A/N: BEFORE YOU READ THIS! From here and on there will be SPOILERS for Guardians 2. You have been warned!
Planet Sovereign was almost completely structured in gold. If an object wasn't made of gold, it was made of a similar metal in various colors. The Guardians stood on a large, circular platform where the batteries were located. Metallic, cylinder-shaped objects held the batteries that they were supposed to be protecting. They looked like bright, yellow glow sticks. The metallic objects were wired up to large, semi-spherical energy generators that reflected bright lights off the ground.
Peter, Gamora and Rocket were all wearing the enhanced aero-rigs that Rocket had been working on the whole ride there. Peter pulled out a tracker that the raccoon had made from his old, handheld electronic football game. Several dots, that sensed each of the Guardians' body heat, tracked their every movement as another dot appeared, slowly making its way towards theirs. The moving spot sensed the body heat of the inter-dimensional beast that was coming at its accustomed time to feed.
"Showtime, Assholes!" Peter yelled, keeping his focus towards the direction of the approaching Abilisk.
The petite child next to him, who was clad in white leggings, a navy blue, long-sleeved blouse and black sneakers, scrunched up her face at him. She crossed her arms over her chest, mimicking Gamora's frequent pose. "Peter," She singsonged. "That's not a nice word."
Drax and Gamora snickered as their leader sighed. "Okay, fine." He played along. "Showtime, A-holes!" The man looked back at the tracking device. "He'll be here any minute."
"Which will be his loss..." Gamora cocked the large gun she had brought with, attracting the attention of both Peter and Maia. The young girl chortled at her mother figure look like a total badass.
Peter kept shifting his eyesight between Gamora and her gun. "I thought your thing was a sword."
The woman rolled her eyes at her leader. "We're hired to stop an inter-dimensional beast from feeding on those batteries-" She glanced at the batteries and returned her glare to Peter. "And I'm gonna stop it with a sword?"
The man looked away, slightly embarrassed. "It's just swords were your thing and guns were mine, but...I guess we're both doing guns now...I just didn't know that." He pressed his lips together as Gamora rolled her eyes once again. Maia chuckled.
Gamora turned her focus towards the musclebound man standing next to her. "Drax," He quickly looked over at her. "Why aren't you wearing one of Rocket's aero-rigs?" She asked, gesturing to her own.
"It hurts." He replied, casually turning back around.
"It hurts?" The woman questioned, raising her eyebrows in disbelief.
Drax glanced back at her and quickly turned away. "I have sensitive nipples..." He admitted, embarrassed.
The young girl in front of him, tried to hold back a laugh, her shoulders raising up to hers ears. Rocket couldn't help, but to belt out a laugh. He stood up from what he was doing and turned to his teammates. "My nipples hurt! Oh goodness, me!" He teased, while laughing hysterically and gesturing towards his own. Maia couldn't help, but join in, earning a light smack upside the head from Peter. She immediately stopped as they both turned to the raccoon, who was now in tears from laughing so hard.
The tattooed man pointed at Rocket. "What about him?! What's he doing?!"
Rocket gestured to the speakers that Maia used to play the music from before her universal tuner had bit the dust. The raccoon had modified it to connect to Peter's Walk-Man. Maia had knelt down beside him, studying the speakers. "I'm finishing this, so we can listen to tunes while we work."
"Will it even work?" The child beside him asked. Rocket shrugged his shoulders.
"How is that a priority?" Drax looked at him with an expressionless face.
The raccoon gestured to his leader. "Blame Quill! He's the one who loves music so much!"
"No, I agree with Drax on this one." Peter countered, interrupting Rocket. "That's hardly important right now." Gamora rolled her eyes in disbelief.
"Oh, okay. Sure, Quill." Rocket winked at him, oblivious to the fact that he was supposed to do it when Drax wasn't aware.
"No," Their leader said firmly. "Seriously, I side with Drax."
Rocket continued winking. "No, I understand that. You're being very serious right now." The young girl beside him started to giggle again.
Drax looked at him in disbelief, holding his hands out in front of him. "I can clearly see you winking!"
"Damn, I'm using my left eye?"
Groot, completely oblivious to the whole conversation, chased three Orloni around the platform. As soon as they ran back towards the rest of the Guardians, the toddler pushed one of them and punched another, angrily. "I am Groot!" He growled, stomping his foot.
