Chapter 8.
This is the eight chapter. Hope you enjoy it.
Mark slowly opened his eyes as he heard faint music playing. Groaning, he rubbed his Dog face with both his hands/paws, as he rolled to the right, where saw he and the others were lying among the Dark Aster's wreckage. There were a few bruises, but everyone was all right. Well, almost everyone. Mark looked his head downwards, saw his body shirt were a bit dirty, and saw Rocket sitting among a pile of sticks. That was all that was left of Groot. "I called him an idiot." Rocket said sadly as he held a stick in his hands. Mark felt a pang of sadness over the loss, but he also felt a touch of pride for Groot sacrificing himself. He also saw a group of civilians were walking among the wreckage, but he then saw some of the gasp and whimper. He heard heavy footsteps from behind him with his Dog hearing, but he was hoping it wasn't what he thought it was, as he had seen the others were within his sight, and not behind him. He rolled his body with a bit of pain to face behind him and saw Ronan walking towards them, barely hurt, the hammer with the stone in his right hand. "Oh, come on. Does anything kill this guy?" Mark thought in his head. "YOU KILLED GROOT!" He heard Rocket cried before he charged at Ronan with a scream. As Rocket got close to him, Ronan fired another beam from his hammer, sending Rocket flying away from him. "Behold! Your guardians of the galaxy! What root have they wrought?" Ronan exclaimed dramatically to the crowd, as Mark saw Rocket with a pile of rubble. "Only that my father, and his father shall finally know vengeance. People of Xandar, the time has come to rejoice and renounce your paltry gods! Your salvation is at hand." Ronan added before holding his hammer above his head, the memory of what he saw happen to the planet on the hologram in the Collectors place flashing through his mind. He slammed his eyes shut, as he heard Ronan spoke in some Kree language, realising they've failed, and he'd win.
He then heard Quill singing ad nothing happened for a few seconds, so he opened his eyes, looked his head upwards to see Quill singing and dancing towards Ronan, who stared in confusion, and held his hammer down slightly. Mark then looked ahead to see Rocket and Drax fixing the Hadron Enforcer. "Of course, he'd distracting him! And it's the perfect one." Mark thought in his head again as he crawled as quietly as he could to where the two were. He didn't really have to help as they both got up, Drax holding the weapon, Rocket holding two wires. Still, Mark got by them on Rocket's right, got up on his feet, as the 3 faced Ronan. "What are you going?!" Ronan asked Quill angrily. "I'm distracting you, you big turd blossom." Quill said to Ronan, before Ronan looked right to see the Mark and the others, as Drax cocked the weapon. "Boom." Mark smirked as he did the middle finger at Ronan with both his hands/paws, just before Rocket connected the wires, the weapon firing immediately at Ronan's hammer, blowing the top to pieces. The stone fell towards the ground, both Ronan and Quill reaching out to grab it, Quill having to jump forwards. "NOOOO!" Gamora screamed, just before Quill grabbed the stone with his right hand. The area around them filled with revolving purple smoke, knocking them off their feet, Mark's ears filled with the sounds of Quill's screaming, because, as he looked through the glowing purple smoke and saw Quill standing up, the stone in his hands, but his body slowly staring to crack. He saw Ronan smiling at the sight.
