Chapter 23

The Expansion

"Now, you need to readjust the way you process life," Ego explained to his daughter as they walked back to the lobby where they first came from. " Everything around us, including the boy or the girl… Everything is temporary. We are forever.

"Doesn't eternity get boring?" Peyton asked.

"Not if you have a purpose, Peyton… which is why you're here. I told you how all those years ago… I had an unceasing impulse to find life. But what I did not tell you was how, when I finally did find it… it was all so… disappointing."

Peyton looked at her dad, not expecting that response.

"And that is when I came… to a profound realization. My innate desire to seek out other life… was not so that I could walk among that life. Peyton… I have found meaning." He touched onto Peyton's forehead and suddenly, Peyton's eyes immediately went to a starry black color. She gasped and saw what her father meant.

"I see it." Peyton said in awe. "Eternity!"

MEANWHILE…In the caverns of Ego…

Gamora and Nebula were staring in horror as they came across a cavern and a pile of skeletons from other children.

"Oh my god," Gamora said, and saw light shine from within the lines. Nebula, even though she had killed many, had never felt so disgusted in her entire life.

"We need to get off this planet," Nebula said.

The Eclector

Finally, Rocket, Yondu, Groot and Kraglin made it to Ego's planet and returned to their normal shapes. Groot threw up as soon as Rocket and Yondu landed on their hands and knees. He looked at Rocket.

"What the hell you doing, boy?" Yondu snapped.

"I could tell by how you talked about him…" Rocket said. "This Ego is bad news. We're here to save your daughter."

"For what? Huh? For honor? For love?" Yondu said. He had enough. He just had to break through Rocket's core. Both of them where there to save Peyton, and Yondu knew that was why Rocket was so urgent to save them.

"No. I don't care about those things. I wanna save Peyton so I can prove I'm better than her! I can lord this over her forever.

Yondu began laughing hard as he got back up on his feet.

"What are you laughing at me for?" Rocket asked.

"You can fool yourself and everyone else, but you can't fool me," Yondu snapped. "I know who you are."

"You don't know anything about me loser," sneered Rocket.

"I know everything about you," Yondu continued. "I know you play like you're the meanest in the heart but actually you're the most scared of all."

"Shut-up!"

"I know you steal batteries you don't need and you push away anyone who's willing to put up with you because just a little bit of love reminds you of how big and empty that hole inside you actually is."

"I said shut-up!"

"I know them scientist what made you never gave a rat's ass about you."

"I'm serious dude!"

"Just like my own damn parents who sold me, their own little baby to slavery. Why do you think I have protected Peyton for ten years? To spare her the same fate as me, as an orphan! to spare her from being cold-hearted as me! I wanted to be a better dad for her than her biological father and spare her the fate that had befallen around her other half-siblings!" Yondu said. "I know who you are boy, because you're me."

"What kind of a pair are we?" Rocket asked.

"The kind that's about to fight a planet I reckon." Yondu answered.

"Alright, okay, good that's...wait, fight a what?" Rocket asked concerned.

Gamora was pissed. She had to find the woman she loved and they had to get out of there now. She just needed to know who these people were and what would happen to Peyton. She found Mantis near Drax and picked Mantis up by her throat and pressed her against the wall.

"WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!" Gamora screamed.

"Gamora, let her go!" Drax shouted.

"Those bodies in the caverns, WHO ARE THEY!?" Gamora roared. "What are you doing to Peyton?!"

"You're scared," Mantis said

"I call it the Expansion." Ego explained to her. Peyton looked around, still hypnotized, as the planets of the universe were displayed. "It is my purpose… and now it is yours as well.

"It's beautiful." Peyton said.

"Over thousands of years… I implanted thousands of extensions of myself… on thousands of worlds. I need to fulfill life's one true purpose… To grow and spread… covering all that exists… until everything is… Me!"

Meanwhile, Gamora grabbed onto her wrist, still scared to death out of her.

"What did she do to me?" Gamora asked.

"She already told me everything." Drax said. Gamora looked at Drax scared.

In the other room, Ego was still manipulating Peyton.

"I only had one problem," Ego continued. "A single Celestial doesn't have enough power for such an enterprise. But two Celestials… Well, now, that just might do."

Meanwhile, Mantis got up from her spot and looked at Gamora.

"The bodies in the Cavern are his children," Mantis answered.

Gamora looked at Mantis in horror. That meant that if those were Ego's children, it meant that Peyton was in more danger than she thought she was.

Peyton is still being manipulated by Peyton.

"Out of all my labors… the most beguiling was… attempting to graft my DNA with that of another species," Ego continued.

I hoped the result of such a coupling would be enough… to power the Expansion. I had your adoptive father deliver some of them to me. It broke the Ravager code, but I compensated him generously… and to ease his conscience, I said I'd never hurt them. I mean, that was true. They never felt a thing. But one after the other, they failed me. Not one of them carried the Celestial genes. Until you, Peyton. Out of all my spawn… only you carried the connection to the light."

"We have to find Peyton and we have to get out of here," Gamora said to the other Guardians.

"Ego would have her on his side by now," Mantis said.

"Then let's just take off," Nebula said.

"No," Gamora said. "She's our friend." (Gamora thought, My first friend)

"All you do is yell at each other," Nebula said. "You're not friends."

"No, we're not. We're family. We leave no one behind," Drax said. Gamora smiled at his nobility. He looked at Nebula. "Well except for you."

"Oh god," Nebula muttered.

"For the first time in my existence… I am truly not alone!" Ego shouted.

He noticed Peyton's face falter.

"What is it, dear?"

"My friends." Peyton answered sadly. Ego nodded in understanding.

"You see, that's the mortal in you, Peyton. We are beyond such things."

"Yes." Peyton said sadly.

"Now…"

"But my mother…"

"You said you loved my mother."

"And that I did. My river lily who knew all the words to every song that came over the radio. I returned to Earth to see her three times. And I knew if I returned a fourth… I'd never leave. The Expansion… the reason for my very existence, would be over. So, I did what I had to do. But it broke my heart to put that tumor in her head."

Peyton's starry black eyes retreated back to their normal green eyes, and her eyes went colder than they normally were.

"What?" Peyton said outraged.

"Now, all right… I know that sounds bad," Ego said. Peyton grew outraged and began firing at him. Ego stopped, looking surprised at Peyton. His human body was destroyed and most of it replaced by blue lights of like hologram. "Who in the hell do you think you are?"

" You killed my mom!" Peyton shouted.

"I tried… so hard… to find the form… that best suited you… and this is the thanks I get?" Ego said. "How dare you shoot your own father Peyton!"

"No! You're not my father. A father cares about his children, and does not go around killing their children's mother!" Peyton yelled.

"You really need to grow up!" Ego shouted. "I wanted to do this together… but I suppose you'll have to learn by spending the next thousand years as a battery!"

Peyton looked behind her and saw blue light get sent through her chest and lift her up on the ground.