The raccoon continued to work on the speakers. "They were not looking at you funny." He explained.
Suddenly, the clouds in the sky went from a dark black to several shades of green, blue and pink. A large, tentacled creature entered through them, escalating down towards the Guardians. It was salmon pink and had hundreds of razor sharp teeth. Maia quickly hid behind Gamora. The woman knelt down in front of her.
"Well, that's intense." Rocket stated, not taking his eyes off of the beast before him.
"Hey," The emerald woman said, looking up at the frightened child. "I know it's scary-looking, but he won't hurt you. I promise." Maia nodded, clearly still afraid of the large monster. Even though she had the intelligence of the average young adult, the young girl still had the mentality of a child. She was still frightened of things that an average child would be afraid of: monsters, the dark, etc. Gamora understood that. She also understood how much the young girl had been through since she was born. However, she wanted Maia to be a stronger person. She couldn't force Maia to be fearless, but she knew, deep down, the child was a warrior; a brave, selfless warrior, who would protect the people she loved with her life. Gamora smiled softly at her. "Can you be brave and watch over Groot for us?" The little girl returned the gesture and nodded. "There's my brave, little warrior."
Peter heard the last sentence and quickly turned his head towards her. He remembered the story she told him when they first started opening up to each other;'he always used to call me his little warrior.' He smiled a little at the thought of Gamora using her father's pet name for her on Maia. Her little warrior. Their little warrior. Maia was significantly connected to each of the Guardians in different ways: Gamora was her mother, Peter was her father, Drax was her uncle, Rocket was her cranky older brother and Groot was her adorable little brother. He quickly turned his attention back to the Abilisk. Gamora's soft expression turned serious as she stood up.
Drax unsheathed his daggers from his boots and stood in front of the beast. He let out a battle cry and ran towards it. Gamora, Rocket and Peter all took off behind him on their aero-rigs.
Maia watched in concern as they all charged towards it. She looked beside her to see Groot struggling to connect the two wires of the speakers together. She knelt down next to him and smiled. "You need help, buddy?" She asked, holding out her hands. The tree shook his head and managed to connect them as the speakers produced sound. The opening instrumental of Mr. Blue Sky filled throughout the battle.
The small tree started swaying his hips to the beat. Maia joined him, spinning around in circles. While Groot was doing his adorable baby dance, Maia was practicing the moves to a dance Peter calls the 'Charleston'. She started practicing small kicks and spins. When the girl wasn't looking, Groot moved towards the battle, discovering a light on the ground and started dancing on it.
Peter was knocked to the ground by a tentacle. He shot at the huge beast, staring at the tree beside him. He stumbled as he got up and wiped sweat off of his forehead. "Maia, get Gro-" His sentence was cut off as another tentacle smacked him across the platform.
Maia heard Peter and stopped dancing. She saw Groot near the dangerous beast and ran to him. She quickly picked him up and moved him out of harms way. "No, Grootie." She scolded adorably. She lightened up and smiled at the small tree. She grabbed his tiny hand and spun him. They continued dancing on their own, Maia occasionally looking at Groot to make sure he wasn't near the Abilisk. The two children accidentally moved closer to the battle, their backs towards the action.
Gamora lowered herself onto the ground. She aimed her large blaster at the beast, but before she could fire at it, the beast spat colorful flames towards her. She covered her face with her arm and glanced over at the two children. "Groot! Maia!" She hollered. The two quickly whipped around. "Get out of the way! You guys are gonna get hurt!" Maia picked Groot up and moved back. The little tree waved at Gamora. She smiled at them. "Hi!" Maia returned the gesture as the woman flew back in the air.
She set Groot on the ground. "Grootie," She started out sternly. "I told you to stay away from there."
"I am Groot!" He countered.
"I know, I know! I wasn't paying attention either..." Maia started watching the Guardians finish their battle. Groot, still completely oblivious to the battle, started dancing again. Drax got thrown across the platform and landed behind Groot. Maia gasped, asking if he was okay. The man nodded and looked at the tree in front of him. Groot sensed a pair of eyes land on him and stopped dancing. Every time Drax looked away, Groot started dancing again, forcing Maia to giggle. The young girl watched as he finally brushed it off and ran back towards the Abilisk.
