Chapter 13

Headknocker

Consciousness came to the War Doctor slowly as he felt himself being dragged and then hoisted from ground with a grunt. He opened his eyes slowly, his eyes focusing a sea of red leather…Oh he was being carried by Quill wasn't he?

"Peter?" He felt his charge stiffen at his name. Perhaps he hadn't expected him to be so cognizant after being slammed to the wall. But then he'd…wait how had he survived? The amount force that slammed into the said wall was enough to break someone's neck, even his own body would be hard pressed to withstand that kind of damage…

As he became more aware of his surroundings he slowly and painfully looked around and soon looked down at his hand. It was then that he noticed a subtle flicker of golden energy growing from his finger tips to his arm. Oh no, he was regenerating or at least in the starting stages it would seem. Well that explained how he survived, he hadn't and now his body was readying to change.

"Are you alright, Gramps?"

"Yeah I will be," he sighed as he felt Peter let go of him allowing to stand on albeit shaky limbs. Curious he looked back to the Collectors house only to see that the Infinity Stone had done a number upon the building and from the looks of it several buildings adjacent to it as well. What was once a grand estate now looked like a bombed out building. As he gazed at the damage he soon heard an argument going on that was slowly but surely gaining his attention. He looked back at his erstwhile business associates only to see them arguing over the Stone which was now encased.

"You still have that thing?!" Rocket bellowed pointing to the encased stone that Peter was holding. "After what that thing did, you still have it? Chuck that Stone into the nearest star and get that thing away from me."

"We can't," Gamora replied shaking her head. "Nor can we allow Ronan to have it. He'll destroy Xandar."

"Why do you care? What's the universe done for you?"

"Maybe because we all live in this freaking universe," Peter rebutted glaring at Rocket before turning his gaze to him. "Gramps what do you think?"

"I'm with Gamora," he said he noticed Peter looked mildly disappointed with answer. "We can't let him have this kind of power. He'd be just as bad as the Sontarans."

"Most likely he'll be like the Daleks," Gamora added with a shiver as she grabbed the stone from Quill's grasp.

"Okay we could get rid of this thing, or maybe we could sell this to someone that won't try to kill us," Peter pipped in as he gently grabbed the item back from her.

"You're despicable," Gamora huffed as she glared at him,

"Oh no way no," Rocket waved his hands in their direction. "There's no way that I'm,"

Whatever he was planning on saying was soon drowned out by the hum of ships coming down onto Knowhere with hiss and Drax greeting them with drawn blades while laughing manically…Wait what?!

"You sold us out!" Peter barked disbelieving. "Did you just seriously sell us out?"

The War Doctor groaned and placed his face into his hands. He was getting to old for this sort of thing or at least now was certainly not the time for this kind of nonsense. What he should be doing instead of this would be resting or preparing before the fireworks of regeneration kicked in. But nope, it would seem that he just had the misfortune of having this sodding moron just calling in a fleet to get a stone of infinity power all for the sake of revenge. In other words, it was typical day it would seem. It was indeed a pity that he didn't have either Leela or Ace to call upon for help but he knew Peter would do in this situation even if he wasn't sure about the others capability or loyalty for that matter.

"Right," he muttered getting the remaining beings attention. "We need to get away and fast. We can't let them have the stone."

"I am Groot," the tree being said, speaking up for the first time in the conversation. He pointed away from the incoming ships and towards a busy intersection that was rapidly clearing out. "I am Groot."

"What…."

"Looks like Gamora's got you guys covered," Rocket commented as he looked in the direction and noticed that not only Gamora had grabbed the Orb but also was taking off with one the shuttlecrafts intended for mining. Groaning Peter, Rocket and Groot followed her leaving him alone with the nutcase and Ronan from the looks of it as his accomplice, a blue skinned alien woman, cursed and seemingly flew off in pursuit of Gamora with some of the henchmen.

"Ronan," Drax bellowed with an almost Zen like glee. "Now you will pay for what you've done to my family!"

The War Doctor held back a retort of don't be a bloody tit but instead decided to see if he could sneak back to the ship take off so he could catch up with Peter. After all he couldn't interfere not with regeneration coming on like this. As he began to sneak he turned back to watch only to see that Drax was being continually knocked down and thrown about. Groaning the War Doctor turned around and walked towards the combatants with a slightly disgruntled huff.

"Oh for pity's sake," the War Doctor groaned as he walked up to the fight causing Ronan to look up with confusion. "Must I clean up everyone's mess?"

Ronan paused in his beating of Drax when he noticed the War Doctor's approach. He looked at him curiously as well as arrogantly, not the War Doctor cared he just wanted the prat to go away and let him regenerate in peace. And also get off this rock with Peter.

"Do you have a grievance with me as well?"

"Grievance?" The War Doctor blinked owlishly at the Accuser. "Seriously? Who says grievance anymore aside from pompous tossers?"

"Are you making a mockery of me?" Ronan bellowed now looking slightly angry. Good, the angrier he got the more likely the nutter would make a mistake.

"Me?" The War Doctor pointed to himself with a smirk. "There's no need for me to do that since your archaic speak does that for you. Saves me time you see, thinking something clever to say against you."

Ronan growled and launched himself at the Doctor only for him to dodge the attempt with almost contemptuous ease. Ah so he was getting speed back with the new body on the way, that was good that meant that the regeneration was going along smoothly. Annoyed Ronan again launched to War Doctor only this time Drax stepped in the middle and began fighting Ronan again only to be knocked down…again.

"You know for someone called the Destroyer, you sure are rubbish at destroying things you know," the War Doctor commented. Ronan stared at him as his gaze turned from the drunken Harry Sullivan wannabe and back to the main threat namely him.

"Who are you?" Ronan growled as he readied himself for another attack.

"The Warlock," the War Doctor said with a smirk. "Or the Oncoming Storm if you prefer."

"The Warlock?"

"Or Sorcerer, or Magician or, and this one's a winner, a daft old man who's kicking your arse."

A snarl of annoyance sounded through Ronan's throat only to be cut off by Drax trying again to gain an upper hand in the fight. Sighing with annoyance the War Doctor joined the fray if only to keep Drax from getting the snot knocked out of him and allowing for Peter and the others to get out. Both of them combined lasted for a few minutes. The War Doctor lasted a few minutes before a combination of Ronan landing a hit and Drax constantly getting in the middle knocked him down knocking him out for the second time that day.

Bollocks, he grumbled as he lost consciousness again…