(A/N) Well, I'd been wanting to work the Guardians into my Avengers continuity, but until the movie came out, I wasn't sure it would work. Now I know it does work and we'll be exploring what's been going on in the larger universe during my Winter Soldier stories. So yes, this is a side story for my Winter Soldier trilogy. You don't need to have read any of the others to understand what's happening here, but your enjoyment of certain references will be most enhanced if you do. If you're just here for the Guardians, though, by all means enjoy them. I certainly do.

Voices From a Distant Star

Chapter 1: Assault

The night guard at the Nova Corp high security storage facility found himself whistling as he made his rounds of the vaults. As many night worker bees who are about to go off shift tend to, our friend the security guard was dreaming of the nice soft bed that awaited him when he clocked out. Sadly, this bright-eyed young fellow didn't seem to realize just what type of unseemly scum might come after the treasures he was guarding. Such things did occur to him in his final moments, however, when a hand clamped down on his mouth to muffle his scream as a knife was shoved through a joint in his body armor, straight through the back of his neck.

The assassin lowered the dead guard's body to the floor, making absolutely certain his armor made no sound while turning him onto his back. Then the black-cloaked figure slipped out a smaller knife and pulled off the guard's helmet, making quick work of his right eyeball. That done, the lone figure moved swiftly and silently down the corridor the guard had come from.

Upon reaching the second of a line of three locked doors, the assassin held the eyeball up to the door's retinal scanner. With a series of soft beeps, the door slid open, admitting the thief into the vault. Rows and rows of small white safes lined the interior of the vault, but the thief experienced no confusion. This lawbreaker knew exactly where the coveted prize was: third row, four down, and five safes from the bottom.

On reaching the safe, the thief lifted yet another stolen item from a utility pouch: the severed hand of another security guard. Using the stiffening fingers of the now bloodless hand to enter a code into the touch pad beside the safe, the assassin was easily able to slide the reinforced door aside and reach for the relic inside. Little more than half a year ago, this small orb had brought the galaxy to the brink of chaos. Well, no sense in only doing something halfway.

"Yeah, don't think you want to be doing that, buddy," a male voice suddenly sounded in the thief's ear as a gun was pressed against the hood of the cloak. "I dunno who hired you for this job, but that little toy there is more dangerous than you probably realize. Whatever your boss is paying you, I promise it isn't worth it. Just put the orb back and walk away."

The thief only laughed at this. "Who do you think you're talking to?" a feminine voice sounded from the confines of the hood. It wasn't quite the voice of a woman, though…much too young.

"Who do you think you're talking to, sweetheart?" the man fired back, tone changing slightly. He always got a different attitude around women. Couldn't quite help it.

Again, she laughed. "I know who you believe yourself to be…Peter Quill: one time legendary outlaw, Nova Corp freelancer and lapdog, guardian of the galaxy. Star-Lord," she said derisively.

"There now, see?" he called to the vault at large, not quite backing away from her, but still waving his free arm through the air. "People do know the name."

"I would not recommend flirting with her, all the same, Peter," Gamora advised as she and Drax entered the vault. "She's murdered five guards already."

"Who are you working for, by the way, pretty lady?" Peter asked the thief, and whoever she was, she had a real penchant for laughing at him.

"You don't know I'm pretty. You haven't seen my face," she pointed out.

"That doesn't matter. All women are pretty in their way."

"Peter!" Gamora snapped at him.

"What? I'm just paying a compliment."

"For you, that's flirting. Back off."

"I'd listen to your friend if I were you, Quill. You're on extremely dangerous ground where I'm concerned. I have no love for swine with no care what hole their prick ends up in," the thief growled at him, tension bristling along her slender shoulders.

"Hey, that's not fair. I'm not like that," Quill tried to argue.

"Why is it we are discussing Star-Lord's sexual preferences?" Drax asked.

"Unfortunately, with Peter, everything seems to come back to sex," Gamora jibed.

"We really gonna do this now?"

"It's not as if we will do it when we're not in the middle of a fight."

"On the subject of doing it-"

"If it's all the same to you lot, I think I'll be going now," the assassin started as she began to walk away from Peter. Indignant, the former outlaw quickly re-aimed his gun.

"Hey, no! Come back here with that orb. I wasn't kidding when I said it was dangerous."