As soon as Maia took her eyes off of Groot, the little tree saw a fly-like created and chased it. He caught up with it and put it in his mouth. Rocket glanced over at him and rolled his eyes. He landed behind the toddler, placing holstering his blaster on his back. "No, no, no! Spit it out! Spit it out! Come on-" He smacked the back off Groot's head, causing the creature to fly away. Rocket turned his attention to Maia. "Hey, brat! You're supposed to be keeping an eye on Groot!" The girl ran over apologizing. He shook his head as he flew back off. "Disgusting!"
"Grootie," The young girl started off in a small whine. She watched Rocket begin to fight the beast again. "Why can't you just-" She turned around to no Groot. "Stay still..." She whipped her head around the entire platform and saw him holding on for dear life on the back of an Orloni. "Grootie!" She yelled out. The creature ran around the platform, through the battle and made its way back towards Maia, throwing Groot off its back. The little girl ran over to him, as he brushed himself off and started dancing again. She sighed in relief and clenched her chest.
The Abilisk threw Drax again. The musclebound man landed on top of the speakers, crushing them with his entire weight. Groot turned around as music stopped. He screamed and started whipping Drax as he began to sit up. Maia tried to grab the tree, so he would stop smacking Drax, but she failed. He finally stopped when Drax stood to the side of Gamora. She was firing blasts at the beast. Her eyes got wide when she realized how close Maia and Groot were to the battle.
"You two, move out of the way! You're too close!" She yelled to them. Maia nodded, grabbed Groot and ran further away from the battle.
She aimed at the beast again. "The beast's hide is too thick to be pierced on the outside...I must cut through it from the inside!"
"Huh?" Gamora lowered her weapon and whipped her head towards Drax. "No,no,no. Drax! Wait a minute!" Drax laughed like the maniac he was and charged at the Abilisk. "Drax!" Gamora yelled even louder. The large man ignored her and jumped into the mouth of the beast.
"Drax!" Maia screamed out with nothing, but concern in her eyes. She tightened her grip on Groot.
Out of the corner of his eye, Peter saw the Abilisk close its mouth with Drax inside. He dematerialized his mask and shock spread throughout his face. "What is he doing?!" He lowered himself next to Gamora.
She was a mix of anger and concern. She tightened her grip on the large gun in her hands. "He said the skin is too thick to be pierced from the outside-"
Peter looked at her in confusion. "What? That doesn't make any sense-"
The emerald woman gesticulated towards the beast. "I tried telling him that-" She yelled in exasperation.
"The skin has the same level of thickness from the inside as it does on the outside!"
"I realize that." Gamora glared at him.
"Guys!" Maia yelled from the side, gaining the attention of the two Guardians. "Stop fighting! Drax needs your help!"
Peter nodded. "She's right." He loaded his quad blaster, looking at Gamora. "There's a cut on its neck." He explained. "Rocket! Get it to look up!" He pressed the button on his earpiece and ascended from the ground as his mask materialized over his face.
Maia and Groot watched Rocket and Peter shoot at it from above as Gamora aimed her blaster. When the timing was right, she pulled the trigger. However, she ran out of ammo. She threw the blaster to the side and unsheathed her Godslayer. She charged at the beast, while Rocket and Peter were still distracting it. The woman scaled up its tentacles and lunged herself at the cut with her sword in front of her. The sword went straight through the cut and slid the rest of the way down with Gamora attached to it. Yellow ooze gushed out of the cut as she landed swiftly to her feet. The Abilisk let out a loud cry as it fell to the ground. Gamora retracted the blade and sheathed it.
Maia ran over to her with Groot on her shoulder. The tiny tree climbed hopped off and stood next to Gamora. "Is it dead?" The little girl tapped the beast with her foot. "Yup! Woohoo!" She jumped up and down in excitement. "You guys did it!" Gamora gave her a soft smile.
Drax pushed his way out of the beast's cut as Rocket and Peter descended to the ground. Peter removed his mask as Drax began to laugh loudly. "Yes!" He held up both of his daggers. "I have single-handedly vanquished the beast!" He continued to laugh as Gamora crossed her arms. Groot scrunched up his face and threw a pebble at Drax. "What?" He asked brainlessly, lowering his arms.
Next Chapter: The Guardians finally retrieve their reward from the Sovereign for slaying the Abilisk. Before they leave, the high priestess questions Peter and Maia about their heritage.