Now in the second year of the post-Snap universe, Rocket and Lylla introduce their newest family member to the heroes on Earth…
In the spring of the next year, the Earth was slowly starting its road to recovery. Heroes that had been in the shadows were coming out of the woodwork to help keep the peace, and the surviving people of Wakanda were using their resources to provide aid. The former queen Ramonda was put in charge of the nation with the absence of the royal family, the now King Thor established New Asgard in Norway, and Tony Stark finally married Pepper Potts.
As for the Guardians, they were returning to Earth to report in on how the rest of the universe was doing. "Hey Avengers, we're back!" Rocket called as they entered the building. The raccoon was a bit disappointed when no one answered his call. "Is this about missing Stark's wedding, because we had a very, very good reason for that…"
"No one is here, Rocket," Nebula said. "I only detect one other lifeform in the building."
Following the cyborg's information, the trio went into the conference room, where Natasha, AKA Black Widow, was working at her desk. "The Guardians return," she says, not looking up from her work. "How is the galaxy doing?"
"Ah, you know: civil wars, imbalances of power, lots of bounty hunters," Rocket said. "At least we've got Captain Marvel up there to take care of the busywork. Us Guardians have got bigger things to look into."
"And what would that be?" Natasha asked.
"The raccoon has been searching for any way to reverse Thanos' damage," Nebula said.
"It's not that big a deal," Rocket said. "Half of life might be gone, but that means half of the scumbags in the universe are gone too. I want to make sure that this never happens again, for Lylla and the kid's sake."
"Kid?" Natasha asked. She looked at Lylla, the otter holding a bundle of cloth to her chest.
"There was another reason we haven't reported back in a while," Lylla said. She brought the cloth bundle over to Natasha, turning it over to reveal a tiny raccoon nestled within. "This is our daughter, Shocket. Just barely a year old."
The baby raccoon opened her eyes, a bright red like her father. Her fur was a dark dirty blonde color, a mix of her parents, with dark brown raccoon markings.
"Wow, I didn't know," Natasha said. She carefully held Shocket when Lylla offered the spy to hold her. "I have to ask though: why Shocket?"
"My sister was the one to name her," Rocket admitted. "She said that it was a 'shock' how similar we looked, so yeah."
"Well, she is adorable," Natasha smiled. She nuzzled Shocket with a finger, the little raccoon playfully trying to bite it. "She has your attitude, that's for sure, though I don't see much of Lylla in her."
"It's the little things," Lylla said. "Her fur is water resistant, her tail is more like mine underneath all the fur, and her paws are webbed."
Shocket rolled over into her frontside and crawled across the desk, going back into her mother's arms. The tiny raccoon-otter hybrid let out a sneeze, making Lylla giggle and cuddle her daughter close.
"We'll be basing ourselves a bit closer to Earth for now," Rocket said. "I think we'll be safer here than having to deal with robots on Half-World constantly. Until Shocket can talk, Lylla will stay here while Nebula and I continue our Guardian duties."
"If that's okay with you, of course," Lylla added.
"Having someone else around the base will be nice," Natasha said. "Please keep us updated if you find anything that can reverse the Snap."
"I'll be keeping you updated so I can talk to my mate," Rocket said. He looked at his daughter and gave her a kiss on the head. "Stay safe, kid."
"nothing will happen to her as long as I'm around," Lylla said. She nuzzled her mate before returning to her daughter, whom was trying to play with Lylla's staff. "If she's anything like you, then I have my work cut out for me."
Author's Note
Surprise! Rocket and Lylla's kid is here! Shocket is a character from the comics, though there she's a genetic clone of Rocket and not his daughter. I've been excited to introduce her since Volume 2, and now was the best time to do so.
This chapter was shorter than usual, but I really just wanted to set up Shocket for next chapter. There's a certain other daughter of hero that I want to introduce Shocket to…
Next Time: Shocket has a playdate with the Stark family, and Lylla tells her daughter a story