"I am aware of the Akasha's properties, Peter Quill. Likely even more aware than you are," she said, still facing away from him.

"Akasha?"

"You don't even know what it's called? Really? You risk your life for this and you don't know its proper name. Forgive me if I am somewhat less than intimidated by you."

"Whom do you work for?" Gamora demanded as she and Drax drew closer. "You may as well tell us. You might be able to slip past Quill, but you're not getting by either of us."

"You know who I work for, Gamora. You betrayed him not too long ago. Who else is worthy to possess the Akasha and its sisters?"

"Thanos," Gamora said softly. She should have known he would make a play for the orb at some point. She just hadn't thought it would be so soon.

"Just so," the assassin said as she slipped the orb into a pouch on her belt. Then she reached up to lower her hood. Her long black hair was pulled back into a tight braid and catlike ears extended out from her head, twitching with every movement. Her skin was black and even her eyes were catlike, amber with pupils so narrow they were little more than thin black lines. When she twisted her lips to sneer, Gamora could just make out a pair of sharp-looking fangs in her mouth. "I'm afraid you've been replaced with a superior model. Thanos has no use for creatures who are less than loyal."

"If you work for Thanos, cat creature, then we have no reason to spare your life!" Drax snarled at her. "All servants of Thanos must be destroyed!"

"Can we maybe get a name before Drax here rips your spine out?" Peter asked her. Slowly, she turned to face him.

"You want to know my name?"

"That would be the reason I-"

Before Peter could even get the words out, the thief had sprung across the distance between them, wicked-looking claws springing from her nail beds. Faster than a blink, all ten claws were buried in his gut.

"PETER!" Gamora screamed, but he wasn't quite sure he'd heard it. He was a little too focused on the stabbing pain in his mid section. When he looked down to see the claws buried in his body, he could see blood beginning to trickle from the wounds.

"The hell…didja do that for?" he mumbled faintly, trying to grab her wrists and failing.

"I have no name that will make any difference in your final moments, Peter Quill," she whispered to him as he fell to his knees. "But you may call me Black Arrow."

With that, Black Arrow retracted her claws, then shot them into his body one more time before shoving him to the floor and leaping onto one of the safe rows, running along the top and straight past Drax. Gamora was already running toward Peter.

"You fool," she scolded as she began to tear open his jacket and shirt, baring the ugly puncture wounds to the cold vault air. "I warned you not to flirt with her."

"Can't…always help it," he said, groaning in pain. Blood was trickling freely down his stomach. "Gotta say, though…kinda sad it takes something like this for you to finally rip my clothes off."

Gamora glared down at Peter, but there was still worry in her eyes. "I should just let you die for that," she snapped before turning her attention back to her comm device. "Dey, are you getting any of this?"

"No, the security feed's still out," the corpsman's voice came to her through her earpiece. "What's going on down there?"

"The target escaped with the orb. Drax is in pursuit. Quill's down, Dey. We need medical in here now!" she snapped at him, quickly slipping off her jacket and pressing it against the puncture wounds to try and stop the bleeding.

"Ow! Easy…nngh," Peter groaned, laying his hands on top of Gamora's. "That hurts."

"So you'd rather I let you bleed out?" she asked, pressing down harder.

"No, it's just…I'm not…sure if they can do anything," he said, his grip on her hands tightening, and when she looked into his eyes, she realized there was fear in them. "My intestines are pretty much a sack of fleshy ribbons."

"I know you aren't going to tell me you did not have that one coming. Having your guts spilled by an angry woman," she chastised him.

"Gam…really…" he said softly, reaching a hand up to touch her cheek. She turned her face away from him, though, not wanting him to see the fear growing in her eyes.

"I've told you how I feel about that name. We will have words later. Just don't move," she urged him.

"I'm sorry."

Gamora's attention was drawn back down at this. Had she really just heard Peter Quill…apologize?

"What?"

"I'm sorry…about the nickname. Can't help it. It's cute," he said, smiling faintly. Already, there was a trace of blood at his lips.

"I am not cute!" she snapped angrily, pressing down on Peter's chest as hard as she possibly could.

"No…sorry. You're right. You are…beautiful, though," he murmured, eyes slipping shut.

"Don't you dare die on me, Quill!" she snarled at him. "If you die now, I will not be able to punish you for that."

