoot. She saw this, and felt like a monster. Saffron wasn't even sure if she was willing to, Ray always told her that before you accuse someone of a crime, you had to know the facts, and Saffron put the gun back down at her side.

"What are you doing, Saffron? Shoot him." Skylar said as though Saffron was nuts to put the gun down.

"Not yet."

Skylar was surprised by this answer, "What do you mean, 'not yet?'"

Saffron turned away from Skylar to look at Drax. He may have looked tough, but she knew that everyone had a hidden side to them. Maybe he had one of his own. Saffron wanted to find out.

"I mean that I want to know what is going on first, before I shoot anybody." Saffron traced the gun's exterior with her index finger.

Skylar stood up, brushed himself off, and started to back away from the two.

"Yeah, you do that. I'll be going home now, thank you." Skylar said as he attempted to escape.

"Skylar?"

"Yes, Saffron?"

"Don't hate me for this."

"Hate you for what?"

POW, POW, went the gun as she fired it to his spinal cord, paralyzing Skylar.

"That. Don't hate me for that." Saffron said.

What had just happened wasn't something Drax was expecting tonight. He just stared down at the nine year old with shock, wondering at what kind of monster would come to their friend's aid, and then do the complete opposite. Drax has seen a lot of low things in his life, but he never thought a sweet little girl would do what Saffron just did.

"Now-" Saffron dropped the gun and smiled like nothing happened, "-what was your business with Skylar?"

"He stole something from a friend of mine." Drax said after he shook his head.

"No I didn't! He's lying!" Skylar yelled instantly with a panicked tone rising.

Saffron knew Skylar wasn't the richest kid, but she didn't think he would steal. Although, there was one possession he had acquired not too long ago that made her suspicious. It was a black gem known as a Dead Star, hanging on a gold chain like an amulet. He had been bragging about it for the past week.

"It wouldn't happen to be a Dead Star amulet, would it?" Saffron asked, trying to hide her anger.

Drax nodded.

"You traitor! Wait till Lucy hears about this!" Skylar yelled out again.

Gunshots flared above them as a group stepped into the alleyway, Saffron's friends. Martin, the Centaurian, held his papa's freeze ray, Penny, the Contraxian, wore her usual poker face, and Damian, the Inhuman, held his glowing hands by his side. Leading them was Lucy.

"I already heard, since you guys were so loud," Lucy walked over to Saffron's side, slapping the back of her head, "And I thought I told you to stay out of this, Saffron."

"I'm sorry, Lucy, but I couldn't help myself, and, and..." Saffron muttered, trying to hold back tears that she didn't know were coming.

"And, and, what? To think, I thought you could join our ravager gang, but you're really just a crybaby poster child." Lucy said harshly.

Saffron's eyes went wide with realization, "Wait. Ravagers?"

Drax knew what was happening, he had seen it before. Every now and then, when the Ravagers needed new recruits, they would send their kids to find tough children who they could use for their own purposes. Once, after winning a fighting tournament, Drax was approached by some Ravager kids, but they didn't stay long when his father sicked some dogs on them. Sadly, there weren't any dogs at the moment to save Saffron.

The Ravager kids began to surround Saffron, and Drax knew if he didn't do anything, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

"Hey, you lower lifeforms!" Drax yelled to the group.

It caught their attention away from Saffron.

"Am I not the one you're truly after?" Drax asked with a punkish smile.

Martin, Damian, and Penny ran to Drax, firing away at him with their weapons and powers. None of them noticed Saffron as she grabbed the amulet off of Skylar's neck, except for Lucy and Skylar.

"Give that back, Saffron, and maybe I'll go easy on you." Skylar yelled at her in his paralyzed state.

Saffron spit at his foot, saying, "Sorry, I can't talk to strangers. Also, stop yelling, I'm literally standing four inches away from you."

Saffron grabbed her gun as she ran into the black market, dodging bounty hunters, sales booths, and buyers to get as far away as possible. She didn't understand, her friends were Ravager kids? Although, that explained why they all wore those red jackets.

"Get back here, you flarg." Lucy screamed from behind.

Saffron stopped.

Lucy caught up to her and held out her hand with a nasty grin, "Come on, Saffron, let me have it."

It was Saffron's turn to grin as she held Ray's gun up to Lucy, "Here you go."

With that, Saffron shot Lucy in the shoulder, electrocuting her. Lucy fell to her knees with the pain of the bullet, and pain of betrayal.

Drax had finished off the Ravager goons when Saffron came back. He smiled at seeing she got back the necklace, and that she was safe.

With a blush coming on, Saffron looked down and held the necklace out, "I guess this belongs to you."

"No, it belongs to my good friend, Hovat." Drax replied as he took it back.

Saffron felt a tingling inside herself as his strong fingers brushed against her tiny ones. She thought it was either because she felt like a hero, or she didn't like touching other people. Either way, she was proud of herself for doing a good deed.

"By the way, my name is Arthur Douglas. Thank you for getting this back for me." Drax said, confusing Saffron.

"Wait a minute, I thought your name was Drax." Saffron said.

All I know is a lie, Saffron thought to herself.

The two stood there in silence until Saffron became uncomfortable, "What?"

"What?"

"Is something wrong?"

"No."

"Then why were you being so quiet?"

"You said to wait a minute, so I'm waiting."

Is he that stupid? It's a figure of speech, she put into her thoughts.

Arthur looked at her and finally spoke, "Okay, minute over. Also, Drax is my fighter name that my father gave me. He takes me to tournaments all over the galaxy to compete. My friend, Hovat's, father is our manager, so we get to talk."

"Oh, I didn't know that." Saffron looked up at him with admiration, she's never met an intergalactic fighter before.

"I apologize for my rudeness, but I did not ask for your name." Arthur said with the up most courtesy.

"My name is Saffron, Saffron Tortellia."