He looked back at Quill and saw the ground beneath him started to turn purple. "Peter! Take my hand!" Gamora cried at him. Quill looked at her in silence. "Take my hand!" Gamora cried again. Quill moved his right arm and hand to her, and took her hand, the purple cracks forming all over Gamora also. Mark saw Drax slowly walking towards Quill's left, then suddenly remembered the other thing he'd seen in the collector's place, his voice echoing in his mind. "A group was able to share the energy amongst themselves… share the energy… share…. Amongst themselves." Remembering what he'd heard, he knew what he had to do. As he moved slowly to Gamora's right, he held out his left hand/paw out to her hand, (despite the nervousness he felt) held it above her hand, bracing himself for whatever would happen, and grabbed her hand. The stone's power immediately flowed into his body, making him scream out loud, as he felt his body crack, literally, the pain worse than anything he'd ever felt. He heard Drax and then Rocket scream, meaning they were all coming together. Then the pain Mark felt in his body dropped, and he looked with his eyes left to see everyone was also no longer cracked, moving their heads to look at Ronan, Mark doing the same, staring at their foe, as he realised what was happening. It was working! They were sharing the energy! "You're mortal! How?" Ronan asked, flabbergasted. "You said it yourself, bitch. We're the Guardians of the Galaxy." Quill replied. Ronan growled as he lifted the remains of his hammer upwards, but when Mark looked left, he saw Quill open his left hand, which had the stone in it, unleashing the stones energy at Ronan, Mark looking back at him. The energy struck Ronan, making him scream as the energy lifted him off the ground by a foot or two, and cracked him. The energy kept going at Ronan, until, after a few seconds, he exploded. The stone stopped blasting out energy before Gamora slammed one of the sphere-shaped devices over it, immediately stopping the energy the group shared, as well as the surrounding purple smoke. Mark let go of Gamora's hand as he bent his legs, placed his hand/paws on his thighs, his Dog head pointing down, panting just like the others. He then heard Yondu's voice. "Well, well, well. Quite the light show. Ain't this sweet. But you got some business to attend to before all the nookie-nookie starts." Yondu said, as Mark moved his body around to see him, and a bunch of his Ravagers, Yondu walking up to the group. Mark decided to stay out of this and let Gamora and Quill deal with this. He went over to Rocket, who held a stick in his hands, sobbing. Drax sat down next to him, on his left. Mark walked over to Drax's right. Mark sat down on his feet/paws and looked at the pile. "He did it so we could live. So, you could live. And now Ronan's dead, that means Groot didn't die in vain." Mark spoke solemnly. He then felt Drax's hand touching the back of his Dog head, then felt it moving down his neck, making a relaxing feeling he had never felt before. And boy, was he enjoying it! "He's stroking me. Wow! So this is what it feels like! That's why Dogs on Earth like it so much!" Mark thought in his head, his body and mind relaxing, the tension his body felt vanishing, as he closed his eyes.
A while later, they were back at Nova Headquarters, not as captured criminals like before, but as saviours. Mark was relieved that Yondu didn't have the stone, as Quill had "switch the orb out on him". Their wounds and their dirty bodies were cleaned, and Mark, Drax, and Rocket, (Quill and Gamora had gone ahead) who held a small bowl with a stick in it, (he believed it was possible they could regrow Groot) were escorted to the leader of the Nova Corps, and the Nova Empire, Irani Rael. "On behalf of the Nova Corps, we'd like to express our profound for your help in saving Xandar. If you will follow Denarian Dey, he has something to show you." She said to them. "Thank you, Nova Prime." Quill said. "Thank you." Gamora added, as the group followed Dey out of the room. "Your wife and child shall rest well, knowing that you have avenged them." Gamora said, as she walked next to Drax. "Yes. Of course, Ronan was only a puppet. It's really Thanos I need to kill." He replied, making Gamora stop in her trails for a second before she kept walking. Dey led them outside to a platform, where a ship looking like the Milano stood. "We tried to keep it as close to the original as possible. We salvaged as much as we could." He said to the group. "Wow. Thank you." Quill said. "I have a family. Their alive because of you. Your criminal records have also been expunged. However, I have to warn you against breaking any laws in the future." Dey said, Mark feeling pleased he and friends were basically free, even if he didn't have criminal record, except of maybe being sent to the Klyn. "Question. What if I see something that I want to take, and it belongs to someone else?" Rocket asked him. "Well, you would be arrested." Dey answered. "But what if I want it more than the person who has it?" Rocket added. "Still illegal." Dey responded. "That doesn't follow. No, I want it more, sir. Do you understand?" Rocket asked as Gamora started laughing. "What are you laughing at? Why can't I have a discussion with the gentleman?" Rock asked her as she and him headed towards the new Milano, Mark following them. He heard Quill, Drax, and Dey continue to talk. "What if someone does something I find irksome and I decide to remove his spine?" Drax asked, Mark stopping just in front of the doors to listen. "That's… that's actually murder. It's one of the worst crimes of all, so, also illegal." Dey answered hesitantly, before Drax walked towards the Milano. "Don't worry, Dey. I'm gonna keep an eye on them." Quill said to him. "You?" Dey asked. "Yeah, me." Quill answered, just before climbed onboard, Quill just behind.
The group separated, Mark sitting down on a bench before he heard some good sounding music. Then he and the others went up to the cockpit. "So, it's official, this "Guardians of the Galaxy" thing? That's our name, right?" Mark asked. "Sure is. So, what should we do next? Something good? Something bad? A bit of both?" Quill asked/answered. "We'll follow your lead, Star-Lord." Gamora said to him. "Bit of both!" Quill decided, officially of the leader. As the ship took off, Mark felt happy and had a feeling of belonging with these guys, and wondered what would happen next. But he had no idea what the future would hold for him.
And that's the eight-chapter done. Hope you enjoyed it. And Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 is complete! Volume 2 begins in the next chapter!