"Looking…looking…forward to it…" he whispered, voice trailing off.

"Come on!" Gamora shouted into the comm unit. "If someone does not get down here this instant, I am going to tear this place apart, block by block! You know I can do it!"

"Gam…I think…think I love you."

"Quill? Quill!"

XxX

Drax, meanwhile, had pursued Black Arrow down several corridors. True to her feline form, she was quick and light on her feet, but he was durable. He could run for days without tiring.

"You cannot run forever, slave of Thanos!"

At this, the assassin leapt into the air, spinning to face him as she landed in a battle-ready crouch.

"You'd be surprised, Destroyer."

"I am never surprised, cat thing. I am very observant," he insisted.

"We'll see about that," she hissed before flinging a dagger at him.

The weapon struck his shoulder, but the pain was little more than a mosquito bite to him. With a roar, he tore the knife from his skin and barreled toward her. Black Arrow easily ducked aside, evading each of his powerful blows. They went on like this for some time, until Drax managed to bash her arm against a wall, the bone snapping audibly as he wrapped his other hand around her throat. Strangely enough, Black Arrow's only sign of pain was a small wince. She didn't even reach up her good arm to attempt to free herself from the Destroyer's grasp.

"I shall make you pay for what you did to my friend," he snarled at her, his grip on her throat tightening. She didn't struggle for breath, though. She only sneered at him as she unhooked a small device from her belt and tossed it to the center of the corridor. When it made contact with the floor, several tendrils of green energy sparked out of the device, scouring the corridor. Then the power went dead.

"What is this?" Drax tried to ask, but the only answer he received was a gouge across the face from her claws, nearly destroying his eyes. All it took was a moment of slackened grip for her to be able to slip away from him. He blundered blindly after her for several minutes, bellowing in rage, but even if there had been light, he wouldn't have been able to see through his ruined eyes anyway. Black Arrow had left him far behind in only moments.

The young woman's catlike eyes afforded her perfect vision in the darkened corridors. It didn't take her long to reach the exit that led out to the ship docks. Just as she was about to reach the doors, though, yet another voice stopped her.

"Don't think ya wanna be walkin' out those doors, kitten. See, you mighta just killed a dear pal a' ours, and that don't sit too well with me'n the big guy here."

"I am Groot."

"Well, isn't that just wonderful for you," she said, sighing as she turned to face the last two members of the Guardians – a tree and a raccoon, both far more human than they had any right to be.

Rocket was perched on Groot's shoulder, casually aiming a bazooka nearly as big as he was at her. Bioluminescent spores were beginning to drift up from Groot's body, lighting up the darkened exit hallway.

"I am gonna kill you, just so yous know. Even if Quill pulls through, ain't gonna be no livin' wit' him, bitchin' and moanin' 'bout how hurt he is. 'Fore I do, though…that was a sweet trick you pulled wit' the power spike. Mind tellin' me how you did it?" he asked, priming the bazooka to fire. "Be a real shame for a trick like that to be lost to posterity."

"It's none of your affair, rodent," she snapped at him, though the insult was more for Groot than for Rocket. She knew it was dangerous to upset the Flora Colossus, but it was a risk she was willing to take just now.

Indeed, the tree creature did not disappoint. He let out a warning sort of growling sound.

"I am Groot!"

"Ah, hell no, big guy. This one's mine!" Rocket snarled, firing off several rounds with the huge gun. Black Arrow sidestepped each shot, leading the raccoon's fire in a very precise pattern…right up until she stepped clear of the security door, Rocket's latest shot blowing it clean away.

"Thank you for your cooperation, little rat," she said with a sneer, nodding her head before moving to duck out of the now gaping hole in the wall.

"Why…you…GAAARGH!" Rocket's voice devolved into a wounded bellow of anger as he launched himself at the fleeing thief, flinging the bazooka aside. The moment he latched onto her, he was everywhere, biting and clawing. When he managed to get in a particularly nasty bite on her ear, she seized him in her good hand and flung him as hard as she could against the far wall.

Rocket's tiny body hit the wall with an unnerving crack…and when he fell to the floor and did not get up, Groot looked stricken.

"I am…Groot?"

Nothing. If Groot didn't possess such a strong connection to the little raccoon, he wouldn't have even been certain he was still breathing.

