Here is the second chapter! You finally get to meet the Guardians! Please review! :)
Nova Prime entered her pin, performed the retinal scan, and spoke her voice ID, and then strode into the vault that housed the Orb. She saluted her guardsmen and stood at attention.
"I must take the Orb to our scientists for further testing. They trusted only me with its transportation. Remain here until I return it." She commanded.
The guardsmen nodded. Nova Prime then removed the Orb from the safe and left without another word.
...
Nova Prime was busy reviewing the applications for recruits in her office. As leader of the Nova Core on Xandar, it was her job to choose the new soldiers that would serve under her command. A knock at her door tore her from reading.
"Come in." she stated, and continued sifting through the holograms. "Ah, Corpsmen Dey. What can I do for you?"
He rubbed his hands together nervously. "There was chatter among the guardsmen, who were curious as to why you transported the Orb to the scientists without usual documented clearance. They weren't sure how to record the transaction in their archives...I figured I could just ask you when you removed it for the records." Dey stated.
Nova Prime froze. "I didn't." She replied, an acrid lump of fear rising in her throat.
...
Lady Sif was enjoying the Asgardian night sky on her balcony. She loved to survey the stars and constellations that dotted the heavens. Fandral came and joined her, leaning against the wall.
"It is beautiful." He commented.
Lady Sif nodded. "Yes, it is very beautiful. Life has been quite calm for us as of late, hasn't it?"
Fandral chuckled. "I agree. I have not plunged my sword through an adversary in a long while. Perhaps we travel to a distant land and see what comes to greet us?" He suggest with a raise of his eyebrow.
Lady Sif laughed. "Always looking for trouble, aren't we?"
Hogun joined his comrades on the balcony with a confused look on his face. "Lady Sif? I wish to know why you removed the Cosmic Cube from Odin's vault?"
She immediately unsheathed her sword. "I did no such thing." She answered, eyes intense. "Hurry! The Nine Realms are at stake!" She shouted, and ran towards the vault with Fandral and Hogun in tow.
...
The sound of breaking glass woke The Collector. He shot up from his bed and ran into his hall. He fearfully looked around his vast collection of intergalactic artifacts.
He found Cosmo the dog pacing and wagging his tail in the display. "Why didn't you bark?!" he screamed. Cosmo simply whined and looked confused, frantically looking between the broken window and the Collector.
Frantically searching his relics for damage, he turned and noticed one was missing.
"Oh no..." He murmured. "Not the Aether..."
"I hate meetings..." Rocket complained, and tugged at his fur.
"I doubt that you've ever been to one in your entire life!" Gamora shot back while irritably tapping her foot.
You could say that the group was a little on edge. They had received a demand from the Nova Corps to immediately report to headquarters, and they weren't too happy about it. They had been enjoying their time simply flying around in space. Now, they were stuck sitting in a foyer.
"Greetings, Guardians." Nova Prime said and as strode up to the group. "Thank you for coming on such short notice. Please come with me. There is much to speak about." she turned and briskly walked away.
"She seems troubled." Drax commented as they stood and followed her.
"I am Groot." he said, and nervously cracked his shoulders.
"I agree. It must be something big. Which, isn't good." Rocket replied.
...
"THANOS HAS FIVE INFINITY STONES?!" The Guardians shouted. Except for Groot of course. They were standing in a line in front of Nova Prime's desk.
She put her hand up, anger and frustration barely contained. "Somehow, the Tesseract, Aether, and Power Stone were all stolen from their safeguards and we hadn't known the whereabouts of the other two until we heard that Thanos had found them! Whomever stole them was able to bypass our security, Asgard's, and The Collector's."
"How is that even possible?" Drax asked.
"The thieves were able to shapeshift. Into perfect copies of myself, Lady Sif of Asgard, and The Collector. Even genetically- our Vault accepted all my scans, so we know this isn't simple shape shifting." She explained.
"Well, who do we know can do that?" Peter asked.
"The Skrulls." Nova Prime stated.
"Hey Rocket? Are we any closer to finding the stone?" Peter asked, while rewinding the Awesome Mix 1. It was only the seventh time he had asked in the last half hour, which was actually quite an improvement.
"I told you I'm working on it!" Rocket replied, his whiskers twitching angrily. He continued adjusting the tracker that was sweeping the galaxy for any signs of the yellow stone. "We're talking 'bout searching the entire Milky Way..."
"It will be alright, Quill. Like you say, go with the flow?" Drax said, trying his hand at metaphors again. He had been practicing, but the figurative words still felt foreign in his mouth and came out sounding more like a question than a statement. But hey, he didn't ask about the "flow's destination" or why he had to follow it.
Peter chuckled. "Yeah, go with the flow." He pressed play and Hooked On a Feeling began filling the main area of the ship.
"Groot? Will you please pass me the screwdriver?" Gamora asked. She was busy making adjustments to her weapons next to Drax, who was sharpening his knives.
Groot passed her the screwdriver with a smile. "Thank you." She said, smiling slightly back at him.
"I am Groot..." He replied and beamed. After a moment, he began pruning some stray leaves off of his shoulders by eating them. Drax smiled a bit at his strange friend. The Guardians certainly had grown closer in the year of their exploration and defense of the galaxy.
Suddenly, Rocket's holograms began flashing and an alarm was heard throughout the Milano. Everyone looked at Rocket expectantly.
"Looks like we found it!" Rocket exclaimed, then frowned. "Crap. Uh, you're probably not gonna like this, Quill..." Rocket added.