"Serves the little vermin right," Black Arrow taunted. It was not out of ignorance for what the Flora Colossus could do to her. The jibe was very deliberate.

But Groot had no way of knowing that.

"I AM GROOT!" the enraged creature bellowed. He came at Black Arrow like a battering ram, but she was already gone, running out of the building and down the ramp into the docking bay, where a small ship was already powered up for a quick getaway.

Groot was on Black Arrow before she could make the ship, though. He seized her much smaller body in his massive hands, taking hold of her broken arm and beginning to twist.

Unfortunately, Black Arrow wasn't the only danger. Barely conscious, Rocket had crawled to the top of the ramp just in time to see the ship unleash a jet of flame straight at his partner.

"GROOT!" the raccoon screamed, but the sound didn't carry over Groot's own maddened bellowing. Roaring in both pain and anger, the Flora Colossus continued to twist at Black Arrow's arm until it tore completely free of her body, a spray of crimson blood arcing through the air as Groot's bark continued to roast in the wave of fire.

Ignoring the fact that he was on fire, Groot threw the assassin to the ground, seemingly meaning to crush her beneath his massive feet. She was screaming in agony by this point, bleeding out and singed from the fire, but even this magnitude of suffering was not enough for the Flora Colossus. He meant to destroy Black Arrow…to grind her down until not even an atom of her remained. Sadly, that wasn't to be so.

The moment the ship ceased firing its flamethrower, two harpoon guns were fired, each projectile sinking into Groot's chest with a resounding thunk. Already badly injured from the fire, the Flora Colossus could do nothing but swipe feebly at the steel cables that attached the two harpoons to the ship. Almost immediately, they began to pull him in.

"No…Groot…no…" Rocket groaned in pain and desperation, trying to drag himself forward with only one arm and gaining barely half an inch. The last he saw of Groot before he was pulled completely onto the ship was the look of anger and anguish on his half-burnt face.

A man appeared on the ship's exit ramp then, quickly coming out to gather up Black Arrow.

"Let 'im…go…you bastards!" Rocket growled, his demand made somewhat less threatening by how badly injured he was.

The man glanced at him briefly, shaking his head and laughing. His skin was just as black as his comrade's, save for a strange pair of white slash marks on his face.

"And here I thought I'd seen everything. Now these outer space dip shits have talking pets," he taunted, still laughing as he carried Black Arrow onto the ship.

"No…dammit…Groot…no!" he snarled, continuing to drag himself forward, despite the futility of his situation. He didn't have much left in him.

He began to hear voices from somewhere far away, but he couldn't focus on them. All he could think about was Groot. What were those sons of bitches going to do to him?

"I'll kill ya. I'll kill ya. I'll kill ya. I'll kill ya," he snarled over and over again as the world went dark around him. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness completely was the bold red lettering on the fleeing ship's hull that proclaimed her the Rose Red.

XxX

Gamora paced anxiously outside the operating theatre, where a team of medics was working to repair the damage that had been done to Peter's body. Whatever the other half of his parentage was, Gamora silently thanked whatever gods there were for it. That heritage was probably the only reason he was still alive.

While one team was working to save Peter, another was seeing to Drax and Rocket. Drax's eyes had been almost completely obliterated by Black Arrow's attack, but he would definitely make a full recovery with his accelerated healing. Rocket was worse off, with a broken shoulder and a bad concussion. Three of them down and Groot captured...taken prisoner by a merciless warlord. She really didn't want to see how Rocket would react when he finally regained consciousness.

As the last of the guardians standing, she wasn't sure what to do. At the current moment, all she could concern herself with was her worry for Peter. If he really left her on that note...

Damn it, Peter, if you do not wake up right this minute and tell me it was all some hideous joke, I swear I will murder you!

They'd tried to convince her to remain in the waiting room, but she was not going to leave this spot until she knew, one way or the other.

The real trouble in all this was that she did feel something for Peter...only she didn't know if she should let herself. She hadn't known from real feeling in such a long time and everything with the guardians was so new and unexplainable...and Peter...was anything with him real...or was it all just the hip sorcery?

Damn you, Peter Quill. If you die...if you die, I...

XxX

(A/N) So whatcha think? Any interest in finding out what happens next?